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News & Events21 Oct 06 - NEWS - Day nursery may harm under-3s, say child expertsAn eminent group of child-care experts raises serious concerns today about the long-term effects of putting very young children into inadequate day nurseries. In a letter to The Daily Telegraph, they call for an "urgent national debate" on whether children under three should be cared for by anyone other than trusted and familiar figures in their lives. The group, including the psychologist and author Steve Biddulph, Sir Richard Bowlby, the president of the Centre for Child Mental Health in London and Prof Allan Schore, the renowned American child psychologist, demand clearer vision on what babies and very young children need to develop emotionally. "Consistent, continuous care by a trusted figure is the key to providing a secure and nurturing environment for very young children," the letter says. "Research suggests that its absence can lead to behavioural difficulties." With the Government's Sure Start scheme encouraging more day-care nurseries, more parents may be placing children "in circumstances that may not be appropriate to their emotional needs". More: www.telegraph.co.uk Breast cancer study raises fear over NHS screening Thousands of women in England could be undergoing unnecessary and potentially devastating treatment for suspected breast cancer, a new study suggests. The study, by researchers at the Nordic Cochrane Centre, looked at seven trials investigating both the benefits and negative outcomes associated with breast screening. They found that for every 2,000 women invited to have mammograms, one would have their life prolonged but 10 would endure potentially devastating and unnecessary treatment. And another 200 of those women would experience weeks or months of anxiety because of "false positive" findings - the discovery of cell changes that later turned out to be benign. The findings have prompted a leading doctor to call into question whether or not the NHS breast screening programme should be allowed to continue. In 2003-4 1.4 million women in England were screened for breast cancer, of whom more than 11,000 had cancers diagnosed. The annual cost of the programme is £75 million. www.guardian.co.uk news.bbc.co.uk news.independent.co.uk NEWS - 12 Oct 06 - Brown urges action on education gender gap Gordon Brown called for action to tackle underachievement among boys, warning there was a real risk of a generation of young men being left behind. The chancellor used the annual Donald Dewar memorial lecture in Glasgow to announce a review of how teaching methods and the curriculum could be better tailored to boys. He also called for a "father's revolution", warning that with a three-fold increase in the number of single parent families in the last 30 years, many boys lacked male role models. www.politics.co.uk NEWS - 10 Oct 06 - Working mothers 'are let down by macho employers' Working mothers with young children are put under terrible strain by "macho" employers who judge them on the hours they put in and not the quality of their work, says the Government's unofficial "happiness tsar". Lord Layard, 72, the Labour peer who is leading the inquiry into the true state of childhood in Britain, said the increase in working mothers — full and part-time — was an irreversible social trend. While the jury was out on the effects on children, bosses should be sympathetic to mothers' needs, and not destroy the careers of women who choose to work 2½ days a week and spend more time at home, he said. www.telegraph.co.uk NEWS - 4 Oct 06 - Osborne woos core voters with pledge of family tax breaks George Osborne, the shadow Chancellor, has made a direct appeal to core Tory voters by promising to rebalance the tax system in favour of the family. The Tories could go into the next election with a pledge to offer tax breaks of £5,400 for married couples with children where one parent stays at home to look after a child, by making the child tax allowance transferable. Senior party officials said gay couples who had entered a civil partnership would also qualify. "Life has moved on and civil partnerships are written into our law now," said one senior Tory source. "If they are in a long-term loving relationship, that is a good thing. We don't want a fight over that." However, unmarried couples and single mothers would miss out. news.independent.co.uk/uk/politics Previous News & EventsFebruary 2010November 2009 August 2009 July 2009 June 2009 May 2009 April 2009 March 2009 February 2009 January 2009 January 2009 November 2008 August 2008 July 2008 June 2008 May 2008 April 2008 March 2008 February 2008 January 2008 January 2008 January 2008 November 2007 August 2007 July 2007 June 2007 May 2007 April 2007 March 2007 February 2007 January 2007 January 2007 December 2006 November 2006 August 2006 July 2006 June 2006 May 2006 April 2006 March 2006 February 2006 January 2006 November 2005 August 2005 July 2005 June 2005 May 2005 April 2005 March 2005 January 2005 January 2005 January 2005 |
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