Oddities&Endities

2006-11-04T08:13:00.000-08:00

Future posts will appear on THIS SITE until further notice - ie when blogger actually allows me to post pics again!

Hello, handsome!

2006-10-31T10:37:00.000-08:00

Mirror makes elephants reflect
By Roger Highfield, Science Editor
Last Updated: 2:22am GMT 31/10/2006

Mirror, mirror on the wall, who is the smartest pachyderm of all? Happy, the Asian elephant, according to an experiment that reflects well on their great intelligence.
Researchers exposed Happy, Maxine and Patty - all adult Asian females at the Bronx Zoo in New York - to a square eight-ft mirror and discovered that they were aware that they were looking at their own reflections.
And in the case of Happy, she also touched a mark on her head which she could not have otherwise seen.
In this way, elephants have joined a small, elite group of species - including humans, great apes and dolphins - that have the ability to recognise themselves in the mirror.
Daily Telegraph

When the strain is too much for the train

2006-10-31T10:24:00.000-08:00

'Does anyone have nuts or bolts to fix this train?'
By Anil Dakar
Last Updated: 3:28am GMT 31/10/2006

If the Tannoy announcement had asked for a doctor to make themselves known on a London to Manchester train last Friday, passengers would probably not have been too startled.
But when Virgin Trains' leaning train pulled into Rugby station, the last thing the travellers were expecting was an appeal for help to get the locomotive going again.
After several minutes sitting silently at the station, a sheepish member of staff broke the silence with the announcement: "If anyone has some nuts and bolts with them will they come forward?"
The super-fast Pendolino had ground to a halt because the blades on the windscreen wipers had come loose and it could not pull away until they had been fixed.
"For want of a nut the windscreen wiper won't work, and for want of a windscreen wiper the train can't move. And, if the train can't move there are going to be loads of trains behind us that can't move either."
Daily Telegraph

Generous helpings

2006-10-30T12:23:00.000-08:00

Town turns into sticky pudding
By Nicole Martin
Last Updated: 1:19am BST 28/10/2006

If the thought of semolina makes your stomach turn by reviving memories of sloppy school dinners, spare a thought for the people living in Great Yarmouth, Norfolk. They woke up yesterday morning to find a dusting of the grains covering roads and pavements after a factory silo malfunctioned and blasted two tons of it into the air.
As staff from Great Yarmouth Borough Council tried to clean the semolina away with water, it became sticky and turned into the dessert loathed by school children across the country. John Hemsworth, the council's head of environmental health, said the grain was thrown out of the top of the Pasta Foods silo after a sudden release of pressure.
"It looked like there had been a heavy frost," he said. "Everywhere was just white, even the grass. We had 10-15 people trying to clear it up, but as soon as it got wet it became more of a problem."
Pedestrian access around the town's Haven Bridge was closed off while cleaners battled to get rid of the sticky pudding. Mr Hemsworth said: "We had to get permission from the Environment Agency to put it in the river, then permission from Anglian Water to put it into the drains. It was all very complicated."
Daily Telegraph

Getting the wrong signals...

2006-10-30T12:19:00.000-08:00

Now condensation is to blame for train delays
By David Millward, Transport Correspondent
Last Updated: 1:19am BST 28/10/2006

Commuters have had to put up with the leaves on the line and the wrong sort of snow, but this morning the excuse given to passengers as they crawled towards London was "condensation".
The explanation was given to around 500 people on the 7.30 from Southampton to Waterloo service at the end of what has been a wretched few days for customers on South West trains.
They have had to put up with a derailment at the start of the week and late running engineering works. Any hopes they may have had of a smooth journey were dashed when the train was stuck at a series of signals around Winchester. According to passengers on the train, the guard told them that the sudden cold snap had led to condensation on signals, which had to be turned red as a precaution.
As a result trains had to be "talked through" each one, adding more than an hour to the journey.
Daily Telegraph

Priceless..if you don't want to pay!

2006-10-27T09:37:00.000-07:00

Police 'banned picture of thief to protect her human rights'
By Amy Iggulden
Last Updated: 2:33am BST 27/10/2006

A jeweller targeted by a prolific thief was told by police not to put up warning pictures because it would infringe the woman's human rights, it was claimed yesterday.
Isabel Kurtenbach, a jeweller in Kensington, west London, lost £2,000 worth of gold and silver this week to a woman posing as a wealthy visitor from Dubai.
The thief, who apparently targets the same row of shops once a year, chooses her jewellery before claiming she has to get her credit card from her driver. She then disappears with the goods.
Mrs Kurtenbach, 38, who captured the woman on CCTV, wanted to give other traders her picture to display.
Police told her that it would be against the Human Rights Act and suggested she wait for the thief to strike again so she could grab her and call 999.
Daily Telegraph

Eye, eye

2006-10-26T14:04:00.000-07:00

The latest fad ? eyelash transplants, a snip at £3,200
By Catherine Elsworth in New York
Last Updated: 1:13am BST 26/10/2006

Not content with lifting faces and boosting breasts, cosmetic surgeons in America have developed a "plug and sew" hair graft technique to give women longer, thicker eyelashes.
The surgery is the latest cosmetic fad to sweep the United States, with customers paying $6,000 (£3,200) to have treatment similar to that developed to treat balding men, which involves grafting hair from the head on to the upper eyelid.
The hairs then take root and start to grow, so the new lashes must be trimmed regularly and curled.
People with straight hair are advised to get their transplanted lashes permed to achieve a more realistic look.
Daily Telegraph

No fire without smoke

2006-10-26T13:39:00.000-07:00

Fire station wrecked in blaze had no alarm
By Stewart Payne
Last Updated: 1:33am BST 26/10/2006

A fire station destroyed in a blaze did not have a smoke alarm fitted, an embarrassed brigade spokesman admitted yesterday.
The retained fire station at Arundel, West Sussex, was found to be ablaze when its part-time firemen arrived for work yesterday morning.
Smoke was belching from the unmanned building and they had to call on colleagues from neighbouring towns to put it out.
Crews in six fire engines arrived from Littlehampton, Bognor Regis, Worthing and East Preston but were unable to prevent the destruction of the building and the appliance inside.
It emerged that the fire station was not fitted with any form of fire or smoke alarm.
Daily Telegraph

Ship Ahoy - prepare to be blasted!!

2006-10-25T12:24:00.000-07:00

Nato warship on the wrong wavelength gives Clyde ferry a warning
By Auslan Cramb
Last Updated: 2:10am BST 25/10/2006

A tiny passenger ferry was unwittingly caught up in a war games exercise when a US warship threatened to blow unidentified vessels out of the water.
The skipper of the 70-year-old MV Kenilworth received a sinister message broadcast on Channel 16, which is used for routine communications, as the ferry crossed the River Clyde.
The warship had already spoken to the ferry and requested it kept a 1,000-yard clearance. But the US radio operator then failed to switch back to the frequency designated for a Nato exercise.
As a result, the ferry heard the operator say: "Unidentified vessel approaching on my starboard side, please identify yourself. If you fail to do so, we will open fire on you with live ammunition".
The message was intended for Royal Marines who were "attacking" the warship in inflatable boats.
A source in Gourock, the ferry's home port, said the skipper radioed back saying "he was just a wee ferry".
Daily Telegraph

Lifestyle budget

2006-10-24T12:55:00.000-07:00

Patients 'should have own budgets'
By Celia Hall, Medical Editor
Last Updated: 2:52am BST 24/10/2006

Alan Milburn, the former health secretary and architect of many of the health service changes, called yesterday for patients with long-term conditions to be given their own budgets.
His idea could mean that patients with asthma or heart problems could choose to take an NHS package or decide how to spend the money themselves.
A similar scheme has been introduced in social care in which disabled and older people buy their own support rather than relying on the local council.
"The Department of Health is currently piloting individual budgets for a wider range of services," Mr Milburn said.
The Government aims to cover 100,000 patients through the scheme by 2012.
Daily Telegraph

Soaking the public...

2006-10-23T14:19:00.000-07:00

No singing in the shower? Strewth
By Mark Chipperfield in Sydney
Last Updated: 1:31am BST 23/10/2006

Australians may want to celebrate England's latest cricketing disaster, but they shouldn't do it by singing in the shower.
EnergyAustralia, one of the country's largest electricity suppliers, says exercising the vocal cords in the bathroom adds an extra 9.08 minutes to a normal scrub.
Singing, daydreaming, shaving and other "non-essential activities" in the shower are adding to the average family's power bills and also contributing to global warming, it says.
With the nation in the grip of its worst drought in 100 years and state governments warning of harsh water restrictions in the summer, the shower has become the latest target for energy and water-saving ideas.
"You use enough electricity during one minute of showering to run your television for four hours," said Paul Myors, the company's energy efficiency expert. "If the average family cut their showers by two minutes they would save just over $100 (£40) a year."
Daily Telegraph

What's the time, mister...?

