SNP predicts big win in May election
The Scottish National Party claims that it is on track for an overwhelming
victory in elections for the Scottish Parliament in seven weeks’ time (Angus
Macleod writes).
The party has conducted its own poll, which suggests that the nationalists are
on course to win 46 seats on May 3 — 20 more than they achieved in 2003 and
6 more than Labour, who would lose 10 seats and be down to 40. Such a result
would give the SNP leadership of the Scottish Executive for the first time
since devolution, and the power to deliver its promise of a referendum on
independence from the rest of the UK by 2011.
Rally over BBC man
Rival Palestinian factions held a joint rally yesterday to condemn the
kidnapping of the BBC’s Gaza correspondent, Alan Johnston. Dozens of people
demonstrated outside Johnston’s office in Gaza City, urging his captors to
set him free. Johnston was abducted by four armed men on his way home from
work on Monday.
CSA warns parents
The Child Support Agency is to warn parents who fail to pay their child
maintenance that they will be pursued by debt collectors or even face
prison. The Department for Work and Pensions, which is phasing out the CSA
over the next few years, has advertised in national newspapers warning
parents of the policy.
‘Greedy’ lawyers
Senior judges have attacked “greedy” lawyers after hearing that spiralling
costs in a claim relating to a road traffic accident, in which a man was
paralysed, are approaching £1 million. Lord Justice Buxton said that the
legal costs were now so high that litigants were being “deterred” from
standing their corner.
£600,000 payout
The family of a woman who died of blood poisoning days after giving birth was
awarded £600,000 compensation by the High Court. Kingston Hospital NHS Trust
and St George’s Healthcare NHS Trust both accepted responsibility. Jessica
Palmer was discharged from hospital with a raised temperature.
Scottish NHS staff will be paid more
The 57,000 health workers in Scotland will be paid more than those in the rest
of Britain from next month (Angus Macleod writes).
Scottish Executive ministers said yesterday that NHS staff would receive a 2.5
per cent pay increase. In the rest of Britain, pay will rise by 1.5 per cent
next month and a further 1 per cent in November.
“The finances of NHS Scotland are on a sound footing,” Andy Kerr, the Scottish
Health Minister, told the Royal College of Nursing in Edinburgh. Health
unions urged Gordon Brown, the Chancellor, to match the payments in England
and Wales. “This decision should shame MPs in Westminster into taking
action,” Karen Jennings, of Unison, said.
Superbug ‘despair’
Little has been done over the past 30 years to control hospital superbugs and
to limit the spread of organisms that are resistant to antibiotics, it has
been claimed (Nigel Hawkes writes).
Professor Richard James, director of the Centre for Healthcare Associated
Infection, at University of Nottingham, said that he was “in despair” at the
lack of progress. He said that all patients should be screened on admission,
and that the centre had developed a test that would detect infections within
hours. “If you don’t screen people coming in, we don’t know which patients
have MRSA on admission,” he said.
Care pay confusion
The Department of Health is guilty of “maladministration” over the way it
handled payments to people wrongly charged for nursing care, the
Parliamentary Ombudsman said today.
Some “ back payments” were made after complaints by patients that they had
been told to pay for long-term care that should have been provided on the
NHS. But a lack of clear guidance from the department meant that the
payments were often calculated incorrectly by primary care trusts. Some
complaints go back to decisions made in 1994, and trusts have had to review
12,000 cases. (PA)
Flu prevention
Preventive treatment of every healthcare worker with antiviral drugs during a
flu pandemic could cut the number of serious cases by as much as 45 per
cent, a computer model has suggested (Mark Henderson writes).
Healthcare workers are likely to be exposed to the virus, and a high rate of
infection would leave many hospitals struggling to cope. Research conducted
by a Canadian team, led by Michael Gardam, of Toronto General Hospital,
suggests that universal prophylaxis among staff would keep the healthcare
system functioning effectively, with important gains for patient health.
Protesters prevent expansion of Tesco
A decision to halt the expansion of Tesco in Inverness has been described as a
victory for small shopkeepers across Britain.
The dominance of the supermarket chain in the small city in the Scottish
Highlands is such that 52p of every £1 spent on food and drink goes to one
of its stores. Thousands signed a petition protesting against proposals for
a store to the south of the city, and the application was turned down by
councillors who said that it would “diminish the prospect of district-scale
retailing” in the area. “This decision will undoubtedly be welcomed by
shopkeepers,” Danny Alexander, the area’s Liberal Democrat MP, said.
Faith school ‘divide’
Faith schools should lose the freedom to run their own admissions policies if
they do not promote multiculturalism and diversity, the Association of
Teachers and Lecturers has said (Alexandra Frean writes).
The ATL said that it was hard to justify spending taxpayers’ money on
religious schools that “divide pupils and staff on religious grounds” at a
time when society was becoming increasingly secular.
Mary Bousted, general secretary of the ATL, acknowledged that some faith
schools were well integrated locally but cautioned that the way that they
operated could exacerbate divisions in society and reduce parental choice.
Ticket crackdown
Ticketing agencies will be banned from selling tickets they have not yet
bought under plans being drawn up by the Government (David Brown writes).
The collapse of a leading ticketing agency, Ticket Tout, has highlighted the
dangers. More than 6,500 customers have been told that they will not get
their tickets or a refund. Investigators said that Ticket Tout did not own
any of the tickets it was selling but had hoped to buy them at a later date.
The Department of Culture Media and Sport said: “We will consider
legislation if the current regulations cannot stamp out the practice.”
Life means life for murderer of family
A judge at Manchester Crown Court sentenced a jealous husband who bludgeoned
his wife and his three young children to death with a rounders bat to life
in prison.
Rahan Arshad, 36, a taxi driver, had promised to take his wife Uzma, 32, and
children Adam, 11, Abbas, 8, and Henna, 6, on a summer holiday to Dubai but
had instead been planning to murder them. He killed his wife in the bedroom
of their suburban home in Cheadle Hulme, Stockport, and then led each child
downstairs to meet their deaths. He then fled to Thailand on a prebooked
flight from Heathrow. Detective Superintendent Martin Bottomley, who led the
police inquiry, said: “I have never come across a case like this. What goes
through the mind of a man who kills his wife and then lines up children and
batters them one by one?”
Detention lawful
Four men accused of taking part in the 1994 Rwanda genocide failed to convince
the High Court that they are being unlawfully detained pending moves to
extradite them from Britain. The court found that John Reid, the Home
Secretary, had not exceeded his powers under the Extradition Act 2003.
Train survivor
A woman who jumped off a bridge and landed in the path of a train travelling
at 70mph survived unhurt when it hurtled straight over her. A witness at
Lancing station, West Sussex, said that the woman, 46, then dragged herself
back to the platform. She was taken into custody under the Mental Health
Act.
9-year murder plea
Police have made a fresh appeal for information about the death of a newborn
boy found strangled near a theme park in Warrington nine years ago today.
Detective Chief Inspector Paul Rumney, of Cheshire police, said he felt the
mother must have spoken about it and he appealed for her to come forward.
Bond car complaint
A Ford Focus commercial has been criticised for wrongly implying that the car
appeared in the James Bond film Casino Royale. The Advertising Standards
Authority upheld complaints that the advert suggested that the Ford Focus
Zetec Climate was used in the movie. A Ford Mondeo appeared in the film.
Dimbleby marries
The broadcaster Jonathan Dimbleby has married for the second time. The
62-year-old chairman of the Radio 4 programme Any Questions married his
girlfriend Jessica Ray, 31, in a ceremony at his Devon home yesterday. The
couple are expecting their first child in the summer.
