Tuesday, 25 September 2012

BBC apology to Queen over Abu Hamza disclosure


BBC apology to Queen over Abu Hamza disclosure

Abu HamzaAbu Hamza is well known in the UK for his sermons held in and around Finsbury Park mosque in London


The BBC has apologised for revealing the Queen raised concerns with the government about why radical cleric Abu Hamza al-Masri had not been arrested.
The apology comes after security correspondent Frank Gardner told BBC Radio 4 of a private conversation he had with the Queen some years ago.
The BBC said it and Gardner were sorry for the "breach of confidence", which both "deeply regret".
On Monday, Abu Hamza lost his latest appeal against extradition to the US.
The European Court of Human Rights ruled the extradition could go ahead. The Home Office hopes this can be achieved within three weeks.
The Strasbourg court's decision means that the cleric and four other terrorism suspects can face terrorism trials in the US after delays going back to the late 1990s. In the case of Abu Hamza, he was first arrested in 2004.
The development was being discussed on Radio 4's Today programme on Tuesday morning when Gardner revealed details of his conversation with the Queen on the matter.
He said the monarch had told him, in a private meeting, how she had been upset that Abu Hamza could not be arrested.
Frank GardnerFrank Gardner was appointed an OBE in 2005
The radical cleric had risen to prominence for his sermons in and around Finsbury Park mosque, which gained wide media attention for their content.
Gardner said the Queen had told him she had spoken to a former home secretary about the case.
In a statement, the BBC said: "This morning on the Today programme our correspondent Frank Gardner revealed details of a private conversation which took place some years ago with the Queen.
"The conversation should have remained private and the BBC and Frank deeply regret this breach of confidence. It was wholly inappropriate. Frank is extremely sorry for the embarrassment caused and has apologised to the Palace."
A spokeswoman for Buckingham Palace said it would "never comment on private conversations involving any member of the Royal Family".

Analysis

Rob WatsonUK political correspondent, BBC World Affairs Unit
What is so striking about learning that the Queen had concerns about Abu Hamza is that we so rarely learn the Queen's opinions about anything and certainly not anything of a political or legal nature.
As a constitutional monarch, the Queen is the head of state and that means strict political neutrality.
She does hold a weekly audience with the prime minister of the day, of whom there have been 12 during her reign, and retains what the Palace describes as the ability to express her views.
Those audiences and meetings with other ministers are treated by both royals and politicians alike as strictly confidential. But there have been rare exceptions, such as Tony Blair's references to the audiences in his memoirs.
Questions have long been asked about the influence the royals themselves have on government policy.
Prince Charles, in particular, is known to have strong views on issues ranging from architecture to wind farms and to have written to government ministers with advice on several occasions.
The Home Office also said it would not comment on such conversations.
Former Home Secretary David Blunkett said "categorically" that the Queen never raised the issue of Abu Hamza with him.
"Not surprisingly," he said, "because my views and attitude in relation to this individual were very well known."
Labour MP Keith Vaz, chairman of the Commons Home Affairs Select Committee, said it showed "how deeply concerned" the Queen is for the "welfare of her subjects".
He told BBC News: "It's good that she has mentioned this to the home secretary and absolutely appropriate."
But campaign group Republic has accused the BBC of revealing details of the Queen's interest in the case to put her "on the right side of public opinion".
"The decision to disclose this one conversation while keeping all else secret smacks of a deliberate PR stunt to put the Queen on the right side of public opinion," the group said.
Abu Hamza and four other men accused of terrorism offences had fought against extradition for years, arguing at the European Court of Human Rights that they faced inhumane conditions in the US.
Abu Hamza is wanted over allegations he plotted to set up a terrorist training camp in the US and was involved in kidnapping Western hostages in Yemen. If convicted, he faces life imprisonment.
The case of Babar Ahmad - who, with co-accused Syed Talha Ahsan, is alleged to have run a jihadist website in London that provided support to terrorists - relates to a website run from London which, the US says, supported terrorism overseas.
Earlier this month, a businessman began the process of launching a private prosecution, saying that British suspects should be tried in the UK, not abroad.Supporters of the pair say they should have been prosecuted years ago in the UK because the alleged crimes were committed in London.
Karl Watkin said: "The principle is simple - if you are British, and alleged to have done something criminal in this country, then you get prosecuted in this country.
"That's how the public interest is served. Contrary to reports, my motivation for prosecuting these two men in Britain is to establish this principle."
Mr Ahmad's father, Ashfaq Ahmad, added: "Because any crimes he is supposed to have committed are in this country, Babar should be tried in a British court and he should get a chance to prove his innocence in front of our courts here."

