Thank you, whoever you are, for making this point.

Dear driver of a hideous gray Peugeot 207CC,

This afternoon, your vehicle, with registration FX58 YFF, was spotted parking in a Tesco underground car park like this:

I just wanted you to know that you're a proper twat. I hope someone angrier than me throws a brick in your windshield.

Sincerely,

Simon Templar

This week, the British Gibraltar celebrated its 306th birthday. The capture of Gibraltar in 1704 marked an important milestone for the Empire as it gave us the control of the passageway from the Atlantic Ocean to the Mediterranean, and from the Mediterranean to the Atlantic Ocean. It's strategically a very important place and it became an important base for Royal Navy. In every sense, there is no wonder the Spaniards, after ceding Gibraltar to the United Kingdom in 1713 by the Treaty of Utrecht, have always wanted to get it back. Fortunately, the people of Gibraltar have said twice in referendums that they prefer to remain essentially British, under the sovereignty of the Crown.

Gibraltar is one of my favourite places in the world. Not only because the climate there is so perfect. Not only because it's like an English oasis. Also because it's the one and only place where Christians, Jews and Muslims can live in peace and harmony. They've done it for ages and they continue to do so, and nothing seems to alter that harmony and their lives.

It is a rather small enclave and it probably wouldn't be that fulfilling and fun to live there as in London, but it's certainly a place where I would want to live if I weren't a Londoner. I've visited that peninsula a numerous times and enjoyed it immensely every single time. They even cook steak like they do in Britain!

I also love Spain dearly and enjoy my every visit there. But in the quarrel for Gibraltar, I firmly side with the United Kingdom. It's is part of the Empire and will remain so.

Here are a few photos of Gibraltar, to celebrate its Britishness and its anniversary.

This signpost decorates Land's End - the most southwesterly and westerly point of England and the UK mainland (the most westerly point of UK in its entirety is, of course, Canada):

While it is indeed nice to know that the distance to John O'Groats from Land's End is 874 miles, it is rather pointless to actually mention it. As John O'Groats is - apart from being thought to be the northernmost point of the UK mainland - quite frankly, nothing.

A simple geography lesson in elementary school would teach anyone that the northernmost point of the UK mainland is, in fact, Dunnet Head, about 11 miles westnorthwest from John O'Groats. If you don't believe me, believe the map.

The village of Pluckley in Kent is said to be the most haunted village in England. According to Guinness World Records, there are twelve ghost in the village - but some claim there are even 13 or 14.

I don't believe in ghosts and it does sound somewhat peculiar to me how something so abstract can be added to Guinness World Records. However, having been in the village and its churchyard, one can say that something is certainly going on there.

This is the churchyard of Pluckley. According to the legend, Red Lady - Lady Dering - haunts the grounds of the St Nicholas church. She was supposedly buried in seven lead coffins within an oak one and placed in the church's crypt. She is said to wander the churchyard in search of the unmarked grave of her stillborn child.

In addition to the Red Lady, there's also a White Lady that haunts the inside of the church, as well as the Dering family house library in their manor of Surrenden Dering. A legend says that some Mr Walter Winan saw the White Lady and shot at her, and the shot passed through the supposed ghost.

I didn't see neither of those two ghost, but I did hear walking sounds in the churchyard. There was no one (visible) making these sounds, and soon the sounds faded. So go figure.

Another interesting ghost in Pluckley is the Gypsy Woman or Watercress Woman.

According to the legend, she has been seen on this bridge, called Pinnock Bridge, smoking a pipe. She used to sell watercress which she found in the steam. She haunts this site since she was burnt to death in her sleep. Some people who have seen her have described it as being a misty figure sitting on the bridge.

As you can see on the photo, she unfortunately wasn't there at the time.

Other than the ghosts, Pluckley is just a regular Kent village. There are prettier.

