I recently saw 'Essence of Ireland' a show with Irish music and
dance. It was a superb, highly energetic theatrical experience, with
plenty of audience participation. To sample the atmosphere of their
performance, visit: http://www.essenceofireland.co.uk/
Romanian 'Fagin' gang 'mutilated children so they would earn more money begging on the streets of Britain' By Rebecca Camber 09.04.2010
The Romanian gang running
a trafficking ring mutilated and disabled some of the army of children
it sent to beg and steal in Britain to increase their earning
potential, police believe.
Gang members believed
that disabled children were more likely to evoke pity in passers-by -
so they allegedly disabled their own children and those which they
bought from extremely poor families to increase their earning potential.
According to the
respected Romanian daily newspaper Adevarul, police sources said the
case included the sick maiming of the children involved.
Some had their legs and arms broken before being sent to the UK in the twisted version of Oliver Twist.
Ram raid: Police batter through a door at the start of the operation, which led to the arrest of more than 30 Romanian mobsters
Caught
out: Romanian police pin one of the suspects down during the raid. More
than 300 officers searched 34 homes and properties in the co-ordinated
dawn searches
The children as young as seven were being kidnapped or bought from their parents in poor gipsy communities.
They were being smuggled
to Britain for pick-pocketing, shoplifting sprees and prostitution and
the profits used to build giant 'gipsy palaces'. Police estimate that
168 youngsters aged seven to 15 were trafficked.
Yesterday 26 officers
from the Metropolitan Police joined 300 Romanian officers for a series
of dawn raids to arrest 17 men suspected of running the operation for
the last four years.
Inside 34 fortified
properties in Tandarei, a gang heartland in the south of the country,
they found an incredible stash paid for by the children's work.
A fearsome cache of
weapons included AK-47 machine guns, high-powered hunting rifles and
knives, pistols, gas bombs and rounds of ammunition including rubber
bullets.
Enormous bundles of cash
with hundreds of thousands of pounds in sterling, Euros and Romanian
lei were found scattered around the rooms.
Officers also recovered
luxury cars, jewels and hundreds of false British passports and fake
documents from parents giving the gang members permission to look after
the children.
Profits from child trafficking in Romania are being used to build 'gipsy palaces' such as this one
Armed officers wearing
balaclavas battered down doors, hauled the stunned suspects from their
beds and handcuffed them on the floor.
Police acted after a
tip-off about the huge sums of money flowing into the gipsy community
in the impoverished village where massive homes called 'gipsy palaces'
by locals, were being built.
Police sources added that some of the children have already arrived back in Romania, and are being given counselling.
It is also hoped that they can be used in identifying some of the gang members that were involved in sending them to the UK.
A Romanian police
spokesman said: 'The children were told their families would be at risk
if they tried to flee, and families were told the children would be
harmed if they made a complaint to authorities.'
Romanian officials
estimate that a pimp operating 15 girls can earn about £2.7million a
year if their trade is prostitution and slightly less if they are
pickpockets and thieves. But many operate in networks up to 50-strong.
Scotland Yard is now
hunting for the missing 168 children believed to be living in the UK,
as well as the gang's associates in Britain.
Met Commander Mark Gore
said: 'This was a massive child trafficking operation. 'These people
have been brought up in the Romany community. The evidence suggests
they were taken from their communities by force or without their
parents' consent. 'We are now trying to find out whether they are being kept.'
Traffickers begun targeting the UK when Eastern European countries including Romania and Bulgaria joined the EU.
According to social
workers who have rescued victims in Austria, some Roma communities
punish families which refuse to rent their child to traffickers.
Asterix conquers Paris with 50th birthday exhibit. Lizzy Davies in Paris guardian.co.uk, Wednesday 28 October 2009
A menhir with Astérix cartoon character on it, displayed in front of the Palais Brongniart in Paris, as part of the celebration of the 50th anniversary of the French character. Photograph: Miguel Medina/AFP/Getty Images
For half a century they have been fending off Roman attacks from their village, armed only with fearlessness, flying menhirs and a cauldron of magic potion. But now Asterix and his band of indomitable Gauls are invading Lutetia – modern-day Paris – and determined to make their presence felt.
