Friday 19 August 2005

By Simeon Brody, Maria Ahmed and Derren Hayes

Dying lad is filmed

A grieving mum hits out at sick “happy slappers” who
filmed her son dying.

Triston Christmas, 18, died after being punched in the head and a
witness filmed him as he lay fatally injured and sent to mobile
phones and laptops.

Source:- The Sun Friday 19 August 2005 page 25

Arsonist’s “rights” to keep her
matches

A serial arsonist has escaped an Asbo banning her from carrying
matches – after a solicitor said it infringed her right to
smoke.

The Lancashire court eventually decided to agree an Asbo banning
her from carrying accelerants to start fires and from entering west
Lancashire.

Source:- The Sun Friday 19 August 2005 page 33

Policeman arrested after son dies from stab wound

A policeman has been arrested after his 11-year-old son died from a
stab wound during while he was teaching him martial arts.

Detectives were last night investigating the theory that his death
was a “tragic accident”.

Source:- Daily Mail Friday 19 August 2005 page 4

GPs are the subject of biggest focus group

The Department of Health is to invite about 100,000 people
across England to take part in discussions about GP services in an
exercise that is being regarded by officials as the biggest
government focus group of all time.

Source:- The Guardian Friday 19 August 2005 page 4

 Criminals danger list goes online

A national computer database containing the personal details and
photographs of up to 50,000 of the most dangerous offenders in
Britain was launched yesterday by the Home Office.

The database, which is accessible by every police force in Britain,
includes a personal profile on the most serious violent criminals
and sex offenders that incorporates details as precise as whether
their pet cat wears a leopardskin collar.

Source:- The Guardian Friday 19 August 2005 page 9

First DVD pirate to get Asbo in war on illicit
trade

Street trader the authorities could not curb is banned from
selling in London – and jailed for six months

Source:- The Guardian Friday 19 August 2005 page 11

Fury of victim’s mother over computer game on
bullying

The mother of a murdered teenager who claimed his death was
caused by Manhunt, a violent computer game his killer had played,
has called for tighter controls ahead of the release of a new game
about bullying at school by the makers of Manhunt.

Giselle Pakeera, whose 14-year-old son Stefan was killed in a
Leicester park by Warren Leblanc in February 2004, called for a ban
on the new game, Rockstar, which features a pupil beating up his
classmates.

Source:- The Guardian Friday 19 August 2005 page 4

Drug given to eight-year-old

Eight-year-old Kaine Taylor is recovering after a teenager put a
suspected ecstasy tablet in his mouth while he was playing near his
home in Failsworth, Greater Manchester.

Source:- The Guardian Friday 19 August 2005 page 13

Pub smoking ban will widen health gap, report
warns

As many as two-thirds of pubs in the most deprived parts of
England could be exempt from a ban on smoking because they do not
serve food, according to a study by doctors.

The measures in the white paper on public health, which are
supposed to reduced the health gap between rich and poor, could
have the opposite effect, say the authors of the study in the
British Medical Journal.

Source:- The Guardian Friday 19 August 2005 page 13

 Don’t talk, listen, teenagers told

Teenagers who chat on a mobile phone while crossing roads will
be warned of the dangers in an advertising campaign that begins
tomorrow. Government research shows that nearly a third of
teenagers allow calls to distract them.

Source:- The Times Friday 19 August 2005 page 5

Pension age deal sought to avert damaging
strikes

Ministers are preparing concessions over reforms to public
sector pensions to avert a damaging strike this autumn, which could
disrupt hospitals, schools and town halls. Next month the row over
raising the public sector pension age from 60 to 65 will dominate
the TUC annual conference in Brighton.

Unions have tabled a series of motions threatening industrial
action if ministers press ahead with the plans.

Source:- The Times Friday 19 August 2005 page 24

Cops: be nice to bag ladies

Police have been warned to be nice to the homeless because they
might get caught on camera. Officers were tipped off that a BBC
undercover reporter is posing as a bag lady for a documentary. The
police sent out a confidential memo telling officers to be on their
best behaviour.

Source:- The Daily Mirror Friday 19 August 2005 page
35

Scottish news

US company to open luxury care homes for wealthy Scots

A US care home operator plans to open a series of luxury “living
communities” in Glasgow and Edinburgh.

Virginia-based Sunrise Senior Living aims to build at least five
homes in the next five years.

The firm has already opened several opulent homes in Kent,
Hertfordshire and Surrey where residents pay about £700 a week
for accommodation, meals, laundry and housekeeping.

Source:- The Herald Friday 19 August

Doctors attack Kerr over child unit decision

Doctors have warned health minister Andy Kerr he may have
compromised child health care by blocking the swift closure of a
hospital ward.

Consultant paediatricians from NHS Argyll and Clyde are
disappointment Kerr vetoed a scheme to shut the day unit for
children at Inverclyde Royal Hospital in Greenock. They claim their
proposal to dedicate more staff to looking after children in their
own homes instead, falls into line with the Scottish executive’s
vision for the health service.

Source:- The Herald Friday 19 August

Strike threat as council staff face pay cuts of up to
£12,000

Staff at Aberdeen Council will stage a mass demonstration outside
their offices as the first move towards potential strike action in
a dispute over the implementation of an equal pay deal which could
result in some staff having their wages cut by almost a
third.

Some of the council’s 9,500 staff may be put on new pay rates if
the single status agreement is introduced which could cut their pay
by as much as £12,000.

Source:- The Scotsman Friday 19 August