A gay man living in an open relationship with his partner is top of the list of candidates for a bishopric in one of the most liberal dioceses in the Episcopal Church in the US (Ruth Gledhill writes).
If Canon Michael Barlowe, a former Wall Street banker, is elected as Bishop of Newark, New Jersey, it will confirm fears that there can now be no reconciliation between the liberal and conservative wings of the worldwide Anglican Church.
Prescott expense
John Prescott is costing the taxpayer £2 million a year, the Conservatives have calculated. The expense includes £1.3 million for the Deputy Prime Minister’s 20 staff, £195,000 for accommodation in Admiralty House, travel costs of more than £140,000 and a salary of £133,997.
Stem-cell study
Cells that can develop into nerve tissue have been grown from embryos that were created without fertilisation or cloning. Scientists at the University of Milan coaxed human eggs to develop into embryos as if fertilised by sperm. They then extracted the embryonic stem cells.
Smoking bribe
Pregnant women in one of Britain’s most deprived areas are to be offered bribes worth up to £50 a month to stop smoking. Women in Dundee are to be offered vouchers for fresh fruit and vegetables, relaxation classes and aerobics if they can prove they stopped smoking during pregnancy.
Migration debate
Frank Field, the former Welfare Minister, criticised mainstream politicians for failing to debate high levels of immigration, and said that the trend should not continue at its current rate. Poor areas were always those that had to absorb the highest numbers of new migrants, he said.
Speaker for Lords
The Lords has chosen its first Speaker, who will replace the Lord Chancellor on the Woolsack. The result will not be announced until Tuesday, the victor being given a day’s warning. The Labour peer Baroness Hayman, a former Agriculture Minister, has been tipped as favourite.
Murderer, 18, gets 20 years
The teenager found guilty of acting out her own blueprint for murder was yesterday told that she must serve a minimum of 20 years behind bars for killing a pensioner.
Kemi Adeyoola, 18, stabbed her former neighbour Anne Mendel, 84, 14 times in Golders Green, North London.
Judge Richard Hone told her at the Old Bailey: “You are a remorseless and cold-blooded killer who is a danger to the public.”
Cancer apology
Essex Strategic Health Authority apologised after a “serious failure” at the West Essex Breast Screening Service, run by The Princess Alexandra Hospital NHS Trust at St Margaret’s Hospital, Epping, meant 18 women had the disease diagnosed after being told that they were clear.
Cash forger foiled
A suitcase containing money-making equipment and enough paper for £1 million in forged notes was abandoned by a taxi passenger in Manor Park, East London. The driver, Aklas Ali, 46, who was unaware of what was inside, took the case to his office, where it was opened by community support officers.
Scanner scare
The use of magnetic resonance imaging scans to diagnose disease is under threat because of a European Union directive based on shoddy scientific advice, a committee of MPs have said. Overzealous safety rules due to come into force in 2008 are likely to restrict MRI scanning in British hospitals.
Footballer fined
Jermaine Beckford, 22, a Leeds United footballer, has been fined £500 after Isleworth Crown Court, West London, was told that he was present at the stabbing of a man. The striker, who received legal aid despite earning £1,100 a week, stole documents belonging to Mark Grant, who was the victim of the attack.
Arts cash plea
Arts Council England has called for an extra £40 million from the Government so that it can boost the visual arts in the next spending round. It will invest £38 million in more than 200 visual arts organisations in 2008, but says that it needs more. It allocates about £100 million on theatre and £45 million on opera.
Nights on the tiles
A vicar plans to spend ten days and nights on the roof of his church staring today in an effort to raise money for charitable work. Father Malcolm Hunter, 44, will sleep on the tiles of St Michael’s Church in Camden, North London, 72ft (22m) above the ground, using ropes to ensure that he does not fall.
Source of ‘dirty’ tap water may be found in home owner’s tank
Discoloured tap water prompts more complaints from householders than any other issue about water quality, the Drinking Water Inspectorate said. Of 146,000 complaints about tap water last year, almost 120,000 were about discolouration.
A report indicated that 99.96 per cent of tap water in England and Wales met safety standards. However, more than 2,500 people complained last year that their tap water had made them ill. The inspectorate said that problems were often due to the condition of pipes. It pointed out that the reason for water falling short of health standards was often because of the condition of pipes and tanks in the home.
Dead birds in uncovered tanks were commonly found, other tanks were beneath places where birds roosted and defecated, while pipework in some homes was still made of lead so that toxic particles flow out of taps.
