News digest 22 March 2011
International affairs open the digest
while on the home front the budget looms large, pay freezes and job
cuts add to the bad news, but the privatised companies are able to
raise prices and profits as the squeeze goes on. There’s some
movement from the Takeover Panel, alarm bells for AssetCo and the
Equality Commission, uproar at universities and more planning for
the march on Saturday…
Libya – Again dominates most
front pages as the Commons votes by 553 to 13 in favour of the
action, the Mirror (p1-8)
leads with the humanitarian cost while the Sun (p1/4-7) says one of Gaddafi’s
sons has been killed. The Mail (p1/8-11) highlights the
army chief who has challenged Cameron over the legality of
targeting Gadaffi and the Guardian (p1-7/36) also talks of
cracks in the coalition. The Telegraph (p1-7) notes that this
is the first time the Eurofighter Typhoon has flown a combat
mission, all papers mention the cost of the war which is initially
estimated at some £500 million, how many libraries could that keep
open? (Express p4-5,
Times p1/3-9, Indie p1-12, FT p1/8, Morning Star p3/7)
Tokyo trouble – Japan has
slipped off the radar for many papers although the current fears
are more focused on contamination of food and the fact that Tokyo
seems to be under a fault line and could be susceptible to
aftershocks (Sun p14,
Times p28-29, Indie p24, Guardian p21, Telegraph p17, FT p6).
Budget – And the latest
trails for tomorrow’s budget see Osborne possibly trying to be a
bit of a Robin Hood by taxing private jets and tax avoiders, but
don’t hold out for any windfall taxes. Interestingly the Times (p11) has a poll that
shows 23 per cent of respondents think the government should pay
off the debt even faster, although the top answer was to deal with
rising fuel costs cited by 39 per cent. Today sees a last minute
plea by Unite to support the charity sector with a petition being
presented to Osborne (Sun
p2, Mail p2, Guardian p8, Telegraph p16, FT p10, Morning Star p2, Unite
release).
Five year slump – Institute
of Fiscal Studies says that the drop in incomes for the public
could last as long as five years. Overall incomes are expected to
see the biggest drop for 40 years as the recession, tax changes and
pay cuts hit ordinary working people (Mirror p16, Express p22, Mail p2, Indie p14, Telegraph b1).
MP pay freeze – Do they feel
your pain? No rise in MPs’ £65,738 annual salary this year
(Mirror p8, Sun p2, Express p2, Guardian p9).
Public sector pay freeze –
Pay review body confirms that two year wage freeze will go ahead
meaning all workers earning more than £21,000 will see their pay
frozen until 2013, and those earning less will get a £250 rise
which is barely expected to cover inflationary rises and pension
cost increases (FT p10, Morning Star p1, Unite
release).
Public sector code scrapped –
But even worse for pay is that communities secretary has stated
that a deal that protects job rights when local authority services
are outsourced will be scrapped, meaning there could be a race to
the bottom on wages (Sun p2,
FT p10).
Raid the rainy day funds –
And the Sun (p20) parrots
the government line calling on councils to raid their rainy day
funds to keep essential services open, not sure how you can keep
using emergency funds, they tend to run out…
Post losses – 3,500 more jobs
could go as falling mail volumes impact profits, two London mail
centres will go, 1,000 more managers will be cut and 1,700 back
office roles will either go or have gone (Mirror p9, Sun p27, Express p7, Times p34, Indie p16, Guardian p30, Telegraph p8, FT p8).
Talk not cheap – Telecomms
giant raises call prices by 9 per cent next month after 10 per cent
rise last October, BT made profits of £531 million in the last
quarter of 2010, another one for the Competition Commission
methinks (Mirror p46,
Sun p2, Express p2, Guardian p10, Telegraph p16).
Power split – No not a
comment on the Con-Dem coalition but news that Ofgem may report the
big six energy firms to the Competition Commission over rising
prices claiming they are ‘greedy’, ‘bad’ and ‘lazy’, some papers
claim that this will lead to cheaper bills, believe it when you see
it (Mirror p8, Sun p2/39, Express p1, Mail p12/69, Times p31, Indie p34, Guardian p33, Telegraph p16, FT p1/9, Morning Star p3).
Essar buys Stanlow – $350
million oil refinery sale to be finalised shortly meaning half of
Britain’s refineries have changed hands within the last two years
(Times p38).
Takeover trouble – And could
some teeth be emerging at the Takeover Panel, draft of Cadbury’s
Law could see purchaser having to take more attention of staff
concerns as well as be forced to adhere to any pledges made during
the takeover for at least a year (Mail p66, Indie p36, FT p18).
AssetCo blow – Alarm over
fire engine firm’s future following fundraising U-turn as chief
executive John Shannon stops support for share placing (Times p36, FT p20).
Equality Commission chopped?
– Home Office paper expected to see commission facing ‘radical
reform’ which could see staff cut further to just 250 and an end to
the helpline and legal work (Guardian p14).
University uproar – Not from
students, but this time lecturers at 47 universities are taking
action over imposed changes to their pensions which will see them
work an extra five years and the closure of the final-salary
element of the scheme (Sun
p2, Indie p16, Morning Star p2).
Why we’re marching – And
Brendan Barber is featured both in the Mirror (p10) and Morning Star (p8-9) on
why joining Saturday’s march is vitally important while the
Guardian (G2) has a
feature on individual reasons to go on the march, only four days to
go now…
Edited by Mik
Sabiers
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