October 2009 - Posts

Joseph Rowntree Foundation has published some challenging findings about the relationship between work and poverty. Read More...
Sober as a judge. It's not an expression that springs to mind today, although we are not privy to the information that the three appeal court judges had in front of them yesterday as they decided the fate of baby P lodger Jason Owen . Read More.....
I'm just about 100% certain that I am not descended from two giant lizards that leapt from a visiting spacecraft aeons ago but, then again, I am also certain that autism exists. Read More...
My, doesn't Nick Griffin sweat a lot? Many of us had feared that last night's edition of Question Time would become an unofficial party political broadcast for the British National Party. Read More...
The former military generals' denouncement of the far-right's attempts to "tap up" British servicemen and women could turn out to be the most powerful weapon yet against the British National Party. Read More...
Sandwiched between communities secretary John Denham's pledge last week to spend £12m on engaging white, working class people and BNP leader Nick Griffin's appearance this week on BBC1's Question Time , last night's edition of Panorama...
Apologies for being M25-centric, but concealed in London mayor Boris Johnson's plans for getting people off the capital's transport system was an item that has almost gone unnoticed. Read More...
I have heard the expression "killing with kindness" but in Italy a mother has appeared in court accused of maltreating her son by mollycoddling . Read More...
The tragic case of Fiona Pilkington and her daughter highlighted the problem some people in the mainstream have with disability. Recent press and TV reports suggest that the prime minister is not immune. Read More...
Action for Children's latest report shows a disturbing rise in the number child neglect cases. Perhaps as many as 1.5 million children suffer a form of neglect - and in England last year nearly 17,000 children were registered on child protection plans...
Could this happen only in America? Two parents chose divine intervention over medical intervention as their 11-year-old daughter lay dying of an undiagnosed but treatable form of diabetes at their rural home. Read More...
The prospect of a 0% pay rise for local authority social workers and care staff earning more than £18,000 a year is now a given if - or when - the Conservatives are elected to power next year. Read More...
When I read that a person with the surname Du Beke had called someone a Paki I assumed that the word had been uttered by some thick-necked, thick-headed member of the Afrikaner Resistance Movement. Read More...
It would be a cliché to say there are no easy answers. But even to attempt to answer why the defendants in the Little Ted's nursery case, heard yesterday at Bristol Crown Court, behaved as they did is among the most difficult of all. Read More...