Smokers in eight of the 16 German states were taking a final, New Year's Eve puff Monday before a partial ban on smoking in restaurants and bars went into effect at midnight. The ban, in step with France's prohibition of bistro smoking from January 1, has angered many Germans, who have denounced it as an invasion of their personal liberty. The exact terms differ from state to state. Most allow premises to maintain separate bars for smokers.    more »

German leftists and liberals who oppose police access to telecommunications records demonstrated Monday and said they had filed a petition by 30,000 people for a constitutional-court review of the practice. The protests were held a day before new legislation comes into force requiring companies to retain records for six months of the to and from addresses of e-mail, time spent on the internet and phone numbers dialled by customers.   more »

As we enter into a new year, we discover another truth that our governments have been keeping from us, which is clearly heard in the David Frost interview with Benazir Bhutto filmed in November.that OSAMA BIN LADEN is dead, murdered.   more »

Since this movie The Wave was based on a real experiment at a high school in 1967, you can just ignore those who glibly claim that “it can’t happen here”. Unfortunately, it can happen here and it IS happening here. The proof is in the fact that I can’t even talk like this in public without the people around me getting very disturbed and hostile.   more »

Despite Gordon Brown announcing that Regional Assemblies were being abolished, they are still alive and well setting up an unelected alternative government structure, and sucking taxpayer and European money in like water, feeding property developers and other interested parties like sharks.   more »

Individual privacy is under threat in the United States and across the European Union as governments introduce sweeping surveillance and information-gathering measures in the name of security and controlling borders, an international rights group has said in a report.   more »

Reading the total drivel of the wannabe dictator Chris Hallam, I began writing something to rebutt his utterly stupid stance on smoking. But DK has done it so much better than I ever could, so I reproduce here for your delectation.   more »

The EU has put back the starting date of a requirement for the electronic identification of sheep and goats The EU Council of Ministers agreed in mid December that member states would have until the end of 2009 to implement the e-IDs, instead of the original date of the beginning of 2008. Seems all their efforts are now going into IDing people instead.   more »

The new Australian Government of Kevin Rudd has listened to the people of Australia and scrapped plans to introduce an Australian ID Card.   more »

As 2008 approaches, I have looked back at the 780 articles that I have written over the past year. It has given mixed feelings to read my own work, with the inevitable thoughts of 'wow, did I write that', but in re-reading some of the content a new fear grows for the direction that the UK, Europe and the rest of world is heading. The rise of Authoritarianism, the divisive use of Diversity and Multi Culturism, the banning of virtually anything that allows us to be individuals, and the writing of laws that make little or no moral sense. Laws which make law abiding people criminals for the most trivial things.   more »

Prof Richard West, the Government's leading smoking adviser, has called for a complete ban on smoking at the wheel. He said: "It may seem draconian but the Government should legislate." Well yes it is draconian, if a chap is in his own car - in effect his or her own property then they should damn well be able to smoke should they chose to do so.   more »

French smokers are holding their breath with fear that cafe culture - one of their country's cultural gifts to the world - will be extinguished when a ban on lighting up in public places comes into effect. We will all have that sense of deja vous, as we watch carefully to see how the French react to the EU imposed ban, to see whether they mildly accept it in the same way the British have watched their own pub culture being ripped apart.   more »

More than 90 percent of voters in the Swiss Canton of Obwalden have voted for a flat tax of just 1.8 percent. This is positive news for tax competition within Switzerland, and it doubtlessly will put even more pressure on Europe’s welfare states to reform oppressive tax regimes.   more »

Following the signing of the Lisbon Treaty another European member state has begun to close embassy facilities in overseas locations. The Philippine government expressed concern over the closure of Sweden's embassy in Manila at a time when bilateral relations are flourishing, an official said Friday. Foreign Affairs Secretary Alberto Romulo expressed regret over Sweden's decision to shut down its embassy next year because of 'budgetary constraints'.   more »

Germany's annual inflation rate climbed to 2.2 per cent in 2007, the highest since 1994, according to official figures released Friday. Bigger than usual price increases for energy and fuel as well as for many food products were major contributing factors to the higher rate, the Federal Statistics Office said. Last year, the inflation rate was 1.7 per cent.   more »

Hypocrites to the end, A government campaign will warn bosses that they face large fines and prison sentences if they are caught employing illegal migrant workers reports the BBC (Browns Bullshitter Chums).   more »

For someone in the Brown Government, Shahid Mailk has delivered a very ‘off message’ message to the Muslim population of England:   more »

'Cowards afraid of democracy' is how Gordon Brown described the assassins of Benazir Bhutto today in his statement from No.10. But Gordon Brown should look closer to home to view his own cowardice before making such hypocritical statements.   more »