2006-10-23T14:16:00.000-07:00

Public invited to be speaking clock
Last Updated: 1:32am BST 23/10/2006

A competition is being launched today to find a new voice for the speaking clock after 21 years.
The public will be invited to submit telephone recordings, with the proceeds of each call going to Children In Need.
The result will be announced during BBC1's Children In Need night on Nov 17. The winner will become only the fourth person in history to land the job.
Current "clock" Brian Cobby, 77, who is retiring, says judge will be looking for a voice with clarity and warmth.
Daily Telegraph

Model behaviour

2006-10-23T14:07:00.000-07:00

The art of flight
By Amy Iggulden
Last Updated: 1:32am BST 23/10/2006

As an artist, Mark Clews may go down as one of the greats. But when it comes to aviation, his pioneering work is more likely to be compared to the eccentric British achievements of someone such as Eddie "the Eagle" Edwards.
Six months after beginning work on a life-size model aeroplane powered by a giant elastic band, Clews expected to reach up to 3,000ft on yesterday's maiden flight.
Understandably then, tension mounted on the rain swept airfield in Surrey, as Clews clambered into the waterlogged cockpit, clenched his jaw and nodded to ground crew to release the propeller.
With cameras rolling and even the wind briefly falling in anticipation, the 20ft toy replica certainly moved. Unfortunately, it moved only a sedate six feet backwards.
The project began when Clews, who has a fascination with making children's toys adult-sized, was asked in March to create an art exhibition for his university.
"It was spectacular, everything I hoped it would be, apart from actually flying," said Clews, a 24-year-old artist-cum-aviator from Stourbridge who once tried to launch a life-size paper boat on the River Severn (it sank).
He went on: "We are taking a step in the right direction just by moving. I mean, technically it is a step in the wrong direction I suppose, but at least it's a step."
Daily Telegrph

Stand Firm, Men

2006-10-20T11:56:00.000-07:00

Beach statues get marching orders ? on safety grounds
By Nigel Bunyan
Last Updated: 2:28am BST 20/10/2006

Art lovers reacted with dismay and fury yesterday at a decision to remove Antony Gormley's celebrated installation, Another Place, from a Merseyside beach.
Construction workers are due to descend on Crosby, near Liverpool, a week on Monday with orders to uproot each of the 100 cast-iron nudes that make up the panoramic artwork.
Planners at Sefton council demanded the installation's removal on the grounds that it was a health and safety risk.
Sailors might founder if they struck one of the so-called ''tin men", they said, while children, trying to swim out to the most far-flung statues, were in danger of being cut off by incoming tides.
Daily Telegraph

What's in a Name?

2006-10-20T11:50:00.000-07:00

Dingle battles for its English name
By Tom Peterkin in Dingle
Last Updated: 1:53am BST 20/10/2006

A resort famous for its friendly dolphin and as the setting of the film Ryan's Daughter is suffering an identity crisis that has pitted commercialism against Gaelic's struggle for survival.
To American tourists who flock to Co Kerry, the name Dingle is synonymous with a picturesque coastal town renowned for its music, craic and the antics of Fungie the dolphin. But the name is in danger of disappearing thanks to an edict from Dublin, which insists that Dingle be translated into its Gaelic equivalent, An Daingean.
The name has been changed because the town lies in the Gaeltacht, the official Irish-speaking area where most of the 60,000 remaining speakers live.
All road signs were translated into Gaelic as a result of a language Act introduced last year by Eamon O'Cuiv, the Fianna Fail Gaeltacht minister and the grandson of Eamon De Valera, one of the founders of modern Ireland.
Daily Telegraph

Out on a limb...

2006-10-19T13:25:00.000-07:00

Undertakers in corpse stealing case plead guilty
(Filed: 19/10/2006)

Seven funeral home directors have admitted to plundering corpses and selling the body parts for transplants, which may help to expand an investigation into human tissue harvesting.
Working from at least four different funeral homes in New York, the group took body parts from thousands of corpses without the consent of relatives and then sold the human tissue and bones to biomedical supply companies, Brooklyn prosecutors said.
Charles Hynes, the Brooklyn District Attorney, said in a news conference that the seven funeral directors who pleaded guilty agreed to surrender their licenses and face prison time.
Daily Telegraph

Saved by the Bells

2006-10-19T13:22:00.000-07:00

Locked-in vicar rings for help
By Nigel Bunyan
(Filed: 19/10/2006)

A vicar who inadvertently locked himself and his wife into his church used the bell to send out a "morse code" distress call to his parishioners. The Rev Steve Rathbone, 45, spent 20 minutes pulling on the rope before neighbours in Rainbow, near Maccl esfield, Cheshire, realised something was amiss.
Mr Rathbone and his wife, Jo, might have been freed earlier had their son, Jake, 16, who was in the vicarage next door, not been playing on his drum kit.
Daily Telegraph

Wholesale Art

2006-10-18T09:11:00.000-07:00

Picasso seller puts hole in canvas

Steve Wynn, the American casino mogul and briefly proud owner of the world's most expensive work of art, has decided to keep and restore the Picasso painting that he accidentally damaged shortly after he sold it for a record price.
Mr Wynn had agreed to sell Picasso's Le Rêve (The Dream) to Steven Cohen, an art collector, for $139 million (£74.7 million). But as he was showing it off in his Las Vegas office this month to guests including the screenwriter Nora Ephron, he struck the 1932 portrait of Picasso's mistress Marie-Thérèse Walter with his right elbow, leaving a 2in tear.
'There was a terrible noise,' Ms Ephron wrote in her blog. Mr Wynn, who suffers from an eye condition that affects his peripheral vision, exclaimed: 'Oh, s***. Look what I've done. Thank God it was me.'
The world's most expensive painting remains Gustav Klimt's 1907 portrait Adele Bloch-Bauer I, sold in July for $135 million. (AP)
Times Online

Poles Apart

2006-10-17T12:47:00.000-07:00

Explorers pay tribute to Sir Wally and his 'polar first'
By Ben Fenton
(Filed: 17/10/2006)

Britain's most distinguished explorers are to argue the case tomorrow for Sir Wally Herbert, the Yorkshire-born polar pioneer, to be recognised as the first man to reach the North Pole by muscle power alone.
They say Sir Wally's achievements have been hugely underestimated.
Record books currently show that Robert Peary, an American, was the first to reach 90 degrees North on April 6, 1909, but at a testimonial gala in honour of Sir Wally, 71, the explorers Pen Hadow and Robin Hanbury Tenison will argue that Peary missed his mark.
Many historians now agree that Peary may have only got within 100 miles of the Geographic North Pole, the point at which all the lines of longitude on the planet meet.
But nobody disputes that Sir Wally reached the Pole with his dog-teams on April 6, 1969, precisely 60 years later.
Daily Telegraph

Wotta notter

2006-10-16T09:52:00.000-07:00

London's first wild otter found
By Peter Law

CENTRAL London's first ever wild otter has been found - a discovery which scientists say is as significant as the return of the salmon to the River Thames.
The body of one of the River Thames' most mysterious inhabitants was found on a riverbank last Friday.
Measuring 122cm and weighing 9.7kg, the male otter was found on The Highway, in Wapping, about a mile from the Tower Bridge.
Scientists believe the notoriously shy mammal had traveled to London down the River Lee.
LocalLondon

Feeling sheepish?

2006-10-16T09:48:00.000-07:00

Year-long probe to find council heckler
By David Sapsted
(Filed: 14/10/2006)

It has taken more than 12 months and cost about £10,000 but a council is finally on the verge of discovering the identity of a man who kept saying "baa" during a planning meeting.
After a wide-ranging investigation, Havering council, based in Romford, Essex, has prepared a 300-page report, according to the Romford Recorder newspaper.
Unfortunately, the downside is that the prime suspect is no longer a councillor and is, therefore, beyond the scope of any punishment that it might want to mete out.
Daily Telegraph

Charged by the Dog

2006-10-16T09:39:00.000-07:00

Force muzzles dogs to protect suspects from bite injuries
By Ben Leapman, Home Affairs Correspondent
(Filed: 15/10/2006)

Police dogs are being muzzled to prevent them from biting criminals. Instead of clamping their jaws around the legs of suspects, the dogs are trained to leap at their targets and disable them with a flying butt.
Senior officers claim that the new "muzzle-strike" tactic is effective and has led to a reduction in injuries.
The technique, pioneered in North Wales, may now be adopted by other forces. However, critics have accused the police of bowing to political correctness and human rights concerns.
Daily Telegraph

Nurse, pass the scalpel, forceps, hammer...

2006-10-13T10:06:00.000-07:00

Surgical problem solved with screwdriver
Oct 13 2006
By Kate Mansey Daily Post Staff

A MERSEYSIDE hospital trust last night defended the decision to use a Halfords screwdriver on a patient during an operation.
It happened when surgeon Peter Mobbs was removing a metal plate from a patient's arm at St Helens Hospital.
Half way through the operation, he realised that he did not have the right tool to undo the screws, which had been fitted abroad.
So the surgeon made the unusual decision to send someone to the local Halfords DIY store to buy a £2.50 star-head screwdriver while the patient was still under general anaesthetic.
It was then sterilised and the operation went ahead as planned.
ICLiverpool

No smoking, no drinking, no joking...

2006-10-12T12:15:00.000-07:00

Firm halts office cards for fear of 'ageist' comments
By Richard Savill
(Filed: 12/10/2006)

An insurance firm has stopped the circulating of birthday cards for staff to sign amid concern that light hearted "ageist" comments could unwittingly breach the new age discrimination laws.
Teasing remarks such as "It's better to be over the hill than under it" or references to bus passes could cause offence, the company said following legal advice.
Under new laws that were introduced this month, staff can take action against their company if they feel they have been harassed or victimised due to their age.
Daily Telegraph

Blast from the Past

2006-10-12T12:12:00.000-07:00

Maori claim British pensions
(Filed: 12/10/2006)

A campaign has been launched to earn British pension rights for the Maori, the indigenous people of New Zealand.
The claim is based on the 1840 Treaty of Waitangi, the document that handed sovereignty over New Zealand to Britain, ruled at the time by Queen Victoria.
Article Three of the treaty guarantees Maori "the same rights and privileges as British subjects."
The campaign is being led by David Rankin, a direct descendant of Hone Heke - the first of dozens of Maori chiefs to sign the treaty.
Mr Rankin, leader of the Matarahurahu hapu or sub tribe, said that he would also investigate Maori entitlement to other perks of British citizenship.
"We may expand the claim to include British passports, unemployment benefits, and other entitlements," he said.
In return for British protection, the Treaty of Waitangi granted the Maori the rights of British subjects.
They were also allowed to retain control of their lands, forests, fisheries, culture and language
Daily Telegraph

Och, awa' the noo - right awa' !!!

2006-10-11T10:21:00.000-07:00

To rent: two cottages among the puffins and dolphins
By Kate Devlin
(Filed: 11/10/2006)

An isolated Scottish island has been inundated with applications after it advertised for new families to boost its 15-strong population.
Canna, in the Hebrides, is connected to the mainland by a ferry service just four days a week and has only one pupil in its school.
Despite the island's remoteness, its owner, the National Trust for Scotland (NTS), has had more than 100 requests for information since it advertised for new residents at the weekend.
John Hollingsworth, of the NTS, said: "We have had people from all over the world calling to enquire about Canna. The idea of living in this remote part has proved incredibly popular."
Canna, the furthest west of the Small Isles, is four and a half miles long by one mile wide. The island's population has been dwindling for generations, from a high of more than 400 in the early 1800s.
Daily Telegraph

See Naples? I can smell it from here!

