In Today's Papers

By Maria Ahmed, Shirley Kumar, Clare Jerrom and Amy Taylor

Girl accused of abduction

A 12-year-old girl is due to appear at Lewisham Youth Court in London accused of abducting a five-year-old girl from a shopping centre.

Source:- The Guardian Saturday 30 October 2004 page 5

Las Vegas will not come to Britain, says Jowell

Britain’s new gambling regime will be tightened if there was any evidence that the development of super-casinos and £1 million slot machine prizes was creating an increase problem in gambling addiction, according to the culture secretary.

Tessa Jowell also assured MPs that there will be no “Las Vegas-style” casinos.

Source:- The Guardian Saturday 30 October 2004 page 6

Teenage pregnancies continue to rise at ‘worrying’ rate despite £40m campaign

Teenage pregnancies are still on the rise in some areas of Britain despite a £40 millioon a year campaign to tackle the problem.

One in 10 girls under 18 has become pregnant in some parts of the country. Some regions are unlikely to hit the government’s 2010 target to halve teenage pregnancies.

Source:- The Independent Saturday 30 October 2004 page 21

Bullying image of boarding schools is false, finds survey

The Commission for Social Care Inspection believes the public is wrong in its perception that boarding schools are full of bullying, poor care and extreme home sickness.

The CSCI’s first major study into life in a boarding school showed parents barely mentioning bullying as being a problem.

Source:- The Daily Telegraph Saturday 30 October 2004 page 6

Father’s own goal

Nine Fathers 4 Justice campaigners were arrested for trying to hijack a Child Law UK conference, chaired by High Court Family Division president Dame Elizabeth Butler-Sloss, in Camden, London.

The campaigners stormed in when a father was speaking.

Source:- The Times Saturday 30 October 2004 page 5

Police furious as race chief ‘brackets them with the BNP’

President of the Police Superintendent’s Association Rick Naylor is calling for the head of the Commission for Racial Equality Trevor
Phillips to resign after he described policemen as ‘uneducated, unenlightened and socially backward’.

The CRE is currently investigating racism in the police force.

Source:- The Daily Mail Saturday 30 October 2004 page 9

Children to pick new partners for parents on BBC

Children could pick partners for their single parents in a new BBC reality TV show.

Politicians have been quick to condemn the show that will see children whittle down a group of singles to two potential partners.

Source:- The Daily Mail Saturday 30 October 2004 page 32

Middle-aged parents are targeted in adoption drive

Older couples whose offspring have left home are being encouraged to take on neglected youngsters as part of a campaign launched this week.

Source:- The Independent on Sunday Sunday 31 October 2004 page 6

A generation of troubled youngsters ‘criminalised

Campaigners warn of over-use of anti-social behaviour orders.

Source:- The Independent on Sunday Sunday 31 October page 8

Police support smacking ban

The Association of Chief Police Officers is understood to have written to Labour MP David Hinchliffe – who is leading the campaign for a ban on smacking – confirming that an outright ban would be easier to enforce.

Source:- The Observer Sunday 31 October, 2004 page 6

Chief justice to quit in Blunkett row

The lord chief justice Lord Woolf is set to resign four years early after becoming embittered at the campaign of vilification by ministers and other powerful opponents of his liberal views.

Source:-The Sunday Times Sunday 31 October 2004 page 1

Scientist warns disabled over having children

Britain’s leading geneticist, Sir John Sulston, is set to outrage disabled couples by arguing they should choose not to have children if they know they will be born disabled.He will make the comments in an interview on BBC4 to be broadcast next month.

Source:- The Sunday Times Sunday 31 October 2004 page 9

UK tries adoption by internet advertising

Britain’s leading adoption charity, the British Association for Adoption and Fostering is planning to “advertise” about 400 children on the internet in an American-style scheme where prospective parents can pick a child.

Source:- The Sunday Times Sunday 31 October, 2004 page 5

‘Most vulnerable’ refugees arrive under new scheme

A group of 81 Liberian and Congolese refugees, many of them victims of torture and rape, are to arrive in Bolton today under a pioneering scheme to resettle some of Africa’s most vulnerable refugees in Britain.

They have been living until now in squalid camps in Sierra Leone and Uganda where they still face a risk of persecution, according to the United High Commissioner for Refugees.

Source:-The Guardian Monday 1 November 2004 page 5

Sleeping man set alight

Two men were arrested and questioned by police after a man sleeping rough was set alight in Radcliffe, Greater Manchester.

Source:-The Guardian Monday 1 November 2004 page 7

Fathers feel ‘helpless’

A report by Parentline Plus shows that while most fathers are concerned about the emotional wellbeing of their children but are unsure how to deal with their challenging behaviour.

Source:-The Daily Telegraph Monday 1 November 2004 page 9

Mob forces Maxine Carr out of her Midlands safe house

Maxine Carr, who was jailed after lying to protect her former boyfriend Ian Huntley in the Soham murder case, was forced to move from a safe house after a mob discovered her identity.

Source:-The Times Monday 1 November 2004 page 15

Nuisance Neighbours

Private landlords are to face fines of up to £20,000 if they fail to take action against antisocial behaviour by their tenants or visitors to their properties.

Source:-The Times Monday 1 November 2004 page 23

Patients tagged to cut NHS mistakes

A hospital in Birmingham has become the first in the world to tag its patients electronically in order to prevent medical mishaps and the spread of infections such as MRSA.

