A rapidly growing interest in witchcraft among children has been fuelled by popular TV programmes such as Buffy

A rapidly growing interest in witchcraft among children has been fuelled by popular TV programmes such as Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Sabrina the Teenage Witch, the Pagan Federation said today. A rapidly growing interest in witchcraft among children has been fuelled by popular TV programmes such as Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Sabrina the Teenage Witch, the Pagan Federation said today.
The organisation claims it has occasionally been “swamped” with calls and normally deals with an average of 100 inquiries a month from youngsters who want to become witches.Media officer Andy Norfolk said the federation’s first youth officer was appointed in September after it received calls following recent articles about paganism in teenage magazines.He said the youth officer explained the principal ethic of witchcraft – that you should not cause harm to anyone – and that it was not just an easy way to get a new boyfriend.He insisted that the federation was a responsible organisation which did not allow anyone under the age of 18 to become a member.Explaining the growing interest in recent years, Mr Norfolk claimed the Christian Church had failed to provide the right degree of spirituality for young people, while paganism involved direct communication with the divine.Kate West, a 42-year-old witch and vice-president of the federation, who was recently commissioned by publisher HarperCollins to write an introductory handbook on witchcraft, believes teenage interest in paganism has always been substantial.She said when she was a teenager there had been very few books on witchcraft available, but now the internet made information much more accessible.But the growing trend was described as “worrying” by John Buckeridge, editor of monthly Christian magazine Youthwork. He said it encouraged an interest in magic as harmless fun – which could ultimately result in dangerous dabbling with occult powers and psychological or spiritual damage.. The News of the World newspaper is to stop its controversial campaign of naming paedophiles after a number of innocent men have been victimised for looking like people pictured in the paper.

The News of the World newspaper is to stop its controversial campaign of naming paedophiles after a number of innocent men have been victimised for looking like people pictured in the paper.
In a statement, the Sunday tabloid newspaper said it would continue its “For Sarah” campaign, named after murdered schoolgirl Sarah Payne, demanding a public register of sex offenders.The paper confirmed that a number of NoW staff, including the new editor Rebekah Wade, had received death threats.Managing Editor Stuart Kettner, denied that this was the reason that the “naming and shaming” campaign had been dropped.Gill Mackenzie, of the Association of Chief Probation Officers, said: “We are delighted that the ‘naming and shaming’ campaign is ceasing.”Referring to a list of possible new measures to boost child protection, she said: “Together with the police we considered very carefully the items we had on the list and we and the police are committed to moving forward in making practical developments for the protection of children.”Phillip Noyes, public policy director at the NSPCC, said: “The NSPCC has been campaigning on child protection for a long time. Our hearts have been with the News of the World but we couldn’t support their campaign.”We are very pleased to give our wholehearted support for the ‘Sarah’s Law’ campaign.”. Fears that terrorists would use the Queen Mother’s birthday celebrations as a vehicle for violence proved groundless today as the event passed without trouble. Fears that terrorists would use the Queen Mother’s birthday celebrations as a vehicle for violence proved groundless today as the event passed without trouble.
Up to 40,000 people lined the Mall and gathered outside Buckingham Palace as she took a 100th birthday salute and received a birthday card from her daughter – which was opened by a courtier using an unwieldy sword.Later she waved with her family from the balcony of Buckingham Palace.The Queen, Princess Margaret, the Queen Mother’s grandchildren and great grandchildren all joined her on the balcony as a band played happy birthday and the crowd shouted three cheers.She stayed for several minutes, waving to the well-wishers before returning to the palace.The police presence was heavy and visible following fears that renegade republican terrorists might disrupt the day, but most well-wishers were oblivious to the security arrangements as they strained for a glimpse of the royal carriage.. A debate that has rocked the seemingly sedate world of village cricket was resolved yesterday when a High Court judge ruled that the Welsh “village” of Usk is really a town. A debate that has rocked the seemingly sedate world of village cricket was resolved yesterday when a High Court judge ruled that the Welsh “village” of Usk is really a town.
The sporting gentlemen of Usk Cricket Club had travelled from Monmouthshire to the High Court in Bristol to try to overturn what they saw as a gross injustice.The side was expelled from the National Village Cricket Championship nine days ago on the basis that they had crept into the competition by calling their home a village when, in reality, it was a town.The batsmen and bowlers from South Wales had battled their way into the quarter finals of the annual contest on 22 July by beating their Cornish opponents, Werrington, by a single run. But jubilation turned to sorrow when, days later, a Werrington player complained that he had seen a road sign reading: “Welcome to Usk, Historic Market Town”.The Cricketer magazine, which runs the annual contest, decided that the road sign the town council, town mayor and town charter were grounds for expelling the side.Residents of Usk (population 2,187) argued that the magazine’s own entry criteria, allowing rural communities with fewer than 3,000 to play, meant they were a village and should be reinstated.When pleas to The Cricketer’s owners, Ben and Belinda Brocklehurst, fell on deaf ears, the Usk members felt they had no choice but to turn to British justice to restore fair play as they saw it.But Judge John Weeks ruled that Mr and Mrs Brocklehurst were right to act as they did – and left Usk facing a legal bill of thousands of pounds.Delivering his judgment, Judge Weeks said: “It is like cricket and the umpire’s decision is final.

