Wednesday 16 November 2005

By Amy Taylor, Clare Jerrom and Derren Hayes

Drinks crime: it will go up
Labour yesterday admitted that round-the-clock opening hours is likely to fuel more crimes of violence.
The comments were made by culture secretary Tessa Jowell as Labour pushed the plans through the Commons.
Source:- Daily Mail  Wednesday 16 November page 1

Under-40s face having to work on until they are 75
Young people face having to work until their 75th birthday as inadequate pensions will leave them with no choice, according to a report by market analyst Datamonitor for Prudential.
Source:- Daily Mail  Wednesday 16 November page 11

How Labour got it wrong on truancy
Ministers are being accused of seriously underestimating the number of truants who persistently skip lessons for weeks at a time.
The government has announced a crackdown to cover 25 per cent more pupils.
Source:- Daily Mail  Wednesday 16 November page 24

Teacher ‘had sex with boy, 13, in her little girl’s room
A support teacher had sex with a 13-year-old pupil after they shared a cannabis joint, Burnley Crown Court heard yesterday.
Zoe Morgan allegedly seduced the schoolboy and on one occasion she allegedly had sex with him in her nine year old daughter’s bed.
Morgan denies five charges of unlawful sexual activity with the boy between September and November 2004.
The trial continues.
Source:- Daily Mail  Wednesday 16 November page 41

Cannabis drug can be used for MS
The Home Office has agreed to requests from patients and doctors to allow people with multiple sclerosis to be prescribed cannabis based medicine even though it is yet to be licensed in the UK.
Source:- The Independent  Wednesday 16 November page 11

Supermarkets to face inquiry over alcohol sales to children
The Home Secretary is to question the chief executives of Tesco and Sainsbury’s about under age drinking sales after police sting operations found they were regularly selling alcohol to children.
Source:- The Independent  Wednesday 16 November page 21

Female offenders
Five per cent of reported sex offences against children are carried out by women although the real figure may be even higher, according to a report by the NSPCC.
Police and social workers tend not to believe children’s allegations against women, it says.
Source:- The Times  Wednesday 16 November page 2

Benefit victory
A blind woman has won a victory against her local benefits office in Sutton, Surrey after it attempted to force her to receive her payments electronically rather than by cheque.
Georgina Barbury challenged the decision as a result of her considerable difficulty using ATM machines.
Source:- The Times  Wednesday 16 November page 4

Tagging ruling
An 18 year old girl who persuaded magistrates not to force her to wear an electronic tag because it would clash with her skirts will have to wear one after all after breaching her bail terms.
Natasha Hughes also faces an assault charge.
Source:- The Times  Wednesday 16 November page 9

Stroke treatment ‘lacks urgency’
Stroke – the greatest cause of disability – is not treated with urgency, according to a report by the NAO.
Hundreds of lives and millions of pounds could be saved by better NHS performance.
Source:- The Times  Wednesday 16 November page 14

Bully girl pus 13-year-old in hospital
A 13-year-old girl was taken to hospital after allegedly being attacked by three other pupils at her school.
Karla Brunn was beaten up while walking home from King Edward VI Community College, Totnes, Devon, last Thursday.
Source:- The Daily Telegraph, November 16, Wednesday, page 8

Rebels threatening to scupper school reform
Rebel Labour MPs said that they would vote against the government’s education reforms unless it dropped plans to give self-governing schools more freedom to run their own admissions policies.
The education secretary Ruth Kelly and the prime minister have now began a series of meetings with the MPs in an effort to get them to change their minds.
Source:- The Daily Telegraph, November 16, Wednesday, page 14

Axe killer
A 20-year-old has dramatically changed his plea after admitting the murder of black teenager Anthony Walker yesterday in court.
Paul Taylor confessed to killing the 18-year-old, who was attacked with an axe, as his trial was about to start.
Source:- Daily Mirror, November 16, Wednesday, page 1

Ex-police boss: I’m not guilty
Former Humberside police authority chair Colin Inglis appeared in court in Hull yesterday charged with sexually assaulting a boy at a care home.
Inglis spoke only to confirm his name and address. His solicitor said he would deny all 14 charges of indecently assaulting the boy between 1982 and 1983.
Source:- Daily Mirror, November 16, Wednesday, page 11

52 % say bullying is a big problem
Over half of pupils see bullying as a major problem in schools, according to a new survey.
The poll, carried out for the Anti-Bullying Alliance, found that only 27 per cent of 15 to 19 year-olds thought that schools were doing enough to tackle the issue.
Source:- Daily Mirror, November 16, Wednesday,  page 25

Cause celebre and effect
Twenty years ago, Rose George left a Yorkshire town ‘no one had heard of’. The BNP and a July 7 suicide bomber changed that. She returns to visit a community in turmoil
Source:- SocietyGuardian, November 16, Wednesday, page 1

Minister hints at feelgood factors
Care minister Liam Byrne told charity chief executives that the government would be making it easier for voluntary organisations to bid for work yesterday.
He also said that the sector had to do more to increase people’s confidence in their ability to deliver services.
Source:- SocietyGuardian, November 16, Wednesday, page 2

Designed to infuriate
Council flats in London went for a snip under right to buy, but now leaseholders fear that it’s ‘payback time’ as they face huge repair bills.
Source:- SocietyGuardian, November 16, Wednesday, page 3

Scottish news

Right-to-buy suspended in bid to tackle housing crisis
Highlands Council has won a five year suspension of the right to buy scheme.
The Scottish executive has agreed to give pressured-area status to parts of the region to ease the shortage of affordable houses.
The suspensions apply to tenants who moved into their homes on or after 30 September, 2002.
It is only the second time the Executive has approved a designation in Scotland, with East Renfrewshire securing pressured status last month.
Source:- The Scotsman Wednesday 16 November

Housing estate brings in CCTV to fight crime
A CCTV system has been installed in an Aberdeen housing estate for the first time in an effort to combat crime and anti-social behaviour.
The joint initiative by the council and Grampian Police follows an approach by the local community council which had voiced concerns about street drinking, vandalism, drug abuse and racism in the Tillydrone area of the city.
Source:- The Scotsman Wednesday 16 November

Child sex trial postponed due to legal aid dispute
The trial of a man accused of sexually abusing two young girls has been postponed for nearly two months because of a dispute over legal aid.
Angus Mackenzie of Point, Lewis, denies committing offences against a young girl on various dates between September 27, 2002 and January 24, 2004; and also using lewd and libidinous practices towards another girl on various occasions between January 7 and October 21, 2003.
Source:- The Scotsman Wednesday 16 November

Welsh news

Albanian student denies ‘buying’ woman
A 19-year-old Albanian student has denied a charge of buying a woman and forcing her to work as a prostitute in Cardiff.
The prosecution alleges that Gjergj Mungiovi-Cuka was one of three Albanians who bought a woman in London and took her to the Welsh Capital to work.
Source:- Western Mail Wednesday 16 November

Schools have ‘heads in sand on bullying’
The children’s commissioner for Wales, Peter Clarke, has attacked Welsh head teachers arguing that they more concerned with preserving their schools’ reputations than tackling bullying.
Clarke said that some heads were “in denial” about bullying which was now a “huge problem” in Welsh schools.
Source: Western Mail Wednesday 16 November

Millions spent to avoid Welsh fate
Up to £5 million of European money and match funding will be spent in Wales in an attempt to avoid riots similar to those which have engulfed France in recent weeks.
The money will fund projects designed to ensure that members of ethnic minority communities are not marginalised and have access to employment.
Source:- Western Mail Wednesday 16 November