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 R By Jill Lawless

THESE ARE exciting timesfor Larry Sanders, a stalwartGreen Party campaigner inOxford, England. He’s justbeen appointed to a new jobas his party’s national spokes-man on health. And he’s help-ing out his little brother Ber-nie with a small electoralcampaign on the other side ofthe Atlantic.

Vermont Sen Bernie Sanders is anoutsider who has far exceeded expecta-

tions as he battles Hillary Clinton forthe Democratic Party’s presidentialnomination. The left-wing senator hasenergized thousands of young support-ers with his promise to transform theAmerican economy, education and healthcare systems, and last month gainedmore momentum by winning the NewHampshire primary.

More than 3,000 miles away, hisbrother, a retired academic who haslived in Britain since 1969, finds himselfa “sudden celebrity.”

“I was at a meeting the other day andwhen I stood up to ask a question, half thepeople in the audience started clapping,”Larry Sanders said in an interview withThe Associated Press. “I’ve been goingto meetings for 40 years and no one’sever applauded before.”

Sanders, who ran for a seat in Brit-

ain’s Parliament last year (he came fifthof seven candidates), has watched hisbrother’s growing success with emotionsthat swing from pride to disbelief.

CASUAL “Sometimes it’s quite casual – ‘Oh,

there he is again with 20,000 peoplecheering him.’ And other times I say,‘Oh my God, look at that.’”

He says he has only recently startedto believe that underdog Bernie can doit, “go all the way to the White House.”

“Really only in the last month or so didit seem to me that he was going to winthe nomination,” he said. “I think once hehas won the nomination he will find thegeneral election much easier.”

At 80, Larry Sanders is six years olderthan his brother, his Brooklyn accentmellowed by more than four decades

in Britain.ROOTED

He says the brothers’ politics arerooted in the post-war Brooklyn wherethey grew up, the children of “staunchNew Dealer” parents. Their father, Eli,was a Polish Jew who came to the UnitedStates when he was 17, their motherDorothy the New York-born child ofeastern European Jewish immigrants.

“We were not poor – we hadeverything we needed – but our parentsargued, and what they argued about wasmoney,” Sanders said in the kitchen ofhis modest, century-old house not farfrom Oxford’s historic city center.

“I think a lot of politicians, if they’vecome from financially secure back-

grounds, it doesn’t really resonate whatit means to havethese argumentsand to have this ten-sion. And Bernard,without wanting tohave it, has it, and ithasn’t gone away.”

To Sanders, hisbrother is always Bernard, never Bernie,which just doesn’t “sound right.”

Larry Sanders studied politics atBrooklyn College, where he was in-volved with the Young Democrats, anddiscussed political ideas with his youngerbrother, a good-but-not-great studentand a top track athlete.

“I dragged him to some meetings,”Sanders said. “He found them incrediblyboring, but he came.”

SURPRISEDLarry was surprised when Bernieannounced his first political campaign,a run for high school student president.

“He didn’t do very well – he finishedthird out of three,” Sanders said. “Buthe was the only one who had a seriousplatform. The others talked more aboutprom stuff, but he ... (said) the schoolshould raise money for scholarships forKorean orphans.”

Later, Larry watched as Berniecharted his own political path – firstas part of the civil rights movement inChicago, then in Vermont, where, asan independent, he served as mayor ofBurlington, congressman and senator.

Larry moved to Britain with his latefirst wife, becoming a university lecturerin health and social care and serving fora decade as an Oxfordshire county coun-

cilor. Last month, he was named nationalhealth spokesman for the Green Party,which has thousands of members but justone lawmaker out of 650 in Parliament.

Sanders plans to return to the US forthe Democratic National Conventionin Philadelphia in July. He has allowedhimself to daydream about watching hisbrother take the presidential inaugura-tion oath – and about visiting him in theWhite House.

“It’s said to be a very good B&B, sowe’ll take advantage of it,” he said. “Iwon’t insist on the Lincoln bedroom.”

Bernie

Sanders’

Big Brother

Shares

‘The Bern‘

 R By Gregory Katz

THE REFERENDUM prom-ised by Prime Minister Cam-eron, on whether Britainshould stay in the EuropeanUnion is to be help June 23.

David Cameron made the announce-ment May 19, even as he declared hisbelief that the UK would be “safer andstronger” if it remained in the 28-nationbloc.

Cameron spoke in front of his 10Downing Street office after holding a rareSaturday Cabinet meeting and winningits agreement to recommend that Britainremain part of the EU rather than s trikeout on its own.

Despite that support, some Cabinetfigures will back the “leave” campaignthat wants Britain to carve its ownpath outside of the EU bureaucracy inBrussels.

REFORMSCameron said if Britons decided to re-

main in the EU, he would seek continuedreforms to address their concerns about job losses and benefit payments to EU

migrants seeking work in Britain.“I don’t love Brussels, I love Brit-

ain,” he said, emphasizing that Britaincan have “the best of both worlds” if itremains in the EU under a reform dealhe reached last month with EU leaders.

The June vote will come as the EUstruggles to deal with a sustained im-migration crisis that last year broughtmore than a million people fleeing warand poverty to its shores.

Cameron is poised to lead the cam-paign for Britain to remain in the bloc in

EU ‘Stay Or Go’Referendum June 23

what is expected to be a closely foughtreferendum – yet still faces skepticismfrom within his own Conservative Party.

OPPOSE Justice Secretary Michael Gove was

the first to publicly oppose continued EUmembership after last month’s meeting,saying Britain would be better off on its

own. He said it pained him to break rankswith Cameron.Two strong future Conservative party

leadership contenders, Home SecretaryTheresa May and Treasury chief GeorgeOsborne, indicated support for stayingwithin the EU, as did Scottish NationalParty leader Nicola Sturgeon.

Meanwhile, just the day after the dateof the Referendum was announced, Lon-don Mayor Boris Johnson, another influ-ential Conservative figure seen by someas a possible future party leader, said hewould join the campaign to encourageBritain to leave the European Union.

The popular, raffish Johnson immedi-ately becomes the most prominent Con-servative Party politician to break rankswith fellow Conservative Cameron’svision of the best course for Britain in the June 23 referendum on EU membership.

The decision of Johnson, a two-term

mayor who has been touted as a possiblefuture prime minister, deals a blow toCameron’s hopes of a united front aheadof what is expected to be a hard-foughtreferendum.

SUPPORTOpposition Labour Party leader Jer-

emy Corbyn said he will support Britain’s

continued membership in the EU, thoughhe said Cameron’s vaunted “renegotia-tion” of the terms of its relationship withthe EU will have little impact.

Much of the opposition to EU mem-bership comes from the UK Indepen-dence Party led by Nigel Farage andfrom skeptical members of Cameron’sown party.

The deal Cameron agreed upon with27 other EU leaders protects Britainfrom taking part in an “ever closer union”with European nations and makes clearthat Britain will not adopt the euro cur-rency shared by 19 EU nations. Cameronsays it also protects British interests andrestricts British welfare payments tomigrants from other EU nations.

 London Mayor, Boris Johnson Favours ‘Brexit’

MESSAGE FROM THE BRITISH CONSULATE

Do you have 5 minutes? Register to vote at the EU referendum?As a Brit living abroad, you may be able to vote in the European

Union referendum which is due to take place June 23, this year. You

can take part if you have been overseas for less than 15 years and

were registered to vote before you left the UK.

BE READY! It only takes fve minutes to register and you should

do it now at:

www.gov.uk/register-to-vote

 R Health Secretary To ImposeContract On Junior Doctors

 R By Danica Kirka

BRITAIN’S health secretary has takenthe unusual step of opting to impose anew contract on junior doctors afterfailing to strike a deal with thousandsof medical professionals in England.

 Jeremy Hunt’s decision last monthcomes after the junior doctors rejectedthe Conservative government’s finaloffer. He said the government wasmotivated by concerns that the National

Health Service’s standard of care on the

weekends was “too low.”“Patients suffer when governments

drag their feet on high hospital mor-tality rates, and this government isdetermined our NHS should offerthe safest, highest quality care in theworld,” Hunt said.

The dispute between the govern-ment and junior doctors – those whoare in training but may have up to 10years of experience – has escalated inrecent months. Thousands have goneon strike to protest plans to change payand work schedules.

CONSTERNATIONThe dispute has caused consterna-

tion among the British public, whichconsiders the health care to be afundamental right. The NHS is a mat-ter of national pride – although its

shortcomings are widely scrutinized

and discussed. The government hasstruggled, however, to meet escalatinghealth care costs in a time of austerity.

Outraged at Hunt’s decision, theBritish Medical Association pledged toconsider all options – suggesting furtherstrikes or even legal action. Dr JohannMalawana said an entire generation ofdoctors will be alienated by the govern-ment’s handling of the dispute.

“There’s a real risk that some willvote with their feet,” said Malawana,the junior doctor committee chairman atthe BMA. “Our message to the govern-ment is clear: Junior doctors cannot andwill not accept a contract that is bad forthe future of patient care, the profes-sion, and the NHS as a whole. And wewill consider all options open to us.”

