News digest 25 August 2011
Another detailed digest starts with the
latest on Libya, there’s more on riots, odd jobs for an ex-home
secretary while unions call on the NHS bill to be scrapped ahead of
the possibility of coordinated strike action. Consumer confidence
drops again, and billions in tax is missing, although Switzerland
will open its coffers while there are fears over bank finances but
insurance sees a windfall. Apple’s boss quits, there’s trouble
brewing at Heineken, and the channel could be closed over the
holiday weekend, the Guardian newspaper is in a pickle over
Ryanair, and BA has a warning for staff in Nairobi…
Libya: Looking for
Gaddafi – As gunfire and sporadic fighting continues in
Tripoli and across parts of Libya the rebels placed a £1 million
bounty on the toppled dictator’s head. The west’s biggest energy
companies started to circle to gain part of the country’s estimated
46 billion barrels of untapped oil, but there are fears that with
so little planning for regime change the country could slide into
Iraq-style chaos (Mirror
p1-5, Sun p6-7, Express p4-5, Mail p2/6-9, Times p1-9, Indie p1-7, Guardian p1-9, Telegraph p7/6-7, FT p6, Morning Star p7).
Riots and social media – As
some of the papers report on the campaign to get people spending in
riot hit shops most coverage focuses on the debate over the role of
social media. With some arguing that the riots were fanned by
social media an analysis of twitter messages in the Guardian (p1) casts doubt on the
rationale about shutting down social media and show that it was
mainly used to react to riots and looting and also bring out people
to help clean the streets (Sun p4, Times p23, Indie p13, Telegraph p15/b2, FT p2).
Ex home secretary used convicts for
renovations – Talking of security an investigation was
launched yesterday after it was revealed that the former home
secretary Jacqui Smith’s former home was painted by two prisoners
on day release (Sun p9,
Express p15, Mail p5, Times p17, Indie p11, Guardian p10, Telegraph p9, Morning Star p5).
Betraying the nation’s youth
– Many of the papers report that the number of Neets (young people
not in education, employment or training) is nearing the one
million mark (Sun p2,
Express p2, Mail p19, Times p15, Indie p19, FT p2) while the Mirror (p11) reports the man
credited with turning work and pensions secretary Iain Duncan Smith
into a ‘caring’ face of the Tories says the minister has gone back
on his pledge to support youth projects. Bob Holman of community
charity FARE highlighted how funding has been slashed across the
youth sector and called on Iain Duncan Smith to keep his
promise of backing locally run projects with funds from central
government.
Support for jobless becomes big
business – The FT (p3)
looks into the Work Programme - the payment by results back-to-work
support scheme with contracts totalling up to £5 billion - which
the government is pushing out and hopes to rely on voluntary sector
groups to help a million people get back in to work.
Scrap the NHS bill and don’t change
pensions – The Morning Star (p3) reports
on yesterday’s Unison protest outside the Department of Health
which called on the coalition to scrap the controversial health and
social care bill. The Guardian (p10) also notes that
there could be a NHS-wide strike on pensions by the end of the year
as unions representing staff at every level of the service are
meeting today over changes to public sector pensions.
Take unpaid leave or face job
cuts – The Telegraph (p10) reports 4,000
Rochdale council workers could be forced to take unpaid leave every
year as part of plans to minimise job losses by the Labour run
council.
Consumer confidence drops
again – The Indie (p33) and Guardian (p33) report that gloomy
consumers have become even more pessimistic amid fears that the
economy is starting to falter. The Nationwide consumer confidence
index fell two points to 49 in July, a full 10 points below that of
a year ago, and over 30 points below the index’s long term
average.
Tax write offs – The
chancellor of the exchequer failed to collect nearly £6 billion in
taxes last year as the number of firms going bankrupt rose
(Mirror p19, Sun p10, Express p2, Mail p28, Telegraph p16).
Swiss tax deal – But better
news in terms of Swiss bank accounts after the UK has agreed a deal
with Swiss authorities which could unleash a £5 billion tax
windfall from the country’s discreet banking system. Under the
agreement UK accounts held in Switzerland in May 2013 will be
subject to a one off levy which should generate some £400 million
for the exchequer, rising to £5 billion by 2015 as a new
withholding tax kicks in (Sun p2, Mail p10, Times p13, Indie p9, Guardian p33, Telegraph b1, FT p1, Morning Star p2).
Bank crash alert – The
Telegraph (b1) also
raises the spectre of a more severe crash that the one triggered by
Lehman brothers according to alarm signals in the credit markets,
credit default swaps on bonds for leading banks are widening, with
the cost of insuring RBS bonds now higher than before the taxpayer
was forced to step in back in October 2008.
