Teachers Stage One-Day Strike Over Pay Reform

Thousands of teachers are set to take part in a one-day strike in a continued row over pay, pensions and working conditions.

The walkout, which is taking place across four English regions, is expected to affect tens of thousands of schoolchildren.

It has been organised by two of England's biggest teaching unions - the National Union of Teachers (NUT) and the NASUWT.

Schools in 49 local authorities in the East of England, the East Midlands, West Midlands and Yorkshire and Humberside will be affected.

NASUWT general secretary Chris Keates said strike action was a last resort

NASUWT general secretary Chris Keates said: "The overwhelming majority of teachers in four regions will be on strike today.

"Strike action is a last resort. Teachers have been left with no choice but to demonstrate their anger and frustration in the face of their genuine concerns being dismissed and trivialised."

NUT general secretary Christine Blower said: "No teacher takes strike action lightly but the intransigence of this Education Secretary has left teachers with no choice.

"We cannot stand by and watch our profession be systematically attacked and undermined. There needs to be a change in the Government's attitude to teachers and education."

A Department of Education spokeswoman said: "It is disappointing that the NUT and NASUWT are striking over the Government's measures to allow heads to pay good teachers more."

The spokeswoman said a recent poll found that 61% of those questioned backed linking teachers' pay to performance and a majority were opposed to walkouts.

"All strikes will do is disrupt parents' lives, hold back children's education and damage the reputation of the profession," she added.

The first regional walkout took place in the North West on June 27, with further strikes expected to take place on October 17 in the North East, South East, South West and London.

Plans for a national one-day walkout before Christmas have also been announced by the two unions.

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Extended GP Opening Hours Pilot Unveiled

A £50m trial to encourage longer GP surgery opening hours has been unveiled by the Prime Minister in an attempt to cut the pressure on overstretched A&E departments.

Up to half a million patients are expected to be covered by the pilot project in areas across England which could see surgeries open from 8am to 8pm seven days a week.

Almost one in five patients in a recent NHS survey said inconvenient appointments were a concern, with more than 70% backing weekend and after office opening hours.

The scheme, which is being unveiled at the Conservative Party conference in Manchester, will offer extra cash to groups of GPs proposing the most effective ways to improve patient access.

As well as extended surgery hours, ministers hope they will pioneer more effective use of technology, such as consultations with patients via video calls, email and by telephone.

Electronic prescriptions, online appointment booking and allowing people to visit a number of different surgeries across an area are among other measures which could be introduced.

Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt will outline the plans at the Tory conference

David Cameron said: "Millions of people find it hard to get an appointment to see their GP at a time that fits in with their work and family life.

"We want to support GPs to modernise their services so they can see patients from 8am to 8pm, seven days a week.

"We also want greater flexibility, so people can speak to their family doctor on the phone, send them an email or even speak to them on Skype."

The first pilot projects are due to be operating by April 2014.

Similar initiatives are already being trialled in some parts of the country, including parts of Manchester, where some surgeries will move to seven-day opening.

Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt, who will talk about the initiative in his speech to the conference, said: "We live in a 24/7 society and we need GPs to find new ways of working so they can offer appointments at times that suit hard-working people.

"Cutting-edge GP practices here in Manchester are leading the way, and we want many more patients across the country to benefit."

Professor Steve Field, Chief Inspector for General Practice, said: "This move towards seven day services is great news for patients and should be embraced by GPs.

"I want to see brilliant access to GP services for patients across the country and will be assessing this in each practice I inspect."

However, shadow health secretary Andy Burnham accused Mr Cameron and his Conservative party of "taking the NHS backwards".

"This announcement is a major admission of failure and a U-turn of fairly epic proportions," he said.

"Patients are also finding it harder to get appointments, and turning to A&E instead, after he removed Labour's guarantee of an appointment within 48 hours."

