But they appear to have come too late to prevent yesterday’s body blow.Whether the BBBC is down but not out remains to be seen.. A lynch mob that was “riddled with sexism” ousted a headteacher from a cathedral choir school, the Very Reverend John Methuen, Dean of Ripon, told a tribunal yesterday. A lynch mob that was “riddled with sexism” ousted a headteacher from a cathedral choir school, the Very Reverend John Methuen, Dean of Ripon, told a tribunal yesterday.
Governors of Ripon Cathedral Choir School dismissed Susan Cave after some parents threatened to remove their children from the school.Ian Atkinson, the deputy head, circulated a questionnaire which asked teachers at the school whether they agreed with Mrs Cave’s appointment, Mr Methuen told the tribunal in Leeds.Mrs Cave claims she was the victim of sexual discrimination by the governors and accuses them of breach of contract.Mr Methuen, one of four governors who resigned in protest against the head’s dismissal, said: “There was a lynch mob circulating” that wanted the head sacked. He added: “My view is that it was riddled with sexism from top to bottom. There were a number of concerns, but I am of the view that there was an unspoken agenda on the part of some parents.”He said the deputy head had taken “extraordinary action” in drawing up the questionnaire “I would have disciplined him for his actions or …

asked the [governors] to consider discipline for his action, which I feel was unprofessional and a betrayal of his boss.”He said some parents had questioned whether a woman was a suitable role model, particularly for the older boys Some felt that a man should be the head of a choir school. A parents’ meeting about the appointment was “every bit like a kangaroo court”, he said.”There was a lot of hysteria, a lot of shouting. My impression was of a lynch-mob attitude and people were behaving in a manner I felt quite uncharacteristic.”Mrs Cave, who was head of the pre-prep department at Aysgarth School in Thirsk, North Yorkshire, was appointed head of the school a year ago. But before she was due to take up the post last September, governors wrote to her saying that parental pressure had forced them to back down.Earlier, Mrs Cave told the tribunal she had been supported by the governors when parents first protested about her appointment.She resigned from her previous post in April. She tried to pacify parents by writing to them, the tribunal heard.Parents also discovered that the Law Society had closed down her husband’s firm of solicitors in Thirsk because of allegations that he was overcharging for his services.The hearing continues today.. A woman who suffered brain damage because doctors failed to realise her mother was carrying twins has won almost £5m in compensation 26 years after her birth.

A woman who suffered brain damage because doctors failed to realise her mother was carrying twins has won almost £5m in compensation 26 years after her birth.
Lesley Ann Wildsmith was awarded the money yesterday at the High Court in Manchester in one of the largest ever settlements in a medical negligence case.The award of £4,884,349 comes two years after Berkshire Health Authority finally accepted full liability for the negligence of doctors, which left the 26-year-old woman suffering from athetoid cerebral palsy.After the case her father, David Wildsmith, from Didcot, Oxfordshire, said he was angry at the length of time it had taken for the health authority to accept liability.He said: “I am particularly incensed at the inaction of the Berkshire Health Authority over many years. It was only Lesley’s action which forced them to admit liability, and nobody from the authority has offered support to Lesley or the rest of the family.”Lesley’s twin, Andrea, was born at the Royal Berkshire Hospital, Reading, in February 1974, but staff did not realise that the mother, Vivienne, was expecting twins.Mrs Wildsmith, 59, was given ergometrine, a drug used to remove the placenta, which made it impossible for Lesley to be born normally when the midwife realised there was a second baby in the womb.She was born by Caesarean section 40 minutes after her sister and suffered brain damage. Her twin is now a bond analyst for Barclays Global in London.Lesley is also of high intelligence but needs constant care, cannot work, is unable to concentrate for long and tires easily. The family launched legal action in 1995 after they were awarded legal aid.. A policeman was shot dead after approaching two men pushing an explosives-laden car in Barcelona today Basque separatists are being blamed. A policeman was shot dead after approaching two men pushing an explosives-laden car in Barcelona today. Basque separatists are being blamed.
The shooting occurred shortly before 8 a.m.

(0700 GMT) on Avenida Diagonal, a major thoroughfare in a bustling area of Spain’s second largest city.It raised to 23 the number of killings that the armed Basque separatist group ETA has claimed or been blamed for this year after calling off a 14-month old cease-fire last December.The officer saw two men pushing a red Fiat compact car, walked up to them to ask for their identity papers and was shot in the head and chest, Barcelona city police said. The assailants fled on foot.Bomb disposal experts searched the car and found a pressure cooker containing about six kilos (13 pounds) of explosives, police said. Such pots are sometimes used by ETA to pack explosives.The car also had fake license plates, a technique often used by ETA when it uses a stolen vehicle, the Interior Ministry said.Deputy Prime Minister Rodrigo Rato and other politicians blamed ETA.”ETA wants to attack democracy and freedom in the Basque country and undermine the spirit of democracy and freedom that Spain has these days,” Rato said in Madrid.The officer was identified as Miguel Angel Gervilla Valladolid, age 38. He was married and had two children, the news agency Efe said.The last two attacks attributed to ETA this year also occurred in or near Barcelona.

Last Thursday a bomb planted under the seat of a van killed Francisco Cano, a plumber who also served as councilor for the ruling Popular Party in Viladecavalls, a small town about 20 kilometers (12 miles) northwest of Barcelona.ETA has been fighting since 1968 to create an independent Basque homeland in an area straddling northern Spain and southwest France Its campaign of violence has left around 800 people dead.. The Yugoslav President, Vojislav Kostunica, yesterday called for the Kosovo peace agreement to be changed to allow Serb forces to operate closer to the Kosovo border, to “clear the area of terrorists”. The Yugoslav President, Vojislav Kostunica, yesterday called for the Kosovo peace agreement to be changed to allow Serb forces to operate closer to the Kosovo border, to “clear the area of terrorists”.
The region has been simmering for a month, since three Serb policemen were killed by ethnic Albanian rebels who want to unite a swathe of Serbian territory with a large Albanian population to Kosovo, which is under United Nations administration.Four days from elections in Serbia, the main republic in federal Yugoslavia, Mr Kostunica said Nato-led peacekeepers are incapable of resolving the problem, and suggested the 5km buffer zone between Serbia and Kosovo, part of the peace agreement that ended last year’s Nato bombing, be reduced to 2km or even 1km.”[That would] free the communication route to the south,” he said. “That would help return stability into the zone.”He also said Serbian forces should be allowed to use heavier weapons than the 7.62mm sidearms they are permitted. The Yugoslav government blames K-For for turning a blind eye to heavy arms being brought in by the rebels. Unlike Slobodan Milosevic, deposed as p;resident in October, Mr Kostunica has refrained from violent measures in dealing with the rebellion. The troubles in southern Serbia have been seen as a major test for his fledgling government.Mr Kostunica blamed unidentified “powerful lobbies” in the US, who support the independence of Kosovo, for encouraging the rebellion in southern Serbia.He again fell short of promising to extradite Mr Milosevic to face war crimes charges.