Affordable housing scheme for public sector staff ditched

Affordable housing scheme for public sector staff ditched
A government scheme to provide affordable housing for key public sector workers in high-cost areas has been effectively ditched following the disclosure to parliament last month that more than half the homes built for sale remained empty.
Source:- The Daily Telegraph, Saturday 20 May 2006, page 4

Attorney general steps into Meadow case
The attorney general is to intervene in an appeal, after a ruling that Professor Sir Roy Meadow should not have been struck off for giving mistaken evidence in the Sally Clark cot-death trial. Lord Goldsmith said February’s ruling was wrong in principle and the public deserved protection from people who go beyond their field of expertise.
Source:- The Independent, Saturday 20 May 2006, page 6   

Midwife-led birth centres threatened by cost cutting
More than a quarter of England’s popular and successful midwife-led birth centres are being threatened with closure as the NHS struggles to deal with financial deficits.
Source:- The Guardian, Saturday 20 May 2006, page 6

Young offender handcuffed as he comes out of coma
Campaigners criticised the Home Office after it emerged that a teenage prisoner was handcuffed to a guard as soon as a he came round from a coma following brain surgery.
Source:- The Guardian, Saturday 20 May 2006, page 12

Exam pupils sent home over lack of respect
An entire year of GCSE pupils has been suspended from school because of unruly behaviour and “lack of respect”. All 173 Year 11 pupils at St Laurence school in Bradford-on-Avon, were sent home after they were deemed uncontrollable in their final week of lessons before study leave.
Source:- The Times, Saturday 20 May 2006, page 13

Failed by their parents
Parents are sending children to class tired, scruffy and unfit to learn, the new chief inspector of schools Maurice Smith said.
Source:- Daily Mail, Saturday 20 May 2006, page 1

Illegal migrants are ignored to help meet Blair’s targets
Immigration officers are allegedly refusing to turn up when police arrest illegal imigrants because government targets mean they are only interested in deporting failed asylum seekers.
Source:- Daily Mail, Saturday 20 May 2006, page 2

‘Sex-for-asylum’ scandal at immigration HQ
A chief immigration officer at Lunar House in Croydon, south London, targeted an 18-year-old Zimbabwean rape victim. He offered to help her with her application to claim asylum in this country and made it clear that he would like to have sex with her.
Source:- Observer, Sunday 21 May 2006, page 1

Boarding schools to offer places for children in care
Children in care are to be offered up to 2,000 places at boarding schools in a controversial new scheme. Under the plan, local authorities would fund places at private and state-run boarding schools for young peopel in children’s homes and foster families.
Source:- Sunday Telegraph, Sunday 21 May 2006, page 3

Every four-year-old to be screened for obesity
Primary schoolchildren are to be routinely weighed and their parents told if they are obese in a controversial initiative. Ministers have decided to overrule the children’s commissioner and their own child health officials, who fear that telling parents the test results will stigmatise some children.
Source:- Independent on Sunday, Sunday 21 May 2006, page 1

Reid: Give victims of crime a say on parole
Victims of crime could be given a say on whether to free offenders from jail under controversial new plans being considered by the Home Office.
Source:- Sunday Telegraph, Sunday 21 May 2006, page 6

Women carrying Down’s syndrome babies pushed into abortions, says charity
Pregnant women carrying a Down’s syndrome baby are being pushed by doctors into abortions at a worryingly late stage, according to the Down’s Syndrome Association. It warns that doctors and health professionals with “outdated views” are failing to provide a balanced view of what life is like with a Down’s sydrome child.
Source:- Sunday Telegraph, Sunday 21 May 2006, page 1

Study downplays link of video games to violence
Playing computer games may actually be good for children, according to a government study that found no proof that even violent games triggered aggressive behaviour.
Source:- Observer, Sunday 21 May 2006, page 10

What teens really think about sex
Eight out of 10 teenagers lose their virginity when they are drunk, feeling pressurised into having sex or are not using a condom, a survey by the Trust for the Study Of Adolescence has revealed.
Source:- Observer, Sunday 21 May 2006, page 16

Cameron to woo parents over work
David Cameron will set out to woo young parents tomorrow when he calls for a cultural change in the world of work so that more mothers can work part-time.
Source:- Observer, Sunday 21 May 2006, page 16

Smoking can blind you, say doctors
Cigarette packets should carry warnings that smoking causes blindness, doctors will argue this week as a new study shows that the habit can badly damage eyesight.
Source:- Observer, Sunday 21 May 2006, page 16

Kids and cars: noises that annoy
Half a million people were driven out of their homes last year by loud neighbours, according to a report.
Source:- Observer, Sunday 21 May 2006, page 16

Schools bill faces growing rebellion
Ministers fear the rebellion against the schools bill will grow this week when the legislation reaches its final stage in the Commons. The number of Labour rebels could rise from the 52 who voted against the education bill in March to about 70.
Source:- Sunday Times, Sunday 21 May 2006, page 2

Domestic violence film criticised
Women’s rights group the Southall Black Sisters say a new film about Kiranjit Ahluwalia, jailed in 1989 for killing her husband after 10 years of domestic abuse, is riddled with “factual and legal inaccuracies.” Ahluwalis was released after a campaign by Southall Black Sisters led to a new trial in 1991.
Source:- Observer, Sunday 21 May 2006, page 5