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Thames Duck Boat Fire: 30 Pulled From River

Around 30 people have been rescued from the River Thames after their tour boat caught on fire.

The passengers were forced to jump overboard when flames took hold on the London Duck Tours amphibious vessel on a stretch of water close to Lambeth Bridge.

Some 28 tourists and two crew members were hauled to safety by passing tour barges after the fire broke out shortly before midday on Sunday.

A woman and a child were taken to hospital with suspected smoke inhalation.

The blaze on the amphibious vessel is being investigated

Further tourists were treated for smoke inhalation at the riverside, opposite the Houses of Parliament.

All passengers have been accounted for, but London Fire Brigade group manager Neil Withers said they were "cold, wet and in shock".

"Fortunately at this stage it doesn't look like anyone's been seriously injured," he said.

The cause of the fire is not yet known

"People are clearly cold, wet and in shock but they were pulled from the water really quickly and that's testament to the work of our firefighters, other emergency rescue teams and others who rushed to the scene to help.

"The casualties, who are tourists, are being looked after by the London Ambulance Service and firefighters, who are keeping them warm and making them cups of tea."

The cause of the fire is not yet known.

"The damaged boat was pulled away from the scene by our fire boat and a full investigation into exactly what happened will now be taking place," Mr Withers said.

The Port of London Authority is also expected to investigate the blaze.

Around one-third of the beleaguered boat was damaged by the blaze, according to the fire brigade.

It is the third time this year that a Duck Tours vessel has run into difficulty.

In June, 22 people were taken to hospital after the Yellow Duckmarine amphibious tour bus sunk in Liverpool.

Another Yellow Duckmarine tour bus reportedly sank in the city dock in March. Nobody was injured in that incident.

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Antoin Akpom Murder: Second Man Arrested

Police have arrested a man in connection with the murder of a youth football coach stabbed to death in the street.

The 19-year-old was arrested on Sunday evening in Cardiff in relation to Antoin Akpom's death in a knife attack in Leicester on September 12.

He is the second person to be held by police investigating the murder.

Abdul Hakim, 19, of Wood Hill, was remanded in custody after appearing in court on September 18 charged with the 20-year-old Mr Akpom's murder.

Mr Akpom, who coached a youth football team at Leicester Nirvana FC, was found injured in Kent Street and later died from his wounds.

A Leicestershire Police spokesman said: "Detectives investigating the murder of Leicester man Antoin Akpom have arrested a man in connection with the incident.

"The 19-year-old man was arrested in Cardiff on Sunday evening and currently remains in police custody.

"On September 17 detectives charged a 19-year-old man with the murder of Antoin. He has since been remanded into custody and is due to appear at Leicester Crown Court at a later date."

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Cameron Launches State-Backed Mortgages Plan

David Cameron will announce that state-backed mortgages to help people on modest incomes get onto the property ladder will start within days - three months earlier than planned.

The mortgage guarantees will allow buyers to acquire a newly built home or an existing property worth up to £600,000 with a deposit of only 5%.

The second stage of the Help to Buy scheme aims to boost mortgage availability by reducing the risk for lenders because the Government takes on the risk of default when it guarantees a proportion of a loan.

Mr Cameron says the 'earlier the better' for the scheme's launch

Mr Cameron believes that will help solve the skewed market that means people on good wages struggle to buy even modest properties because they cannot scrape together the massive deposits needed or find a mortgage.

The scheme was due to start in January next year but the Prime Minister will say at the Conservative Party conference today that people will be able to start applying for the new mortgage guarantee from next week.

Mr Cameron said: "Young people who've got a decent job and have got decent earnings - they cannot buy a house or a flat, because they have to have a £30,000, £40,000 or £50,000 deposit.  Now, if you haven't got rich parents, you can't get that sort of money.

"So we're going to launch the Help To Buy Scheme - it's not coming in next year, it's coming in next week, because I'm passionate about helping people who want to own their own flat or home.

