8/19/2019 Union Jack News - February 2016

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8/19/2019 Union Jack News - February 2016

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Page 2 February 2016ujnews.com

in the past month . . . TODAY’S

BRITAIN

TODAY’S

BRITAIN

  I

DNA Could Soon Be New‘Weapon’ Against Dog PoopProblem, And Dog Owners

AFTER seeing DNA proving or disprovingguilt in courtroom scenes, or establishingparenthood and other family ties, one can

only marvel at the new use of DNA in catch-ing the neighbourbood dog that leaves it’sdaily droppings on your front lawn or path.

 Yes, in London, a pilot scheme to test theDNA of dog poo to try and catch owners whofail to clear up after their pet has begun. In

 truth it is the owners who are the offendersby not cleaning up after their animals.

Samples of dog mess will be collectedby officers from the Borough of Barking andDagenham Council and park rangers during

 the next three months.DNA will then be compared to a database

of registered owners.Although registering dogs has been vol-

untary for owners it will be required by lawfrom April. The council said it will assess thescale of the dog mess problem during the

 trial and whether people who f ail to comeforward to register their pets are responsiblefor the majority of it.

Registering pets with animal DNA spe-cialists PooPrints is free for the first 1,000registrations, the council said. Gary Downie,managing director of PooPrints UK said

 the technique was useful “in this age ofausterity”.

The dog poop problem is not one isolated to the UK. In the US, PooPrints is a service that has been offered in Knoxville, Tennesseefor two years. BioPet Vet Lab, specializesin testing DNA from dog poop to identifyoffending animals. BioPet has beefed up itsstaff with more scientists to meet demandfor what Eric Mayer, director of businessdevelopment, calls “a booming, growing,new product,” and has started distributing

 throughout the US and into Canada, Israeland Singapore in the past two years.

Frivalous 999 Emergency Calls

Continue To Keep Police BusyWILTSHIRE police recently released somemore examples of how not to use 999 and101 calls.

One woman phoned the police to report that there was a large poisonous spider in herhome preventing her from leaving.

The lady explained she had just had somefurniture delivered and believed the eightlegged creature might have travelled in acrate from overseas and ended up in herhome in Wiltshire.

The investigating officer went out to herhouse only to discover the large poisonousspider turned out in fact to be a piece of fluf funder the kitchen door.

Other calls included a homeless manwho rang police after he had been given asandwich and was worried someone was

 trying to poison him because the packet

had been slightly opened, so wanted anofficer to test it.And a woman rang the force worried that

she could not turn her broken tap off andwas overflowing. She was advised to take

 the plug out and call a plumber.Another crime recording operator, said:

“I recently took a call from someone whowas out rollerblading at night. The caller said

 they had come across a steep hill that they

couldn’t rollerblade up and wanted an officer to come and pick them up.”

A force spokeswoman said: “The cam-paign aims to educate the public and reducedemand on the crime and communicationcentre and highlight the excellent work of ourcall handlers who are often under extremely

difficult circumstances.”

Bad Brit Teeth A Myth?:US Have More Missing Teeth

IT WOULD seem that the British public, long the butt of dentistry jokes told by Americans,has now been issued bragging rights by thescientific community.

According to an analysis of dental surveysin England and the United States, The BritishMedical Journal determined that Americanadults have more missing teeth than theirEnglish counterparts, 7.31 compared with6.97.

The study concludes that the oral healthof United States citizens is not better than

 the English.Stories about the study were being widely

shared online last month, especially in Brit-ain, but it should be noted that the findings

have significant limitations.For example, it mainly focused on oneclinical measure of dental health: the num-ber of missing teeth, which researcherssay could be explained, in part, by differentapproaches to wisdom teeth extraction.The study did not take orthodontics or aes-

 thetic dentistry into account, and research-ers pointed out that self-reported patientinformation is often subjective.

The study added that “wider societaldifferences in welfare policies exist, withEngland having a more comprehensive rangeof ‘safety net’ policies which may help toreduce oral health inequalities.”

Though the British have long beenmaligned for having bad teeth, the studyalso points out that plenty of pop culturereferences exist, but few studies have everassessed the comparative dental health of

 the two countries. (A craggy-toothed British

secret agent portrayed by the actor MikeMyers provided the perfect title for the study,called “Austin Powers Bites Back.”)

Great-Grandmother ReceivesCourt Threat Over 2p

Outstanding On TV LicenceIRIS JAMESON, a widowed great-gran wasshocked to receive a final TV licence demandwith a threat of a £1,000 fine – over a 2pshortfall.

Jameson, 74, found herself strugglingwith her household bills after the death ofher husband Kenneth last year.

She then got a computer-generated letterfrom TV Licensing telling her she owed anextra 2p – and was told she could be pros-ecuted if she didn’t pay up.

Housebound Jameson was extremely

upset and her daughter Lesley Cromack hashit out at those responsible for the “disgust-ing” letter.

She said: “My dad sorted the televisionlicence out and because he was 78 he wasentitled to a free one.

“My mam didn’t realise this and justphoned up and had the licence changed intoher name, not thinking any more about it.

“Then out of the blue she got this letter

saying she owed them 2p.“It is quite a nasty letter as well, sayingshe was at risk of breaking the law and

 threatening legal action, and for someone ofher age this was very frightening.

“She has been really upset by it.”A TV Licensing spokesperson said:

“We have apologised to Mrs Jameson andinformed her she doesn’t need to pay theamount requested in the letter, which wasgenerated automatically by a computer.

Glasgow Billboard ‘Sausage Ad’Stars Johnnie Depp …!!?

A PRANKSTER in Glasgow last month turned a Christian Dior billboard ad, featuringJohnnie Depp, into an appetising sausageadvertisement.

The Pirates of the Carribean star has beenplastered on billboards across the planet

advertising Christian Dior’s new fragrance– Sauvage; but, in Glasgow he’s the frontman for sausages.

The joker in Glasgow changed the ‘v’ insauvage to an ‘s’ and the imaginations ofpassers-by was transformed from a high-end after-shave to the sound and smell ofsizzling bangers.

The joke was captured on camera byone local who posted it on Twitter with themessage: “found this is Glasgow today”.

Hopefully Depp would see the funny sideof his apparent new product support.

International Airline BookingTip That Can Save You Money

WE SPOTTED this last month and felt it waswell worth passing on to our readers.

This one simple airline trick could saveyou a lot of money

By booking your ticket through the homewebsite of an airline, you could make someserious savings.

If you are going on a holiday that requiresyou to take internal flights within a foreigncountry (which can mean the UK or Ireland tomany of our readers) it is more cost effective

 to book the ticket through the home websiteof that airline.

By putting your “base” as that country,significant savings can be made on tickets

 that often have extra costs involved if youare a tourist.

Erica Ho, a travel expert, decided to inves- tigate after spotting that her internal flightswere always cheaper if she left booking untilshe was in the country she was visiting.

She stuck to using a site like ITA Google to search for f lights instead of SkyScanneror Kayak, which automatically assumed shewas booking in another country.

This way she was able to change thelocation of the point of sale and pay for it in the currency of her choice.

For example, when booking a flight fromCartegena to Bogota in Colombia, with herhome location being New York and currencyin US dollars, the total was $137 (£89).

But when she changed her point of sale to Cartegena and the currency to Colombianpeso, the total was 269,340 Colombian

pesos (£57.06), despite it being the exactsame trip.

Erica, who is Editor of the website  map- happy.org/,   said: ‘It was a bit more thanwhat I was told but still less than Kayak’sprice. In total, I managed to get a flight about$43.86 (£30.73) cheaper than what any US

site quoted me.Erica’s site is full of wonderful travel tips.

It Now Costs More For A UKHol Than To Go Abroad

A RECENT study reveals that British holiday-makers will spend less by going abroad for

 their hols than holidaying in the UK.British holidaymakers wanting to save

money by staying in the UK will end upspending more than if they were to goabroad, a study has found.

Even with this revelation, nearly 75percent of Brits say they are staying put

 this summer – despite the Euro being atan eight-year high and European holidayscheaper than ever.

But shockingly, on a list of the top tensummer holiday destinations, the UK hasemerged as the most expensive, costing

more than twice as much as a trip to Spain.The research discovered that over halfof Brits, 54 percent, consider cost to be themost important aspect of any vacation.

And second only to Greece, the UK iswhere Brits think their money will go thefurthest.

Almost a quarter of respondents believed they would get more bang for their buck inGreece, and 19 per cent thought they’d savemore money staying local.

However, a study of 1,000 UK adults, put together by www.voucherbox.co.uk,showed that holidaymakers actually need the mostmoney when they visit destinations in theUK and Ireland.

According to a league table of where yourmoney will go further, the UK and Irelandcame out as the priciest, with hotels, meals,drinks, transport, attractions and petrol allcosting more at home than away.

The costing of holidays involved hotels,meals, cigarettes, alcohol, taxis, daily excur-sions and attractions.

