Camerons return home with baby Florence

September 4th,2010    by Ashley

Florence Rose Endellion Cameron met the media for the first – but almost certainly not the last – time yesterday and promptly fell asleep.

The Prime Minister stood with his wife Samantha, who cradled their Florence on the steps of No 10.

Asked how many nappies he had changed, Mr Cameron joked: "Hundreds."

Another journalist asked: "Has Nick Clegg changed any nappies yet?" Mr Cameron replied: "That's next."

The baby was wearing a white shawl crocheted by a member of the public who sent it in to congratulate the couple on the birth.

Asked if the baby was keeping them awake, she smiled and replied: "Yes."

Mr Cameron bent to kiss the baby on the head and she opened her eyes briefly.

Florence was born at the Royal Cornwall Hospital in Truro last Tuesday, weighing 6lb 1oz. She was not expected until this month, but caught the family by surprise while they were on holiday.

Her middle name, Endellion, refers to the village of St Endellion on the north Cornish coast, near where the Camerons were staying. The Camerons are also parents to Nancy, six, and Arthur Elwen, four.

The Prime Minister said in a statement: "Samantha and I would like to take this opportunity to thank everyone for their kindness and generosity since the birth of baby Florence. We have been really, really touched by all the people who have offered their warm congratulations, and by the many cards, gifts and flowers that we have received."

Jane Fraser-Cross, 74, who knitted the shawl said she was "absolutely thrilled" the Camerons liked her gift.

Asked how it felt for her handiwork to grace the Prime Minister's new baby, she said: "I'm so elated. I'm absolutely thrilled because I admire David Cameron and after all the sadness they went through a few months ago... I feel honoured."

She said she was looking forward to telling her grandchildren that the young baby was wearing the shawl, which she posted last Friday.

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Hague denies rumour he is gay – but special adviser steps down

September 3rd,2010    by Ashley

The Foreign Secretary, William Hague, was forced to issue an extraordinary public statement yesterday denying that he was gay, after his special adviser and long-term friend resigned over "untrue and malicious" rumours about the relationship between the two men.

A day of high political drama brought the departure of Chris Myers and a statement from Mr Hague remarkable for its detail about his marital life.

As the media concentrated on the fresh wounds opened within Labour by the publication of Tony Blair's memoirs, news broke that 25-year-old Mr Myers had left his job.
The resignation had been preceded by days of extensive internet chatter about the two men and was followed by Mr Hague denying that he had been involved in an "improper relationship" with his special adviser.

"Christopher Myers has demonstrated commitment and political talent over the last 18 months. He is easily qualified for the job he holds. Any suggestion that his appointment was due to an improper relationship between us is utterly false, as is any suggestion that I have ever been involved in a relationship with any man," said Mr Hague in his statement.

The Foreign Secretary went on to reveal that his wife, Ffion, had suffered multiple miscarriages but that their bond had remained strong in adversity. "We have never made this information public because of the distress it would cause to our families and would not do so now were it not for the untrue rumours circulating which repeatedly call our marriage into question."

"We wish everyone to know that we are very happily married."

There had long been speculation about Mr Hague's personal life – with no supporting evidence. The latest report was that he and his special adviser had shared hotel bedrooms – something Mr Hague confirmed yesterday.

There was surprise at the Foreign Office when Mr Myers's name was on a shortlist for the post three months ago.

Like most other members of the Cabinet, Mr Hague already had two special advisers, Arminka Helic and Denzil Davidson, while a fourth, pre-election adviser to Mr Hague, Chloe Dalton, is employed as a civil servant in the department. Last week a photograph appeared of Mr Myers, 25, with Mr Hague, 49, walking along the Embankment of the Thames, both smiling. The Foreign Secretary was wearing a baseball cap, this time the right way round – his 1997 attempt to establish "street-cred" by wearing a cap back-to-front had led to caustic comments.

The questions this time were not about Mr Hague's sartorial taste, but what qualifications Mr Myers, who had acted as the Shadow Foreign Secretary's driver during the election campaign, had to advise on foreign affairs.

Mr Myers graduated four years ago with a second-class honours degree in history. He has since trained as a lawyer but never worked for Tory high command – the route most special advisers follow. The Foreign Office justified the appointment of Mr Myers by saying that Mr Hague's additional responsibility, as First Secretary of State, warranted the appointment of a third special adviser.

