Education secretary seeks to stem ‘erosion of adult authority’ by recruiting former male soldiers to the classroom Ministers are scrapping a requirement for teachers to record instances when they use physical force, as part of a wider move to “restore adult authority” in the wake of the riots in England. The education secretary, Michael Gove, said that he wanted greater numbers of men teaching, particularly in primary schools, so as to provide children with male authority figures who could display “both strength and sensitivity”. In a speech delivered at Durand academy, in Stockwell, south London, Gove said the regulations on the use of force inhibited teachers’ judgment. He said: “So let me be crystal clear, if any parent now hears a school say, ‘sorry, we can’t physically touch the students’, then that school is wrong. Plain wrong. The rules of the game have changed.” Gove said men considering teaching were deterred by a fear of rules that made contact between adults and children “a legal minefield”. The government was planning to start a programme this autumn encouraging former members of the armed forces to take up teaching, specifically to ensure more male role models, Gove said. In a speech that sought to address the causes of the riots in August, Gove began by making a moral distinction between what he called a “hard-working majority” and a “vicious, lawless, immoral minority”. But he went on to examine what he said were the policy failures that lay behind the creation of the “educational underclass”. He said: “To investigate where the looters came from is not to make excuses because of background. It is to shine a light on failures that originated in poor policy, skewed priorities, and the deliberate undermining of legitimate authority.” Gove said he was haunted by the thought that, if circumstances had been different, he might have been a part of this underclass. The education secretary highlighted his own family background. “I was born to a single parent, never knew my biological father and spent my first few months in care. “Thanks to the love of my adoptive mother and father, and the education I enjoyed, I was given amazing opportunities. So I know just how much the right parenting, the right values at home, and the right sort of school matter in determining a child’s fate.” Gove said there had been a slow erosion of adult authority, subverted by a culture in which young people felt able to ignore civilised boundaries. “The only way to reverse this dissolution of legitimate authority is step-by-step to move the ratchet back in favour of teachers.” Gove also spoke of an “iron-clad link” between illiteracy, disruption, truancy, exclusion and crime. More than 430,000 children were absent for 15% of school time, and more than a million pupils missed 10% of the academic year, he said. He added that only a third of those students who missed between 10% and 20% of school got the “basic minimum” of five good GCSE passes. The government is asking Charlie Taylor, a headteacher and Gove’s adviser on behaviour, to look at improving “alternative provision” units for children with behavioural problems. Taylor will be asked to work with Lord Harris of Peckham, who sponsors academies, to speed up the ability of those entities to create provision for excluded and disruptive pupils. Brian Lightman, general secretary of the Association of School and College Leaders, welcomed Gove’s statement concerning the use of force against pupils. He said: “ASCL is delighted that the secretary of state has responded to our advice with the wise decision not to proceed with these regulations. The requirement would have imposed yet another bureaucratic burden that did nothing to improve discipline or safeguard children. “The use of physical restraint is thankfully required very rarely in schools. On occasions where it is needed, detailed guidance exists and staff fully understand the need to follow it to the letter. Schools already keep records of breaches of discipline.” Michael Gove Education policy Schools Academies UK riots Liberal-Conservative coalition Jeevan Vasagar guardian.co.uk
