Wiis keep elderly at top of their game
PONTARDAWE Elderly residents at a Welsh nursing home are flinging
themselves around with gay abandon after being given a £400 grant to buy two
Nintendo Wii games consoles (Simon de Bruxelles writes). Unlike with most
games consoles, Wii players have to run about and wave the handset as they
participate in virtual games of tennis, golf and ten-pin bowling.
Neville Davies, 79, one of the younger and more agile residents of the
Danybryn residential home at Pontardawe, Swansea, said: “It’s great fun.
I’ve never played tennis before but it turns out I’ve got a good forehand
and not a bad smash.”
An unexpected hit has been a game involving kung-fu fighting.
Most of the residents are well into their eighties and at least one is
approaching 100. The home, run by Neath Port Talbot council, received the
grant from the Welsh Assembly strategy fund for older people. Tracey
Bennett, the home’s acting manager, said that the Wiis were a good way for
residents to stay fit. “They are exercising without really knowing it
because they’re having so much fun,” she said.
Securitas suspect flown back to Kent
MAIDSTONE A cage fighter suspected of being one of the masterminds
behind the £53 million Securitas robbery was flown back to Britain from
Morocco and questioned under an armed police guard (Steve Bird writes).
The 28-year-old man, who cannot be named for legal reasons, was extradited
from Morocco after being held in a prison there for more than a year. He was
questioned at Maidstone Police Station in Kent, just 14 miles from the scene
of the armed robbery in 2006. Traffic in Maidstone came to a halt as the
suspect arrived in a Land Rover with blacked-out windows.
He is one of two suspects from the bare-knuckle fighting world who was
arrested in Morocco in June 2006 and held at a prison in Rabat on unrelated
charges. The extradition proceeded only after his appeal against convictions
in Morocco failed. The other man, a Moroccan citizen, is still fighting
extradition. If he is not extradited to Britain he will face trial in
Morocco, setting a legal precedent.
Alien hoax victim forgives Beadle
CORFE CASTLE The victim of one of Jeremy Beadle’s most elaborate coups,
a woman who offered a cup of tea to an “alien” that the hoaxer put in her
Dorset garden in a staged spacecraft crash-landing, spoke fondly of him
yesterday, the day after he died. Janet Elford, 61, recalled the night in
1996: “I didn’t know what was going on. So I asked the alien if he’d like a
cup of tea. It was very embarrassing. By now you would think it would have
died a death. But people still come up and ask, ‘Would you like a cup of
tea?’ ” She said Beadle made people laugh and she was proud to have helped
him.
Grave concern for Keith Floyd
Friends were gravely concerned last night for the health of Keith Floyd, the
celebrity chef, after he collapsed in a pub. The 64-year-old was said to be
“seriously unwell” after being taken to hospital with breathing
difficulties.
He had been staying with a friend, Glenn Geldard, 54, who owns the Chesters
pub in Newcastle-under-Lyme, Staffordshire, when he was taken ill in the
early hours of Tuesday.
Jail warning
A driver faces a lengthy jail sentence after he was convicted of killing three
teenage girls in a high-speed car chase. Adam Anguige, 25, of Batley, West
Yorkshire, took part in a “cat and mouse game” with another car, which
crashed into a lorry.
Churchgoing up
Almost three million people went to Church of England services on Christmas
Day, not including Advent or carol services, latest figures show. The
numbers were up by 300,000 on attendances for December 25 of the year
before.
Fan’s eviction
A Country and Western music fan who plagued neighbours by playing Dolly Parton
songs is to be thrown out of her home. Diane Duffin, 36, failed at Leeds
County Court to overturn an order applied for by Leeds Council to have her
evicted.
Darling to deliver Budget on March 12
Alistair Darling will deliver his first Budget on March 12, the first time for
more than a decade that the annual event has not been presented by Gordon
Brown (Philip Webster writes). Mr Darling will do so in the face of an
economic background more unpromising than anything encountered by Mr Brown.
With house prices falling and consumer confidence low, Mr Darling will be
hoping that the Bank of England makes another cut in interest rates later
this month to smooth his path.
Yesterday the Nationwide building society said that house prices fell 0.1 per
cent on the month in January, the third successive decline, taking annual
house price inflation down to 4.2 per cent - its lowest since December 2005.
£14m to stay outside
The Government is to spend £14 million to keep criminals facing sentences of
less than 12 months out of jail. Offenders will be mentored and forced to do
unpaid work, such as making bat boxes or growing vegetables, as an
alternative to being locked up, in an initiative announced by Jack Straw,
the Justice Secretary.
New Kercher clues
DNA traces that do not match any of the three official suspects have been
found on the bra of Meredith Kercher, the British student murdered in
Perugia, suggesting that more people may have been involved than thought.
The time of death has also been revised to between 9pm and 4am on November
2.
Gangster faces jail
One of Britain’s most-wanted criminals who went on the run for four years
after being sprung from a prison van is facing a long spell behind bars
after being convicted of firearms offences. Clifford Hobbs, 47, one of
London’s “Premier League” gangsters, was tracked down in Puerto Banus,
Spain, last year.
