MONDAY 28 NOVEMBER

Scale of teenage self-harm

As many as one in five girls aged 15-17 has harmed herself, according to new research by The Priory, which specialises in treating mental health problems and addictions.

Schools teaching emotional intelligence
Secondary school children will learn to explore emotions under a new government scheme. Schools that piloted the scheme reported improvements in behaviour, attendance and in tests.
Source:-The Sun, Monday 28 November page 2

In memory of Damilola
A project dedicated to the memory of murdered schoolboy Damilola Taylor has opened. It will help 140 students from tough estates get qualifications and funding to study at medical school in King’s College London.
Source:-The Sun, Monday 28 November page 7

Unicef children’s campaign backed by celebs
A Unicef campaign for children affected by Aids is being promoted by England football captain David Beckham and pop star Robbie Williams.
Source:-Daily Mirror, Monday 28 November page 4

Tougher sentences for manslaughter pleas
Husbands and wives who plead guilty to manslaugher on grounds of diminished responsibility will face tougher sentences under guidelines issued today.
Source:-Daily Mirror, Monday 28 November page 11

Smokers and drinkers could be denied NHS treatment
Patients with illnesses deemed to be self-inflicted could be denied treatment under National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence guidelines. Heavy drinkers or smokers and overweight people could all be refused help.
Source:-Daily Mail, Monday 28 November page 8

Total ban on smoking in public coming soon
It is “only a matter of time” before a total ban on smoking is introduced in pubs, said health secretary Patricia Hewitt yesterday.
Source:-Daily Mail, Monday 28 November page 8

Child Support Agency pays back men wrongly named as fathers
The Child Support Agency has refunded hundreds of thousands of pounds in maintenance payments to more than 3,000 men after DNA test showed they were wrongly named by mothers in paternity suits.
Source:-The Guardian, Monday 28 November page 1

CSA must change its ways, says Blair

Tony Blair fuelled speculation that the CSA wold be broken up, admitting it had “basic design problems.”

Source:-The Daily Telegraph, Monday 28 November page 4

Tracking down child abusers: police forces unite to fight world problem

Sex tourism: accusations against Gary Glitter throw spotlight on Vietnam

Source:- The Guardian, Saturday 26 November 2005 page 7

Smoking ban loophole gives prisons a problem

The government’s attempt to curb smoking in enclosed public places faces a further setback with prison chiefs warning that they cannot ban inmates from smoking because of a legal loophole that regards their cells as their “private home”.

Source:- The Guardian, Saturday 26 November 2005 page 12

 Grow up, judge tells teacher in kissing case

A geography teacher convicted of kissing a 15-year-old boy in a school cupboard was told by a judge yesterday to grow up and abandon “immature and romantic nonsense” before considering any return to the classroom. Shelley White, 25, was spared jail but given a 12-month community rehabilitation order for abusing her position of trust by sexual activity with a teenager.

Source:- The Guardian, Saturday 26 November 2005 page 15

Peckham, five years after the murder of Damilola Taylor. But has anything changed?

Source:- The Independent, Saturday 26 November 2005 page 11

Little Briton

Suspended from school 12 times, ten-year-old Samantha is as wild and foul-mouthed as the grotesque TV characters she idolises. But read her story and then decide whether she should be punished, or pitied.

Source:- The Daily Mail, Saturday 26 November 2005 page 34

Teacher on mission to restore dignity of school bully victims

Report on the Red Balloon Learner Centre in Cambridge, the country’s only “intensive care” programme of education for bullied children.

Source:- The Times, Saturday 26 November 2005, page 15

Parents “will revolt” over Kelly plan to bus in pupils

The government’s plan to bus children from the inner cities to better schools in middle-class suburbs will bring parents out on the streets, the chief schools adjudicator warned yesterday.

Source:- The Daily Telegraph, Monday 28 November 2005 page 11

Charities examine dormant funds

Some of the largest charities are set to reignite the debate about unclaimed cash in bank accounts this week by establishing a commission to examine how the money can be best spent. The Commission on Unclaimed Assets is being set up by the Scarman Trust with backing from eight charities including the Rowntree Foundation and the Carnegie Trust.

Source:- Financial Times, Monday 28 November 2005, page 3

Brown rips up deal to retire at 60

Gordon Brown will tear up the deal negotiated by trade and Industry secretary Alan Johnson to allow public sector workers to continue to retire at 60. Unions have threatened to bring more than 3m workers out on strike.

Source:- The Sunday Times Sunday 27 November 2005 page 1

Brown aims to put brakes on public spending

The chancellor will next week announce his toughest limits on public spending since 1997 by saying government departments will have to hold their spending below the rate of growth of the economy for three years from 2007.

