Prosecution for racist rants fails
Leslie Collins, 60, who bombarded the constituency office of David Taylor, the Labour MP for Leicestershire North West, with “Alf Garnett-style” rants about “wogs, Pakis and black b*******” for two years will not be convicted of offences under the telecom laws, High Court judges have decided.
Lord Justice Sedley, sitting with Mr Justice Mitting, dismissed an attempt to prosecute him for his rants, saying that although they were offensive, they were not grossly offensive because they were not heard by a member of an ethnic minority.
Tory wins last poll
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Sir Patrick Cormack was returned for Staffordshire South, bringing the general election to an end. The Tory candidate won with a 8,847 majority, taking his party’s Commons total to 198. Paul Kalinauckas, Labour, came second with 4,496. The poll was delayed by the death of Liberal Democrat candidate.
Cost of learning
The amount of student debt outstanding in 2003-04 topped £13 billion, a sevenfold increase in nine years, Bill Rammell, the Education Minister, disclosed in a Commons written reply. The Student Loans Company figure for publicly owned debt shows an increase from £1.86 billion in 1995-96.
Innocent abroad
Mexico City: The Mexican Government blamed the United States for confusion leading to the detention of Amer Haykel, a Lebanese-born British citizen. President Vicente Fox’s spokesman said that US officials had dropped the man from September 11 alert lists but had failed to tell Mexico. (AP)
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Electricity fault
Thousands of people in Brighton and Hove were left without power yesterday after a fault at a substation close to Hove seafront interrupted electricity supplies. A spokeswoman for EDF Energy said: “Power was interrupted at 12.34pm. Engineers managed to restore most power supplies before 1pm.”
Unions join ID card protest
Three major trade unions — the TGWU, GMB and Aslef — have joined the national campaign against identity cards. They tell the Government in a letter to The Times today that the cards will “jeopardise social cohesion” (writes Rosemary Bennett).
The letter, organised by NO2ID, was signed by 28 organisations including Liberty and the Index on Censorship.
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BNP loses seat
Labour has taken back a council seat from the far Right British National Party in Barking and Dagenham, East London. Warren Northover won by a 436 majority in Goresbrook ward to remove the BNP’s only representation in London. It was the first time the BNP had lost a seat in a by-election.
Swim warning after 10 deaths
The TGWU, GMB and Aslef unions have joined the campaign against identity cards. They say in a letter to The Times that the cards will “jeopardise social cohesion”. The letter, organised by NO2ID, was signed by 28 groups including Liberty and the Index on Censorship.
Tower of London
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London’s skyline is set to change with the addition of Bishopsgate Tower, a 1,007ft glass skyscraper. If planning permission is approved, the tower would house offices and a public area, but would be eight feet lower than London Bridge Tower, due to be finished by 2009 and become Britain’s tallest building.
Anger at plan to shut Met Office
The Met Office may close its only weather centre in Scotland. Plans to shut the station at Bridge of Don in Aberdeen and move to new headquarters in Exeter are being discussed. The Aberdeen centre, which employs about 30 people, opened in 2001 and provides forecasts for offshore oil and fishing industries.
Brian Adam, MSP for Aberdeen North, told BBC Radio: “It seems foolish in the extreme to be moving it as far away as possible.”
Ewen McCallum, the centre’s chief meteorologist, said that no final decision had been made. “In terms of the actual forecasting process, it can be done anywhere — the guys in Aberdeen are forecasting for Southampton. It will not affect quality.”
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Man adrift saved
A man who said he had been drifting in a dinghy for two days was rescued by Banff Coastguard members after a fishing boat raised the alarm. The 25-year-old man, who is being treated for mild hypothermia, told rescuers he fell into the sea at Portsoy Harbour and clung to a dinghy, which then floated off.
Swindler jailed
A financial adviser who spent nearly £1 million of clients’ money was jailed for six years. Nicholas Padden, 51, of Broadclyst, near Exeter, pleaded not guilty at Exeter Crown Court to 11 charges of obtaining a money transfer by deception, but was convicted by the jury after a trial that lasted 3½ weeks.
Piracy blackspot
Spain has been named as a new music piracy blackspot in the £2.5 billion global trade in illegal discs. Some 1.2 billion pirated discs were sold last year, one third of global sales, the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry said. Pirated sales exceeded the legitimate market in 31 countries last year.
For local people
Non-residents who are hoping to snap up properties in the Cotswolds will have to wait in line behind born and bred local people, district councillors have decreed. Former council houses in the area will be marketed to local residents for six months before they can be sold to anyone outside the county.
Great train robber
A man has admitted stealing one of the country’s largest model railway collections, worth £20,000, at Perth Sheriff Court. Robert Adam, 51, was caught after he tried to sell part of the huge collection, which he stole from a small museum in Blairgowrie, Scotland, on eBay. He will be sentenced next month.