According to American scientists, about five million barrels of oil leaked from the spill in the Gulf of Mexico. While most outlets usually talk about the environmental damage the oil spill caused, I decided to take a look at the practical side.

Considering we're running out of oil and no real alternative (except for hydrogen, which is still relatively difficult to "produce") has been invented, what is the loss from the oil spill to the people who use petrol in their every-day lives? Here you are.

From this five million barrels, 800 million litres or 175 million imperial gallons of petrol could have been produced. With an average properly big engine car, that roughly means eight billion kilometres - or five billion miles.

Which effectively means:
200,000 times around the Earth
13,333 times to the Moon and back
6.2 million times from London to Edinburgh and back
900,000 times from New York to Los Angeles and back
And probably a few times to the edge of the Universe and back.

And despite that BP sell some of the oil that has spilled (imagine, water-tainted petrol, who wouldn't want some of that!), I think they owe the carowners of Earth 175 million gallons of petrol.

Italian parliament approved a law on Thursday that raises the speed limit on country's motorways to 150 km/h (94 mph). Previously, the speed limit on autostrade was 130 km/h.

According to Italian news, the change affects 2000 of the country's 5000 km of motorways.

The law also introduces new penalties for speeding. If you drive at the speed of 158-167 km/h, you may be fined €38, and at 168-200 km/h, €155. So exceeding the generous limit can be unhealthy for your wallet.

I think Italy is probably the only country in the world where the speed limit has actually gone up. Most of the European countries constantly debate on lowering the limit - and the UK is no exception. Only last year a debate emerged to lower the speed limit on single carriageways from 60 mph to 50. Fortunately, that plan never materialised and hopefully the Coalition won't reignite the idiotic idea. In numerous other countries similar debates have taken place and in some, the supporters of cutting the speed limit have got their will.

In the UK, however, the simple fact is that only 5% (yes, that is five) of accidents where people get injured or killed, happen because of speed. Which makes one think, why is the speed limit on UK motorways so incredibly low.

While 30 mph in urban areas and 60 mph in single carriageways is reasonable, the 70 mph speed limit (112 km/h) on dual carriageways is one of the lowest in Europe. On average, the speed limit on other countries' dual carriageways is 130 km/h (81 mph). One exception is Germany, where there is no speed limit on the country's extensive motorway network (although the recommended speed is 130 km/h).

In the light of this, Italy has now become the country with second-highest motorway speed limit in Europe, after Germany. They have realised what has been happening in world's auto industry - cars have become faster and safer. Also speed limits should go along with the progress made in the car industry. Therefore, also the UK Coalition should think about making the motorways here more car-friendly. It's frustrating enough that in many cities and towns in the Empire, they just blindly hate cars. And especially because of that, a higher speed limit on motorways would compensate the drivers' frustration over not being able to drive in cities - at least they'd get from place to place faster.

Unlike the streets in Labour-controlled urban areas, the UK motorways are in a fair shape. Driving 80-90 mph on them is perfectly reasonable. And there are always the slower lanes for people who don't appreciate their time and the pleasure of driving.

The observant readers surely have noticed that The Empire Chronicles has changed a little. That is true.

It was time for a little rebranding. Despite the already known name, The Empire Chronicles you are visiting is a brand new website. Almost everything you see here is new.

This blog is now running on Movable Type rather than Wordpress. Movable Type just launched its version 5 and it's magnificent. It offers much more flexibility than Wordpress, and it's much faster to operate. And the administration looks better.

The design of The Empire Chronicles is once again blog-like rather than magazine-like, giving the readers full posts on home page and thus making them easier to read. No unnecessary clicking, no unnecessary gadgets, banners, bells and whistles. A pure simple blog with interesting posts.

The RSS feed is new - I suggest you update your feedreaders.

And most importantly - the author is new.

I hope to bring to you enjoyable reading, interesting commentary and fun photos from all over the world. You're always welcome to read The Empire Chronicles, comment and criticise, and suggest new topics and ideas.

