Sex Abuse Inquiry Judge Quits As Head Of Probe

A retired judge chosen to spearhead one of two key inquiries into claims of historical child abuse has stepped down.

Elizabeth Butler-Sloss was picked to examine whether alleged abuse by politicians and other powerful figures between the 1970s and 1990s was swept under the carpet.

However, her appointment was engulfed in controversy because as an establishment figure herself - she was considered the wrong person among victim groups and child protection campaigners to head the Government's investigation into a possible cover-up.

In addition, her late brother, Tory MP Sir Michael Havers, was the Attorney General during the 1980s.

He is alleged to have had a row with former Conservative MP Geoffrey Dickens in the 1980s in an attempt to stop him using parliamentary privilege to make allegations about paedophilia.

Baroness Butler-Sloss said in a statement that following "a widespread perception" she was not the right person to chair the inquiry, "I did not sufficiently consider whether my background and the fact my brother had been Attorney General would cause difficulties".

She said: "Having listened to the concerns of victim and survivor groups and the criticisms of MPs and the media, I have come to the conclusion that I should not chair this inquiry and have so informed the Home Secretary.

"I should like to add that I have dedicated my life to public service, to the pursuit of justice and to protecting the rights of children and families and I wish the inquiry success in its important work."

David Cameron's official spokesman insisted the Prime Minister's view the Baroness "would have done a first-class job as chair" remained unchanged.

"The reasons for her appointment still absolutely stand in terms of her professional expertise and her integrity, which I don't think has been questioned from any quarter whatsoever, and rightly so," he said, adding that it was entirely her own decision to stand down.

Home Secretary Theresa May, who will be questioned later by MPs on the Home Affairs select committe, said she was "deeply saddened" by the peer's decision and said a replacement chair would be announced as soon as possible.

Sky's home affairs correspondent Mark White said the resignation had dealt the Government "a terrible headache" with finding someone "who can command the credibility they thought the Baroness would have been able to command".

White said: "They need to do that fairly urgently now, but they have got to be careful they don't make the same mistake."

More follows...

18.54 | 0 komentar | Read More

Hotter Than Ibiza: Britain Set For 30C Heatwave

Britain is set for the hottest week of the year so far with the mercury rising to at least 30C (86F), forecasters say.

Temperatures will rise as the week continues, peaking on Friday when parts of the UK will be hotter than Ibiza and Gran Canaria, experts predict.

Sky News weather producer Christopher England said the southeast of England would be hottest, but most other areas should see lots of sunshine too.

Monday and Tuesday can expect temperatures of 24C (75F), rising to 28C (82F) by Wednesday.

The forecast is good news for sunseekers

Sunbathers will then have to slather on more sun cream, with summer's hottest spell bringing a sweltering 30C (86F) by Friday.

"This should be the hottest period of the year so far," England said.

"The high temperatures will be seen in quite a wide area covering large parts of England."

July 4 saw the year's previous highest temperature of 29C (84F).

Northern England and Scotland will reach temperatures up to 22C (71F), while Wales could see temperatures rise to 26C (79F) by the end of the week.

The warm weather is down to hot and humid air being pumped up from Spain, the Met office said.

18.54 | 0 komentar | Read More

Women Bishops: Church Of England Faces Vote

Will Vote Pave Way For A Female Archbishop?

Updated: 12:00pm UK, Monday 14 July 2014

By Vicky Beeching, for Sky News

Today, the Church of England will take what could be a historic vote - its most significant in 20 years.

If the vote passes, women will be able to become Bishops for the first time.

The Church of England has had female priests, or vicars, since 1994, when the first 32 were ordained at Bristol Cathedral.

But they couldn't be promoted to higher levels of leadership; a stained glass ceiling existed for them and it remains today.

You may have a sense of déjà vu about this. Didn't the Church already take this vote? Yes, in November 2012 - and it failed to pass.

So how does all of this work? The Church of England has a governing body called the General Synod.

