Yorkshire Post back issues from February 2008:
'Look no hands' as officer on 999 call breaks speed limit
Feb 01, 2008 ... A POLICE officer took his hands off the wheel and made "thumbs-up" gestures at a speed camera as he answered two 999 calls justhours apart. David Mayes, 34, was captured on camera in July last year onHalifax Road, near Browning Road, Grenoside, Sheffield. Yesterday the South ...
Suspected neo-Nazi in court accused of terrorist offences
Feb 01, 2008 ... A SUSPECTED neo-Nazi has appeared in court accused of terroristoffences. Nathan Worrell, 34, allegedly kept a massive collection of far-Right propaganda and had a membership card for the Ku Klux Klan. He is also accused of hoarding bomb-making manuals, weed-killerfor making ...
'Don't teach patriotism'
Feb 01, 2008 ... Children should not be taught to be patriotic at school,researchers have said. The Government has called for history lessons to help childrendevelop a love of their country. But academics at the Institute of Education in the University ofLondon warned that pupils should not ...
New threat to 'socially divisive' grammar schools
Feb 01, 2008 ... SCHOOLS should no longer be allowed to select pupils for theiracademic ability, according to a Government-backed report whichraises a new threat to the future of grammar schools. The biggest study of secondary school admissions since 2001claims that grammar schools lead to social ...
Woman evicted over 24-hour noise misery
Feb 01, 2008 ... A WOMAN who plagued neighbours by playing Dolly Parton songsaround the clock is to be kicked out of her home, council officialssaid yesterday. Neighbour from hell Diane Duffin, 36, appeared at Leeds CountyCourt yesterday and failed to overturn an eviction order. She was found ...
Convert me into the new Steve Redgrave
Feb 01, 2008 ... RUGBY player Dan Porter has never picked up an oar in his life. But the 21-year-old university student could be on his way tobecoming the next Sir Steve Redgrave as he bids to be a part ofBritain's 2012 Olympics rowing squad. Sporting coaches believe that at over 6ft 2in, and ...
Basket of breakfast items rises by 23pc in five years
Feb 01, 2008 ... The cost of buying 10 popular breakfast items has soared by 23per cent in the past five years, according to one food chain. A basket of goods including bread, juice, coffee, eggs, bacon andbaked beans has increased from Pounds 11.64 to Pounds 14.29,Waitrose said. Bread has ...
Arts groups fear cut in grants
Feb 01, 2008 ... ARTS organisations across Yorkshire face possible extinction thismorning. At 11am the Arts Council will announce its final decision onproposed funding cuts to 194 arts organisations around the countryand Arts Council Yorkshire will reveal its decision on 22 proposedcuts in the ...
MP unrepentant about swearing in hospice row
Feb 01, 2008 ... AN angry Yorkshire MP was last night unrepentant about calling aGovernment Minister an "a***hole" in a stormy Westminster debate. Greg Mulholland's outburst towards Care Services Minister IvanLewis was picked up by microphones as he left the Westminster Halldebate. Furious at ...
Death-crash bus driver is jailed for seven years
Feb 01, 2008 ... A bus driver whose dangerous driving killed an 82-year-oldpassenger and injured 40 others was jailed for seven yearsyesterday. Saeed Abbas, 26, admitted being in a state of extreme fatiguewhen his double-decker bus swerved off the road and crashed nearHuddersfield in September ...
Agency attacked as absent parents owe Pounds 150m
Feb 01, 2008 ... THE Conservatives have launched a renewed attack on theGovernment's handling of the Child Support Agency after revealingnearly Pounds 150m has never been collected from absent parents inthe Yorkshire region. More than 60,000 absent parents in the region have failed to paymoney ...
Diana driver test results may have been false, says expert
Feb 01, 2008 ... French test results showing that driver Henri Paul had beendrinking before the crash that killed Diana, Princess of Wales, mayhave been "cooked", an expert said yesterday. Clinical pharmacologist Prof Atholl Johnston told Diana's inquestthe almost identical results from samples ...
Hospital boffin who murdered wife, 50, gets life
Feb 01, 2008 ... A HOSPITAL scientist who drugged his wife before smothering herto death with a cushion was yesterday jailed for life. Andrew Booth, 44, a former head of biomedical sciences atDoncaster Royal Infirmary, will serve at least 15 years for themurder. Booth stole a bottle of the ...