Source:- The Sunday Times Sunday 27 November 2005 page 2

Fifty babies a year are alive after abortion

A government agency, the Confidential Enquiry into Maternal and Child Health is launching an inquiry into doctors’ reports that up to 50 babies a year are born alive after botched NHS abortions.

Source:- The Sunday Times Sunday 27 November 2005 page 5

My battle with liberal Britain

Report on how pop culture and liberal politics have created a feral generation hooked on drugs, crime and violence, taken from pamphlet to be published by Centre for Policy Studies.

Source:- The Sunday Times Sunday 27 November 2005 page 12

Blair’s race plan in tatters as Phillips pulls out

The Commission for Racial Equality has pulled out of the new Commission for Equality and Human Rights saying it would be “bad for race, bad for equality”. The CRE said the decision to merge it into the new body, which will also contain the Equal Opportunities Commission and Disability Rights Commission would weaken its influence at a time when concerns about racial tension are rising.

Source:- The Observer Sunday 27 November 2005 page 2

Paperwork mountain keeps nurses from care

As much as 40 per cent of nurses’ working week is diverted to paperwork and administrative tasks, according to Department of Health-commissioned research.

Source:- The Observer Sunday 27 November 2005 page 11

Plight of the cellar girls

Young women are being imprisoned as sex slaves in secret underground bunkers in eastern Europe before being trafficked to Britain.

Source:- Sunday Telegraph Sunday 27 November 2005 page 1

Teen Britain the shocking truth

Teenagers are facing a “mental health time bomb” caused by the abuse of drugs and alcohol. New figures show that the use of drink and drugs has become common among children as young as 13.

Source:- The Independent on Sunday Sunday 27 November 2005 page 1

Welsh news 

Welsh Woman of Year’s disabled pledge

The new Welsh Woman of the Year has pledged to ensure people in Wales are given the same access to university education as everyone else. Karen Robinson, disability services manager ate University of Wales Institute, Cardiff, won the award for her services to disabled students.
Source:- Western Mail, Monday, 28 November

“2-year jobless” more likely to die than work
If you are unemployed for longer than two years in Wales you having a higher chance of dying than getting another job. Labour Euro-MP Eluned Morgan says that policy makers need to face up to this fact arguing that economic inactivity was the biggest threat facing Wales’ future.
Source:- Western Mail, Saturday, 26 November

Checks move to protect children and elderly
Checks on staff are being enhanced at a council where a school caretaker was found guilty of sexual abuse. Caerphilly is developing a code of practice that will subject employees to a large number of checks in an attempt to protect its clients.
Source:- South Wales Echo, Saturday, 26 November

Foster millions needed
Fostering charities have called for an extra £37.8 million assembly funding in order to recruit more foster carers in Wales. The Fostering Network and the British Association for Adoption and Fostering said that there is a shortfall of around 750 foster carers across the country.
Source:- South Wales Echo, Saturday, 26 November

Scottish news

Passion runs high as charity head calls for arrests

The head of a Scottish housing charity which receives £100,000 of public money every year has intervened in the row over eviction of failed asylum seekers in Scotland calling for the arrest of immigration officers. Robina Qureshi, director of Positive Action in Housing, also called for direct action by the public to stop the deportations. Ms Qureshi called the dawn raids by immigration officers “inhumane, disgusting and barbaric” and called on first minister Jack McConnell to arrest any officers who carry them out.

Source:-The Scotsman, Monday 28 November

Unloved babies become antisocial adults

Children deprived of a loving, trusting relationship in their early years are more likely to develop antisocial behaviour later, psychologists have said. A paper presented at the British Psychological Society conference in Perth said policy-makers should be concentrating on stopping children developing personality disorders, rather than interventions later on.

Studies in the United States found that an unhealthy mother-infant relationship, in which the mother finds it difficult to cuddle her child or communicate, led to aggressive behaviour in the early years and to antisocial behaviour later.

Source:-The Scotsman, Saturday 26 November

Holyrood v Westminster: the battle over asylum

Feature: Jack McConnell wanted a better deal for families in Scotland facing deportation, but the Home Office has refused to budge, leaving Holyrood’s isolated politically and at odds with Westminster ministers, and revealing that asylum is truly the new poisoned chalice of UK politics.

Source:-The Herald on Sunday, 27 November

Elderly left at risk as carers given flu jabs
A blunder by government officials has meant thousands of flu vaccines were given to healthy workers rather than pensioners, according to Scotland on Sunday. In August, the Scottish executive added 200,000 carers to the list of people entitled to the jabs.

As a result of so many carers being vaccinated, only half of Scotland’s over-65s have so far received their flu jab – by last Christmas more than 70 per cent of the elderly had been vaccinated.

Source:-Scotland on Sunday, 27 November