Only Fools And Hearses FuneralsGiving Mourners A Giggle

A TV SHOW that has had Brits still laughingover 30 years after it’s series ran, has now

inspired a funeral company named Only Fools and Hearses. There are no prizes forguessing the name of the BBC show!

Last month former dinner lady EthelWestover’s family made sure Ethel had a‘lovely jubbly’ goodbye in her three-wheeled,yellow Reliant Regal hearse.

The vehicle, of course, a replica from theshow Only Fools and Horses, was suppliedby the Fleetwood funeral company Only Fools

and Hearses.The final wish of Ethel, 98,was granted

as the Del Boy Trotter replica vehicle car-ried her to the Lancaster and MorecambeCrematorium.

Only Fools and Hearses claims to offerbereaved families “a totally unique Del Boy

send-off, as we know the Trotters have madeus cry with laughter for over 30 years”.Owner Darren Abey, 49, said his Reli-

ant Regal had carried out Only Fools andHorses funerals all around the UK in the last

 two years.“The reaction from people is priceless,”

he said. “It makes everyone laugh and smile.“The people always say to me they’re sure

 their loved one is looking down and laughing.“That’s what it is all about. Life’s too

short.”

Times Must Be Tough … LumpsOf Wood For Ten Quid

A SHOP in north London was mocked onand off line last month for offering piecesof logs for £10.

And, if you were really in the mood, even

a fancy individual “painted log” for the samemega bargain price of a tenner?Sally Bourne Interiors, in Muswell Hill,

London has been ridiculed for trying to sell these pieces of trees.

One publication wrote: “We reckon theymay have marked up the price a bit, because£10 each is a bit much. For logs.”

Jamie Crichton first spotted the fancywood, and tweeted: ‘I shit you not, a Mus-well Hill interiors shop are selling logs withcoloured paint on for £10 a pop.’

Some users were quick to point out thatone of the logs wasn’t even painted.

 Job Opening – On The World’sRemotest Inhabited Island

EVERY now and then a job opening popsup in the strangest place, and here’s yetanother one. There is a vacancy for an

eager applicant on the world’s most remoteinhabited island

The government of Tristan da Cunha – theworld’s remotest inhabited island – is lookingfor a farmer who can help advise locals onagriculture.

The island is a UK overseas territory in the South Atlantic right next to InaccessibleIsland and there are nine ships a year to theisland from South Africa.

There is just one village – Edinburgh of theSeven Seas – on the wildlife-rich volcanicisland, home to 265 people who are keen tocut down their dependence on imported food.

The settlement of Edinburgh lies on aflat piece of land – that’ll be the successfulapplicant’s home.

The community produces potatoes infamily-run allotments, but intend to harvestfruits, vegetables and other crops to reduce

its reliance on imported foodstuffs.The job advert on the National Farmers’Union – The organisation that represents55,000 farmers across England and Wales. –website says: “The island has approximately1,000 acres of poor grazing land for 300cattle and 500 sheep. Salary was not beendisclosed.

The island’s website is: www.tristandc.com

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RECENTLY TWO interesting auctions grabbed the headlines in London. At Christie’s, CarolThatcher, daughter of Baroness Thatcher,Britain’s first, and to date only, woman PrimeMinister sold off 150 items belonging to herestate. Up for sale were a few of the famousdresses, hats, handbags and jewellery

 together with some of the more interestingpersonal gifts the former Prime Ministerreceived in office. Famously the Victoria andAlbert museum had recently – and ratherhaughtily – declined to display Mrs Thatcher’sdresses and other personal effects so the bigquestion was, would anyone be interested inbuying them?

Well, the answer came quite quickly when the first handbag, carrying a £1,200 ($1,800)

estimate, fetched an astonishing £12,500!Sitting in the auction room were many oldfriends of the “Iron Lady” but the seriousbids were flying in from all over the world byphone, online and through agents reportingback to their clients on mobile phones. Thereally big money was paid for Mrs Thatcher’sministerial red box which went for nearly aquarter of a million pounds, after an estimateof £3-5,000; and a rather garish 26 inchmodel of an American bald eagle (a personalgift from Ronald Reagan), estimated at £5-8,000 which fetched £266,500! The total saleachieved £2,659,025.

Across the road at Bonhams’ in New BondStreet, some broken guitars were up for sale.Amongst these was a smashed up Ricken-backer. This was the last guitar smashed onStage by The Who’s Pete Townshend during

 the band’s 25 th anniversary tour in 1989. Theguitar was sold for an astonishing £52,500. A

lot of money but truly a piece of rock history.The most famous auction houses in theworld, Sotheby’s, Christie’s and Bonhamswere all founded in 18 th Century London –before then, auction sales of artwork mostly

 took place in the coffee houses and tavernsaround the city. However, London cannotclaim to have invented the idea – that honourbelongs to the Stockholm and the auctionhouse there which was established in 1674.

The Shard II?West London has largely escaped the

proliferation of residential and commercial tow ers whi ch can be fou nd alo ng theThames, into the City and further east. All

 this looks about to change if developers get their way and build a huge new skyscraper inPaddington. The plan is for a glass “Tube”, 72storeys high containing 2-300 apartments.This will make it just one floor shorter than

 the Shard, the talles t building in Europe.The plans belong to Irvine Sellar who, withSingapore cash also built the Shard and onceagain the design is by his famous architect,

Renzo Piano.But many west Londoners are up in arms

about the project. London-based journalistand Chairman of the National Trust, Sir SimonJenkins has said “no conservation area willbe safe from visual intrusion” and it looks as

 though neither of the front runners to becomeMayor of London, Zac Goldsmith and SadiqKhan, are sympathetic. Current Mayor, BorisJohnson backs ‘The Tube’ so the battle linesare drawn and maybe a new, long shadow isabout to be cast over West London!

 London’s Burning All Hallows by the Tower is a brick built

church near the Tower of London and has aninteresting door. This is the very door throughwhich Britain’s most famous diarist, SamuelPepys passed before he climbed the spire towatch the destruction wrought on London by

 the Great Fire in 1666.Pepys was born just along the road, off

Fleet Street and was the consummate Lon-doner of his day. A major exhibition chartinghis life as a nava l administrator, MP and dia-rist has now opened at the beautiful NationalMaritime Museum in Greenwich. With over

 two hundred interesting objects on display,including Pepys’ own eclectic collection ofmacabre things like the death mask of OliverCromwell and the bloodstained waistcoatCharles I wore to his execution, 17th CenturyLondon really comes to life. Don’t expect tosee his famous diary though – under the

 terms of his will this can never leave Mag-dalene College in Cambridge (though youcan see it there).

The exhibition runs to March 28, 2016 –see it if you can.

 Shotguns at DawnWay out west – well, in Chelsea actually,

a bizarre story of gun toting restaurateurs has

Going, Going, Gone...

hit the news. In the ultra-smart King’s Road alovely looking new restaurant called “Rabbit”had already caught your columnist’s eye buthas now grabbed everyone’s attention for all

 the wrong reasons.Owner Richard Gladwin, 31 and his

restaurant manager, Fred Samengo-Turner,27, terrified pedestrians in the well-heeledRoyal Borough by brandishing a fake, but reallooking, gun around in the street last summer.The restaurant offers “sustainable ingredientsfrom the family farm in West Sussex” so was

 the owner perhaps hoping to bag a Chelseabunny for the table in the name of variety?No, it seems Champagne-fuelled antics gotout of hand and Gladwin readily agrees itwas the biggest mistake of his life. JudgeMcGregor-Johnston admonished the pairfor a “pretty stupid piece of behaviour”. Butlet’s hope no lasting damage is done to thisbusiness – after all where will we get venisoncigars and shaved Brussels sprouts from in

 the King’s Road if they go down?

Goodbye God Save The

Queen? UK Debates New

England Anthem R By Jill Lawless

WILL ENGLAND bid goodbye to GodSave the Queen?

Last month British lawmakers agreedto consider replacing the royalist song

that serves as England’s anthem atsporting events.

God Save the Queen is the national an-them of the United Kingdom – made up ofEngland, Scotland, Wales and NorthernIreland – and is played at the Olympicsand other events where the UK fields asingle team.

At contests where the four areascompete separately, such as the soccerWorld Cup, England and Northern Ire-land generally use God Save the Queen,but Scotland and Wales have their ownofficial songs –  Flower of Scotland  and Land of My Fathers.

 ADOPTINGLabour Party lawmaker Toby Perkins

said adopting an English anthem would“re-establish the idea that the UnitedKingdom is a union of four separate na-

tions with their own identities.”Perkins told the House of Commonsthat said  Jerusalem,  regarded by manyas England’s unofficial anthem, was themost obvious choice. The song, whosewords are by mystical 18th-centurypoet William Blake, vows to transforma country of “dark satanic mills” intoa “green and pleasant land” like theancient England that, legend says, wasonce visited by Jesus Christ.

Opposing the motion, traditionalistConservative legislator Jacob Rees-Mogg said an English anthem woulddivide Britain by encouraging “individualnationalism.”

