Cameron and Clegg face donation rebuke
David Cameron and Nick Clegg are among 14 MPs facing a reprimand for the late
declaration of donations (Philip Webster writes). The latest update from the
Electoral Commission notes a £7,285 helicopter flight donated to Mr Cameron
by his wife’s stepfather, Viscount Astor, in 2005 and six donations worth
£14,490 to Mr Clegg, dating from 2006. MPs are required to register
donations over £1,000 within 30 days. The rebukes will embarrass MPs after
the resignation from the Cabinet last month of Peter Hain, the former Work
and Pensions Secretary, over £103,000 given in late donations to his Labour
deputy leadership campaign.
Vitamin E warning
People who take a daily vitamin E supplement for their health may be
increasing the danger of developing lung cancer, scientists say. Findings
from a study in the United States of more than 77,000 people showed that
taking moderate to high doses of the vitamin led to a “slight but
significant” rise in risk.
Hostage appeal
The families of five Britons who have been held hostage for nine months in
Baghdad made a joint plea for their release. Pauline Sweeney, stepmother of
Peter Moore, the only one who has been publicly identified, appealed to the
Islamic Shia Resistance, which claimed responsibility, to show humanity and
let them go.
Student impostor
A City investment banker posed as an undergraduate to help a student to pass a
series of exams. Jerome Drean, 34, was arrested at the University of York
while impersonating Elnar Askerov, 22, York Crown Court was told. Both men
admitted conspiracy to defraud and received a suspended jail sentence.
Language barrier puts early end to cashless trek to India
Three peace activists have abandoned a plan to walk to India with no money
after failing to make themselves understood in France.
Mark Boyle had hoped to prove that it was still possible to make headway in
the world on the back of people’s goodwill. However, Mr Boyle wrote on his
blog that he and his two companions immediately encountered problems after
crossing the Channel. “Not only did no one . . . speak the language, they
see us as just a bunch of freeloading backpackers, which is the complete
opposite of what the pilgrimage was about,” he wrote.
Mr Boyle, 28, said that he was advised by a few friendly French people to head
for Belgium, where the people were “more likely to want to speak English”.
However, the trio gave up their quest “because the nearest decent-sized town
in Belgium was 170km (106 miles) away and all we had was three tins of soup,
a bag of trail mix and a chocolate bar to sustain us”.
Clergy fight back against the robbers
Clergy are fighting back against burglars who believe that they are a soft
touch (Ruth Gledhill writes).
Intruders who kicked and punched a minister at his manse were forced to back
down when he refused to let them make off with valuables.
The Rev Jon Morgan, the minister at the United Reformed Church in Cheltenham,
had his nose broken in the attack. But he punched back with such force that
the would-be burglars fled. Mr Morgan, 49, said: “When the one man had hit
me three times and realised I wasn’t going down it made him think again. “I
used to play rugby and have had far worse on the field. I retaliated. I
landed a few punches and kicked him. Then he and the other man ran away.”
A man who tried to steal lead from the church roof in the village of
Pattingham, near Wolverhampton, was starting a jail sentence for attempted
theft yesterday after he was caught by the vicar and church warden, who had
been lying in wait.
Police censor chief’s Wikipedia entry
Police mounted a surveillance operation on the internet encyclopaedia
Wikipedia after its biography of their chief constable was altered more than
100 times in the past month (Sean O’Neill writes).
The profile of Sir Norman Bettison, chief constable of West Yorkshire, was
repeatedly edited by contributors who added abusive comments and criticisms
of his career. Police removed the insults, corrected errors and added
accurate details. But critics of Sir Norman, 52, regarded as a candidate to
be the next Metropolitan Police Commissioner, responded by reediting the
corrections.
A game of online ping-pong ensued; there were 26 revisions on February 15
alone. Wikipedia intervened earlier this week to “lock down” the page,
preventing further editing. But the suspension proved temporary and Sir
Norman’s profile was the subject of a fresh bout of editing yesterday.
Saucy label passes close scrutiny
Alcohol advertising watchdogs rejected a complaint against the Wye Valley
Brewery in Herefordshire after investigating whether a character on one of
its labels was wearing knickers. Alcohol Concern contacted the Portman Group
over a cartoon on Dorothy Goodbody stout, claiming that it “hinted at a lack
of undergarments” and was sexually suggestive. Investigators concluded,
however, that the “complainant’s imagination had got the better of them” and
there was no reason to assume that “Dorothy” was not wearing underwear. The
“slightly saucy” label was intended to capture the “spirit of fun and
innocence of 1950s rural Herefordshire”, they added.
