MP alleges unnecessary duplication of animal experiments
Liberal Democrat MP Norman Baker has told the House of Commons that experiments on animals are being unnecessarily duplicated. Mr Baker, MP for Lewes, challenged junior home office minister Bob Ainsworth over the issue yesterday. Mr Ainsworth said that there was no evidence of duplication. He said there were no plans to change British regulations on animal experimentation which are, he said, "widely regarded as the most rigorous in the world".
Sectarian attitudes increase in Northern Ireland
Sectarian attitudes between Catholics and Protestants in Northern Ireland have hardened since 1996, the year following the paramilitary ceasefires, according to research from the University of Ulster. In 1996 researchers found that 47 per cent of Catholics and 44 per cent of Protestants thought that intercommunity relationships were better than five years previously. In 2001, the proportions were 33 per cent and 25 per cent respectively.