![Image]( "Pc accused over crash walks free")
A police officer accused of killing a woman when he allegedly drove too fast in his van while responding to a 999 call has walked free from court because of a mistake by accident investigators.
Pc John Hannan, 32, was charged with causing death by dangerous driving, which he denied, after his van crashed into the woman's car on June 28 2008 in Eccles, near Salford.
Angela Purcell, 38, from Swinton, who was sitting in the back of the car, died from multiple injuries.
Her brother, Peter Purcell, who was driving, and his young daughter Darla, were left with minor injuries.
During Pc Hannan's trial, Bolton Crown Court was told that officers are instructed not to exceed 20mph more than the road's speed limit when responding to emergency calls. The fatal crash happened in a 30mph zone.
Sion Ap Mihangel, prosecuting, told the jury that a reconstruction showed Pc Hannan was driving at 58mph and had slowed to 48mph when it hit Ms Purcell's car, which was inching forward into Green Lane from Cromwell Road.
But the prosecution collapsed on Thursday when it emerged crash investigators reconstructed the crash using the wrong vehicles. Rather than using a similar van, a car was used to determine the accused officer's speed.
Judge Timothy Clayson ruled that was unfair and said a not-guilty verdict should be recorded.
Greater Manchester Police, who referred the crash to the Independent Police Complaints Commission, said: "Pc Hannan is not suspended from active duty but currently suspended from driving. That will now be reviewed."
A host of witnesses told investigators that Pc Hannan was driving too fast. One witness, Donna Clarke, said the van was going so quickly round a bend it "nearly turned over", while off-duty Pc Trevor Gibson noted the defendant's "aggressive" driving and made a mental note of the registration before speaking to his sergeant about it.
Millions have taken to the roads, railways and airports at the start of a Bank Holiday weekend where rain was expected to give way to some welcome sunshine.
Among those glad to see the showers relent were the many thousands flocking to music festivals over the weekend.
Some major roads were busy from early on Friday, with heavy morning rush-hour traffic on the M25 in Kent, the M4 in London, the M6 in the West Midlands and the A12 in Suffolk.
A multi-vehicle accident on the A14 in Suffolk caused lane closures and congestion. This incident followed a serious accident on Thursday night on the M5 near Exeter in Devon in which seven people had to be airlifted to hospital.
The Highways Agency has completed some roadworks before the weekend and has lifted restrictions at other sites.
But restrictions remain in place at 32 locations, including two sections of the M25 and works at the M48 in Chepstow, Wales, and the M62 near Leeds.
Friday is the busiest day of the holiday at Heathrow, with the west London airport expected to handle 217,900 people.
A total of 840,000 people will pass through the airport between Friday and Bank Holiday Monday.
Heathrow's five busiest destinations over the holiday period are New York, Dubai, Paris, Dublin and Los Angeles.
Travel organisation Abta said around 1.8 million Britons would leave the country between Friday and Monday. A total of 136,000 will be leaving from Stansted Airport and 65,000 from Luton.
A senior police officer has warned potential troublemakers they will be swiftly punished if they cause problems at demonstrations planned by a far-right group and their opponents.
Chief Superintendent Alison Rose, Bradford South divisional commander, told people planning to attend the English Defence League (EDL) and Unite Against Fascism demonstrations in Bradford on Saturday they were not wanted in the city if they intended to cause trouble.
In a video posted on YouTube, she said: "What I do want to emphasise is that anyone coming into the city on Saturday intent on causing harm, intent on committing any kind of criminal activity, will be dealt with properly and quickly by West Yorkshire Police and by the criminal justice system in Bradford.
"We do not want anyone with that intent anywhere near Bradford on Saturday and we will do our absolute best - whether that is through CCTV coverage or through the very effective policing plan in operation on Saturday - to bring those people to justice very quickly."
Ms Rose also said the reputation of the city was at stake and she would not allow anyone to undermine the good work that had been done in Bradford.
Home Secretary Theresa May authorised a blanket ban on marches in the city, but the two groups are still expected to hold static demonstrations.
Locations have been confirmed, with the EDL demonstration taking place in the city's Urban Gardens, while Unite Against Fascism/We Are Bradford will hold a protest at the Crown Court Plaza.
