News digest 26 August 2011
The digest opens with Libya still in the
headlines and Gaddafi still hidden from view, there’s more on the
riots, good news for GCSE students but bad news for the nation’s
waistlines. There’s a warning over smart strikes and workers’
rights while the economy is moving towards that dreaded double dip
as the high street is hammered and Barclays cuts again. As
construction engineering workers terms are challenged, housing
starts come to a stop and with the bank holiday approaching so do
roads and rail, although according to the FT there’s always fun to
be had in a field…
Libya: Hunt for
Gaddafi continues – All papers continue to report on
developments in Libya, although there is less coverage. Nato bombs
keep falling and the hunt for the deposed leader continues. As the
population adjusts to a leaderless state there are calls for a
transitional government to be more firmly established in Tripoli,
but continued fighting looks likely to see further uncertainty
(Mirror p6-8, Sun p6-7, Express p8-9, Mail p6-7, Times p8-11, Indie p4-11, Guardian p1/4-7, Telegraph p4-7, FT p4, Morning Star p7).
Riots: The aftermath – After
the summit on social media the story switches back to the courts
with more than 2,000 arrests to date and more to come as police
comb through CCTV footage, detectives have some 40,000 hours of
footage to go through meaning it could be as long as two years
before people get a knock on the door (Sun p31, Mail p16, Times p1/14-15, Indie p18-19, Guardian p12, Telegraph p21).
GCSE stars – From troubled
youth to talented youth and students are celebrating a record GCSE
results year as the pass rate rose for the 23rd year in a row with
almost 70 per cent getting a C grade or higher. The results did
however show that boys continue to lag behind girls and the number
of pupils taking German, French and Spanish slumped as did entries
for history and geography (Mirror p15, Sun p2, Express p11, Mail p12, Times p3, Indie p12-14, Guardian p10-11, Telegraph p10-11, FT p2, Morning Star p5).
Immigration rises – Talking
of geography Cameron’s pledge on immigration has been broken as the
number of foreigners coming into Britain surged by 21 per cent last
year. 575,000 moved to the UK last year, but just 336,000 left
(Mirror p4, Sun p15, Express p1, Mail p2, Times p7, Indie p31, Guardian p20, Telegraph p1).
Waistlines expand – Time to
act on obese Britain. UK needs to tackle obesity now as warnings
are that half of British men could be clinically obese by 2030
(Mirror p22, Express p21, Mail p4, Indie p1, Guardian p13).
Health warning – The Guardian (p24) reports that unions
representing workers across the NHS agreed to form a new campaign
group to establish plans for a possible NHS-wide strike over the
government’s pension reform plans. Separately Unite met with public
sector members to discuss future action, assistant general
secretary Gail Cartmail said: “Gone are the days when
you ballot members, take them out on a day’s strike and have a nice
rally.” Instead the plan is for ‘smart’ strike action
that will disrupt swathes of the service on a rolling basis but
keep levels of support and guarantee patient safety.
Human rights warning –
Writing in the Guardian
(p34) deputy prime minister Nick Clegg issued a strong defence of
human rights laws saying he will not let his coalition partners
water down rights legislation although most of the papers focus on
him being hit by blue paint by activists attacking him for forming
the Con-Dem coalition. Could Clegg be angling for the job of
European high commissioner? (Mirror p4, Sun p2, Mail p7, Indie p26, Telegraph p3)
Workers’ rights warning – The
Telegraph (p1) goes to
town attacking new European employment laws on agency workers after
business groups warned the changes that would give agency workers
the same rights to holidays, sick pay and maternity leave could
cost companies almost £2 billion a year, no mention of the benefit
extra rights bring to the economy in terms of job security and
spending…
Double dip may lead to more
quantitative easing – Fears for the poor state of the UK
economy could see a new round of quantitative easing as the Bank of
England considers plans to pump billions to try and refloat the
economy, especially if the eurozone starts to slow (Times p56, Indie p21, Guardian p29, Telegraph b1, FT p1).
High street hammered – Boss
of the Co-op says trading is toughest for 40 years as both profits
and sales fell over the last six months, although the group’s
banking business has the Lloyds branches in its sights (Mirror p64, Sun p64, Mail p79, Times p52, Indie p46, Guardian p31, Telegraph b2, FT p15, Morning Star p5)
Barclays cuts again – Another
140 job losses were announced by the bank yesterday, and workers
are braced for more. Unite’s David Fleming said: “The
news that the Barclays corporate function is to cut 140 staff just
two months after 500 people lost their jobs is appalling. Unite
finds this drip feeding of job cuts unacceptable and will be
demanding a meeting with the management of the bank to challenge
this approach.” (Mirror p64, Times p59, Morning Star p2, Unite
release)
IMI on a high – Better news
on the industrials front as the engineering group reports a 26 per
cent rise in profits to £171 million on sales of £1.03 billion
(Mail p79, Telegraph b8, FT p15).
Diageo in high spirits –
Drinks giant reveals five per cent rise in sales and profits to
£9.9 billion and £2.9 billion respectively, spirit sales were up,
but Guinness sales dipped (Mirror p64, Sun p65, Express p76, Mail p78, Times p55, Guardian p32, Telegraph b3, FT p14).
Not enough homes – The
Times (p57) and
FT (3) report that the slowdown in
new house builds is set to worsen over the next three years. Just
25,000 applications were made in the first three months of July
when some 240,000 houses need to be built each year to meet the
shortfall.
Construction staff angry over contract
proposals – The Morning Star (p4) reports
Unite is opposing attempts by a breakaway group of major mechanical
and electrical firms to withdraw from agreements covering thousands
of workers at some of the country's key infrastructure projects and
has launched a campaign to defend their members terms and
conditions (Unite
release).
Carers angry over cuts –
Scottish unions and community activists to rally to save the Accord
day centre for people with learning disabilities in Glasgow’s east
end (Morning Star
p3).
Councillor chief’s salary
doubles - And as local councils are forced to make cuts
the Mail (p34) reports on
a row over the pay for the new head of the Local Government Group –
formerly the Local Government Association – who looks to be able to
rake in £190,000 a year. Seems he is just learning from the
political leader of the LGG, Sir Merrick Cockell, a Tory councillor
in Kensington & Chelsea estimated to gain more than £100,000 a
year in allowances
Bercow bother – And another
politician facing a backlash is the speaker John Bercow who the
Telegraph (p18) reports
could be facing a Tory plot to unseat him. MPs are considering
taking advantage of the changes in parliamentary boundaries to deny
the speaker his seat. Perhaps he should get away from it all as his
wife should be evicted from ‘Celebrity’ Big Brother this
evening…
Airports full – But if you
want to try and fly away from it all the Times (p58), Guardian (p9) and FT (p3) all report that even with
projections for passenger growth from UK airports falling due to
government policy and the state of the economy London’s airports
are expected to hit full capacity by 2030.
Holiday woe – And as it’s a
bank holiday weekend many of the papers report of road jams and
rail cancellations especially as more people have staycations
(Mirror p29, Mail p21, Times p30, Indie p3). The FT (p3) does look at leisure trends and
says hard-up Britons are holidaying at home with camping proving a
hit, although the weekend forecast is heavy rain and the Reading
festival is already a quagmire…
Edited by Mik Sabiers
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