Solicitors’ pay gap

A huge pay gap in the earnings of men and women lawyers is confirmed in a new survey to be published this week that shows male solicitors earn on average £19,000 more than women. The Law Society survey also finds that white solicitors earn £10,000 more on average than their ethnic minority colleagues.

Human rights case

Eleven terrorist suspects brought a landmark case yesterday at the European Court of Human Rights for compensation against the Government for breaching their human rights by detaining them without charge in the wake of 9/11. The men were held under maximum security at Belmarsh prison for more than three years.

Row over class IQ

The academic Bruce Charlton, of Newcastle University, prompted fury by writing in Times Higher Education that the low proportion of working class students attending elite universitites, such as Oxford and Cambridge, was merely a natural outcome of IQ differences between the social classes.

Press complaints rise

A record 4,340 complaints were made to the Press Complaints Commission last year, although the watchdog said this was due to to greater public awareness of its work rather than a decline in standards. For the first time, the majority of complaints followed articles as they appeared online rather than in print.

Belfast bar murder trial hears last words

Robert McCartney, whose stabbing outside a Belfast bar sparked an international campaign, gasped with his last words: “Nobody deserves this,” Belfast Crown Court was told yesterday (David Sharrock writes).

The death of Mr McCartney, 33, in January 2005, prompted a campaign by his sisters that reached the White House.

Terence Malachy Davison, 51, denies murdering Mr McCartney after he allegedly refused to apologise for a rude gesture to Mr Davison’s wife. Mr McCartney’s murder became an international incident as his four sisters and his fiancée publicised the role of the Provisional IRA in the attack and of its political wing, Sinn Fein, for trying to cover it up.

Sinn Fein and the IRA denied the sisters’ claims, although the IRA offered to “shoot” a number of people in connection with Mr McCartney’s death.

Along with James McCormick, 39, and Joseph Gerard Emmanuel Fitzpatrick, 47, Mr Davison also faces charges of affray. All deny the charges.

The trial continues.

Shoddy court files

The shoddy state of Crown Prosecution Service case files is highlighted in a report today. Most files are incomplete or have missing data, such as whether a defendant is on bail. Inspectors found that in more than one third, or 36 per cent, of magistrates’ and Crown Court cases, a defendant’s bail status was not recorded. In some cases, the omission led to cases having to be adjourned.

Sea bass stocks plea

Anglers have called for a temporary halt to commercial sea bass fishing to allow stocks that are running dangerously low off Britain’s shores to recover. Figures from Seafish, the marine fishing authority, show sales have more than trebled since 2005, jumping from £7 million to £22 million. The majority, about 80,000 tonnes, is farmed, but the wild sea bass landed off Britain also rose to 714 tonnes last year.

Excess school places

Young families are being priced out of the housing market on the Isle of Purbeck by the retired and second-home owners who are flocking to the Jurassic Coast in Dorset, which was awarded World Heritage status in 2001. Many of the island’s 18 schools face closure or downsizing because of the reduced number of pupils. Nearly half the 2,300 school places on Purbeck are now surplus to requirements.

Dog tired

An elderly and very overweight St Bernard-mastiff cross called Arnold was rescued by lifeboat after the 15st (95kg) dog was unable to climb 130 steps to leave Whipsiderry beach in Cornwall. Lifeboat crew and coastguards had to race against the tide after his female owner called Falmouth Coastguard at 9pm on Monday. They were taken to nearby Porth Beach, where he was carried to the road.

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