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Alleged Brothers for Life gang members arrested over shootings

Thu, 09 Jan 2014 02:32:17 GMT

One of the men is Farhad Qaumi, alleged leader of gang faction which police claim has played a role in most of the shootings in Sydney in the last three or four months

If Australia is plagued by violent machismo, it starts from the top | Jeff Sparrow

Jeff Sparrow — Thu, 09 Jan 2014 01:57:41 GMT

Jeff Sparrow: A moral panic over drunken violence is a convenient smokescreen for the real brutality taking place in Australia's name

Jeff Sparrow

Alcohol-related violence: numbers don't always tally with media attention

Nick Evershed — Thu, 09 Jan 2014 00:39:50 GMT

The issue is a serious one, but the idea that such assaults are becoming more common is misconceived

Nick Evershed

Obesity experts campaign to cut sugar in food by up to 30%

Sarah Boseley — Thu, 09 Jan 2014 00:02:00 GMT

Doctors say marketing ploys to cut calories are ineffective, now industry must slowly lower sugar content of processed foods

Obesity experts are launching a campaign to put pressure on the government and industry to cut the sugar content of food and drinks by up to 30%. The high-profile scientists and doctors behind Action on Sugar say that gradual cuts in the amount of sugar in ready meals, cereals, sweets and soft drinks will not be noticed by the public, but will result in a reduction in the calories we all consume.

A 20-30% reduction in sugar over time will cut our calorie intake by about 100kcal a day – and more for those who consume a lot of sugar.

That is enough to halt or even reverse the obesity epidemic and reduce the toll of diabetes and other disease, say the doctors, who include Robert Lustig, author of Fat Chance: The Bitter Truth About Sugar, and Professors John Wass, academic vice-president of the Royal College of Physicians, Philip James of the International Association for the Study of Obesity and Sir Nicholas Wald of the Wolfson Institute of Preventive Medicine.

Action on Sugar aims to do what a similar campaign launched in the 1990s called Cash (Consensus Action on Salt and Health) successfully did for salt levels in our food. It is chaired by Professor Graham MacGregor, who also heads Cash.

"Provided the sugar reductions are done slowly, people won't notice," he said. "In most products in the supermarkets, the salt has come down by between 25% and 40%."

People had not noticed the difference. Kellogg's Cornflakes contain 60% less salt than they used to.

The government's strategy against obesity has been to agree voluntary curbs on marketing to children and calorie reduction through a public health "responsibility deal".

But MacGregor and others say it is not working and has had no effect on calorie intake. "We must start to slowly reduce the amount of calories people consume by slowly taking out added sugar from foods and soft drinks," he said.

The industry argues that sugars are forms of carbohydrate, which we need in our diet, and that we should cut calories by eating less, but there is no specific reason to target sugar.

"Sugars, or any other nutrient for that matter, consumed as part of a varied and balanced diet are not a cause of obesity, to which there is no simple or single solution," said the Food and Drink Federation. "That's why the food industry has been working on a range of initiatives with other players to tackle obesity and diet-related diseases."

The sugars in food and drinks are listed on the label, they said, so everybody can see what is in the products they buy. The industry has worked to reduce salt levels and saturated fats, but there is no evidence that sugars are particularly harmful, it said.

Aseem Malhotra, cardiologist and science director of the new group, disagrees, pointing to studies that suggest sugar increases the risk of diabetes, regardless of whether or not a person is overweight.

"Added sugar has no nutritional value and the body doesn't need any added sugar," he said. Claims by industry that sugar was needed for energy were untrue, he added.

The campaign is worried about hidden sugars in processed foods, such as the nine teaspoons in a standard 330ml can of Coke, the six teaspoons in a Muller Crunch Corner strawberry shortcake yoghurt, and the six in a 375g portion of Sharwood's sweet and sour chicken with rice. A serving of Kellogg's Frosties contains four teaspoons and Heinz classic tomato soup has four teaspoons in 300g.

Saturated fat contains more calories per gram than sugar, but Lustig, professor of paediatric endocrinology at the University of California, San Francisco, said that not all calories were the same.

"The science says that sugar is different – that sugar is dangerous exclusive of its calories, just like alcohol," he said. He called sugar "the alcohol of childhood", which was likely to put children at greater risk of fatty liver disease and diabetes.

Yoni Freedhoff, assistant professor of medicine at the University of Ottawa, Canada, another adviser to the group, said: "Not only has added sugar found its way into virtually everything we eat, but worse still, the use of sugar as a means to pacify, entertain and reward children has become normalised to the point that questioning our current sugary status quo often inspires anger and outrage."

Simon Capewell, professor of clinical epidemiology at Liverpool University, called sugar the new tobacco. "Everywhere, sugary drinks and junk foods are now pressed on unsuspecting parents and children by a cynical industry focused on profit not health," he said.

The Department of Health said: "Helping people eat fewer calories, including sugar, is a key part of the responsibility deal and our efforts to reduce obesity. There are 38 businesses signed up to reduce calories, but we want to go further still, and are discussing this with the food industry.

"As part of the responsibility deal calorie reduction pledge, Coca Cola has reduced calories in some of its soft drinks brands by at least 30%. Mars has reduced its single chocolate portions to no more than 250 calories, and Tesco has reduced the number of calories sold in its own brand soft drinks by over one billion."

Sarah Boseley

Rubio proposes big changes to 'war on poverty' as GOP eyes new agenda

Dan Roberts — Thu, 09 Jan 2014 00:01:05 GMT

Florida senator envisions smaller government role in tackling poverty as GOP attacked the idea that federal spending is the best weapon

Dan Roberts

Coward punch attacks: Tony Abbott tells police to throw the book at culprits

Lenore Taylor — Wed, 08 Jan 2014 23:44:37 GMT

Prime minister says, as a father and a citizen, he is 'appalled at what seems to be happening in certain trouble spots' in Sydney

Lenore Taylor

Coalition MPs reject Labour's demands for crackdown on gambling machines

Randeep Ramesh — Wed, 08 Jan 2014 22:33:40 GMT

Government votes against idea of giving councils powers to limit number of fixed odds betting terminals

Labour demands for tighter controls on high-stakes gambling machines failed to win the support of coalition MPs on Wednesday night.

The government won a Commons vote by 314 to 232, majority 82, in a vote on a Labour motion calling for local councils to be given the power to limit the number of high-stakes fruit machines.

Labour had hoped some Liberal Democrat and Conservative MPs would rebel against the government and support their demands for further controls.

Earlier in the day David Cameron said he "absolutely shares the concerns" of Ed Miliband over the spread of the high-speed, high-stakes gambling machines in Britain's high streets, indicating that the government will act after an industry-funded study reports this year.

But the prime minister said he welcomed the opposition day debate on the issue, adding there were "problems in the betting and gambling industry", but that the government would wait for a key report – expected to be laid before parliament early this year – into the machines before taking action.

The PM said he wanted to work together to address the issues raised by fixed odds betting terminals (FOBTs), where people can wager £100 every 20 seconds.

Critics have called the machines "the crack cocaine of gambling", arguing they lead to crime and addiction.

Cameron blamed Labour for the rise of the machines, noting they were "introduced in 2001 after the [last] government had relaxed gambling regulations". The opposition said the FOBTs were "always on probation".

The Labour leader proposed handing new planning powers to councils, giving local authorities the power to reduce the number of FOBTs in betting shops – currently limited to four – and increasing the time between bets. He warned that the machines were "spreading like an epidemic".

In the later debate, the culture minister, Helen Grant, told MPs the future of FOBTs was unresolved and bookmakers must take immediate action to increase protection for players.

She said the government was waiting for the findings of a study into "how [the machines] are used and the real impact on players" before deciding what further action may be needed.

