Tuesday 21 September 2004

By Shirley Kumar, Clare Jerrom and Alex Dobson

Disabled group opposes plan for single equality body

The Disability Rights Commission chair has condemned government
proposals to create an equality super quango.

Bert Massie warned that merging the anti-discrimination bodies on
race, gender and disability into a single body would be a mistake
in the absence of any legislation to ensure each type of
discrimination was given equal weight.

Source:- The Times Tuesday 21 September 2004 page 4

Accounts frozen

The accounts of Gilbert Deya Ministries, whose founder Gilbert Deya
is at the centre of baby trafficking allegations, have been frozen
by The Charity Commission.

Around 20 children were seized from the home of Deya’s
wife.

Source:- The Times Tuesday 21 September 2004 page 4

Mosque teacher beat boy with stick

A cleaner who taught Islamic morals at his local mosque was
convicted of beating an 11-year-old boy with a stick.

Mohammed Abdullah will be sentenced next month by Peterborough
Magistrates Court.

Source:- The Times Tuesday 21 September 2004 page 5

Seroxat and Prozac ‘can make people
homicidal’

The Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Authority is
ignoring evidence that antidepressant drugs like Seroxat and Prozac
could make people homicidal.

David Healy, an expert on psychiatric drugs from north Wales, said
the working group has overlooked important date relating to a set
of further dangerous side affects.

Source:- The Guardian Tuesday 21 September 2004 page 2

Anti-terror measures ‘alienate
Muslims’

Police counter-terrorism operations are directed disproportionately
against Muslims and risk alienating them, according to the Church
of England.

In a submission to the commons home affairs committee, the
church’s mission supported a proposed law against incitement
to religious hatred, including towards Muslims, to preserve
community relations.

Source:- The Guardian Tuesday 21 September 2004 page
11

Immigration would meet labour needs

The Liberal Democrats have agreed to establish a system of
immigration quotas linked to the needs of different labour
markets.

The party also overwhelmingly backed an attempt to ensure families
and children were not held in removal centres intended for adults
only.

Source:- The Independent Tuesday 21 September 2004 page
4

Fathers 4 Justice protest at ‘Batman’
custody hearing

Police arrested 11 members of the Fathers 4 Justice group outside a
custody hearing yesterday.

The campaigners, who clashed with the police, said they were
supporting Jason Hatch who breached security at Buckingham Palace
last week.

Source:- The Independent Tuesday 21 September 2004 page
19

Voters ‘writing off welfare state that is failing
the poor’

The vast majority of voters have written off the welfare
state, according to an online survey by the Centre for Social
Justice set up by former Conservative party leader Iain Duncan
Smith.

Voters believe the welfare state is failing the people who need it
most and is lavishing money on the undeserving, according to the
survey.

Source:- The Daily Mail Tuesday 21 September 2004 page
19

Ex-mental patient in two more murder quizzes

Paranoid schizophrenic Daniel Gonzalez has been charged with the
murder of a retired couple in Highgate, north London.

He is also being questioned about the murder of former landlord
Kevin Molloy in Tottenham which also took place last Friday, and
for the murder of grandmother Marie Harding in West Sussex two days
earlier.

Source:- The Daily Mail Tuesday 21 September 2004 page
35

Scottish newspapers

Reliance set to shadow police and court staff in Lothian and
Borders

Reliance security staff are set to shadow police and court staff in
the Edinburgh area.

The company will have employees shadowing police, prison and court
staff in Lothian and the Borders – an area which includes
Saughton prison, the high courts and appeal courts in Edinburgh,
nine sheriff courts and nine district courts.

The firm, which sparked controversy by mistakenly releasing a
number of prisoners in the west of Scotland, is already responsible
for prison escort and court custody services in Strathclyde,
Dumfries and Galloway and Central Scotland.

Source:- The Scotsman  Tuesday 21 September

Fewer foster carers in Scotland

The shortage of foster carers in Scotland has increased by eight
per cent in two years to 700, according to a survey by the
Fostering Network.

Figures show that there are 3,300 children and young people living
with 2,200 foster families on any given day in Scotland.

Source:- The Scotsman Tuesday 21 September

Blind workers face the sack

Plans to close or drastically scale down work at Edinburgh’s
BlindCraft factory has left blind and disabled workers angry at the
prospect of losing their jobs.

Consultants brought in to decide how to stem massive losses at the
factory have told councillors to consider closure.

The proposals have sparked anger from the 60 disabled and visually
impaired workers who say the factory is the only place in Edinburgh
where many of the staff can get meaningful work.

Source:- Evening News  Monday 20 September

Welsh newspapers

Sex abuse inquiry critique handed to Assembly

A critique of an independent inquiry into sexual abuse at a south
Wales school, by the children’s commissioner for Wales, has
been presented to the Welsh assembly.

The document claims some of the conclusions of the Clywch inquiry
were unfair and unjust. The inquiry was set up to investigate the
activities of former drama teacher John Owen who killed himself
just before a scheduled court appearance on charges of sexual
assault against children.

Source:- Western Mail Tuesday 21 September page 3

Video’s school bus safety warning

An emotionally charged safety video will warn pupils of the dangers
of misbehaving on school buses.

The resource has been set up by Belt Up School Kids (Busk) with
funding from the Principality Building Society. The video and DVD
has been made in memory of 12-year-old Stuart Cunningham-Jones who
died on his way home from school in the Vale of Glamorgan in
December 2002.

Source:- Western Mail Tuesday 21 September page 7