Thursday 28 April 2005

By Maria Ahmed, Simeon Brody, Amy Taylor and Derren
Hayes

Jury clears widow over suicide

A jury took less than three hours yesterday to throw out the
prosecution which threatened to extend the crime of manslaughter to
carers who fail to prevent suicides by people who had repeatedly
made it clear that they wish to take their own lives.

Jill Anderson, 49, was cleared after admitting she failed to dial
999 after her husband took the last of many overdoses at their
Yorkshire home.

Source:- The Guardian Thursday 28 April 2005 page 12

Working-class children fall foul of digital divide

Children from poorer homes are becoming victims of a “digital
divide” because their parents lack the skills to help them
use the internet as effectively as their counterparts, according to
research by the London School of Economics.

Source:- The Guardian Thursday 28 April 2005 page 14

School nurses forget nits and try to stamp out group
sex

The role of school nurse has changed from “nit nurse”
to helping children involved in prostitution and drug and alcohol
abuse, the Royal College of Nursing annual congress was told.

Teenagers were now reporting a new phenomenon of “daisy
chaining” in which 15 and 16-year-olds go to someone’s
home for group sex, the conference heard.

Source:- The Daily Telegraph Thursday 28 April 2005 page
1

Rape claim mother jailed

The mother of a seven-week-old baby and two-year-old son was jailed
for three months for making a false rape claim.

She made up the story in the hope that it might stop her then
boyfriend leaving her, Cambridge Crown Court was told. Her parents
will care for her children.

Source:- The Daily Telegraph Thursday 28 April 2005 page
2

Thug freed as court guards go home for tea

A man facing prison for beating up his pregnant girlfriend had to
be set free because security guards at Blackburn bench had gone
home for their tea.

Robert Allen, of Darwen, Lancs, was left unguarded in the dock for
40 minutes as official tried to contact security company Global
Solution Ltd. When it was found they had left the building the
magistrates realised they would have to let him go rather than send
him to jail for four and a half months as they had originally
wished.

Source:- The Daily Telegraph Thursday 28 April 2005 page
4

Thousands of new mothers “cannot cope with a
baby”

Thousands of new mothers are suffering significant levels of stress
following the birth of their baby, according to a study in the
Journal of Advanced Nursing.

Significant anxieties are created by inadequate family support,
sibling rivalry and changes in lifestyle, which can quickly lead to
post-natal depression.

Source:- The Daily Telegraph Thursday 28 April 2005 page
7

One in four “heading for poverty in
retirement”

One in four adults thinks they can live on 29 per cent below the
minimum wage in retirement, according to a study which says
people’s expectations of pensions are unrealistic.

Independent financial advisers believe that almost one in two
people have “absolutely no idea” what they will need
when they retire.

Source:- The Daily Telegraph Thursday 28 April 2005 page
11

“This Reservoir Dogs image isn’t right for
Norwich, give us the Teletubbies”

A Norwich council poster campaign based on the film Reservoir Dogs
which is designed to convince people to use the city’s park
and ride scheme has been condemned as inappropriate.

Source:- The Daily Telegraph Thursday 28 April 2005 page
13

Tories plan “marketisation” of schools

The Conservatives would introduce a “radical deregulation and
marketisation” of schools, says the party’s education
spokesman.

Parents would be allowed to spend the money the state provided to
pay for a child’s education in any school.

Source:- Financial Times Thursday 28 April 2005 page
4

Scottish news

Migrants turn tide of Scotland’s population decline

Scotland’s population has grown by 26,000 people in 2004, its
largest inward migration of people in more than 50 years.

Official figures show the majority of people are coming from the
rest of the UK. The figures from the registrar general for Scotland
showed that there were 5,078,400 people living in Scotland in June
2004, an increase of 21,000 on the previous year and a rise of
23,600 on 2002.

Source:- The Herald Thursday 28 April

Children’s tsar tackles drug problem with kibbutz
plan

Scotland’s commissioner for children last night called for
vulnerable young people to be placed Isreali-style “kibbutzim” in
an effort to tackle the country’s drug problem.

Kathleen Marshall, who was appointed children’s tsar in February
last year, said a rethink was needed on how to support and help the
thousands of children in Scotland whose parents are drug
addicts.

She said simply taking children away from their drug-using parents
and placing them in care was not the answer.

Source:- The Herald Thursday 28 April

Welsh news

Police take sex attack inquiry to classrooms

The police are appealing to school children for help in
investigating a sexual assault on a 16-year-old.

The girl was assaulted on 13 April in Gelligaer, Hengoed at
9.45pm.

Police officers are taking items that they recovered from near the
scene and clothing that they believe the attacker was wearing
around schools in the Rhymney Valley to see if staff or students
recognised any of them.

Source:- Western Mail Thursday 28 April

Volunteering helps you as well as other people

You may have noticed the Year of the Volunteer TV adverts featuring
PC Hutching: “Policing the streets, keeping people safe, you have
to be prepared for a lot. But to do all that as a volunteer and
then go back and do a regular job – I couldn’t.” So why do 26
million of us in England and Wales – almost half the population –
volunteer? And what implications does that have for lifelong
learning?

Source:- Western Mail Thursday 28 April

Drugs fight goes hi-tech

A new information device is available for teenagers and parents at
a drugs support group in Wales.

The drugs box is a touch-screen monitor with interactive software
that provides information on class A drugs.

The box is available at the Family Awareness Drugs Support (Fads)
drop-in centre in Penywaun near Aberdare.

Source:- Western Mail Thursday 28 April