Daily News Summary
Wednesday, 14 May 2008
Main stories
`Stop-and-search blitz after knife deaths'
After six fatal stabbings in London this month, the Metropolitan Police has launched an anti-knife crime offensive. Stop-and-search teams are being deployed and metal-detecting devices will be used more extensively. 244 detecting `arches' are to be placed in areas where people are believed to be carrying knives. Times14-15, Gdn9, DTel11
`The spectre of stagflation'
Inflation and a stagnant economy are causing concerns that the bad old times of the 1970s may be back. Food prices are up as housing `slumps' and house-builders shed jobs. Ind1-2, Gdn22, DTel4, DTel Business1 and more
`Brown pays £2.7 billion to end 10p tax crisis'
All papers report about the `emergency mini-budget' unveiled by the Government. A package worth £2.7 billion in tax cuts has been designed to end Labour MPs' rebellion over the abolition of the 10p tax band, and allegedly to stem voters' defection following the recent catastrophic local elections. However, the `move will still not help the poorest paid' and the biggest winners will be the middle-classes - people earning £30,000 or over - some of whom will be `more than £450 a year better off' than before the 10p rate was scrapped. Times1, DTel1, Gdn1, DMail1, Ind10 and more
Other stories
Biggest survey of NHS patients to date shows mixed picture of hospitals
The biggest survey of patients in England has found wide gaps between the best and worst performing trusts. More than 3m people are still being admitted to mixed-sex wards. The survey, commissioned by the Healthcare Commission, also found that `hospitals were getting dirtier and fewer staff were always washing their hands before touching patients'. Ind14-17, DMail10, Times31, Mirror31 and more
Post office closures: disability discrimination claim
A severely disabled woman has obtained permission to judicially review post office closures, on the basis that they were sanctioned without proper regard to their effect on disabled people. According to the challenge, the Government has acted unlawfully by allowing the Post Office to disregard anti-discrimination legislation. DTel8
`40% of Britons commit crime'
According to a survey commissioned by G4S Security Services, four in ten Britons have shoplifted or dodged a fare; one in four thinks it is acceptable to consume items and not pay for them and millions of us do not find it objectionable to take stationery from work (CCJS published a rather similar report last year. To download our report click here). G4S takes this to mean that Britain `is becoming morally bankrupt'. DExp14, DMail19. At the same time, a CBI report claims that crime is costing the economy £60bn a year and that the government's `flawed policies' have failed in tackling reoffending. DMail17
`Insurers set annuity trap'
The insurance industry has been `slammed' by the Financial Services Authority for not providing accurate information about annuity rates and causing savers to lose money in poor financial deals over their pensions. A `damning' report is expected later this week. DMail51
Comment and letters
`The Prison Service does listen to prisoners'
...so says prisons minister David Hanson. GdnSociety4
Action on Farepak
The Chair of the National Consumer Council welcomes possible legal action by liquidators over the collapse of Farepak, but argues that the government has to get serious about improving protection for consumer prepayment schemes `across the economy'. Gdn31 (For the CCJS report on the Farepak scandal, click here)
`Girls now carry knives...and will use them'
Youth worker Iyabo Oba comments on a Home Office report, to be published tomorrow, which is expected to show a rise in offences committed by young girls aged 10 to 17. She argues that whilst their traditional aspirations are being thwarted, girls feel they have no choice but to adopt as aggressive a stance as their male counterparts. DTel20
Ann Widdecombe comments on the same issue in the Daily Express. DExp13
`Cost of caring for the elderly is a pressing issue that must be dealt with now'
Argue Daily Telegraph readers. DTel21
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These newspaper summaries are drawn up by staff at the Centre for Crime and Justice Studies. They are not intended to be comprehensive, or wholly uniform in their approach. Instead, they reflect our individual and collective perspectives on the day's coverage, including our judgements in terms of relevance to the Centre's concerns. On occasion, they also reflect the inevitable time constraints within which we work.
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