"You take a nurse married to a teacher. They're both earning £25,000 - that's pretty close to average full time earnings. If they want to buy a £200,000 house, they're going to have to find a £40,000 deposit.

"Now, they can't do that, unless they've got rich parents. That's not right. That's not an aspiration nation."

But the scheme has attracted widespread concern, with some claiming it may lead to more problems than it solves.

Liberal Democrat Business Secretary Vince Cable warned the scheme "could inflate the market" and said he feared there was a "danger of getting into another housing bubble".

Former Bank of England governor Lord King said the scheme is "too close for comfort" to a general scheme to guarantee mortgages.

Mr Balls says the Government focus should be on affordable homes

Labour's shadow chancellor Ed Balls said: "If David Cameron is serious about helping first-time buyers he should be bringing forward investment to build more affordable homes. Rising demand for housing must be matched with rising supply, but under this government housebuilding is at its lowest level since the 1920s.

"Unless David Cameron acts now to build more affordable homes, as Labour has urged, then soaring prices risk making it even harder for first time buyers to get on the housing ladder.

"You can't deal with the cost of living crisis without building more homes, so it's no wonder that for millions of families this is no recovery at all."

The first stage of Help To Buy was launched in April and offers loans to give people the chance to buy a new-build home with a deposit of just 5%. The scheme has been credited with spurring a surge in home sales and driving up prices.

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Police Chief: 'Make Class A Drugs Legal'

One of England's top police officers has called for class A drugs such as heroin and cocaine to be legalised.

Durham chief constable Mike Barton claimed the war on drugs had failed and decriminalisation was the best way to strip power away from criminal gangs.

Writing in The Observer, the national intelligence leader for the Association of Chief Police Officers also suggested the NHS should supply class A drugs to addicts.

He said: "Not all crime gangs raise income through selling drugs, but most of them do in my experience. So offering an alternative route of supply to users cuts off the gang's income stream.

"If an addict were able to access drugs via the NHS or some similar organisation, then they would not have to go out and buy illegal drugs.

"Drugs should be controlled. They should not, of course, be freely available.

"I think addiction to anything - drugs, alcohol, gambling, etc - is not a good thing, but outright prohibition hands revenue streams to villains."

Under Mr Barton's direction, Durham Constabulary launched Operation Sledgehammer, a sustained campaign  to "get in the faces" of organised crime gangs.

He has previously claimed to seek inspiration in the way notorious Prohibition-era mafioso Al Capone was finally brought down not for bootlegging, but tax evasion.

The officer, who has served for nearly 34 years, said he had witnessed a worsening drug addiction problem since prohibition began in 1971 with the Misuse of Drugs Act.

He argued that pushers had made billions from adulterated drugs, transforming them into local folk heroes for young people.

"Decriminalising their commodity will immediately cut off their income stream and destroy their power," he said.

"Making drugs legal would tackle the supply chain much more effectively and much more economically than we can currently manage."

Mr Barton said that offering drugs therapeutically through the NHS and similar organisations would avoid the spread of HIV and hepatitis C among needle users.

But he underlined that he was in favour of their use in a controlled environment, rather than a "free for all".

"I am saying that people who encourage others to take drugs by selling them are criminals, and their actions should be tackled," he said.

"But addicts, on the other hand, need to be treated, cared for and encouraged to break the cycle of addiction. They do not need to be criminalised."

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Leicester House Fire Murders: Four Charged

Four people have been charged with murder over a house fire that killed a mother and her three teenage children.

Dr Muhammad Taufiq said he would "deeply miss" his wife and children

A 16-year-old youth, a 24-year-old man and two 19-year-old men are due to appear at Leicester Magistrates' Court today.

Kemo Anthony Porter, 18, had already been charged with murder over the deaths of Shehnila Taufiq, 47, her daughter Zainab, 19, and sons Bilal, 17, and Jamil, 15.

