Friday 9 January 2004

By Natasha Salari, Amy Taylor, Clare Jerrom and Alex
Dobson.

One-boy crimewave barred from streets
A teenager who terrorised his neighbourhood has been banned from a
square-mile zone around his house.
Stephen Gedge, aged 13, can only visit his grandmother and sister
and if he wants to leave his home in Armley, Leeds, he has to use
an alleyway next to his house that leads away from the exclusion
zone to a bus stop.
Gedge, who did not turn up at court to hear the anti-social
behaviour order being made against him, is now banned from
harassing, abusing or threatening people, being in the company of
certain individuals in a public area or inciting others to carry
out actions on his behalf.
Source:- The Times Friday 9 January page 5
In the dead of night, three frail old ladies were woken, herded
into an ambulance and sent to another hospital as they wept. Why?
Their beds were needed for someone else
Campaigners have condemned the actions of a hospital that woke
three elderly women in their 90s during the night to move them to
another hospital.
The women, still in their bedclothes, were wheeled off the
geriatric ward at Hull Royal Infirmary while their possessions and
laundry were stuffed into plastic bags. The women, who were
bewildered and in tears, were put into ambulances before being
driven five miles to Castle Hill Hospital.
East Yorkshire Hospitals NHS Trust have launched an investigation
to establish why the women were moved.
Source:- The Daily Mail Friday 9 January page 17
Call to establish public drug centres
Drug addicts would be able to inject themselves under medical
staff’s supervision in new centres, called for by health experts
this week.
Writing in the British Medical Journal Dr Nat Wright and Charlotte
Tompkins, of the Centre for Research in Primary Care, Leeds, want
the centres to be piloted as a part of a public health
strategy.
The centres have been successful in other countries and involve
staff being on hand to deal with overdoses and other
complications.
Source:- The Financial Times Friday 9 January page 4
Labour promises more money for childcare
The prime minister pledged to make a large investment in the under
fives and provide more help for parents yesterday.
Speaking in a part of Labour’s big conversation with the nation,
Blair discussed the expansion of Sure Start beyond deprived areas
and increasing childcare provision.
He went on to warn that better-off families would have to help pay
for new services.
Source:- The Times Friday 9 January page 15
Scottish newspapers
Elderly at risk in 1 in 5 care homes
Older and vulnerable people are receiving substandard care and
accounted for more than 62 per cent of all complaints in the care
sector last year even though they represent a small proportion of
care services overall.
The Care Commission dealt with 532 complaints against care homes in
the year ending in April, of which 330 were upheld or partially
upheld. This equates to a national average of almost one upheld
complaint for every five care homes.
Source:- The Scotsman Friday 9 January
Cash for class discipline
Education minister Peter Peacock has pledged £500,000
to give teachers lessons to tackle discipline problems in
school.
The scheme, which will involve teachers calling on a colleague who
is good at managing children to sit in on a class, is expected to
clear up minor problems caused by sketchy training in discipline
for student teachers.
Source:- The Scotsman Friday 9 January
Jodi detectives seek help from FBI profilers
The FBI has been called upon by detectives investigating the death
of schoolgirl Jodi Jones in a bid to build a profile of her
killer.
Chief Superintendent Craig Dobbie and detective Inspector Tom
Martin have flown to the United States to enlist the help of FBI
special agents and a forensic psychologist.
The officers are hoping their time at the organisation’s
Behavioural Science Unit in Quantico, Virginia, will enable them to
build a character portrait of the girl’s killer.
Source:- The Scotsman Friday 9 January
Officers back strike against their union
Senior officials in the T&GWU Scottish branch have voted for
strike action after claiming they have been bullied and intimidated
by their own union.
The results of a consultative ballot, which the T&G’s 30
regional industrial officers in Scotland began before Christmas,
emerged last night and members voted two to one in favour of
industrial action.
Staff are angry at the way the union hierarchy in London was
investigating possible electoral malpractice in Scotland. Scottish
officers were ordered to London without explanations, officers
claim.
Source:- The Herald Friday 9 January
Crown appeals over sex sentence
The crown office has lodged an appeal against the three-year
probation order given to a babysitter who admitted indecently
assaulting an eight-year-old child.
David Norris walked free from Edinburgh’s high court last
month after pleading guilty to assaulting the girl with intent to
rape. He was ordered to take part in a sex offenders’
programme, and receive counselling for drug and alcohol problems in
addition to the probation.
The child’s mother, who cannot be named to protect her
child’s identity, expressed disbelief at Lord
Abernethy’s comments that the incident would have no lasting
effect on the girl. The sentence had led her to “lose all
faith in the justice system”.
Source:- The Herald Friday 9 January
Union pair win payout
A mother and daughter who were fired for arranging a union meeting
at a nursing home have been awarded more than £7,000 in
compensation.
An employment tribunal in Aberdeen has ruled that care assistants
Dorothy Goodbrand and her daughter Sarah Philips were unfairly
dismissed from Cranford Nursing Home in Aberdeen.
Operators Balmoral Nursing Homes Ltd denied their dismissals were
linked to union activity.
Source:- Daily Record Friday 9 January page 26
Welsh newspapers
Still Waiting
Six years after miners won the right to claim compensation for
chronic chest diseases, almost two thirds in Wales are still
waiting for their claims to be resolved.
Following high court test cases in 1998 that paved the way for
thousands of miners to receive compensation, some 65,869 have
lodged claims.
So far 24,530 have received final settlements, but estimates show
it could take another four years before every claim is
settled.
Source:- South Wales Argus Thursday 8 January page 1
Chancellor’s hands tied in cash row
Gordon Brown says he will not intervene in a row over the Welsh
assembly’s decision to use £22 million earmarked to
cushion council tax increases for social care in Wales.
Monmouth MP Huw Edwards confronted the Chancellor in Parliament
over the controversial decision to use the money to tackle
bed-blocking in the principality. But Gordon Brown said that
although the money was intended to prevent council tax increases it
was up to the assembly how they allocated the grant.
Source:- South Wales Argus Thursday 8 January page 7
Wales: So strong and yet so weak
The Office of National Statistics has produced a report,
‘Focus on Wales’, that gives a snapshot of life in
Wales. The study shows that Wales has a strong sense of community,
but that the principality struggles with high levels of illness,
unemployment and poverty.
Source:- Western Mail Friday 9 January page 3