..... and Yet More Third-World Britain?
Keep Christmas gadgets 'at home'
Gadgets like mobile phones can disrupt lessons
|
Parents are being
urged to keep Christmas gadgets out of the
classroom.
England's Children's
Minister Kevin Brennan says
electronic toys, music players and phones often appear in schools as
the new term begins.
Children often bring the fascinating gadgets they were
bought as Christmas presents into class, but these can cause disruption
and hamper learning.
Teachers can and will confiscate such items if they see
them being used in lessons, Mr Brennan warned.
 |
 If in doubt, leave it at
home altogether
|
General secretary of teaching union the NASUWT Chris
Keates said: "Every year some youngsters arrive back at school with MP3
players, mobile phones and electronic games.
"This can be a real headache for teachers when they are
trying to get everyone settled down to start learning. Teachers would
be grateful if pupils just brought a pen."
Mr Brennan said many Christmas presents got broken in
the first weeks of the new term or had to be confiscated by teachers
because they were misused in class.
<http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/education/7156326.stm>
Doctors fear rickets resurgence
Most pregnant women should take vitamin D, say
experts
|
Pregnant or
breastfeeding women have been urged to boost their
vitamin D intake amid warnings that cases of rickets in children are
increasing.
Rickets is a bone
disease mainly caused by a lack of
the
vitamin. It can lead to deformities, stunted growth and general
ill-health.
Some minority ethnic groups in the UK, including Asians,
are particularly at risk, says the Department of Health.
Doctors want pregnant women to take more vitamin D
during winter months.
It is made by the skin in response to sunlight, but can
also be found in certain foods.
Officials are urging women to check if they are eligible
for free supplements from their GP or health visitor under the
government's Healthy Start scheme.
It provides vitamin
D-rich milk and fresh fruit and
vegetables as well as supplements for those on benefits or women who
are under the age of 18 years old and pregnant.
<http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/7161458.stm>
What happened to Team Blair?
|
By Nick Assinder
Political correspondent, BBC News website
|
They were known as
Team Blair - the advisers and
friends, spin doctors and Whitehall mandarins who surrounded the former
prime minister, handled his relations with the media, plotted the
infamous grid of events, offered policy and even personal advice.
Some left before
their leader, some stayed with Mr
Blair as part of his new team and others moved on when Gordon Brown's
storm troopers entered No 10. But where are they now?
<http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/politics/7138065.stm>
Callaghan 'asked Benn to resign'
Tony Benn retired from Parliament in 2001 at the
age of 76
|
Then-minister Tony
Benn was asked to quit by PM James Callaghan
after raising doubts about the 1977 "Lib-Lab pact", National Archives
files reveal.
They show that Mr Benn
signed a letter calling for a
special meeting of Labour's governing body about the pact.
In a phone call, Mr Callaghan told Mr Benn he had always
"sailed close to the wind" but had now "gone to the limit".
Other secret files released include a 1976 letter from
Donald Rumsfeld urging the UK not to make defence cuts.
<http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/politics/7155799.stm>
Hain leaves questions unanswered
By Mark
Sanders
Political correspondent, BBC News
|
Friends of Peter Hain say he is a man of "great
integrity"
|
Peter Hain is one of
the more approachable cabinet
ministers, at ease in front of the camera or behind the microphone.
But not today. He read
out his statement about the
donations row and then turned on his heels not taking any questions.
Yes, there was the apology for failing to declare all
the donations at the right time; Yes there was his dismissal as
"absurd" that he had anything to hide.
But there wasn't any explanation about the strange way
his team had tried to clear his campaign debts.
Why was it that a loan for £25,000 was in effect
channelled through a mysterious think tank virtually unknown at
Westminster? The Progressive Policies Forum is the think-tank that
hasn't troubled itself with much thinking.
It has published no
pamphlets, organised no meetings and
come up with no policy suggestions.
<http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/politics/7185499.stm>
Osborne under fire over donations
George Osborne is a close friend of Tory leader
David Cameron
|
Shadow chancellor
George Osborne is facing questions after
reportedly accepting £487,000 from donors last year without fully
declaring the sum.
He blamed unclear
advice from a Commons official for
his
failure to report the funds to the Register of Members' Interests, the
Mail on Sunday says.