Many parliamentarians voiced their concerns over FOBTs. Echoing the results of a Guardian investigation that revealed criminals are converting their loot into a clean win on electronic roulette tables, Labour MP Pat Glass said she knew of a "nasty crime family … who moved into drug dealing" in her constituency that were now "all over these machines".

Tories also warned that the industry was on notice. Zac Goldsmith, the London Tory MP, tweeted: "It's hard to disagree with Labour's motion today to empower local authorities to decide re betting machines/bookies. Localism, surely?"

Even Tories who supported the government warned that ministers may be waiting too long before acting against FOBTs.

Initial results were expected in spring this year, but the full report would only come out in the autumn.

Tracey Crouch, Tory MP for Chatham and Aylesford, said this would be "too long" to wait.

Jim Leech, the Lib Dem MP for Manchester Withington, said that if the industry failed to implement "player protection" measures by March, the government should reduce stakes and prizes.

Despite the consensus on the need to deal with fixed odds betting terminals, a row broke out over the prime minister's claim that "there are actually fewer of these machines now than there were when Labour were in office".

Tom Watson, the former Labour chair, blogged that in 2010/11 there were 32,832 machines and 33,209 at the end of March 2013.

In that time gross profit from FOBTs rose from £1.3bn to £1.5bn, with bookies clustering in poorer areas.

"It's very hard to say how the PM can make the claim there are fewer terminals today than when Labour was in office," he wrote.

Randeep Ramesh

Homophobia in football: kick it out | Editorial

Editorial — Wed, 08 Jan 2014 22:32:47 GMT

Fans know they watch gay men on the pitch, and understand there are various reasons why this is always kept quiet

A boneheaded 2% of football fans told YouGov in 2009 that the reason all of the 5,000 or so professional footballers in England were heterosexual was that "there are no gay players". Thomas Hitzlsperger's decision to reveal he "preferred living together with a man" may not disabuse them. He retired from the game last autumn, and so the Premier League is still without an active player who's officially anything other than straight.

Not long before, Robbie Rogers, who had played for Leeds, said it was time to "step away from football" as he came out, but a signing for LA Galaxy soon reversed this 25-year-old's retirement once he escaped English shores. With John Fashanu insisting that his late brother, Justin, who uniquely outed himself before he took his own life in the 1990s, was not really gay, a determined denier in 2013 could still maintain English football was uniquely free of a disposition that only ever sets in after players have walked away from the top flight.

Of course, Ockham's razor cuts such a wild theory, and so too – the same YouGov survey implies – do the other 98% of fans. They know perfectly well that they watch gay men on the pitch, and understand that there are various reasons why this is always kept quiet. It is an extraordinary state of affairs. England's wicket-keeping has already been entrusted to a gay man, and the country lives under a Conservative-led government that has legislated for same-sex marriage. There is a specific problem with the national game that simply does not apply across an increasingly tolerant country.

Part of the difficulty is the toleration of dressing-room "banter" that would be described as hate speech in other contexts. Mr Hitzlsperger puts it gently, and with remarkable humour, which only redoubles the power of his testimony about sitting round "a table with 20 young men and listen[ing] to jokes about gays". But personal as sexuality is, the bigger difficulty is still what gets chanted in public. Years after co-ordinated efforts began to address the routine racism that once disfigured the terraces, jeers about "rent boys" are often indulged. Could anything be more intimidating for a young man struggling to come to terms with private feelings than a crowd of tens of thousands yelling about these?

With the extension of Kick It Out's remit from racism to wider prejudice, the first steps have at last been taken, but there is still a way to go before referees and stewards react to taunts about "queers" and "faggots" just as fiercely as they do to 1970s poison about "monkey boys". But it is not just the authorities that have responsibility here: it is every last one of the 98% of fans who is not so stupid as to imagine that gay footballers do not exist.

Editorial

Thomas Hitzlsperger: 'I finally figured out that I preferred living with a man'

Raphael Honigstein — Wed, 08 Jan 2014 22:09:02 GMT

Former Premier League footballer and German international talks to Raphael Honigstein about how he wanted to tell the world he was gay while he was still playing in Germany for Wolfsburg, but was advised against it

Thomas Hitzlsperger had managed to stay away from his computer for a long time. In the morning he had become the highest-profile footballer to announce he is gay, and in the hours afterwards he had not checked the public reaction. When I speak to him I tell him that support has been flooding in from fans, fellow footballers, well-wishers – and yes, even Nick Clegg and Ed Miliband.

"But where's David Cameron?" the former Germany international asks with playful indignation. "He's a Villa supporter, after all!" The prime minister, as it turns out, would soon add his voice to a raft of high-profile well-wishers that included Angela Merkel, the German national team manager Joachim Löw, and the former German foreign minister Guido Westerwelle, who is also gay.

They all talked about the former Aston Villa, West Ham and Everton midfielder's "courage" in breaking one of sport's last great taboos: Hitzlsperger, capped 52 times by his country, is the first German footballer to reveal he is gay. He is also the first former Premier League footballer to do so.

It was a moment he always knew would come, and one he dreaded. The decision to address this issue publicly was a "hard, difficult one" that took a number of years to gestate, he tells me. The 31-year-old, who retired from the game last year because of injuries, first told his friends and family.

"I was surprised and happy that they were all totally OK with it. Where I come from, in rural Bavaria, homosexuality is considered 'un-normal'. I knew that there would be negative reactions from those who will never understand it, also towards my family, but that didn't bother them. I've had nothing but total support from them."

Hitzlsperger, who was engaged to his childhood sweetheart and broke up with her shortly before the scheduled wedding six years ago, was not certain of his sexual orientation until his career was almost over. "I finally figured out that I preferred living with a man," he says.

He had thought about coming out while still playing for Wolfsburg in 2011-12 but then listened to people who warned him of the negative consequences. "They all said 'don't do it, a big wave will crash on you'," he says. "But in the end I realised that nobody knows. There was no precedent, so everybody could only speculate on what would happen."

While Germany as a country has noticeably become more and more relaxed about homosexuality in recent years, he had also noted there was an unhelpful media obsession with finding the first gay footballer. All sorts of well-intended but ultimately unhelpful interventions from heterosexual players – who either opined that gay players would benefit from coming out or cautioned against it – did not exactly fill him with confidence that this was indeed the right step.

Homosexuality was rarely a big topic in any of the dressing rooms he encountered, he says, and "the subject only came up when people were speculating about someone else's sexuality, but never in their presence."

There was the odd incidence of crass homophobia, as well, "but that was just your general, non-specific football talk," says Hitzlsperger. "I too, used derogatory terms like 'what a gay pass' without thinking about it when I was younger."

The former international, who played in the 2006 World Cup and the 2008 European Championship, maintains that he did not have to lie about his sexuality and that team-mates eventually stopped asking about his lack of a girlfriend.

In any case, he says, an ultimately fruitless battle to regain full fitness after a series of operations was more important to him than telling his colleagues about his sexual orientation.

The announcement of his retirement last September brought more time to think, however. "It really helped me to see that other professional sports people were acknowledging their sexuality. I read about John Amaechi, Gareth Thomas and Tom Daley. They weren't footballers but the fact that they went public gave me the feeling that I was not alone. I began to think that I could help other footballers who might be in the same shoes, so that they could see that here's someone who was even an international. I wanted to encourage them, the way that those guys and Robbie Rogers encouraged me."

He closely studied the fall-out of their coming outs, too, he says, and felt empowered. "They all said it was good for them." Hitzlsperger is unwilling to make wide-scale recommendations – "everyone has to decide for themselves" – and is unwilling to predict when the first active footballer in a European top league will follow his lead.

