Monday 24 October 2005

By Maria Ahmed, Mithran Samuel, Derren Hayes and Amy Taylor

Health fears as young people hit the vodka bottle

Britain is experiencing a vodka boom which is worrying medical experts and increasing the violence that blights many town and city centres at the weekend.

Source:- The Independent Saturday 22 October 2005 page 11

Parents of children who truant could face fines

Parents will face fines if their children are found roaming the streets after being excluded from school.
Ministers are planning to bring in a new law making it an offence to “allow a child to be found in a public place during school hours without good cause”.

Source:- The Independent Saturday 22 October 2005 page 11

Girl slashed by blade is ready to return to school

A 12-year-old girl who needed 30 stitches in her face after she was attacked by a classmate said she wanted to return to school.
Shanni Naylor spent three days in hospital after being slashed by another 12-year-old girl at Myrtle Springs School, in Sheffield, with what is believed to be a blade.

Source:- The Independent Saturday 22 October 2005 page 16

Parents win right to child’s resuscitation

The parents of Charlotte Wyatt, the profoundly disabled two-year-old at the centre of a High Court battle, claimed victory in its latest stage yesterday.
Mr Justice Hedley in London lifted an earlier declaration that doctors at St Mary’s hospital, Portsmouth, need not give her artificial ventilation in a life-threatening situation.

Source:- The Guardian Saturday 22 October 2005 page 1 and page 7

Trader in child pornography named

A judge has lifted an order to allow the naming of a man once called one of the world’s biggest traders in child pornography.
Voluntary worker Mark Steel, 32, from Bacton, Norfolk, had been granted anonymity because he feared for his life as he was about to give evidence in child sex trials in California, Scotland and Sweden. But the US trial is over and he is now not giving evidence in the others.

Source:- The Guardian Saturday 22 October 2005 page 9

Hewitt expected to modify care provision reform

Patricia Hewitt, health secretary, looks set to row back on plans requiring primary care trusts to stop almost all direct provision of a wide range of National Health Service functions, from district and school nursing to community hospital and some family doctor services.

Source:- The Financial Times Saturday 22 October 2005 page 2

Double jeopardy

Raymond Bohnin, an American jailed in Britain for pornography offences after allegedly crossing the Atlantic to have sex with young British girls, faces a fresh trial in the US.

Source:- The Times Saturday 22 October 2005 page 4

Hoodies to be searched on sight

Police are to stop and search every youngster seen wearing a “hoodie” in Luton after more than 60 street robberies in the town this month.
Bedfordshire police say that hooded tops are being used to hide weapons and conceal the identities of offenders.

Source:- The Times Saturday 22 October 2005 page 28

Pupil ‘locked in room with rats’

A teacher at a special centre for pupils expelled from other schools has been accused of unacceptable conduct for locking pupils in a rat-infested room.
Pauline Hobbs, who taught at Ed-Start Centre, Stoke-on-Trent, appeared before a disciplinary committee of the General Teaching Council of England in Birmingham. The hearing continues.

Source:- The Times Saturday 22 October 2005 page 28

Latest victim of a homophobia that London thought it had left behind

In these liberated times, why did Jody Dobrowski go cruising and why did two other young men take his life so violently?

Source:- The Times Saturday 22 October 2005 page 38-39

Truth about the triplets born to a 16-year-old

The disturbing story of three babies, one teenage mother, two half-brothers by different women, and guess what, a zero of a father who left before they were even born.

Source:- The Daily Mail Saturday 22 October 2005 page 20-21

I’ve driven a buggy for the disabled through the B-test laws

A disabled pensioner who drove his electric buggy at nearly twice the drink-drive limit has escaped prosecution because of a legal loophole exempting such buggies from road laws because they are not classified as vehicles.

Source:- The Daily Mail Saturday 22 October 2005 page 27

Labour council tax ‘betrayal’ of OAPs

A million pensioners are missing out on council tax rebates because it is too difficult to claim them, Nick Raynsford, former local government minister said.

Source:- The Daily Mail Saturday 22 October 2005 page 39

The video sickener

Playground attack filmed on a mobile in Nottinghamshire

Source:- The Daily Mail Saturday 22 October 2005 page 47

Bill ‘will see more BNP hopefuls’

The British National Party will be able to field dozens more candidates in future general elections as a result of a government Bill that will reduce the threshold at which candidates lose their deposits, the Conservatives have claimed.

Source:- The Daily Telegraph Saturday 22 October 2005 page 2

Drink giants’ plans to fuel binge Britain

Pub managers are facing pressure and being offered bonuses to increase alcohol sales when relaxed licensing hours come into force, an industry leader has revealed.
Dave Daley, head of the National Association of Licensed House Managers, warned colleagues not to give into the incentives, saying alcohol should not be treated like any other product because of its addictive properties.

