Thursday 31 July 2003

By Clare Jerrom and Alex Dobson.
Blair raises practical obstacle to ID cards
The home secretary’s plans to introduce identity cards were
dealt a blow yesterday after Tony Blair warned that there were
still “huge logistical and cost issues” that needed to
be overcome.
The prime minister said it was right in the “long term”
to move towards ID cards, but only if the practical problems
associated with them could be overcome.
He stressed that ID cards were “not a quick fix” for
illegal immigration and other problems.
Source:- Financial Times Thursday 31 July page 4
Public service reform will be core issue
The prime minister said yesterday that reform of public services
made up most of his workload, and would be a key issue at the next
general election.
Tony Blair said it was essential to ensure the government’s
“solid progress” on changing public services were
communicated to voters, despite the media focus on issues such as
the Hutton inquiry into the death of David Kelly.
Source:- Financial Times Thursday 31 July page 4
Mothers can take children to new life
overseas
Two fathers will be prevented from seeing their children regularly
after their former wives won the right to take their children
abroad with their new partners yesterday.
The court of appeal reversed the decisions of county court judges
who ad refused the mothers permission to relocate. One mother plans
to move to Australia while the other is set to move to South
Africa.
Lord Justice Thorpe said that to frustrate “natural
emigration” risked the survivals of the new family or
blighted its potential for “fulfilment and
happiness”.
Source:- The Times Thursday 31 July page 2
Byers speaks on illegal immigrants
Illegal immigrants should be denied access to Britain’s
public services such as schools and hospitals in a bid to make the
country appear less attractive, Stephen Byers said yesterday.
The former transport secretary said Labour would pay a heavy price
at the next election unless it tackled illegal immigration.
In a speech to the Social Market Foundation in London, Byers said
that fears of being branded a racist must not stop efforts to curb
the problem,  and called for companies to be fined £2,000 for
employing illegal immigrants.
Source:- The Times Thursday 31 July page 2
Rapid fall in care places for the elderly
Care homes for older people are continuing to close at a rapid
rate, according to the latest statistics.
Around 74,000 beds have been lost since 1996 according to Laing
Buisson, the healthcare analysts.
The worst year was 2000 when 800 independent and voluntary sector
care homes closed and 17,000 places were lost.
Source:- The Times Thursday 31 July page 7
Outcry over scheme to clear rough sleepers
Plans to eradicate vagrants and beggars from the city of
London caused a row yesterday over how best to provide help to the
capital’s rough sleepers.
Westminster council announced it would withdraw all support from
rough sleepers, who refuse to be relocated to hostels, and a rapid
intervention team is to be created to tackle rough sleeping
hotspots.
Charities working with homeless people accused the council of being
motivated by a desire to make the city more attractive to
tourists.
Source:- The Times Thursday 31 July page 10
Appeal court rules release conditions of serial sex
offenders breach human rights
The home secretary is set to challenge a ruling by the
court of appeal yesterday that a triple rapists’ human rights
will be breached if conditions are imposed on his release from
jail.
Despite the ruling, the home office is to continue placing licence
conditions on highly violent criminals, and serious sex offenders
who would otherwise be released without supervision by the
probation service.
The move leaves the home office open to compensation claims for
wrongful punishment, but the department believes it is in the
interest of public safety for the conditions to be imposed.
Source:- The Times Thursday 31 July page 13
Mothers lose anti-MMR battle
Two mothers lost their fight to prevent their children
being forced to have the controversial MMR vaccination.
The case was taken to the court by the two fathers of the two girls
aged five and 10 who want their daughters to have the full range of
vaccinations.
The mothers, who oppose the jab, took the their cases to the appeal
court after the high court ruled last summer that the girls should
be vaccinated.
Yesterday three appeal judges upheld the ruling.
Source:- The Guardian Thursday 31 July page 1
People traffic charge
A 29-year-old man is to appear at Bow Street magistrates court in
London today charged with people trafficking and immigration
offences.
Mousa Kamara is one of 21, mainly Nigerian people, arrested on
Tuesday.
Source:- The Guardian Thursday 31 July page 6
Racist bullying rife in London council
A London local authority with one of the largest minority
populations in Britain racially discriminated against its black
staff and “vulnerable” members of the public, according
to an inquiry panel.
The panel has concluded that a key part of Lambeth was infected by
a culture of discrimination, bullying, victimisation, sexual
harassment and unprofessional misconduct, following eight months of
investigation into the south London borough.
Source:- The Guardian Thursday 31 July page 8
Sit-down protest at centre
Forty asylum seekers staged a sit down protest yesterday
at an immigration centre, claiming it is too dangerous to return
home.