"But the important thing for me is to show that being homosexual and professional football player is something that is normal. The perceived contradiction between playing football, the man's game, and being homosexual is nonsense. I don't think anyone has ever come away from watching a game with me thinking there's something wrong or 'too soft' with my game," he adds, with a chuckle.

Known as "the Hammer" among supporters because of his fierce shot with his left foot, Hitzlsperger always enjoyed a robust challenge.

"You hear the word courage a lot," he says, when the talk returns to the reactions he has experienced so far. "That's nice to hear, but it's part of the problem, of course. That's something that should change. I sincerely hope that we'll see the when nobody mentions courage in these circumstances anymore, because it will be seen as totally normal that a sports person will speak about his homosexuality, the way others talk about their wives and girlfriends. It won't be easy for the next person to be the truly the first in that regard but maybe I've been able to help them a tiny bit."

Hitzlsperger, who has addressed issues such as racism and antisemitism in German football before, is acutely aware that there is a political dimension to his move, with the Olympic Games in Sochi about to begin. "It's important to face up to nations that discriminate against minorities, sexual or otherwise," he says. "I'm fine with the fact that my story will be mentioned in relation to the Games, because the situation in Russia is something that needs to be talked about. I'm curious to see what will happen. I'm sure that some athletes will make a stand".

Hitzlsperger is under no illusion that football's attitudes will change overnight. On the day of his interview with the Guardian, the Paris St-Germain defender Alex, a former Chelsea player, insisted that "god created Adam and Eve, not Adam and Yves".

Hitzlsperger says: "You'll always have those guys, but it's sad that they don't think a little deeper about what they're saying. I feel sorry for them, really".

Still, the emphatically positive response by politicians, footballers and fans have left him in an optimistic mood and at ease with himself. "It's good to know, not just for me but for others who are still playing now, that those at the top have no problem, that they support you. When the chancellor comes out in your favour, you know that it's safe being homosexual in this country, that you won't be discriminated. There will always be a small minority who think otherwise but hopefully, their numbers become fewer and fewer over the next years".

Raphael Honigstein

IVF babies have greater risk of complications, study finds

Ian Sample — Wed, 08 Jan 2014 22:01:02 GMT

Single children born after IVF are found to be nearly twice as likely to be born early, stillborn or die within 28 days of birth

Children born after IVF treatment have a greater risk of complications ranging from preterm birth to neonatal death, according to a major study into the health of newborns.

Doctors found that single IVF babies were nearly twice as likely to be born early, to be stillborn, or to die within the first 28 days of delivery compared with those conceived naturally.

But the study, based on more than 300,000 births in South Australia between 1986 and 1992, did not look at whether IVF treatment was to blame, and leaves open the possibility that the IVF babies fared worse for other reasons, such as health problems, or older age, that caused couples to be infertile in the first place.

"There is in all likelihood a contribution from both the treatment and patient factors," said Michael Davies, who led the study at the University of Adelaide. "We have very unfriendly work practices that mean families defer child-bearing until women are relatively old, and that is tragic."

The age of the medical records, with the most recent being from 2002, means they provide an overview of newborn baby health that is more than a decade old, during which time IVF technology and clinical procedures have advanced.

"We need to add more data to see if the improvements in embryology and clinical treatment over the past five to 10 years have flowed through to improve these perinatal outcomes. That is quite plausible, but we do not know," Davies said.

The researchers found that preterm birth rates rose from 4.7% in naturally conceived babies to 8% in those born to couples who had IVF. Neonatal deaths rose from 0.3% in naturally conceived babies to 0.5% in IVF children.

The findings build on previous work that has found similar rates of birth problems in IVF babies. A survey of medical reviews published in 2004 found that IVF babies had around twice the risk of death shortly before or after birth, and a similarly increased risk of low birthweight and preterm birth.

"What's hard to tease out is how much is due to the treatment itself and how much is due to underlying infertility which the ART [assisted reproductive technology] is overcoming," said Dagan Wells at the Institute of Reproductive Sciences at Oxford University.

Writing in the journal, Plos One, the researchers claim that freezing embryos before thawing and implanting them – an increasingly common procedure – can overcome the risk of preterm birth after ICSI or Intra-Cytoplasmic Sperm Injection, where sperm are injected directly into eggs. Freezing may help because the embryos are implanted once the woman's hormones have settled down after treatment to produce more eggs.

The most striking finding, which needs confirmation, was of a group of women who were diagnosed as infertile but had babies after continuing to try naturally. Babies born to these women appeared to fare much worse than others, with average birthweights that were 250g lighter than others conceived naturally. The risk of these babies being stillborn was nearly seven times greater.

The cause of the problem is unclear and needs confirmation, but if real may be down to the parents' health or lifestyles. But Davies suspects that the women are receiving other treatment that is to blame. "We know this group of women tend to use a drug called clomiphene citrate for infertility. It's a very common, very cheap drug, but its adverse consequences have not been terribly well studied. We are now extremely keen to investigate this," he said.

Ian Sample

Antisocial behaviour bill is not the end of the world | @guardianletters

Wed, 08 Jan 2014 21:01:01 GMT

HG Wells once said that "a newspaper is a device incapable of distinguishing between a bicycle accident and the end of civilisation". I fear George Monbiot has proved him right. His article (Comment, 7 January) paints an apocalyptic picture of the antisocial behaviour bill as an evil measure to end our right to protest, our freedom of speech and our civil liberties. It is nonsense. If it was in any way true I would be the first to stand up and say so.

Although I have only been involved in the latter stages of the bill (I am not the architect, as George describes me), I'm confident these new powers won't stop people being able to sing carols or whatever else the scare stories say. That notwithstanding, since I took over the bill I have introduced further safeguards for reassurance. It will help protect vulnerable people in society from antisocial behaviour, which, if allowed to grow out of control, can cause enormous harm to our communities. For too long there has been a broken system for dealing with such behaviour. Labour's asbos failed, not only because they unnecessarily criminalise young people, but because they do not help address the causes behind the behaviour.

These reforms are the result of an extensive consultation process involving local authorities, social landlords, the judiciary and voluntary sector, and, most importantly, victims and members of the public who've told us they want a more measured and effective response. Our introduction of new injunctions to prevent nuisance or annoyance will not criminalise youngsters but address the underlying causes of antisocial behaviour, nipping such behaviour in the bud before it escalates. Use of these new powers will require a long-established test of proportionality, and courts will have to be persuaded of the need to grant these orders. Hardly the end of civilisation, is it?
Norman Baker MP
Crime prevention minister

Active wonder drug | @guardianletters

Wed, 08 Jan 2014 21:01:00 GMT

It comes as no surprise that 12,000 cases of cancers in women could be prevented through being more physically active (UK women have high rate of inactivity-linked cancers, 6 January). For years it has been understood that remaining physically active is an integral part of a healthy lifestyle. However, despite this, we continue to see widespread inactivity levels across the UK. Physical activity is arguably one of the most important factors in the prevention and recovery of cancer. Not only can it help to reduce the side-effects of treatment but it also reduces the risk of some cancers recurring and even dying from the disease. It is both a cost-effective and a clinically effective treatment intervention. So why do we continue to neglect what is one of the most simple solutions? We must stop paying lip service to the issue. It is time now for a shift in the way we look at physical activity – the underrated "wonder drug". Physical activity needs to be completely ingrained in our day-to-day lives.
Jenny Ritchie-Campbell
Director of cancer services innovation, Macmillan Cancer Support

Structural changes lie behind youth unemployment | @guardianletters

Wed, 08 Jan 2014 21:00:01 GMT

Rather than being caused by the limitations of the education system, or the absence of role models, the large increase in youth joblessness highlighted by Christina Patterson (Comment, 4 January) is the product of major changes in the economy and occupational structure – changes that have been greatly accentuated by the recession. Just as serious is the situation where, rather than lacking skills, many more young people now find they are underemployed, having ended up in jobs for which they are overqualified, with around 40% of university leavers ending up in non-graduate jobs.