The story follows criticism of Work and Pensions
Secretary Peter Hain for also failing to declare donations.
Labour MPs have accused the Tories of hypocrisy and
called for an inquiry.
The other side of the culture capital
By June Kelly
BBC home affairs correspondent
|
Liverpool is proud
of
its artistic heritage. Its
industrial and economic history is a different story.
While other provincial
cities re-emerged from the
recession of the 1980s, Liverpool was slower to recover.
Its capital of culture status has helped it to flourish
again. In recent years investment money has poured in. In the city
centre the waterside apartments and sophisticated shops are testament
to a rediscovered affluence.
Away from the town centre
Liverpool, like any major
city, is a mix of areas. How have they been touched by the capital of
culture status?
<http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/7184695.stm>
Profit warnings hit six-year high
Some retailers slashed prices early after poor
pre-Christmas sales
|
Profit warnings by
UK
listed firms are at their highest level for
six years.
Research by Ernst &
Young shows nearly 400
warnings
about disappointing profits were issued in 2007, up by more than 10% on
the previous year.
The final quarter saw the highest rise of all, up by
more than 20% on 2006, largely due to the credit crunch.
The retail sector suffered badly, with an annual total
of a record breaking 47 profit warnings, and so too did the leisure
industry, including pub chains.
Ernst & Young said
wet weather and "regulatory
changes" like the smoking ban were largely to blame for deterring
drinkers.
<http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/7185603.stm>
Pound at record low against euro
A weaker pound will raise costs for Britons
travelling abroad
|
The pound fell to an
all-time low against the euro after weak
manufacturing data underscored a gloomy outlook for the UK economy.
Sterling dropped to its
weakest since the single
currency was introduced in 1999, at 75.86 pence to the euro, before
later strengthening to 75.63p.
The pound also hit a 10-month low to the dollar at
$1.9485 in earlier trade.
After a strong 2007, the pound is expected to weaken in
2008 as interest rates fall and the UK economy slows.
The pound hit a 26-year high against the dollar last
year, above $2.
Analysts said investors were moving out of high
yielding currencies in favour of the lower-yielding yen.
"Growth-oriented currencies are all under pressure,
weaker sentiment has not helped the pound," Kamal Sharma, currency
strategist at Bank of America, said.
<http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/7182951.stm>
Police 'begged to protect Diana'
The princess said she wanted protection to stop
in 1993.
|
Diana, Princess of
Wales, would still be alive if she had retained
her police protection, a former chief policeman has told the inquest
into her death.
Lord Condon, chief of the
Metropolitan Police when
she died, said he had begged her to reinstate her protection.
She refused to change her mind as she did not trust
police, the court heard.
He said: "If, as my wish, she would've had police
protection in Paris, I'm absolutely convinced those three lives would
not have been tragically lost."
Princess Diana and her companion Dodi Al Fayed died with
their driver Henri Paul in a car crash in Paris in 1997.
Lord Condon emphatically denied suggestions from Michael
Mansfield, QC counsel for Dodi's father Mohamed Al Fayed, that he had
been involved in a conspiracy to murder her.
The princess had first indicated she wanted to have her
protection removed in December 1993, the former Metropolitan Police
commissioner said.
|
I have often thought
back, if that had not been the sequence of events I might have demanded
face-to-face meetings with her 
|
A series of meetings
had then taken place, up to January
1994, to try to get her to reconsider, the court heard.
Lord Condon said he had attended a "critical" meeting on
14 December 1993, in which he had said he was "really concerned" the
security was going to be removed.
The peer was himself involved in a serious accident the
following day, and then remained unavailable for about three-and-a-half
to four weeks.
He said: "I have often thought back, if that had not
been the sequence of events I might have demanded face-to-face meetings
with her. But I honestly don't think it would have changed her mind."
<http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/7193777.stm>
China trade to boom, says Brown
|
Gordon Brown and Premier Wen Jiabao inspected a
guard of honour
|
Gordon Brown has
predicted that "tens
of thousands" of British jobs will be created by boosting trade with
China.
He was speaking shortly
after he arrived in China for
his first visit since becoming UK prime minister.
Mr Brown and the Chinese premier Wen Jiabao agreed to
increase trade between the two countries by 50% by 2010.
