Families angered by factory blast fine

Families of the nine workers who died in a plastics factory explosion reacted with anger after the companies responsible for the blast were fined £400,000 for health and safety violations.

As an official inquiry into the disaster, in May 2004, at the Stockline plant in Maryhill, Glasgow, was announced, the families called for a change in the law so that directors could face prosecution. The fine was imposed on ICL Plastics Ltd, and its subsidiary, ICL Tech Ltd, after a two-day hearing at the High Court in Glasgow. The court had been told that a risk assessment had been carried out by an untrained university student.

Second bishop quits Amnesty in dispute

The spiritual leader of the Roman Catholic Church in Scotland has resigned from Amnesty International in protest at the organisation’s decision to support the decriminalisation of abortion in developing countries. Cardinal Keith O’Brien, Archbishop of St Andrews and Edinburgh, is the second British Catholic bishop to leave the group because of its change in policy. Earlier this month the Bishop of East Anglia, the Rt Rev Michael Evans, stood down after 31 years as a member of Amnesty. Cardinal O’Brien said that he was resigning as “a matter of conscience and with great sadness”.

Prescription powers

Optometrists are to be given greater prescribing powers for a range of eye conditions such as dry-eye syndrome and conjunctivitis. The move means that patients will not have to visit their GP to get prescriptions. Optometrists need a degree and a year of supervised practice before they are fully qualified. Under the new plan, they will undergo extra training in prescribing medicines.

Minimum wage case

A children’s nursery owner was fined £2,500 in the first criminal prosecution over the national minimum wage. Teresa Aguda, 44, of Rascals Day Nursery, in Walthamstow, East London, who appeared at Waltham Forest Magistrates’ Court, admitted obstructing Revenue & Customs officers from accessing staff records. She was ordered to pay £500 costs. The adult minimum wage rate is £5.35 an hour.

Campbell left behind

Alastair Campbell, Tony Blair’s former communications and strategy director, has topped a chart of books most often discarded in hotel rooms. His book The Blair Years was top of the list compiled by the hotel chain Travelodge. The former Daily Mirror Editor Piers Morgan was second with Don’t You Know Who I Am? and Katie Price (Jordan) was in third place with A Whole New World.

Anger over airwaves

The BBC has received more than 150 complaints after Davina McCall, the Big Brother presenter, replaced Ken Bruce while the Radio 2 broadcaster is on holiday. Listeners said that McCall was an unsuitable replacement for the morning slot, which enjoys an audience of six million. One wrote: “McCall was patronising, condescending and trivial.” The BBC said that she was a suitable stand-in.

Disappointed junior doctors stay in UK

Fewer doctors are leaving Britain to work abroad despite the chaos in the appointments procedure for posts in the NHS. Many junior doctors who were denied training posts under the failed online recruitment system, the Medical Training Application Service, had said that they may be forced to go abroad to further their careers.

But data from the General Medical Council show that the threat has not materialised. Doctors who work abroad need a certificate of good standing from the GMC, which shows that they are fit to practice. Between January 1 and the end of July, the GMC issued 2,003 certificates, fewer than in the equivalent periods of 2006 (2,265) and 2005 (2,042).

Tories backing Boris

Nearly 70 per cent of Tories in London want Boris Johnson to take on Ken Livingstone in next year’s election for mayor, a survey found. The closest rival to the flamboyant Henley MP has the support of less than 10 per cent of Conservatives, according to the grassroots discussion website conservativehome.com

Suspended at age 4

Children as young as 4 were suspended from Leicestershire schools last year, including one five-year-old who was expelled for sexual misconduct. Four pupils aged 4 and 16 five-year-olds were suspended for violence againt adults. More than 360 pupils aged 11 to 16 were excluded for carrying an offensive weapon.

Chindamo appeal

The Home Office has applied to the Asylum and Immigration Tribunal to appeal against the decision to allow Learco Chindamo, the killer of Philip Lawrence, to stay in Britain. A Home Office spokesman said that foreign prisoners who have committed serious crimes “should face deportation”.

Carnival shootings

A 14-year-old boy shot during the Notting Hill Carnival is recovering in hospital. A 17-year-old was also shot in the shoulder and several people suffered minor stab wounds. Police have vowed to deter the gangs, who marred this year’s parades, from future events.

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