29 Jul 07 This Green And Pleasant Land?

Brits often perceive the US to be a land of constant violence, where your neighbor will shoot you for the slightest argument, whereas Americans often perceive the UK to be a quaint cozy peaceful place, with bobbies on bicycles. The stores below all happened in the last few days in England… Read on

A coastguard officer had to be pulled to safety after being shoved into the River Medway while on duty. Medway Coastguard said a member of their team was pushed off Gillingham Marina while they were investigating a distress flare at 0050 BST on Sunday.

Laurence Leonard McCourt, 68, from Sandwell, West Midlands, died when his lorry collided with a crash barrier on the A45 on Friday morning. Police found debris in his cab. It is believed an object was thrown from a bridge as the lorry passed underneath.

Burglars broke into a house in Northampton then made their getaway in their victim’s car after stealing the keys from inside the property.

A dog is critically ill after it was repeatedly stabbed while being walked on a Cumbrian street. The pet’s owner was approached by a man near Workington’s Moorclose Pub on Newlands Lane on Saturday night.After asking for money, the man began to behave aggressively before pulling out a knife and stabbing the Staffordshire bull terrier.

Two youths have been questioned after a teenager was seriously assaulted at a Cumbrian music festival. The 15-year-old boy was found on Friday night in a field at Helsington, where the Kendal Calling event is being held. He had suffered serious head injuries in a “violent attack”, according to Cumbria Police.

Two men were arrested after shots were fired at a plain-clothes police patrol in Brent on Saturday evening. But police said neither of the men were the gunman, who got away after a chase on foot. They said the two officers, on regular plain-clothed duties, were shot at a number of times but not injured. The officers, in an unmarked vehicle, noticed a group of men acting suspiciously around a parked car on Press Road, when the attack happened. As they pulled alongside the group, one man ran away and the officers chased him on foot. When he reached the Neasden recreation ground, he turned and fired a number of shots at the officers, before running off.