Fellow blogger TrueBlueBlood is promoting an event which he calls “Tory gay pride” – officially called “Conservative Pride”, and says that it’s “terrific news” that such an event is taking place. I’m sorry, but this time I have to disagree with him profoundly.
I’d like to ask, is there going to be a separate “hetero pride” event, too? If not, then it’s utterly unfair, isn’t it.
But it’s a valid question. Why do we have to emphasise …

Police will be given new powers to stop protesters during the London 2012 Olympics, the Daily Mail reports.
New measures to stop protesters during the Olympics will include giving officers and Olympics officials the power to enter private homes near the Olympic site and confiscate protest material.
The measures are aimed at preserving the monopoly of official advertisers on the London 2012 site, but the laws also include “non-commercial material” which campaigners fear could extend their reach …

Governor of California, Arnold Schwarzenegger, and California’s legislative leaders agreed yesterday on a plan to close the state’s $26 billion budget shortfall, potentially getting the state back on firm financial ground so it can stop issuing IOUs, the AP reports.
The governor and leaders from both parties announced the compromise after more than five hours of closed-door talks. If the agreement survives its run through both houses of the Legislature, it would provide temporary relief to …

It seems that the country can’t be in a better order as it is – at least Prime Minister Gordon Brown thinks so as he takes a month holiday in the Lake District.
He will be away from Westminster for almost all of August, returning only at the end of next month, as the Commons stays closed for a bumper 82 days, the Daily Mail reports.
He is due to take a break with wife Sarah and …

Astonishing apathy towards something so interesting – only 34% of Americans are willing to be a part of a mission to spacce if it didn’t cost them anything, a Rasmussen poll finds.
Fifty-eight percent are not willing to go to space, even for free, according to the poll.
Seventy percent of women have no interest in going into space, but the plurality of men (48%) are willing to try it. Americans aged 18 to 39 are much …

The mayor of the Romanian city of Constanta, Radu Mazare, goose-stepped with his son in nazi uniforms during a weekend fashion show, Ha’aretz reports.
Mazare said the uniform had no swastikas and was the uniform of a German infantry general and nothing to do with the SS.
“I was inspired from the Valkyrie movie … I wanted to dress like a Wehrmacht general because I’ve always liked this uniform, and admired the rigorous organisation of the German …

Islamic “justice” and sharia law at its best – an islamic court in Malaysia sentenced a woman to be flogged with a cane for havign a beer in a nightclub.
Kartika Sari Dewi Shukarno was sentenced yesterday to six lashes and a fine of 5,000 ringgit (£858) for consuming alcohol, the Daily Mail reports.
Shukarno, a 32-year-old model, pleaded guilty in the court in eastern Pahang state to a charge of drinking beer when Islamic authorities raided …

Millions of people in Asia will experience a blackout during a six-minute solar eclipse tomorrow morning, the Daily Mail reports.
The total eclipse, the longest to happen this century, will be experienced by swathes of India, China and southern Japanese islands.
The eclipse will first appear at dawn in India’s Gulf of Khambhat, just north of Bombay. It will move east across India, Nepal, Myanmar, Bangladesh, Bhutan and China before hitting the Pacific.
The eclipse will cross some southern …

Dutch capital Amsterdam is the most expensive place to park in, according to Colliers International survey. In the city of cannabis, daily parking can cost up to $70.77 – £43.18.
London’s City, however, is close second with daily parking cost of $56.68 (£34.59). Vienna and The Hague came in third and fourth – $56.62 (£34.55).
London’s West End was at the seventh place with daily parking cost of $51.82 (£31.60).
Daily parking in Copenhagen costs $47.28, Sydney $44.10, …

Stockwell Park High School has installed nearly 100 security cameras to monitor classrooms, corridors and play areas, the Daily Mail reports.
The £60,000-a-year surveillance system is believed to be the most extensive in a school.
Cameras also film lessons to help staff improve their technique and may be used to expose poor teaching.
The comprehensive intends to kit out every classroom with the technology because staff say it helps tackle truancy, indiscipline and false allegations against them.
Almost 100 …

Former Prime Minister Tony Blair has made a £2million profit on the London mansion he bought with help from the taxpayers, the Daily Mail reports.
Estate agents estimate the luxury 19th century home in Connaught Square is worth £6.6million. When Blair and his wife Cherie bought the townhouse, close to Hyde Park, in October 2004 it cost £3.65million.
In 2007, they bought the adjoining mews house for £800,000 – so the couple have forked out a total of £4.45million …

Migrant gangs in Calais, who try to get to the United Kingdom illegally, are targeting British holidaymakers in terrifying highway robberies, the Daily Mail reports.
Those criminals are forming human roadblocks to force motorists passing through the French port town to stop and then they rob the travellers at knifepoint.
About nine million Britons pass through Calais every year – 25,000 a day on average.
Calais’ police warned British tourists, asking them to keep their windows closed and …

The founder of the country’s oldest sharia court, “sheikh” Suhaib Hasan thinks that hardline islamic penal codes – such as amputation of limbs as punishment for theft – would make Britain safer and better place.
Hasan, the secretary of the Islamic Sharia Council, said that the enforcement of such laws was “something to bring you more peace and security”, the Times reports.
Hasan emphasised, however, that he neither sought nor expected the implementation of the criminal penal …

More voters trust the Conservatives more than Labour on public spending, according to a poll that severely undermines Prime Minister Gordon Brown’s election plans, the Times reports.
The exclusive Populus poll for The Times shows that four in five voters believe that significant cuts in public spending are inevitable after the next election, regardless of who wins.
The poll suggests that Labour is heading for certain defeat to the Tories in the by-election in Norwich North on …