Lib Dem leader Nick Clegg said Mr Brown
should raise the
issue of human rights in Darfur with China, which has strong political
and economic ties with Sudan.
Conservative leader David Cameron, who visited China in
December, has also urged the country's leaders to use their influence
in Sudan to "help stop the slaughter in Darfur".
<http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/politics/7194864.stm>
'Without medication he could do nothing'
By Jane
Elliott
Health reporter, BBC News
|
Laurie Young needs his medication on time
|
Laurie Young spent seven months in hospital with an
inflammatory bowel condition.
Laurie, who has
Parkinson's disease, was in intensive
care three times and his heart stopped once - his family were told he
was not expected to survive.
He could not eat, lost the ability to speak walk and was
hallucinating.
Initially, medics stopped his Parkinson's medication,
while they treated his other symptoms, but his family said his body
started to deteriorate.
Timing is vital
They lobbied for the drugs to be reinstated, but say
that when they were, they were not administered on time - vital,
experts say, for the efficacy of Parkinson's drugs.
"If they miss one dose it is bad enough, but if they
miss more than one it all starts to build up," said Laurie's wife
Linda.
|
It was like a miracle
had happened and now he is walking, talking and eating again
|
It would not just affect that day, but days afterwards.
"Sometimes the nurses left it on the bedside unit for
him to self medicate. But he was stiff as a board, did not know where
he was and could not take his own medication.
"It just went from bad to worse." she said.
<http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/7130633.stm>
Passenger criticises BA treatment
Passengers had to use evacuation chutes after
the crash
|
British Airways has
been criticised for the way it treated Heathrow
crash passengers once they had been taken into the airport.
Passenger Mark Tamburro
praised the pilot and staff
on board, but said ground staff were not so helpful.
He said they were more concerned about security and
keeping the media away than about passengers' welfare.
A British Airways spokeswoman said the
company tried to
provide as much help as possible to customers.
Mr Tamburro, a 46-year-old father-of-four from Oxford
who suffered whiplash and a cut head in the crash, said passengers were
forced to wait for hours without refreshments.
He said: "The pilot did a great job to get us down
safely as did the staff on board who were brilliant at getting us off
the plane.
"However, I wish I could say the same about BA and
airport staff once we had been gathered and taken to a departure area
in the terminal."
<http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/7196128.stm>
Police probe theft of MoD laptop
The laptop was stolen in Birmingham on 9 January
|
Police are
investigating the theft of a laptop from a Royal Navy
officer which had held the personal details of 600,000 people.
Police said the laptop
was taken from a vehicle which
had been parked in the Edgbaston area of Birmingham.
It contains data including passport numbers, National
Insurance numbers and bank details.
They relate to people who had expressed an interest in,
or joined, the Royal Navy, Royal Marines and the RAF.
Separately, hundreds of documents containing sensitive
personal data have been found dumped on a roundabout in Devon.
Details of benefit claims, passport photocopies and
mortgage payments were included in the confidential data found near
Exeter Airport.
Last November, it
emerged that 25m child benefit records
had been lost after HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) sent two unregistered
and unencrypted discs to the National Audit Office.
The MoD said it was treating this latest theft with the
"utmost seriousness".
The police said they received a report that the laptop
had been stolen from a car parked in Edgbaston on 10 January.
"The information held is not the same for every
individual," the MoD said.
"In some cases, for casual enquiries, the record is no
more than a name.
"But for those who progressed as far as submitting an
application to join the Forces, extensive personal data may be held,
including passport details, National Insurance numbers, drivers'
licence details, family details, doctors' addresses and National Health
Service numbers."
The MoD said it was writing to 3,500 people whose bank
details were on the laptop's database.
<http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/7197045.stm>
EU treaty 'same as constitution'
The committee has welcomed some of the treaty's
content
|
Parts of the Lisbon
Treaty, signed by Gordon Brown last month, are
no different from the abandoned EU Constitution, a report by MPs has
said.
The Commons Foreign
Affairs Committee said foreign
policy in the treaty was the same as in the constitution, on which
Labour promised a referendum.
It also accused the government of publicly downplaying
the importance of some new EU institutions and roles.
Ministers argue no referendum is needed as
the treaty is
not constitutional.