Yesterday Mr Hague admitted to "occasionally" sharing hotel rooms with Mr Myers during the election. "This speculation seems to stem from the fact that whilst campaigning before the election we occasionally shared twin hotel rooms. Neither of us would have done so if we had thought that it in any way meant or implied something else. In hindsight I should have given greater consideration to what might have been made of that, but this is in itself no justification for allegations of this kind, which are untrue and deeply distressing to me, to Ffion and to Christopher."

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Review puts merits of breast cancer screening under the microscope

September 2nd,2010    by Ashley

The success of the national breast screening programme which offers tests to almost two million women a year has been called into question by a review which says it is harming almost as many women as it helps and must be urgently re-evaluated.

The benefits of breast screening – early detection of cancer followed by rapid treatment – are finely balanced against the harms of overdiagnosis followed by unnecessary treatment and suffering, and have never been properly weighed against each other, the review by a leading epidemiologist says.

The stark conclusions mark a new phase in the war over breast screening, which has divided the medical establishment for more than 20 years. But they also raise questions about all screening programmes, including those for bowel, prostate and cervical cancers, which similarly bring harm as well as benefit.

The central drawback of screening is that in some cases the cancer (or other disease) detected does not need treating, either because it is a false alarm, because it resolves naturally or because it is very slow growing (so you die of something else). In these cases, the only result of screening is that the individual spends more of their life living in the shadow of cancer, without living longer. They may be treated, and suffer pain and anxiety, to no avail.

Supporters of the national breast screening programme, which has been running since 1988 and offers mammography (x-ray examination of the breasts) to all women aged 50 to 70 (to be extended to ages 47 to 73 by 2012), say it prevents an estimated 1,400 deaths a year. They claim that breast screening saves two women's lives for every one who receives unnecessary treatment.

Critics dispute these figures, claiming that for every woman saved, as many as 10 undergo unnecessary treatment – which can include surgical removal of the breast (mastectomy) – and up to 500 have at least one false alarm, including in up to half the cases a biopsy (the removal of a sample of breast tissue).

The simmering dispute between the two sides boiled over last March, when the British Medical Journal published a paper on breast screening in Denmark which showed that deaths from breast cancer had fallen faster in areas without screening than in those where it was used.

It concluded that the decline in the breast cancer death rate was "more likely explained by changes in risk factors and improved treatment than by screening mammography".

The paper, the latest in a series by the Nordic Cochrane Centre to be critical of breast screening, provoked a blizzard of responses accusing the researchers of "undermining the trust of women" and the BMJ of "taking sides".

Stung by the accusations, Fi Godlee, editor of the BMJ, asked Professor Klim McPherson, public health epidemiologist of Oxford University, to review the evidence, and the results are published in the BMJ's current issue.

Professor McPherson, citing US evidence, says that breast screening reduces the death rate by 14 per cent in the under-60s, which is of "marginal statistical significance", and by 32 per cent in the under-70s. But even this is a small benefit because at age 60 the risk of death from breast cancer over the next 15 years is just 1.2 per cent – 259 women in the UK would have to be screened to avoid one death.

"Individual benefit from mammography is thus very small, but this is not widely understood. In part this is due to obfuscation from organisers of mammography services assuming that a positive emphasis is needed to ensure reasonable compliance," Professor McPherson says.

He calls for a "full examination of all the data" and more honesty from the NHS about the scientific uncertainties. He also suggests that the National Institute for Clinical Excellence (NICE) should review the evidence.

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Sports stars in social networking controversy

September 1st,2010    by Ashley

For must of us, using Facebook, Twitter or eBay tends to be quite banal, but if you're an internationally famous sports star, people tend to pay attention.

With the boom in social networking, sports stars haven't been left behind, and many are regularly keeping their fans updated on their latest activities and thoughts.

But this has occasionally landed them in hot water, and the latest victim is England cricketer Kevin Pietersen. Here we take a look at the stars who caused controversy through social networking.

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7/7 bomber's widow loses legal aid bid

August 31st,2010    by Ashley

The widow of one of the 7/7 suicide bombers today lost her High Court bid to overturn a decision refusing her legal aid for representation at the upcoming inquest into the deaths of 52 people in the attacks in London in 2005.

Two judges in London dismissed the challenge by Hasina Patel, whose husband was plot mastermind Mohammed Sidique Khan, over the refusal to provide her with funding.