2006-10-10T10:51:00.000-07:00

See Naples and cry at the piles of rubbish
By Malcolm Moore in Rome
(Filed: 10/10/2006)

A sea of smelly waste is swamping Naples and rubbish is piled 20 yards long and one-storey high since the city's waste-processing stations were overwhelmed last week.
The city is on the brink of a refuse emergency, with 2,500 tons of detritus left in the street because it cannot be burnt by the incinerators. The crisis developed after seven of the 14 incinerators were closed by magistrates because they did not meet environmental standards. At the weekend, one of the remaining seven plants closed for maintenance and the rest could not cope.
The situation is so serious that residents have taken to setting the waste alight. Over the weekend, the fire brigade said it had been inundated by hundreds of emergency calls about burning refuse.
Although they resumed work yesterday, the waste disposal company said it did not have enough lorries with cranes to dismantle the enormous piles that have built up.
Daily Telegraph

2006-10-09T09:36:00.000-07:00

£308,000 for Starship Enterprise model after warp-speed bidding
By Catherine Elsworth in New York
(Filed: 09/10/2006)

A model of the Starship Enterprise from the cult science fiction series Star Trek was sold for £308,000, 20 times the expected sale price.
The 78in model, which made its television debut in 1987 and was also used in the pilot and title sequences of Star Trek: The Next Generation, was part of a collection of sets and props from 40 years of the screen franchise that attracted a frenzy of bidding from trekkies, as fans of the show are known.
The three-day sale of around 1,000 items from CBS Paramount Television Studios made more than £3.8 million, twice the expected takings. The buyer of the Starship Enterprise, which Christie's auction house had expected to fetch between £13,000 and £18,000, was a determined American collector who bid by telephone and kept his identity secret.
Hundreds of fans, dressed as characters from the series, packed Christie's main salesroom in Manhattan for the sale while staff donned Trek-style costumes to take telephone bids. Among the items sold were pointy Vulcan ears, elaborate masks and a model of a Klingon "Bird of Prey" ship, which made £214,000, more than 30 times the estimate.
The most paid for a costume was £104,000, for a Dr McCoy space suit used in the episode The Tholian Web.
A replica of Captain James T Kirk's command chair fetched £33,300.
Daily Telegraph

When the ---- hits the fans...

2006-10-06T11:58:00.000-07:00

Film stars could face a visit in hunt for the Malibu leaker
By Catherine Elsworth in New York
(Filed: 06/10/2006)

The pollution police are homing in on one of California's most star-studded communities to discover exactly who is contaminating sea water.
Environmental investigators believe that the septic tanks of Malibu's rich and famous could be leaking into creeks that flow into the Pacific, making surfers sick and threatening wildlife.
Residents, who include Pierce Brosnan, Robert Redford, Tom Hanks and Sting, blame the neighbourhood raccoons and coyotes.
To resolve the matter, DNA testing will be used to trace the source of the contamination back up through creeks to particular homes.
Mark Pestrella, a Los Angeles county public works official, predicted: "This is going to get messy."
Daily Telegraph

Can't fly, won't fly

2006-10-06T11:55:00.000-07:00

US no-fly list bungled
(Filed: 06/10/2006)

Fourteen of the 19 September 11 hijackers and the president of Bolivia have been included on a new American "no fly" list designed to stop terrorists boarding planes, it has emerged.
The secret list, produced in March and leaked to the 60 Minutes programme, lists the hijackers ? all dead ? and the democratically elected Evo Morales among 44,000 people. The schedule also contains Saddam Hussein, at present locked in a high-security jail in Baghdad and on trial for genocide during his time as the president of Iraq.
Daily Telegraph

Every Man an Island...

2006-10-05T11:54:00.000-07:00

Sark vote brings end to last feudal state in Europe
By Richard Savill
(Filed: 05/10/2006)

The tiny Channel Island of Sark, Europe's last feudal state, has voted to introduce a fully democratic government.
After 450 years of feudalism, the law-making body, the Chief Pleas, voted unanimously to adopt the change that ensures the island's parliament and electoral system complies with the European Convention on Human Rights.
Sark has been governed by the Chief Pleas, headed by the Seigneur, Michael Beaumont, which comprised 40 landowners. But now the Chief Pleas is to be made up of 28 elected deputies or conscilliers, as they are to be known.
The island agreed in March to change its centuries-old system of government, which could trace its roots directly back to Queen Elizabeth I, who granted the ruling Seigneur a fief on the island.
The unelected descendants of 40 families brought in to colonise Sark, after the French abandoned it in 1553, have governed life on the island ever since.
The Seigneur will remain as the public figurehead of the island. But his powers to all intents and purposes have been removed. Once the new constitution becomes law, elections will follow shortly afterwards. It is expected they will take place next year.
Daily Telegraph

Flood Rained Off

2006-10-04T14:57:00.000-07:00

Poole, Dorset
A service to bless a Noah's Ark wall hanging had to be abandoned in Poole when the heavens opened flooding part of the youngsters' school.
Pupils from Baden-Powell and St Peter's Middle School created the 11ft by 9ft work of art for St Peter's Church, where it was due to be blessed by the Bishop of Sherborne, Rt Rev Tim Thornton.
However three inches of water flooding into the school meant head teacher Geoff Pike cancelled the service, but classes carried on while the water was pumped out.
Rev Roger Bayldon said: "It's quite ironic that the hangings depict Noah's Ark."
Daily Echo

Irish Atlas

2006-10-03T10:21:00.000-07:00

British Isles is removed from school atlases
By Tom Peterkin, Ireland Correspondent
(Filed: 03/10/2006)

The British Isles is to be wiped off the map by the Irish publishers of a school atlas after complaints that the term was no longer applicable in a modern Ireland.
Although the British Isles is a geographical term, it is resented by some Irish people who believe that it is redolent of empire and colonial occupation.
Folens, the Dublin-based publishers of school textbooks, will remove the words when it prints its next run of the atlases for secondary schools in January.
Folens will retain the British Isles in its atlases produced for children in the United Kingdom, which includes Northern Ireland.
Daily Telegraph

By Numbers...

2006-10-03T10:19:00.000-07:00

Aborigines back to original total number
By Nick Squires in Sydney
(Filed: 03/10/2006)

After enduring two centuries of disease, displacement and violent death, Australia's Aboriginal population is back to the level it was when Britain first settled the continent.
A high birth rate and reduced infant mortality have boosted the indigenous population to an estimated 500,000. "This brings us symbolically full circle in terms of original numbers," Dr John Taylor, from the Australian National University's Centre for Aboriginal Economic Policy Research, wrote in a paper.
Aboriginal people inhabited the continent for 50,000 to 60,000 years before the arrival of the First Fleet of British convicts in 1788.
Daily Telegraph

Mean Gun

2006-10-03T09:58:00.000-07:00

Typhoon wins gun dogfight
By Neil Tweedie
(Filed: 03/10/2006)

The RAF has been forced into an embarrassing U-turn on its policy of not allowing pilots of the new Eurofighter Typhoon to fire their gun.
The service has decided to issue ammunition to future Typhoon squadrons and train pilots in using the fighter's single German-made 27mm Mauser cannon, reversing its cost-cutting edict.
But Typhoon is designed to such fine specifications that the loss of the gun created a weight imbalance and it was finally realised that the cheaper and easier option would be to fit a real cannon.
Daily Telegraph

Several Degrees of Separation

2006-10-02T12:30:00.000-07:00

V&A brings family together after 400 years apart
By Nigel Reynolds, Arts Correspondent
(Filed: 02/10/2006)

A husband, wife and their children, separated for more than 400 years, have been reunited for a spectacular exhibition on the art and culture of domestic life in Renaissance Italy.
Paulo Veronese, one of 16th century Venice's greatest artists, painted a pair of double portraits of the wealthy da Porte Thiene family, of nearby Vicenza, in 1551. They were to hang in the hallway of their new palazzo, built for them by Andrea Palladio to demonstrate their importance.
The young Veronese, a contemporary of Tintoretto, divided the family along gender lines in his portraits.
In one, he showed Count Iseppo da Porto, a knight of the Holy Roman Empire, with his eight-year-old son, Leonida.
The other was of his wife, Livia Thiene, wearing a marten's pelt with a jewelled head and gazing devoutly at her husband, standing with their daughter, Porzia, aged about four.
They go on show, side by side as Veronese intended, for the first time in four centuries at the Victoria & Albert Museum in South Kensington, west London, from Thursday.
Daily Telegraph

Split Ends

2006-09-30T01:21:00.000-07:00

Flood made Britain into an island 'in 24 hours'
By Tim Hall
(Filed: 25/09/2006)

Britain may have become an island after a Biblical-style flood split it from Europe in less than 24 hours, according to new geological research.
The flood would have taken place between 400,000 and 200,000 years ago, sweeping away hills between Britain and what is now France.
The theory could rewrite British prehistory, as current text-books teach that Britain - once a peninsula of continental Europe - split from the great land mass after a long process of erosion and rises in sea levels.
Daily Telegraph

Brace up

2006-08-29T12:16:00.000-07:00

Rare buckle on show
(Filed: 29/08/2006)

A rare 1,300-year-old Saxon belt buckle unearthed with a metal detector will go on public display for the first time today.
The copper alloy buckle, which dates from AD 600-720, is only the second one of its type to have been found in England.
It was discovered recently on the outskirts of London by Bill Robson, a treasure hunter, who handed it to the Museum of London.
Daily Telegraph

The Biter Bit?