Although now a major international problem, countries such as Germany, for example, have at least been able to limit youth unemployment by continuing to operate national apprenticeship systems which ensure high levels of employability, and which both employers and trade unions are actively involved. This type of system may not be easily implemented here, but new types of economic policies are desperately required if young people are to be prevented from sliding further into despair. Central to this is a recognition that jobs for young people need to be created, rather than being left to market forces. But also that it's almost as expensive to keep a young person out of work as it is to employ them. Of course, this would require a major redirection and redistribution of resources and the increases in public spending that Labour and the coalition now both reject.

Without a major change in policy direction, however, the excellent work of the Princes Trust will never be enough.
Dr Martin Allen
London

• Christina Patterson illustrates the extent to which the "work programme isn't working". But the problem is not so much the programme as the policy. With fewer than one vacancy for every four people unemployed, even if both were well-matched geographically a "success" rate of less than 25% would be possible. As they aren't, the 10% figure she quotes may be quite a good performance. A policy change that would bring about an improvement is less deflation of economic activity and more reflation. This might seem unnecessary when economic growth seems to be picking up anyway, but if it is just a cyclic rebound it will not be sustained without a change in policy.
Roger Morton
Matlock, Derbyshire

• George Osborne's proposed cuts of £12bn to the welfare budget should be of no surprise (Report, 7 January). For too long, commentators have accused this government of incompetence. This is only true about presentation and detail. In terms of overall ideology, it has been remarkably successful. It is a staggering achievement to convince people that the world economic crisis caused by the banking industry, hedge-fund expansion and corporate mismanagement at the most powerful financial institutions was the fault of the poor, the unemployed and the disabled.

The very fact that opinion polling shows a relatively narrow gap between Labour and Conservative parties, and the acceptance of the need for further welfare cuts, is proof of the coalition's success. Postwar history shows that only one other government comes close to such success in implementing an ideological programme: the Attlee government of 1945-51. In that case, it was a benign ideology aimed at ending poverty, deprivation and gross inequality. This government's ideology is the exact opposite.
Dr Chris Morris
Kidderminster, Worcestershire

Utah will not recognise same-sex marriages performed before court ban

Wed, 08 Jan 2014 20:35:15 GMT

Marriages of roughly 1,400 couples temporarily invalidated pending decision by appeals court

Heavy rain returns, flood risk remains and snow on horizon by weekend

Steven Morris — Wed, 08 Jan 2014 20:15:00 GMT

Met Office issues severe weather warnings and fog and frost forecasts as Environment Agency deploys river flood defences

Communities across storm-battered England and Wales were warned on Wednesday of the risk of yet more flooding as another band of heavy rain hit the UK and water levels in rivers continued to rise.

A severe weather warning issued by the Met Office for the south-west of England and parts of the Midlands and Wales remains in place Thursday with up to 40mm of rain expected to fall in a few hours in some places.

Forecasters predicted colder weather and the possibility of snow over the next few days. A spokesman for the Met Office said that by the weekend temperatures were likely to drop to normal for the time of year, bringing a risk of frost, fog and even wintry showers in some parts next week.

The death toll since the stormy weather began just before Christmas increased to eight after an elderly cyclist fell as he tried to make his way through floodwater in the village of Wytham, near Oxford, at noon Wednesday. The man, who was not named, was airlifted to the John Radcliffe Hospital in a serious condition but later pronounced dead.

The Environment Agency (EA) said the risk of flooding would continue all week as water drained into rivers and streams.

It is particularly concerned about the Avon through Wiltshire, Hampshire and Dorset, the Stour in Dorset, the Parrett in Somerset and the Severn through the Midlands. Communities along the river Thames throughout Surrey, Berkshire and Oxfordshire are also at risk.

The EA has deployed temporary defences in Osney, near Oxford, Purley in Berkshire and Guildford, Surrey and its teams are on standby to deploy temporary defences along the river Severn.

In another of the worst-hit places, Somerset, the county council announced an extra £250,000 of funding to help those affected by the floods. This will include a £50,000 hardship fund to go to those struggling to cope.

Cabinet member David Hall said: "We really understand how traumatic it is when your home, business or community suffers flooding and we want to act quickly to help. The £50,000 is a one-off hardship grant and is vital money for people to help in a crisis. We did this last year and it was very well received by those in need. We believe it is right in the current situation to help once again."

The Conservative-controlled council will press central government and the EA to plough more money into flood prevention.

Steven Morris

Polish politician calls for Tesco boycott over migrant benefits row

Rowena Mason — Wed, 08 Jan 2014 19:33:13 GMT

Suggestion Poles snub supermarket response to Cameron's push to stop EU migrants claiming benefits for children abroad

A senior Polish politician has called for a boycott of Tesco after David Cameron ignited a diplomatic row by saying he wanted to stop the country's migrants sending home their child benefit.

The suggestion came from Jan Bury, leader of Poland's junior coalition party PSL, who was quoted by the state news agency as calling Cameron's policies "unfriendly and scandalous towards Poland and Poles".

He said: "As Poles, we can also say 'no' to prime minister Cameron and his policies. We call on Poles to boycott British retailer Tesco."

Several Polish politicians have expressed fury after Cameron said he wanted to change EU laws to stop benefits being paid for migrants' children who live abroad. He also called it a "monumental mistake" for Britain to have opened its borders so fully to the country in 2004.

It forms part of Cameron's plan to push for changes to EU rules on welfare, as he seeks a new settlement with Brussels before a referendum on Britain's membership before the end of 2017. His spokesman said this week the remarks were "perfectly fair".

But in a press conference on Tuesday, Donald Tusk, the Polish prime minister, said he would veto any attempt by Cameron to change EU laws on the issue "today, tomorrow and forever".

He added: "No one has the right to single out Poles as a special group that is abusing or taking advantage."

Amid growing tensions, Cameron spoke on the phone to Tusk last night to reiterate his position that the benefit system for EU migrants should be reviewed and reformed. It is understood the tone of the conversation was robust on both sides but there were no raised voices. The issue of a Tesco boycott was not raised during the exchange.

A Downing Street spokesman said: "On EU free movement, the prime minister made clear his longstanding view, reiterated in recent days, that the lack of transitional controls for new EU member states in 2004 was the wrong approach and had put pressure on local communities, and that we need to address the impact on countries' benefits systems, including for example paying child benefit to families living abroad.

"The prime minister emphasised that this was a pan-EU issue relevant to all member states and people should engage with the substance of the PM's proposals. Moving forward, they agreed to hold further bilateral discussions on how the UK and Poland can work together to better manage the impact of intra-EU migration on social security systems."

A number of Polish politicians have joined the debate in recent days, with Radek Sikorski, the Polish foreign minister, arguing that Polish immigrants contributed twice as much to the British state as they claimed in benefits. Poland's ambassador to the UK, Witold Sobków, told Cameron not to stigmatise his countrymen as benefit cheats.

Tesco told Reuters the company deals in "retail, not politics".

Rowena Mason

Francis Maude plays down universal credit IT row with DWP

Patrick Wintour — Wed, 08 Jan 2014 19:12:00 GMT

Minister says it is normal for Cabinet Office to provide support to departments on IT problems after pullout of team is confirmed

The Cabinet Office minister Francis Maude has played down reports of a row with the Department for Work and Pensions over the implementation of universal credit.

In a television interview yesterday Maude said the universial credit policy was hindered by "lamentable" implementation. "There were some major problems with universal credit. It was a brilliant policy but the implementation was pretty lamentable and the public accounts committee have highlighted that," he told ITV News.