Customers in the South West Water area were the most vociferous complainers, above those in Northumbria.
Killer's accomplice convicted
A man who helped his friend to kill a 16-year-old girl with whom the friend had had an intense relationship is facing a lengthy jail term after being convicted of manslaughter.
Adam Briggs, 20, was found by Sheffield Crown Court to have helped Lee Smith, 20, to get a shotgun, to have known that it was loaded and that Smith intended to harm Carolyn Lemm last December.
Miss Lemm, 16, was marched up a remote country track at gunpoint and shot in the head by Smith, her former lover, who then turned the gun on himself, the court was told.
Police found the bodies near the village of Woodsetts, Rotherham, after Miss Lemm’s friend, Sabrina Murdoch, 17, who was also picked up by Smith in the centre of Sheffield, ran for her life to a nearby farm. Briggs was found slumped, drunk, in Smith’s car.
Peter Kelson, QC, for the prosecution, had argued that Briggs helped to secure the weapon and encouraged Smith to carry out the killing of Miss Lemm, from Gleadless, Sheffield.
Briggs, from Lincoln, denied murder and was found guilty of the alternative charge of manslaughter. The case was adjourned for three weeks for reports before sentencing.
Four cleared in QPR hostage trial
Four men accused of taking a Queens Park Rangers Football Club director hostage at gunpoint during a game and forcing him to write a resignation letter have been cleared of all charges.
In a scene said to be reminiscent of the television gangster series The Sopranos, the millionaire Gianni Paladini was alleged to have been punched and slapped by a gang of “heavies” hired by David Morris, a QPR director. The men were arrested by armed police as they sat in an executive box at the club’s West London ground at a game against Sheffield United.
But at Blackfriars Crown Court, Judge Charles Byers instructed the jury to acquit the defendants. Andy Baker, 40, Aaron Lacey, 36, David Davenport, 38, and Michael Reynolds, 45, were on trial alongside three other men accused of an attack on Mr Paladini.
After a jury earlier cleared Mr Morris of conspiracy to blackmail Judge Byers threw out the case against all of them.
Cat uses one life in wreck house
A couple whose home was destroyed by a mechanical digger said that they were relieved to have found their pet cat safe. Ashley, an eight-year-old Korat, vanished after the house in Bradwell-on-Sea, Essex, was demolished. Janice Gledhill said that they had feared the worst for the cat. Police have charged Robert Taylor, 52, with criminal damage with intent to endanger life and assaulting a police officer.
Unwell Pavorotti cancels concert
Luciano Pavarotti has had to cancel British concerts in his farewell tour because of ill health. Terri Robson, his manager, said that the tenor, 70, had had a setback while recovering from surgery for a back condition. The concert at Glasgow SECC has been rescheduled from July 5 to November 18. Concerts at Chatsworth House on July 8, in Southampton on July 12, and at Warwick Castle on July 15 have also been cancelled. It is hoped to reschedule them.
Girl killed in freak accident
A young girl died in a freak accident while helping her mother to clear away the dishes from the dining room table, an inquest was told yesterday. Jess Simpkins, who was almost 3, dropped a casserole dish, from which a shard of glass flew up, hitting her in the neck and splitting her jugular vein.
Amy Simpkins, her mother, told the inquest that Jess had enjoyed helping to clear the table at their home in Cirencester, Gloucestershire.
Ms Simpkins, helped by her own mother, drove her daughter to hospital but doctors were unable to save Jess, who died of heavy blood loss. A verdict of accidental death was recorded.
Amarillo hit
Tony Christie, the Seventies crooner, pipped Bob the Builder at the top of the charts at Great Ormond Street Hospital, where children made his (Is This the Way to) Amarillo? the most requested song at the new radio station, Radio Lollipop, which broadcasts to the wards from the hospital’s courtyard.
Securitas charges
An eighth person appeared in court charged in connection with the £53 million Tonbridge robbery. Roger Lloyd Coutts, 29, a garage owner from Welling, South London, was charged at Maidstone Magistrates’ Court with conspiracy to rob and kidnap. He will appear at the Old Bailey in London on July 10.
Actor granted bail
Chris Langham, the comedy actor, has been granted extended bail after being charged with 15 counts of making indecent images of children. Mr Langham, 57, of Cranbrook, Kent, star of the BBC comedy The Thick of It, did not appear at Sevenoaks Magistrates Court. Bail was extended until July 26.
