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Many mothers are under so much pressure to appear like perfect parents that they cover up how much television their children watch or what they cook their families, according to a survey.

Such “white lies” also extend to how much “quality time” mothers spend with their partner, website Netmums said its survey of 5,000 people suggested.

The parenting site said mothers often made each other feel “inadequate”.

“Mums need to be more honest with each other,” said Netmums’ Siobhan Freegard.

The website is calling for a more honest approach to family life and an end to the guilty subterfuge of mothers who feel unable to achieve an idealised view of parenthood.

Almost two-thirds of those surveyed said they had been less than honest with other mothers about how well they were coping and almost half covered up financial worries.

Almost a quarter of mothers admitted to downplaying how much television their children actually watched – and one in five “span a yarn” over how long they played with their children.

Ms Freegard, a co-founder of the site, said there had been another example of a mother who was exhausted and went back to bed during the day, but explained her failure to answer the phone as being because her hands had been covered in flour while making cookies.

The need to keep up a good impression among other parents becomes even more important for mothers who are living far away from their own extended families, she said.

But the survey suggested that this fear of not being a perfect parent was not driven by images of celebrities in glossy magazines.

Instead the sense of inadequacy was caused by peer pressure from other mothers at the school gate or the nursery, the survey found, with more than nine out of 10 comparing themselves to other mothers.

The website is launching what it calls The Real Parenting Revolution, which encourages parents to accept the reality of how they live, rather than feeling bad about not living up to a myth of perfection.

“It’s the imperfections that make us human,” Ms Freegard said.

One mother, known as Becky, who responded to the survey explained that it was difficult to be honest: “My friend was telling me about how she limited her son’s access to the PlayStation and I agreed, telling her that I also limited my son to an hour a day, after homework.

“After I’d said it, I kicked myself for not telling the truth – I mean, it’s no big deal.

“It’s just very difficult to put your hands up and admit that you parent differently to your friends.”

Parenting expert and sociologist Frank Furedi said that parents were under “profound pressures” from society. He said that a culture of parenting “incites parents to lie and to turn child rearing into a performance.”

He added that even with the best intentions, reports such as these increased the pressure on parents: “Parents are always being judged in one way or another – including by this report. The real solution is to lay off parents and publish less reports.”

Psychologist Dr Linda Papadopoulos said that it was common for people to feel that they were being judged in a variety situations. She advised parents to avoid comparing themselves with others.

“You’re in competition with no-one but yourself – all you can do is the best for you and your kid.”

This article is from the BBC News website. © British Broadcasting Corporation, The BBC is not responsible for the content of external internet sites.

No sign of Tunisian uprising spreading to Egypt

This article is from the BBC News website. © British Broadcasting Corporation, The BBC is not responsible for the content of external internet sites.

There is further evidence that the harsh weather at the end of last year hit Scotland’s economy.

A Bank of Scotland report said businesses recorded a sharp drop in new orders and output.

The bad weather caused consumer spending to fall – and that in turn hit the service sector in particular.

Foreign demand held up and manufacturing companies fared better than others and they took on new staff, while other firms laid off workers.

Every month the Bank of Scotland produces the Purchasing Manager’s Index (PMI) which monitors activity in the manufacturing and service industries.

About 600 companies are asked about their business and some of December’s results are among the weakest for almost two years.

Scotland’s private sector economy contracted in the final month of 2010, falling almost 10 points on the PMI index to 39.6 from 49.5 in November.

Manufacturers reported continued growth of new export orders from 55.1 in November to 51.5 in December.

If the figure is above 50 it shows there is growth in that area.

Overall, new business receipts in the Scottish private sector fell.

Donald MacRae, chief economist at Bank of Scotland, said: “December was a difficult month signalling a weak last quarter of 2010 for the Scottish economy.

“However, there were encouraging signs of continuing robust export demand.”

Costs continued to rise for companies – driven by higher fuel prices and increases in raw materials.

The report warned that the higher costs would squeeze profit margins even more if companies were not able to pass on the increases.

This article is from the BBC News website. © British Broadcasting Corporation, The BBC is not responsible for the content of external internet sites.

Police officers in Tayside are to use social networking site Twitter to communicate with the public.

The three-month trial will see community officers providing people with updates on meetings, traffic updates and crime prevention advice.

The pilot will run in Auchterarder, Crieff and Kinross.

Tayside Police said they would also be the first UK force to trial MyPolice, which will allow people to send police anonymous feedback via a website.

Det Ch Con Gordon Scobbie said the force had already experimented with social media to good effect on a number of occasions.