PLEASURE“What greater pleasure can there be

for a true-born Englishman or true-bornEnglishwoman than to listen to our ownnational anthem a national anthem forour whole country, our whole UnitedKingdom,” Rees-Mogg said.

Under Perkins’ proposed change,“God Save the Queen” would continue tobe sung at British team events. NorthernIreland could either stick with the statusquo or choose its own anthem.

Lawmakers agreed to hold a fullHouse of Commons debate in Marchon Perkins’ bill, which calls on thegovernment to consult the public on anew anthem.

Perkins said his own canvassing hadproduced suggestions including Land Of Hope And Glory, There’ll Always Be An England – and even  Heaven Knows I’m Miserable Now by The Smiths.

strengthened by Pakistani businessmanShahid Khan, who owns the Florida-basedside and Championship club Fulham FC.

PERMANENTLY However, Khan said in 2014 that he had

“no plans” to move the Jaguars permanently to London.

Waller – the NFL’s executive vice-chair-man international – said a permanent UK

franchise would offer American football anadvantage over other US sports in expandingits reach beyond the States.

“We are in a unique position as a sport

Britain To Have OwnNFL Team By 2022

Continued from page 1

Oldest Person In UK Still Feels LikeShe’s 75 … On Her 113th Birthday

 Another One Bites the Dust?Pubs in many areas of London are under

 threat of closure as running costs spiral, traditional habits change and developers, everkeen to create bijou apartments, dangle bigcash offers in front of owners. It is thereforenice to see one London pub, once a leadingvenue for rock bands including Queen, PinkFloyd and Status Quo, acquire a degree ofprotection through “Community Asset” statusunder the 2011 Localism Act.

The Campaign for Real Ale (CAMRA) rana long campaign to protect the Roundhouse

in Dagenham, East London from developersand now Barking and Dagenham Council havestepped into the breach. A new publican has

 taken the place over and the fabulous ArtDeco building which once echoed to the dul-cet tones of Freddie Mercury has been saved.Have a Cigar – as Pink Floyd once said.

 Richard.Lamberth@hotmail.com@lamberthrichard 

GLADYS HOOPER, said allshe wanted for her 113thbirthday is to celebrate witha slice of cake and a cup of

 tea on.Hooper, a great-grand-mother, who was born Janu-ary 18, in the year the Wrightbrothers invented the firstsuccessful aeroplane, cele-brated with family and friendsfrom across the country at

 the nursing home in Ryde,Isle of Wight, where she lives.

Amazingly, the former concert pianist,Hooper said: “I don’t feel very different towhen I was 75.

She said she would be happy with acup of tea and a cake for her birthday and,when asked if there was anything specialshe would like, she added: “No, I do not

 think so, everybody is friendly and thingsare satisfactory.”

Hooper became the oldest person in theworld to undergo a hip replacement opera-

 tion last October, carried out by consultantorthopaedic surgeon Jason Millington at StMary’s Hospital in Newport.

For the past 12 years Hooper has lived

in a flat connected to herson’s home,

Derek Hermiston, 85, Re- tired pilot, said: “I am very

proud of her, I have knownher for quite a long time andI have seen her life whenshe was young, when shewas a very agile person andalways the centre of parties.

Hermiston said hismother also started whatis thought to have been thefirst car hire company in

 the capital, and later ran Kingscliff HouseSchool, which is now Brighton College, aswell as nursing her husband for 13 years.

He added: “She was a great pianist, Iremember going to the Dorchester Hotelin London a few times where she wasplaying. Now we see her hands moving upand down and I think she dreams quite a lotof her piano days, I think she has melodiesgoing through her head which is rather nicefor her and those melodies bring back very

happy memories.”Hermiston added: “I asked her what shewould like for her birthday and she said, ‘Iwouldn’t mind a nice new set of teeth’.”

because of the way our season is structured– we only play one game a week,” he said.“It’s not something other American sportscould do.”

This autumn, two regular-season matcheswill be played at Wembley, while Twickenhamwill host its first NFL game.

NFL International Series 2016

 Jackso nvi lle Jag uar s v Ind ian apo lisColts, Wembley Stadium, London, Sunday,October 2

 Los Angeles Rams v New York Giants,Twickenham Stadium, London, Sunday,

October 23Cincinnati Bengals v Washington Red- skins, Wembley Stadium, London, Sunday,October 30

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PRIME MINISTER Cameron says Mus-lim women must improve their Englishto better integrate into British society,arguing that improved national cohesion

is the best antidote to extremism.David Cameron last month pledged tofund English language classes for Muslimwomen immigrants, and warned somecould be deported if they fail to reach cer-tain standards. The £20m ($28.5m) fundwill help tens of thousands of womenfacing social isolation and discriminationand emphasize that Britain has expecta-tions for those who want to live in thecountry, Cameron said.

SKILLSBritain already requires prospec-

tive spouses to demonstrate Englishlanguage skills to roughly that of achild starting primary school. UnderCameron’s plan, spouses would have toimprove that ability to a higher standardafter five years – or f ace deportation.

But the British leader faced an im-mediate backlash from critics – includ-

ing some within his own party – whochallenged his decision to link languageabilities to extremism. Sayeeda Warsi, aone-time member of Cameron’s cabinet,said that while the money was welcome,

the proposal had been announced badly.“This lazy and misguided linking, and

what I saw once again as stereotypingof British Muslim communities, I felt

took away from what was a positive an-nouncement,” Warsi told the BBC. “Myparents came to this country with verylittle English – my mum’s English stillisn’t great, even though she has been toEnglish language classes.”

She said the government should betelling women that it will give them anopportunity to learn, rather than warningthey could be sent back to their nativecountries.

THREATEN “I think to threaten women and say to

them that ̀ unless you are of X standardwe will send you back, even if you havechildren in the UK who are British andyour spouse is British’ is, for me, a veryunusual way of empowering and embold-ening women,” she said.

The program aimed at women ismeant to end what Cameron called the

“passive tolerance” of discriminatorypractices and to challenge the “backwardattitudes” of a minority of men. He saidsome 190,000 Muslim women in Englandspeak little or no English.Likely That Putin Approved ‘Hit’ On Litvinenko

said the evidence of “state-sponsored” kill-ing was “absolutely appalling.” Britainsummoned the Russian ambassador for adressing-down and imposed an asset freezeon the two main Russian suspects: AndreiLugovoi, now a Russian lawmaker, andDmitry Kovtun, described now as a Russianbusinessman.

Moscow has always strongly denied beinginvolved in Litvinenko’s death, and accusedBritain last month of conducting a secretiveand politically motivated inquiry.

Meanwhile, the Kremlin called on the USTreasury to come up with proof after it tolda BBC investigation it considered President

Continued from page 1 Vladimir Putin to be corrupt.Spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters

 the allegation was an “official accusation”and a “total fabrication”.

Adam Szubin, who oversees US Treasurysanctions, told BBC  Panorama that the USgovernment had known Mr Putin was corruptfor “many, many years”.

It is thought to be the first time the US hasmade such a direct accusation.

Washington has already imposed sanc- tions on Mr Putin’s aides, but has stoppedshort of levelling corruption allegations at thepresident himself.

“There was one goal from the beginning:slander Russia and slander its officials,” Zha-

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UK To Offer LanguageClasses To FemaleMuslim ImmigrantsPRIME MINISTER David Cameron

sought to push forward his campaign forchanges to the European Union duringa visit to Germany and Hungary lastmonth, arguing that his proposals wouldbenefit the bloc as well as the UK

Cameron was in the Alps for a meet-ing of the Christian Social Union, theBavaria-only sister party to ChancellorAngela Merkel’s conservatives. He alsomet Merkel at the gathering January 6.

Cameron has committed to holding areferendum on Britain’s EU member-ship by the end of 2017. Before that, heis seeking a new deal for Britain, mostcontroversially including welfare limitsfor other EU nationals intended to con-trol migration.

He hopes to seal a deal at an EU sum-mit next month and hold the referendumlater this year.

“I’m confident with goodwill – andthere is goodwill, I think, on all sides – wecan bring these negotiations to a conclu-sion and then hold the referendum,”Cameron said after meeting with theCSU’s lawmakers.

HEAVYWEIGHTHe said that Britain, like EU heavy-

Cameron Pursues EU Changes While In Germany And Hungary

weight Germany, believes in the freemovement of workers, “but we want tomake sure that ... our welfare system isnot an unnatural draw to Britain.”

Cameron wrote in an op-ed for Ger-man daily Bild published during his visitthat the changes he wants “will benefitthe EU too, and Germany can help de-liver them.”

Merkel called last month for worktoward “decisions that could lead, out ofour own interest, to getting a sensiblepackage so that Great Britain can remain

part of the EU.”Prime Minister Mark Rutte of the

Netherlands, which holds the EU presi-dency, said he was hopeful an agreementcould be reached at the February 18-19summit in Brussels.

In Hungary, Cameron got supportfrom Prime Minister Viktor Orban inthree of the four reform themes he hasbeen advocating for.

