Saints boss Jim Mallinder has confirmed Christian Day has suffered a recurrence of his problematic ankle injury - and is not sure how long the lock will be out.

Day limped off after just 11 minutes of his return to action on Saturday, having previously been out for six weeks.

He replaced Rhys Oakley in the 51st minute of the weekend’s 31-30 LV= Cup defeat to Harlequins but was soon forced off, being replaced by youngster Teimana Harrison.

And it doesn’t look good for the 29-year-old, who initially picked up the ankle problem during the second half of the 24-6 win against Wasps on September 28.

“I don’t know how bad Christian Day’s injury is yet, but he certainly did the same injury so we need to look at that,” said a disappointed Mallinder.

Day returns to the sidelines alongside a host of other Saints first-team regulars, with the likes of Ben Foden, Courtney Lawes and Dylan Hartley all laid low by injury.

But Calum Clark’s recent return from a 32-week ban has been a big boost and Mallinder was again impressed by the flanker, who captained Northampton in Saturday’s defeat to Quins.

“Calum was outstanding again,” said Mallinder, who saw the player put in a fine performance on his return to action, against Leicester Tigers seven days earlier. “It was his second game back and he was everywhere, turning over the ball.

“It was fantastic for him and there were a lot of other good performances. You can pick out a lot of our players that played well and I’m pleased about it.

“It’s just that conceding those (four) tries meant that we didn’t win the game.”

Well, that was the year that was! As far as the property market is concerned, we look back on a period that was notable for nothing in particular.

Over the past 12 months readers will have endured no end of eulogistic nonsense about how busy some agents claimed to have been, citing record numbers of enquiries, houses sold “within minutes of coming to market”, queues to view, deals concluded above asking price, etc.

And then there was a reality check! Informed readers realised that the truth was often somewhat different.

At Winkworth we are by no means “harbingers of doom”, but we do pride ourselves on dealing with fact, not fiction.

What has happened (in fact) is that those houses which are well presented and realistically priced have continued to find buyers, while those (vendors) whose agents have “encouraged” them to try a high price have often languished.

It is a truism that you cannot beat the market. Whether selling a car, a house or bowls of fruit on the market, your product must be competitively priced and creatively marketed, as buyers always have a choice.

2013 – that could be the year that could!

Property commentators are consistent on just one thing . . . the inconsistency of their forecasts!

Choose your expert, and the market prognoses vary from steady increase, through flat, to a further decline. Not very helpful.

So what can you do if you want to move anytime soon?

At Winkworth we have the benefit of 60 London offices, a total of 90 across the UK. The composite this enables us to produce means that our take on the market is robust and based on fact.

As a result, we provide quality advice and guidance for our clients, and a range of innovative services that are simply not available from most local agents . . . fact!

This is not the place to elaborate, suffice to say we firmly believe that selling houses is a people business first and foremost, and our aim is to end up with happy vendors and buyers.

It is possible, just ask our many satisfied clients.

A New Year warrants new initiatives and we have many ready to be deployed on your behalf.

So, if you want 2013 to be the year of the move, treat yourself to an early Christmas present and give us a call today.

Call us on 01604 824854, or email northampton@winkworth.co.uk

So it’s happened . . . after the near-miraculous election of Barack Obama four years ago, this week the American public did it again to give him a second term in office.

Republican Mitt Romney didn’t get the wins he needed to unseat the present incumbent and Obama swept ahead to retain the keys to one of the most influential addresses on the planet.

The First Family remains the same first family for another term, so it’s business as usual for Team America.

It always amazes me how much global media coverage goes into the presidential election in the US.

American politics is a pantomime at the best of times but when regime change is on the cards the media goes wild, even if the electorate doesn’t.

Long before the polls closed, a final result was being described as being too close to call and many had predicted recounts and legal delay before a winner would be declared.

In the event however, it seems that Romney simply didn’t have the strength of vote in the key states and lost in others that he had been predicted to win. It wasn’t a landslide, but it was an emphatic win for the Democrats.

Imagine the general election here, multiplied by the number of states in the union there. Win sufficient separate state elections and admission to the presidential nuclear bunker is yours.

The race for the White House has seen some amazing debates, personal attacks and defences. Careers will have been made and lost as a result of the show that’s been put on.