Their bodies were found in the upstairs bedrooms of their home on Wood Hill in the Spinney Hills area of the city on September 13.

The children's father, Muhammad Taufiq al Sattar, a neurosurgeon who was working in Ireland, has said he would "deeply miss" his "beautiful" wife, daughter and two teenage sons.

The Taufiq family are originally from Pakistan, but had a home in Ireland for at least 15 years before the children moved to the UK with their mother around five years ago for an Islamic education.

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'Smart Drug' Modafinil Risks Student Health

Students at some of Britain's best universities are potentially putting their health at risk by using a 'smart drug' bought off the internet, Sky News has been told.

Doctors have warned that increasing numbers of teenagers are using the prescription-only medicine modafinil to stay awake and alert for long periods of time.

The drug is designed to combat the sleeping disorder narcolepsy.

However, research shows it is available to anyone from dozens of online retailers.

Anecdotal evidence suggests there is a black market at universities, including Oxford and Cambridge, with students selling it to each other for around £2 a pill.

Some students are now said to be demanding drug tests before exams to stamp out a practice they believe to be equivalent to cheating.

Some students are turning to the internet to get the drug

One Oxford student told Sky News that he believed up to a quarter of his student friends had taken modafinil.

But academics say that the long-term effects are unknown, and medicines' watchdog the Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency says the drug should not be taken without a prescription.

Barbara Sahakian, professor of clinical neuropsychology at Cambridge University, said there had been an increase in the number of students taking the drug in recent years.

"A lot of young people are purchasing these drugs over the internet.

"[It] is a very unsafe way to get these drugs because you don't really know what you're getting and you don't know if it's safe for you as an individual."

She said some students feel peer pressure to take the drug in order to keep up with their fellow students.

There can be pressure to take modafinil, says Professor Barbara Sahakian

"There's this kind of coercion that goes on.

"I think a lot of students feel it's very unfair that other students are taking these drugs during exams and they feel that they're losing out because the other person has a competitive advantage.

"Some students feel when you go into the exam perhaps there should be a test to see whether you're on the drug or not, because otherwise there's no way of detecting whether you are or not."

Prof Sahakian believes that the increasing use of modafinil raises serious concerns both for students and society.

"What are the effects of putting a drug into and changing the chemicals in your brain as your brain is developing?" she asked.

"What will society be like in the future? Will we all be just popping pills to stay awake, and alert and keep working? Will we accelerate into a 24/7 society? Is that what we really want?"

Laurie Pycroft, a masters student at Oxford University, admits taking the drug every few weeks.

He told Sky News: "Some people report that they become very focused or very good at concentrating on a repetitive task.

Laurie Pycroft believes around a quarter of his friends have taken the drug

"I have found the ability to go without sleep, when necessary, quite effective. It's essentially like caffeine, just a bit more effective and with less jitters.

"The people I've met who offer me modafinil for sale, they've all been fellow students, or academic types, rather than your stereotypical wheeler-dealer in a hoodie down a dark alley."

Doctor Anders Sandberg, research fellow at Oxford University's future of humanity institute uses modafinil every one or two weeks.

While he believes he is doing himself no harm, he would rather be able to get the drug from his GP.

"Going via an internet drug store means the money ends up in the grey market, and that's problematic. You might be feeding your money into a market that is actually doing a lot of harm in the world.

"It would be much better if it were in the open market, which would mean that we could actually control that it's actually healthy, that side effects get reported, that you could actually study it properly."

He added: "I don't regard the use itself as immoral or problematic. I'm not competing with anyone else. I am taking the risks on my own."

Oxford University says it had not seen evidence of a modafinil problem

Buying prescription-only drugs is not illegal, however, supplying them is.

Universities UK says there is no firm evidence to suggest taking 'smart drugs' is widespread among students and called for more research to discover how common it is.

In a statement, it said: "We would be very concerned if the impression were given that most students at UK universities are now taking … 'smart drugs'.