The government of Hungary, an EUmember since 2004, has frequently beenat odds with Brussels.

karova told journalists. She repeated several times that the Litvinenko inquiry was neitherpublic nor transparent, claiming it had turnedinto a “shadow puppet theatre.”

Litvinenko, a former FSB agent, fled toBritain in 2000 and became a vocal critic ofRussia’s security service and of Putin, whomhe accused of links to organized crime. Owensaid Litvinenko “was regarded as havingbetrayed the FSB” with his actions, and said“there were powerful motives for organiza-

 tions and indiv idual s within the Russ ianstate” to kill him.

Litvinenko himself said he was working for

Britain’s spy services, though British authori- ties have never confirmed it.

A PRIVATE company that requiredasylum-seekers to wear red wrist-bands says it has dropped the practiceafter facing heavy criticism.

A statement from ClearspringsReady Homes said it has decidedto end the practice last month. Thepolicy had come under fire from legis-lators who warned it singled migrantsout for possible harassment and abuse.

Clearspring holds a governmentcontract to provide accommodationand meals to the asylum-seekers ata facility in Cardiff, Wales. Asylum-seekers are not allowed to work or

Company Criticized For Asking Migrants To Wear Wristbandsto claim welfare benefits but they aregiven food and shelter.

The company said in a statementit will “look for an alternative wayof managing the fair provision of sup-port” now that the wristbands havebeen discontinued.

Some migrants have said wearingthe wristbands has exposed them toabuse from local residents.

Questions about the policy followsnews last week that some migrantselsewhere in Britain had had theirdoors painted red, making them tar-gets for vandalism and racial abuse.

8/19/2019 Union Jack News - February 2016

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February 2016 Page 5ujnews.com

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IMMIGRATIONBy Stephen Ure

Fly where you love.

Fly* from Miami, Boston,New York (JFK), Las Vegas and

Los Angeles nonstop toManchester and beyond.

  *) Condor codeshare, operated by Thomas Cook Airlines; book on ww w.condor.com

England.Nonstop.

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THE H-1B filing frenzy has started. Every Feb-

ruary, sponsors and hopefuls start to panicabout getting their H-1B filed by April 1, thediamond of working visas. Companies utilize

 the H-1B program to employ qualified foreignnationals in positions that require at least abachelor’s degree/specialized knowledge,in areas such as architecture, engineering,mathematics, science, biotechnology, medi-cine, education, law, theology, and the arts.If the H-1B visa is granted, a US companycan employ a foreign worker for maximumof six years with reapplication required after

 the first three years. However, the H-1B pro-gram has its limits. The brilliant bureaucratsat the federal government chose to annuallyallocate only 65,000 H-1B visas to eligibleforeign national employees. U.S. Citizenshipand Immigration Services (USCIS) receivesfar more than 65,000 H-1B applications peryear. Virtually every year that 65,000 cap isexceeded within the first weeks or even days

of the beginning of the filing period on April1. USCIS then institutes a random selectionprocess, known as the lottery, which leavesmany applicants without a visa and headingback to the rain and fog of their homeland.

In order to have the highest chance atobtaining an H-1B before the cap is reached,it is best to have the H-1B petition filed withUSCIS as close as possible to April 1, 2015.Every day you wait after the April 1, 2015filing date you run the risk of not obtainingan H-1B within the cap. So if you, or youremployer, are considering filing for an H-1B

 this year here is the first question you need to answer: does the position qualify as a specialty occupation and do you have the appropriate degree to perform success- fully in the occupation?  If the answer isyes, the next step will be finding a qualifiedimmigration attorney to guide you through

 the process. The attorney will assist you indetermining the prevailing wage, which es-sentially identifies the fair market wage for

H-1B Season Again!!!your specialty occupation in your specific

geographic area. Once the prevailing wageis obtained, your company will need to filea Labor Certification Application (LCA) with

 the Department of Labor The LCA providesinformation about the company, as well asinformation on wages and work benefits.Certifying an LCA can take anywhere fromseven days to three weeks to obtain. Ad-ditionally, you and your employer will need

 to provide your attorney with a multitudeof documents including an employmentagreement; documentation supporting theapplicant’s education and experience such asa resume and training certificates; informationabout why a Bachelor’s or higher degree isrequired to perform the job position; and asummary of the duties that the employeewill be performing in the U.S.; you may alsoneed to provide proof that the you have theneed for employing a foreign worker and

 that your company has the ability to pay the

employee’s wages. Any foreign credentialswill also need to be evaluated to determineUS equivalency.

As you can see, this is not a quick pro-cess. So if you are hoping to obtain an H-1Bvisa you should have started the processyesterday!

The above article is provided for informational purposes only and should not be considered legal advice. Please consult your immigration at-torney to discuss the specifics of your own case.

 I can be reached at (619) 235-5400 or through my web page at www.urelaw.com.

BRITISH HEALTH officials say drinkingany alcohol regularly increases the riskof cancer, and have issued tough newguidelines that could be hard to swallowin a nation where having a pint is a hal-lowed tradition.

In recommendations released lastmonth, Britain’s Chief Medical Officeradvised both men and women not todrink any more than 14 units of alcohol– about six pints of beer or about fourlarge glasses of wine – a week and saideven that still carries a low risk of liverdisease or cancer.

Alcohol is a known carcinogen; in theUS, experts estimate it causes about3.5 percent of all cancer deaths. Peoplewho have more than about four drinks aday have up to a three-fold greater riskof cancers of the head and neck thannon-drinkers.

Here are some questions and answersabout the new guidelines and their likely

effect:WHAT’S NEW?For women, the guidelines remain

unchanged, recommending no more than14 units of alcohol a week.

Men, however, had previously beentold they could drink up to 21 units aweek. That now drops to the same limitas for women. The original guidance waspublished in 1995, before much of therecent evidence about the link betweenalcohol and cancer was released.

The guidance clarifies advice topregnant women, recommending theyavoid alcohol “as a precaution.” Therecommendations say “the risk of harmto the baby is likely to be low if a womanhas drunk only small amounts of alcoholbefore she knew she was pregnant orduring pregnancy.”

In the US, the Centers for Disease

Control and Prevention says there isno known safe amount of alcohol use

HOW DOES THIS COMPAREWITH OTHER COUNTRIES?

Each country measures alcohol con-sumption slightly differently. The newguidelines are stricter than some othercountries in Europe including Irelandand Spain, but roughly similar to what’srecommended in the US According toAmerican dietary guidelines, womenshould drink no more than one drink a dayand men should have no more than two.

WHAT ABOUT THOSE SUP-POSED BENEFITS OF ALCOHOL?

While some studies have suggesteddrinking moderate levels of red wineis good for the heart, British officialssay that only applies to women overage 55, in whom the greatest benefit isseen when women drink no more thanabout two glasses a week. “The groupconcluded that there is no justificationfor drinking for health reasons,” thegovernment said.

WHAT’S THE VIEW DOWN ATTHE PUB?

“This won’t change a thing,” saidDavid Evans, an engineer enjoying apint at a north London pub. He said heregularly exceeds the new limitation ofabout six pints of beer a week in a singleday and has no intention of changing hisdrinking habits. “A lot of people will lettheir own body tell them what’s right andwhat’s wrong,” he said.

UK Independence Party leader NigelFarage said the advice was “over the top”and called for a mass protest against such“nannying.”

“We all know there is a big problemwith excessive alcohol consumption inthis country,” he told LBC radio. “Butfrankly, if we choose to enjoy a few drinksfour or five nights a week after a hard day

at work, whether it slightly shortens ourlives or not, so what?”

GOVERNMENT PAPER ON ALCOHOL CONSUMPTION

Questions And Answers AboutNew UK Drinking Guidelines

during pregnancy or while trying to getpregnant.

WILL BRITONS GO TEETOTAL?Probably not. In a nation known for its

ales and its pubs, Britons are unlikely toabandon drinking in droves. Lax controlof retail sales and cheap alcohol havefueled a rise in binge-drinking, which

was once declared a national scandal byPrime Minister David Cameron. Eventhe new guidance acknowledges peopleare unlikely to give up drinking and ad-vises them not to regularly drink morethan 14 units a week rather than callingfor abstinence.

To help Britons avoid binge drinking,the government recommends peoplespread their drinking over at least threedays a week. It warns that the risk ofcancers of the mouth, throat and breastincreases with any amount drunk on aregular basis.

“This is not a crackdown on alcohol,”said Dr Niamh Fitzgerald, a lecturerin alcohol studies at the University ofStirling, who was not involved in draftingthe government guidelines. “It is aboutsupporting people to make up their ownminds.” In a statement, she said the new

advice reflects the scientific consensuson the risks from drinking.

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   U   J  a   d

I OFTEN think thereal stories are to befound in local news-papers and that’swhere I draw inspira-

 tion from this month.T h e n a t i o n a l

press is taken upwith such a depress-ing agenda. DavidCameron is desper-ately searching for afigleaf to cover up his embarrassment overpossible Brexit – British pulling out of theEuropean Union (EU). The referendum hepromised comes because he was terrified

 that the United Kindom Independence Party(UKIP) might prevent him from winning theelection last May.