A community celebration event called Be Bradford - Peaceful Together is also taking place at Infirmary Fields.
A force spokesman said police and other agencies had been planning for all eventualities for a long time and there would be a significant number of officers in the city on Saturday.
He added: "We are trying to facilitate a peaceful protest and that is what we expect from people in Bradford."
Ed Balls has warned the Government's deficit reduction plan is "economically unsafe" as he stepped up his campaign for the Labour leadership.
He said the challenge for the winner of the leadership contest would be to "expose the coalition's plans as heartless and wrong-headed".
In a keynote speech in the City of London he said Chancellor George Osborne's plan has as much economic credibility as a "pyramid scheme".
Shadow education secretary Mr Balls warned against rushing to cut spending, claiming even former chancellor Alistair Darling's plan to halve the deficit in four years - backed by Labour leadership rival David Miliband - was "a mistake".
In his speech at Bloomberg's headquarters Mr Balls said the "Tory cuts are not just unfair, but both unnecessary and economically unsafe".
He said Mr Osborne's plans would "suck money" out of the economy by cutting public spending and benefit payments while increasing taxes.
"George Osborne was fond of saying - wrongly - that the Labour government had failed to fix the roof while the sun was shining. What he is now doing is the equivalent of ripping out the foundations of the house just as the hurricane is about to hit."
And he dismissed Mr Osborne's argument that slashing spending and benefits while raising VAT would not hit growth and employment prospects because the private sector would "somehow rush to fill the void".
He said: "This is 'growth denial' on a grand scale. It has about as much economic credibility as a pyramid scheme. For George Osborne, read Bernie Madoff - he'll take your money and take your job, but don't worry, if you wait long enough, he promises you'll get it all back from someone else."
Mr Balls said Labour's next leader would need to give a "stronger, clearer vision of the fairer Britain we will fight for". "We must persuade people in their heads as well as their hearts to come back to Labour again. And by comparison we must expose the coalition's plans as heartless and wrong-headed," he said.
A steel plant mothballed earlier this year with the loss of more than 1,000 jobs is to be sold to a Thai company, it has been announced.
The Corus plant on Teesside was partially closed when an international consortium suddenly walked away from a long-term contract to buy its products.
More than 1,000 workers at the Teesside Cast Products site lost their jobs and there were fears that the plant would close altogether, leading to thousands more job losses across the region.
Behind-the-scenes moves began this summer to sell the plant to SSI, with union leaders and local politicians visiting Thailand to meet company executives.
The announcement on Friday that the factory was being sold to SSI raised hopes that many of the jobs will be saved, giving a huge boost to the North East region, which is heavily reliant on the steel industry for employment.
Union officials warmly welcomed Friday's "great" news.
SSI, the biggest steel producer in Thailand, said it had signed a memorandum of understanding with Corus, a subsidiary of Indian giant Tata Group to acquire the plant.
The firm said it was finalising the details and arranging financing for the proposed acquisition.
Win Viriyaprapaikit, president of SSI, said: "We have great respect for the tradition of steel-making on Teesside and for the highly-skilled Teesside workforce, having previously purchased slab from Teesside Cast Products. This transaction will enable SSI to fulfil its long-standing objective of becoming a fully-integrated steel producer with both melting and rolling facilities."
SSI said the deal was worth around 500 million US dollars (£321 million).
David Cameron's wife Samantha has left hospital with her new baby.
Mrs Cameron had been at the Royal Cornwall Hospital in Truro since giving birth to daughter Florence Rose Endellion by Caesarean section on Tuesday.
She was driven from the rear of the hospital's maternity unit in a black people carrier without waiting photographers, television cameras and reporters catching a glimpse of the new baby.
A hospital spokesman confirmed that Mrs Cameron had been discharged after a third night at the Royal Cornwall.
Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg said Mr Cameron had not yet decided when he would be returning to his desk in Downing Street.
The Prime Minister had been expected to be back at No 10 next week following his two-week family holiday, but Mr Clegg said he would now want to take some paternity leave.
"I spoke to him just after the birth of his baby daughter. We haven't yet spoken about exactly what date he is returning," Mr Clegg said. "He obviously wants to take some time off, like any young dad does, for paternity leave and I will just carry on holding the fort."
