By Maria Ahmed, Derren Hayes and Amy Taylor
Half of Child Trust vouchers unused
Half of the near 2 million vouchers issued to parents to set up special accounts for their children remain unused, according to Revenue & Customs.
But despite this, the government says the Child Trust Fund is making excellent progress.
Source:- The Financial Times Thursday 1 September 2005 page 4
Barbie link to anorexia
Playing with Barbie dolls could make girls as young as five self-conscious of their weight, paving the way for eating disorders in later life, say researchers.
A study of five and six-year-old girls found they became unhappy with their weight after being shown pictures of the size-eight doll.
Source:- The Daily Mail Thursday 1 September 2005 page 7
Blair ready to push his ‘respect’ agenda
Tony Blair will answer criticism that he has taken his eye off the domestic political agenda by outlining plans to stamp out antisocial behaviour.
After returning from his three-week summer break yesterday, the Prime Minister turned his attention to law and order and his plans to restore a culture of “respect.”
Source:- The Independent Thursday 1 September 2005 page 8
Woman and two children die after ‘jumping under train’
A 27-year-old woman and her two children were killed yesterday after apparently jumping in front of a Heathrow Express train travelling at 100mph between Paddington and Heathrow airport.
The Asian women and her five-year-old daughter were killed instantly at Southall station. Her baby son was taken to Ealing hospital but died two hours later.
Source:- The Independent Thursday 1 September 2005 page 13
Divorce rate is still rising
A rise in the number of broken marriages in Scotland and Northern Ireland helped to increase the national divorce figure last year.
Although the number of divorces in England and Wales fell by 0.1 per cent to 153,490, in Scotland there was a 2.5 per cent increase and in Northern Ireland the figure rose by 8.5 per cent.
Source:- The Times Thursday 1 September 2005 page 22
Mother is arrested over arson death of her baby
The mother of a four-month-old boy who died in a house fire in Newcastle upon Tyne was arrested yesterday on suspicion of his murder.
Danielle Wails, 21, told police how two masked raiders broke in on Sunday night, knocked her unconscious and tied her hands with a telephone cord.
Wails and her son had lived at the house for two weeks. It had been leased by St Cuthbert’s Care, a Roman Catholic charity that helps young single mothers with their parenting skills.
Source:- The Times Thursday 1 September 2005 page 23
Ghettos blighting Asian integration
Asian communities in Britain are being increasingly ghettoised in a trend that sets back hopes of assimilation by years, academic Mike Poulsen, of Macquarie University in Sydney, has said.
Poulson said ministers needed to have policies tailored to individual groups.
Source:- The Times Thursday 1 September 2005 page 26
Call for school uniform grants
Children from poor families are at risk of being bullied or punished at school because they cannot afford the right school uniform, a coalition of charities says.
In a report published today, the charities call on the government to introduce a statutory duty on local education authorities to provide uniform grants for families on low incomes.
Source:- The Times Thursday 1 September 2005 page 33
Neglectful mother
A mother who left her three children with a schoolgirl babysitter while she went on holiday for two weeks in Turkey was given a six-month suspended prison sentence by Newton Aycliffe magistrates’.
Source:- The Times Thursday 1 September 2005 page 33
Saving lives with a second chance
As a Finchden Manor old boy, I know it offered a compassionate answer to the problem of young offenders, comment by Tom Robinson
Source:- The Guardian Thursday 1 September 2005 page 22
Farmer kicks up a stink over gypsies
Peter Langrish, a 79-year-old farmer, cleared 15 gipsy caravans from his land at Horndean, Hants, by threatening to spray them with his muck-spreader.
Source:- The Daily Telegraph Thursday 1 September 2005 page 12
Scottish news
Council gives in on equal pay dispute
Aberdeen Council has avoided crippling industrial action by doing a U-turn and conceding to union demands over the introduction of an equal pay agreement which proposed salary cuts of up to £16,000.
Aberdeen councillors agreed to back down following recommendations from officials which will avert action.
Neither side was prepared to release any details of the deal, which is expected to be signed by the unions this morning.
Source:- The Herald Thursday 1 September
Rise in drug deaths as cocaine use increases
The number of drugs-related deaths in Scotland rose last year, with cocaine responsible for the sharpest increase in fatal overdoses.
According to the registrar general for Scotland, 356 people died from overdoses.
Most were overdoses by drug users, while 32 were suicides and 32 were registered as accidental poisoning.
Four out of every five were men, and almost a quarter were under 25.
Source:- The Herald Thursday 1 September
Police demand extra cash to monitor sex criminals
Police are demanding "significant" extra funds to tackle the growing burden of monitoring sex offenders in the community.
Bob Ovens, of the Association of Chief Police Officers in Scotland (ACPOS), warned other areas of policing would suffer if new money was not found to provide more staff trained in tracking and assessing the risk posed by paedophiles and other sex offenders.
He also said people accused of a sexual crime might have to be placed on the sex offenders' register even before they appear in court, following the circumstances surrounding the murder of Rory Blackhall.
Source:- The Scotsman Thursday 1 September
Sheriff hits out at system after having to grant bail to paedophile
A sheriff made a thinly veiled reference to criticisms of the Rory Blackhall murder case yesterday, as he voiced his frustration at having to grant bail to a convicted sex offender.
Sheriff Lindsay Foulis called on the justice system to "get our act together" after hearing that social workers had failed to finish a report on Steven Grant, despite having had more than month to complete the task.
Grant was found guilty in May of breaching a probation order imposed for sex crimes in 2003.
Source:- The Scotsman Thursday 1 September
Adoption for star Clare
Gregory’s Girl star and former Altered Images singer Clare Grogan and her husband are hoping to adopt a child.
Clare and record producer Stephen Lironi have been trying to start a family for years. Friends say the couple are thrilled to be going through the adoption process.
Source:- Daily Record Thursday 1 September
Welsh news
Grandmother admits stealing from baby fund
A grandmother has admitted stealing from a fund she set up to help a special baby care unit.
Angela Lesley Whitehead, 45, created the Little Sunbeams appeal for the unit at Bronglais Hospital in Aberystwyth after her granddaughter was born prematurely at the facility in 2003.
Whitehead disputes the amount she stole which is alleged to be £14, 368.47.
Source:- Western Mail Thursday 1 September
Boozing link to battered wives
Alcohol has been labelled as the cause of a dramatic increase in domestic violence in Swansea where figures have increased by 15 per cent in two years.
New figures from the South Wales Criminal Justice Board show that there were over 800 incidents in April, May and June alone.
Around half of the attacks have been linked with drinking.
Source:- thisissouthwales Thursday 1 September