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Couple who supplied women for prime minister’s parties said to have been paid to do a deal with prosecutors to avoid trial Two people alleged to have blackmailed Silvio Berlusconi were arrested in Rome on Thursday, in a move that further embarrassed Italy’s embattled prime minister. Giampaola Tarantini, who was arrested at dawn at his flat near Via Veneto – one of Rome’s most expensive streets – was a central figure in a sex scandal that threatened to bring down Berlusconi two years ago. In a statement to police published in September 2009, the businessman, from Bari in southern Italy, acknowledged supplying some 30 women for parties and dinners at the prime minister’s Roman palazzo . He said at least six women had spent the night there. Tarantini’s wife, 34-year-old Angela Vevenuto, was also taken into custody and a warrant was issued for the arrest of a third person believed not to be in Italy. According to Italian media reports, they are accused of receiving €500,000 (nearly £441,000) from Berlusconi along with benefits in kind including the rent on the Tarantinis’ Rome flat. Details of the investigation were leaked last month in a news magazine belonging to Berlusconi. The magazine, Panorama, claimed the prosecutors believed Tarantini was being paid to stop him contradicting the prime minister’s claim that he was unaware that any of the women who visited his home were prostitutes. Berlusconi, who turns 75 later this month, has made much over the years of his talents as a playboy. And he has repeatedly insisted he would never wish – or need – to pay a woman for sex. Panorama said that, in telephone conversations secretly intercepted by police, Tarantini had repeatedly said Berlusconi was indeed oblivious of the payments the women were receiving. The magazine claimed that the main reason why the prime minister was passing money to the businessman was to ensure he did a deal with the prosecutors to avoid a trial and the disclosure of “telephone wiretaps held to be embarrassing”. It is hard to imagine, however, what could be more compromising than the details that have already emerged. One of his guests has given an account of four-in-a-bed sex, while another said she had used a mobile phone to record her pillow talk with the prime minister. Two years ago, recordings were posted to the web in which she and someone sounding like Berlusconi discussed, among other things, male orgasms and female masturbation. The prime minister’s lawyers denied the recordings were genuine. Silvio Berlusconi Europe Italy John Hooper guardian.co.uk
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Sentencing concerns raised again as justice ministry figures show two-thirds of defendants remanded in custody More than 1,560 suspects have been brought before the courts for riot-related offences, according to the latest statistics released by the Ministry of Justice. Of those appearing at magistrates courts since disturbances erupted in early August, 66% have been remanded in custody – a far higher rate than normal and a reflection of continuing police and judicial concern about the seriousness of offences. Only 10% of those attending magistrates courts last year were remanded in custody. Sentencing in magistrates courts reveals a similar disparity: 45% of those convicted following the riots have been jailed against 12% for comparable offences such as affray, assault, burglary and violent disorder last year. The latest figures show that nearly 100 people have been brought before the courts in the past week as more suspects are identified and tracked down. Of the 1,566 total so far, more than 1,000 were in London, nearly 200 in Manchester, and about 130 in the West Midlands. One in five (22%) were youths, aged 10 to 17, and nine out of 10 (91%) were male. The shadow home secretary, Yvette Cooper, accused the government of depriving the police of sufficient resources to tackle the consequences of the violence and looting. Talking to local residents in Clapham, south London, Cooper said ministers were backing away from their pledge to meet extra policing costs. “It is shocking that at a time like this the prime minister and the home secretary are leaving police forces across the country in limbo, seriously concerned that the cuts they are already struggling with have been made even worse. “Now when the Metropolitan police has a minimum £34m bill in extra policing costs, at a time when they are already set to lose nearly 2,000 officers, the government has abandoned them. “We contacted the home secretary two weeks ago to ask if the prime minister’s pledge to stand behind the extra costs for police forces was going to be met, but the only response has been stony silence. “David Cameron must urgently clarify where forces stand, and reopen the police spending review which is resulting in the loss of over 16,000 officers nationwide.” Earlier this week, the Magistrates’ Association chairman John Thornhill rejected claims that there had been a “feeding frenzy” in sentencing after the recent riots. Eoin McLennan-Murray, president of the Prison Governors Association (PGA), had claimed that magistrates had lost all sense of proportion “This kind of speedy across-the-board justice probably means a number of people are dealt with unfairly,” he said. Thornhill said: “The sentencing guidelines are very clear. Let’s remember that these are serious offences. In most cases people are charged with burglary and in some cases aggravated burglary”. Most of the sentences had been imposed by full-time district judges rather than the lay magistracy, he added. Criticism of magistrates was “unreasonable and unfounded”. UK riots Crime Owen Bowcott guardian.co.uk