The new contract takes effect in

August.

Larry Sanders has lived in theUK since 1969

Bernie Sanders

 What’s In The Historic

 Agreement, page 4

TV’s Much- LovedTerryWogan Dies

See

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in the past month . . . TODAY’S

BRITAIN

TODAY’S

BRITAIN

  I

A Quick Psychological Exam… What Do You See In This

Image?

APPARENTLY, after looking at the image be-low and recognizing “one thing or another”, apsychologist can tell you a lot about yourself.

Psychologists believe a person’s answercould tell us a l ot about how their mind work.

It’s not necessarily a case of which wesee initially, but how easily we are able toswitch between the two animals.

It is thought more creative people will beable to see both more quickly than those whonotice one and then find it more difficult topinpoint the other animal.

The optical illusion, called “Kaninchen undEnte” in German, is more than 100 years oldand first appeared in a German magazinearound 1892. It gained more popularity in1899 when US pyschologist Joseph Jastrow

used it to illustrate his theory that people ‘see’with their mind as well as their eyeIt was shown in an experiment that partici-

pants who found it very easy to flip betweenrabbit and duck came up with an averageof almost five novel uses for an everydayitem. Those who couldn’t flip between rabbitand duck at all came up with less than twonovel uses.

This suggests that the ease with whichyou can flip representations is a clue to howcreative you are. The moment when you flipbetween duck and rabbit is like a small flashof creative insight. It’s when you notice theworld can be seen in a different way.

Highly creative people often display this talent for finding new uses for an existingobject or by making connections between

 two previously unconnected ideas or things.Interestingly, when testing children at dif-

ferent times of the year, the results change.

During Easter, they are more likely to seea rabbit first. In October, seeing a duck firstis more common.

Some people may only see a rabbit, someonly a duck, and others both repeatedly cansee both back and forth.

How did you do?

Police Arrest Suspect With A‘Pant-Load’ Of 38 Phones

POLICE last month arrested a suspected thief with 38 mobile phones stuf fed downhis trousers.

West Midlands Police say they believe theman stole the phones from concertgoers at ashow by band The Libertines in Birmingham.

The 30-year-old and a second man, whowas also arrested, were spotted at the venuewith their trousers taped closed at the bot-

 tom. Police were on the lookout after reportsof phone thefts during an earlier Libertinesgig in the northwest city of Manchester.

Police Inspector Gareth Morris said thatanyone whose phone was taken during theshow should contact officers.

Principal Tells Parents: NoPajamas On School Run

THE PRINCIPAL of a primary school in

northern England wants to impose a dresscode – not on students, but on their parents.

That’s because she’s tired of them wear-ing pajamas and slippers when they dropoff their offspring at the school gates eachmorning.

Kate Chisholm of Skerne Park Academy in

Darlington, 240 miles north of London saidshe acted after some parents wore what sheconsidered nightwear to school meetings.

In the letter published last month sheasked parents to “dress appropriately in daywear” when bringing their children to school.

Chisholm said she wanted parents to seta good example for the students and that itwas “not too much to ask parents to have awash and get dressed.”

A Drought That Sees MassiveBiscuit Shortage For Brits

ATTENTION biscuit lovers, Britain is in themiddle of a Biscuit Drought

Droughts occur worldwide, but are usu-ally related to water shortage. Floods thatfollowed Storms Desmond and Eva forced

 the closure of the United Biscuits factory inCarlisle in December, and ever since, there

has been a notable absence in shops of suchBritish household staples as Crawford’scustard creams and McVitie’s ginger nuts.

And though United Biscuits has recom-menced production on some of its lines,it anticipates “several months” of biscuitshortages.

“Due to floods in Carlisle we are expe-riencing a shortage of a number productsunder the McVitie’s, Jacob’s, Carr’s andCrawford’s brands,” United Biscuits said ina statement last month.

“We apologise if consumers are finding itdifficult to get hold of some of these productsand we are working hard at our Carlisle site toresume normal service as soon as possible.”

Could this be the crumbling of a nationalstaple?

Duelling Rival Druids Fighting

Over Facebook, And … BeerA MAN who claims to be the reincarnation ofKing Arthur has gone into battle with Face-book after they deleted his account because

 they don’t believe he is real.Former biker Johnny Rothwell, 61, calls

himself King Arthur Uther Pendragon, claimshe is Britain”s Druid King and signs himselfArthur Rex. King Arthur changed his name in1986 and has his royal name on his passportand driving licence. Rothwell (Pendragon)wants to use Facebook as a modern plat-form to keep in touch with his druid group,The Loyal Arthurian Warband. But he says

 the social media giant keeps deleting hisaccount– and claims that is because rivaldruids are complaining because they areunhappy with his leadership.

Enforcing his argument, Rothwell evenchanged his name by deed poll in 1986, andhis mythical title features on his passport anddriving license.

But, the unhappy “King”, he claims thatFacebook keep deleting his account – andbelieves that rival druids are complainingbecause they are unhappy after he protestedplans to ban alcohol from the Stonehengesummer solstice.

 “I am back up and running for as longas it takes the “idiot druids” and the idiotFacebook to pull me down again.

When he contacted the Facebook helpcentre, he was told: “We can’t help withyour request because we’ve determined theID you provided isn”t real.”

“I really don’t know what Facebook know that HM Government, who issued the docu-ments, don’t.”

 Jammie Dodger Biscuit ThievesNot So ‘Jammy’, And Now

Lodge Guilty PleaTWO MEN from Liverpool last month pleadedguilty to the theft of £20,000 of biscuits.

The thieves stacked a trailer with JammieDodgers and Cadbury’s Chocolate Fingers

Newport Crown Court in South Walesheard how a trailer stacked with JammieDodgers and Cadbury’s Chocolate Fingerswas found abandoned in Warrington on June17 last year following the theft at Burton”sBiscuits in Cwmbran, Wales.

What seems amusing takes on an evenmore serious state given that Britain is in themidst of a biscuit drought at the moment.In December the United Biscuits plant inCarlisle was forced to close due to floodingdamage. Hence a huge market shortage ofCrawford’s and McVities products such asCustard Creams and Ginger Nuts..

Aaron Walsh, 25 and Anthony Edgerton,35, both appearing via video link from HMPLiverpool and HMP Altcourse, pleaded guilty

 to the theft of the biscuits and the HGV trailer.Edgerton also pleaded guilty to driving

while disqualified and his part in the at- tempted theft of 1,980 cases of lager onMay 17 2015.

The two men will be sentenced onMarch 15

Are You Lazy, And Need ThePerfect Job For You?

PERHAPS hard work is not your ‘cup of tea’ …? If this is the case, the perfect job iswaiting for you in the UK.

Chessington World of Adventurers islooking for someone to “sit around for themajority of the day”.

If vanity is your problem as well as beingidle, the suitable applicant needs to have theability to “enjoy being admired for severalhours a day”.

Other skills, though not essential for thejob include being “colour blind”, be comfort-able wearing a warm, black and white thickcoat”, and have a “high fibre diet of 14kgsof bamboo a day”.

If the final requirement doesn’t clue you in… yes, the job is to be a panda at the zoo!

The “day at the office” involves wearinga specially designed animatronic panda

suit, created by designers from MillenniumFX, for the theme park’s new show, calledPandamonium, set to open later this year.

A Chessington World of Adventuresspokesman said: “The cryptic job opportu-nity is to search for people to become ourPandas – arguably the greatest job in theworld. These people will then take part in

 the new Pandamonium show coming to theresort this Spring.”

Cop In Charge Of InvestigatingIllegal Fox Hunting A Member

Of Hunt ClubA POLICE wildlife officer who overseaslooking into allegations of animal trapping,game poaching, and illegal fox hunting and

more, was found, herself, to be a memberof a hunting club.PC Sharon Roscoe is a member of the Due

of Rutland’s Belvoir Hunt in Lincolnshire, indirect conflict to the crimes she investigateson a daily basis.

Roscoe, 46, rides regularly with the club,causing the Hunt Saboteurs Association tolaunch a petition which calls for the imme-diate removal of Roscoe, saying she has aconflict of interests.

The Belvoir Hunt was targeted by animalrights groups in December after a video ofa dehydrated fox – said to have been heldcaptive for two days in an outbuilding – wasreleased. Now the Hunt Saboteurs Associa-

 tion has launched a petition which calls for the immediate removal of PC Roscoe, who they say has a conflict of interests.

The petition states: “We feel these twopositions are completely untenable.” Cam-

paigners say she is in breach of the PoliceRegulations 2003, which forbids officersfrom taking part in activities which maycompromise impartiality.

Leicestershire Police said: “All policeofficers and staff are expected to carry out

 their duties with fairness and impartiality inline with our national Code of Ethics.

“Any officers who see the law beingbroken are expected to take action whether

 they are on or off duty.The spokesman added: “National guid-

ance around hunting does not preventofficers from taking part in legal and lawfulhunt activities outside of work.”

Cut-Price Meat At StakeAs Two ‘Ladies’ Brawl In

Supermarket

A FIGHT between two women over cheapmeat had to be broken up in a Sainsbury’ssupermarket last month.