In an interview on BBC
One's Politics Show, Foreign
Secretary David Miliband maintained the treaty did not need to be put
to a public vote.
"The reform treaty is there for parliament to scrutinise
and then to pass," he said.
"Obviously people will put down an amendment and
Parliament will have to decide. But I don't believe that this treaty
meets the bar of fundamental constitutional reform that should be the
basis of having a referendum." <http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/politics/7198580.stm>
Commons EU battle will continue
Labour rebels are calling for a referendum on
the treaty
|
The controversial EU
reform treaty has cleared its first Commons
hurdle.
Starting at least 15 days
of debate over the next
month,
Foreign Secretary David Miliband said the treaty was "good for Britain
and good for Europe".
He came under fire from some Labour backbenchers, and
the Tories said the government was "brazenly abrogating" its promise to
hold a referendum.
At the end of a rowdy five-hour debate a motion to
approve the bill in principle won by 362 votes to 224.
But the European Union (Amendment) Bill will be debated
line-by-line over the coming weeks.
Prime Minister Gordon Brown signed the Lisbon Treaty in
December but Parliament must ratify it.
It was designed to replace the EU Constitution, which
was abandoned in 2005, but on which Labour had promised a referendum -
the government says a referendum is not needed for the new treaty.
But eighteen Labour and four nationalist MPs had signed
an amendment calling for a referendum on the document, that was not
subject to a vote on Monday as the Commons speaker decided against
calling it.
Opening the debate earlier, Foreign Secretary David
Miliband said the Lisbon Treaty was "fundamentally different" from the
failed constitution.
<http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/politics/7198580.stm>
'Changes needed' to Army training
Iraqi Baha Mousa had 93 separate injuries when
he died in 2003
|
Changes are needed
to
rectify serious flaws in the training UK
soldiers get to deal with Iraqi prisoners, senior army officer Brig
Robert Aitken says.
In a report he also said
some changes had already
been made, and he found no evidence of systemic abuse by soldiers.
The Army report was commissioned after allegations of
abuse, including the case of Baha Mousa, 26, who died in custody with
93 injuries in 2003.
But lawyers acting for Iraqi civilians have
said the
report is a "whitewash".
Phil Shiner, of Public Interest Lawyers (PIL) which
represents civilians alleging abuse while in detention, said his firm
is acting in cases apparently involving over 30 deaths in detention
including executions.
"It was standard operating procedure to hood, stress and
deprive detainees of sleep, water and food. Our clients have been
subjected to torture, abuse and humiliation," he said.
|
The Aitken inquiry lacks
any independence or rigour, is a complete red herring and represents a
whitewash
Phil Shiner
Public Interest Lawyers
|
Mr Shiner went on:
"What is important to understand is
that the High Court will shortly have to decide whether to hold an
independent and public inquiry into the UK's detention policy in Iraq.
"This report is completely irrelevant to the question
the court must decide, namely whether the military justice system can
satisfy the requirements that investigations into death and torture by
the state be independent, effective, prompt and involve relatives.
"The Aitken inquiry lacks any independence or rigour, is
a complete red herring and represents a whitewash."
<http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/7208273.stm>
'I started to doubt my own body'
Sam had a bad experience with the birth of her
son, Zack
|
An independent
report
has highlighted a huge
variation in the quality of maternity care in the UK.
Trusts in London came out
particularly badly,
something
that Sam Brown experienced firsthand when she gave birth to her first
child.
She had been due to go into the midwife unit at her
local hospital in East London but when she went into labour, staff
shortages meant she ended up on the main labour ward.
She was then left to her own devices.
Feeling the need to push, Sam sent her fiancé,
Adam, to fetch a midwife.
"I will never forget this. She said: 'You're in a dream
world girl, it's your first child, it's going to be hours'.
|
A lot of it comes down
to who you get on the day but it shouldn't be like that
|
"They didn't talk to me like I was a real person, the
fact I wanted help was a real inconvenience to them."
A passing cleaner had to tell her how to use the gas and
air and the entire hospital was "filthy", she says.
<http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/7207713.stm>
Number 10 rejects Karzai claims
Downing Street says UK troops have shown
"bravery and determination"
|
Downing Street has
hit back at claims by Afghan President Hamid
Karzai that the arrival of British troops made security in his country
worse.
