This 14-year-old boy's suicide in custody makes me weep

In the evening of 8 August, 2004, a 14-year-old boy was ordered to his room after giving cheek to an adult. He refused to go to his room. The boy was found hanged after the staff, who take care of young children who took a wrong turn in life, at Hassockfield Secure Training Centre (STC) used physical force to restrain him. In his suicide note he wrote: “What right have they got to hit a child?” The jury in the first inquest into Adam’s death, in 2007, were not allowed to consider whether the force used on the boy was lawful. They used a ‘nose distraction’ technique to the boy, a sharp blow to his nose, and is now banned in STCs. Adam is not the only one who died, thirty children have met their deaths in custody since 1990, when decides the state that there must be a better way of dealing with damaged children? There is little hope for change because Hassockfield revealed that 21 children had sustained injuries while being restrained. Eric Allison said: “and despair that we allow such damaged children to suffer the kind of treatment to which we would not dream of subjecting our own children.”

http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/libertycentral/2011/jan/30/suicide-custody-adam-rickwood

My reaction:

The reason why this boy was into custody is unknown but he surely was not there for no reason. Anyway, the staff should not treat children like that. These kids are already damaged and now they have to suffer more instead to be lead and shown the right way. I hope that the state took some measures against this violence and made sure that this will be prevented by hiring the right personnel, who are educated to work in these centres, and that the rules are sharpened and that they have more intense programmes for children with problems to help them through.

Give families free toothpaste to halt tooth decay, dentists say

Experts warn parents and schools for children with tooth decay. 12- to 14-year-olds have fallen over the past 20 years, it has not improved among five-year-olds. Dr Gill Davies and Dr Colette Bridgman, dental public health specialists who work for Manchester’s NHS primary care trust, wrote in the British Dental Journal that parents play the key role in getting their children into good dental hygiene habits right after they were born by not giving them high-sugar foods and drinks, ensuring they have regular check-ups and cleaning their teeth regularly. Davies said: “Sweetening bottles is a very damaging habit, especially giving a baby such a bottle at bedtime or letting it keep it in the cot overnight, which is ridiculous, because the child’s saliva flow is much reduced.” The Manchester Smiles dental health campaign was a success under 6,000 pupils at 80 primary schools. They have supervised brushing sessions twice daily and dental practices are ‘buddied’ with schools and are getting free toothpaste. They believe that this plan should be extended nationally. Poorest children have most of the worst dental health. They need a service that helps them maintain good oral health and prevents decay, rather than one that is based solely on treatment.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/society/2011/jan/30/tooth-decay-children-dental-health-sweets

My reaction:

It is a shame that poor children cannot have the treatment they need and therefore suffer, but by giving lessons at schools and giving them toothpaste it could help a lot. The programme that is suggested to do nationally is a good plan, it makes children aware of what they eat and how it effects their teeth, and why they must brush their teeth and how many times. They also said to ban birthday cakes at school and it is a weird thing to do but if there are thirty children in one class than every child gets thirty pieces of cake which can be prevented.

Police use CS spray on tax protesters

Some protesters on Oxford Street in central London needed hospital treatment after the police used CS spray. The demonstrators told that the police had been very heavy handed and disproportionate. Protesters said they have the right to protest when the government are making unnecessary cuts that will hit the poorest in the society the hardest. The staff of Boots were shocked when they saw the police in action against the protesters. When one of the protester was hit by the CS spray, his eyes were streaming and his face hurts really bad. Staff of Boots gave him a free eye wash treatment. The protester have been on a lot of demonstrations but have not seen anything like this before. A spokesman for the Metropolitan police confirmed CS spray had been used. He also said that he was unaware of the needed hospital treatment. The protesters claimed Boots was avoiding huge sums of money by being registered in Switzerland, where taxes are far lower. A Boots spokeswoman said it had registered in Switzerland because "in the longer term we believe it will better reflect the increasingly international nature of our wider group."

http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2011/jan/30/police-cs-spray-tax-protesters

My reaction:

People should have the right to demonstrate without any interference of the police, but this time the police was too hard on people and even used a CS spray on the demonstrators. I think that if a demonstration is peaceful than there should be no police interference, maybe the police took over the bad influence from Egypt and the UK is next, we surely do not want that to happen, next thing we know is that this influence is taking over Europe and other parts of the world.

US, Israel and Turkey evacuate citizens from Egypt

It is hard to get people out of Egypt. Britain’s foreign secretary, William Hague, said UK nationals should avoid nonessential travel to large cities such as Cairo, Alexandria and Suez. The government does not offer help to evacuate those people who are already there. Countries all over the world are sending aircrafts to pick up their people and try to get them back safety and they advised their nationals to get out by any means possible. Many people try to convince the politics in Egypt, that the situation in Egypt is getting out of hand and Egypt could fall into the hands of extremists, but Britain could not intervene directly. “We are looking for a stable Egypt and hoping things will be restored soon,” said Abdulrahman al-Attiyah, secretary-general of the Gulf Co-operation Council. Countries next to Egypt are worried and Israel even says that his country’s principal Arab ally could turn into a foe again under a new government. He said, “I remind you that the peace between Israel and Egypt has lasted for over three decades.” China has blocked the word ‘Egypt’ from micro-blog searches and suggested Egyptians were not suited to democracy. The Global Times said that democracy was not compatible with conditions in Egypt or Tunisia.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/jan/30/us-israel-turkey-evacuate-egypt

My reaction:

There is a lot going on in Egypt and from what I have seen on TV it seems it is going in the wrong direction. The police actions are more aggressive and Egypt is blocking the internet. Maybe they should take a look at our political system. In Tunisia they also need to learn about democracy. I think that if the people want the politicians to leave they should leave but there are still some politicians in that parliament that ruled with their former leader and I understand they want a ‘clean’ parliament and I think they should get a ‘clean’ parliament.

