We need more troops, equipment and helicopters

Britain’s most senior general went public today with a plea for more troops, equipment and helicopters to fight the war in Afghanistan.In a revelation that will deeply embarrass Treasury ministers, General Sir Richard Dannatt said he was having to borrow a Black Hawk helicopter from US forces because there were not enough British machines.Making his final tour of the battlefields before standing down as Chief of the General Staff, he said: “Self evidently, if I move in an American helicopter it is because I have not got a British helicopter.”He said that the Army needed more “boots on the ground” to secure areas and win the confidence of the Afghan population.

Tony Blair wants to be Europe’s first president

Europe minister Glenys Kinnock today reinforced speculation that Tony Blair wants to be Europe’s first president.She said the entire Government fully supported Mr Blair’s “candidature” although the former prime minister has refused to confirm that he is bidding for the post.There is no official list of contenders for a new Euro-job which will only exist if the Lisbon treaty is fully approved and ratified by all EU countries.But Mrs Kinnock, visiting the European Parliament in Strasbourg, made clear the Government would be pushing him as the man to run Europe for up to five years under new treaty arrangements.

Cycle hire plan rejected by councils

The Mayor wants to introduce 6,000 bikes on to the streets of London by May next year in a move modelled on the Vélib scheme in Paris.Londoners are expected to make 40,000 cycle journeys every day as a result of the scheme, which will see 400 “docking stations” in Zone 1.But Westminster is dragging its heels amid claims it will lose £420,000 in car parking money, while Camden would lose £126,500.Mr Johnson has refused to offer the councils compensation but Transport for London will pay for the installation of the bicycle stations.

London backpacker found alive

Jamie Neale, 19, from Muswell Hill, who had been given up for dead, is being treated for exposure and dehydration.The gap-year student said his father Richard Cass “had a go at him” during a tearful reunion in hospital.An overjoyed but exasperated Mr Cass, a supply teacher, said: “I can’t say I’d kill him because it would just spoil the point of him being back. But I’m going to kick his arse.”Mr Cass paid tribute to the hundreds of searchers who had looked for Jamie, adding: “All because he’s the only teenager in the world who goes out without his mobile phone.” In a call to his mother, Jamie told her: “The only thing that kept me going was the thought of seeing you again.”

Paramedic charged with murdering baby son

The 40-year-old man, from Erith, south east London, was due to appear at Bexley Magistrates’ Court.Scotland Yard, who did not release the man’s name, said he was also charged with grievous bodily harm over attacks on the baby girl.The 40-year-old was arrested after the three-month-old boy was taken to a south London hospital with a serious head injury on October 24 last year.The infant, from Bexley, south east London, died the next day at King’s College Hospital.Police inquiries found that the baby’s twin sister was recovering from injuries believed to be the result of physical abuse.