Monday 16 June 2003

By Amy Taylor, Lauren Revans, Sally Gillen and Alex
Dobson.
Racists who triggered Oldham’s riots jailed
Nine-month sentences were given out to the white rapists who
triggered the Oldham riots by going on the rampage in an Asian
suburb.
The judge told the 12 defendants that they had provided the spark
that began the riots, but said he did not hold them responsible for
the riots themselves.
He said their march through Godwick in May 2001 as a “very nasty,
unhappy and ugly” incident.
Source:- The Times Saturday 14 June page 10
Blair shows sacked minister there is life after
demotion
The prime minister has appointed Estelle Morris, who quit as
education secretary nine months ago, as arts minister.
Margaret Hodge, the former higher education minister, has taken on
the new post of minister for children.
Source:- The Times Saturday 14 June page 12
Man who had sex with girls of 13 faces jail
review
The government’s senior law officer could challenge the three-year
sentence given to a man who “groomed” two schoolgirls for sex in
internet chatrooms on the grounds that it is “unduly
lenient”.
The attorney general has asked the crown prosecution service to
give him Michael Wheeler’s case papers.
Wheeler was jailed last week after pleading guilty to having sex
with two 13-year-old girls, and if his sentence remains unchanged
he could be out within a year, having already served seven months
on remand.
Source:- The Times Saturday 14 June page 15
Gay sacking right ‘unlawful’
A committee of MPs and peers said legislation allowing religious
employers to sack gay and lesbian staff may be unlawful, and should
not become law without further consultation and debate in the House
of Commons yesterday.
Source:- The Guardian Saturday 14 June page 6
Evicted aged 102
A 102-year-old woman has been ordered to leave her care home after
its owners decided revealed they were not renewing their contract
with social services.
Winfred Humphrey  was given a month to find alternative
accommodation despite her age.
She had lived at the care home near Whitstable, Kent, for nine
years.
Source:- Daily Mail Saturday 14 June page 21
The scandal of Britain’s asylum children
Thousands of children who seek asylum in this country are being
left to look after themselves in bed and breakfast hotels or
bedsits.
Younger children, including babies, are also being locked up in
detention centres.
New figures contained in Commons written answers show that one in
eight children who come to live in Britain alone are placed in
bedsits with only a small amount of support from social
services.
Source:- The Independent on Sunday 15 June page 1
Mental health trusts ‘drowning in debt’
Over three-quarters of mental health trusts have admitted that they
are failing teenagers due to increasing numbers of patients and
lack of funding.
In a survey of NHS mental health trusts carried out by the
Conservative party more than three quarters of chief executives
have said a lack of funding meant they were unable to provide
round-the-clock support for patients with severe mental health
problems.
The report states that many trusts are “drowning in debt”, and are
unable to provide patients with the level of care they
require.
Source:- The Independent on Sunday 15 June page 14
‘Devil’s landlord’ plans to house refugees on
warship
The jailed property tycoon Nicholas van Hoogstraten wants to invest
in a scheme to house 1,000 asylum seekers on an aircraft carrier
moored off Kent.
HMS Vengence’s British owners are advertising the ship on the
internet and van Hoogstraten, who is serving 10 years for
manslaughter, is talking to advisers about buying the boat.
Source:- The Sunday Times 15 June page 2
Agencies seek cash before stars will appear for
charities
Charities are being told by agencies that they have to pay thousand
of pounds in order to secure celebrity backing for their
causes.
The agencies are telling charities that they have to offer the
money to ensure high profile figures will be prepared to make
personal appearances, leading to smaller charities being priced out
of the market.
Source:- The Sunday Times 15 June page 15
Secret Balkan camp for UK asylum seekers
Asylum seekers coming into Britain will be moved to an ‘offshore’
camp in Croatia in order to process all asylum claims outside
European Union boarders.
Supporters argue that it is logical to handle claims close to
applicants’ countries of origin, and that the move will ease racial
tension over the integration of refugees in European Union
countries.
Critics say the camps will attract human traffickers, make it
impossible to police human rights abuses and breach international
obligations to refugees.
Source:- The Observer Sunday 15 June page 1
Battered husbands to win official recognition at
last
The fact that men can be attacked by women in relationships is to
be officially recognised for the first time.
‘Battered husbands’ will soon be just as entitled to protection as
women under new government proposals on domestic violence.
Source:- The Observer Sunday 15 June page 3
‘Two thirds of hour new HIV patients are from abroad. We’re
shelling out huge amounts of money…it’s why your granny may
not get her hip replacement.’
The NHS is being over run by hundreds of Aids sufferers from
abroad, who account for up to two thirds of all new HIV patients in
Britain, hospital consultants have revealed today.
The consultants said there was also evidence that Britons are being
infected by the foreign sufferers through unsafe sex.
Human rights legislation allows HIV positive visitors to Britain to
stay indefinitely while they receive care from the NHS.
Source:- The Sunday Telegraph 15 June page 1
Tories call for curbs on ‘NHS
tourism’
The Conservatives have called for a crackdown on “NHS
