Lib Dems call for drunks to face A & E treatment charges

By Maria Ahmed and Mithran Samuel

Lib Dems call for drunks to face A & E treatment charges

Drunks who are treated for injuries in accident and emergency departments should have to pay for their treatment, the Liberal Democrats say, signalling a Blairite shift in the party’s health policy.

Source:- The Times, Friday September 14 2007, page 19
 
Council ‘bounty’ for housing sites

Yvette Cooper, the housing minister, will announce a £500 million package today to fast-track house building for first-time buyers and young families. She will propose financial incentives for town halls that increase development targets.

Source:- The Times, Friday September 14 2007, page 31

Up to two million people in Britain have undiagnosed dyslexia and public awareness of the condition is low, research has shown.

The study found three-quarters of people admitted knowing little about dyslexia, while a fifth thought dyslexic people simply needed to work harder to keep up with others.

Source:- Daily Telegraph Friday 14 September 2007 page 12

Chatroom users ‘goaded man in live web suicide’

A coroner yesterday called for “insult chatrooms” to be regulated after members of one site encouraged a man to commit suicide while dozens watched live over the internet.

Kevin Whitrick, 42, is believed to have been the first person to commit suicide over the internet, on the site Ke’s Friendly Insult Chatroom for Everyone, on 21 March.

Telford and Wrekin coroner Michael Gwynne said it was the sort of site on which “people seem to enjoy getting verbally abused”, and pointed out that just one of up to 60 people who were logged on contacted the police.

Whitrick had a history of depression and had attempted suicide in 2003.

Source:- The Daily Telegraph Friday 14 September 2007 page 15