Costly tackle
Sport What price a glittering football career? When teenager Ben
Collett – hailed as a future Ryan Giggs and one of the most promising young
midfielders in the country – was felled during his debut for Manchester
United reserves, he didn’t realise that the tackle would end his sporting
career, or that it would make him so rich he would never have to work again.
On Monday the High Court awarded the 23-year-old footballer, pictured above,
compensation of £4.3m for the foul five years ago by Middlesbrough’s Gary
Smith, which snapped his right leg in two places. The damages, covered by
insurers, are the highest ever paid to a professional sportsman. Now Collett
plans to study for an English literature degree at Leeds University.
Record results
Education It was another high-scoring year for A-levels – with girls
outperforming boys yet again. On Thursday, it was announced that the exam
pass rate had risen for the 26th successive year – and now stands at 97.2%.
One in four of the 300,000 entries scored A-grades and one candidate in 10
obtained three straight As. Girls scooped 52.2% of the A-grades, boys 47.8%.
As the results reignited the debate about whether the exams were too easy,
ministers tried to head off criticism by giving details of changes to
A-levels, due to be rolled out in the autumn. The tweaks will include a new
A* grade and a university-style dissertation, both calculated to give top
universities more information about the brightest students.
Ministers are also launching a diploma in England next month. Some say that
this could replace A-levels by 2013, when the curriculum is due to be
reviewed.
Young victims
Drugs Children are the new victims of Britain’s growing drug problem,
it was revealed on Friday. A fall in the price of cocaine, heroin and
ecstasy has been linked by experts to a 42% rise in the number of children
taken to hospital for drug-related illness over the past 10 years. In 2006/7
1,241 under16s were admitted, compared to 868 a decade earlier. The figures,
from the NHS Information Centre, also show that the number of 16 to
24-year-olds receiving hospital treatment increased 13% over the same period
– up from from 8,518 to 9,657. One in four secondary pupils say they have
taken drugs at least once.
Ken Checinski, a psychiatrist at St George’s hospital, south London, warned
that cheaper drugs were leading to “bingeing” while the Tories accused
ministers of failing to get to grips with the problem. Andrew Lansley, the
shadow health secretary, said: “Labour should not underestimate how bleak a
picture these figures paint.”
The wrong scent
Relationships Women who find themselves with the “wrong” man may now be
able to blame their poor judgment on the pill. A team from Liverpool
University has found that the contraceptive may alter the way women react to
men’s body odour. The scent of a man gives clues to his immune system and
his ability to fend off diseases. A woman will instinctively choose a man
with a different set of immunities from her own, so their offspring will
inherit both sets of genes and therefore be as strong as possible. If the
pill gets in the way of that process, it can hinder a woman’s chance of
sniffing out Mr Right.
The team’s study, published in the Proceedings of the Royal Society, added
that as well as affecting fertility and increasing the risk of a
miscarriage, the contraceptive could even kill relationships, as women who
stop or start taking the pill may suddenly find their man less attractive.
Orphan No 2
Celebrity Madonna, pictured below, plans to adopt another orphan from
Malawi. She wants a “sister” for her adopted Malawian son David Banda, it
was revealed on Wednesday.
Three-year-old Mercy James, who is living in an orphanage, first met the pop
star last year. Penstone Kilembe, Malawi’s adoption minister, said:
“Madonna’s representatives have been visiting the girl. The adoption is now
advanced – all the government is waiting for is Madonna to forward
the petition of adoption formalities. Then Mercy will be able to leave the
country.”
However, Lucy Chekechiwa, 60, who is Mercy’s grandmother, opposes the
adoption. “Twice I have told the adoption people that I do not want Mercy to
go outside the country . . . Now they say that Mercy will be leaving us, but
can return at age 18. Yet I might not be alive then.”
Madonna has two biological children, Lourdes, 11, and Rocco, 8. Her marriage
to Guy Ritchie, Rocco’s father, has been widely reported to be under strain.
Addictive gene
Health For most people, their first puff of a cigarette results in
nothing more than coughing and spluttering. But scientists have now found
that those who experience a rush to the head may have a gene variant that
makes them more likely to become addicted.
Their research, in the journal Addiction, reveals that anyone who experiences
a “buzz” from their first cigarette is more likely to try to smoke another
to experience it again.
Professor Ovide Pomerleau, of Michigan University, who led the research, said
that identification of the gene (CHRNA5) means that treatments could be
developed to help smokers quit, or even deter them from smoking.
“It appears that for people who have a certain genetic make-up, the initial
physical reaction to smoking can play a significant role in determining what
happens next,” said Pomerleau. “If smoking is sustained, nicotine addiction
can occur in a few days to a few months.”
New depths
Science A British-led expedition is to explore the previously uncharted
depths of the Caribbean. A group of scientists, led by Dr Jon Copley of the
National Oceanographic Centre in Southampton, will use an unmanned submarine
to map the Cayman Trough, a trench created by the movement of two tectonic
plates. Copley expects to find hydrothermal vents, which could be hotter
than 500C (930F) and contain species as yet undiscovered.
Literary gesture
Old age Not only has 93-year old Lorna Page published a raunchy debut
novel but she plans to use any profit to rescue some of her friends from a
“miserable” existence in nursing homes. Page, who hopes to become rich on
royalties from A Dangerous Weakness, has already traded her small flat for a
five-bedroom house in north Devon in anticipation.
“I wanted to be able to give a room to as many friends who live in care homes
as possible,” she said. “Care homes can be such miserable places.”
Her novel – about a fearless feminist heroine – had been stashed in a suitcase
until her daughter-in-law read it and persuaded her to self-publish. Some
commentators are sceptical: “Buy Lorna’s book and give an old person a home
– publishing stunt or what?” wrote one internet cynic. Another pointed out
that when the publishing house was asked whether Mrs Page had yet recouped
the cost of her investment, no answer was forthcoming. “It’s a fair bet that
she’ll be lucky if her profit runs to some net curtains,” she concluded.
Bleak forecast
Economy The Bank of England warned that the economy would stagnate,
with no growth at all over the next 12 months. Its forecast, the gloomiest
since the Bank was granted independence in 1997, had the effect of pushing
the pound down to a two-year low against the dollar.
Meanwhile, the Office for National Statistics reported a rise of 20,100 in
unemployment last month. It now stands at 864,700. The ONS also said that
the broader official measure of the number of jobless had risen by 60,000
over three months and employment growth had slowed to a crawl. With prices
rising at their fastest rate for 16 years, the economic mood darkened.
Election trial
Politics More bad news for Gordon Brown, the prime minister. Just as he
was making plans for an autumn fightback, he learnt that he is to face
another dangerous by-election in his own backyard. John MacDougall, MP for
Glenrothes, which borders Brown’s own constituency of Kircaldy, died on
Wednesday after a long battle with cancer.
The former boilermaker’s majority of 10,664 in 2005 was smaller than the one
overturned by the Scottish National party in Glasgow last month. The bookies
make the SNP favourites in the contest,which is unlikely to be called before
October.
Salford Born Author Robert Wakefield tops the bestselling charts with his book Knights of God {The Story of the First Crusade}
robert calm, salford, lancashire