Brown orders review of 24-hour drinking

By Mithran Samuel, Maria Ahmed, Amy Taylor and Derren Hayes

Sex discrimination rife and equality will take generations, says axed commission

Sex equality will take generations to achieve at the current “painfully low” rate of progress, watchdog the Equal Opportunities Commission has said in its final report before being merged into the new Commission on Equality and Human Rights.

The EOC said the hourly earnings gap between part-time women and full-time men – currently 38% – would take 25 years to close and the gap in pensions, disadvantaging women, may take 45 years to close.

The CEHR will be responsible for tackling all forms of discrimination and campaigners fear that gender will be downplayed as a result in its work.

Source:- The Guardian Tuesday 24 July 2007 page 7

Bedtime stories a problem for many parents

One in 10 parents struggle to understand the bedtime stories they read to their children, a survey by adult learning organisation Learndirect has found.

It estimates there are 26m adults who struggle with English or maths.

Source:- The Guardian Tuesday 24 July 2007 page 7

Police investigate bogus detention lawyer

Police are investigating the activities of a man who has posed as an immigration lawyer, representing asylum seekers at Yarl’s Wood and Oakington detention centres over the past four years.

Alan Kamara-Francis is not a solicitor nor a barrister and is not registered as an immigration adviser, but has been able to gain access to the centres due to poor security.

Detainees have arranged for sums of between £200 and £500 to be paid into his bank account but many have since been deported.

Kamara-Francis said he welcomed the investigation and that he was training to be a barrister and had taught himself the law.

Source:- The Guardian Tuesday 24 July 2007 page 10

Gordon Brown has announced a review of legislation extending licensing hours, citing evidence of increased arrests and public concerns over antisocial behaviour since the legislation was introduced two years ago.

Source:- The Guardian Tuesday 24 July 2007 page 13

More than one in four hospices are now in deficit due to cuts in government funding, a study by charity Help the Hospices has found.

The charity found that the level of government funding as a proportion of hospice spending had fallen from 34% to 32% since 2004.

Source:- The Daily Mail Tuesday 24 July 2007 page 19

A revolutionary drug that reverses the symptoms of Alzheimer’s disease is being developed by British scientists.

Source:- The Daily Mail Tuesday 24 July 2007 page 20

A man was detained indefinitely at a secure hospital yesterday after he admitted killing his father after developing delusions that he had been abused as a child.

Daniel Wilson, from Brixton, south London, stabbed his father Terry in October 2006.

He had been put on medication in 2001 following a cannabis-induced psychotic episode but often failed to take it.

A mental health assessment carried out at the Lister Hospital, Stevenage, Hertfordshire, before the killing found there was no need to section him.

Source:- The Daily Mail Tuesday 24 July 2007 page 26

Town centres ‘becoming no-go areas’ after dark

Town and city centres are turning into “no-go areas” after dark as drunken youngsters riot, the government warned today.

Source: – The Independent, Tuesday 24 July 2007, page 16
 
Alarm over child drinkers

Alcohol is being drunk by as many as one in ten primary school children, according to the Schools Health Education Unit.

Source: – The Independent, Tuesday 24 July 2007, page 16
 
Pupils fingerprinted

Schools will be able to fingerprint pupils for dinner queue, library and registration, in accordance with data protection guidance issued yesterday by the Schools Minister.

Source: – The Times, Tuesday 24 July 2007, page 2
 
Paedophile jailed for eight years

A paedophile was jailed for eight years for abusing a boy. John Hazelton, 59, of Pimlico, southwest London, had groomed the boy with pornography, Blackfriars Crown Court was told.

Source: – The Times, Tuesday 24 July 2007, page 11
 
New hope over Alzheimer’s

The prospect of a cure for Alzheimer’s disease came a step closer after researchers at the University of St Andrews said they had developed a compound that prevents the condition destroying brain cells and helps to repair damaged memory and learning ability.

Source:- The Times  Tuesday 24 July

£8bn new cash for houses crisis

Gordon Brown promised £8bn for the creation of 70, 000 affordable between 2008 and 2011.

The plans are part of a government drive to build three million new homes by 2020 including a substantial number of council houses.

Source:- Daily Mirror, Tuesday, July 24 2007

Scottish news

Call for review of methadone treatment for addicts

A group of experts has called for the creation of a national system to assess how drug addicts are treated to discover if the help they receive is effective.

Despite more than 22,000 Scots receiving the heroin substitute methadone, new research shows that there is little effort to find out whether that is working.

It was part of a package of findings published by the Scottish Executive which confirmed the liquid substitute for heroin remains at the centre of efforts to help people away from their addiction.

Source:- The Herald, Tuesday 24 July

Researchers develop compound that reverses Alzheimer’s

Scottish researchers have developed a compound that helps reverse the signs of Alzheimer’s disease.

St Andrews University biologists say their man-made substance takes them one step closer to finding a cure for the disease.

The number affected by Alzheimer’s is expected to double as Britain’s population ages over the next generation.

Source:- The Herald, Tuesday 24 July

Funding call to aid ‘trapped’ disabled

Major investment over a 15-year period is needed to help hundreds of disabled people trapped in their homes or confined to care, says a new report.

The Disability Rights Commission (DRC) has published research which shows just 20 per cent of Scotland’s 36,000 wheelchair users have adapted homes leaving many forced to stay in care homes.

The Independent Living in Scotland study estimates there are 62,000 households in Scotland where someone cannot wash themselves because they need an adapted bathroom.

Source:- The Scotsman, Tuesday 24 July

Antidepressants for youths rocket

The use of antidepressants and other mind altering drugs among schoolchildren has more than quadrupled in the past decade.

More than 631,000 prescriptions for under-16s were recorded in the last year, compared to 146,000 in 1996-97.

Source:- The Scotsman, Tuesday 24 July

Welsh news

Backlash over free prescriptions

A backlash has begun over the Welsh policy of providing free prescriptions and there have been calls to introduce a “nominal” fee per item.

Anecdotal evidence suggests that many patients are asking their GPs for cheap over-the-counter medicines free on prescription. Their requests include prescriptions for paracetamol, which can cost as little as 1p a pill.

Source:- Western Mail, Tuesday, July 24 2007