"Gangnam
Style" YouTube hit spoofed by London dance group
A
dance troupe has taken to London's streets to make a spoof of the UK number one
South Korean single 'Gangnam Style'.
The
video begins with the parody frontman, Hanbit Cho, dressed like the rapper Psy
in a suit and pair of dark sunglasses.
Backed
by a group of nine dancers, he takes to the capital's landmarks to showcase the
distinctive horse galloping and arm thrust dance moves that made the original
into a worldwide YouTube sensation.
British thrill seeker wins
death-defying diving contest from 88 foot cliff into freshwater pools
The
death defying Red Bull competition in Oman was won by Englishman Gary Hunt, who
was crowned with the World Series championship title for the third time.
You need nerves of steel - or perhaps a complete lack
of common sense - to take part in this competition.
Thrill seekers scaled an 88ft cliff so they could dive
into emerald freshwater pools.
Roads turned to rivers as
THREE inches of rain and 70mph winds lash Britain in one day -Environment Agency issues 20 flood warnings and 97
alerts
-Parts of the UK saw as much as 60mm of rain in 36
hours
-Strongest winds forecast in the North East and parts
of Scotland
-Reports of marooned drivers and flooded homes in
Somerset
-Woman killed by falling branch at Kew Gardens,
London, yesterday
Interview with Labour MP Keith Vaz, chairman of the Home
Affairs Committee -Mr. Vaz
Romanian self-employed workers are being hugely discriminated lately as the
Department of Work and Pensions refuses their applications for a National
Insurance Number making it impossible for them to register as self-employed
with the HMRC for tax purposes. They cannot pay their tax and they can hardly
obtain new clients as they are seen by society as tax evaders. They present JobCentrePlus
with invoices from clients, recommendations, business insurance which although
not compulsory by law is requested by DWP, they need an accountant and they
prove they have tools and buy materials for their business and yet they are
refused on the grounds of failing to satisfy the DWP that they are
self-employed.
The Romanian Ambassador in the United Kingdom
addresses the Romanians in the UK on the occasion of the Easter Celebrations The holly Easter marks one of the most important
annual feasts, the fundamental event of Christianity, celebrating the
resurrection of our Lord, Jesus Christ. It is at the same time a festival of
spring, of nature's rebirth, a moment which brings peace, humanity and joy in
each and every soul.
The Easter celebration is met by us, Romanians,
yearly with a deep spiritual joy. This feeling is even stronger when we are
away from home, scattered around the world in the search for better living, but
with our hearts still at home; where the longing takes our thoughts and where
the roots are calling for us.
Reforming
the Welfare System
Along
withchanges to the NHS and education system,athird major structuralreform now
underway is the government's attempted overhaul of social security. Parts of
this have already been introduced but the main legislation, the Welfare Reform
Bill, remains stuck in Parliament as the Commons and the Lords argue over the
impact of the proposed measures.
Although
the House of Lords gives an impression of wealth, privilege and aristocracy,
its constitutional purpose is to scrutinise and revise legislation, often
savaging ill-considered schemes of the elected government.
Theresa May to split up UK Border Agency
Home
Secretary Theresa May has said the UK Border Agency will be split in two
following revelations that hundreds of thousands of people were let into the country
without appropriate checks.
She
told MPs the UK Border Force would become a separate law-enforcement body with
its own distinctive "ethos".
Mrs
May said officials had abandoned rules and gone further than ministers had
recommended in relaxing checks.
Wiltshire
Chief Constable Brian Moore will lead the new border force.
"I
was nervous, not hostile", says Quaker man (... but I wouldn't vote for PM)
It
was the image that appeared to show that David Cameron will have his work cut
out in convincing the Scots not to break away.
The Prime
Minister was greeted with a withering look when he visited a porridge factory
on a tour of Scotland designed to drum up support for the Union.
Quaker Oats
factory worker Ian McNeil's expression was salty rather than sweet when the
Conservative leader unexpectedly joined him for breakfast.
Worker restrictions revisited
In the next few weeks the UK government will take the
decision on whether to renew restrictions on A2 workers for a further, and
final, two years. Although there is a small chance these will be lifted, my
sense is that work permits for Romanians will remain in place until the end of
2013. An organised, and widespread,
effort to campaign against the restrictions never really got going, and now it
is too late to mount a meaningful challenge.
European legislation allows member
states to impose transitional measures on workers from other EU states for a
maximum of seven years under a 2+3+2 formula. Romania is now approaching the
fifth anniversary of its accession to the Union- the end of the 2+3 cycle
- and this is whythere might be some small glimmer of hope.
Rioting and overreaction
It is time for an exam question, I
hope you have all been paying attention . . .
"Explain the causes of the English
riots in August 2011, and suggest measures the government might take to prevent
a reoccurrence."
You have 90 minutes to answer, and
the best essays will be submitted to the government and may form part of its
policy response.
Perhaps you think they were the
result of gangs, the economy, cuts or bad teaching in schools. Then there is
the influence of hip-hop culture and video games, family breakdown or a failure
in policing. What about racial tensions
or immigration?
No bribes, please. We're
British
Britain's new Bribery Act comes into force tomorrow, 1 July. From tomorrow,
British nationals and British companies are subject to new rules which tighten
and extend legislation governing their activities overseas.
The Bribery Act makes it
illegal to give or receive a bribe anywhere in the world. It also requires
companies to take steps to prevent their employees and agents acting on their
behalf from indulging in bribery. A company might claim that it had no
knowledge of what its employee was doing, but unless it can prove that it had
the policies and procedures in place to prevent bribes from being given or
taken, it will still be liable to prosecution.
Interview
with HMA Martin Harris, the British Ambassador in Bucharest - What
are, from your perspective the most important issues encountered and likely to
be encountered by the British investors in Romania in the year of 2011?
- In 2011 Romania is going to
return to growth so predictably Romania's economy could
grow by 1.5% in 2011 and then further in 2012. There have been tough times
since the crisis hit in 2008. But we are now in gradual recovery which will
create new opportunities for British investors and British companies and quite
effectively the amount of bilateral trade will develop strongly and in fact we
have already seen that in Romania helping the UK trade grow.