Downing Street later said Mr and Mrs Cameron would be resuming their holiday in Cornwall.
"The Prime Minister, Samantha, and Florence have all left hospital," a No 10 spokesman said.
"Mother and baby are doing well and now look forward to spending the rest of their holiday in Cornwall with family and friends."
The head of an aid appeal for flood-stricken Pakistan praised the "extraordinary" generosity of the British public after donations topped £40 million.
Disasters Emergency Committee chief executive Brendan Gormley said the response was "unprecedented" after week-on-week donations soared by more than 70%.
More than £19.3 million was raised over the past week after £11.2 million was raised last week and £9.5 million was raised after the appeal was first broadcast on August 5.
The Disasters Emergency Committee said it had never seen such a pattern of giving in its 45-year history.
Mr Gormley said: "This response really is unprecedented. Giving to all our appeals, including Haiti and the 2004 tsunami, saw huge initial donations decline steeply after the first week. We have never seen anything like this pattern of giving before.
"This belies all talk of donor fatigue. Growing awareness of the sheer scale of the disaster has seen the public continue to respond to the needs of people who are in dire need of help. Their generosity has been astounding.
"Sadly, for many who have yet to be reached, the situation is still at crisis point. Aid agencies are on the ground doing all they can to reach people, but support is needed for that work to continue. We cannot over-emphasise the need for more donations and the public's ongoing support if we are to continue saving lives."
The Pakistan floods have so far claimed more than 1,500 lives and have directly affected more than 17 million people, the appeal said.
The DEC, an umbrella organisation representing 13 leading UK aid agencies including the British Red Cross, Oxfam and Save the Children, have so far reached more than 800,000 people.
Actor Ewan McGregor later launched a fresh call for help as he filmed an appeal for Pakistan's children with Unicef. Jemima Khan, Robbie Williams, David Beckham, Sir Roger Moore and TV host Cat Deeley are also supporting the campaign, Unicef said.
A police officer accused of killing a woman when he allegedly drove too fast in his van while responding to a 999 call has walked free from court because of a mistake by accident investigators.
Pc John Hannan, 32, was charged with causing death by dangerous driving, which he denied, after his van crashed into the woman's car on June 28 2008 in Eccles, near Salford.
Angela Purcell, 38, from Swinton, who was sitting in the back of the car, died from multiple injuries.
Her brother, Peter Purcell, who was driving, and his young daughter Darla, were left with minor injuries.
During Pc Hannan's trial, Bolton Crown Court was told that officers are instructed not to exceed 20mph more than the road's speed limit when responding to emergency calls. The fatal crash happened in a 30mph zone.
Sion Ap Mihangel, prosecuting, told the jury that a reconstruction showed Pc Hannan was driving at 58mph and had slowed to 48mph when it hit Ms Purcell's car, which was inching forward into Green Lane from Cromwell Road.
But the prosecution collapsed on Thursday when it emerged crash investigators reconstructed the crash using the wrong vehicles. Rather than using a similar van, a car was used to determine the accused officer's speed.
Judge Timothy Clayson ruled that was unfair and said a not-guilty verdict should be recorded.
Greater Manchester Police, who referred the crash to the Independent Police Complaints Commission, said: "Pc Hannan is not suspended from active duty but currently suspended from driving. That will now be reviewed."
A host of witnesses told investigators that Pc Hannan was driving too fast. One witness, Donna Clarke, said the van was going so quickly round a bend it "nearly turned over", while off-duty Pc Trevor Gibson noted the defendant's "aggressive" driving and made a mental note of the registration before speaking to his sergeant about it.
A Government minister has announced he has separated from his wife and is "coming to terms with his homosexuality".
Crispin Blunt, the Tory MP and prisons minister, said there was nobody else involved and appealed for his family's privacy to be respected.
In a statement, his office said: "Crispin Blunt wishes to make it known that he has separated from his wife Victoria.
"He decided to come to terms with his homosexuality and explained the position to his family. The consequence is this separation.
"There is no third party involvement, but this is difficult for his immediate and wider family and he hopes for understanding and support for them.
"The family do not wish to make any further public comment and hope that their privacy will be respected as they deal with these difficult private issues."
