News digest 17 May 2011
The digest starts with Cameron’s supposed
listening exercise on the NHS, before politicians are being caught
out or in the courts, there’s a league table for leading
universities, a possible pension time bomb for women, some possible
help for the high street, but less tax from Boots, more airline
strikes could be on the cards, and just how bad is your
boss?
Not listening – Prime
minister David Cameron visits Ealing Hospital as part of the
listening exercise to declare that he loves the NHS and that he
won’t bring in competition for it’s own sake. Interestingly he
chooses a hospital where a private care firm runs the Urgent Care
Centre, is that a coded message? Unite national officer for health
Rachael Maskell said: ”David Cameron wants it both ways
with the Health and Social Care bill. He said there will be no
privatisation, no ‘cherry picking’ of services by private companies
and no up-front costs for care, but we question how the prime
minister’s ‘substantive’ changes are going to be incorporated into
the legislation … the bill is so flawed that it should be
scrapped.” (Mirror p10, Sun p2, Mail p10, Indie p16, Guardian p4, Telegraph p8, FT p2, Morning Star p1, Unite
release)
Huhnedunnit? – More pressure
on the energy secretary as most of the papers continue to question
the facts over points, Huhne welcomes the police investigation, but
will there be a speedy conclusion? (Mirror p19, Sun p19, Express p8, Mail p1, Times p5, Indie p10-11, Guardian p9, Telegraph p1, FT p4)
Lord a lying? – And Tory peer
Lord Hanningfield was in Chelmsford Crown Court yesterday over
alleged false expense claims, he denies the six charges (Mirror p19, Sun p4, Times p12, Telegraph p5).
Judge accuses? – And the
super injunction row continues with a judge accusing the woman in
the case of trying to blackmail the premiership star, his super
injunction has been extended, although you can read all about it on
Twitter if you really want to know who the footballer is, plus the
actors and the rest (Mirror
p1, Sun p15, Express p1, Mail p9, Times p3, Indie p7, Guardian p19, Telegraph p3, FT p1).
DSK in Rikers – And Dominique
Strauss-Kahn has been denied bail in the assault case and sent to
the notorious New York jail, potentially opening up a vacancy as
head of the IMF if the case does not reach a swift conclusion
(Mirror p11, Sun p11, Express p7, Mail p13, Times p6-7, Indie p1, Guardian p1, Telegraph p1, FT p1, Morning Star p7).
Education tables – And from
courts to the class room or lecture hall as the Guardian (p2) publishes its list
of rankings for leading universities, Cambridge overtakes Oxford to
get the top spot. All the universities in the top 20 positions plan
to charge the full £9,000 (except the LSE which has yet to
announce) but the results also show that many of the universities
with low rankings are still planning to charge the maximum too.
Artist approves of arts cuts
– And the 47-year old ‘Young British Artist’ Tracy Emin has once
again backed the Conservative cuts to the arts because she thinks
arts minister Ed Vaizey is ‘amazing’, shame the same can’t be said
for her own contribution to the country’s artworks (Times p16, Guardian p3).
Wrong RBS estimate –
Launching a private member’s bill to force banks to issue accounts
according to GAAP and not IFRS standards Tory MP Steve Webb says
the bank may be more exposed to toxic loans than its has revealed
believing there could be £25 billion more losses to be taken into
account (Times
p43).
Pension time bomb – And the
Express (p4) and Mail (p2) report that Lord Hutton
has indicated that the equalisation of the retirement age for women
may be progressing too fast. The speed of the change could see
women lose out to the tune of £6,500 a year.
Part time work free for all –
The Mail (p10) highlights
even more fears from Britain’s bosses about the right to work
flexibly after the government consultation called ‘Modern
Workplaces’ was published yesterday.
Helping the high street – And
the government has called in Mary Portas to look into regenerating
Britain’s high streets which account for 10 per cent of workers and
eight per cent of GDP, but are facing a decade of despair as
closures continue (Guardian p5, Telegraph b3).
Empty Boots – But high street
firms don’t necessarily help us as Alliance Boots paid just £59
million in tax even though last year’s profits rose by 14 per cent
to £1.05 billion, while sales hit £20.2 billion. UK stores sales
rose by just 0.5 per cent, the company has challenged tax
protestors, but Boots pays about £100 million less than before it
switched to Switzerland (Mirror p47, Sun p39, Express p45, Mail p66, Times p40, Indie p33, Guardian p24, Telegraph b3, FT p20).
Nyet to BP – BP’s £10 billion
Arctic tie up with Rosneft of Russia looks overt after agreement
was not reached by last night’s deadline although there are hopes
that the deal could be revisited at a later date (Express p44, Mail p66, Times p37, Indie p36, Guardian p24, Telegraph b1, FT p1).
Ja to Rolls-Royce – German
engine maker minded to accept the raised €3.4 billion offer
(Indie p39).
Perhaps to port privatisation
– The Times (p43)
reports the latest figures from Dover Port show a two per cent fall
in revenues to £57 million with flat operating profits at £11.9
million. A 10 per cent drop in lorries using the port contrasted
with Eurotunnel’s rise of 42 per cent to 1.08 million, looks like
competition is getting harder, but the owners are more interested
in privatisation rather than the people’s port idea.
More air strikes? – Virgin
Atlantic is the latest airline hit as pilots are to vote in a
ballot for strike action over a four per cent pay rise (Mirror p5, Sun p2, Mail p25, Morning Star p2).
Britain’s bad bosses – And
finally the Mirror (p20) and
Indie (p35) report that
according to a poll conducted by Monster the UK has the worst
bosses in the world, with 41 per cent of Britons thinking their
boss is totally incompetent; or could it be that Britain’s workers
are just good at complaining?
Edited by Mik
Sabiers
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