Bluetongue zone for whole of England

Ministers are ready to declare the whole of England a bluetongue protection zone to allow farmers and livestock markets to continue their normal business. Farmers believe it is too complicated for one half of the country to be operating on different rules to the other.

The virus has now been found at Ashford in Kent and Peterborough in Cambridgeshire. Tests results are also awaited on five other suspect farms which may confirm the worst fears that the disease has spread well outside the original outbreak areas in Suffolk and Essex.

The decision will have repercussions for Wales and Scotland, which have refused to slaughter animals from the bluetongue protection zone.

Race row halts talk

A Nobel Prize-winning geneticist who has caused controversy by reportedly claiming that black people are less intelligent than whites has had a London date of his promotional speaking tour cancelled. Dr James Watson, who helped to discover the structure of DNA, was due to speak at the Science Museum.

Asbestos victims will not be compensated

Thousands of workers suffering from an asbestos-related disease lost a landmark compensation battle in the House of Lords yesterday.

Five law lords ruled that the victims were not entitled to compensation, ending a claim that may have potentially saved insurers £1.4 billion.

Trade union leaders attacked the decision to block claims for sufferers of so-called pleural plaques, which are often a forerunner to diseases such as asbestosis or mesothelioma.

Lord Justice Hoffmann said that the necessary proof of damage needed for a claim of negligence was not there.

Cruel mother jailed

Sarah Bishop, 29, a mother who turned a blind eye while her boyfriend tortured her daughter, Lois, 2, to death, was jailed for six years for child cruelty by Cardiff Crown Court yesterday.

Her partner, Daniel Bishop, 27, was sentenced to 12 years for manslaughter, wounding with intent to cause grievous bodily harm and child cruelty.

Lois, from Caerphilly, died on November 8, 2004.

Care home death

Police and social services have launched a joint investigation after an 86-year-old man died from a head injury sustained at his care home.

William Lewis, originally from Boncath, Pembrokeshire, was found with the injury in his room at the Woodfield Nursing Home, Narberth, Pembrokeshire, in the early hours of October 4. He was taken to hospital but died the following day.

Midwife father

A father had to deliver his own baby after his wife was twice turned away from an NHS hospital because it was full.

Elizabeth Jones, 24, gave birth after coming home for the second time from the Princess of Wales hospital in Bridgend, South Wales. Her husband, Anthony, 39, dialled 999. The paramedics who attended supervised him until the baby, Emily, was born.

Gross tax

A fire brigade is considering charging organisations if it has to help to move fat people. Fire chiefs in Lancashire say they are considering the fee for hospitals, nursing homes, the police or other agencies if they are called in to move grossly overweight members of the public. A spokesman said that crews had been called out a number of times to people weighing more than 30 stone.

Soup boycott call

Shoppers are being urged by the National Farmers’ Markets and Retail Association to boycott the Farmer’s Market range of soups produced by Heinz.

The organisation claims that shoppers are being duped by a marketing ploy and that such branding is as bogus as descriptions already frowned upon by the Food Standards Agency such as “farm fresh” or “country style”.

Privacy for drivers

Information about individual drivers will not be recorded centrally in any road pricing scheme, the Government said, amid fears that satellite charging systems could be used to monitor people’s movements. Privacy concerns were key for the 1.8 million people who signed an antiroad pricing petition.

Call to save sea life

Fish, corals and other marine creatures must be given legal protection around Britain’s coast, MPs said. The Commons Science and Technology Committee wants a pilot network of protected zones to be created immediately, followed to a Marine Protection Bill in the next parliamentary session.

Migrant workers go

British companies have been advised to prepare themselves for a possible “labour vacuum” in some sectors when skilled Eastern European workers find better jobs or move back home. A report by the Commons Trade and Industry Committee says that there are already signs of shortages in agriculture.

Terror fund charges

Two men have been accused of conspiring to possess money for terrorism. Adam Mohamed, 28, and Imad Shoubaki, 31, are alleged to have held cash assets of almost £1 million, City of Westminster Magistrates’ Court was told. They were remanded in custody until October 25, when they will appear at the Old Bailey.

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