Man accused of killing charity worker
Young mental health worker Ashleigh Ewing was found stabbed to death at the home of a patient in Newcastle on Friday. Ashleigh has been working for the Mental Health Matterscharity. Her death is likely to renew calls for increased protection for mental health workers.
Source:- Observer, Sunday 21 May 2006, page 7

Sons need dads, says killer’s father
Tony Thomas, whose son killed schoolgirl Mary-Ann Leneghan, blames absent fathers for the rise in such violent crimes.
Source:- Observer, Sunday 21 May 2006, page 9

‘More NHS beds must go’ in boost for home care
Britain’s health service needs fewer beds, not more, Dr Gill Morgan, chief executive of the NHS Confederation, said. She believes hospitals should become buildings where only the seriously ill went.
Source:- Observer, Sunday 21 May 2006, page 8

Protesting fathers halt National Lottery
Fathers 4 Justice stormed the set of BBC 1’s lottery show as it was being broadcast live last night. The protest marked a relaunch of its campaign after a five month pause.
Source:- Observer, Sunday 21 May 2006, page 10

Prisoner hanged
A prisoner has been found hanged in his cell at Preston prison. David Schofield, 38, had been recalled to jail for breaking the terms of his licence after serving a three-month sentence for possessing indecent photographs of a child. Schofield was found hanged in his cell on Friday evening.
Source:- The Times, Monday 22 May 2006, page 2

Children as young as 12 feel pressure to have sex
Children lack the knowledge and confidence to say no to sex or keep themselves safe as they come under pressure from their peers to experiment, the charity ChildLine says today.
Source:- The Times, Monday 22 May 2006, page 11

Jail lost hundreds of inmates
Almost 400 inmates, including 27 killers, have absconded from Leyhill open prison, in Gloucestershire, in the past seven years.
Source:- The Times, Monday 22 May 2006, page 30

Asylum seekers held in raids
Nearly 1,000 people have been detained as suspects in counter-terrorist operations in the past five years, and a quarter were foreigners claiming asylum, according to Home Office sources.
Source:- The Times, Monday 22 May 2006, page 30

Little boy doctors wanted to abort at 35 weeks
A woman was told she could have an abortion at 35 weeks of pregnancy after tests showed that her baby had Down’s syndrome. Lisa Green was informed by her obstetrician that her child would grow up “mentally retarded”, she said.
Source:- The Daily Mail, Monday 22 May 2006, page 7

Scottish news

New rules on giving drugs to the elderly
Mental health watchdogs are drawing up guidelines on covert medication amid concerns hundreds of elderly people are being given drugs without their consent. One in seven care homes administer drugs to elderly people without their permission, and charities fear care homes could be hiding sedatives in food to make life easier for staff and demanded that regulations be tightened.
Dr Donald Lyons, the Mental Welfare Commissioner for Scotland, said following a consultation with doctors and care home workers, guidelines are being drawn up to ensure no-one is given drugs without their consent unless absolutely necessary.
Source:- The Scotsman, Saturday 20 May 2006
 
Halve local authorities and save taxpayers’ cash, says senior council chief
A senior council chief has admitted that Scotland is chronically over-governed, and called for the number of local authorities to be halved to save taxpayers’ cash.
Douglas Sinclair, the chief executive of Fife Council, admitted the way government was organised made “little sense” and was top-heavy with bureaucrats.
He said the number of councils should be cut from 32 to 14 and suggested the council administration of police and other emergency services should be merged to slash red tape.
Source:- Scotland on Sunday, Sunday 21 May 2006
 
Officers map violence hotspots in city
In some areas of Glasgow, one in 10 residents has committed a violent offence, while in others it is only one in 1000.
The Kingston ward has the highest proportion of violent offenders, with 100 offenders for every 1000 residents, and Jordanhill, Newlands and Partick are at the other end of the scale, according to the data from Scotland’s violence reduction unit.
The mapping exercise formed part of a huge public health evaluation of Glasgow and revealed that the areas with the highest crime levels also have the most heart attacks, and worst mental and physical health.
Source:- The Herald, Monday 22 May 2006

Scottish agency distances itself in criminal records row
The Scottish agency in charge of deciding whether potential employees are fit to work with children has distanced itself from the Home Office’s latest problems, after it emerged that 2,700 residents in England had been incorrectly cast as criminals by the Criminal Records Bureau.
Disclosure Scotland said the errors by the CRB did not affect its work in Scotland.
Separate concerns were raised about the efficacy of Disclosure Scotland’s work, however, when it emerged that a new list of people banned from working with children in Scotland contained just 107 names.
Source:- The Scotsman, Monday 22 May 2006

Welsh news

Care home closure protest
More than 500 people voiced their objections to the planned demolition of a residential home in Camarthenshire.
Annedd home is due to be shut down by Camarthenshire Council due to not meeting care home standards.
The care home will be replaced by £4 million flats which the council says will provide the same level of care as the old facility.
Source:- Western Mail, Saturday 20 May 2006

Sportswear sales plummet as ‘hoodie factor’ takes its toll
Fear of being associated with antisocial behaviour is thought to have led to the sales of sportswear plummeting fashion experts said yesterday.
The sportswear market in Britain is currently worth £1.82 billion, two per cent lower than the same time last year.
Ali Kedge, a Cardiff-based style consultant, said that the reduction could be down to people being concerned about being seen as yobs due to sports wear and hoodies being associated with antisocial behaviour.
Source:- Western Mail, Saturday 20 May 2006

 

 

 

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