Mr Blunt, 50, has been the Conservative MP for Reigate since 1997. He and his wife were married in 1990 and have one son and one daughter.
The MP became a Parliamentary under secretary of state at the Ministry of Justice in May following the formation of the Tory-Liberal Democrat coalition Government.
He was slapped down by Downing Street last month after saying he was lifting a ban on arts events like comedy workshops and fancy dress parties in jails.
Number 10 overruled him the following day, ordering that there would be no such parties.
Two male primary school teachers have been arrested on suspicion of possessing indecent images of children, police said.
The men, aged 43 and 37, were arrested at an address in Monkspath, Solihull, on Wednesday, and bailed "pending further investigations".
West Midlands Police said the arrests followed an investigation by the force's child online safety team and public protection unit.
A spokeswoman said the 43-year-old man teaches at St Patrick's School in Earlswood, Solihull, and the 37-year-old teaches at Monkspath School, in the Shirley area of Solihull.
She added: "At this stage of the inquiry there is nothing to suggest any physical contact between the suspects and the children featured in the images."
Solihull Metropolitan Borough Council said both men had been suspended from work.
Detective Chief Superintendent Gareth Morgan, head of West Midlands Police public protection unit, said: "This is clearly a very sensitive case which will raise many questions among parents.
"It is an immediate priority to reassure them by providing as much information as and when we can to answer those questions.
"To do that effectively we will progress the investigation as thoroughly and quickly as possible and continue to engage with families and the wider community."
He added: "This inquiry is still in its very early stages and at this time it is important to emphasise that both men have been arrested for possessing images."
Steelworkers are celebrating following the news that a huge plant mothballed earlier this year with the loss of more than 1,000 jobs is to be sold in a multimillion-pound deal to a Thai company.
The Corus plant on Teesside was partially closed when a four-nation international consortium suddenly walked away from a long-term contract to buy its products. More than 1,000 workers at the Teesside Cast Products (TCP) site lost their jobs and there were fears of thousands more losses across the region in firms which supplied Corus with goods and services.
After months of behind-the-scenes talks, it was announced that plans were under way to sell the factory to SSI, the biggest steel producer in Thailand for £320 million, raising the prospect of a "significant" number of new jobs and returning the plant to full production.
The Government, unions and local politicians hailed the announced as "fantastic news" for the North East, which relies heavily on the steel industry for employment.
The site used to employ 2,200 before the consortium pulled out, with 700 still working at the plant and hundreds of others leaving voluntarily or switching to jobs at other Corus plants. Talks to finalise the deal will continue in the coming months and will include negotiations with unions and the Government over employment details as well as the prospect of financial aid.
Win Viriyaprapaikit, president of SSI, said: "We have great respect for the tradition of steel-making on Teesside and for the highly skilled Teesside workforce, having previously purchased slab from Teesside Cast Products. This transaction will enable SSI to fulfil its long-standing objective of becoming a fully integrated steel producer with both melting and rolling facilities."
He said it was too early to say how many jobs would be created, but believed it would be in the hundreds. He also declined to say if the Government would be asked for grants or other forms of aid. SSI plans to produce 3.5 million tonnes of slab steel from the plant - its full capacity - and export it all to Thailand, whereas previously around four fifths of the site's output was exported to Europe, South America and Korea.
Corus chief executive Kirby Adams said: "We are very pleased to announce this significant progress in our long-held objective to sell the TCP assets to a strategic industry investor. This is the first of several steps required to reach a definitive sale agreement in the coming months which, with the anticipated co-operation of Government, employee representatives and the North East community, should result in the restart of steel-making on Teesside in the first half of 2011."
Business Secretary Vince Cable said: "I warmly welcome this development which may see the restoration of steel-making on Teesside and a huge economic boost to this region. I have met with Ratan Tata twice since becoming Business Secretary. We have made both parties aware that the Government stands ready to help as discussions on a potential purchase continue."
Michael Leahy, general secretary of the Community union, said: "This long overdue announcement is great news for Teesside. The resumption of production on Teesside will rejuvenate the local area, get people back into work and ensures a strong future for the British steel industry."
The widow of one of the 7/7 suicide bombers has lost her High Court bid to overturn a decision refusing her legal aid for representation at the upcoming inquest into the deaths of 52 people in the attacks in London in 2005.
