A Greek Orthodox school is being taken to the High Court for banning a Muslim pupil from wearing a headscarf. Oh? Gosh. I guess the parents must not have known the uniform requirements, then? Head teacher Kate Magliocco said the uniform policy was made clear to the parents when the girl arrived in Year 3.It was not until she moved into Year 5 in September that they wanted their daughter…
James Clarke, 35, has spent six months fighting to make Fitness First pay for an interpreter, which he claims they are obliged to provide under the Equality Act 2010. Oh? Really? Mr Clarke, from Sanderstead, suffers from Usher syndrome and was born profoundly deaf and partially sighted.He joined the gym in May and initially attempted to complete the two introductory training sessions, which come with the £34 monthly membership, by…
Theo Hobson takes issue with Roger Scruton’s religion: Is Roger Scruton a Christian? Based on his new book, Our Church: a Personal History of the Church of England, I am inclined to doubt it. Errr, why..? Has the publisher printed an upside-down cross on the front, or something? He says that he is, and he goes to church – he even plays the organ there. His Tory traditionalist form of…
Out of America, there is always something new. The latest example of that country’s unparalleled contribution to medical progress is the announcement by the University of Washington that its scientists had succeeded in removing the extra copy of chromosome 21 in cell cultures derived from a person with Down’s Syndrome. Since it is the possession of three, rather than two, copies of the 21st chromosome that defines Down’s Syndrome, it…
Martin Kettle on Benjamin Brittan: Is it important, and if so in what sense and to what degree, that one of this country’s most significant composers of the past century – in many people’s view, the most significant modern British composer of them all – was intensely attracted to underage young boys, invited them to stay at his home, sometimes took them into his bed, or kissed them? I’d have…
The family of a mother-of-two stabbed to death by a drug-crazed teenager in south London said today they fear the public could be put at risk after her killer was freed. Because, you see, he’s all better now… Ezekiel Maxwell, who attacked Carmelita Tulloch near her home in Kennington in 2006, was deemed fit for release by a tribunal after five years in a secure hospital. And if he stops…
Rebecca Schil on the latest ‘must have’ toy for Christmas in every ‘right on’ Islington household: The debate surrounding the “Breast Milk Baby”, a doll that allows children to pretend to breastfeed, highlights how confused we are about breastfeeding. I’m guessing that’s the Royal ‘We’..? Culturally we might be breastfeeding sceptics but at a policy level everyone is clear that improving the UK’s low breastfeeding rates is a major priority……
Morale among social workers has been driven to rock bottom by… Persistent failure to get to grips with serious cases resulting in death of ghildren? The high-profile managers exposed as less use than chocolate teapots? The overweening ‘don’t rock the boat’ attitude of senior management? Well, no. You might as well expect fish to be driven to rock bottom by water. … cuts, targets and ministers making the issue of…
I mean, first I agreed with Mary Dejevsky. Now I’m agreeing with Peter Wilby… The late Richard Webster, a writer who dedicated many years to campaigning for “abusers” he believed were wrongly convicted, saw analogies with medieval witch hunts. Genuine witches existed, practising magic and calling on supernatural forces, but they were mostly eccentric individuals, not members of an international conspiracy threatening church and state. Since even real witches were…
…when the lunch is still free: Patients discharged from hospital could be given a breakdown of how much their treatment has cost the NHS. Because that will miraculously cause them to care, you see, and rethink their spendthrift ways… Hospital bosses are considering the move to raise awareness of how much various tests, procedures and visits cost, encouraging patients to “value” and “appreciate” the service. Those who are inclined to…
Warden Elizabeth Fairbank battled for two years against charges of fraud from an elderly resident in her care at sheltered housing complex Alexander Hutchinson Court in north Hull. She was in charge of handling one resident’s finances when almost £9,000 was left unaccounted for. Miss Fairbank claims she used some of the savings to decorate the woman’s flat. The police were handed bundles of receipts, which Miss Fairbank claims prove…
Police are appealing for witnesses after a car drove slowly past a 10-year-old girl cycling home from school in Crowle. I… What? The girl’s mother was cycling a short distance behind her daughter at the time, but reported the car, which contained two men, because she felt it was suspicious. Presumably, if they’d driven past at speed, she’d have been reassured? I mean, good grief! A license plate would have…
A poll for the Post has shown that Bristolians are overwhelmingly against cycling on the city’s pavements. Well, there’s a shocker, eh? Who could have predicted that? Apart from….well, everybody. Dr Rogers, a retired GP and cabinet councillor, said he was not surprised by the results of the survey. I’m not surprised you’re not surprised, doctor… He said: “Most people would not regard a five-year-old riding a cycle on the…
The newly-opened Greenwich Free School has radically tough rules on phones, which involve searching pupils if there is “intelligence” they are carrying one and then confiscating it until the end of term. But Lisa Wells claims her daughter Britney Staples was searched twice in one week, once by a male teacher with no female member of staff present. ‘Intelligence’..? Good grief, I can only hope they put a lot more…
Tireless #firstworldproblems finder SE Smith gripes about the ‘commodification’ of breast cancer awareness campaigns: …groups like Breast Cancer Action are having to fight cancer on two fronts: battling for patients, as well as fighting the rise of pinkification. The group points out that many of the products tied to breast cancer awareness are themselves linked with cancer, or are produced by firms with a terrible record on environmental pollution and…
Latest Comments