The Times reported that
Mr Karzai blamed inadequate
troop numbers in the southern Helmand Province for helping the Taleban
regain its control.
A Downing Street spokesman said he "wouldn't accept" UK
presence had helped insurgents to take hold.
He said UK troops had "suffered losses" to
aid
Afghanistan's development.
The Times said Mr Karzai, speaking at the World Economic
Forum in Davos, Switzerland, told a group of journalists that "there
was one part of the country where we suffered after the arrival of the
British forces", referring to Helmand.
|
Both
the American and the British forces guaranteed to me they knew what
they were doing and I made the mistake of listening to them
Hamid Karzai
Afghan President
|
He said the mistake was
allowing the US and the UK to
replace the province's sitting governor.
"Before that we were fully in charge of Helmand. When
our governor was there, we were fully in charge. They came and said,
'Your governor is no good.'
"I said 'All right, do we have a replacement for this
governor; do you have enough forces?'" Mr Karzai said.
"Both the American and the British forces guaranteed to
me they knew what they were doing and I made the mistake of listening
to them. And when they came in, the Taleban came." <http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/7209257.stm>
Probe into police 'bugging' of MP
Justice Secretary
Jack Straw has
ordered an inquiry into claims
police bugged a Muslim Labour MP as he visited a constituent in jail.
Tooting MP Sadiq Khan
and Babar Ahmad were recorded
twice in Milton Keynes's Woodhill Prison, the Sunday Times says.
The US is seeking to extradite Mr Ahmad on suspicion of
running websites raising funds for the Taleban.
Mr Straw said it was "completely unacceptable" for an MP
to be recorded while talking to a constituent.
<http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/7224661.stm>
Early WMD dossier draft released
David Kelly's death prompted the Hutton Inquiry.
|
Foreign Secretary
David Miliband has published an early draft of the
UK's infamous dossier on Saddam Hussein's weapons of mass destruction.
The document, by Foreign
Office press chief John
Williams, was an unpublished draft of the dossier which was unveiled by
Tony Blair on 24 September 2002.
The Foreign Office failed in its appeal against the
Information Commissioner's order that it should release the draft.
It had said publishing it could inhibit the "effective
conduct of government".
Weapons expert Dr David Kelly was found dead shortly
after being named as the source of a BBC report suggesting the dossier
was "sexed up" shortly before publication.
<http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/politics/7250712.stm>
Diana murdered, Al Fayed claims
|
Mr Al Fayed said Princes Philip and
Charles were involved in a plot
|
Princess Diana
and Dodi Al Fayed were
murdered, Mohamed Al
Fayed has
told the inquest into their deaths in a car crash in Paris in August
1997.
Mr Al Fayed, Harrods
owner and father of Dodi,
told the Royal Courts of Justice he would "make no allegations".
However, he said
Princess Diana "knew Prince
Philip and Prince Charles were trying to get rid of her".
The Harrods boss
also said Diana had told him
she was pregnant. "I am the only person they told," he said. <http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/7250002.stm>
|
DNA disc failings 'catastrophic'
Mr Cameron accused ministers of being
incompetent at handling data
|
The failure to check
DNA data from 4,000 serious crimes abroad for
more than a year was "catastrophic", Tory leader David Cameron has said.
Prime minister Gordon
Brown confirmed that 11 people
involved had gone on to commit offences in the UK, including assault
and non-payment of fines.
In heated Commons exchanges, Mr Cameron accused the
government of being "incompetent" at handling data.
The wanted individuals
are linked with crimes including
murder and rape.
Police in the Netherlands sent a data disc, containing
DNA profiles from crime scenes, to the Crown Prosecution Service [CPS]
in January last year, to be checked against the UK's database.
But the checks did not start until this month, since
when 15 matches have been found.
<http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/politics/7253989.stm>
Ex-MI6 boss denies killing Diana
Sir Richard Dearlove headed MI6 for five years
|
MI6's former chief
has denied that the intelligence service murdered
Diana, Princess of Wales.
At the inquest into her
death, Sir Richard Dearlove
insisted he had not been aware of MI6 assassinating anyone in his
38-year career there.
He denied claims by Harrods boss Mohamed Al Fayed that
Diana was killed by MI6 on the orders of Prince Philip.