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Monday, 24 September 2012

'Sars-like' coronavirus


New 'Sars-like' coronavirus identified in the UK

By Michelle RobertsHealth editor, BBC News online
Coronavirus

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A new respiratory illness similar to the Sars virus that spread globally in 2002 and killed hundreds of people has been identified in a man who is being treated in Britain.
The 49-year-old man, who was transferred to a London hospital by air ambulance from Qatar, is the second person confirmed with the coronavirus.
The first case was a patient in Saudi Arabia who has since died.
Officials are still determining what threat the new virus may pose.
The World Health Organization has not recommended any travel restrictions.
Prof John Watson, head of the respiratory diseases department at the UK's Health Protection Agency, said: "In the light of the severity of the illness that has been identified in the two confirmed cases, immediate steps have been taken to ensure that people who have been in contact with the UK case have not been infected, and there is no evidence to suggest that they have.
"Further information about these cases is being developed for healthcare workers in the UK, as well as advice to help maintain increased vigilance for this virus."
He said there was no specific evidence of the virus spreading from person to person and he had no advice for the public or returning travellers.
Peter Openshaw, director of the Centre for Respiratory Infection at Imperial College London, told Reuters that at this stage the novel virus looked unlikely to prove a concern, and may well only have been identified due to sophisticated testing techniques.
Coronaviruses are a large family of viruses which includes ones that cause the common cold and Sars (severe acute respiratory syndrome).
This new virus is different from any coronaviruses that have previously been identified in humans.
There have been a small number of other cases of serious respiratory illness in the Middle East in the past three months, one of whom was treated in the UK but has since died.
This person's illness is also being investigated, although there is no evidence as yet to suggest that it is caused by the same virus or linked to the current case. No other confirmed cases have been identified to date in the UK.

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Sunday, 23 September 2012

Care funding reform failure blamed on Treasury


Care funding reform failure blamed on Treasury

Paul BurstowThe former care services minister lost his job at the recent reshuffle

Social care

The Treasury is to blame for a failure to reform care funding in England, a former Lib Dem minister has said.
Paul Burstow said the Treasury saw no need for change and was happy to "kick the can down the road".
Care groups have backed a proposal that the state cover elderly and disabled people's care costs over £35,000.
The government, which is continuing to look into cheaper options, said the Treasury had played a major part in getting care back onto the agenda.
Ministers have said they support the principle of a cap, proposed by the independent Dilnot Commission - but as yet there is no commitment to finding the money to pay for it.
The Dilnot package would cost the Treasury almost £2bn a year.
'Historic opportunity'
The government is expected to include its plans on paying for the cost of care in the next spending review, to begin next year.
Writing in the Daily Telegraph, Mr Burstow - a former care services minister - said there was a "historic opportunity" to change the system for the better but feared that the government would put it "back in the too difficult drawer".
"The coalition made a good start, setting up the Dilnot Commission within two months of taking office. But sustaining that pace has been tough," he said.
One of the reasons behind this was, he said, reluctance from the Treasury to back the reforms.
"The Treasury's view is simple, kick the can down the road despite our rising elderly population. No sense of urgency. No recognition that left unreformed there is no incentive for families to plan and prepare.
"In the view of mandarins there is no need for change, and certainly not yet. That has been the Treasury line every time a reform plan has popped its head above the parapet."
Mr Burstow, who lost his job in the recent reshuffle, said he had received more correspondence from MPs about care costs than any other topic.
"The good news is so far the Treasury has failed to smother the latest plan, a cap on lifetime care costs," he added.
"Ending the scandal of people forced to sell their homes to pay for care would be a legacy for this government felt for generations."
'Reaching consensus'

