Two men charged with walking stick killing
May 28, 2009
Reginald Baker, a 75-year-old pensioner, was attacked and brutally beaten with his own walking stick, ultimately leading to his death. The vicious assault, which was fully captured on CCTV cameras, was carried out by two men, Jobey Barney and John James.
It is thought that Barney, 25, and James, 19, were after the old man’s savings, but when Baker refused to give up the hiding place, the pair began to get violent in an attempt to force the information from him.
Baker, who had been suffering from cancer, ended up with a broken neck and back, along with every single rib being shattered.
Judge John Royce ruled the two men guilt, telling them:
“You both pursued this sickening, prolonged, callous and vicious attack before leaving this old man dying.”
Both men were given life sentences; Barney will face a minimum of 30 years, while James will be serving a term of 28 years.
The camera that brought the men to justice had only been installed by police a week earlier due to another burglary, in which £2,300 was stolen from Baker. The two men went through with up to 35 minutes of torture of Mr Baker before fleeing and proceeding to have a normal night out drinking with friends.
Octuplet mum claims she is not living off others
April 2, 2009
Ever since she hit the news after giving birth to eight babies on January the 26th, Nadya Suleman, has been in and out of the news. First of all it was joy at the fact she had managed to give birth to all those little babies. But this was short lived and it soon turned out she had used artificial insemination and had too many eggs implanted.
This caused a bit of a debate as it seems she was forewarned by doctors not to have so many eggs implanted and was actually turned down by one doctor who refused to perform the procedure.
However, once this was all tided over, Suleman was back in the limelight with her baby shower. This was no ordinary baby shower, it took place on the “Dr Phil” TV show and she was given a plethora of baby gifts, including pushchairs, cribs, bunkbeds and baby upgrades for her home.
The home improvement includes a new nursery, flooring and more in the hope of making it worthy of the hospital inspection. Sounds like one of the best baby showers a mum could hope for.
The latest debacle arose after it was claimed she was getting her parents and family to help her purchase a brand new four bedroom home. However, Suleman assures that she is paying for this new house on her own.
The institution of ‘marriage’ seems to be losing its charm
March 26, 2009
Marriage, perhaps the most precious of all social institutions, has seemingly lost its charm in the UK. If the current trend of live-in relationships and cohabitation continues, in no time, marriage will be considered as an outdated concept
The fears expressed by pro-family groups are not unwarranted. If one goes by the statistics, the number of scared nuptial knots tied has fallen further in 2008, also because of recession.
The two main reasons for couples opting for live-in relationships are the cost of living for the married couples and hefty sum of almost over ₤21,000 needed to be met for weddings. The Iona Institute of Dublin reported that the number of people who live as husband and wife in England and Wales could fall to less than half of the population.
Lord Bikhu Parekh said:
“If we include those who are living-in and in cohabitation than the number of couples has not fallen. They are now entitled to over 75 per cent of the rights of married couples and the children from such relationships are considered legitimate.”
All said and done, it clearly seems that the institution of ‘marriage’ is fast losing its sheen, especially among the younger population.
Men encouraged for jobs in nurseries
January 20, 2009
Men are being encouraged to take up jobs in nurseries. A survey suggests that many parents actually want their toddlers to emulate male role models. This is possible by having more contact with them. In reality, only two men are there for every 100 people engaged in childcare.
The Council for Children’s Workforce Development (CWDC) spoke to nearly 1,000 parents about this particular issue and sought their opinion on men working in nurseries. Single mothers appear to be concerned in particular. About 66% of them said that they would prefer a man to be involved in the development of their child. However, of all the parents questioned, almost 59% stated there was not a single man worked at the nursery where they sent their child.
The survey hints 17% of children have less than two hours of contact time on weekly basis with a male adult, whereas 39% get less than six hours. Over half of the parents surveyed, 57%, believed men and women had totally different skills to help young children.
Around 3,000 men currently work in early years childcare. This is just about 2% of the workforce. The CWDC wants more men to work in early years settings
Prince Harry’s video clip uttering racial remarks stirs up hornet’s nest
January 14, 2009
The News of the World reported that Harry (third in line to the British throne), used offensive terms referring to people from Afghanistan and Pakistan decent. The incident occurred in 2006.
An army lieutenant in the Household Cavalry’s Blues and Royals is held responsible for the racial remarks in an airport departure lounge as soldiers waited to travel to Cyprus on a training mission.
As per the report, in the video, Harry referred to one colleague as “our little Paki friend” which in turn is a derogatory term for people of Pakistani origin. It was also reported that Prince Harry called another cadet, who was wearing a headscarf a `rag head`. According to the newspaper, the video was filmed by other cadets and supplied to them.
St. James’s Palace, the office of Harry and his elder brother Prince William said on Saturday that Harry was sorry for any offense caused by his use of the word `Paki`.
“Prince Harry fully understands how offensive this term can be, and is extremely sorry for any wrongdoing his words might cause. However, on this occasion three years ago, Prince Harry used the term without any malice and as a nickname about a highly popular member of his platoon. There is no question that Prince Harry was in any way seeking to insult his friend” said spokesman, Patrick Harrison.
Britain’s defence ministry in a statement said:
“Neither the army nor the armed forces tolerates inappropriate behavior in any shape or form. The Army takes all allegations of inappropriate behavior very seriously and substantive allegations are invested.”
Prince’s apology is genuine, states PM
January 13, 2009
Prime Minister Gordon Brown believes that the British public will give Prince Harry benefit of the doubt.