It's made up of three Houses, a bit like Harry Potter with the Houses of Griffindor, Ravenclaw and Slytherin, the General Synod has the House of Bishops - the senior leaders, the House of Clergy - the priests, and the House of Laity - the churchgoers, known as lay people.

To pass the legislation on women bishops, each House has to vote in favour with a 2/3 majority.

In November 2012, the House of Bishops and the House of Clergy both voted in favour. The reason it failed hinged on a small margin - just six votes in the House of Laity - so it was the churchgoers who voted it down.

The same people who voted in 2012 will sit at this Synod, so there is still a chance it could be a 'no' again. But most are quietly hopeful that it will go through, albeit with close numbers.

The vote happens this afternoon in York. First there will be a debate, then voting is carried out electronically and in total silence. This will take place by 6.15pm at the latest.

If the outcome is a 'no', it's likely that Parliament will want to to step in, as they were keen to do so back in 2012. Since then, the Church has had almost two years to try and fix the issue themselves, so it seems conceivable that the Government might want to push through the legislation themselves.

If the vote is a 'yes' it then has to go through Parliament, and get Royal Assent, but these should happen quickly and would enable the first female bishop to potentially be appointed early next year.

Each Bishop looks after an area known as a See.

To appoint a Bishop, first one of these Sees has to become available. Then, as there are no plans within the Church for "all women shortlists",  a candidate would need to prove they were the best person for the job, regardless of gender.

Once women can become bishops, there's no limit to how far they could progress in church hierarchy.

If the vote passes, it's possible we could even see a female Archbishop in our lifetime. Now that would truly be an achievement for gender equality and the Christian faith.

18.54 | 0 komentar | Read More

Tulisa Friend Admits Selling Drugs To Reporter

A friend of former N-Dubz singer Tulisa Contostavlos has admitted supplying cocaine to an undercover reporter.

Michael Coombs, who is also known as rapper Mike GLC, pleaded guilty to supplying the Class A drug when he appeared at Southwark Crown Court alongside the star.

Contostavlos, 26, is due to stand trial after she denied being concerned in brokering the alleged drug deal which was exposed by the Sun on Sunday.

It is claimed the former X Factor judge told undercover reporter Mazher Mahmood, dubbed the "fake sheikh", that she could arrange for him to buy cocaine from Coombs between May 20 and May 24 last year.

Michael Coombs pictured in December

Contostavlos, of Friern Barnet, north London, denies helping Mr Mahmood to obtain 0.5oz (13.9g) of the Class A drug for £860.

Judge Alistair McCreath told the rapper he would be sentenced at the end of Contostavlos' trial and released him on bail.

He said: "Michael Coombs, I'll sentence you at the conclusion of the proceedings against your co-defendant, whatever that conclusion may be.

"In the meantime I'll permit you to keep your bail, but you must understand that that consists of no sort of indication as to what sentence you'll get at the end of it.

"On that understanding you may go."

Coombs gave Contostavlos a quick kiss on the cheek and hug and stroked her face as he left the dock.

A jury is due to be sworn in later today, and the prosecution will open the trial on Tuesday.

18.54 | 0 komentar | Read More

Lift-Off For UK Spaceport Plan As Sites Revealed

Britain could be home to one of the first UK spaceports outside of America by 2018, with a shortlist of possible sites to be announced this week.

The base could act as a hub for commercial space flights, such as those planned by Sir Richard Branson's Virgin Galactic, which will blast would-be astronauts into sub-orbit from the United States for $250,000 (£146,000).

The launch pad would rival the futuristic Spaceport America and would open up a route between Britain and space - even before completion of the London-Birmingham high speed rail link or expansion of Heathrow airport.

Of the eight possible locations to be revealed at the Farnborough Air Show on Tuesday, six are in Scotland.

Campbeltown, Kinloss, Leuchars, Lossiemouth, Prestwick and Stornoway are all on the list, confirmation of which will come just two months before Scotland votes in the independence referendum.

The remaining sites are in Newquay, Cornwall, and in Llanbedr, Gwynedd.