Two judges in London dismissed the challenge by Hasina Patel, whose husband was part of the plot mastermind Mohammed Sidique Khan, over the refusal to provide her with funding.
It had been argued on her behalf at a hearing earlier this week that the decision to deny her legal aid was "unfair, irrational and unlawful".
But Lord Justice Thomas and Mr Justice Silber said the decision by the Lord Chancellor "cannot be described as unreasonable or irrational".
Lord Justice Thomas said the court was told that Ms Patel's position "was that she was interested to understand why her late husband and the other bombers acted as they did" and that what she was seeking "was an opportunity to ask questions of witnesses at the inquest which bore on their knowledge and experience of her husband and others".
The judge said: "Far from providing any information that might assist the wider public interest, she has flatly and unequivocally declined the opportunity to do so.
"Although requested by this court to show how she could help establish why her late husband and the others whom she knew acted to murder fellow citizens, she has provided not an iota of evidence to us which could show how in some way she could bring a wider benefit let alone a significant benefit to the inquests or to the understanding of the victims of the bombing."
He said there was "no basis on which the Lord Chancellor could properly have come to any decision other than the one he had reached".
Families of the victims of the 7/7 bombings later expressed "relief" at the decision.
Clifford Tibber of Anthony Gold solicitors said: "This decision is a huge relief for the families. The thought of Ms Patel receiving public funding and the threat of her applying to take part in the inquests has added a new level of unnecessary stress."
Fears remain over a slowdown in the global recovery after a downgrade in US economic growth overshadowed a more upbeat set of figures in the UK.
The US Commerce Department said gross domestic product (GDP) rose at an annualised rate of 1.6% in April to June, down from an initial estimate of 2.4%.
The sluggish advance in the US economy, down from a 3.7% expansion in the first quarter, followed an upward revision to UK GDP growth by the Office for National Statistics (ONS), from 1.1% to 1.2% - a rate not seen in nine years.
But economists warned that US woes revealed a regression in the worldwide recovery, and further gains of such magnitude in UK growth are unlikely - particularly in the face of fierce austerity measures.
Samuel Tombs, economist with Capital Economics, said Friday's figures showed there was "increasing evidence that the global recovery is faltering".
The advance in UK growth - the strongest since the same figure was achieved in the first quarter of 2001 - was driven by record-breaking gains in the construction sector, which expanded by 8.5%, its best performance since the first quarter of 1982.
The strong growth was coupled with a promising 0.7% increase in consumer spending - compared with a fall of 0.1% in the first quarter - boosted by World Cup sales of food, drink and televisions.
But Friday's ONS figures also revealed a slight downward revision to growth in the services sector, which accounts for more than 70% of GDP, from 0.9% to 0.7%, while investment fell by 2.4% on the quarter.
Hours after the UK data was released, the US Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA) revealed its downward revision of US growth.
The report is the latest in a string of dismal updates from the US, which have included weak home sales and poor durable goods orders.
Millions of people hoping to beat the bank-holiday hordes by setting off at the crack of dawn should perhaps think again - experts predict the roads will be at their worst on Saturday morning.
Congestion, which began to build up on major routes on Friday afternoon, is expected to increase steadily until about midday.
But those who left on Friday morning enjoyed relatively easy journeys as others chose to delay their departures owing to a gloomy weather forecast.
However, conditions are due to improve on Saturday, prompting many to head for coastal regions.
With showers set to relent, many thousands were flocking to music festivals, complete with wellies and waterproofs.
Graham Smith, of AA Roadwatch, said: "It's been a bit of a late start today (Friday) and it seems a lot of people were put off by the weather. But it now looks like they have made the decision to go and we have seen congestion build up quite rapidly on major routes.
"This will continue into tomorrow morning when it will be busy on most of the holiday roads."
He offered a gloomy picture to those aiming to avoid the worst of the traffic.
"To get a good run, you should have left this morning," he said. "If you haven't left already, you've probably left it too late."
This weekend is traditionally one of the busiest of the year with some 16 million cars expected on the roads.
Sports clubs for the disabled are missing out on a multimillion-pound tax boost in the run-up to the Paralympics, London 2012 sponsor Deloitte has said.
