Monday 2 February 2004

By Natasha Salari, Amy Taylor, Clare Jerrom and Alex
Dobson.

Blunkett in India deal on asylum seekers
Rejected Indian asylum seekers and visitors who stay in Britain
without permission will be returned within weeks under a deal made
by the home secretary David Blunkett and the Indian
government.
At present it can take months to deport these groups. The move aims
to tackle those who destroy their travel documents in an attempt to
stay.
Source:- The Guardian Saturday 31 January page 10
Ryanair must compensate wheelchair user
A disabled man who was forced to pay to use a wheelchair has won a
landmark court case against Ryanair.
Bob Ross, who has cerebral palsy, was made to pay £18 when he
flew out of Stansted airport and on his return.
A judge ruled that the airline had breached the Disability
Discrimination Act 1995.
Source:- The Guardian Saturday 31 January page 11
Addict faces life for tube murder
A drug addict who pushed a man under a train after he had been
refused treatment from several hospitals, was told he would receive
a life sentence last week.
Doctors had told Stephen Soans-Wade that he did have mental health
problems so he carried out his threat to push someone under a train
to show he needed treatment.
The jury at the Old Bailey found him guilty of murder. He was
remanded in custody until 23 February when the judge said he would
sentence him to life.
Source:- The Guardian Saturday 31 January page 13
New Deal has failed young jobless, say
Tories
One in six young men and women are not in a job, education or
training, shadow work and pensions secretary David Willetts will
announce today.
He will tell a London meeting of the Tories’ youth wing,
Conservative Future, that 12.3 per cent of young people are out of
work. The Conservatives want to reform the New Deal and vocational
training to get more young people into work.
Source:- The Times Saturday 31 January page 12
Yobs will lose the right to drive
Fines or jail sentences are being replaced by new
penalties including removing offenders’ rights to drive, go on
foreign holidays or attend football matches to tackle antisocial
behaviour.
Ministers think that fines are not a deterrent due to offenders
either having enough money to pay them or ignoring the payments.
Prisons are also becoming increasingly overcrowded.
Source:- The Sunday Times 1 February page 8
Revealed: killer drug linked to child abuse
blunders
A drug linked to more than 100 deaths is being
blamed
A conference of psychologists and social workers will hear evidence
this week that the drug cisapride, used to treat digestive problems
and now withdrawn from the UK market, has resulted in hundreds of
cases of wrong diagnosis.
Experts will claim that the drug is known to interrupt the rhythm
of the heart, causing some youngsters to turn pale and experience
breathing difficulties.
Campaigners say the symptoms have prompted doctors to wrongly
accuse parents of trying to smother their children.
Source:- The Observer Sunday 1 February page 3
How I lost two children to the ‘lie’ of
Munchausen’s
A mother tells how she was blamed when her son died after being
given cisapride
Source:- The Observer Sunday 1 February page 10
Britain ‘to receive 4.4 million more migrants by
2031
Up to 4.4 million migrants will arrive in Britain over the
next 30 years, according to a report from the think-tank
Migrationwatch UK.
The report warns that such an increase in numbers would put a
serious strain on health, education and other public services.
Migrationwatch UK has also called for an urgent debate on desirable
levels of immigration.
Source:- Daily Mail Monday 2 February page 31
Alzheimer’s victory
Alzheimer sufferers will be entitled to free NHS care at home
following a landmark ruling.
The NHS ombudsman has ruled that a person with dementia should be
entitled to constant care at home, and that their psychological
needs should have been taken into account in NHS assessments.
The ruling follows a long battle by Barbara Pointon, the former
head of music at Cambridge University’s Homerton College. She
had to take early retirement when her husband started to show signs
of the brain disease 12 years ago.
Source:- The Daily Mail Monday 2 February page 17
The girl of six who has been expelled from two
schools
The parents of a six-year-old girl, who believe that she may have
autism, have hit out at education bosses after she was expelled
from a school for the second time in four months.
Nicola Hough is being looked after at home by her parents in
King’s Norton, Birmingham, after being accused of disrupting
lessons and hitting teachers. But her parents are furious at
education chiefs, saying that they have failed to recognise that
their daughter may have a form of autism.
Source:- The Daily Mail Monday 2 February page 30
Confidential sex advice for children as young as
13
A new government sex advice campaign urging youngsters to seek out
information about contraception and other issues without fear of
their parents finding out, will target all under-16s.
The “right to confidentiality” campaign will involve
adverts in teenage magazines and on radio stations, and will go as
far as to target under-13s. But family campaigners claim that it
will only encourage children to experiment with sex.
Source:- The Daily Mail Monday 2 February page 31
Legal action casts doubt on asylum centres
network
Plans for a network of asylum accommodation centres is in doubt
after protesters won the right to bring a high court action against
the government.
The high court has granted Cherwell District Council in Oxfordshire
the right to challenge a government decision to build an
accommodation centre on former Ministry of Defence land at
Bicester.
Three years ago the Home Office announced plans to find sites for
four centres that will hold as many as 750 asylum seekers for up to
six months while their claims are assessed, but none have yet been
built.
Source:- The Times Monday 2 February page 6
Scottish newspapers
Police at odds over cannabis arrests
Scottish police have stood by their decision to arrest people for
possession of cannabis, despite a top Scotland Yard officer
claiming the move was “pointless”.
Sir Ian Blair, deputy commissioner of the Metropolitan police, said
it was “grossly inefficient” for his officers to spend
hours processing those caught with small amounts of the drug, which
neither the crown prosecution service nor the courts were likely to
prosecute.
