Special masses for gay Catholics at a London church are to be scrapped, the Archbishop of Westminster has said.

Archbishop Vincent Nichols, who has been one of the loudest voices opposing Government plans to allow same-sex marriages, said the fortnightly masses were not in line with the church's central teaching on sexuality.

In a statement he said that "people with same-sex attraction" would continue to receive pastoral care but the services at Our Lady of the Assumption Church in Warwick Street, Soho, would end.

The church will be dedicated at Lent to the Personal Ordinariate of Our Lady of Walsingham, a group set up by Pope Benedict XVI in 2011 for Anglican clergy who defected to Roman Catholicism.

Archbishop Nicholl said: "The moral teaching of the church is that the proper use of our sexual faculty is within a marriage, between a man and a woman, open to the procreation and nurturing of new human life. As I stated in March 2012, this means 'that many types of sexual activity, including same-sex sexual activity, are not consistent with the teaching of the church'."

Archbishop Nichols, the leader of the Roman Catholic Church in England and Wales, has previously attacked the Government's gay marriage Bill, labelling it "undemocratic" and a "shambles".

He addressed the subject in the Christmas Eve Mass at Westminster Cathedral, saying: "Sometimes sexual expression can be without the public bond of the faithfulness of marriage and its ordering to new life. Even governments mistakenly promote such patterns of sexual intimacy as objectively to be approved and even encouraged among the young." He used his Christmas Day message to describe the gay marriage plans as "Orwellian".

Published: 02 January 2013

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The Jimmy Savile scandal may not have a big enough effect on social attitudes towards child abuse, a former leading judge said.

Baroness Butler-Sloss, who chaired the Cleveland Child Abuse Inquiry and the Family Court division of the High Court, said it was vital that girls under 16 were always seen as victims in abuse cases.

She said both the Savile case and more recent crimes demonstrated that too often, too many people laid some blame with the victims.

Speaking on BBC Radio 4's Today programme, she said: "What worries me about Jimmy Savile and the appalling story is everybody will be terribly upset for a while and then it will die down.

"There have been a whole lot of scandals... the story comes up again and again. You get it in all kinds of places."

Highlighting recent cases, the cross-bench peer said that in some instances, police and social workers had seen victims as "bad girls" and "overlooked these were criminal offences".

She added: "The law is there to protect children and you don't start treating children under 16 as bad girls, you start by saying 'how can they be protected from this kind of bad behaviour?'"

Published: 02 January 2013

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Spectators basked in sunshine as London welcomed 2013 with a New Year's Day parade that celebrated the city's Olympics glory.

Organisers said more than 500,000 people had enjoyed the fair weather as floats, cheerleaders and brass bands marched through the centre of the capital.

The stars of the show were the Olympic volunteers who welcomed the world to London in the summer and helped make the Games such a success.

Crowds were entertained by the Pandemonium Drummers, whose performance was one of the Olympics opening ceremony's highlights, and the Games Maker Choir.

Event organiser Bob Bone told Sky News: "We thought it was a fitting thing to ask them (the Games Makers) to come into our parade so that we could say thank you to them.

"But also we are looking forward as well as backward, because I think the Games Makers have shown that there's a great volunteering spirit in this country.

"There are lots of things that people can carry on doing to carry that spirit of the Games Makers forward into 2013 and beyond."

Published: 01 January 2013

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Three-quarters of doctors struck off the medical register this year were trained abroad, according to new figures.

Of 39 that were struck off to September, 29 had their primary medical qualification (PMQ) outside Britain, including 12 in India, statistics from the General Medical Council (GMC) show.

Of 285 struck off since 2008, 194 had their PMQ overseas, including 64 in India.

The Sunday Telegraph, which obtained the statistics using freedom of information laws, said they would add to concerns that NHS patients are not protected adequately from health professionals from countries where training is less rigorous than in the UK and from those who are unfamiliar with basic medical practices in Britain.

The figures show that since 2008, 669 doctors have been either struck off or suspended by the GMC. Of these, 249 were British and 420 trained abroad.

The newspaper said that one third of doctors on the register were trained abroad, and two thirds trained in Britain.

GMC chief executive Niall Dickson said: "We absolutely acknowledge that when it comes to the serious end of the scale, those from overseas are more likely to appear, and we have set about a series of reforms to address this."

Published: 30 December 2012

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Liberal Democrats have been urged to spread the message that their Conservative coalition partners "can't be trusted" to look after normal people rather than the super-rich.

A leaked script of the party's lines to take in the media urges MPs, candidates and councillors to say that only the Lib Dems are committed to building "a fair society". It was distributed by the Lib Dem director of communications, Tim Snowball, who appealed for recipients to "communicate from this script at every opportunity".

The document will be seen as evidence of the Lib Dems' efforts to carve out a distinctive identity for themselves ahead of the 2015 general election.

It builds on Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg's own message in recent months that only the Lib Dems can deliver both a strong economy and a fair society. Mr Clegg has used his New Year message this week to say he would "anchor" the coalition in the centre-ground in 2013.

The script says Labour "can't be trusted to manage the economy", having "nearly bankrupted Britain", but it is the strident tone on the Tories that is most notable given the potential for inflaming coalition tensions.

"The Conservatives can't be trusted to build a fair society. Until the Lib Dems got into government, no one could stop the Tories from looking after the super rich who fund their party, while ignoring the needs of normal people who struggle to make ends meet."

It goes on to list Tory plans that the Lib Dems have blocked, including relaxing the law on hiring and firing employees, cutting inheritance tax and allowing schools to be "run for profit". "Let's never go back to the way things were, because Labour can't be trusted with your money, and the Tories can't be trusted to build a fair society," it says. "Only the Lib Dems can be trusted to build a stronger economy and a fairer society, enabling every person to get on in life."

