Thursday 17 March 2005

By Clare Jerrom, Simeon Brody, Derren Hayes and Amy
Taylor

Brown’s guarded giveaway

The chancellor yesterday announced a pre-election Budget that gave
money to poor families and older people.

Gordon Brown announced that older people would have their council
tax reduced and have free bus travel.

He also promised a boost in child tax credit worth £5 a week
from next year.

Source:- The Guardian  Thursday 17 March page 1

Alzheimer’s plea

MPs were yesterday urged to end discrimination against dementia
sufferers and their carers by campaigners for the Alzheimer’s
Society.

They want an end to means testing for long-term care, which means
that thousands of people have to pay for help with everyday
tasks.

Source:- The Times  Thursday 17 March page 6

Illegal immigrants jailed for selling girl as a sex
slave

Three illegal immigrants were jailed yesterday after they sold a
15-year-old Lithuanian girl as a sex slave.

The girl was resold a number of times, repeatedly raped and forced
to work in brothels.

Shaban Maka, Ilir Barjami and Xhevahir Pisha were found guilty at
Sheffield Crown Court of trafficking the teenager.

Source:- The Times  Thursday 17 March page 13

Cannibal’s social worker named

Roland Silcott has been named as the social worker whose assessment
of Peter Bryan helped to secure his release, allowing him to strike
twice again.

Silcott was convinced the schizophrenic posed no further threat to
the public and asked the Home Office and mental health experts to
free him.

Source:- The Times  Thursday 17 March page 29

Lords to rule on human rights issue over Gypsy
eviction

The House of Lords will decide whether gypsies camped on local
authority land without permission can fight eviction by arguing
that it breaches their human rights.

The court of appeal yesterday dismissed an appeal by a gypsy family
that a council had contravened their human rights. However the
court of appeal referred the case to the lords.

Source:- The Guardian  Thursday 17 March page 4

£75 a week bribe to stay at school

Young people will be paid up to £75 a week to stay in full
time education.

The measure is a key plank of chancellor Gordon Brown’s
desire to achieve ‘universal education or training until the
age of 18’.

Source:- Daily Mail  Thursday 17 March page 10

Boys ‘tried to rape me at the after school
club’

An 11-year-old girl yesterday claimed two boys tried to rape her
during an after school club.

The child told Inner London Crown Court via video link that the
boys dragged her into the toilet for the ordeal and how they
threatened to beat her up if she told anyone what happened.

Source:- Daily Mail  Thursday 17 March page 37

Scrap plans for City Academies, say MPs

Plans to build 200 expensive state-funded City Academies should
be shelved because of lack of evidence that they work, according to
a Commons education select committee report.

The projected £50 billion cost of the scheme is too
expensive without any evaluation of the schools’ performance,
the report said.

 Source:- The Daily Telegraph Thursday 15 March 2005
page 2

 Curate loses legal battle to prosecute doctors over
abortions

The Reverend Joanna Jepson failed in her attempt to bring
criminal charges against two doctors involved in a
“late” abortion on an unborn child with a cleft lip and
palate.

The Crown Prosecution Service said it was satisfied the doctors
involved had acted in good faith.

 Source:- The Daily Telegraph Thursday 15 March 2005
page 4

 Parents of sick children dupe nurseries

 Children’s nurseries are increasingly involved in battles
with working parents who drop their youngsters off when they are
ill, according to research.

The survey found 86 per cent sent a child back to nursery before
they had fully recovered from illness and more than a quarter
admitted disguising signs of highly contagious eye or ear
infections.

Source:- The Daily Telegraph Thursday 15 March 2005
page 7

Chopped down

State subsidy to the Woodcraft Folk, which was founded as a
socialist alternative to the scouts, has been cut threatening the
movement’s survival.

Source:- The Independent Thursday 15 March 2005 page
12

Ministers in gamble on NHS private
suppliers

The government is to gamble that the private sector will be
willing to build new centres to treat hundreds of thousands of NHS
patients without being given a guarantee over the volume of
patients they will receive.

Patients are due to be offered a choice of four or five
hospitals from December, one of them a private hospital.

Source:- Financial Times Thursday 15 March 2005 page
34

Scottish news

Man takes over parents home in row

A man has taken possession of his old and disabled
parents’ home despite a court order for him not to interfere
in its sale.

Bryan Stuart has barricaded himself in Petmathen House, in the
Aberdeenshire hamlet of Oyne, and is vowing not to move when the
new owners take possession next week. His parents, who have given
power of attorney to their eldest son, sold the house to move into
residential care as they have health problems.

Source:- The Scotsman Thursday 17 March

Education set for boost as McConnell gets a £300m
windfall

The Scottish executive looks set to plough an extra £300
million into primary school education over the next five years as a
result of an increase in government funding. Alistair Darling, the
Scottish secretary, has given a clear signal that Westminster
expects first minister Jack McConnell to follow England and invest
the money in education. McConnell can decide how to spend the money
himself, but is unlikely to go against the wishes of
Westminster.

Source:- The Scotsman Thursday 17 March

Welsh news

Archbishop tells RCs abortion a key poll issue

The Archbishop of Cardiff said that the church will not side with
any of the political parties views on abortion.

The issue has recently become a hot topic. Archbishop Peter Smith
said that Catholics should vote for which ever party was most in
line with their views.

His comments come after the Archbishop of Westminster Cardinal
Cormac Murphy-O’Connor, said that he agreed with Conservative
leader Michael Howard’s proposal that abortion limit should
be reduced from 24 to 20 weeks.

Source:- Western Mail Thursday 17 March 17

Teachers want direct payments to schools

Schools leaders in Wales have called on the Welsh Assembly to make
direct payments to schools instead of channeling money through
local education authorities.

The assembly will debate how to distribute any extra money from the
Treasury in London in light of the budget.

Source:- Western Mail Thursday 17 March

Officials fear heads will attack minister

Assembly Government officials fear that teachers will round on
education minister Jane Davidson today over claims that schools in
England get more money than schools in Wales.

The Secondary Heads Association  is set to publish a study of 80
schools today showing that some welsh schools get £150 to
£200 less than schools in England.

Source:- Western Mail Thursday 17 March