News digest 20 December 2010
The digest starts with a pledge from
Unite’s Len McCluskey and the news that Cameron has invited union
leaders to Downing Street, housing benefit hangs in the balance,
before a whole list of broken pledges raise their head from
education to health and rail although with all the snow the country
has ground to a halt, again. Elsewhere NATS is up for sale, the
government may be developing a defence plan, but it does not want
to support green energy before there’s some news on the gambling
front, and on the banks, and while the monarch’s head may stay on
the money in your pocket it may well be a different story for your
mail…
Don’t break Britain: Cuts kills
communities – Unite general secretary elect Len McCluskey
leads the headlines on the front page of the Guardian with an opinion piece
(p28) praising the student protestors and calling on a wider
response to the government’s austerity agenda. The paper’s leader
writer (p30) misses the point, but then this is the same lot who
said vote Lib Dem at the last election. Many of the other papers
also report that a delegation of trade union leaders have been
invited to see David Cameron at Downing Street today, Len is going
with Brendan Barber, Billy Hayes and Paul Kenny, but Dave Prentis
from Unison has declined to attend. This is the first time trade
union leaders have met a Tory prime minister at Downing Street in
25 years [quiet at the back for all of you whispering what
about Blair?] (Mail
p2, Times p4, Guardian p1/28/30, Telegraph p6, FT p2,
Liverpool Post,
Evening Standard, BBC News).
Poor will bear the brunt of fiscal
squeeze – Is Larry Elliott’s analysis of the IFS report as
the austerity measures start to kick in. Poverty is expected to be
come more widespread and 900,000 more people will have slipped
below the breadline by 2013, perhaps the Guardian leader writers
might want to read their own paper (Guardian p26).
Decision time: Housing benefit
cuts – It’s all down to the Lib Dems as a backbench
Liberal MP Stephen Lloyd potentially has the casting vote on the a
special committee to consider the cuts to housing benefit support
that could change the whole nature of social housing and see
134,000 people driven from their homes, let’s see if he has any
principles (Mirror p6,
Guardian p14).
Health pledge broken – The
Con-Dems are getting quite good at breaking promises and rapid
U-turns. Unfortunately the NHS reforms that were not in the
manifesto are going ahead and now nurses, cleaners and other vital
workers have been told to surrender any rise in pay for the next
two years or see 35,000 jobs cut, Unite is quoted in the Mirror (p6) as saying:
“This is a blunt threat and negative way of doing
things. It’s unfair.” No argument from me there
(Sun p2, Morning Star p1,
Hinckley Times).
Early education cuts– So what
do you do after you have decided to triple fees for students,
that’s right you cut the level of services you offer, so higher
education is expected to see cuts of at least six per cent from
April, a full year before fees rise. Higher costs and lower
services seems to be the mantra of this government (Guardian p12, Telegraph p6).
High speed rail shift – And
yet more U-turns as the high speed rail route could be slightly
rerouted to save some angry Conservative MPs after there was a
backlash in Tory heartlands, transport secretary Phil Hammond is
due to make a statement to parliament on the route this afternoon
(Mail p5, Guardian p16, Telegraph p10, FT p2).
Going nowhere – There’s
blanket coverage of the snow in the papers with the Mirror (p1) calling for Hammond’s
head over ignoring a report he received last July that outlined how
to plan for winter weather. Most people are struggling to get
anywhere with roads, closed, airports shut and thousands of flights
cancelled, and it’s going to continue (Sun p6, Express p1, Mail p1, Times p1, Indie p1, Guardian p1, Telegraph p1, FT p1, Morning Star p2).
BA ballot to open – Talking
of airports, the Unite ballot at British Airways is due to open
tomorrow; the latest step in the Brutish Airways dispute (Times p35).
NATS going – And the
government is outlining plans to sell off its remaining 49 per cent
stake in National Air Traffic Services, a number of defence
companies including Lockheed Martin have expressed interest, the
sale is expected to raise about £500 million for Osborne’s war
chest (Times p33).
BAE’s opportunities – Good
and bad news for the defence company. The FT (p2) reports that the company is
expected to plead guilty to a charge of criminal accounting in a
case that throws some light on the network of agents selling
weapons around the world. The Morning Star (p4) cites
the Campaign Against the Arms Trade condemning the plea bargain and
expected fine as ‘peanuts’ in comparison to the real costs paid by
the people of Tanzania, conversely the Express (p44) reports that BAE
believes Britain has the scope to expand its warship industry as a
result of the decision to go ahead with building the two new
aircraft carriers which has helped to safeguard up to 10,000 jobs
at six shipyards. BAE is now developing a new global combat ship,
the Type 26 frigate.
A defence plan – And the
Indie (p32) highlights
that this week should see the publication of a green paper to look
at how spending decisions can help support future sales for defence
companies as well as government defence programmes. Most
importantly the government seems to have got the need for educating
workers with highly specialised skills. A five year plan for
defence industrial and technology policy is due to be formalised in
the spring.
Powerfuel rescue blocked –
But no government intervention for green energy company Powerfuel
which went into administration earlier this month. The clean-coal
plant will not be rescued as the government only wants to support
small scale projects (Guardian p24).
GM going green – And the
Guardian (p21) also
reports on wider acceptance of the Chevrolet Volt in the US as the
electric hybrid vehicle starts to gain greater acceptance, Nissan’s
Leaf is also getting good feedback and the Times (p44) features Nissan’s
Carlos Ghosn who has come out with all cylinders firing behind
electric vehicles with ever longer journeys becoming
possible...
Place your bets – Ladbrokes
looks to fancy a flutter as it bids for 888, approximately £240
million on the table (Express p44, Mail p59, Times p38, Indie p34, Guardian p25, Telegraph b1, FT p20).
Vince threatens banks – And
talking of gambling business secretary Vince Cable is cited in many
papers over his threat to take ‘robust action’ against banks over
bonuses as directors at RBS – 84 per cent owned by the state –
begin discussion on possibly awarding £1 billion in bonuses to its
investment bankers. And RBS is also looking to see if can pay cash
bonuses of some £50,000 per banker despite that option supposedly
being banned, seems management will never learn (Express p2, Mail p8, Times p3, Guardian p24, Telegraph b1, FT p2).
HSBC chief signs off –
Michael Geoghean stood down last Friday and is interviewed in the
Telegraph (b5) where he
looks back on his four decades in banking, the first point he makes
is that he’s made a $1 million bet to get fit, well I suppose it is
for charity but does it highlight the attitude of many at the top
of the sector?
Lending on target – Although
RBS and Lloyds Banking Group are commended for hitting government
set lending targets to business. RBS is on track to lend £50
billion and Lloyds £40 billion, of which over a quarter is to SMEs,
no mention of what the interest rate charged (FT p20).
Rising interest rates –
Continuing fears over inflation lead CBI to forecast a rise in
interest rates from spring of next year, which will mean less money
in your pocket (Times
p37, Indie p31,
Guardian p27, Telegraph b1).
Off with her head – And while
the Queen can be expected to remain on your money almost all papers
report on the latest blunder by the government which could see the
monarch’s head vanish from stamps with the privatisation of the
Royal Mail. While a private operator would need approval to use the
monarch’s image, there is no obligation in the bill to use it in
the first place, that will go down well in the shires (Mirror p19, Express p7, Mail p25, Times p14, Indie p19, Guardian p13, Telegraph p12).
Edited by Mik Sabiers
Subscribe to this post's comments using
RSS
Comments
