UK National Briefs 30 June 2010

FIFA apologises, Chilcott Inquiry starts, obsession with single mums.
UK National Briefs 30 June 2010
7/3/2010
Updated:
7/3/2010

Head of Fifa apologises for non-goal

 

The head of Fifa, the world’s football governing body, has apologised for the refereeing error that saw England lose out on a goal in the match against Germany that expelled them from the World Cup.

Sepp Blatter also said on Tuesday that the debate on using technology to assist refereeing decisions would be reopened. “After having witnessed such a situation,” he said, in reference to England’s non-goal, “we have to open again this file, definitely. Naturally we will take on board again the discussion about technology. Something has to be changed.

“I deplore the obvious refereeing mistakes we have seen.”

 

Chilcott Inquiry starts new hearings

 

International lawyers have been invited by the ongoing Iraq Inquiry to comment on the decision to invade Iraq in 2003, the chairman said on Tuesday as hearings re-opened. The legal justifications for the war have already been closely scrutinised by the Inquiry, and have long been regarded as shaky by critics of the war.

The Inquiry also heard how British police had been banned from going in the notorious Snatch Landrovers, over safety concerns.

Paul Kernaghan of the Association of Chief Police Officers said in a witness statement that he had prohibited British police seconded to train their Iraqi counterparts from using the Land Rovers.

He said, “I recognise that no vehicle can guarantee total protection from IEDs [improvised explosive devices] or sustained firearms attack, but I felt Snatch Land Rovers were unacceptable in terms of the operational environment.”


Britain should drop obsession with working mums

 

Britain must shift from its “obsession” with getting single mums to work, to focusing on getting young, out-of-work fathers to take up their responsibilities as breadwinners, David Cameron’s poverty adviser has said.


Frank Field said that the taxpayer has taken over the role of young fathers as breadwinners and that many young, unemployed fathers will not accept offers of work for less than £300 a week.