To an outsider like me, there were times when the issues that make up the nature of politics seemed to be almost completely eclipsed.

Healthcare, unemployment and economic recovery are the domestic issues that Obama has been dogged by throughout his presidency so far and on occasions he’s seemed to be ineffective, although not as a result of any personal failing.

Internationally he enjoys a good reputation and profile which will undoubtedly continue – he appears very statesmanlike. But at home he’s less strong.

I heard someone talking about the US election being that of “. . . the last superpower on earth . . .” earlier this week. Rubbish – look to the east and you’ll find the emerging economies of India and China there. If your definition of superpower includes the size of the population and its business potential, the United States has already lost the top spot.

Although Obama continues as President, he has tough times ahead of him. Thanks to the two-tier system of government across the pond, he has anything but a free hand to make change, since despite the Democrats keeping control of the Senate, the Republicans hold sway in the House of Representatives.

Political deadlock looks likely to continue to be a major influence in getting things done in the United States, much as it has been for the past four years. The people have had their say, and now they – and the rest of the world – will be looking on to see what America makes of its no-change political scene.

David Cameron tweeted congratulations to his “friend” Barack Obama. I question how warm that “special friendship” really is.

Of course, the US presidential election is just the warm-up act for the main event. On the 15th the polls will open here for the Police and Crime Commissioner elections. We’ll be told that we have had our say, regardless of how big the turnout proves to be. If you’ve got a vote, use it, because it’s how you really can have an influence. Stand up and be counted.

God bless Northamptonshire . . .

With only a week to go the nation waits, fingernails chewed to the quick, sleepless nights, passions raised to fever pitch.

Oh sorry, the new James Bond movie was released last week . . . I’m talking about the first ever elections for a Police and Crime Commissioner.

The PCC is the bright idea of David Cameron. One gets the feeling that he saw a Batman film and thought that Gotham City, aka everywhere else, seemed to work with a police commissioner and so we’d all get one.

Holy cow, Robin!

We have been told that we never knew who were on the old style police authorities that quietly got on with the job of running the police service in conjunction with the Chief Constable, who was responsible for the operational part.

Now you will all know, every man Jack and Jill throughout Northamptonshire will be only a phone call away from the ultimate source of policing in the county.

Want your street cleared of vandals? Want your local mugger locked up and sent to Botany Bay? Want your own personal PCSO stationed on your doorstep? Want that elusive early morning milk snatcher corralled into the local nick?

Have no fear, one phone call and you will be connected with Commissioner . . . . . ?

Bet most of you don’t even know who’s likely to be your local crime Tsar with the ever vigilant eye and a £70k slice of your tax-paying dosh.

If the PM really felt that police authorities were out of touch with the rest of us, then the solution was simply to elect a representative body at the same time as the county council.

On the other hand instead of spending £80 million on an election in Northampton the Home Office could have spent a couple of million producing a leaflet for every home telling us who our Police Authority members were.

The prediction at the moment is that the turnout might reach the dizzy height of 20 per cent. That seems optimistic and begs the question of the legitimacy of any election in which 80 per cent of the electorate don’t participate.

I predict that the 20 per cent who might turn out next week will vote 100 per cent for a party-backed candidate.

When I was a student we were unimpressed by the political wannabe’s standing in the union election, so we wrote in a candidate and M Mouse romped home.

For this Mickey Mouse election can I suggest we add M Mouse once again to the ballot paper.

You know it makes sense.

I’ve done it. I’ve taken the Tash. I have joined the ranks of men that use the month of November as an excuse to grow a moustache.

Movember started in Australia as a way of raising awareness of men’s health issues, particularly prostate and testicular cancer.

The act of allowing hair growth on a previously clean-shaven top lip became a 30-day reminder that there were health issues for men out there we are all too keen to ignore.

The kind of things we hope will go away.

And that fits beautifully because a moustache is one of the dangers of not shaving and hoping that the bristles will just go away.

A beard is another of those dangers but Bearvember doesn’t really work, not as well as it would work for Carlsberg anyway.

But Movember has become yet another licence for infant daughters who always get there own way to bully their helpess dads into doing
something, and yes, that is why I am grudgingly growing mine.

