Friday, March 29News For London

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Headteachers do enough to safeguard excluded pupils, says school leaders’ union

Headteachers do enough to safeguard excluded pupils, says school leaders’ union

News, ReportingWeek2
Introducing a statutory duty on headteachers when sending an excluded pupil home is ill-advised, the National Headteachers Association said today following an appeal in the House of Lords. Conservative peer Lord Lupton today encouraged the government to introduce a higher duty of care on headteachers when excluding children under the age of 16 from their schools. This follows reports of London school children being excluded as a result of anti-social behaviour. Lord Lupton said the government should revise regulations so headteachers are required to release excluded pupils to a parent, guardian or approved carer. It was stressed that if there is no responsible adult to take children home following an exclusion, children will be left wandering the streets. The School Exclus...

‘Sheroes’ Barbie doll fails to capture UK audience

Culture, News, ReportingWeek2
Mattel’s Special Collection of women empowering Barbie dolls –sheroes- have been a huge hit in the US, but even with the gifting season upon us, there is barely any notice of them here in London. Ava DuVernay is an academy award nominated film director and writer. She became a household name after her much acclaimed film – Selma, which chronicled the historic voting rights campaign by Dr Martin Luther King was a big hit this past year. Ava can now add a collector’s edition Barbie doll of herself on her mantel piece along with only 1000 other people worldwide. Mattel fashioned a limited edition doll after her to add to their Sheroes collection of empowering dolls. These dolls are designed off of female heroes who inspire girls by breaking boundaries and expanding possibilities for

Toy retailers bow to public pressure and go gender neutral

Culture, News, ReportingWeek2
Fourteen major UK retailers have dropped signs indicating ‘boys’ and ‘girls’ toys in the last three years, according to a report that will be released on Thursday. Toys R Us and Tescos are just two of the 14 retail companies that have dropped gender specific signage, as according to a report that will be released by organisation Let Toys be Toys, a non for profit organisation which fights against gender specific toys for children. Jo Jowers, volunteer spokesperson from Let Toys be Toys told Westminster World: “We want kids to play with everything. We are not demanding for all toys to be gender neutral, we want toys to not be marketed on a gender specific basis.” Since its establishment in 2012 the organisation has gained huge support from parents and celebrities alike. “I’m g
Mourinho outburst raises questions about Chelsea future

Mourinho outburst raises questions about Chelsea future

News, ReportingWeek2, Sport
Jose Mourinho's angry comments following Chelsea's defeat to Leicester City have increased the pressure on the beleaguered manager. In his post-match interview after the 2-1 defeat to the highflying Foxes, Mourinho raged against his own players, and claimed that the players had "betrayed" him. The manager, who is no stranger to controversy, went on to accuse the Leicester City ball boys of being a "disgrace to the Premier League". Rob Harris, senior sports reporter for the Associated Press, believes that the comments prove Mourinho is beginning to create a divide between himself and the club; "The outburst was a strange diversionary overreaction." Pressure has been building on Mourinho following a recent run of poor results, with the team suffering the greatest number of losses

The Force will not awaken in four London cinemas…

Film, News, ReportingWeek2
Regent Street cinema. Credit: Madi Davis  Star Wars: The Force Awakens is set to be one of the biggest cinematic releases of all time. Yet four independent cinemas in the heart of London are not showing the film on its day of release, if at all. The new installment in the Star Wars franchise, The Force Awakens, has had some of the biggest hype surrounding a cinematic release in recent years and is set to be a huge hit over Christmas. With such a highly anticipated film release it would be expected that every cinema in London whether independent or not would be set to screen the film. And at first look, this would appear to be true with many of the popular independents offering multiple screenings. However, four cinemas have excluded Star Wars from their releases. Regent Street Ci

Shake-up of local healthcare as Brent Council tries to cut costs

News, Politics, ReportingWeek2
The leaders of Brent Council have approved wide ranging changes to healthcare as part of a package to save £18.8m over the next three years. The measures were approved by the Labour controlled council yesterday at Brent Civic Centre. The local Conservative opposition described the cuts as: "premature, and not in the right areas." The council's cost cutting measures include: closures of elderly day care centres, restructuring physical rehabilitation services, and a pan-London project to streamline access to sexual health services. When combined with previously approved cost-cutting proposals of £28.3m, this means the council will save £47.1m over the next three years. Labour councillors at the meeting were unanimous in condemning the Conservative government at Westminster for

The Death of the Tax Return: blessed relief or nagging pain?

Business, News, Politics, ReportingWeek2
Image Courtesy of Phillip   Today HM Revenue and Customs bought in a new system to help self-employed taxpayers work out how much tax they owe, but opinion is divided over the change. The Personal tax account is an entirely online system that will allow self assed tax payers to manage their payments more regularly online. Tax expert Guy Bridger believes the changes are long overdue and that the old system was “a big panic for people who are self-employed”. He said:  “It’s going to make people’s lives easier. Yes it’s going to be more regular clicking on buttons hitting keypads and calculating things but it’s not rocket science to do these things. If it can be somewhat automated in the sense that it’s all more manageable and things can be assessed more easily then yes it ju

Recent terror- attack report not supported by the public

News, ReportingWeek2
The numbers of terror attacks have gone up in the UK according to the Home Office quarterly bulletin. This is because the arrest of female suspects have double. The report shows around 315 people were arrested on terror-related offences this year compare to 235 in the previous year. This number was raised due to the arrest of female’s suspects doubling from 21 arrests in the year ending September 2014 to 50 arrests in the year ending September 2015. The increase came after Theresa May, the home secretary, announced that an attack is ‘highly likely’, after official threat levels from the Security Service MI5 changed from substantial to severe in August last year. It explained that the “majority of the increase in the number of women getting arrested has been linked to international-re

Christmas Crackdown on Drink Driving

News, ReportingWeek2
The National Police Chiefs Council has issued a warning to party makers during the Christmas season: if you drink do not drive. They have launched their annual anti-drink and driving campaign at the beginning of the festive month. Their campaign has a new sense of urgency after reports that a man suspected of drink driving tried to escape police in North Yorkshire last night by hiding in a large shed housing a nativity scene. North Yorkshire police confirmed that they were able to locate the suspect, The Independent reported. Today in Kent a man has been banned from the road for two and a half years, after he was caught five times over the limit. The December campaign last year resulted in 191,040 people being tested, with 6,550 people failing the breath test. These statistic

Former Guntanamo Bay detainees on IS and terrorism.

News, ReportingWeek2
The last British resident held at Guantanamo bay denounced extremism, saying that extremists have no right to live in the UK. Shaker Amer, who was released from Guantanamo bay last October spoke to the BBC, in his first interview saying that he is not planning on suing the British government. British detainees at Guantanamo Bay The United States Department of Defense held a total of nine British detainees at Guantanamo Bay detention camp. In addition to nine detainees who were citizens of other nations but have permanent residency status in the United Kingdom. Moazzam Begg Among them was Moazzam Begg, a British Pakistani who was detained in Guantanamo Bay for nearly three years after being arrested in Pakistan in 2002. He was then released without charge in 2005. He talke