Teenagers who drink alcohol with their parents are less likely to binge drink, according to a survey of 10,000 children which backs the continental style of introducing teenagers to small amounts of alcohol early.

{mosimage}Parents who do not want their children drinking behind their backs should limit their pocket money to less than £10 a week, says the study, carried out by academics and trading standards officers.

It found that teenagers who illegally bought their own alcohol were six times as likely to drink in public, in parks and on the streets, three times as likely to be regular drinkers and twice as likely to be binge drinkers.

Mark Bellis, the lead researcher and director of the public health centre at Liverpool John Moores University, said: “We are too used to handing £10 or £20 to young people without any realisation of where it is being spent. Add to that birthday money and money from part-time jobs – young people have money to spend. Parents need to know more about what their children are spending it on.”

A man who was cleared of rape after a complaint that a judge fell asleep at his trial later raped two other young women, a court heard. Lee Woodward subjected two teenage girls to violent attacks almost identical to that described by the woman he was cleared of raping in 2001.

The controversial childcare expert Gina Ford has dropped her threat to sue the parenting website Mumsnet after a year-long dispute was settled out of court. Lawyers for Ms Ford agreed to halt legal action after the website agreed to pay a contribution of her costs and prevent ‘personal attacks’ on the site.

A woman who lured girls as young as 12 by getting them hooked on drugs before offering them for sex has been jailed. Fiona Walsh, 33, groomed them with clothes and other gifts before introducing them to Class A drugs.

The Justice Secretary has pledged that the new Ministry of Justice will deliver better results for the public. But Lord Falconer refused to answer detailed questions about the steps he will take to reduce prison overcrowding which is already at crisis point.

The case of whether drugs used to treat mental health problems like Alzheimer’s disease should be made available on the NHS will be heard in court on June 25th. Bringing the case against the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (Nice) is the Alzheimer’s Society.

The UK has one of the worst records over access to cancer drugs as stark inequalities exist across the world, a Swedish study has found. Researchers ranked the UK in the bottom group for its “slow and low” uptake of drugs after analysing the sales of 67 treatments in 25 countries.

The idea of a ‘partnership model’ to improve the lack of funding in social care is being supported by charity for the elderly, Counsel and Care. Caroline Bernard, policy and communications manager for the organisation, said that social care funding “needs to be addressed” and a partnership model is one of the better options.

The chief inspector of prisons warns today that offenders are being forced to “queue” for jail cells despite an assurance yesterday from the new justice minister, Lord Falconer, that the system can cope with the immediate crisis in prisoner numbers.

Professor Louis Appleby, the National Clinical Director for Mental Health explains why improvements in community care must continue and sets out a new phase of reform in mental health services in a report published today.