In Today's Papers

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

Families face huge bill to top up care policies

Thousands of people, most retired, are being asked to find large sums of money to top up insurance policies which they bought believing they were guaranteed long-term care if they became infirm.

One insurance company, Lifetime Care, says it is reviewing 14,500 policies and asking for an additional 60 per cent premium, on average. Other companies that sold long-term care policies are looking for increases of about 40 per cent.

Source:- The Daily Telegraph Saturday 8 October 2005 page 1

Boy sent on anger course killed father

A 16-year-old mugger who was sent on an anger management course after being convicted of a robbery failed to mend his ways and was jailed for life for stabbing to death a father who tried to protect his son from bullying.

Marcus Gabadan, stabbed the father of three in the heart with a Swiss army knife in south London.

Source:- The Daily Telegraph Saturday 8 October 2005 page 10

Head teacher plans for 364-days-a-year school

The head teacher of Hollingworth High in Rochdale plans to open the school for 364 days a year with shifts and staggered holidays.

Teachers and pupils would attend for 190 days but on a rota system that would include weekends and public holidays.

Source:- The Daily Telegraph Saturday 8 October 2005 page 14

Charities to get millions after phone gift U-turn

British charities are to benefit from a multimillion pound windfall after the government announced a change on the rules governing tax relief.

Under the new rules charities will no longer have get a written declaration from telephone donors who opt to add Gift Aid to their donations.

Source:- The Times Saturday 8 October 2005 page 1

Hanging changes police policy

Police procedures were changed after an officer did not cut down and try to resuscitate a man found hanged, an inquest was told.

The inquest at Cirencester heard that a person can survive for up to eight minutes after the heart stops but the officer, following instructions that existed in 2003 when the incident happened, left the body alone.

Source:- The Times Saturday 8 October 2005 page 31

Girls suffered years of sexual abuse as officials dithered

Three girls at the centre of an alleged paedophile ring in the Outer Hebrides were repeatedly failed by social workers and police, a report has concluded.

It condemned social workers on Lewes for failing to act sooner to remove the children from their home and for being too willing to believe the accounts of adults.

Source:- The Times Saturday 8 October 2005 page 33

Chief Rabbi warns of rise in anti-semitism

The Chief Rabbi has warned of an atmosphere of prejudice and said speeches by public figures often contained “undertones” of anti-semitism.

His remarks come amid growing signs of tension between Muslims and Jews and follow claims that anti-semitism has become fashionable on the political Left.

Source:- Daily Mail Saturday 8 October 2005 page 21

Blair’s baby Asbos

The Prime Minister has ordered his officials to prepare radical measures to drive through his “Respect” agenda, including “baby Asbos” to be targeted at children who could be younger than 10-years-old.

Downing Street staff under the guidance of antisocial behaviour tsar Louise Casey are preparing a Bill that Tony Blair wants to see introduced into parliament by the end of the year.

Source:- The Sunday Telegraph Sunday 9 October 2005 page 1

ADHD advice secretly paid for by drugs companies

Support and advice groups for parents of children with behavioural disorders are being secretly funded by pharmaceutical firms.

The groups give out advice on stimulant drugs and other controversial medical treatments for young children diagnosed with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD).

Source:- The Sunday Telegraph Sunday 9 October, 2005 page 4

Council fined over expelled knife boy

A council that expelled a boy for bringing a knife into class has been fined more than £10,000 for “failing” to find him another school.

The ruling by the local government ombudsman includes a £5,000 payment to the boy’s mother to compensate her for the “anxiety and uncertainty she has suffered.” The 15-year old boy attended a secondary school in the south London Borough of Greenwich.

Source:- The Sunday Telegraph Sunday 9 October 2005 page 6

Britain’s shameless role in helping sex traffickers keep thousands of women in slavery

Criminal vice-masters are making millions profiting from trafficked women in a growing illegal trade, which MPs this week claim the government is failing to stop.

Source:- The Independent on Sunday Sunday 9 October 2005 page 8

Dads get paternity leave for six months

New fathers are to be given the legal right six months’ unpaid paternity leave during the first year of their baby’s life under new “family friendly” laws to be unveiled this week.

The plan is contained in the forthcoming Work and Families Bill.

