Woman loses court battle over garden access

Successful hedge fund chief Mina Gerowin Herrmann lost around 150,000 pounds trying to get into the garden of her london square home. The jugde trew out her claim against te Royal Borough of Kensington and the committee which refused the couple a key to the exlusive amenity surrounded by fences. They now face paying the costs of the case estimated some 173,000 pounds. Mrs Hermann moved from New York and bought the house after being assured by solicitors that they had the right to use the locked garden. As the hous itself has no garden this was considered a big deal for her and her husband. The couple claimed that under the Kensington Improvement Act of 1851 they were entitled to a share of the garden because they lived in a house within the square area. The judge found the Act unclear as it didn't say which houses included in the square. He came to the clear conclusion that houses with a front or side facing into the square where covered, the house of Hermann does not.

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/woman-loses-court-battle-over-garden-access-2022635.html

The first thing that is noticed was that it were Americans. offcourse it were Americans because anyone else wouln't make a case out of it. When I read on and thought about it I agreed with them. If the key to the garden came with the house the house would be worth a lot more. I also think that it is a bit naïve to not inform at the Royal Borough of Kensington if the solicitors had spoken the truth about the key. If it is so important to you, check it first.

GPs to take control of patient funds

Ministers are pressing ahead with plans to give GPs control over 80bn pounds of NHS funding wich will see them arrange medical services for their patients. A ''white paper'' due next week will spell out plans for changes to the health service. It will probably lead to thousands of job losses among NHS managers and Administrators. The move will put GPs in charge of deciding which hospital or facility should provide care for their patients. they will also pay for the treatment and become responsible for the 80bn pounds of spending. GPs will be obliged to take on these responsibilitie, which may not please those who wish to concentrate on patient care. It is expected the plans will save up to 8bn pounds. It is unclear if GPs, who earn an average of 106,000 pounds, will be paid for the extra work.

http://guardian.co.uk/society/2010/jul/09/gps-patient-conservatives-nhs

This article was a bit unclear to me, this is why I left some parts out of this summary and only wrote down main idea of this article. I think that this system will more fair than any other system. So if you don't have a lot of money to affort a good health insurance it is still possible that your medical costs will be paid by the GPs. What does concern me is that GPs won't have enough time to handle al those task and probably need to hire someone. What means that the NHS managers will back where they were only under supervision of a GP.

Huge hoard of Roman coins found on Somerset farm

The largest single hoard of Roman coins ever found is Britain has been dug up at a farm near Frome in Somerset. A total of 52.500 bronze and silver coins dating from the 3rd century AD were found by Dave Crisp, a hobby metal detectorist from Devizes, Wiltshire. The hoard also included the largest set of coins minted by the self proclaimed emperor Carausius ever found. Crisp first dug up a fingernail-sized bronze coin only 30cm below the surface. when he dug up a dozen coins more he stopped digging and called the experts. When the experts continued digging they uncovered a pot bellied pottery jar stuffed with the extraordinary collection. How the collection ended up underground remains a mystery but achaeologists believe they must represent the life savings of an entire community. the hoard weights 160 kilos and wouldn't be easy to recover from the ground at all. no individual could carry the hoard on its own, so experts believe that the pot was first dug in and then filled up. The coins are likely to be declared treasure and could be worth up to 1m pounds.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/2010/jul/08/hoard-roman-coins-somerset

Such an amazing find! I love such news articles because they are so extraordinary. When I read things like this I question myself how they did things back then a lot. Like how the hell did they build pyramids, nobody knows. Also, everytime I think: now everything is allready found but new things are being found still. I still wonder if Crisp will get any money beside credits. If I had found anything like this I would not rest until I would get my million. I would find it unfair if the museum is going to be a milion pounds richer because of the effort of David Crisp