Papier-mache milk bottle arrives in UK supermarkets

There is a new invention for milk bottles. The milk bottle made of paper looks like the plastic ones  and is wield the same way as the plastic one but there is huge difference, it is made of papier-mâché. For a plastic milk bottle it takes 500 years to decompose and can only be recycled once, the paper bottle can be turned into compost within a matter of several weeks. The idea comes from Martin Myerscough, he thinks he has the solution for the future. He already sold his invention to shops around Suffolk and the reactions were positive. The bottle has been trailled at Asda stores in East Anglia and a national roll-out across the supermarket chain will start this week, beginning in Cornwall. Myercough is thinking to sell his Greenbottle to other industries, such as detergent and shampoo manufacturers. There have already been other alternatives if it comes to plastic bottles but the supermarkets had withdrawn them. “The price is the same as a plastic bottle”. Myerscough said. “Our target is to be competitive with plastic bottles.”

http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2011/jan/30/green-milk-bottle-launched-at-asda

My reaction:

It is good that they care for the future and try to minimize the impact on next generations. Of course we cannot at once stop polluting the earth but bit by bit we can live a healthier life and try to gain back nature. These plastic milk bottles always have a weird plastic taste so I wonder if those Greenbottles have a paper taste. It is also a good thing to keep the price the same as the plastic bottles because we pay a lot more for ‘greener’ products than our regular products.

Southbank targets new audiences with UK's biggest classical music programme

London’s Southbank Centre in the UK are planning the biggest classical music programme to draw young people to classical concerts. One-hour orchestral performances on Sunday afternoons will offer bite-size tastings of classical fare, drinks will be allowed into more informal events and audiences will be brought closer to musicians by a walk-through video installation simulating on stage with a “virtual” Philharmonia Orchestra. Southbank and its resident orchestras have announced projects, along with some world’s foremost classical musicians, for its 2011/12 season in the Royal Festival Hall, Queen Elizabeth Hall, Purcell Room and other areas. Classical concerts primarily attract older audiences and they want to reach out to new audiences. It has an image that is too rigid. The orchestra has also launched Philharmonia Digital, a new company to expand its digital projects. Richard Slaney, its head, said: “it’s a way of exciting [young people] about classical music”. The Southbank is planning visits of other orchestras like Bruckner’s Symphony No 5, Lucerne Festival Orchestra, and the Simón Bolívar Symphony Orchestra of Venezuela. While the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment will analyse pieces of music to make them more accessible ahead of their performance, the Philharmonia Orchestra will perform its latest digital project, an “immersive” multimedia performance Holst’s The Planets.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/music/2011/jan/30/southbank-centre-classical-music-young-audiences

My reaction:

I think it is a good thing to introduce classical music to young people, mostly they have already a strong opinion about classical music and therefore they do not visit concerts. It is also nice to see such huge orchestras work together and make it possible to entertain young people with their music. I personally am not really fond of classical music but if this project comes to the Netherlands I think it would be interesting to visit these concerts with their musicians and the sphere that, I think, belongs with classical music to get a good impression about classical music

Great bustard reintroduction project gets EU funding boost.

Bustards, are reintroduced to Salisbury Plain, which became extinct in the UK by 1832. They disappeared from the UK after being hunted to extinction. They have also vanished from France, Poland, Germany, Sweden and Holland. The project to bring the great bustard back has received a £1,8m boost from the European Union. But the £1.8m grant would not end the funding worries for the scheme, as around a quarter of costs would still need to be found by the project partners. The funding will provide them a properly resourced project and the equipment they need. The reintroduced birds come from Russia and had its first major breakthrough in 2009 when the population produced the first chicks to hatch in the wild in this country for 177 years. Last year, four chicks were known to have hatched. A small UK population of around 18 birds has been built up under the scheme. As the population becomes established, their survival chances should hopefully get better. PhD student John Burnside said: “Bustards learn a lot of their behaviour from each other and so the newly introduced chicks have to learn quickly how to feed, survive and avoid predators without the help of their mother”.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2011/jan/19/great-bustard-funding-boost?INTCMP=SRCH

My reaction:

I think it is wonderful to bring back the great bustard because it was a bird that lived in the UK and should live in the UK. It is not like they try to bring back the mammoth but just a bird that disappeared from the UK. But I do wonder if it really is necessary to bring the bustard back because it costs a lot of money, and they are only extinct in some countries but not all over the world, and maybe they will be hunted again what leads to their second extinction in the UK.