Source:- The Observer Sunday 23 October page 1

Cabinet revolt over parent power

Deputy prime minister John Prescott is fighting plans for schools reforms saying they would condemn a generation of working-class children to education in failing schools on their way to being closed.
The plans, due to be issued in a white paper this week, would allow successful schools to expand at the expense of their less successful neighbours, in a bid to increase parent choice, and reduce councils’ role in admissions, leaving schools free to decide their intakes.

Source: – The Observer Sunday 23 October page 1-2

Rioting erupts on Birmingham streets

A man was stabbed to death following clashes between Asian and black youths, triggered by an alleged sexual assault on a teenage girl.
Cars were set alight and people were attacked with baseball bats during the clashes.

Source: The Observer Sunday 23 October page 2

Too many rapists go free, says Solicitor General

The government is looking at measures to increase the rape conviction rate, after the Solicitor General said too many men were getting away with the crime.
Convictions have dropped from 24 per cent in 1985 to 5.3 per cent in 2003.

Source: – The Observer Sunday 23 October page 3

Prisons chief hits at ‘gross’ overcrowding

Departing prisons and probation chief Martin Narey has launched a stinging attack on prison numbers and the use of custody for children and people with severe mental health problems.
Narey, who has just taken over as chief executive of Barnardo’s, said the huge rise in prison numbers of the last decade was unjustifiable given the continuing fall in the crime rate.

Source:- The Observer Sunday 23 October page 7

After 40 years, a loving mother wins £1.6m for her son

A woman has won £1.6 million from a strategic health authority after pursuing a claim for negligence concerning the birth of her severely disabled son 41 years ago.
South Yorkshire Strategic Health Authority settled out of court without admission of liability after the claim by Beatrice Turner, whose son Roy suffered a brain injury caused by asphyxia during his birth, leaving him unable to speak and confined to a wheelchair.

Source:- The Observer Sunday 23 October page 10

Torn between cultures, Britain’s ‘orphans of Islam’ turn to terror

Political Islam has provided a solution to young Britons of Pakistani origin, alienated from the tribal culture of their elders, Western individualism and mainstream British politics, and ravaged by deprivation.
That is the message of a documentary by British-Pakistani filmmaker Navid Akhtar, due to go out this week.

Source:- The Observer Sunday 23 October page 13

New courts to dole out justice to yobs

A leading think-tank has called for community panels, staffed by volunteers, to be set up to deal with low-level anti-social behaviour.
The Institute for Public Policy Research will say in a report this week that such community offender panels should have the power to issue community punishments and send people on drug treatment courses, but not to fine or imprison people.

Source:- The Sunday Telegraph Sunday 23 October page 15

Children’s TV needs more mature approach

A media academic has called for children’s TV producers to hire more mature presenters, saying the domination of younger people reflected a lack of imagination.

Source:- The Sunday Telegraph Sunday 23 October page 19

‘Gestapo’social workers wanted to put my baby on at-risk register, says MP

A Birmingham MP has criticised social workers who he claimed recommended his newborn daughter be placed on the child protection register.
John Hemming said his lover Emily Cox, the baby’s mother, was visited by a social worker and police officers as part of an inquiry into her failure to register the death a stillborn baby born while she was a teenager.
Hemming claimed the social worker threatened to put their daughter on the register if they did not co-operate with the inquiry.

Source:- Mail on Sunday Sunday 23 October page 34

Stores warned over under-age drinkers

Supermarkets’ alcohol licences could be suspended if they are caught three times selling drink to children, under plans being drawn up by the government.

Source:- Mail on Sunday Sunday 23 October page 50

Blunkett in bid to force single mothers back into work

The government is to force lone parents to actively seek work when their children reach 11, rather than 14 at present, in the forthcoming green paper on welfare reform.
The idea received a hostile reception when it was floated by work minister Margaret Hodge at a conference held by the Single Parents Action Network last week.

Source:- Independent on Sunday Sunday 23 October 2005 page 4

Campaigners’ fury at refusal to outlaw hotel ban on gays

The government faces its first Commons defeat since coming to power over its refusal to amend the Equality Bill to outlaw discrimination against gay people in goods and services.
More than 100 MPs have signed a motion calling for a ban, which is aimed particularly at discrimination against gay couples by the hotel industry.

Source: – Independent on Sunday Sunday 23 October 2005 page 26

Boy’s long ordeal

A boy, 3, trapped in a flat with his dead mother, survived up to six weeks, rather than the two originally thought, police said. A post-mortem examination on Anne-Marie McGarrity, 33, of Leith, Edinburgh, the mother of Michael, due to leave hospital this week, has still to establish cause of death.

Source:- The Times Monday 24 October 2005 page 2

Schizophrenia risk

The discovery of a gene that affects levels of a critical brain chemical may offer new ways to identify children at high risk of schizophrenia.