The Cricketer is right to take into consideration factors such as the town council and mayor in deciding eligibility. Not every rural community which satisfies the competition rules is eligible to compete. One has to bear in mind that the object of the competition is to promote village cricket.”The legal team gathered by Usk, which had entered the village contest every year since 1993 but never made it to the final at Lord’s, had tried to argue that rule four of the championships allowed the community to enter.The rule states that teams that hail from rural communities surrounded on all sides by open countryside and with no more than 3,000 inhabitants are eligible to play.Mrs Brocklehurst said she hoped village cricket would now return to gentlemanly normality. “We could not allow Usk to continue to play once we knew they were a town.

Werrington will go through to the next round, and we hope there will not be any more unpleasantness.”. Anti-racism campaigners in Wales have warned of an upsurge in discrimination against an ethnic minority in the Valleys: the English. Anti-racism campaigners in Wales have warned of an upsurge in discrimination against an ethnic minority in the Valleys: the English.
Field workers around Swansea fear that a traditional rivalry between the Welsh and the English is turning into institutional anti-Englishness.Naz Malik, chairman of the Swansea Bay Racial Equality Council, said English people were making more complaints about discrimination than more usual victims of prejudice such as Pakistanis, Bangladeshis and Afro-Caribbeans.An annual report released by the council this week highlighted the Swansea bar, Yates’s Wine Lodge, which offered free beer every time a foreign team scored against the England team during Euro 2000.The chain has insisted that the promotion was lighthearted and not intended to cause offence but it drew six complaints from English customers, and even a call from Melbourne in Australia.Staff at the council have also received complaints from three officials at a South Wales local authority who felt their careers were being held back because they could not speak Welsh. Mr Malik said he believes the complaints, including two cases of alleged discrimination at BBC Wales, fit into a pattern that needs to be tackled if antiEnglish feeling is not to become a permanent race issue.He said: “Racism can be as much about white people as any other ethnic grouping and it is devastating for those who are targeted.

Devolution has brought a definite increase in anti-English behaviour, which needs to be recognised and stamped out immediately.”He added: “We have received approaches from three women who work for a localauthority and felt they were being prevented from progressing in their jobs because they didn’t speak Welsh. Where it is advantageous for a council officer to speak Welsh, then that must be presented as a training need and not an excuse to discriminate.”A spokeswoman for BBC Wales confirmed it was investigating allegations of discrimination by two journalists but said no conclusions had been reached.. The nation’s whippet racers – folk of few words, and plain ones at that – have never known a scandal quite like it. The nation’s whippet racers – folk of few words, and plain ones at that – have never known a scandal quite like it.
Their terse trackside conversations, traditionally confined to the subject of which of their hounds is best equipped to win a quick sprint across a 250-yard stretch of wasteland, are suddenly laced with feverish whispers of drugs, life bans and title-stripping. Like Ben Johnson and Tour de France cyclists before them, they and their unsuspecting whippets find themselves in the grip of a doping scandal.This is not a matter of testosterone being pumped into the dogs’ nimble frames, it should be stressed. The cause of all the consternation is far more bizarre than that.