Fifty years after Albert Uderzo and Réne Goscinny unveiled their comic stars on the pages of Pilote magazine, Parisians are to be besieged by tributes to France's most popular comic strip. Today, among the third-century Gallo-Roman baths upon which the Musée de Cluny is partially built, an exhibition of original plates and manuscripts opened to allow fans a glimpse of the creators' inspirations.
Goscinny's daughter Anne said the show would reflect the "perfect osmosis" that existed between her father and Uderzo. "It is the first time that people will see this," she said. "My father and Albert were very different … But it is always out of differences that the most beautiful things are born."
To add to the Asterix fervour gripping the capital, various symbols of the books such as giant menhirs (pictured above)and speech bubbles of famous exchanges will be erected at eight locations including the Place de la Concorde and in front of the Eiffel Tower.
Since it first appeared in October 1959, Astérix has sold 325m copies and been translated into 107 languages.
There are different cultures. 1. Latins, They speak a Romanic language : Spain ,Romania ,Italy ,France and Portugal. 2. Germanic people 3. Slavic 4. Celtic 5. Finno-Ugrian
Christianity has been the dominant feature in shaping up European culture for at least the last 1700 years. Modern philosophical thought has very much been influenced by Christian philosophers such as St Thomas Aquinas and Erasmus.
Millions of Europeans profess no religion or are atheist or agnostic. The largest non-confessional populations (as a percentage) are found in Sweden, the Czech Republic and France although most former communist countries have significant non-confessional populations. Attendance at church is a minority activity in most Western European countries - as an example, the Church of England attracts around 1 million worshippers on a Sunday,[1] which corresponds to about 2% of the population of England.
Official religions
A number of countries in Europe have official religions, including Liechtenstein, Malta, Monaco, Vatican City (Catholic); and Greece (Eastern Orthodox), Denmark, Iceland and Norway (Lutheran). In Switzerland, some cantons are officially Catholic, others Reformed Protestant. Some Swiss villages even have their religion as well as the village name written on the signs at their entrances. In Bulgaria, an article in the constitution defines Eastern Orthodox Christianity as the country's "traditional religion".
Europe's influence on sport is enormous. Indeed, it is difficult to think of a modern sport, apart from basketball and related sports, that does not have its origins in Europe. European sports include:
Association football, which has contested origins between Britain and Italy (where Mussolini insisted the game be called by the name Calcio). What is uncontestable is that the oldest association is The Football Association of England (1863) and the first international match was between Scotland and England (1872). It is now the world's most popular sport and is played throughout Europe.
Rugby League and Rugby Union which both have similadk ausdkfjaksjfjeja;iewr origins to football. Rugby Union is the older of the two codes and has rules that date from 1845 (see articles: History of rugby league and History of rugby union). They acrimoniously split in the late 19th century over the treatment of injured players. Rugby league gradually changed its laws over the next century with the end result that today both sports have little in common, apart from the basics. They have both been carried abroad by colonization, particularly to many former British colonies. American football and Canadian Football are derivatives of rugby.
Cricket has its origins in south east Britain. It's popular throughout England and Wales, and parts of Netherlands. It is also popular in other areas and also played in northwest Europe. It is however very popular worldwide, especially in Africa, Australia, New Zealand and the Indian subcontinent.
Handball, which is popular in Europe and elsewhere, has its origins in antiquity. The modern game is from northern Europe with Germany having been involved in both the first women's and men's internationals.
In addition, Europe has numerous national or regional sports which do not command a large international following outside of emigrant groups. These include:
European philosophy is a predominant strand of philosophy globally, and is central to philosophical enquiry in America and most other parts of the world which have fallen under its influence. Christian thought is a huge influence on many fields of European philosophy (as European philosophy has been on Christian thought too), sometimes as a reaction; the Greek schools of philosophy in antiquity provide the basis of philosophical discourse that extends to today.
Perhaps the most important single philosophical periods since the classical era were the Renaissance, the Age of Reason and the Age of Enlightenment. There are many disputes as to its value and even its timescale. What is indisputable is that the tenets of reason and rational discourse owe much to René Descartes, John Locke and others working at the time.