But last night, Strathclyde’s assistant chief constable
Graham Pearson said that while the strategy outlined by Blair is
appropriate for London, it would not be appropriate for Scotland
where there was a different culture, different legal system and
different relationship between the police and the public.
Source:- The Scotsman Saturday 31 January
Five years for attacker who left pal
disabled
A man who attacked his best friend and left him permanently
disabled has been jailed for five years.
Benjamin Chapman spent much of his time helping Mark Clague, who
had alcohol problems and schizophrenia, a court heard. But
Chapman’s attack on his friend has left Clague with the
mental ability of a seven-year-old.
Chapman pleaded guilty to assaulting Clague causing his severe
injury and permanent impairment when an allegation that he tried to
murder his friend was dropped.
Source:- The Scotsman Saturday 31 January
Torn apart by doctors’ child abuse
theory
A Scottish mother whose child was taken into care on the basis of
controversial medical evidence is fighting to regain custody.
The woman, known as Mrs A, believes she and her family are the
victims of a theory about child abuse that can no longer be relied
on. She is backed by the lawyer who helped quash the murder
conviction against Angela Cannings.
Mrs A lost custody of her children after it was claimed she may be
suffering from Munchausen’s syndrome by proxy, the theory
pioneered by Sir Roy Meadow, whose expert evidence in court has
increasingly come under scrutiny.
The paediatrician’s testimony on the separate issue of cot
death was crucial in convicting Cannings of killing her two baby
sons.
Source:- Scotland on Sunday 1 February
Cannabis café faces closure
Scotland’s first cannabis café is in danger of closing
after its landlord threatened to evict the operator.
William Frame, the businessman who owns the building where the
Purple Haze café in Leith is situated, has said he does not
condone the use of the drug and actions have been taken against
café operator Paul Stewart.
Frame has advised Stewart that he is in breach of his lease and if
he continues, Frame will take legal action.
Source:- Scotland on Sunday 1 February
Nurse tells of care home fire alarm error
A nurse who was on duty at a Lanarkshire care home in which a fire
claimed 12 lives revealed last night that the building’s fire
alarm had originally shown the position of the blaze
incorrectly.
Isabel Queen, a care nurse at Rosepark Care Home in Uddingston,
told how she and a colleague had tried to rescue the residents as
they suffocated in the early hours of Saturday morning.
The nurse said the alarm systems had signalled that the fire was in
zone three, which was downstairs by the lift, but when she checked
the area there was no problems there. When she silenced the fire
alarm, it went off again and signalled a different zone upstairs
where the fire might be located.
Queen and her colleagues managed to rescue 30 residents in other
parts of the building.
As the investigation continued last night into how the fire
occurred, Help the Aged announced that it will be campaigning for a
full review of fire safety provision in care homes across the
country
Source:- The Scotsman Monday 2 February
City landlords face wake-up call if their tenants are too
noisy at night
Residents plagued by late night noise from neighbours will soon be
able to call a 24-hour hotline and urge landlords to
intervene.
Edinburgh Council and Edinburgh south MP Nigel Griffiths have drawn
up the plan to urge landlords to take responsibility for the
buildings under their control.
Source:- The Scotsman Monday 2 February
Borders to press ahead with bans on drinking and
smoking
A ban on drinking alcohol in public places in 16 Borders
towns and villages is likely to be implemented later this
year.
In addition, a complete no-smoking policy for 14 of the
area’s entertainment venues is likely to be introduced at the
same time.
Scottish Borders Council and police are increasingly concerned
about antisocial behaviour in town centres, frequently caused by
drinking. The situation is considered serious enough to warrant a
crackdown.
Proposed by-laws are being distributed for consultation before an
application is made to the Scottish executive for the legislation
to be ratified.
Source:- The Scotsman Monday 2 February
Man arrested after baby dies
A man was arrested last night in connection with the death of a
nine-month old baby in Turriff, Aberdeenshire, at the
weekend.
It is understood that Kyle Mutch died in the early hours of
Saturday morning at the house he shared with his mother Karen and
stepfather Mohammed Ullauh.
A neighbour said Karen was out with friends at the time of the
tragedy.
Grampian police refused to give any information regarding the cause
of the baby’s death.
Source:- The Scotsman Monday 2 February
Social workers ordered to improve schooling of children in
care
Borders social work department has been told in a government review
that it must improve the educational attainment of children in
care.
The findings from an inquiry by social work inspectors in the wake
of the Miss X case is expected to be published within the next few
weeks.
But a separate report from the Scottish executive lists a number of
issues that require urgent attention. The council should agree as a
matter of urgency with NHS Borders the financial framework for
developing community based services for people with learning
difficulties.
Source:- The Scotsman Monday 2 February
Forget TV and talk to your children, parents
told
Parents were urged to spend more time talking to their children
yesterday after a poll revealed that nine out of 10 nursery workers
believe youngsters’ verbal skills are becoming worse.
A survey conducted by speech therapy charity I CAN showed 96 per
cent of nursery staff questioned had at least one child with
“communication difficulties” in their class. Ninety two
per cent blamed lack of conversation between adults and
children.
The charity called on parents to turn the TV off and talk to their
children.
Source:- The Herald Monday 2 February
Welsh newspapers
Sufferers in Wales ‘lack support’
A leading expert on eating disorders has voiced serious concern
over the lack of specialist help for sufferers.
Mark Reilly of the Eating Disorders Association described the
situation in Wales as appalling. Of the 60,000 Welsh people
diagnosed with an eating disorder, only a small number receive
specialist help and they are forced to travel to private hospitals
in England for help.
Source:- Western Mail Monday 2 February page 2