Miles Kington dies
Miles Kington, the jazz aficionado, wit and writer has died at the age of 66
following a battle with pancreatic cancer. Kington wrote for Punch, The Times
and, for over 20 years, The Independent. He also wrote a series of stage
plays and books.
Maths experts attack ‘inadequate’ diploma
Maths teaching in the new diplomas being introduced by the Government from
September will be inadequate for higher education, experts said yesterday
(Nicola Woolcock writes).
Students taking the qualification to advanced level, roughly the same as three
A levels, need to take maths on some courses only to the equivalent of grade
C at GCSE.
Professor Adrian Smith, chairman of the Advisory Committee on Mathematics
Education, said: “It will leave UK school and college leavers lagging still
further behind their European counterparts. The Government must address
this.”
Swan killing charges
Three men appeared in court yesterday charged with killing 29 mute swans.
Stephen Barrett, 38, Marcus Walker, 51, and Darren Walker, 47, all of
Chesham, Buckinghamshire, were granted bail until March 13 after magistrates
in Bedford adjourned the case. The birds were found in a pit in Radwell,
Bedfordshire, last October. All had apparently been shot. Mr Barrett is also
accused of a firearms offence.
People smuggling
Police arrested 13 people who are suspected of being part of a
people-smuggling network, including two alleged leaders, after they raided
11 properties in London and one in Kidderminster, Worcestershire. Many are
believed to be part of a Turkish gang that smuggles Chinese people into
Britain for fees of up to £21,000. At one property about 30 illegal migrant
workers were found.
Boar shot at school
A wild boar has been shot dead at a school in the Forest of Dean,
Gloucestershire. It had been seen on and off for several days before it came
into Ruardean Primary school’s fenced-off conservation area. The Forestry
Commission sent a ranger, who shot the boar when it became aggressive and
charged him. A school assembly was held later to tell the children why the
animal had to be shot.
Police aides retreat
Two police community support officers who were visiting a referral unit for
excluded pupils in Plymouth locked themselves in a room and called for
back-up when a 13-year-old boy became aggressive towards them. The boy
thought that they had come to arrest him for an earlier confrontation with
staff. He was arrested by four other officers but later released, said Devon
and Cornwall police.
Porton Down payout
Former servicemen who took part in the Porton Down chemical and biological
warfare experiments in the 1950s and 1960s are to share £3 million in
compensation, the MoD confirmed. The 360 claimants will each receive about
£8,300. Derek Twigg, Defence Minister, said he wanted to “sincerely
apologise” to the victims. There was no admission of liability by the MoD,
however.
Cameron hails Thatcher as ‘ towering figure’ at the Great Briton awards
LONDON Baroness Thatcher was presented with a lifetime achievement
award last night by the Conservative leader David Cameron (right, with Simon
Robey, chief executive of Morgan Stanley), who described her as a “towering
figure of the past 50 years”. Lady Thatcher thanked Mr Cameron and urged him
on to “a proper majority”. She was attending a gala dinner at Guildhall as
part of the Morgan Stanley Great Britons awards. The banking and investment
company said that the award was “in recognition of Baroness Thatcher’s
enormous contribution to British life”.
Baroness Thatcher said during a brief acceptance speech: “I was looking
forward to a nice quiet evening tonight and I still am. In future, please
warn me.”
Mr Cameron said: “Baroness Thatcher modernised and transformed our country and
once again gave Britain a powerful voice in world affairs. She truly is a
Great Briton.”
The author J. K. Rowling received the award for contribution to the arts.
Louis Hamilton, the Formula One driver, received the award for outstanding
sporting achievement. The environment award went to the chief executive and
co-founder of the Eden Project in Cornwall, Tim Smit.
‘Make a bat box’ option to avoid jail
LONDON The Government is to spend £14 million to keep criminals facing
sentences of less than 12 months out of jail (Richard Ford writes).
Offenders will be mentored and forced to do unpaid work, such as making bat
boxes or growing vegetables, as an alternative to being locked up, in an
initiative announced by Jack Straw, the Justice Secretary.
The Ministry of Justice also admitted that efforts to find a prison ship to
deal with overcrowding had failed and that a renewed worldwide search for a
vessel has started. Two years ago the prison ship Weare was sold by the
Government.
Mr Straw’s prison policy update includes contracts for prisoners, setting out
what society expects from them in return for education and training given in
jail. Similar plans for contracts were announced in 2002 and again in 2006.
Figures from the ministry show that between the end of June, when the early
release scheme began, and the end of December, more than 16,000 prisoners
were let out 18 days early because of jail overcrowding.
Suspect extradited
A cage fighter suspected of being one of the people behind the £53 million
Securitas robbery in Tonbridge, Kent, in 2006 was flown back to Britain from
Morocco and questioned at Maidstone police station. The 28-year-old man, who
cannot be named for legal reasons, was extradited from Rabat.
Cameron hails Thatcher as ‘ towering figure’
Well that just shows how flawed his judgement is. I won't be voting for him then.
Chris, Ashford, Middlesex,