Monday 22 November 2004

By Maria Ahmed, Shirley Kumar, Amy Taylor, and
Derren Hayes

Islamophobia makes British Muslims feel increasingly
‘isolated’

British Muslims are facing increasing discrimination based on
their faith rather than the colour of their skin, reveals a
report.

The study published to launch Islam Awareness Week showed 80 per
cent of British Muslims had suffered Islamophobia.

Source:- The Independent, Monday 22 November 2004, page
6

Wristband launched in attempt to curb
bullying

Children are being urged to wear a green wrist band this week to
mark the government’s first anti-bullying week.

The wrist brands are intended to give young people a visible
commitment that they are not prepared to tolerate bullying and will
stand by their friends.

Source:- The Guardian, Monday 22 November 2004, page
8

Misuse of alcohol ‘is entrenched in
society’

Misuse of alcohol has become part of British life with many
adults dependent on booze to help with psychologically problems, a
study has found.

The survey for mental health service Priory Group showed nearly
12 million adults relied on alcohol to relieve the symptoms of
depression or low self esteem.

Source:- The Daily Telegraph, Monday 22 November 2004,
page 11

Care homes to be given hotel-style ratings

The Commission for Social Care Inspection will give hotel-style
rankings to children’s homes and homes for the elderly to
give future residents an idea of what to expect.

The move is part of a radical shake-up of social care regulation
and inspection by the CSCI to be outlined this week.

Source:- The Times, Monday 22 November 2004, page 3

Parents of bullies are desperate for help

Parents of bullies need more support to deal with their child,
found a survey by charity Parentline Plus.

Around 80 per cent of calls to the charity’s 24-hour free
helpline were by parents who felt they were losing control of their
child, said the survey.

Source:- The Times, Monday 22 November 2004, page
20

Scottish newspapers

Scientists claim food linked to violent attitudes in
teens

US scientists believe they have found a link between aggressive
teenagers and unhealthy food given to them as babies.

A study of 1000 children over 14 years by researchers at the
University of Southern California found that teenagers who did not
eat properly in their early years were more likely to become
violent and turn to crime.

Source:-The Daily Record, Monday 22 November 2004

Scots want more say in their NHS

Scottish people are happy with the national health service – but
feel they have little say in how it is run, found a survey.

An NOP telephone survey of 2600 adults found more than 90 per
cent were satisified with the NHS.

Health minister Andy Kerr urged health bosses to give the public
a bigger role and create a more ‘patient-focused’ service.

Source:-The Daily Record, Monday 22 November 2004

Sex attacker freed by Crown blunder

A sex offender with three convictions for serious sexual
assaults has walked free from a high court trial for child abuse
after a Crown Office blunder.

Paul Flood, 54, was facing more than a dozen charges including
rape involving four girls aged 13, 11, six and four.

Prosecutors sought to apply the “Moorov doctrine” to the case –
the principle that allows a number of similar claims about the same
accused to corroborate each other.

But the strategy failed when they decided at a late stage not to
proceed with the charges relating to the two younger girls and
judge, Lady Smith, ruled the charges relating to the two girls were
not sufficiently similar for the Moorov doctrine to apply.

Source:-The Scotsman, Monday 22 November 2004

Hospital closures in Scotland affect elderly care, warn
nursing leaders

Older people face a duel threat to their welfare from the
closure of hospital wards and cuts in qualified staff in care
homes, the Royal College of Nursing has warned.

The professional body will raise its concerns at a conference
tomorrow despite the Scottish Executive pledging an extra £94m
towards the costs of looking after pensioners who cannot afford
care home fees.

James Kennedy, director of RCN Scotland, said there was not
enough investment in care of the elderly. He accused the executive
of washing its hands of older people by closing long-stay geriatric
hospitals and under-funding the private care home sector, where
many patients have been transferred.

Source:-The Herald, Monday 22 November 2004

Welsh newspapers

Abusive patients are shown ‘yellow
card’

Welsh hospitals are turning to the courts to ban abusive parents
from entering their premises.

So far two patients have been banned from going into hospitals
in North Wales.

Several other patients who have been physically or verbally
abusive towards staff have been given ‘yellow card’
warnings.

