Monday 6 December 2004

By Maria Ahmed, Shirley Kumar, Derren Hayes and Amy
Taylor

Immigrant women reveal how Britain is home to sex
slavery

Source:- The Independent Saturday 4 December 2004 pages
30-31

Peer tells the poor: have fewer children

Baroness Flather, a former president of the Family Planning
Association, wants health clinics to advise parents from deprived
areas against extending their families.

Parents of large families accused her of advocating eugenics.

Source:- The Sunday Times Sunday 5 December 2004 page
8

Face to face, a victim seeks justice from her burglar

Report on a jail experiment in restorative justice that could
change the British penal system

Source:- The Observer Sunday 5 December 2004 page 11

Teenager’s death sparks video games crackdown

Violent video games are to be given clearer warning labels amid
growing concern over their impact on children.

The move follows a campaign by the mother of Stefan Pakeerah, the
14-year-old beaten to death by a friend who had become obsessed
with a video game called Manhunt, in which players score points for
committing murder.

Source:- The Observer Sunday 5 December 2004 page 13

Alert to pupils over sex crime

Children should be taught about prostitution in school sex
education lessons to warn them about the dangers of exploitative
affairs with men, according to local authority chiefs.

Source:- The Observer Sunday 5 December 2004 page 14

The card that will give the morning-after pill to girls of
11

Girls as young as 11 are to be offered a new card that
will make it easier for them to get the morning-after pill without
their parents knowing. The size of a credit card, it will allow
children to get access to contraception at GP’s surgeries and
health centres without any questions being asked.

Source:- The Mail on Sunday 5 December 2004 page 15

Falconer says more offenders should face court

Prosecutors must bring 170,000 more offenders to justice each year,
the lord chancellor will say today as he unveils a five-year
strategy for the courts.

The Crown Prosecution Service and the courts must convict, fine or
caution 1.25 million offenders a year by 2007-8, according to the
plan.

Around 1.08 million offenders were dealt with last year.

Source:- The Financial Times Monday 6 December 2004 page
2

Civil servants set to strike over loss of pension
rights

The government could spark the biggest national strike since 1926
over its plans to scrap the “gold standard” pension
scheme for 500,000 civil servants.

Four of the main public sector unions, including the TUC, are
expected to discuss strike action when their ruling executives meet
next week.

Source:- The Times Monday 6 December 2004 page 1

Gangbuster sets his sights on dangers of human
traffickers

Chair of the new Serious Organised Crime Agency (Soca) Sir Stephen
Lander gave warning that human-trafficking could become as big a
problem as drug abuse.

Illegal immigrants are pressed into prostitution, exploited by
protection rackets or used as “slave labour” to pay off
debts.

Police have already issued a warning the infiltration by ruthless
Albanian gangs of Britain’s vice industry.

Source:- The Times Monday 6 December 2004 page 4

Health service waste ‘to hit £20bn’

The government’s failure to implement cost-effective reforms
means the National Health Service will cost the country £20
billion by 2010, a new report reveals.

The study by Professor of Health Policy at Imperial College in
London, Nick Bosanquet, found NHS service could have been delivered
for £90 billion a year instead of the £110 billion a year
it is likely to cost if reform had been put ahead of increased
funding.

Source:- The Times Monday 6 December 2004 page 6

Rules put off job-hunters

The Institute for Public Policy Research has called for changes to
the way incapacity benefit is paid saying that rules deterred
recipients from trying to look for work.

The thinktank said the government would not achieve its goal of
full employment without an overhaul to incapacity benefit.

Source:- The Times Monday 6 December 2004 page 25

Man held over missing traveller

A 25-year-old man has been arrested on suspicion of murdering
missing traveller Fred Moss whose body has not been found.

More than 500 travellers from across England searched for Moss, who
was last seen leaving his aunt’s home in Stansted, Essex, on
Tuesday.

Source:- The Daily Telegraph Monday 6 December 2004 page
2

Push on adult video game warnings

Adult video and computer games should carry clearer warnings to
stop them falling into the hands of children, warned trade
secretary Patricia Hewitt.

Anyone convicted of selling an adult game to a child already faces
a fine of £5,000, a prison term of up to six months, or
both.

Source:- The Daily Telegraph Monday 6 December 2004 page
5

Tories promise extra time for children’s sport

The Conservatives are promising two hours of free sports coaching a
week for children.

The new Club2School programme would operate in addition to sports
education children already receive at school. Sports clubs will be
invited to provide the training.

Source:- The Daily Telegraph Monday 6 December 2004 page
8

Scandal of society’s misfits dumped in jail

Every prison in the country now houses people with mental health
problems.

The numbers have been spiralling upwards since the closure of the
old asylums.

Figures from the Office of National Statistics (ONS) shows 90 per
cent of inmates who are mentally disordered and or addicted to
drugs and alcohol would no longer be in jail if diverted to
treatment.