Some faces can take a moustache. Robert Redford pulled it off (left it on in fact) with his seminal 1970s lip fringe.

The Battle of Britain pilots managed to get away with moustaches but that was
more a statement of how 
they could get away with anything.

Their contribution to national pride in the dark days of World War Two was such that they could have climbed into their planes in chicken suits and they still would have been heroes.

But deep down I know mine isn’t a face suited to having a hairy stripe growing across it.

Even after just a few days growth I can tell how it’s going to turn out and it’s going to be more like a blackmarket egg-burglar than Battle of Britain pilot.

Every time I catch sight of myself in a mirror I think
I’m about to hear the words: “Oi, pssst, over ’ere mate,
wanna buy some fresh
eggs? Silk stockings for the wife?”

I should probably be trying to channel some wolfish or lionine pride in the masculinity of facial hair but to be honest I think my mussy makes me look shifty.

On top of that I am beginning to realise that you don’t just let a moustache grow.

It needs sculpting.

There is no way of moustaching yourself up that doesn’t involve making a choice about how you present yourself to the world.

At the moment I am shifty, I would like to change that but I’m worried that if I mess with it I could end up looking maniacal, or worse than that, French.

I’ll be tweeting my progress on twitter.com/stevescoles and my Movember web page is here mobro.co/stevescoles.

Labour’s favoured candidate for police commissioner has dropped out because of a teenaged conviction for obstructing the police after an England World Cup match.

The Labour Party issued a statement that made it clear he was being dropped.

Lee Barron issued a statement that made it sound like he was falling on his sword for the greater good.

Around the country other candidates have had to pull out after long forgotten misdemeanours came to light.

It would be interesting to know what proportion of the population end up being excluded from the role of police commissioner because of past convictions like these.

Of course not everyone’s children get into trouble like this and that is why they grow up to take on positions of power and responsbility.

The trouble is it seems it is a lot easier to pick up these kinds of convictions when you come from certain sections of society. Any section of society that has to fight for its rights is likely to be involved in more “misunderstandings” with the law: the poor, ethnic minorities, union members . . .

Rules like this smack of petty bureaucracy and we tend to roll our eyes and wish they would just be sensible about it.

But the overall effect of these rules can be real discrimination and exclusion from the process. Are we going to be wondering one day why most police commissioners and white, wealthy, middle-aged men?

A pedestrian was airlifted to hospital with multiple injuries after he was hit by a car in Northampton town centre on Saturday night.

The 53-year-old man was in collision with a black Citroen Saxo travelling from Victoria Gardens into Cattle Market Road at 10.50pm.

The pedestrian, who is from Northampton, was taken to Northampton General Hospital with multiple fractures and was later transferred to Walsgrave Hospital in Coventry.

A 19-year-old woman, also from Northampton, who was driving the Saxo, was not injured in the collision.

Witnesses can call the police’s Drivewatch Hotline on 0800 174615.

“JAM tomorrow” seems to be the message from Northampton Borough Council leader, David Mackintosh, regarding the state of the town centre (page 34). “Cranes are in the air,” he said and pointed out 15 regeneration schemes were afoot and in a few years time we won’t recognise the place with all the improvements in the offing.

That’s great news, but is it enough to pacify Northampton BID? The organisation representing traders says something needs to be done now to stop the decline. BID has suggested longer shopping hours, better and cheaper parking, reduced rates and a general tidying up of the streets.

Both BID and council ultimately want the same thing: a vibrant, clean town centre full of shops and shoppers. Immediate action and a longer-term strategy would seem the way forward.

ANOTHER battle over regeneration is being fought a mile or so away from Northampton town centre and concerns prime real estate which has been left derelict for far too long.

Complex ownership problems have been blamed for a lack of progress on the former power station site on the banks of the Nene. WNDC seems to have lost patience with private developers and wants to compulsory purchase the land to get things moving. A planning hearing will decide the site’s fate and a decision can’t come too soon.

The Conservative candidate hoping to become Police & Crime Commissioner for Northamptonshire has told the Chron how he wants to work with police officers, not against them.

Adam Simmonds today said he was hoping to engage with the Police Federation, which represents rank and file Northamptonshire Police officers, after a row broke out last week over his comments that too many officers were on high wages and the force was under-performing.

