News digest 15 November 2011
The top story remains Europe as even with
the technocrats in charge the markets seem to rule the roost,
Cameron says red tape is to blame, while May says it was nothing to
do with her while evidence emerges of the Sun’s involvement in
hackgate. As Miliband goes on a ‘prawn sandwich’ offensive
transport minister Theresa Villiers dashes Bombardier workers’
hopes, project Merlin does not meet its targets again while
electricians campaign to protect pay, the FDA and Prospect heavily
back action on pensions and Cameron lashes out at Downing Street
meaning there could be a feline addition to the dole
queue…
Eurozone remains under
pressure - Despite passing new austerity measures over the
weekend Italy is still under pressure. Yesterday the Italian
government had to pay more to borrow money after selling €3 billion
worth of five-year bonds at a 6.29 per cent yield; a new eurozone
record. The eurozone was also hit by a collapse in industrial
output across all the major economies and addressing her CDU party
conference in Leipzig yesterday German chancellor Angela
Merkel said that Europe is facing its worst crisis since the second
world war and more interestingly called for Europe to build a
‘political union’ to underpin the euro, that’s bound to be a red
rag to eurosceptic Tories (Sun p2, Express p44, Mail p58, Times p1/11, Indie p4-5, Guardian p14-15, Telegraph b4, FT p1/6-7, Morning Star p7).
Europe’s red tape to
blame for downturn – Speaking at the lord mayor’s banquet
prime minister David Cameron blamed labour laws for the downturn
rather than his austerity measures. Cameron is also looking at the
crisis as an opportunity to allow nation states to deregulate laws
such as the working time directive. Some of the papers now talk of
a feel-bad factor gripping the UK and data from the OECD showed
that the UK was actually facing a poorer outlook than the other six
members of the G7 (Sun p2,
Express p2, Mail p2, Indie p5, Guardian p14, Telegraph p1, FT p2).
Border row continues – The
papers continue to focus on the immigration row making more
uncomfortable reading for home secretary Theresa May. Today’s
update has news that border checks were relaxed a grand total of
2,500 times, private jets were exempted and overall checks were
reduced at 28 airports and ports. Brodie Clark gave evidence to the
home affairs select committee today so May’s time may be limited
(Mirror p4-5, Sun p6, Express p9, Mail p12, Times p17, Indie p13, Guardian p4, Telegraph p1).
Hackgate: Leveson enquiry
opens – The full scale of phone hacking at News
International, and possibly other newspaper groups, finally began
to emerge yesterday as the Leveson inquiry into press standards
heard that 28 News International staff are named in seized notes
from a private investigator that specialised in hacking, the
scandal may spread to thousands of people having been hacked
(Mirror p14, Sun p2, Express p4, Mail p8-9, Times p6, Indie p1-3, Guardian p1/6-7, Telegraph p1, FT p4, Morning Star p1).
Minister hits Bombardier workers'
hopes – From a scandal to a scandalous decision and
transport minister Theresa Villiers’ visit to Derby yesterday was
slated as a visit without any value. Unite national secretary Julia
Long said: "The workers at Derby thought they might get
some good news when they heard Theresa Villiers was going to visit.
Instead she raised their hopes and then dashed them in the run-up
to Christmas. It was extremely frustrating, as she gave no
guarantees of new work, she only covered the same old ground the
government has been going over for months. The workers here are
very disappointed.” (Mirror p24, Express p5, Morning Star p1, Unite
release)
Miliband on prawn sandwich
tour – The FT (p2)
reports Labour leader Ed Miliband has embarked on what has been
termed a ‘prawn sandwich’ offensive to win over industry and
corporate Britain. Mirroring the ‘prawn cocktail’ offensive of
meeting with the City to deal with concerns Miliband is looking to
ensure he has the backing of business even with his attacks on
predators, expect him to have to put in a lot of miles…
Poorest hit hardest by fuel
hikes – People with low incomes are spending nearly twice
as much of their income on filling their cars in contrast to well
off drivers. An increasing total of MPs are demanding a cut in
petrol prices – a debate will be held in the Commons today - while
the oil companies continue to take in massive profits. Cameron is
wavering over whether to scrap the planned 3p rise in petrol duty
due in January (Mirror p48,
Sun p12, Mail p1, Times p1, Guardian p4, Telegraph p14).
