Cuddly toys and pets must be declared on 2021 UK Census

Householders across the UK have been dismayed to find out that they must now declare any teddy bears, stuffed animals or dolls they have lying about their houses, as well as pets like cats, dogs or even spiders when filling in the census form.

The Census Director Officer, Sam Barry, wants to find out how much of a problem most houses actually have with spiders by getting people to count them rather than getting scared by them, if a house is found to have too many spiders the arachnids can be deported to countries with bigger populations of spiders and often ones which are actually poisonous, such as Australia or Brazil.

When quizzed about the requirement to declare teddy bears, in a press conference, Mr Barry said: "We are looking to find how much of a trend it is to replace boyfriends and girlfriends or even pets with cuddly toys, a growing trend among many adults in the UK."

The census forms will start going out in the next week, and anyone who declines to take part will automatically lose the right to live in Britain since they haven't declared themselves.

Furthermore, new penalties have been released to get tough on those who give inaccurate information, as a result Mr Barry told the press conference that anyone who fails to give the correct number of spiders living in their home, and they could face prosecution and a £250,000 fine.

Homeowners will be required to state how many cuddly toys are living in the home, their names and what TV programme or movie they are from.

Teenager threatened to burn Santa Claus' house down and knife his elves because he got him the wrong kind of trainers for Christmas

An 18-year-old British teenager threatened to burn down Santa Claus' home and knife his elves after he gave him the wrong kind of trainers for Christmas.

Jake Wilder travelled to the North Pole armed with a kitchen knife, screaming at Santa 'I'll jab you!' in front of his terrified reindeers' after opening his present from under the tree.

When the teenager said he was going to burn down the house in the North Pole, Santa Claus called the North Pole Police Department, a court heard.

Today, Wilder was deported from the North Pole and banned from re-entering, but not before serving a 21-day jail sentence in the North Pole District Jail for the 'extremely hurtful' attack.

North Pole Criminal Court heard that Wilder, was at home with his family in Oxfordshire, England, for Christmas Day.

But the festivities came to a halt when Wilder opened Santa's present towards the end of the day.

He broke into a rage, booking a last minute flight from Birmingham to the North Pole.

'Once he arrived at Mr Claus' house in the North Pole an argument broke out over some trainers he had given him and there were young reindeers and elves present,' said North Pole district prosecutor Snowball Smith.

'He was aggressive towards Mr Claus and threatened him and his elves with a kitchen knife, saying 'I'll jab you'.

'He also threatened to burn the house down and Santa called the police.'

Sugarplum Wilson, mitigating, told the court that Wilder was genuinely remorseful for his actions towards Mr Claus.

'He has apologised to Mr Claus and his reindeers and elves for the words he used, which must have been extremely hurtful,' he said.

Wilder wore a white snowman jumper and grey tracksuit bottoms and smirked at members of the elf jury during the hearing.

Judge Bushy Evergreen told the teenager: 'You have pleaded guilty to a serious offence.

'The use of a knife in a domestic setting makes this a very serious incident and the fact that young reindeers and elves were present to witness it makes it worse.'

Wilder was sentenced to 21 days in the district prison, and ordered to pay $500 compensation to Mr Claus.

He was also made the subject of a restraining order banning him from contacting Mr Claus and given a deportation order and banned from re-entering the North Pole Autonomous Region.

A spokesman for Santa Claus' workshop confirmed that Wilder was now on the naughty list and would be receiving coal in his stocking next Christmas.

Man sentenced to treadmill after eating doughnuts before lunch

A man who ate doughnuts before having lunch has appeared before Bolton Crown Court to be sentenced.

Twisted Luke Smith, of Sharnford Close, Bolton, indulged in the sugary delights on Friday 15th May 2015 just before lunch time.

The 21-year-old was finally exposed when he posted a picture of himself eating the doughnuts on Facebook.

He was initially arrested after a total of 2 discarded chocolate bar wrappers were discovered in his kitchen bin, but he was re-arrested after officers then found the images of him eating the doughnuts. He was charged under Section 12 of the Healthy Diet Act 2015.

Max French, prosecuting, told Bolton Crown Court, that Smith had purchased the doughnuts from a branch of Heron Foods in Bolton Town Centre and had not intended to eat them until after lunch but was tempted by the exquisite taste.