Third of adults condone smacking, poll shows

new research shows that just 14% of adults think slapping children is an unacceptable form of punishment. A third of adults think slapping childre as young as six years old is a low-risk form of punishment, with almost half of older people believing parents can hit children with no fear of any effects as distress. The Children's Society is now calling on the government to make it illegal to slap children. They say that ''children are the only group of people in the country who can be legally hit on a regular basis by other with little protection in law. Among older adults there was a hadening of views. some 46% aged over 65 said slapping children was completely acceptable, compared with 27% of those aged 18 to 24. when asked what form of behaviour by a parent would trigger their alarm, calling their child stupid and not knowing where they are at was higher up the list than slapping.



http://www.guardian.co.uk/society/2010/jul/08/smacking-children



slapping children on safe area's should be allowed as it is often the only way of reasoning with them. However, it should only be used as a last option. if you slap your child to much it will reduce its effectiveness. some sorts of behaviour should be punished heavier than others, like dangerous or violent behaviour. overall I think it is more interesting looking at the ''why'' rather than the ''how'' if we look at punishing.

Neet problem 'may be worse than previously thought'

A study has suggested that more teenagers in England may be out of education, training or employment (Neet) and for longer periods than previously thought. An audit commision study in 10 area's suggested that 25% of the 16 -18 year olds were categorised as neets at some point in a two year period. almost half of the 25% (43%) were neets foor at least six months. Chairman of the audit commision said: 'young people should be the future but tens of thousands are at risk. Long term effects are long term joblessness, ill-health and criminality. The £8.7bn set aside for training rarely reaches the most disadvantaged teenagers, the homeless or the ones in teenage parenthood, who are often children of parents who have themselves dropped out of school early

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/education/10524288.stm

according to the study the young people who would suffer from the long term effects would be another 10% of the remaing 43%. I did the maths and the answer was that one out of hundred would suffer from them. I think that the relative number seem scary but the absolute numbers don't even lift my shoulders once. I think those number are much higher in other countries where there is more poverty and bad education. I think the only thing that Britain can do about this is to contribute to the costs of education and level the differences in education

Incompetent teachers 'being recycled' by head teachers

In the las 40 years only 18 teachers have been struck off for incompetence. This is despite estimates that up to 17,000 teachers are not up to the job. Incompetent teacher are teacher who could not keep control in the classroom, had a lack of understanding of their subjects or might not even like their pupils. Some incompetent teachers moved between school by getting a good deal from the head teacher. head teachers who were unwilling to subject those suspected of incompetence to proper competence tests. instead they are being guven good references in exchange for agreeing to look for work in alternative schools.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/education/10464617.stm

I think that head teacher have to be tougher. This should not be possible even with the shortcoming on teachers. The teachers need to be given a reason to achieve competence. If not why would they? Also, parents need the assured that their kids get proper education. It would also be very easy for the teacher who are incompetent to become competent. If they would follow a minor about class management a lot of problems would be solved. Only the teachers who don't like their pupils are likely to be unwilling to become competent. Head teachers step up!

Twins snatched by mother are 'at risk of harm'

A woman who snatched her four year old twins from social workers mar have fled from their hometown skegness, Lincolnshire las thursday. The children were taken from her because the woman has a chronic and dangerous problem. therefore there were concerns about her ability to look after them. The 16 year old daughter pleaded for her mother and said that she was jest desperate to become a good family again, that she is fantastic and that she is so much more than her best friend. The father is outrageous about the fact that this could have happened under the care and responsibility of the Roseberry Avenue Contact Centre while the social workers were making a cup of tea. The judge told Lincoln County Court that the children are at serious risk of harm. Despite the effort of the police are the children still not found and they think she took them out of the country.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/society/2010/may/25/father-appeals-twins-snatched-mother

My first thought was: If the mother is ruining the family, why are the children taken out of there? I think that the mother should be put in a clinic or so. If the mother would be in a clinic things would be perfectly safe for the children as their mother would be guarded. the second thing is that I agree with the father. it is mad that she could snatch the children that easy. Now it is the mother who snatched the children but what if the children were taken by a real bad guy like a kidnapper?