It had been argued on her behalf at a hearing earlier this week that the decision to deny her legal aid was "unfair, irrational and unlawful".
But today Lord Justice Thomas and Mr Justice Silber said the decision by the Lord Chancellor "cannot be described as unreasonable or irrational".

Lord Justice Thomas said the court was told that Ms Patel's position "was that she was interested to understand why her late husband and the other bombers acted as they did" and that what she was seeking "was an opportunity to ask questions of witnesses at the inquest which bore on their knowledge and experience of her husband and others".

The judge said: "Far from providing any information that might assist the wider public interest, she has flatly and unequivocally declined the opportunity to do so.

"Although requested by this court to show how she could help establish why her late husband and the others whom she knew acted to murder fellow citizens, she has provided not an iota of evidence to us which could show how in some way she could bring a wider benefit let alone a significant benefit to the inquests or to the understanding of the victims of the bombing."

He said there was "no basis on which the Lord Chancellor could properly have come to any decision other than the one he had reached".

It emerged in April that ministers had rejected two applications for legal aid by relatives of the bombers after ruling they did not meet the criteria for public funding for their lawyers.

The Government already agreed that legal aid will be offered to the families of the four 7/7 bombers' innocent victims of the attacks.

It was argued on behalf of Ms Patel - who has since remarried - that it had been "inconsistent" not to also grant her funding.

Lord Justice Thomas said the case for the Lord Chancellor was that he was "entitled and indeed obliged" to make the decision he did.

Dismissing her case, the judge said there was "no reason that we can discern why the interests of the claimant, on the basis of the information before us, cannot be fully and properly dealt with by her giving a statement of the background of her late husband and others to the legal team acting for the coroner".

He added: "Indeed as a resident of the United Kingdom it must have been her duty to have supplied all that information by now."

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Charities condemn plans to let councils house locals before immigrants

August 30th,2010    by Ashley

Plans to allow councils to give local people priority over immigrants waiting for social housing could lead to the "unjust and inhumane" treatment of vulnerable people, charities warned today.

The government plans to give councils the power to set their own housing allocation policies. This would allow them to give preference to people with strong connections to the local area.

Grant Shapps, the housing minister, said need would remain a criterion, but councils and housing associations could also take into account "the desire of local people" in framing allocation policies. "It causes a great deal of concern and is very problematic for social cohesion when people find they aren't provided with any preference when they are actually in the area they have lived in for a very long time," he told the Sunday Times.

But the Refugee Council said the plans – part of the decentralisation and localism bill in parliament later this year – could hurt some of society's neediest.

Donna Covey, its chief executive, said: "Councils must ensure that those in greatest need of housing are given priority, so it would be unjust and inhumane to force refugees to the end of the queue simply because they were not born in the UK. That would be no way to treat people who have suffered unimaginable horrors in their own countries and have subsequently been offered protection here.

"We're pleased the government is looking to improve the asylum system, so as part of that they must ensure people who have been granted asylum here are given the same opportunities as other people living in the UK, as is their right."

The charity Shelter also urged the government to prioritise need over nationality. "Social housing is a scarce resource and it is vital that priority is given to those who need it most," said a spokeswoman.

Research shows that new migrants already do not get priority over UK-born residents when housing is allocated.

A report from the Equality and Human Rights Commission last year found that only 2% of all social housing residents are people who have moved to Britain in the last five years and that nine out of 10 all people in such housing were UK-born. Four million people, and one in five households, in England live in social housing.

Many town halls would like more power to set their own housing policies. Edward Lister, the Tory leader of Wandsworth council, in south London, said: "If the housing allocation rules are going to be changed, we would welcome that. We want to give a measure of priority to local residents. It builds stability in the community and keeps families together."

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Be a better parent – and improve your child's mental health

August 28th,2010    by Ashley

Parent and teacher . . . Nicola Williams and her children. Photograph: Linda Nylind for the Guardian

As a parent it can sometimes feel as if you are drowning in conflicting information about your child's requirements; what they should be eating, what they should be learning. But there is one area where we might all like a little more help; how to improve parenting skills that can be of long-term benefit to their mental health.