He added: "It's been recognised that there has been significant write offs, a lot of money has been wasted in the very poor implementation of the project and this is very regrettable."

Minutes from the government's universal credit board confirm that Maude's department has accelerated the pullout of its team of IT experts from the project after what sources describe as serious tensions over the progress of the £2.4bn overhaul.

But he said it was normal for the Cabinet-Office-backed government digital service to provide support to individual departments on implementation of IT schemes, adding that the transition back to the DWP team had been agreed across government.

Maude said: "The expectation always is that at some point the inhouse team take over."

The Cabinet Office had put a "lot of resource" into helping fix the problems with the universal credit project, he said. "It was always intended to be short-term resource."

Maude added: "UC is an excellent policy. It had some problems.

"You can see the work we did through the summer. We do not have troubleshooters. We have developers and people that help. The model of going in helping with it is entirely consistent. Mike Bracken, the head of the government digital service, said he has met the digital leader at DWP today and he was quite happy with the transition so I don't know what all this nonsense is all about.

"We have collectively agreed an approach here that does involve that twin-track approach. That is supported."

He refused to go into the sources of the IT problems with universal credit, saying it had been crawled over by the National Audit Office and the public accounts committee.

"Obviously there has been troubled history there. The Cabinet Office were barely involved until February of last year when Iain Duncan Smith [the secretary for work and pensions] asked us to get closely involved, which we did, providing a lot of resource, but it was always intended to be short-term resource," said Maude, adding that he would not comment on leaked documents.

Patrick Wintour

Minority ethnic workers in UK twice as likely to be unemployed as whites

Phillip Inman — Wed, 08 Jan 2014 18:56:47 GMT

DWP figures show jobless rate of 45% for young black, Pakistani and Bangladeshi workers with white figure at 19%

Some of Britain's most disadvantaged minority ethnic groups are more than twice as likely to be unemployed than their white counterparts, official figures released on Wednesday show.

The Department for Work and Pensions found the unemployment rate for whites aged 16-24 was 19% last September.

The rate was 46% for young Pakistani and Bangladeshi workers and 45% for young black people.

All minority ethnic groups in the study had a higher joblessness rate than whites, especially those under 25.

The rate was 26% for young mixed-race workers, 34% for young Indians and 29% for Chinese under-25s.

The figures also show the situation is worsening and ethnic minorities have missed out on the recent jobs boom as public sector jobs, where ethnic minorities are over-represented, have continued to be squeezed.

In the 12 months to September 2013 the average unemployment rate for young people in all minority ethnic groups jumped from 33% to 37%.

Black and Asian workers are over-represented in "human health and social work" – a category that covers the NHS.

Black workers are heavily represented in white collar administrative jobs in the private and public sectors, according to the DWP data, and these jobs have suffered losses over a longer period of time as organisations have increased their reliance on IT systems.

Across the adult working population, ethnic minority groups suffered a rise in the unemployment rate from 13% to 14% over the previous year.

The rate remained constant between 2012 and 2013 for the UK as a whole, at 8%, and at 7% for white British workers.

John Philpott, director of the Jobs Economist thinktank, said the latest data showed that youth unemployment is disproportionately affecting Britain's ethnic minorities.

"The one glimmer of positive news in these figures is that the relative position of young people from ethnic minorities has not become markedly worse in the period since the start of the recession.

"Full year data suggest that the gap between the average unemployment rate for young people from ethnic minorities and that for young whites increased from 12 percentage points to 13 percentage points between 2007 and 2012.

"The persistence of a large unemployment rate gap between ethnic minority and white youth nonetheless suggests there is a larger structural element to the problem of youth unemployment for ethnic minorities that won't be solved by a stronger economic recovery alone."

Phillip Inman

Paul Goggins obituary

Stephen Bates — Wed, 08 Jan 2014 18:43:22 GMT

Labour MP and minister in Northern Ireland and the Home Office

During his 16 years at Westminster, the Labour MP Paul Goggins was well-liked and respected by members of all political parties. Admired for his career-long commitment to childcare and social work issues, he rose to become a junior minister in the governments of Tony Blair and Gordon Brown. He has died at the age of 60, a little more than a week after suffering from a suspected brain haemorrhage. At the time he was out jogging with one of his adult sons in his Wythenshawe and Sale East constituency.

Goggins's political life was deeply imbued by his Roman Catholicism and he initially started training for the priesthood. He was born in Manchester, the son of a medical worker, Rita Goggins, and her husband John, a headteacher. From St Bede's college, a Roman Catholic grammar school, he went to study for two years at Ushaw College in Durham, a seminary for trainee priests, and then at Birmingham Polytechnic, now Birmingham City University, where in 1976 he received a certificate in residential care of children and young people. He was a child care worker with Liverpool Catholic Social Services before being placed in charge of the local authority children's home in Wigan (1976-84) and serving as project director for the National Children's Homes (NCH) Action for Children charity in Salford (1984-89).

Before he entered parliament in the Labour electoral landslide in 1997, he was national director of the charity Church Action on Poverty. He served as a local councillor in Salford (1990-98), chaired the Manchester Labour party, and succeeded the long-serving disability rights campaigner Alf Morris in a redrawn constituency that includes large estates and more affluent Cheshire suburbs as well as part of Manchester airport. It is a safe Labour seat, though Goggins's majority was reduced to 7,575 in the 2010 general election.

Within a year of entering the Commons, Goggins was appointed a parliamentary private secretary to John Denham, minister of state at the Department of Social Security. He accompanied Denham to the Department of Health the following year, and then acted as PPS to David Blunkett at the Department of Education and then the Home Office. In 2003 he was made a junior minister in the department with responsibility for prisons and the probation service, and then the voluntary and community sector. In 2006 he was moved to the Northern Ireland office, and the following year became minister of state there: his work in the province was appreciated on all sides.

Following the 2010 election, he served as secretary for the all-party parliamentary group on poverty, and at the time of his death was also a member of the Commons intelligence and security committee. He campaigned in support of sufferers from cancer through exposure to asbestos, and in recent months did a lot of work on amendments to the government's current mesothelioma bill.

In 2012 he welcomed the opening of the Caritas Care adoption and fostering centre in Sale. As a Catholic, he found himself among the few Labour MPs to vote against the government's bill to legalise gay marriage last year, and he was a long-standing member of the Christian Socialist movement.

The Labour leader, Ed Miliband, said that "he was a man of deep faith whose commitment and strong values shone through everything he did". David Cameron, the prime minister, described him as "a kind and brilliant man who believed profoundly in public service".

Goggins was a dedicated supporter of Manchester City Football Club. He married Wyn Bartley in 1977. She and their daughter, Theresa, and two sons, Matthew and Dominic, survive him.

• Paul Gerard Goggins, politician, born 16 June 1953; died 7 January 2014

Stephen Bates

Twitter bullies must learn that with a voice comes responsibility | Claire Hardaker

Claire Hardaker — Wed, 08 Jan 2014 18:42:54 GMT

The internet gives a priceless voice to the marginalised – but the Caroline Criado-Perez abuse case shows that freedom of expression does not mean freedom from consequences

For many, the internet embodies an idealised vision of democracy – a liberal, open-minded environment that promotes free speech and provides a platform for alternative views. Once, only the powerful and wealthy had a voice which largely operated as a monologue; the elite spoke, and the masses listened. In turn, the masses drowned out the voices of the powerless and poor. This hierarchy, established over centuries, has been short-circuited in mere decades by the internet, in the form of article comments, government e-petitions, and social media sites such as Twitter. Now, the words or deeds of the powerful can trigger a loud and sustained response that is hard to ignore. It's easy to see the benefits of this. Marginalised and wronged groups have been able to use online campaigns to usher us all forward into a more enlightened era in which we are more open-minded about the LGBQT community, disability, race, religion and so forth.