Other important European philosophical strands include:
Europe was the birthplace of classical music- notably, Germany, France, Italy, and Russia. Important classical composers from Europe include Beethoven, Mozart, Bach, Haydn, and Vivaldi.
Europe has also imported many different genres of music, mainly from America, ranging from Rock, Metal, Blues, Pop, Rap, Hip-Hop, R'n'B, Dance, Jazz, Soul etc. Britain has been most successful in re-exporting this type of music from the Beatles to Iron Maiden; however, countries like Spain and Germany have not been far behind with artists such as Julio Iglesias and Rammstein.
The Eurovision Song Contest brings European states together every May, in which each country submits a song and an eventual winner is chosen at the end, through voting.
Festivals
Europe is home to many cultural festivals including the Oktoberfest beer festival (Germany), Cannes Film Festival (France) and music festivals such as Glastonbury (UK), Wacken (Germany) and Benicassim (Spain).
European City of Culture
Each year since 1985 one or more cities across Europe are chosen as European Cities of Culture.
East and East Central European countries have strong cultural heritages defined by centuries old traditions. These photo galleries illustrate Eastern European and East-Central European cultures.
Although I was lucky enough to visit her inn, I was never tempted to introduce myself to the landlady. As the oldest and longest-serving barmaid in the country, Miss Florence Lane - Flossie to her friends - knew her mind.
She had scant regard for strangers, particularly media types. An avid telly watcher, she famously pretended not to recognise Jeremy Paxman when he made the pilgrimage to her bar. Asked if she knew who he was, she studied him carefully before replying: 'Yes, Jimmy Cagney.' It was said to be a calculated swipe at his stature - shorter, she afterwards remarked, than you'd think from seeing him on the box.
No juke box, no TV, no bar, the Sun Inn was unique and run by Florence Lane for out of the front room of her cottage in Herefordshire
And it was precisely by being so out of step with the spirit of our age, with its love of novelty and celebrity, that Miss Lane preserved in her pub an important part of our history.
The Sun Inn, in the beautiful, small village of Leintwardine nestling between the Shropshire hills and the rolling pasture of North Herefordshire, is possibly the last of its kind in the country. An authentic parlour pub, it does not have a counter, till or serving hatch. Beer barrels are stored in the kitchen and the lounge bar is Flossie's sitting room.
It is as resolutely old-fashioned today as it was in the mid-Thirties, when she took it over with her brother.
Flossie died in June aged 94, and there are now concerns for the pub's survival. Yet such is the affection and devotion that she inspired that regulars are fighting to keep her legacy intact and raise the money needed to keep the pub going. More than that, those regulars banded together in her final years to make sure the frail old lady could remain in her parlour to the end.
Loyal landlady: The Sun Inn was run for more than 70 years by Flossie Lane
Something about her brought out a willingness to get stuck in, evoking the doughtiness celebrated as our national character back in the days when Flossie Lane was just a lass. For hard though it is to comprehend at a time when most of us - myself included - are in a perpetual tearing hurry to move on and move up, Miss Lane embraced wholeheartedly the occupation and station to which she was born.
She seldom ventured far from her own front door and longed for little beyond the confines of her own home and hearth.
Flossie was born at the pub in 1914 just before the outbreak of World War I and never left it. Her mother Mary was the first in the family to run the Sun Inn; her father, Charles, was a local policeman. Flossie, or Miss Lane as I think of her, went to the village school and helped her mother wash the glasses. When her parents died, Miss Lane and her brother Charlie - also still at home - took over the pub and ran it together for the next half-century. After his death in 1985, she carried on single-handedly.
Leintwardine is an ancient settlement, built on the banks of the River Teme in pre-Roman times. Our family visits relatives there and, justly proud, they have taken us to the Sun Inn charge - because Miss Lane could no longer manage the stairs. Others set up an informal rota delivering meals twice a day without fail.
Annual beer festivals were organised in the pub's large but rather overgrown garden to raise money to help pay for the professional carers who came in every day to get Flossie Lane up and dressed and to help her into her pyjamas and dressing gown in the evening. I went to one of the festivals and saw Miss Lane totter out to the door on her Zimmer frame, a friend at her arm, to smile at the assembled guests. There was a parade through the village and the mayor rode on horseback wearing a hat and staff decorated with a sun in honour of the pub.
