In Today's Papers

By Clare Jerrom, Simeon Brody, Derren Hayes and Amy Taylor

Brown’s guarded giveaway

The chancellor yesterday announced a pre-election Budget that gave money to poor families and older people.

Gordon Brown announced that older people would have their council tax reduced and have free bus travel.

He also promised a boost in child tax credit worth £5 a week from next year.

Source:- The Guardian  Thursday 17 March page 1

Alzheimer’s plea

MPs were yesterday urged to end discrimination against dementia sufferers and their carers by campaigners for the Alzheimer’s Society.

They want an end to means testing for long-term care, which means that thousands of people have to pay for help with everyday tasks.

Source:- The Times  Thursday 17 March page 6

Illegal immigrants jailed for selling girl as a sex slave

Three illegal immigrants were jailed yesterday after they sold a 15-year-old Lithuanian girl as a sex slave.

The girl was resold a number of times, repeatedly raped and forced to work in brothels.

Shaban Maka, Ilir Barjami and Xhevahir Pisha were found guilty at Sheffield Crown Court of trafficking the teenager.

Source:- The Times  Thursday 17 March page 13

Cannibal’s social worker named

Roland Silcott has been named as the social worker whose assessment of Peter Bryan helped to secure his release, allowing him to strike twice again.

Silcott was convinced the schizophrenic posed no further threat to the public and asked the Home Office and mental health experts to free him.

Source:- The Times  Thursday 17 March page 29

Lords to rule on human rights issue over Gypsy eviction

The House of Lords will decide whether gypsies camped on local authority land without permission can fight eviction by arguing that it breaches their human rights.

The court of appeal yesterday dismissed an appeal by a gypsy family that a council had contravened their human rights. However the court of appeal referred the case to the lords.

Source:- The Guardian  Thursday 17 March page 4

£75 a week bribe to stay at school

Young people will be paid up to £75 a week to stay in full time education.

The measure is a key plank of chancellor Gordon Brown’s desire to achieve ‘universal education or training until the age of 18’.

Source:- Daily Mail  Thursday 17 March page 10

Boys ‘tried to rape me at the after school club’

An 11-year-old girl yesterday claimed two boys tried to rape her during an after school club.

The child told Inner London Crown Court via video link that the boys dragged her into the toilet for the ordeal and how they threatened to beat her up if she told anyone what happened.

Source:- Daily Mail  Thursday 17 March page 37

Scrap plans for City Academies, say MPs

Plans to build 200 expensive state-funded City Academies should be shelved because of lack of evidence that they work, according to a Commons education select committee report.

The projected £50 billion cost of the scheme is too expensive without any evaluation of the schools’ performance, the report said.

 Source:- The Daily Telegraph Thursday 15 March 2005 page 2

 Curate loses legal battle to prosecute doctors over abortions

The Reverend Joanna Jepson failed in her attempt to bring criminal charges against two doctors involved in a “late” abortion on an unborn child with a cleft lip and palate.

The Crown Prosecution Service said it was satisfied the doctors involved had acted in good faith.

 Source:- The Daily Telegraph Thursday 15 March 2005 page 4

 Parents of sick children dupe nurseries

 Children’s nurseries are increasingly involved in battles with working parents who drop their youngsters off when they are ill, according to research.

The survey found 86 per cent sent a child back to nursery before they had fully recovered from illness and more than a quarter admitted disguising signs of highly contagious eye or ear infections.

Source:- The Daily Telegraph Thursday 15 March 2005 page 7

Chopped down

State subsidy to the Woodcraft Folk, which was founded as a socialist alternative to the scouts, has been cut threatening the movement’s survival.

Source:- The Independent Thursday 15 March 2005 page 12

Ministers in gamble on NHS private suppliers

The government is to gamble that the private sector will be willing to build new centres to treat hundreds of thousands of NHS patients without being given a guarantee over the volume of patients they will receive.

Patients are due to be offered a choice of four or five hospitals from December, one of them a private hospital.

Source:- Financial Times Thursday 15 March 2005 page 34

Scottish news

Man takes over parents home in row

A man has taken possession of his old and disabled parents’ home despite a court order for him not to interfere in its sale.

Bryan Stuart has barricaded himself in Petmathen House, in the Aberdeenshire hamlet of Oyne, and is vowing not to move when the new owners take possession next week. His parents, who have given power of attorney to their eldest son, sold the house to move into residential care as they have health problems.

Source:- The Scotsman Thursday 17 March

Education set for boost as McConnell gets a £300m windfall

The Scottish executive looks set to plough an extra £300 million into primary school education over the next five years as a result of an increase in government funding. Alistair Darling, the Scottish secretary, has given a clear signal that Westminster expects first minister Jack McConnell to follow England and invest the money in education. McConnell can decide how to spend the money himself, but is unlikely to go against the wishes of Westminster.

Source:- The Scotsman Thursday 17 March

Welsh news

Archbishop tells RCs abortion a key poll issue

The Archbishop of Cardiff said that the church will not side with any of the political parties views on abortion.

The issue has recently become a hot topic. Archbishop Peter Smith said that Catholics should vote for which ever party was most in line with their views.

His comments come after the Archbishop of Westminster Cardinal Cormac Murphy-O’Connor, said that he agreed with Conservative leader Michael Howard’s proposal that abortion limit should be reduced from 24 to 20 weeks.

Source:- Western Mail Thursday 17 March 17

Teachers want direct payments to schools

Schools leaders in Wales have called on the Welsh Assembly to make direct payments to schools instead of channeling money through local education authorities.

The assembly will debate how to distribute any extra money from the Treasury in London in light of the budget.

Source:- Western Mail Thursday 17 March

Officials fear heads will attack minister

Assembly Government officials fear that teachers will round on education minister Jane Davidson today over claims that schools in England get more money than schools in Wales.

The Secondary Heads Association  is set to publish a study of 80 schools today showing that some welsh schools get £150 to £200 less than schools in England.

Source:- Western Mail Thursday 17 March