In the perfect sweep of democratic even-handedness that characterises the internet, however, a voice is given to all, including those who use it to be abusive and intimidating. A case in point is the banknote campaign by the feminist and journalist Caroline Criado-Perez. After successfully petitioning the Bank of England to include a woman on a banknote in July 2012, Criado-Perez was subjected to a torrent of rape, mutilation and death threats sent from more than 80 different Twitter accounts. The response from Twitter was painfully slow, and Criado-Perez has described her frustration with the police investigation. While other trials are ongoing, only two individuals have so far appeared in court in relation to the abusive tweets. This week, John Nimmo from South Shields and Isabella Sorley from Newcastle pleaded guilty to sending messages of a menacing nature.

Nimmo had created multiple accounts to send numerous threats to both Criado-Perez and MP Stella Creasy in a campaign that lasted several days. His solicitor presented him as a sad individual; a social recluse who had jumped on the "rape threat train" as a way of seeking attention, validation and popularity. Descriptions of how he had been severely bullied at school were used to explain how he had become a pitiable, alienated individual who barely left the house except to empty his bins, and whose only life was lived through the internet.

Meanwhile, Sorley claimed to be unable to remember sending the abuse, and described herself as "off [her] face on drink" at the time. Her defence likewise sought to show that the occurrence of the threats, on only one day, in the early hours of the morning, was indicative of a moment of poor judgment brought about by ongoing drink problems. A possibly contradictory element to this, however, was that like Nimmo, Sorley had created multiple different accounts to send the abuse – a step more consistent with someone covering their tracks. Indeed, whilst Nimmo was bailed until sentencing on 24 January, Sorley has been remanded in custody due to a range of prior public order offences, and in her case, a custodial sentence is inevitable.

While Nimmo's accounts have long since been shut down, Sorley's remain active. At 9.16am on the morning of her trial, Sorley tweeted a selfie from Buckingham Palace, with the words, "Just chilling at the queens #London". Meanwhile, on 15 December, she tweeted, "Pretty sure i was in the quiet coach on the way home yesterday. There was nothing quiet about my behaviour #sorrymam". weets like these, and others besides, suggest an emotionally immature young woman who simply doesn't understand – or perhaps doesn't want to understand – how her behaviour affects those around her. It reasonably follows that someone with a limited grasp of empathy offline has little chance of being empathetic online.

Overall, that idealised democracy that the internet offers is priceless beyond measure. For every negative Nimmo or Sorley story, there is a positive one – such as a campaign that has brought about real, meaningful change. In other words, while this case might seem to implicitly support the censorship of marginalised voices, what it in fact demonstrates is a need for a better understanding that freedom of expression does not mean freedom from consequences. The web really does give a voice to those previously silenced, but with that voice comes responsibility, and a moment on the fingertips could turn into a lifetime on the criminal record slip.

Dr Claire Hardaker is a lecturer in corpus linguistics at Lancaster University

Claire Hardaker

Forget funeral selfies. What are the ethics of tweeting a terminal illness? | Emma G Keller

Emma G Keller — Wed, 08 Jan 2014 18:40:03 GMT

Lisa Adams is dying of breast cancer. She has tweeted over 100,000 times about her journey. Is this educational or too much?

Lisa Bonchek Adams is dying. She has Stage IV breast cancer and now it's metastasized to her bones, joints, hips, spine, liver and lungs. She's in terrible pain. She knows there is no cure, and she wants you to know all about what she is going through. Adams is dying out loud. On her blog and, especially, on Twitter.

She has tweeted over 100,000 times about her health. Lately, she tweets dozens of times an hour. Her Twitter followers are a mixed bag. Some are also battling cancer or work in the medical field, others seem to follow Adams' life story like a Reality TV show. Here's a taste of what it's like:

Pain today is worst in days. Cannot get on top of it. I have 1)constant drip plus ability to do 2)on-demand drip, 3)emergency. All in use.
— Lisa Bonchek Adams (@AdamsLisa) January 8, 2014

But it radiates out to side of back ("radicular pain") and has nerve component of pain. Mixes with the lung pain/same side
— Lisa Bonchek Adams (@AdamsLisa) January 8, 2014

All morning docs and nurses go in and out so you may see answers to questions in spurts. I also sometimes nod off mid tweet...
— Lisa Bonchek Adams (@AdamsLisa) January 8, 2014

She has been scrupulous about keeping track of her seven year decline. Her journey began with six month routine postpartum checkup after the birth of her third child. You can read all about the details of her disease and treatment on her blog right up until about this morning, which is when she posted her latest entry, only a few hours after the previous one.

She begins each day with the same tweet:

Find a bit of beauty in the world today. Share it. If you can't find it, create it. Some days this may be hard to do. Persevere.
— Lisa Bonchek Adams (@AdamsLisa) December 27, 2013

Over the past few years she has tweeted more than 165,000 times (well over 200 tweets in the past 24 hours alone.) Her clear-eyed strategy of living with cancer for as long as she can has caught the attention of many women with breast cancer, several writers and thousands of fans from everyday lives all over the world. I heard about her in the process of organizing a Guardian US Living Hour chat on DNA and cancer tumors in early November. Before you knew it, she was in the chat having her tumor genome and her cancer trial discussed in detail. I never met her, but I swapped tweets and emails with her, and kept track of her health.

Which is why a few weeks ago I noticed she was tweeting a lot more and from a situation she described as agonizing. The clinical drug trial she was on wasn't working. Her disease seemed to be rampaging through her body. She could hardly breathe, her lungs were filled with copious amounts of fluid causing her to be bedridden over Christmas. As her condition declined, her tweets amped up both in frequency and intensity. I couldn't stop reading – I even set up a dedicated @adamslisa column in Tweetdeck – but I felt embarrassed at my voyeurism. Should there be boundaries in this kind of experience? Is there such a thing as TMI? Are her tweets a grim equivalent of deathbed selfies, one step further than funeral selfies? Why am I so obsessed?

Social media has definitely become a part of Adams' treatment (I wonder what her hospital, Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, thinks about that.) Tweeting makes her less lonely, it gives her a purpose, it distracts her from her pain, and the contact it brings clearly comforts her. Adams has managed to keep her dignity and her deft sense of humor intact as she has charted her decline.

As she tweeted a few hours ago:

"Why is she tweeting if it hurts so much?" I am sure people ask. It helps to distract me especially when I am alone (it's 6 AM here)
— Lisa Bonchek Adams (@AdamsLisa) January 8, 2014

Adams is not alone in doing this. Journalist Xeni Jardin live tweeted her cancer diagnosis two years ago and the long treatment journey. Jardin told the Guardian last year that she wasn't sure if she would be quite as "sharey" if she could go back in time.

It's clear that tweeting as compulsively as Lisa Adams does is an attempt to exercise some kind of control over her experience. She doesn't deny that. She sees herself as an educator, giving voice to what so many people go through. And she is trying to create her own boundaries, flimsy as they might be. She'll tell you all about her pain, for example, but precious little about her children or husband and what they are going through. She describes a fantastic set up at Sloan-Kettering, where she can order what she wants to eat at any time of day or night and get as much pain medication as she needs from a dedicated and compassionate "team", but there is no mention of the cost. She was enraged a few days ago when a couple of people turned up to visit her unannounced. She's living out loud online, but she wants her privacy in real life.

In some ways she has invited us all in. She could argue that she is presenting a specific picture – the one she wants us to remember. "I do feel there will be lasting memories about me. That matters," she wrote to me in a direct message on Twitter.

The ethical questions abound. Make your own judgement.

Are those of us who've been drawn into her story going to remember a dying woman's courage, or are we hooked on a narrative where the stakes are the highest?

