Monday 14 November 2005

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

‘Neglect’ arrests
A woman and her partner have been arrested on suspicion of child neglect after her son, aged 5, was rescued from a fire in a flat in Southampton.
The boy, who is believed to have been alone, was rescued by a passing taxi driver.
The woman, 29, and her partner, 23, have been bailed until December 19.
Source:- The Times Saturday 12 November 2005 page 4

Can a shriek in a box see off troublesome teenagers?
Nearly 100 stores and some local councils have placed orders for a device that emits a piercing, high frequency sound that is audible only, in 90 per cent of cases, to people under the age of 20.
Called the Mosquito, it is designed to deter young people from loitering outside shops.
Source:- The Times, Saturday 12 November 2005, page 16

Girl stabbed in the eye after standing up to school bullies
Natasha Jackman, 15, who had been attacked twice previously, was stabbed five times with what was believed to be a pair of scissors at Collingwood College in Camberley, Surrey.
Source:- The Daily Mail Saturday 12 November 2005 page 7

The teacher facing ruin for pushing a lying pupil
A teacher faced the ruin of his 31-year career last night after being convicted of assaulting a tearaway pupil.
Carron Downer, a PE teacher, faces dismissal from the Bristol secondary school where he has worked since 1982.
Source:- The Daily Mail Saturday 12 November 2005 page 13

Walker killed by man who feared jail
Ben Redfern-Edwards, 21, had been released from prison only three days before killing Jacqueline Ross, 44.
He was said to have been so scared of returning to jail after he attempted to sexually assault Ross that he battered her to death with a rock to stop her reporting the incident, Chester Crown Court heard.
Source:- The Times Saturday 12 November 2005 page 11

Billie-Jo ‘flirted’ with foster father
Billie-Jo Jenkins “flirted” with her foster father, the Old Bailey was told. Sion Jenkins is being retried for the 13-year-olds murder in 1997.
Source:- The Independent Saturday 12 November 2005 page 5

Blair suffers setback on welfare reform job
Tony Blair’s plans for a radical overhaul of the welfare system have suffered an unexpected setback after senior civil servants blocked his attempt to move a Downing Street adviser into the Department of Work and Pensions.
Sir Richard Mottram, until yesterday permanent secretary at the department, objected to the appointment of Gareth Davies, a Number 10 official regarded as a reforming hawk.
Source:- The Financial Times Saturday 12 November 2005 page 2

Children’s tsar warns of huge leap in bullying
A culture of violence in Britain is to blame for an epidemic of school bullying, according to children’s commissioner Al Aynsley-Green in “his first major interview”.
Source:- The Observer Sunday 13 November 2005 page 1

Divorced parents get automatic access
Divorced parents will be given an automatic right to see their children under plans expected to be forced through by the House of Lords in the Children and Adoption Bill.
Children’s charities have warned that the move, backed by militant fathers’ groups, will put children at risk from violent parent.
Source:- The Observer Sunday 13 November 2005 page 3

Council house queue grows to 1.5m families
The number of families in England waiting for a council house has soared by more than 50 per cent during Labour’s time in power and now stands at 1.5 million, official figures reveal.
Source:- The Observer Sunday 13 November 2005 page 14

Record numbers of men are being hit by their stressed-out wives and girlfriends
Experts are now warning that record numbers of men are being physically abused by their wives and girlfriends. New figures show that the number of calls to domestic violence helplines from male victims has more than doubled over the past five years.
Source:- The Independent on Sunday Sunday 13 November 2005 page 15

NHS chaos exposed by new e-mails
A computer project which is central to the government’s plans to give patients wider choice by allowing GPs to book hospital appointments online is in grave danger of being “derailed”, according to a leaked Whitehall email.
Source:- The Sunday Times Sunday 13 November 2005 page 1

Most travellers dodge council tax
Travellers who set up home on unauthorised encampments are being given special treatment enabling them to dodge council tax, according to figures obtained under the Freedom of Information Act.
Source:- Sunday Telegraph Sunday 13 November 2005 page 4

School sex clinics urged
Chlamydia has taken an alarming hold among girls who have under age sex, prompting calls for clinical testing to be introduced in schools.
Source:- Sunday Telegraph Sunday 13 November 2005 page 8

Now Labour plans to scrap England’s 1,000-year shires
The government is poised to abolish England’s shire counties and replace them with “super councils” which the Conservatives fears is part of a plan to undermine their power base.
A leaked document suggests the two-tier shire structure adds to public confusion over councils’ responsibilities.
Source:- The Mail on Sunday Sunday 13 November 2005 page 2

Benefits reform in chaos as PM’s enforcer is ousted
The mandarin in charge of the department of work and pensions, Sir Richard Mottram, has blocked the appointment of Gareth Davies, the man Downing Street hoped would drive through incapacity benefit reform.
Source:- The Mail on Sunday Sunday 13 November 2005 page 13

Hutton holds back on welfare reform
John Hutton has postponed publication of a significant plank of the government’s welfare reform agenda because existing proposals are not far reaching enough.
The government appears to be putting off publication of the welfare reform green paper until the New Year and delaying housing benefit reform proposals, which were expected this week.
Source:- Financial Times Monday 14 November 2005 page 2