Source:- Western Mail, Monday 22 November

Police win gang battle

Anti-social behaviour has been halved on a problem estate in
Cardiff by police using a dispersal order to break up gangs.

The order, the first of its kind in Cardiff, was enforced in the
Bayside estate in the Splott area of the city. It enabled police to
disperse groups of two or more people suspected of behaviour likely
to cause others being intimidated, harassed, alarmed or
distressed.

Source:- Wales on Sunday, Sunday 21 November 2004

English newspapers on Sunday

GMC snub for mother cleared of killing sons

The General Medical Council has thrown out a complaint by Angela
Cannings, the mother cleared of killing her two baby sons, against
the discredited doctor who put her behind bars.

Mrs Cannings was freed on appeal last December after her
conviction was quashed. Her case was flawed because it had been
based on conflicting evidence from medical experts, in particular
controversial paediatrician Professor Roy Meadow.

Prof Meadow now faces charges of serious professional misconduct
before the GMC next year.

Mrs Cannings’ complaint – that he was not fit to
have been an expert witness in her case and that his statistics
were flawed – will no longer form part of the hearing after
the GMC concluded there was no case to answer.

Source:-The Mail on Sunday, Sunday 21 November 2004,
page 13

Britain’s oldest tagged couple

Two great-grandparents jailed for a year for stealing their
son’s heroin have been freed early with electronic tags.

Gwendoline and George Elliot, in their 70s, from Norfolk, are
the oldest people in the country to be tagged.

Source:-The Mail on Sunday, Sunday 21 November 2004,
page 35
 

BBC children’s charity raises £17m

The BBC’s Children In Need appeal raised £17 million for
children’s charities last week.

Source:-The Mail on Sunday, Sunday 21 November 2004,
page 35

Blair to put war on drugs first in election
campaign

The government planned drugs bill will bring in compulsory
testing and a crackdown on antisocial behaviour, according to
reports.

Source:-The Independent on Sunday, Sunday 21 November
2004, page 1

Mental health bill to be delayed

The government’s Mental Health Bill will be one of eight
“draft” bills that will have to wait until after the
next general election before they are enacted, according to
reports. 

Source:-The Independent on Sunday, Sunday 21 November
2004, page 4

Government hopes register of child refugees will protect
against abuse

The government will unveil the National Register of
Unaccompanied Minors on Tuesday which will list all immigrants
under 18 years who have been separated from both parents and not
cared for by an adult.

Source:-The Independent on Sunday, Sunday 21 November
2004, page 6

Government unveils shock tactics to combat sexually
transmitted diseases

Ministers have ordered a new £45m advertising campaign to
remind teenagers to use condoms as Britain’s worsening sexual
epidemic is revealed in new figures this week.

Source:-The Independent on Sunday, Sunday 21 November
2004, page 13

Britain in grip of drink chaos’, says US police
chief

A US police chief has given a chilling warning of Britain’s
drinking culture.

Source:-The Observer, Sunday 21 November 2004, page
1

 Angry fathers attack ‘biased’ BBC
presenter

BBC TV presenter Fiona Bruce has become the latest target of the
militant father’s movement Fathers 4 Justice over her
hard-hitting documentary on custody battles.

Source:-The Observer, Sunday 21 November 2004, page
4

Government to crackdown on men who fund sex
traffic

Men who use prostitutes smuggled into Britain will face
prosecution for exploiting victims of the international sex
trade.

Solicitor General Harriet Harman has asked the Crown Prosecution
Service to draw up ways of targeting those who pay to use women
forcibly abducted or tricked into sex work.

Source:-The Observer, Sunday 21 November 2004, page
7

 How the street kids found a voice through searing
art

An art exhibition created by teenagers scarred by drugs and
abuse being shown at the Tate Modern gallery has been hailed by
critics.

The exhibition entitled Shrinking Childhoods has been
organised by Kid’s Company founder Camilla
Batmanghelidjh.

Source:-The Observer, Sunday 21 November 2004, page
18

Milburn faces asylum row with Blunkett

Labour election chief Alan Milburn is on collision course with
Home Secretary David Blunkett over plans to “sharpen
up” the government’s asylum and immigration policy.