Danny Alexander, the chief secretary to the Treasury and a prominent campaigner against independence, said: "Scotland has a proud association with space exploration.

"We celebrated Neil Armstrong's Scottish ancestry when he became the first man on the moon.

"The UK space industry is one of our great success stories and I'm sure there'll be a role for Scotland to play in the future."

Rockets could be launched from Britain within four years

This week's announcement comes after the UK Space Agency launched its first Cubesat mission, putting a shoebox-sized satellite into orbit earlier this month.

British scientists helped build the comet-catching Rosetta spacecraft and are also involved in making the European Mars rover, ExoMars, which is due to arrive on the red planet in 2019.

The British space industry is worth an estimated £9bn a year, employing more than 28,900 people who work for hundreds of companies.

The Government wants to capture a tenth of the world's space market by 2030, making the sector worth up to £40bn and providing as many as 100,000 jobs.

18.54 | 0 komentar | Read More

Birdman Ron Freeman Breaks His Own Record

A daredevil has beaten his own record for the furthest distance unassisted flight during a "birdman" competition in West Sussex.

Ron Freeman soared 159.8 metres in his adapted hang glider the Geordie Flyer at the Worthing International Birdman competition, which sees people throw themselves off the seaside town's pier in various flying machines.

Mr Freeman beat his 141.5 metre record set last year

He passed the 141.5-metre record he set at the event last year, organisers said.

On its Twitter page, the competition announced: "Ron Freeman got a official score of 159.8m well done another new record for Worthing Birdman."

The reigning champ is hoping to clinch the £10,000 prize

Mr Freeman, the reigning champion, could now land the £10,000 top prize at the event - but to win he needs another good run. 

Competitors in his Condor Class for serious attempts have their final scores based on flights on both days of the weekend event.

Last year, Mr Freeman, from Newbiggin-by-the-Sea in Northumberland, missed out on the winnings after strong winds forced him to take a sideways rather than a forwards route off the pier.

The two-day event sees daredevils launch themselves off Worthing pier

Mr Freeman was not the only flier on Saturday to pass the 100-metre mark that competitors have to pass to be eligible for the prize.

Tony Hughes sits in second after soaring 117.1 metres in X Plane VIII, down on the 132.5-metre best he posted last year.

18.54 | 0 komentar | Read More

Ambulance Response Times 'Putting Lives At Risk'

Ambulances are taking longer to reach patients suffering from life-threatening conditions compared to three years ago, according to Labour.

Figures from NHS England suggest that in some areas of the UK, heart attack and stroke victims have to wait almost three minutes more to be seen by a paramedic.

Category A calls where a patient's life is in danger should arrive within eight minutes. But ambulances are taking more than a minute longer to arrive on average and experts warn this is putting lives at risk.

Dr Dale Webb, director of research and information at the Stroke Association, said: "When a stroke strikes, the blood supply to part of your brain is cut off which causes brain cells in the affected area to die.

Paramedic Danny Wroe says increases in traffic are causing longer delays

"So time lost is brain lost. These figures are a concern because stroke patients need to get specialist treatment as soon as possible."

In the East of England, ambulances are taking some 2.8 minutes longer to respond to the most serious calls. In the East Midlands, ambulances are taking 2.3 minutes longer compared to three years ago.

However, East Midlands Ambulance Service spokesperson cast doubt on the data saying the service had hit all of its key performance standards during the first quarter of 2014.

He said: ''The method used nationally to measure response times changed between years so the figures quoted do not compare like with like."

Shadow health secretary Andy Burnham, said: "These figures raise real concerns that lives are being put at risk by the chaos in the NHS.

One trust is recruiting more staff like Danny to help with response times

"Hospital A&E departments have missed the Government's waiting time target for the last 51 weeks running. This crisis in A&E has trapped ambulances in queues outside hospitals - leaving the next caller facing longer, agonising waits. More and more calls are being attended by police cars and even fire engines on David Cameron's watch."

