Key Quotes for 2013

Showing page 18 of 24

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Last update: Wednesday 25th March




As if holding down a full-time job isn't enough, working mothers do a 28-hour week at home looking after the children, a study has found. It means they put in a shift of more than 13 hours every weekday - and weekends are hardly chore-free either. Caring for the children and managing the home sees the average working mother's day begin at 6.45am. It does not end until 7.52pm, when the children go to bed. The near 66-hour week means that three quarters of mothers rarely get a chance to sit down to eat breakfast or dinner. So it is no surprise that 92 per cent believe being a mother is a full-time job in itself. The study of 2,000 mothers for natural cold remedy Kaloba found that in an average week more than eight-and-a-half hours is spent dressing and entertaining the children while almost five hours is taken up with cooking. Three hours 38 minutes is spent on household chores and more than two hours on food shopping. One hour 25 minutes is taken up helping the children with their homework and almost as long ferrying them around. On top of this, 40 per cent of mothers hold down a full-time job, adding another 37 and a half hours.
Family	Daily Mail 18 March 2013



Teenage girls are under growing pressure to look like porn stars because of online pornography, according to a disturbing warning yesterday. Pupils as young as 13 are being pushed to conform to an 'extreme' porn-star aesthetic, it was claimed. The alarming comments echo concerns raised by MPs, children's charities and the Daily Mail over the damaging effects of easily accessible web porn….The ease of access to online pornography has been blamed for a huge rise in the number of under-18s reported to the police for sex offences. In the past three years, the total topped 5,000. This month, the NSPCC revealed that some as young as five have been questioned. The charity blamed online images for warping their ideas about sex and relationships.
Young People	Daily Mail 18 March 2013



It's a bane of modern life remembering the myriad of passwords vital for everything from smart phones to bank accounts and online shopping. This tedious task, however, is set to be a thing of the past as other methods are developed. These include using fingerprint, voice and facial recognition instead of passwords seen as an outdated security risk. Apple is among several companies preparing to turn to finger¬print recognition. It is said to be releasing a new iPhone allowing owners to identify themselves by pressing a finger onto the handset. The technology could eventually spread to allow access to bank accounts and email accounts.
Social Issues	Daily Mail 18 March 2013



Family breakdown is costing taxpayers almost £50billion a year and the bill is rising fast, an analysis said yesterday. The costs have gone up by nearly a quarter in four years, said the Rela¬tionships Foundation think-tank…Its study put the share of tax credit spending attributable to family breakdown at £9.79billion, up from £6.31billion in 2009. Including other state handouts, the total benefit spending on broken families was put at more than £18billion. It calculated that physical health problems accumulated as a result of family break-up cost nearly £6billion, mental health problems £1.8billion, social services £5.5billion, and that almost £3billion is spent looking after children taken into state care as a result of the collapse of their families. Police costs for dealing with crime generated by young people whose lives have been warped by family breakdown, is said to be £5billion, with a further £1billion going on prison places. The total of £46.07billion compares with £37.03billion in 2009, when the figures were first compiled.
Money	Daily Mail 18 March 2013



Hundreds of thousands more Britons are to benefit from a new £155-a-week flat rate pension and accelerated reforms to the elderly care funding system. Around 400,000 people approaching retirement will receive more generous payments when they stop work. The Chancellor will also cut a proposed cap on social care costs from £75,000 to £72,000 - the amount after which the state will step in to prevent elderly people having to sell their homes. It will come into effect a year early in 2016.
The Elderly	Daily Mail 18 March 2013



Patients could be charged £8.50 to call an out-of-hours doctor to their home under controversial plans outlined today. The sick could also be forced to pay for their hospital meals or increased charges to watch television on NHS wards. The proposals are being floated as a way of tackling the 'unprecedented financial dilemma' faced by the Health Service. But campaigners expressed outrage at the 'frank discussion' document, saying it undermined the founding principle of the NHS that care must be free at the point of use. They also warned that seriously ill patients could be discouraged from seeking treatment if they feared being unable to afford the fees. The NHS Confederation, which rep¬resents all Health Service trusts, devised the ideas as ways of generating extra funds.
Health	Daily Mail 18 March 2013



Almost half a million potentially dangerous dishwashers are still being used in households because the machines' owners cannot be traced. A batch of faulty Bosch dishwashers, made over a seven-year period, are at risk of catching fire. But just one in four has been traced. Over the past few years there have been hundreds of fires involving the products, with more than a dozen blazes being deemed "serious". Authorities last night warned households to be aware of the hazards. Owners were urged to use the machines only under controlled situations and not to leave them unattended.
Environment	Daily Telegraph 16 March 2013



