Assault care worker critical after 40ft jump

Care worker throws himself off court balcony after being found guilty of assaulting 89-year-old dementia patient

A care worker convicted of assault is fighting for his life after throwing himself off a court balcony at the end of his trial.

Thomas McKenna, 36, had just been told he faced jail for assaulting 89-year-old dementia sufferer Nancy Horton at the nursing home where he worked.

Read more on this story in The Daily Mail

Clare Short condemns government’s anti-poverty strategy

Former Labour minister Clare Short today attacked the government’s child poverty strategy after new figures revealed half of all children are living in or on the brink of poverty in many areas of the UK.

Read more on this story in The Guardian

Swiss clinic Dignitas has helped 100 Britons to die

More than 100 Britons have travelled to Switzerland to make use of laws that allow assisted suicide, a practice prohibited in Britain.

The figure, released by Dignitas, the centre for assisted dying in Zurich, has been disclosed as a High Court test challenge begins today to the laws that ban aiding and abetting suicide.

Read more on this story in The Times

David Cameron criticised for suicide joke in speech

David Cameron was accused of insensitivity today after making a joke about suicide in his keynote address to the Conservative Party conference in Birmingham.

Mr Cameron departed from his planned script after joking about the prospect of Gordon Brown remaining in power forever, adding: “I won’t go on – there are people in balconies up there”.

The quip prompted a loud laugh in the hall but fell flat with a group dedicated to helping those affected by suicide.

Read more on this story in The Times

Report urges regulated market for cannabis to replace prohibition

A report on cannabis prepared for next year’s UN drug policy review will suggest that a “regulated market” would cause less harm than the current international prohibition. The report, which is likely to reopen the debate about cannabis laws, suggests that controls such as taxation, minimum age requirements and labelling could be explored.

The Global Cannabis Commission report, which will be launched today at a conference in the House of Lords, has reached conclusions which its authors suggest “challenge the received wisdom concerning cannabis”.

Many children are still missing out on school trips amid fears over health and safety, according to Ofsted.

Read more on this story in The Daily Telegraph

A film about depression by a first-time director has won a clutch of awards at film festivals, and praise from the Samaritans charity.

Thousands of career criminals escaping jail sentences

Thousands of ‘career criminals’ who have already served more than 10 jail sentences are being given community punishments when they offend again.

Figures obtained from the Ministry of Justice show that 5,000 career burglars, thieves, and other convicts a year are escaping a jail sentence – a figure that has more than doubled in five years.

Read more on this story in The Daily Telegraph