Lecturers set to strike over pay
Sixth-form and further education colleges look set to strike after employers refused to raise their 2.3 per cent pay offer to lecturers and other staff. The Association of Colleges said it did not have the money to increase the offer.
( Financial Times, The Times, The Independent )
Oxford opposes lap-dancing plan
Plans to open Oxford’s first lap-dancing club have run into opposition from residents, who fear it will debase the city’s image. Others argue that the club will be an “unnecessary temptation” to students.
( The Daily Telegraph )
Protesters discover Huntingdon shareholder name
Animal rights protesters who drove Huntingdon Life Sciences out of the country have extracted sensitive shareholder information from the drug-tester’s market-makers. Stop Huntingdon Animal Cruelty claims to have been given the name of a big shareholder in Life Sciences Research, the shell parent company set up this year in Maryland, US, to protect investors’ identities.
( Financial Times )
Independent schools claim unfair A-level treatment
More than 30 of Britain’s top independent boys’ schools have raised suspicions that pupils have been awarded unfair A-level grades. The Headmasters’ Conference, which represents the country’s leading independent boys’ and co-educational schools, is considering legal action to overturn the results. It says students have been deliberately marked down.
( Financial Times, Daily Mail, The Guardian, The Times )
Blair attacked over family policy
Tony Blair’s government is accused today of marginalising the role of men as fathers and undermining women who try to combine children with a career. A report by the Fawcett Society, the Equal Opportunities Commission and Fathers Direct says the emphasis on men as wage earners rather than fathers prevents mothers from achieving an influential role in the labour market.
( The Daily Telegraph )
Museums vie for £100,000 prize
A £100,000 arts prize, dwarfing all others, was announced yesterday to raise the morale and profile of Britain’s museums and galleries. The prize, announced by the Gulbenkian Foundation, will be ploughed back into a project or activity that benefits the public in the winning museum or gallery.
( The Guardian )
Gene discovery helps prostate cancer fight
US scientists have discovered a gene linked to prostate cancer that could help identify men at risk of the disease.
( Daily Mail )
Chemotherapy hope
Scientists have identified a molecule that helps cancers fight against chemotherapy. They believe that “knocking out” this molecule could dramatically increase the effectiveness of chemotherapy. The research was carried out by Cancer Research UK’s London Institute, and the findings are reported in the journal Nature .
( Daily Mail, The Independent )
Schoolchildren not exercising enough
Many schoolchildren do as little as 24 minutes of exercise a day, according to a study by Bristol University researchers.
( Daily Mail )
Families with two parents better for all, says study
The traditional two-parent family is much better for children and for society than the single-parent family, according to think-tank Civitas. Its report says that children from single-parent families are 50 per cent more likely to suffer health problems than those from traditional families.
( The Independent, Daily Mail )
Esade teaches softer skills
Report on Spanish business school Esade and its focus on skills such as teamwork and empathy.
( Financial Times )
Obituary
Professor Sir Douglas Black, the doctor who led the British Medical Association, has died aged 89.
( The Telegraph )