In Today's Papers

By Simeon Brody, Maria Ahmed, Amy Taylor and Derren Hayes

Police warn parents after mob attacks
 
Police have urged parents to take greater responsibility for their children’s upbringing and behaviour after two gang attacks, one of which left a householder needing surgery to rebuild his face.
 
Source:- The Times Tuesday 31 May 2005 page 12
 
Rural protest over council tax
 
Rural communities have called on the government to end “injustice” against the countryside in the council finance system.

 
In a manifesto published today a cross-party coalition of more than 50 councils claimed that people in the country paid more for fewer services, and called for the government to recognise the extra costs of providing services for rural communities.
 
Source:- The Times Tuesday 31 May 2005 page 20
           
Prisoners may be free early to ease jail numbers
 
Charles Clarke has been given warning that drastic measures, including releasing prisoners early, may be needed to tackle Britain’s record jail population.
 
Officials have suggested the government order the executive release of prisoners, postpone the refurbishment of jail wings and delay closure of the country’s only prison ship, after a rise of almost 3,000 in prison numbers since the start of the year.
 
One official said judges and magistrates were like a weather vane in the way they reacted to the current political and public climate with its emphasis on yobbish behaviour.
 
Source:- The Times Tuesday 31 May 2005 page 25
 
Mother finds stolen daughter after six years – but still can’t take her home
 
A young British mother who has spent six years searching for her abducted daughter has tracked her down to a remote village in Pakistan-controlled Kashmir.
 
Kiran Hussain, 26, is starting an action in the Supreme Court of the region to secure the return of Fatima, 8, who was snatched from her home in Leeds and taken out of the country by her father in 1999.
 
Source:- The Times Tuesday 31 May 2005 page 26
 
A shot across Brown’s bow
 
There needs to be more discussion about the proposed merger of health and adult social care inspectorates if the plan is not to end in farce, Dame Denise Platt, the chair of the Commission for Social Care Inspection, has said.
 
Source:- The Times Public Agenda Tuesday 31 May 2005, page 5
 
Blair steps in to end “yob culture” feud
 
Tony Blair will chair the first meeting of the cabinet committee on antisocial behaviour to end a turf war between the Home Office and the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister over control of the “yob” agenda.
 
The committee will focus on discipline in schools, stopping abuse of public sector workers and ways of persuading more councils to use anti-social behaviour orders.
 
Source:- The Independent Tuesday 31 May 2005 page 16
 
Woman with four personalities wins right to tell story
 
A woman who suffers from a disturbing condition in which she lives her life as four different characters has won the right for her story to be told.
 
The High Court has allowed Pamela Edwards, 32, who requires 24-hour care to help her cope with the conflicting personalities that control her life, to feature in a television documentary to be screened next week.
 
Source:- The Independent Tuesday 31 May 2005 page 19
 
We must tackle failure of black boys – Phillips
 
The failure to tackle academic underachievement in African-Caribbean boys is threatening to turn them into a “permanent underclass”, Trevor Phillips has warned.
 
Ministers should not blame underperformance on the “racist attitudes” of white staff but should “come up with some answers” and not rule out controversial measures such as segregation, the Commission for Racial Equality chairman said.

 
Source:- The Guardian Tuesday 31 May 2005 page 2
 
Demos chief warns of crisis
 
Democracy needs to be recast down to the neighbourhood level to become relevant to people’s lives, the director of think-tank Demos warns this week.
 
He suggests that the real task of modern leaders will be to tell voters that they have to change their own behaviour and attitudes if issues such as climate change and the pensions deficit are to be tackled.
 
Source:- The Guardian Tuesday 31 May 2005 page 7
 
Met calls on Asian firms to hire “at risk” youths
 
The Metropolitan Police is to ask Asian businesses to hire vulnerable youngsters from their own communities in an attempt to divert them from crime.
 
Police say a small but worrying percentage are getting sucked into gangs involved in a wide range of organised crime.
 
Officers will identify vulnerable youngsters through youth offending teams and put their names forward to businesses to take them on.
 
Source:- The Guardian Tuesday 31 May 2005 page 12
 
Test for drivers on drugs
 
Police are to use hand-held detectors in a roadside crackdown on drug-driving.
 
The “drugalysers” can detect almost all the drugs in recreational use including cannabis, cocaine and Ecstasy.
 
Source:- Daily Mail Tuesday 31 May 2005 page 1
 
Facing a ban, £1 club drug that’s a horse tranquiliser
 
Ketamine – known as “special K” - is to become a Class C drug following alarm that its use is spreading among students and schoolchildren.
 
The drug, a horse tranquiliser, is used as a cheap alternative to Ecstasy.
 
Source:- Daily Mail Tuesday 31 May 2005 page 24
 
Scottish news
 
Immigrants working illegally on the rise
 
The number of immigrants caught working illegally in the west of Scotland has trebled in three years, new figures from the Home Office show.
 
Community leaders estimate up to 80 per cent of Glasgow's takeaways and restaurants employ or have employed illegal workers and say increasing numbers are travelling from India, Pakistan and Russia to work in Scotland.
 
Figures showed that 94 were caught last year.
 
Source:- The Herald Tuesday 31 May
 
Asylum seekers ‘are target for racism’
 
A charity has called for more help for asylum seekers sent to Scotland by the Home Office, after a report found many families were affected by social and mental health problems.
 
A Save the Children Scotland survey revealed a many parents were taking anti-depressants or seeking counselling caused by isolation and persecution or helplessness due to being banned from working in the UK.
 
Source:- The Herald Tuesday 31 May
 
School violence hotline
 
A telephone service has been set up for school staff in Aberdeenshire to report violence by pupils, following a rise in attacks.
 
Teachers, caretakers and canteen workers will be able to dial the phoneline to log problems, saving them from having to fill out time-consuming report forms.
 
Source:- The Record Tuesday 31 May