A Department of Health spokesman said: "We know some ambulance trusts are under pressure, carrying out over 850 more journeys every day since 2010, but the NHS continues to respond to the majority of the most life threatening cases in less than eight minutes."

18.54 | 0 komentar | Read More

Reshuffle: New Guard Set For Cabinet Roles

David Cameron is this week expected to deliver the biggest changes to his Cabinet since the beginning of the coalition, with women and a younger generation of MPs expected to benefit.

When it comes to reshuffles, there is one simple rule: the only person who knows all the details is the Prime Minister (and even he can't be certain - remember last time, when Iain Duncan Smith refused to agree to David Cameron's wishes?). The rest is speculation.

Theresa Villiers and Nicky Morgan are in line for top jobs in the Cabinet

However, there are a few things we know for certain.

First, sources confirm this will be a significant reshuffle with some big changes. David Cameron is notoriously reluctant to shuffle his pack - he knows the danger of having disgruntled ex-ministers on the backbenches - but time is running out if he wants to refresh his team ahead of the General Election.

All the signs are that this will be a wide-ranging and significant shuffle.

Second, a big curveball has been thrown into the mix. Next week, EU leaders will meet to dole out the top jobs in the European Commission and Mr Cameron needs to work out who he wants to nominate.

One of the favourites is the Conservative peer Michael Howard, but it could also go to a current minister such as Theresa Villiers or David Willetts - freeing up another plum job back at home.

If those are the certainties, what are the probables?

Westminster watchers expect to see several women rising through the ranks. Elizabeth Truss is tipped for promotion, perhaps taking David Willetts' job as minister for universities, after performing well in her education brief.

Esther McVey is also tipped for a top position

Esther McVey is also a decent bet for an upwards move - being Liverpudlian means she also ticks the "northern" box.

Other well thought of female MPs include Nicky Morgan, Priti Patel and Amber Rudd. It's clear why Mr Cameron may feel there isn't enough oestrogen around the Cabinet table: out of 23 full-time Cabinet members, just three are women and none are mothers.

However, the chorus of complaints from some quarters that if you are a male Tory MP you have no chance of promotion is mistaken.

Male MPs from the 2010 intake who have enjoyed a stratospheric rise include Sajid Javid, Matthew Hancock and Greg Hands.

In fact, this week's reshuffle is more about the new generation of MPs replacing the old.

Senior politicians such as Andrew Lansley, Sir George Young and Ken Clarke are expected to make way for ambitious youngsters - male and female - with the same pattern repeating further down the ministerial ranks.

But don't expect that to mean the end of the "Cameron's Cuties" headlines and moaning from overlooked male MPs.

18.54 | 0 komentar | Read More

Mums-To-Be Admit Drinking Too Much Booze

By Afua Hirsch, Social Affairs Editor

Thousands of women a year are giving birth after admitting having drunk too much during their pregnancies, a Sky News investigation has found.

Although government guidelines warn pregnant women against drinking more than four units a week - equivalent to two large glasses of wine -  hospitals have recorded a significant number drinking much more.

The first hospital figures of their kind suggest that more than 2,000 babies a year are born to mothers who have breached alcohol guidelines.

Heavy drinking during pregnancy increases the health risks to children

And experts say the problem is likely to be much worse as NHS trusts rely on women to honestly report how much they have drunk.

The figures - obtained by Sky News following a Freedom of Information request - show that in the last three years, 2,496 mothers-to-be told hospital staff in England they were drinking at least four units of alcohol a week.

In the worst cases, South Tees Hospital NHS Foundation Trust recorded four women drinking more than 34 units a week over that period.

Liverpool Women's hospital recorded 17 women drinking more than 20 units a week, and two drinking more than 10 units every day.

However, fewer than half of all England NHS trusts (45 out of 108) were able to supply figures.

Figures obtained by Sky News also reveal gaps in monitoring of consumption

Extrapolating the figures suggests that just over 2,000 mothers-to-be admit to drinking too much during pregnancy.