The need for animal flesh and cheapprices saw a violent brawl of two very eagershoppers.

Food nearing its sell-by date was onsale, and two women spotted it at around

 the same time.Detectives heard the argument began

when one muttered “excuse me” andreached over to pick up some meat, includ-ing sausages.

Immediately the other woman allegedlyobjected as she thought she was there first,and the “one round” fight began.

Witnesses said children were crying as they watched the two pull each other’s hair,scream, punch and kick each other as staffrushed to try and pull them apart.

The fracas took place in the refrigerated

meat aisle at the supermarket in The Wil-lows shopping precinct, Torquay, Devonlast month.

One witness said: ‘It was appalling,like savages. No thought for staff or otherfamilies.

Devon and Cornwall Police say they are in-vestigating reports a man was also involved.A spokesman said: ‘A female shopper wasassaulted by a man and a woman inside the

store. The victim sustained a split lip.’They launched an appeal today to find a

woman they want to speak to with long darkhair, wearing a green coat and wellies whowas pushing a pram. The man with her waswearing a farmer-style cap, a jacket andjeans and black trainers with red bottoms.

Woman Pretended To HaveCancer So Her Boyfriend

Would Fund Plastic SurgeryA CALLOUS woman cheated her boyfriendout of thousands of pounds by pretendingshe had cancer, when really she wanted themoney for plastic surgery.

Charlotte Roche, 31, conned MatthewPilgrim out of £14,000 and planned to use£4,000 of the money to pay for cosmeticsurgery.

Roche, from Aberdeen, met Pilgrim on thedating website Plenty of Fish. Shortly after,Roche told him she had ovarian cancer buthe thought she had gone into remission, andshe then told Pilgrim she was going to seea consultant.

Roche, formerly of Chatham, Kent, andwho worked at a paper mill in the county,

said surgery was needed to remove a growthon her ovaries or have them removed com-pletely. She said it would be a six-monthwait on the NHS but only a couple of days ifshe went private and it would cost £6,800.

Pilgrim was so concerned and wanted to help her and as she texted him to up thepressure he agreed to lend her the money.A Maidstone Crown Court prosecutor AllisterWalker said Pilgrim visited Roche at herhome at weekends and she stayed with himin London. “She only told him the operationwas at a hospital in north London and didnot take warmly to him visiting her there.”Then, following the surgery, Roche askedher boyfriend to pay for private prescriptionsand post-operative care and he gave her afurther £2,000.

Pilgrim then did not see her for a while andit became clear the relationship was over, sohe asked her to repay the money.

Walker said: “He felt he had been exploited– and, of course, he had. The excuses con-

 tinued to flow.”All was revealed when Roche’s sister

called Pilgrim and told him he “had beenhad” and to call the police.

Roche was arrested at work in Octoberlast year but escaped jail with a six-monthsuspended sentence after admitting fraud byfalse representation.

She was also ordered to complete 80hours unpaid work and repay the £14,220she conned from Pilgrim.

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TO BRIGHTEN up those dark winter nights,an organization called Artichoke, backed byBoris Johnson, Mayor of London, broughtlight to the city streets last month. Stillglowing from the success of similar eventsin other UK cities in previous years, they helda free light festival at 30 locations across

 the capital, over four evenings, with iconicbuildings and structures lit by projectorsand other light installations. One of the mostpopular was a full-sized, three dimensionalprojected elephant which walked through

 the arch in Air Street, just off Regent Street.Meanwhile, in Grosvenor Square, BenedettoBufalino and Benoit Deseille’s ‘Aquarium’was a brightly lit, iconic red telephone box –filled with tropical fish!

So successful was the event that on someevenings they had to turn the lights off atvarious locations, citing fears over publicsafety. With various other events planned,one to look out for.

 StarmanDavid Bowie’s

life was a tale ofseveral cities re-ally but he was aLondoner, born in

 the not-so -smartsouth weste rnsuburb of Brixtonin 1947. DavidRobert Jones hada difficult early lifein Brixton before

 the family movedeastwards to Bromley. It was at Bromley

Tech School in this leafy London borough that he acquired his alien-like, permanentlydilated pupil in a playground fight – somethingwhich he always felt added to his mystique!As well as a dodgy eye, he left this school at16 with one “O” level in art.

London was very much the back canvas to his early career. In Denmark Street, justoff Charing Cross Road and famous for itsguitar shops, you can still eat in what was LaGioconda Café, where in the sixties, Bowiecould be found sipping coffee with his pal,Mark Field (later, Marc Bolan). Then, alsoin the West End, Bowie moved into a flatnear Pollock’s Toy Museum in Scala Street.Well-known for the clowns, Victorian printsand other circus memorabilia on display, thisinfluenced the art-loving, fertile mind of theyet-to-be discovered star.

A glitzy, jump suit clad Bowie announced to the world that Ziggy Stardust was born in

Heddon Street, off Regent Street in 1972 anda wall plaque marks the very spot. Sadly itwas a short life and Bowie announced thedeath of Ziggy on July 3rd the following year

 to a shocked and distraught fan base at theHammersmith Apollo in West London!

Meanwhile the Blitz Club in Great QueenStreet, near Covent Garden was where,in 1980, Bowie recruited the hippest newromantics he could find for the video he wasmaking to accompany Ashes to Ashes.

The Starman who astonished the world ismissed in his home city – but not quite gone.

 Hello, hello, hel loIn 1874, serving Metropolitan Police Of-

ficers set up The Black Museum at Scotland Yard with items seized from criminals andcrime scenes with the intention of assistingofficers investigating future crimes. Thismacabre collection of thousands of items

has remained locked away, hidden frompublic view and only seen by invited guestsand officers. Until now.

Mayor of London, Boris Johnson, saw noreason to keep these things hidden and work-ing with his own office for Policing and Crimein the capital, has, after a five year struggle,

opened The Crime Museum Uncovered at the Museum of London. But you will have to be quick as the exhibition only runs untilApril 10 2016.

There is something uniquely disturbingabout seeing actual objects used to commithorrific crimes but as well as sending a shiverdown the spine, there is some real benefit inshowing just how well-protected London isby the Metropolitan Police. The painstakinginvestigation into some real and present

 threats to public safety, like terrorism andgang violence is reassuring and graphicallyon display.

And there are of course some objectsfrom famous London crime activity – like

 the weaponry used by the notorious Kray

 twins and their associates, the gun used byRuth Ellis (the last woman hanged in the UKfor murder) and the rocket launcher used by

 the IRA to attack the MI6 building in 2000.Just a fraction of the Black Museum’s total

collection is on display but for your columnist thoughts of being cheated soon turned to ‘I think I’ve seen enough’. Worth seeing whileyou can but not for the faint-hearted.

Cross about Crossrail?One thing you can say about London –

someone always has a bright new idea for abetter way to get around the congested city!

The ambitious Crossrail project, connect-ing west to east under the great city in tunnelsmostly built by Welsh miners is approachingcompletion. It has been the largest infrastruc-

 ture project in Europe, costing some £12bn($17.3bn) and will become fully operational

Shine A Light

in 2018/2019.However, Londoners have paid a heavy

price. There have been enormous groundlevel construction sites with accompanying

 trucks and vehicles clogging the streets foryears. Historic buildings have been demol-ished and the anticipation of better trainroutes has pushed up house prices in someareas that were, previously, more affordable

 to ordinary working people.There is a huge potential upside of course

but even before the first project is up andrunning, Transport for London is consider-ing Crossrail 2 with a north to south axis.

Again there are high hopes for the practicalbenefits this will deliver but the battle linesare drawn with people up in arms about thedisruption and destruction (part of the planis to demolish Wimbledon town centre!). Theconsultation process is underway and even ifit gets the go ahead, Crossrail 2 will not open

for business until 2030.Another underground project though is

gathering awards and support from all cor-ners. Design company, Gensler London hasdreamt up ‘Underline’, a truly startling plan to

 turn disused tunnels and abandoned stationsinto underground cycle paths with shoppingfacilities and cafes! The tunnels would beaccessed from tube stations and would besurfaced with kinetic paving which woulduse energy generated from footfall to providepower. There are quite a lot of disused tunnelslike the stretches between Holborn and theabandoned Aldwych station and also fromCharing Cross to Green Park.

Ian Mulcahey, a director at Gensler said“Now that London has reached the highestlevel of population in its history we need to

 think creatively about how to maximise thepotential of our infrastructure”. Very true Ian ,let’s hope as much creative thinking is goinginto getting those bikes down all those stairs!

 Richard Lamberth Richard.Lamberth@hotmail.com

Two Storms Cause Havoc In BritainTHOUSANDS of people were left with-out electricity as winter storm Gertrudelashed northern Britain with snow, rainand wind gusts of more than 100mph.

The Met Office weather service said60 to 70mph winds were experiencedover large areas of Scotland and NorthernIreland. A gust of 105mph was recordedin the Shetland islands, off Scotland’snorthern coast.

Around 10,000 homes were leftwithout power in Scotland and North-ern Ireland, and there was widespreaddisruption to train and ferry services.