Murder suspect policeman free despite breaching bail
Feb 01, 2008 ... A judge released a senior police officer accused of murder onbail despite misgivings and warned he would go to jail if he brokehis conditions. But despite Judge John Bevan QC telling Garry Weddell, 47, hewould go "straight back into custody" if he breached his bail, justover ...
Patient pleads for life-saving drug
Feb 01, 2008 ... A DESPERATE cancer patient has been refused a life-saving drugdespite other patients at his hospital being allowed it. Distressed Jeff Hildreth is pleading with health chiefs to payfor the bone marrow cancer medication which doctors say wouldprolong his life. The 59-year-old ...
Taxmen extend returns deadline
Feb 01, 2008 ... Tax collectors have extended the deadline for people to completetheir self-assessment tax returns following problems with itswebsite. HM Revenue & Custom said it was giving people an extra 24 hoursto get their returns and any tax they owe to it, without peoplebeing liable for a ...
Minister boosts rail tunnel campaign
Feb 01, 2008 ... Exclusive A LAST-ditch campaign to save a Pennines tunnel from the clutchesof the National Grid could receive a significant boost through theinvolvement of a key Cabinet Minister, the Yorkshire Post haslearnt. Transport Secretary Ruth Kelly is said to have grown ...
Man arrested over South Yorks mum's murder
Feb 01, 2008 ... A 35-YEAR-OLD man has been arrested on suspicion of murdering amother-of-two whose body was found in a South Yorkshire quarry. Police found Claire Laggan's body in the quarry behindNorthcliffe School in Conisbrough on January 17 - three weeks aftershe went missing. A South ...
Cameron hails 'towering figure' Thatcher
Feb 01, 2008 ... Baroness Thatcher was last night presented with a LifetimeAchievement award by Tory Party leader David Cameron, who describedher as a "towering figure of the past 50 years". The ceremony took place at a gala dinner in London's Guildhall aspart of the Morgan Stanley Great Britons ...
Boy racer in triple death crash faces jail
Feb 01, 2008 ... A "boy racer" whose appalling driving claimed the lives of threeteenage girls in a high-speed car chase has been warned he faces along jail sentence. Adam Anguige was yesterday found guilty of causing the deaths bydangerous driving of 16-year-old friends Ursula Alokolaro, ...
Great Escape hero who inspired film laid to rest
Feb 01, 2008 ... The funeral of an RAF veteran who took part in the Second WorldWar prison camp breakout immortalised in the film The Great Escapetook place today. Squadron Leader Jimmy James, of Ludlow, Shropshire, died aged 92at the Royal Shrewsbury Hospital earlier this month, after a ...
Family awaits return of body found in Irish wood
Feb 01, 2008 ... THE family of a missing Yorkshireman are preparing for hisfuneral after his body was found buried in Irish woodland. Tommy Thompson, a plasterer originally from Riccall, near Selby,disappeared from his home in Co Laois in the Irish midlands ninemonths ago. The 59-year-old's ...
Farm incomes rise - but not for all in 'an unbalanced industry'
Feb 01, 2008 ... FARM income figures for 2007 published by the Governmentyesterday show that total income per head rose by 8.7 per cent inreal terms to Pounds 13,349. But the National Farmers' Union was quick to point out that thereport provided a "snapshot of an increasingly unbalanced ...
Ethnic employment gap 'could take 30 years to eliminate'
Feb 01, 2008 ... The gap between the employment rate for ethnic minorities and thegeneral population is still "significant" and could take 30 years toeliminate, according to an official report today. Despite some progress in closing the gap, the employment rate was60 per cent for ethnic minorities, ...
Teenage mother must wait for ruling on baby
Feb 01, 2008 ... A teenage mother reunited with her newborn baby by a judge willhave to wait another day to find out if a social servicesapplication to take the boy away again is successful. The healthy baby was born to the 18-year-old, who has just leftlocal authority care, in hospital just after ...
Carer who was denied flexible hours wins harassment ruling
Feb 01, 2008 ... The mother of a disabled child who claimed she left her job afterbeing "harassed" by her employers was yesterday a step closer to agroundbreaking legal victory which could give new rights to millionsof carers. Sharon Coleman, 42, from south London, said she was forced toquit her ...
