|
|
|
Cuttings and links to other online information.
Prison education reform 'ignored'
The recommendations of a parliamentary review of prison education have been ignored, reform charity the Forum on Prisoner Education has warned. (BBC, 31 Mar 2006)
Consumers face new water torture
On 1 April millions of households in England and Wales face the second year in a row of inflation busting water price increases. (BBC, 31 Mar 2006)
Amnesty call for 500,000 migrants
Britain's 500,000 illegal immigrants should be granted an "amnesty" and allowed to apply for work permits in a move that would net around £1 billion a year for the Treasury in extra taxes, a Blairite think tank says today.
In a controversial report, Irregular Migration in the UK, the Institute for Public Policy Research argues that the forced deportation of illegal immigrants is not "feasible or desirable" as most can never be found and the cost of deporting them is too high. (Telegraph, 31 Mar 2006)
Explainer: The pensions battle
Pensions have become the new battleground in industrial relations. BA pilots and cabin crew are considering strike action over changes to their retirement benefits and many large companies are in negotiations with staff over pensions. Employers are seeking to cut the cost of their pensions promises by raising the retirement age or by cutting benefits. (Guardian, 29 Mar 2006)
Biodegradable phone will sprout sunflowers
A mobile phone implanted with a sunflower seed and made from biodegradable material is among the cutting edge cellular technology which has been unveiled at the Science Museum. (Telegraph, 29 Mar 2006)
Ex-soldier 'was victim of police racism'
A black former paratrooper who choked to death on a police station floor was the victim of "unwitting racism", an official review found yesterday.
Four policemen failed to assist Christopher Alder as he lay dying, face down and unconscious in a pool of blood, in the custody suite. (Telegraph, 28 Mar 2006)
People power grips France
Hundreds of thousands of people - mostly students - have taken to the streets in France for a second week of protests against the controversial new employment contracts. (BBC, 25 Mar 2006)
Easy on the euphoria
Slavery underpinned the Georgian economy as oil does ours: 2007 should give us a chance to learn. [For 'Richard Beck' in third paragraph, read Robert Beckford.] (Guardian, 25 Mar 2006)
UN accused of ignoring 500,000 Chernobyl deaths
United Nations nuclear and health watchdogs have ignored evidence of deaths, cancers, mutations and other conditions after the Chernobyl accident, leading scientists and doctors have claimed in the run-up to the nuclear disaster's 20th anniversary next month.
In a series of reports about to be published, they will suggest that at least 30,000 people are expected to die of cancers linked directly to severe radiation exposure in 1986 and up to 500,000 people may have already died as a result of the world's worst environmental catastrophe. (Guardian, 25 Mar 2006)
British Museum to return Aboriginal remains
The British Museum said yesterday that it would return the cremated ashes of Australian Aborigines, more than 160 years after they were taken. (Guardian, 25 Mar 2006)
Ministers accused as man who sent cocklers to death faces life
The gangmaster who sent 23 Chinese cocklers to their deaths in Morecambe Bay two years ago was last night facing life imprisonment.
Callous Lin Liangren said ‘Let God decide’ as cocklers faced rising tide
Lin Liangren was convicted of 21 counts of manslaughter at the end of a seven-month trial at Preston Crown Court. The bodies of two other victims he ordered on to the treacherous sands have never been recovered. (Telegraph, 25 Mar 2006) See also The victims
Phone calls of farewell as the tide closed in
Only a week before the Morecambe Bay cockle-picker tragedy, Li Hua had been at home in China, brimming with excitement. (Telegraph, 25 Mar 2006)
Officials accused of connivance in law-breaking
Before the trial started, one of the defence barristers accused government officials of turning a blind eye to the "shadow industry" of Chinese cockle picking and allowing the illegal immigrants to remain in the UK. During legal argument Lord Carlile told the trial judge that the UK Immigration Service (UKIS) and the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) acted as "agents provocateurs" and created a situation in which cockling was an accepted part of British industry. (Guardian, 25 Mar 2006)
One desperate man's path to his world's end
The film-maker follows the life of a Chinese victim to his cruel death.
...She learnt the news with a knock on the door at 5am one day. It was her mother-in-law, who said that she had just taken a call from England, a call from her husband, Guo Bin Long. (Times, 25 Mar 2006)
Lin Liang Ren's career of exploitation
A heavy gambler with suspected links to China's so-called Snakehead people-smuggling gangs, gangmaster Lin Liang Ren was at the centre of a conspiracy that led to 23 deaths.
