Historic ships handed a £31m lifeline

Two of Britain’s most historic ships, the Cutty Sark and the Mary Rose, have been awarded a £31 million lifeline by the Heritage Lottery Fund (Dalya Alberge writes).

An emergency grant of £10 million will cover the extra cost of extensive restoration work on the Cutty Sark after it was ravaged by fire last year, and £21 million will ensure the survival of Henry VIII’s warship and finance a museum at Portsmouth Historic Dockyard to display some of the vessel’s 19,000 artefacts from the Tudor period.

David Starkey, the historian, said: “The Mary Rose is one of the most important objects in English History. It’s up there with the Domesday Book, Magna Carta and Hampton Court.” Objects recovered from the vessel, which sank in 1545, include a bronze cannon, longbows, gold coins, shoes and combs. The items are so well preserved that quill pens recovered are still stained with ink.

The extra funding awarded to the Cutty Sark Trust is an urgent addition to its Heritage Lottery Fund grant of £11.75 million in 2006. A spokesman said that work would restart on the ship next month.

25 cars stolen from police force

A police force has had 25 cars stolen from its stations in the past decade (Adam Fresco writes).

The cars were among almost 1,000 pieces of property taken from police stations in Kent. Other items include toys, games, livestock and sweets. The figure was released after a request made under the Freedom of Information Act.

Make-up vanished from Rochester police station, shrubbery was taken from Dartford station and 15 music CDs were stolen from Ashford.

At the police headquarters in Maidstone 265 items went astray, including cigarettes. Scientific equipment was stolen from Dover and alcohol from Canterbury.

A police source said: “You would think police stations would be the safest place to store things — what with all the coppers about. This just shows stuff has been getting pinched. The cars are the most bizarre thing. You can imagine one getting nicked but 25 is rather a lot.”

A Kent Police spokesman said that staff were reminded about security regularly.

Two die after cervival cancer jabs

Two young women have died after being injected with Gardasil, the vaccine that protects against cervical cancer.

One death was in Germany and a second in Austria, the European Medicines Agency said. There was no direct evidence linking the deaths to the vaccination and no causal relationship had been established, the evaluating body said.

In neither case could the cause of death be identified.

The agency estimated that about 1.5 million patients had been given the vaccine in Europe. There are plans to introduce the vaccine in Britain in September.

Gardasil, made by Merck, protects against the sexually transmitted infection human papillomavirus, which is responsible for about 70 per cent of cases of cervical cancer. The disease kills more than 1,000 women in Britain each year.

A second vaccine, Cervarix, made by GlaxoSmithKline, is competing for the NHS contract after the Government said that only one jab is likely to be chosen.

Prince Edward's son taken to hospital

The newborn son of the Earl and the Countess of Wessex was in hospital last night with a serious illness.

Five-week-old James was taken to Great Ormond Street Hospital in London, accompanied by his mother, to undergo tests.

Buckingham Palace declined to comment on James’s condition as it was a “private matter”. A royal source told The Sun that he would be kept in for further tests this morning.

Prince Edward kept a banquet engagement at the Worshipful Company of Pattenmakers at Mansion House in London.

James, eighth in line to the throne, was delivered by Caesarean section on December 17 at Frimley Park Hospital in Surrey.

777 not low on fuel

The Air Accident Investigation branch has ruled out a lack of fuel as the cause of last week’s crash landing at Heathrow after establishing that both engines were running when the aircraft hit the ground. A fault in the Boeing 777’s fuel supply system is now thought to be the most likely cause of the loss of power.

Teachers’ pay ballot

The National Union of Teachers is to ballot its members on a one-day strike over the Government’s 2.45 per cent pay rise. The union says that the offer is well below the retail price index inflation rate. If the national strike goes ahead it would be the first by teachers in 20 years.

Winehouse in rehab

Amy Winehouse was admitted to a rehabilitation facility in the latest phase of her battle against drug addiction. The singer’s record company, Universal, said that she had acknowledged her need for specialist treatment. The announcement comes days after she was filmed apparently smoking crack.

Women ‘see fewer patients’

Women NHS consultants see 20 per cent fewer patients than their male counterparts, according to a study.

The researchers, reporting in Journal of the Royal Society of Medicine, say the finding has clear implications, since a clear majority of those going to medical school now are women.

Man denies Nickell murder

Robert Napper, 41, from Plumstead, southeast London, denied at the Old Bailey the murder of Rachel Nickell, 23, on Wimbledon Common in July 1992. She was stabbed 49 times. A trial date was set for November 11. Mr Napper was remanded in custody.

Lotto numbers

The winning numbers in Wednesday night’s Lotto draw were 4, 12, 13, 15, 30, 36. The bonus ball was 42.

Clarification

We have been asked by St Philomena’s Catholic High School for Girls in Sutton to make it clear that after the introduction of the legally binding admissions code last year, the school no longer asks to see parents’ marriage certificates as part of its pupil selection process (“Schools still cherry-picking the better-off families”, January 18).

Girl's embassy whale protest

Sophie Wyness, 14, from Hereford, and her father, Martin, were charged with criminal trespass after tying themselves to a railing at the Japanese embassy in London in a protest against whaling. They are to appear before Westminster magistrates next month.

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