i had a similar problem, it turned out that i wasnt logged in, you can still browse the forum and read the polls when not logged in - but you dont get the voting option, it sounds stupid i know but just check you are logged on.
standard scaremongering story that appears in the daily mail: 'illegal polish lesbian immigrants push up house prices/taxes/chances of child abduction', just mix with stories about Diana or Madeline or some bint with big t*ts and you have a weeks worth of British papers!
I had holidays in London and europe in 2002 and vaguely recall the quality of the daily papers... Not much hard hitting journalism for memory but I had no issue with the page 3 girls.
We have similar issues here but its the poor African refugees that are the whipping boys in the Australian media at the moment - the Government is behind in the polls with an election looming and see votes in denegrating minority groups...