Heroin clinics would help few addicts, says agency
head
Only a "very small proportion" of the 160,000 heroin addicts in
treatment would benefit from a scheme providing them with the drug
in supervised clinics, the head of the government's drug treatment
service said today.
Paul Hayes, of the National Treatment Agency, said three
government-funded clinical trials had produced encouraging results,
but involved only chronic long-term addicts who had failed to
respond to other treatments.
Read more on this in The Guardian
UK economy 'lurching back to the 1970s', warns
think-tank
Britain is facing the tightest squeeze in public spending since
the 1970s, after leaked Treasury documents showed a major
deterioration in the nation's public finances, the Institute for
Fiscal Studies will warn tomorrow.
In a blow to Gordon Brown days after he relaunched his
premiership by finally admitting that spending would have to be
cut, the IFS will confirm Tory warnings that the last budget in
April failed to reveal the depth of the public finance crisis.
Read more on this story in The
Guardian
Scotland's frontline workers hit hardest by jobless
rise
Teachers have borne the brunt of job cuts in the Scottish public
sector, while the number of civil servants continues to rise, new
unemployment figures reveal.
The Scottish government’s latest unemployment statistics show
that there has been a sharp increase in the number of jobless, with
the heaviest cuts falling on frontline services in local government
— principally teachers and social services.
Read more on this story in The
Times
Internet gambling 'can be 10 times more addictive than
other forms'
Researchers discovered that while only 0.5 per cent of people
who gambled offline could be considered to have a problem, five per
cent of those who used the internet were addicted.
It also found that internet gamblers were more likely to be
single, male, young and to drink and smoke more than they
should.
Read more on this in The Telegraph
Flat pest Mary, 98, is facing eviction
Neighbour from hell Mary Plaisted is to be kicked out of her
council home - at 98.
Grey-haired Mary, who walks with sticks, is thought to be the
oldest in Britain to be evicted for anti-social behaviour.
Read more on this in The Sun
Attorney General 'hired illegal immigrant'
A member of the Attorney General's staff has been sacked amid
allegations she was an illegal immigrant.
The woman, Loloahi Tapui, from Tonga, worked as a cleaner at
Baroness Scotland's family home in west London. Lady Scotland's
office said Ms Tapui had been dismissed after being made aware the
Daily Mail was about to make her status public.
Read more on this in The Independent