And a woman who lives with a man for many years can be left penniless when her relationship is terminated.Earlier this month Lord Lester of Herne Hill, a Liberal Democrat peer, launched a Bill designed to give civil partnerships equal rights.Of greatest concern for all these groups are the practical implications of their lack of state recognition. The right to inherit, the right to a fair share of a property and the right to adopt children are far more important than a state ceremony which is big on ritual and small on legal significance.This year the Law Commission will address some of these issues when it publishes its own recommendations on cohabiting rights for many different groups.In the meantime the law struggles to keep up with changes in society. Three years ago, the House of Lords ruled that a homosexual couple in a stable relationship can be defined as a family and allowed a former Royal Navy serviceman to inherit the tenancy rights relating to his late partner's flat.Transsexual people hope that if ministers drag out the process of recognition the courts will take a similarly enlightened look at their position.. Transexuals are to win legal recognition in Britain, ending more than half a century of discrimination against people who change sex. Transsexuals are to be given legal recognition in Britain, ending more than half a century of discrimination against people who change sex.Reform of the law will clear the way for marriages among Britain's 5,000 transsexuals, who have changed their sex but are forbidden from having their new gender recognised on their birth certificates.Ministers will work ona report that recommends issuing new birth certificates or granting full legal recognition to transsexuals.Progress on reform faltered around the time of the last election when Jack Straw, who was Home Secretary, was told by aides that there were "no votes in transsexuals". The Lord Chancellor, Lord Irvine of Lairg, has been given responsibility for implementing the recommendations.Last year, the Court of Appeal said the Government had "failed to recognise the in- creasing concerns and changing attitudes across Western Europe".The Whitehall report echoes concerns raised by the courts.

It says that passports, driving licences, medical cards and national insurance documents are, in certain circumstances, reissued to reflect a change of gender. The report concludes: "The most frequent requests from the transsexual community are to have a birth certificate showing their new gender, the right to marry in that gender, and full legal recognition." Press for Change, which campaigns for transsexual rights, said its members had been working closely with Whitehall officials. A spokes-man for the group said: "We have made a lot of progress and it has all been very encouraging. The hardest task has been persuading ministers." Susan Marshall, a transsexual and member of the parliamentary forum on transsexualism, welcomed the news. She said: "I don't think the Government wants to be constantly pilloried in the courts. We have been pushing on the door and now the door is open."Tim Boswell, the Conservative MP for Daventry, has been raising the issue with the Government on behalf of one of a number of transsexuals in his constituency.He said: "Transsexual people deserve to have their legitimate interests recognised. After all, it is not their fault the law doesn't recognise them."Total legal recognition will give transsexuals many new rights, from ensuring universities re-issue degree certificates under a transsexual's new name, to ending pension discrimination, to permitting doctors to record a change of gender on a death certificate..

The police will allow an application for the return of the Glastonbury festival this summer, the event's organiser, Michael Eavis, said yesterday. The extra revenue raised would help pay for £1m worth of fencing around the venue at Worthy Farm, in Pilton, Somerset.Mr Eavis warned that gatecrashers were threatening the festival, which raises thousands of pounds for charity."People cannot come without tickets. The show will definitely not continue without that hard-and-fast guarantee," he said. "It seems we may be given one last chance to see if we can control the numbers."It was great news that the police were not opposing the application, he added.

"It makes it easier for the licensing authority to actually run with it. I am fairly confident that we will get a positive result."An Avon and Somerset police spokesman said they could not comment on what advice they were offering the council. The police have previously opposed the licence because of serious trouble at the festival.. The only response the Ethiopian girl would give to police trying to find out how she had been abandoned at a Tube station was that her parents were fine and she would see them again one day. Officers believe the girl may have been left in Britain deliberately in the hope that she would have a better life.Almost 3,000 unaccompanied children from all over the world apply for asylum in this country each year, a sharp increase since the mid-1990s.The Ethiopian girl, officers said, seemed to have been taught what to say and refused to tell them where she was from or even, officers suspect, her real name. All she would reveal was that, upon leaving her parents, she had flown with a male family friend from Addis Ababa to Heathrow. They travelled to Kingsbury Tube station, where he left her, promising to return quickly.