...While under arrest, he warned survivors that there would be "harmful consequences" for their loved ones at home if they cooperated with the police. (Guardian, 25 Mar 2006)
Q&A: The cockling industry
The BBC News website looks at the controversial cockling industry which has grown enormously in recent years. (BBC, 24 Mar 2006)
Terminator Seeds Suffer Defeat at Global Conference
Small farmers and activists celebrated a triumph against Terminator seeds in Brazil Friday, but said they would not let down their guard, and would continue to fight the seeds. (Inter Press Service, 24 Mar 2006)
£45? It will cost more to fill it up
Mike Vernon, from Woodford Green, Essex, who took delivery of a new £35,000 Lexus on Tuesday, said the higher rate road tax wouldn't have changed his decision to buy a sports utility vehicle (SUV) had it come in a week earlier. (Guardian, 23 Mar 2006)
Jagdeo wants demarcation of Amerindian land expedited
President Bharrat Jagdeo says he is prepared to give more money to speed up demarcation and extension of Amerindian lands. To date land demarcated for the indigenous people is 13% of the country's 83,000 sq miles. (Stabroek News, 23 Mar 2006)
Head of Capita quits over Labour loan
Rod Aldridge has stepped down today as the executive chairman of Capita Group plc, Britain's largest outsourcing company, after it emerged this week that he had lent £1 million to the Labour Party. (Times, 23 Mar 2006)
Elephant & Castle revival to begin under 147m tower
Multiplex, the Australian property group that is building the new Wembley stadium, was given approval last night for a landmark 43-storey residential tower at Elephant & Castle. (Times, 23 Mar 2006)
Company boasts of multiple links with Whitehall
Capita, whose chairman Rod Aldridge made a £1 million loan to the Labour Party, has won at least four big contracts from the Government since the general election. (Times, 22 Mar 2006)
The secret agent
Lying to customers, faked signatures, false passports and dodgy deals with developers. An undercover investigation reveals the secret world of estate agents' dirty tricks. (BBC, 21 Mar 2006)
DR Congo poll may pose nightmare
UN head Kofi Annan has said the Democratic Republic of Congo elections in June will pose "major logistical challenges, if not nightmares".
...More than 1,000 people are estimated to be dying each day in the country, where fighting - particularly in the east - continues. (BBC, 21 Mar 2006)
UN warns of worst mass extinctions for 65m years
Humans have provoked the worst spate of extinctions since the dinosaurs were wiped out 65m years ago, according to a UN report that calls for unprecedented worldwide efforts to address the slide. (Guardian, 21 Mar 2006)
Three US big hitters plan China expansion
Three of America's largest and best-known companies continued their push East yesterday with Wal-Mart, Dell and Ford all announcing massive expansion drives in China and India. (Telegraph, 21 Mar 2006)
Chancellor warned of 'fuel poor'
Chancellor Gordon Brown is being urged to protect people from high fuel bills ahead of his 2006 Budget announcement. (BBC, 21 Mar 2006)
Wal-Mart plans to hire 150,000 staff in China
Wal-Mart, the US supermarket company that owns Asda, is enlarging its business in China, hiring 150,000 people there over the next five years. (Guardian, 21 Mar 2006)
Are charities the new public sector?
Charities must make sure they are not distracted from their mission by the lure of public funding. (Guardian, 21 Mar 2006)
Outcry over loss of public libraries
Leading British publishers yesterday attacked the Government’s failure to address the crisis facing public libraries.
...Library book stocks have fallen from 105 million a decade ago to 84 million. (Times, 20 Mar 2006)
Estate agent ‘lies’ caught on film
Estate agents have been exposed engaging in unethical and potentially illegal practices, including putting forward false offers to vendors, misleading surveyors and faking signatures on key documents. (Times, 20 Mar 2006)
Body Shop agrees L'Oreal takeover
The Body Shop saw its shares tumble earlier this year
High Street beauty products retailer Body Shop has agreed to be taken over by French cosmetics giant L'Oreal in a deal worth £652m.
..."For both Gordon and I, this is without doubt the best 30th anniversary gift The Body Shop could have received," said Dame Anita. (BBC, 17 Mar 2006) !
