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JUMPING
THE QUEUE
Retired salesman Graham Bradley, who
lives yards from an NHS hospital, flew to Germany
for a hernia op because he faced a nine-month
wait here. Mr Bradley, of Tunbridge Wells, Kent,
paid £900 for the op, flights and accommodation.
An NHS Trust spokesman said, "Waiting times
are based on clinical need." (Source: Sunday People, Mar/06)
CONTROLLING
PUBLIC ORDER
The Licensing Act introduced in 2005
means that Punch and Judy shows need a special
licence to perform on seaside promenades, in
parks and other venues, at a cost of up to £160
each. Tory MP Peter Luff said, "The
Licensing Act was meant to be about controlling
public order... the only threat to public order
from these shows is faced by Mr Punch's victims
who get bashed over the head." (Source: Sunday Mirror, Feb/06)
INTERNET
POLICING
More than 200,000 hits to hardcore
internet child porn sites were blocked by BT in
the first three weeks of a new crackdown. Their
multi-million pound technology, which stops
nearly 12,000 perverted inquiries a week, is now
being offered by BT to other service providers. A
spokesman for BT, which has 2.5million internet
customers, said they would discuss with the Home
Office and police whether people logging on to
paedophile sites should be identified. Home
Office minister Paul Goggins said he hoped other
providers would use their blocking technology.
Judy Mallaber, the Labour MP for Amber Valley,
met executives from credit card company Visa and
internet payment company Paypal to explore what
measures they could take to clamp down on the
problem of child pornography websites. Ms
Mallaber wants to get credit card companies to
initiate better technology that would see cards
automatically identify when a user is trying to
pay for access to a prohibited site, and refuse
to accept the transaction. Commendable as this
is, just how long will it be before other sites,
which are deemed unsuitable by the authorities,
are blocked? This is internet policing and could
be the beginning of further restrictions.
GETTING TOUGH
A pervert who kept more than 5,600 child
porn images escaped jail, after a judge ruled
prison would TRAUMATISE him. Gary Evans was
arrested as part of the Operation Ore police
crackdown after his credit card details were
found on a US website. Police discovered 5,633
indecent images of children on his computer,
including 174 showing adults having sex with
youngsters, which is the second most serious
category. But Judge Gareth Hawksworth took pity
on him after hearing he lived “in a world of
his own” and needed treatment. He told Evans
at Chelmsford Crown Court, Essex, “This case
causes considerable anxiety. Your collection
demonstrates an obsession and sexual interest in
children.”
The judge said he could have jailed him for 15
months, but instead issued a three-year community
rehabilitation order. He told Evans, “I
believe prison will traumatise you. You need
rehabilitation instead.” Neighbours in
Evans’ home town of Braintree branded the
sentence a “joke” saying, "The
judge should be more concerned with
childrens’ welfare than that of an
offender.” Evans was placed on the sex
offenders’ register. But an Essex police
source said, “It is incredible that he
isn’t behind bars.”
IT
DOESN'T GET ANY BETTER
A drug addict who committed up to 50
offences each week, was given free £50-a-month
membership of the Esporta health club in Taunton,
Somerset, where he will have access to a 20-metre
swimming pool, first-class gym, steam room,
sauna, and hydro-pool. The town's Tory MP Adrian
Flook said, "It's an insult to victims of
these crimes." John Wiseman, assistant chief
probation officer for Avon and Somerset, defended
the action by saying, "Some will see this as
rewarding bad behaviour. I view it as helping
someone reintegrate." The lunatics really
are running the asylum.
CHEMICALS
ARE A THREAT TO CHILDREN
A report by the World Wildlife Fund
claims that 70,000 man-made chemicals in everyday
objects such as TV's, videos, computers, soft
furnishings and car seats, are stopping
children's brains from developing properly. The
WWF said that poorer memory, reduced visual
recognition, decreased movement skills and lower
IQ scores have been recorded as a result.
An extensive survey of baby foods has found they
contain worrying levels of disease-causing
microbes. Of most concern was the presence of a
bacterium called Enterobacter sakazakii, which
has been linked to a handful of fatal outbreaks
of meningitis at children's hospitals in the US
and Europe.
ANOTHER
BRIGHT IDEA
An idea to set up a school in Bangladesh
for children from Manchester can not go ahead
because of funding. The city council was
considering a plan to teach Asian children who
were visiting the country during term time and
missing out on lessons back home. Manchester
council leader Richard Leese said the £100,000
required for the project was not available. The
school would be situated close to Sylhet in north
west Bangladesh, in an area with strong links to
Manchester's Bengali community.
If children were staying close to the school they
would be expected to attend every day, it was
claimed, and pupils based further away would be
allowed to go once or twice a week and take more
work to complete at home. Councillor Leese said,
"We welcome innovative thinking in trying to
tackle problems such as attendance but there has
been no formal discussion about this particular
idea within Manchester City Council. It is highly
unlikely that this project will happen and there
is certainly no provision for it within the
Council's budget."
The Secondary Heads Association, which represents
head teachers at senior schools, reportedly
praised the idea as "imaginative".
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