The British Club in Qatar

Asylum-seekers put at risk by law, warns judge

MR PAUL — Thu, 03 Jul 2008 07:13:30 +0300

london (agencies)

Labour’s tough stance on immigration may have forced courts to send asylum-seekers back to their home countries to face "torture or death", one of the most senior judges in England and Wales has warned.
Lord Justice Sedley, a Court of Appeal judge, accuses the Government of threatening the independence of the judiciary by imposing a rule that obliges judges to dismiss an asylum-seeker’s story if that refugee has fled their home country using a false passport. Sir Stephen Sedley, writing in the London Review of Books, warns that such a measure "is a serious invasion of judicial independence".
The judge, who caused controversy this year over his call for a national compulsory DNA database, said: "As is obvious, many people fleeing persecution have no option but to travel on false papers. An enactment which may have the effect of prescriptively requiring a judge to disbelieve an individual’s otherwise credible story, and so possibly send them back to torture or death, is a serious invasion of judicial independence."
Sir Stephen is supported by immigration judges and other members of the senior judiciary, as well asylum campaign groups.
The law was first brought in under the 2004 Asylum and Immigration (Treatment of Claimants, etc) Bill, which also proposed ending an asylum-seeker’s right to appeal against their asylum decisions in court. That part of the Bill was thrown out after MPs raised a political storm.
Asylum groups say scores of refugees may have been sent back to face further persecution because of the legal direction on false documents. Many asylum- seekers fleeing torture have little choice but to use false travel documents, they said.
In his article on the legal problems of introducing a written constitution in the UK, Sir Stephen said the "false-passport" rule illustrated the strains between the executive and the legislature in passing law.

Well, they can always go to other countries as well, why do they have to always come to Britain ?

The British Club in Qatar

The Country's gone mad......Again !!

MR PAUL — Wed, 25 Jun 2008 08:17:50 +0300

Prison phone calls 'too expensive'

LONDON: Consumer groups yesterday said they had made a "super-complaint" to the communications watchdog Ofcom about excessively high costs of making calls from prisons.

The groups said a 30-minute call from a prison to a landline costs seven times more than a similar call from a public phone box. They said the costs were so high that half of all calls from jail lasted less than three minutes.

"Just because the consumers are prisoners it doesn't mean they should be exploited and pay well over the odds for telephone calls," said National Consumer Council (NCC) acting chief executive Philip Cullum.

"A super-complaint is not a move we take lightly and comes on the back of anxieties raised by other official bodies."

The NCC, along with its Welsh and Scottish counterparts, argue that the charges applied by BT in England and Wales and Siemens in Scotland appear unrelated to the cost of providing the service.

They said the high charges come as other basic phone services fell 60 per cent.

However, BT said the costs could not simply be compared in this way and added that the charges are set in agreement with prison authorities.

"The service is not comparable to any other payphone service as it requires a great deal of investment in security and monitoring which is essential to the specific requirements of Her Majesty's Prison Service," it said.

Ofcom will now have 90 days to investigate the claims and to make a response.

The Prison Reform Trust, which was backing the complaint, said prisoners were far less likely to reoffend if they had a supportive family network to return to on their release.

"Prisoners staying in touch with their families is known to reduce risk, both of re-offending on release and of suicide and self-harm in prison, so it is in everyone's interest to enable people to phone home," said Trust director Juliet Lyon.

This must be the biggest load of old Bollocks i have ever heard in my entire life. They are prisoners, they should be bloody lucky they get fed 3 times a day, if it was me , it would be bread and water for those twats !!

The British Club in Qatar

£40,000 pay rise for MPs

MR PAUL — Mon, 23 Jun 2008 07:41:28 +0300

(GDN)

LONDON:
British members of parliament could see their annual salaries increased by as much as £40,000 (BD30,240) in turn for giving up expenses allowances for second homes.

The proposed increase would translate into about £24,000 after tax and would be roughly equal to the maximum currently allowed for expenses related to a second home.

The Sunday Times said the plan was one of three possible options to be put forward by a committee of senior MPs chaired by House of Commons speaker Michael Martin.

MPs earn just under £62,000 a year and can claim up to £24,000 with receipts to help with the costs of running both a constituency and a London home.

The committee launched the review of MPs expenses after Conservative MP Derek Conway was found paying his son from his expenses.

Twats !! their pay rise is bloody more than some people earn. Glad to see the politicians are looking after their countrymen......

The British Club in Qatar

I'll keep swearing

MR PAUL — Sat, 21 Jun 2008 07:19:09 +0300

CANBERRA: Chef Gordon Ramsay has dismissed controversy in Australia over his bad language on TV, saying he has no intention of changing his style.