That threat has vanished along with UKIP, the only reminder of which is Nigel Faragenow disclaiming that someone in France tried

 to assassinate him by loosening the wingnuts on his Volvo.

After months of negotiation, Cameron isclose to reaching an agreement with EU thatwill enable him to say that he has got us abetter deal so that we can vote to stay in.He has also tried to defuse the perils of civilwar that is threatening to divide Tory ranksby allowing members of his cabinet to speakeither for or against British exit from the EU.

ENJOYSOn the other side of the House of Com-

mons, the Labour Party is doing all it can

 to make sure that the Conserva tive Gov-ernment enjoys good nights of sleep by

 tearing itself to pieces over its new leader,Jeremy Corbyn. He has spent his whole lifein Parliament – 30-odd years – assiduouslyattacking his own side, voting 428 timesagainst his own party. Now in charge, he isvigorously demanding utter loyalty from hisfellow Labourites, less than twenty of whomvoted for him.

He attempted a reshuffle of his shadowcabinet in January and merely succeeded inspending seventy-two hours slightly moving

 three people about – and bringing down theresignations of twice that number who aredetermined to be rid of him. At least there isno trouble from the Liberal Democrats, if onlybecause they have ceased to exist.

MISERY But there is still much more misery to be

found away from the House of C ommons.There’s the ongoing atrocity of jihadists in theMiddle East and elsewhere. The enormity of

 the suffering refugees from Syria and pointseast (and south), climate change, terriblefloods and fires. It all is more than enough

 to render you too stunned to move or think.But then, come to the local newspapers

and you’ll find stories that will lift your heart.. You can read about Sally Maryon from

Andover, for example. Her story appears inHampshire’s Andover Advertiser. A year ago,she was diagnosed with ovarian cancer. Ladyreaders will know the implications. We menare spared that particular problem but we all

know it is a harsh diagnosis from which thepatient may well recover but only after someunpleasant medicine, chiefly chemotherapy.

HAIRAmong the side-effects of this treatment is

 the almost certain loss of hair which can be abitter blow to your morale at a time when youare least able to take it. I would imagine thatif you want to look your best at a time whenyou are feeling at your worst, undergoing

Keeping Your Cool And Your Hair...chemo must be that time.

Hair loss seems an inescapable part of the treatment.

Sally was faced with this awful probabilitywhen she started on chemo at the Nick JonesCancer ward in the Royal Hampshire CountyHospital in Winchester. The siting of thishospital owes much to Florence Nightingaleherself after her experiences in the CrimeanWar,she being a Hampshire girl.

Sally will be delighted to learn she is shar-ing a paragraph with Florence!

Anyway her oncologist suggested she tried a brand new treatment, wearing a capwhich was developed under the PaxmanScalp Cooling System.

“All you have to do,” Sally says, “is weara cap for a few hours during treatment. Howcould I refuse?”

 WINNERIt is not a guaranteed winner and some

patients will not avoid hair loss but for Sally,“Scalp cooling helped me look well, feel welland (have) people telling me I looked great.”

The end-product of wearing the PaxmanCap was that Sally did not lose much hair andin September last year her CT scan revealedshe was cancer-free.

There were many people involved in thishappy story – Winchester Hospital, Paxmanwho supplied the kit as well as Jane ScarthHouse an ‘amazing’ Cancer Support Centre inRomsey offering ‘fantastic holistic treatment’but all would defer to the indomitable spirit ofSally Maryon who has been styled the “UK’s

first Paxman Pioneer”.She is currently sharing her story and is

in the process of making her way from local to national press.

But I’m sure you’ll be wondering aboutwhether the Paxman Cap is available in

 the States. And here’s the good news. It issubject to a randomized trial at a number ofcancer treatment centres in New Jersey, Ohio

and Texas. The data collected will be submit- ted to the FDA for approval and subsequentadoption.

The company gave me the followingstatement, “We are very hopeful to be able

 to help patients in the US in the comingmonths following a successful submissionand approval.”

Scalp cooling has been around for over40 years one way and another. Paxmandeveloped the cap after its Chairman andFounder’s wife was treated for Breast Cancerin the early 1990s. It’s now being used at overa thousand cancer centres across the world.

Sally Maryon in Andover, Hampshire,was one of the lucky ones to benefit from

 this device. Not losing one’s hair confersa satisfaction that only someone who hassuffered from cancer can really describe, soI’ll leave the final ones to her:

‘Scalp cooling helped me look well … Italso meant that I could keep cancer awayfrom my home and my family. I could forgetabout it and carry on with normal day-to-day life.’

 jpolley2@sky.com

THE QUEEN’S New Yearhonours list makes knightsand dames out of some ofBritain’s best loved stage andscreen stars even as it recog-nizes the sacrifices of doctorswho treated Ebola victimsand the everyday heroism ofthose who spent time helpingothers.

Veteran actress Barbara Windsor –familiar for decades since her work onthe Carry On  films –last month wasgiven a damehood for her services, andcelebrated Swan Lake choreographerMatthew Bourne was made a knight inrecognition of his string of innovativesuccesses.

Other honours were given to reveredactress Imelda Staunton, made a Com-mander of the British Empire for herstellar stage work, and Luther star IDrisElba – touted as a possible future James

Bond – who was awarded the Officer ofthe Most Excellent Order of the BritishEmpire, or OBE.

Britain’s honours are bestowed twicea year by the monarch at New Year’s andon her official birthday in June. Recipi-ents are selected by committees of civilservants from nominations made by thegovernment and the public.

LIFETIMEThe honours last a lifetime and convey

serious prestige: knights are adDressed

QUEEN’S NEW YEAR HONOURS

Stage And Screen Stars Honoured Along With Ebola Fighters

as “sir” and dames are called “dame.”Recipients of the lesser honours haveno title but can put the letters aftertheir names.

Veteran Welsh stage actress Sian

Philips was also made a dame, and actorsDavid Oyelowo – who recently playedMartin Luther King Jr. in the film Selma – and James Nesbitt got OBEs.

The honour’s list goes far beyondentertainment. This year the queen’slist has recognized the work of injuredFalklands war veteran Simon Weston,who has founded a charity to help otherssuffering grave disfigurement cope withthe massive changes to their lives.

Weston has refused to let his severeinjuries and resulting disfigurement keephim in the shadows, and his charity hasdone the same for others. He was madea Commander of the British Empire inrecognition.

RELEVANT

“When I was injured, I feared that Iwould never be relevant again – not justin a military sense but also as a humanbeing. Maybe it was my bullishnessor my military background, but I wasnot going to let that happen,” he said.“The charity Changing Faces recentlypublished figures saying that 70 percentof people with a disfigurement don’t gooutside. I hope that with me being in thepublic eye it can inspire others – that youcan live your life and can enjoy it despitewhat has happened.”

Honours also go to Dr Michael Jacobs,

who received a knighthood for helpingthree British health care workers whocontracted the Ebola virus while tryingto prevent its spread in west Africa. DrTimothy Brooks received a CBE for lead-

ing the British laboratory response tothe Ebola outbreak in Sierra Leone, andmany other awards were made to Britonsinvolved with thecrisis response.

On the politicalfront, there wassome controversyover the knight-hood awarded toLynton Crosby,a prominent ar-chitect of PrimeMinister DavidCameron’s gen-eral election strat-egy.

On a lighternote, the queenrecognized the

man who designsmany of her ownone-o f - a -k i ndoutfits. DesignerStewart Parvinwas made a mem-ber of the RoyalVictorian Order.

 Full List at: https://www. gov.uk/government/ 

 publications/new-years- honours-list-2016

 Actor Idris Elba Dr Michael Jacobs

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EMILY BISHOP has been a staple of Corona- tion Street since 1961 when she arrived asEmily Nugent to work in Gamma Garments.She’s been through a lot since then , but this

month she swaps the cobbles of Weatherfieldfor Peru. Yes, Peru. She goes to help nephewSpider in his work there and in an unseemlyrush of a storyline, Emily mentions Spiderone minute and leaves to fly out to see him

 the next. Norris is jealous and nasty aboutEmily’s plans to leave for Peru and can barelybring himself to say anything nice about hernew life. He calls her a “Silver-topped CheGuevara in wide-fitting shoes”. He’s hurtof course, but doesn’t want to show it. Notuntil Emily is bundled into a taxi for the airportdoes Norris show his true feelings. With acrack in his voice, he bids Emily farewelland hands her a bag filled with 300 pencilswhich he says Spider needs for his literacyprogramme in Peru.

Johnny receives the DNA results whichproves that he’s Carla’s dad. Carla doesn’t

 take the news well, she starts drinking toexcess and swans off to the casino for an

afternoon. Joining her at the table is Robert,who’s had enough of Tracy. Anyway, Carlaand Robert are a match made in hell, bothfiery and alpha. Robert wins at the casino

 table and they celebra te with a bottle ofbubbly which they take upstairs for a spotof how’s your father. But later, in the backroom of the Rovers, the Connor clan secretsexplode when Carla tells Kate and Aidan thatJohnny’s her dad too.

