News digest 29 June 2011
The digest starts with the latest ahead of
tomorrow’s strike action with the government ramping up the
rhetoric, but unions saying focus on the issues, there’s bad news
on crime, the high street is struggling and incomes are squeezed,
but its back to business as usual for bonuses for HSBC bosses,
manufacturing needs a strategy, Boris tries to find one and should
Charles face the chop…
Strike approaches – As up to
750,000 local government workers, teachers and civil servants gear
up for strike action tomorrow prime minister David Cameron was
accused of deliberately adding fuel to the fire by attacking
workers that planned to strike and insisting public sector pension
changes would go ahead as planned. Unite general secretary, Len
McCluskey said: ”Whatever the prime minister may claim,
local government is another area, just as with the NHS, where
workers simply do not believe what he is saying - and that is
because they do not think the coalition has their interests at
heart. Increasingly, it seems, the public do not believe his
government either.” With calls for stricter strike
ballots Unite argues in a piece published on
Labour List that the government should focus on the issues not
the turn out, and on the front line striking Southampton workers
made their presence known at today’s LGA conference in Birmingham
demonstrating with Southampton council leader Royston Smith ‘masks’
and posters bearing an image of the council leader with the message
‘Wanted: for evading talks’. The campaign
continues so don’t forget to show your support for public sector
workers tomorrow (Mirror
p8-9, Sun p12-13, Express p2/12, Mail p8/26, Times p6-7/19, Indie p1-3, Guardian p4, Telegraph p1/4, FT p2, Morning Star p2/8,
Unite
release).
University shake up – Under
government reforms universities will compete against each other for
a quarter of students putting possible pressure on institutions to
bring down fees, believe it when I see it (Mail p4, Times p12, Indie p14, Guardian p11, Morning Star p5).
Legal reforms will hit the most
vulnerable – Britain’s’ most senior female judge, Baroness
Hale, has delivered a damning verdict on justice secretary’s Ken
Clarke’s proposed changes, and the Law Society has also said the
cuts will ‘fuel a rise in criminality’ and called on government to
think again (Mirror p8,
Times p14, Indie p18).
Crime rises – And the front
page of the Times (p1)
splashes on the news that burglaries, robberies and muggings are on
the rise for the first time in years, figures from the Met have
seen a sharp increase in the past 12 months; police chiefs outside
London are also preparing for figures to start rising, wait until
the cuts kick in.
House price falls – Price
levels across the country dip apart from in London which was
probably supported by the rise in the number of properties sold for
more than £1 million which rose by 58 per cent (Mirror p40, Times p39, Indie p36, Guardian p26).
Bank split on rate rise – As
his deputy struck a hawkish tone indicating he was more inclined to
raise interest rates, giving evidence to the Treasury select
committee the governor of the Bank of England Sir Mervyn King said
there would be no interest rate rises before unemployment falls, in
for a long wait then (Mail p65, Indie p31, Telegraph b1, FT p2, Morning Star p5).
High street struggles – And
up to 10,000 more jobs could be at risk after the latest round of
results from high street retailers. As the austerity cuts take hold
Thornton’s was the latest casualty when it said it would close up
to 180 stores putting 1,000 jobs at risk, Carpetright followed
suit, Habitat has called in the administrators threatening 750 jobs
and department store chain is also planning to appoint an
administrator putting 4,000 jobs at risk, tough trading conditions
are expected to see more high street chains struggle (Mirror p4, Sun p45, Express p2/50, Mail p2/64, Times p37, Indie p32, Guardian p1/6-7, Telegraph b5, FT p18, Morning Star p2).
Incomes squeezed – And many
of the papers that report for those people left in work that
household disposable income fell for a second consecutive quarter,
forcing consumers to eat into diminishing savings to maintain their
lifestyles (Mirror p9,
Indie p31, Guardian p1, Telegraph p2).
Baby boom to bust – The
Indie (p13) reports
that the global economic recession has seen a shift in fertility
and after years of rises the birth rate has started to decline.
Women are expected to be put off having babies until the economy
picks up, could be a long wait with current trends…
Hidden charges halted? - But
there could be some good news for consumers as the Office of Fair
Trading is targeting exorbitant card surcharges, the OFT calculated
that air travellers paid out over £300 million in surcharges on air
fares alone in 2009 (Mirror
p6, Sun p16, Express p9, Mail p19, Times p33, Indie p12, Guardian p24, Telegraph p14, FT p4).
Banks not lending – The
Mail (p59) reports that
banks are still not lending to small businesses…
HSBC chiefs get £8.5 million
– The Guardian p27 reports
that shares worth more than £8.5 million have been handed to 14
directors, back to business as usual in the City then…
Lagarde heads IMF – Former
French finance minister Christine Lagarde has been appointed as the
new head of the IMF (Mirror
p6, Sun p6, Express p15, Mail p24, Times p3, Indie p4, Guardian p25, Telegraph b2, FT p7).
Greek fire – Strikes bring
country to a standstill as population demonstrates against the
austerity changes demanded by the EU and IMF, expect a whole wave
of privatisation and outsourcing (Mirror p8, Sun p6, Mail p10, Times p25, Indie p4, Guardian p1, Telegraph b1, FT p2, Morning Star p7)
Serco expects to hit £5
billion – Despite government cutbacks outsourcing firm
Serco says it expects to rack up revenues of £5 billion by the end
of 2012 (Mail p65,
Times p39).
Manufacturing strategy needed
– Head of Ford in Europe. Stephen Odell, said that Britain needs a
firm plan to grow manufacturing or it will fail to rebalance the
economy (Sun p2, Telegraph b4).
Bus strategy needed – And the
Mirror (p20) says that bus
services are being cut across the country as councils face a
squeeze on funds.
Johnson’s strategy – And the
FT (p3) reports that London mayor
Boris Johnson is looking to revise his strategy to push out more
good news ahead of his re-election bid next year, perhaps if he did
something that made life for Londoners better rather than just
raise fares, increase congestion and pontificate…
Charles gets a boost – But
all is well in Clarence House. Most papers report that taxpayers
have had to shell out an extra 18 per cent to pay for Prince
Charles even though his estate raked in £18 million last year, well
there’s one cut that could be proposed, but then we’d probably end
up in the Tower (Mirror p19,
Sun p4, Express p23, Mail p5, Times p4, Indie p20, Guardian p9, Telegraph p11, Morning Star p3).
Edited by Mik
Sabiers
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