Tory hopeful Mr Simmonds hit out at the force for paying “Manchester City wages” and producing “Division Two results”.

His comments drew criticism from his rivals and prompted the defence from the county branch of the Police Federation.

Speaking today, however, Mr Simmonds said: “I would want them to join with me in working so Northamptonshire Police are the best in the country.

“Right now we are spending a lot of money but we are not getting the kind of results we deserve. We have to think about whether the strategy is right and whether we are going in the right direction.

“If we are electing a leader, someone who is going to set new priorities, and these are the sort challenges and questions we have to ask.

“I want the Police Federation to work with me on this.”

POOR show from the Daily Mail’s acerbic sketch writer Quentin Letts who has laid into Mikey Ellis for his slavish loyalty to the Government. (County colleagues Binners, Bone, Hollobone and Eurosceptics Leadsom and Heaton-Harris are hardly yes-men/women while the once loyal @louisemensch has popped off to tweet from the other side of the pond).

Anyway, if you missed it, Mikey (with accompanying photo) was described as someone who walked the corridors of Westminster “with an air of stupendous gravitas” possibly for chairing the all-party group on the 
Queen’s Diamond Jubilee or sitting on the very important home affairs select committee.

Here’s that nasty Mr Letts again: “Whatever, the egregious Ellis is known by colleagues as Sir Michael Ellis KCMG”. Doubtless Mikey will wonder if all this Mail prose is a bad thing. To which the only response is there’s only one thing worse than people talking about you as an MP. And that’s them not talking about you. Right sir?

EXCELLENT to see the 9th/12th Lancers being given the Freedom of the Borough the other day, an event their second in command, Major Andrew Simpson (no, not him) described as a “significant honour” for the regiment.

Mayor Conroy was on hand to confer the honour at a ceremony which included rousing speeches from The Mack and Terence Wire, but oddly (despite a listing to do so) a non-appearance, never mind utterance, from the eminent Professor Glynane. In fact, our snout tells us there wasn’t a single Lib Dem at the ceremony to support either the regiment or the (Lib Dem) Mayor.

Aufona was briefly reminded of a hissy fit the Lib Dems had a few years back after they were offended by a Remembrance Day sermon at a service at All Saints.

What made this no-show especially strange was that it was the Lib Dems who, back in January, proposed a motion to, yes, give the Freedom of the Borough to the Lancers. Nothing like seeing your work come to fruition . . .

PS: Quote of the week surely belongs to Mayor Conroy, who has been celebrating 20 years of twinning with the German town of Marburg: “This civic engagement makes a contribution to international understanding and secures lasting peace in Europe”. Brilliant, brilliant speech-writing.

PPS: Still on Mayors, we’re hearing John Caswell will take the chains of office in May 2014. It’s the Tories’ turn and he’s the frontrunner.

Earl Spencer popped up, briefly, this week to tell the world how he hoped son Louis would look forward to taking over the 14,000-acre Althorp estate: “I’ve gently brainwashed him over the years. But I’ve said to him: ‘You’re a young man from a different generation and you may not want to live here, but please don’t sell it’.”

Has the Ashleigh and Pudsey bubble burst? One punter tells us they arrived at Northampton’s Waterstone’s for Saturday’s noon book signing to find an empty desk, a pile of books and no sign of a dog.

It was before 1pm and, yes, they’d done a runner because of a “low turnout and bad weather”.

Oundle will start life in the Northants Cricket League Premier Division with a trip to Finedon Dolben.

The clash at Avenue Road is the standout fixture on the 2013 season’s opening day which will be Saturday, April 20.

Peterborough will start their title defence with a home encounter against Rushton, coincidentally the exact same fixture with which they started the 2012 campaign.

Another carbon copy of last season’s first round will see Old Northamptonians entertain Brixworth and Northampton Saints have been given a home bow with Burton Latimer the visitors to Birchfield Road East.

Wollaston open their year with a trip to Stony Stratford while Horton, who finished bottom of the pile last time out, host Wellingborough Town.

In Division One, the most eye-catching clash is at Windmill Road where Irthlingborough will come up against Desborough who were only three points away from promotion in September.

Old Wellingburians, who staged a late charge to escape a drop to Division Two, travel to Geddington while Loddington host Old Northamptonians 2nd.

