More than 2,000 care homes looking after elderly or disabled adults have no registered manager, according to figures to be published this week.12 per cent of all care homes in England lack the leadership required to ensure that vulnerable people, including frail pensioners with dementia, are cared for properly. According to a study presented at the Liberal Democrat conference on Tuesday this meant that Paul Burstow, the Lib Dem MP and former health minister who obtained the figures, said they showed that ‘a revolution’ in care homes was needed. ‘It is hardly surprising that people fear ‘going into a home’, he said, ‘We would never accept this in a healthcare setting and there is no reason why we should be prepared to accept it for people living in residential care.’ He called for ‘a lot more’ care home places to be created to meet demand from Britain’s ageing population.

The number of ritual child abuse cases linked to witchcraft being investigated in London is increasing. A total of 24 cases were passed to the Metropolitan Police in 2013, 19 in 2012 and nine in 2011. There have been 27 allegations in the past year, including two claims of rape. Allegations included a child being swung around and smacked on the head ‘to drive out the devil’ and youngsters being dunked in water. A number of child killings have been linked to these beliefs, including the murder of Kristy Bamu, 15, who was tortured and drowned by his sister and her boyfriend in 2010; and the death of Victoria Climbie in 2000. Since 2004, 148 cases have been referred to the Met

The Christian Legal Centre says proposals by the Conservatives to stop British laws being over-ruled by the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg could cause problems for Christians. The Tories have said if they win the election they will change the law to say British courts wouldn't have to listen to the European Court of Human Rights. But the Christian Legal Centre says it could mean that believers who feel they've been discriminated against won't get a fair deal. Andrea Williams said, ‘What we have seen coming out of Europe when we've taken our Christian interest cases there is that the European Court gives the Christians more rights than we've been seeing in our national courts. It was the European Court of Human Rights that actually recognised the cross as a Christian symbol.

Twelve studies into the link between breast cancer and abortion have shown that on average, women who have had a prior abortion have a 54% greater risk of developing the disease. The President of the Population Research Institute (PRI), Steven W. Mosher, reports the findings from studies conducted in the Indian subcontinent between 2008 and 2013. He says the main reason the findings are so important ‘is that women in India and neighbouring countries are simply ideal subjects for studies; they marry early, do not use the pill, have multiple pregnancies, and breastfeed their babies.’ In other words says Mosher, ‘all of the other major risk factors for breast cancer are absent; such as marrying later in life, the use of oral contraceptives at a young age, the use of Hormone Replacement Therapy when older, having only one or no full-term pregnancies and not breastfeeding their babies.’

Thousands of people are being treated ‘like cattle’ by modern slavery gangs who tattoo them and force them to work for a pittance. The number of victims smuggled into Britain has soared by a fifth as organised criminals cash in on the lucrative market in human misery. They are expanding their operations from the sex trade and drug factories into hand car washes and bogus doorstep charity collections. Victims are bought and sold for as little as £200 and put to work in fear of violence against them and their families. Many are Eastern Europe children brought into the country to join street begging gangs while their handlers steal their generous benefits. Adults are duped into travelling here, often through recruitment websites or even dating agencies, with the promise of better paid work or education. When  they arrive they are forced to work as prostitutes, on illicit cannabis farms, as construction labourers or on isolated farms

The majority of Conservative councillors believe David Cameron was wrong to pursue legalising same-sex marriage, a poll for the BBC has revealed. Responding to a survey conducted by ComRes, 60 percent of councillors said they disagreed with the Prime Minister’s push for gay marriage. Nearly two-thirds of councillors said that legalising gay marriage made the Conservative party less electable. The survey also found that 58 per cent of councillors think redefining marriage will cost the party more votes than it gains at the next election. Writing for the Daily Mail Online this week, former Tory frontbencher David Davis picked up on why he thinks the party are likely to lose votes. He said the party has ‘abandoned traditional Conservative principles and made ourselves less appealing to those who supported us’. Davis argued that the party should not have focused on ‘fringe issues’ such as gay marriage because it is rarely in voter’s ‘top five concerns’.

A missing British girl believed to be heading to join extremists in Syria could become a ‘jihadi bride’ when she gets there. Extremism expert Haras Rafiq from the Quilliam Foundation said, ‘She’s not a professional, she’s not a doctor, she’s not an engineer etc. It’s more than likely that she will become a jihadi bride. At 15 she will marry a holy warrior and play a part in the jihad by producing the next generation of Jihadists.’ Yusra Hussein, is thought to have headed to Turkey with a 17-year-old girl from London. They will try to cross the border into Syria. Friends said Yusra had recently become tied to her mobile and computer after viewing extremist material on chat rooms and forums. As many as 600 Britons are believed to have joined Islamic forces fighting President Bashar al-Assad in the last three years. See also: l

The government will vote next month on whether to allow fracking firms to drill under people’s properties without the permission of the land owners. Ahead of this vote shale gas licences are attracting solid interest from investors. A government spokesperson said ‘There’s more big companies coming into this space with the resources and I warmly welcome them.’ The Department of Energy and Climate Change will simplify underground access for oil and gas developers despite 99% of respondents to a consultation objecting. The UK-wide plan gives companies the right to drill 300 metres or more under private land without negotiating a right of access. On the flipside of the fracking coin the British firm Ineos is accused of a ‘bribes and bulldozers’ approach to fracking by offering 6% of future shale gas revenues to those sitting on reserves or affected by extraction. See: 

Some schools in east London are being taken over by Muslim extremists who are trying to convert pupils and staff to their hardline ideology, according to a report in The Sunday Times. The newspaper spoke to a contact within the Department for Education (DfE) who claims the problem there is even worse than in Birmingham, where a 'Trojan Horse' plot to take over schools was revealed this year. ‘Tower Hamlets is expected to be the next Birmingham,’ said the DfE source, ‘but even worse, because the problems surrounding Muslim fundamentalists imposing their views on education seem to be more embedded.’ One of the schools highlighted in the report is Marner Primary School, which has been inspected by Ofsted following the raising of concerns by the Home Office. The council said it expects Marner to be given a ‘clean bill of health’ within the coming days.

Radical Islamist extremists and neo-Nazis could be banned from making public appearances, including on television, under a gagging order proposed by the Conservatives with echoes of the broadcast ban that once applied to the voice of Gerry Adams. Theresa May will announce the measure as part of a widely drawn counter-extremism strategy that is intended to catch so-called hate preachers such as Anjem Choudary, who was released on bail last week after being arrested on suspicion of encouraging terrorism. The home secretary’s new orders would be aimed at those who undertake activities ‘for the purpose of overthrowing democracy’, a wide-ranging definition that could also catch a far wider range of political activists. The ‘extremist asbos’ are reminiscent of the 1980s broadcasting ban under which Sinn Féin spokesmen such as Adams were banned from the airwaves. Actors were used to voice the words of republicans and others with links to paramilitary groups in news reports