One in 10 children in the UK suffers from a diagnosable mental health disorder, and mental health issues for young people are an increasingly urgent concern. Now a pilot project in Southwark, south London, has found that teaching parents skills and techniques to better care for their children is having impressive consequences. The Empowering Parents, Empowering Communities course offers training in parenting, then teaches the mothers and fathers how to pass on what they have learnt. The results, for families in one of the most deprived boroughs in the country – where children have an above average likelihood of mental health problems – are being described as "inspirational".

Hunaida Osman took the original course at the Maudsley hospital and now teaches the techniques to other parents. "I was definitely the sort of parent who got angry easily and just shouted, 'Stop that'," she says. "I've got much better at explaining why I don't want my children to do something, and at praising them when they do something right. And it's been great for the parents I've taught too; for some families who are on a low income, living in crowded conditions, with children who are playing up, you really need a bit of help and support in the best ways to deal with those kids."

Nicola Williams, another parent teaching the course, says those whose children have mental health issues have been particularly pleased. "There was one mother who'd had a lot of trouble with her son. She came along for a couple of sessions, but she didn't have any faith in what the course could do for her. She didn't really want to get involved in it at all.

"We gave her a handout which was about a really simple technique, using little mood faces to show what sort of mood you're in; smiley faces if you're happy, that sort of thing. And it was amazing. Her son used them when he got home from school every day, and she said just knowing what mood he was in made everything much simpler."

Dr Crispin Day of the Institute of Psychiatry is evaluating the course as part of a long-term study. "About half the children whose parents are on the course have difficulties which would be equivalent to a diagnosed disorder, but the parents who go to the group are reporting that their children are showing a significant reduction in the severity of their behaviour problems."

Day has been running several groups simultaneouslyand early results are promising. For example, when parents were asked to say how concerned they were about their children on a scale between one to 10, levels on average dropped from approximately five-and-a-half out of 10 to two-and-a-half. Parents also filled out the Eyburg child behaviour inventory, which gives a score indicating how likely it is that the child may need clinical help (a score of 127 and over); the average score of the attending group dropped from just above 125 to 106.

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Singer who gave her lover HIV is spared jail

August 27th,2010    by Ashley

The German pop star Nadja Benaissa was handed a suspended two-year prison sentence yesterday for infecting her lover with HIV.

Benaissa, a singer in the band No Angels, had faced a maximum of 10 years in jail after she was found guilty of causing bodily harm to one man and attempted bodily harm to two others.

She admitted having unprotected sex while aware she was carrying HIV, but denied that she deliberately infected anyone. The court accepted she had shown remorse and that she did not believe she would pass on the virus.

Peter Liesenfeld, for the prosecution, called for the suspended sentence during closing arguments in the trial, saying: "She deserves lenient treatment because she had confessed to what she did and shown an understanding of her guilt. The confession was an important point that must be taken into consideration."

The trial has prompted vigorous debate in Germany. Some sexual health campaigners have argued that the high-profile nature of the case will make it harder to persuade carriers of STDs to be open about their condition, while others argued that the prosecution was an over-reaction. The news magazine Der Spiegel called the pursuit of the case "a stigmatising witch-hunt", and Aids support groups have worried that people carrying HIV will feel "pressured" to take sole responsibility for safe sex.

On Wednesday Benaissa admitted that she had been "cowardly" in keeping quiet about her infection. "I wish with all my heart that I could turn the clock back," she said in tears. "The fact is, I made a great mistake."

An Aids specialist told her trial in Darmstadt that she "almost certainly" was the source of her former lover's infection. Benaissa, 28, did with "probability bordering on certainty infect a man with HIV by having unprotected sex with him," said the medical expert, Josef Eberle.

It had been thought that Dr Eberle might muddy the facts in the case by saying the victim could have contracted the virus which can cause full-blown Aids from someone else.

But he told the court: "Ms Benaissa was the source of the infection", citing the fact that both she and the victim, now 34, both had "a relatively rare" strain of the virus.

No Angels was Germany's most successful girl band, and it enjoyed wide success across the continent. At the start of the trial the 34-year-old man who became infected by her said his life was in ruins. He also said that when he discovered his infection the band's management tried to buy his silence because they feared for the future of the group.

"You caused me so much grief," he told her in court last week. "My quality of life has shrunk enormously. I cannot travel to many countries. I have been told by my doctor that my condition can become full-blown Aids at any time. My income is halved but this is not about money. I am getting nausea all the time."