'Hanoi Jane' honour is defeated
Fonda tried to get the resolution withdrawn to avoid controversy
A move to honour actress Jane Fonda for her US charity work has been defeated because of her infamous opposition to the Vietnam war in the 1970s. (BBC, 17 Mar 2006)
'Important step' in bid to stamp out bribes
Anti-corruption campaigners were claiming victory after the Department of Trade and Industry reversed a decision to water down measures designed to stamp out bribery by UK companies seeking overseas contracts. (Telegraph, 17 Mar 2006)
Police told to rewrite tactics on bombers
Scotland Yard's plans to deal with a suicide bomber on the streets of London were totally inadequate, a highly critical report into the shooting of Jean Charles de Menezes has found. (Times, 17 Mar 2006)
China immigrant smuggler jailed
A woman has been jailed for 35 years by a federal court in New York for running an immigrant-smuggling ring.
Cheng Chui Ping ran a multi-million dollar scheme which transported hundreds of illegal immigrants to the US in packed cargo ships.
During one operation in 1993, a ship carrying immigrants ran aground off the US coast and 10 people drowned. (BBC, 17 Mar 2006)
Thirst for water puts city on the slide - into the mud
Blighted by pollution and crime, Mexico City is facing another problem — it is sinking into the ground, and fast. (Times, 17 Mar 2006)
Enron wanted to sack whistleblower, court told
The woman who blew the whistle on the accounting scandal that brought down Enron spoke yesterday about how she tried to get out of the firm when she discovered the extent of its dodgy accounting.
Sherron Watkins, who has since written a book and gives lectures, also told the trial of the former Enron executives Kenneth Lay and Jeffrey Skilling that she was shocked when she discovered two years after the collapse that managers had considered sacking her when she spoke up. (Guardian, 16 Mar 2006)IPCC declines comment on de Menezes claims
Officials investigating the shooting of Jean Charles de Menezes at Stockwell Tube station in July refused to comment on claims made today that Sir Ian Blair's private office knew that the Brazilian was innocent within hours of his death. (Times, 16 Mar 2006)
The only way to stop the philistines of Tesco: stop giving them your cash
Last week's announcement of a competition inquiry into supermarket chains is a rare example of a bureaucratic intervention that is widely welcomed, especially among the sophisticated opinion-formers who are usually suspicious of government meddling with market economics. (Times, 16 Mar 2006)
Coca-Cola gets £145,000 to make greener bottle
Coca-Cola has been granted £145,000 of public funding to develop fizzy-drink bottles which are more eco-friendly. (Guardian, 16 Mar 2006) !
Call to ban minors from Armed Forces
Britain should be banned from recruiting "child soldiers" under the age of 18, and must confront abuse and bullying within the Armed Forces, according to a draft report from Europe's human rights watchdog, the Council of Europe. (Telegraph, 16 Mar 2006)
RAF doctor refused a third tour of duty in 'illegal' wa
An RAF medical officer who refused to return to Iraq for a third tour “honestly” believed that the British military campaign was illegal, a court martial hearing was told yesterday.
Flight Lieutenant Malcolm Kendall-Smith, 37, who is facing five charges of failing to comply with a lawful order, decided that it was his duty to disobey the order, his lawyer said during a pre-trial hearing at Aldershot, Hampshire. (Times, 16 Mar 2006)
Enough of this cover-up: the Wilson plot was our Watergate
Tomorrow marks the 30th anniversary of Harold Wilson's resignation as prime minister. (Guardian, 15 Mar 2006)
Lawrence witness awarded damages
The surviving victim of the racist attack on Stephen Lawrence has been awarded £100,000 damages by police. (BBC, 10 Mar 2006)
Africa to decide on Darfur force
The African Union is due to take the controversial decision on whether to ask the United Nations to take over its peace mission in Sudan's Darfur region. (BBC, 10 Mar 2006)
Blair's 'regrets' over Stockwell shooting
Tony Blair yesterday offered his "deepest regrets" to the family of Jean Charles de Menezes after discussing his fatal shooting by British police with the president of Brazil. (Telegraph, 10 Mar 2006)
Small shops get chance to fight back
For 50 years, small shopkeepers have been fighting a losing battle as the supermarket groups have changed the way we shop. Yesterday, as the Office of Fair Trading signalled a full competition inquiry into the dominance of the big grocers, the UK's 39,000 independent retailers were finally handed a chance to slow the relentless march of Tesco, Asda and the others. (Guardian, 10 Mar 2006)
The fight against poverty is half-won. Now we need a radical plan
This is the day in the year to pause and reflect on what Labour is really for. For all those who email daily to express disgust with this government - complaining that "they're just a load of Tories", "have lost all moral compass", "will never get my vote again", and more that's unfit to print - this is the day to remember what the Tories did, and what Labour has done so far to repair that damage. ! (Guardian, 10 Mar 2006)
Labour checks Britain's widening poverty gap
Labour has checked the widening income gap which emerged under Margaret Thatcher in the 1980s but failed to close it, according to government figures released yesterday. (Guardian, 10 Mar 2006)
Rural rights activists wreck Brazilian plantation
A group of about 2,000 rural activists invaded a eucalyptus plantation in southern Brazil this week causing millions of pounds damage to one of the country's biggest paper producers. (Guardian, 10 Mar 2006)
First wife swap, now race swap ...