"It's high pressure, high energy and more importantly, real. That's how we keep it each and every day," Ramsay told the country's Nine Network.

An inquiry was initiated by Liberal senator Cory Bernardi, after he watched Ramsay's Kitchen Nightmares.

The chef is in Australia for a series of cooking shows in Sydney.

Ramsay said his television shows, Kitchen Nightmares and Hell's Kitchen - both broadcast on Channel Nine - demonstrated the real pressures of working in a restaurant kitchen.

"I want to run a proper kitchen... not stand there and wish everybody a Merry Christmas and pat them on the back every time they do a good job," he said.

Ramsay added that the easiest way to avoid his cursing would be to change the channel.

"Turn over. Isn't it easier?" he said.

Both series have proved to be ratings winners with audiences in Australia.

"I'd like to give Channel Nine a big telling-off for making my name bad in Australia," joked Ramsay. "Has no-one got an edit suite and not broadcasting those naughty words before nine o'clock?

"I'm getting the flak for it everywhere I go."

The Senate inquiry was prompted by one episode aired earlier this year, in the 2030 time slot, in which Ramsay used a four-letter expletive more than 80 times in 40 minutes.

Bernardi said there was "no excuse for gratuitous bad language to be broadcast repeatedly" when it could be "beeped out."

Good lad, if yer wanna swear then swear. Thats my view....

The British Club in Qatar

UK visa ban on lifestyle guru Martha Stewart

MR PAUL — Sat, 21 Jun 2008 07:16:39 +0300

LONDON: American lifestyle guru Martha Stewart has been refused a visa to enter Britain because of her convictions in the US.

The millionaire, aged 66, served five months in a US jail in 2004 for lying to investigators about a share sale.

Her spokesman said she hoped the matter could be "resolved". The UK Border Agency would not comment specifically, but said it opposed the entry to the UK of anyone convicted of "serious criminal offences abroad".

Ms Stewart had been due to visit the Royal Academy of Arts in London, as well as carrying out a number of other engagements.

The academy said it understood a series of informal meetings and a tour had been planned, but it was unaware the visit had subsequently been cancelled.

The British Club in Qatar

Britain hit by drivers’ strike

MR PAUL — Sun, 15 Jun 2008 07:23:17 +0300

london (AFP)

Stir against plan to increase fuel tax

Lorry drivers joined by farmers on tractors deliberately drove slowly along busy British motorways yesterday in protest against government plans to increase the tax on fuel.
Elsewhere, fuel tanker drivers for one of Britain’s biggest energy firms went on strike for a second day after bosses failed to meet their wage demands.
British drivers, especially hauliers, are outraged at the government’s plan to hike fuel duty later this year despite above-inflation prices at the pump due to the record-high price of crude being traded on world markets.
Departing early yesterday under police escort from a small town in northwest England, up to 80 lorries along with vans, cars, motorbikes and a caravan, embarked on a 120-mile (192-kilometre) motorway roundtrip.
"We are hoping the strength of feeling shown during today’s go-slow will persuade the government to reduce fuel duty," said protest organiser Tony Burridge.
"I am confident that if enough people take a stand the government will realise that the rising cost of fuel is intolerable for ordinary working people and their families," he added.
A further 50 trucks and other vehicles took part in a separate go-slow from north Wales. The protesters headed in convoy along a motorway, past a refinery across the border in England that is owned by Royal Dutch Shell where fuel tanker drivers were striking.
Tanker drivers working for the Anglo-Dutch energy giant began a four-day walkout on Friday.
The strike led to drivers descending on garage forecourts yesterday as they rushed to fill up their vehicles’ tanks, despite government and industry pleas not to embark on panic-buying of fuel.
A spokeswoman for Shell said sales have been "very high but not extreme" and there were very few reports of petrol stations selling out.
"There are very few signs of panic-buying," she said.
The Petrol Retailers’ Association also said the situation was under control. A government spokesman said that 112 petrol stations had been forced to close out of 8,700 in total throughout Britain, with fuel demand going into the second day of the strike up 25 per cent.
The BBC’s website said readers had reported supply problems in Leicester, east central England; Cambridge, eastern England; northwest and southwest England; and parts of Scotland and Wales.
Garages in the far north of Scotland had run out of fuel, they added, while there was rationing and long queues elsewhere.
Meanwhile in the southern English county of Hampshire on Saturday, about 100 tractors, farm vehicles and lorries embarked on a go-slow fuel protest on a separate motorway.
"We are asking the government to abolish the threat of the 2p (two pence) per litre increase on fuel scheduled for October and to reduce tax on fuel," said Bruce Horn, from Farmers for Action.