Will our memories be the ones she wants? What is the appeal of watching someone trying to stay alive? Is this the new way of death? You can put a "no visitors sign" on the door of your hospital room, but you welcome the world into your orbit and describe every last Fentanyl patch. Would we, the readers, be more dignified if we turned away? Or is this part of the human experience?

We've put together a condensed timeline of Lisa Adams' tweets. You can also read her entire feed.

Emma G Keller

Are iPads and tablets bad for young children?

Paula Cocozza — Wed, 08 Jan 2014 17:59:54 GMT

Tablet ownership has more than doubled in the past few years – and as many parents are finding, children are highly proficient at using them. But are these devices harmful to their development? Or do they encourage 'technological intelligence'?

Four small preschool children are sitting in a semi-circle around their teacher, in a large, bright room in a Georgian house in Bath. The nursery belongs to the Snapdragons chain, one of the first in the UK to offer iPads to its children soon after the tablet was launched in April 2010. The shelves are full of books, but the children are not looking at books. They are listening to their teacher, Amy Porter, read aloud an interactive story from an iPad about Zub the monster. The children bend towards the screen as if its glow were pulling them closer. They creep forward, the circle tightens and the iPad disappears from view beneath four heads of supremely shiny hair. Their engagement is absolute. They are kneeling, bobbly undersides of socks poking out from beneath their bottoms, feet as neatly folded and intently composed as adult hands at rest in a lap.

Since their launch, tablets have become increasingly popular in preschool and early-years learning. And, in growing numbers, parents are buying them for home use. John Lewis predicted that it would sell one tablet every 15 seconds in the runup to Christmas. By December, the Tesco Hudl had become so hard to find it was selling on eBay for £180 instead of £119. Then Aldi joined the budget price war with the launch of a rival tablet for £80.

If you are an adult in possession of both a tablet and children, the children are likely to take possession of the tablet. According to Ofcom's latest report on the subject, household ownership of tablet computers has more than doubled from 20% in 2012 to 51%; where there are children in those households, they tend to be users too. When the Common Sense Report on media use by children aged up to eight in the US was published last autumn, it found that as many children (7%) have their own tablets as adults did two years ago (8%). Given the fivefold rise in adult ownership of tablets in the US since 2011, it seems reasonable to expect a similarly large leap in the number of children owning and using tablets by 2015.

But the strength of children's engagement with the devices can sometimes appear sinister, even cultish. There are countless YouTube videos of toddlers sliding thwarted fingers along the pages of magazines, trying to unlock them. One friend claims her child's first word was not "Mum" or "Dad" but "iPad". In March the tabloids reported that a four-year-old girl was receiving treatment as "Britain's youngest iPad addict". The clinical psychologist Linda Blair, who notes an increase in parents asking her about their children's tablet usage, says she would never hand her iPad to a toddler. But many parents happily do just that, while others are so concerned about the impact of technology on their children that they leave the room to use their mobile. Which is right? Do parents who choose to limit or deny access to tablets deprive their children of technological intelligence, or are they keeping them safe from an as yet unknown harm?

It was this question, or one close to it, that led Jordy Kaufman, director of the BabyLab at Swinburne University in Melbourne, to explore the impact of the use of technology on children aged two to five. BabyLab – note the hi-tech intercapital – is Australia's first infant cognitive neuroscience laboratory, and Kaufman got the idea for his research while observing his son, then five, playing with an iPod Touch.

"It was so intuitive to him, I thought: there is something important going on here and we need to learn what effects this is having on learning and attention, memory and social development." His team's research will be published later this year, but Kaufman strongly believes it is wrong to presume the same evils of tablets as televisions. "When scientists and paediatrician advocacy groups have talked about the danger of screen time for kids, they are lumping together all types of screen use. But most of the research is on TV. It seems misguided to assume that iPad apps are going to have the same effect. It all depends what you are using it for."

Kaufman regulates his son's time on the tablet, but disagrees with some of the criticisms of tablet use. "One is that they inhibit creativity, unlike blocks or Lego," says Kaufman. "But if you look through a Lego set, that tells you exactly how to make it. I think the criticism fits a lot of the physical toys more than a tablet." The next generation of the burgeoning app market for children may exceed the teaching potential of more traditional toys, Kaufman says, because they will be able to measure growth and give feedback to parents.

For very young children, there may be benefits in being able to handle the world of the tablet before they have the motor skills to handle their broader environment. Kaufman cites a study in which babies who were too young to pick up objects were given Velcro mittens so that objects would stick to them. "Being able to manipulate their environment gave these very young children a kickstart to learning. It is possible that tablet exposure might be doing something similar."

It is hard to find an expert who thinks that monitored and considered tablet use is harmful. Even Richard Graham, the doctor who was reported to have treated the four-year-old patient for iPad addiction, does not think tablets are bad for children. Graham, lead consultant for technology addiction at the Capio Nightingale hospital in London, says that that "case", so eagerly taken up by the tabloids, comprised a single informal phone call with a parent, in which he gave advice. There was no followup treatment. He doesn't believe that "addiction" is a suitable word to use of such young children.

The difficulty for parents is that the dangers of tablet use for children – if dangers exist – are as yet unidentified. Research is in its infancy. We know little about what is going on in a child's head while they are using a tablet. "Really not very much at all at this point," says Kaufman (his BabyLab plans to publish research in the spring). This is partly because it is hard to measure brain activity in someone who is moving, and partly because metal cannot be taken into an MRI scanner. Until we know more, parents can only follow their own parenting instincts. "There is a school of thought that tablet use is rewiring children's brains, so to speak, to make it difficult for them to attend to slower-paced information," says Kaufman. Then he adds: "But every thought we have rewires the brain in some way."

Tablets are designed to mirror the world we know. They appear to operate intuitively, mimetically, responding to, reflecting and re-presenting the user's touch. Might the way tablets translate our sense of touch create a particularly intense relationship between user and technology?

Rosie Flewitt, of the Institute of Education at the University of London, has published research on how iPads can support literacy in nursery, early primary and special education. She has just submitted a study, looking at tablet use in the light of recent research into mirror neurons, to an Australian journal for peer approval. As part of her research she observed tablet use in a special school, where the children were writing stories and producing book covers on an iPad. "It was a form of mastery for those individuals that hadn't previously been accessible to them without a lot of help from other people," she says. "But beyond that there was something about the activities that captivated all the children intensely and motivated them to carry on. We have been trying to puzzle out why. That sent us on a journey finding out about mirror neurons … It may be that what you see on the screen is partially powerful because of the way mirror neurons work."

Mirror neurons are themselves a young area of neurological research: neuroscientists do not yet agree on the nature, function or behaviour of mirror neurons in humans (see here for an overview). Essentially, mirror neurons mean that when humans see an action, they think for a fraction of a second that they are performing the action themselves. Separate messages from the skin then tell the brain whether this action or touch is really happening to them or not. Flewitt suggests this may help to explain the particularly deep kind of engagement that children appear to display with tablets – although we are a long way from understanding what the consequences may be for cognitive development. "For a nanosecond," she says, "you see something happening on the screen and your brain empathises with what you see. You think: 'Is it me? Is it someone else?' It's a virtual reality to which we relate deeply as human beings because that's the way we're wired up."

Back at Snapdragons in Bath, the children appear to have no difficulty in letting go of their iPads, fingers curious for other things. Moments after swiping the screen in order to administer Zub's medicine, William, four, is poking the same digit into the holes of a decorative radiator cover, and Joe, also four, is picking at the embossed logo on the tablet's rubber case.

