Friday, 25 September 2009

UK news

  • Israeli breakthrough puts the boot into back problems

    September 24, 2009
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    An invention by two Israeli doctors could bring relief to millions of Britons suffering from chronic back and knee pain. Dr Amit Mor, 41, and 43-year-old Dr Avi Elbaz are pioneering what they call the APOS treatment — All Phases of Step Cycle. It has been brought to Britain by private healthcare provider Bupa. Although currently available only to private patients, the doctors hope it will be soon adopted by the NHS. Just under half of British adults are said to have suffered back pain in the last year and one-in-four has experienced knee pain in the same period.

  • Leaders query extra checks on volunteers

    September 24, 2009
    Rabbis have criticised new government requirements for additional background checks on people working with children and the elderly. Synagogues and charities fear the Independent Safeguarding Authority regulations, which come into effect in October, will deter volunteers and infringe on privacy. The requirements extend to parents who regularly bring other children to cheder or youth club activities at the request of the organisations, or volunteers giving lifts to the elderly.

  • Anger at Irish comedian who joked 6 million Jews? I'd have killed 10 million

    September 24, 2009
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    Award-winning Irish comedian Tommy Tiernan has apologised for a foul-mouthed rant about the Holocaust during the Irish equivalent of Glastonbury. Tiernan was taking part in a question-and-answer session before an audience of over 400 at the Electric Picnic music and arts festival in County Laios. Asked if he had ever been accused of antisemitism, he responded: “F------ six million? I would have got 10 or 12 million out of that... F------ two at a time, they would have gone. Hold hands, get in there. Leave us your teeth and your glasses.”

  • TUC boycott vote prompts anger

    September 24, 2009
    The decision of the Trades Union Congress to support a “targeted, consumer-led” boycott of goods from Israeli settlements in occupied areas has been described as a warning shot. Communal leaders fear that unions which are avowedly anti-Israel will attempt to implement a much wider boycott next year. They also believe that not enough was done ahead of congress to avert the outcome.

  • Analysis: Denham reveals how government's Islamist stance unresolved

    September 24, 2009
    Our interview with Communities Secretary John Denham illustrates that the British government’s stance on engagement with home-grown Islamism remains unresolved. Mr Denham has made it clear that the Muslim Council of Britain will remain out in the cold while its deputy secretary general remains a signatory to the Istanbul declaration calling for attacks on Israel and the Royal Navy.

  • Holocaust survivor to thank Pope for priest who saved him

    September 24, 2009
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    A Holocaust survivor whose life was saved by a Catholic priest during the war will visit the Vatican next month to thank the Pope. Joseph Szlezinger was hidden in a Belgian convent and his mother Gita lived for 18 months in a basement after the priest, Father Clement, agreed to protect them from the Nazis.

  • John Denham: Government were wrong on terror

    September 24, 2009
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    The government’s strategy on terrorism following the 7/7 attacks was fundamentally flawed, admits the Cabinet minister now responsible for community cohesion. Speaking to the JC on the eve of the Labour Party conference, Communities and Local Government Secretary John Denham said the strategy to tackle extremism in the wake of the suicide bombings of 2005 was too centralised, with solutions being sought from Whitehall without reference to the reality on the ground.

  • Ehud Barak to speak at Labour conference

    September 23, 2009
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    Israeli Defence Minister Ehud Barak will speak at the Labour Party Conference next week. He will be addressing the Labour Friends of Israel at their annual reception on Tuesday afternoon. The presence of Mr Barak, who is also Israel’s deputy Prime Minister and leader of the Labour Party, is certain to be controversial given the hostility of many Labour Party members to Israel, and his role in Operation Cast Lead in Gaza earlier this year.

  • CSC attacks Neo-nazi CDs

    September 18, 2009
    The Centre for Social Cohesion has said it will report the neo-Nazi group Blood & Honour to the police for distributing racially offensive music CDs. CSC says the CDs would, encourage acts of hatred and terrorism against ethnic minorities that would infringe the Public Order Act 1986 and the Terrorism Act 2000. A section of the lyrics of a song called “Murder Squad” by a group called Blue Eyed Devils says: “Traitors are hung and others shot dead Kill the Jew and cut off his head Destroy the enemy and his lies Send the filth to an early demise.”

  • Chagall's Jerusalem Windows sells for £82,000

    September 18, 2009
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    A set of 12 prints depicting the biblical scene when Jacob blesses his sons on his deathbed have been sold at Christie’s for £82,250. The Jerusalem Windows (Douze Maquettes de Vitraux pour Jérusalem) were originally designed by Marc Chagall in 1962 for the synagogue attached to the Hadassah-Hebrew University Medical Centre, Israel’s first hospital. It was Chagall’s first stained glass work. The designs were later turned into the set of lithographs by Charles Sorlier.

