Monday 15 September 2003

By Amy Taylor, Clare Jerrom and Alex Dobson.
Elderly ‘becoming healthier’
Concerns that an ageing population will bring more disability and
disease are unfounded with older people actually becoming
progressively healthier, scientists at the British Association
science festival heard.
Raymond Talis, professor of geriatric medicine at Manchester
University, said that the latest evidence showed that disability
among older people is declining rapidly. He added that they studies
in the US have showed that older people are now less likely than
the previous generation to suffer from strokes, heart disease and
dementia.
Source:- The Financial Times Saturday 13 September page 5
Cheeky beggar
A beggar who was told he would go to jail if he was caught begging
in the centre of Manchester, after being arrested nearly 100 times,
has set himself up outside Buckingham Palace.
Leonard Hockey told a tourist that he was on a begging tour of the
country, and had come to London to deliver a letter to the Queen
about how he had been treated.
Last month, Manchester Council successfully took out an injunction
against him, which stated that he could face a two-year jail
sentence if he was caught begging again.
Source:- Daily Mail Saturday 13 September page 17
Secret quotas target children for
deportation
Secret government quotas to deport 160 asylum seeking families a
month will lead to a huge increase in the number of children being
sent to detention centres campaigners have warned.
The quota is revealed in an immigration service document “intended
for internal use only”. It shows that over 2,400 children and their
parents were deported between April 2002 and March 2003.
Source:- The Independent on Sunday 14 September page 8
Schools ‘failing to fight racism’
Pupils and teachers from ethnic minorities are still experiencing
racism due to Britain’s education system being “institutionally
racist”, according to two new studies.
The pieces of research claim that ministers have failed to deal
with widespread xenophobia in schools, and even distanced
themselves from the official findings of the inquiry into the
murder of black teenager Stephen Lawrence.
One study, by the University of Brighton, describes David
Blunkett’s comments in January that institutional racism is merely
a slogan that lets individual managers off the hook, as
“sinister”.
A second study, involving investigations by the University of
Sussex, Canterbury Christ Church, University College and the
University of Brighton, looked at racism in schools in south east
England.
Source:- The Observer Sunday 14 September page 9
Labour’s public service test
Nurseries’ big day as cash is spooned to Sure Start
In our latest report on provision in Enfield we find that a family
scheme is helping children get a foot on the education ladder, but
gaps remain
Source:- The Guardian Monday 15 September page 12
Scottish newspapers
Local councils free to spy as revised ‘snooper’s
charter’ gets new powers
Ministers yesterday unveiled new powers for a range of
state agencies to use undercover agents and deploy secret
surveillance.
Local councils will be among the organisations able to use spying
and a “covert human intelligence source” to investigate
crimes such as vandalism and fraud.
Source:- The Scotsman Saturday 13 September
Vigilante fears over youth gang crime
Residents of a housing state dubbed “Little Bosnia”
have expressed fears that a vigilante campaign targeting young
criminals is set to explode.
The justice system is doing little to tackle the persistent
problems of antisocial behaviour, according to the people living in
the city’s Broomhouse area.
Community leaders now worry that emotions in the neighbourhood and
nearby Sighthill may incite some to take matters into their own
hands.
Source:- The Scotsman Saturday 13 September
Funeral of ‘bullied’ schoolgirl
The funeral of a teenager who is thought to have hanged herself
after being bullied at school took place yesterday.
Marianne Shanks was found dead at her home near Inchture,
Perthshire, on Sunday night.
Tayside Police investigating her death are looking into claims that
she was bullied at the £7,000-a-year Dundee High School.
Source:- The Scotsman Saturday 13 September
McConnell blasts failures of justice
The first minister will this week confront
Scotland’s judges by demanding that they serve the public,
and not the vested interests of the legal establishment.
Jack McConnell will say in a speech this week that the
country’s justice system is “not working”, and
demand unprecedented reform of the entire service.
Source:- Scotland on Sunday 14 September
‘My words were twisted to defend paedophile who
abused my brother’
The sister of a man sexually abused at Quarriers care homes has
accused BBC Scotland of selectively using an interview she gave to
suggest the paedophile convicted of abusing her brother was
innocent.
BBC Scotland’s Frontline Scotland screened a documentary
entitled ‘Secrets or Lies’ in March. It claims that
John Porteous, a man convicted of sexually abusing two boys in the
1960s and 1970s at Quarriers care homes, may have been the victim
of a conspiracy.
One of the boys Porteous sexually abused was David Whelan, and the
programme  uses an interview with Whelan’s sister Irene to
back up claims that Porteous was innocent.
Irene has now come forward saying she told the BBC that Porteous
beat her when she was in care with her brother, and claims she
categorically told the BBC that she did not believe that her
brother was lying about the sexual abuse.
Source:- Sunday Herald Sunday 14 September
Gypsies slam ‘middle-class’ race
watchdog
An organisation representing gypsies has accused the “white,
middle-classed” staff of the Commission for Racial Equality
in Scotland of perpetrating institutional racism.
The vice chairperson of the Scottish Gypsy Traveller Association,
Mark Kennedy, said the commission “fobbed off” the
scores of complaints of widespread discrimination against gypsy
travellers.
Source:- Sunday Herald Sunday 14 September
Dungavel may lead to Mullan film
The controversy surrounding the Dungavel detention centre for
asylum seekers in Scotland may become the inspiration for Peter
Mullan’s next film, it emerged yesterday.
The Scottish director and actor participated in a silent protest
outside Jack McConnell’s official residence last week and is
now calling on other artists to get involved in the campaign to
prevent the children of asylum seekers being locked up in the
centre.
Source:- The Herald Monday 15 September
Revealed: lottery of care home charges
Older people are being denied vital information to help them make a
choice about care home places and are facing vast differences in
the prices charged for a place, ‘The Herald’ has
discovered.
Prices varied by more than £12,000 a year among similar
establishments without residents getting better facilities.
‘The Herald’ visited 18 homes around the country
looking for a place for a frail 82-year-old woman. Prices for a
place ranged from £19,240 per year to £36,400.
In addition, four of the 18 homes surveyed did not show our
“customer” public reports by government-appointed
inspectors into the standards of care offered at the home, or help
to obtain copies.
Source:- The Herald Monday 15 September
Welsh newspapers
Kids missing breakfast more likely to fail
exams
Children who miss breakfast could drop as much as two grades in
their GCSEs according to new research.
A study by the British Nutrition Foundation (BNF) surveyed more
than 5,200 five to 15-year-olds and found that only a quarter of
teenagers are eating fruit and vegetables. The survey also found
that almost half of the teenage girls questioned are skipping
breakfast because they want to lose weight. Health experts say that
missing out on breakfast can have serious implications and can
affect children’s concentration in school.
Source Western Mail Monday 15 September page 1
Charity urges smacking ban
Parents’ power to use physical punishment to discipline their
children should be removed under child protection reforms, says a
leading charity.
The NSPCC in its response to the government’s Green Paper on
children’s services says that it is disappointed that the
government has not signalled its intention to take away parental
power over “reasonable chastisement” that enables
parents to smack their children without fear of prosecution.
Source Western Mail Monday 15 September page 2
Child alarm ‘inspired by Soham’
A Welsh mother who was distressed by the Soham murders has invented
a device that could increase the safety of children in the
UK.
Following the killing of Jessica Chapman and Holly Wells last year,
Liz Williams from Flint was inspired to create a child alarm which
could help police find missing children and identify abductors. The
small device can be worn around the neck and can spray an attacker
with indelible paint and emits a tracking signal when
activated.
Source Western Mail Monday 15 September page 5