Thousands of disability clubs were urged to switch to Charity or Community Amateur Sports Clubs (CASC) status in a bid to save themselves an average of £14,800 each per year in tax.
For smaller-level local clubs, the average CASC saving is around £3,700 annually, according to Deloitte, which provides London 2012 management consulting and financial support services. This is a missed opportunity as "relatively few" amateur clubs take this step despite cash being a "precious commodity, often in short supply," Heather Hancock, lead partner for London 2012 at Deloitte said.
British Paralympic Association chief executive Phil Lane said disability sports clubs need to be thinking about getting "in the best shape possible to make the most of the interest the Paralympic Games in London will generate".
Currently around 2,000 disability sports clubs are registered with Parasport, a website set up in 2006 by Deloitte and ParalympicsGB to provide information on disability sport facilities across the UK. It gets around 25,000 hits a month with half of those visitors using the "Find a Club" search. If just 10% more of these clubs registered as CASCs and a further 10% as charities, they could realise £7.5 million of tax savings between now and 2012.
Ms Hancock said: "Many clubs are not taking advantage of the financial reliefs currently available to them. The 2012 Paralympic Games in London represent a great opportunity to generate more support for disability sport and to boost participation at a local level.
"Disability sports clubs should ensure they're in the best financial position to take advantage of the increased interest. A significant revenue boost to disability sports clubs would help them increase participation levels by improving facilities, increasing the number of sports on offer and so on. More people with disability playing and getting competitive in sport is exactly the kind of long-term legacy benefit from hosting the Paralympic Games that we're all keen to see."
Mr Lane said: "I would urge clubs to see if being a CASC or charity would work for them, there is plenty of support and guidance available to make an informed decision and they can now access this through Deloitte Parasport."
The "vast majority" of amateur sports clubs would already meet the charity or CASC qualifying criteria but each club would have to consider which option is best for them. Extra administration work, such as preparing a trustees' annual report and accounts, will come with being a registered charity.
But Karen Potts, partner in the tax practice at Deloitte, said: "The administrative obligations for CASCs are less stringent, which means the scheme may be a preferable alternative to those clubs with a small organising committee or management. Whichever route is chosen by an individual club, the financial benefits of either charitable or CASC registration are clear and should be considered by all amateur sports clubs as a means of boosting available resources."
The Labour Party faces a downturn in union funding unless its next leader renounces the Blairite strategy of wooing right-of-centre voters, GMB general secretary Paul Kenny has claimed.
In what appeared to be a warning to David Miliband, the bookmakers' favourite, Mr Kenny said Gordon Brown's successor at the helm of the party must not offer "more of the same".
The GMB publicly endorsed the shadow foreign secretary's younger brother, Ed, who has made clear he will focus on re-engaging core supporters and those who have shifted their allegiance to the Liberal Democrats.
David Miliband is advancing a more centre-ground approach, insisting Labour should seek to appeal to the kind of broad coalition that Tony Blair attracted in 1997.
Labour, which is in financial dire straits following the general election campaign, is largely reliant on the unions to keep it afloat. The GMB gave almost £1.5 million in the first half of this year.
In an interview with The Times, Mr Kenny also suggested Ed Balls, the shadow education secretary who is also running, would need to adapt his platform to win union favour.
Asked whether the GMB would withdraw funding for Labour if shadow energy secretary Ed Miliband did not win, he replied: "If the new leader offers us more of the same, many unions - including our own - would have to consider where we are at.
"Ed Balls and David Miliband represent where we've been. They are not without talent. I would not rubbish them. But if the direction of the party went off chasing right-of-centre ground..."
He added: "Ed Miliband is not ashamed of Labour's core values. It's not about a big society. It's about a fair society."
With ballot papers set to go out next week, Ed Miliband appears to be the closest challenger to his elder brother. As the stakes have risen, the differences between them have grown in recent days.
Students need to be able to show their "originality and creativity" in A-level exams, a leading headmistress has warned.
Pupils now have access to online model answers, mark schemes and other information, which has taken the "mystique" out of what markers are looking for, according to Cynthia Hall, headmistress of Wycombe Abbey.
The girls' boarding school in Buckinghamshire has topped an A-level league table of private schools for the third year in a row.