Tyrone and Fiz get some good news aboutHope. Her tumour’s shrank enough that it canbe removed in three weeks.

Cathy decides to tackle her hoarding prob-

lem in her house. She asks Roy to help andsets him on clearing out the papers from herlate husband Alan’s desk. Roy finds a letter in

 the desk, a letter he can’t tell Cathy about. It’sa letter from a woman that Alan was clearlyhaving a fling with. That woman, my friends,is Cathy’s sister Nessa. Ken splits up withNessa after he finds out that she had an affairwith Cathy’s late husband. And when Cathyfinds out that Roy uncovered Nessa’s letters

 to Alan and he didn’t tell her, she dumps him.

Roy! Dumped! He doesn’t take it well andstarts to unravel behind the bacon barmsin Roy’s Rolls. He knows he wants Cathyback but he also knows he must respect herwishes for him to stay away. Finally he drivesover to see Cathy, followed by Nessa whowants to make amends with her sister too.As Roy and Nessa argue outside of Cathy’shouse, inside Cathy has set fire to the l etters.It’s a fire which soon takes hold and starts toburn down her house, but not before Roy letshimself in with his key and saves Cathy’s life.

Nessa, meanwhile, drives out of Weath-erfield after being dumped by Ken. “There’ssomeone else, isn’t there?” she asks Ken.Ken admits there is, yes, and the camerapans to a photo of Deirdre on the sideboard.“I’m still not over the death of my wife.” AsNessa drives away from the cobbles shestops outside of the hair salon and spits outat Audrey: “He’s all yours now.”

Tracy’s all fired up about opening her newflorist shop. In preparation for the grand open-ing, Amy tests Todd on his floral knowledge.He fails miserably, which is wonderful towatch. Any scene in which Todd Grimshawis made to squirm is fine in my book.

Norris and Rita worry about Mary andBrendan’s intentions towards her. Brendanmanages to get the night away from his wife,who’s gone to the bingo. “Has she got herown dabber?” asks Mary, concerned.

Glenda YoungCoronation Street Blog

 http://coronationstreetupdates.blogspot.com

The Good News – And The Good News!JUST ONE of the things that’s so endearingabout the US government is the cute names

 that give to their legislation – and the way there’ s always a vowel included, so theabbreviation is easy to say. Think FATCA orFIRPTA and you’ll see what I mean.

In December, another one of these was

passed – Protecting Americans (from) TaxHikes (Act), which is known as PATH rather than PATHA, probably because the lattersounds suspiciously oriental! The tax hikesconcerned were those that would comeinto play if various tax provisions were notextended, so it was certainly a good thing thatit was passed before the end of the year. (It’salso interesting how so many tax provisionshere are enacted with a short life-span – Ican’t work out whether that’s so it won’t lastforever if it doesn’t turn out so well, or inorder to make sure Congress has things todo in the future!)

Whilst in the UK, huge emphasis is put on taxpayers having certainty about the tax lawin order to make decisions about their affairs,here “certainty” is much less, well, certain!

Amongst the 233 pages of PATH were afew items that may be of relevance to someUJ readers. Firstly, in these articles I’ve

mentioned more than once the possibilityof confusion for the IRS in comparing theinformation they receive from overseas banksand financial institutions with that entered on

 tax returns. With the first dollop of informationbeing passed to the IRS at the end of Sep-

 tember 2015, for the 2014 tax year, this willbecome relevant over the next few months,and from now on.

What I’m talking about here is a situationwhere you haven’t put on your return exactly

 the same figure as the IRS has been given byyour UK bank. This could be because a mis-

 take has been made (by you or by them), butit could also be because a different exchangerate has been used, and no matter what theIRS suggest, these are not written in stone!

It now appears that the magic figures are$100 in respect of income and $25 in respectof tax. So long as your declared figures are

 this close to the figures provided from theUK, this discrepancy alone should not besufficient to result in an investigation.

This can only be reassuring because thealternative was that the IRS could and wouldpursue every small difference. I haven’t

met anyone here who is positively seekingan IRS investigation of their taxes, but tohave one as a result of small exchange ratedifferences would be very annoying (Britishunderstatement!).

I don’t know what currency the UK bankshave used to provide the information to theIRS. The Agreement between the US and

 the UK simply specifies that it must be clearwhich currency is being used (well, thank youfor that!). I imagine it is more likely to havebeen provided in pounds because it will havebeen easier for them in the UK to leave thedetails in pounds, rather than run the risk ofmaking mistakes with the transfer into dollars.Also, the information will be of more interest

 to HMRC if it’s in pounds!Welcome to 2016 – Big Brother is not just

a reality show!Just to make it 100 percent clear, I’m not

suggesting in any way that you could reduceyour income by $100, free of consequences.The preferred solution must be that account-holders get a copy of the information that hasbeen given to the IRS!

Also, I have asked the Ed to print the2015 and December 31, 2015 exchangerates prominently for all to use for their 2015Returns. The end of December rate of 1.4746is the one used to determine if you need tofile forms such as the Foreign Bank Account

Report (FBAR) for 2015. The relevant figurein pounds is £6,782. If the total of the highestbalances on your accounts was greater than

 that during 2015, you will be due to file anFBAR. Also, the filing date for these Reportsis now April 15, rather than June 30, but thegood news is that for the first time you canapply for an extension to file it, if needed. Theextension be for six months, ie to October 15.

 Mary-Heather Styles is a British, an En- rolled Agent and has a legal qualification fromthe UK. Her business, Transatlantic Tax, is

 based in Phoenix, Arizona but she has clients from all over the United States – and further afield! She is moving office at the beginningof February (the old one is being demolished,

 so it was an easy decision) but, all beingwell, can be contacted at (602) 845-1420 or

 at mhstyles@transatlantictax.com.

THE ANNUAL

EXCHANGE RATE(as per the Federal Reserve)GB£1 = $1.5284

FR rate December 31, 2015GB£1 = $1.4746

Labour PartyLeader Corbyn

Fires Party Rebels R By Jill Lawless

THE ROLE OF an opposition should beto challenge the government, but Brit-ain’s Labour Party has begun the newyear at war with itself as leader Jeremy

Corbyn struggles to assert his authorityover restive lawmakers.

The veteran left-winger was thesurprise winner of Labour’s leadershipelection last year, strongly supported bythe party’s membership but opposed bymost Labour lawmakers.

He has clashed with centrist Labourlegislators over issues including hisopposition to nuclear weapons and toBritish airstrikes on IS targets in Syria.

Corbyn moved defense spokeswomanMaria Eagle, who opposed him onnuclear weapons, to another post, andfired two other members of his top teamwho had criticized him.

DIFFERENCESThree other members of Labour’s

shadow government – railway spokes-man Jonathan Reynolds, junior foreignaffairs spokesman Stephen Doughty andarmed forces spokesman Kevan Jones –later quit, citing differences with Corbynand the treatment of their colleagues.

Corbyn’s changes – dubbed a “revengereshuffle” in the press – were announcedafter two days of closed-door meetings,and were more limited than many hadanticipated.

Corbyn did notmove foreign policyspokesman HilaryBenn, who publiclyopposed his leaderduring a House ofCommons debateon Syria airstrikesin November. WhileCorbyn opposed the strikes as “reck-less,” Benn argued Britain should playits part in defeating Islamic State group“fascists.”

More resignations could follow asLabour struggles to remain united. Cor-byn has promised a new style of politicsto re-energize a party that has lost twoconsecutive elections to prime MinisterDavid Cameron’s Conservatives, mostrecently in May.

 R By Danica Kirka

BRITAIN’S Treasury chief warned lastmonth of a “dangerous cocktail” of newthreats to the economy, insisting that thecountry’s robust growth is not immuneto troubles from abroad.

A somber George Osborne used aspeech in Wales to underscore his fearsabout what he described as “creepingcomplacency” in the debate about thenational economy, which has been oneof the best-performing in the developedworld in recent years. His mood was farfrom the buoyant assessment offeredin November, and he rejected the ideaof abandoning his government’s plan ofspending cuts.

Osborne cited the slowdown in Chinaas well as a drop in global stock mar-

kets and commodity prices among thekey concerns. Britain had about £10bn($14.6bn) in capital investment in theoffshore oil and gas industry in 2015,making it vulnerable to a world in whichoil prices had fallen to below $35 a bar-

UK Warns Of ‘DangerousCocktail’ Of Economic Threats

rel last monh, down from $120 a barrelin 2012.

DANGEROUS“Last year was the worst for global

growth since the crash and this yearopens with a dangerous cocktail of newthreats from around the world,” Osbornesaid. “For Britain, the only antidote tothat is confronting complacency anddelivering the plan we’ve set out.”

