News digest 16 August 2011
The digest starts with Cameron’s response
to the riots with a divide between the right wing press who say
throw the book at rioters and throw away the key while the
left-leaning papers try to understand the causes. Elsewhere Osborne
calls for more cuts as Europe’s leaders meet to deal with the
latest twist in the crisis, Shell has its own crisis as it deals
with the worst leak in British waters for 10 years and there are
more calls for support for the regions and manufacturing. Elsewhere
there’s a few acquisitions on the company front, possibly some
shady share dealing in supermarkets, students getting creative to
avoid debt and while UK backs may be backing bomb makers casualties
are rising in Libya as fighting becomes fiercer and the rebels
close in on the capital…
Riots: A week on - The riots
are slowing dropping down the news agenda with less coverage today,
although all papers do focus on prime minister David Cameron’s
speech to a group of youngsters in a youth centre in his
constituency, which will probably end up being shut down due to the
Con-Dem cuts. The Times
front page sums up Cameron’s plans as ‘The big crackdown’
saying families of benefit claimants will be subject to background
checks, child offenders will be named and shamed and people could
be kicked out of council housing, magistrates have been told to
disregard the normal rules of sentencing too. No mention what
happens to the children of millionaires, will the parents have to
pay extra taxes? Deputy prime minister Nick Clegg says rioters must
clean up their own mess as he joins with Cameron to try and head
off Ed Miliband’s call for a public inquiry. Miliband takes a very
different approach opening up with a call for understanding and
saying kneejerk reactions can lead to dangerous consequences
(Sun p1/6-7, Express p, Mail p1/5-6, Times p1/6-9, Indie p1/6-8, Guardian p1/4-7, Telegraph p1/4-5, FT p3, Morning Star p1/3).
Osborne calls for more cuts –
The Mail (p2) reports UK
chancellor George Osborne yesterday said other countries should
follow the UK’s lead and cut budgets further to deal with their
deficits and the global economic crisis.
Europe should spread the debt
– As the latest figures reveal the European Central bank spent a
higher than expected €22 billion on buying eurozone government
bonds last week pressure is growing on eurozone members to share
the burden, which is effectively asking Germany to put its hands in
its pocket, trouble is the latest economic figures show the German
economy slowing to a standstill and German chancellor Merkel’s
coalition is looking shaky if moves to further fiscal union take
shape. Italy is being asked to deal with its debt but could face a
general strike as Berlusconi looks to liberalise its labour markets
and add competition to the country’s services sector. Overall the
crisis seems to be escalating so today’s summit in Paris should
give a good feel to where things are going (Times p36, Indie p28, Guardian p25, Telegraph b1/5, FT p1/6).
Oil spill spreads – An
underwater pipeline leak from a Shell platform east of Aberdeen has
spilled more than 200 tonnes of oil, making it the worst spill in
UK waters in a decade. Taken to task for its lack of openness Shell
says it has now stemmed the leak but was still trying to stop the
remaining oil in the pipeline from leaking out (Sun p2, Express p2, Mail p4, Times p31, Indie p19, Guardian p9, Telegraph p2/b2, FT p3).
Regions need support – The
Guardian (p13) and
FT (p2) follow up on the CIPD
report and the danger of a widening north south divide. The
Guardian also looks at a TUC report that shows while jobs have been
created in the capital there are 158,000 less people in work in the
UK as a whole; the latest unemployment figures are out tomorrow
with fears that manufacturing will be hit...
Made in Britain – Larry
Elliott in the Guardian
(p27) starts a special report on UK manufacturing, noting the
sector has faced three big recessions in the past 30 years and that
it is nearly 15 years since the UK recorded a trade surplus in
goods and services; last year the deficit in goods was £98.8
billion, so maybe that should be Not Made in Britain…
Dyson demands incentives –
Talking of which James Dyson has joined Rolls-Royce and BAE Systems
in calling on the government to boost industrial research and
education amid signs that moves to rebalance the economy are
faltering. Dyson said he planned to employ 150 more engineers at
his research centre, although remember the company assembles its
products in the far east (Sun p39, Express p44, Mail p59, Times p35, Indie p27, Guardian p27, Telegraph b1, FT p16).
