A formal complaint was made to Lancashire Police about ‘Babs’ who has been at the centre of a growing row in Clitheroe. Some residents have been calling for her removal from public view in the window of The Time Train retro shop where she has been standing for the past five months. And by ‘some residents’, I suspect we are talking about (as with the recent Enid Blyton controversy) a…
The Kennel Club has warned that dogs are being increasingly “marginalised” in society, and treated as a “nuisance” that must be controlled and restricted by the authorities. Like…smokers, maybe? Under the rising number of “dog control orders”, the animals are being banned from large areas of parkland, beaches and other public spaces on which they have traditionally been able to exercise. The effect, according to the Kennel Club, has been…
Screaming headline in the ‘Indy’: Oh noes! Disaster! Oh, the terrible Tory cuts! Anthony Douglas, chief executive of Cafcass, which safeguards the welfare of children involved in family court proceedings, said he expected to see a leap in child neglect cases as thousands of struggling families were pushed over the financial edge in the coming months. Really, Anthony? You really think so? Because I’m sceptical, to say the least: Riley…
Towns and cities across Britain are drowning under mountainous piles of Christmas and New Year rubbish as some homes have not had refuse collections for up to three weeks. Well, it’s the recession, innit? Government cuts, y’know, what can we do, etc, ad infinitum. Meanwhile… Council bosses have been slammed for spending more than £4,000 on a two-day ‘workshop’ at an historic castle. A group of 26 senior Conservative councillors…
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…
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…
‘It’ being the scourge of drugs. Of course. Given the threat of drugs, you can excuse anything – even this: Ten police officers with a sniffer dog swooped on a secondary school and searched 2,000 pupilsamid drug rumours.The squad of officers, along with teachers and a sniffer dog, were involved in the unannounced mass search. How many drugs did they find? Errr… The operation was carried out at Ivybridge Community College…
Wendy Goode’s home in the Tollers Estate has been sealed up by Croydon Council, which claims it is the only way to stop abusive and antisocial behaviour against neighbours by her former live-in boyfriend Lee Norfolk. Miss Goode, 47, has been an “active and willing partner” in Mr Norfolk’s bad behaviour, Croydon Council said, and has breached agreements to bar him from her home at 124 Goodenough Way. It appears…
For decades, it was the centrepiece of an east London housing estate and was known affectionately as Old Flo. But the towering Henry Moore sculpture, Draped Seated Woman, created for public display, is now likely to end up in an auction room with a £20m price tag to raise much-needed funds for Tower Hamlets, which is the site of some of the worst deprivation in Britain. It’s not actually doing…
MPs have urged RBS and Lloyds TSB to allow customers with basic bank accounts to use their cards in rivals’ cash machines, saying that limiting withdrawals could lead to a decrease in the number of free ATMs. This is, believe it or not, a desire to do something (thought not by actually doing something themselves, you understand, merely by urging others to do the heavy lifting while they trouser their…
On Friday afternoon, Joanne Corboy, 37, from Leigh, and Catherine Osborne, 43, from Westcliff, spotted two 11-year-olds struggling in the water off Chalkwell Beach. Ms Corboy and a male passer-by went into the water and dragged the youngsters out, while Ms Osborne stayed on shore and called the emergency services. The boys, called Liam and Shane, were taken to Southend Hospital for treatment. Phew! All’s well that ends well? Little…
Today the Oxford Mail can reveal the shocking extent of crimes reported on school grounds across the county. Police were called to more than 400 reports of crimes at Oxfordshire school sites in the past three years. They include allegations of rape, sexual assault, grievous bodily harm, possession of drugs and weapons. So, where? Well, we can’t tell you that. Approximately a third of the offences were reported on school…
The government is to review the effectiveness of children’s homes in England amid growing criticism of the number of vulnerable children who are allowed to go missing or run away. Whitehall sources said ministers were preparing to rethink the role of such homes in the protection of children, as a parliamentary inquiry revealed that their occupants were three times more likely to run away and be exposed to physical and…
Children as young as four are recreating violent computer games in the playground because they do not realise they are make-believe, East Riding head teachers have warned. Heads are warning schools are fighting a losing battle with children staying up late to play on XBox and PlayStation, leaving them tired for lessons. Oh no! If they can’t pay attention in lessons, a significant proportion will be illiterate and innumerate just…
Ron Glatter (emeritus professor of educational administration and management at the Open University): A special report on the UK says that in Britain “both the within and between-school impact of socio-economic background on educational attainment are well above the OECD average”. In fact more of the variation between the performance of different schools is related to their socio-economic intake in the UK than in any of 33 other OECD countries…
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