'Then she'd sit in the parlour in her chair until midnight,' her neighbour recalls. 'She liked company and she didn't want to be packed off early to bed. Sometimes you'd be about to leave and she'd say: "Oh, go on, have another pint". The last one out would make sure she was safely tucked up. She joked that every night she had a different chap put her to bed and give her a kiss goodnight.'
In those last few years, Miss Lane no longer waited on her customers - people helped themselves to the beer, putting the money in a row of jam jars, one for each different note and coin. Latterly, everything from the washing up, sweeping and laying the fire to the accounts was done by unpaid helpers.
So what was it about Flossie Lane that made them want to do it? Gary Seymour, who runs the Leintwardine fish and chip shop, says: 'She was just a lovely old lady. She loved to talk to people, but above all she liked to listen.
Front room (left): The bar is set up in the living room of the little cottage. Make yourself at home: The bar area is homely to say the least
'If you asked her how she was, she might mention an ailment, but then she'd very quickly move the conversation back on to you. She never missed anything that went on in this village, even though for the last few years she never went out. 'She wasn't a gossip, but people liked to tell her things. She loved children. She would ask about your children and remember their birthdays. She gave them little presents, and people loved her for it.'
Another of the volunteers, Deanna Jones - one of a group who provided the meals - treasured the old-fashioned reticence that Miss Lane always displayed. 'She was a very private person,' Mrs Jones told me. 'When she died, we realised that we didn't really know that much about her. Visitors might ask: "How long have you been here, Flossie?" She'd just answer: "Quite a time, quite a time." '
Others recount with pleasure how she gave a TV reporter short shrift for asking her age. 'In the country, you never ask how old a body is nor the name of their father. It's called manners,' she chided.
And thinking about her since her death, I wonder if some of the delight in Flossie Lane arose from experiencing, through her example, the values of simpler times when people were satisfied with very little and treasured what endures - family and friendship rather than our current obsession with material goods, appearances and the 'love' that is only a romantic fling.
Since the death of its indomitable landlady, the Sun Inn has been kept open, again by local volunteers.
It is the last pub in Leintwardine - the other, owned by a national chain, is closed and up for sale - and no wants the Sun Inn to go.
Miss Lane made a good but modest living from it, as one villager remarked: 'She never wanted much, what she earned kept her comfortable and that was all she asked.'
Now she is gone, ownership of the Sun Inn has passed to five nieces. Perhaps unsurprisingly, they do not want to take over the running of it.
The Sun Inn was due to be auctioned yesterday, with an expectation that it could raise up to £300,000, but the sale has been postponed to allow time for a local group to come up with the funds to take it on. There is an interested party and an offer being considered.
Of course, the Sun Inn can never be the same without Miss Lane, but customers will still be able to enjoy the atmosphere she preserved. It remains a place where you can hear the ticking of the clock in the pauses between conversation. It is still a village hub, a meeting place for fly fishermen, bell-ringers and the cricket team.
If something of Flossie Lane's spirit lingers in the corner of the parlour with its old armchair, hers will be a proud and happy ghost
Magnificent Maps: Power, Propaganda And Art (18 pictures)
News: British Library summer exhibition to feature 100 rarely seen maps, including world's largest atlas
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Anonymous, Confiance – ses amputations se poursuivant, 1944, 123 x 84cm, lithograph on paper: Propaganda maps, as with political cartoons, do not always fulfil their purposes by subtle means. This Nazi poster, produced in France in 1944, portrays Churchill as a demonic, cigar-smoking octopus, whose attempts to seize Africa and the Middle East are being thwarted by the Axis forces that cut his tentacles so that they bleed profusely. The use of the octopus in political comic-maps dates back to the 19th century, for the creature could be well equated with offensive, land-grabbing states. The survival of such posters is extremely rare as despite being mass produced for a large audience, they were rapidly discarded and destroyed
Photograph: The British Library
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No juke box, no TV, no bar, the Sun Inn was unique and run by Florence Lane for out of the front room of her cottage in Herefordshire
Loyal landlady: The Sun Inn was run for more than 70 years by Flossie Lane
Front room (left): The bar is set up in the living room of the little cottage. Make yourself at home: The bar area is homely to say the least
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