2006-08-29T12:11:00.000-07:00

Tape thieves put Robin Hood series in jeopardy
By Rosie Murray-West
(Filed: 29/08/2006)

A BBC drama series is in jeopardy after vital tapes were stolen in Budapest. Robin Hood, an £8 million series which was due to be broadcast on Saturday nights from October, could be pushed back or even shelved, sources fear.
The BBC said yesterday that the theft of the tapes and other equipment had caused "inconvenience and have resulted in a delay in finalising some of the episodes".
The corporation would not comment on rumours that eastern European gangsters were demanding a £1 million ransom for the return of the tapes, or on reports that there was no back-up recording.
Daily Telegraph

Deep waters

2006-08-19T14:29:00.000-07:00

It's a star show at 2,000ft, says record diver
By Francis Harris in Washington
(Filed: 19/08/2006)

A US Navy diver wearing a heavily armoured suit has plunged 2,000ft below the sea's surface.
In a feat which reads like a Jules Verne adventure, chief navy diver Daniel Jackson donned the bulky 1,000lb aluminium diving costume and slipped into the waters of the Pacific Ocean off California.
Jackson described the dive to almost twice the previous record depth as an extraordinary experience. "At 2,000ft I had topside turn off all the lights and it was like a star show," he said. "The phosphorescence that was naturally in the water and in most of life down there started to glow.
"When I started to travel back up, all the lights looked like a shower of stars going downwards. It was the best ride in the world."
Cdr Keith Lehnhardt said the Canadian-built ADS 2000 suit was designed for submarine rescue missions. It had taken 11 years to develop, with work being accelerated after the sinking of the Russian submarine Kursk in 2000 with the loss of her 118-man crew.
Daily Telegraph

Beetle, not VW

2006-08-19T14:27:00.000-07:00

Nazi fanatics killing off Hitler's special beetle
By Kate Connolly in Berlin
(Filed: 19/08/2006)

A blind beetle named after Adolf Hitler is under threat of extinction because of the demand for it within neo-Nazi circles, insect experts say.
Anophtalmus hitleri, or "eyeless Hitler", is being hunted in large numbers in its natural habitat in a single cave in Slovenia and specimens are selling for as much as £680, National Geographic Deutschland reported.
Martin Bähr, an entomologist at the Zoological State Collection in Munich, said: "There has been a run on these creatures. Collectors are scouring their natural habitat for them. Almost all of our specimens at the museum have been stolen."
The beetle was named by Oscar Scheibel, a Zagreb entomologist and Nazi supporter who discovered it in the 1930s.
Daily Telegraph

Chance encounter

2006-08-19T14:25:00.000-07:00

Belgium 'an accident of history with football and beer'
By David Rennie in Brussels
(Filed: 19/08/2006)

The political leader of Flanders, the Dutch-speaking half of Belgium, has caused outrage by saying that the 175-year-old Belgian nation was an "accident of history" with "no intrinsic value".
Years of devolution had eroded the kingdom to the point where it now amounted to nothing more than the "king, the national football team and certain brands of beer", said Yves Leterme, the Flemish region's premier.
The two halves of the nation read different newspapers, watch different television programmes, listen to different pop music and follow different celebrities. Outside Brussels, road signs and notices are strictly monolingual, to the point of farce.
Tourists driving from Brussels to nearby Mons or Lille frequently panic when they leave the capital and those two city names suddenly vanish from road signs. They do not realise that the road runs through Flanders, so motorway signs must say they are heading for "Bergen" and "Rijsel" - the Flemish names for Mons and Lille, respectively.
Daily Telegraph

For sale, large bridge over Thames

2006-08-18T11:20:00.000-07:00

Who's Who of conmen (1947)
By Ben Fenton
(Filed: 18/08/2006)

As ugly mugs go, they don't come much uglier than this collection, put together by a Metropolitan Police force that feared a flood of international conmen and swindlers would descend on post-war Britain.
The Met contacted police forces around the world for details of villains known to operate various scams and collected them together in a special pamphlet, published in 1947, but open to public scrutiny for the first time now.
The Illustrated Circular of Confidence Tricksters and Expert Criminals, a kind of Who's Who of the swindler's parallel universe, was to be of strictly limited circulation.
In 1950, there was a proposal to update the circular, because a new wave of conmen was expected to arrive for the following year's Festival of Britain.
But the commissioner of the Met, Sir Harold Scott, dismissed the idea, citing British poverty as the main reason for a decline in swindling here.
''As you know, the crime of the confidence trick is well on the decline and there is no doubt that these criminals are "displaying their wares" in countries where the inhabitants have an over sufficiency of money to spare. This appears not to be so in England and may be that is the reason why we are not so troubled with them."
Daily Telegraph

The flying coal scuttle

2006-08-18T11:15:00.000-07:00

Coal power could keep America's B52s flying
By Francis Harris
(Filed: 18/08/2006)

The American air force is launching tests to allow gigantic B52 bombers to fly on coal power.
The flights will get underway at an air force base in the Mojave desert next month.
If they are successful, hundreds of American military aircraft will be using synthetic fuel produced from coal by 2010.
Experts are particularly enthusiastic about the possibilities of coal because America sits on a quarter of the world's known reserves.
Tests have already been carried out on one of the giant, eight-engined B52s on the ground. They were judged a success.
Daily Telegraph

Ooops, sorry!

2006-08-18T10:56:00.000-07:00

Byng leads the list of candidates for a late pardon
By Ben Fenton
(Filed: 18/08/2006)

The prospective pardoning of 306 First World War soldiers who were shot at dawn has sparked calls for Adml Sir John Byng to be given similar treatment.
Byng was executed on the quarterdeck of his own flagship after failing to retake Minorca in 1757.
His death prompted Voltaire's famous remark that the British occasionally shot an admiral "pour encourager les autres".
Daily Telegraph

All at sea

2006-08-17T10:59:00.000-07:00

Canals are now busier than during the Industrial Revolution
By Nicole Martin
(Filed: 17/08/2006)

Britain's network of canals - once thought to be in terminal decline - is enjoying "an unprecedented renaissance", it emerged yesterday.
British Waterways, which manages 2,000 miles of canals and rivers, said a record 29,000 boats were on its network - more than at the height of the Industrial Revolution.
It attributed the rise to an ageing population, greater spending on leisure activities and increased investment in the country's waterways. In the heyday of the canal network, from 1760 to 1840, more than 30 million tons of goods were carried each year on 5,000 miles of waterways across Britain.
Jonathan Ludford, from British Waterways, said canals and navigable rivers were becoming increasingly popular because of their beauty and diversity.
He said: "Going along them you can witness some of the most magnificent countryside."
Daily TELEGRAPH

Smile for the camera

2006-08-17T10:53:00.000-07:00

Spy camera sales soar in war on burglars
By David Derbyshire, Consumer Affairs Editor
(Filed: 17/08/2006)

A growing number of householders are installing Big Brother-style CCTV cameras in their gardens and driveways to deter burglars and keep tabs on visitors, according to new figures.
Sales of DIY home security kits have risen by around a fifth in the last year, fuelled by the perception that police no longer take domestic burglary seriously, industry experts say.
The rise has also been triggered by concerns that conventional burglar alarms are unreliable and usually ignored by neighbours.
A poll of 1,300 Maplin customers found that two thirds were buying cameras to catch and deter burglars, while nine per cent said they wanted to use the cameras to spy on workmen in the home.
Daily Telegraph

A bit of a circus

2006-08-16T02:39:00.000-07:00

The circus is coming - from 50 yards away
By David Sapsted
(Filed: 16/08/2006)

A circus at a seaside resort has had to take down its big top and move to a new pitch 50 yards away in order to get around government red tape.
Under the 2003 Licensing Act, a circus can stay at one location for a maximum of only 15 days each year. This proved a problem for Circus Mondao as it was licensed for performances throughout August at Sheringham, on the north Norfolk coast.
Faced with the legal dilemma, the performers and North Norfolk District Council decided that a way must be found to enable the show to go on beyond yesterday.
The solution was to move the circus and all of its paraphernalia 50 yards across a track which, technically, meant it had shifted to a new location.
Now the big top is sited on the spot which had been used as a car park until Monday.
Daily Telegraph

Postie

2006-08-15T02:54:00.000-07:00

Savaged postman loses his job
By Paul Stokes
(Filed: 15/08/2006)

A postman has lost his job after being savaged by a dog. Terry Johnson, 53, suffered 41 bite marks. He has been unable to work since the alsatian attack eight months ago.
Mr Johnson, who now walks with a stick, was expecting Royal Mail to offer him a less demanding post. But when he met managers, he said, he was given a cheque for £7,000 and told he was being retired on health grounds from his £15,000-a- year delivery round at East Herringthorpe, Rotherham, South Yorks.
Mr Johnson said: "It's hard to believe after what I've been through. They haven't kept in touch, asked how I've been or anything."
The Royal Mail said: "On occasion, we are advised on medical grounds that there is not a suitable position for an employee and this can result in the person retiring on the grounds of ill health."
Daily Telegraph

Passport to nowhere

2006-08-14T13:05:00.000-07:00

Passport photograph of girl's bare shoulders rejected 'as it may offend'
By Paul Stokes
(Filed: 14/08/2006)

A five-year-old girl's passport application was rejected because her photograph showed her bare shoulders.
Hannah Edwards's mother, Jane, was told that the exposed skin might be considered offensive in a Muslim country.
The photograph was taken at a photo-booth at a local post office for a family trip to the south of France.
Because of the way the camera was set up, the picture came out showing Hannah's shoulders.
The family had it signed and presented it at a post office with the completed form but were told that it would not be accepted by the Passport Office.
Daily Telegraph

Cut the chatter

2006-08-14T12:52:00.000-07:00

Tyre-slasher targets drivers on mobiles
By Stephanie Condron
(Filed: 14/08/2006)

A vigilante, who slashes the tyres of motorists who talk on their mobile telephones while driving, is being hunted by police.
The so-called "mobile slasher" leaves an anonymous note made from letters cut from newspapers on the windscreens of the cars.
The note reads: "Warning. You have been seen driving while using your mobile phone."
Police are investigating a series of night-time raids in Hampshire after 20 motorists in Gosport, Lee-on-the-Solent and Stubbington reported being targeted.
Daily Telegraph

Rock and ham roll ...

