“Hundreds of items will have been destroyed, at a cost running into thousands of pounds,” Mr Blackburn said.Mr Blackburn said he had spoken to the husband of the woman who was injured and: “She is in considerable shock. But it could have been worse.”A Lancashire Police spokesman said: “It was decided the bull posed a risk to public safety and it was unwise for attempts to be made to capture the animal A decision was made that the bull should be destroyed.”. The emergence of an internal army document concerning possible Northern Ireland demilitarisation last night fuelled speculation that the Royal Irish Regiment permanently based in Northern Ireland was to be disbanded. The mainly Protestant unit has enthusiastic backing of Unionists, but republicans claim it is partisan. Earlier this month work began on dismantling two army watchtowers in south Armagh.The authorities are adamant however that any decisions on RIR disbandment are a long way off. A Defence spokesman said that no final decision has been made, adding: “There is no document that has gone out that says any particular organisation is going to be got rid of or disbanded.”Democratic Unionist party spokesman Sammy Wilson declared: “Anyone who denies that this has already been arranged is either so naive that they have been totally misled by the Prime Minister or else they are part of the conspiracy of silence on this issue until such time as it is felt politically expedient to admit this is the case.”.

British polar explorerPen Hadow was rescued today from the North Pole after being stranded for eight days. This is the latest we have ever done a pick–up.”People are at risk – the ice breaks and it shouldn’t really happen.”No one should expect to be picked up from there later than April 30,” he said.”It was not about him running out of food. Going to the Pole at this time of year is a bit stupid and you put a lot of people’s lives at risk.”. John Prescott was accused of failing thousands of public- sector workers yesterday after figures revealed that a high- profile scheme to help them buy homes had led to only one in four of them succeeding. But the Liberal Democrats accused ministers of inflating house prices while doing nothing to encourage affordable housing for public servants.The locally managed scheme is intended to help public-sector workers in London and the South-east by sharing ownership, and offering interest-free loans to help people to buy their first home. Its launch was hailed by Mr Prescott in 2001 as a “direct response to the problem which key workers can face in buying their own homes in high- demand, high-price areas.”But Edward Davey, who shadows Mr Prescott for the Liberal Democrats, said £12.3m was spent running the programme, and accused Mr Prescott of tinkering in the housing market.”Mr Prescott’s flagship scheme has so far only helped one in four of the target key workers buy homes, and he is fast running out of time to help the remainder.

Giving a small number of key workers loans for homes will do nothing to provide more generally affordable housing. In fact it will contribute to the inflated housing market, leaving the unlucky workers who are not part of the scheme paying more for their homes. Many more key workers could have been helped by using the cash to kick-start building projects for reasonably priced housing.”A spokeswoman for the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister said many house purchases were being processed, but acknowledged that the scheme’s success varied from place to place. She said: “It has been successful in some areas, but has not got off the ground so quickly in other areas.”It is funded by the Government but is managed and distributed through local housing associations. She said the scheme would end next year when it would be absorbed into the national affordable housing programme, run by the Housing Corporation..