Friday 4 March 2005

By Simeon Brody, Amy Taylor and Derren Hayes

Row over NHS funding splits parties

The disputed medical history of Margaret Dixon has become
election fodder in what is being dubbed the “war of
Margaret’s shoulder”.

Labour and the Conservatives accused each other of political
exploitation as North Cheshire NHS Trust said her operation had
been cancelled three times not seven.

Source:- The Guardian Friday 4 March 2005 page 1

Inmate killed “in gladiator fight set up for staff
bet”

Asian teenager Zahid Mubarek was battered to death when prison
officers placed him in a cell with a white racist for their
“perverted pleasure”, an inquiry heard yesterday.

Prison Officers Association official Duncan Keys said the
19-year-old was deliberately put in a cell with a violent racist in
a game known as “gladiator” or
“colosseum”.

Source:- The Guardian Friday 4 March 2005 page 4

One in four state teachers would educate own children
privately

Labour has lost a third of its support among teachers since the
last election and a quarter would send their children to private
school if they could afford it, according to a poll.

Source:- The Guardian Friday 4 March 2005 page 4

Boy who killed for £1 pizza found guilty of
murder

A 14-year-old boy who knifed a takeaway worker after being
refused a £1 pizza after a special offer ended was found
guilty of murder at the Old Bailey yesterday.

The boy, who was 13 when he stabbed the 32-year-old outside a
north London takeaway, claimed he was acting in self defence.

Source:- The Guardian Friday 4 March 2005 page 6

Lives blighted by adversity and governed by the
gun

The proliferation of illegal weapons in some of Britain’s
most deprived communities is now such that there is a gun or
imitation firearm easily available for almost everyone who wants
one.

They are being carried as a fashion accessory by marginalised
young men who have come to view their ownership as a right of
passage, according to University of Portsmouth research.

Source:- The Guardian Friday 4 March 2005 page 7

Muslims play down jilbab case

Muslim groups warned that the schoolgirl who won the right to
wear the Islamic jilbab in class should not be used as a political
football.

A headteachers’ organisation said the decision would drive
a “coach and horses” through schools’ rights to
set their uniform policy.

Source:- The Guardian Friday 4 March 2005 page 6

Father had no right to cut short terminally-ill
son’s life, mother tells court

Mary Wragg told a court there was “no excuse” for
the murder of her 10-year-old son Jacob, who had the incurable
degenerative disorder Hunter syndrome.

Andrew Wragg killed the boy by smothering him with a pillow at
their home in Worthing last July but denies murder.

Source:- The Guardian Friday 4 March 2005 page 6

Lives blighted by adversity and governed by the
gun

The proliferation of illegal weapons in some of Britain’s
most deprived communities is now such that there is a gun or
imitation firearm easily available for almost everyone who wants
one.

They are being carried as a fashion accessory by marginalised
young men who have come to view their ownership as a right of
passage, according to University of Portsmouth research.

Source:- The Guardian Friday 4 March 2005 page 7

Computer games beat young patients’
pain

Hospitals should prescribe computer games to help patients
overcome their pain, a study in a medical journal says.

Source:- The Guardian Friday 4 March 2005 page 9

4m affected by debts that cannot be paid, says
study

Four million households could be living in households with debts
greater than they can afford, according to a study which urges
people not to allow their unsecured loans to rise above 45 per cent
of gross household income.

Source:- The Guardian Friday 4 March 2005 page 11

Toddler lay next to murdered father for three
days

A toddler spent three days trapped inside his home, lying next
to the body of his murdered father before he was found by relatives
last week.

Scott Marshall, 45, a single parent from Bristol had been beaten
to death in an apparently motiveless attack.

Source:- The Guardian Friday 4 March 2005 page 12

Girl, 12, quizzed over death

A 12-year-old girl has been questioned over the
“unexplained” death of an 11-year-old girl who died in
Wycombe General Hospital last week, according to police.

Source:- The Daily Telegraph Friday 4 March 2005 page
2

Blair asks for parents’ help with schools
“mini manifesto”

Parents will be more involved in their children’s
education and small group after-school tuition will be introduced,
Labour promised as part of its education “mini
manifesto”.

Source:- The Daily Telegraph Friday 4 March 2005 page
6

Kelly is “taking schools back to Victorian
era”

Labour’s education policy is reinforcing social division
and taking schools back to the Victorian era, according to Tim
Andrew, president of the Secondary Heads Association.

Source:- The Times Friday 4 March 2005 page 6

Addict jailed for hostel murders

A drug addict was told he should serve a minimum of 28 years for
murdering four people in a hostel fire.

Gary Dudley had been moved to Fairlawns Hotel in Birmingham
after burning down his council flat.

 Source:- The Times Friday 4 March 2005 page 6

 Homophobic abuse to become an offence

 Gays are to be protected from homophobic abuse by an equality
law making it illegal for the first time to should homophobic
insults, under government proposals.

 Source:- The Independent Friday 4 March 2005 page
24

 Superquango

The commission for Equality and Human Rights will be empowered
to investigate allegations of discrimination, force people to give
evidence and set rules to be adhered to by companies and voluntary
agencies.

 Source:- Daily Mail Friday 4 March 2005 page 16

Overpaid claimant loses fight for cash

A benefit claimant who had appeared to win an important legal
victory when the Court of Appeal said she did not have to return
overpayments by the Department of Work and Pensions has seen the
decision overturned by the House of Lords.

Source:- Financial Times Friday 4 March 2005 page 4

Scottish newspapers

Children searched as boy shot by airgun fights for life

Children as young as six were searched on the way to school after a
two-year-old boy was shot in the head with an airgun in a Glasgow
street.

The boy’s mother said he been shot in the head as he left the
family home in the Easterhouse area of the city. Police searched
everyone in the surrounding area including primary school children
on their way to school.

Source:- The Herald Friday 4 March

I’m not panty social

A woman has been issued with an anti-social behaviour order
preventing her from answering her door or being in her garden in
her underwear.

The sight of Caroline Shepherd in her bra and knickers scandalised
her neighbours in a quiet suburban cul-de-sac in East Kilbride,
Lanarkshire.

Shephard said she only wore them to do gardening.

Source:- Daily Record Friday 4 March

Welsh news

Death by force-feeding ‘almost unknown’

A pathologist told a court that it was “almost
impossible” to kill someone by force-feeding yesterday at the
trial of a residential home matron accused of killing a pensioner
in this way.

Avola Humphreys denies causing the manslaughter of 95-year-old
William Pettener by forcing rhubarb and custard into his
mouth.

Dr Donald Wayte, said he had investigated more than 1,000
suspicious deaths but had never come across anyone who choked to
death in this way.

Source:- Western Mail Friday 4 March

‘Transformation facilities needed’

A revolution in the childcare facilities available in Wales is
required to provide parents with access to an affordable service,
according to a new report.

The study, carried out by the Childcare Working Group, states that
pre-school childcare provision is a key way of ensuring the
academic success of children from deprived communities.

Source:- Western Mail Friday 4 March

Scientific breakthrough

A gene which causes dyslexia has been identified for the first time
by scientists in Wales.

The gene could lead to new treatments being developed.

Source:- Western Mail Friday 4 March

Alcohol-link deaths soar in Wales

The number of people dying from alcohol-related illnesses in Wales
has increased, according to new figures.

The Office for National Statistics figures show that in 2003 there
were 6, 580 alcohol-related deaths in Wales and England compared to
5, 970in 2001.

Source:- Western Mail Friday 4 March