Britain’s economy has expanded for 11quarters in a row. It grew by 0.4 percentin the third quarter compared with theprevious three-month period.

But in his remarks, Osborne ex-pressed concern that the economy mightfall down on the list of everyday concernsin Britain. Osborne’s remarks seemedaimed at lowering expectations thatausterity plans might be relaxed any time

soon – and warning that the spendingideas of opposition Labour Party wouldbe disastrous.

“Anyone who thinks it’s mission ac-complished with the British economy ismaking a grave mistake,” he said.

Corbyn Calls For BackChannel To Islamic State

OPPOSITION leader Jeremy Corbynsays there should be a communicationschannel created with the Islamic Stategroup in hopes of ending the war in Syria.

The Labour leader told the BBC lastmonth that a back channel – similar tothe one created with the Irish RepublicanArmy during the decades-long conflict inNorthern Ireland – should be established.

Corbyn says “There has to be a routethrough somewhere,” particularly giventhat some IS commanders are formerofficers in the Iraqi Army.

He says “there has to be some under-standing of where their strong points are,where their weak points are.”

Corbyn also reiterated his long-standing opposition to Britain’s Tridentnuclear deterrent and suggested thatsubmarines could be deployed withoutnuclear warheads on them.

Idris Elba: Lack Of Diversity Is Not Just A US ProblemA LACK OF diversity in films andtelevision is not just an Americanproblem, according to actor IdrisElba.

Hollywood’s Academy of MotionPictures Arts and Sciences is facingboycott calls and promising changeafter nominating an all-white rosterof performers for the Oscars for thesecond year running.

Elba, the London-born star of TheWire’ and Mandela: Long Walk toFreedom told an audience at Parlia-ment that Britain was successful,diverse and multicultural – but “youwouldn’t know it if you turned onthe TV.”

In a speech last month, Elba saidBritish broadcasting needed to over-haul the way it worked, askingquestions such as: “Are black peoplenormally playing petty criminals?Are women always the love interestor talking about men? Are gay peoplealways stereotyped? Are disabledpeople ever seen at all?’’

“Let’s just get more professionalabout this whole area,” Elba said.“Our economy depends on it. Ourfuture actually depends on it.”

Critics have praised Elba’s perfor-mance turn as an African warlord inBeasts of No Nation, but he did notreceive an Oscar nomination.

WHAT DOES the woman who has every-thing get as gifts?

A list of official gifts received by THEQueen from world leaders and dignitariesduring 2015 features jewelry, ornamentsand some more unusual choices – in-cluding homemade honey butter fromMichelle Obama.

Buckingham Palace said Wednesdaythe US first lady offered a gift box oflemon verbena tea, a candle, two smallpots of honey and a jar of honey butterfrom the White House kitchen gardenduring her June visit to Britain. She alsogave the queen a Tiffany & Co silver“honeycomb and bee bud vase.”

Other curious gifts: The governorof the British Virgin Islands presented

Brooches, Marzipan, Homemade Honey Butter For The Queen“a bag of salt” and German President Joachim Gauck offered a marzipan modelof the Brandenburg Gate.

Hilary Benn

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Contact Leo and Karen at leolewis12@yahoo.com

“DOC MARTIN   is our most watched andsought after show” according to the man-agement of KCET in Southern California, thenation’s largest independent public televisionnetwork 

With that in mind we jumped at the oppor- tunity to attend an event held January 4 at thehome of the Consul General, Chris O’Connorwho hosted the event. In partnership withBAFTA, Pleasant Holidays and the BeverlyHilton, KCET celebrated the seventh seasonpremiere of the comedy series.

for lobsters daily; with Mackerel soused invinegar a main staple food.

One special supporter of KCET and  Doc Martin  that I chatted with was 76-year-oldKarene Smith with daughter Kay, of Newhall,CA (born Windsor, Ontario, Canada). Aroyalist, proudly wearing a brooch madeby Coalport China for Queen Elizabeth II’sCoronation (see photo in www.ujnews.com)

The entire evening was delightful. Foodwas sumptuous. Our only regret, that therewasn’t enough time to meet all those localKCET viewers. Amongst the Brits attendingwere former Consul General Bob and SharonPeirce. Bob and Ian attended the same publicschool in Taunton, Somrset, just differentyears.

Arnold Schwartzman and wife Isolde hada display in the foyer of photographs of theBeatles taken by him in the past. Arnold neverceases to amaze us. We had no idea he was

 the creator, director, producer of the UK TVshow Ready Steady Go!

Also in attendance were Marion Ross(Happy Days); KCET Link Media GroupPresident & CEO Michael Riley; BAFTA’sSandro Monetti; Val Zavala, Derrick Shore,Dija Dowling, Alexandria Stapleton, andConor Knighton , all of KCET’s SoCal Con-nected. Thank you for making us all feel sowelcome. Keep up the great work you dowith all the fabulous British shows you bringus…Vera, George Gently, Foley’s War  etc.What would us Brits do without our slice ofheaven on KCET.

REAGAN LIBRARY By contrast, the following night we were

at the Reagan Library in Simi Valley whereSir John Dermot Turing held a discussionand book signing on his book  Alan Turing

 Deco ded . His Uncle, Alan Turing, whocracked the Enigma Code at Bletchley Park,which was believed to have shortened WWIIby two-four years only to later agreeing

 to chemical castration to avoid a lengthyprison sentence for being a homosexual. Hecommitted suicide two years later in 1954.Alan Turing was an extraordinary man whocrammed into a life of only 42 years the

On hand to welcome the hundreds of KCETviewers who had been part of a fund raiser,paying $150-$500 to personally meet IanMcNeice, better known to viewers as BertLarge, one of the stars on the popular show.Ian is currently touring throughout the US,Canada and Australia introducing the newseason of Doc Martin. 

We’re thinking Ian a good choice, well rep-resented the show. Had Dr Martin Ellingham(Martin Clunes) attended, he probably wouldhave put us all in place. As it was ‘Bert Large’was just as nice as could be. A delightful, fun,enormously patient man, McNeice met with,

chattered, and signed autographs all eveningfor his fans.

One of the most frequently asked ques- tions: Does Portwenn get that much sun-shine? Well, that’s a no brainer. Thiscolumnist can answer that: They don’t callit glorious Devon and Cornwall for nothing!Growing up less than 40 miles away in Dart-mouth, I don’t recall it ever rained more than5-6 days a year? Seldom dropping below 75degrees in temperature. That’s why they evenhave palm trees on Torquay’s sea front. TheCornish Pasties are world famous; they dive

careers of mathematician, code breaker,computer scientist, and biologist. Alan wasa pioneer of computers as we know them.Can you imagine living today without them?

 You can find the book onwww.amazon.comAn interesting time in British history?

Well, jolly good Alan, you saved thousandsof British lives and probably shortened thewar, old Boy. But we can’t allow you to behomosexual, can we? Take your medicinelike a good chap. Well done, laddie. Thatwas our thank you, and thinking in 1955!!!??

On a lighter note, young Leo recentlyunderwent eye surgery: a hole in his retina(not his brain, as many people have longsuspected). We had not heard of this. A reallygood doctor: Dr Robert See (Yes, Dr See)did a fabulous job (three stitches and a gasbubble to heal the hole) but Leo had to layface down looking at the floor for four weeks(excruciating for both of us). You’re off theplanet! Karen mentioned this to really good

Sir John Dermot Turing at the Reagan Library. –  Photo: Leo Lewis

Consul General Chris O’Connor with Marion Ross (Happy Days) and IanMcNeice (Doc Martin) at the KCET fund raiser. –  Photo: Leo Lewis

friend, Brit Gillian Campbell. Her immediateresponse: “Quick move the furniture! No, hold

 that thought. Double his insurance, then move the furniture.”

January 30 and February 19 British bandMasters of the Past will be playing all yourfavorites at the newly remodeled Crown andAnchor pub/restaurant with large patio inThousand Oaks. The Family did a superbjob. Daughter Kim’s idea, supervised byDad to perfection! So now they can handleprivate parties.

We stopped by to meet good friend JohnBrandwood for 4pm Brit time NYE. The Pubwas packed. I asked Kimberly would she likeme to take a couple of pictures? 308 photoslater…. (that’s how nice the customers were)we’re putting some on the website. I neverdid get my NYE drink.

Sad to lose actor, musicians, artists DavidBowie; Glen Frey of the Eagles who washugely popular in the UK; and iconic actorAlan Rickman.

 Look for The Welsh Baker at the Queen Mary Scottish Festival in Long Beach Feb13-14, where you can pick up your copyof the UJ.

UJ also available on board the Queen

Mary, as it has been for over 20 years!

Duchess Of CambridgeTo Guest-Edit

Huffington Post BRITAIN’S Duchess of Cambridgewill temporarily swap royal duties foran editor’s chair to raise awareness ofchildren’s mental-health issues.

Kensington Palace says Kate willguest-edit The Huffington Post  newswebsite for a day next month, focusingon articles related to childhood mentalillness.