Research by the European Services Strategy Unit shows that 105 outsourced public sector ICT contracts have significant cost overruns, delays and terminations. It found that cost overruns amounted to £9bn for the 105 projects, with an average percentage cost overrun of 30.5%. It also revealed that 30% of contracts were terminated and more than half (57%) had cost overruns.   more »

GORDON BROWN plans to give civil servants and government agencies the power to remove people’s passports without going through the courts. More fundamental rights to be taken away.   more »

Police have been given the go-ahead to use Taser stun guns against children. Home Office Police Minister Tony McNulty said medical assessments had confirmed the risk of death or serious injury from Tasers was "low". But he failed to mention Government advisers had also warned of a potential risk to children.   more »

Must England stand alone yet again. Must England be the only voice of sanity in a Europe being sucked in by the evil Empire led by the unelected dark forces in Brussels. Throughout history England has been the country to which the rest of Europe looked to save it from itself, an Island of freedom, justice and liberty.   more »

There is still some argument about the precise date on which it happened. Some assert that it was 18 October 2007, when prime minister Brown (see archive photograph, left – believed to be taken about that time) agreed in principle to what became known as the "Lisbon Treaty" – once the pretence that it was a "reform" treaty was no longer necessary.   more »

Today the European Union leaders signed the Lisbon Treaty. This treaty gives the EU the constitutional form of a state. These are the ten most important things the Lisbon Treaty does:   more »

David Miliband is the Minister responsible for Government policy towards its Iraqi ex-employees, including those in fear of their lives. In a recent webchat on the Number 10 website, Mr Miliband was asked the following question by Justin McKeating: 'I would like to ask the Foreign Secretary why the assistance being offered to locally employed staff in Iraq, who are being threatened with reprisals - including torture and death - from local militias, is being rationed according to length of service. Isn't it perfectly possible for an Iraqi employee who has only been employed for five months to face the same dangers as a colleague who has been employed for twelve months or longer?'   more »

Following the release of the US Intelligence report stating that Iran had given up its nuclear weapons programme in 2003, Keith Obermann, anchor man at MSNBC finally told President Bush what the American people think of him, Vice President Cheney and their use of terror as a political weapon against the American people. When will the BBC have the balls to give Gordon Brown the same message.   more »

In running my periodical Stats found that I have had a visitor who has taken a more than usual interest in the writings of IanPP, been logged into the site for nearly 24 hours solid and either reading or downloading everything ever written. (looking at the times between views looks more like downloading). Anyone care to own up to the IP address in the details below. Just to satisfy my idle curiosity!!   more »

The Road Haulage Association have agreed to back Transaction 2007 in “legal protest action”. The price of fuel in the UK is now higher than ever and mostly thanks to the crippling amount of tax put onto it by the British government. The average price of a liter of petrol is now over £1.00 thanks to a deferred increase in fuel duty imposed by Gordon Brown in his final budget before he was installed as Prime Minister.   more »

Perhaps the real reason why Gordon Brown does not want to go to Portugal is the news that Barosso, now head of the European Commission is embroiled in a party funding scandal that took place whilst he was Prime Minister of Portugal, almost identical to the Abraham's (and others) problems that Brown and the Labour Party has.   more »

The signs are all there for anyone to see, and time is getting short for action. So writes Michael Nenonen on Global Research. Reading this article, I have drawn the same conclusions with the European Commission, a fascist state in the making, drawing in everyone around, slicing away one by one at our freedoms, until we reach the point of no return.   more »

Out of the blue mist comes Cameron, trying to convince his European partners that he is a Libertarian. Trying very hard to convince those around him that he had nothing to do with the state of the nation as it sits today. Paying lip service to a Libertarian agenda shows how feeble a leader the Tories really have, not strong enough to follow Conservative principles, still backed by big business, still intent on taking us into Europe, still part of the problem, not the solution.   more »

Against the backdrop of illegal immigrants working as security personnel in our most sensitive government departments and Labour party funding scandals, now called Donorgate, this article from BBC-Bias blog, (13/11/07) demonstrates yet further reasons for the investigation and removal of the corrupt politicians currently 'in charge' of Britain.   more »

This article from the EU Referendum blog shows only one example of why British politics needs a radical shake up, to change, to wrest itself away from European Commission control, and begin to run the country in a manner which places the best interests of the British people first.   more »

Two weeks ago, MP Philip Davies raised an Early Day Motion, berating Gordon Brown's conflict of interest and signature of the Scottish Claim of Right. Only SIX MP's bothered to sign the EDM. So who can now claim to represent you and your interests?.   more »