Government
- Police are not allowed to take fingerprints or DNA samples from terrorism suspects held under control orders because of a loophole in antiterrorism laws, it emerged yesterday. The Home Office said the failure was the result of an oversight because the relevant legislation was rushed through Parliament in an emergency. More than two years after the control order regime came into operation, John Reid, the Home Secretary, disclosed the blunder as he outlined plans for new antiterror laws. He told MPs: "We are proposing a number of changes to control orders including measures relating to fingerprinting, DNA and powers of entry." Mr Reid outlined a series of measures to tighten antiterrorism measures, including proposals to give the police powers to seize the passports of people they suspect are heading abroad for terrorism-related purposes. http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/politics/article1901572.ece
- British hospitals are among the worst in Europe for superbugs, according to figures published yesterday. In a league table of 29 countries only Portugal, Malta, Cyprus and Romania have higher proportions of potentially deadly antibiotic-resistant hospital-acquired infections. Only some forms of superbugs are resistant to antibiotics - including those known as MRSA. They are part of the staphylococcus aureus family of bacteria that can live on the skin or in the nose and can cause a range of illnesses and symptoms from boils and abscesses to life-threatening diseases such as meningitis and septicaemia. The bacteria become dangerous to patients once they enter the bloodstream and those that are resistant to antibiotics pose the greatest threat. http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml;jsessionid=VHM1FS1GXIJUJQFIQMGCFFWAVCBQUIV0?xml=/news/2007/06/08/nmrsa108.xml
- Peter Hain has broken new Labour's greatest taboo by calling for the party to debate the case for higher tax rates for the rich. In an interview with The Times he admitted that there was "a lot of pressure within the party" to raise the taxes paid by the highest earners and said the issue had to be settled. His call breaks an effective ten-year ban in the party on discussing higher income taxes for the better-off imposed by Tony Blair and Gordon Brown so as not to frighten the middle classes from voting Labour. He is the second candidate for Labour's deputy leadership to do so, after Jon Cruddas declared himself ready to discuss higher taxes. http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/politics/article1901957.ece