Prime minister makes admission during visit to London hospital in face of opposition to GPs policy David Cameron spoke yesterday of concern within his own family over the government's planned reforms of the health service, admitting publicly that even his brother-in-law was not convinced by the changes. Dr Carl Brookes is married to the prime minister's sister Tania and works as a cardiologist in Basingstoke for the North Hampshire NHS trust. Speaking during a visit to a London hospital, Cameron raised the topic himself, telling assembled doctors and nurses: "My brother-in-law is a hospital doctor and he says 'you're giving too much power to the GPs, and hospitals will be disadvantaged.'" Meanwhile, more than half of GPs responding to a survey by the Royal College of General Practitioners said they were concerned that the proposed health reforms would not lead to improvements in care for patients. The findings, from an online poll of 1,800 medics, are a b

LONDON: The French are known to have had a hard-nosed attitude towards the English for long. But, now children in France may be compelled to learn English from as early as nursery school if Nicolas Sarkozy gets his way. The French president, who has recently come under fire for his own grasp of Francais, has said that he wants France's youngsters to learn "the language of Shakespeare", the 'Daily Mail' reported. He has further enraged a proud nation by suggesting that French children should learn the Queen's English from as young as three, the report said. Critics fear Sarkozy's proposal will dilute the cherished French language and halt its dissemination. The mooted educational change has sparked intense debate in France, with staunch right-wing traditionalist intellectual Eric Zemmour dipping his oar, praising his country's resistance to learn English. "It is a sort of unconscious linguistic resistance to the colonisation of minds,"

66% of ComRes respondents thought PM should not have hired Coulson knowing he had resigned as NoW editor over scandal Two out of three people believe the prime minister showed poor judgment in employing Andy Coulson as his Downing Street director of communications. In an opinion poll carried out by ComRes for the Independent newspaper, 66% said they thought David Cameron should not have hired Coulson knowing he had resigned as editor of the News of the World over the phone-hacking scandal. Coulson quit his role in the government 10 days ago after repeated inquiries into his knowledge of phone hacking at the News of the World, saying the affair limited his ability to devote himself to his job. Nine out of 10 of those polled believe it is wrong for journalists to hack into the private telephone voicemail messages of celebrities and politicians. The poll also showed that 67% thought the allegations of telephone hacking meant the newspaper industry should no longer regulate itself. ComRes

Report expected to recommend Ofsted is stripped of some powers following Baby P tragedy Ofsted's role in investigating suspicious deaths of young children is likely to come under critical scrutiny today in the aftermath of the Baby P tragedy. A report commissioned by the Department of Education will propose ways of simplifying child protection inspection procedures following the death of Peter Connelly in Tottenham, north London, in 2007. The paper by Eileen Munro, a professor of social policy at the London School of Economics, is one of a series of inquiries into the way in which safeguarding of children is conducted. Ofsted's main function is to carry out reviews of schools to ensure they meet specified academic criteria, but the inspectorate also has the less publicised role of examining the performance of children's social workers. In an interview with Community Care magazine, Munro said: "In my second report, to be submitted to ministers ... I shall outline some

Poll of more than 2,000 people calls for tougher regulation The toll that alcohol takes on many people's lives is laid bare in a survey which has prompted fresh calls for action to tackle widespread chronic drinking across Britain. Alcohol's role in everything from injury and relationship breakdown to trouble with the police, emerges in a poll commissioned by a group of senior doctors. Some 11% of people polled have seen a friend or relative's relationship end as a direct result of heavy drinking. One in five (21%) know someone who has driven while over the legal alcohol limit. And 51% know someone who has been a victim of drink-related violence, or has been attacked themselves. The survey also found that 14% of children are being brought up in a family where at least one adult has a drink problem. The YouGov poll, commissioned by the British Society of Gastroenterology (BSG), paints a graphic picture of alcohol's many negative consequences. The survey of 2,221 people

Experiments show that labrador retriever's sense of smell can identify minute traces of chemicals circulating in human body Dogs can be trained to sniff out bowel cancer, even when the disease is in its early stages, researchers in Japan claim. In a series of experiments that involved sniffing the breath or stool samples of patients, a specially-trained labrador retriever proved nearly as good at identifying those with cancer as a conventional colonoscopy examination. The team, led by Hideto Sonoda at Fukuoka dental college hospital, said some dogs have such a keen sense of smell that they can detect minute traces of chemicals that appear to circulate in the bodies of people who have cancer. The finding builds on previous experiments in which researchers used dogs to sniff out cancers in the skin, lungs, bladder and ovaries. Writing in the journal Gut , the researchers describe how the eight-year-old dog was trained to distinguish between the smell of a patient with colorectal canc