The two divisional newcomers - Peterborough 2nd and Weekley & Warkton - start with trips to Wellingborough Indians and Kettering respectively.

Rushden welcome Finedon 2nd to Short Stocks to complete the round.

A 64-year-old man had his car stolen after being threatened by two men who demanded his keys.

The victim was approached by the men in Valley, Road, Northampton at about 4pm on Friday, November 9 and handed over the keys to a blue Mercedes Benz, which the offenders made off in.

The first offender was white, aged in his late 20s and of slim build.

The second offender was of mixed race, in his lates 20s or early 30s, around 5ft 11ins, well built and wore light blue jeans.

Witnesses can call police on 101 or Crimestoppers, anonymously, on 0800 555111.

Police have launched an investigation after a cat was killed by an exploding firework.

Officers were alerted after the cat’s body was found by a woman and her daughter in Shelley Road, Wellingborough, at about 6.05pm on Saturday, November 10.

A firework had been inserted in the cat and had exploded, killing the cat instantly.

Pc Mark Jones said: “This is an unbelievably cruel act and we are very keen to hear from anybody who has any information which will lead to the identification of the perpetrators. Not only was it horrific for the poor animal involved, the witnesses and owners of the cat are understandably very distressed.

“I urge anybody with any information to get in touch so that we can identify and deal with whoever is responsible for this horrible act.”

Witnesses can call police on 101 or Crimestoppers on 0800 555 111.

Lee Nicholls will not be available for selection for the Cobblers in their FA Cup tie at Bradford City on Tuesday night (7.45pm kick-off).

The goalkeeper has not been given permission to play by parent club Wigan Athletic, who also refused to allow Nicholls to feature in the Capital One Cup and Johnstone’s Paint Trophy.

Shane Higgs is expected to take his place in the starting 11 with Dean Snedker on the bench.

Also missing is Jake Robinson, who is Cup-tied after playing a qualifying round for Luton Town while on loan at the Hatters.

Ben Harding will travel to Valley Parade but it is understood a playing return will be delayed - providing the circumstances allow - until the league game against Wycombe Wanderers at Sixfields on Saturday.

It has also been confirmed that John Johnson will undergo a scan for a suspected recurrence of the knee ligament injury that required surgery earlier this season.

Johnson was hurt in the 1-1 draw at York City a week ago and his place in the starting line-up will be taken by Danny East.

Lewis Hornby is likely to start in central midfield, and - along with Snedker - could play two games in two days with the youth team taking on their York counterparts in the second round of the FA Youth Cup at Sixfields on Wednesday night.

As temperatures plummet while we head in to winter, injuries sustained due to poor warming-up start to soar. Here, leading Northampton physiotherapist Mark Buckingham begins his bi-weekly sports medical column with advice on how to prepare properly for sport in winter.

The dark, cold days and nights are upon us which means an increased risk of strains when you jump from the warm car to the cold pitch.

What is the best way to warm-up on a freezing cold morning? With all the myths surrounding warm-up, where is the science?

Using the car’s heaters to get the body temperature up is actually not a bad start.

The warmer the body is initially, the better, because more blood is directed to the limbs and away from the warm core.

This in turn warms the muscles and warmth means less potential for strains.

There is no evidence that lots of static stretching - holding a single position for a length of time - is a good warm up.

In fact, some theories say that static stretches can lead to more injuries if cold muscles are pushed hard.

Ironically the old-fashioned jog around and easy kick-about, which gradually becomes faster and more dynamic over 10 minutes, is the best way to prepare for a game.

To be a little more professional about it, once this 10 minutes has passed and you have a mild sweat on, adding in some football, squash or tennis like, game specific movements would be useful further preparation.

So for football it is working on jumps and lunges, kicks and sprint, with or without a ball – essentially doing football type movements without the competitive pressure to prepare the body for those same movements in the game.

Start the warming up process with a tracksuit on to preserve the body temperature and shed them as start sweating.

Sweating is the body’s method of losing excess heat which you can use as your own temperature gauge to tell you how you are doing.

So once the tracksuit bottoms start to feel sticky then you know you are warming up well.

Leave your top on for the next few minutes, maybe all the way up until the game starts dependant on how long you are warming up for.

