Monday 6 March 2006

Pension dispute

Public sector unions have stepped up their fight against controversial government proposals to force more than a million council staff to work until they are 65 to get a full pension.

Source:- The Times, Saturday 4 March 2006, page 4

Police mergers

Charles Clarke, the Home Secretary, is to press ahead with controversial plans to merge some police forces in England and Wales.

Source:- The Times, Saturday 4 March 2006, page 4

Indefinite sentences are ‘filling jails’

Prisons are struggling to cope with large numbers of dangerous and violent offenders being given a new indefinite sentence. More than 400 criminals have been given the sentence since it became available to judges in April.

Source:- The Times, Saturday 4 March 2006, page 26

Parents’ court plea to keep baby alive

A high court judge will determine whether live-saving treatment can be withdrawn from a 17-month-old boy in a landmark legal case. Doctors say that baby MB, who suffers from spinal muscular atrophy and cannot breathe unaided, has such a poor quality of life that it is in his best interests to withdraw ventilation and let him die.

Source:- The Times, Saturday 4 March 2006, page 27

Tower block estates were ‘disastrous,’ says minister

Council tower blocks that have dominated the skyline of Britain’s cities for the last 40 years have been “disastrous” and should be knocked down, David Miliband, the minister for local government and communities said today.

Source:- The Daily Telegraph, Saturday 4 March 2006, page 2

Charities turn up the heat on care funding scandal

Ministers have been forced to act over the growing scandal of elderly people being forced to sell their homes to pay for NHS care. The Department of Health issued guidance to strategic health authorities yesterday to ensure that the criteria they use to means test older people for care funding are lawful.

Source:- The Daily Telegraph, Saturday 4 March 2006, page 8

Music to beat yobs enrages residents

Classical music played at a bus station as a calming measure against anti-social behaviour is driving nearby residents to distraction.

Source:- The Daily Telegraph, Saturday 4 March 2006, page 8

10p calls to report drug deals and vandalism

Drug dealing, criminal damage and harassment are among the crimes which will soon cost 10p a time to report under government plans to restrict free 999 calls, it emerged last night.

Source:- The Daily Telegraph, Saturday 4 March 2006, page 11

Prisons fiddling figures to mask failures, says inspector

Prisons are seriously misleading the Home Office by providing grossly inflated figures for the time inmates spend involved in activities out of their cells, the chief inspector of prisons has revealed.

Source:- The Guardian, Saturday 4 March 2006, page 12

Murdered Joe’s family hail special boy

The body of 11-year-old Joe Geeling from Bury was formally identified yesterday. A 14-year –old boy from Bury was charged with his murder.

Source:- Observer, Sunday 5 March 2006, page 7

Teenagers’ school costs hitting poorer parents

Many parents are struggling to pay for their teenagers’ basic needs, says a Learning and Skills Councils study.

Source:- Observer, Sunday 5 March 2006, page 10

At last, a chance for every child

Tony Blair’s plans for school autonomy pass power to ordinary people.

Source:- Observer, Sunday 5 March 2006, page 34

Fears over government’s nationalisation of childhood

Government moves to protect Britain‘s most vulnerable youngsters will result in the nationalisation of childhood, says a report by the Centre for Policy Studies.

Source:- Mail on Sunday, Sunday 5 March 206, page 13

Toddler dies from drinking methadone

Detectives are investigating the death of two year old Derek Doran from East Lothian. It is unclear how the toddler got hold of the liquid heroin substitute.

Source:- Independent on Sunday, Sunday 5 March 2006, page 19

Family meals keep children fit and happy, study shows

Children who eat with their families rather than alone in front of the television are more likely to enjoy a healthy diet and be well adjusted, according to new research published in the Journal of the American Dietetic Association.

Source:- Independent on Sunday, Sunday 5 March 2006, page 21

One abuser, Gary Glitter, has been caught and jailed

There are thousands more. Glitter travelled to many places popular with men seeking children. There is a sinister migration that provides sex for foreigners.

Source:- Independent on Sunday, Sunday 5 March 2006, page 37

Antisocial families to get help

Specially trained social workers will be assigned to individual familes for up to 15 months. Home Office minister Hazel Blears said “What makes this project distinctive and different is that a lead person ‘grips’ the household and the range of services and

professionals that are involved with the family.”

Source:- Sunday Times, Sunday 5 March 2006, page 1

Cameron  to launch inner city taskforce

David Cameron will today set out to re-establish the Conservatives as a political force in inner city areas with the launch of an urban taskforce led by Lord Heseltine. The group will develop ideas for tackling crime, bad housing and poor education.

Source:- Financial Times, Monday 6 March 2006, page 4

Boy, 2, died after taking methadone

A boy aged two died after drinking the heroin substitute methadone. Derek Alexander Doran was found dead in his bed by his mother, Lisa Dodds, 25, at their home in Elphinstone, East Lothian. Both Ms Dodds and the child’s father Derek Doran, 22, are methadone users.

Source:- The Independent, Monday 6 March 2006, page 19

Columnist arrested after confessing to killing suffering aunt

A newspaper columnist who confessed to killing a terminally ill relative has been arrested on suspicion of murder. Last month Maureen Messent, 67, used her column in the Birmingham Mail to say that she had given her great aunt, who was stricken by cancer, a fatal dose of morphine more than 30 years ago.

Source:- The Guardian, Monday 6 March 2006, page 6

Boy, 14, charged with murdering 11-year-old

A boy, 14, from Bury, Greater Manchester, will appear before magistrates today accused of murdering Joe Geeling, 11, who was killed on Wednesday while walking home from school.

Source:- The Guardian, Monday 6 March 2006, page 8

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