In Today's Papers

By Maria Ahmed, Derren Hayes and Amy Taylor

Three unions set to start merger talks aimed at creating influential new body

Three of Britain’s biggest trade unions are expected to begin exploratory merger talks on creating a “super-union” that would boast huge industrial and political clout.

Amicus, Transport and General Worker’s Union and the GMB are in talks that are likely to last months.

Source:- The Financial Times Thursday 3 February 2005 page 1

Benefit overhaul aims to put disadvantaged at work

Millions of older and disabled people, women and lone parents are to be persuaded to find work under a radical welfare overhaul unveiled yesterday by Alan Johnson, the work and pensions secretary.

Source:- The Financial Times Thursday 3 February 2005 page 3

Judges reject claims on witness coaching

Three senior judges yesterday rejected claims that unlawful pre-trial coaching of witnesses had led to the wrongful conviction of two asylum seekers involved in the riot at the Yarl’s Wood detention centre three years ago.

The Court of Appeal panel held that, although two key witnesses had attended a programme operated by Bond Solon, the legal training firm, the safety of the convictions had not been undermined.

Source:- The Financial Times Thursday 3 February 2005 page 4

Identity cards plan might breach convention on human rights

The government could find itself in breach of the European Convention on Human Rights over plans to introduce compulsory identity cards, a committee of MPs and peers warned yesterday.

According to the parliamentary joint committee on human rights, there is a potential incompatibility between the proposals and article eight of the convention, which guarantees the right to respect for private life.

Source:- The Financial Times Thursday 3 February 2005 page 4

Tories outline education manifesto

The Conservatives will announce proposals today including creating grants for 14-16-year-olds, allowing them to spend part of the school week on vocational studies, and restoring classroom discipline.

Source:- The Financial Times Thursday 3 February 2005 page 4

Seven-year hell of the mother who was branded a baby killer

A mother jailed for killing two of her babies was given new hope of freedom yesterday after winning the right to appeal.

Donna Anthony was sentenced to life in 1998 for murdering her daughter, Jordan, 11 months, and son Michael, four months. But there are serious concerns that she was wrongly convicted because the prosecution relied on the evidence of Professor Roy Meadow, whose theories on cot deaths have since been discredited.

Source:- The Daily Mail Thursday 3 February 2005 page 7

Blair faces revolt as ministers demand elections for Lords

Tony Blair is facing a revolt in Cabinet after refusing to bow to increasing pressure from ministers to reform the House of Lords so that between half and 80 per cent of peers are directly elected.

Source:- The Independent Thursday 3 February 2005 page 20

Union leader accused of lying to council workers over pensions to provoke strike

Dave Prentis, general secretary of the public service union Unison,”wilfully” misled union members over plans to change their pension rights, according to a letter from Rob Pinkham, executive director of the Employer’s Organisation for Local Government.

He accused Prentis of “deliberately” mixing up proposals which are coming into force in April 2005 with things which are being consulted that may be implemented in 2008. Prentis denied the claims.

Source:- The Independent Thursday 3 February 2005 page 23

Damning report on migrants delayed as government fears poll backlash

The publication of a ground-breaking report on forced labour and the exploitation of migrant workers in Britain has been delayed after attempts by the government to hold it back until after the general election.

Forced Labour and Migration to the UK catalogues the coercive techniques used by private employers to force migrants to work for low wages and in poor conditions, from physical and sexual violence to debt bondage and blackmail.

Source:- The Guardian Thursday 3 February 2005 page 1

 Unpopular hospitals could close – Reid

The government is prepared to let NHS hospitals close if they cannot attract enough business under the tough new disciplines of patient choice, health secretary John Reid said yesterday.

Source:- The Guardian Thursday 3 February 2005 page 7

Teenagers’ parents ‘need help’

All parents of teenagers should be offered help under an adolescent equivalent of the expanded Sure Start programme for young children, according to proposals intended to inform plans for a third Labour term published at a Fabian Society conference today.

Family Fortunes – The New Politics of Childhood is edited by Patrick Diamond, adviser to Alan Milburn.

Source:- The Guardian Thursday 3 February 2005 page 12

 Pledge on domestic violence

Prosecutors pledged to deal more effectively with domestic violence cases with the publication yesterday of new guidelines, including advice on when to go to court even if the alleged victim wants the charges dropped.

The Crown Prosecution Service booklet advises on how best to ensure the safety of victims and children and how to deal sensitively with victims from different cultural backgrounds and those in same-sex relationships.

Source:- The Guardian Thursday 3 February 2005 page 12

Navy chief on child porn charges

Tom Henman, a Royal Navy commander, is due to appear in court today on charges relating to child pornography.

Source:- The Daily Telegraph Thursday 3 February 2005 page 3

Schools crisis as discipline standards fall in classrooms

A growing discipline crisis and thousands of persistently failing schools are undermining efforts to raise education standards, the head of Ofsted David Bell said yesterday.

Source:- The Times Thursday 3 February 2005 page 1

Scottish newspapers

Hospital waiting times jump by 50%

Waiting times for hospital treatment in Scotland have shot up by more than 50 per cent since 1999, new statistics released by the Scottish executive show.

On average, people were forced to wait 81.3 days for inpatient or day-case treatment in the third quarter last year, compared to 53.5 days in June 1999.

In that time, average waiting times for outpatients also rose, from 64 days to 89.8 days - up 40 per cent.

Source:- The Scotsman Thursday 3 February

Long-term heroin use “can be safe for some”

Findings from a controversial study suggest heroin can be taken on a long-term basis without destroying users' health, work or family life.

Some users of the class-A drug held down jobs and achieved educational results comparable with non-drug users, researchers at Glasgow Caledonian University said. The study focused on 126 long-term heroin users in the Glasgow area who were not receiving treatment over a four-year period.

Source:- The Herald Thursday 3 February

Special needs school shuts doors after pupils contact E-coli

An independent special needs school has been closed after two pupils contracted E-coli.

The New School at Butterstone, Perthshire, closed its doors last weekend after two boy boarders came down with the infection.

Source:- The Herald Thursday 3 February

Executive’s clash with agency revealed

The Scottish executive has tried to interfere with a report by the Scottish Children’s Reporters Administration so that it gave a positive spin on youth offending.

The executive and the SCRA have clashed over the actual numbers of persistent young offenders – the figure in its report of 1,201 has been described by an executive official as failing to be “consistent and accurate”.

However, the Herald alleges a draft of the report had other damning figures which have since been scrapped.

Source:- The Herald Thursday 3 February

I want a baby

Bisexual Scottish actor Alan Cumming has revealed he wants to adopt a baby. The star of X2 and Goldeneye hopes an agency run by US chat show host Rosie O'Donnell can help him. After turning 40 at the end of January, the Aberfeldy-born actor is keen to become a father.

Source:- Daily Record Thursday 3 February

Welsh newspapers

‘His fists were clenched and he was grinding his teeth’

A man accused of stabbing his partner to death was enraged because she had gone out in a short skirt and got home late, Cardiff Crown Court heard yesterday.

Paul Viner called the police when Donna Brough didn’t return home from a night out to a club.

PC Kenneth Dowling said that it was obvious that Viner was “absolutely seething” when he arrived at the house.

Source:- Western Mail Thursday 3 February

On the sick? 60,000 targeted

Sixty-thousand people claiming incapacity benefit in Wales will be forced back to work under proposed government reforms.

Problems such as stress and back pain have pushed up the number of claimants in Wales. Many of such ailments stem from the mining industry where many people in the country were employed.

Source:- Western Mail Thursday 3 February