Minister to face progress checks on Gershon
Cabinet ministers from the big eight spending departments will be called in for regular “stocktakes” on their progress towards the £21.5 billion Gershon efficiency savings.
Source:- Financial Times Monday 14 November 2005 page 2

Hospital asks “cured” HIV man to go back
Doctors and scientists have urged a man reported to be the first cured of the HIV virus to come forward for further tests.
Andrew Stimpson, 25, was diagnosed HIV-positive in 2002 but tests carried out last year came back as antibody negative.
Source:- Daily Telegraph Monday 14 November 2005 page 2

Immigration block traps Zimbabweans in Britain
The government has been accused of ignoring the plight of hundreds of white Zimbabweans living in Britain on ancestral visas whose applications to remain in the country have been blocked by the Home Office.
Source:- Daily Telegraph Monday 14 November 2005 page 12

Public pension bill rockets
The public sector pension bill will be £817 million, nearly double the official estimate, according to the Institute for Economic Affairs.
Source:- Daily Mail Monday 14 November 2005 page 1

Blitz on booze ‘just hypocrisy’
A government crackdown on binge drinking was branded “hypocritical” last night, as plans for late night boozing went full steam ahead. The Home Office announced its biggest ever blitz on drunken yobs as a final bid to postpone unlimited license extensions failed.
Source:- The Sun Monday 14 November 2005 page 2

It’s Asbo TV
Viewers will soon be able to tune telly sets into local CCTV cameras and alert cops if they spot an offender.
A broadband system on trial in two estates in Shoreditch, East London, will also have an “asbo” channel with details and pictures of local criminals. Twenty thousand locals will try it out.
Source:- The Sun Monday 14 November 2005 page 27

Labour plots to cut power of its union paymasters
Trade union power in the Labour party will be slashed drastically under plans put forward by Alan Johnson, the trade and industry secretary.
Source:- The Times Monday 14 November 2005 page 1

Prison condoms
Prisoners should be supplied with free condoms to help combat the spread of HIV and hepatitis, the Prison Reform Trust and the National Aids Trust said.
Source:- The Times Monday 14 November 2005 page 4

Graphic warning on drunkenness
The penalties for drunken misbehaviour are to be graphically advertised by posters of a man urinating a stream of cash down a drain and a man vomiting £80 – the on-the-spot fine – on the pavement.
The posters are part of a government campaign against drinking offences in preparation for the extension of licensing hours on November 24.
Source:- The Times Monday 14 November 2005 page 12

Right-to-life parents celebrate birth of fourth child
A couple who are fighting a “right to life” legal battle for their disabled two-year-old daughter had their fourth baby yesterday.
Debbie and Darren Wyatt’s seriously ill daughter Charlotte was born three months premature in October 2003.
They won the most recent round of their legal battle to ensure that Charlotte is resuscitated if her condition worsens.
Source:- The Guardian Monday November 14 page 11

Scottish news

Death probe care home loses extension bid
A care home at the centre of an investigation into the death of a resident has had its plans to extend thrown out by planning officials.
Ashley Court Nursing Home, in Morningside, was investigated by council inspectors following the death of Isabella McGregor in September 2004.
The home was criticised in a subsequent report and is still awaiting a decision by the procurator fiscal’s office on whether it will face prosecution after a police investigation.
Source:- The Scotsman Saturday 12 November

Sectarian hatred tackled by school play
An anti-sectarian play is to be adapted for Glasgow schoolchildren as part of a Scottish executive education programme to encourage tolerance.
Singing I’m Not A Billy, He’s A Tim, a play by Des Dillon first performed at this year’s Edinburgh Fringe Festival, will be performed in Glasgow schools next year.
The executive has put £60,000 into the project, which will encourage 15 to 18-year-olds to explore the themes of prejudice and bigotry while they develop their acting skills.
Source:- The Sunday Herald Sunday 13 November

Welsh news

‘Sex trafficked’ Lithuanian already a prostitute
A Lithuanian woman told Cardiff Crown Court that she had been conned into coming to Britain in the promise of having a better life only to be sold as a prostitute.
The 21-year-old, says she was flown to England last January and brought by three Albanian men. She said that she had been told that she would be working in a shop or a bar by the man who arranged the trip in her home town. However, she appeared to contradict herself after admitting that she had come to work as a prostitute to earn more money.
Source:-Western Mail Saturday 12 November

Family backs jailed nurse
The family of a nurse who failed to get her convictions for trying to kill two terminally ill patients quashed have vowed to continue to try to clear her name.
Barbara Sailsbury’s relatives made the comments after she took her case to the appeal court but was unsuccessful.
Salisbury, 48, a senior ward sister of Mold Flintshire, was jailed for five years last year after being found guilty of trying to kill two elderly people at a hospital in Crewe.
Source: Wales on Sunday Sunday 13 November

Children’s champion accuses politicians
The children’s commissioner for Wales criticised politicians today for blaming young people for antisocial behaviour.
Peter Clarke said that UK politicians should be ashamed of some of the ways they had conducted the antisocial behaviour debate.
Clarke, who made the comments on the BBC’s politics show, said that young people were at risk of becoming marginalised due to the government’s respect agenda.
Source:- icWales Sunday 13 November