2006-08-14T12:50:00.000-07:00

WI to sell rock cakes at pop festivals
By Stephanie Condron
(Filed: 14/08/2006)

The idea of a Women's Institute tea tent at a pop festival might once have been laughable. But now WI groups across the country have their sights set on events including Glastonbury where they might forge links with younger generations by serving tea and cake.
One WI group has been baking since June in preparation for next month's Bestival music festival on the Isle of Wight. Another group in Yorkshire hopes to attend the Glastonbury music festival in Somerset next June and moves are afoot for a tea tent at the 2007 Big Chill event near Ledbury in Herefordshire.
The WI's tent at Bestival has proved so popular since its debut in 2004 that this year it has been promoted to a prime plot outside the bandstand where groups including Scissor Sisters and The Stranglers will perform. And the traditional white tea tent has been replaced with a giant teepee.
"Other events are now beginning to talk with various Women's Institute groups to have tea tents," said Kate Jackman, a Bestival organiser.
"Festivals are not just about music and getting out of it. We have settled down. We want tea and cake."
Daily Telegraph

It's taxing being a thief

2006-08-12T14:55:00.000-07:00

Thief told to pay £200,000 tax on haul
By Malcolm Moore in Rome
(Filed: 12/08/2006)

An Italian thief who stole more than a million euros from a vault has been asked to pay £200,000 tax on his takings.
He is the first person to be hit with a new law introduced at the end of last month which states that money gained from theft or fraud are taxable.
His lawyer, Giancarlo Massari, said yesterday his client was "disconsolate".
Antonio Perrone, 38, who has the bespectacled appearance of a mild-mannered bank clerk, carried out the heist two years ago in the northern town of Bolzano.
He was convicted of the theft of ?1.3 million (£875,000) and sentenced to four and a half years in prison. Two of his co-workers were found guilty of helping him.
Perrone has been hit with a ?300,000 capital gains tax bill and will also have to pay a fine for tax evasion.
Daily Telegraph

Gapping the bridge

2006-08-12T14:53:00.000-07:00

Payback time for Washington commuters
By Jack Fairweather in Washington
(Filed: 12/08/2006)

Commuters to Washington DC, who have raged at the hours lost in traffic jams for years, will be offered a rare chance for revenge later this month.
A competition has begun to find someone to blow up the Woodrow Wilson Bridge, one the nation's worst bottlenecks.
Motorists can log on to the bridge project's website and record their worst experiences crossing the bridge, where the eight-lane road narrows to six with no hard shoulder. The one deemed to have suffered the most by a panel of transport experts will get to blow up a half-mile section of the bridge. Officials for the bridge project say the competition, which began this week, has been inundated with entries.

Daily Telegraph

Say it ain't so...

2006-08-12T14:51:00.000-07:00

Evangelicals urge museum to hide man's ancestors
By Mike Pflanz in Nairobi
(Filed: 12/08/2006)

Powerful evangelical churches are pressing Kenya's national museum to sideline its world-famous collection of hominid bones pointing to man's evolution from ape to human.
Leaders of the country's six-million-strong Pentecostal congregation want Dr Richard Leakey's ground-breaking finds relegated to a back room instead of being given their usual prime billing.
The collection includes the most complete skeleton yet found of Homo erectus, the 1.7 million-year-old Turkana Boy unearthed by Dr Leakey's team in 1984 at Nariokotome, near Lake Turkana in northern Kenya.
The museum also holds bones from several specimens of Australopithecus anamensis, believed to be the first hominid to walk upright, four million years ago. Together the artefacts amount to the clearest record yet discovered of the origins of Homo sapiens.
They have cemented the global reputation of Kenya's Great Rift Valley as the cradle of mankind, and draw in tourists and locals to the museum's sprawling compound on a hill above Nairobi.
Church leaders aim to hijack that process. "The Christian community here is very uncomfortable that Leakey and his group want their theories presented as fact," said Bishop Bonifes Adoyo, the head of Christ is the Answer Ministries, the largest Pentecostal church in Kenya.
"Our doctrine is not that we evolved from apes, and we have grave concerns that the museum wants to enhance the prominence of something presented as fact which is just one theory."
Daily Telegraph

Vacant possession

2006-08-12T10:43:00.000-07:00

MacDonald rebellion against new clan chief
By Auslan Cramb
(Filed: 11/08/2006)

The new chief of one of Scotland's most famous clans is facing a rebellion from his own clansmen after seizing a title that has been vacant since 1848.
After a long legal battle, 75-year-old Ranald MacDonald will be installed next month as chief of the MacDonalds of Keppoch, the first Highland clan to support Bonnie Prince Charlie in 1745.
The retired hearing aid specialist has finally won his case in Edinburgh's Court of Session, but some clan historians say he will receive a lukewarm welcome at his inauguration at Fort William.
His opponents say he has a flawed bloodline because one of his ancestors, Alexander, was the illegitimate son of the last chief, Ranald, who died 158 years ago.
Rory MacDonald, a clan historian from Spean Bridge, Inverness-shire, said: "He may be considered chief by others, but he's not welcome here."
Speaking at his Edinburgh home, Mr MacDonald said the criticism was "codswallop". He added: "The Keppoch clan is back in its homeland."
Daily Telegraph

Cheesey wheeze

2006-08-11T11:34:00.000-07:00

Wensleydale wants to protect its name
By Paul Stokes
(Filed: 11/08/2006)

Wallace and Gromit's favourite food maker is to ask the European Union to help to preserve the integrity of its Yorkshire dairy produce.
It is 10 years since the Plasticine characters alluded to the delights of Wensleydale cheese in the film A Close Shave.
The largest producer, Wensleydale Dairy Products, based in Hawes, North Yorks, with sales of around £14 million, announced yesterday that it was seeking Protected Designation of Origin status.
If successful, it would prevent anyone outside a specified area of Wensleydale from using the name Real Yorkshire Wensleydale Cheese.
Daily Telegraph

Stone me!

2006-08-10T02:09:00.000-07:00

Mick Jagger gets a voice coach at last
(Filed: 10/08/2006)

After 35 years Mick Jagger has turned to voice coaching to keep the raw, energetic sound that brought him fame and fortune.
The 63-year-old Rolling Stones singer told Virgin Radio: "Better late than never. I always tell these younger singers, 'I never used to do it but you should.'
"When you are singing for hours your voice gets tired. You have to warm up."
Daily Telegraph

Corny tale

2006-08-10T01:56:00.000-07:00

Forget the bills, buy some shoes
By Anil Dawar
(Filed: 10/08/2006)

A quarter of women would rather buy a pair of shoes than pay their bills, according to a survey. One in two women owned more than 30 pairs of shoes and eight per cent had more than 100 pairs.
One in 10 women admitted to spending more than £1,000 on shoes in the past year.
The survey of 1,000 women and men by the magazine Harper's Bazaar showed that three quarters of women had shoes that did not fit properly and 55 per cent of men had had to carry their girlfriends because their feet hurt.
Nearly one in 10 of the women said she would have cosmetic surgery if it made her feet look better.
The men polled overwhelmingly declared stilettos the sexiest heels and 79 per cent of women admit to having had sex wearing only their shoes.
Daily Telegraph

Bligh:"I said it would come to no good..."

2006-08-09T02:37:00.000-07:00

Island hears its first murder case in 150 years
(Filed: 09/08/2006)

A south Pacific outpost where half the inhabitants are descended from the Bounty mutineers heard gruesome details of its first murder in 150 years yesterday.
Glenn McNeill, 28, a chef from New Zealand, appeared in court accused of killing Janelle Patton, 29, an Australian hotel worker, on Norfolk Island in 2002. She had 64 injuries, including stab wounds and skull fractures.
Daily Telegraph

Just a minute...

2006-08-09T02:31:00.000-07:00

Checkouts are hit by queue rage
By Amy Iggulden
(Filed: 09/08/2006)

Britons, famous for decades for their patient queuing, have apparently lost the art when it comes to waiting at supermarket checkouts.
After eight minutes, they become "extremely irritated" and after 21 minutes impatient toe-tapping explodes into full-blown anger, says research published today.
A survey of 1,014 people found that, on average, adults spend 18 minutes every day in a queue and 273 days in a lifetime.
One in four 18- to 24-year-olds admitted jumping the queue.
The survey says that people over 55 are the first to become irritated, losing their calm after waiting seven minutes.
Daily Telegraph

Cutting down on government

2006-08-08T02:53:00.001-07:00

100 Somali ministers sacked
By David Blair, Africa Correspondent
(Filed: 08/08/2006)

Somalia's interim president sacked his government yesterday, trying to counter the Islamic radicals who are poised to capture a large area of the anarchic country.
President Abdullahi Yusuf, who controls little more than the ruined town of Baidoa, announced the dismissal of all 100 ministers leaving only the prime minister, Ali Mohammed Ghedi.
Islamic radicals styling themselves the Supreme Council of Islamic Courts, have taken the capital, Mogadishu, and threaten Baidoa and Mr Yusuf's administration.
Daily Telegraph

Fares Fair

2006-08-08T02:37:00.000-07:00

Taxi to Inverness. Will you take a Czech?
By Caroline Davies
(Filed: 05/08/2006)

The latest commodity to be exported from East to West is currently rolling off the production line in Prague and heading, literally, straight for your street.
These taxi drivers come fully adapted to the British market, complete with knowledge of the Highway Code, how to find a good pub in Plymouth and the quickest route from Iona Road to Birnie Terrace in Inverness. And demand is soaring.
So far around 200 Eastern European drivers from Poland, Slovakia and the Czech Republic have arrived in Britain having studied at a hot-housing taxi school in the Czech capital.
Most have landed in Plymouth, home of the company TaxiFast, which first looked to Eastern Europe 18 months ago after failing to attract enough local recruits to meet its annual five million passenger journeys.
A quarter of its 400-strong workforce now comes through its Prague training school, run in conjunction with the Prague recruitment agency Dunross.
Daily Telegraph

Escaping from an Oxymoron

2006-08-08T02:32:00.000-07:00

4,000 walk out of open prisons in five years
By John Steele
(Filed: 07/08/2006)

