Thursday 27 May 2004

By Amy Taylor, Shirley Kumar, Clare Jerrom and Alex
Dobson

Ministers have not addressed obesity

Ministers have not adequately addressed an obesity crisis that is
threatening the NHS, a commons committee has warned.

The report comes to light as a girl of three years old weighing six
stone died from heart failure caused by extreme obesity. Obesity in
Britain has risen 22 per cent with the problem tripling among
children in the past 20 years.

The committee is calling for a huge cross-departmental effort in
partnership with the food industry.

Source:- Financial Times Thursday 27 May page 3

Soham schoolgirl in kidnap scare

A man attempted to abduct a teenage schoolgirl as she
walked down the street in Soham, Cambridgeshire.

The man tried to pull the girl into his car from Sand Street, the
road where Holly Wells and Jessica Chapman were seen shortly before
they were murdered by Ian Huntley.

The incident happened before 2pm on Tuesday.

Source:- The Daily Telegraph Thursday 27 May page 7

‘Oppressive’ jail wing for women to be
shut

The only maximum security prison wing for women in Britain
is being shut down after a damming report described it as
“oppressive and claustrophobic”.

The inspection report on Durham women’s centre was carried
out by Anne Owers, the chief inspector of prisons.

The closure comes following six-self inflicted deaths inside the
centre over the past three years.

Source:- The Guardian Thursday 27 May page 6

Chains on ‘charity muggers’

Charity workers who try to get donations by direct debit
from people passing by in the street will be restricted under new
government plans.

The ‘charity muggers’ will have to prove that they work
for a registered charity and have a licence from the local
council.

Councils will be able to withhold licences if they feel a patch in
being inundated with ‘chuggers’.

Source:- The Guardian Thursday 27 May page 15

Scottish newspapers

City nursery nurses vote to reject final pay offer

Nursery nurses in Glasgow last night rejected a final pay offer
from their employers signalling that strike action would
continue.

The nurses voted 445 to 287 against the deal put forward by the
council at a meeting at the city’s Royal Concert Hall.

The local authority called on public sector union Unison to conduct
a postal ballot of all its members to ensure the voices of all
1,100 nursery nurses are heard.

Source:- The Scotsman  Thursday 27 May

Boy who can’t read gets exclusion letter

A five-year-old-boy who cannot read was mistakenly given a letter
to inform him that he was excluded from school by a primary school
in Edinburgh.

Jake Tyler was told he should write to the council if he wanted to
question the decision and the letter added that the boy should
telephone the head-teacher at Craigour Park primary school to
discuss the action.

A council spokesperson admitted yesterday that a school secretary
had mistakenly printed out the standard exclusion letter for
children aged over 16, but insisted the letter had been handed to
the child’s mother.

Source:- The Scotsman  Thursday 27 May

City on the brink of new heroin epidemic

Edinburgh is on the verge of the worst heroin epidemic for almost
20 years, police and drug workers have warned.

More than 60 per cent of drug-related deaths in the city were
caused through heroin use, and the majority of the 11 people who
have died so far this year injected heroin of unusually high
quality.

Police claim the spread of heroin is not confined to the housing
estates and there is growing evidence that the drug is readily
available in schools, clubs and a variety of city centre
locations.

Source:- Evening News  Wednesday 26 May

NHS sheets ahead after beating its beds target

Targets for getting patients released from hospital faster have
been exceeded in NHS Lothian.

The number of people facing delayed discharge has fallen by almost
70 per cent in the last year the organisation’s board was due
to be informed yesterday.

The success has been attributed to close co-operation between the
NHS and local authorities.

Source:- Evening News  Wednesday 26 May

Photographs show asylum seekers in a new light

The common perceptions about asylum seekers are set to be
challenged at an exhibition to be staged in the capital next
month.

An exhibition of portrait photographs which tackles stereotypical
media representations of asylum seekers will go on display at Our
Dynamic Earth as part of Refugee Week in Scotland.

Source:- Evening News  Wednesday 26 May

Schools face ‘rising tide’ of discipline
problems

One in 10 Scottish schools has a “severe” problem with
violent and unruly pupils disrupting classes.

A “rising tide” of problems has led to a poor
environment for learning and high levels of stress among staff,
according to a report by Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of
Education.

Source:- Evening News  Wednesday 26 May

Haunted Jenna takes own life

A teenager, who was training to become a care home nurse, has died
after taking a cocktail of pills.

Family and friends said Jenna Russell had been depressed since her
best friend James Fleck hanged himself six months ago.

Source:- Daily Record  Thursday 27 May

Welsh newspapers

Cleric locked up for sex attack

A church lay-reader has begun a three-year sentence for
indecently assaulting a 16-year-old boy.

Darren Jenkins was found to have abused his position of trust
within his parish in Pontypool, south Wales and has been banned
from working with children indefinitely. His name will also go onto
the sex offenders’ register for 10 years.

Source:- South Wales Argus Wednesday 26 May page 3

School victory for bullies row mum

The mother of a Welsh schoolgirl, who threatened to kill herself
if she was forced to go to a school with pupils who had bullied
her, has won her appeal.

Joanne Hughes took her daughter, Jazmin, out of a primary school in
Wrexham after she complained of bullying. She was placed in another
school but is due to leave to begin secondary school in September.
Education officials had wanted her to attend a senior school where
she would have encountered her former tormentors.

Her mother took the case to an appeal tribunal and has now secured
a place in a school of her choice.

Source:- Western Mail Thursday 27 May page 8