In Hollywood race is the new sex. Days after Crash beat Brokeback Mountain at the Oscars, reality television is taking a rest from engineering on-screen couplings to experiment with racial role-swapping. (Guardian, 9 Mar 2006)
Senior officers: we knew wrong man was shot
An official inquiry into the Stockwell tube station shooting has received evidence from senior police officers raising questions about Sir Ian Blair's account of the killing of Jean Charles de Menezes and its aftermath, the Guardian has learned. (Guardian, 9 Mar 2006)
Doing cornflakes - prison porridge gives way to 27p 'breakfast pack'
It has been the staple diet of prisoners throughout history and is a byword for "doing time", but porridge is finally off the menu at many jails in England and Wales. Instead of being served a hot meal in the mornings most inmates are now getting a 27p "breakfast pack" the night before to eat in their cells next morning. (Guardian, 9 Mar 2006)
Public sector shortfall is 'double the national debt'
The pension pot for teachers, nurses and soldiers is under-funded by almost £1,000bn - more than double the national debt - according to an independent study. (Telegraph, 9 Mar 2006)
Two families: one black, one white... what happens when they swap skins?
Two black men pass a white woman on a shopping street in Beverly Hills. She reacts by clutching her handbag and stepping aside. (Times, 9 Mar 2006)
Man in court for putting feet up
When Rudolph Mills decided to put his boots up on a railway station bench he felt the full weight of the law.
(Guardian, 9 Mar 2006)
Ministers miss target to cut child poverty
The government will today fail to meet its target of cutting child poverty by a quarter in its first two terms, but the work and welfare secretary, John Hutton, will respond by promising the government will work even harder to meet its next, more challenging target of halving child poverty by 2010. (Guardian, 9 Mar 2006)
Quake survivors beat the winter
The race to save hundreds of thousands of Pakistani earthquake survivors from the harsh Himalayan winter has been won, the United Nations said yesterday.
...Five months ago yesterday about 87,000 people died when a 7.6 magnitude quake shook Kashmir and North-West Frontier province. Another 1,300 died in Indian-occupied Kashmir.
Aid officials admit that, behind the back-patting, many thorny legal and social problems lie ahead as government and aid officials concentrate on helping the 2.6 million survivors. A year-long recovery plan, funded by $6.2bn (£3.5bn) pledged by international donors last November, will be launched next month. (Guardian, 9 Mar 2006)
Teenager fined £80 for swear word
A teenager is refusing to pay an £80 on-the-spot fine imposed by a police officer who overheard him swearing in a private conversation with friends.
Kurt Walker, 18, from Deal, Kent, said he would go to court rather than pay the fine handed out in a town park. (Guardian, 9 Mar 2006)
Doorstep lender Provident weighs up demerger
Provident Financial, the doorstep lender, is considering a demerger that will separate its international division from its UK lending unit, The Times has learnt. (Times, 8 Mar 2006)
Severn Trent to be spared fine over giving false data
Severn Trent Water has escaped a fine of up to £100 million — or 10 per cent of its annual turnover — for deliberately miscalculating data because the irregularities occurred before new powers were given to the water regulator. (Times, 8 Mar 2006)
Demutualisation windfall scrutiny needed, say MPs
Legislation is needed to ensure members of building societies and life insurers that demutualise are not short-changed, according to an all-party MPs' group. Laws should require an independent check on windfalls to ensure members' interests are protected. (Guardian, 8 Mar 2006)
How consumer power sparked a Fairtrade revolution on our high streets
A trio of cartoon superheroes blazes a trail across the front page of the latest issue of the fair trade and ethical lifestyle magazine, New Consumer. (Guardian, 8 Mar 2006)
Belmarsh inspection reveals harsh conditions of July bomb suspects
One of the prisoners facing trial for the July bombings has been separated "for security reasons" from his co-defendants and put in a "prison within a prison within a prison" at the Belmarsh maximum security jail in London, the chief inspector of prisons discloses today. (Guardian, 8 Mar 2006)
Brown launches youth voucher scheme
Gordon Brown today floated the idea of "midnight football" for badly behaved youngsters, as he put forward a series of carrot-and-stick schemes for dealing with unruly teenagers. (Guardian, 8 Mar 2006)
Down but not out
...In an age when all main parties seek to strengthen civic society, the moves by successive governments to reduce the role of juries makes no sense. (Guardian, 8 Mar 2006)
Campus storm over 'racist' don
Students and lecturers are calling for a Leeds University don to be sacked after he said he supported a theory that black people were inferior to whites. (Guardian, 7 Mar 2006)
Portman takes over Lambeth
Portman building society is swallowing a smaller London-based mutual in a deal that will trigger windfall payments for up to 70,000 people, it was announced yesterday.
