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23.10.12
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Thug jailed for decking Wednesday goalie Chris Kirkland on pitch
A THUG fan has been jailed for four months for decking goalie Chris Kirkland on the pitch during a top televised game. Aaron Cawley, 21, told cops he had drunk a bottle of vodka, several cans of strong lager and up to TEN pints of cider before the disgraceful attack.
He claimed he could not remember doing it - but today admitted assault and entering the field of play during Sheffield Wednesday’s home match against Leeds United on Friday night.
Wednesday keeper Kirkland, who has played for England, was shoved to the ground moments after conceding an equaliser in the 76th minute.
Sky Sports cameras clearly showed Cawley running into Kirkland's penalty area, flooring the shocked goalie with a two-handed shove to his face and smirking as he raced back towards the Leeds supporters area at the Hillsborough stadium.
vicious.sid: Every match: two matches a week, on past experience including travel, a couple of pints and a pie, that'll be about a hundred to 150 quid a week. Plus his fags, no doubt. I'd LOVE to know where he's getting the money!
23.10.12
Walk home? You'll need a £16 council permit: Householders forced to pay charge to gain access through car park
Householders have been told to pay £16-a-year for a ‘pedestrian permit’ - giving them the right to walk through a council-owned car park to their homes.
Letters demanding the money also wanted a further charge of £122 a year to allow vehicle access to the rear of the houses.
Tory-run Canterbury council also said the homeowners would need to take out £2million of public liability insurance.
Pay to use: Bisson's Car Park in Whitstable, Kent, where Canterbury City Council has demanded residents take out 'pedestrian permits' to allow people to walk through it
The council bought the land at the back of the 14 homes in Whitstable, Kent, by compulsory purchase in 1995.
The council also said that homeowners would need to take out public liability insurance to the tune of £2million each, just in case someone had an accident.
The letter states: ‘To continue using the council’s land for gaining vehicle access to the rear of your property, I am required to offer you an annual access licence of £122 for a vehicle and £16 for a pedestrian licence, renewable on April 1.’
Local Andy Finch said he ‘couldn’t believe it’ when he read the letter - which effectively forces him and his neighbours to pay an annual fee just for using their back door.
In addition, they will have to pay a further £122 a year to allow vehicle access to the rear of their houses in Whitstable (pictured)
He said: ‘I thought it was a genuine April Fools’ joke - it is an insult to everyone else who already pays their council tax.’
The letter asks the 14 homeowners to sign a 13-clause licence agreeing to its terms and conditions - including the £2m public liability insurance - but none have accepted and they have all complained to the council.
Labour councillor Phil Cartwright said: ‘I have pointed out to the chief executive that maps from the 1930s show an access route and pathway.
‘If this is so, I fail to see how the council can legally charge the owners now. If they do, what next? Toll booths on council footpaths?’
vicious.sid: Come on, you have admit that's funny. If I received that letter I would have laughed out loud!!! It's like something you expect to see on the Sopranos! You can just imagine the council posting bouncers on your back gate: "Sorry mate, you ain't got a permit, you ain't goin' in." Somebody somewhere in the council has actually considered it and taken it seriously! Oh, well, it looks like the council workers will have to have plain digestives with their tea instead of the chocolate ones for now. Hold on, I've got another idea, why don't we charge them an extortionate amount of money just for actually living in the borough . . . oh no, done that. I know, what about the amount of air that they breathe . . ?
23.10.12
UK has never been more disillusioned with the EU
The British have never been more disillusioned with the European Union, William Hague will warn today as the Government fights a new rise in the Brussels budget.
The Foreign Secretary will use a speech in Berlin to insist that Germany must allow the UK to reclaim powers from Brussels or risk the collapse of the EU.
He will fire the warning shot as Britain and Germany continue to clash over the size of the future EU budget.
Foreign Secretary William Hague will tell a German think tank today that Britain is committed to the EU, but must be allowed to reclaim some powers from Brussels
David Cameron yesterday vowed to stick to his guns and veto the Budget at a summit next month if it leads to an inflation-busting rise. But German Chancellor Angela Merkel is backing a larger increase in spending and officials acknowledge there will have to be ‘a negotiation’.
Mr Hague will today depict Brussels as ‘a great machine that sucks up decision-making from national parliaments’.
He will tell the leading German foreign policy think tank the Koebler Foundation: ‘This Coalition Government is committed to Britain playing a leading role in the EU.
‘But I must also be frank. Public disillusionment with the EU in Britain is the deepest it has ever been.
‘People feel that in too many ways the EU is something that is done to them, not something over which they have a say.’
Mr Hague will also warn that the last vestiges of support will collapse in the UK unless there is change.
vicious.sid: To be fair, the only people in the world who are not disillusioned with the EU are the MEPs with their big piles of Euros.
23.10.12
No more let-offs for knife thugs, says PM: And offenders will be tracked by satellite technology
Criminals caught carrying a knife should no longer expect to escape with a caution, David Cameron said yesterday.
The Prime Minister announced a review of laws that have meant one in five people caught with a blade escapes punishment.
And Justice Secretary Chris Grayling will today unveil measures meaning that all adult community sentences will have to include a punitive element, and that offenders will be tracked by satellite technology.
Prime Minister David Cameron (right) was escorted around C wing by prison officer Margaret Vaughan, during a visit to Wormwood Scrubs Prison in west London today ahead of his speech on crime
Access to the GPS data will allow probation officers to follow the movements of those who have been tagged.
In his first major law and order speech since the election, Mr Cameron said: ‘We are looking at toughening up knife sentences, because to me a caution for carrying a knife does not seem enough.’
Before their victory in 2010 the Tories had pledged to bring in automatic jail sentences for anyone caught carrying a knife.
But – to the fury of many Tory backbenchers – Mr Grayling’s predecessor Kenneth Clarke watered down the plans, bringing in mandatory jail sentences only for those convicted of aggravated knife possession.
This means 22 per cent of people caught with a knife go to jail, with 28 per cent getting a community sentence and 13 per cent a suspended jail sentence. Cautions are given in the bulk of the remaining 37 per cent of cases.
vicious.sid: This does whiff of desperation a bit,doesn't it? They know they'll be out on their derrieres at the next election so they are now, at long last, saying the things that the people actually want to hear (and, just for the record, what the people actually want them to DO but that's a different matter altogether!). Let's wait and see if they actually do anything. What I don't understand is why they didn't say all this right at the beginning? Maybe they've been negotiating all this time and now the government are going to buy the system for a million quid and sell it to us plebs for a billion quid - that I would believe.