Seventy jobs to go at one blood centre - but another is spared
Feb 01, 2008 ... SEVENTY jobs at a major NHS blood centre in Yorkshire face theaxe, health chiefs announced yesterday. The laboratory positions at the Leeds Blood Centre at SeacroftHospital will go in the next three years. A major shake-up of services was announced over a year ago,prompting ...
More areas in danger of flooding, warns council
Feb 01, 2008 ... AREAS of Yorkshire once thought to be free from the risk offlooding could flood without warning, a report has warned Wakefield Council has warned residents in the district that thedevastating floods of last June, which affected 2,000 properties,could happen again. Most of ...
Huge rise in obesity drug prescribing
Feb 01, 2008 ... MORE than one million prescriptions for obesity drugs are beinghanded over each year to patients trying to shed excess pounds,latest figures reveal. GPs gave eight times the quantity of drugs to overweight patientsin 2006 as seven years earlier, at a cost of nearly Pounds ...
Windfall tax call for Shell's 'obscene' profits
Feb 01, 2008 ... OIL giant Royal Dutch Shell made nearly Pounds 14bn in profitslast year - sparking calls for a share of its "obscene" earnings tobe subject to a windfall tax. Shell's 2007 earnings figure - a record for a UK-listed company -emerged yesterday as British motorists were paying an ...
More severe weather due to sweep region
Feb 01, 2008 ... MORE severe weather is forecast to hit Yorkshire today andtomorrow, following the icy blasts that swept the country yesterday,killing one man. The Met Office has issued severe weather warnings for the regionwith westerly gales and several inches of snow expected to fall onthe ...
300 crimes committed as 16,000 leave jail early
Feb 01, 2008 ... More than 16,000 prisoners have been released early because ofjail overcrowding. Figures for the scheme, which sees criminals released up to 18days before the end of their sentences, revealed 3,000 of thosefreed had been convicted of violent crime. It came as Justice ...
Longer hours urged for park sports
Feb 01, 2008 ... Public parks should stay open later in the evenings so teenagerscould spend more time playing tennis or "midnight basketball" afterschool, Children's Secretary Ed Balls said yesterday. The Minister said he wanted councils to end the "no ball games"culture in public spaces and give ...
MP suspended as Brown backs scrutiny moves
Feb 01, 2008 ... Gordon Brown has backed calls for greater public scrutiny ofparliamentary expenses as disgraced MP Derek Conway was suspendedfrom the Commons for 10 days. The Prime Minister said there should be more "transparency" overhow and where MPs spend their allowances, as the Old Bexley ...
MoD pays out Pounds 3m to Porton Down test veterans
Feb 01, 2008 ... Veterans of Cold War experiments at Porton Down research centrelast night said the Government had "finally and belatedly" paid itsdues after they were awarded Pounds 3m compensation. Ken Earl, founder of the Porton Down Veterans Support Group, saidthe award allows members to get on ...
Scientist to serve minimum 15 years for murder of wife
Feb 01, 2008 ... HOSPITAL scientist Andrew Booth will have to serve a minimum of15 years for the murder of his wife. The 44-year-old first tried to kill his 50-year-old wife Lorrainewith a rag soaked in anaesthetic he stole from Doncaster RoyalInfirmary, where he was head of biomedical ...
Teenager stabbed at Allerton Grange School
Feb 01, 2008 ... A TEENAGER is recovering in hospital after being stabbed at aLeeds secondary school today. The 14-year-old victim is in a stable condition after beingstabbed three times in the chest and stomach with a knife atAllerton Grange School, in the Moortown area of Leeds. Police ...
Arts Council takes axe to funding
Feb 01, 2008 ... The Arts Council announced funding cuts to 212 organisationstoday, while granting 17 others a last-minute reprieve. Venues which received celebrity backing, such as the Bush Theatrein west London, are celebrating today after the council reversed itsdecision to withdraw ...
Nissan's 800 new jobs thanks to Qashqai
Feb 01, 2008 ... Car giant Nissan is to create 800 jobs at its UK factory inresponse to demand for its Qashqai model, the company announcedyesterday. A third production shift is to be added at the Japanese firm'splant in Sunderland, which started building cars in 1986 and nowmakes four ...
