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birchesgreen

birchesgreen

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Wait what? And people (on here and elsewhere) think Americans are weird.

www.bbc.co.uk

'Cult' members found guilty of trying to kidnap Essex coroner

The four defendants are part of a "conspiracy theory" with self-conferred legal powers.
www.bbc.co.uk

Members of an "anti-establishment cult" who stormed into a court with handcuffs have been found guilty of trying to kidnap a coroner.

Mark Christopher, 59, Matthew Martin, 47, Shiza Harper, 45, and Sean Harper, 38, wanted to "shut down" Essex Coroner's Court and abduct senior coroner Lincoln Brookes in April 2023.

They were part of a "conspiracy theory" group who believed they could overrule the judicial system in England and Wales, a trial heard.
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signed

signed

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birchesgreen said:
And people (on here and elsewhere) think Americans are weird.
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American have a much different view of freedom of informations. In most states you can find anyone's criminal records just by typing their names.

This is also why the Florida Man craze exist, Florida has (well, more used to, that law is erroding slowly) the openest government dealings of the country, but there are dumba*s everywhere.
 
najaB

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signed said:
This is also why the Florida Man craze exist, Florida has (well, more used to, that law is erroding slowly) the openest government dealings of the country, but there are dumba*s everywhere.
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Not to ignore the fact that Florida does have more than its fair share of those dumbasses.
 
A

AndyPJG

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AndyPJG said:
Tortoise on railway tracks causes train delays
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Gone to Devon for an ice-cream?
BBC News Devon
Stray tortoise rescued from train tracks in Devon
A stray tortoise has been rescued after being found on a railway track in Devon.
Great Western Railway (GWR) said a driver had spotted the reptile between Teignmouth and Newton Abbot just after midday.
Network Rail deployed employee Steph Roberts to go and collect the tortoise, which was then taken to an office in a box with shredded paper.
GWR said it planned to take the tortoise to a vet in Teignmouth.
A spokesperson said it was "nice to have had happy ending as the tortoise is safe and well" and they hoped it could be reunited with its owner.
The incident comes two weeks after another runaway tortoise caused a number of trains to be delayed after getting onto the tracks between Ascot in Berkshire and Bagshot in Surrey.
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A

AndyPJG

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Fisherman lands new species of shark!

BBC News - Local News
Fisherman lands first-ever 'lost' Lego shark
A fisherman from Devon has landed the first shark of its kind - one made of Lego lost at sea off a cargo ship 27 years ago.
Richard West, a 35-year-old fisherman living in Plymouth, found the plastic toy on the top of his fishing nets 20 miles (32km) south of Penzance on Tuesday.
He contacted the project Lego Lost at Sea, whose founder Tracey Williams confirmed the piece to be the first-ever reported shark from the 51,800 Lego sharks lost off the Tokio Express cargo ship on 13 February 1997.
A freak wave in a severe gale swept 62 shipping containers into the sea 20 miles (32km) off Land's End, one of which held 4,756,940 pieces of Lego, much of it sea-themed.
Richard West said he recognised the Lego shark immediately
Mr West was trawling on board the Defiant FY848, which sails between Plymouth, Brixham and Newlyn, for monkfish, sole and doreys, when he landed his unique catch.
He said: "I could tell straight away what it was because I had Lego sharks in the pirate ship set when I was little. I loved them.
"It's been 25 years since I've seen that face."
He contacted Ms Williams who told him it was the first recorded Lego shark found from the spilled cargo that she had encountered.
She told him the official Lego inventory showed that 22,200 dark grey Lego sharks and 29,600 light grey ones were in the lost container.

'It's treasure!'
The founder of the Lego Lost at Sea project said a total of 51,800 Lego sharks were known to be in the container swept overboard the Tokio Express
Mr West said: "I was so excited. I was more happy about finding the shark that anything else I caught this week.
"It's priceless - it's treasure!"
Ms Williams said: "This Lego shark is one of 51,800 lost overboard from the Tokio Express and the only one we’ve ever seen.
"Richard and I now have joint custody of the shark."
Ms Williams said Lego pieces from the Tokio Express have been found as far away as Ireland
The Lego sharks featured in several Lego sets from 1997, including Shark Cage Cove, Shark Attack and Deep Sea Bounty, she explained.
She asked anyone else who has found Lego from the spill to get in touch with the Lego Lost at Sea, external project so it could be added to the project's map, which is recording sightings for a scientific paper on the Lego spill.
Recently Lego from the container lost overboard has been found not just in Cornwall but in the Isle of Man, the Channel Islands, Wales and Ireland, she added.
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(Link contains photos of said shark!)
 
A

ainsworth74

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The discussion about the Dartford toll has gotten a bit lengthy so it's been split into it's own thread here.
 
brad465

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You've got to be joking:

www.theguardian.com

Pro-foxhunting group says UK hunters should be protected ethnic minority

Chair of Hunting Kind says he has built legal case to obtain same protection as Roma and LGBTQ+ people
www.theguardian.com www.theguardian.com

A pro-foxhunting group says it has prepared a legal case to try to prove that hunters are an ethnic minority whose hunts should be protected under equality laws.

Ed Swales, the chair of Hunting Kind, claims he has been advised by a leading human rights lawyer that hunters unequivocally qualify for legal protection under the UK Equality Act 2010.

Speaking to the FieldsportsChannel podcast, Swales said: “The qualifications of an ethnic group, there are five of them, and we hit everyone straight in the bullseye.”

He said he had spent three years preparing a legal challenge that had now been reviewed by a human rights KC “who sits on the council of the European court of human rights”.

Swales said: “The outcome of that from the human rights silk is that as a protected minority group under the Equality Act, we qualify, undoubtedly 10 out of 10.”

He said the group would try to mount legal challenges to prove that those who support hunting have suffered discrimination such as losing work or contracts, or been abused on social media. If successful, such action would give hunters the same protection as minority groups such as the Roma community or LGBTQ+ groups.

Swales accused “the animal rights extremist movement” of launching “a person-on-person conflict” against hunters under “the excuse of animal welfare”.

The former Labour minister Mike Foster said the group had lost the plot. He wrote on X: “‘Show me an example of people who have lost the plot,’ the hunt lobby never fail to disappoint.”

In a video on the group’s website, Swales claimed Keir Starmer would understand the legal challenge.

He said: “Keir Starmer, in his position as prime minister with a legal background, would one hopes understand the detail and the plain fact of the matter that we are a minority ethnic group of British people that hunt.”

Hunting Kind believes hunting is an extension of natural selection.

In the video, Swales said: “We see it as a really important part of wildlife management … We’re actually doing people a service. We’re picking up the foxes or the hares or the deer or the rabbits that are either old, they’ve got no teeth, they can die of starvation, or they’ve got the disease, or they’re just not adapted to outperforming a dog in that chase. So we’re happy with that natural selectivity.”

He also said hunting was not cruel. “I can tell you for a fact it is not cruel because I take no delights in the suffering of an animal. I am as animal welfare friendly as anyone I have come across, and my hunting compatriots are the same.”

In the video Swales said the group was committed to reversing the “Bambi effect”.

He added: “Animal rights unfortunately are coming at it from a very uneducated and anthropomorphic point of view, and they’re blinkered to what we see as rural reality and wildlife management reality. And they’re also deaf. They don’t want to listen.”
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