Isn’t it time Gordon Brown stopped the FTSE stampede? Whoa there. Hold your horses, folks. The rustle of alarm is turning into a scuttle, and the scuttle is turning into a drumming roar of feet... [Visit boris-johnson.com for the full post and more information about Boris!]...

I knew a bit about gypsies in Britain- in the sense that they are so different than the gypsies in Greece. A few years ago we were near Appleby where there is a big horse fair every year, and I was impressed by the beautiful carriages and horses clogging the roads. But here in Richmond Hill things looked a bit different. On our way to school one morning, we were all surprised to find a dozen caravans and cars parked on the green behind the school, blocking all the paths, dogs barking, children playing, ladies hanging their washing and horses grazing. It was all very strange.We were given by the school a number to call to ask the council about them. I was told that there was nothing the council could do, because they could not be removed without a court order and that would take a couple...

A horse owner thinks she has the answer to the age-old question, ‘Why the long face?’ Donna Cumia has been giving her horse, Murphy, light treatment therapy in order to combat his Seasonal Affective Disorder.The condition, known as SAD, is a type of winter depression, and is thought to affect around half a million people between the months of September and April each year.Believed to be caused by a lack of sunlight and the shortening of daylight hours, its symptoms include fatigue, lethargy, difficulty in concentrating, sleep problems and overeating. But according to experts, it isn’t just humans who suffer; the illness also affects animals too.Donna said: “It is not only humans who suffer from SAD but animals also, and we are currently testing light therapy on ‘SAD’ horses in...

A wife has been awarded £50,000 a year in maintenance for her three horses in a landmark legal ruling as part of a £1.5 million divorce package. The unidentified woman was awarded the money by three appeal judges in a case, which suggest that a couple’s animals could become the next battleground in expensive divorce cases. The woman was also awarded a £900,000 lump sum from her husband, an investment banker, so that she could buy a house with enough land to graze the animals. In addition, she was given an overall maintenance package of £80,000 per year, which included £50,000 for the horses. The couple from Gloucestershire had been married for 11 years and were childless. The judges heard that the horses had almost become a child substitute for the wife, a talented rider who...

Why didn't Gordon Brown "clean up" the financial system when he was Chancellor and the foundations of the credit crunch were being layed!?!Would Lehmans, HBOS or Northern Rock have welcomed increased regulation five years ago when their business models were so...

It used to be quite straightforward. I was in an assessment team so someone would make a referral to our services - usually the person themselves, or a family member or a GP or district nurse - someone who had reason to understand that care was needed for some reason. Sometimes the referrals came from ambulance crew or neighbours - occasionally they were anonymous (usually if it was a neighbour who was concerned  but didn’t want to interfere or a family member who felt guilty). So I’d trundle off and assess. Mostly it was something that was accepted and welcomed. I’d run through a series of questions trying desperately to make it sound more like a chat than an interrogation - and usually forget one or two things that I’d have to phone up and ask about later. That...

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Three horses are found dead in the grounds of a house at the centre of a suspected arson attack where a family of three remain unaccounted...

Best news I had on returning from my holiday was that Rosalind Belben's wonderful Our Horses in Egypt has won the 2008 James Tait Black Memorial Prize. More on this over at This Space where Steve calls for the reissuing of Rosalind's "remarkable earlier novels Dreaming of Dead People (1979) and Is Beauty Good (1989)." Here, here!...

Duke of Marmalde added the Juddmonte International to his other Group 1 successes this year at Newmarket on Saturday and beat Derby winner New Approach in the process. Trainer Aidan O’Brien was full of praise for his charge. “He is so special that you wonder if he is flesh and blood. If horses were made out of concrete and stone he would be made out of something harder,” said O’Brien. “He is a great horse with speed, and is getting pacier if you look at the way he travels through his races. “He had a very messy week as he came to England, spent a couple of hours here and then flew back. “He travelled from 5am Tuesday morning and didn’t get back to Ballydoyle until about 3.30pm. There was a lot of travelling there and we were afraid to...

Not the Olympic ones but great news this morning and thanks to The Literary Saloon for the heads up.A book much-loved here and elsewhere, Our Horses in Egypt by Rosalind Belben has won The James Tait Black Memorial Prize.Congratulations to Rosalind Belben and thanks to Mark Thwaite again for flagging up this book as a...

Me and my dad decided to cycle to the car museum at Beaulieu, in what might have been an amusingly post-modern dig at a monolithic monument to both capitalism and the destruction of the planet by combustion engine-toting boxes of death. In reality, my mum and my sister were taking the car to go shopping and we fancied looking at the nice cars. I hearts teh carz. I haven’t been on a bicycle in over two years, so I knew it wasn’t going to be pretty. I nearly vomited at the first hill and had to walk the rest, and old papa Burnett was sickening - there I was, two rasping gulps of air away from death, sweat pouring down my face and a fire burning within, and all I can hear behind me is the odd ‘wheee!’ and the clunk of bike going off road and round in circles. I am...

Hi-tech and horses help guard the Canada-US...

Mercedes Clemens is certified to massage humans, but she claims the state of Maryland is keeping her from her first love: Massaging horses. She shut down her equine massage practice in a Washington suburb after state officials told her state law only allows veterinarians to perform such services. Now she's suing two state agencies, saying regulators are unfairly barring registered massage therapists who want to practice on animals. Animal massage regulations vary from state to state, with some allowing only veterinarians to practice. Clemens' case is being closely watched by those in the animal massage industry, who say business has grown steadily along with interest in other alternative treatments and pampering for...