The 34-year-old, who is married toPrince William, is patron of severalchildren’s charities.

The palace said last month that Kate“has made the mental health of youngchildren a key focus of her work inrecent years. She is delighted that TheHuffington Post will help put a spotlighton this important issue.”

 Huffington Post UK   editor StephenHull said staff were thrilled to welcomethe duchess.

Kate’s sister, Pippa Middleton, hasalso tried her hand at journalism, writingarticles for Vanity Fair and The Spectator.

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 Sherlock Holmes: Cthulhu

 Mythos Adventures, 

Tales Of Adventure,

Terror & Mystery 

– By Ralph E. VaughanWOW! Another greatread! I love SherlockHolmes so I was veryexcited to read thisone and it certainlydoes not disappoint.It’s a compilation ofnew stories, and with

 the exception of two,have not been previ-ously published.

This is not your typical Sherlock Holmesbook. In these stories Sherlock is dealing with

 the world beyond earthly beings. He deals

with mythical creatures like Cthulhu Mythos,M’ell and Dhumin, Shub-Niggurath and others that some say have never existed and do notexist today, some will beg to differ – I’ll let youcome to your own conclusions…

Mr Holmes was a scholar and was edu-

cated about myths and knew the world wasfull of mysteries and trickery. Did he believein witches, or monsters, or gods, or beingable to call mythical creatures from thedark? Maybe, maybe not, but he certainlyunderstood that there were people who did,most certainly, have these beliefs and heconsidered the information useful when deal-ing with cases where people believed these

 things had happened.As we know there are, to this day, people

who hold close to the beliefs of old, and I’mcertainly not one to poopoo their beliefs.

These stories take Sherlock to the Stateswhere he meets Professor Philips whosecousin has vanished and the Professor seeksout Sherlock’s help. The Professor is hesitant

 to talk about what he believes has happenedbut, after telling Mr. Holmes, they head off tocheck it out. While at his cousins home theydiscover letters from HP Lovecraft and finda file on the Cthulhu Cult – worshippers of arace of beings who ruled the earth in the past.The eventually find the cousin after dealingswith the Cult and some very unexplainableinteractions with beings or creatures certainlynot from this world.

Another story takes us to Whitechapelduring the time of the Ripper. No, he doesn’tsay the Ripper did not exist but there wereseveral murders attributed to the Ripper thatweren’t his. Strange wounds that totallydiffered from the usual. It is discovered that

 there were subterranean creatures – M’ell

and Dhumin – that were able to burrowquickly through the earth and utilize the oldunderground London tunnels and rivers to

 traverse and take their victims. Yet ano the r was rec ons tructed from

 the notes of Dr Watson and takes place inHammershire – home to some of England’soldest villages, villages where they refuse

 to let the old ways and beliefs die, and theydon’t appreciate outsiders. There are seven inall – every one just as gripping as the other.

Each story is beautifully written and reallysucks you in. As for the mythical creatures– there is a line in one of the stories whichsums it up where Watson says to Holmes,“But such a creature is an impossibility.”And Holmes replies, “So were saurian giantsof the primordial world and prior races ofmankind, till fossils and stone axes gavecertain proof that the ancient legends were

 true – dragons and giants in the Earth.” I

Prince George StartsNursery SchoolTHE HEIR to the heir to the heir tothe British throne has taken a bigstep up the educational ladder.

Kensington Palace said thatPrince George started nurseryschool January 6, a milestone forthe young future king.

Prince William and his wife Katemarked the occasion by releasingtwo photographs of 2-1/2-year-oldGeorge outside the school building.

The royal couple had earlierannounced he would be attendingWestacre Montessori School inNorfolk, 110 miles north of London.

The school has said he willreceive the same treatment asother pupils.

Muslims as “divisive, stupid and wrong,”but he and other senior officials havesaid they do not think Trump shouldbe banned.

The government has the power todeny entry to people with criminalconvictions or those whose presenceis considered not “conducive to the public

good.” The power has been used againstfigures as diverse as boxer Mike Tyson,rapper Tyler the Creator, radical Muslimpreachers and the late Christian fundamen-talist Fred Phelps Sr.

Britain also turned away anti-Islam Dutchlegislator Geert Wilders at an airport in 2009.Wilders later sued and won the right to cometo Britain.

Several lawmakers argued that banningTrump would betray the principles of freespeech.

Conservative Paul Scully said that whilepeople had been excluded from Britain forincitement or hatred, “I have never heard ofone for stupidity and I’m not sure we shouldbe starting now.”

But Labour’s Jack Dromey said Trump

UK Lawmakers Slam Trump . . .Continued from page 1 was dangerous because he stirred up hatred

among different faiths.FOOL 

“Donald Trump is a fool,” Dromey said.“He is free to be a fool. He is not free to bea dangerous fool on our shores.”

Trump’s mother was born in Scotland, andhe owns a golf resort there.

Sarah Malone, executive vice presidentof Trump International Golf Links, Scotland,

said “debating a matter raised as part of theAmerican Presidential election” was a wasteof parliamentary time.

“Westminster is creating a dangerousprecedent on this issue and is sending a ter-rible message to the world,” she said.

Should Trump visit Britain again, he willhave no shortage of things to do.

Labour legislator Naz Shah was one ofseveral lawmakers who invited Trump tovisit their constituencies to see Britain’smultiethnic society first-hand. Shah said shewould take him to a curry restaurant in herhome city of Bradford.

She said was “a proud Muslim woman”and the Quran had taught her that “goodnessis better than evil. If someone does bad, youdo good in return.”

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have heard of some of the stories from myScottish Nan and understand how strong thebeliefs were and, in some areas, still are. I ’vealways been fascinated by mythology so thiswas right up my alley. Mr Vaughan has clearlydone extensive research and I, for one, amopen minded on the issue – perhaps you willbe too after reading this book…

Does Holmes rid the earth of these vilecreatures and those who call them from thedepths and netherworld? I would certainlyhope so – I wouldn’t want to run into anyof them – but you’ll have to read to find out.

If you are new to Sherlock or an avidSherlock follower you will enjoy the changeof pace in this book and while it is a different

 track for Sherlock, I think it is still fascinatingand absolutely possible that Sherlock wouldhave dealt with such cases. He was so open

 to all things and thrived on collecting minutebits of information. Give it a go, you won’tbe disappointed!

Ralph E Vaughn has written other books,some on Sherlock Holmes, a series called

 Paws & Claws  (which I’m hoping to readsoon) and many other works. Check themout! I’m looking forward to reading more ofhis fine works.

Happy New Year to everyone! By the timeyou read this review I’ll be across the pondvisiting family in the UK. Very exciting, it’sbeen six years since I’ve been back.

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The opinions in this column are Patricia Kawaja’s and not necessarily shared byUnion Jack Publishing, Inc.

 R This paper reaches the British community in all parts of Florida and, of course, the US

We’ll do our best to find the right category for you!

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MIAMI Wynwood. Elo, the solo – namedBritish founder of the London Motor Mu-

seum opens his Super Car Room venture thismonth. “I am pleased to announce the officialopening of the nation’s first Supercar-Culinaryencounter,” he said. “This is a showcase ofmy life’s work, combined with the ultimatein gourmet cuisine and entertainment. SouthFlorida has some of the most passionate autoenthusiasts and car collectors I’ve ever seenand we are giving them a reason to show off

 their possessions to the world.” An impres-sive 13,000 square foot purpose-built venuerevolves around the first custom-made autoart gallery, housing the most coveted collec-

 tion of classic, vintage, exotic, sports andcustom vehicles, all near you in aluminumdining “pods.” Each private pod is home toan illustrious Supercar masterpiece; you pay$3,000 for up to six guests for the evening fordinner and camaraderie. This is positioned tobecome the nation’s first Supercar – CulinaryEncounter with a creative music and nightlife

component. Elo runs the business with hisextremely capable English wife/business part-ner Mai. Truly a dynamic duo I concluded, onmeeting them at their December English teaand scones PR event. For the full scoop call(305) 363-2020 or see www.miamisupercar-

 rooms.com NOTE: To visit without dining,you can browse the vehicles on display andhave access in to the Auto Art Gallery (freeof charge on some days).n  BRITISH CLUBS CORNER: 1) Port

Charlotte area. The Northport British LadiesClub, founded and run by Barbara Bannard.Call Barbara on (941) 423-4483 to attend.2) British-American Club of Punta Gorda.Call Jim Butler on (941) 235-9306 to attend.

 Note: My office maintains the only list ofBritish clubs across Florida, too numerous

 to publish here. To find your nearest, sendme an email with “British Clubs Florida” on

 the subject line.n  BRITS OF CENTRAL FLORIDA!  Are

you interested in playing competitive SundayLeague football? The team called Real Winter

Garden, with several Brits on the team, playin the Central Florida Soccer League. Contactfellow Brit Paul Blake via their Facebook pagewww.facebook.com/RealWinterGarden .n FAMED BRITISH PLAYWRIGHT and

Nobel Prizewinner Harold P