Overall, the hospital statistics showed around 0.5% of pregnant women admitted drinking more than the Department of Health guidelines.

Heavy drinking during pregnancy increases the risk that babies will be born with foetal alcohol syndrome - a life-long condition that can leave children physically and mentally disabled.

One woman whose son was born with foetal alcohol syndrome after she drunk heavily during pregnancy following years of alcoholism, said little was done to help her break her addiction.

"When I was five months pregnant, I told the midwife that I was an alcoholic and that I couldn't control my drinking," said Samantha Marchant, 40, from Slough.

"They referred me to a drug and alcohol team which put me on a drinks diary ... I'd have liked them to say 'you can have a place in rehab', but it wasn't offered."

Samantha Marchant says more must be done to help mums-to-be break habits

"I didn't know about the biology of what happens if you drink in pregnancy," added Ms Marchant, who is now a recovered alcoholic and works to raise other women's awareness of the dangers of drinking during pregnancy.

Dr Raja Mukherjee, lead clinician for the national foetal alcohol spectrum disorder clinic at Surrey and Borders Partnership NHS Foundation Trust, said: "All the research has shown that high level alcohol exposure causes significant damage to a developing foetus.

"We know that women are drinking more .. 90% of women in this country drink and they don't all suddenly stop when they are pregnant."

The figures obtained by Sky also reveal significant gaps in the monitoring of alcohol consumption during pregnancy.

More than 90% of hospitals do not ask women about their alcohol consumption throughout pregnancy, and three of the NHS trusts did not ask pregnant women about their drinking at all.

18.54 | 0 komentar | Read More

Archbishops Split Over Right-To-Die Debate

Former Archbishop of Canterbury Lord Carey has made an extraordinary U-turn by announcing he is backing laws to legalise assisted dying.

His support for Labour peer Lord Falconer's Bill, which will be debated in the House of Lords next week, goes against the Church of England's official line that the law on assisted suicide should not change.

Lord Carey said it would not be "anti-Christian" to legalise assisted suicide and that by opposing reform the Church risked "promoting anguish and pain".

Tony Nicklinson died two years ago

He said the case of Tony Nicklinson - the locked-in syndrome sufferer who died after being refused the legal right to die - had the "deepest influence" on his change of heart.

"Here was a dignified man making a simple appeal for mercy, begging that the law allow him to die in peace, supported by his family," he wrote in the Daily Mail.

"His distress made me question my motives in previous debates. Had I been putting doctrine before compassion, dogma before human dignity?"

Assisted suicide is already legal at clinics like this in Switzerland

Mr Nicklinson's widow Jane said she was "amazed and thrilled" at Lord Carey's U-turn.

His comments come as a surprise because he was part of a coalition that helped stop Lord Joffe's Assisting Dying for the Terminally Ill Bill in 2006 in the House of Lords.

But while the former Archbishop has come out in favour of a change in the law, the current Archbishop of Canterbury, the Most Rev Justin Welby, has condemned the Bill as "mistaken and dangerous".

Writing in the Times, Archbishop Welby warned the "deep personal demands" of individuals should not blind people to the pressures others could be put under should the practice become legal.

Lord Falconer's Bill would allow adults to ask for help to die

"It would be very naive to think that many of the elderly people who are abused and neglected each year, as well as many severely disabled individuals, would not be put under pressure to end their lives if assisted suicide were permitted by law," he wrote.

Archbishop Welby said a law that permitted assisted suicide would be "bound" to lead to some people feeling they ought to stop "being a burden to others".

Under the 1961 Suicide Act, it remains a criminal offence carrying up to 14 years in jail to help take someone's life.

If successful, Lord Falconer's Bill would allow mentally capable adults in England and Wales to ask for help to die if they were suffering from a terminal illness and had less than six months to live.

Modelled on a system in place in the US state of Oregon, patients would be able to administer a fatal dose of drugs to themselves, but would not be able to be given help if they could not lift it or swallow it.

18.54 | 0 komentar | Read More