Ministers ordered to join by-election fight

Gordon Brown has ordered scores of ministers to Crewe & Nantwich this weekend in a last-minute effort to stave off defeat in next week’s by-election (Francis Elliott writes).

The scale of Labour’s effort belies claims that the party is resigned to seeing its majority of 7,078 overturned on Thursday.

Senior figures claim that defeat by a narrow margin would not be damaging, given the controversy over the abolition of the 10p tax band, but chief strategists believe that they may be able to win the seat. A senior Labour figure said: “Just about every minister you can think of is going up either on Saturday or Sunday.” One Conservative campaign chief said: “We are throwing the kitchen sink at Crewe, and so are Labour.”

Transplant drug risk

The US Food and Drug Administration has warned that two transplant drugs could cause miscarriages and foetal defects. It applies to CellCept, made by Roche, and Myfortic, made by Novartis. Both drugs, whose generic name is mycophenolate mofetil, are used to suppress the immune respose.

Tortured ‘should sue’

Alleged victims of torture should be able to sue the perpetrators, including foreign countries, in the British courts, a former Lord Chief Justice argued. Lord Woolf is backing a Bill tabled by Lord Archer of Sandwell, the former Labour solicitor-general, that would lift state immunity from prosecution in such cases.

Christian-only defeat

A care manager who quit his job with a charity over its “Christian only” recruitment policy has won his case for constructive dismissal. Mark Sheridan, 56, of Conwy, North Wales, told the tribunal in Abergele he felt uncomfortable with the policy of Prospects, which works with adults with learning disabilities.

Teenagers killed victim at random

Four youths who waited in an underpass late at night for a victim before kicking and beating a former soldier to death were jailed for life yesterday (Adam Fresco writes).

The four teenagers, three of whom were on bail or serving community sentences, rang a friend to say they were “waiting to beat up someone”. They had been drinking alcohol and smoking cannabis before they launched the fatal attack on Stephen Green, 55, a bachelor who served in the Royal Army Ordnance Corps for nine years.

Mr Green was cycling home from work when he was ambushed. He was in hospital for nine days before dying from a blood clot in his lungs. Nicholas Garland, 18, Shane Liddy, 19, Richard McNamara, 19, and Darryll Bennett, 18, all of Luton, were given life sentences for murder by Luton Crown Court.

Too noisy for comfort

Manchester has the worst noise pollution for an urban area of England, a government noise-mapping study found. Second was Liverpool, then Bristol and Southend. Even in Bournemouth 92.5 per cent of residents suffer sound higher than 55 decibels, the World Health Organisation’s recommended limit for daily life.

Gene fear for cousins

A growing number of children are being born in Britain with serious genetic abnormalities as a result of marriage between cousins, which is common among South Indians and Pakistanis, doctors say. A study found that of every 100,000 births, 902 had a disorder. Of these, 72 were in Bradford.

‘Gay church’ film

Sir Ian McKellen is to join the gay American bishop Gene Robinson at the launch of a new film about homosexuality and the Church on the eve of the Lambeth Conference in July. About 900 clergy and actors are expected at the premiere of For The Bible Tells Me So at the South Bank in London.

Poor poetry pays

A collection of 35 poems by William Topaz McGonagall, widely known as the world’s worst poet, fetched £6,600 at auction in Edinburgh. The late 19th-century works were sold to a private buyer who asked not to be named. The price beat a collection of signed, first-edition Harry Potter novels.

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