Cameron plan for home buyers
A proposal to allow council tenants to convert rents into mortgage repayments was put forward by David Cameron yesterday, alongside a range of ideas to help first-time buyers (Helen Nugent writes).
In what amounted to an extension of Margaret Thatcher’s right-to-buy initiative, the Conservative leader said that he wanted to consider those who had been “left behind”.
He said: “Isn’t it time to look at a scheme where we can actually say to council tenants, housing association tenants, ‘Why not change your rent payments into mortgage payments, so that as you pay that payment over time you will own that flat, you will own that home?’ ”
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He was speaking at a conference of housing and mortgage industry experts.
Anthrax checks
Fifty-six people have been offered antibiotics as a precaution after the death of a man from a suspected anthrax infection. Christopher Norris, 50, became the first person in Britain to be killed by anthrax in 30 years last month.
It is thought that Mr Norris breathed in microscopic anthrax spores from contaminated animal hides he used in drum-making at his secluded home near Hawick, in the Scottish Borders. Experts across Britain are being consulted on the best way to decontaminate the building. Eighty-six people have contacted a special helpline and have been screened by doctors and offered counselling.
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Comedy of errors
Britain’s largest comedy award has been forced to rebrand itself for a second time in three months after a legal threat from a Hollywood awards ceremony.
The Perrier Award changed its name to the “if.com Eddies” — Eddies for short — in June after Perrier ended its sponsorship of 25 years.
However, The Eddies is also the name of a 56-year-old award ceremony run by the American Cinema Editors. Nica Burns, the founder of the Perrier Awards, said that she would rather drop the Eddies nickname than become engaged in a legal battle.
Strip search
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A man and his girlfriend triggered a massive search after they went skinny-dipping in the English Channel at midnight.
On returning to the beach at Sidmouth, Devon, the couple, from Street, Somerset, could not find their clothes and had to return to their hotel stark naked.
Their abandoned garments were found the next morning by a lifeboat crew on routine practice, who feared that they had committed suicide. However the couple, who are in their late thirties and do not want to be identified, were found at the Royal Glen Hotel.
Doherty faces seven charges
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The singer Peter Doherty will appear in court today facing seven charges of drug posession. He was charged yesterday after answering bail.
Mr Doherty, 27, will appear at Thames Magistrates’ Court accused of four counts of possessing cocaine and heroin, a single count of possessing cocaine and one count of possessing cannabis.
Mr Doherty was originally arrested on April 20 when police stopped him in Roman Road, Bow, East London. He was bailed on suspicion of having drugs. On August 7 he was arrested again in Aldgate, East London, after a stop-and-search, on suspicion of being in possession of drugs.
Sacked woman’s out-of-court deal
A tax administrator who claimed that she was dismissed from her “dream job” at an award-winning accountancy firm for having an arranged marriage has received a substantial out-of-court settlement.
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Ayesha Sheikh, 21, alleged that her employers at BDO Stoy Hayward pried into her private life before dismissing her in a “sham” redundancy in December.
Mrs Sheikh, a Muslim, claimed unfair dismissal and discrimination on the grounds of race and religion. The tribunal in Central London that was due to hear the case was told that the parties had reached an agreement.
People are being asked to reclaim any memorials that they have placed on Ben Nevis before a clean-up of the highest mountain in Britain.
Cairns, plaques, cuddly toys and cellophane-wrapped bouquets at the summit have become an eyesore and the Nevis Partnership, which looks after the mountain, is to take drastic action. About 50 monuments to the dead are to be cleared off the plateau over the next few months. Any unclaimed items will be stored for five years before being disposed of. After the clear-up, memorials will be removed immediately on sight.
Sheridan ready to set up new party
Tommy Sheridan is preparing to sidestep possible political humiliation at the hands of his former comrades by ditching plans to reclaim the leadership of the party that he founded eight years ago and setting up a new one of his own instead.
The firebrand Glasgow MSP said that he thinks that it is time to form “a new party of the left” rather than fighting to retake control of the Scottish Socialist Party.
Since Mr Sheridan’s defamation victory over the News of the World, the ultra-left SSP has been engaging in extraordinary factional squabbling.
Iraq war victim funeral service
The funeral of Corporal Matthew Cornish, of the 1st Battalion The Light Infantry, who was killed in a mortar attack by Iraqi insurgents in Basra on August 1, was held at All Saints Church, in Cheriton, Kent. Corporal Cornish, 29, had been due to leave frontline service for a training course. Among those attending the funeral were his widow Abbey, 28, son Ethan, 3, and daughter Libby, 15 months.
Mass observation
Tribes from the South Pacific will compile a report on the behaviour of the British for a Channel 4 series. The observation of our rituals, including drinking tea and getting drunk at weekends, will be shown in Reverse Anthropology next year. One tribe of pygmies has asked to take part in a foxhunt.
Life for family killer
Dai Morris, 44, who battered to death Doris Dowson, 80, her daughter Mandy Powers, 34, and grandchildren Katie, 10, and Emily, 8, at their home in Clydach, near Swansea, in 1999, was told at Newport Crown Court that he would never be released for their murders. “Life means life,” Mr Justice McKinnon told him.
Rafting fear
A British law student is feared dead after she was thrown out of a dinghy while white-water rafting in Thailand. A search is continuing for Shenaz Kapoor, 22, from Dundee, who has been missing since the accident north of Phuket on Tuesday. Ms Kapoor is thought to have been on a gap year from Dundee University.
Holiday fraud
The fraud squad is investigating five internet sites that allegedly sold bogus holidays, including holidayrez.com and unbeatableholidays.com. Complainants say that they booked foreign holidays that never materialised and they are unable to contact the company behind the sites to recover their money.
Donations rebuke
The election watchdog will issue a rebuke to Labour and the Conservatives for failing to disclose hundreds of thousands of pounds of donations at the last general election. The Electoral Commission found major discrepancies between what the parties declared and the accounts of constituencies.
Cash clash
A driver who was prevented from paying a £650 fine in pennies is settling it in 5p pieces instead. Mike Rees, 41, of Tonteg, South Wales, said he wanted to make a protest about his careless driving conviction but magistrates said he could pay no more than 20p in bronze. He said: “I maintain my innocence.”