Home news in brief
More women bought trainers than high heels ‘for first time’
Some 37 per cent of UK women who have bought shoes in the last year bought trainers, compared with 33 per cent who bought high heels, according to analysts Mintel. It compares with last year when both figures were 35 per cent and is the first time trainers have taken the lead. Women aged 35 to 44 are driving the trend, with 48 per cent buying trainers compared to the 30 per cent who bought heels.
Mintel senior fashion analyst Tamara Sender said: “The UK sportswear market has seen strong growth in the last year and there has been a trend for consumers to integrate sports clothing into their daily wardrobes.”
Mintel estimates that UK footwear sales will increase 5.4 per cent this year to reach £10.5bn, up from £10bn last year.
Crown censure for MoD over training range death
The Ministry of Defence has been issued with a Crown Censure by the Health and Safety Executive over the death of 21-year-old Fusilier Dean Griffiths. He received a fatal bullet wound to the neck during a “live” training exercise at Lydd Ranges in Kent in 2011. The soldier, from Market Drayton in Shropshire, was serving with the 1st Battalion The Royal Welsh.
The exercise involved troops approaching a specially built compound that had been created to simulate the type of building the troops would encounter in Afghanistan. The HSE said an unused target had been stood up in the wrong place. Its investigators found the exercise was undermanned and two groups had been merged to cope with the lack of resource.
The MoD cannot face prosecution in the same way as non-Government bodies and a Crown Censure is the maximum sanction for a government body that the HSE can bring.
Drinking venue 'saturation zones' hit new high
The number of hotspots that are "saturated" with drinking venues has reached a new high. There were 215 "cumulative impact areas" in England and Wales at the end of March - the highest level since current records started in 2007/8 and up from 208 in 2014. The figures are gathered by the Home Office from local authority figures.
The "saturation zones" or "stress areas" are places where officials have identified that the number, type or density of licensed premises are giving rise to problems. They allow town halls to control the number of bars, clubs and pubs in an effort to cut crime or anti-social behaviour.
Home Office figures show 106 councils accounted for the 215 areas, and the number reported in any given local authority area ranged from one to eight. There were 8,300 establishments with 24-hour alcohol licences - a jump of 6 per cent since March 2010.
Just one man to face trial over allegations at Knowl View
Only one man will face trial over alleged historical sex offences at a residential school for boys linked with the late politician Cyril Smith, it has been confirmed. An investigation was set up by Greater Manchester Police after reports of both physical and sexual abuse at Knowl View school in Rochdale from 1969 until it closed in 1995.
In April, when GMP announced the charging of a 76-year-old man, it said it had submitted 13 files to the Crown Prosecution Service with multiple allegations involving 27 suspects and 16 alleged victims of both physical and sexual offences. The force said "cases will not be taken further as the Crown Prosecution Service does not make hypothetical charging decisions in respect of suspects that are now deceased".
Smith acted as a governor for several schools in Rochdale, including Knowl View, and when he was a town councillor was active on many committees involving youth activities.
Two in three fail to name ‘famous’ figures on banknotes
Only around a third of Britons can name at least one of the figures from history who appear on the Bank of England's banknotes. Just 36 per cent of people surveyed for Barclaycard could correctly name any of the people apart from the Queen who appear on the notes.
The survey of more than 2,000 people found 31 per cent knew that Sir Winston Churchill appears on the
new plastic £5 note, while just 2 per cent were aware that the £50 note features entrepreneur Matthew Boulton and engineer James Watt, who helped forge the Industrial Revolution.
When asked which figures they would like to see on banknotes, Florence Nightingale was the most popular choice in the survey, followed by William Shakespeare. Both have previously appeared on the Bank's notes.
Two held over death of baby girl found on bus
A man aged 52 and a woman aged 27 have been arrested on suspicion of the murder of a baby. Scotland Yard said police were called by paramedics after the three-month-old girl was found unresponsive on a bus in Stratford, east London. The child was taken to hospital where she was pronounced dead. The man and woman were later detained at an address in east London.