M&B shareholders revile chairman over Pounds 274m losses
Feb 01, 2008 ... The head of beleaguered pubs group Mitchells & Butlers facedcalls to resign yesterday as shareholders raged over the group'sdisastrous Pounds 274m losses on an abandoned property deal. At a hostile annual meeting, chairman Roger Carr blamed thecollapse of the Pounds 5bn deal last ...
Coda in Pounds 158m deal to become big player
Feb 01, 2008 ... CODA has agreed to a Pounds 158m takeover by a Dutch rival in amove that will create a leading European software company withoperations in 19 countries. There had been hopes that the bid, which was announced threeweeks ago, would flush out a higher bidder but none was ...
Now Amazon adds to the retail tension with eroding margins
Feb 01, 2008 ... ONLINE store Amazon yesterday added to nerves surrounding theretail sector after it revealed pressure on profit margins despitesoaring Christmas sales. The US-based e-tailer reported a 42 per cent hike in total salesto Pounds 2.8bn for the three months ending December 31, ...
WH Smith cool over spending prospects
Feb 01, 2008 ... WH SMITH reported lower sales on the high street over Christmasand said it remained cautious about consumer spending this year. Like-for-like high street sales fell three per cent in the 21weeks to January 26 although airport and train station stores, whichhave far less ...
Financing package to take CSC on to the next stage
Feb 01, 2008 ... STRUCTURAL engineering software company CSC has secured afinancing package from ISIS Equity Partners valuing the business atPounds 20m. Clearwater Corporate Finance structured and arranged the deal forthe Pudsey-based business which specialises in providing highquality software ...
Battered Friends Provident to shed jobs
Feb 01, 2008 ... Friends Provident yesterday said it would cut around 600 jobs aspart of a sweeping overhaul and warned a Pounds 440m hit wouldalmost wipe out last year's profits. The life and pensions provider announced the jobs cull as itoutlined the results of a two-month strategic ...
Masternaut takes the road to major Pounds 1m licensing agreement
Feb 01, 2008 ... LEEDS technology firm Masternaut Three X has signed a Pounds 1mlicensing deal to integrate its services. The company, best known for its web-based satellite vehicletracking systems, has teamed up with 360 Scheduling to bringtogether its vehicle tracking, routing and scheduling into ...
Cranswick hit by rising meat costs
Feb 01, 2008 ... UPMARKET sausage company Cranswick warned today it is strugglingto pass on rising raw material costs to its customers. In its third quarter trading statement, the company reported year-on-year sales gains of 18 per cent, with sausage and bacon productsperforming particularly well ...
Restaurant chain proving a Fyne catch for Greene King
Feb 01, 2008 ... Greene King has reported better sales at Loch Fyne after theseafood restaurant chain made a strong start to life under newownership. The group described industry conditions as challenging, but saidLoch Fyne weathered the storm with strong Christmas and New Yeartrading and a 2.3 ...
Google profits gloom adds to recession woes
Feb 01, 2008 ... INTERNET giant Google has fuelled fears of a US recession withdisappointing fourth quarter profits and sales figures. It reported profits of Pounds 607m in the final three months ofthe year, up 17 per cent on the fourth quarter in 2006. But the hike fell short of market hopes ...
McAllister wastes no time in freshening up Leeds's squad
Feb 01, 2008 ... LEEDS UNITED'S Gary McAllister continued his whirlwind week bybeing Yorkshire's busiest manager on the final day of the Januarytransfer window. The new Elland Road chief moved quickly following his appointmenton Tuesday afternoon by adding Bolton Wanderers' defender ...
Capello omits Beckham but insists door remains open
Feb 01, 2008 ... FABIO CAPELLO insists David Beckham's England career is notnecessarily over despite leaving the midfielder out of his firstsquad. The new England coach's 30-man provisional squad for Wednesday'sfriendly with Switzerland contained several surprises, but it wasthe exclusion of the ...
BA profits hike fails to keep shares up
Feb 01, 2008 ... BRITISH Airways has announced it will press ahead with the launchits first business-class-only service from London to New York as ittoday unveiled a 35 per cent rise in profits. BA's new offering will launch next year boasting 15 minute check-in times and a flat bed for each ...
