Abused by carer

By Mithran Samuel, Maria Ahmed and Derren Hayes

Abused by carer

A care home worker was sacked after a mobile phone film showed her verbally abusing residents at The Chimneys in Sherburn Hill, Durham, whose owner, John Dunn, said: “I am absolutely disgusted.”

Source:- The Sun Friday 31 August 2007 page 9

Health unions have hit out at the NHS cuts after government figures revealed that the service was set to record a surplus of almost £1 billion this year, compared to a £500 million deficit last year.

The government welcomed the news, saying it meant cash could be released to spend on services, but Unison said the under-spend was the result of “unnecessary pain” in terms of low pay increases and cuts.

Source:- The Guardian Friday 31 August 2007 page 4

Jail dispute set to spread to other public sector unions despite talks

The Prison Officers Association has threatened further strike action after the government said it would not budget on its 2.5% staged pay increase for jail staff.

The POA went on strike this week without warning, breaking a no strike deal with the government, who successfully applied for a court action to force prison officers back to work.

Source:- The Guardian Friday 31 August 2007 page 6

The son who didn’t fit into plot of Miller’s life

Playwright Arthur Miller hid the existence of a son with Down’s syndrome for decades, but then quietly included him in his will weeks before his death.

Source:- The Times, Friday 31 August 2007, page 3
 
Rhys Jones suspect is notorious youth linked to recent shootings

A teenager involved in the police investigation into the murder of Rhys Jones is a notorious figure in the community who has been linked to gun crime in the recent past, it has emerged.

Source:- The Times, Friday 31 August 2007, page 5
 
Prison officers ‘trapped’ with inmates

A team of five prison officers from HMP Havering found themselves locked in with inmates when their colleagues walked out on strike.

Source:- The Times, Friday 31 August 2007, page 24
 
 
Paedophile kept a video library of his 89 attacks on young girls

A former bank manager who videoed his sex attacks on children as young as three was jailed for life yesterday.

Source:- The Times, Friday 31 August 2007, page 31
 
Scottish news

Wendy Alexander has been taken aback at the strength of feeling about affordable housing, in her tour of Scotland listening to Labour Party activists.

Ahead of a meeting with more than 100 members in Glasgow the leader-elect said the housing issue had surprised her most in feedback from the party, and that Scotland had fallen behind England in finding solutions to the housing crisis.

“You can’t miss the significance of the housing issue,” she said. “It’s about affordable home ownership, either for rent or sale, and people’s desire or anxieties that their children will not have the same opportunities they’ve had, because they can’t afford to get on the housing ladder.

Source:- The Herald, Friday 31 August

A hotel group has failed in its latest attempt to add to its portfolio of homeless accommodation.

McKever Hotels was refused licences to run two houses of multiple occupancy (HMO) following objections from residents and politicians, as well as Strathclyde Police, who listed more than 100 crimes committed by the company’s homeless clients staying in the neighbouring Parkview Hotel.

The firm was accused of transforming an affluent conservation area neighbouring Glasgow’s Queens Park into a homeless and antisocial ghetto.

Source:- The Herald, Friday 31 August

The number of Scots killed by drugs rose by 25% in the past year to reach the highest level ever recorded.

Figures published yesterday by the Registrar of Scotland showed there were 421 drug-related deaths in 2006, 85 more than the year before and 10% up on the previous high of 382 in 2002.

Heroin or morphine were involved in nearly 62% of the deaths, up from 58% in 2005, while the number of addicts who died with methadone in their system increased by 25 to 97, calling into question its continued use as a method of weaning heroin-users off the drug.

Source:- The Herald, Friday 31 August