Parents' News 23 May 2002
 In
the news this week...
Working parents spend more time dealing with
emails than playing with their children, drug use is 'a passing phase'
and are sperm donors about to be exposed?
New deal on drugs?
Mixed messages from the Government this
week about drugs. First, Education Secretary Estelle Morris announces
that the shocking video showing the life and death of young heroin addict
Rachel Whitear is to be shown in all secondary schools. And that dealers
who target schoolchildren can expect tougher sentences for a new offence
called ‘aggravated drug dealing’. So far so tough, but a report to the
Commons home affairs committee recommends downgrading Ecstasy as a class
A drug and suggests that for most young people, drug use is a passing
phase. However, Home secretary David Blunkett has ruled out downgrading
Ecstasy.
Absent fathers
Joanna Rose, a 28-year-old postgraduate
student, went to the High court this week to seek the right to medical
information about her father – an anonymous sperm donor. A six-year-old
girl from York is also seeking non-identifying information about hers.
This case follows news that Baroness Mary Warnock has changed her mind
about the ethics of sperm donors remaining anonymous.
Mums-to-be.... tired
Meanwhile a survey of pregnant women by
Pregnancy and Birth magazine reveals that most believe they are compromising
their career by having a child and that they cannot really afford it.
45% would go back to work part-time if they had the choice, and 43% want
to go back full time. 85% wanted longer maternity leave. Meanwhile more
research, this time from the Department of Trade and Industry, finds that
working parents spend more time dealing with their emails (49 minutes)
than playing with the children (25 minutes).
Public school
news
A maths teacher at posh Marlborough College
(who shall remain nameless –we’re nice here) was invigilating an exam
when he realised his laptop screen was connected to a big overhead projector.
He was browsing Internet porn sites. He is now on sick leave; the pupils’
examination performance was not reported.
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