Has a parent ever expressed concern about tablet use at the nursery? "Not a single one," says Lyndsey Tanner, the branch manager. She has the word "Believe" tattooed on her left forearm in large, elegant cursive. "I get really cross when people say that iPads are a sedentary activity. Actually, do you know what, come and spend a day with me and I'll prove to you how wrong you are. It is the future, and it enhances their learning massively. It has never replaced any more traditional teaching methods we use. It is just another toy in the box."

To prove her point, four little hands are sliding down the banister on their way to the garden. William, Joe, Isobel and Rosie put on their anoraks. They are teaming up, an iPad beween each pair, to fill in monster pictures with colours they will photograph in the garden. It is raining, the kind of drizzle that doesn't fall so much as hang in the air, and within minutes the surfaces of the tablets pucker and glisten with beads. Intricate hairnets of raindrops appear on the children's heads, as delicate as a sugarwork lattice. None of them mentions the wet. They are happy charging around the garden collecting colours, each one captured with the exaggerated clunky click of the camera. It is the perfect fusion of hi-tech and outdoors, digital and concrete. As if to prove Lyndsey's point, Joe approaches after about five minutes to ask if he can feed the chickens instead.

This seems idyllic tablet use. And yet some parents persist in worrying when they see their children displaying proficiency on an iPad. Kaufman believes the proficiency is part of the problem. "I say that not necessarily based on scientific evidence but on my own experience. As a parent, I sometimes find this unsettling. But I try to be mindful that it is an open question whether it is unsettling because there is something wrong with it, or because it wasn't a feature of my own childhood. Not that long ago parents were bothered by seeing their children reading all the time. They would complain that they would hurt their eyes. My grandma was always telling me that she was harassed for reading."

Flewitt thinks that to deny children access to tablets is to "risk having one section of society that is growing up with skills and one section that is growing up without. You might think that it doesn't matter because they will develop those skills later. But it's not the same. They won't identify with it. It's not part of who they are … Children have been born into a world where these things exist," she says, "like we were born into a world where there were televisions, cars on the streets and packaging on food."

So what should a parent who fears their child's proficiency on a tablet do? You can choose educational apps or propose other activities. You could consider setting a time limit on tablet use – although Flewitt disagrees with this approach, in case you interrupt your child at the point of the app's maximum benefit. She has another idea. "You need to acquire proficiency," she says. "You can acquire it from them. They can teach you."

I decide to take Flewitt's suggestion. I don't own a tablet. Whereas my children, aged six and three, appear to operate them intuitively, this has not been my own experience. When I tried one, it reoriented itself unexpectedly, as if I had turned a steering wheel I didn't know I was holding. It didn't seem to have browsers and I found it hard to open and close things.

I tell all this to my teacher, who turned six in September. "You can call me Moin," he says.

"I'm in your classroom then," I say.

We sit side by side on the sofa in the lounge of his home in Haringey, north London. First, Moin shows me the on/off button. Then he shows me all the squares that are his games and videos. He slides along the full row of squares and we choose Lego Ninjago. "Tap," says Moin, then shows me how to choose my weapons; he advises "silver sword" and "black scythe". We choose our powers. Moin taps the one that says "Pestilence" and in about four seconds our figure appears to have met a sticky end. Next Moin teaches me Stand O'Food. I fear caution limited my investment in sauces and garnishes because after about 10 minutes we have made only $5.24, but I am tapping quite quickly on burgers and buns (when my teacher gives me a turn) and appear to have some happy customers. Last of all, Moin shows me how to use the camera. On our eighth attempt we manage to get both our faces in the frame for a double-selfie, and the hour is up.

Who is best on the iPad in your house, I ask? "I am," says Moin, closing the red leather case and gathering his crayons. He is drawing people whose hair is too big for the world. His mother, Sule, nods. "I have to figure out the logic, but they seem programmed to understand it," she says. Perhaps the tablet was secretly designed with children in mind as much as – or, who knows, more than – adults. Perhaps that would explain why children enjoy, unintimidated, all its potential – and instinctively understand its limits too.

"So you can basically do whatever you want to do on an iPad?" I ask Moin.

"Ye-es," he says, hesitating.

Then he adds, in a consoling voice, as if it's best I learn the bad news now: "But you can't make it come alive. You can't make the iPad come alive."

Paula Cocozza

US air force general who overturned rape conviction to retire

Wed, 08 Jan 2014 17:42:11 GMT

Lt Gen Craig Franklin will retire after controversially overturning ruling of officer convicted of sexual abuse

Research finds most American children not exercising at healthy levels

Wed, 08 Jan 2014 17:23:28 GMT

Report says only 25% of children 12-15 exercise an hour a day at prescribed levels, in results called 'very concerning'

Benefits Street backlash continues as petition calls for series to be axed

Hatty Collier — Wed, 08 Jan 2014 17:12:54 GMT

Channel 4 says controversial documentary was fair and balanced amid accusations programme had 'stirred up hatred'

Channel 4 is facing an online petition urging it to axe the controversial documentary series Benefits Street, as the number of complaints about the show reaches nearly 700.

More than 3,000 people have signed the change.org petition, which asks Channel 4 not to air any of the four further episodes of the series, and to make a charity donation for the harm caused by "stirring up hatred".

Media regulator Ofcom said it had received nearly 300 complaints about the show by Wednesday morning, relating to unfair, misleading and offensive portrayals of benefits claimants, alleged criminal activity and excessive bad language. Channel 4 said it has received nearly 400 separate complaints about the show late on Wednesday.

Featuring the inhabitants of James Turner Street, which Channel 4 claims has one of the highest proportions of benefits dependents in Britain, the first episode of Benefits Street, aired on Monday night, was the broadcaster's most popular show in more than a year, attracting more than 4 million viewers.

Arshad Mahmood, of Bradford, who used to live near the Winson Green area of Birmingham where the documentary was filmed, set up the petition on Tuesday night, saying he was shocked by the public backlash on social media towards people on income support.

He said: "Having lived in Birmingham, not far from where the programme was made, I can honestly say this show is not representative of people in the area.

"Benefits Street has portrayed people on income support as scroungers and it's wrong. I have worked for 33 years, but after major surgery am now unable to work and receive some benefits. The backlash and abuse of social networks towards people on benefits as a result of this show has shocked me.

"Channel 4 should not broadcast any further episodes of the programme – it is creating a skewed image of a section of society and stirring up hatred. This is not a responsible approach from a public service broadcaster."

Those who signed the petition left messages of support for the people affected by the programme.

Some residents, who featured in the documentary, said they has been tricked by the programme makers, Love Productions, and were told it would be about community spirit.

A Channel 4 spokesman said Benefits Street was a "fair and balanced observational documentary", with contributors briefed extensively before filming and given the chance not to be included, or to view and comment on programmes they featured in before broadcast.

On Tuesday, those who had appeared in the programme were keeping a low profile. Desmond Jaddoo, a community activist, said those he had spoken to felt "very much betrayed".

"They said they believed the programme was going to be called Community Spirit. They found out about the name change last week. They were concerned about it and their concerns were borne out last night when it was aired," he said.

On Tuesday, other residents were coming to terms with a kind of celebrity they had not exactly been looking for. Within hours, one said, people were tweeting threats and making comments on social media. By Tuesday afternoon, young men in fast cars were driving down the street shouting "Benefits Street!" and laughing at people walking down the road.

Footage from the documentary series prompted West Midlands police to consider launching new investigations on Tuesday, after they were inundated with comments from viewers concerned that it may have featured criminal activity.

The force said it was assessing whether footage from the show could assist in ongoing investigations, or could warrant new inquiries being launched.

The Channel 4 spokesman added: "The production crew were filming in a purely observational capacity – at no stage was criminal behaviour encouraged or condoned. All contributors were briefed that if they carried out criminal activity on camera, this could result in criminal investigations after broadcast."

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Hatty Collier