Source:-The Sunday Times, Sunday 21 November 2004, page
2

Afghan asylum seeker deported

An Afghan asylum seeker who attended a British school for two
years has been deported.

Amin Buratee, found hiding in a lorry in Dover, was sent to
Canterbury High school because, although thought to be in his 20s,
he claimed he was 15 years old.

Source:-The Sunday Telegraph, Sunday 21 November 2004,
page 2

Scottish police catch net paedophiles

One million pictures of children being sexually abused were
seized by a Scottish police force as part of a global crackdown
against net paedophiles.

Detectives said 33 paedophiles had been charged in the Lothian
and Borders area in Operation One.

Source:-Daily Record, Monday 22 November 2004, page
11

English newsapers on Saturday

Boy ‘poisoned with salt by couple hoping to adopt
him’

A married couple killed a three-year-old boy they no longer
wanted to adopt by deliberately poisoning him with salt, a court
has heard.

Ian and Angela Gay gave Christian Blewitt up to four teaspoons
of salt because he did not meet their expectations of family life,
Worcester Crown Court was told.

Source:-The Daily Telegraph, Saturday November 20 2004,
page 4

Minister handcuffed to fathers protesters

Children’s Minister Margaret Hodge was handcuffed to a
Fathers 4 Justice protester as she gave a speech at a Law Society
conference on Friday.

It took 40 minutes for Hodge to be released. Her captor,
childminder Jonathan Stanesbury from Ivybridge in Devon, was
arrested on suspicion of assault and causing a disturbance.

Source:-The Daily Telegraph, Saturday November 20 2004,
page 7

Racist ‘was part of a murder gang inside
prisons’

A gang of prisoners’ who murdered teenage inmates on
special anniversaries were operating within the British young
offenders’ system, a public inquiry has heard.

Speaking at the second day of the inquiry into the death of
Zahid Mubarek, lawyers said his killer Robert Stewart knew two
other prisoners, one of whom had killed an inmate on the day of his
grandmother’s funeral.

Source:-The Daily Telegraph, Saturday 20 November 2004,
page 9

Children left alone as mother goes to football
match

A mother has been charged with child cruelty for allegedly
leaving her two children home alone while she went to Madrid to
watch England’s football match against Spain.

The woman who cannot be named for legal reasons was charged with
two accounts of child cruelty and released on bail to appear at
Birmingham magistrates next Friday.

Source:-The Daily Telegraph, Saturday 20 November 2004,
page 11

Staff reveal Child Support Agency shambles

The Child Support Agency (CSA) is in institutional chaos,
according to senior CSA staff and union leaders.

Poorly trained child case workers, incompetent managers and a
computer system riddled with problems is making the lives of people
at the agency a nightmare, said one worker who wished to remain
anonymous.

Source:-The Independent, Saturday 20 November 2004,
page 18

Woman waits 57 years for council home

A widow has spent 57 years on a council housing list beating the
previous longest wait of a resident of Tower Hamlet in east London
by two years.

The woman was told by Hackney council in London she was coming
up on the list but has still been in the same one-bedroom flat
since 1947.

Source:-The Times, Saturday 20 November 2004, page
34

Racist killers jailed for 10 years

Two men have been jailed for beating an 80-year-old asian man to
death in a racist attack in Northolt, west London.

Michael Evans, 17, and James Carney, 20, were jailed for 10
years for the attack on Akberali Mohamedally.

Source:-The Guardian, Saturday 20 November 2004, page
7

More gipsies becoming landowners, says
government

Gipsies and travellers own almost half the land on which they
have set up camp, according to government figures.

Official data for July show 1,855 of the 4,232 illegally parked
caravans were on land bought by travellers.

Source:-The Daily Mail, Saturday November 20 2004, page
33

At just 13, is she the worst schoolgirl in
Britain?

Siobhan Marry, aged 13, has been labelled the Britain’s
worst school girl by magistrates in Portsmouth.

Marry has been reported for around 50 offences since the start
of the year.

Source:-The Daily Mail, Saturday 20 November 2004, page
40