A row has broken out after council chiefs organised a Bonfire Night party in East London without a Guy or a bonfire (Louisa Barnett writes). Critics say that they are airbrushing one of Britain’s most important episodes from history.
Tower Hamlets council has been accused of bowing to political correctness after agreeing to stage a £75,000 fire show retelling a Bengali folk tale about an emperor and his tax collectors.
The council has dismissed accusations from opposition parties that it is destroying a tradition cherished by generations of children.
John Midgley, for the Campaign Against Political Correctness, said: “This is blatantly ridiculous. It’s almost too insane for words.
“There’s a time and a place for everything, and November 5 is for Bonfire Night.”
Straw stands firm
Jack Straw has refused to back down over his call for Muslim women to remove their veils. He told an inter-faith forum in London that he would not “retreat from the debate” over relations between ethnic and religious communities and appealed for “a stronger sense of shared British identity” from all religious cultures.
Beauty diminished
Miss Great Britain has been stripped of her title amid claims that she started a relationship with one of the judges, the footballer Teddy Sheringham, before the contest. Danielle Lloyd, 22, told a magazine she spent last Christmas with the West Ham striker, 40, who sat on the judging panel last February.
Stonehenge fails
Stonehenge is a “mess” with a “crowded, noisy environment”, according to a survey of 94 World Heritage sites in National Geographic Traveler magazine. The city of Bath and the Jurassic Coast in the West Country each received higher marks. The fjords on the west coast of Norway came top in the survey.
Corfu father home
Neil Shepherd, 38, whose two children were killed by carbon monoxide gas in Corfu, was admitted to hospital in Wakefield with his partner, Ruth Beatson, 27, after they arrived back in Britain. Christianne Shepherd, 7, and Robert, 6, died when gas seeped into their bungalow from a suspected faulty boiler.
Brand switches
Radio 2 has signed Russell Brand, the controversial comedian, to host a show on Saturday nights. Brand, 31, a former heroin addict who has been linked to Kate Moss, the supermodel, will leave his show on the digital channel 6 Music. He has been credited with improving ratings at the station by 40 per cent.
Young disabled living in poverty
Hundreds of thousands of disabled children are living in poverty because the needs of their families are sidelined, social policy experts claim. Writing in the British Medical Journal, Professor Tricia Sloper and Dr Bryony Beresford, of the University of York, said that about 55 per cent of families of disabled children live in poverty and that primary care trusts must ensure that care workers are more aware of their needs.
Sketch is banned
The comedians Dawn French and Jennifer Saunders have been criticised by BBC governors for a sketch in their 2005 Christmas Special in which “too young” children were dressed up with false breasts as Paris Hilton and Charlie Dimmock. The sketch has been banned from any repeat broadcast.
Hanging accident
A one-year-old girl hanged herself accidentally, an inquest in Horsham, West Sussex, was told. Lucy Titcombe, from Billingshurst, was found by her mother standing in her cot with a curtain cord around her neck. Dr David Skipp, the West Sussex deputy coroner, said that the parents were not to blame.
Tourists flee bail
Two British tourists accused of air rage have jumped bail in Greece and fled home, police say. Pieter Meinen, 21, and Graeme McDonnell, 26, were arrested on August 18, on the Greek island of Zante. They were released on bail last week and warned that they face five years in jail if caught trying to leave the country.
Man overboard
Portuguese coastguard are searching the sea around Madeira after a pensioner disappeared from a liner cruising from Barcelona to Miami. James Ewan, 73, of Burntisland, Fife, a widower with no children, went missing from the Celebrity Century on Wednesday. The ship turned back to look for him.
Waves of shock
Shock waves from galaxies colliding with each other in one of the universe’s most violent regions have been discovered more than 600 million light years from Earth. The waves were recorded by the Very Large Array radio telescope in New Mexico, an international team reported in the journal Science.
Dylan triumph
Modern Times by Bob Dylan has been voted album of the year by Uncut, the rock magazine. The record, an “effortless masterpiece” combining blues, jazz and folk helped Dylan, 65, to No 1 in the American charts, for the first time in 30 years. White Bread, Black Beer by Scritti Politti, was runner-up.
Terror suspect held in custody
A man appeared at the City of Westminster Magistrates’ Court, in London, yesterday, accused of preparing to take equipment and thousands of pounds in cash to Pakistan for the purpose of terrorism. During a brief hearing, Sohail Qureshi, 29, spoke only to give his name and date of birth. He will appear at the Old Bailey on November 17.
Credit card fraud
More than 560 people have reported that fraudulent withdrawals, averaging £300, had been made both in London and abroad using their credit card details. Police inquiries are centred on two petrol stations in Eastbourne and Sidley, East Sussex. Two men were arrested, but later released on bail.
Recycling danger
Recycling workers are twice as likely to suffer a serious injury at work than other refuse collectors, Health and Safety Commission accident figures show. The boom in recycling has created a huge rise in accidents in this sector, and at least five recycling workers have died this year.
Slow to prescribe
Britain is lagging behind the rest of Europe in adopting new medicines, the ABPI, the trade body for the pharmaceutical industry, has said. The use of new drugs is a quarter less than in other European countries, and the use of new cancer drugs is more than a third lower.
Defiant Elgar note
MPs from Herefordshire and Worcestershire want Edward Elgar kept as the face of the £20 note until after 150th anniversary celebrations of his birth next year. The Worcestershire-born composer is due to be replaced next spring by Adam Smith, the Scottish economist.