tourism” after doctors raised concerns about the number of
new HIV sufferers coming to the UK for treatment from abroad.
Some hospitals are reporting a doubling in the number of HIV
patients a year to treat, with up to two-thirds of the increase
being non-British citizens.
A department of health spokesperson said an investigation was being
carried out to establish the scale of the problem.
Source:- The Daily Telegraph Monday 16 June, page 2
Court will ask girl to choose between her
parents
An Italian court has given a six-year-old girl a month to decide
whether she wants to return to England to live with her mother and
stepfather or stay in Italy with her father.
The situation arose after her father refused to hand his daughter
back after she visited him in northern Italy at Easter.
Under an initial court ruling, Tamina Fighera’s mother would
be breaking the law if she attempted to take Tamina out of Italy
before the issue was resolved.
The court has appointed a psychologist to talk to Tamina over the
next month about where and with whom she would like to live.
Source:- The Daily Telegraph Monday 16 June page 5
Young are no more liberal than older generations on asylum
seekers, poll finds
Young people feel as negatively towards asylum seekers as
old, according to a poll released today.
The findings of the Mori poll, conducted at the beginning of
Refugee Week, goes against the widely held view that young people
are less hostile to those seeker asylum than older
generations.
Source:- The Independent Monday 16 June page 5
Britain wavers on asylum plans
British support for a Europe-wide plan to process the applications
of asylum seekers who come to Britain in “offshore” camps is
waning.
The prime minister is instead thought to be planning to support a
UN plan to improve the “in-region” protection for refugees by
creating a resettlement entry route into Europe for those most in
need.
The home secretary David Blunkett is thought to have gone off the
“offshore” camps idea after Germany, Sweden and other EU partners
put up strong opposition to the idea.
Source:- The Guardian Monday 16 June page 7
Police swamped by child porn cases
Suspected paedophiles who possess 16 or less images of child
pornography could be let off with a caution it was revealed
today.
The crown prosecution service said that due to the large amount of
offenders being caught through an anti-paedophile operation such as
Operation Ore it may not be possible to prosecute them all.
Instead only those who possess more than 16 images of child
pornography will face charges and possible prosecution.
Source:- The Times Monday 16 June page 2
Breaks for home carers cut back
Respite breaks for thousands of parents who look after children and
dependent adults with severe learning difficulties have been cut
back, according to a new report from the learning difficulty
charity Mencap.
The breaks are paid for by the local authority and provide many
parents with their only free time. They can last from two hours a
week to a weekend or month.
The research found that a third of all family carers had their
breaks cut in the past year.
Source:- The Times Monday 16 June page 11
Scottish newspapers
Electric shocks were ‘A Joke’
A court has heard how a monk accused of 12 charges of assaulting
boys at a school where he taught administered electric shock
treatment as a joke.
Michael Murphy, aged 69, is accused of assaulting pupils at St
Ninian’s School List D near Stirling during the 1970s.
Colleague Simon Mckinnon told Edinburgh’s high court that the
boys had enjoyed the tingling sensation of the shocks.
The trial continues.
Source:- Daily Record Saturday 14 June
Boot Out The Class War Kids
The Scottish executive is to draw up guidance to help
headteachers crack down on disruptive pupils.
The move by education minister Peter Peacock is aimed at lowering
the number of assaults by students on teachers and limiting the
disruption to other children’s education.
Peacock, who replaced Cathy Jameison in the May elections, has
vowed to make discipline in schools a top priority.
Source:- Daily Record Saturday 14 June
Judge orders girls should have MMR vaccine
Two girls will be given the MMR vaccine against the wishes of their
mothers after a judge allowed a request from their fathers.
Mr Justice Sumner decided the separate applications should be
allowed based on scientific evidence.
He said the benefits outweighed any potential risk of autism, and
his decision was backed by the British Medical Association.
Source:- The Scotsman Saturday 14 June page 1
Parents sue over son’s missed remains
The parents of a boy are suing the chief of Grampian
police for mental distress after they discovered the remains of
their son, which were missed by police search teams.
Chief constable Andrew Brown said the search of the family’s
burnt out home was carried out according to procedures and denies
any neglect or blame.
Source:- The Scotsman Saturday 14 June page 14

Welsh newspapers

Tidying up schools ‘helps cut
bullying’

Improving the state of school playgrounds helps to cut down on
bullying, according to new research.

A survey by the charity, ‘Learning through Landscapes’, found
that around two thirds of schools which upgraded their grounds had
reduced incidents of bullying and that attitudes to learning also
improved.

Source:- Western Mail Monday 16 June page 7

The case for organic dinners

The health of Welsh children, farming and the environment could
all be improved if school meals were switched from cheap imports to
locally grown organic food, according to experts.

Academics and environmental experts argue that schools should
follow the example of countries like Italy, France, Denmark and
Sweden and take a pro-active lead in buying organic food.

Source:- Western Mail Monday 16 June page 7