Wednesday 8 June 2005

By Mithran Samuel, Clare Jerrom and Amy Taylor

Ministers booed by pensioners

Delegates at the National Pensioners Convention booed and slow
hand-clapped the pensions minister Stephen Timms when he addressed
the conference in Blackpool yesterday.

The NPC had published research suggesting one in five older people
lived below the poverty line.

Source:- The Times  Wednesday 8 June page 2

Fathers 4 Justice split by infighting

Fathers 4 Justice has imploded following infighting, according to
two of the organisation’s best known figures.

David Pyke and Jason Hatch who scaled Buckingham palace dressed as
Batman and Robin said that the campaign group had “fallen
apart at the seams” four months ago.

Source:- The Times  Wednesday 8 June page 5

Dog fostering

Women fleeing domestic violence can now place their family dog with
The Freedom project – a free animal fostering service. It was
set up by the Dogs Trust in response to concerns from women that
they were frightened to leave the dog behind when fleeing domestic
violence in case it was hurt.

Source:- The Times  Wednesday 8 June page 29

Report to attack Labour anti-terror laws

The European human rights watchdog will criticise the
government’s record on asylum and anti-social behaviour in a
report out today.

Council of Europe human rights commissioner Alvaro Gil-Robles will
also criticise the impact on race relations of the
government’s anti-terror stance.

Source:- The Guardian Wednesday 8 June page 6

Europe steps up pressure to outlaw smacking

The government will come under renewed pressure to ban smacking
today from the body responsible for human rights across
Europe.

The Council of Europe will rule that children in Belgium, Greece
and Ireland lack adequate protection from assault.

All three countries have similar regimes to Britain, giving parents
a defence of “reasonable chastisement” for corporal
punishment.

Source:- The Guardian Wednesday 8 June page 6

Asbo is unleashed as the new Fido

The anti-social behaviour order has made further inroads on the
cultural landscape by becoming a dog’s name.

Poet Ian Killen caught an owner calling their Staffordshire bull
terrier with the cry “Asbo! Here Asbo!” in a park in
Hull.

Killen has been collecting dogs’ names to put on a tea towel
commemorating the Hull literature festival. Unfortunately he could
find no canine answering to “Hoodie”.

Source:- The Guardian Wednesday 8 June page 6

Baby’s body found in freezer

A baby’s body lay undiscovered for 18 months in a care home
where his teenage mother worked, an inquest heard yesterday.

Joshua Barrett was discovered in February 2004, 18 months after his
mother Louise, then 17, had given birth to him in a flat above Town
Moor care home.

A post-mortem failed to record the cause of death and Doncaster
coroner Stanley Hooper recorded an open verdict.

Source:- The Guardian Wednesday 8 June page 10

Body politics

Ten years on and the Disability Discrimination Act is still being
implemented. But campaigners remain sceptical.

Source:- SocietyGuardian  Wednesday 8 June page 2

Fighting back

Domestic abuse represents up to a quarter of violent crime in UK
cities. Tina Orr Munro visits the Women’s Safety unit in
Cardiff where securing more convictions is key to tackling the
problem.

Source:- SocietyGuardian Wednesday 8 June page 10

What else can I do?

Angela, a senior planning officer in the Midlands, will profit from
her profession’s shortage when she moves to the
south-east.

Source:- SocietyGuardian Wednesday 8 June page 120

Welsh news

Youth centre set for go ahead

Councillors are set to recommend for a youth centre to be built on
playing fields in Acton.

They will shortly make the case for the centre to the
council’s executive board. Residents that live near the
Rhosnesni playing fields were initially opposed to the idea but the
councillors said that they had now warmed to it.

Source:- The Wrexham Leader Wednesday 8 June

‘I can’t believe our dad tried to kill
us’

A Swansea family whose dad tried to kill them by setting fire to
the family home have spoken out publicly for the first time.

Ruby Sidhu and six of her children had to jump out of a first floor
window of their home in Bonymaen to escape the fire.

It had been started by Sidhu’s estranged husband Lal Singh
Sidhu. He was found dead the next day after allegedly setting fire
to himself.

Source:-ThisisSouthWales Wednesday 8 June