In Today's Papers

By Maria Ahmed, Amy Taylor and Derren Hayes

Labour asylum farce

Labour’s asylum policy was branded a sham yesterday after it emerged that the home secretary intervened to stop a gay Belarussian being deported.

Immigration minister Des Browne was contacted by Charles Clarke hours before Vadim Selyava was due to be put on a flight. Shortly afterwards the vehicle the asylum seeker was in turned round and he was taken to an immigration centre in Dover.

Selyava claims he was being persecuted for his sexuality in his home country.

Source:- Daily Mail  Wednesday 16 March page 21

Celebrities face ban on drink commercials

Celebrities could be banned from television adverts for alcoholic drinks.

The Broadcast Committee of Advertising Practice yesterday unveiled the measures as part of a crackdown on binge drinking by young people.

Source:- Daily Mail  Wednesday 16 March page 43

Long-term sick to be helped back to work

Plans to get the long-term sick off benefits and back into work are to be unveiled after the last election.

The government will publish a green paper in the summer fleshing out its proposal to scrap incapacity benefit and replace it with a new benefit for those people deemed capable of work, with penalties for those who do not take up a job or join rehabilitation schemes.

Source:- The Financial Times Wednesday 16 March 2005 page 4

GMB executive suspends union chief

Kevin Curran, the head of one of Britain’s biggest unions, has been suspended after an accusation of inappropriate behaviour.

It is understood that the national executive of the GMB general union accused Curran, the general secretary, of contacting John Hand, QC, who was conducting an investigation into alleged ballot-rigging during the election of Curran in 2003.
Curran said he did nothing wrong.

Source:- The Financial Times Wednesday 16 March 2005 page 4

Life for killer who ate brain of victim

A mental health patient who ate the brain of one of two people he killed was jailed for life yesterday.

The case of Peter Bryan caused widespread criticism of the mental health services after it emerged that he had been released from a secure hospital where he was placed after he beat a woman to death. An independent inquiry has been set up into the mental health trust that was supposed to be looking after Bryan.

Source:- The Independent Wednesday 16 March 2005 page 2

Mother in baby-killings appeal allowed bail

A mother who has spent more than six years in jail for the murder of her two babies will be released within days, pending an appeal against her conviction. Donna Anthony, who is serving a life sentence for killing her daughter Jordan, aged 11 months, and son Michael, aged four months, maintains her innocence. She was convicted in 1998 in a case that relied partly on the evidence from the now-discredited paediatrician Professor Sir Roy Meadow.

Source:- The Independent Wednesday 16 March 2005 page 13

Father’s fury over brain-damaged baby

The father of a brain-damaged baby stormed out of court after accusing her hospital of lying. Darren Wyatt was at a Cardiff High Court with his wife trying to overturn a ruling obtained by St Mary’s Hospital, Portsmouth, not to resuscitate Charlotte, 17 months.

Judgement was reserved until 21 April.

Source:- The Independent Wednesday 16 March 2005 page 12

Soham inquiry chief warns of delays

Sir Michael Bichard said it was “by no means guaranteed” that his two main recommendations – for a national police intelligence database and a register of people banned from working with children - would be implemented.

Source:- The Independent Wednesday 16 March 2005 page 12

Police target domestic violence

An advertising campaign aimed at men who abuse their female partners has been unveiled by Sir Ian Blair, Metropolitan Police Commissioner.

Source:- The Times Wednesday 16 March 2005 page 24

‘Youth knife culture killed my son’

The mother of a schoolboy stabbed to death by teenagers called yesterday for tougher sentences to tackle the knife culture among young people.

Antoinette Ridley said that her life had been destroyed by the killing of Kieran Rodney-Davis, 15, who was mugged and stabbed as he walked home in June last year.

Source:- The Times Wednesday 16 March 2005 page 30

Boys accused of attempting to rape 11-year-old classmate

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Two classmates aged 10 and 11 dragged a girl into a school toilet in north London and tried to rape her, a court heard yesterday. The trial continues.

Source:- The Guardian Wednesday 16 March 2005 page 7

Home truths

Alexander Masters thought he knew exactly what homelessness was. But then he met Stuart, begging in a shop doorway. It was the start of an unorthodox friendship that culminated in an extraordinary book about the life of one of Britain’s ‘chaotic underclass.’

Source:- Society Guardian Wednesday 16 March 2005 page 2-3

Bottom line

Marjorie Wallace, founder of mental health charity Sane, has taken her share of knocks, but the closure of its helpline has hit her hardest.

Source:- Society Guardian Wednesday 16 March 2005 page 6-7

Contact sport

A befriending scheme in Plymouth people overcome their fears and regain a social life

Source:- Society Guardian Wednesday 16 March 2005 page 7

Arias of change

Can social exclusion be addressed through the arts? A reporter goes to the opera with a group that includes former offenders, people with mental health problems and alcoholism

Source:- Society Guardian Wednesday 16 March 2005 page 10

Gone west

Bristol social services is in crisis again – this time over money. How the council is aiming to root out the bad management and balance the books with cuts, economies and contracting out of services

Source:- Society Guardian Wednesday 16 March 2005 page 12

Scottish news

Abortion should be big election issue, says Cardinal

Scotland’s senior Catholics have called for abortion to play a central role in the general election campaign. 

Cardinal Keith O'Brien, leader of the country's Catholics, said: "As the truth of the appalling practice dawns on more and more people, I urge them to quiz their prospective candidates on the issue and demand that it is placed at the top of the political agenda."

But politicians from all parties moved quickly to say that abortion should not be a party political issue.

Source:- The Herald Wednesday 16 March

Scots police must change database, says Soham report

Soham report author Sir Michael Bichard has warned that Scottish police will have to change their database to ensure they can share information with English forces on suspected paedophiles and sex offenders.

He urged the executive to make sure its information system was compatible with a national intelligence database being developed in England to ensure suspected paedophiles are not employed in jobs giving them access to children.

The call was included in Bichard’s report into the system failures that allowed Ian Huntley to be given a job in the Soham primary school where he went on to murder Holly Wells and Jessica Chapman.

Source:- The Scotsman Wednesday 16 March

CBI director back-pedals on call to strip councils of their powers

CBI Scotland has called for failing local authorities to be stripped of the power to run education and social work services.

In its response to a government inquiry, the CBI said the Scottish executive might be better placed to run some services, drawing severe criticism from local government. However, Iain McMillan, the director of CBI Scotland, said it was just one of a number of ideas it put forward.

Source:- The Scotsman Wednesday 16 March

Welsh newspapers

Teenager denies murdering boyfriend

An 18-year-old girl denied murdering her boyfriend with a carving knife at Cardiff Crown Court yesterday.

Hayley Wallbank is alleged to have killed her live-in partner 18-year-old Gareth Evans last June after her told her that he slept with one of her friends.

Source:- Western Mail Wednesday 16 March