But they’d be jealous of me if they knew my son, because he was so wonderful.”She is desperately hoping that ground troops won’t be sent in to Afghanistan, but she understands that action is needed. What advice would she offer relatives of soldiers? “You’ve just got to be strong and pray that nothing happens Think that you will see them again.”. The leading body dedicated to rescuing works of art for the nation has attacked Gordon Brown, the Chancellor, for selling the Treasury’s silver. The leading body dedicated to rescuing works of art for the nation has attacked Gordon Brown, the Chancellor, for selling the Treasury’s silver.
David Barrie, director of the Art Fund, formerly known as the National Art Collections Fund, said he was shocked at the surprise decision by the Treasury to auction a collection of 17th-century silver made for the use of the Privy Council.The first public disclosure of the controversial sale was given last week with the publication by Bonhams of an auction catalogue. Listed were details of candlesticks, snuffers and meat skewers that are expected to fetch at least £100,000 later this month. Some are engraved with the royal arms of King William and Queen Mary and of Queen Anne.Mr Barrie said the collection should have first been offered to a museum. His own private talks with museum curators suggested the pieces were more important than the Treasury claimed.Mr Barrie said: “We’re astonished that the Treasury should have decided to sell such extraordinarily historically important works of art without apparently consulting the relevant experts.”One wonders whether it wouldn’t have been more appropriate for the Treasury …

to donate them to the Victoria & Albert Museum where they would be properly looked after and seen by millions of people.”But a Treasury spokesman said it had consulted the experts who ran the Government’s own art collection, the Department of Culture and English Heritage before the sale. “Although the pieces are clearly attractive and interesting they are not of any major historical significance in themselves,” he said.. A keeper at London Zoo was trampled to death by an elephant in front of about 100 horrified onlookers. A keeper at London Zoo was trampled to death by an elephant in front of about 100 horrified onlookers.
The zoo was closed to the public yesterday after the death of Jim Robson, 44, who had worked there for 26 years. He had tripped while inside the elephant pavilion on Saturday afternoon and was attacked by one of three female Asian elephants, said Debbie Curtis, a zoo spokeswoman.He was treated at the scene before being taken by helicopter to the Royal Free Hospital in Hampstead, but died 10 minutes after arrival.Adele Bridle, 20, who was one of about 100 visitors who watched the horrific events unfold, said: “We heard the elephants making strange noises. When we got to the enclosure the keeper was lying with blood coming out of his ears.”Two of the elephants were still standing over him and wouldn’t leave him alone. He had three elephant footprints on him: one on his chest, one on his stomach and one on his back.”Paramedics, an ambulance and an air ambulance arrived.

By this time there were about 100 people, some of them hysterical, who were looking at what was happening.”Nick Lindsay, a senior curator at the zoo in Regent’s Park, paid tribute to Mr Robson, who was unmarried. “Jim was an able, dedicated and experienced keeper who spent 16 of his 26 years at the zoo working with elephants. He had a deep bond and love for the three elephants he worked with and was at his happiest when with them. Everyone is shocked and upset.” Mr Robson’s father, Jim, and brother, Steven, said: “Jim loved all animals and ever since he was a young child it was his ambition to be a zookeeper. We’re going to miss him a great deal.”The zoo was unable to confirm which of the elephants, Ylang-Ylang, Dilberta and Mya, had attacked Mr Robson, or to confirm eyewitness reports that the other two elephants had joined in the attack. The zoo denied that Ylang-Ylang, who has been reported to be showing signs of stress by swaying from side to side, was to blame.A recent report by the Born Free Foundation into the elephants’ living conditions, which comprise a concrete and bare earth enclosure, concluded that they were “unacceptable”.Ros Varnes, an RSPCA spokeswoman, said: “The fact that this has happened indicates that there is something wrong with the way the elephants are being kept.”. John Elliot remembers with painful clarity the moment in which he identified the body of his son, the middle child named after him “I saw him lying there.

John Elliot remembers with painful clarity the moment in which he identified the body of his son, the middle child named after him “I saw him lying there. His teeth were clenched and there was a look of agony on his face. I will never forget that,” he said yesterday.
The death of John Elliot Jnr, 43, the third black man to be found hanged in Telford, bore striking similarities to the previous two cases – Errol and Jason McGowan. The Elliot family says it has evidence that John Elliot’s life had been threatened shortly before he died and is adamant that he was murdered. But they insist it was drugs and not ethnic differences that led to his death. They believe he was killed by dealers to whom he owned money.More worryingly, however, the Elliots assert that they are being “fobbed off” by the investigation into the death – an investigation that they say is nothing more than a public relations exercise, even though West Mercia police had been sharply criticised for its handling of the McGowans’ deaths.Mr Elliot, 70, a former Olympic boxing contender, initially put his faith in the police. But after more than four months of what he describes as inaction, he has chosen to speak publicly.