Source:- The Guardian Monday 6 December 2004 page 1

Woman fighting deportation gets palace invitation

Farhat Khan who fled Pakistan with her children to escape a violent
husband and who is facing deportation has been invited to a
Christmas reception at Buckingham Palace by the Queen in
recognition of those who have made a significant contribution to
national life.

If Khan, a volunteer advice worker, is deported she fears becoming
the victim of a so called honour killing.

Source:- The Guardian Monday 6 December 2004 page 2

Teen mags and soap operas to teach about sex

School children aged between 12 and 15 are studying teen
magazines and television dramas such as Footballer’s Wives in
an attempt for teachers to demystify sex and relationships.

The MediaRelate project headed by the Study of Children, Youth and
Media at the Institute of Education was devised after research
showed children preferred to gain sex information from the
media.

Source:- The Guardian Monday 6 December 2004 page 7

Antidepressants to be ruled safe

The government’s medicine watchdog is expected to
rule the use of antidepressants such as Prozac and Seroxat are safe
for adults despite psychiatrists and users expressing concern that
it has not seen the full data on side-effects.

The Medicines and Health-Care Products Regulatory Authority (MHRA)
banned all but one drug, Prozac from being prescribed to children
under 18 after it was claimed that they could make people
aggressive and suicidal.

Source:- The Guardian Monday 6 December 2004 page 9

Scottish newspapers

Tolerance zones for prostitution set for go ahead

A group of experts led by a former police chief is expected to
recommend ‘tolerance zones’ for prostitutes.

Its report, due this month, is expected to back a raft of measures
that deal with the legal, health and social justice aspects of
prostitution.

Source:- The Sunday Herald Sunday 5 December

Criminalising bad parents won’t improve their
nurturing skills

Opinion column by Steve McColl arguing that plans to penalise who
have failings as parents won’t help their children in the
long run.

Source:- Sunday Herald Sunday 5 December

Teenage tearaways? Send them to Africa

Social and popular culture commentator Muriel Gray says that
disruptive young people who find status only in material gain
should spend time working in poor areas of the world top help them
see beyond today’s ‘spiritual vacuum’.

Source:- Sunday Herald Sunday 5 December

Council forced to spend £4m on cheap homes

A number of councils are facing having to buy back former council
homes at six times the amount they sold them to tenants just a few
years ago because they don’t have enough to meet new laws on
providing decent accommodation for homeless families.

It is estimated councils will have to pay around £4 million to
buy back homes to meet the requirements to not house families in
bed and breakfast for more than 14 days.

Source:- Scotland on Sunday Sunday 5 December

Drug traffickers to target town of Inverness

Police fear the boom town of Inverness is being targeted by drug
gangs keen to take advantage of the increased wealth of young
people there.

Seizures of cocaine and heroin are up in number and quantity say
police.

Source:- Scotland on Sunday Sunday 5 December

One day strike threat

Public sector workers across the UK are calling for a one day
strike if they have to pay more to fund pensions or lose benefits
if they retire through ill health.

The proposals have been put to union officials who will meet later
this month to discuss them and whether there should be co-ordinated
industrial action in the run-up to the general election.

Source:- Daily Record Monday 6 December

Welsh newspapers

Stroke victim abandoned in minibus

A grandmother who had suffered a stroke in the past was left on her
own in a mini bus for four hours after her carers apparently forgot
about her.

Nelly Burns, who has difficulty walking and talking, was discovered
after her husband became concerned that she had not returned home
from a trip to a day centre.

Bridgend Council has launched an investigation into the incident
and two people have been suspended.

Source:- Western Mail Saturday 4 December

Benefit fraud inspectors called to Merthyr after
overpayments and a catalogue of errors

The Benefit Fraud Inspectorate have been sent in to help a Welsh
council after it made mistake in processing housing benefit claims
and failed to get back money it had incorrectly given out.

The inspectorate found Mistakes in 90 per cent of all new housing
benefit claims processed by Merthyr Tydfil Council.

Source:- Western Mail Saturday 4 December

Maxine Carr flees Wales

Maxine Carr has fled her home in Wales within the past couple of
weeks after she was recognised by residents.

Carr, who gave a false alibi for her boyfriend Ian Huntley who
murdered Holly Wells and Jessica Chapman, was spat at by people who
became aware of who she was.

Source:- Wales on Sunday Sunday 5 December

Beggar gets Asbo after assault

An 70-year-old man who has difficulty walking has been given an
asbo to stop him begging for money.

Alan Riley is said to have hit a woman with his crutch when she
refused to give him any money.

Swansea magistrates gave Riley the order after convicting him of
two counts of begging, two counts of using threatening behaviour,
common assault and making a threat of violence.

The order bans him for begging for the next five years.

Source:- Western Mail Monday 6 December

‘Dignity for the elderly’ review leads to ward
calls

Welsh politicians have called for patients to have single-sex wards
in hospitals in the wake of a major report into the dignity of
older people.

The study, co-ordinated by Dr Win Tadd, of Cardiff University,
looked at the experiences of older people across Europe.

It found that health workers often humiliate the older people they
are looking after unknowingly and that this can easily be
avoided.

Source:- Western Mail Monday 6 December