News round-up: Thalidomide victims seek more compensation

April 4, 2008 in Community Care

Thalidomide victims launch battle for more compensation
Fifty years since the introduction of thalidomide, sold as a “safe” cure for morning sickness in pregnancy, its seriously disabled victims yesterday launched a campaign for greater compensation from the German manufacturer outside the German embassy in London.

Paedophiles face curbs on internet use
The home secretary will today outline plans to increase protection for children surfing the web, including new jail terms for convicted paedophiles who use social networking websites.
Read more on this story in The Guardian today

Brown fights revolts on tax and alcohol duty
Gordon Brown was facing the first serious test of his political authority yesterday when a senior minister attacked his plans to raise alcohol duty in the budget and he was forced to respond to a tax revolt by backbench MPs.

Migrant worker identified in ‘severed head’ case
The woman whose head was found by two sisters playing on a beach in Arbroath has been identified as a migrant worker, police said yesterday.

Brown plans tougher line on cannabis against advice of own drug experts
Gordon Brown intends to tighten the penalties for cannabis possession despite a clear recommendation by the government’s own drug experts that it should remain a class C drug.

Local authorities challenged with bid to have children play outside
A league table rating the quality of parks, adventure playgrounds and youth activities in each area of England is to be published by the Government as part of a new strategy designed to encourage children to play outside more.

Ban boy’s £20,000
A pupil who was banned from school for four days a week, rather than having his special needs reassessed, will receive a trust fund worth at least £20,000 from Stockport council which failed to educate him.

Police recruit in dyslexia victory
A dyslexic police recruit who was hounded out of the force is seeking £500,000 compensation after winning his claim of disability discrimination.

Credit crisis could delay UK regeneration
Some big regeneration schemes could be delayed as the credit crunch affects the transformation of some of the country’s most despoiled tracts of urban land.

Deals to help workless teens shift to councils
Companies and charities under contract to solve the seemingly intractable problem of workless teenagers are losing lucrative deals to teams run by local authorities and government-financed organisations, even in cases where the authorities’ youth services have been condemned as “inadequate” by Ofsted, the education regulator.