Tony Blair is visiting the north of England today to publicise a new Cabinet Office report which suggests that the
Tony Blair is visiting the north of England today to publicise a new Cabinet Office report which suggests that the north-south divide does not exist. Before setting off on a tour of the north west, the Prime Minister said the Government had to tackle "pockets of poverty" in all regions. The report says that it is wrong to portray the country divided by poverty It indicates that within most regions, there are very poor areas which are blighted by unemployment, high crime and poor health existing close to better off areas. Mr Blair told GMTV: "There are obviously variations north and south and there is no point pretending they don't exist". Tony Blair is visiting the north of England today to publicise a new Cabinet Office report which suggests that the north-south divide does not exist. Thirty-eight of the 43 forces were short of officers by a combined total of 970 officers, with the other 2,100 vacancies caused by officers on long term sick leave, and delays caused in officer recruitment.The Home Office has pledged cash for 5,000 extra officers over the next three years.. Police forces in England and Wales are dramatically short of officers, according to new findings.The survey for BBC Radio 5 Live revealed a shortfall of 3,000. Thirty-eight of the 43 forces were short of officers by a combined total of 970 officers, with the other 2,100 vacancies caused by officers on long term sick leave, and delays caused in officer recruitment.The Home Office has pledged cash for 5,000 extra officers over the next three years.
Police forces in England and Wales are dramatically short of officers, according to new findings.The survey for BBC Radio 5 Live revealed a shortfall of 3,000. "What we want is always constrained by what we believe is possible," she argues. "As feminists, we were considered not like normal women; but all the aspirations that we struggled for then are now part of the mainstream They are what every young girl regards as her due. The same process could happen to fathers - given some help. "If we want the best for our children," she adds, "I don't think there's another choice.". To paraphrase one ad, aimed at women, "Fed, dressed and out of the house. Then you have to deal with the children..." Infantilising father - but where are the male voices of protest? Burgess acknowledges that the men now fighting for more involvement in their children are in a minority - again, just like those early feminists, of whom she was one. And hopefully, some sanity will be injected into the struggle to balance work and home. For now, the newly emerging landscape of fatherhood has some parallels with the early days of the women's movement in the Sixties - for instance, the sexism and derogatory images.
Still, some wives and partners are reluctant to forfeit parental power (and pleasure) for a variety of reasons, including a sometimes uncertain return. "My partner can take the lion's share of the kids," one woman said at the conference, "so long as he accepts that that means week in, week out." A positive incentive to women to let Daddy rock the cradle (and take responsibility for everything else as well) is that as more fathers become hands-on parents, so the value and status of caring will undoubtedly begin to soar. One other impediment remains to Papa acquiring a brand-new bag - namely, the ambivalence of Mamma. Studies tell us that, left alone, a father can "mother" just as well as the next female. "We treat fathers as not dead beat, but dead broke," said Nigel Vann, in Maryland. It might also help if government policy were overhauled to ensure that it conveys the expectation that fathers will want to participate in their child's welfare. Deals are then brokered to reduce maintenance debts, to avoid a man disappearing from his child's life altogether. In the US, child support agencies also fund schemes that provide education and employment to separated fathers. Adrienne Burgess says that a similar prejudice probably exists here.
She quotes a community-based survey in the United States, which indicated that 2 per cent of biological fathers are guilty of abuse, and as many as one in seven stepfathers. "What we lack in Britain is research Instead, we deal in generalities and myths," she argues "Fathers are as diverse as mothers. And what we often forget is that more mothers physically abuse their kids than dads do, partly because they spend more time with them. " What would help to accelerate change, Burgess says, is more imaginative government policies - and greater resources (parental leave that is paid, for instance). During its six-year lifespan, it has offered support to more than 80 fathers. According to Taylor, many have complained that school and welfare services exclude the father. "If a man has daughters, he is treated particularly cautiously. It's as if abuse is considered the only reason why he'd want to care for them." An Australian survey, revealed that 25 per cent of professionals believed that one in four fathers was guilty of violence or sexual abuse.
Michael Taylor, aged 39, a full-time parent of two boys aged 10 and nine, belongs to a Nottingham fathers' group called Men United. We're looking for new ways to relate to each other and to our children." Nevertheless, at a recent conference in London, organised to consider ways of involving more men in child care, what soon became apparent was the extent to which professionals working in family- support agencies are "father-blind", or actively suspicious of his motivation for being involved. What's also making a difference is a desire for more democratisation in our relationships. It's initially focused on what a man ought to provide financially, but now that's widened out. Employed, law-abiding lads cost the taxpayers less. Adrienne Burgess, author of Fatherhood Reclaimed and founder of a new information network for fathers, Fathers Direct, says other pressures are at play, too. "We have more family breakdown, more women in paid work, more male unemployment The issue of child maintenance has also acted as a lever. Research affirms what common sense already tells us: that positive fathering gives boys, in particular, a much steadier start in life. But why action at this particular time? Charlie Lewis suggests that the EU has been influential via the Social Chapter and family-friendly legislation such as (unpaid) paternity leave - coming into force on 15 December.