More than 4,000 prisoners have absconded from open prisons in England and Wales in the past five years, the Home Office has admitted.
In response to a parliamentary question from David Davis, the shadow home secretary, it said that 4,307 prisoners unlawfully left the 13 open prisons, including 693 in the year 2005-06.
Recent Prison Service figures showed that offenders had been absconding from Leyhill Open Prison, Glos, at the rate of almost two a week for three years. They were mainly robbery and burglary offenders but 22 murderers and seven rapists have fled Leyhill since 1999.
Daily Telegraph

SingalongaMao

2006-08-08T02:27:00.000-07:00

China's karaoke police censor lyrics of 'unhealthy' favourites
By Peter Simpson in Beijing
(Filed: 06/08/2006)

To the finely tuned ear, the discordant warbling that pours out of China's karaoke lounges would be reason enough for the government to pull the plug on the singalong craze.
It is not the tortured octaves that have offended the ruling Communist Party, however, but the lyrics.
The Ministry of Culture has issued new rules to prevent "unhealthy" karaoke songs from polluting the nation's morals and millions of amateur divas, who croon with friends and family down at the local KTV (karaoke music video) parlour, are about to have some of their favourite songs struck off the play list.
If the censors have their way, straight out of China's karaoke hit parade will go chart-topper Go for Fun Alone. Critics have deemed as unacceptable opening lines judged to be riddled with defiance and independence after a love affair gone wrong.
"I don't want to be controlled? I say goodbye to you, even though I don't want to be lonely" is followed by the blunt admission: "I want to find another lover, but I am not used to this kind of [single] life."
Also threatened by the puritans' axe is the raunchy hit Office, which describes a secretive, work romance and includes the lyrics: "Look at the clothes on the desk, we spend so many nights together like tonight. Don't switch off the light in the office, and listen carefully, just in case Mr Zhou comes back to get his book."
Daily Telegraph

Up before the beak

2006-08-08T02:24:00.000-07:00

Trapped by a parrot's peck
By Amy Iggulden
(Filed: 04/08/2006)

Micky, a cantankerous 50-year-old macaw, was still missing yesterday despite leading detectives to the man who stole him.
The bird bit Tristan Maidment, 23, so badly that police were able to trace the kidnapper through DNA in the blood he left on the floor of a pet shop in Frome, Somerset.
Angus Hart, 45, the pet shop proprietor who owned Micky for 10 years, thinks it will not be long before the new owners crack under the violence of the macaw's temper.
"He's a miserable old git, to be honest with you," he said. "We don't know where he is but he'll be hard work to look after.
"We're missing him and so is everybody else. He doesn't talk much but he can be quite cute and cuddly when he wants to be. If he didn't like you he'd certainly have a go at you.
"He did a good job with the man who took him and left plenty of blood at the scene for the police."
Daily Telegraph

Reality bites

2006-08-08T02:20:00.000-07:00

Queen's new home is worth £35,000
(Filed: 04/08/2006)

The Queen has added a new property to her already impressive portfolio of residences.
While her other houses tend toward the palatial, and include Balmoral, Buckingham Palace and Windsor Castle, her new property is a run down, rat-infested mid-terrace house.
The red-brick building is in Gorton, east Manchester, where the hit show Shameless is filmed.
It has been abandoned for around 10 years and has had several windows boarded up after repeated attacks by vandals.
Daily Telegraph

2006-08-08T02:17:00.000-07:00

Distinctive walk lands gay burglar in prison
By Amy Iggulden
(Filed: 04/08/2006)

A homosexual burglar was caught after a victim identified his "distinctive walk" on CCTV, a court was told yesterday.
Lance Williams, 19, broke into a house in his Welsh village of Rhymney to steal £400 at knifepoint. Three burglars were recorded on CCTV as they left the scene, but only Williams was caught.
He had apparently tried to disguise his identity by putting a scarf over his face and lowering his voice before breaking into the home of Nigel Jones, 42, who was stabbed in the back with the knife.
"Mr Jones was shown CCTV footage and recognised Williams," Michael Hammett, prosecuting, said. "He knew him as a local youth who had a distinctive walk."
Daily Telegraph

That rings a bell ...

2006-08-08T02:12:00.000-07:00

Airports warning for 'radioactive' patients
By Celia Hall, Medical Editor
(Filed: 04/08/2006)

Patients who have had treatment with radioactive isotopes are triggering airport security screens, doctors warn in a study published today.
The study, in the British Medical Journal, says unsuspecting patients are being subjected to full searches and interrogation and need to be warned that they may attract the unwanted attentions of security officers.
One 46 year-old patient from Birmingham, who had been given radio-isotope treatment for an overactive thyroid, six weeks before, set off alarms at Orlando airport, Florida at the start of his holiday.
He was detained and strip searched, and sniffer dogs were used. After a lengthy interrogation, the treatment card evidence he produced was finally accepted.
Daily Telegraph

Call in the Big Guy!

2006-08-03T02:54:00.000-07:00

Let us pray to solve crime, say police
By Richard Alleyne
(Filed: 03/08/2006)

A rural police constabulary is calling on the ultimate special constable to help in its fight against crime: God.
Lincolnshire Police officers are launching a Prayer Watch scheme, asking churchgoers to focus their prayers on particular crimes that are blighting their communities, such as burglaries and violent attacks.
Under the proposals, churches and Christian groups will receive e-mails from the police alerting them to specific crimes, which they can then use to focus their prayers towards solving or preventing in the future.
A Lincolnshire Police spokesman, Dick Holmes, said: "In one sense it is similar to the conventional watch schemes like Neighbourhood Watch and Farm Watch in that it encourages congregations to keep an eye on church buildings. They are prime targets for thieves and vandals."
Daily Telegraph

Chilly? No, Brazil!

2006-08-03T02:41:00.000-07:00

Atlantic currents dump wayward penguins on beaches of Rio
By Andrew Downie in Rio de Janeiro
(Filed: 03/08/2006)

More than 100 penguins have washed up on the beaches of Rio de Janeiro after currents dragged them thousands of miles north from their Antarctic home.
The magellanic penguins are now enjoying the hospitality of zoologists who picked them up from the beaches. Most of them are young birds who lost their way on their first venture into the South Atlantic.
Some Brazilians have kept them as pets, leading them around on leashes, while others, in a misguided attempt to provide them with a home from home, have put the birds inside fridges.
Daily Telegraph

Just Can't Bear It

2006-08-03T02:25:00.000-07:00

I just wanna eat your teddy bear
By Richard Alleyne
(Filed: 03/08/2006)

Protecting a collection of teddy bears so valuable that insurers insisted on hiring highly-trained guard dogs was never going to be a picnic.
But nobody thought the bears, which include one previously owned by Elvis Presley, could be in danger from the enemy within.
They do now.
After the £500,000 attraction was closed for the night, a Dobermann pinscher called Barney went on the rampage, attacking many of the exhibits and ripping the head off Mabel, the £40,000 toy once owned by Elvis.
The bear, made by the famous German manufacturer Steiff in 1909, was to have taken pride of place as the centrepiece of the Wookey Bear Collection at Wookey Hole Caves, near Wells, in Somerset.
Greg West, 36, a security guard, was on duty on Tuesday night with his sidekick Barney when he saw Mabel and couldn't resist giving her a stroke. Unfortunately it is thought the dog became jealous and attacked Mabel. Having got a taste for stuffing, Barney then went on to maul a number of other toys. Mr West, from Totterdown, Bristol, said: "Barney has been a model guard dog for more than six years. I still can't believe what happened.
Daily Telegraph

Cutting Back a Bit

2006-08-02T07:17:00.000-07:00

Savers besiege banks after Zimbabwe lops zeros off banknotes
By Peta Thornycroft and Christopher Munnion in Johannesburg
(Filed: 02/08/2006)

Banks in Zimbabwe were swamped by customers yesterday after the central bank announced that three zeros were being taken off the Zimbabwe dollar to counter the 1,200 per cent inflation rate, the highest in the world.
The country's rampaging inflation has obliged Zimbab-weans to carry large blocks of currency for the most basic commodities. A loaf of bread, for instance, can cost more than a million Zimbabwe dollars - around £5.
Banks have also struggled to keep pace as their standard computer software strains to deal in 14-digit trillions and even larger quadrillions in commercial dealings. Everyone will now ignore the last three zeros on paper money.
The new official exchange rate will be 250 Zimbabwean dollars to one US dollar instead of 250,000.
Daily Telegraph

Paws for Thought

2006-08-02T07:06:00.000-07:00

Parasite that makes cat-lovers neurotic
By Roger Highfield, Science Editor
(Filed: 02/08/2006)

Cat-lovers may be more neurotic than other people as a result of a feline parasite that could ultimately also be responsible for international cultural differences, according to a radical theory published today.
More than a quarter of the world's population - ranging from about seven per cent of the UK population to almost 70 per cent in Brazil - is infected with Toxoplasma -gondii, a relative of the malaria bug, which also infects rats, giving them a suicidal attraction to cats.
"Some of us have a parasite in our brains that does its best to change our personalities," writes Dr Kevin Lafferty, of the University of California at Santa Barbara in the Proceedings of the Royal Society, Biology.
Daily Telegraph

Cosmetic Surgery

2006-08-02T05:43:00.000-07:00

Doctors offer to amputate beggars' legs
By Rahul Bedi in New Delhi
(Filed: 02/08/2006)

Three doctors are being investigated by Indian medical authorities for offering to amputate beggars' healthy limbs so that they attract more money.
They were secretly filmed by the news channel CNN-IBN apparently offering to remove a leg for Â£120 and were said to be colluding with the crime gangs that control begging in cities.
One doctor, from a government hospital in Delhi, offered to induce gangrene by restricting the flow of blood so that amputation became vital.
After the broadcast an angry crowd gathered outside the doctors' homes demanding their arrest but they had already disappeared.
Daily Telegraph

Gazza hazza quiet hol

2006-08-01T03:51:00.000-07:00

Limassol rocked by violent weekend
By Jacqueline Theodoulou

LIMASSOL LIVED up to its rough reputation over the weekend as one restaurant was blown up, two gangs clashed and a taxi driver was accused of beating a young married couple in an inexplicable bout of road rage.
The episodes began at midnight on Saturday with the clash between a 23-year-old man, his 21-year-old wife and a 46-year-old taxi driver.
As reported to the police, the couple had been driving down Amathounta Avenue when they were overtaken by a black taxi which then suddenly blocked their way, forcing them to pull over on the side of the road.
Then, according to the 23-year-old and his wife, the cabbie approached the young man and started punching him in the face while at the same time mouthing obscenities.
The reasons behind the taxi driverâ€™s outburst are unknown, though according to the police he had made a number of claims that are currently under investigation.

