Thursday 8 May 2003

By David Callaghan, Lauren Revans, Clare Jerrom and Alex
Dobson.

Labour rebels fail to halt elite hospitals
bill

Rebel Labour MPs failed to halt the progress of the bill to
introduce foundation hospitals, although the rebellion was the
largest since Tony Blair came to power in 1997.

Labour’s majority of 165 was reduced to 74, but the Health and
Social Care Bill was still given its second reading. The bill will
still face a difficult passage through the report and committee
stages in parliament.

Source:- Daily Telegraph Thursday 8 May page 1

Pete Townshend placed on sex offenders’
list

Pete Townshend, the lead guitarist with The Who, has been placed
on the sex offenders register after admitting paying to enter a
website showing child pornography images.

Townshend said he had entered the website for “research
purposes”. The police investigation was part of Operation Ore, the
national inquiry into 6,500 Britons who were credit card
subscribers to an American website.

Source:- Daily Telegraph Thursday 8 May page 2

MPs urge stringent asylum controls

The House of Commons home affairs select committee has warned
that the number of asylum seekers entering Britain is
unsustainable. The total has risen from 4,223 in 1982 to 110,700 in
2002.

Ministers claim the total has fallen recently, even though they
admit that at one point Britain was taking a third of the asylum
seekers entering the EU.

Source:- Daily Telegraph Thursday 8 May page 8

Club-goers “risk early
deafness”

The RNID has warned that clubbers and rock fans are risking
early deafness by listening to music at dangerously high volumes.
The charity for the deaf urged young people to take earplugs out
with them for protection.

Source:- Daily Mail Thursday 8 May 2003 page 5

Baby appeal

Social workers and the police are appealing for the mother of a
baby abandoned in Elthorne Park, north London, to come
forward.
Source:- Daily Mail Thursday 8 May 2003 page 27

Everest Goal

Glenn Shaw, who is disabled and uses a wheelchair, began his
attempt to climb Mount Everest yesterday. He hopes to reach Base
Camp on May 29.
Source:- Daily Mail Thursday 8 May 2003 page 27

One child in four is being raised by a single
parent

Nearly a quarter of all children are being raised in a
single-parent family, Census figures released yesterday have
revealed. The figure – which is double that recorded in the
early 1980s – means fewer than two-thirds of children now
live with both their natural parents.
Source:- Daily Mail Thursday 8 May 2003 page 35

High costs lead to record number of unpaid
carers

More then five million people in England described themselves as
unpaid carers in the 2001 census, with more than a million of them
providing more than 50 hours of unpaid care a week. Carers come
from all age groups and are more likely to be female, and a
significant number juggle their caring responsibilities with a
full-time job.
Source:- The Independent Thursday 8 May 2003 page 6

New law will ban religious or sexual
discrimination

Social inclusion minister Barbara Roche was due to lay new
workplace anti-discrimination regulations before parliament today
that will make it an offence to discriminate against anyone on the
grounds of their religion or sexual orientation.
Source:- The Independent Thursday 8 May 2003 page 8

Scottish newspapers

Kirk asks councils to save homes

Taxpayers are being asked to save the Church of Scotland’s
threatened care homes as it faces budget cuts and a £50
million deficit in its pension fund. Its annual report will contain
the news, to be considered at the Kirk’s general assembly
next month.
Councils across the country have been asked to secure the future of
the Kirk’s 30 homes, which would leave more than 800 older
people in need of shelter and care if the homes were to
close.
Source:- The Herald  Thursday 8 May

Former care worker broke two year old’s
jaw

A former care worker broke a two-year-old child’s jaw
before gagging him and zipping him inside a holdall to conceal his
injuries, a court heard yesterday.
William Gillan was originally charged with attempted murder, but
admitted assaulting the boy to cause his severe injury by
repeatedly punching him in the head at the accused’s home in East
Lothian in June 2001. Gillan also pleaded guilty to tying and
gagging the toddler and placing him
in a holdall, at the high court in Edinburgh.
Lord Dawson adjourned the case for background reports.
Source:- The Herald  Thursday 8 May 2003

Judge’s mercy for baby shaker
A woman who assaulted an 11-week old baby walked free from
court yesterday. Marie Mortimer, who suffers learning difficulties,
tried to drown herself the day after she admitted shaking the baby,
which would not stop crying. The baby now has impaired hearing and
vision problems consistent with
cerebral palsy.
Lord Menzies sentenced the mother of three to two years’
probation and 150 hours community service.
The high court in Glasgow was told that Mortimer was not a danger
to other children.
Source:- Daily Record  Thursday 8 May page 13

9000 kids go on the run
More than 9,000 Scottish children ran away from home last
year. Almost one in every nine Glasgow schoolchildren under 16 left
for at least one night and one in five was under 11.
Manager of Glasgow’s Running – Other Choices pilot
project said the figures were “quite shocking”.
Source:- daily Record  Thursday 8 May page 16

Welsh newspapers

Mother appeals for help after ferry sighting of
Esti

A mother who has not seen her daughter since the child went to
stay with her father has appealed for help in tracing her.
Four-year-old, Estelle is now believed to have been abducted by her
father, former pilot Simon Clayton on 9 April and there are reports
of the two being sighted in France.
Her mother Aneta Clayton who lives in Brecon in mid Wales initially
thought that her former husband had taken their daughter on a short
holiday.

Source:- Western Mail Thursday 8 May page 11

‘Doctor sexually abused me on surprise home
visit’

A woman patient told a court how her doctor sexually abused her
during a surprise home visit.
Dr Robert Owens, a family GP, is accused of indecently assaulting
the 50-year-old woman who had gone to see him when she was
suffering from depression and a chest condition.
Later he visited her home where the abuse is said to have taken
place. The GP is also accused of indecently assaulting two other
female patients at his surgery in Cardiff.
The trial continues.

Source:- Western Mail Thursday 8 May page 10