With the start of 2008 many of us will be thinking about the usual New Year resolutions such as giving up smoking, losing weight and getting fitter. However, Kent Fire and Rescue Service would like to suggest a new but vitally important one - making your home safe from the threat of fire.
The day after the funeral of Benazir Bhutto, Paul Rowen, Rochdale MP and Secretary of the All Party Group on Pakistan, has condemned the brutal assassination of the Pakistan Opposition Leader at a pre-election rally in Rawlinpindi. He said: "Benazir's death is a hammer blow to democracy in Pakistan. Since the execution of her father by General Zia in 1979 she had led the Pakistan People's Party.
At a full Council meeting on Tuesday 11 December, Members agreed to back the Fairtrade campaign and meet set requirements laid down by the national Fairtrade Foundation.
Gay news website PinkNews.co.uk has published their roundup of the most influential LGBT people in British politics this year - and seven of them are high-profile Lib Dems, including Bristol MP Stephen Williams, Party President Simon Hughes, London Mayoral candidate Brian Paddick, and Britain's first out transsexual mayor, Jenny Bailey.
Proposed electronic tagging of dementia sufferers, with their agreement, has been backed by the Alzheimer's Society. The charity said the plan could empower patients by allowing them to wander, but called for a debate on the ethics of gaining consent.
Disability rights groups are celebrating a High Court decision that a council unlawfully withdrew services for up to 500 disabled adults. Judge David Mackie QC ruled the London Borough of Harrow was wrong to tighten up adult care eligibility criteria to meet "critical needs" only. The council wanted to withdraw services for those with "substantial" needs.
