guardian.co.uk Society:
Cash incentives alone won't solve childcare – perhaps Gordon Brown should look at Germany's response to a 'stove premium'While Gordon Brown has had to rethink his plan to abolish tax relief on childcare vouchers, family policy in Germany took a different turn right from the start. It's the better-off who benefit most from t (Read More)
The Guardian:
Lavlee Mollik tells Bangladesh newspaper that she wants her daughters to live and be educated in AustraliaThe mother of conjoined Bangladeshi twins who were separated in an operation in Melbourne has said she does not want custody of the daughters she gave up for adoption and wants them to have new lives in Australia, acco (Read More)
Huffington Post:
News organizations are reporting that Sherry Johnston, the mother of Bristol Palin's ex-fiancee Levi Johnston, has been sentenced to 3 years in prison plus 3 years probation. Johnston was charged with the intent to sell the prescription painkiller, OxyContin. Johnston pleaded guilty to the drug charges in August. (Read More)
Huffington Post:
The most widely and rapidly ratified human rights treaty in history is 20 years old. The Convention on the Rights of the Child was shaped by the United States, which drafted more of its provisions than any other government. Only two countries in the world have failed to ratify the convention: war-torn Somalia - and the Unit (Read More)
The Guardian:
He got his big break playing Quentin Crisp in The Naked Civil Servant and now, 34 years later, John Hurt is at it againThere's something disturbing about John Hurt. That familiar Mount Rushmore face seems to have ironed itself out. It was once compared to a komodo dragon – even his lines seemed to have lines – but today he (Read More)
guardian.co.uk Politics:
On Monday we went to the National Theatre to see Alan Bennett's new play, The Habit of Art, about a fictional meeting between WH Auden and Benjamin Britten. It was the performance before press night, so there had been no notices in the papers, although the word of mouth was not particularly good and the amateurs on the in (Read More)
Crooks and Liars:
If they're already admitting to causing deaths, why should they care about a little girl's hearing?What more do we have to do to fight back against these horror stories? What will it take to get these insurance companies to see the inherent immorality of focusing on the bottom line to the exclusion of all else? Think Progre (Read More)
guardian.co.uk Society:
With five biological daughters, Anita Tedaldi was keen to adopt a little boy. But little did she ever imagine that it might not work outThe first time I considered giving up my baby, Dan, I was lying alone in bed. It was midnight, my children were asleep and my husband, a serviceman, was deployed away from home. I was so ta (Read More)
guardian.co.uk Society:
As a mother of three boys, Hannah Evans is used to all the bruises and gashes ... it's just a case of when to go to A&EIt was the marble that got me thinking. A magnetic marble. It should have been whizzing round the track of Barney's best fourth birthday present, a particularly complicated ball bearing helter-skelter. Only (Read More)
www.guardian.co.uk:
A book lover's guide to building a brilliant children's libraryNo 52 Finn Family Moomintroll by Tove Jansson (1948)Here we are at last, ensconced in the very last Book Corner (or at least, the last official Book Corner – a series of pleadings on my part have elicited permission to add an appendix-type affair next week to ga (Read More)
www.guardian.co.uk:
This fast-paced thriller has a compassionate heart, says Josh LaceyThere is an obvious pun in the title of Daniel Finn's new novel. (He has written other books as Will Gatti, but this is his first to be published under this name.) His two heroes, a boy and a girl nicknamed Demi and Baz, are good thieves in one sense: they'r (Read More)
guardian.co.uk Politics:
He left Britain after his girlfriend Rachel Nickell was murdered 17 years ago, to escape the trauma and the press. This week André Hanscombe returned – to force the police to face their mistakesThe picture is attractive – pale skin, a drift of blonde hair, a wide, imperfect smile that makes her approachable and young, fragi (Read More)
The Guardian:
Ivan Klasnic reveals the story behind his two kidney transplants and the debt he owes his familyIvan Klasnic winces as he remembers the day his life was turned upside down. It was November 2005 and Werder Bremen had just beaten Udinese 4-3 in the Champions League. But for the striker whose goals had helped get them into Eur (Read More)
guardian.co.uk Society:
After the freedom of university and living with her boyfriend, Lucy Tobin is back at her parents' house. But how do you have a grown-up relationship – including a sex life – when Mum and Dad are around? And how do they feel about it?It was a turbulent take-off when I flew the parental nest. I spent most of the journey to un (Read More)
www.guardian.co.uk:
Peter Thornton was ousted from the family business – Thorntons chocolates – by his brothers and cousin. He talks about the bitter rivalries that ended his careerPeter Thornton always knew he would inherit the family chocolate business, along with his two brothers and a cousin. Taken on when he was 20, after a polytechnic co (Read More)