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Captain Aralt Mac Giolla Chainnigh of the Canadian army is suing the Federal Government and the chief of the defence staff to stop Canadian soldiers having to toast Elizabeth Windsor, who is the hereditary head of state of both Canada and Britain.

He has been using the military grievance system for five years to have abolished the requirement that military personnel toast Ms. Windsor or salute the God Save the Queen anthem at mess dinner, parades and Remembrance Day ceremonies He says that it is degrading to require individuals to publicly express allegiance contrary to their beliefs.

The Canadian Forces Grievance Board rejected the complaint in May, claiming that the Captain, who has a PhD and is an associate professor at the Canadian military academy "fundamentally misunderstood how Canada was governed". His appeal to the chief of the defence staff Gen. Rick Hillier against this ruling was also rejected. Gen. Hillier said that he could not see how "showing respect to our head of state is anything but proper and lawful" although that head of state is not Canadian and lacks democratic legitimacy.

The Captain swore an oath of allegiance to Windsor when he enlisted at age 16. He is now an associate professor of physics at the Royal Military College.

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The BBC is spending income from TV licence fees on an expensive legal battle to keep secret an internal report. Two barristers were employed by the state media giant in a two-day hearing by an Information Tribunal.

Ruling against the BBC, the Tribunal said that the report on the Corporation’s coverage of the Middle East should be released.

More money paid to the BBC in return for its permission to watch television will now be spent on the Corporation’s appeal to the High Court against the decision of the Tribunal.

The BBC refuses to say how much of licence payers’ money is being spent to prevent them reading the report they paid for.

Since the Freedom of Information Act was implemented in January 2005 105 complaints have been made against the BBC. Four have been dismissed and the rest are currently being looked into.

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The admirers of monarchy might benefit from reading about the antics of the man who might be “king” of Italy had that republic not freed itself from the absurdities of hereditary right in a 1946 referendum.

According to newspaper reports Vitorio Emanuele, son of Italy’s last “king”, has been recorded admitting to murder. Mr. Emanuele is said to have told a cellmate that he shot a 19-year old in 1978. A French court in 1991 acquitted him of unintentional homicide. In the recording he says that he “conned those French judges” and described the magistrates investigating him now as “penniless, envious turds”.

The man who might have inherited the throne in Italy is under house arrest on suspicion of recruiting prostitutes from eastern Europe and corrupt business deals involving gambling. In another recording he asked a business associate to “give a good slapping” to a prostitute.

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According to research commissioned by the Department of Media people are "on average" willing to pay almost £163 a year at today's prices for the BBC licence. This is more than the state broadcaster has asked to government to agree. The current fee payable by those who ask the BBC's permission to watch TV is £131.50.

A letter to the Financial Times from Fred Perkins of Information TV has revealed how this surprising response was achieved. Mr. Perkins, who took part in the survey, wrote that "we were asked to choose between paying (extra, of course) for the new vision of the BBC . . .or accepting that new services . . . would not be provided at all. Pay more or have a diet of repeats and low-cost dramas". He went on to say that respondents were not told that the new services could probably be provided by other media organisations that do not rely on the licence fee. Mr. Perkins also revealed that those who took part in the survey were presented with questions that emphasised the positive role the BBC is said to have played in society.

Despite this the survey found that 75% of respondents supported funding new services through subscriptions rather than the licence fee. The government has ruled out subscriptions for the next years years, however.

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