Going soft on cannabis has filled youth courts say JPs

£43bn has failed to make NHS first class, says Brown adviser

The architect of Gordon Brown’s strategy for increasing the NHS’s annual budget by £43bn over the past five years will today deliver a stinging criticism of the inadequate return the investment has yielded.

Source:- The Guardian, Tuesday 11 September 2007, page 1

Why engineers yawn less than psychologists

Psychologists have shown that a phenomenon called “contagious yawning” is strongest in people who are more empathetic and have a more developed sense of social awareness.

Source:- The Guardian, Tuesday 11 September 2007, page 14

‘Barnet bond’ proposed to fund services

A bond to raise up to £360m for transport, schools and other local services will be proposed by a north London borough as it looks for new ways to raise money.

Source:- The Financial Times, Tuesday 11 September 2007, page 4

Going soft on cannabis has filled youth courts say JPs

The Magistrates’ Association has linked a rise in the number of 12 and 13-year-olds coming before courts to the government’s decision to downgrade cannabis.

In a submission to a government-commissioned review of the decision to reclassify cannabis as a Class C drug, the association said young people were using cannabis increasingly and then committing property crimes to pay for more.

Source:- The Daily Mail, Tuesday 11 September 2007, page 39

Social services will meet couple to assess if the twins are at risk

Kate and Gerry McCann will be questioned by Leicestershire Council social workers about the welfare of their twins, Sean and Amelie.

Experts said that the move was inevitable given allegations of the couple’s involvement in the disappearance of Madeleine McCann, and the meeting this week will be an initial risk assessment on the twins, which may lead to no further action.

Source:- The Times Tuesday 11 September 2007 page 6-7

Scottish news 
 
More than one-third of criminals breach tagging conditions, government reveals

More than one-third of criminals have breached their tagging orders, according to figures released by the Scottish Executive.
Of 1569 people who were subject to electronic monitoring between April and June 2007, only 1039 adhered to the terms of their electronic monitoring conditions.

In addition, one-fifth of those offenders released from prison early to serve the remainder of their sentence at home under the Home Detention Curfew scheme breached their tagging orders.

Source: The Herald, Tuesday 11 September 2007

Inquiry told OAP feared nursing staff

A fatal accident inquiry into the death of a 91-year-old woman has heard claims she was terrified of staff at her private nursing home, but begged her son not to complain about the regime as she feared “getting into trouble again”.

The inquiry heard that Anne Chalmers was left sitting in a wheelchair all day and developed serious pressure sores that alarmed doctors.
Her son, Ralph Chalmers also told the inquiry at Dundee Sheriff Court that his mother, was not properly fed at the Harestane Nursing Home in Dundee.

Source: The Scotsman, Tuesday 11 September 2007  

Welsh news

Welsh unions warn Brown

WELSH public-sector workers are gearing up for an “Autumn of Discontent” that could mark the end of Gordon Brown’s Prime Ministerial honeymoon.

Source:- icWales, Tuesday 11 September 2007

Super-trust merger unveiled

A MERGER of two South Wales NHS trusts will help to reduce waiting times for patients, health chiefs have promised.

Swansea and Bro Morgannwg NHS trusts could become one super-trust – currently known as Abertawe and Bro Morgannwg NHS Trust – by April.

Source:- icWales, Tuesday 11 September 2007