News digest 29 October 2010
The bust up over housing benefit leads the
headlines while there’s also trouble over child benefit, excess pay
for executives, pension problems and more jobs under threat,
although as it’s the weekend the digest ends with a giggle over
government gifts…
Housing benefit bust up – The
Mirror (p1) leads with it’s
BoJo vs. the bozo as London mayor Johnson attacks Cameron’s housing
benefit cuts saying he would fight “Kosovo-style social
cleansing” before backtracking under pressure from
the Conservative leader. Government housing reforms seem to be
unravelling as the Guardian (p4) says experts believe
the benefit bill will rise as the cap forces a ‘flight to the
suburbs’ while the Times (p4) highlights exactly
where the cuts will bite as low paid workers in central and west
London face extra pressure, the headline says it all:
Richest boroughs plan to kick out housing cut
victims. Government housing minister Grant Shapps
tries to argue the government is not being unfair, claiming the £7
billion rise in housing benefit payments in the last 10 years is
unsustainable. Odd that he makes no mention of capping how much
landlords can charge…
Child benefit bother –
Another flagship policy starts to unravel as many papers report
that the measures could be unenforceable as the benefits stops when
either couple pays the higher rate of tax, but benefit is paid to
mothers who are under no obligation to tell their partners they get
the payment and more importantly under UK tax law individuals, not
households, are taxed. The government threatens to fine couples to
ensure people tell the exchequer of changed circumstances, but to
do so the government will have to keep tabs on all couples with
children, a bit of a bureaucratic nightmare methinks… (Mirror p8,
Express p2, Times p9, FT p1)
MPs urged to scrutinise ‘quango cull’
bill – Unite joint general secretary Tony Woodley says MPs
must think again (Unite
release).
Air duty tax attacked – The
Express (p1) leads many
more papers highlighting the widening in scope of air passenger
duty which hits on Monday, many papers take the line ‘only the rich
can fly’ noting average families may be priced out of the market
for long haul flights as taxes to travel as far afield as Australia
triple (Mail p9, Guardian p4, Telegraph p1).
House prices fall again – To
add to the misery of Con-Dem Britain a 0.7 per cent fall in house
prices last month is biggest decline in 18 months (Sun p17, Telegraph b1).
A fair cop? Anti-terror law
slammed – And many papers also report that there were over
100,000 stop and searches under terrorism laws last year, but not a
single arrest (Mail p20,
Indie p6, Morning Star p1).
Bottoms up to the NHS – No
not a new Tory policy but news for those nursing sore heads as the
NHS saw a leap in alcohol admissions of 54 per cent over the past
decade. One Briton goes to hospital every seven minutes over a
booze related problem, the figures from the NHS Information Centre
also show that there was a tenfold rise in admissions due to
obesity over the same period, and that longer lifetimes means
people over 75 account for four million hospital stays in 2009, up
two thirds on a decade ago (Mail p10, Times p22).
City pay row rumbles on –
More coverage of the 55 per cent rise in City chiefs’ pay,
especially when measured against the FTSE 100 which rose by 20 per
cent. The FT (p1) says the latest
increases mean that city chiefs earn 88 times the average pay of a
full time worker, 10 years ago it was still a very high 47 times,
how about that high pay commission, apparently business secretary
Cable is looking into the issue: Joint general secretary Derek
Simpson is quoted on the front page of the FT: “It shows that Cameron’s
phrase that ‘we’re all in this together’ is pretty shallow … it is
grotesquely unfair when our members have only seen a rise of 2 per
cent this year.”
Minimum wage submissions made
– Unions call for the minimum wage to rise, Unison says it should
go up to £7.60 an hour in its submission to the low pay commission,
while the TUC argues the rise should reach £6.14 next October
(Morning Star
p2).
NUJ to take strike action at
BBC– If it’s not pay it’s pensions, but at the BBC
the other unions - including Unite – have accepted the pensions’
deal leaving the NUJ to strike alone (Mirror p15, Mail p4, Express p2).
Premier Foods problems – And
troubled food company confirms it will end its final salary pension
scheme as sales fall 4.2 per cent to £606 million (Mirror p66, Telegraph b2, FT p20, Mail p98, Times p61).
Shell soars – But there’s no
problem for Shell as the oil company sees a surge in profits to
£2.2 billion, although it should be noted the company made 7,000
job cuts in the last year (Telegraph b3, Sun p58, Mirror p66).
BP blames Halliburton – Oil
company says evidence shows the spill was Halliburton’s fault
(Mail p5, FT p1).
Santander surge but pain in
Spain – UK arm sees profits jump a fifth to £619 million
and company also confirms London flotation to go ahead next year,
however many papers report on poor returns in its core Spanish
business (Mirror p66,
Sun p58, Express p65).
Potash performs – Fertiliser
company sees profits jump 62 per cent to some $400 million on the
back of grain price worries (Indie p42, Telegraph b2).
Premium carmakers profit –
Advance for luxury carmakers as Daimler posts €1.61 billion in
profits, while Mercedes announces its profit margin is 9.5 per cent
and Porsche manages a 16 per cent profit margin (FT p24).
Nissan recall – But not so
good news for Nissan as it announces a recall of two million cars
world-wide including 84,000 K12 Micras built at its Sunderland
plant (Mirror p37, Mail p41).
Overweight driver row settled
- Case of two Blackpool Transport bus drivers suspended for being
overweight has been “resolved amicably” (Bus
and Coach).
Plane jobs under threat –
Some 22 staff at Britten-Norman’s Bembridge base are facing
redundancy after the aircraft maker announced a major restructuring
plan (Isle
of Wight County Press).
Peoples’ port campaign
launched - Dame Vera Lynn to launch People's Port bid on
Saturday in Dover supported by Unite plus the three ferry operators
P&O Ferries, SeaFrance and DFDS (This
is Kent).
A left gene – According to
the Guardian (p5) of all
papers apparently scientists have discovered a liberal gene that
predisposes people to be more liberal – with a little help from
their friends. The gene variant DRD4 is linked to novelty seeking
but if you have left leaning friends you may be more social and
liberal focused, no mention what happens if ‘liberals’ get into bed
with the wrong sort, perhaps the next entry serves as a
warning…
Government gifts – Yes
finally, pity poor deputy prime minister Nick ‘faggy’ Clegg,
yesterday the government announced all the gifts received by
Con-Dem ministers since the election, Cameron was showered with
presents ranging from a Ruscha lithograph picture (potentially
worth millions) to 200 year old whisky, Clegg got absolutely
nothing, zilch yes a big fat zero, however judging from the result
of a local poll of voting intentions in Sheffield Hallam yesterday
- which puts Labour just two points behind the Lib Dems - he may at
least get the boot… (all papers, Indie p17)
Edited by Mik Sabiers
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