More than 50% of the school's exam entries were awarded one of the new A* grades, and the girls notched up 247 A*-A grades between them.
Mrs Hall insisted A-levels are a good qualification, and prove the work done by a student.
But she said: "There's so much available now about what a student is able to do to score the marks."
If you have effective students with well-qualified teachers, there should be "very little excuse, you ought to be able to get good grades", Mrs Hall said.
She added: "There's nothing wrong with demonstrating that a student has studied and done a good job of work. The problem is that we need to have ways of demonstrating originality and creativity. I don't think that's something that's available, it does not provide that."
Students know the kinds of questions they are likely to be asked, and whereas in the past there was a "mystique" about what examiners were looking for, now students can look online for model answers.
Ten years ago, students thought they would have to be "brilliant and inventive and ready for anything", Mrs Hall said.
Government plans to lock up fewer criminals will fail to cut costs or re-offending, a former Home Office criminologist said.
Professor Ken Pease said "community sentences as currently delivered have no evident effect on rates of reconviction".
Using them to replace short prison sentences simply "freed the group most likely to reoffend to do so sooner, with no evidence of a current treatment benefit from community sanctions to offset that", he said.
In his report, Prison, Community Sentencing and Crime, released on Friday by the think-tank Civitas, Prof Pease said it was important for any move away from the use of custody "to be based on something more than short-term political exigency".
His comments come after one of Britain's most senior police officers spoke out against Government proposals to lock up fewer criminals.
Metropolitan Police Commissioner Sir Paul Stephenson said he was "rather fond of villains going to prison" - including for crimes such as burglary which can carry sentences of less than 12 months.
Justice Secretary Kenneth Clarke questioned the link between rising imprisonment and falling crime earlier this year, saying it was "virtually impossible" to rehabilitate offenders on short sentences.
"Banging up more and more people for longer without actively seeking to change them is what you would expect of Victorian England," he said.
The Government launched a full review of sentencing policy, with Mr Clarke seeming to favour a greater emphasis on community sentences rather than putting more criminals behind bars.
He called for a "rehabilitation revolution", with sentencing policy focused on targeting the causes of reoffending. But his comments on the criminal justice system provoked anger among some Tory backbenchers.
Unicef has trebled its appeal for funds to help women and children in flood-stricken Pakistan.
The charity is calling for £90 million in donations, a dramatic increase from its request for £30 million issued previously.
The new figure reflects the fact that the scale of the disaster is placing unprecedented strain on supplies and the need remains vast, the organisation said.
Among the needs it identified were: access to sanitation and safe drinking water to lower the risk from water-borne diseases for six million women and children; five million aqua tabs for water cleaning, one million plastic buckets, one million jerry cans and one million soap bars; three million sachets of oral rehydration salts and 1.5 million doses of zinc for two million children under five suffering from diarrhoea in the south of the country; vaccinations against preventable diseases such as measles and polio, which can spread quickly in cramped dirty conditions, for 1.5 million children under the age of five.
The call for help came as actor Ewan McGregor filmed an appeal for Pakistan's children with the charity.
Launching the appeal, McGregor said: "We've all seen the shocking pictures on the news about the floods in Pakistan. These floods have affected more people than the Haiti earthquake and 2004 tsunami combined and, as in all disasters, it's the children who have been hardest hit - an estimated 3.5 million children in Pakistan are now in need of urgent help."
Jemima Khan, Robbie Williams, David Beckham, Sir Roger Moore and TV host Cat Deeley are also supporting the campaign, Unicef said.
Meanwhile, the head of another aid appeal for the country praised the "extraordinary" generosity of the British public after donations topped £40 million.
Disasters Emergency Committee (DEC) chief executive Brendan Gormley said the response was "unprecedented" after week-on-week donations soared by more than 70%.
:: Donations can be made to Unicef online at www.unicef.org.uk or by calling 0800 316 5353. The public can also donate by texting FLOOD or FLOODS to 70099 to make a £3 contribution to the appeal. The public can donate to the DEC by calling the 24-hour hotline on 0370 60 60 900, visiting www.dec.org.uk or donating over the counter at any post office or high street bank, or sending a cheque. They can also donate £5 by texting the word GIVE to 70707.