If you know you have muscles that are typically tight – e.g. hamstrings or hip flexors, then it is a good idea to stretch those particular muscles once you have warmed up.

Do not force the stretching but ease into the tension.

Hold it for only a short time, 10 seconds or so, but repeat it five times, alternating legs.

After the game is the time to work properly at the tight areas with hard stretching.

There is benefit on colder nights in wearing ‘skins’ or longer lycra under shorts.

This is simply because of the way they retain warmth in the area. Warmth means the tissues are more malleable and less likely to tear.

Think about when you used Plasticine at school and apply the same principle – the warmer the Plasticine dough, the more it stretches – while when cold, it snaps easily!

Mark Buckingham is director of Witty Pask & Buckingham Chartered Physiotherapists, Billing Road, Northampton. For appointments, call 01604 601641 or visit www.wpbphysio.co.uk.

Saints boss Jim Mallinder has urged his players to stick together as they aim to end their barren run of form.

Mallinder’s men have suffered four successive defeats and five in their last six games in all competitions.

It has been a spell which has seen them win one of their first two games in the Heineken Cup, slip down the Premiership table and, most recently, lose their opener in the LV= Cup.

Next up they head to Newport-Gwent Dragons on Sunday aiming to get find some form ahead of a huge six weeks at home and abroad.

Mallinder has urged his men to get back to winning ways at Rodney Parade and says they must remain united if they are slay a Dragons side who have won just two of their 11 games this season.

“It’s always important to win and you always want to do that,” said the director of rugby, who saw his side suffer a 31-30 defeat to Quins on Saturday.

“We’re going through a little bit of a down period at the moment and we need to get back to winning ways.

“It’s good for everyone at the club to win, so that’s why it was disappointing on Saturday. It would have been nice to turn that around, particularly with that second-half performance, but it wasn’t to be.

“We need to work hard, stick together and go down to Wales and produce that again.”

Saints showed great spirit to come back from 21-6 down against Quins at the weekend, leading 30-24 as the clock went dead.

But Ben Botica’s last-gasp try and conversion gave the Twickenham-based team the victory and Mallinder felt his men were made to pay for overcomplicating things.

“Some of our defence was good, but some of our attacking we were just attempting that impossible pass at times,” he said. “We need to cut that out of our games and keep things simple.”

Bradford striker Nahki Wells has been a regular thorn in the side of the Cobblers, but manager Aidy Boothroyd believes his players will need to pay equally close attention to Wells’ strike partner James Hanson.

Wells scored a hat-trick at Sixfields last season, notched in the league game there this year but failed to get on the scoresheet in a 20-minute substitute cameo in the FA Cup first-round clash between the sides 10 days ago.

That contest ended as a draw, which means the duo will do battle at Valley Parade on Tuesday night (7.45pm kick-off) for the right to play host to Brentford in round two.

Wells will lead the line for that game, and with 12 goals to his name so far this season, the focus will be on him to fire Bradford to the next stage.

But Hanson, an imposing figure at six-foot-four and with the kind of hunger developed through a handful of seasons in non-league football, has been cited by Boothroyd as equally dangerous.

“He (Hanson) is a massive presence for them and I don’t think it’s unfair to say that the best part of their team is the front,” said the Northampton manager.

“Both of their strikers are down to good recruitment. In James’ case that was down to a good local knowledge, to pick him up from Guiseley, which is near where I’m from originally.

“Sometimes the non-league mentality of knowing what real life is like can give you a spur in professional football because you treasure every day and you know how privileged you are to do it as a job.

“They are a real handful and we know all about them from the games we have played against them recently.”

The winners of Tuesday night’s tie will pocket £18,000 in prize money plus half of the gate receipts for another game in the competition; as that game will be on home soil, whoever prevails at Bradford will strongly fancy their chances of reaching the third round.

Such a scenario has the potential to generate an enormous amount of income and therefore provides a huge incentive to Boothroyd and his opposite number Phil Parkinson.

“It’s a big priority for me personally because I know what a good cup run can do, but more so at this club than any other club I have managed at because I want to ask the chairman for more players, more money and things that I think we need to improve in the infrastructure,” said Boothroyd.

“As the person that puts the money in, he wants to see the crowds improve, he wants to see the quality and the team improve, and he wants to see value for money and a return on his investment.

