Thursday 26 February 2004

By Natasha Salari, David Callaghan and Alex
Dobson.

Nursery that’s open all hours
The first 24-hour nursery in Britain is set to open next
month.
Jumping Jacks in Wigton, near Carlisle, will provide 24-hour care
for up to 20 children aged between six weeks and 14 years at a cost
of about £45 a day.
Children can be left at the nursery for up to seven days at a time.
Jumping Jacks owner, Jane Crawford, said the nursery opening hours
was a response to the needs of night shift workers and parents
wanting respite care for special needs children.
Source: The Daily Mail Thursday 26 February page 5
Anti-MMR parents ‘have been accused of abusing
children’
Parents who have blamed their children’s autism on the MMR
vaccine have been accused of abuse, it was claimed yesterday.
A number of parents say that they have been accused of
Munchausen’s Syndrome by Proxy. Law firm Alexander Harris
said it had heard several reports of threats to use
Munchausen’s against parents who complained about vaccine
damage after seeing other families do so.
Child psychologist Lisa Blakemore-Brown, who specialises in
treating children with autism, said she had dealt with more than 20
such cases.
Source: The Daily Mail Thursday 26 February page 35
Truant’s mother jailed for 20 days
A mother was jailed for 20 days yesterday for letting her
15-year-old son persistently play truant from school.
Sandra Hayward already had convictions for allowing her eldest son,
now 17, to miss classes.
Magistrates in Reading, Berkshire, heard that the younger boy
missed 85 per cent of classes between June and September last year,
and attended no classes at all during the following autumn
term.
Source: The Daily Mail Thursday 26 February page 17
Howard sacks MP for cockle tragedy joke
A Conservative MP had the party whip withdrawn last night for
refusing to apologise for a joke about the Chinese cocklers who
died at Morecambe Bay.
Ann Winterton is alleged to have told an audience at a Whitehall
dinner about two sharks swimming in the Atlantic.
She is reported to have said: “one shark turned to the other
to say he was fed up chasing tuna and the other said, ‘Why
don’t we go to Morecambe Bay and get some
Chinese?’”
Party leader Michael Howard said in a statement that he had
withdrawn the whip from Winterton “as a result of her refusal
to withdraw and apologise” for the remarks.
Source: The Daily Telegraph Thursday 26 February page 2
Clown gives lessons in circus acts to young offenders
Young offenders have been taught circus skills and dancing
to improve their self-esteem.
New arrivals at Wetherby Young Offenders’ Institution in West
Yorkshire are also issued with goody bags including colouring books
and pens.
Other initiatives aimed at improving social development have
included video games and a treasure hunt.
Source: The Daily Telegraph Thursday 26 February page 5
Two police forces in clash over vetting of
Huntley
A dispute between two police forces criticised for their handling
of the Soham schoolgirl murder case will become public today when
the inquiry into their failings opens.
Cambridgeshire and Humberside constabularies are blaming each other
for mistakes in the background checks that allowed Ian Huntley to
become a school caretaker in Soham, Cambridgeshire.
Source: The Daily Telegraph Thursday 26 February page 5
Tanzania rebuffs plan for centre to process asylum
seekers
Tanzania has rejected a proposal by Britain that it processes
asylum claims from East Africa.
The refusal was made public hours after Tony Blair had confirmed in
the Commons that the government was negotiating with Tanzania about
taking failed asylum seekers.
The government had hoped that an asylum processing centre in
Tanzania could deal with some of the thousands of Somalis who come
to Britain each year fleeing civil war, many of whom are refused
permission to stay.
Source: The Daily Telegraph Thursday 26 February page 10
On-the-spot fines for taking children on holiday during
term-time
Parents of truants will face spot fines from tomorrow if they are
caught taking their children out shopping or found to be taking
them on holiday during term-time without the head’s
permission.
Under the scheme parents could get a £100 fixed penalty notice
like a parking ticket. Education welfare officers and headteachers,
who would be given powers to issue the notices, said they opposed
the idea because it would jeopardise their relationship with
parents and pupils.
But truancy officers have now decided that they will attempt to
make it work.
Source: The Independent Thursday 26 February page 8
Gangmasters paid migrant workers 78p a week
Migrant workers packing fruit for a supermarket were left with just
78 pence a week after their gangmaster deducted rent and transport
costs, it was claimed yesterday.
Six workers were being housed in each room and charged £55 a
week for the accommodation.
The conditions of the workers were highlighted by an official from
the Transport and General Workers’ Union as a coalition of
MPs, unions, retailers, farmers and church leaders called for the
government to support a bill to license gangmasters.
The private member’s bill, sponsored by Jim Sheridan, MP for
Renfrewshire, is due to have its second reading tomorrow, although
the government has not yet fully committed itself to supporting
it.
Source: The Guardian Thursday 26 February page 12
Scottish newspapers
Why Airborne should get a second chance
Staff and campaigners have made an emotional appeal for the
Scottish executive to change its mind and keep the Airborne
Initiative open.
The closure would mean the loss of 26 jobs after the executive
decided to withdraw £600,000 worth of funding. The initiative
helps rehabilitate young offenders in ‘boot camp’
conditions.
Source:- The Scotsman Thursday 26 February 2004
Refugee mother’s tears for dead son
The mother of an East African refugee boy said she was
devastated by the loss of her 11-year-old son who died following a
scuffle in a school canteen.
Suhail Saleh’s mother Samira brought her two sons to Britain
four years ago from Djibouti after the civil war in neighbouring
Somalia spilled over into her country.
A 12-year-old Iraqi boy was released after being arrested in
connection with the death.
Source:- The Scotsman Thursday 26 February
Welsh newspapers
Success of pioneering drug group
A ground-breaking project based in Newport in south Wales has been
so successful that the waiting list for treatment in the city has
been cleared in just three months.
Police say that the Kaleidoscope project has also had a major
impact on reducing drug-related crime. Kaleidoscope’s
director Martin Blakeborough said that when the initiative started
the project was given a waiting list from the Gwent Health Trust
with over 130 people on it, but that all of those waiting had now
been treated.
Source:- South Wales Argus Wednesday 25 February page 4
Disabled fans may sue WRU
Disabled fans are considering suing the Welsh Rugby Union
because they say that they are being denied tickets for Six Nations
Games.
The supporters believe that the number of disabled seats at the
Millennium Stadium in Cardiff has been cut and they are angry that
they have not been allocated tickets for games against France and
Scotland.
A spokesperson for the stadium said that the venue had followed
government guidelines on the amount of space that could be provided
for disabled people.
Source:- South Wales Echo Wednesday 25 February page 19
‘Carer used martial arts on mentally ill
patients’
A care worker allegedly practiced marshal arts moves on patients
with mental health problems, a court has been told.
Jonathan Evans was said to ill-treated residents in a Welsh care
home by provoking them and then using marshal arts techniques on
them. The incidents are said to have happened at the Hollows Unit
run by Rhondda Cynon Taff Council.
Source:- Western Mail Thursday 26 February page 1
Every parent’s nightmare
A page feature looking at the experience of a mother who was
accused of abusing her children.
Stephanie Lawrence from Milford Haven said she was accused of
abusing her children by social workers from Pembrokeshire Council.
Her complaint against the way that the case was handled has been
largely held up by the findings of an independent report and her
case is to be highlighted in a regional TV documentary.
Source:- Western Mail Thursday 26 February page 15