Who gets what care

social care promo image
He later told BBC Radio 4's Today programme that the government had made "a lot of progress" on the issue but urged Mr Osborne to show the "political will" to go the final step.
"The division, I think, is between the Treasury and everyone else. Both the prime minister and deputy prime minister have signalled over the summer their determination to see this now happen but that does require the Treasury to actively engage with the Department of Health to work through how you pay for it and actually deliver this reform...
"In the end, it does require the chancellor of the day to actually say 'this has to be a priority and this is now what we are going to deliver'."
A coalition spokesman branded Mr Burstow's remarks as "rubbish".
"Unlike under the previous government, the Treasury has played a major part in getting Dilnot back onto the agenda, not least by working to ensure we have the sustainable public finances that are necessary if it is to be delivered."
Labour said there were "no simple solutions" to the rising cost of caring for the elderly and cross-party co-operation was essential to agree a way forward.
"Labour has been warning for months that the government is kicking long-term care funding into the long grass," Liz Kendall, shadow minister for care and older people, said.
"All the parties must now come together to try and reach consensus about how we tackle the immediate care crisis and develop a better, fairer system for the future."
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Tuesday, 18 September 2012

Campaign to show 'skill and compassion' of nurses


Campaign to show 'skill and compassion' of nurses

By Jane DreaperHealth correspondent, BBC News
The Royal College of Nursing film shows patients shouting at nurses

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A new campaign launched by the Royal College of Nursing aims to show the reality of nursing, and to explore the reasons behind failures in care.
The UK-wide promotion features ads on buses, and a website to show what a nurse's working day is like.
It comes after a series of devastating accounts of lapses in basic care.
The Patients Association says the bulk of calls to its helpline relate to poor nursing care - and that the solution is to boost numbers of support staff.
The campaign features a film - first shown at the RCN's Congress earlier this year - which depicts nurses administering drips, clearing up vomit and being shouted at by patients.
Dr Peter Carter, head of the RCN, said: "What we are doing today is showing the reality of nursing and how it takes both professionalism and compassion to be a nurse.
"It's time to celebrate the outstanding work nurses do on a daily basis, often in extremely difficult situations.
"We have all read the critical coverage of the nursing profession and we would never shy away from the cases of poor care when they exist."
Admin burden
He added: "When poor care does exist, there are often systematic reasons behind it.
"The campaign will also explore what these factors are and how they can be tackled.
"We want to paint an honest, realistic picture of modern day nursing."
Seven different areas of work will be considered as part of the campaign - including nurses' attitudes and behaviour, and how to improve staffing levels on hospital wards.

“Start Quote

Compassionate values are just as important as technical skills ”
Sir Keith PearsonCommission on Improving Dignity in Care
The RCN - the nurses' union - also wants to explore how the burden of paperwork and administration can be reduced for nurses.
It said it will also continue to push for the mandatory training and statutory regulation of support workers, such as healthcare assistants.
And it has commissioned Lord Willis of Knaresborough to continue his work looking at how nursing education could be improved.
Increasing strain
The Patients Association said its helpline is busier than ever logging complaints about nursing standards.
Vice chairman Dr Mike Smith, said: "Poor nursing care makes up the bulk of the concern we have to our helpline.
"The specifics are not being fed, not being watered, not getting adequate pain relief, not getting your sheets changed regularly when something drastic has occurred and - last but not least - not being treated with dignity."
Dr Smith said he accepted hospitals were under increasing strain, particularly in treating elderly patients with complex and multiple illnesses.
He said higher levels of support staff, or healthcare assistants, are needed.
Sir Keith Pearson co-authored a report into the how to improve care of the elderly, which said cost and staffing levels were no excuse for poor standards.
He told the BBC: "Compassionate values are just as important as technical skills when nurses are recruited.
"Nursing was always seen as a vocation, but we seem to have moved into a phase where the balance has shifted far more towards the academic capabilities - and not enough about an ability to demonstrate they're the kind of people who deliver dignified care."