A ferry from Rotterdam failed to dockin the English port of Hull because ofhigh winds and had to remain at sea. Ithad to dock later.

Storm Imogen Lashes Britain With Wind, Huge Waves

ANOTHER storm with hurricane-forcewinds and huge waves battered Britain’s

coastline February 8, cutting power tothousands and disrupting travel acrossthe country.

More than 15,000 homes were with-out power as Storm Imogen hit Ireland,Wales and southern England.

Coastal towns were soaked by seaswells caused by the combination ofstrong winds and high tides. Weatherforecaster the Met Office said a 63-footwave was recorded off St Ives in south-west England.

Sustained winds of up to 121 mph – theequivalent of a Category three hurricane– were recorded at the Fastnet light-house near Ireland’s southwest coast.

The storm caused cancelations totrains, planes and ferries, and travelers

were being warned to take care whendriving. The Severn Bridge betweenEngland and Wales was shut because ofdangerous winds.

“THIS, ABOVE all, to thine own selfbe true.”

The words from Shakespeare’s Ham- let rang out on the most unlikely stageFebruary 3, at a squalid migrant campin the northern French port of Calais,known locally as the “jungle.”

The audience of migrants from theMiddle East to Africa would almostcertainly have preferred to see Lon-don’s renowned Globe theater companyperform the Bard’s famous play in hisnative country on the other side of theEnglish Channel.

Yet, up to 300 people bundled againstthe cold wind to watch the outdoor showon a wooden stage beside the small GoodChance theater, set up last fall to help fillthe void for the displaced camp residentsof the sprawling camp.

 Joe Murphy, one of Good Chance’s

artistic directors, said Hamlet’s messageresonates in the grimness of Calais.“Hamlet is about a man who is con-

fused, in doubt, who is contemplatinglife, who is contemplating death, who isin the middle of a decision ... And thisis the situation and the reality for manyyoung men in the camp,” he said.

UNFAMILIAR

“There are many young kids herewithout their families and they are expe-riencing exactly what this play is about,”Murphy said, referring to Hamlet whosefather was killed.

Most of the people in the audienceappeared unfamiliar with Shakespeare

Shakespeare On StageIn Squalid Migrant

Camp In France

and the powerful story of the Danishprince, but they cheered and laughed as

the actors braved the cold, too, for theperformance. Synopses were handedout in English and a handful of otherlanguages, including Farsi and Pashtun.

Some in the crowd were schooled inShakespeare, however, and happy tosee a stage performance of what theyhad only read.

“Shakespeare, he’s a great author,”said Filmon Kidane, a 27-year-old Er-itrean who said he has spent s ix monthsin the camp. “Life in here is very bad. Weneed refreshment. For two hours I canforget everything, except feeling cold.”

BOLDEST

The performance may be amongthe boldest shows by the Globe in itsworldwide tour that began nearly two

years ago on the 450th anniversary ofthe Bard’s birth and ends back home inBritain this April on the 400th anniver-sary of his death.

Migrants come to Calais in hopes ofsneaking to England, an increasingly dif-ficult task as authorities step up securityaround the port and the Eurotunnel.

The Globe included refugee camps onits world tour after being unable to take Hamlet to Syria, a country in the midst ofa civil war. Instead, it brought the perfor-mance to a huge refugee camp in Jordanthat houses Syrians. Millions of peoplehave fled Syria and many are among themore than 4,000 living in Calais.

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What’s In The HistoricAgreement On The UK’s

Place In The EU R By Jill Lawless

PRIME MINISTER David Cameron says

a historic deal agreed by all 28 EuropeanUnion leaders gives the UK “special statusin Europe.” The agreement, won after twodays of wrangling in Brussels, makes changesin four areas where Britain sought a less in-trusive relationship with the bloc. Here arethe key points:

A LEVEL ECONOMIC PLAYING FIELDBritain sought, and got, protections for it and

the other eight EU countries that don’t use theeuro single currency. The leaders’ agreement saysmoves by the 19 eurozone countries to bring their economies closer togetherare voluntary for the other member states, and stresses that businesses in non-eurozone countries must not face disadvantages within the EU’s single market.

The deal also says nancial regulation in non-eurozone countries is a matterfor those countries’ own authorities – a guarantee Cameron had sought for theBank of England. Non-eurozone countries can also seek a debate in the EUif they think eurozone economic measures are a problem. Countries includ-ing France had warned that could give Britain an eective veto on eurozonenancial decisions.

LESS MONEY FOR EU MIGRANTSThe EU leaders stressed that free movement of people is a key principle of

the bloc. But because Britain’s economy has been a magnet for hundreds ofthousands of EU migrants in recent years, the UK is allowed to impose temporaryrestrictions on the benets paid to EU workers in Britain.

After a tug of war between Britain and eastern European nations – who supplymost of the UK’s migrants – it was agreed that new workers coming to Britainfrom the EU will have to wait four years before receiving benets such as taxcredits and child payments. The exemption lasts for seven years, less than the13 years Britain had sought.

Child benet payments for children who live in their parents’ home countrieswill be indexed to the cost of living there, rather than to costs in Britain.

RULE BRITANNIAThe EU’s treaty commitment to an “ever closer union” among the people

of Europe is a particular bugbear for Britain, where politicians often raise thespecter of a “European super-state.” This new deal makes it explicit that “refer -ences to ever-closer union do not apply to the United Kingdom.”

INCREASING COMPETITIVENESSIn one of the least-controversial sections of the deal, EU leaders vowed to

strengthen the EU’s internal market and improve regulation by lowering taxes

and paperwork for small and medium-sized businesses and cutting red tape.

 R By Maria Cheng

IN A LANDMARK decision that someethicists warned is a step down thepath toward “designer babies,” Britaingave scientists approval last month to

conduct gene-editing experiments onhuman embryos.The researchers won’t be creating

babies – the modified embryos will bedestroyed after seven days. Instead, theysaid, the goal is to better understand hu-man development so as to improve fertil-ity treatments and prevent miscarriages.

The decision by Britain’s HumanFertilisation and Embryology Authoritymarks the first time a county’s nationalregulator has approved the technique.Permission isn’t explicitly required inmany other countries, including the USand China. The US does not allow theuse of federal funds for embryo modi-fication, but there is no outright ban on

Britain Approves ControversialGene-Editing Experiments

gene editing.Gene editing involves deleting, re-

pairing or replacing bits of DNA insideliving cells in a biological cut-and-pastetechnique that scientists say could oneday lead to treatments for conditions likeHIV or inherited disorders such as mus-cular dystrophy and sickle cell disease.

A team led by Kathy Niakan, an em-bryo and stem cell specialist at London’snew Francis Crick Institute, received theOK to use gene editing to analyze thefirst week of an embryo’s growth.

ENHANCE

The research will “enhance our un-derstanding of IVF (in vitro fertilization)success rates by looking at the veryearliest stage of human development,”said Paul Nurse, director of the institute.

None of the embryos will be trans-ferred into women. They will be al-lowed to develop from a single cell to

around 250 cells, after which they willbe destroyed.

Peter Braude, a retired professorof obstetrics and gynecology at King’sCollege London, said the mechanisms

being investigated by Niakan and her col-leagues “are crucial in ensuring healthy,normal development and implantation”and could help doctors refine fertilitytreatments. Braude is not connected toNiakan’s research.

Some critics warn that tweakingthe genetic code this way could be aslippery slope that eventually leads todesigner babies, where parents not onlyaim to avoid inherited diseases but alsoseek taller, stronger, smarter or better-looking children.

MANIPULATING

Many religious groups, including theCatholic Church, argue that manipulat-ing embryos amounts to “playing God.”Some scientists have voiced concern thattinkering with genes might have unin-tended consequences not apparent untilafter the babies are born – or generationslater. And some fear such practices willonly widen the gap between rich andpoor by enabling the wealthy to createsuperbabies.

Around the world, laws and guidelinesvary widely about what kind of researchis allowed on embryos, since such experi-ments could change the genes of futuregenerations. Countries such as Japan,China, India and Ireland have unenforce-able guidelines that restrict editing ofthe human genome. Germany and othercountries in Europe limit research onhuman embryos by law.

Last year, British lawmakers voted toallow scientists to create babies from theDNA of three people to prevent childrenfrom inheriting potentially fatal diseasesfrom their mothers. In doing so, Britainbecame the first country to allow geneti-

cally modified embryos to be transferredinto women.

New Crossrail Named The ‘Elizabeth Line’LONDON mayor Boris Johnsonannounced last month the newCrossrail railway that will runbeneath London, is to be knownas the Elizabeth Line, in honour ofthe Queen.

 Johnson visited Bond Street sta-tion with the monarch January 23and revealed the new line’s nameand purple Underground logo.

 Johnson said it was “wonderful”the line had “such a significantname”.

“The Elizabeth Line will providea lasting tribute to our longest-serving monarch”, the mayor said.

The Queen visited a station construction site 92ft below ground where sheviewed part of the tunnel and met construction apprentices.

Transport Secretary Patrick McLoughlin, who was also at the event, said thename was “very fitting” given the Queen’s long association with UK transport.

