Tuesday 24 May 2005

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

Mother killed by ‘unstable’ son

A woman was stabbed to death by her son three days after her
husband had pleaded for him to be sectioned under the Mental Health
Act, a court was told yesterday.

Philip Wayne, a paranoid schizophrenic, stabbed Maxine Penfold
after she complained about him smoking in the family home in Devon.
Doctors had told Penfold’s husband that nothing could be done
and to ignore Wayne’s increasingly irrational and aggressive
behaviour.

The Devon Partnership NHS Health Trust are to hold an inquiry into
Wayne’s treatment.

Source:- The Times Tuesday 24 May 2005 page 23

TUC blacklists grandmas and youths

Grandmas and youths are out but black coffee is fine, according to
a new guide for politically correct language by the TUC.

“Youth” carries connotations of inexperience,
impetuosity, and unreliability or even dishonesty, the guide says,
recommending the use of the term “young people”
instead.

Source:- The Daily Telegraph Tuesday 24 May 2005 page
1

One in four teenage boys thinks he may need cosmetic
surgery

The obsession with body image has spread from girls to boys,
according to research published today which says that eight in 10
teenage males are unhappy with their appearance.

A quarter thought they may have cosmetic surgery, the research
published in the British Journal of Developmental Psychology
says.

Source:- The Daily Telegraph Tuesday 24 May 2005 page
11

Will they let you die with dignity?

Older people are discriminated against in the care they get when
they are near death

Source:- The Times  T2 Tuesday 24 May 2005 page
10-11

‘Uneducable’ man who learnt to beat
disability

Mark Ellis, who was born with cerebral palsy, was given the
“individual learner of the year” award for triumphing
over adversity as part of Adult Learner’s Week.

Source:- The Independent Tuesday 24 May 2005 page 11

Pubs ban happy hours to curb binge drinking

More than half of Britain’s pubs promised to stop selling
cut-price alcohol through drink promotions and happy hours.

The British Beer and Pub Association announced that cheap deals
will be banned by its members, saying it was doing its bit to
combat binge drinking and anti-social behaviour.

Source:-The Guardian Tuesday 24 May 2005 page 5

Safety fear for mental health staff

Three-quarters of nurses on mental health wards in England and
Wales have been attacked or threatened by patients who were often
under the influence of drugs, an audit published by the Healthcare
Commission finds.

The audit, carried out by the Royal College of Psychiatrists, shows
34 per cent of patients had personal experience of being attacked
or threatened, rising to 76 per cent for full-time staff.

Source:-The Guardian Tuesday 24 May 2005 page 6

Homes plan is backward step, says rural campaign

Government plans for new homes in the south-east will threaten
green fields and undermine hard-won progress to rebuild inner
cities, the Campaign to Protect Rural England claimed.

The government is expected to make an announcement on
house-building in the south-east and plans to help first-time
buyers tomorrow.

Source:-The Guardian Tuesday 24 May 2005 page 13

Villagers who aren’t needy enough to be given a
lottery grant

A rural community has been told it cannot have a lottery grant to
build a village hall because it will not benefit enough asylum
seekers or ethnic minorities.

Residents of the villages of Sandiway and Cuddingham, in Cheshire,
had hoped to replace their crumbling building with a new one to
hold dances and concerts.

Source:- Daily Mail Tuesday 24 May 2005 page 10

Why Pension Credit “can’t be
sustained”

Pension Credit is “unsustainable” because it is
destroying the incentive to save, says Adair Turner head of the
government’s Pension Commission.

Turner warns that Britain cannot end up with more than half of its
11 million pensioners on the means-tested handout.

Source:- Daily Mail Tuesday 24 May 2005 page 18

Scottish news

Head of troubled NHS 24 services quits

The head of NHS 24 Christine Lenihan has resigned with immediate
effect from the £47 million-a-year service.

Her four-year appointment as chair was not due to end until August,
but it is believed a report out later this week will severely
criticise the telephone helpline.

Lenihan’s departure from the £25,000-a-year post follows
months of complaints from the public.

Source:- The Herald Tuesday 24 May

Police chief wants yobs fined on-the-spot

A senior Scottish police officer called yesterday for those who
commit minor acts of anti-social behaviour to be given
fixed-penalty fines instead of appearing in court because he does
not believe prison works for them.

Malcolm Dickson, deputy chief constable of Lothian and Borders,
said that low-level offences such as urinating in the street and
vandalism should be dealt with by on-the-spot fines.

In Tayside, police officers issued 72 £40 fines for
anti-social behaviour in the first week of a trial scheme.

Source:- The Scotsman Tuesday 24 May

Welsh news

Two-for-one drinks go on as happy hour bites dust

A Welsh drugs and alcohol charity has warned that Britain’s
trend for binge drinking has not been adequately curtailed by
measures to crack down on happy hours.

The British Beer and Pub Association has announced that cheap
alcohol sales, including happy hours, will be banned by its 32,000
members but it has admitted that two for one drinks offers will
still be allowed.

The Welsh charity CAIS welcomed the move but said that by allowing
two-for-one offers the industry was still encouraging people to
drink larger amounts.

Source:- Western Mail Tuesday 24 May

More sensible to scrap health boards

Scrapping all of Wales’ local health boards is preferable to
the Welsh Assembly’s plans to bring three quangos under the
direct control of the civil service, a leading academic has
argued.

Professor Kevin Morgan, says that if the plans really aimed to
raise the quality of the public services in Wales then he would
have expected the 22 health boards to have been dismantled first
because of public dismay with health services.

The quangos being dissolved include the regeneration body the Welsh
Development Agency.

Source:- Western Mail Tuesday 24 May