Almost half of the detainees at Oakington reception centre near
Cambridge refused to go inside after their exercise and the protest
began around 8am.
A home office spokesperson said it believed the detainees were
asking to speak to human rights organisations.
Source:- The Guardian Thursday 31 July page 9
Benefit cut for tenants is
‘insulting’
The Local Government Association has criticised government plans to
punish tenants for antisocial behaviour by docking housing benefit
as discriminatory.
The government is making “the worst kind of knee jerk
reaction to a complex problem,” by singling out low income
tenants when it has no plans to crack down on offenders who do not
receive welfare benefits.
Source:- The Guardian Thursday 31 July page 9
Menace of the illegal migrant drivers
Illegal immigrants in unsafe cars have become a menace on our
roads, police warned yesterday.
Most have never passed a driving test and many cannot read UK road
signs. Their cars are not MOT-tested or insured because that could
bring them into contact with authorities and risk
deportation.
Speaking after an inquest heard how a drunken Pole killed a
newlywed couple as he drove at speed, without lights on the wrong
side on the road, officers said the tragedy highlighted the
increasing toll of accidents caused by illegal immigrants’
disregard for the safety of their cars and other motorists.
Source:- Daily Mail Thursday 31 July page 1
Scottish newspapers
Health chiefs to tackle poverty and death rates
Tayside health authorities announced plans yesterday to
tackle the cycle of poverty, disease and death rates in the poorest
areas of the region.
Senior Tayside NHS officials admitted that the glaring inequality
in health between the affluent and the poor was the biggest
challenge facing the NHS and local government in the region.
Chairperson of NHS Tayside Peter Bates said the board in
conjunction with local authorities had drawn up a comprehensive
strategy to drive the campaign against the health crisis.
Source:- The Scotsman Thursday 31 July page 6
Jailed mother to appeal
A young mother convicted of killing her daughter by doing nothing
while she was being beaten to death, is appealing against the
conviction and the prison sentence.
Andrea Bone, who was originally accused of murdering her
13-month-old daughter Nicole, was jailed for three years at the
high court in Edinburgh last October for three years after being
convicted of culpable homicide.
Her former partner Sandy McClure was jailed for life for murdering
the child.
The crown office confirmed that Bone had lodged an appeal against
both her conviction and the sentence.
Source:- The Scotsman Thursday 31 July page 6
Sentence is delayed in baby murder trial
A woman who dumped her murdered daughter’s body in a canal
will have to wait to learn of her fate because psychologists have
conflicting evidence.
Tracey Reid had been due to be sentenced yesterday for conspiring
to defeat the ends of justice by getting rid of Danielle’s
corpse, and failing to get medical assistance for the child.
But the high court in Edinburgh heard there appeared to be
differences in expert findings in her case and a hearing of
evidence may be needed.
Reid could also be called to give evidence before Lord Hardie
sentences her and her co-accused, Lee Gaytor, who admitted
murdering the girl.
Source:- The Herald Thursday 31 July
College chiefs did not seek illness help
College chiefs admitted yesterday they did not seek advice on how
to make work easier for a senior lecturer, who is claiming they
discriminated against him because he suffers from Parkinson’s
disease.
Ian Duncan claims he was forced from his job because management at
Cumbernauld College did not support him.
Source:- The Herald Thursday 31 July
Staff shortages in young offenders’ institution lead
to problems, says report
Inmates at Scotland’s main young offenders’ institution
are missing out because of a staff shortage, it was claimed
yesterday.
Chairperson of the visiting committee at Polmont young
offenders’ institution, Lady Cullen, said she is concerned by
staffing levels and they were contributing to a decline in morale
and reducing the effectiveness of rehabilitation programmes.
She said inmates were missing out because there were not sufficient
officers to run programmes such as anger management and drug
awareness classes, and she said a lot of good ideas were
“being scuppered” as a result.
Source:- The Herald Thursday 31 July
Welsh newspapers
Baby was born a drug addict
A baby born with an addiction to methadone was allegedly attacked
and seriously injured by a man who was looking after her.
Kevin Manley is accused of causing grievous bodily harm and child
cruelty to the child, and causing grievous bodily harm to her
mother.
Cardiff crown court was told that the child’s mother was a
drug addict, and that her addiction was passed on to her baby
during pregnancy.
Defence barrister, Richard Webster, said that the child’s
mother had told social services that she felt strong urges to hurt
her baby, and that it was she who had caused the baby’s
injuries, rather than Manley.
Source:- South Wales Argus Wednesday 30 July page 5