JORDAN, aka Katie Price, has written a letter to The Times. Sir,: So the Cartier Polo International was happy to invite a man convicted of assault on an elderly couple, dozens of aristocrats and an assortment of would-be actresses in minuscule dresses. But it wouldn’t have me. More than 35,000 people came to the polo match last weekend but I was excluded. Why? I’m a successful author and businesswoman, a rider, I am learning to play polo and I compete in dressage events. I rode my first horse when I was 7, and saved up to rent my first pony, Star, when I was 11. He was the ugliest, hairiest pony in the yard but I adored him. My mum couldn’t afford for me to go to Pony Club but it didn’t stop me going to gymkhanas. I just wanted to beat all those smart little girls...

PETA’s longtime buddy Pamela Anderson has just sent roses and a note to New York City Council Member Tony Avella, who is the sponsor of the bill to ban carriage horses there. The note wishes him luck in the bill to ban this cruel trade. Aww, dontcha just love Pam?! Conditions are very cruel for these working animals. Horses are exposed to drastic weather changes and a lack of shade during summer months, and they often do not receive veterinary checkups on a routine basis. Think of it like this: If you dislike walking on the hot sand during the summer, you know that working horses don’t enjoy stepping on the city tarmac which can rise up to 30 degrees warmer than the air temperature around them. Add to that breathing in exhaust fumes as you pull a cart, and you can see why...

IT’S the Rapa das bestas, in Galicia, Spain. Grab a horse - literally: People gather all the untamed horses in a corral, where men and women of all ages wrestle them to the ground with their bare hands to cut their manes and tales out and brand them. This fiesta goes on for about three days starting the first Saturday of July. Link -via J-Walk Blog and...

No new tracks for 80 years, then two at once. Why?...

One of the reasons that some of us wrinklies find the government's constant refrain about Islamic terrorism posing an 'unprecedented' threat to our shores more than somewhat overstated is that we're old enough to remember the last time that there was a sustained bombing campaign on the British mainland.Today marks the anniversary of two different IRA attacks. Exactly 18 years ago, a bomb blew a 10 foot hole in the London Stock Exchange. As the police had been forewarned of the attack, nobody was injured.However, and 26 years ago today, one of the most memorable IRA attacks on the mainland occurred, with the double bombing of Hyde Park and Regents Park. A total of 11 people were killed, with 50 injured. I suspect what many of us remember most about the Hyde Park bombing was the carnage...

There is a Band Of Horses set floating around the net....which I grabbed...Its the Glastonbury set....Not too bad, if you listen really loud and wear head-phones....CNBand Of Horses @ Glastonbury...

If Laduree made carriages I think they would look like these. In the main square in Krakow you can hire one of these immaculate carriages to take you around the city. I have to say I have never seen carriages and their horses so well presented anywhere in the world that I have been. The riders where all kitted out to match their livery. Click on the images for a much bigger view....

I was planning on writing more on the NHS this week, but as I have the TV on in the afternoon and there is live coverage of the Royal Ascot all this week on the BBC, I feel the urge to write about it instead.I have to ask: is it me, because I am a foreigner, or are there other people in the country frustrated and upset with this show of privilege and wealth? Why is it acceptable to show off the beautiful ladies with the hats, when only a few weeks ago the government almost admitted that it would be difficult to meet their own targets about helping half the children in the country who live bellow the poverty line?Why is it acceptable for the horses to worth more than the children? Why is it acceptable that they (the horses) are better fed, better treated and better kept than a large number...

Last night, film legend Alec Baldwin hosted a very special screening in New York to an audience of celebrities. No it wasn’t his latest action movie or chic-flick—it was for an award-winning documentary called Blinders which details the pitiful life of horses forced to pull carriages in New York City amidst the car exhaust fumes and honking horns. It’s not only the (sometimes deadly) ‘working day’ that causes these horses to suffer, their tiny, stinking stalls that they sleep in are hardly reminiscent of life of luxury. Way to go Alec! Image: smh /...

It's been a very busy week by my standards, with not one but two adventures. Yesterday, my Dad and I went to Snetterton, famous for its racetrack, but also home to World Horse Welfare, which is a place that looks after retired police horses as well as variously injured and abused horses. Dad, who had never sat on a horse until a few years ago, is now studying for an NVQ in Horse Management, so this was a bit of a field trip. I learnt the difference between a bay and a cob, which is a pony, where are the withers and all manner of horsey facts.I attempted to steer the conversation round to the sociological nuances of man's relationship with the horse, horses and socioeconomic class and the symbolism of the horse in psychoanalysis (e.g. the case of Little Hans, whose phobia of horses was...

Gordon (sort of) comes clean about what we've all known about for years. But he's not ready to risk frightening the horses yet. But at least the conversation can begin... http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2008/may/28/gordonbrown.oil...

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YouTube - The Pet Penguin (via)YouTube - The Talking GoatYouTube - In Bollywood, horses can slide under trucksYouTube - Lion and ferret playingYouTube - Shark surferYouTube - Monkey steals a chickenYouTube - Goose Throwdown (via)YouTube - Monkey works at barYouTube - Fennec surprised by the helicopter...

Our passports are not at risk … but an awful lot more is, like our freedom. Behind our backs, ever so quietly so as not to frighten the horses, the "colleagues" are at work. And, as always, Bruno Waterfield has the...

Spiegel has posted an article (along with photos) of a visit to the Guolizhuang Restaurant in Beijing where the menu consists almost entirely of penis and testicle dishes -- made from the private parts of deer, snakes, yaks, horses, seals and ducks, among...

Cloudy Lane should start favourite for the Aintree classic despite some big bets on other horses....