Tuesday 25 October 2005

By Maria Ahmed, Derren Hayes and Amy Taylor

Blair’s public service crusade

Tony Blair is using his final years in government to rush through a radical transformation of the role of the state right across the public sector.
The aim, clearly evidence in today’s white paper on education, is that the state should no longer be primarily a direct provider of services, but instead become a regulator and commissioner of services purchased from the public, private and voluntary sectors.

Source:- The Guardian Tuesday 25 October page 12

Binge drinking killed our son

It started with a few pints on a Friday night. Soon rugby-playing Matthew was regularly drinking himself into a stupor. As the government prepares to bring in 24-hour-drinking, his parents relive the night that alcohol finally killed him.

Source:- The Daily Mail Tuesday 25 October page 26-27

Police are given shoot-to-kill powers in domestic violence and stalking cases

Scotland Yard’s “shoot-to-kill” strategy has been widened to include other offences such as kidnapping, stalking and domestic violence.

Source:- The Independent Tuesday 25 October page 8

Pensioner describes how ceiling fell down on her as she was recovering in hospital

A pensioner recovering from a nervous breakdown has said she will be seeking compensation after a hospital ceiling collapsed while she ate a meal.
Lilian Blackmore, 75, said the incident terrified her and had left her in a great deal of pain.

Source:- The Independent Tuesday 25 October page 18

Child, 7, found taking cannabis

A child aged seven has been caught smoking cannabis, a headteacher from a primary school in Kidwelly, west Wales, told council chiefs.

Source:- The Independent Tuesday 25 October page 18

 Blair sweeps aside critics of school reform

Tony Blair yesterday cast aside complaints from teachers and Labour MPs that his plans to turn all secondary schools into “self-governing independent state schools” would create administrative chaos and more inequality.

Source:- The Guardian Tuesday 25 October page 1

Police hunt 11 youths over killing

The man who was stabbed to death during weekend rioting in Birmingham was set upon by up to 11 armed youths as he walked home from the cinema with his brother, it emerged yesterday.
Isiah Young-Sam, 24, had not been involved in any of the confrontations between the Pakistani and African-Caribbean communities that erupted on Saturday evening, officers from the West Midlands police said.

Source:- The Guardian Tuesday 25 October page 7

Plan to tell employers where sex offenders live

Employers, landlords and leisure centre managers are among the people Scottish police can tell where a convicted sex offender is living under proposals unveiled yesterday.
The move by the Scottish Executive follows the murder of Glasgow schoolboy Mark Cummings by a convicted paedophile living near the boy’s home.

Source:- The Guardian Tuesday 25 October page 10

Rumours and riots

Economic inequalities are driving events in Birmingham. Solidarity must be our response, writes Salma Yaqood, a community mediator in Birmingham

Source:- The Guardian Tuesday 25 October page 32

Homesick

When the Kachepa family arrived in Weymouth from Malawi in 2001, they integrated in no time. But four years later, despite a public outcry, they were deported. Now they are ‘back home’ in Africa.

Source:- The Guardian G2 Tuesday 25 October page 14-17

Tough love

There are no quick fixes for the problem of bad pupil behaviour – but some things do work

Source:- The Guardian Education Tuesday 25 October page 5

‘I’m an anthropologist from Mars’

Interview with Temple Grandin, the academic world’s best-known autistic scholar

Source:- The Guardian Education Tuesday 25 October page 11

Thousands of state pensioners ‘are struggling with debt’

Thousands of pensioners are running up debts as they struggle to make ends meet on the state pension, research by Age Concern showed yesterday.

Source:- The Daily Telegraph Tuesday 25 October page 2

Scottish news

Care staff suspended in McGarrity case

Two healthcare workers have been suspended after a three-year-old boy was trapped in a flat and forced to fend for himself for up to six weeks after his mother’s death. Two NHS Lothian staff involved in Michael’s care have been told not to return to work pending the outcome of an investigation.
Michael, who had survived on crisps, fruit and Ribena, was emaciated, dehydrated and barely able to stand.

Source:- The Herald Tuesday 25 October

UK to deport refugee who claims he faces death

A Chinese asylum seeker is facing deportation from Scotland despite the government’s acknowledgement that he is likely to be imprisoned.
Qu Wen Cai and Amnesty International fear he will face torture by the Chinese authorities on his return.
Qu moved to Glasgow in 2000 after the Chinese Communist Party began its persecution of Falun Gong, the ancient spiritual movement of which he is a practitioner.

Source:- The Herald Tuesday 25 October

Shortage of mental health staff hampering children’s treatment

A shortage of psychiatrists and mental health workers is holding back improvement of services for vulnerable children in Scotland, according to a Scottish executive report.
The framework aims to improve young people’s mental well-being and prevent suicide. But the report said a “key barrier” to achieving change was shortages in the workforce.

Source:- The Scotsman Tuesday 25 October

Paedo warning system

Sex offenders could lose their anonymity under tough new rules as part of a warning system for paedophiles and other predatory adults.
Police would have the power to pass on details of sex offenders to third parties such as landlords or employers if offenders failed to behave.
The plans were proposed by Professor George Irving, who led an inquiry into the sex offenders’ notification scheme.

Source:- Daily Record Tuesday 25 October

Welsh news

GP in court accused of killing patients
A family GP was due to appear in court today to face allegations that he killed three of his patients.
Dr Howard Martin is accused of murdering Frank Moss, 80, Harry Gittins 74 and Stanley Weldon, 74.
Martin, 71, of Beach Road Penmaenmawr, Gwynedd, North Wales denies the charges and is going on trial at Teesside Crown Court.

Source:- icWales Tuesday 25 October

‘Child caught smoking dope’

A head teacher has spoken out about how she is aware of a seven-year-child who smokes cannabis.
Jane Wareham, head of Ysgol y Castell primary school in Kidwelly, West Wales told county councillors in Carmarthenshire that she had also been told about a case of one child as young as six using the drug.
Wareham, who was not referring to pupils at her own school, was making the comments to a Social Justice Scrutiny Committee in Llanelli of which she is a member.

Source:- icWales Tuesday 25 October