News round up: 40,000 jobs threatened as downturn hits town halls

40,000 jobs threatened as recession hits town halls

At least 40,000 council jobs are expected to be lost this year, with two thirds of local authorities admitting that they are cutting posts to cope with the recession.

A survey of 106 town halls conducted by The Times this week shows that 65 councils are planning to cut 12,144 jobs to cope with a tight financial settlement and a sharp drop in revenue.

Heating was off for TEN days at the care home where eight residents died

Half of the residents at a 16-bed care home died when they contracted ‘chest-related illnesses’ after being left without central heating for up to ten days.

Read more on this story in The Daily Mail

Short, hard life of Ivan Cameron, whose suffering could change Britain

When the certificate is written it will say the cause of death was acute abdominal failure at 6.30am on February 25, 2009, at St Mary’s Hospital in Paddington, West London.

The public record of a small boy stilled will tell nothing, though, of his last agonies, or of his parents’ final goodbyes. And yet the name it will bear – Ivan Reginald Ian Cameron – will indicate that the death of this six-year-old boy was not simply a personal tragedy.

Mother jailed again after daughter, 11, fails to attend school just 100 yards away

A mother has been jailed for the second time for continuously letting her 11-year-old daughter play truant despite living 100 yards from school.

Migrant impact on UK jobs and wages not harmful, says study

Claims that migrants “take our jobs” and “cut our pay” are misplaced and wrong, according to research published today by the Institute for Public Policy Research.

The economists say there is no evidence to suggest that large-scale migration from eastern Europe since 2004 has had any substantial negative impact on either wages or employment. Indeed, they add that it is entirely possible there has been a small positive impact on both of these, or no impact at all.

Read more on this story in The Guardian

Underlying inequalities hit poverty crusade

Progress in tackling poverty is set to stall owing to entrenched inequalities in British society, according to a study published on Wednesday.