Tuesday 12 July

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

The Backlash
 
The Muslim Council of Great Britain said racists had firebombed
mosques and attacked other Islamic institutions across Britain in a
backlash against the terrorist attacks.

The British National Party was condemned last night for a
by-election leaflet exploiting an aerial photograph of the number
30 bus after the explosion in Tavistock Square.
 
Source:- The Independent Tuesday 12 July 2005 page 2

Ratings help parents choose child care
 
Ofsted will place details of all childminders’ reports on its
website from today, ranking them on a scale of one to four.  The
1,060 inspections to be placed on the internet were all carried out
in the first year of inspection of child-minding services last
year.
 
Source:- The Independent Tuesday 12 July 2005 page
13

Sion Jenkins to face third trial

Sion Jenkins, the former deputy headmaster, will face a third trial
accused of the murder of his teenage foster daughter because a jury
failed to deliver a verdict yesterday.

Source:- The Times, Tuesday 12 July 2005, page 3

Teenager held over park rapes

A teenager is being questioned by police today after three girls
were allegedly raped in a park. Greater Manchester Police said a
14-year-old boy had been arrested on suspicion of rape. The boy
allegedly approached the girls aged 8, 7 and ten when they were
playing on swings.

Source:- The Times, Tuesday 12 July 2005, page 22

Teacher’s appeal

A teacher jailed for firing an air pistol in a confrontation with
youths has failed to get her job back. Linda Walker, 48, was given
a six-month sentence in March for affray and possessing a firearm
but was freed on appeal after 36 days.

Source:- The Times, Tuesday 12 July 2005, page 26

Asylum-seekers end hunger strike

Zimbabwean asylum-seekers agreed to call off their hunger strike
temporarily until the High Court rules on whether the Home Office
can forcibly deport them.

The 55 detainees at Harmondsworth Immigration Removal Centre in
west London said they were ready to starve themselves to death if
Charles Clarke tried to expel any of them before refugee groups had
a chance to begin their legal challenge.

Source:- The Times, Tuesday 12 July 2005, page 28
 

Churches to attend ritual abuse summit

Representatives of African churches in the UK are to meet ministers
and police and social services chiefs at a government summit to
tackle ritualistic faith-related child abuse. The meeting, hosted
by Beverley Hughes, could see tighter entry rules for religious
leaders from some African states seeking to travel to Britain, but
is mainly aimed at identifying the extent of a little-researched
issue.

Source:- The Guardian, Tuesday 12 July 2005, page 8

‘Tomboy’ 10-year-old was beaten to
death

A 10-year-old girl whose body was found near her home in Leigh,
Greater Manchester, had been beaten to death, police said
yesterday.

Source:- The Guardian, Tuesday 12 July 2005, page 8

Removing the safety net

Nearly one in 10 special schools has closed since Labour came to
power. John Crace visits on it its final year, and finds a
community wondering why its success is being sacrificed in the name
of choice.

Source:- The Guardian, Education, Tuesday 12 July 2005,
page 2-3

Another day, another school

The government’s policy of dispersing asylum seekers across
the country can have devastating effects on their children’s
education.

Source:- The Guardian, Education, Tuesday 12 July 2005,
page 9

School caretaker admits child porn

A caretaker at a school eight miles from Soham, where Holly Wells
and Jessica Chapman were murdered by Ian Huntley, yesterday
admitted a string of internet child pornography charges.

Source:- The Daily Telegraph, Tuesday 12 July 2005, page
12

Scottish newspapers

Scotland in child commission first

Glasgow has become the first city in Europe to dedicate a
“commission” to ensure every child leaves school fit and ready for
work or higher education. Ronnie O’Connor, Glasgow’s director of
education, will lead the commission as executive director
(education, training and young people). He will draw on resources
from every department, to ensure young people are academically
prepared and in good health.

The Scotsman, 12 July

Ministers left red-faced over mental health move
blunder

The Scottish executive spent nearly £50,000 on
consultants’ reports and other preparations in connection with its
failed attempt to relocate the Mental Welfare Commission from
Edinburgh to Falkirk.

Documents released under Freedom of Information legislation showed
£46,531 of public money was wasted on the move before
ministers discovered they had no powers to order the transfer. The
commission had even started recruiting staff in the Falkirk
area.

The Scotsman, 12 July
                                                                                                                                                    

Welsh newspapers

More sex education the way to cut pregnancies –
experts

Pupils in Wales need more compulsory sex education lessons to
prevent high numbers of teenage pregnancies it has been
claimed.
Leanne Wood, Plaid Cymru’s shadow social justice minister has
made the call for better sex education after research from England
found that the more lessons girls had the less likely they were to
become pregnant before they reached 18.

Source:- Western Mail, Tuesday, 12 July

Man charged with attempted murder and sex
assaults

A man has appeared in court charged with attempted murder and
serious sexual assault of a mother in front of her four-year-old
son.
Geoffrey Nuttall, 44, is accused of carrying out the attack on the
woman at her house in Bethesda, Gwynedd.

Source:- Western Mail, Tuesday, 12 July