News digest 21 October 2011
The digest opens with wall to wall
coverage of Gadaffi’s death in Libya while back home crime is
rising, there’s a cabinet conflict over growth and Cable still
wants to cut employment rights. Cameron is facing a rising revolt
while Europe’s leaders cannot agree on dealing with the debt. As
the price of a first class stamp could soar and energy prices
continue to rise, ordinary people focus on thrift but Debenhams has
expansion plans and G4S is slammed over its bid for ISS. There’s a
row at Diageo over pay and some choice words from an old admiral on
cuts to the defence budget…
Crossfire or execution? – All
the papers cover the death of colonel Gadaffi, the ousted Libyan
leader, who was killed by forces loyal to the revolutionary
government. Robert Fisk sums Gadaffi up as “a crazy
combination of Don Corleone and Donald Duck” while
most of the papers dwell on how he turned from liberator to pariah
to friend and then enemy. Is the Arab Spring mirroring the fall of
Communism (could Gadaffi’s death could be compared to the execution
of Romanian dictator Nicolae Ceausescu) or is this a lull before
dictators and despots return? (Mirror p1-5, Sun p1/3-9, Express p1/4-5, Mail p1-11, Times p1-11, Indie p1-7, Guardian p1-5, Telegraph p1-8, FT p1/5, Morning Star p1)
Crime rises – After 16 years
of falling crime levels the first year of the Con-Dem coalition has
seen a jump in offences. 147,000 more crimes were committed in the
year to the end of June with burglary up 10 per cent and knife
crime up seven per cent. This is before the Con-Dems cuts to police
kick in when there will be 16,000 less bobbies on the beat
(Mirror p17, Sun p19, Express p41, Guardian p17, Telegraph p20).
Dale Farm evictions end – The
last of the travellers left the Essex site yesterday in a calm and
orderly fashion but into an uncertain future. With the 10 year
battle over the bailiffs have moved in to dismantle what remains
(Mirror p6, Sun p15, Express p13, Mail p32, Indie p11, Guardian p20, FT p4, Morning Star p3).
Call for 30 year mortgages –
For those with homes the Indie (p68) reports housing
minister Grant Shapps yesterday floated the idea of 30 year
mortgages when he addressed the Building Societies Association,
lenders were dismissive of the idea.
Banks slated – The Mail (p85) and Guardian (p31) report that Lord
Turner, chair of the City watchdog the Financial Services
Authority, yesterday tore into the ‘rip off’ banking industry
calling for radical reform of the financial system and argued that
the banks need to lend more to businesses.
Cabinet conflict over growth
– The FT (p2) follows up on Vince
Cable’s recent comments saying it is indicative of growing tensions
within the cabinet about the government’s growth strategy, although
many would argue there’s a ‘no growth’ strategy judging from the
evidence. The piece then goes on to look at proposed changes to
employment law that Cable is currently drawing up with hints that
the 90-day consultation period on redundancies may be cut, removing
small business from regulation, but looks like it has rejected the
radical proposals for firms to be able to hire and fire at will,
one of the ideas from Steve Hilton, prime minister David Cameron’s
strategy guru.
Cameron faces rising revolt on
Europe – And even though the prime minister moved the
debate over having an in or out referendum on the UK’s membership
of the European Union to try and intimidate his backbenchers he is
facing a rising revolt as up top 60 rebel MPs look to defy the whip
including some ministerial aides (Mirror p6, Sun p2, Express p6-7, Mail p12, Times p22-23, Indie p10, Guardian p13, Telegraph p16, FT p2).
EU stares into the abyss –
And disagreement between Germany and France means that crunch time
is getting ever closer on dealing with the debt crisis in the
eurozone (Mail p85,
Times p55/62-63,
Indie p12-13, Guardian p28-29, Telegraph b1, FT p1/6, Morning Star p7).
Gove gains from City funding
– The Telegraph (p18)
reports that education secretary Michael Gove raised £30,000 in
private donations from City financiers, some of whom also provided
funds to former defence secretary Liam Fox’s unofficial adviser
Adam Werritty.
St Paul’s split – The
Times (p30-31) looks at
the latest on the Occupy London demonstration at St Paul’s arguing
that some local traders have been hit by tourists staying away,
either due to the protestors or heavy handed police tactics. The
Guardian (p18-19) has a
special report on the growing concerns about the actions and number
of undercover officers amid fears that convictions of activists
could be unsafe.
easyNHS - From the police to
the health service and the Sun (p2) of all papers reports a
comment from Clare Gerada of the Royal College of GPs who says the
NHS will soon resemble a budget airline with places limited to
those who muscle in first.
First class to cost a lot
more – It may soon break the budget to send a letter as
the Royal Mail was yesterday given the go ahead by Ofcom to charge
as much as it likes for first class stamps raising fears that the
price could hit £1. The proposal to end the cap opens the way for
privatisation but could be a double edged sword as price rises
price senders out of the market (Mirror p14, Sun p60, Mail p27, Times p13, Telegraph p19, FT p4).
Postcode lottery on energy
prices – And the Mirror (p11), Sun (p27) and Mail (p37) continue to look at
energy prices with evidence showing that the big six energy firms
charge different prices depending on where people live and that
many loyal customers were paying over the odds for their energy.
Unite has called for an urgent debate on energy, Kevin Coyne, Unite
national officer for energy said: "Sky high energy
bills are fuelling inflation but things could get even worse. The
coalition government's complacency on energy policy and innovation
is driving the country towards an energy crisis.”
(Unite
release)
RWE to offload npower – The
Mail (p86) says the
German energy giant RWE has put npower – which supplies six million
UK households - on the market as it looks to offload assets to
raise capital.
Shift to thrift – The
Times (p58) reports
that British consumers are going to become ever more focused on
bargain buys as the poor economic figures, falling house prices and
frozen pay herald year of the cheapskate.
Debenhams signals expansion –
However the Debenhams chief executive countered that as he
announced an ambitious expansion drive which could see shops
refurbished, new acquisitions and the possibility of 4,500 jobs
being created (Mirror p60,
Express p78, Mail p87, Times p59, Indie p68, Guardian p31, FT p18) and the Sun (p60) also reports that Marks
& Spencer is planning to take on 15,000 temporary staff for the
xmas period, although that is a 25 per cent less than last
year.
G4S slammed over expansion
plans – Parvus Asset Management – a leading shareholder in
G4S – has come out against the security company’s £1.5 billion
takeover of the Danish cleaning services group ISS (Mail p85, Times p60, Indie p70, Telegraph b1, FT p15).
Diageo pay row – One in five
shareholders voted against the remuneration report at Diageo’s AGM
on Wednesday in protest at changes to shares that are awarded for
long term performance (Express p78, Guardian p31, Telegraph b2).
Old admiral’s blast at defence
cuts – And finally as it’s Friday the Mirror (p37) has a fun story that
shows that the government cuts to defence are not new with even
Lord Nelson blasting the government of his day for not letting
seamen put their “hands in the public
chest” the headline sums it up: Nelson
hit by arms cuts…
Edited by Mik Sabiers
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