Labour agrees to abandon filibustering campaign after climbdown over redrawing parliamentary constituencies A two-week standoff in the House of Lords between Labour and the coalition over a constitutional reform bill was partially resolved today when ministers agreed to a key opposition demand on shrinking the House of Commons. Labour agreed to abandon a filibustering campaign, which had forced peers to sleep on camp beds in committee rooms during overnight sessions, after the government announced that it would allow limited public inquiries when parliamentary constituencies are redrawn. Ministers climbed down after it became clear that the government could not deliver on a threat made at the weekend to break convention in the House of Lords by bringing 15 days of debate to an end through a "guillotine" motion. David Cameron, who had been spoiling for a fight with Labour, was advised that such a motion would be defeated after Baroness D'Souza, leader of the non-party cros

Composer best known for James Bond compositions won five Oscars and scored more than 100 mfilms John Barry, the composer of some of cinema's most memorable scores, from James Bond to Born Free and Dances With Wolves, has died aged 77. In a short statement, his family said Barry died on Sunday in New York. He is survived by his wife of 33 years, Laurie, his four children and five grandchildren. Barry was at the top of his profession for nearly 50 years, winning five Oscars and providing the music for more than 100 movies including Out of Africa, which he once named as his favourite and TV shows such as The Persuaders! and Juke Box Jury. But it was his association with James Bond that defined his career. It began in 1962 when he arranged Monty Norman's distinctive theme into an anthem on Dr No and was followed by 11 subsequent 007 movies including Goldfinger, Diamonds Are Forever and The Living Daylights. The current Bond composer, David Arnold, paid one of many tributes to Ba

Number of student places on courses this year down from 16,845 to14,555, with English, art and music suffering most The number of students funded to train as secondary school teachers was cut by more than 2,200 today as the government wiped funding from 14% of the places on courses. There will now be just 14,555 places on secondary school teacher training courses starting this autumn, compared to 16,845 last year. The number of English, art and music trainee teachers will drop substantially. The government will fund 2,100 trainees to teach English in secondary schools which is 315 fewer than last year. There will be 220 less trainee art and design teachers, and 180 fewer trainee music teachers. The number of trainee business studies teachers has almost halved, from 428 to 235, while the number of physical education trainee teachers has fallen from 1,180 last year to 890. The figures do not include teachers on the Teach First trainee scheme, which trains about 560 students from top un

Andrew Lansley clutches to jargon like a shipwreck survivor clings to flotsam as his bill gets stormy Commons reception Poor Andrew Lansley had to introduce his bill to reorganise the NHS today. Unwanted, unpromised and unwieldy, the bill seems to be unloved by many Tories and Lib Dems as well as being loathed by Labour MPs. The health secretary had to fight his way through a barrage of shouting, jeering, barracking and hostile interventions. I won't say he crumbled; no one left his cake out in the rain. But he got extremely jittery, um'ming, ah'ing and er'ing like a supply teacher on a Friday afternoon. He had to keep pleading to be allowed to make progress, that other people wanted to speak and, after a while, he began to ditch whole sections of the speech, abandoning them to the enemy, like arctic explorers flinging another husky to the pursuing wolves. Even David Miliband made a rare Commons appearance chuntering to anyone who would listen. Normally he is in Portc

As street protests continue the UK government announces it is putting contingency plans in place for its citizens The government is working on contingency plans to ensure the safety of the 20,000 Britons who are on holiday in Egypt as tensions in the country continue to escalate. In a statement to the commons , the Foreign Office minister Alistair Burt said that the government was planning "for all eventualities" as the massive street protests stretched into a seventh day . But the Foreign Office (FCO) would not comment on whether the evacuation of British citizens was being considered. Burt said that most of the Britons currently in Egypt were in the Red Sea resort of Sharm el-Sheikh where no serious unrest has been reported with around 10,000 others elsewhere in Egypt. "The situation on Egypt is still very uncertain," said Burt. "The safety of our citizens is out top priority. We are putting in place contingency plans to ensure that we are prepared for all

Local MSP 'highly dubious' of Forth Energy's environmental claims A seven-chapter planning application for a biomass energy plant in Leith has been lodged. The plans, made by Forth Energy - a partnership between Leith dock owners Forth Ports and Scottish and Southern Energy - can be seen in parts online here . It sparks the start of a consultation period in which public meetings will take place and an opposition petition is expected to be lodged. Developers hope the new plant will kick-start up to 40 years of development at in the Leith Docks and Waterfront area. Local community councils and some politicians are against the plans, raising concerns about the plant's potential impact on health, how it might look and how local infrastructure will cope. Some councillors, who will be the first to vote on the plans, are unable to comment publicly until the consultation period ends. Greener Leith recently coordinated an open letter from local community groups and politicia