The lines, obtained and published by the Liberator blog, was attached to a message from Mr Snowball saying that Mr Clegg's New Year message was "the first full external use of our new Party message script". It is based on research on the Lib Dems' "electoral market" by Ryan Coetzee, an adviser to the Deputy Prime Minister, and consultation with "many party stakeholders".

Published: 29 December 2012

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A white Christmas dream has turned into a wet Christmas nightmare for millions of travellers.

Continued heavy rain played havoc with road and rail journeys, while a series of accidents on major highways added to the travel chaos. Travellers faced reduced services on some rail lines in any case, due to planned engineering work.

And although many motorways and major route roadworks were lifted for Christmas, a number were still in place on busy roads.

The planned engineering work on the railways included disruption on the West Coast line run by Virgin Trains. Among other companies affected by the flooding were CrossCountry, East Midlands Trains, First Great Western (FGW) and First TransPennine Express.

The South West was particularly badly hit by the floods, as it was a few weeks ago, No trains ran between Bristol Parkway and Swindon, while services between Paddington in London and Swansea were being diverted, with journey times extended up to 45 minutes.

Among services unable to run on Monday were Exeter St Davids to Tiverton Parkway and the Cornish route between Looe and Liskeard. On both routes services were not expected to operate until Friday at the earliest.

FGW said poor road conditions meant that buses would not be able to travel on many routes, and advised passengers not to travel if possible. A shortage of train crew on London Midland - a problem that has plagued its passengers for months - meant buses had to replace trains on some routes.

Published: 24 December 2012

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The Queen missed a Sunday church service at her Sandringham estate after suffering from a cold, Buckingham Palace said.

The monarch usually visits St Mary Magdalene Church every Sunday while staying at her Norfolk home. But she did not attend church to the disappointment of dozens of well wishers who gathered to get a glimpse of her.

A Buckingham Palace spokeswoman said: "The Queen was getting over the tail end of a cold. We are expecting business as usual next week."

The Duke of Edinburgh, 91, walked the few hundred yards from the house to the church accompanied by the Duke of York, the Earl and the Countess of Wessex and their daughter Lady Louise and Princesses Beatrice and Eugenie.

Royal watcher Mary Relph, 78, said that she has waited outside the church to spot the Queen every time the monarch has attended a service since 1988.

"I don't remember her ever missing it," she said. "I remember her going around the back once. I am disappointed but I hope she is OK."

Speaking before news of the Queen's cold emerged, Michelle Dickinson, 44, from Norwich, added: "I am very disappointed but hope she is all right, I wonder whether she is poorly? This is our first time here but we'll come again another time so we can see her."

Published: 23 December 2012

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A suicide bomber killed nine people including a provincial government official at a political rally in Pakistan held by a party which has opposed the Taliban, officials say.

The rally in Peshawar, the capital of north-western Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, was held by the Awami National Party, whose members have been repeatedly targeted by the Taliban.

Among the dead was Bashir Bilour, the second most senior member of the provincial Cabinet, said Ghulam Ahmed Bilour, the politician's brother and federal railways minister.

More than 20 other people were injured in the blast, said local police officer Sabir Khan.

Mr Bilour was leaving the rally after delivering the keynote speech when the attack happened, said Nazir Khan, a local Awami National Party leader.

"There was smoke and dust all around, and dead and wounded people were lying on the ground," he said.

The suicide bomber was on foot, said another police officer, Imtiaz Khan.

Mohammed Afridi, a spokesman for the Pakistani Taliban, claimed responsibility for the attack in a telephone call to reporters.

Published: 22 December 2012

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An independent review has been ordered by the body representing rank-and-file police officers into "issues" raised by its handling of the "Plebgate" row.

Police Federation chairman Paul McKeever has acknowledged concerns that it "stoked up" the Downing Street incident which led to Andrew Mitchell quitting the Cabinet.

He said this week that he would apologise to the MP if it was shown he had been wrongly accused of calling officers "plebs" in a bust-up over their refusal to let him ride his bike through the gates.

Mr McKeever has handed control to his successor-elect Steve Williams just over a month before he is officially due to leave the role, due to "pre-existing leave arrangements", the Federation said. And one of Mr Williams' first acts was to announce plans for the review.

"Recent events have shown that there are issues around the way the Police Federation nationally is able to lead and co-ordinate at a national, regional and local level," he said in a statement.

As we enter a new era, my first act as chairman is to establish this independent panel to ensure that we as the Federation continue to represent the interests of our members in the most effective and efficient way."

Local branches organised protests by members wearing "PC Pleb" T-shirts and some demanded Mr Mitchell's sacking.

Published: 22 December 2012

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Fears that consumers are reining in their spending ahead of Christmas have been fuelled after it emerged that sales volumes failed to rebound last month.

A predicted return to growth did not materialise, with official figures from the Office for National Statistics (ONS) revealing flat sales volumes between October and November.

It comes after a much worse than expected drop in October when retail sales volumes fell 0.8% month-on-month.

The CBI said on Wednesday that sales for the Christmas season had been "below par" as families try to make their budgets stretch as far as possible.

Excluding fuel, the ONS figures showed the total value of sales was up 2.5% in November compared with a year ago, below inflation of 2.7% in the same period.

The ONS said new models of tablet computers drove a 3.8% boost for household goods stores, but this failed to offset a 0.1% drop in food sales. Clothes and shoes sales were also down by 0.1%, with department stores also seeing sales volumes fall.

But the ONS estimated that the proportion of retail sales online increased by 1.4% between October and November, with the average weekly spend in November at £711 million.

Published: 20 December 2012

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