Culture Secretary to scrap ‘crude targets’
The newly appointed Culture Secretary will vow today to relieve arts
organisations of the burden of meeting “crude targets” as a condition of
funding (Dalya Alberge writes).
In a speech at the National Portrait Gallery, James Purnell will tell an
audience of arts representatives: “Targets were probably necessary in 1997,
to force a change of direction in some parts of the arts world. But now we
risk idolising them.”
Apparently reversing the policy of his predecessors, he will address
widespread criticism from the arts sector that Labour’s insistence on using
targets to widen access has resulted in “dumbing down”. He will also
caution, however, that they should not expect more public money.
Tractor death
An 18-year-old farm worker was crushed to death when the tractor he was
driving was in collision with a car in Bramley, Hampshire. The woman driver
of the car, a Peugeot 106, was taken to North Hampshire Hospital,
Basingstoke. Police said that the collision caused the tractor to topple
over, crushing the driver.
Strangler jailed
A musician who strangled a special needs teacher with a pair of tights was
jailed for life by the Old Bailey. Graham Coutts, 36, of Hove, claimed that
Jane Longhurst, 31, died during consensual sex. He was first convicted of
murder at Lewes Crown Court but the House of Lords ordered a retrial.
Bird flu racing ban
All pigeon racing in Britain is to be banned after three dead swans in eastern
France were found to be infected with the deadly H5N1 bird flu. The move was
described as a precautionary measure by the Department for Environment, Food
and Rural Affairs.
Protester guilty of encouraging murder
A web designer who called for terrorist attacks in protest at the publication
of cartoons depicting the Prophet Muhammad was convicted of inciting murder.
Mizanur Rahman, 24, of Palmers Green, North London, said that the streets of
Baghdad should run with the blood of British soldiers and that those who
insulted Islam should be beheaded.
At the Old Bailey he claimed that his mind had gone blank and that he had
simply repeated the chants of others around him after a loudspeaker was
thrust into his hand at a protest outside the Danish Embassy in London. He
will be sentenced on July 18.
Arsonist locked up
A teenage arsonist who caused £3 million of damage when he set fire to a West
Yorkshire secondary school “for a laugh” had his supervision order replaced
by a four-year detention term. The Court of Appeal ruled that the original
sentence was “unduly lenient”, after hearing that part of Airedale High
School, Castleford, was occupied when the boy, then 14, started the fire in
January last year.
Taxi shooting death
A man was shot dead as he tried to flee from a taxi that was being chased by
an armed gang in a van, police said. The 20-year-old victim, who has not yet
been named, is believed to have been shot in the head as he ran from the
minicab in Enfield, North London, early yesterday. The van was then set
alight. The incident is being investigated by officers from the Metropolitan
Police’s Operation Trident.
Harry’s specs appeal
Harry Potter has been acclaimed by eye experts for making it cool for children
to wear glasses. The Hogwarts wizard, played by Daniel Radcliffe in the film
adaptations of the J. K. Rowling books, topped a poll of spectacle-wearing
heroes commissioned by the College of Optometrists. The list, voted for by
seven to 16-year-olds, includes Johnny Depp, Ugly Betty, Elton John, Gandhi
and Einstein.
Somme memorial
Former servicemen of the defunct Devonshire and Dorset Light Infantry hope to
raise £25,000 for a monument to almost 500 members of the regiment who died
in the Battle of the Somme. The regiment was one of four amalgamated to form
The Rifles in February. A site has been proposed near Mouquet Farm in
northern France, and the Dorset Great War Memorial Project has been set up.
Unsafe safety badge
The V-shaped metal grille badge issued for more than 70 years by the Guild of
Experienced Motorists is to be replaced by a window sticker because of the
danger of injury to pedestrians, cyclists or motorcyclists. David Williams,
the organisation’s chief executive, said: “The priority of our 65,000
members is the safety of other road users and the badge is just not
compatible with that philosophy.”
Pay row as Welsh nurses get 2.5% rise
The Government faced fresh calls to improve nurses’ pay across Britain after
wages were increased in Wales. The Welsh Assembly announced yesterday that
nurses and other healthcare workers in the principality would receive the
2.5 per cent award in full, as already applies in Scotland. Health workers
in England and Northern Ireland are furious that their 2.5 per cent rise is
to be implemented in two stages and are to ballot for strike action. Alan
Johnson, the new Health Secretary, has agreed to hold talks with the unions,
who said the disparity in awards across the country was “ludicrous”.
DNA snares rapist
A rapist who struck 11 years ago was facing a life sentence after being
trapped by DNA technology. Anthony Hart, now 43, of Honiton, Devon, was
found guilty of raping a 22-year-old woman in St Albans, Hertfordshire, in
1996. Hart was arrested for a minor offence last year, and a DNA sample
matched a sample taken at the scene of the rape. He will be sentenced on
August 6.
Rip tide killed doctor
A doctor told an inquest at Westminster how he tried in vain to save the life
of his fellow medic, Jonathan Wilson, 36, after he was washed out to sea by
a rip tide during a turtle conservation project in Costa Rica in November
2006. Dave Treffit said that there was hardly any warning of the danger to
swimmers at the Buena Vista beach. Verdict: accidental death.
Knife killer jailed
A teenage Muslim convert who stabbed a stranger to death at a bus stop was
sentenced at the Old Bailey to be detained in hospital indefinitely. The
youth, now 17, cannot be named for legal reasons. He was in full Islamic
dress when he stabbed Michael McKenzie, 40, in Peckham Hill Street,
southeast London. He admitted manslaughter on the ground of diminished
responsibility.
The green land
Greenland – now covered with ice more than a mile deep in parts – was green
with forests much more recently than was thought, according to research
published in the journal Science. Ice-core evidence revealed DNA
dating from between 450,000 and 800,000 years ago, which shows the presence
of insects and trees. It had been thought that the most recent forests in
Greenland grew 2.4 million years ago.
Cliffs off limits
A warden has been employed to stop fossil hunters chipping away at cliffs and
causing erosion on the Jurassic Coast in the South West. Stuart Godman will
be based at the Charmouth Heritage Coast Centre to patrol a 95-mile stretch
of coast from Dorset to East Devon along the first natural location in
England to receive World Heritage Site status. He said: “The safest place to
find fossils is on the beach.”