Osborne to offer loans to small
firms – The Mail
(p4) says the chancellor is expected to offer £4 billion of state
backed loans as a way to drive growth in the private sector,
thought he’d made an agreement with the banks to do lend more…
Merlin missed – With a £1
billion shortfall for the third quarter in a row Britain’s biggest
banks have missed their lending obligations under the government’s
Project Merlin designed to help business expand out of the
recession (Mirror p48,
Sun p2, Times p40, Indie p51, Guardian p21, Telegraph b3, FT p, Morning Star p)
Split Lloyds and RSB – Tory
think tank Free Enterprise urges break up of high street banks to
end the ‘comfortable oligopoly’ on the high street (Times p18).
Ban tent protests – And if
London mayor Boris Johnson gets his way there’ll be no more
protests outside St Paul’s or elsewhere as the Express (p8) says he is calling for
legislation to bring an end to “the crusties bivouacked
outside St Paul’s”, suppose we’ll have to wait until
May for an end to pontificating mayors that rack up fares for
ordinary Londoners…
Electricians leaflet Corus
site – The Morning Star (p2) reports
that electricians kept up the pressure on rogue employers by
leafleting site gates at Corus over plans for new contracts which
could see electrician’s pay slashed by 35 per cent, Unite is
currently balloting workers at Balfour Beatty – one of the
contractors at Corus – over possible strike action due to the cuts
to pay and terms and conditions.
Prospect and FDA vote to take
action – The march towards action on 30 November continues
as the FDA and Prospect both back action. The FDA said 81 per cent
of members were in favour of action (on a 54 per cent turnout)
while 75 per cent of Prospect members voted yes on a turnout of 52
per cent. Unite’s ballot result is due tomorrow afternoon (Express p5, Mail p19, Times p8, Guardian p9, Telegraph p2, FT p4).
Academies £200K pay – The
Guardian (p8) reports that
charities running academy schools are using public funds to pay
senior staff six figure salaries with some earning more than
£240,000. Education specialists fear that public funds which would
be better directed to pupils may be being diverted to pay stellar
salaries.
Lack of confidence in Care Quality
Commission – The Guardian (p1/12) reports that the
health watchdog is under fire over its ability to safeguard
patients.
Banker behind private hospital pledges
patient power – The Indie (p21) reports chief
executive Ali Parsa of Circle healthcare, the private provider
which is to take over Hinchingbrooke hospital, has said he plans to
introduce wholescale change in the hospital and also publish
patient feedback on a weekly basis.
Four Seasons in danger – The
Sun (p41) reports that the
company that took over 140 care homes from bust rival Southern
Cross has been put on the critical list after a report said it had
a “precarious financial model”.
Premier hit by poisoning –
Debt-stricken food company hit by recall of Loyd Grossman sauces,
47,000 jars have been recalled in a botulism outbreak, amid fears
of an even further decline in its poor profits (Times p49).
Innovation flops – The
Indie (p52) says that
Britain has finished last in the league of the world’s most
innovative firms with just one company in the world-wide top 100,
the US, Japan and France hold the top three positions while the UK
is equal last with Liechtenstein.
Interserve gains - The
Mail (p61) reports that
outsourcing giant Interserve announced it had won £600 million
worth of contracts since June taking its order book to £5.3
billion.
Jaguar jumps in China – The
Express (p44) and Mail (p61) report that the car
company has seen an 115 per cent rise in demand in the crucial
Chinese market; profits for Jaguar Land Rover advanced to £287
million.
Oxford keeps and eye on
passengers – The Times (p17) and Indie (p9) report a total
disregard for civil liberties after Oxfordshire county council
announced it is to ensure all of its 600 licensed cabs are fitted
with cameras to record all conversations.
Keeping an eye on bags – And
a number of the papers report that Ryanair staff are being paid
bonuses for spotting bags that exceed the company’s hand luggage
limits (Mirror p8, Express p7, Mail p7, Telegraph p11).
Lashing out in Downing Street
– And finally the Mirror
(p4) reports on a little local difficulty for David Cameron,
apparently the prime minister was settling down to dinner in
Downing Street when he spotted a mouse; rather than scream and
climb on the table his response was to throw a fork at the rodent.
Seems like the Downing Street cat Larry could soon be joining the
increased ranks of the unemployed…
Edited by Mik
Sabiers
Subscribe to this post's comments using
RSS
Comments