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Archaeologists believe key figure involved in construction of Wiltshire ancient monument is buried at Preseli mountains site Archaeologists are researching the grave of an important figure they believe may have played a crucial role in the construction of Stonehenge. The burial chamber is sited above a ceremonial stone circle in the Preseli hills in west Wales, where it is believed bluestone was quarried before being taken to Stonehenge. More research will be done to establish if the important person buried there played a role in the moving of bluestone 190 miles from west Wales to the Wiltshire monument. The find has been made by professors Tim Darvill and Geoffrey Wainwright, who have spent the last 10 years trying to establish how and why the bluestones – or spotted dolerite – were transported from the Preseli hills to Stonehenge. In 2008, following the first excavation at Stonehenge in more than 40 years , the professors said they had established that the bluestones – the size of a man or smaller – arrived at Stonehenge about 4,500 years ago. Their hypothesis was that the bluestones – rather than the much larger sarsen stones that give Stonehenge its familiar shape – were the real draw because they were believed to have healing powers. Wainwright said: “We went back to the Preselis and started doing excavations up there. The first site we explored was a big burial cairn in the shadow of Carn Menyn, where the Stonehenge bluestones come from.” The team found a circle underneath the cairn built of bluestone, the same material taken to Stonehenge, and work is being carried out to date this. But Wainwright said he would be surprised if the circle had not been created at about the same time that the bluestones were taken to Stonehenge, strengthening the link between west Wales and Stonehenge in the theory. “Then this stone circle was covered with the huge burial cairn with a chamber in the middle. The space turned from a public ceremonial space defined by the stone circle into the burial spot of a very important person.” Wainwright said it was a “jump” to claim the person buried there was an architect of Stonehenge. “It’s a hypothesis but it could well be true. There is certainly something very significant about the grave.” Stonehenge Archaeology Heritage Wales Steven Morris guardian.co.uk
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Jamaican gangster, whose manhunt sparked Kingston gun battle that left 76 dead, accused of trafficking drugs and weapons Accused Jamaican drug gang leader Christopher “Dudus” Coke pleaded guilty in a New York court to racketeering charges more than a year after a manhunt that sparked deadly gun battles. Coke, 42, was arrested in Jamaica in June last year after a five-week manhunt that began when police and soldiers stormed slums in the country’s capital, Kingston, in an attempt to take him into custody. Seventy-six people were killed over four days of gun battles sparked by the raids. Coke was a strong supporter of the ruling Jamaica Labour party and wielded powerful influence in the west Kingston slums. Jamaica initially refused to extradite him and the case had strained relations with the United States. He was extradited to New York in June last year on marijuana, cocaine and firearms trafficking charges and pleaded guilty in Manhattan federal court to one racketeering conspiracy count and one count of conspiracy to commit assault in aid of racketeering. Coke, in a blue prison uniform, admitted to running the Presidential Click, a Kingston-based crime group that trafficked guns, cocaine and marijuana between Jamaica and the United States. “I also ordered the purchase of firearms and the importation of those firearms into Jamaica in furtherance of this conspiracy,” Coke told US district judge Robert Patterson. Coke faces up to 23 years in prison at his sentencing on 8 December. Christopher ‘Dudus’ Coke Drugs trade Jamaica United States guardian.co.uk