He said: "He was doing his weekly shop at the Heron Foods supermarket in Bolton when he passed the confectionery aisle and saw the doughnuts."

Joe Goodman, mitigating, said: "He offers no excuses or explanation to this offending.

"He was a young man who started life as a healthy member of society, eating salad every day of the week and exercising regularly."

Smith pleaded guilty to consuming confectionery articles before a main course and an offence of failing to follow a healthy diet.

He was ordered to carry out 250 hours of treadmill exercise after the court heard he continues to pose a serious danger to his body and must serve a five year doughnut ban, in the form of a Category D Food Banning Order, followed by an extended strict salad and vegetable diet for five years.

Sentencing, Recorder, Judge John Shelton, QC, said: "You purchased the doughnuts and ate them before you had eaten a proper meal.

"You did that for your own pleasure, I am quite satisfied about that."

Significant health code violations recorded at ISIS training camp in Libya

• 'Totally unacceptable' conditions at terrorist training camp in Sabratha, Libya
• Officers found workers handling dangerous chemicals without wearing safety goggles
• Manager Latif Hakim, 46, admits five breaches of health and safety rules
• He says his father had been ill and he was 'going through a really bad time'
• Tripoli District Court No.6 fined him 1,000 LYD (Libyan Dinars)

The manager of a terrorist training camp in Libya where workers would handle dangerous chemicals without wearing safety goggles, smoke outside the designated smoking areas and didn't use wet floor signs when the floor was being mopped, has been fined for unsafe workplace practices.

Health and Safety Department health officers observed various unsafe working conditions when they carried out a routine inspection of the Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi Terrorist Training Camp, run by ISIS in Sabratha, Libya, a court heard.

Workers were reported to be using extremely dangerous Grade 2 chemicals without wearing safety goggles, some workers even smoked in non-smoking areas, cleaners did not use any wet floor signs when they mopped the floor, and there were no fire extinguishers.

Equipment used for making explosive devices had not been properly equipped with instructions for safe use, and some explosive devices were inappropriately stored.

Tripoli District Court No. 6 heard that the workers did not receive any training on health and safety and couldn't even point out the nearest fire exit. They were also told that a wash basin for cleaning hands was obstructed by a large radioactive nuclear container.

Latif Hakim, 46, who was responsible for the day-to-day running of the camp, admitted five breaches of workplace health and safety regulations.

Hakim, who represented himself, apologised for the offences, saying he had been 'under a lot of pressure.'

He said his father had been diagnosed with cancer, and he had taken time off work to look after him and his mother, who wasn't coping.

Hakim, who is from Tripoli, told the court: 'I can only apologise from the bottom of my heart for what has happened. I was going through a really bad time.'

He said there had been inspections since and 'everything has been satisfactory'.

The court fined Mr Hakim 1,000 LYD, and ordered him to pay 300 LYD costs.

Zulfikar Karimi, spokesman for the Sabratha Health and Safety Office, said: "There is no excuse for health code violations.

"Every business operator in Libya has a duty to meet health and safety standards in order to keep their workers and members of the public safe.

"Mr Hakim failed to meet this duty and his premises created a risk to health, so it is only right that he has been dealt with by the courts.

"Anyone who thinks they can flout these laws and get away with it has a short sharp shock coming to them, as we will find and prosecute those who do not operate their business safely."

Employers can confiscate and KEEP workers’ unhealthy food under government rules for lunchbox inspections

· Ministers say workplaces can 'confiscate, keep or destroy' items from employees

· Suggest having two line managers and the worker present for lunchbox searches

· Workplaces told to 'seek legal advice' if worried about their food policy

· Follows rows over scotch eggs, Peperamis and cereal bars being taken

Employers are free to take - and keep - any item from workers’ lunchboxes if they think they are unhealthy or inappropriate, the government has said.

Workers were outraged last month when it emerged their scotch eggs and a Peperami were confiscated under health eating policies.

Now ministers have backed the move, giving managing staff freedom to 'confiscate, keep or destroy' anything deemed to break workplace policies and setting out the procedure for carrying out lunchbox inspections.

The row over packed lunches erupted after GCHQ, in Cheltenham, Gloucestershire, banned junk food from packed lunches.

Outraged GCHQ workers said it was unfair as the The Doughnut's cafeteria menu offers unhealthy food including high sugar desserts like flapjacks, cookies, mousse and of course, doughnuts.

