News digest 12 October 2011
The digest opens with Fox still in the
headlines, the NHS bill in the Lords and Bombardier workers on
their way to the Commons. There’s quite a bit of news on pensions
while the recovery is faltering, manufacturing has dipped but back
in Westminster the Commons gets more cash, the justice minister is
under investigation but nuclear power is safe, Virgin wants green
fuel and Ryanair wants to remove loos. M&S is off to Paris
while Le Monde is trying to break a print union as the EU bailout
unravels…
Fox’s fishy friend? – The
furore over Fox and his friend, aide or adviser depending on which
version has been put forward continues to dominate the papers.
Questions are asked about a supposed lie told by top Tories over a
burglary at Fox’s home at the height of last year’s general
election (A Tory spokeswoman said he was alone when a ‘younger
friend’ was actually with him), how Werritty funded his many trips
around the world with Fox, how the charity that supposed Werritty
ran was wound up, whether Werritty was a corporate spy, what was
his security clearance and were security risks allowed. Rising
calls for an independent inquiry could force Cameron’s hand, looks
like the hounds are closing in (Mirror p11, Sun p1/7, Mail p6-7, Times p1/6-7, Indie p4, Guardian p1/4-7, Telegraph p1/4, FT p2, Morning Star p5).
Lansley’s lost bill – Health
secretary Andrew Lansley was left pleading with the House of Lords
to back his Health and Social Care bill which will end the NHS as
we know it. Today sees the crucial vote with peers the ones that
could block the bill. The Mirror (p6-7) has a feature on 40
peers with a financial interest in private health companies while
the FT (p4) says the bill faces a
fatal blow if peers vote for a delay, 135,000 have signed the
38 Degrees petition calling
for a halt, let’s hope the peers listen (Mail p4, Times p11, Indie p4, Guardian p8, Telegraph p2, Morning Star p3, Unite
release).
Time to change track –
Bombardier staff and supporters will join a Unite/RMT rally at
Westminster later today to call on the government to change its
mind over awarding the Thameslink contract to Siemens. Unite
assistant general secretary Diana Holland said:
"Today's tragic unemployment figures are evidence
enough that the government's decision to turn its back on Britain's
last train maker was a disaster. Thousands of jobs up and down the
country depend on the government revisiting the Thameslink
contract.” (Mirror p23, Morning Star p8, Unite
release)
Don’t destroy Remploy - As
the government’s consultation into their future nears its end
Remploy workers will also descend on parliament later today to urge
MPs to keep their factories working (Unite
release).
Gus goes – Top civil servant
Sir Gus O’Donnell announced his retirement yesterday, he is 59 and
will get a pension of more than £100,000 a year when he leaves in
2012. The top job will also be split into three roles for senior
civil servants (Mirror p6,
Express p5, Mail p4, Indie p21, Guardian p7, Telegraph p10, Morning Star p5)
Yes to industrial action –
Kevin Maguire in the Mirror
(p8) backs the 30 November action on pensions arguing simply that
working longer and paying more for a worse pension is a terrible
deal. No argument there.
Boots under fire for ‘risky’ pension
deal – The Times (p48), Indie (p58) and Telegraph (p2) report that high
street retailer Boots is risking a wave of misselling claims over
proposals to save an estimated £75 million by changing its
retirement payments to staff after it asked them to forego
inflation-linked increases in exchange for a one off increase to
their pension pot.
Share falls hit pensions –
The Mail (p19), Times (p53) and FT (p1) all report on concerns over
pensions as the continued dip in the stock market is pressurising
the overall funding of pensions as the gap has grown by £80
billion. The Mirror (p40)
reports that pensioners will need to ‘mind the gap’ as there is now
a 13 year gap between when people retire and when they can actually
afford to.
Fuel poverty and falling
incomes – And the Express (p4) and Mail (p2) follow up on the
pressure on ordinary families citing evidence that shows middle
income families are suffering an unprecedented collapse in living
standards as inflation and poor wages wipe thousands off incomes
just as the government announces the worst unemployment figures for
17 years.
Anaemic UK recovery –
Publishing its latest projections for the UK economy the National
Institute for Economic and Social Research said GDP should have
risen by 0.5 per cent for the last quarter, but that overall
Britain faced its slowest recovery for a century (Times p53, Guardian p28, Telegraph b1, FT p4).