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To marmalade's rescue from darkest Peru

August 26th,2010    by Ashley

After successfully concluding negotiations with the handlers of an anthropomorphised South American bear, Britain's biggest marmalade maker has pulled off one of the most obvious commercial tie-ups in history: signing up Paddington Bear.

From this month, jars of Robertson's Golden Shred will carry images of the marmalade-loving children's character from "darkest Peru" in exchange for an undisclosed sum to his creator, Michael Bond.

For Robertson's, the deal should attract children to marmalade, whose sales have been tumbling for years and which is overwhelmingly bought by the over-45s. It is also an opportunity to develop a long-term association with an affectionately regarded figure following an indifferent response to the licensing of characters from the stories of Roald Dahl.

Robertson's phased out its Golly mascot in 2002, saying it no longer connected with modern shoppers but denied it was responding to complaints about racism.

The brand's owner, Premier Foods, was only able to secure the deal after a contract for Paddington with Marmite had expired. David Atkinson, spreads manager at Premier Foods, hoped the UK's most famous Peruvian would appear for as long as Golly, who lasted for 90 years.

"At the moment we have got no firm end to the tie-up and there are no plans to take him off," he said. "When you have got someone as well known as Paddington, the most famous marmalade lover in the world, why would you want to take him off again?"

Britain is the only country which consumes significant quantities of marmalade, spending £55m a year on the orange preserve, but sales fell by 3 per cent last year.

Mr Atkinson was at a loss to explain why it had taken so long to hire Paddington. "It's just something we haven't done," he said. "If you go back far enough, there were the golliwogs and we had a while with Roald Dahl, but that didn't really get traction with consumers. We looked at this 18 months ago but, unfortunately, when we were looking at it Paddington appeared on TV with Marmite so we weren't able to do a tie-up."

Premier Foods would not discuss how much it paid the Bond family, but it is not believed to be substantial.

Michael Bond, 84, based his creation on a teddy bear he noticed on a shelf in a shop near Paddington railway station in London on Christmas Eve 1956, and the first story was published in 1958.

His daughter, Karen Jankel, 51, acts as the "guardian" of the bear's commercial deals, which are dealt with by the entertainment company Chorion. "We have to weigh things up and have to work out whether they are a good idea but, being marmalade, this was quite an easy decision. It's a good fit," Mrs Jankel said.

"It is extraordinary that it hasn't happened before now. It's probably because marmalade isn't normally thought of as a children's product, but Paddington appeals to a range of age groups. He's very much a family bear."

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Trapped miners in fine voice after receiving fresh supplies

August 25th,2010    by Ashley

Singing the national anthem in a full-throated chorus, 33 miners trapped deep underground thanked their rescuers and settled in for a long wait until a tunnel wide enough to pull them out can be carved through half a mile of solid rock.

Raising hopes further, a second borehole punched into the chamber where the miners are entombed, and a third probe was nearing the spot yesterday. After parcelling out tiny bits of food and drinking water carved from the mine floor with a backhoe for 19 days, the miners were getting glucose and rehydration tablets to restore their digestive systems. Capsules carrying oxygen were also sent down through a six-inch borehole to help the men to survive the hot, stuffy, humid conditions in the lower reaches of the gold and copper mine.

The bore holes will also be used to lower communication lines and to provide ventilation, Chile's Mining minister, Laurence Golborne, said.

Meanwhile, the miners were sending up notes to their families in the same supply capsules yesterday, providing solace to people who have held vigil in the chilly Atacama desert since the collapse.

Their ordeal, however, is far from over. Above ground, doctors and psychological experts are debating how to keep the miners sane during the estimated four months it will take to dig a tunnel large enough to get them out of the safety chamber 2,200 feet (670 metres) underground, where they have been buried since 5 August.

Through a newly installed communication system, the miners told authorities on Monday afternoon that they had used a backhoe to dig for trapped water and ate sparingly from their few supplies.

"They had two little spoonfuls of tuna, a sip of milk and a biscuit every 48 hours," said Dr Sergio Aguilar, a physician on the rescue team.

Dr Aguilar did not say how long those meagre supplies lasted after the landslide that caused a tunnel to collapse inside the San Jose gold and copper mine about 530 miles north of Chile's capital, Santiago.

Officials released a portion of the recording of the dialogue, in which miners are heard singing Chile's national anthem.

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