What a waste of time...The government doesnt really give a crap about the public, just how much money they can screw out of them, whilst giving it to lazy workshy twats.

The British Club in Qatar

Britain...What the hell is going on ?

MR PAUL — Sat, 14 Jun 2008 17:18:33 +0300

Well, here i am. Back after my short trip back to my Motherland.....Jeez, whats happened to the prices ? Beer up to 3 quid a pint (up North !)food, rents and petrol...BD 1 a LITRE !!!! I landed at Heathrow and a pack of mints, an energy drink, a sarnie and a coffee....10 quid !!! (QR70)

A man was punched and killed in a supermarket, knife crime and gang killings on the increase. Drugs rife, illegal immigrants flooding in, with the full backing of the bloody human rights do-gooders and all i saw in my Mums town was a new breed of teenage mums and work shy chav-tastic twats.

Now i know why i never really want to go back to England to live there, its just not the same anymore.

Its a shame cos Britain is a fantastic place with lots of culture and heritage.

The British Club in Qatar

Brit Club Social

Raaz — Thu, 29 May 2008 08:43:31 +0300

I'm missing rainy London. I'm getting bored in Doha, need to meet more people.

How about having a Brit Club get-together - perhaps coffee or drinks or whatever. Any takers ?

The British Club in Qatar

English in the Raw

shazbat — Tue, 29 Apr 2008 19:39:33 +0300

Some light entertainment to fill up the evening :) PM me the answers.

ENGLISH IN THE RAW

Non-Sheffield members of the group might like to test their understanding of the language spoken by some of the local people (no offence intended :)

Time allowed.........................20 minutes

10 Correct answers...............You are obviously an immigrant from Oxford

25 Correct answers...............On your way to being a settler

40 Correct answers...............You must be from Doncaster

All correct................................It's time to brush up your Queen's

English! Translate the following phrases into English :-

(n.b. - the G is always hard, as in GOT)

1. INTITOT?

2.GIUSIT

3.SUMMATSUPEER

4.GERRITETTEN

5.GERARTNIT

6.SUPWIDEE ?

7.SMARRERWEEIM ?

8.IAMPGORRIT

9.AZIGINNITER ?

10.GEEIT TERTMISTER

11.EEZ GOOINOOAM

12. ASTHA GORRIT REIGHT ?

13.ISTHEMMUM ?

14.ASTHA GORRIT WITHY ?

15.PURREMINEER

16.AYAMT EARED NOWT

17.THALATTER GERRA NEWUN

18.EESEZITINTIZ BURRABERRITIZ

19.LERRUS GERRUS ANDSWESHED

20.SUMMONEMZ GORRAGERROFF

21.WEEV GORRA GERRUS IMBUX

22.THAMUN GERRIT LERNT

23.SHUT THIGOB

24.OWZEENO ?

25.ABERRITINTERZ

26.NARDENDEE, WOTDARDOOIN ?

27.ASTA SEENIM ONT TELLY ?

28.CORFORUS ARPASTATE ITMORNIN

29.ITDUNTMARRER

30.LERRUS GURRAT PITCHERS

31.ASTAGORRATANNER ?

32.EENOSE NOWTABARTIT

33.EEZGUNNA GERRA LORRALOLLY FORRIT

34.LERRER GERRONTBUS

35.EEDURSENT PURRIZED UNDERT WATTER

36.EESEZEEANTADIT

37.OOWORRIWI ?...WORRIWEEIZSEN ?

38.ATELDIM BURRIWUNT LISSEN

39.LERRIM PURRIZATON 40.ASTLECLOWTETHEEIFTHADUNTGIOWER

41.TINTIN TIN

42.GERRARRY TERGITHI ANDWEEIT

43.EEZ GORROSS ATOOAM

44.THAWONTSTERWESH THI EEROILSART

45.MIDDADZ GORRAJAG

46.THAKKAN IFTHAWANTS

47.EEZ NOBBUTA BABBI

48.TANTAD NOWTDUNATIT AZINOSE ON

49.CANTHACUMTER AROWSTERNEET

50.WEERZGAFFER ?

The British Club in Qatar

Welcome to Qatar JBH !!!

jauntie — Sun, 23 Mar 2008 21:54:29 +0300

Well, it took you long enough (a year?) to eventually land on these 'ere shores!

So, on behalf of your fellow, assorted Brits, I'd like to welcome you aboard and wish you a happy stay here in Qatar.

I just KNOW you will enjoy the trip :D

Enjoy ...

Oh and I forgot to ask ... who IS Mannibat?