TUESDAY 28 MARCH 2006

More than one million local government workers to strike over pensions
Cremations and burials are expected to be halted and no refuse collections will be made in towns and cities today as local government workers join the biggest national stoppage since the 1979 winter of discontent.
Source:- Financial Times, Tuesday 28 March 2006, page 3

More than 2,000 children of asylum-seekers detained
More than 2,000 children of asylum seekers are locked up every year, leaving them suffering depression, nightmares and eating problems, a coalition of campaign groups has warned. The Home Office announced a review of the treatment of families awaiting deportation on the eve of today’s campaign launch but it stopped short of a commitment not to detain children.
Source:- The Independent, Tuesday 28 March 2006, page 10

Girl, 14, gets a new drink-drive ban, then hits lawyer
Britain’s youngest drink-driver attacked a lawyer and threw a jug of water at magistrates yesterday as she was sentenced to her second offence of driving while drunk at Newbury youth court, Berkshire.
Source:- The Times, Tuesday 28 March 2006, page 7

Baby-rape sentence faces review
A paedophile who could be freed after serving six years for the rape of a baby in his care is to have his jail sentence reviewed after an outcry over its leniency. Alan Webster, 40, raped the 12-week-old child while babysitting with his girlfriend and took photographs of the abuse. He was jailed for life in January.
Source:- The Times, Tuesday 28 March 2006, page 27

Two authorities face council tax cap
Medway and York councils could have their council taxes capped, the government said yesterday as it announced that average bills would increase in England by more than twice the rate of inflation.
Source:- Financial Times, Tuesday 28 March 2006, page 3

Asbo bans tearaway twins, 12, from being together in public
A Hampshire court has banned 12-year-old twins from leaving home together and sharing the same classroom as part of an antisocial behaviour order, after hearing how they “terrorised” shoppers and traders by shouting, swearing, throwing stones, breaking windows and daubing graffiti.
Source:- The Daily Telegraph, Tuesday 28 March 2006, page 3

Pledge to ensure dignified treatment for elderly in hospital
The government promised to ensure that elderly people were treated with “dignity” after a report into health and social care for the over-50s said there was evidence of a lack of respect when they were in hospital.
Source:- The Daily Telegraph, Tuesday 28 March 2006, page 10

Scottish news

Public sector strike brings chaos across Scotland
Public services across Scotland are expected to grind to a halt during the biggest strike in more than 80 years.
Around 200,000 public sector staff are expected to stay off work in a row over proposed changes to pension plans, forcing the closure of hundreds of libraries, schools, leisure centres and council offices.
The one-day action marks the culmination of a growing feud over government attempts to force people to work an extra five years before retiring.
Source:- The Herald, Tuesday 28 March 2006

Pensioners in care are being fed for less than £1
Scottish pensioners in residential care are being fed meals that cost less than £1 to produce. An investigation by the Scotsman also found that a dozen authorities are providing frozen meals rather than the traditional meals on wheels, despite the fact this cuts out daily contact for many isolated pensioners. The results reveal that unlike the focus on the quality of school dinners – where turkey twizzlers are increasingly being replaced with healthy options – meals served to the elderly have come under no such scrutiny.
Source:- The Scotsman, Tuesday 28 March 2006

Dawn raids on asylum seekers to go on
The use of dawn raids to deport failed asylum seekers is to continue, the government has confirmed. Tony McNulty, the immigration minister, said the “family removals process” would be reassessed, but there would be no special Scottish “protocol”, as Jack McConnell, the first minister, sought last year.
McNulty also announced the creation of a director for immigration in Scotland, the first of a series throughout the UK to improve co-ordination.
Source:- The Scotsman, Tuesday 28 March 2006

Welsh news
 
Welsh Development Agency’s closure criticised
The head of the main employers’ organisation in Britain has slammed the decision to shut down regeneration body the Welsh Development Agency.
The WDA, the Wales Tourist Board and Elwa will be “merged” with the Assembly Government in a cull of quangos.
Sir Digby Jones, the director general of the CBI, said that he thinks that the decision to merge the WDA was wrong and was not best for Wales.
Source:- Western Mail, Tuesday 28 March 2006