  • Special interests of Charedi cops

    September 24, 2009
    Patrolling the Golders Green streets, Nochum Dewhurst and David Baddiel look like any other policemen on the beat. But the helmets of the young special constables cover black kipot — they are the area’s first Charedi law officers. SPC Dewhurst, 21, a product of Menorah Grammar School, has been a special for two years while SPC Baddiel, 27, is a recent recruit. Educated at Pardes House, he is related to his TV personality namesake.

  • Is this London’s nosiest street?

    September 24, 2009
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    Jewish residents of a small north London cul-de-sac are less than pleased to see it branded London’s nosiest street. Statistics released by property price comparison website Zoopla show that residents in Monkville Avenue, NW11, are the most likely in the capital to log on to find out how much their neighbours’ houses are worth — and they’ll discover that a three-bedroom house costs £600,000. But residents in the road, where 40 per cent of the houses have mezuzot on the doors, were shocked.

  • Anti-racist strategy wins admirers

    September 24, 2009
    The British parliamentary model of fighting antisemitism is being adopted elsewhere. Germany, Italy and Canada have started their own versions of the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Antisemitism, which is led by Bassetlaw Labour MP John Mann. Talks are also ongoing between the London-based Inter-Parliamentary Coalition Combating Antisemitism (ICCA) and parliamentarians in Austria and South Africa.

  • Board: Muslim Council of Britain must be boycotted until reform

    September 24, 2009
    The government should lay down conditions for dealing with organisations such as the Muslim Council of Britain, a parliamentary inquiry has been told by the Board of Deputies. In a joint submission with the Community Security Trust to the Commons’ Communities and Local Government Committee, the Board wrote: “Any future engagement with umbrella groups such as the Muslim Council of Britain must be contingent on them representing a greater range of views than those of the Islamists, and firmly rejecting violence in all circumstances, including in overseas conflicts.”

  • John Denham interview: let's talk to the Muslim Council but not yet

    September 24, 2009
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    Few politicians are as well-mannered and gracious as Communities Secretary John Denham. He is popular with the Labour Party faithful because he is has no airs and is prepared to discuss his ideas openly. In the past decade he has navigated the Blair-Brown sectarian divide with great skill and made an astonishing comeback after resigning from the government over Iraq. But he is not without enemies.

  • Glowing report for gefilte fish

    September 24, 2009
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    The traditional choice for a kosher fish supper is chopped and boiled or chopped and fried. But we can reveal a new option — chopped and glow-in-the-dark. Student Jessica Taylor was shocked to see her late-night gefilte fish snack light up the kitchen of her north London family home by glowing bright green and yellow. Her mother had bought the Hoffman’s product the previous day at Moshe’s Deli in Temple Fortune.

  • Foreign Office man guilty of racist rant

    September 24, 2009
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    Foreign Office civil servant Rowan Laxton has been found guilty of uttering a foul-mouthed anti-Israel rant at a gymnasium during Operation Cast lead in January. District judge Howard Riddle fined Laxton, 48, £350 with £500 costs at Westminster Magistrates Court. His counsel, Julian Knowles, said afterwards: “Mr Laxton is very disappointed by the outcome and he will be considering his next steps with his legal team.”

  • Quiet New Year on the security front

    September 22, 2009
    The Community Security Trust has reported an almost trouble-free Rosh Hashanah at British synagogues. Only a small number of minor incidents were recorded, mostly abuse being shouted from cars at congregants walking to or from shuls in London, Hertfordshire and Manchester. CST communications director Mark Gardner said that while the incidents were “disturbing for the victims, overall it was a peaceful weekend”.

  • Lewis slams Livingstone's Hamas interview

    September 18, 2009
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    Foreign office minister Ivan Lewis has criticised former mayor of London Ken Livingstone for “handing a propaganda coup” to the terrorist organisation Hamas. The latest edition of the New Statesman magazine carried a lengthy interview by Mr Livingstone of Khaled Meshal, the head of Hamas, who lives in exile in Syria. In a statement, Mr Lewis said: “Ken Livingstone rightly earned praise for his strong and responsible leadership in the aftermath of the 7/7 attacks on London.

  • Festival preview

    September 18, 2009
    The UK Jewish Film Festival will be celebrating its barmitzvah year with a series of themed events. The festival, which will run from November 7-19, will mark its 13th year with a special preview of a new Coen brothers’ film, A Serious Man, and the first screening of a Holocaust film, Adam Resurrected, starring Jeff Goldblum, Sir Derek Jacobi and Willem Dafoe.
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Posted by Britannia Radio at 14:45