Francis Ford Coppola’s Vietnam war film “Apocalypse Now” topped a poll marking 30 years of the London Film Critics’ Circle Awards, where it won best film in 1980, the Daily Telegraph reports.
The critics did not think there has been a better film since and placed it ahead of Steven Spielberg’s Holocaust epic “Schindler’s List” and the critics’ circle’s 2007 foreign-language winner “The Lives Of Others” (“Das leben der anderen”).
Starring Marlon Brando and Martin Sheen, Coppola’s …

Prime Minister Gordon Brown today announced that Britain’s total military effort in Afghanistan will increase to over 10,000 troops, the Press Association reports.
In a detailed Commons statement, Brown confirmed that all the conditions had been met to allow an extra 500 troops to be deployed in December – taking the force level to 9,500. He also disclosed that when special forces were included, the “total military effort” in Afghanistan will be in excess of 10,000 …

Children’s Secretary Ed Balls said today that Labour plan to tackle family breakdown by promoting any stable relationship, not just marriage, the Daily Mail reports.
“I think marriage is really important, but if what you know is that what makes the biggest difference is strong and stable relationships, what you cannot do is say “we will have a family policy which is only about marriage”. That ignores the wellbeing of relationships where there is not a …

The Office for Israeli Constitutional Law, a non-governmental legal action organization, sent a letter to US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton last week, warning that by labeling Jewish towns and villages in Judea and Samaria illegal she is violating international law.
The little-known Anglo-American Convention, a treaty signed by the US and British governments in 1924, stipulated that the US fully accepted upon itself the Mandate for Palestine, which declared all of Judea and Samaria within …

Communities Secretary John Denham said that Government bodies and councils have been blind to the needs of white working class communities, and called for a new focus on the needs of poor whites affected by mass immigration, the Daily Mail reports.
He said state agencies charged with tackling inequality and disadvantage should no longer focus solely on ethnic minority groups. Instead they must re-assess their priorities to include poor whites as well.
Denham said areas with high …

Thanks to the Arab boycott of Israel, which partially included Dubai, few Israelis have been exposed to the country’s financial crisis, Ha’aretz reports.
Few Israelis export to Dubai, and it seems very few have business connections with the Government’s Dubai World development arm, which has asked for a six-month moratorium on interest payments on its $59 billion in debt.
That does not mean that many Israelis did not try to do business in Dubai. Many made all …

The Conservatives appear to have officially turned into enviro-mentals, if I may borrow this term from Jeremy Clarkson – there is no other explanation to David Cameron’s weekend e-mail that sounds like it came from a socialist party’s extreme left fraction who chain themselves to trees and eat only grass.
The Conservative leader’s e-mail to the party’s mailing list came ahead the Copenhagen…

Winston Churchill, inarguably the best Prime Minister in British history, was born today 135 years ago, on 30th November, 1874.
Winston Leonard Spencer Churchill was born 2 months prematurely in Blenheim Palace, Woodstock, Oxfordshire. He grew up to be a soldier, officer, statesman, orator and a writer. He’s the only British Prime Minister to have received the Nobel Literature Prize, and the first person to be recognised as an Honorary Citizen of the United States.
During his …

The Scottish Government have published their white paper on Scotland’s constitutional future, which could pave the way for an independence referendum, the BBC reports.
First Minister Alex Salmond argues that Scotland must be independent to meet its full economic potential.
The minority SNP administration does not have enough support to pass a referendum bill as Labour, the Tories and the LibDems all oppose the plan, but the process could see Holyrood gain more power over taxation and …

The Dutch Freedom Party (PVV) said today that they would ask the Dutch Government to hold a referendum on banning the construction of minarets, following a similar vote in Switzerland.
“We will call upon the government to make a similar referendum possible in the Netherlands,” PVV leader Geert Wilders said, according to his weblog.
Yesterday, a large majority of Swiss voters cast ballots in favour of banning construction of the slender towers attached to mosques, despite …

A former asylum seeker is living in a luxurious £1.8million home fitted out with the latest mod-cons – all paid for by housing benefit, The Sun reports.
Taxpayers are forking out £1,600 a week so Somali mum Nasra Warsame, seven of her kids and her pensioner mum can lord it in central London for free.
Their pad has fixe storeys, six bedrooms – some with balconies – three sitting rooms, four bathrooms and a spacious, superbly fitted-out …

Iran is to build 10 new uranium enrichment plants, and the country’s Vice-President Ali Akbar Salehi accused the West of provoking his country into the plan, the BBC reports.
Salehi said that a UN demand for Iran to halt work on a recently revealed site had “prompted the government to approve the plan”.
Western powers say Iran is trying to develop nuclear arms. Iran says its nuclear programme is peaceful.
Iran’s proposed new plants would be of a …

An Austrian group have called for a ban on Father Christmas amid fears that the foreign invader is usurping the role of the traditional Christkind sprite, the Daily Telegraph reports.
Campaigners claim the jolly bearded man who brings presents and joy to children around the world is an invention of Coca Cola and synonymous with gaudy commercialism. They claim Father Christmas should be ditched in favour of the more traditional Christkind, or “Christ-child”, a tiny blond …

Terrorists killed 25 people on Friday in Russia, when a train was blown off the track by a bomb.
The Nevsky Express from Moscow to St Petersburg was carrying 661 passengers when it was blown off the track. More than 100 people were injured, 21 of whom are in a critical condition, The Times reports.
The head of the Russian Orthodox Church, Patriarch Kirill said that the attackers were determined “to frighten everybody who lives …

Israel’s Government are to release 980 Arab prisoners in exchange for IDF soldier Gilad Shalit, who was kidnapped by Hamas terrorists in 2006.
“As part of an agreement with Hamas, which would allow the return of soldier Gilad Shalit to Israel, there is a possibility for the release in principle of about 450 prisoners whose names are being delivered by Hamas, and whose release is being examined in detail in accordance with different considerations and …

Swiss voters yesterday approved a ban on new mosque minarets being built, AFP reports.
The referendum to ban the towers or turrets attached to mosques from where Muslims are traditionally called to prayer was approved yesterday by 57.5 percent of voters who cast ballots and in 22 out of the country’s 26 cantons.
Switzerland’s biggest party, the Swiss People’s Party (SVP), had forced a referendum after collecting a mandatory 100,000 signatures from eligible voters within 18 months. …