Friends of Joe Porter, 16, pictured, who died in February from a rare form of bowel cancer, had planned the charity event in Nailsea’s Somerset Square on April 13 to raise money for the #skydive4joe appeal. Around 100 people were expected to take part in the Harlem Shake which would have been filmed and shown on YouTube. How heartwarming! How noble! How…doomed to failure. Organiser Emma Robbins, a family friend,…
Today one parent, who did not want to be named, said: “I am disgusted. I can’t believe she was allowed to live with a man who would do something like that and then come in to work with children. I don’t know if he has been into the nursery, but it is terrifying. It’s terrifying that this is a free country, one can have a relationship with whoever one wishes?…
…especially if it’s for the chiiilldreeeeennnn! As the government prepares to introduce the new system, do you feel it is a positive step towards rooting out child abuse, or are you more concerned that the database will breach your and your children’s privacy? Bit of a loaded question, as the answers fall mainly into the ‘nothing to hide, nothing to fear!’ camps, gleefully monstering any dissenters as being incipient child…
New Culture man-at-Westminster Ed Vaizey: To emphasise this point he has decorated his office with items that signify his areas of responsibility; a framed tribute from the Brit music awards, a painting by John Hubbard and, in pride of place, the Oscar won by Cecil Beaton for costume design for My Fair Lady in 1964. He would like to make a further addition but, to his chagrin, his requests for…
…along with those slugs: The home-made solution contravenes regulations on pesticides, say officials.It means there is a chance – albeit a slim one – of vegetable growers receiving a visit and a heavy fine from the police. Has the ‘Mail’ gone mad? Chase bank robbers or catch burglars, or harass Mrs Miggins at No.25 on behalf of the EU? Hmmmm, it’s a tough decision… And just why has this edict…
Bullseye, a Staffordshire Bull Terrier, fled his home in June last year. Every pet owners nightmare. But luckily, Bullseye was owned by a responsible owner: Mr Reid had his pet micro-chipped by Petlog so he would be reunited with Bullseye if he ever went missing. /cheer He was picked up by the RSPCA months after disappearing… Whew! A lucky escape for Bullseye and a happy ending. But…no. Far from it:…
Certainly not for serving their constituents: Mystery surrounds the whereabouts of Councillor Stephen Padmore, who has attended only two of the 33 meetings he was expected at from June 1 2011 to June 1 this year. And then there’s Cllr Madeliene Long… In the last six months of 2011, Cllr Long attended just three out of her 10 meetings, though she has upped her appearances this year.At last week’s meeting,…
An ad for an anti-shatter window firm warning of the possibility of a terrorist attack during the Olympics has been banned for causing undue fear and distress, a watchdog said. Note: not that it was inaccurate, misleading, or untruthful. Not because it wasn’t, in the old tongue, ‘legal, decent, honest and truthful’. Because it upset people: Northgate Solar Controls (NSC) warned of the “very real threat” surrounding the Games in…
Police forces struggling to make 20 per cent cuts face spiralling costs to pay for caging “devil dogs” under the Government’s crackdown, ministers have admitted. But don’t worry! Our useless government has a plan! Agriculture minister Jim Paice said he hoped the figure would fall to about £1.1million a year as the number of prosecutions dropped. He also claimed the costs would be offset by a £490,000 saving from allowing…
Clearly, it isn’t to ensure someone performs the basics of a civilised society: A dead dog was removed from the River Thames by a distressed volunteer after authorities left it floating for more than two weeks. And this is Kingston! Clearly, twinned with any Third World unsanitary hellhole you care to name… The volunteer for DogLost, a website for lost and found dogs, said she approached the RSPCA, the Environment…
One child in three is living below the poverty line in parts of Kingston. As part of a new series of features David Lindsell spoke to parents about poverty and how the council intends to tackle it. Stand by for the sob stories: A father on his sick bed wept as he told me how his wife and two daughters had been helped by the Food Bank since he fell…
Peter Preston on the double-standard relating to school attendance: Parents are responsible for making sure their children go to school. Headteachers say so; ministers say so; the law says so. If your child is registered to attend a school, then he or she must turn up – and the full weight of Section 444 of the 1996 Education Act is there to make sure that happens. If you find yourself…
A beehive sculpture costing thousands of pounds has been removed from a public park after complaints it looked ‘too rude’. We aren’t shown a ‘before’ photo, but we can imagine… Award-winning sculptor Thompson Dagnall – who was paid around £3,500 for the work – said a Tameside council boss told him the design was too ‘phallic’. *sigh* Mr Dagnall had originally carved an intricate metal bee on a wooden orchid…
Recommendations that babies should be breastfed for six months, without introducing solid food or other liquids, is considered “unrealistic and unachievable” by many families, experts from the University of Aberdeen and the University of Stirling argue. Well, that’s why they are ‘recommendations’, and not ‘edicts’ or ‘instructions’. If you can’t achieve them, for whatever reason, no problem! Right? Well, no. Not in our increasingly infantilised world, it isn’t. Not in…
Natasha Dye, of New England Quarter, Brighton, wrote to David Cameron desperately seeking help. Her three-year-old daughter, Scarlett, suffers from chronic lung disease and other serious health problems and they live in one of the worst streets in Brighton and Hove for air pollution. Yeah, yeah, really sad story, just like lots of others. Got nowhere with the council (she claims) so tried the old ‘Write to the PM’ route.…
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