"We are not aware of any new research or data to suggest that such drugs are widely used and available among the UK's higher education student population of 2.5 million students."

It said however, that it would have "grave concerns" about students taking drugs not prescribed to them.

An Oxford University spokesman said: "If 'cognitive enhancement' drugs are a particular problem at Oxford we have yet to see any substantive evidence for it."

In a statement, spokesmen for Oxford and Cambridge universities both said they strongly advised students never to take prescription-only medicines without a doctor's recommendation.

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Sami Tesfay Raped 12-Year-Old He Groomed Online

A man has been detained indefinitely under the Mental Health Act after subjecting a 12-year-old girl to a horrific sexual attack, Scotland Yard said.

Sami Tesfay, 22, groomed his victim on a social networking site before meeting her in person and persuading her to come home with him.

He then raped the young girl in a stairwell on January 23.

Tesfay, of Lewisham, south east London, has a history of "beguiling" vulnerable youngsters and gaining their trust, police said.

He was found guilty of rape in July and was sentenced at Woolwich Crown Court on September 20, Scotland Yard said.

Detective Constable James Taylor, of Sapphire, which investigates sex crimes, said: "Tesfay used a social networking site to befriend his victim.

"He groomed her, gained her trust and exploited her for his own needs. The victim has now seen him convicted for what he did to her.

"This case highlights the negative side of social media and the need for parents to be vigilant around who their children are communicating with online.

"This successful outcome, I hope, should encourage other victims of sexual crime to come forward and report what has happened to them."

Metropolitan Police Detective Chief Inspector Pete Thomas added: "Tesfay befriends vulnerable children and exploits them.

"In this case the victim was beguiled by his attention and belief that he was sincere about their relationship.

"He has now been found guilty and will be held in a secure facility to prevent harming others.

"Anyone who has been a victim of rape should come forward and tell us what has happened so we and other agencies can provide them with the necessary support."

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Brakes Could Be Slammed On Parking 'Spies'

Councils could be banned from using CCTV cameras and "spy cars" to impose fines on drivers under new government proposals.

Local Government Secretary Eric Pickles has said he wants to curb "overzealous" local authorities in England which use cameras to maximise their income from parking fines.

He warned that public support for CCTV could be undermined if people believed they were being used to generate revenue rather than preventing crime.

A government consultation paper will suggest amending legislation underpinning the Traffic Management Act 2004 to outlaw the practice.

"We want to rein in these overzealous and unfair rules on parking enforcement, so it focuses on supporting high streets and motorists, not raising money," Mr Pickles told the Daily Telegraph.

"Parking spy cameras are just one example of this and a step too far. Public confidence is strengthened in CCTV if it is used to tackle crime, not to raise money for council officers."

The announcement will be seen as a morale-booster as Conservative activists prepare to head off for their annual party conference next week in Manchester.

The Telegraph reported that 75 local authorities, one in four in England, currently has permission to use CCTV or "approved devices" for parking enforcement.

Revenue from fines 'are a nice litle earner' says the RAC Foundation

The Department for Transport says CCTV should be used only when it is impractical to use traffic wardens.

Last month, a report by the RAC Foundation claimed some local authorities could be using parking revenue to plug gaps in their finances.

During 2011/12 the combined amount of cash left over after money was spent on parking services, filling potholes, funding park and ride schemes, street lights and road improvements was £412m.

This was a £54m increase in the surplus left over in 2010/11, said the foundation.

The authority with the biggest surplus was Westminster Council with £41.6m.

Responding to the report, RAC Foundation director Professor Stephen Glaister said: "For many local authorities, parking charges are a nice little earner, especially in London.

"Not all authorities make big sums. Several run a current account deficit and indeed of those with surpluses, many will see the money vanish when capital expenditure is taken into account.

"But the bottom line is that hundreds of millions of pounds are being contributed annually to council coffers through parking charges."

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