Source:-The Times Monday 1 November 2004 page 30

Protect staff from stress or face legal action, bosses told

The government has warned organisations to reduce stress in the workplace or face legal action.

The government is to launch a tough new code on Wednesday that will set six standards for easing the pressure and improve the quality of life in the office or shop floor.

Source:- The Independent Monday 1 November 2004 page 13

Scottish newspapers

Bags plan targets under-age drinkers

Under-age drinkers will be targeted by police in a new scheme using brightly coloured shopping bags to identify where teenagers buy alcohol.

Strathclyde police are asking shopkeepers in nine off-licences to use a series of coloured coded bags so that they target children and adults in monitoring the source of children’s drinking.

Source:- The Scotsman  Saturday 30 October

Banned teen misses court

A teenager banned from parts of a Lothian town by an antisocial behaviour order is being hunted by police after he missed a court appearance.

Dale Walker was due to be sentenced yesterday after he admitted breaching an asbo.

Court officials yesterday issued a warrant when he failed to turn up for the hearing at Linlithgow Sheriff Court.

Source:- Evening News  Saturday 30 October

Demand for anti-paedophile law

The mother of a murdered Glasgow boy pleaded before almost 1,000 supporters for a parent’s right to know about sex offenders living in the community.

Margaret Ann Cummings whose son Mark was killed by a neighbour, urged “Mark’s Law” to be introduced to oblige police to tell families that potentially dangerous offenders are living in their area.

Source:- Scotland on Sunday  Sunday 31 October

Jamieson to end prisoners’ early parole

The early release of thousands of criminals is set to be stopped in a bid to reduce re-offending, it has emerged.

Almost 9,000 inmates are given early release each year. However, a special commission is to be set up to investigate sentencing and will almost certainly recommend the scrapping of automatic early release, Scotland on Sunday has found.

Source:- Scotland on Sunday  Sunday 31 October

Scots advice line base in Manchester

The Scottish executive has awarded a £250,000 contract to run its Antisocial Behaviour Advice Line to an advice centre based in Manchester.

The tender was won by BSS, a former unit within the BBC and the new service for police, local authorities and landlords will be announced at the end of next month.

Source:- Scotland on Sunday  Sunday 31 October

Joy-riding as thrilling as shopping for youths, claims study

Young people get the same thrill from antisocial behaviour such as joy riding as shoppers get from buying heavily promoted consumer goods, a leading criminologist has claimed.

Dr Keith Hayward claims antisocial behaviour stems from a need to experience new sensations.

The current generation of children were being bombarded by advertising messaged and this makes them dissatisfied with their lives and hungry for more thrills.

The main motivation for street crime was not poor parenting, social exclusion or poverty, he claimed, but a desire for “style, luxury, excitement and self-expression”.

Source:- Sunday Herald  Sunday 31 October

Minister’s husband faces bullying claims

A senior social work boss at Glasgow Council is facing allegations of bullying.

Rab Murray, one of the city’s three deputy directors of social work and the husband of former communities and deputy social justice minister Margaret Curran, is being investigated under the council’s grievance procedure.

Fellow deputy Joan Elliott is understood to have lodged a complaint against social work director David Coley claiming he failed to respond to concerns and deal with the alleged bullying.

Source:- Sunday Herald  Sunday 31 October

Revealed: the full extent of racism in rural Scotland

Ethnic minorities in rural Scotland are the victims of repeated racist abuse and prejudice, according to a new book.

Rural Racism details widespread abuse suffered by families and individuals including attacks on children and excrement posted through letter boxes.

Source:- Sunday Herald  Sunday 31 October

Anger at morning after pill for teens

A pilot scheme which allows pharmacists to prescribe contraception to schoolgirls without parental consent has been criticised.

The over-the-counter scheme will be piloted in 20 chemists and if successful will be rolled out across the city.

Church leaders and family values campaigners have condemned the plan.

Source:- The Herald Monday 1 November

Welsh newspapers

Farm suicides still a concern

People living in rural areas are the most at risk of suicide in Wales, according to the latest research from the Welsh Institute of Rural Health.

The research found that farmers form the biggest occupational group amongst suicides in Wales.

The Institute says the group are still at risk despite an overall reduction in suicides in Britain.

Source:- Western Mail Saturday 30 October page 14

‘Truancy figures just don’t add up, Minister…’

Accusations of figure fiddling to hide an increase in the level of truanting from school have been thrown at Education minister Jane Davidson.

The minister’s press release did not mention the fact that unauthorised absence was more than 6 per cent higher in 2003-04 than the previous year.

Source:- Western Mail Saturday 30 October page 16

No go for Big Bro in schools

Video camera in schools will not stop violent incidents happening in schools the Welsh children’s commissioner has said.

Peter Clarke’s comments come after a string of violent occurrences in schools in Wales over the past few weeks.

Clarke wants to see schools take up softer methods such as ‘buddying’ and partnership schemes to stop violence happening.

Source:- Wales on Sunday Sunday 31 October

Fostering figures

Wales has 1,900 foster families but needs 750 more according to recent figures.

At any one time there are 3,000 children in foster care in Wales.

Fostering makes up 71 per cent of children in care in Wales.

Source:- Western Mail Monday 1 November