Frédéric Mitterrand Admitted to Paying for Sex with 'Young Boys’ in Thailand
THE TELEGRAPH: Frédéric Mitterrand, France’s culture minister, was under pressure to resign after it emerged that he had admitted to paying “young boys” for sexual acts while on holiday in Thailand.

Frédéric Mitterrand wrote about paying "young boys" for sex during trips abroad. Photo: The Telegraph
The revelations in his 2005 autobiography “The Bad Life” have come back to haunt Mr Mitterrand after he emerged as one of the most vociferous defenders of Roman Polanski, the film director currently detained in Switzerland in connection with an outstanding conviction for unlawful sexual intercourse with a 13-year-old girl in the US in 1977.

In his book, Mr Mitterrand, the nephew of the late Socialist president François Mitterrand, wrote: “I got into the habit of paying for boys...All these rituals of the market for youths, the slave market excite me enormously.

“One could judge this abominable spectacle from a moral standpoint but it pleases me beyond the reasonable.”

Curiously, there was little outcry when the book was published in 2005. However, Mr Mitterrand’s tastes were brought to the fore on Monday by Marine Le Pen, daughter of the far-right National Front leader, Jean-Marie Le Pen, on a political chat show.

Miss Le Pen read out a passage in which Mr Mitterrand wrote: “The profusion of very attractive and immediately available young boys puts me in a state of desire that I no longer need to hinder nor hide...as I know that I will not be refused.”

Her call for his resignation has become an internet hit. >>> Henry Samuel in Paris | Wednesday, October 08, 2009

Sex with Boys Admission Haunts French Culture Minister Frédéric Mitterand
TIMES ONLINE: President Sarkozy’s new Culture Minister, Frédéric Mitterrand, was struggling to save his name and possibly his job last night amid a storm over his past accounts of paying “boys” for sex.

The nephew of the late President Mitterrand, who is openly gay, was thrown on the defensive after opposition politicians homed in on a memoir in which he described his delight in visiting brothels in Bangkok.

“I got into the habit of paying for boys ... The profusion of young, very attractive and immediately available boys put me in a state of desire that I no longer needed to restrain or hide,” he wrote.

The autobiography, La mauvaise vie (The Bad Life), was a critically acclaimed bestseller in 2005 and Mr Mitterrand, 62, a popular television presenter, was praised for his honesty. It rebounded on him this week after he leapt to the defence of Roman Polanski, the filmmaker, who was arrested in Switzerland for extradition to face a Los Angeles court for having sex with a girl aged 13. >>> Charles Bremner in Paris | Thursday, October 08, 2009

Ed West: Muslim Honour Killing Book Cancelled over Safety Fears
THE TELEGRAPH – BLOG: Another European publisher has fallen victim to the continent’s blasphemy laws – blasphemy against Islam, that is. As the German press is reporting:

Dusseldorf – A German publisher has cancelled plans to publish a mass-market novel out of fears that it might face violent protests due to a rude reference to the Koran, Der Spiegel magazine reported Saturday. The crime novel – about the “honour killing” of a Muslim woman – had been scheduled for September publication, but the Droste publishing company of Dusseldorf decided not to print it after all, the magazine said in a story to appear in its Monday issue.

It said the publisher had first asked the author, Gabriele Brinkmann, writing under the pen name WW Domsky, to tone down dialogue in “To Those Worthy of Honour” which might be construed as offensive, but she had refused.

Spiegel reported that the offensive phrase in question was a character saying: “You can shove your Koran up …”

Publisher Felix Droste had asked an expert on Islamic society to study whether the crime story’s text could compromise the safety of his firm or his family, and the expert suggested the phrase be modified.

But the author refused to alter it to “You can shove your honour up …”

Droste wrote back that riots over Danish cartoons that poked fun at the Prophet Mohammed in 2005 showed that anyone publishing insults to Islam was putting their safety at risk, Spiegel said.

Over the weekend… >>> Ed West | Monday, October 05, 2009

Investigative Reporter Offers Murder Theory Over Death of Jörg Haider
TIMES ONLINE: When Jörg Haider died in a car crash last year, many Austrians mourned the complex, fast-living populist. He may have been an admirer of Hitler’s employment policies, but he seemed to many rightwingers, frustrated with the Vienna Establishment, to hold the key to a new Austria.

Now pressure is growing to reopen the investigation into his death, and at least one investigative reporter is asking whether the 58-year-old politician was murdered.

“There are too many open questions,” said Gerhard Wisniewski, the author of the book Jörg Haider: Accident, Murder or Assassination? that has been selling quickly in Austria since it was launched last Tuesday. “After eight months of research I am convinced that it is highly probable that Haider was the victim of a politically motivated assassination.”

Neither the Haider family nor his political associates go quite that far, but they have been appealing this week for a more thorough look at the events of the night of October 10 last year.

“This case has to be reopened with an independent prosecutor . . . and with the involvement of international experts,” said Stefan Petzner, the former spokesman for Mr Haider and a leading figure in the right-wing BZOe party, the Alliance for the Future of Austria. He is threatening to mobilise a referendum on the issue unless the Justice Minister complies.

Mr Haider’s wife, Claudia, has also joined in the critical chorus, questioning the narrative provided by the police investigation team in the week after the crash. The police version, much of it leaked to the press before the official report, was that Mr Haider had visited various bars, including a reputedly gay hangout, on the night of Saturday October 10, in the town of Klagenfurt. He had drunk the equivalent of a bottle of vodka, according to blood sampling, and had driven at 142 kilometres per hour. >>> Roger Boyes in Berlin | Saturday, July 04, 2009

Alert! Prince Charles Warns of 'New Dark Age'
So Prince Charles is talking of the possibility of a “new Dark Age”, eh? One can only wonder where he got this idea from!

Prince Charles is referring to the possibility of a “new Dark Age” because of environmental catastrophes. As we all know, he is a dedicated ‘green earth man’, and he is a dedicated ‘lover of Islam’, too!

But still, I am curious that he should have chosen the expression, a “new Dark Age”, since this is the title of my book. – Mark Alexander, author of The Dawning of a New Dark Age.

THE TELEGRAPH: Prince Charles warned that the world risked plunging into a "new Dark Age" unless urgent action was taken on climate change, during his first meeting with Pope Benedict XVI at the Vatican.

The heir to the throne said the global economic crisis was "nothing" compared with the "horror" of global warming.

Flanked by Swiss Guards in ceremonial uniforms, the Prince of Wales met Benedict for a 15 minute reception in the Pontiff's private apartments – his first Papal audience since his divorce from Princess Diana and subsequent remarriage.

He was accompanied by his wife Camilla, who wore a black dress and a black lace veil, in keeping with Vatican protocol, and appeared nervous in the presence of the Pope. >>> By Nick Squires in Rome | Monday, April 27, 2009