£10 government permit plan to deter smokers!

A ban on the sale of cigarettes to anyone who does not pay for a government smoking permit has been proposed by Health England, a ministerial advisory board.
The idea is the brainchild of the board's chairman, Julian Le Grand, who is a professor at the London School of Economics and was Tony Blair's senior health adviser. In a paper being studied by Lord Darzi, the health minister appointed to oversee NHS reform, he says many smokers would be helped to break the habit if they had to make a decision whether to "opt in".
The permit might cost as little as £10, but acquiring it could be made difficult if the forms were sufficiently complex, Le Grand said last night.Read HERE

Fingerprint scan at nursery door

A nursery has installed fingerprint scanning at its entrance to increase the safety of its young pupils.
The biometric security system at Mes Enfants nursery in Mumbles, Swansea, allows only authorised parents and staff to access the building. Read HERE

£42m pledge for fluoride in water

The Government will put £42 million behind plans to add fluoride to water, Health Secretary Alan Johnson has announced.
The cash works out at an extra £14m a year over three years to support authorities wanting to add fluoride to tap water.
Mr Johnson is urging strategic health authorities to consult with local people but believes fluoridation is an "effective and relatively easy way" to help poorer children by preventing dental problems in later life.Read HERE Also this article in my Health section HERE

Fury as fuel poverty soars close to a 10-year record

One in six British households is living in fuel poverty, the highest for almost a decade, according to new figures that threaten the government's target to eradicate the problem in England by the end of the decade.Fuel poverty is defined as when a household spends more than a tenth of its income on utility bills. The consumer group Energywatch said yesterday there are now about 4.4 million of these in the UK, with just over 3 million in England alone.Charities and other groups, led by the Association for the Conservation of Energy, are preparing a legal challenge in the next few weeks to force the government to meet the 2010 target, to which it is committed by law.Read HERE

How social services are paid bonuses to snatch babies for adoption

The number of babies under one month old being taken into care for adoption is now running at almost four a day (a 300 per cent increase over a decade).
In total, 75 children of all ages are being removed from their parents every week before being handed over to new families.
Some of these may have been willingly given up for adoption, but critics of the Government's policy are convinced that the vast majority are taken by force. Read HERE