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Haroon Jahan, Shazad Ali and Abdul Musavir were struck by car during rioting in Winson Green area of Birmingham A 29-year-old man has appeared in court charged with the murders of three men who were killed as they tried to protect shops and homes in Birmingham from looters. Haroon Jahan, 21, and brothers Shazad Ali, 30, and 31-year-old Abdul Musavir were struck by a car in the early hours of 10 August during riots in the Winson Green area of the city. They were pronounced dead in hospital. Everton Graham, of no fixed abode, spoke only to confirm his name and date of birth during a brief hearing at Birmingham magistrates court. Graham was remanded in custody to appear at Birmingham crown court on Friday. West Midlands police have arrested 11 men in connection with the killings. Ian Beckford, 30, Joshua Donald, 26, 23-year-old Adam King and a 17-year-old male who cannot be named have already been charged with murder and have been remanded in custody. Liam Young, 28, from Winson Green, was charged with perverting the course of justice. Five other males, aged 17, 23, 29, 32 and 33, have also been arrested and bailed pending further inquiries. UK riots Crime guardian.co.uk
Continue reading …Carbuncle Cup 2011: MediaCityUK is crowned Britain’s ugliest new building
September 1, 2011 No Comment
The controversial annual award for the country’s worst new building goes to the BBC’s new Salford home, with the Museum of Liverpool in hot pursuit There were other strong contenders, but the 2011 Carbuncle Cup for Britain’s “ugliest new building” has been awarded to the £600m MediaCityUK . This concatenation of anaemic buildings is the controversial new regional headquarters of the BBC, and home to the media studies faculty of Salford University. Granada TV also moves in next year, bringing the space a newly reconstructed Coronation Street and the Rovers Return . From a distance, MediaCityUK looks like one of those sprawling faceless office blocks, shunted alongside bleak city squares, that were common in eastern Europe 50 years ago. Close up, it proves to have less charm than Berlin’s Alexanderplatz and, sited at Salford Quays , it also lacks the sunny climate of Dubai, the place whose Media City inspired this Lancashire build by the property company Peel Holdings and its architects, Wilkinson Eyre , Chapman Taylor and Fairhurst Design Group . The controversial annual award loathed by architects and their clients is compiled by Building Design magazine , a weekly media fix for architects. This year’s shortlist, drawn from suggestions by members of the public, included the opulent blocks of flats designed for international multi-millionaires by Richard Rogers for the Candy Brothers at One Hyde Park in London, the Museum of Liverpool by 3XN and AEW , and Newport railway station in South Wales by Nicholas Grimshaw and Atkins . Several of the schemes, including MediaCityUK, Newport station and the Museum of Liverpool, have been designed by firms of well-known “signature” architects, then executed by much bigger commercial practices that produced the buildings on time and on budget, but without soul and a spirit of place. MediaCityUK might be anywhere from Salford to Shanghai, and the Carbuncle Cup nomination for MediaCityUK reads: “For an organisation with high cultural aspirations, it is hard to see how the BBC could have sunk much lower.” “If you’re going to spend £600m on a complete city district that is also the home of one of the nation’s leading cultural institutions as well as other high-profile media and university tenants”, says Hugh Pearman, editor of the RIBA Journal and one of the Carbuncle Cup judges, “then it’s a bit of a shame not to pay more attention to the quality of the architecture. It would have cost very little more to make this place really special.” In today’s issue of Building Design, editor Ellis Woodman writes: “Whatever urban aspiration may be indicated by its name, a city is the last thing one would mistake this development for. There is no urban idea to speak of whatsoever – no space that one might recognise as a street; no common architectural language; no difference between the fronts and backs of buildings. There is no distinction made between civic and private buildings either. Visiting MediaCityUK, it is hard to see how the corporation could set their aspirations any lower. How uncreative can a ‘Creative Quarter’ be?” The undoubted runner-up this year is the new Museum of Liverpool. “Liverpool secured the Carbuncle Cup two years ago for Hamilton Architects’ ferry terminal “, says Woodman. “This ridiculous building won in considerable part because of the damage it did to the view of the Three Graces – the trio of early 20th-century buildings that have long provided Liverpool’s defining architectural image. Sadly, this vandalism to the city’s waterfront was only the start.” With its ski-slope roof, glaring white walls and bizarre ramps making access awkward, the museum defaces the city’s famous Pier Head and cocks a snook at its magnificent neighbours. “Our first reaction”, Kim Nielsen, director of 3XN, the Danish practice responsible for the original design (and since fired from the job) has said, “was that you shouldn’t build here.” A lesson, perhaps, for all potential Carbuncle Cup winners, whether this year or next. Architecture BBC Jonathan Glancey guardian.co.uk
