Tag: united kingdom

Archaeologists Searched For a Cult’s Secrets—and Stumbled Upon an Ancient Henge Instead

The search to better understand a cult from over 1,300 years ago led to an even older find: one of the largest henge sites ever seen in eastern England, dating back to the Neolithic period.

The legend surrounding the ruins of a medieval abbey near Crowland, England, links the henge with an Anglo-Saxon hermitage honoring Saint Guthlac. But it turns out that the site’s history runs much deeper.

After Guthlac gave up his life as the son of a nobleman to live in solitude, he became a popular figure. Shortly after his death in 714 AD, a small monastic community formed in his memory. The success of this cult helped establish the Crowland Abbey in the 10th century, but little else is known about Guthlac and the location on which his hermitage once rested.

In searching for the site, archaeologists found something arguably even more exciting. A study published in the Journal of Field Archaeology chronicles a location known as Anchor Church Field and its ties to ancient history.

Archaeologists long suspected that Anchor Church Field was the site of Guthlac’s hermitage. But when a team from Newcastle University and the University of Sheffield joined forces to excavate the location, they discovered an unknown Neolithic or Early Bronze Age henge—defined by English Heritage as a prehistoric circular or oval earthen enclosure with a ring-shaped bank on the outside and a ring-shaped ditch on the inside, likely used for ceremonial purposes. It turns out the circular earthwork is one of the largest ever found in eastern England, and carbon dating on a timber portion of the henge places its construction at about 1400 BC.

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‘Transgender Archeology’ PhDs And Degrees In ‘Magic’ Being Funded With Taxpayer Money

A Conservative MP in the UK has called for a thorough review of government higher education funding after it was revealed that taxpayer money is being spent on ridiculous university courses, including a PhD researcher who has chose to explore “Transphobic Invocations of Archaeology.”

The Telegraph reports that the student at the University of York is being given more than £18,000 a year by the Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC) to do detailed research and present papers, including one titled Bones Don’t Care About Your Feelings: Challenging Transphobic Invocations of Archaeology in (Social) Media.

The student in question also gave a presentation that noted “What if I told you that when an archaeologist finds human remains, it is a fact that there [sic] only two choices for gender identification.”

The ‘research’ was also partially funded by UK Research and Innovation (UKRI), a non-departmental government body that distributes funds for research, which claims that “research projects we support are made via a rigorous peer review process.”

Maybe make it a bit more rigorous then?

Commenting on the finding, biologist Dr Emma Hilton, co-founder of Sex Matters, noted “Human remains cannot tell us anything about the unembodied ‘gender identity’ of a person.”

Providing an example, Hilton urged that “A female Viking warrior buried with male-typical war possessions tells us only that some women successfully broke through early glass ceilings.”

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Military chiefs scramble to rush UK’s new laser ‘death ray’ into service amid fears over Russian missiles and drones – with hi-tech DragonFire system to be fitted to Royal Navy warships

Military chiefs are to rush devastating laser guns into service to meet the threat posed by Russian drones and missiles.

Royal Artillery troops will test the revolutionary ‘DragonFire’ weaponry, which burns holes through incoming enemy ordnance, during the summer.

The sudden urgency to roll out a suite of ‘directed energy weapons’ follows the Kremlin’s alarming effective use of Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) in Ukraine.

British soldiers will also experiment with radio frequency weapons capable of firing magnetic pulses at enemy targets thereby cutting off their power supplies.

Last night, UK Defence Secretary Grant Shapps boasted that Britain is leading the world in the development of these breakthrough technologies.

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More Than Half of UK Foreign Aid Budget Now Being Spent on ‘Refugees’ in Britain

The UK is now housing so many asylum seekers that more than half of the country’s foreign aid budget is spent in Britain.

Data released by the Foreign Office data on Wednesday shows that the UK spent £9.9 billion in bilateral aid in 2023, with 54 per cent of this being used domestically, up from 48 per cent the previous year.

Money that is supposed to be reserved to help poorer countries alleviate poverty and respond to humanitarian disasters is being spent in the UK because the country is brining in so many “refugees,” the vast majority of whom are actually economic migrants.