Factory output dips –
Osborne’s ‘march of the makers’ hits a roadblock as manufacturing
production dipped by 0.3 per cent in August leading to more calls
for a Plan B, or anything but what the government is currently
doing (Mail p71, Indie p58, Guardian p28, Telegraph b1, FT p4).
MPs to grill officials over Goldman
deal – The UK’s top tax official is to be grilled over
leaked documents concerning the settlement of a tax dispute between
Goldman Sachs and the authorities which allegedly allowed the
company escape £10 million in interest payments on a failed tax
avoidance scheme (Indie
p1, Guardian p2, Telegraph b1, FT p2).
Justice minister faces
inquiry – The Guardian (p17) and Telegraph (p10) say justice
minister Jonathan Djanogly has admitted to MPs that inquiries have
been launched by his own department following questions over
whether he could personally profit from changes he is pushing
through the House of Commons.
Commons budget boosted – And
while all of us face cuts the Mail (p17) reports that speaker
John Bercow has pushed through a £9 million rise in parliament’s
budget despite auditors refusing to sign off last year’s accounts
as the authorities failed to hand over full details on MPs’
expenses.
Clegg’s registration rethink
– The Guardian (p13)
reports that the deputy prime minister Nick Clegg will drop his
plans to make it easier for people not to register to vote after
being criticised by Labour, the Electoral Commission, psephologists
and electoral registration officers.
Miliband criticised by Field and
Clarke – The Sun
(p2), Telegraph (p10) and
Morning Star (p5)
report that Labour has-beens Frank Field and Charles Clarke have
criticised Labour leader Ed Miliband over his economic policies
saying Labour should apologise for the economic mess, maybe they
should have listened harder to shadow chancellor Ed Balls at
conference.
Conference changes nothing? –
And the Indie (p4) has
the first poll after the conference season which sees no real
change for the parties; the Lib Dems are languishing on 12 per
cent, while Labour is on 38 per cent to the Tories 37 per cent.
Gove ploughs on with free
schools – The Morning Star (p4) reports
that the NUT has challenged education secretary Michael Gove over
free schools warning they will divert vital funds from state
education.
Nuclear power is safe – And
energy secretary Chris Huhne has welcomed a report from the nuclear
regulator that says that UK plants have no fundamental safety
weaknesses. The report was commissioned after the Fukushima
disaster (Mirror p21,
Sun p14, Mail p73, Times p4, Indie p21, Telegraph b5, Morning Star p2).
Virgin wants more green fuel
– The Express (p50) and
Times (p13) report that
Sir Richard Branson is planning to make jet fuel from the waste gas
of steel mills.
Ryanair to remove loos – The
Indie (p10) reports the
airline trying to get approval to expand seating area in its plans
by removing one of the three toilets on its fleet of short haul
aircraft.
Heathrow hits a new high –
BAA announces airport had its best ever September with a 1.4 per
cent rise in passenger numbers (Sun p49, Times p45, Indie p62).
Blow to rural buses – And the
FT (p4) says a Campaign for Better
Transport report shows that rural bus services could see a sharp
decline as councils wrestle with 27 per cent cuts; England’s
regions have already lost over 1,000 bus services.
Boost to supermarkets – The
Mirror (p9) and Sun (p49) report that Sainsbury’s
says it plans to hire 50,000 more employees by 2020 as it embarks
on an expansion project to add 6,000 jobs a year as well as recruit
15,000 staff for the Christmas period.
M&S returns to Paris –
The Sun (p49) Express (p50) and Guardian (p29) all report on the
opening of new Marks & Spencer stores in France with a three
story shop on the Champs-Elysees.
Le Monde tries to break print
union – And still in France the Telegraph (p20) reports that one
of France’s most influential newspapers is trying to break France’s
powerful print union which remains a closed shop, a warning - look
at what happened to the British press once Murdoch had his way…
Slovak blow to EU bailout –
The Slovak parliament yesterday rejected the EU bail-out plan, but
in that usual spirit the country is expected to be given another
chance to vote, this time to make the correct decision. Other
stories focus on capitalisation levels for Europe’s banks which
look to be set at close to nine per cent creating extra pressure to
raise funds, but time is running out for Europe’s leaders to agree
a plan going forward (Sun
p2, Express p15/51,
Mail p2/70, Times p5/45, Guardian p25, Telegraph b1, FT p1/6).
Edited by Mik
Sabiers
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