MADNESS

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IRRESPONSIBILITY IS HEREDITARY
The mother of three teenagers aged 16, 14 and 12, who all became pregnant within weeks of each other defended living rent-free in a council house on benefits of £600 a week which is more than £30,000 a year. They get no financial help from the babies' fathers (of course). Youngest daughter Jemma was the first to fall pregnant, at the age of 12, after having sex with her teenage boyfriend. Soon after, Jade and Natasha, who is in a secret relationship with the baby's 38-year-old Asian father, found they were pregnant. Jemma gave birth to son T-Jay, Natasha had daughter Amani and Jade followed with Lita.

Julie Atkins admitted her daughters had "ruined their lives", but blamed their situation on the school system. Mrs Atkins said, "I don't care what people say about me. I blame the schools, sex education for young girls should be better." GMTV offered them a holiday in return for appearing live on TV and the Daily Mail allegedly offered them £10,000 for their story. It is the mother's right to expect the 'System' to look after her kids, so she can get on with the more pressing matters of reading Heat, smoking her fags and cashing her giro. This is typical, kids named after a department store, a maker of suits, and the metric measure of volume!

But seeing as under-age sex is an offence then why should the State reward them for their criminal activities? What next, muggers receiving benefits for their deeds? David Ryan, who was 14 when he got Jemma pregnant had been having sex with her since she was 11. Jemma's mum Julie Atkins regularly let the youngsters sleep together at her home and said, "If I'd stopped it, they would just have done it somewhere else." Natasha said the 38-year-old father of her baby, a jobless gambler, could not marry her because his parents expect him to marry an Asian bride.

Jade called in the CSA after the boy she claims is her baby's father refused to pay upkeep. Ben Flitton turned his back on Lita after his mother said the girl was "too black" to be his child. He may now demand a DNA test to prove paternity.

YELLOW TAXI
John Kirkham sprayed his car yellow to comply with a new council rule demanding a consistent colour for all taxis operating in Derby. The new colour scheme was introduced partly to prevent customers being duped into getting into vehicles which weren't officially licensed by the council. The thinking behind it was that visually impaired people would be able to distinguish a yellow vehicle better, and know it was a cab. We had visions of a little old lady climbing into the back of an AA van and asking to be taken to the station.

But when Mr Kirkham applied for a new licence, the Derby City Council refused to license his cab because it claimed that it had been resprayed the wrong shade of yellow - a decision that prevented him from working. Officials were also unimpressed with the quality of the work. His plight was highlighted in the Evening Telegraph and led to a surge of support from fellow drivers and the public. The councils decision to order the cabbie to respray his taxi a different shade of yellow could have cost Derby taxpayers £5,000.

When the driver was refused permission to put up a sign in his cab that criticised Derby City Council he took them to court for being unreasonable. He wanted to put a sign on the back of his cab which read 'This shade of yellow is now legal' after the Derby Evening Telegraph forced the city council to rethink its bananas yellow cab policy. The council refused the application on the grounds that the sign "could be construed as provocative".

And when the council lost the case, and was told to pay the cabbie's £3,000 costs, the Derby Evening Telegraph stepped in to save the taxpaper from paying out following the "daft" decision by the local authority. That left the public purse to pick up only a £2,000 bill for the council's own legal costs defending the case. Mr Kirkham was eventually offered a free re-spray by a local firm which was concerned that he was losing his livelihood while the taxi was off the road.

Mr Kirkham's legal team told the court that, according to the council's own criteria for taxi signs, they must be in good keeping with the civic image of the city, not promote alcohol or tobacco and not be offensive or indecent. Being "provocative" was not a reason for refusal. The bench, backing Mr Kirkham's claim, awarded him £3,000 costs against the council. Mr Kirkham said after the hearing, "I'm elated. The court has backed me up when I was wronged by the council. I'll have these signs on my cab as soon as I can."

RENT INCREASE
A beekeeper at a Derby tourist attraction says that he is being driven out of business by council plans to increase his rent by 90%. Tony Maggs has been selling honey from The Honey Pot at Markeaton Craft Village, Markeaton Park, for 11 years. He is the only commercial beekeeper in Derby, selling the by-products of his 40 colonies of two million bees directly to the public. But he claims that his business will collapse within a year because Derby City Council is planning to nearly double his rent in the next three years. He has been told that his rent will increase from £932 a year to £1,359 on June 1, a rise of 46%, and that he could be charged £1,785 a year from 2004.

Other craft businesses in the park are also going to suffer from similar increases. Mr Maggs said, “I feel betrayed. The council encouraged crafts like beekeeping to come along but now that the units are full they think they can charge what they like. We are in turmoil because of Derby City Council. They are killing my business.” He said that the craft village was a tourist attraction which the council should be encouraging. “You can’t really make a living out of beekeeping but, because the rent was quite low, I was just about to make it work,” said Mr Maggs.

Blacksmith Andy McCallum, who runs Hammerhead, said that his own 80% increase had convinced him to look elsewhere for workshop premises. “I have really kicked up a fuss about this,” he said. “I spend a lot of my time talking to members of the public who don’t come here to buy anything. We are a public amenity.” Both Richard Henderson, of Lilac Joinery, and Paul Yates, of Derby Stained Glass, declined to comment. Mr Maggs has raised a 150-name petition objecting to the rent increases, highlighting the views of visitors to the craft village.

Cindy Martin, of Autumn Grove, Chaddesden, said, “I am appalled to hear of this increase.” Joanna Taylor, from Tamworth, said, “We came all this way for a fantastic tourist attraction and find out that the council is willing to throw all of that away.” Robert Jones, leader of the city council, said that, although the June increases were now set in stone, the subsequent ones were still under negotiation. He said, “We need to maintain these units and the money has to come from somewhere.” Mr Jones denied that the council was killing off a major Derby tourism asset.