Brontë works ‘written by brother’
Writings believed to be by Emily and Charlotte Brontë, left, were actually by
their disreputable brother, Branwell, but passed off as theirs by a forger,
a new book suggests (Ben Hoyle writes). Branwell was a poet and painter
addicted to alcohol and opium who died at the age of 31. The fraud is hinted
at in correspondence between Daphne du Maurier and the disgraced Brontë
historian J. Alexander Symington. The writer Justine Picardie found the
letters at the Brontë Parsonage Museum in Haworth, West Yorkshire, while she
was researching her novel Daphne. The great Brontë mystery, Books
Girls beat boys on computers
Girls are better than boys at using computers, according to Tesco Computers
for Schools, which conducted a poll of more than 1,000 parents of children
aged 7 to 16. A higher percentage of girls could use computer programs and
the internet, and they were better at social networking. Both sexes were
better than their parents on the computer.
Driver jailed for killing rugby fan
A drink-driver who killed a South African rugby fan walking home from a pub
where he had watched his team win the World Cup in October was jailed for
five years by Kingston Crow Court. Jimmy Kateende, 28, of New Malden, was
also given a seven-year driving ban.
Avian flu found in Canada goose
An eleventh case of avian flu has been identified in a Canada goose near the
Abbotsbury reserve in Dorset, the Department for Environment, Food and Rural
Affairs confirmed. The other ten cases of the lethal H5N1 strain in the area
were in mute swans.
Jewish school rebels
A Jewish school fell from 1st to 274th in the national curriculum tables after
pupils who believe Shakespeare was anti-Semitic refused to answer questions
about him. Rabbi Abraham Pinter, principal of the Yesodey Hatorah Senior
Girls School in North London, praised the girls for standing up for their
beliefs.
Nurses’ sea feat helps children
Two nurses at Great Ormond Street Hospital, London, have rowed 2,936 miles to
raise money for research into children’s disorders. Herdip Sidhu, 35, a ward
sister, and Elin Davies, 31, a research nurse, reached Antigua 77 days after
they left the Canary Islands.
Winehouse inquiry dropped by police
Police will take no action against the singer Amy Winehouse over an allegation
that she attempted to pervert the course of justice (Adam Sherwin writes).
Ms Winehouse, 24, was interviewed in December but police confirmed that she
was no longer a suspect. “Amy is pleased to be discounted from the
investigation and thanks the police for their professionalism,” her
spokesman said.
Blake Fielder-Civil, 25, the husband of Ms Winehouse, pleaded not guilty at
Snaresbrook Crown Court, East London, yesterday to a charge of conspiracy to
pervert the course of justice. He also denies a charge of causing grievous
bodily harm and was remanded in custody until a hearing in April. Winehouse
was not present at the hearing as she had a performance in Paris.
Terminal resident
Anthony Delaney, 43, a homeless chef who lived at Gatwick for three years, has
been released on deferred sentence by Lewes Crown Court after pleading
guilty to breaching an order banning him from the site for the third time.
Delaney left the airport only to collect his jobseeker’s allowance. The
judge told him to look for a place to live and a job.
Sister killer held
A paranoid schizophrenic man who killed his sister by driving into a tree at
60mph has been detained indefinitely. Andrew Lowe, 41, told Lincoln Crown
Court that he had crashed because he thought that he and Lorraine Lowe, 44,
were on a Mafia hitlist. He also admitted the attempted murder of a fellow
patient, 71, at a Nottinghamshire mental health unit.
Scissor attack on boy
A schoolboy was airlifted to hospital after a classmate stabbed him in the
head with a pair of scissors during an argument. The attack, in the corridor
at Edenham High School in Shirley, South London, left the 14-year-old victim
with a blade lodged three inches deep in his head. He tried to pull it out
and collapsed. His alleged 14-year-old assailant was arrested and bailed.
Top secret inbox
A computer user was sent thousands of military e-mails, some allegedly
including sensitive information, by mistake after he set up a website that
had a similar name to a US air base. Gary Sinnott, of Mildenhall, Suffolk,
bought the domain www.mildenhall.com to promote the town, but it became
confused with www.mildenhall.af.mil. He has now closed his site.