Dwelling on stressful events can weaken the immune system and make people more susceptible to illness, according to a study. Simply thinking about negative events, even if they are imagined, can have a detrimental physical effect as it increases levels of inflammation in the body, researchers found. This inflammation, associated with the body's response to trauma and infection, can weaken the immune system and has been linked with a number of conditions, including heart disease, cancer and dementia.
Health	Daily Telegraph 16 March 2013



The head of Ofsted has criticised teachers who attempt to "pull the wool" over inspectors' eyes by laying on "frenetic" lessons to impress them. Sir Michael Wilshaw said teachers should not "put on a show" when they were being scrutinised. Such behaviour was likely to backfire, he hinted, as inspectors found it "deeply irritating". It was also "confusing" for pupils.
Education	Daily Telegraph 16 March 2013



Shoppers are losing out to the tune of £1.2billion a year because they do not understand their rights to return faulty or unwanted products. Research from consumer group Which? has found that most people are in the dark about the protection offered by the Sale of Goods Act and laws covering online purchases. It warned that retailers use this ignorance of the law to deny shoppers their rights to refunds, repairs or replacements.
Social Issues	Daily Mail 14 March 2013



More than a third of GPs have links to private firms that stand to make millions treating NHS patients, figures show. Many are directors or shareholders of companies providing out-of-hours care, skin-care services or hip replacements. Over the coming months such firms are expected to carry out an increasing amount of NHS work as part of the Government's health reforms. But as GPs will be responsible for deciding which companies are used, there is fear of a conflict of interest. Doctors may be inclined to offer contracts to firms in which they have a financial interest, knowing they will personally benefit from any profits.
Money	Daily Mail 14 March 2013



Millions of families will be no better off in 2015 than they were in 2000 due to a devastating attack on household finances, according to Britain's leading think tank. The average worker will have suffered the worst squeeze on incomes in memory by the time of the next General Election, warns the Institute for Fiscal Studies…There are record numbers in work in Brit¬ain, with nearly 30million in employment even despite the mounting risk of a triple-dip recession. But workers' real pay – what they earn after inflation - is plummeting as families around the country are hammered by paltry pay rises, soaring household bills and inflation, tax hikes and benefit cuts.
Family	Daily Mail 14 March 2013



The NHS is spending tens of millions of pounds a year on public relations at a time when frontline services are under threat. In 1981, there were only eight press officers working for the entire Health Service. There are now ten times that number in London alone, a survey has found - 82 at the last count, on an average salary of £37,278. Some £9.7million went on press officers' salaries at hospitals and primary care trusts in the capital, while private PR firms were paid a further £3million. The total cost of almost £13million would be enough to pay for 600 nurses. And, as the total refers solely to London, it means that across the NHS as much as £100million may go on PR each year. Critics said it was outrageous that so much was being spent on spin when waiting times are getting longer and some operations are cancelled.
Money	Daily Mail 14 March 2013



After a busy day it's all too easy to eat your dinner in front of the TV rather than making the effort to have a traditional family meal. In fact, six out of ten meals consumed in British homes are eaten while watching television, according to a study. And more than one third of us regularly eat meals in front of the TV without making any conversation, researchers found. The survey, which highlights the extent to which millions have abandoned the dining table, discovered that the average person eats 13 meals at home each week, and at least eight of these - around 60% are eaten while watching television. Eight in ten think the television is now a big part of modern meal times. Six in ten are convinced that eating in front of the TV is a growing trend and admit they have done this a lot more in. the last five years. But 45% don't enjoy the food they're eating, and many opt for ready meals and takeaways. More than a third say it's quite common for them to eat a meal on the sofa and not appreciate their food or notice the flavour.
Social Issues	Daily Mail 14 March 2013



Councils that dish out spot fines for feeding the ducks or putting up lost cat posters were accused last night of using the public as a 'cash cow'. Communities and Local Government Secretary Eric Pickles launched a ferocious attack on town halls for milking residents after a report revealed a five¬fold increase in town halls' use of penalty notices in a decade. Nearly 1,400 fines are handed out every week for petty 'offences' such as handing out leaflets without a licence, dropping a cigarette butt in your own garden and overfilling rubbish bins, the study found. Residents have been fined up to £85 for feeding the ducks, putting up a 'lost cat' poster and walking a dog in a banned zone.
Environment	Daily Mail 14 March 2013

Showing page 18 of 24

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