It was an appropriate event in that the Queen was the first reigning monarch

to ride the Tube when she opened the Victoria Line in 1969.

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MANY HAVE been closely following thelitigation surrounding the STEM OPT pro-gram as the fate of the program will impactmany international students and workers.As background, OPT (“Optional PracticalTraining”)has historically been part of the F-1student visa program, granting internationalstudents one year of work authorization ina field related to their major or course ofstudy. In 2008, this program was expanded

 to allow for a 17 month extension to those ina STEM (“Science, Technology, Engineering,and Math”) field.

In August of last year, the Wash-ington Alliance of Technology Workers(“Washtech”) filed suit against the USDepartment of Homeland Security (“DHS”).The court hearing the case dismissed all ofWashtech’s complaints, but one. The courtagreed with Washtech in that DHS violated

 the Administrative Procedures Act (“APA”) byfailing to provide an adequate public noticeand comment period when the rule was pro-posed. This violation of the APA would void

 the STEM OPT program. Fortunately, rather than voiding the rule, the court granted DHSsix months, through February 12, 2016, toproperly go through the public and noticeperiod and republish the rule.

Late last month, DHS requested a 90 dayextension to their February 12, 2016 deadline,causing great concern to workers relyingon their STEM OPT and their employers.The request for an extension was the resultof over 50,000 submitted comments, anoverwhelming and unpresented response.Thankfully, DHS’s request was granted

 through May 10, 2016.In order to meet its new deadline, DHS

must publish the final rule by March 11,2016. In the last two weeks, DHS has sent

 the final regulation, training form, and revised

 What’s Up With Student Visa Work Permits?

instructions to the Office of Managementand Budget for review. The draft documentssubmitted for review shed some light on thespecifics of the final rule including:

STEM OPT evaluations would be requiredevery twelve months, instead of every sixmonth as was originally proposed;

Employers would no longer have a specificduty to “mentor” F-1s on STEM OPT; and

Employers would be obligated to notify theDSO of STEM OPT employment terminationwithin five business days, rather than the 48hours required under current rules and in theproposed regulation.

The final rule is expected to be publishedin early March with a 60 day implementationperiod so that it can take effect on May 10,2016, meeting the court imposed deadline.Until then, the current STEM OPT regulationsremain in effect.

 Mitch Wexler is a Partner with the inter- national immigration law firm, Fragomen, Del Rey, Bernsen & Loewy, LLP, resident in its Irvine, California office. He has been practic- ing immigration law for over 29 years and is a Specialist in Immigration & Nationality Law, certified by the State Bar of California, Board of Legal Specialization. H e welcomes all queries to mwexler@fragomen.com or(949) 660-3531.

EU Mulls Probe Of UKGoogle Tax Deal As Italy

InvestigatesGOOGLE is gearing up for a new roundin its European tax fight after the EUsaid it could investigate its £130m dealfor back taxes in Britain and Italy allegedGoogle owed it some 300 million euros.

Britain’s Scottish National Party hadasked last month for an investigation ofthe tax deal the UK government struck

with Google, with deputy party leaderStewart Hosie arguing there was a lackof transparency.

“It is my view that an independentverification of this settlement wouldestablish confidence that the settlementis within the boundaries of state aid regu-lations and is a fair deal for the taxpayersof the United Kingdom,” he wrote.

Ricardo Cardoso, spokesman for EUcompetition commissioner MargretheVestager, said that “we will look into it andthen decide where to move from there.”

Writing in the  Fi nan cia l Tim es,  Google’s vice president of communica-tions, Peter Barron, insisted the com-pany paid tax at the standard corporaterate of 20 percent.

INDEPENDENTLY “Governments make tax law, the tax

authorities independently enforce thelaw, and Google complies with the law,”he wrote.

The anger of lawmakers has beenstoked by reports that France and Italywere in talks to squeeze more out of thecompany.

In Italy, the financial police confirmedreports last month that Google was underinvestigation for allegedly avoiding up toaround 300 million euros ($326 million)in taxes. Italian daily La Repubblica re-ported that the investigation stems fromGoogle activities in Italy from 2008-2013,when Google allegedly declared its fiscalheadquarters in Ireland.

Google repeated Barron’s line andsaid it is working with the relevantauthorities.

At the time of Apple’s settlement,Google said it was working with Italiantax authorities.

Google Inc. is based in Mountain View,California.

Michael Crawford To RepriseFrank Spencer For Sport Relief 

MICHAEL CRAWFORD is set to reprise therole of Frank Spencer in a one-off special ofSome Mothers Do ‘Ave ‘Em.

The famous BBC comedy last aired onChristmas Day in 1978.

The sketch reunites Crawford, 74, withon-screen wife Betty (Michele Dotrice), andfeatures an appearance from Olympic cyclistSir Bradley Wiggins, leading to one of Frank’s

 typical disasters.“I am thrilled and delighted to have been

asked to bring Frank back,” he said.Dotrice said it would be an “absolute joy

 to be reun ited again with Frank” and that it

was fitting “for it is sucha wonderful cause”.

Sir Bradley added:“I am a huge fan of Mi-chael so it’s an absolutehonour to be asked tobe involved alongsidesuch an icon of British television... and allfor a great cause.”

When the show wrapped in 1978, Craw-ford went on to star in the original productionof The Phantom of the Opera and other suc-cessful Andrew Lloyd Webber productionssuch as The Wizard Of Oz.

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LET ME be abso-lutely clear: I likebeing in Europe andI will vote to stayin when the refer-endum eventuallyarrives.

I am old enough to remember whenit all began with theCoal and Steel Com-munity in 1952. Analliance of six countries: West Germany,France and Italy along with the intriguinglystyled Benelux Countries. (How Be and Nefelt being outlettered by tiny Lux I cannot

 tell . I only reca ll gettin g birthday booksfrom an aunt, uncle and cousin who signedeverything Vibertia. The “ia” was Marcia whogot heartily fed up of being a mystifying two-letter addition to a style that clearly identifiedVi and Bert!)

Coal and Steel were bracketed togethersince it was felt that the key to war-makingwas metal-making and if Germany (West)and France were jointly involved in smeltingand forging, they couldn’t get away withstockpiling explosive bits of metal to fireat each other. The Six were thus first andforemost a peace-making Community. Wewere invited to join the Six in 1957 but feltourselves too important to join the otherEuropean nations, all of whom were WorldWar II losers.

There was of course a sub-text to this andit was that France had taken over the Saarfrom Germany after the war and naturallywanted to exploit its industrial possibilities.Charles de Gaulle was particularly keen onbuilding up French control of Germany’s bor-der territories. The new community defused

a potentially political vexation.There was something

fetching about de Gaulle as hisFrench was remarkably easy

 to understand. But he didn’tlike the Americans and Brits– the “Anglo-Saxon sphereof influence” as he saw it. It’shard to work out why we and

 the Yanke es had given himrefuge during the War andeased his passage back in1944. He saw Europe as the

 third force between the USSRand we English-speakers.

Anyway, when we finally decided thata European partnership was right for us in1963, de Gaulle was adamant he didn’t wantus. We had another bash at entry in 1967 andanother rejection by de Gaulle. Our entry had

 to wait till the old lad actually died in 1970when it was Edward Heath who finally got usinto Europe in 1973, and Harold Wilson whogave the nation its first referendum on ourcontinued membership of the EU. In 1975,Over two-thirds of the electorate turned out tovote and 67 percent voted to stay in Europe.

EXPANDED

As the EU expanded from its originalsix, up to twelve and now 27, an ever morepowerful economic force was created. Moves

 towards the creation of the euro as the com-mon monetary unit began as far back as1969 but only reached fruition on January1, 1999, involving everyone at that time in

 the EU except for Great Britain and Denmark.Tony Blair was strongly in favour of com-

mitting to the euro but Gordon Brown held outand antipathy towards it remains with DavidCameron recently assuring the nation that we

The Case For Staying In The EU

will never adopt it.I am equally set against joining the euro

simply because I lived through the introduc- tion of decimal currency. I am utterly con-vinced that it provided the ideal opportunity to

raise prices surreptitiously. I recently discov-ered that the then-government tried to showus how the new coinage related to LSD. Whatyou did was to double the number of newpence then put a slash between the figures:17p times two gave you 34, or 3/4. Easy.

That calculation comes home very forcibly today when the price of a first-class stampis 63p or 12/6 in old money. Twelve and akick to post a letter!

It was the rise of the United KingdomIndependence Party (UKIP) that has directlyled to the referendum on EU membership.Oddly ever since Count Nicolai Tolstoy first

stood for UKIP in the BarnsleyEast by-election 1992, they havenever had more than one MP,even though in the last election

 they picked up nearly four mil-lion votes. That was roughly thesame number as they won in the2014 European elections andmade them our biggest party in

Brussels.Enough of statistics, the fact

remains that David Cameron wasso frightened of the effect thatUKIP could have on the Conser-

vative vote that he promised a referendum.It has always been a referendum he doesn’twant and which he daren’t lose.