GCHQ computer and phone hacker, Michael Laws, of Cheltenham, said he was not allowed to eat his Peperami sausage snack, which was confiscated and only returned at the end of the day with a note from his line manager.

He said another colleague in the mathematics and cryptography department was also told he was not allowed to have scotch eggs in his lunch box.

Workers were also in uproar after the Secret Intelligence Service (MI6) in London banned healthy snacks such as cereal bars from employees’ packed lunches - despite offering pizza, chocolate fudge cake and fish fingers on the cafeteria lunch menu in the government agency’s building at Vauxhall Cross.

Two secret spies working for MI6 claimed their line managers confiscated a nut cereal bar and a packet of 100 per cent fruit chews because of their 'hidden sugar'. 

It reignited the debate about the quality of workplace meals, at a time when NHS chiefs have warned obesity is the biggest threat to the nation's health.

But the Department for Work and Pensions has backed the move, insisting employees are free to ban whatever they like from lunchboxes.

Governing bodies can decide whether to 'ban certain products to promote healthy eating'.

Employees are urged to consult employers first to 'ensure that any adopted policy is clearly communicated to them’.

But DWP minister Iain Duncan Smith added: ‘Workplaces have common law powers to search their workers, with or without their consent, for items.

'There is nothing to prevent workplaces from having a policy of inspecting lunch boxes for food items that are prohibited under their food policies.

'A higher up member of staff may confiscate, keep or destroy such items found as a result of the search if it is reasonable to do so in the circumstances.'

In response to a parliamentary question, he set out how a search of a lunchbox could be carried out and who should be witnesses.

'It would be good practice for the employee to be present during an inspection and for a second line manager or the CEO to be present if any items are to be confiscated.

'If authorities and workplaces are concerned about their legal position, they should seek their own legal advice.'

Mark Ward, a Labour member of the workers select committee, said: ‘You would think that bosses might have better things to do than rummaging through workers’ crisps and fruit, but apparently not.’

Police arrest man who failed to use knife and fork in Didsbury restaurant

Staff and diners were left disgusted when a man eating at a restaurant refused to use his knife and fork and ate with his fingers.

The 52-year-old was eating a margarita pizza at Zizzi’s restaurant in Didsbury, Manchester at 1pm today.

It is understood a knife and fork were on the table, but he did not use them, instead using his hands to eat and spilling the pizza all over himself and the floor.

Staff and diners looked on disgusted as police were called and found the man eating the pizza with his hands as it was spilling on the floor of the Wilmslow Road restaurant.

When he refused to use the cutlery, he was arrested under Section 5 of the Appropriate Restaurant Behaviour Act.

He was taken to Didsbury Police Station where he was charged with failing to use a knife and fork in a public restaurant. He will appear before Manchester Crown Court to be sentenced next month.

One restaurant customer said: “The man was absolutely disgusting, he ate like a pig and didn't use a knife and fork. Some people have the standards of a sloth."

A statement from Greater Manchester Police said: “At about 1pm on Thursday, May 1, police were called to a restaurant on Wilmslow Road in Didsbury to reports a man was not using his knife and fork.

“When officers attended a 52-year-old man was eating a margarita pizza in the restaurant and he was not using the provided cutlery. Officers tried to negotiate with him to use the cutlery, however he refused and so we had no choice but to arrest him.

“He was charged and a date has been set for his appearance at Manchester Crown Court to answer the charge.”

Brixton gentrification protesters use CS spray on Police

Demonstrators have used CS spray on police during a demonstration against gentrification in Brixton.

A spokesman for the protest confirmed the spray was used after members of the Metropolitan Police entered the protest area.

Reclaim Brixton said it was in a "fight against gentrification" which it said was "killing" the area of south London.

On its Facebook page, the group said: "Today vibrancy is sold to garnish property development posters and overpriced bar branding, but in doing so, it is also slowly being killed.

"Social diversity is driven out by lack of truly affordable housing. Local businesses are driven out by increasing rents and redevelopment schemes that benefit national and multinational businesses, siphoning money out of the area.

"Local spaces for people to meet, celebrate, get support or education are being decimated. Brixton's vibrancy now has a question mark on it."

The spokesman continued to say that during the planned event it had also removed further police officers who had gained access to Brixton Town Hall and protesters were "monitoring" the situation.