Weekend team news: Leeds injury-hit for McAllister's first game in charge
Feb 01, 2008 ... GARY McAllister has a number of injury doubts ahead of his firstgame in charge of Leeds United at home to Tranmere. Casper Ankergren (hip) is hoping to return to the side aftermissing the midweek defeat at Southend, while Neil Kilkenny andFrazer Richardson picked up slight knocks ...
Court loss could cost Bulls Pounds 3.5m
Feb 01, 2008 ... BRADFORD Bulls chairman Peter Hood has warned that the SuperLeague club could go into financial meltdown if they lose the costlylegal challenge brought against them by Leeds Rhinos over thesigning of Iestyn Harris. Hood has revealed that Leeds are seeking Pounds 3.2m ...
Bill Carmichael: Sheer arrogance of our politicians
Feb 01, 2008 ... THE gang sentenced to long prison stretches for the Pounds 53mSecuritas raid this week surely missed a trick in their defence. The lags should have tried giving back a quarter of the money,apologised profusely and blamed their behaviour on "administrativeshortcomings". Well, why ...
Duncan Hamilton: From stage to small screen - a work of Sher brilliance
Feb 01, 2008 ... ARTS VIEW: THE task of turning theatre into television oftencreates slightly claustrophobic results, as if the stage set hasbeen shrunk to fit. It's as though you're squinting at the actorsthrough a tiny, clogged up keyhole. And when our eyes and brain expect, and easily absorb, ...
Selection saga
Feb 01, 2008 ... AS a political price for Parliament backing his controversialtrust schools, Tony Blair agreed to a tightening up of the schooladmissions code to, in theory, make it impossible for headteachersto engage in covert selection. However, new research from Sheffield Hallam University ...
Care concerns
Feb 01, 2008 ... THE reaction to the decision by social workers to take a babyinto care without resorting to the courts has bordered on thehysterical. Of particular concern is the criticism unleashed on theprofession as a whole because of the actions of a few. Social workers carry out a ...
Shell profits fuel debate
Feb 01, 2008 ... WHEN the Chancellor is facing an Pounds 8bn black hole in thepublic finances just weeks before he is due to deliver his firstBudget, there will be a tremendous temptation in 11 Downing Streetto heed the call for a windfall tax on oil companies like Shellwhich announced record profits ...
New hope for carers as mum takes legal fight to Europe
Feb 01, 2008 ... When one woman took her battle against discrimination to the lawcourts, she secured new rights for the country's millions of carers.Grace Hammond reports. There are more than six million carers in the UK, with more than2.5 million juggling caring for a friend or relative with ...
Unreality TV - can you believe your eyes?
Feb 01, 2008 ... It's been a rocky 12 months for British broadcasting, leftreeling after scandals involving fakery and fraud. What have theydone to win back trust?YOU'RE watching a TV documentary about babies growing inside thewomb, using amazing camera wizardry to explain the wonder of ...
Tomes and tombs - in loving memory of final resting places
Feb 01, 2008 ... Writers and artists don't just leave a legacy, most have a finalresting place. Chris Bond celebrates some of his favouritecemeteries. ALLEN Ginsberg once wrote a poem about being unable to find thegrave of French writer Guillaume Apollinaire. I mention this onlybecause when I ...
Yorkshire chasing early replacement for Rana
Feb 01, 2008 ... RANA NAVED-UL-HASAN has been passed fit to play for Yorkshirenext season, even though he will miss at least the first six weeksof the campaign and the club will have to pay two sets of overseaswages until he is ready. The Pakistani fast-bowler will be on a reduced contract until ...
Surprise as Lennon joins Under-21s
Feb 01, 2008 ... Tottenham winger Aaron Lennon was the surprise name in StuartPearce's England Under-21 squad for next week's EuropeanChampionship qualifier against Republic of Ireland. Lennon played for the Under-21s before breaking into the seniorsquad ahead of the last World Cup, but was out of ...
Barwick eyes more homegrown talent
Feb 01, 2008 ... Football Association chief executive Brian Barwick has claimedthe onus is on the Barclays Premier League to deliver a strongEngland team - and that there is a dearth of good English players inthe top flight. Barwick said the time has come to "sort out" the problem of thedeclining ...