By Natasha Salari, David Callaghan and Alex Dobson.

Prozac Nation, UK
Doctors are using antidepressants as a “quick fix” solution to mild anxiety problems, according to a new report.
The shortage of NHS counsellors and therapists is making GPs feel that they have no option but to hand out anti-depressants to people who may only need an outlet for discussing their problems.
Eighty per cent of GPs in the survey by Norwich Union Healthcare admitted that they are prescribing drugs such as Prozac and Seroxat when patients may simply need someone to talk to.
Source:- The Independent Tuesday 30 March page 1
Diplomat is suspended for ‘exposing fast-track asylum scam’
The immigration minister Beverley Hughes has been accused of another cover-up after a consular official was suspended for alleging that the government was allowing Eastern Europeans to enter Britain with forged documents.
James Cameron, consul at the British Embassy in Bucharest, Romania, faces disciplinary action after sending an e-mail to David Davis, the Conservative shadow home secretary. He said that the fast-track procedure for people in eight former iron curtain countries that join the EU in May, was only “the tip of the iceberg”. He said that the system applied to Romania and Bulgaria, which are due to join the EU in 2007.
Source:- The Independent Tuesday 30 March page 1
Expelled schoolboy wins damages in landmark human rights ruling
A teenager excluded from school despite being cleared of involvement in a classroom fire, has won thousands of pounds in damages after a judge ruled that teachers had infringed his human rights.
Abdul Hakim Ali, aged 16, won a landmark ruling in the court of appeal that the removal of his name from the student roll at a Buckinghamshire secondary school was “incontestably unlawful”, and he should be compensated for loss of schooling and damage to his reputation.
The eventual settlement could be as high as £10,000.
Source:- The Independent Tuesday 30 March page 5
Cleared GPs may still face judges
Judges could have the power to ban doctors, dentists, nurses and pharmacists from working even when they have been cleared by their own professional bodies.
A judge ruled yesterday that the new Council for the Regulation of Healthcare Professionals had the right to refer cases to court even after an acquittal by a professional body.
As a result, a GP cleared of misconduct by the General Medical Council could face being charged with the same offence again in a different forum. The same would apply to any healthcare professional.
Source:- The Times Tuesday 30 March page 2
Doctors to sue BMA over racism claims
The British Medical Association (BMA) is facing claims that it racially discriminated against five doctors who asked for legal assistance.
The doctors claim that the BMA failed to back them in conflicts with their hospitals, and they are now suing the organisation for racial discrimination. If they are successful the organisation could face claims of several million pounds.
Source:- The Times Tuesday 30 March page 11
Stephen Hawking ‘not assaulted’
Police investigating allegations that the cosmologist Stephen Hawking had been the victim of a series of assaults have said that their inquiry is over because they can find no evidence to substantiate the claims.
Cambridgeshire police questioned him and his second wife, Elaine, about stories that he had been subjected to repeated abuse since 2000.
The 62-year-old professor receives round-the-clock care from a team of nurses, and he uses a wheelchair because of motor neurone disease.
Source:- The Guardian Tuesday 30 March page 5
Jowell rejects legislation to combat obesity
Culture and sport secretary Tessa Jowell said she is optimistic that Britain’s obesity epidemic can be fought without government legislation.
Giving evidence at a House of Commons select committee hearing on obesity, she argued that food manufacturers and advertisers should send out responsible messages about healthy eating.
She said that this would be more effective than any action by any ministers or MPs.
Source:- The Guardian Tuesday 30 March page 10
Scottish newspapers
Scots couple conned by fake surrogate
A woman who conned two couples into giving her money to act as a surrogate mother has pleaded guilty to three charges of obtaining money by deception and three offences under the Adoption Act, at Bingley magistrates court in Yorkshire.
Moira Greenslade, from Keighley, west Yorkshire, targeted a Scottish couple who had suffered 13 miscarriages and eight failed attempts at fertility treatment.
They gave her £1,500 and another couple paid £1,000, which she spent on her son and family holidays. The case was adjourned for sentencing.
Source:- The Scotsman Tuesday 30 March 2004
Pregnant teenager jailed for stabbing youth in the chest
A 17-year-old girl was detained for two years at Edinburgh high court after stabbing a youth.
Lauren O’Hare, of Fishcross, Clackmannanshire, was 16 and had been drinking heavily when she stabbed a boy in the chest after an argument in a chip shop.
Her family have pledged to appeal against the sentence.
Source:- The Scotsman Tuesday 30 March
Welsh newspapers
Care staff cleared of allegation
Two care workers have been cleared of ill-treating patients in their care.
John Bolderson and Jonathan Evans, both of Pontypridd, had been accused of taunting and teasing and manhandling people with learning disabilities at a care in the community project
The families of the accused men said after the trial, that the experience had been a nightmare.
Source:- South Wales Echo Monday March 29 page 6
Mother jailed in move to deter truancy
A mother was jailed yesterday for 28 days for failing to send her children to school.
The woman, who cannot be named for legal reasons, is the second person in Carmarthenshire to be jailed under tough new measures designed to stamp out truancy.
A court in Ammanford jailed her after hearing that her 15-year-old son had failed to attend any lessons since October.
Source:- Western Mail Tuesday 30 March page 3
Carers bill champion calls on public to lobby MPs
A Welsh MP is calling on the public to give support to his private member’s bill that aims to champion the cause of carers.
The bill highlights the need for carers to be given support and gives them new rights for work, education and lifelong learning.
But Dr Hywel Francis, MP for Aberavaon, is appealing to the public to lobby MPs to help ensure the bill’s success.
Source:- Western Mail Tuesday 30 March page 3