The Portman is taking Lambeth building society under its wing to create an organisation with total assets of almost £19bn and more than 1.8 million members.
...Provided Lambeth members and the Financial Services Authority give their approval, the merger is expected to take effect on September 30. (Guardian, 7 Mar 2006)
French Sikhs must remove turbans for driving licence photos
France's highest administrative body ruled yesterday that Sikhs must remove their turbans for driving licence photos, calling it a question of public security and not a restriction on freedom of religion.
(Guardian, 7 Mar 2006)
We should not confuse nostalgia with history
Geoff Dench and Kate Gavron argued that Britain's welfare system has marginalised the white working class in London's Tower Hamlets and helped fuel years of racial conflict in the borough (Lost horizons, February 8). (Guardian, 7 Mar 2006)
Immigration point system outlined
A new points-based immigration system for workers who want to come to the UK from outside the EU has been unveiled by the Home Secretary Charles Clarke. (BBC, 7 Mar 2006)
Pentagon reveals Guantanamo names
The US defence department has released the names and nationalities of some of the inmates detained at its Guantanamo Bay prison in Cuba. (BBC, 4 Mar 2006)
Police seize golliwogs from shop after racism claim
Police seized three golliwogs from a shop window display after a passer-by complained that they were racist. (Telegraph, 4 Mar 2006)
Charities turn up the heat on care funding scandal
Ministers have been forced to act over the growing scandal of elderly people being forced to sell their homes to pay for NHS care. (Telegraph, 4 Mar 2006)
Our homes are sold ... but we didn't know
Angry tenants on the Octavia Hill estates say contracts to sell their homes have been exchanged without their knowledge.
'; Consortium Grainger GenInvest and the Church Commissioners have exchanged contracts for most of the 1,100 properties on the Walworth, Vauxhall and Waterloo estates. (South London Press, 3 Mar 2006)
Guantanamo man tells of 'torture'
A Kuwaiti man being held at Guantanamo Bay has told the BBC in a rare interview that the force-feeding of hunger strikers amounts to torture.
Fawzi al-Odah said hunger strikers were strapped to a chair and force-fed through a tube three times a day. (BBC, 3 Mar 2006)
Greenpeace blocks pulp mill boat
The environmental group Greenpeace has blocked a shipment from leaving Chile for Uruguay in the latest stage of a row over two pulp mills. (BBC, 3 Mar 2006)
Billions 'lost to tax avoidance'
About £10bn is being lost by the government each year to tax avoidance schemes, according to HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC). (BBC, 2 Mar 2006)
Central reservations
Britain's 30 years of centralisation has left local government weaker, poorer and less influential than in any other western country. (Guardian, 1 Mar 2006)
US pays Muslim detainee £170,000
An Egyptian arrested after the September 11 attacks, detained for 10 months and then deported, has been awarded £170,000 by the US government.
Ehab Elmaghraby, who ran a restaurant in Manhattan, was among dozens of Muslims detained after the outrages in New York and Washington. (Telegraph, 1 Mar 2006)
The fish list: how your supermarket rates
Fish sold at supermarkets that compete most ferociously on price is not as sustainable as that available in smaller, upmarket chains, according to a Marine Conservation Society league table.
(Guardian, 1 Mar 2006)
Animal instincts
In a rare interview with the Guardian, Kate Hoey MP tears into 'hypocrites' who support supermarkets but are against fox hunting. (Guardian, 1 Mar 2006)
|
|
|
2006
2005
2004
2003
2002
2001
|