Mr Al Fayed's son Dodi and driver Henri Paul were also
killed in a car crash in Paris in August 1997.
|
This is such an absurd
allegation that it is difficult to deal with
Sir Richard Dearlove,
Former head of MI6
|
Sir Richard told the inquest that this was a "very
personal allegation" given his role at the Secret Intelligence Service
- otherwise known as MI6 - at the time.
He was MI6's director of operations from 1994 to 1999,
and served as head of the agency from 1999 to 2004.
He denied that any assassinations took place under his
authority.
<http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/7254704.stm>
Miliband denies EU 'power creep'
The Tories want a referendum on the Lisbon Treaty
|
The EU Treaty will
strengthen, not undermine British foreign policy,
the UK's foreign secretary has said.
David Miliband said the
EU's role would complement,
not
rival Nato and denied an EU figure would replace the UK on the UN
Security Council.
The Tories said the "creeping powers" on foreign and
defence policy would erode the UK's ability "to be masters of our own
destiny".
EU parliaments must
ratify the treaty - signed by EU
leaders last year.
MPs debated implications for foreign, security and
defence issues on the fifth day of topic-by-topic debates on the Lisbon
Treaty, drawn up to replace the failed EU Constitution.
<http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/politics/7255291.stm>
UK apology over rendition flights
David Miliband has
admitted two US
"extraordinary rendition" flights landed on UK territory in 2002.
The foreign secretary
said in both cases US planes
refuelled on the UK dependent territory of Diego Garcia.
He said he was "very sorry" to have to say that previous
denials made in "good faith" were now having to be corrected.
The renditions - the
transport of terror suspects around
the world for interrogation - only came to light after a US records
search, he said.
BBC world affairs correspondent Paul Reynolds said the
revelations were "a serious embarrassment for the British government".
Former Foreign Secretary Jack Straw and former Prime
Minister Tony Blair made statements in 2005, 2006 and 2007 saying there
was no evidence that rendition flights had stopped on UK territory. <http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/politics/7256587.stm>
Six more sites in care home probe
Police searching a
former Jersey children's home where a child's
remains were discovered have said they are investigating six more sites.
The remains found at Haut
de la Garenne on Saturday
were detected by a sniffer dog through several inches of concrete.
The search is part of an ongoing police investigation
into alleged abuse on the island dating back more than 40 years.
Jersey's Chief Minister rejected claims
there had been a
cover-up and said the find "shocked the island to the core".
Senator Frank Walker told the BBC: "One of the big
questions has to be: how could a child disappear without anyone being
aware of it?"
|
Haut de la Garenne in Jersey is
now a youth
hostel
|
Former Jersey Health
Minister Senator Stuart Syvret, who
was sacked from his post last year, has urged anyone who was at Haut de
la Garenne to come forward.
His concerns last year about alleged child abuse in
Jersey institutions led to an independent review of child care services
by Jersey's parliament, the States of Jersey.
Speaking to the BBC's Today programme, Mr Syvret alleged
that there had been a "culture of cover-up and concealment" on the
island in relation to child abuse.
"These types of cover-ups go up to the very top of
Jersey society," he said.
But the Chief Minister said it was "deplorable" that Mr
Syvret was seeking to "politicise" the situation.
<http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/jersey/7262108.stm>
Whistleblower raises child safety fears
By Imogen Willcocks, Reporter, Whistleblower
Every day, over a
million working parents use childminders and private
nurseries, believing their babies are in hands of highly qualified,
strictly regulated and genuine caring people.
Terrifyingly, many of
them are wrong.
Last year an inspector
at Ofsted - the government agency that regulates
childminders and nurseries - phoned the BBC Whistleblower programme and
told me a chilling story.
Out of 700 nurseries she and colleagues had inspected,
she had found
only five that she would have let her own two children go to.
She told me that Ofsted inspection reports - the only
thing parents
have to go on when choosing a nursery - aren't worth the paper they're
printed on.
"We are literally skimming the surface", my Ofsted
whistleblower said. "We are told constantly: 'if you don't see a
problem, don't look for one. Take a quick look and get out'.
"The number one priority for all Ofsted inspectors is to
meet their
targets. Because if they don't they are disciplined. Targets take
priority over safeguarding children," she said.