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Former NHS chief Lord Crisp hints that too many hospital building projects were carried out under Labour Hospitals should be closed so the NHS in England can switch resources to the long-term care of the burgeoning numbers of older people in the community, the former chief executive of the health service Lord Crisp has said. He would not put a figure on closures, but implied that too many new hospital building projects might have been carried out when Labour was in office and he was the NHS head. Crisp, who was chief executive from 2000 to 2006, told the BBC news website : “In the late 1990s waiting lists, A&E and standards in cardiac care were the big issues and we dealt with them. “But the challenge now is dealing with the numbers of older people and those with long-term conditions. They need supporting in the community. “That means a shift away from hospitals. There will be less need for large hospital outpatient departments and some services and whole hospitals will need to close or be merged with others.” Crisp, who made similar remarks later on the BBC’s Today programme, added: “By 2005 there was no hospital that was not thinking it was going to grow. We had major problems with very bad facilities, [but] perhaps we could have built smaller or consolidated on fewer sites. “We missed that opportunity and this government needs to grasp that. We can’t keep services going just because there is a nice building.” Crisp’s book on his time leading the NHS during the Tony Blair years, 24 Hours to Save the NHS, will be published this month. The Department of Health told the BBC that ministers agreed with the principle that more care should be moved into the community, but added that changes must be made for the right reasons. Labour said patients had benefited from its investment and reforms during its time in office. Crisp’s successor, Sir David Nicholson, has already said the NHS should reduce the number of acute beds and that politicians would have to sell such changes to the public. NHS Health Health policy Public services policy James Meikle guardian.co.uk
Continue reading …Syrian city’s attorney general resigns in protest at government crackdown
September 1, 2011 No Comment
Muhammad al-Bakkour says he was asked to report that ‘armed gangs’ killed hundreds who were buried in mass graves in Hama The attorney general of the embattled Syrian city of Hama has resigned in protest against crimes against the local population committed by security forces. In an online video posted by activists , a man who identifies himself as Adnan Muhammad al-Bakkour said he was standing down because of the continued suppression of peaceful protest against the regime of the president, Bashar al-Assad. According to Bakkour, 72 prisoners were killed in Hama’s central prison on 31 July at the start of a three-day assault on the city on the eve of Ramadan. Bakkour said a further 420 people had been buried in mass graves in public parks by security forces and loyalists, which he was then asked to report as having been killed by “armed gangs”. He said that around 320 people had died under torture. “I, Judge Adnan Muhammad al-Bakkour, Hama province attorney general, declare that I have resigned in protest at the savage regime’s practices against peaceful demonstrators,” he said. Bakkour also alleged that the army had demolished houses with people still inside them in the al-Hadima area of Hama. He named a series of officials he claimed were linked to the crimes including the interior minister, Mohammed al-Shaar, who he said personally directed the military campaign against Hama. If verified, Bakkour’s resignation would be one of the highest level defections in a regime that has remained remarkably cohesive in the face of rising domestic and international pressure. On Monday the Syrian state news agency, Sana, said Bakkour had been kidnapped by armed men on his way to work and forced to “present false information”. But a resident of Hama who knows Bakkour denied that he had been abducted, and confirmed to the Guardian that he had resigned: “It was a surprise that he did this but I have spoken to people and it is true. We are now worried the regime will attack his family.” The government assault on Hama – whose residents had been protesting in their thousands – left more than 100 dead, according to human rights groups. But Bakkour’s statement suggests the human toll may be far higher than previously reported. In a report released on Tuesday Amnesty International said 88 people had died in custody and the UN says more than 2,200 people have been killed since Syria’s uprising began in mid-March. The release of the video came as troops backed by tanks launched fresh raids searching for activists behind the protests, local residents said. Dozens of people were arrested in a series of operations in the city. So far there have been low-level defections from the army and security forces but no officials have publicly stepped down. During the campaign against Hama the defence minister Ali Habib was replaced, leading to rumours that he was unhappy with the brutal crackdown which escalated at the start of Ramadan. The government said his retirement was due to illness. • Nour Ali is the pseudonym for a journalist based in Damascus Syria Arab and Middle East unrest Middle East Protest Nour Ali guardian.co.uk
