Hardship over uniform costs: The week that was September 26 to October 4, 1994.

They claimed young remand prisoners were turning up at court with injuries inflicted with razors and heavy objects by fellow inmates.

Leeds Youth Justice Service, comprised of local authority social services and the probation service, was compiling a dossier of alleged attacks. The Howard League for Penal Reform called for the closure of the jail, where two inmates had committed suicide since it had opened three months previously.

The management of the partly US-owned prison said they were “doing everything possible to stamp out bullying”. The Home Office had already appointed a troubleshooter to take over joint control.

Chancellor Kenneth Clarke pitched the Government back into the heart of the rail strike this week in 1994, by saying that to would use its role as “100 per cent shareholder” in Railtrack to ensure it was satisfied with any pay deal reached for strikers. Mr Clarke’s remarks came as marathon talks aimed at ending the four-month-old dispute entered their fifth day.

Labour’s transport spokesman Brian Wilson said he feared the Tories’ disregard for the railways and passengers “extended to prolonging the dispute through the political conference season in the hope of political gain.”

Thousands of parents across North Yorkshire faced financial hardship because they were not getting enough help to buy expensive school uniforms, according to a county councillor. Children not kitted-out correctly were also facing ridicule by classmates, said Labour’s John McCartney, councillor for Selby Rural. He said the existing system of distributing discretionary grants for school uniforms was haphazard, and meant many less well-off parents slipped through the net.

He told fellow councillors that the £39,828 set aside for school clothing grants was “paltry” and called on the council to instigate a radical shake-up of the system. Coun McCartney added that the council had set its grant budget without assessing the need. The priority group for grants were parents on income support because they were unemployed or working fewer than 16 hours a week, whose children were moving up to secondary school.

Yorkshire County Cricket Club unveiled controversial plans to rename Headingley Cricket Ground. The club said it wanted to offer name rights to interested companies – a move that could generate a six-figure sum. The idea met staunch resistance from some traditionalists within the club, who insisted the Headingley name should be left alone, not preceded by the name of a commercial sponsor.

However, club chairman Robin Smith said the idea was being actively pursued and he felt that fans would understand the need to attract revenue which would help to ensure the club’s financial health.

The Duchess of York’s father launched a scathing attack on royal courtiers whom he accused of undermining his daughter Sarah’s marriage to Prince Andrew. Branding some as “back-biting toadies”, Major Ronald Ferguson said of the courtiers: “...Most of them are more snobbish than even the most aloof member of the Royal Family. There’s much back-biting and criticism.”

The Major made his comments in his autobiography The Galloping Major, where he also said the Duchess of York would like to return to her estranged husband. Rumours of an impending divorce announcement were also rife, but Buckingham Palace dismissed these as “pure speculation”.