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We should not mind if they were going to drop tests at seven." The union would support members who refused to carry out the tests on grounds of workload, he said.But Doug McAvoy, general secretary of the National Union of Teachers, said: "The Government has at last moved its attitude from if it moves test it. Sir Ron said parents might be asked to say whether their children could write letters, count to 10, recognise single words, pull eight bricks out of a pile or draw a picture of a man.The authority will consult parents and teachers about three alternative schemes for the national framework. One involves only literacy and numeracy, another asks the teacher to match a child's performance to descriptions of skills, and a third requires teachers to write their own descriptions of what children can do.Sir Ron acknowledged that the new tests would mean more work for teachers.Mrs Shephard said: "At this stage we are not putting in place a national scheme of assessment but that remains a possibility should it prove to be desirable." Legislation to enable a national scheme to be created is planned.Nigel de Gruchy, general secretary of the National Association of Schoolmasters/ Union of Women Teachers said: "The education system is getting more like a public-address system: testing, testing, testing We think this is overloading the system. During the first half of term, the teacher will make assessments as part of her normal work."No local scheme will be approved unless it involves parents.

Schools will also be encouraged to assess children's physical and emotional development: how they cope on a climbing frame, for example, and how they relate to each other and to adults. Tests for 7-, 11- and 14-year-olds are already in place and the first performance tables for 11-year-olds will be published next spring.At present, ministers have no plans to publish performance tables for five-year-olds. Both Labour and the Conservatives are committed to baseline testing.Schools will be asked to join voluntary assessment schemes from September next year, and trials for the new framework will begin in 360 schools next week.A national sample of children will be taken in 1998 so that ministers can assess national standards.Gillian Shephard, the Secretary of State for Education and Education, said: "In our drive to serve our children well and raise standards, it is essential that teachers and parents know what their children have already mastered and what their future learning needs are."Sir Ron Dearing, chairman of the School Curriculum and Assessment Authority, said: "It won't be threatening It isn't a formal test It won't be a one-off. Parents will be told their children's results confidentially.One teachers' union accused the Government of overloading teachers, but another welcomed the decision to stop short of imposing the same national tests for all children entering school.Instead, there will be national framework against which local assessment schemes will be judged About half local authorities already assess five- year-olds. The new "baseline assessments" will emphasise the three Rs and will be used to measure the effect of schools on children's progress, as well as to determine children's needs. All five-year-olds will be tested during their first half-term at school from September 1998, under plans announced by the Government yesterday.

It was closed in 1976 and was once considered for demolition. Its quality was recognised by English Heritage which upgraded its status to Grade II*, which made it eligible for grant assistance.The viaduct will be part of the South Tyne Trail being developed by Cumbria and Northumberland councils.Photograph: Tom Finn. "Luckily his unpleasant experience hasn't put him off people He is just as friendly and cheerful as he ever was.". Lambley Viaduct, a masterpiece of Victorian engineering spanning the South Tyne, was opened to walkers yesterday after a pounds 700,000 restoration. Jim Cornell, executive director of the Railway Heritage Trust, acting on behalf of British Rail Property Board, handed over the viaduct to the North Pennines Heritage Trust, which will maintain it in perpetuity with a fund provided by the board. The 16-arched viaduct, pictured right, which soars 110ft above the river, was opened in 1852 to bridge the last gap in the Newcastle and Carlisle Railway. The three- day trial with expert witnesses cost an estimated pounds 28,000.The judge added: "I am concerned about the fact that here was the theft of a parrot - someone's beloved pet - and often the taking of someone's pet is like taking from them a member of their family."Miss Hinds said the loss of Primrose brought the most depressing time of her life "He was so famous round here He is very valuable - to me he is priceless," she said.

But Primrose immediately perked up on meeting Miss Hinds, 28, at Wembley police station.Judge Barrington Black told the full story. "When Miss Hinds bought it it only said, 'Hello' and over the period that she had it she taught the bird to say 'Primrose', 'That only takes a minute Sacha', 'What are you doing?' and 'Where are you going?' It was known to many people and performed many tricks," the judge said."It was left on a perch in her shop and when she came downstairs it was gone It was an absent parrot. It had disappeared."McLoud had claimed the male sulphur-crested cockatoo had lived with him for nine months after his sister had moved to the States. "Hello," he said, revealing himself as Primrose.Yesterday Clive McLoud, 40, a painter and decorator from Hendon, north- west London, was sentenced to 15 months' imprisonment for handling the stolen bird.One of the give-away signs was Primrose's feeble state. He was Australian and difficult to dehydrate, although in spite of his name he was indeed male, Harrow Crown Court heard.He was depressed and his eyes were closed, and it was clear that whoever had taken him had no idea of bird-care. Clive McLoud insisted his cockatoo was called Billy and had been given to him by his sister before she emigrated. "Billy" gave the game away when police introduced him to Sacha Hinds from the pet shop Pets Are Us in north-west London. "With Eric, we believe we now have the two best- known Frenchmen in Britain.Despite the footballer's penchant for philosophy, the "Cantonisms" are largely the work of St Luke's, the advertising agency which distilled them from Cantona's autobiography, according to Mr de Souza.

And now comes Farrakhan.There may be little intellectual consistency in all this but there is something finely-tuned about Gaddafi's ability to irritate Exactly the same thing could be said for Louis Farrakhan. "Eric also had a lot of input and approved everything in the campaign," he added.. He was deceased, had ceased to be, he was an ex-parrot Primrose, who lived in a gilded cage, seemed no more A suspiciously similar bird existed however. In contrast, until a high-speed link is built, Eurostar services have picked up a reputation for being dilatory.After being sentenced to community service for kicking an abusive fan two years ago, Cantona rounded on the media at a press conference with his own brand of philosophy, declaring: "When seagulls follow the trawler, it is because they think that sardines will be thrown into the sea."Debate has raged over what exactly he meant - although vultures circling would perhaps have been a better metaphor - but now Eurostar has decided to use a series of "Cantonisms" to encourage the English to jump on the train and head for Paris.Among the gems to be served up on television and posters from 16 September will be: On the frequency of the Eurostar service: "Every man has his hour, it is for him to decide which one", and: "It is in his soul that the swallow knows when to leave and in his heart that he chooses a fitting time to return".On the service travelling direct from London to the centre of Paris and Brussels: "To truly see how the crow flies, one must sit on the train", and: "Is it not simpler to leap the stream than to pause on each stepping stone?" On the subject of room on board Eurostar trains, he muses: "When the body is free, so is the mind", and: "For centuries man has pondered the nature of space".And, on the lack of airport delays: "The expectation of departure should not be hindered by the ignominy of waiting".The rail company will not say how much it paid Cantona, but it was involved in months of negotiations with his representatives before he would agree to appear."We have already used Antoine de Caunes of television's Eurotrash," said Jeremy de Souza, a spokesman for Eurostar. Both women, it seems, have a streak of cynicism about these choreographed and imported political games. That is something they will share with the majority of voters Not all American soap operas cross the Atlantic.. She is not a good gusher - which is to her credit.The truth is that the wives are more down-to-earth about the staged battle they are meant to be fighting than are the youthful party strategists who set it up.