With the cost of housing asylum seekers in hotel accommodation, some in 4 star hotels in prime tourist locations, running at a whopping £8 million pounds a day, the amount of foreign aid being given to poorer nations has feel by 10 per cent.

Sarah Champion, chairman of the international development committee, said the figures were “deeply worrying,” while Gideon Rabinowitz, director of policy and advocacy at Bond, said the numbers showed that “the Government seems to have lost its grip on UK aid spending.”

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Convicted sex offender wins right to remain in UK despite doctors saying he still ‘acts inappropriately towards females’ – because judge said he faced risk of ‘mob violence’ if sent back to Afghanistan

A convicted sex offender has won the right to remain in the UK despite doctors saying he still ‘acts inappropriately towards females’ – because judge said he faced the risk of ‘mob violence’ if he was sent back to Afghanistan.

The man was convicted of ‘outraging public decency and exposure’ in 2017 but was still given permission to stay in the UK.

This is despite doctors saying he ‘continues to act inappropriately towards females’ at his asylum appeal hearings.

But in immigration tribunal judge said he could not go back to Afghanistan in 2020, because his ‘risky behaviours’ would would put him at risk of ‘ill treatment’.

It comes after Home Secretary James Cleverly called for a light to be shone on tribunal decisions, many of which are shrouded in secrecy because judges often impose draconian reporting restrictions.

The tribunal courts have allowed more than half of asylum seekers to stay in country since 2021 – with most of the unsuccessful candidates staying illegally.

Immigration adviser Jayne Mercer said there were as many as 500 living in Hull alone who are living ‘in plain sight’.

She told the broadcaster: ‘It costs a lot of money to deport people. So they’re left in a situation of limbo.

‘Quite often, after a few attempts, they do get status.

This is funded by an average of more than £34million of taxpayers’ money since 2017, analysis of legal aid figures by the broadcaster reveal.

Director of public law at Duncan Lewis Ahmed Ayeed, whose company respresented the sex offender, slammed the suggestion lawyers are to blame for the crisis- saying the British public would be left furious if they knew the extent of the system’s failings.

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All UK Airports will close by 2029 & Beef and Lamb will be banned for Human Consumption to meet Climate Scam Targets according to UK Gov. Report

A report produced by Oxford University and Imperial College London for the UK Government reveals that all airports will be ordered to close, eating beef and lamb will be made illegal, and construction of new buildings will not be permitted to meet the legal commitment of zero emissions by 2050.

The report states that all airports must close between 2020 and 2029 excluding Heathrow, Glasgow and Belfast airports, which can only stay open on the condition that transfers to and from the airport are done via rail.

All remaining airports must then close between 2030 and 2049 because to meet the legal commitment of zero emissions by 2050 every citizen of the United Kingdom must “stop using aeroplanes” for a significant period of time.

In addition, the report states that to obey the law of the Climate Change Act the public will be required to stop doing anything that causes emissions regardless of its energy source. According to the report, this will require the public to never eat beef or lamb ever again.

To do this national consumption of beef and lamb will drop by 50% between 2020 and 2029. Then between 2030 and 2049 beef and lamb will be “phased out”.

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Prehistoric henge reveals centuries-old sacred site in Lincolnshire

Archaeologists from Newcastle University have unearthed evidence for an evolving sacred landscape spanning centuries in Crowland, Lincolnshire. The study is published in the Journal of Field Archaeology.

Crowland today is dominated by the ruins of its medieval abbey. However, local tradition holds that the area was the site of an Anglo-Saxon hermitage belonging to Saint Guthlac, who died in the year 714 and was famed for his life of solitude, having given up a life of riches as the son of a nobleman.

When his uncorrupted body was discovered 12 months after his death, Guthlac was venerated by a small monastic community dedicated to his memory. Guthlac’s popularity while he was alive, and the success of this cult and the pilgrimage it inspired, were key factors in the establishment of Crowland Abbey in the 10th century to honor the saint.