There is another compelling reason forBritian staying in Europe. The Scottish Nation-

alists (SNP)have madeit abundantlyplain that theywant to stayin Europe and

 that if we vote to get out, that

is the excuse they will need to call for anothervote on staying in the UK union. Make nomistake about it, the No (to leaving the Union)campaign produced a 55 percent majoritybut it seems apparent from this side of theborder that the SNP have strengthened theirhand since September 2014.

CONSPIRACY 

There is even dark talk of a Scottishconspiracy to vote No in the referendum toensure (a) that we vote to leave and (b) that

 they will have a pretext to have yet anotherIn/Out vote for Scotland.

If we vote to leave the EU and subse-quently say goodbye to Scotland too, it wouldsurely be an unmitigated disaster.

Cameron looks close to a deal with the EC that he can present to the nation in June thisyear. He has criss-crossed his way roundEurope for the last three months or more.All the time he is huffing and puffing abouthow hard he has fought to ensure we get a

deal he can recommend to the nation. It is allsmoke and mirrors. No-one in Europe wantsus to leave, our government doesn’t want us

 to leave so whatever Cameron achieves mustlook like a tremendous victory grudginglyconceded to us by Europe.

In truth it’s a referendum that should neverhave been offered. To be perfectly honest, Ihaven’t the slightest clue whether Britain willprofit or not from leaving the EU. But our l ast40-odd years have been bound up in Europeand you cannot predict what will happen ifwe turn away from the continent. Will theybe pleased to ensure that life outside the EUwill be as comfortable for us as life inside?I think not.

COMPLEX The whole issue is far too complex for

anyone to understand what will happen. Imean what happens, for instance, to thehalf-million pensioners who have left theUK’s shore to settle down in the EU? Can theyhave an assured future? And what about the900,000 Brits living and working the the EU?

Such questions need to be answered. Butmore than that, will someone also please tellus what sort of Britain will it be if we comeout. I fear no-one can answer that questionand it is why I am adamant we should vote

 to stay in. John Polley  jpolley2@sky.com

. . . what happens, for instance, to the half-million pensioners who have left the UK’s shore to settle down in the EU? Can they have an assured future? And what about the 900,000 Brits living and working the the EU?

 R By Shawn Pogatchnik

THE LEADERS of Ireland’s other majorparties accused Sinn Fein chief GerryAdams of directing IRA violence in thepast and seeking to endanger jurors

today as they waged their first head-to-head debate ahead of Ireland’s February26 election.

Adams spent much of the 90-minutelive televised event isolated versusPrime Minister Enda Kenny, DeputyPrime Minister Joan Burton and opposi-tion Fianna Fail party leader MichealMartin.

Kenny’s centrist Fine Gael hopesto retain power in cooperation withBurton’s left-wing Labour Party. Their

 Adams Isolated As Irish Leaders Debate Ahead Of Votecoalition since 2011 has led Ireland outof an international bailout and recessionand returned the country to its previ-ous status as Europe’s fastest-growingeconomy.

Despite that record, recent polls sug-gest the Fine Gael-Labour coalition facesan uphill struggle to retain enough par-liamentary seats, with Labour at graverisk of losing out to populist Fianna Fail,Sinn Fein and smaller socialist voices.Polls indicate none of the parties willdo sufficiently well to govern withoutcoalition partners.

But Fianna Fail’s Martin emphati-cally rejected the possibility of forming agovernment with Adams, citing his Irish

Republican Army background and lack ofcredibility on matters of law and order.

 ACCUSEDAddressing Adams standing beside

him, Martin accused the Sinn Fein chief

of overseeing the IRA’s abduction, kill-ing and secret burial of Belfast civiliansbranded informers; the intentional crip-pling of hundredsof Belfast youthsdeemed guilty ofcrimes in so-called“puni shm ent”shootings; andsheltering of IRAfugitives wantedin Northern Ire-

land on charges of child molestation.“It’s the height of hypocrisy for you

to parade yourself as a civil libertarian,”Martin said.

Adams has stumbled during the cam-

paign over Sinn Fein’s pledge to abolishIreland’s Special Criminal Court, a three- judge venue that hears cases involving

the IRA and organized crime without a jury. The government is committed toforming a second court to clear a backlogof dozens of cases, mostly involving IRAfactions that reject the 1997 cease-fireand 2005 renunciation of violence deliv-ered by Adams.

Adams has insisted that juries should

hear the IRA-related cases, despite thelong history of IRA intimidation of wit-nesses and killing of judges.

Independent Newspaper To Cease Print EditionsBRITAIN’S Independent news-paper will publish its last printedition next month as it makesa “historic transition” to digital-

only format, its owner said.ESI Media said The Indepen- dent’s   final paper edition willappear March 26. Sister paperthe Independent on Sunday willend with the March 20 issue.

Owner Evgeny Lebedevsaid The Independent brand willcontinue online.

“We faced a choice: managethe continued decline of print,

or convert the digital foundationwe’ve built into a sustainable,profitable future,” he said in anemail to the staff last month.

Lebedev said there would belayoffs, but it was not immedi-ately clear how many.

Another of the company’spapers, the commuter-focuseddaily newspaper, has been soldto regional newspaper publisher Johnston Press for £24m.

FOUNDEDThe Independent, founded in

1986, has employed high-profile

 jour nali sts inc ludi ng Robe rtFisk, Will Self and Helen Field-ing, who created Bridget Jones’s Diary  for its pages. It became

known for its emphasis on inter-national news and for avoidingthe traditional British mediapractice of slotting into left- orright-wing camps.

Like other papers, The In- depe ndent  has seen its printcirculation plummet. It nowdistributes fewer than 60,000copies a day, down from a highof more than 400,000.

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CARLA’S IN hospital this month after a break-in at the Bistro. When the electricity goes offat the Bistro and all the staff are sent home,Robert stays on to work. Carla finds out he’s

 there on his own so she pops in to have aword about keeping their under-duvet activi- ties quiet. Unbeknown to them both, Tracy ishiding in the kitchen hoping to surprise Robertwith a bit of how’s-your-father in the dark.As Carla and Robert chat at the bar, Tracyoverhears everything about Robert sleepingwith Carla. Robert leaves and Carla stays,getting smashed on a bottle of red wine. AsCarla’s drinking, Jamie and a pal come into

 the Bistro hoping to get revenge on Steph for turning them into the police over the revengeporn pictures that Jamie took of Steph. It’sbeen a complicated plot, but bear with me!Steph’s not there, there’s only Carla inside.Jamie decides to nick Carla’s handbag andin the melee they drive off. Now then, Carla’snot a woman to be parted from her handbagand she hangs on for dear life as her bag isdriven off the cobbles in a car at top speed.

Out on the street, Kev and Phelan see

what’s going on. Phelan jumps in front of thecar to stop it, just as Kev pull s him out of theway of the speeding car. The thugs speed offand Carla’s taken to hospital where she’s gotbroken bones and internal bleeding.

Gail’s granny flat proves to be too coldand she calls in builder Jason to give hera quote for underfloor heating. When Davidand Kylie find out what’s going on, they puta stop to Jason lifting the carpet in fear ofsecrets – and a dead body buried underneath

- being revealed.This month we see the return of Pat Phelan

who’s one of the builders working on Kev’snew garage. He’s as sleazy as ever, divorcedfrom his wife now and bankrupt too. He givesAnna the glad-eye and she does her best toavoid him. Phelan tells Kev that he and Annahave history but he doesn’t give him all thehistory, just selected highlights. She leavesout the bit about how she slept with Phelan

 to pay off Owen’s debts.Sally decides to stand as an independent

councillor for Weatherfield Council, muchlike Deirdre once did in the past. Audreyreminds Sally that she was a WeatherfieldCouncillor once and that her Alfeh was “themurr”. “You were only in it for the perks,”Sally remembers, quite rightly too.

Rita gets on the internet this month whenSophie shows her how to use her new

 tablet. She even joins Facebook. “What’s anapp?” she asks in the Rovers. “You’ll need

 to know your apps from your elbow,” quipsTim. “And what’s a widget?” she asks. “Youcan get cream from the doctor for those,”he replies. Rita signs up to Facebook and isover the moon when one of her old schoolfriends gets in touch. Then she gets anothermessage from the past which doesn’t cheerher at all. It’s from Jenny Bradley and Ritaagrees to meet her, against the advice of

Norris. Rita ends up taking Jenny in, to livewith her in the flat.Mary mopes about the house in tears

after she finds out that lover Brendan is reallymarried. In the pub later, Mary opines abouther mother, who by all accounts is a bit of aprude. “There was a time when she wouldn’teven be seen eating a banana in public.”

Glenda YoungCoronation Street Blog

 http://coronationstreetupdates.blogspot.com

IT IS QUITE possible that legendary soapwriter William Shakespeare had a future playcalled  EastEnders in mind when he coined

 the phrase: “All’s well that ends well.” In themost romantic wedding ever on EastEnders, after a chase, an attempted murder, a plungeinto an icy lake, and a visit from the Old Bill(to drag Dean away in handcuffs), and aftermore than 25 years together (pretending to bemarried) Linda and Mick actually get married.The bride wore white; the groom wore a pinkbathrobe and fuzzy pink slippers...