Man killed and woman hurt in fire at Bilston Glen anti-bypass camp south of Edinburgh Forensics officers were investigating after an environmental campaigner was killed in a fire at a protest camp south of Edinburgh. It is feared the man, thought to be in his 20s, burned to death after his bedding or the hut at Bilston Glen, Midlothian, caught fire. It is understood his death is not being treated as suspicious. The body was shielded behind a white tarpaulin and a police cordon, as police and fire investigators inspected the site and searched surrounding woodland. A woman who was injured in the fire was taken to a nearby hospital and then to St John's hospital, Livingston, which has a specialist burns unit. She is thought to have burns to her hands and arms. Lothian and Borders police said the dead man would not be named until next of kin had been told. Others at the protest camp refused to give his name or discuss what had happened. The camp, comprising at least 10 hand-built woode

Labour sources believe the government will give ground after ministers realised threat to impose a 'guillotine' in the House of Lords to force a vote on the bill would fail Labour is inching towards a deal with the coalition on a controversial government bill to introduce a referendum on electoral reform and to shrink the size of the House of Commons. Senior Labour sources expressed confidence that the government will give ground after ministers realised that a threat to impose a "guillotine" in the House of Lords to force a vote on the bill would fail. Downing Street had indicated at its daily briefing at 11am today that David Cameron is losing patience with Labour peers, who have held about 80 hours of debate on the parliamentary voting system and constituencies bill, and is prepared to break precedent by tabling a "guillotine" to force a vote. But Labour sources said the government was preparing to meet one of its main conditions greater scrutiny of plan

Fundraising Standards Board launches inquiry after businessmen earned 10m from donated secondhand clothes The UK's charity fundraising regulator today initiated a complaints procedure against the Salvation Army after the Guardian revealed it had allowed a businessman to earn a multimillion-pound personal fortune from selling second-hand clothes donated to the cause. The Fundraising Standards Board has asked the Christian charity to investigate complaints that it may have misled its donors over the use of profits from the sale of around 2,500 of tonnes of clothing donated each month. A director of the charity's trading arm personally earned more than 5m from sale of the clothes over the last five years, affording him a lifestyle that included buying a racehorse and a 1m mansion. The wording on the side of the charity's secondhand clothes banks dotted across supermarket car parks nationwide said profits from their sale are used "to help the Salvation Army's work wi

Witnesses tell how dead teenager was chased by 15-strong gang as police arrest 13-year-old over shooting Murder squad detectives suspect a mass brawl at an 18th birthday sparked a fatal stabbing and shooting. Daniel Thompson-Graham, 18, was repeatedly stabbed near East Dulwich railway station in south London in the early hours of Saturday morning. He was one of dozens of young men thrown out of nearby Dulwich Hamlet Football Club after a young woman's birthday celebration descended into violence. A second teenager, aged 14, was shot in the leg in the car park of a nearby supermarket. A Metropolitan police spokesman said a 13-year-old boy was arrested today on suspicion of attempted murder over the shooting. One witness said Thompson-Graham was chased by up to 15 young men before he was fatally attacked near Grove Vale library, 300m from the football club. He said: "Shots were fired in the car park of Sainsbury's. There was a chase down Dog Kennel Hill and the gang caught u

Adam Potter slipped over the edge of a Ben Nevis ridge, and survived to tell the tale

By virtue of its size, its sense of itself and its extraordinary past, Egypt is different. So it's hard to know how things will work out Click here for live updates of the Egypt protests I saw Hosni Mubarak once. Tony Blair had dropped by for a brief chat on the way home from a flying visit to Iraq and they staged a joint quasi-press conference in one of the Egyptian president's Cairo palaces. Built like a brick loo, Mubarak exuded that strutting, invulnerable sense of power that dictators acquire over time. Blair looked flimsy and transient by comparison, as indeed he was. That's the point, isn't it? The circumstances in which a politician acquires power often dictates the way he or she loses power. Seize it without legitimacy and it immediately becomes difficult to relinquish it. Get elected and it's easier to be un-elected by party or the electorate. In fairness to Egypt, one of history's great dramas, Gamal Abdel Nasser, who overthrew the monarchy (1952) and

Rolling coverage of all the day's political developments as they happen 10.54am: I'm off to the Downing Street lobby briefing now. I'll post again after 11.30am. 10.47am: You can read all today's Guardian politics stories here . And all the politics stories filed yesterday, including some in today's paper, are here . As for the rest of the papers, I've already mentioned the David Cameron article in the Times. (See 9.53am.) Here are a couple of other articles worth noting. Elizabeth Rigby in the Financial Times (subscription) says Chris Huhne is at loggerheads with the Treasury over whether the green bank will be able to raise money from the private sector. The Treasury has already earmarked 1bn for the bank, to be spent on green infrastructure projects such as renewable energy. It has also privately confirmed that more than 1bn of funds from asset sales will also be made available, according to two ministerial aides. But in return for the additional funds, off