News digest 11 November 2011
The eurozone continues to teeter although
the markets are calmer even as growth is downgraded, a NHS hospital
is handed over to the private sector while nurses could consider
strike action over pensions. The home secretary is still in the
headlines and Murdoch gets likened to a Mafia boss. There’s a
conflict of interest at Bombardier, but the EC says the deal could
be reopened, JLR hires 1,000 more workers, while 3i is to get rid
off 45 jobs as Cameron tells firms to hold ‘protected
conversations’ with troublesome staff while Network Rail wants
signal workers to learn (some) German…
‘Economic Armageddon’ –
Business secretary Vince Cable said the treasury and bank of
England are making contingency plans for what he terms ‘economic
Armageddon’ if the euro falls apart. France is apparently
considering a new core zone without southern European countries and
Germany and France continue to discuss the way forward. The UK
government is resigned to a severe downgrade in growth prospects
and public finances. The European Commission yesterday announced a
drastic reduction in 2012 growth prospects for the eurozone and the
global economy as a whole which will dash any hopes of an end to
the debt crisis, technocrats are now effectively installed in
government in Greece and Italy will follow suit this weekend
(Mirror p14, Sun p16, Express p1/4-5, Mail p6-7, Times p1/8-9, Indie p1-5, Guardian p1/12-14, Telegraph p1/4-5/b4-5, FT p1/8-9, Morning Star p7).
No more QE for now – Despite
the weakening economy the Bank of England voted against further
increases to its £275 billion quantitative easing programme
(Times p52, Indie p64, FT p1, Morning Star p5).
Axe tax to save the economy –
Call from 30 leading City figures who have written to the Telegraph (p1) to say plans to
scrap the 50p tax rate should be accelerated to help the economy,
any excuse for extra money.
NHS hospital handed over to private
healthcare firm – Circle Health, as private healthcare
company with close links to the Tory party, is to start running
‘failed’ hospital in Huntingdon in the new year. Hinchingbrooke
Hospital will effectively be privatised with not only jobs, but
patient care at risk. Unite national officer for health Rachael
Maskell said: ”For the last 18 months, the government
has been actively gearing up to privatise the NHS – and now at the
first opportunity it has done so … in 12 months time services will
decline and some hospital staff will have been made redundant or be
facing redundancy. Circle is a profit-making firm whose first
priority is shareholder satisfaction, and not patient
care.” (Mirror p8, Sun p2, Mail p18, Indie p33, Guardian p21, Telegraph p12, FT p3, Morning Star p4, Unite
release)
RCN moves closer to action –
First ever strike ballot of nurses nears as Royal College of
Nursing says it will call a ballot unless ministers change tack
over changes to public sector pensions (Indie p15, Guardian p20).
Record attacks on NHS staff –
There were 57,830 assaults on doctors, nurses, paramedics and
ambulance crews, up by 1,112 on the previous year (Mirror p40, Morning Star p4).
Briefing against Brodie? –
Cabinet secretary asked to investigate allegations that home
secretary Theresa May’s advisers briefed against the former UK
border chief Brodie Clark as the immigration row rumbles on
(Times p22, Guardian p9, Telegraph p1).
Muslim group banned – Muslims
Against Crusades is to be issued with a banning order (Mirror p24, Sun p2, Express p2, Mail p8, Times p27, Indie p16, Guardian p23, Telegraph p2).
Murdoch and the mafia – James
Murdoch was accused of acting like a ‘mafia boss’ during a bruising
exchange with MPs yesterday. Asked if was aware of the Mafia and
the criminal code of silence - known as omerta - Murdoch claimed
not to be an aficionado on such matters. He then went on say he
stood by his claims that he was not aware of any wrongdoing about
hacking, he did however apologise for using private detectives and
did not rule out closing the Sun if it was proved that its
reporters were also involved in serious wrongdoing (Mirror p7, Sun p6, Express p21, Mail p10-11, Times p1/14-15, Indie p8-10, Guardian p1/4-7, Telegraph p16-17, FT p1/2, Morning Star p1-2).
EDF spying fine – Energy
company fined £1.3 million after being found guilty of spying on
Greenpeace (Mirror p6,
Times p49, Guardian p36).
Rail consultants’ conflict of
interest – The Mirror (p22) reports that a leading
firm of consultants, Interfleet, advising the government on the
Thameslink deal which cost 1,400 Bombardier jobs, admitted a
conflict of interest after it emerged it also undertook work for
Siemens, the firm that eventually won the bid. The Express (p2) reports that following
a question from Labour MEP Glenis Wilmot the European Commission
has confirmed that the UK government could retender the bid taking
into account the impact on jobs, time to call on new transport
secretary Justine Greening to review the bid then...
A350 delay – From rail to the
skies and EADS is delaying the introduction of its Airbus A350
until 2014 as some suppliers were late with key components
(Express p79, Times p55, FT p23).
JLR’s recruitment drive – A
thousand new jobs are to be created at Jaguar Land Rover’s Solihull
plant as part of an expansion drive. Unite national officer for the
automotive industry Roger Maddison said:” This is
excellent news and it is a testament to the skills and dedication
of the whole JLR workforce. Unite and its members at JLR have
worked tirelessly with management to secure long-term investment
from the parent company Tata. This proves once again that the UK
car industry is the place to invest." (Mirror p28, Sun p15, Express p2, Mail p83, Times p53, Indie p66, Guardian p37, Telegraph b3, FT p4)
Smiths down – More trouble
for the high street as stationers WH Smith revealed another dive in
trade yesterday (Sun p61,
Mail p83, Times p57, Indie p68, Guardian p, Telegraph p, FT p, Morning Star p)
Morrisons up – Supermarket
chain sees 2.4 per cent rise in sales over last quarter and has
gained 450,000 more customers following a revamp of its ready meals
range and multi-buy deals (Mirror p62, Express p78, Mail p80, Times p57, Indie p66, Guardian p37, FT p20).
3i doubles dividend – Poor
deals hit private equity firm which tries to distract unhappy
investors after dismal first half figures after posting a six month
loss of £497 million; 10 per cent of the workforce will be made
redundant (Mail p81,
Times p55, Telegraph b2, FT p17).
Workers’ rights reviewed –
With the ‘fire at will’ proposals parked for now ministers are
instead to consult on introducing ‘protected conversations’. In
what sounds like a bullies’ charter it would allow employers to
discuss issues such as poor work performance without the fear of
being referred to an employment tribunal, typical of government to
always consider the employee the problem and not focus on solutions
like backing better pay, support and training (Mail p17, Guardian p22, FT p3, Morning Star p13).
As easy as ein, zwei, drei –
And finally the Times
(p49) reports on some training for Network Rail safety engineers
who are being put through a course in German to help with the safe
running of trains. A key piece of gear – an axle-counting system –
which enables train movements to be tracked is made in Germany and
signal operatives need to learn German phrases to spot failures
that flash up on the system, and no it does not say achtung!
Edited by Mik
Sabiers
Subscribe to this post's comments using
RSS
Comments