Across the Square, Ian has finally come to realize that Bobby is dangerous and hecan’t handle him. His answer? Send himoff to a posh boarding school (againstJane’s wishes). Of course he doesn’t tell theboarding school that Bobby is a sociopathickiller. Stay tuned for a special episode whereMiss Marple investigates a string of boarding

school murders...The Stacey/Martin/Kush/Shabnam quad-rangle is torture for everyone but Martin (whois still blithely unaware that his son Arthur isactually Kush’s. Finding out that the baby isKush’s causes Shabs to move across Londonwith her daughter Jade (the baby she secretlyhad after a few minutes with Dean, gave upfor adoption, tried to reclaim, who was thengiven to Shirley - but Shirley has decided thatshe she’s already screwed up enough kids soafter all that she turns Jade over to Shabs).They drive away as Kush screams after them.He’s been on a drunken binge ever since. AndStacey, suffering from post natal psychosis,has a breakdown, thinks baby Arthur is theson of God, and has to be hospitalized...

Ben is in love with Paul and finally decides to tell Abi that he’s gay and leaving her (turnsout she already knew he was gay but thoughtshe could keep him on a leash), but after get-

 ting wind of Ben’s plan, Aunt Babe suggests that Abi announce to everyone in the Vic that she’s pregnant before he can spring hisnews. She isn’t actually pregnant, but Babesays, minor detail, just get pregnant beforehe can figure that out...

Elsewhere...Kathy is living with Ian andJane and working on the Beale fruit & vegstall (somewhere Pete is smiling)... Oh yeah,and Tracey the mysteriously quiet barmaid,announced that she quite likes the smell offish (hey, after over 30 years of being anextra, a line’s a line!)...

What else did we miss over the festiveseason? Well, Vincent accidentally killedFatboy (by locking him in a trunk to teachhim a lesson, not knowing that Ronnie wasgoing to have his (Vincent’s) car crushed, to

 teach Vincent a l esson). Dean attempted torape Roxy and would have done had Shirleynot walked in. He is arrested and jailed

and Shirley and Buster finally give up on

him (and believe that Linda was telling the truth all along). But it’s not all tragic: Honeyreturns from Canada and she and Billy getback together (and living with Ronnie). But

 then Phil, who’s been drunk since Gavin kid-napped him, was tossed out by Sharon andRonnie take him in. Very cosy (not!) And onEastEnders 31st anniversary, in a scene very

reminiscent of Den asking Angie for a divorce,Phil delivers a divorce petition to Shazza...To keep up with all things  EastEnders,

just email me here at the Launderette andI’ll sign you up for the FREE  E20Chroniclese-newsletter:  E20Launderette@gmail.com.There are two PBS stations holding theirannual EastEnders pledge nights this month:TPT in Minneapolis on March 11, and UNC-TV in North Carolina on March 13. Tune inand support another year of EastEnders on

 these fine PBS stations.If you love Downton Abbey, read my blog

on PBS ThirteenWNET. During the  Downtonseason, I write cheeky recaps of each epi-sode, called The Downton Abbey Dish, thatget posted just as that week’s episode isending on the East Coast. Here’s the recapfor episode 7: www.thirteen.org/downton-

 abbey/episode-recaps/season-6-episode-7/ 

The final episode of  Downton Abbey   isSunday night, March 6, and if you watch in the NYC area on ThirteenWNET, stay tuned after the final episode ends for a surprise. And then the same when the finale is repeated thefollowing night on WLIW21.

Are you on Twitter? If you are, youcan follow me on Twitter at Twitter.com/ 

 E20Launderette.Signed, Your Faithful Reporter 

 Deborah Gilbert AKA E20Launderette

US Vacation Properties– Seller Beware!

THIS MONTH it’s time for another excitingprovision from the Protecting Americans fromTax Hikes Act, passed in December 2015,and now it’s time for another one! This time

 the Americans are protected because the tax is due from non-residents – in particular,people who are selling US real property. Onewarning – this provision only affects peoplewho are not resident here – so if you file a1040, this won’t be of direct concern to you.

If you are non-resident but own a propertyhere, when you sell it you may be subject

 to withholding tax. The law involved is theForeign Investment in Real Property TaxAct of 1980 (FIRPTA) and I’ve written aboutit previously. The withholding tax was 10percent of the sale proceeds (not just thegain) on all sales of $300,000 or more and onsales under that amount if the buyer couldn’tsign a declaration that they would be usingit as a residence. It was often therefore a notinconsiderable sum!

Just like no changes have been made to the $10,00 0 FBAR limit since it wasintroduced, the $300,000 limit had beenunchanged since 1980. It’s stating the obvi-ous to say that more properties are now worthover $300,000, but since there’s a zero-rate

band for long-term capital gains, manyforeign sellers don’t owe any tax and (eventu-ally) get a complete refund of any withholding

 tax. It just takes a lot of persistence!The new provision increases the withhold-

ing tax to 15 percent of the sale proceedsfor properties sold for over $1m and for allproperties where the buyers are not able orwilling to sign to say it will be their residence.Although the test for a property being us-ing as a residence is quite easy to meet (itdoesn’t need to be a main residence), it’scommon for smaller properties to be boughtfor investment which means the residencecondition won’t be met. Larger properties on

 the other hand, sometimes can’t be treated

as a residence because ownership is beingput in the name of a trust or corporate en-

 tity. The withholding tax in cases where theproperty will be a residence for the buyers isunchanged (0 to $300,000 and 10 percentfor over that amount).

If it seems rather tough that sellers have toface withholding at all, it is even more difficult

 to understand how the amount of withholdingshould vary based on something that is noth-ing to do with them – whether their buyer isplanning to use the property as a residence.

Also interesting is the fact that the JointCommittee of Taxation in Washington havesuggested that this increase will result in anadditional $20m per year (more or less) for

 the U.S. government. Since the withhold-ing tax is not an additional tax, but simplypayment on account of any federal liability,it would seem that it can’t provide any ad-ditional money to the government if the overall

 tax rates haven’t gone up.The only conclusion I can reach is that

many foreign sellers don’t claim back theirwithholding tax. Something tells me this isbecause they find it difficult to do rather thanbecause they’ve chosen to make a donation

 to Uncle Sam!If you know of anyone who has suffered

 this withholding and wants help in claimingit back – I’m happy to try!

 Mary-Heather Styles first cam e to live in Phoenix, Arizona from the U.K. in April 2001 – the past 15 years have gone in a flash!Transatlantic Tax is settling down into newoffices and Arizona is getting hotter as we

 settle down to another tax season. She can becontacted at (602) 845-1420 or at mhstyles@transatlantictax.com. 

Downton Abbey  Star Brendan CoyleBanned From Driving

ACTOR Brendan Coyle, who playedbeleaguered valet John Bates onTV drama  Dow nto n Abbey ,  hasbeen banned from driving after be-ing caught behind the wheel afterdrinking.

Coyle appeared at King’s LynnMagistrates’ Court in eastern Eng-land last month under his real name,David Coyle, and pleaded guilty todrunken driving.

Police said he was stopped whiledriving a BMW convertible on anearby road on January 1. A breathtest recorded him as almost threetimes the legal alcohol limit fordriving.

The  Eastern Daily Press  news-paper said Coyle’s lawyer, StevenDyble, told the hearing that the actorwas returning from an alcohol reha-bilitation clinic in Thailand when hewas stopped.

Coyle, who is 52, was bannedfrom driving for 50 months and or-dered to do 100 hours’ unpaid work.

3,000-Year-OldWheel Discovered At

‘Britain’s Pompeii’

ARCHEOLOGISTS working atMust Farm in Peterborough, Cam-bridgeshire, recently discovered a3,000-year-old wheel that has beencompletely preserved. It is the firstand largest example of its kind to bediscovered on the isle. The wheel’scompleteness and relative sizewill likley shift views about howpeople may have travelled during theBronze Age, especially since it wasfound at a site located near a river.

“This remarkable but fragilewooden wheel is the earliest com-plete example ever found in Britain,”said Duncan Wilson, chief executiveof Historic England, announcing the

discovery. “The existence of thiswheel expands our understanding ofLate Bronze Age technology and thelevel of sophistication of the lives ofpeople living on the edge of the Fens3,000 years ago.”

Must Farm has been dubbed“Britain’s Pompeii” because, likePompeii in Italy, it is remarkablywell-preserved from a fire that oc-curred at the site approximately3,000 years ago. The site containssome of the best-preserved historicalevidence about Bronze-Age Britain.It was first discovered in 2006 and isnow the subject of a £1.1m excava-tion project, which has unearthedwooden houses, bowls, and tools.