GANG CLASH
While investigating the young coupleâ€™s beating by the hot headed taxi driver, Limassol CID received yet another emergency call informing them of a serious incident involving a loaded shotgun, taking place in a home in Pano Polemidia.
Specifically, three armed friends from Limassol â€“ aged 22, 26 and 30 â€“ barged into the house of three brothers in Polemidia, demanding explanations over the alleged illicit affair the eldest was having with the wife of one of the three invaders.
The brothers then pounced on the three interlopers and beat them until the three invaders had to be taken to Limassol General Hospital for treatment. The 26 and 30-year-olds were later discharged while the 22-year-old was kept in overnight.

THE FIRE
Also in the early hours of Sunday morning, vandals smashed the window of a restaurant in Limassol, doused the place with flammable liquids and set it on fire.
But they were out of luck, as the flames died out a few moments later, not causing much damage to restaurant Red Ram, on October 28th Street.
Restaurant owner Fedonas Ioannou, 48, told police he had no idea who might have wanted to do this to him.
Cyprus Mail

All in the game

2006-08-01T02:33:00.000-07:00

Goalkeeper's foul sidelines the president
(Filed: 01/08/2006)

Evo Morales, the Bolivian president, broke his nose at the weekend when he was fouled by a goalkeeper during an indoor football match and will be sidelined for 48 hours, his office said yesterday.
Mr Morales, a passionate player and fan, was injured during a game in the central city of Cochabamba between his presidential team and a local squad, the Independence Warriors.
"In the game's 32nd minute, with the score tied 2-2, the local team's goalkeeper committed a foul against the President of the Republic that produced the injury to his nose," a statement from his office said.
Mr Morales, who is known for his trademark hooped sweater, was treated at a local clinic and instructed to rest for two days.
He was inaugurated as Bolivia's first Indian president in January.
Daily Telegraph

Radio Love

2006-08-01T02:30:00.000-07:00

Sex change for Christian radio station
(Filed: 01/08/2006)

A Christian radio station that played religious music and invited listeners to call in with prayer requests has changed its format overnight to one exclusively focused on sex.
KFYE-FM, based in Kingsburg, California, now describes itself as "Porn Radio", promoting "all sex radio, all the time", instead of its former "positive and encouraging" broadcasts.
The change - caused when the station was sold by the KLOVE Christian network - has led to one listener filing a formal complaint with the Federal Communications Commission over the station's sexual content. When songs are not explicit enough, moaning and groaning is played over the top. People under 21 are advised not to listen.
Daily Telegraph

Saints Above

2006-07-27T07:28:00.000-07:00

Saint Bernard lands on man
(Filed: 27/07/2006)

A man suffered bruising after a 110lb Saint Bernard was thrown from a first-floor window and landed on him as he walked down a street in Sosnowiec, southern Poland.
The year-old dog, Oskar, had been shoved out by its drunken owner and is now in an animal shelter.
"The dog escaped with just a few scratches and the man was more shocked than hurt," said Grzegorz Wierzbicki, a police spokesman.
Daily Telegraph

Quackers!

2006-07-26T03:46:00.000-07:00

Cricketers turn scoreboard into a duckboard
By Paul Stokes
(Filed: 26/07/2006)

It was definitely a day to forget for bottom of the table Goldsborough Second XI cricket team. Ten players were out for ducks, one remained undefeated without scoring and the only runs on the board were five extras.
John Dyson, Goldsborough's secretary, said: "If they had lasted another half hour or so the heavens opened and it might have been rained off."
Daily Telegraph

Crime doesn't pay?

2006-07-26T03:42:00.000-07:00

Â£61m a day profit puts Mafia on a par with Fiat
By Malcolm Moore in Rome
(Filed: 26/07/2006)

The Mafia made Â£61 million a day last year in Italy through protection rackets, bribes and illegal money lending, according to a new report.
The new turnover - which excludes income from drugs and gun-running - puts the Mafia on a par with Fiat and Enel, two of the country's largest companies.
The criminal empire earns five times as much as Telecom Italia, the state telephone monopoly.
Daily Telegraph

Fat end of the wedge?

2006-07-26T03:34:00.000-07:00

NHS has to buy tougher beds to cope with fat patients
By David Sapsted
(Filed: 26/07/2006)

Increasing obesity is forcing hospitals to spend thousands of pounds on reinforced beds to accommodate patients weighing more than 40 stone.
Mortuaries are also having to increase the size of fridges in which bodies are stored as figures show that more than two thirds of the UK population are now clinically overweight.
The issue was highlighted yesterday when the Norfolk and Norwich University Hospital announced that it was having to spend Â£40,000 on equipment - including beds, hoists, armchairs and commodes - to cater for very fat patients.
Two months ago, a distraught Norfolk family was told that their dead mother could not be cremated in her home city because, at 22 stone, she was too large for the crematorium.
The body of Penelope Stapleton, 61, from Norwich, who died from a heart attack, had to be transported more than 100 miles for cremation in Watford.
Daily Telegraph

Time off for good behaviour

2006-07-26T03:23:00.000-07:00

And they're off: MPs pack their bags as 76-day holiday begins
By George Jones, Political Editor
(Filed: 26/07/2006)

MPs left Westminster yesterday for a 76-day summer recess, though it could be the last time they get such a long holiday.
When MPs return on Oct 9 for the "spillover session" before the Queen's Speech on Nov 15, Mr Straw will seek a debate and vote on whether next year there should be a return to September sittings.
But he is not optimistic, as he believes that many MPs like being away from London for 11 weeks in the summer.
Daily Telegraph

No passport needed, just Burke's Peerage

2006-07-25T02:45:00.000-07:00

Resort ready to do battle with its enemy at the gates
By David Sapsted
(Filed: 25/07/2006)

Battle was joined yesterday over plans to install a safety barrier at a level crossing that serves as the gateway to one of the country's most genteel seaside resorts.
Frinton-on-Sea in Essex, which still outlaws ice-cream sales and ball games on its seafront, has been on the wrong end of recent planning battles over establishing a fish and chip shop, a pub and a betting shop in the town.
Now the final straw has come in a plan by Network Rail to replace "the gates" - the white wooden gates at the manned level crossing along the only public road into the Victorian resort.
Frinton proper starts only once you have passed through the gates. Local legend has it that townspeople used to padlock them in the middle of the 20th century to prevent charabancs carrying the "wrong sort of people" from London to Frinton on day trips.
"Paris has its Eiffel Tower, London has Tower Bridge and, in Frinton, we have the gates," said Terry Allen, the deputy mayor.
Daily Telegraph

Honestly Different

2006-07-25T02:44:00.000-07:00

Tenth of Italian MPs in trouble with law
By Malcolm Moore in Rome
(Filed: 25/07/2006)
Almost one in 10 members of the Italian parliament is either on trial, awaiting an appeal, or has a conviction, only a decade after the political classes were purged by anti-corruption prosecutors.
Italy is also served by 25 MPs who have criminal convictions, the highest number ever recorded.
Italians believe that most of the people involved in running the state are furbi, or cunning, and politicians are sometimes described as diversamente onesti, or "differently honest".
"This is a very Italian thing,"said Marco Travaglio, one of the authors of Honourable Men Wanted, which lists charges against more than 80 MPs.
Daily Telegraph

Sailing Bark

2006-07-25T02:43:00.000-07:00

Bilbo, the doggy-paddling lifeguard
By Richard Savill and Michael Fleet
(Filed: 25/07/2006)

Bilbo, a five-year-old Newfoundland, has become Britain's only fully-qualified canine lifeguard.
He has passed fitness and swimming tests to join the team that patrols the busy beach at Sennen Cove in Cornwall. He even has his own lifeguard's vest with safety messages written across to warn holidaymakers not to go beyond the designated swimming and surfing areas.
Daily Telegraph

Glowing picture of Scotland

2006-07-24T01:51:00.001-07:00

Radioactive scrap left lying for eight years
Last updated: 24-Jul-06 01:16 BST

A SHIPMENT of radioactive scrap metal that arrived in Scotland eight years ago has been found to be still lying in storage, awaiting a decision on its fate.
The cargo, which was shipped from Egypt to Coatbridge in Lanarkshire in 1998, has become the source of a long-running dispute between the UK and Egyptian governments over its ownership.
According to the Scottish Environment Protection Agency (SEPA), the scrap had been brought to the UK to be disposed of, but when it was found to have low levels of naturally occurring radioactivity, it was decided it should be sent back.
A SEPA spokeswoman said: "Efforts have been ongoing to secure the repatriation of the shipment, in line with guidance and policy from Scottish Executive.
New Scotsman

Restless soul

2006-07-24T01:49:00.000-07:00

Tug-of-war over priest's body is finally resolved
By Rahul Bedi
(Filed: 24/07/2006)

The body of an eccentric English cleric who spent four decades working to improve the lot of India's lower castes has finally been laid to rest after being exhumed and re-buried three times in a bizarre tug-of-war.
The battle over where the remains of Fr Mark Barnes should lie had been fought between his supporters and the Catholic Church since he died in an accident 17 months ago while making cartridges for his shotgun.
The priest's body was interred on Saturday inside the compound of St Mary's Convent School, which he had founded in Gumtala village, 300 miles north of New Delhi.
The Church wanted him interred in the priest's cemetery at Jalandhar, but his -supporters insisted on burying him at the school he opened for their children. His body was originally buried at the spot where it now lies, much to the chagrin of the Church.
On the orders of the local authority, the body was secretly exhumed by police on the night of the funeral.
The police had it hastily re-buried in a Muslim graveyard before once more exhuming and re-burying it in a plot adjoining a Hindu funeral ground.
After 17 months of legal wrangling, the Church agreed to re-bury the priest at his original resting place and to erect a memorial on the spot.
Daily Telegraph

World's Oldest Boozer?

2006-07-24T01:43:00.000-07:00

Oldest brewery is older
By David Sapsted
(Filed: 24/07/2006)

A brewery that boasts of being Britain's oldest is even older than it thought.
Shepherd Neame, of Faversham, Kent, has made great play of the fact that beer has been brewed at the same site since 1698. But today, when it reopens its visitor centre after a Â£350,000 revamp, John Owen, a local historian and the brewery's archivist, will reveal that there has been brewing there since at least 1573. The company is now rewriting its history.

Daily Telegraph

Beware! Cats in the road

2006-07-24T01:37:00.000-07:00

Smart cats' eyes to make roads safer
By David Millward
(Filed: 24/07/2006)

The humble cat's eye, invented in 1934, is to undergo a major high-tech overhaul.
First introduced on Britain's roads by Jim Callaghan in 1947 when he was a junior transport minister, the cat's eye is to become an "intelligent road stud" that will do a lot more than just help motorists follow the road at night.
The studs get brighter as visibility worsens and can be made to flash at the flick of a switch.
They can alert drivers to ice by turning blue when the road temperature drops below freezing and warn them of delays ahead by being switched to red or flashing amber.
The test studs on the M8 are connected to the national grid, but trials of solar-powered studs, which are not as bright, have been taking place in other areas, including Peterborough and the Vale of Glamorgan.

Daily Telegraph

Red Baron's Curse

2006-07-24T01:30:00.000-07:00

Daughter jailed as society murder trial shocks Brazil
By Andrew Downie in Rio de Janeiro
(Filed: 24/07/2006)

A descendant of Manfred von Richthofen, the German pilot known as the Red Baron, has been sentenced to almost 40 years in jail in Brazil for bludgeoning her parents to death.
Suzane von Richtofen, the 22-year-old daughter of the great-nephew of the First World War ace, was described in court as "the personification of an evil blonde".
She was convicted along with her boyfriend, Daniel Cravinhos, and his brother Cristian.
All three had taken a cocktail of marijuana, paint-thinner and glue. Prosecuting lawyers argued that the trio killed the couple in order to inherit their estate.
The murders took place in October 2002 but because Brazil's legal system works slowly the trial only took place this week.
The three ransacked the house and stole money in an attempt to make their crime resemble a botched break-in, but police detained Daniel Cravinhos after he paid for a new motorbike in cash the day after the murders.
In a country where elaborate soap operas of evil, sex, and intrigue regularly attract tens of millions of viewers, the trial surpassed anything dreamt up by the nation's scriptwriters.
In one of the most telling moments, television cameras caught one of von Richthofen's lawyers instructing her to cry during a television interview broadcast on the eve of the trial. She also laughed several times during the trial, causing outrage in the packed courtroom.
Daily Telegraph

Aaaagh! The Pipes! The Pipes!

2006-07-24T01:23:00.000-07:00

Pipers are curbed by safety code
By Kate Devlin
(Filed: 24/07/2006)
Soldiers learning to play the bagpipes have been told to limit their practice sessions to only 24 minutes a day, or 15 minutes when indoors.
Pipers will also have to wear ear plugs under the new guidelines brought in by health and safety officials.
The advice, aimed at preventing soldiers from suffering hearing problems, was issued after a study by the Army Medical Directorate environmental health team.
Tests showed that outdoors the sound of bagpipes could reach 111 decibels, slightly louder than a pneumatic drill. Indoors, the instrument could reach 116 decibels, or as loud as a chainsaw.
Daily Telegraph

Cosy cossy

2006-07-21T03:40:00.000-07:00

Muslim full-body swimsuits join the beach bikinis
By Oliver Poole in Istanbul
(Filed: 21/07/2006)

The beaches of Turkey, crowded with women in bikinis or sunbathing topless, are witnessing a new phenomenon: neck-to-ankle swimwear worn by increasingly confident Muslim women.
The Islamic swimwear consists of a full-body suit and a hood that is pulled over a tight bonnet. The development is worrying the country's secularists and there have been reports of lifeguards ordering women off beaches for wearing the suits.
Daily Telegraph

Frozen out

2006-07-21T03:10:00.000-07:00

American pullout leaves Iceland defenceless
By David Rennie in Reykjavik
(Filed: 21/07/2006)

The people of Iceland are about to join one of the world's smallest clubs - those nations without armed forces on their territory to defend their borders.
The United States, which had assured Iceland's defence for decades, stunned the country in March when it announced that it would be closing its bases on the island, withdrawing its F-15 fighters and thousands of servicemen in the space of just six months.
The only time Iceland has been invaded in modern history was by British forces, in May 1940.
Daily Telegraph

Daylight Robbery

2006-07-21T03:03:00.000-07:00

'Hero' sub-postmaster is told to repay half of raiders' haul
By Stewart Payne
(Filed: 21/07/2006)

A sub-postmaster beaten and left unconscious by robbers has been told that he must repay Â£3,000 of their haul to the Post Office.
Dilip Karavadra, 42, was attacked with a crowbar, receiving severe head injuries and a broken arm requiring a metal plate. He was taken into intensive care and needed physiotherapy to help him walk again.
After returning to work he was told that he must repay Â£3,000 of the Â£6,695 stolen because he had contributed to the loss by moving away from an open parcel hatch through which the raiders launched their attack in Upper Caldecote, Herts.
Daily Telegraph

Evening, all !!

2006-07-20T03:27:00.000-07:00

WPc 'spent her evenings as a prostitute'
(Filed: 20/07/2006)

A policewoman in New Zealand has avoided the sack despite revelations that she spends her evenings working as a prostitute.
The officer, who has not been named, was censured by her bosses but allowed to remain in her job after agreeing to give up her rather original night duties.
Jon Neilson, a police spokesman, said the officer had taken up "secondary employment due to financial difficulties," for a brief period but had not sought police approval to work in the sex industry.
Daily Telegraph

Shipping list

2006-07-20T03:26:00.000-07:00

Hundreds injured in cruise ship lurch
(Filed: 20/07/2006)

Dozens of British holidaymakers are recovering after a sudden heavy lurch of their 113,000-tonne cruise liner left 240 passengers injured.
Nearly 100 passengers had to be taken to hospital after the Crown Princess vessel heavily listed to starboard about 11 miles off the coast of Florida last night.
The ship, which had been heading to New York, returned to Port Canaveral in Florida and the Britons will be flown to New York today and then will return to the UK.
The film Titanic had been showing on the liner when the listing happened, and some passengers said it appeared that life was imitating art.
Daily Telegraph

2006-07-19T03:59:00.000-07:00

Argos delivery too slow, say prisoners
By Paul Stokes
(Filed: 19/07/2006)

Some of the country's most dangerous prisoners have complained about poor television reception and delays in receiving goods from the Argos catalogue.
Inmates raised the issues in a list of grievances with managers at the maximum security Full Sutton prison, near York.
They also claimed that cells were smelly and too hot, food portions too small and visits were delayed because a dog handler was not always available for searches.
The 19-year-old prison holds category A and B prisoners and has a capacity of 613. Among the complainants is Kenneth Noye, who is serving a life sentence for the road rage killing of Stephen Cameron in 1996.
Full Sutton's joint consultative committee, a representative body for inmates, aired the gripes during a regular meeting with managers. They included problems of goods ordered from Argos not being delivered for up to two weeks.
Daily Telegraph

Tat Gallery

2006-07-19T03:37:00.000-07:00

Tate broke charity laws by buying art from its trustees
By Nigel Reynolds, Arts Correspondent
(Filed: 19/07/2006)

The Tate Gallery has been found guilty of breaking charity laws for buying works of art by its own trustees.
The Charity Commission discovered that the Tate spent more than Â£700,000 on seven works of art by trustees in the past nine years, but did not seek independent valuations or even require the artist-trustees to leave the room while the purchases were approved.
In a withering report, following a nine-month investigation, the commission said that it "had found serious shortcomings in the processes for managing conflicts of interests". The commissioners went on: "In any charity we would be concerned that such basic matters were neglected, but in a charity of the size and stature of the Tate we are very disappointed."
The verdict - that the Tate broke charity law but not the criminal law - is one of the most serious indictments of the running of one of the nation's major cultural institutions in living memory.
However, Sir Nicholas Serota, the director of the two Tate galleries, Britain and Modern, and the most powerful figure in modern British art, said that neither he nor the current trustees saw any reason to resign.
The investigation was prompted by a row last autumn when The Stuckists, an art movement opposed to the Tate's championing of conceptualist art, disclosed that the Tate paid Â£705,000 (only Â£600,000 to the Tate because VAT could be reclaimed) to Chris Ofili, a former Turner Prize winner and one of its trustees, for a work called The Upper Room in 2003. It was made up of 13 canvases decorated with his trademark elephant dung.
Critics not only questioned the price but it emerged that Victoria Miro, Ofili's agent, had asked Sir Nicholas to speed up the purchase because the artist needed the money urgently because he was getting married.
Daily Telegraph

Chocolate teapot

2006-07-18T05:53:00.000-07:00

Chocolate that keeps its cool in summer
(Filed: 17/07/2006)

Scientists have come up with a mouthwatering invention which could change the lives of chocoholics in the summer - a type of chocolate that does not melt in the heat.
Hot weather has long been the bane of chocolate fans, reducing bars to a gooey mess, but experts at the Cocoa Research Institute of Nigeria claim to have the answer. The chocolate that they have created stays firm up to 122F (50C), while normal products melt at temperatures between 77F (25C) and about 91F (33C).
Researchers mixed corn starch with cocoa to produce a heat-resistant chocolate that, they say, compares "favourably with conventional milk chocolate in terms of colour, taste, smoothness and overall acceptability".
The starch acts as a chocolate thickener and prevents the cocoa butter running in the heat.
Daily Telegraph