News digest 20 September 2010
What is it about aviation and courts?
There’s wall to wall (or should that be cloud to cloud) coverage of
Unite’s announcement that it is being forced to take legal action
after another airline has gone back on its commitments, the banks
are up to their old tricks again and trouble’s brewing at the
Lib-Dem conference as Unite leads the call for a better way of
dealing with the deficit…
BMI case takes off - Unite is
taking BMI to the high court for reneging on a pay increase which
was promised to more than 3,000 staff at the airline. The staff
accepted a deferred rise in their salaries to help the company
through the recession, but the payment is now long overdue.
Aviation national officer Brian Boyd said: "Staff
agreed to defer the increase to help the company during
difficult times, they are still waiting for the company to honour
its end of the bargain. Staff have not had an increase in earnings
since 2008.” (BBC news, Mirror p19, Sun p2, Mail p63, Times p43, Guardian p25, Telegraph b2, Morning Star p4)
BA back in court – And the BA
dispute may return to the courts as Unite lodges an appeal over
travel concessions for the more than 7,000 members that took strike
action earlier this year (Guardian p9, Telegraph p2).
BP leak sealed – The FT (p1) reports that BP has now confirmed
the blown out well as ‘effectively dead’ which brings the five
million barrel leak to an end, although there’s still the ongoing
clean up, oh yes and the compensation claims (Sun p23, Mail p63, Guardian p23).
Lloyds buy–back? – The
Express (p43) says Lloyds
Banking Group is coming under investor pressure to buy back
billions of shares from the taxpayer.
Santander float
shelved? – But the planned float of Santander’s UK
business this autumn looks to be on hold as market jitters scare
away investors (Indie
p29).
Northern Rock in a rush –
Rather than wait for borrowers to pay back their mortgages, the
bank is looking at offloading debt by selling some of its loans
(FT p20).
No loans allowed – The
Mail (p34) reports that
bank loans are rising, however it is the interest charged rather
than the number of loans as Bank of England research shows banks
are making excess profits, again (Times p37, Guardian p25, Telegraph p1).
House sales slump – The
Indie (p25) also notes
that house prices have fallen for the third month in a row, with
estate agents reporting a record average of unsold properties.
Cut benefits to build roads –
And the CBI has weighed in with its latest analysis, it thinks
unemployment has peaked (is it neglecting to take into account all
the public sector jobs to be cut?), but says big infrastructure
projects should go ahead (Sun p24, Express p43, Mail p63, Indie p29, Guardian p27, Telegraph b1, FT p3).
Bogus blue badges – And the
Mail (p25) says half of
all ‘blue badge’ holders are not disabled, but then goes on to say
that only one in ten are bogus in Camden, while it’s closer to half
in Newcastle.
Bus trips less stressful –
The Mail (p21) also
offers an alternative route for those whose badges are
withdrawn…
Electric car surge – The
FT (p24) has an in-depth feature
on electric cars with forecast sales set to top seven million in
2020, up from under one million now.
Leahy’s legacy – And there’s
also an in-depth feature on Tesco running all week in the FT (p12) looking at how a struggling
national grocer became a global behemoth.
Town hall fat cats – Many of
the papers report on findings that there are 40,000 public sector
workers earning more than £100,000 a year, 9,000 earn more than the
prime minister (Mirror p4,
Sun p2, Express p2, Mail p1, Telegraph p1).
Lib-Dem conference 1: Tax dodgers
targeted – And the other main story of the day is the
Lib-Dem conference in Liverpool. Finally some mention of looking at
those companies (and individuals) that avoid paying tax as chief
secretary Danny Alexander says he has the avoiders in his sights
(All papers).
Lib-Dem conference 2:
Mass protest - Unite’s Tony Woodley, speaking at
the anti-cuts demonstration as the conference opened, said:
"The Con-Dem coalition has no public mandate for the
assassination of our public services. These cuts are set to
be savage and will be a betrayal of the electorate. As always it
will be working people who become the victims.”
Unions will hold a series of fringe meetings to discuss the impact
of spending cuts, there’s a Unite fringe at 1pm tomorrow (Morning Star p1, Unite
press release).
Lib-Dem conference 3: Clegg
condemned - as Conservative mini-me with delegates worried
that the party has given up its principles for power, it has
(Guardian p1).
Cashcroft quits – Talking of
Tories Cashcroft is expected to stand down as deputy party chairman
as he launches a broadside against Cameron saying he should have
won the election more convincingly and also hints that Hague might
go too (Mirror p6, Sun, p2, Express p2, Telegraph p17, Guardian p6, Indie p14, FT p2).
Labour leadership: Mandelson attacks
Ed – Younger Miliband blamed for writing election
manifesto as elder’s backers buckle as race tightens, only two days
left to vote (Mirror p6,
Sun p2, Guardian p7).
Swedish right gains –
Unfortunately the far-right Swedish Democrats gain seats in
Sweden’s national parliament for the first time as centre right
government re-elected for first time (Guardian p16, Telegraph p20, FT p7).
Papal protest – And finally
as pope Benedict heads back to the Vatican after a somewhat
eventful trip (all papers) the Morning Star (p3) reports
that 20,000 people took to London’s streets on Saturday to protest
at his visit.
Edited by Mik Sabiers
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