“For example, during a recent spate of suicides in the Dundee area we used Facebook as an effective way of engaging with friends of the young people involved,” he said.

“Many forces are now realising that traditional methods of getting messages out, which we have relied on in the past, are having less impact and are reaching fewer people.

“Simply ‘broadcasting’ messages by whichever channel, is no longer enough.

“What really makes a difference is giving people the opportunity to engage in a two-way conversation with the police about things that matter to them.”

Justice Secretary Kenny MacAskill said the government would await the results of the pilot with interest.

This article is from the BBC News website. © British Broadcasting Corporation, The BBC is not responsible for the content of external internet sites.

The upheaval in the NHS in England is unnecessary as the same results could have been achieved by a small change in the current structure, leading GPs say.

Ministers will publish a health bill this week that will pave the way for GP consortiums to take over management of the NHS from primary care trusts.

But the Royal College of GPs’ Dr Clare Gerada and Dr Laurence Buckman, of the British Medical Association, said GPs could have been put in charge of PCTs.

The government rejected the suggestion.

Nonetheless, their intervention is set to spark another round of debate over the government’s controversial plans.

It comes a day after the Observer reported that a report from the NHS Confederation, which represents bodies such as foundation hospitals, primary care trusts and doctors’ groups, suggested hospitals may have to close under the planned reforms.

Among its criticisms, it said allowing GPs to commission services from what it called “any willing provider”, could mean the closure of some hospitals and facilities in order to make way for new private providers.

Ministers have already started piloting GP consortiums, which will take responsibility for spending 80% of the NHS budget in England by 2013. In the process, 151 primary care trusts will be scrapped.

The plans have been criticised at a time when the NHS is having to make savings.

The budget is rising slightly in the coming years, but not enough to keep pace with the rising costs.

The alternative option being put forward by GPs involves the key decision-making body for PCTs, the board.

These tend to have 13 representatives, a majority of which are members of the public. There is only a requirement for them to have one GP, although some have two or three.

Boards have to sign off all big decisions, such as setting up new services.

The two GP leaders believe by putting more doctors on the board, the government would have been able to achieve its key aim of getting doctors more involved in decision-making.

Dr Gerada, the chairman of the Royal College of GPs, said: “You could have simply mandated to ensure GPs had more of an influence on PCT boards – and achieved largely the same results. You would probably want a majority of clinicians, mostly GPs but other NHS staff too. It is not too late to change.

“By doing that GPs would have become heavily involved in making the decisions, we could have still made management savings, but without all the upheaval that the NHS is going through.”

Dr Buckman agreed: “We have chaos in management in the health service and that would have been avoided. It could have been that simple.”

However, he believes the ultimate aim is to open the NHS up to the private sector. “By setting up consortiums it gives the impression that decisions are being taken further away from the centre.”

David Stout, director of the PCT Network, said the idea could have worked.

“PCTs were improving all the time and could have adapted. It could have been another option, but it is too late now.”

A Department of Health spokeswoman said: “Primary care trusts are too remote from patients.

“Simply putting more GPs on a PCT board would not have delivered the changes that are necessary, and would have simply added more layers to the existing NHS bureaucracy.

“Commissioning by GP consortia will push decision-making much closer to patients and local communities and ensure that commissioners are accountable to them.”

This article is from the BBC News website. © British Broadcasting Corporation, The BBC is not responsible for the content of external internet sites.

Shoplifters make off with goods worth almost £400,000 every day, according to British retailers.

The year-on-year cost of thefts to High Street stores across the UK has soared from £99m to £137m, they say.

The British Retail Consortium (BRC) said items including TVs, computer games and clothes totalling £375,342 were stolen from shelves every day.

However researchers uncovered an 11% drop in crime per 100 outlets compared with the previous year.

The survey also found more than 18,000 staff up and down the country reported they were attacked or suffered verbal abuse.

The trade body, which represents retailers, said the average price tag of goods stolen in one theft had increased from £45 to £70.

It believed organised gangs of thieves who steal more valuable hauls were responsible for the rising figure.

Figures were based on a survey of 54 retailers who employ more than 1.3m staff, representing almost half of Britain’s retail turnover.

Stephen Robertson, of the consortium, said a fall in offences reflected the increased investment of security measures by some stores.

“It’s encouraging to see this having a positive impact on the number of shoplifting offences but the cost to retailers still went up,” he added.

“Retailers’ extra investment in stopping crime has deterred a lot of opportunist thefts leaving a higher proportion of determined, organised thieves who take a greater value of goods each time they steal.”

This article is from the BBC News website. © British Broadcasting Corporation, The BBC is not responsible for the content of external internet sites.