“When we can get a decent cup run and bring some more money into the club then that puts me in a stronger position when I’m trying to get more money out of him.

“I have to say though, he is the easiest person I’ve ever had to deal with when you’re winning, and the other side is that when I first came here we had absolutely nothing and he was willing to put his hand in his pocket then.”

A nurse stole painkillers and wrote Christmas cards while patients waited in Northampton General Hospital’s accident and emergency.

Liza Hawes, from Northampton, has been struck off by the Nursing and Midwifery council after a tribunal panel heard an A&E sister had to intervene to stop her writing cards while five patients waited for their initial assessments.

The month this happened, in December 2009, her department had failed to hit its targets for dealing with patients within four hours.

On another occasion, the following August, while Hawes was the only nurse assigned to the triage station in A&E, managers noticed the queue had again built up, with patients waiting for an hour.

While staff looked for Hawes, a public address announcement was made that the key to the medicine cupboard could not be found.

A colleague then said they had spotted Hawes with the cord for the key to the medicines cupboard hanging out of her pocket.

She was then searched and a security officer found she had coedine phosphate tablets stuffed in her bra and empty packets in her glasses case.

She admitted she had also stolen tablets four days previously.

Hawes admitted the theft matters to the NMC but denied the Christmas card incident.

Although Hawes’ unspecified health problems at the time were taken into account, the panel said she was still guilty of misconduct on all charges.

Hawes actions in ignoring the patients while writing Christmas cards “would be deplorable in the eyes of fellow practitioners”, the NMC judgement said.

Mrs Hawes claimed she could not remember writing the Christmas cards on duty. Despite being told Hawes’ integrity had never been questioned in 15 years, the NMC struck her off and imposed an 18-month interim suspension to cover any appeal.
Matthew Fiander, the panel chairman, said in its published judgement: “Your actions spanned some eight months and cannot be categorised as ‘one-off’. The panel was satisfied that your actions placed patients at risk of serious harm.”

A woman has been sexually assaulted by three boys, including one who is believed to be just 10 years old.

Detectives are appealing for witnesses following an incident which happened at 9.45am on Thursday November 1, on Spencer Bridge Road.

A 55-year-old woman was approached by three boys, when one “touched her inappropriately”.

She screamed and they ran off in the direction of Victoria Park.

The trio are described as two white boys, who were around 5ft 9in, with short dark hair, aged between 15 and 16, plus was a 10-year-old white boy with short light brown hair.

Witnesses can call Northamptonshire Police on 101, or information can be given anonymously to Crimestoppers on 0800 555 111.

Tuesday night’s game at Valley Parade is unlikely to feel much like a significant fixture for the players or the supporters of the Cobblers.

Bradford’s ground is enormous and the game is not included in the season tickets held by more than 10,000 residents of the city.

This small fact, combined with the presence of a big Capital One Cup quarter-final against Premier League heavyweights Arsenal further down the road, is likely to lead to a gate that is decidedly on the small side for the surroundings.

It won’t feel quite so much like a reserve-team game as it will a game between the Christians’ reserves and the reserve lions in the Coliseum, watched by just a handful of Romans and a scattering of centurions.

But in such subtle surroundings great things can be achieved.

This might even be the biggest game of the season for the Cobblers, such are the financial incentives on the table.

The club only ever budgets for one game in each cup competitions, so by having two in the FA Cup (and two in the Capital One Cup, plus three – so far – in the Johnstone’s Paint Trophy) they are already in the black for knockout football this season.

The FA Cup is the most lucrative of the three the club is entered for because it is the only one that carries prize money, and in fact for a lot of JPT ties the clubs involve end up losing money or at best breaking even when all the expenses have been deducted.

A win at Bradford would give the club accounts an immediate injection of £18,000 – not a fortune but enough to finance a signing in the January transfer window, for example.

It would also lead to another game, another slice of gate receipts for a second-round match against Brentford and a chance to get into round three where, of course, untold riches are available if the balls fall the right way in the draw.

Bradford will without doubt be entertaining the same thoughts, even if they are already quids in due to the Arsenal game, and so in theory the game should have an extra edge to it.

Even if it is played in front of a crowd miniscule by Valley Parade standards.