When the authorities were investigating the crimes of the Sobibor death camp guard John Demjanjuk, now on trial in Munich, they stumbled upon a rather interesting case. When they were studying old documents from German post-war trials about the SS training camp Trawniki, they discovered one Samuel Kunz, now 88, who participated in the murder of more than 430,000 Jews at the Belzec death camp, and has, until this day, been living peacefully and has never been punished of the horrible crimes he committed.

A court in Bonn, Germany, indicted Kunz last week of horrid crimes during the Holocaust. According to the court documents, he was involved in the entire killing process - from taking victims from trains to pushing them into gas chambers to throwing their corpses into mass graves.

Kunz started working in Belzec when he was 20. He participated in mass murder from January 1942 to July 1943 - for one and a half years. In addition to helping to mass murder hundreds of thousands of people, according to the court documents, he also personally shot 10 people.

But what is more astonishing is that this mass murderer has never been prosecuted or punished. From 1943 to 2010, he has walked around a free man, and moreover, he worked at a government ministry.

After his discovery earlier this year, Samuel Kunz was also added to Simon Wiesenthal Centre's most wanted nazi war criminals' list at third place.

If we want to survive, if we want democracy and the rule of law to survive, it's our absolute duty to bring all criminals to justice. No matter how old they are or how long ago they committed their crimes. It's our absolute must. Statute of limitations does not apply with crimes against humanity and rightly so. We must make sure such events never occur again, and we must punish the people who are responsible for committing such crimes - and any crimes, for that matter.

Spanish eastern region of Catalonia banned the ancient noble art of bullfighting today. A victory for tree- (and bull-) huggers, but a great loss of everything that defines Spain and Spanish culture.

In the Catalan parliament, 68 of 135 MPs voted for the ban and 55 against. One of Spain's main parties, the centre-right Partido Popular said they are considering a legal challenge to overturn the ban, but I doubt the effort will be very successful. After all, Spain is not the US and people's will prevails over the courts' will.

At least, that is how it's supposed to seem. In a democracy, people elect a parliament and the MPs then fulfil people's wishes by their politics. So we can therefore say that the ban is the will of the Catalan people.

The only problem here is, Catalans are not a country. They are a comunidad in the Kingdom of Spain and there are no signs - no matter how much some people may wish it - that this status quo is going to change. Therefore, why does the Catalan parliament have such a right to ban something so utterly Spanish, something without Spain wouldn't be Spain we know? And I don't think it matters that the ban only applies in Catalonia - it's still Spain. See - Catalan autonomy is a perfect example of how it can negatively affect the country's culture.

The simple fact is, bullfighting is a deeply rooted part in the Spanish culture, and in its history. And frankly, in my opinion, also one of the best entertainments one could experience in Spain. It's so overwhelming to watch the bullfighters to graciously fight the fierce animals, to evade an angry bull and try to put on a show so memorable that all people in the arena just cheer uncontrollably for the fighter.

And from the bulls' point of view... well, there isn't one. They are raised for that effect - to be fought and to be killed. That's their life purpose - to give the people the greatest show experience they can ever see. And it's not like their meat will rot somewhere afterwards - even that serves a good purpose as the meat is later given to the poor. Everyone is happy. Or should be.

People who have never seen a bullfight may feel sympathetic toward the animals and be supportive of the Catalan legislation. But please, go to a bullfight. See what's going on there. And see how happy the people who watch it are. Or if you don't want to go, fine, don't. You may even be against it in your own closed little world. But remember that you have no right to tell the Spaniards what their culture must or mustn't be.

By the way, it's said that Ernest Hemingway brought his pregnant wife, Hadley, with him to a bullfight in Pamplona, hoping that the spectacle would have a positive influence on their unborn child. Hemingway was a huge fan of bullfighting, he has also said that the best place to experience one's first bullfight is in Ronda. And that is the reason why the tickets to Ronda's bullfights sometimes cost thousands of euros.