One is the Continuity IRA, which has its roots in a breakaway from the IRA and Sinn Fein in the mid-1980s, when some republicans left in protest at early moves in the peace process. Dissident republicans were detected in April last year trying to ship a device to England, reportedly with the Grand National as the target. The Continuity IRA is one of a web of small groups that want the republican war to go on and oppose IRA and Sinn Fein involvement in the peace process.Sir Ronnie Flanagan, RUC Chief Constable, and Gardai in Dublin have periodically warned that such factions continue to represent a danger to the peace. It is also under heavy pressure from police in both parts of Ireland, who now have many more men and resources to keep tabs on it.None the less, the authorities can never be completely sure the group might not slip through with one device.

THE CONTINUITY IRA, in whose name the Kempton Park bomb warning was given, is tiny compared with the mainstream IRA. But since it has never declared a ceasefire, calls mentioning its name present the authorities with a dilemma. Although the group is small the fact that it reportedly has ambitions to mount a bombing attack in Britain means any warning purporting to come from it gives police serious pause for thought.
At a guess, the group probably commands no more than 5 per cent of the manpower or capacity of the IRA. He said: “I see no point in over-inspecting schools which are clearly doing a good job.”.

He is being handed responsibility for Britain’s childminders under the Government’s Care Standards Bill, which will establish a new arm of Ofsted to oversee childminders and early learning.The chief inspector of schools confirmed that the moves could mean switching resources and leaving good schools under “light touch” inspection every six years. Given this, reform of the regulatory regime for day care and childminding is important.”The Bill was attacked by the Tory spokesman, Earl Howe, as `prescriptiveness gone mad’.Margaret Hodge, the minister responsible for early years education, announced last month that she wanted to see more structure in the education of children as young as three.The “Oftot” inspectors will monitor a new programme of early learning goals, which make up a foundation stage of the national curriculum.The aim of the Bill, which has had a second reading in the Lords, is to impose new statutory checks on homes for children and the elderly, in response to a series of scandals about institutionalised abuse.Mr Woodhead has encountered bitter criticism from teachers over the imposition of Ofsted checks on teaching standards and the national curriculum. The new body will take over both responsibilities, as well as making safety checks on registered childminders.Lord Hunt of Kings Heath, the Parliamentary under- secretary of state for health who is responsible for the Bill, hinted in a recent debate that education could become part of future childminding regulations “We recognise that for young people the line between care and education is becoming increasingly blurred. If Ofsted gets involved, there will be more education brought into it as they have done with nurseries,” said one childminder in East Sussex, who teaches children from ten weeks old to five years through play.Childminders are vital to the Government’s drive to persuade more women, particularly single mothers, to go out to work.Currently local authority social service inspectors check on safety, while Ofsted assesses quality of education. The chief inspector of schools said extra inspectors could be deployed by the nurseries arm of the education standards agency Ofsted, known as “Oftot”, to make sure all childminders were checked.
But childminders warned that if new education standards for the under- fives were imposed by Mr Woodhead, it would increase the exodus from a profession in which many are already leaving their jobs over safety regulations.Mr Woodhead conceded that the logistics of the exercise would be “complicated and daunting. However difficult geographically and logistically it is to do, it will have to be done because parents and everybody must be absolutely confident that their [children's] security is as good as it can be.”Some registered childminders fear that `Oftot’ will begin to impose educational standards in addition to the wide range of safety measures, such as stairgates, fire blankets and cooker guards, that local authorities have ordered to be fitted in their homes.”A lot of people are stopping childminding because of all the regulations.

What we will have to do is visit each and every setting where a childminder has got children under her or his responsibility,” he said.But he added: “That is the long and short of it. EVERY CHILDMINDER in the country is to be visited by government inspectors as part of a campaign on standards of child care, Chris Woodhead said yesterday. His 45-year-old companion, who managed to cling to the dinghy, was rescued.On Christmas Day, an 18-year-old woman died when the car she was driving crashed into a milk tanker in Droxford, Hampshire. Police said the four other occupants of the car remained in hospital, two of them in a critical condition.On Merseyside, 24-year-old Philip Stubbs, from Cardiff, died in the early hours of Christmas Day after being swept off a promenade at New Brighton, on the Wirral, into the River Mersey.On Christmas Eve, 85-year-old John Winchester drowned after being trapped in his flooded bungalow in Galmpton, south Devon.A crewman died from injuries when a Belgian cargo ship was hit by heavy seas eight miles south of the Isles of Scilly and a 44-year-old Ukrainian sailor is missing, presumed dead, after falling overboard from a cargo vessel mid-Channel in rough seas.Four people remained in a serious condition last night after a sudden hail storm on the M6 at Leyland, Lancashire, caused a 20-vehicle pile- up at about 6pm on Boxing Day.. Four-year-old Sid Price was critically injured when a police car he was travelling in with his mother, Shelleen, his twin brother, Neza, and two-year-old sister, Claudette, was involved in the multiple-car accident in Co Durham as they were being taken to a women’s refuge on Boxing Day.The search was called off yesterday for a 42-year-old fisherman, Donald MacLean, who was swept away on Christmas night after his dinghy capsized off the coast of Plockton, north-west Scotland. Rivers breaking their banks deprived about 30,000 people of drinking water in Charleroi in south Belgium, forcing emergency services to deliver water in tankers and plastic bags.. EIGHT PEOPLE died after torrential rain caused flooding across Britain over the Christmas period and hundreds of homes were evacuated.

There was a flood alert on 270 rivers last night and weather forecasters warned that conditions would remain “difficult” up until New Year’s Eve.
An accident in which two children were killed and a third injured could have been caused by ice on the road. Yachts were thrown ashore, roofs blown off houses and initial estimates said damage to buildings could run to pounds 59m. Passengers in cities spent the night in emergency lodgings in sports halls or youth hostels, where Red Cross volunteers gave them breakfast.Train services to Normandy and the east of France are not expected to be completely restored beforel Friday.In Germany, where the storm killed at least 15 people, roads were still blocked by trees felled by the winds, which gusted at speeds of up to108mph.High winds ravaged Switzerland, where 12 people died including two in a ski gondola brought down in the Alps. France’s weather service described the storm as “historic and exceptional”.Mr Jospin declared the affected area a disaster zone, meaning insurance payments can be rushed through. The Prime Minister also praised police and firemen who worked through Sunday and Monday to clear 11,000 out of 16,000 emergency calls.”This storm is a catastrophe without precedent. It was an exceptional, cataclysmic event with massive consequences.” said Mr Jospin, as he stepped over fallen trees at Versailles. “The emergency services have done a tremendous job.”Tens of thousands of Christmas travellers were stranded when France’s SNCF state railway company cancelled services across northern France.