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Page 8 March 2016ujnews.com

Contact Leo and Karen at leolewis12@yahoo.com

 132 Santa Monica Blvd,Santa Monica CA 90401

(310) 394 8765

 116 Santa Monica Blvd,

Santa Monica, CA 90401

(310) 451 1402

Restaurant now open at 9amMon-Fri.Open for breakfastweekends at 8am

Restaurant

British Pub, Restaurant and Gift Shoppe

Bakery &

Shoppe

Open Fri-Sat

10am-10pm

Sun-Thur

10am-8pm

EPL Games Shown LIVE

 w w w. ye o  ld

e king s he a d .c o m

 Sundays

Karaoke 

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British Pie WeekM a r c h 7 - 1 3

 Join us for a Tradition alEaster Sunday lunch.

Easter Eggs now

in stock in our

Gift Shoppe

Hot X Buns available in our Bakery.

S t  P at r i c k ’ s D ay  T hur  3/ 17  – D  j  , B agp i p e r  and  l o t s o f  S he nani gans.

 You SayTomato In San

FranciscoWHEN DAVID KIDD passed a napkin to nativeNew Yorker Diane Weiser in a New York bar,he never dreamed that 15 years later hewould be married, living in the Bay Area and

 the proud owner of San Francisco’s largestand most successful British retail shop. Back

 then, David was an IT consu ltant doing “abank job” as he likes to say, installing inter-national trading software for banks across

 the globe. The night he was to head back to the UK, his client literally called him en route to the airport to come back due to a problemwith the technology.

What else was he to do on a cold winter’snight but go to the local pub for a pint (or two) of Stella. Enter Diane, a public rela- tions executive, having some fun with herwork colleagues and getting ready to singwhat became a somewhat embarrassingbut prophetic Karaoke rendition of WhitneyHouston’s Greatest Love of All . After awhirlwind long-distance romance, Davidand Diane were married and soon relocated

 to San Francisco for Diane’s job, where shereconnected with an old colleague/friendgrowing a company with eight employees

 to 400 when she left. One very smart lady!

It was then that David, an entrepreneurat heart, envisioned changing careers andopening his own little shop filled with Englishgoodies and You Say Tomato  was born.Brainstorming with Diane over dinner onenight, David came up with the clever namefor the shop, playing off of the well-knownGershwin song as well as the union of thisBrit and his American girl.

Now in its 12th year in business, withmore than 300 products available and grow-ing, You Say Tomato has not only survivedbut has thrived through multiple economicdownturns, as well as through the recentCadbury/Hershey conflict. The store has

become a “go-to” for ex-pats, Anglophilesand tourists alike, attracting visitors from New York, Miami, L.A. and David’s hometown.

In fact, it was his hometown that imme-diately connected the two of us. When wefirst met this newfound shopkeeper, a meresix weeks after he opened and barely had hisfooting, surrounded by boxes of British good-ies, we all laughed hysterically. We couldn’tunderstand why he was so nice. That wasuntil we realized that just like my parentsand ancestors, he was from Stoke-on-Trentand carried the same warmth of personality

 that is indigenous to people from that part

of England. Like kindred spirits, we quicklyrealized that our fathers both worked in thePotteries, Wedgewood and Royal Dalton, andwent to the same school. And like so many ofhis customers, the relationship between theUnion Jack  and You Say Tomato flourished;as we have helped each other expand ourbusinesses.

David has been able to virtually bottle that Stoke -on- Tren t warmt h and pour it throughout the walls ofYou Say Tomato. And those walls, inside and out, have become aswell-known as David has over the years. Hisunique, quirky and seasonal window displaysstop passersby in their tracks and generate

ongoing local press. Whether it’s the Punch& Judy show or a Dalek showdown, you cancount on David for great reminders of British

David Kidd of You Say Tomato in San

Francisco.

Last Land Rover Defender RollsOff Production Lines In UK 

THE LAST Land Rover Defender, the famed 4x4 off-road vehicle that has been made for almost sevendecades, has rolled off the production line in Britain.

More than two million of the boxy vehicles have been produced at the plant over the past 68 years,and fans range from farmers to the Queen, who has been photographed driving them over the decades.

Dozens of workers at the Jaguar Land Rover plant near Birmingham in central England cheered January29 as the last one was presented with its lights flashing and horn blaring.

Jaguar Land Rover did not say why the model is being discontinued. Jim Holder, editorial director ofmotoring magazines including Autocar, said it could be because the model can no longer keep up withemission and safety regulations.

pop culture. And it wouldn’t be completewithout a go on his authentic Dr Who pinballmachine. Sometimes Diane wonders if thestore is simply a cover for David’s passion

 to never grow up!As the shop celebrates its 12th anniver-

sary this year, we are thrilled to call David afriend of the Union Jack  and thank him forhis longtime support. (We sometimes takefor granted that the UJ  will always be in theshops. But without the loyal support of theshopkeepers the UJ  simply wouldn’t be avail-able to our readers). Hailing from good oldStoke on Trent it’s no wonder You Say Tomato is still going strong after all these years.www.yousaytomato.biz   1526 California StSan Francisco, Ca 94109 (415) 921-2828.

Karen and I go to San Francisco as oftenas possible. We even had our honeymoon

 there. So it goes without saying, escape toor visit one of the best cities on the planetand make a must stop by You Say Tomato 

 to visit David for a chat, a laugh and greatBritish hospitality!

Former world traveler, ballerina andgood friend 86 year young Pauline Bennetthad planned to visit us in SoCal over theholidays. Due to high blood pressure herdoctor restricted her flying. With new medsshe is now free to travel again. On hearing

 the good news, Pauline left Torbay Hospitalso excited she got a speeding ticket on theway home!!! Shame on you Pauline, a younglady like yourself now a l aw breaker?? We’re

certainly not letting you loose on your ownin California. What next: roller skating onVenice Beach?

 Viola Beach Band Killed InCar Crash Near Stockholm

BRITISH band Viola Beach died alongwith their manager in a car crash inSweden last month.

The car they were travelling is re-ported to have gone through a barrierof a bridge that had been opened to al-low a cargo ship to go underneath nearStockholm. Their car plunged 80ft offinto Sodertalje Kanal on the E4 highwaysouth of Stockholm.

A barrier, 50m before the opening, hasflashing lights and signs warning thereis a bridge opening, the officer handlingthe case said. Inspector Martin Bergholmadded: “For some reason, the car drovethrough the barriers and crashed downinto the canal.”

Witness Jonny Alexandersson told Afto nblad et:   “Suddenly there’s a carthat pushes past and drives towards thebarrier. It was driving at least 70-80km/h(45-50mph). That’s very fast when therest of us are standing still. He caughtthe rear-view mirror on a taxi.”

The victims include guitarist andvocalist Kris Leonard, guitarist RiverReeves, Bassist Tomas Lowe, drummer Jack Dakin, and manager Craig Tarry.

The band had been in Sweden to per-form at the Where’s the Music? festivalin Norrköping.

Tributes have been pouring in on so-cial media for the band, who were fromWarrington, Cheshire.

8/19/2019 Union Jack News - March 2016

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Tin Baths, Tallymen &

Time Travel 

– By Marianne GreenWHAT A LOVELY trip down memory lane!Marianne was born in the early post-waryears in Surrey and has brought us lovely anfun memories of 1940s to 1960s England.

We experience, through her eyes, the great“space race”, may-poles and celebra-

 tio ns , mil k men ,chimney sweepsand more. I havemany favor i t esfrom the book butI’ll give you a few

 to get you going.“ H av i ng t he

chimney swept was always a military styleoperation in our cottage, with old sheetscovering the furniture, which had beenpushed away from the fireplace. Everything

was then meticulously cleaned upon thechimney sweep’s departure, without a traceof soot in sight.”

She lovingly talks about her family – herdad started out as a gold caddy and “gofer”at 11-years-old so as to add as many penniesas possible to the family coffers. He traveledquite a lot to find work but always wrote lov-ing letters home and he was a huge readerand she still has lots of his books to this daywhich bring back many great memories.

Some of the family came from Ireland,some went to war, and some owned differentcompanies in England. Marianne always hadplenty of family and friends growing up, itwas such a simpler time. Her Aunt Amy wasknown to “have a bob or two” and alwaysarrived for visits in a black chauffeur-drivencar and wearing furs! She always camearmed with expensive toys and dresses!

We hear about the first time her small vil-lage saw a non-white face! Oh the scandal!The games they played – old fashionedmetal skates strapped to shoes, hopscotch,marbles and conkers.

Holidays at the seaside with deck-chairs,red plastic buckets and spades, cheese sand-wiches, flasks of tea, home-made fruit cakeand, of course, Liquorice Allsorts, SherbetDips and Smarties!

Later as she gets older we hear about herescapades at the local picture house anddances at The Walton Hop. She visits New

 York. There are UFO sightings and spiritualreadings, astrology.

So much to share. What a memory thislady has! And in reading this lovely book itbrought back so many things my Mum andDad used to tell me about that I had forgotten.Thank you for that.

So pick up a copy and enjoy your trip downmemory lane with a nice cuppa and somebiscuits (or allsorts!). These simple, lovely

 times should absolutely be remembered andrevered. We could learn something from them– take care of your friends and neighbors. Agentler time for sure.

 Author Marianne Green also comes from a psychic background, and has been a Pro- fessional Psychic-Medium for many years: Personal psychic readings can be arrangedvia telephone, or in person, if required:Telphone: