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Teacher recalls first greeting at village school in enchanting memoir

Andy Seed was 22, newly married and fresh out of teacher training college when he arrived at Craigthwaite Primary, a village school in Swinnerdale deep in the Yorkshire Dales.

Class 3 — 24 children aged eight and nine — lay in wait.

Here, in an extract from his new book, All Teachers Great And Small, in which only names and places have been changed, he gives a heart-warming and hilarious account of what happened next…

Hilda Percival, who taught Class 2 and had been at Craigthwaite Primary for decades, sat in the staff room and fixed me with what I would discover was one of her looks.

‘So, young man, we don’t know anything about you except that you’re from York. Where did you go to college?’

‘Actually, I’ve only lived in York a few years; I’m from the other side of the Pennines, in Cheshire.’

Source: DAILYMAIL>> Read full article and comment

Feminist author Erica Jong and her daughter Molly have very different ideas about parenting and sex – one famously bohemian, the other conservative. Kira Cochrane meets them

In Erica Jong’s vast apartment, the Manhattan skyline thrusting up to my right, an image of a naked woman sprawling across a wall to my left, we are talking about sex. Specifically, nudity. Erica’s daughter, Molly Jong-Fast, is with us and I’m trying to find out what it was like for her to grow up with a writer synonymous with the sexual revolution – that era of feminism, threesomes, consciousness-raising and beautiful, bountiful pubic bushes.

Molly has made some outlandish claims about her mother in the past, and it can be hard to work out what is true, what is satire. Did Erica really saunter around the house completely naked? “She was totally naked all the time,” says Molly firmly, “and my grandmother too”. She prods her mother for confirmation. “Were you naked all the time?”

Source: GUARDIAN>> Read full article and comment

A mother and father have been jailed for a month after failing to stop four of their children playing truant.

The couple from Southwark, who have seven children, did not respond to repeated warnings and court orders to stop their children’s repeated absences.

The latest court case related to twin boys aged nine and sisters aged 12 and 14, the eldest of which attended only a quarter of her lessons in four months.

The parents, who cannot be named for legal reasons, were handed 28-day sentences by Tower Bridge magistrates for breaching a previous suspended sentence.

Source: Thisislondon>> Read full article and comment

You don’t need to take part in sports day if you don’t want to’

Parents also banned from taking photos over fears they might be seen online by paedophiles.

The thrill of competitive running on school sports days has been a spur for many future Olympic athletes.

But at one politically correct primary school, children are being excused from such pressures.

Parents were astonished when a teacher with a loud-hailer announced all pupils could ‘opt out’ of the sprints if they wished and asked mothers and fathers to ‘respect their decision’.

Source: DAILYMAIL>> Read full article and comment

The family of a teenager killed by her boyfriend in a car crash have criticised the ten-month suspended sentence he received today as ‘disgusting’.

Ashley Millar, 19, was driving a Citroen Saxo registered to his father at between 45mph and 60mph in a 30mph zone of the A3022 in Torquay when the crash occurred in December last year.

It caused him to hit a traffic sign that ‘sheared’ the vehicle in two, killing his girlfriend, Laura Searson, 19, the front-seat passenger. Millar told police driving conditions at the time of the crash were so bad because of mist and drizzle that he was only able to drive by looking at the cats’ eyes in the middle of the road.

Speaking outside Exeter Crown court Miss Searson’s mother Linda said: ‘The sentence is disgusting. It is not proper justice.

Source: DAILYMAIL>> Read full article and comment

‘I am responsible for her death’, says Tatsuya Ichihashi, 32, as he kneels on the floor and bows towards her devastated family in court

The Japanese man accused of raping and murdering Briton Lindsay Hawker apologised to her parents yesterday for causing her death – but insisted it was an accident.

Tatsuya Ichihashi, 32, spoke at the opening of his trial over the death of the 22-year-old English teacher at his Tokyo apartment.

Her parents Bill and Julia Hawker, from Brandon, Warwickshire, arrived in Japan on Sunday with their two other daughters, Lisa and Louise, to attend the trial in the Tokyo suburb of Chiba.

Source: DAILYMAIL>> Read full article and comment

A reader wonders whether buying a teacher a small gift is necessary, and what would be suitable?

Every week a Guardian Money reader submits a question, and it’s up to you to help him or her out – a selection of the best answers will appear in next Saturday’s paper.

Source: GUARDIAN>> Read full article and comment

A new exhibition of photographs of girls ‘alone in their personal space’ opens today

The bedroom of 17-year-old Krystal has pink accents, posters of the bands Green Day and My Chemical Romance, and a selection of stuffed toys. The interest in stuffed animals is something she shares with fellow teenager Susan, 15. The only real difference is that Krystal lives in Boston, Massachusetts while Susan’s home is some 5,000 miles away, at the Shatila Refugee Camp in Beirut.

Both, along with several other teenage girls and young women, are the subjects of Rania Matar’s latest project, A Girl And Her Room. The exhibition of 46 photographs focus on the idea of a girl “alone in her personal space”. It is the first UK show of the Arab-American photographer’s award-winning project.

Source: GUARDIAN>> Read full article and comment

The parents of two girls aged under three have been jailed for child cruelty by neglect after the children were found locked in a room in their Londonderry home.

The girls were naked and soiled when police called at their home in August 2009.

Their parents pleaded guilty to child cruelty by neglect at Londonderry Crown Court on Monday.

Their father was jailed for nine months while their mother was jailed for six.

The neglect came to light after police officers called at the house to execute a court summons on their father.

A police officer told the court that he was only able to open the room door by about 12 inches because there was something inside preventing it for being fully opened.

Source: BBC NEWS>> Read full article and comment

The head of a teaching union today called on parents not to help keep schools open during the planned teachers’ strike, saying they could put children “in danger”.

By Anna Davis and Craig Woodhouse

Mary Bousted, head of the normally moderate Association of Teachers and Lecturers, said well-meaning parents could do more harm than good if they volunteer to look after pupils while teachers take industrial action.

About one in four schools could close during the strike on Thursday over changes to teachers’ pensions.

Education Secretary Michael Gove has suggested that mothers and fathers of pupils could help break the strike.

But speaking this morning Ms Bousted said: “Some parents with the best of intentions could put themselves in danger and children in danger. They should not do it.” It comes as Kevin Courtney, deputy general secretary of the National Union of Teachers, warned there could be further industrial action to come, saying: “There has to be a possibility of there being further industrial action.”

Source: Thisislondon>> Read full article and comment

James Bulger’s killer Jon Venables has lost his bid to be released on parole, the victim’s mother said.

Venables, one of two boys who abducted the two-year-old from a shopping centre in Bootle, Merseyside, in February 1993, was jailed for two years last July after pleading guilty to downloading and distributing indecent images of children.

The Parole Board has been considering the case for his release, but James’s mother, Denise Fergus, wrote on Twitter: “good news all just heard venables is NOT getting released xxx”

The Parole Board had to decide whether Venables still posed a risk to the public and will have considered the nature of the offence, the prisoner’s offending history, and his progress in jail.

It will also have considered any psychologists’ reports, probation officers’ reports, prison officers’ reports, any statistical risk assessments that have been completed and the view of the Secretary of State.

Source: INDEPENDENT>> Read full article and comment

How can you prevent an annoying elderly parent from getting too close to home? Mariella Frostrup advises a woman who doesn’t want her mother living round the corner

By Mariella Frostrup

The dilemma My mother is in her late 70s and needs help. She’d like to move to a flat near me (I live with my husband and teenage kids about 150 miles away). The problem is I can’t bear to spend a lot of time with her. She doesn’t have friends, but keeps busy doing church charity work. No matter what topic we discuss she finds a way to turn the conversation to her achievements or, worse, to the faults of neighbours and people she knows. This leaves me drained. I only seem to have a choice of listening and feeling trapped or arguing with her, which never does any good. I really want to support my mother and have tried to be tolerant as I know she had a hard childhood during the war. But I think she will drive me crazy if she moves closer.

Mariella replies I know the feeling. In fact, I’m sure there are few adults with ageing parents who don’t. One of the many sobering aspects of motherhood is the realisation that, no matter what you do now, in later life your children will want to be as far away from you as possible.

Source: GUARDIAN>> Read full article and comment

Andy Kershaw was one of BBC Radio’s most admired DJs until his marriage and life spectacularly imploded.Now, with unflinching honesty – and a great deal of regret – he tells his turbulent story

By ANDY KERSHAW

When I was about five, I had a recurring bad dream. I was lost and frightened. Not in a dark wood, but in a street of respectable prewar semis. It looked like Rochdale – but it wasn’t my childhood home town. At some point, I was always approached by a concerned stranger. They spoke to me kindly but only to confirm that I was in Ludlow, Shropshire. Subconsciously, I must have picked up the town’s name on the news.

In the autumn of 2008, I really did find myself in Ludlow, on that street. I don’t know why I was there or how I got there. I was exhausted, hungry, anxious, hung-over, lonely and missing my children and my home. And, though I’d never harmed a soul, I was on the run from the police. A nationwide warrant had been issued for my arrest. I was the subject of a manhunt.

Source: DAILYMAIL>> Read full article and comment

The eldest daughter of Milly Dowler’s killer Levi Bellfield has told of her sympathy for the teenager’s family and said a jail sentence was “not enough of a punishment”.

Writing to Milly’s parents and sister, Bobbie Bellfield, 20, said it made her “sick” to think she was related to the murderer, whom she branded a “monster”.

Levi Bellfield was jailed for life on Friday for murdering 13-year-old Milly as questions were raised about the adversarial nature of the trial system, which distressed the Dowlers.

In her open letter, published in the Sunday Mirror, Ms Bellfield said: “I’m writing to you because I want to say how sorry I am for what my dad has put your family through. I felt physically sick when I found out he had killed your daughter and I couldn’t watch as you spoke outside the court about the hell you had all gone through to get justice.

Source: Thisislondon>> Read full article and comment

Singer Cheryl Baker remembers second-hand clothes and her eccentric maths teachers

By YVONNE SWANN

This is me aged about 12 at Morpeth Secondary School in London. I was born in Bethnal Green in 1954, in the front room of the council flat where I grew up with my three brothers and sister.

In those days I was Rita Crudgington – I changed my name when I became a singer. I lived at home for 29 years. By that time I had gold discs on the wall, but still stayed with my mum, Doll, and dad, Ted, a shoemaker. It was a happy home.

I went to my primary school, Bonner, when I was five. There was no uniform and my clothes were second-hand from Brick Lane market.

Source: DAILYMAIL>> Read full article and comment

One their children have grown up, most mothers have rose-tinted memories of the days when they held gurgling babies in their arms.

By CHRIS BROOKE

But Carol Laing has taken the bizarre step of trying to recreate those happy times – using lifelike dolls.

The mother of two has spent hundreds of pounds on ‘reborn dolls’ and looks after them as though they are living babies. And she has even named them after her children Rachelle, now 20, and Adam, 17.

Mrs Laing, 53, changes and dresses the dolls, brushes their hair, takes them out in baby seats in her car and puts them to bed in a Moses basket in the bedroom she shares with her third husband Sandy, 56.

Source: DAILYMAIL>> Read full article and comment

The family of murdered schoolgirl Milly Dowler has hit out at the “horrifying ordeal” of her murder trial as the director of public prosecutions admitted the case raised “fundamental questions” about the treatment of victims in the courts.

Milly’s parents said they felt as though they had been “put on trial” at the Old Bailey in a “truly mentally scarring experience on an unimaginable scale”.

On Friday Milly’s killer Levi Bellfield was jailed for life for murdering the 13 year old as questions were raised about the adversarial nature of the trial system, which distressed the Dowlers.

Despite their nine-year battle for justice, Milly’s family said they had paid too high a price for the conviction. They felt let down by the police inquiry and the legal system.

Mother Sally Dowler, 51, said: “The trial has been an awful experience. Our family, who have already suffered so much, has been put on trial as much as Bellfield. Our family life has been scrutinised and laid open for everyone to inspect and comment upon

Source: London Evening Standard>> Read full article and comment

Advertisers’ airbrushing accidents are well-documented, in large part for their comedy value.

By TAMARA ABRAHAM

But the American Medical Association has spoken out against the use of photo-editing software due to the negative impact it can have on the self-esteem of children and teenagers that see them.

The organisation announced a policy against the practice today at its annual meeting.
A statement released afterwards explained how ‘a large body of literature links exposure to media-propagated images of unrealistic body image to eating disorders and other child and adolescent health problems.’

Source: DAILYMAIL>> Read full article and comment

Guilt-ridden thief sends note to nursery 30 YEARS later

By Daily Mail Reporter

A thief has apologised to a nursery for stealing sweets from there as a teenager – 30 YEARS ago.

He sent a letter of apology and a £100 Early Learning Centre voucher because he said he was so guilt-ridden by his past crime.

Staff at Widcombe Acorns Pre-School in Bath, Somerset, were stunned when the note and gift arrived in the post.

Source: DAILYMAIL

The mother of a baby who was given doses of methadone has denied trying to lay the blame on her former partner.

9 June 2011 Last updated at 16:50 GMT

Grant Yuill, 38, of Porthmadog, Gwynedd, is alleged to have rubbed the drug on the girl’s gums.

But Nia Wyn Jones, 31, of Caernarfon, who is in jail for the ill-treatment of her daughter, told the town’s crown court that both of them were involved.

Mr Yuill denies eight charges including child cruelty and supplying drugs. The trial continues.

Jones, who is serving a three-year jail term, was accused by a defence barrister of trying to blame someone else ever since her arrest in hospital.

Source: BBC NEWS

Apple has been accused of “ripping off” a student developer’s iPhone app which was submitted to and rejected by the firm’s App Store.

By Tom Chivers and Christopher Williams

The company allegedly released an app with the same functions, a near-identical logo and the same name, a year after telling the developer that his app was rejected for “security concerns” and for doing things outside the official software development kit’s limits.

Greg Hughes, a third year computer science student at the University of Birmingham, developed an application called “Wi-Fi Sync” and offered it to Apple’s App Store in May 2010. The app was designed to sync iTunes libraries with iPhones over a wireless wireless network rather than via a USB connector.

Source: TELEGRAPH

Cameras in the toilets; CCTV in the classroom; pupils’ fingerprints kept in a database . . . Can’t happen here? Think again, because the surveillance state is quietly invading our schools

By John Harris

Every day in communities across the United States, children and adolescents spend the majority of their waking hours in schools that increasingly have come to resemble places of detention more than places of learning. From metal detectors to drug tests, from increased policing to all-seeing electronic surveillance, the schools of the 21st century reflect a society that has become fixated on crime, security and violence.”

So reads a passage from the opening pages of Lockdown High, a new book by the San Francisco-based journalist Annette Fuentes. Subtitled “When the schoolhouse becomes the jailhouse”, it tells a story that decisively began with the Columbine shootings of 1999, and from across the US, the text cites cases that are mind-boggling: a high-flying student from Arizona strip-searched because ibuprofen was not allowed under her school rules; the school in Texas where teachers can carry concealed handguns; and, most amazingly of all, the Philadelphia school that gave its pupils laptops equipped with a secret feature allowing them to be spied on outside classroom hours.

Source: GUARDIAN

She made the headlines last year when she confessed to teaching her then six-year-old daughter Poppy to pole dance. And now Sarah Burge is back in the spotlight again – for all the wrong reasons.

By Deborah Arthurs
Last updated at 4:11 PM on 8th June 2011

The 50-year-old mother – a self-confessed plastic surgery addict known as The Human Barbie – has boasted that she gave a £6,000 breast enlargement voucher to her daughter for her seventh birthday.

Miss Burge, who has spent more than £500,000 on her own surgical enhancements and wants to make her daughter into a glamour model, said Poppy ‘squealed with delight’ when she was given the voucher.

Source: DAILYMAIL

# Council pays £4,250 to pupil who fell during cheerleading practice and £3,750 to child after finger became trapped in school gate

By Daily Mail Reporter
Last updated at 4:15 PM on 8th June 2011

MP attacks small claims culture that puts pressure on school budgets .

A pupil was given more than £11,000 in compensation after being scalded by a hot drink knocked from a teacher’s desk, it has been revealed.

The payout came to light after Middlesbrough Council released figures showing the number of times schools in the area have been sued by parents.

The list details compensation settlements made by the council worth more than £34,000 between 2008 and 2011.

The cases include: £4,250 paid to a pupil who fell during cheerleading practice, £3,750 for a child who trapped a finger in the school gate and £4,500 paid out after a child fell while jumping between benches.

Source: DAILYMAIL

Young-adult fiction shows that bad things happen, and that you can survive. How is that objectionable?

By Maureen Johnson

“If books show us the world, teen fiction can be like a hall of fun-house mirrors, constantly reflecting back hideously distorted portrayals of what life is.” So claims Meghan Cox Gurdon in the Wall Street Journal this week. YA, or young adult literature, is a flourishing area in the United States and, increasingly, around the world. And the claims made in the article are not new to those of us in the teen fiction world. The argument appears to be:

Source: GUARDIAN

Academically bright teenager’s gastric band op caused her new nightmare

By Alison Smith Squire
Last updated at 7:55 AM on 8th June 2011

Shuffling around her flat, her skin pale and drawn, Malissa Jones looks like an old lady, wearily contemplating the end of a long and arduous life.

To be fair, Malissa has endured many physical and mental obstacles over the years, but no one could ever call her life long. Malissa is just 21, the age at which young women should be embracing adulthood, forging careers and relationships, shaking off the insecurities of their teens and stepping out on their own.

Yet Malissa can barely make it off the sofa, so ravaged is her young body by that cruellest of disorders, anorexia.

But this is no disturbingly familiar tale of a young girl falling victim to the disease in a quest for personal perfection or control over a troubled life.

Source: DAILYMAIL

A mother who set fire to her young daughter in a voodoo ritual has been sentenced to 17 years in jail.

By Daily Mail Reporter
Last updated at 2:49 PM on 7th June 2011

Marie Lauradin, 29, pleaded guilty in a Queens court to dousing her six-year-old child with alcohol before setting her alight in an attempt to exorcise her of a demon.

‘The only demonic presence this child had to worry about was her mother,’ the judge told her, after she had repeatedly lied about how her daughter came to suffer her horrific burn injuries.

Source: DAILYMAIL

Youngsters can watch Jihadi material at school and in libraries, report warns

By James Slack
Last updated at 7:56 AM on 7th June 2011

Children can watch Jihadi and other extremist material in schools, public libraries and even immigration removal centres, an alarming government report warns today.

Home Secretary Theresa May will demand stricter control on what can be accessed on the internet in public buildings.

Officials want to introduce filtering software which will prevent computers from displaying material which could lead to radicalisation or even terrorist recruitment.

It is part of the Home Office’s counter-terrorism strategy, which will also demand universities do more to stop Islamist extremists peddling hate on campus.

The internet has long been regarded as a source of inspiration for would-be suicide bombers and other fanatics.

Source: DAILYMAIL

# Brandi Wulf, 3, so hungry she ate cat litter and weighed just 23lbs

By Paul Thompson
Last updated at 6:46 AM on 7th June 2011

* Rebecca Colleen Christie neglected child to play ‘World of Warcraft’
* Brandi’s divorced father, Derek Wulf, faces lesser charges
* Wulf is a soldier and the family lived at Holloman Air Base in New Mexico

A mother has been jailed for 25 years for allowing her daughter to starve to death while she played an online video game.

Rebecca Colleen Christie sat at her computer for hours at a time playing the fantasy role playing game ‘World of Warcraft’ as her three year old daughter Brandi slowly starved to death.

The toddler was so hungry that she ate cat litter and weighed just 23lbs when she was rushed to hospital clinging to life..

Source: DAILYMAIL

In a clever marketing move called “Pick n’ Play”, McDonald’s in Sweden is using an interactive billboard on a Stockholm street that lets hungry users play the classic video game to earn themselves a free burger.

15:02 6 June 2011

Users visit a website and the geolocation system on their iPhone confirms that they are near enough the billboard to play. They then choose what item they wish to play for – a portion of fries, or a burger, for example – and then are put in the queue to play Pong against the computer, with their game relayed on the big screen.

The iPhone screen is used as the player’s controller, with swipes of the finger used to manipulate the paddle. If they are able to last 30 seconds against the game’s increasingly challenging AI opponent, then a digital voucher is sent to their phone which they can take to a nearby restaurant to redeem their treat of choice.

Source: Newscientist>> Read full article and comment

Parents blast drink-driving goalkeeper who killed their sons as he is released from prison for weekend trips

By Jaya Narain
Last updated at 6:55 AM on 7th June 2011

The parents of two boys killed by a drink-driving footballer have accused prison bosses of letting him ‘walk on our children’s graves’ by allowing him out at weekends.

Luke McCormick was jailed for more than seven years after killing Arron Peak, ten, and brother Ben, eight, in a motorway crash in 2008.

But after serving just 32 months, the goalkeeper has been granted overnight release to see fiancee Naomi Richards and their two-year-old son.

Source: DAILYMAIL

Prosecutors want to lock a 12 year old boy up for the rest of his life – to stop him from killing again.

By Paul Thompson
Last updated at 11:06 AM on 6th June 2011

Cristian Fernandez could become America’s youngest ever ‘lifer’ after being charged as an adult over the murder of his two-year-old brother.

Prosecutor Angela Corey said: ‘We have to protect the public from this young man’. She recommended that he face trial as an adult.

Ms Corey said the public had a ‘right to be protected’ from him.

If Fernandez were charged as a juvenile and convicted he would be free by the time he is 21.

Fernandez is alleged to have beaten his younger brother David Galarriago to death at their home in Jacksonville, Florida, in March.

The two year old died from a fractured skull that caused bleeding on the brain. He died two days after being admitted to a hospital.

Source: TELEGRAPH

An 11-year-old boy confronted his bullying father in an emotional courtroom scene after he was ‘waterboarded’ for getting poor grades.

By Paul Thompson
Last updated at 10:51 PM on 5th June 2011

David Cecil was jailed for six years for forcing his son Montgomery to stand outside in chilly weather wearing only his underwear and socks while he threw buckets of cold water on him.

The father also turned on a cooling fan to make the torture worse and beat him with a piece of wood during the terrifying ordeal.

Cecil, 50, handed out the punishment after his son came home from school with a poor set of grades.

Montgomery was found to be showing early signs of hypothermia after he was found by a neighbour having fled from the home in Hillsboro, Oregon.

Source: DAILYMAIL

With the school holidays around the corner, more than half of working parents remain unaware they could be using childcare vouchers against the cost of holiday clubs, activity camps and other summer entertainment for the children, says a new survey.

Sunday, 5 June 2011

Of the 1,000 parents questioned by the childcare voucher provider Computershare Voucher Services (CVS), 56 per cent said they didn’t know they could use government-issued childcare vouchers for these types of activity, with many believing they could only be used for nursery and more traditional childcare.

Source: INDEPENDENT

A restaurant is being investigated over claims it served a ‘boob-shaped cake’ at a child’s party.

By Stephanie Darrall
Last updated at 2:06 AM on 5th June 2011

The Bristol branch of American fast-food chain Hooters is said to have presented a 12-year-old boy and his friends with a cake representing naked breasts on which the words ‘Happy 12th Birthday’ were iced.

They were also allegedly given ‘sexualised Hooters merchandise’. The incident last month has sparked an online petition that accuses the restaurant of breaching its licensing agreement – which bans entertainment inappropriate for children – and calls for its closure.

Source: DAILYMAIL

Family life isn’t always straightforward — I’d be the first to admit that. And life in my family can be particularly tumultuous. The Aitkens have pretty much ticked all the boxes when it comes to drama.

By Victoria Aitken
Last updated at 1:28 PM on 4th June 2011

You name it, we’ve had it: divorce, bankruptcy, rehab, public humiliation. When my father went to prison for perjury, it seemed that everything was falling round our ears. Yet through it all, we have always pulled together.

Ironically, one of the positive things to have come out of the past ten years is something that would have torn apart most families.

When my twin sister Alexandra and I were 18 (the same year that our father was jailed), we discovered we had another sister. Petrina Khashoggi, of the famous Khashoggi family, had been born a month before us and we moved in the same circles.

Source: DAILYMAIL

And as if by magic… Mr Benn, the mild-mannered, bowler-hatted star of the television series, makes it to the stage.

By Daisy Bridgewater

David McKee is as intrigued as I am to watch Mr Benn, the mild-mannered, bowler-hatted star of the television series he created 40 years ago, tread the boards for the first time in a production by Tall Stories (creators of the popular Gruffalo and Room on the Broom stage shows). ‘I don’t know what they’ve done with my little boy,’ he laughs when we meet at the Rose Theatre in Kingston, Surrey, before the debut performance, ‘so I will probably be as surprised as the audience about what he has done next.’

For anyone of a certain age, the 13 episodes of Mr Benn, with their simple, storybook animation and surreal storylines, are as much a part of childhood as itchy school uniforms and tinned fruit salad. Originally published as a picture book in 1967, Mr Benn – Red Knight was picked up by the BBC in 1971. ‘He was in a slot called Watch With Mother,’ says McKee, who wrote and illustrated the book. ‘Obviously this was a sexist title that was later dropped, but it is a shame as it implies the same dual audience as a picture book. It made me conscious of who I was writing for: the adult the child will be and the child the adult still is.’

Source: TELEGRAPH

Burglar freed from jail to care for his children speaks for first time… about DVDs, mobiles and takeout pizzas for his family

By Beth Hale
Last updated at 11:50 PM on 3rd June 2011

He’s the thief freed because of his right to ‘a family life’. Now, if your blood pressure can take it, read his shameless self-justification, as told by BETH HALE.

Shutting the living-room door to drown out the sound of his children playing, Wayne Bishop sits down at the cluttered dining table, picks up his mug of tea and takes a sip. ‘World’s best Dad,’ screams the slogan on the over-sized piece of crockery.

It’s only been three days since Wayne, 33, was released from prison after serving just one month of an eight-month sentence for burglary and dangerous driving.

Source: DAILYMAIL

# Ryan Liddell tore off 76-year-old’s clothes
# He was aged five when shot in massacre

By Daily Mail Reporter
Last updated at 4:46 PM on 2nd June 2011

# ‘Mummy am I going to die?’ he asked mother as he bled in school gym
# Psychologist says Dunblane trauma is ‘no excuse’
A survivor of the Dunblane massacre is facing jail for battering a 76-year-old churchgoer with intent to rape her.

Ryan Liddell was five when he was shot in the arm and chest by gunman Thomas Hamilton, who stormed into his year one gym class at Dunblane Primary School and murdered 16 of his classmates and his teacher.

Fifteen children, including Liddell, another teacher and a classroom assistant survived.

Source: DAILYMAIL

Women with children are now just as likely to be in work as those without, as more choose to delay motherhood until they have established their careers.

By Tim Ross, Social Affairs Editor

Government figures show that the last 15 years have almost completely wiped out the gap in employment rates between mothers with young families and those with no dependent children.

Experts suggested that more working women were waiting for longer before taking a break to start a family so they could return to work more easily after maternity leave.

However, there were concerns that the trend could also indicate that more families were struggling financially and needed both parents to be in paid work.

Source: TELEGRAPH

‘You reinvented slavery, that’s what you did,’ judge tells Garrido

By Mark Duell
Last updated at 3:49 PM on 3rd June 2011

# Evil kidnapper’s wife Nancy Garrido is sentenced to 36 years, Phillip 431
# Jaycee Dugard does not appear in court but her mother reads statement
# ‘I hated every second of every day while I was kidnapped,’ Dugard says
# Says she was told she’d been taken as ‘help’ for Garrido’s ‘sex problem’
# Nancy would cry sometimes and say sorry, Jaycee says
Phillip Garrido used a Taser gun to subdue kidnap victim Jaycee Dugard and threatened to stun her again if she tried to escape.

The shocking new detail was revealed by El Dorado County Superior Judge Douglas Phimister as he imposed the maximum possible sentence on 60-year-old Phillip Garrido, calling his treatment of Dugard evil and reprehensible.

The judge said: ‘Basically what you did was you took a human being and turned them into a chattel, a piece of furniture, to be used by you at your whim.

Source: DAILYMAIL

Careless driver who killed talented doctor spared jail after victim’s family beg judge for leniency

By Lydia Warren
Last updated at 8:40 AM on 3rd June 2011

A careless driver who killed a gifted young doctor in a road accident has dodged jail thanks to the extraordinary generosity of the victim’s family.

In an astonishing display of compassion, the parents of Eton-educated Ian Noble said they did not want Everton Wright to be jailed because it is not what their son would have wanted.

Instead, they said, he should do something for the good of society to make up for his ‘stupidity’. He was given a community sentence.

In a statement, Dr Noble’s parents Roderick and Joan and his brother Jamie said: ‘We do not urge a punitive sentence be imposed.

‘Ian was wholly unconvinced about the effectiveness of short custodial sentences.

Source: DAILYMAIL

Whether it’s Lego or flat-pack furniture, one thing you never want to experience is having pieces left over at the end.

14:50 2 June 2011

Doing so inevitably incites a panicked scramble back through the instructions to see where you went wrong.

Fortunately, the world of manuals is going digital – and 3D. California-based Autodesk has released a new version of its Inventor Publisher software, which allows manual writers to create three-dimensional and animated instructions that can viewed on an iPad. The end user can then pan around and zoom in on whatever they’re building to get a better look and so avoid missing important steps.

Source: Newscientist>> Read full article and comment

A Chinese teenager was so desperate to acquire the new iPad 2 that he sold one of his kidneys for just £2,000 to pay for it, according to reports.

By Peter Foster, Beijing

The 17-year-old boy, identified only by his surname, “Zheng”, confessed to his mother that he had sold the kidney after spotting an online advertisement offering cash to anyone prepared to become an organ donor.

“I wanted to buy an iPad 2, but I didn’t have the money,” the boy told Shenzhen TV in the southern province of Guangdong, “When I surfed the internet I found an advert posted online by agent saying they were able to pay RMB20,000 to buy a kidney.” After negotiations, the boy travelled north to the city of Chenzhou in Hunan Province where the kidney was removed at a local hospital which discharged him after three days, paying a total of RMB22,000 for the organ.

Source: TELEGRAPH

A state-funded primary school has spent nearly £200,000 on a PR firm and on top lawyers as it sues its local council for libel.

By Kate Loveys
Last updated at 11:08 AM on 2nd June 2011

The amount is equivalent to four per cent of Durand Academy’s £5million annual budget.

It is the same amount as it spends on school meals in a year. The school, in Lambeth, South London, has engaged public relations specialists PLMR and legal giants Carter Ruck, better known for representing celebrities.

Kevin Craig, the vice-chairman of governors at Durand, is also managing director of PLMR.

Source: DAILYMAIL

The parents of Rhys Jones have spoken of their anger after learning one of the gang members jailed over their son’s murder will be allowed back to the area to visit his sick mother when he is released this week – to protect his human rights.

By Mark Hughes, Crime Correspondent

Nathan Quinn, 20, was jailed for two years in 2009 for his role in the killing of the 11-year-old, who died in when he was shot in gangland crossfire in a Liverpool car park in August 2007.

Now Rhys’ parents have learnt that Quinn, who they thought would be subject to an exclusion order banning him from entering the Croxteth area of the city where they live, is to be allowed home for five hours a day to visit his sick mother.

They were told the decision had been taken in order to protect Quinn’s human rights.

Nathan Quinn, 20, was jailed for two years in 2009 for his role in the killing of the 11-year-old, who died in when he was shot in gangland crossfire in a Liverpool car park in August 2007.

Now Rhys’ parents have learnt that Quinn, who they thought would be subject to an exclusion order banning him from entering the Croxteth area of the city where they live, is to be allowed home for five hours a day to visit his sick mother.

They were told the decision had been taken in order to protect Quinn’s human rights.

Source: TELEGRAPH

The parents of murdered schoolboy Rhys Jones have been told that one of his killer’s accomplices is being allowed back to his home in their area – because of his human rights.

By James Tozer
Last updated at 11:52 PM on 31st May 2011

Nathan Quinn, 20, was jailed for two years for helping teenage gunman Sean Mercer dispose of the murder weapon after 11-year-old Rhys was shot in a clash between rival gangs.

He is due to be freed this week.
Rhys’s parents Melanie and Stephen were assured that Quinn would be banned from the Croxteth area of Liverpool, where the shooting was plotted.

But they have now been informed that Quinn will be allowed back to the estate for five hours every afternoon to help care for a sick relative, believed to be his mother.

Horrified, they protested – only to be told that Quinn’s human rights had to be considered.

Source: DAILYMAIL

The thug who’s been convicted 40 times for 73 crimes

By Jaya Narain
Last updated at 2:06 AM on 1st June 2011

* Thug treats litany of offences as ‘badge of honour’
* He assaulted ex over access to his baby daughter
* Serial offender had an ASBO by the age of 15

When it comes to breaking the law James Gelling has few equals. At just 23 he has one of the worst criminal records in Britain.

His 40 convictions for 73 separate offences include robbery, burglary, assault and possessing a dangerous dog.

But as he was jailed yet again – this time for 12 weeks for attacking his ex-girlfriend – MPs called for an end to ‘revolving door’ soft sentences for offenders like him.

Source: DAILYMAIL

When Kerrie Kew’s husband decided to lose weight she threatened to divorce him – unless she lost weight first.

By Lucy Laing
Last updated at 4:08 PM on 31st May 2011

They weighed nearly a massive 50 stone between them – and Mrs Kew didn’t want her husband to be slim and fit unless she was too.

So they both booked in for a gastric bypass operation – six months apart – and have now lost a staggering 21 stone.
It has not only saved their marriage, but has stopped their children being bullied at school because their parents were so fat.

Mrs Kew, 41, said: ‘There was no way I was going to allow Paul to lose weight and for me to remain overweight. I didn’t want him to look great and leave me behind as the fat wife.

Source: DAILYMAIL

Her mother couldn’t have been happy when she switched on the television.

By Jennifer Madison
Last updated at 11:33 PM on 30th May 2011

A father who took his daughter to a baseball game in Los Angeles made an off play when he dropped his daughter while trying to catch a foul ball – and missed.

The dad was cheering in the stands as the Florida Marlins played at Dodgers Stadium on Saturday, when he was caught on camera making the embarrassing play. The girl was not injured.

Source: DAILYMAIL