Early historical sources for Guthlac’s life exist, mainly through the Vita Sancti Guthlaci (Life of Saint Guthlac) written shortly after his death by a monk called Felix. Although there is little other evidence about his life, it was believed that Guthlac created his hermitage from a previously plundered barrow, or burial mound.

For years, archaeologists have tried to find its location, and while Anchor Church Field was widely held to be the most likely site, the lack of excavation and the increasing impact of agricultural activity in the area have prevented a comprehensive understanding of the area.

The team, which also included experts from the University of Sheffield, excavated Anchor Church Field and, to their surprise, found a much more complex and older history than they expected.

The first discovery they made was a previously unknown Late Neolithic or early Bronze Age henge, a type of circular earthwork and one of the largest ever discovered in eastern England.

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NHS hippy crack heists: Hospitals are warned thieves are now stealing nitrous oxide ‘laughing’ gas to order – after law change made the canisters illegal

Nitrous oxide suppliers have warned the NHS to review their security after a spike in incidents of thefts since the gas was banned and reclassified as a class C drug.

BOC, the UK’s leading supplier of medicinal gasses, sent a letter to NHS staff revealing they have ‘received a number of reports of thefts related to medical nitrous oxide cylinders in recent weeks’.

The firm warned: ‘In light of the recent reclassification of nitrous oxide under the Misuse of Drugs Act, we feel it is important to draw your attention to the possibility that legitimate users of medical nitrous oxide may become a target of further thefts.’

In the letter, which MailOnline has seen, the supplier urged NHS hospitals and their customers to review their medical gas cylinder security to deter any potential misuse or theft.

It comes after a new law introduced in November classified nitrous oxide as a Class C drug and made it illegal to possess it for the purpose of getting high.

But youngsters were undeterred and vowed to carry on using it, with their demand now fueling cannister thefts from NHS hospitals across the country.

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Transgender judge seeks leave to intervene in UK court case over legal definition of ‘woman’

The UK’s first transgender judge is seeking leave to join the litigation in a crucial supreme court case that could significantly affect legal protections for transgender women, the Guardian has learned.

Victoria McCloud, a senior civil judge who became the youngest person appointed as master of the high court in 2010, will make an application to intervene in the supreme court appeal brought by the campaign group For Women Scotland about the legal definition of “woman”. Interveners can put a case without being among the main parties to the litigation.

For Women Scotland is challenging whether Scottish government legislation aimed at improving gender balance on public boards should include transgender women.

The Gender Representation on Public Boards (Scotland) Act 2018 has been the subject of a long-running court action by the group, which most recently resulted in a ruling by Lady Haldane at the court of session that it was lawful to extend the definition of “woman” to transgender women with a gender recognition certificate.

McCloud, who transitioned in the late 1990s and subsequently changed her legal sex under the 2004 Gender Recognition Act, is supported in her application by the Good Law Project.

She is concerned about the effect of a successful appeal – which would affect the whole of the UK – on her legal recognition.

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JUST IN: Wikileaks Founder Julian Assange Will Not Be Extradited to US for Now

A UK court ruled on Tuesday that Wikileaks founder Julian Assange will not be extradited to the United States for now.

The UK court is requesting assurances from the US around Assange’s First Amendment rights, and that he would not receive the death penalty by the US government for leaking classified documents.

This is strange, since the Biden family can hold and release classified material to business associates but not Julian Assange?

If the US fails to give assurances, Assange, an Australian citizen, will be able to appeal his extradition in May.

CBS News reported:

A U.K. court has ruled that Julian Assange will not be immediately extradited to face charges in the United States, giving the U.S. government three weeks to “offer assurances” that the American justice system will abide by several specific tenets in its handling of the WikiLeaks founder’s case.

The British court said Assange “has a real prospect of success on 3 of the 9 grounds of appeal” he has argued. Specifically, the court demanded that U.S. justice officials confirm he will be “permitted to rely on the First Amendment to the United States Constitution (which protects free speech), that he is not prejudiced at trial (including sentence) by reason of his nationality, that he is afforded the same First Amendment protections as a United States citizen and that the death penalty is not imposed.”

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