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• UK manufacturing sector shrinks as exports plunge • German manufacturing almost grinds to halt • France, Italy and Spain’s PMIs all contract • US ISM data out later today Factory activity in the UK and the rest of Europe worsened sharply last month, triggering fresh fears of a double-dip recession. In Britain, manufacturing shrank at its fastest pace in more than two years as export orders plummeted. Germany’s manufacturing sector – until now the star performer in the western world and the engine of growth in the eurozone – has almost ground to a halt while factory output in France, Italy and Spain is contracting. A closely watched monthly survey from Markit/CIPS showed the UK manufacturing headline index dipping to 49 in August from 49.4 in July. Export orders plunged, with the measure falling to 46.6 from 53.8. A number below 50 signals contraction. “The second half of 2011 has so far seen the UK manufacturing sector, once the pivotal cog in the economic recovery, switch into reverse gear,” said Rob Dobson, senior economist at Markit. August saw production fall for the first time since May 2009 on the back of the sharpest deterioration in new orders for two-and-a-half years. There was also a slight drop in employment levels as manufacturers seek to cut costs. “The sudden and substantial drop in new export orders is particularly worrisome, with UK manufacturers hit by rising global economic uncertainty, just as austerity measures are ramping up at home. As consumer and business confidence are slumping both at home and abroad, it is hard to see where any near-term improvement in demand will spring from.” Alan Clarke at Scotia Capital agreed. “The much hoped for revival of manufacturing as an engine of growth for the wider economy has run out of juice.” German manufacturing grew at the slowest pace in almost two years due to a sharp drop in new orders last month. Markit’s purchasing managers’ index fell for the fourth money in a row to 50.9 for August, the weakest level since September 2009 and compared with 52 in July. It is now near the 50 mark which divides expansion from contraction. “Slower manufacturing growth mainly reflected the sharpest fall in new export orders since mid-2009,” said Tim Moore, senior economist at Markit. “Heightened uncertainty about the global economic outlook and the escalating euro area debt crisis were cited as the main reasons why export clients put the brakes on spending in August.” The German economy grew by just 0.1% in the second quarter, even less than the UK at 0.2%. In France, the eurozone’s second-largest economy, the picture was even worse – the manufacturing sector contracted for the first time since July 2009. The PMI dropped to 49.1 in August from 50.5 in July, casting another shadow over France which is already struggling with high unemployment, stagnant wages and weak consumer spending. Manufacturing in Italy, the eurozone’s third-largest economy, shrank at its fastest rate in two years, with its PMI falling to 47 from 50.1. Spain’s factory activity contracted for the fourth month in a row in August. Its PMI slipped to 45.3 from 45.6. “The eurozone manufacturing PMIs for August make bleak reading, with deterioration across virtually all countries and also across most components of the surveys,” said Howard Archer, chief UK and European economist at IHS Global Insight. “Not only are the southern periphery eurozone countries and Ireland continuing to struggle markedly but there is also a sharp slowdown in manufacturing activity in the previously healthily performing core northern eurozone economies.” On the other side of the Atlantic, US manufacturing is expected to have shrunk in August for the first time in two years. The Institute for Supply Management will release its monthly survey at 3pm BST London time. While China’s manufacturing industry bounced back last month, a decline in export orders – the first since April 2009 – raised concerns. Manufacturing data Economics Manufacturing sector Economic growth (GDP) Europe Germany Europe Julia Kollewe guardian.co.uk
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