Spectris buys Omega – One
manufacturing success story as the Mail (p59) Telegraph (b5) report that UK
engineering firm Spectris has bought its US rival to build its US
footprint in the control panel parts sector.
Google buys Motorola – And in
a major buy which will add 17,000 patents to its business Google
announced that it had agreed to buy mobile phone manufacturer
Motorola in a £7.7 billion deal as it looks to take on Apple and
its iPhone with its own Android platform. Google was quick to say
Android will remain open source (Sun p39, Express p45, Mail p58, Times p31, Indie p17, Guardian p24, Telegraph b1, FT p1/17).
Facebook valued at $65
billion – The FT (p18)
reports Interpublic’s sale of a 0.2 per cent stake in the social
networking site generated $133 million. The sale was to an
undisclosed buyer as Facebook is not publicly listed, the company’s
value has increased fivefold in the last two years.
Virgin sells its UKTV stake –
Virgin Media yesterday sold its stake in the television group
behind channels Dave, Yesterday and UK Gold for £339 million. The
business has been sold to US television company Scripps Networks
after Virgin indicated it wants to focus on high speed broadband
services (Express p44,
Indie p30, Telegraph b2, FT p14).
Exiting Europe – Wincanton to
sell remaining continental operations, employing 3,000, to Rhenus
in Germany for £38.6 million as the company focuses on its UK
distribution operations (Express p45, Indie p32).
Asda after Iceland –
Britain’s second largest supermarket chain said it was interested
in acquiring a number of Iceland operations, primarily larger
sites, but would not make a bid for the whole operations (Mail p58, Times p35, FT p16).
Sainsbury’s stumps up – The
Guardian (p24) reports
that the supermarket chain looks to bring in its own price promise
as it wants to reassure customers they get a good deal at the
checkout.
Ex Morrison’s chief faces
fine – The FT (p1)
reports that Sir Ken Morrison, who built up the eponymous
supermarket chain and retired in March 2008, is expected to be
fined up to £210,000 by the FSA for allegedly failing to disclose a
series of share sales.
New Premier chief’s challenge
- UK manufacturer of Mr Kipling’s cakes and Branston pickles sees
new boss Mike Clarke take charge with a host of challenges to deal
with £1 billion of debt and $3 billion in pension liabilities
(FT p17).
Students seeking funding –
And from the City to the classroom and the Guardian (p12) reports that more
students are looking for firms to fund their university courses.
Others are looking overseas with many European degrees teaching in
English, the papers highlights Maastricht as a key example.
Students seeking courses –
The Express (p25) reports a
record number of students are likely to miss out on a university
place as competition is fierce in the year before tuition fees
treble.
Councils can still veto free
schools – The Guardian (p8) also reports a
setback for people wanting to set up free schools as councils will
still have the right to veto schools on planning grounds.
Mitie rise – The Express (p44) reports maintenance
and cleaning firm reports record orders from government departments
and local authorities looking to cut costs by outsourcing, no
mention to what that does to the workers’ pay packets.
Banks backing bombs? – The
Indie (p1) splashes
with the news that state owned banks RBS and Lloyds are continuing
to lend to arms firms that are involved with cluster bombs owing to
a loophole that says only direct investment should not be
supported…
Libyan endgame? – Talking of
falling support a few of the papers focus back on Libya with
attacks coming closer to the capital Tripoli, the fight could be
moving towards the endgame, but it could get bloody and what’s the
bet there’s no plan for what happens next, then again was there
ever (Mail p12, Times p25, Indie p20-21, Guardian p15, Telegraph p12, FT p4, Morning Star p7).
Edited by Mik Sabiers
(No
copy of today’s Mirror)
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