Fred sees red – And the
former boss of RBS, Sir Fred – the shred - Goodwin is taken to task
in a new book that is trailed in the Mail (p13) and Telegraph (b1) with his
“overbearing” management style seen as a contributory factor in the
near collapse of the banking system.
Temp trouble – And it is the
ordinary workers that still continue to suffer as the now
state-owned Royal bank of Scotland came under fire after a leaked
email showed the company was paying temporary staff £2,000 a day
while axing thousands of staff. David Fleming, Unite national
officer, said: “It is wholly inappropriate that RBS,
backed by taxpayers, appears to be throwing money at thousands of
contractors.” (Mirror p6, Morning Star p4, Unite
release)
Admiral windfall – Better
news for around 5,700 Admiral staff who will share on average
£1,500 each after the car insurer revealed record profits of £160.6
million and sales of £1.1 billion (Mirror p63, Sun p61, Express p54, Mail p71, Times p55, FT p14).
iQuit – The Sun (p21) and Guardian (p14) report Apple boss
Steve Jobs resigned yesterday as chief executive of the company
amid speculation over his long term health, the 55 year old battled
cancer in 2004 and had a liver transplant in 2007.
Tesco director goes – Long
standing Tesco director Andy Higginson, head of the supermarket’s
banking and insurance business, is to step down in September after
15 years at the group (Express p51, Mail p71, Times p53, Indie p40, Guardian p34, Telegraph p, FT p, Morning Star p)
Serco warning – Outsourcing
specialist outlines concerns over government spending cuts but
still expects to gain contracts based on ‘strategic partnering’
with councils and other areas; the company reported a 10 per cent
rise in pre tax profits to £122 million yesterday (Mail p72, Times p55, Indie p42, Telegraph b3, FT p14, Morning Star p)
Wind turbine project shelved
– A project to build the world’s biggest wind turbines in a
Newcastle factory was blown out of the water yesterday after United
Technologies terminated the planned project that would have created
500 jobs (Sun p2, FT p2).
Trouble brewing for Heineken
- Europe’s biggest brewer blamed the grim summer for a brutal
profit warning that sent its shares crashing. The company expects
profits to now be flat at £1.3 billion in 2011 when earlier
expectations had been for a rise to £1.5 billion (Mirror p63, Sun p60, Express p51, Mail p73, Times p51, Indie p42, Guardian p37, Telegraph b3, FT p18)
Trouble brewing in Germany –
Latest economic figures from Europe’s biggest economy show that
business morale in the country recorded its biggest drop for nearly
three years (Mail p71,
Times p47, FT p5).
Paris charges super rich –
Big companies and the rich to bear the burden of new tax raising
measures in a highly political budget from French president Sarkozy
as he looks to raise an extra €12 billion in revenues to support
growth in the economy (Times p47, Indie p26, Guardian p34, Telegraph p, FT p5).
Eurotunnel strike threat –
The Indie (p21) reports
that rail services to Paris could also be hit by industrial action
on the French side of the channel over the bank holiday weekend, so
no trip away for Cameron...
Did Coulson break Commons
rules? – The Indie (p14), Guardian (p1/13) and FT (p2) all report that former News of the
World editor Andy Coulson appears to have broken House of Commons
rules by failing to declare payments and benefits he received from
News International while holding a parliamentary pass sponsored by
David Cameron.
Unions donate £2.7 million to
Labour – More than 80 per cent of donations to Labour
between April and July were from unions with Unite making the
biggest single donation - £735,628 - to any party. The Tories were
given £4.2 million and the Lib Dems just under £1 million. There
were more calls for a cap on individual donations of £50,0000 from
the junior coalition party (Times p22, Indie p10, FT p3).
Guardian in a pickle – And
the Mirror (p11) reports
that the supposedly left leaning Guardian newspaper has seen a
flood of complaints after the company published an offending advert
(also in today’s Express
p7) from Ryanair, one member of Guardian staff is quoted as saying:
“I nearly choked on my gluten free organic muesli when
I saw it.”
Ryanair calendar out again –
And the budget airline is also featured in the Mirror (p63) and Indie (p39) after is asked
charities to come forward to take a share of the windfall it
generates from its annual calendar of scantily clad staff, last
year it gave funds to a German group that provides food to people
in need.
Naughty in Nairobi – And
finally the Telegraph
(p2) reports that British Airways may have to abandon a long haul
route to Nairobi because of supposed complaints about raucous
parties. In an internal memo to BA captains the airline says there
continue to be complaints from the only approved hotel – which is
considering whether to renew its deal with the airline - and if the
deal is terminated the route will have to end…
Edited by Mik Sabiers
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