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Monday, 17 September 2012

Cane rat meat 'sold to public' in Ridley Road Market


Cane rat meat 'sold to public' in Ridley Road Market

By Guy LynnBBC News, London
Rats and "shocking" quantities of illegal and "potentially unsafe" meat are being sold

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Cane rats and "shocking" quantities of illegal and "potentially unsafe" meat have been sold to the public in east London, a BBC London undercover investigation has found.
Secret filming in one of the capital's busiest food markets has revealed butchers and food stores prepared to sell large quantities of meat that break food safety laws.
West African and environmental health officer sources told the BBC the Ridley Road Market, in Dalston, was a known hotbed of illicit meat activity, including sales of illegal "smokies", a delicacy made by charring sheep or goat with a blow torch.
Yet a Freedom of Information request to Hackney Council reveals the last enforcement visits to premises concerning illegal meat in the whole borough took place in 2009.

“Start Quote

It is disgusting and outrageous that the local authorities don't take action”
Dr Yunes TeinazEnvironmental health expert
"This is shocking, I am just so shocked to see so much of it," said Paul Povey, one of the UK's leading experts in meat hygiene and inspections and a member of the Chartered Institute of Environmental Health, who examined the meat for the BBC.
"It's all illegal and hasn't undergone health control, hasn't been inspected and may well be contaminated.
"You've got to wonder about the contamination level of this meat that anyone's bringing into their kitchens."
Hackney Council said it had only received one complaint of illegal meat being sold since 2009 which was not proven.
'There will be trouble'
Illegal meat that was on saleAn expert in meat hygiene said the meat may have been contaminated
The practice of creating "smokies" is outlawed under UK and European food laws amid fears about public safety and animal welfare.
It has also been linked to mafia-style gangs in Wales who steal sheep and goats, slaughtering them in unlicensed abattoirs.
Dr Yunes Teinaz, a chartered environmental health practitioner, said: "Behind the underground trade in smokies are criminals who don't observe the law and are just after financial gain.
"It is disgusting and outrageous that the local authorities don't take action and remove this meat from the human food chain."
One Hackney butcher, who was secretly filmed selling a BBC researcher quantities of the illicit meat, said: "Don't tell anyone, otherwise there will be trouble."
Two African food stores have sold bush meat such as "grass cutter" or cane rats, which are described as having been imported from Ghana where they are a delicacy.
'Collapsing a business'
The trade in bush meat is a persistent problem for the UK authorities with illegal meat products smuggled in by passengers in ferry terminals and airports.
The Food Standards Agency says there are worries that bush meat could be of serious risk to both those who eat it and to others from contamination.

“Start Quote

What you are saying is a lie, a 100% lie, I don't sell rats.”
ManagerAdom Trading
There is no suggestion that every butcher and food shop on the Ridley Road Market is prepared to deal in illegal meat.
Confronted with BBC London's evidence, Islam Halal Meat; Punjab Halal Meat and Fish and Dalston Butchers denied they were selling illegal meat.
The manager of Great Expectations, a food store which sold two Ghanaian rats to the undercover BBC researcher, said: "I don't sell rats, I never sell rats, I don't sell rats.
"I don't have any rats, why you come to video me?"
The manager of Adom Trading, another shop that sold bush meat described as a Ghanaian "grass cutter" rat, also denied selling it.
"What you are saying is a lie, a 100% lie, I don't sell rats.
"You are collapsing a business, do you know how much it costs us to pay the business rates?"
Councillor Feryal Demirci, Hackney Council's Cabinet Member for Safer Neighbourhoods, said: "Hackney Council's team of Environmental Health Officers make regular visits and inspections of over 1,000 businesses across the borough, including those on Ridley Road.
"Since 2009, we have only received a single complaint regarding the sale of illegal meat, which upon investigation was inconclusive.
"However, we take all complaints seriously and we will always investigate fully. Now that we have received some information from the BBC we will look into this and take the appropriate action."

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