News digest 25 July 2011
The digest starts on a sombre note with
all the papers covering the attacks in Norway, although many
tabloids focus on the death of singer Amy Winehouse at 27; there is
less on the train crash in China. There’s also coverage of the
Bombardier rally on Saturday with 10,000 marchers taking to the
streets and more companies are joining the critical list ahead of
expected poor economic figures due tomorrow. The Lloyds sell off
flops while stocks rise and Lansley comes to the aid of public
sector workers over pensions before its back to sacking workers and
hacking phones…
Norwegian killer faces court
today – All the papers feature the right wing extremist
Anders Behring Breivik who was responsible for the killing of 93
people last Friday. Police around Europe remain on alert against
far-right extremism especially as the killer had links with British
extremists (Mirror p8-11,
Sun p10-13, Express p4-6, Mail p1/4-7, Times p1/8-13, Indie p1-4, Guardian p1/4-6, Telegraph p1/4-7, FT p6, Morning Star p2-3).
Amy Winehouse found dead –
And the curse of 27 strikes again as yet another musician is found
dead, police were called to Winehouse’s Camden home on Saturday
(Mirror p1-4, Sun p1-7, Express p8-9, Mail p12-13, Times p3, Indie p11, Guardian p3, Telegraph p11, FT p15, Morning Star p4).
Chinese rail crash kills 43 –
And many of the papers also feature the train crash in China. A
bullet train stalled after being struck by lightning was hit by
another bullet train forcing carriages off a viaduct on to ground
100 feet below (Mirror p15,
Sun p17, Times p25, Indie p24, Guardian p15, Telegraph p14, Morning Star p7).
10,000 join fight for
Bombardier – Saturday’s Derby march saw a huge show of
support for train workers with former general secretary Tony
Woodley pledging Unite’s “100 per cent support
politically and industrially” according to the
Morning Star
(p1). There’s also good coverage in the Mirror (p18) while in the Telegraph b1/b8) Bombardier
chairman Colin Walton says ministers must reconsider the contract
and highlights how the company has won deals from around the world
over the last six years, but has never won a single order from the
Department of Transport in that time.
Rail passengers on the rise –
The FT (p2) reports passenger
numbers rose sharply in the first half of the year as petrol prices
drove cash strapped travellers on to trains, research from Ipsos
MORI showed one in six passengers had switched from the car for at
least one journey.
£100 million a day – The
Sun (p8) reports Britain’s
three biggest oil firms – BP, Shell and BG – are expected to reveal
combined profits of almost £100 million a day when they publish
their results this week
Stop building power plants –
The Guardian (p23) says
Centrica is being urged by the City to pull out of building nuclear
power plants after soaring costs and delays to the French prototype
currently being built, concerns over cost could challenge the
economics of building new nuclear power plants.
Critical companies – Talking
of shaky foundations the Indie (p31) reports the number
of companies on the ‘critical’ list has risen by 12 per cent over
the last three months according to research from restructuring
specialist Begbies Traynor. 5,179 companies are on the critical
list with liabilities of some £60 billion.
CBI call – the FT (p2) says that Whitehall’s red tape
culture is starting to change while the Times (p37) reports that
employers’ organisation, the CBI, says government should review its
approach to employment law, again.
Plan B needed – And it is
expected to be bad news for the government tomorrow as the latest
GDP figures are released, they are not expected to be good showing
the UK drifting perilously close to a second dip. Business
secretary Vince Cable is also interviewed in the FT (p3) and calls for a new round of
quantitative easing, and also says he plans to get back on the
backs of the banks (Mirror
p6, Sun p8, Express p7, Mail p8, Times p4/32, Indie p1/18, Guardian p22, Telegraph p1, FT p1).
Lloyds sell off flops – And
Lloyds Banking Group is weighing up its options after it received
just two formal bids for its branch auction, it may now need to
simply spin off the business rather than sell it (Express p44, Telegraph b1).
Branson eyes Northern Rock –
The FT (p19) reports that the
Virgin group is once again looking at the auction of Northern Rock
after discounting a bid for Lloyds branches over funding costs and
capital requirements.
Stocks and dividends up – But
not all is bad in the financial markets as a few of the papers
report on the rise in dividend payments which are helping to
support pension funds (Express p1, Mail p63, Indie p32).
Invensys signals pension
buyout – The Express (p44) reports the first
step towards making the industrial business attractive to potential
suitors as the firm looks like it will offload most of its £4.2
billion pension scheme, the company has outlined plans for a
‘partial buyout’ expected to cost in the order of £500 million.
Lansley challenges pensions’
change – And the Telegraph (p1) says health
secretary Andrew Lansley has privately attacked the government’s
public sector pension reforms saying they could prompt workers to
opt out of the scheme which would increase budgetary pressures,
only question is whether anyone is listening?
Fit for work company
criticised – The Guardian (p12-13) has a piece on
IT company Atos. It is the company that assesses people claiming
incapacity benefit; a select committee is expected to publish a
damning report tomorrow on how the policy has been implemented,
more than 4,000 appeals have been lodged.
Ill roll call – The Sun (p24) reports on sick days
across Whitehall ministries. HM Revenue and Customs tops the
absentee list, while foreign office staff take the least days off
sick. No mention of the cause.
Sack them all – The Sun (p26) says Shropshire council is
under the spotlight again after it plans to cut every council
worker’s pay by 5.5 per cent even though three senior executives
earn more than the prime minister’s basic salary. Workers must
accept the change or lose their jobs. Don’t forget the action
continues at Southampton city council which continues to frustrate
progress by making no concrete offer to restore pay and come to an
agreed solution (Unite
release).
Hack them all – James Murdoch
still under pressure in the News International phone hacking furore
(Mail p10, Times p7, Indie p12-14, Guardian p9, Telegraph p12, Morning Star p2).
Edited by Mik
Sabiers
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