Source:- The Sunday Times Sunday 9 October 2005 page 1

Runaways plea

Two thirds of young people who run away from home are not reported as missing by their families or carers, a study by the Children’s Society found.

Source:- The Times  Monday 10 October 2005 page 2


Council’s warning

Union leaders representing two million council workers will reject proposals to curb their pension rights at a meeting today with John Prescott.

Source:- The Times  Monday 10 October 2005 page 2

Church leaders declare their opposition to assisted dying Bill

The Archbishop of Canterbury has said he remains convinced that voluntary euthanasia was wrong.

Peers are due to discuss the issue today and a bill allowing voluntary euthanasia is to be introduced later in the year.

Source:- The Daily Telegraph Monday 10 October 2005 page 10

Children being made deaf by cancer treatment

Several hundred children are being made deaf every year by the drugs given to them to cure their cancers and save their lives, the Royal National Institute for the Deaf has said.

The charity is appealing to pharmaceutical companies to develop less toxic versions of drugs.

Source:- The Daily Telegraph Monday 10 October 2005 page 13

Scottish news

Home Office detains asylum critic, aged 13

An asylum seeker who criticised the deportation of the Vucaj family has been detained by the Home Office.

Durre Maqnoon a pupil at Drumchapel High in Glasgow was arrested and detained with her mother, Bushra, and a younger brother and sister as they visited the city’s Brand Street immigration centre.

The move calls into question First Minister Jack McConnell’s “protocol” with the Home Office which is supposed to ensure social work and education services are consulted before the removal of a child – campaigners claimed this didn’t happen.

Source:- The Sunday Herald Sunday 9 October

Scots urged to hit youth crime hard

The leader of the city council pioneering the use of anti-social behaviour orders in England has urged his Scottish counterparts to "take their heads out of the sand" and use the controversial measures to combat crime.

Richard Leese was speaking just days before Jack McConnell, the first minister, was to leave for a fact-finding visit to Manchester with a delegation of Scottish council leaders.

Leese said: "Listen to what your communities are saying and act. If you use the powers that are available to you, you will find in a relatively short time you will start making a difference to the quality of life.”

Source:- The Scotsman Monday 10 October

Inquiry into death of care home attack victim

A fatal accident inquiry has been ordered into the death of a war veteran who was attacked in a care home by a fellow resident with Alzheimer's disease.

The family of Jim Hutchison are demanding to know why the attacker was left unsupervised.

The veteran of the El Alamein campaign in the Second World War suffered a broken leg and shoulder and died five days later in hospital.

Source:- The Scotsman Monday 10 October

Abuse victims may launch private prosecution

Three girls who claim their lives were shattered by severe and prolonged abuse may mount a private prosecution, it has emerged.

A 162-page social work report released on Friday charted a catalogue of physical and sexual abuse of the girls in the Western Isles over more than a decade. Now it is understood the girls are considering mounting legal action against their alleged abusers even though charges against them were dropped.

Source:- The Scotsman Monday 10 October

Welsh news

Suicide husband texted wife

A husband told his wife that he was going to kill himself by a series of text messages.

Richard Baker sent the texts before jumping off 200 foot cliffs.

His wife Tania tried to find him before he jumped but did not succeed. Baker’s body was found at the bottom of Southerndown cliffs near Ogmore-by-Sea in the Vale of Glamorgan.

Source:- Western Mail Saturday 8 October

Dream soccer trip is the bait to bring truant pupils back onside

Pupils at a school in Cardiff who attend lessons regularly will win a trip to Old Trafford to watch Manchester United as a reward.

The scheme, which is being run at Llanedeyrn High School, aims to cut down on truancy and was thought up by local community police officers.

Source:- Western Mail Monday 10 October

Half of risk assessments are left undone in mental health units

Risk and relapse assessments had only been carried out on half the patients in the four mental health wards in Wales, according to new research.

The situation has been revealed by a review of adult mental health ward secure units.

Source:- Western Mail Monday 10 October

Archbishop condemns assisted dying Bill for the terminally ill

A bill legalising euthanasia could be changed after criticism from the Welsh leader of the the Church of England.

The Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams has spoken out against the policy.

Source:- Western Mail Monday 10 October