I decided to test her claims by going undercover and
getting myself a
job in a number of nurseries.
<http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/7278514.stm>
Pupils 'to take allegiance oath'
All school leavers could be asked to swear an
oath to the Queen
|
School-leavers are to be encouraged
to
swear an oath of allegiance
to the Queen under new government proposals being unveiled on British
citizenship.
Pupils would give a commitment to Queen
and country in ceremonies
akin to those for new immigrants.
But teaching unions have poured scorn on the plan, saying it is
un-British.
John Dunford from the Association of
School and College leaders said it
was "a half-baked idea that should be left to go mouldy".
The proposals are contained in a review of citizenship conducted
by the former attorney general Lord Goldsmith at the request of Gordon
Brown.
He believes that citizenship ceremonies for teenagers would help
improve their sense of what it means to be a British citizen.
<
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/politics/7287984.stm>
Spoilt children 'disrupt schools'
By Hannah Goff
BBC News at the NUT conference, Manchester
|
A minority of children were very manipulative,
the report said
|
Primary schoolchildren spoilt by
their parents can cause disruption
in the classroom by repeating manipulative behaviour used at home, a
report says.
Research for the National Union of
Teachers (NUT) suggested a
minority
of children threw tantrums, swore and were physically aggressive.
NUT boss Steve Sinnott is calling for more advice for parents who
struggle to say "no" to their children.
Cambridge University held 60 interviews with staff and pupils in 10
schools.
The report was released at the union's annual conference in
Manchester.
It cited examples of children who stayed up to the early hours and
played on violent computer games.
'Over-indulged'
It described a mother who celebrated the
fact she had been able
to get her five-year-old to bed at 1am instead of his previous bedtime
of 3am.
It also told of a seven-year-old who smashed up his Playstation
in a tantrum, then spent a week pestering his mother until she bought
him a new one.
The researchers said some parents simply could not say "no"
when their children demanded televisions and computers in their
bedrooms.
Others would do "anything to shut up their children just to get some
peace", it said.
Mr Sinnott said the problem lay with parents who were struggling
with little or no help to bring up their children in a heavily
commercialised world. <http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/education/7308909.stm>
Asylum system 'shameful for UK'
|
By Dominic Casciani
Home affairs reporter, BBC News
|
Removals: Asylum seekers being deported from
Stansted Airport
|
The UK's treatment of asylum seekers
falls "seriously below" the standards of a civilised society", a report
says.
The Independent Asylum Commission, led
by a ex-senior judge,
said the system denied sanctuary to some in need and failed to remove
others who should go.
It said the treatment of some asylum seekers was a shameful blemish
on the UK's international reputation.
It spent a year researching the report and spoke to former home
secretaries, policy makers and asylum seekers.
|
We
are a country with a basic instinct of fair play - the system denies
fair play to asylum seekers not out of malice but because of a lack of
resources
Sir John Waite, co-chairman of the Independent Asylum
Commission
|
The commission was established after
calls from community
organisations and charities for an authoritative examination of asylum
after a decade of political battles over immigration.
Brown shrugs off Levy's criticism
Mr Brown said he wanted to focus on the
"difficult" economy
|
The prime minister has dismissed claims that Tony Blair believes he
cannot beat David Cameron in an election.
Former Labour fundraiser Lord Levy
said on Sunday that Mr Blair
believed Gordon Brown could not beat the Tory leader.
But Mr Brown said: "The issues ahead of us are more important than a
few comments from one or two people." Mr Blair's office has denied the
claims.
Mr Brown's comments come as the parties enter the final days of
campaigning for Thursday's local and mayoral elections.
He told the BBC steering the economy through difficult times was more
important than "gossip or rumour".
Data on 5,000 justice staff lost
Staff may be forced to relocate, the Prison
Officers' Association has warned
|
A portable hard drive holding details
of up to
5,000 employees of
the justice system including prison staff has been lost, the government
has confirmed.
The details of employees of the
National Offender Management Service in
England and Wales were lost by a private firm, EDS, in July 2007.
However, officials only realised the data was missing in July of this
year.
Justice Secretary Jack Straw has set up an inquiry into the loss, and
is trying to establish why he was not told of it.
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The two
leaders