Watford footballer facing deportation is saved in extra time

What a result! Footballer facing deportation is saved in extra time

Watford footballer and asylum seeking Al Bangura, who was threatened with deportation to his native Sierra Leone, has been allowed to stay in the country after being granted a work permit by the Home Office.

It will run for the length of his Watford contract, until 2010, and he will have to apply for leave to remain in the UK beyond that. He does not meet the usual work permit criteria for footballers, but was deemed to be a player of the highest calibre who could contribute to the development of football in England.

Watford FC and the local MP Claire Ward had mounted a campaign on behalf of Bangura, 19, who arrived in Britain four years ago as an unaccompanied minor

Source: The Times Tuesday 15 January 2008 page 8

Education chiefs struggle for Neet fix

Ministers’ plans to force teenagers to stay in education or training until the age of 18 have provoked visions among critics of youngsters whose school days have been reluctantly prolonged disrupting classes for their keener peers. But yesterday officials said these fears were unfounded as the Education and Skills Bill had its second reading.

Source: The Financial Times, Tuesday 15 January 2008, page 2

Town hall staff pay showdown

Local government unions are calling for rises of at least 6% for staff this year, three times higher than the target for public sector pay set by Gordon Brown.

Heather Wakefield, of Unison, said the claim was not inflationary and constituted a just reward for staff however, Brian Baldwin, who represents coucnil employers, said local authorities would face a choice between cutting services or laying off staff if the pay deal were too high.

Source: The Daily Mirror Tuesday 15 January 2008 page 4

Private schools preserve apartheid-style system, says head

Private schools are perpetrating an “apartheid” system of schooling, creaming off the most able students and leaving state schools to flounder, according to an influential independent school head who today launches an outspoken attack on his colleagues in the independent sector.

Source: The Guardian, Tuesday 15 January 2008, page 7

Health ministry faces ‘scapegoat’ claim

The Department of Health made a “scapegoat” of a top statistician who raised the alarm with senior officials about a contentious public/private venture to provide data to the National Health Service, an employment tribunal heard yesterday.

Source: The Financial Times, Tuesday 15 January 2008, page 2

Police and prosecutors ‘failing rape victims’

Promiscuity among young people and the failure of police and prosecutors to put enough effort into investigating cases are two of the principal causes in the collapse of rape convictions, the country’s most senior law officers say today.

Source: The Guardian, Tuesday 15 January 2008, page 1