A new service being launched next month across Mid-Devon will provide a wide range of services for almost 3,000 children under five and their families.

Computer-based therapy for milder, but more common mental health conditions such as depression and anxiety should be made available to any patients in England who could benefit from it from April, Department of Health Secretary Patricia Hewitt has said.

Elderly people are being forced to sell their homes to pay for care which should be provided ‘free’ by the NHS, it is claimed. Marian Fisher, aged 72, died with a tumour ‘the size of a dinner plate’ attached to her bowel.

Cardinal Cormac Murphy-O’Connor accused Labour of “legislating for intolerance” in his most outspoken attack yet on the imposition of gay rights laws on church bodies. The leader of England and Wales’s four million Roman Catholics also questioned “whether the threads holding together democracy have begun to unravel”.

{mosimage}The lecture delivered in Westminster made him the first Catholic leader in nearly 180 years to place a question mark over the allegiance of his church to the British state. He has already threatened to close nine Catholic adoption agencies if they are forced by the Sexual Orientation Regulations to place children with homosexual couples.

He declared: “For my own part, I have no difficulty in being a proud British Catholic citizen. But now it seems to me we are being asked to accept a different version of our democracy, one in which diversity and equality are held to be at odds with religion. We Catholics – and here I am sure I speak too for other Christians and all people of faith – do not demand special privileges, but we do demand our rights.”

The Sexual Orientation Regulations come into force next month after minimal debate in the House of Commons. They are aimed at stopping businesses discriminating against gays, but Christian leaders say they will force those of faith to act against their conscience.

Cardinal Murphy-O’Connor said last night: “My fear is that, under the guise of legislating for what is said to be tolerance, we are legislating for intolerance. Once this begins, it is hard to see where it ends. “My fear is that in an attempt to clear the public square of what are seen as unacceptable intrusions, we weaken the pillars on which that public square is erected, and we will discover that the pillars of pluralism may not survive.

The Children’s Workforce Development Council (CWDC) today announced that it has taken on the responsibility of supporting The Championing Children Framework. The organisation is providing support materials for the workforce, and today launched a comprehensive resource book.