The prince apologised for making use of racist language. He was caught on film calling his fellow cadet a racist term. Gordon Brown though thinks his apology was genuine.
Labour MP, Keith Vaz stated the term was ‘wounding and unacceptable’. A senior army officer is going to look into the peculiar circumstances surrounding the comment, made.
It was made in a home video that Prince Harry made while he was an officer cadet and one that was obtained by a newspaper. The prime minister, speaking on GMTV, stated
“It was indeed a mistake and he has made the admission of that. The British people are good enough to give someone who has actually been a role model for young people and who has done well fighting for our country… the benefit of the doubt.”
Labour MP Keith Vaz though told BBC Radio 4 that Prince Harry needed to spend more time to learn from his father, who had shown how much indeed, can be done towards building relations between communities! Rod Richards, who has served in John Major’s Conservative government as a Foreign Office minister and also as the Royal Marines officer, defended the prince.
A true happy New Year for siblings separated for 43 years
January 7, 2009
Ken Whitty had lost contact with Yvone, his sister, for almost 43 years. As fate would have it, the two siblings were living just 300 yards apart in neighbouring streets.
Sixty four year old Ken said: “I have walked past her house lots of times and I’ve even seen her in the garden. I have walked pat her in the street and never realized she was my sister.”
Yvone and Ken were orphaned when they were children and they were living at a family friend’s house. Yvone, at the age of 21, left home and as a result they lost touch. At Christmas, Ken decided to place an ad in the local newspaper.
He said: “I often wondered what had happened to ‘our kid’. I’ve tried lots of different ways to find her over the years and it all came to nothing. I just had to do it this year. I didn’t even know if Yvonne was still alive.”
Soon after the letter appeared Ken received a phone call. Ken bursting into laughter said:
“It happened just like that. I couldn’t believe it. It’s just overwhelming.”
The siblings then discovered that they were living just yards from each other in Greater Manchester. Ken was happy to spend the New Year, introducing to his wife, Carolyn, four children and six grand children. Yvonne who is also married has four children and 10 grand children.
Both paid an emotional visit to the grave of their father George – who passed away in 1952 when Ken was eight – and mum Marry, who died five years later. The efforts by Ken eventually paid off and he got God’s remarkable New Year gift.
The rise of ‘relay parenting’
December 20, 2008
One in four parents, according to a new finding, has cut down on their working life so that they could spend extra time with their family. A new government study has charted the rise of ‘relay parenting’ whereby both partners do the parenting to fit around their working life.
Families are under immense stress from the intense pressures of juggling home and work life. Working parents are far more likely to remain together owing to major financial problems, states the Cabinet Office study that traces the changing nature of the UK families. It was presented at a conference by Ed Balls, the children’s secretary, to show the big impact of family breakdown on innocent children.
The paper notes the end of the ‘typical’ family.
The introduction by minister for families Beverley Hughes and Cabinet Office minister Liam Byrne states:
“”We see an increasing range of family structures – to the extent that arguably there is no longer a ‘one-size-fits-all’ family in the UK today. This is diversity and not decline. Warm, stable and loving relationships matter more for our wellbeing and happiness than the legal form of a relationship.”
It documents in detail the impact of long, tough working hours on families. Around 25% of working adults (aged 30 to 59) have quit their jobs, reduced their working hours or have changed their career path.
Romantic flicks create unrealistic expectations among couples
December 19, 2008
Researchers at Edinburgh have carried out a study to find out the effects romantic comedies on couples. For a long time, it was believed romantic stories might have fired the love lives of many. Contrary to popular belief, a new study has claimed watching the romantic comedies is more likely lead to the belief in predestined love.
According to them, viewing even a single romantic comedy is enough to sway people’s attitudes to romantic love. Dr. Bjarne Holmes, the lead researcher, said:
“Marriage counselors often see couples who believe that sex should always be perfect, and if someone is meant to be with you then they will know what you want without you needing to communicate it. We now have some emerging evidence that suggests popular media play a role in perpetuating these ideas in our minds.”
For their study, the researchers from University of Heriot Watt studied almost 40 top box office films released between 1995 and 2005 before identifying the common themes that are unrealistic. Holmes said;
“The problem is that while most of us know that the idea of a perfect relationship is unrealistic, some of us are still more influenced by media portrayals than we realize.”
Interfering mother-in-laws cause sadness
December 5, 2008
Researchers in the UK conducted a study on the relationship between a mother in-law and daughter in-law and found it is the root causes of many family conflicts. Friction between the two can resulting in long term unhappiness and stress to their daughters in-law who accuse the elder women of showing unreasonable jealousy and maternal love towards their sons.
The Daily Telegraph quoted lead researcher Terri Apter as saying,
“Mother In-law and daughter in-law conflict emerges from an expectation that each is criticising or undermining the other. But this mutual unease may have less to do with actual attitudes and far more to do with persistent female norms that few of us manage to take off completely.’
Mr. Terri added:
“As they struggle to achieve the same position in the family as primary woman, each tries to establish or protect their status; each feels threatened by the other.”
Interviewing, hundreds of families, for her new book, ‘What Do You Want From Me?” he found that over two-thirds of women said their husband’s mother caused them anxiety while the mother in-law complained they were isolated by their daughters in-law.
More often the researchers found disputes starting over simple matters like who is more aware about issues such as cooking and the welfare of the child.