Source:- The Times Monday 24 October 2005 page 2

How to end spoilt brat syndrome

Far from being kind, overindulgent parents can be a danger to their children – but help is at hand at avoid the pitfalls, explains the author of The Pampered Child Syndrome

Source:- The Times Monday 24 October 2005 page 3

Children at risk

A computerised child protection system that would put an electronic tag against those deemed at risk has been criticised by Lord Laming, who led the inquiry into Victoria Climbie’s death.
He called the system too complex to be effective, adding that it could break data protection rules.

Source:- The Times Monday 24 October 2005 page 4

Rape triggers a night of violence – but did it really happen?

A report on the aftermath of rioting between young Asians and blacks in which a man was stabbed to death, a police officer shot and dozens more injured in the Lozells area of Birmingham

Source:- The Times Monday 24 October 2005 page 6-7

Charges over Clapham murder

Two men will appear in court today charged with the murder of Jody Dobrowski, who was beaten to death in an allegedly homophobic attack on Clapham Common, south London, 10 days ago.

Source:- The Times Monday 24 October 2005 page 17

Eight pensioners will die from cold-related illness every hour this winter, a total of 20,000 by the time the season is over in March, Age Concern has warned.

Source:- The Independent Monday 24 October 2005 page 9

500,000 households live in cramped conditions says Shelter

Children are being forced to sleep in kitchens, dining rooms and hallways because of cramped social housing conditions, according to a survey published today by the charity Shelter.

Source:- The Guardian Monday 24 October 2005 page 5

Health timebomb as rising cocaine use threatens heart problems in young

A surge in cocaine use is pushing Britain towards a “healthcare disaster” that will see a dramatic rise in heart attacks, strokes and neurological problems.

Source:- The Guardian Monday 24 October 2005 page 9

Home Office accused of ignoring Zimbabwe deportation bar

Home Office officials are routinely ignoring the national identities of failed asylum seekers in order to get round a ban on returning them to Zimbabwe, immigration lawyers claimed yesterday.

Source:- The Guardian Monday 24 October 2005 page 12

Scottish news

New strike threat over state retirement age

Union leaders are threatening strike action to ensure that a million more public sector workers can retire at 60 with a full pension. A week after forcing government ministers to ditch plans to raise the retirement age for teachers, civil servants and NHS staff, union chiefs have declared that they now want the same rights for all council staff, such as social workers and administrators. If ministers turn down their demands, they are promising to call a series of strikes.

Source:- Scotland on Sunday Sunday 23 October

Asylum march

Nationwide search for refugee teachers

A search has been launched for refugee teachers to fill vacancies in Scottish primary and secondary schools.

Universities, colleges, refugee groups and the General Teaching Council for Scotland have joined forces to track down qualified refugees who are living in Scotland but whose skills are going to waste.

Refugees Into Teaching in Scotland, which runs the project from a base at Strathclyde University, has already located 80 teachers in the west of Scotland and is now extending the search across the rest of the country.

Source:- The Herald Monday 24 October

Executive falls short of applying Mark’s Law for sex offenders

The Scottish executive has rejected calls for local people to be notified when sex offenders move into their area.

But police will be able to tell a wider range of people – including leisure centre managers, flat concierges and some households – if sex offenders ignore warnings about their behaviour.
Margaret Ann Cummings, whose son Mark was murdered by Stuart Leggate, a known sex offender, in Glasgow last year, has led calls for “Mark’s Law” to ensure parents are told when predatory adults move into an area.

Source:- The Scotsman Monday 24 October

Welsh news

Mother deliberately scarred her baby girl

A mother who picked her baby’s wounds to the bone was jailed for three years yesterday.
The woman, who cannot be named in order to protect the baby’s identity, has left her child permanently disfigured.
Cardiff Crown Court heard how hospital staff were horrified when they saw the woman picking at the open wounds while the baby screamed in pain.

Source:- Western Mail Saturday 22 October

Protestors met in Cardiff yesterday to carry out a demonstration against the government’s asylum policy.

Around 100 people took part in the march organised by the Cardiff Social Forum.
The organisers said that people disagreed with asylum seekers being sent back to war zones.

Source:-  Wales on Sunday Sunday 23 October

Nurse in appeal

A former ward sister will launch an appeal against her conviction for the attempted murder of two elderly patients early next month.
A court previously found Barbara Sailsbury guilty of trying to kill the older people in order to free up beds at Leighton Hospital in Crewe.
Her appeal comes around a year after her conviction.

Source:-  Wales on Sunday Sunday 23 October

Son stayed with mum dead in chair for 9 days

A grown-up son stayed with his mother’s body for nine days at her home in Cardiff.
Irene Morland’s body was found by police and social workers after they visited the house due to neighbours becoming concerned.
Her son Ronald continued to stay in the house after realising she had died. An inquest found that the 84-year-old’s death was probably related to heart disease.

Source:- Western Mail Saturday 22 October

New chief for social services

Neelam Bhardwaja is to become the new social care director at Cardiff Council.
She takes over from Chris Davies who is retiring. She is currently the head of children and families services in Poole, Dorset.

Source:- Western Mail Saturday 22 October