News digest 4 August 2011
Today’s digest starts with gloom in the
global markets, angst for Osborne over growth – or the lack of it,
there’s an industrial alarm and Bombardier is backed by Derby’s
footballers. It’s not a good day for the travel industry, Northern
Rock’s results could herald more cuts and RBS will axe 2,000.
There’s a cash crunch for the NHS, a boom in social enterprises and
apparently charity no longer begins at home. And while politicians
are enjoying their holiday reading workers are told to move to
Mumbai…
Debt deal fails to stem global market
turbulence – Although Wall Street started to stabilise
investor worries saw shares in Europe dive as funds were shifted
from ‘problem’ economies and into safe havens with gold up nearly
$50. Some £35 billion was wiped off UK shares, and the German and
Japanese stock exchanges both fell. Spain’s prime minister broke
off his holiday to deal with the crisis while Berlusconi in Italy
delayed a parliamentary speech until after the markets had closed.
Fears of a credit crunch in southern Europe are rising (Mirror p4, Sun p2, Mail p2/28-29, Times p37, Indie p33, Guardian p1, Telegraph p1/b1, FT p1/4).
Osborne’s watchdog sounds alarm on UK
economy – If you thought the UK was safe then be warned as
the head of the Office for Budget Responsibility, Robert Chote, has
admitted the UK will almost certainly miss this year’s growth
targets which have been downgraded to 1.7 per cent. In an interview
in the Indie
(p1/4-5/37) he says that short term fiscal policy is too tight, but
he holds hope that revenues will stay on track as higher than
expected inflation boosts government coffers.
Services sees boost – Some
good economic news as the latest Markit/CIPS index of services saw
a rise to 55.4 in June, from 53.9 the previous month. The growth
was driven by IT and business services (Mail p65, Indie p34, Guardian p29, Telegraph b3, FT p2).
Industrial alarm sounded –
However the FT p15 reports that
leading industrial executives have sounded stark warnings over
slowing growth and falling confidence, Emerson Electric of the US
saw both the US and EU weakening, while Siemens of Germany said
demand from its export oriented customers was also slowing.
Bombardier battle kicks off –
As Derby county football players join the campaign to save the UK’s
last train manufacturer - they will wear ‘Save our rail; industry’
t-shirts during their warm up for Saturday’s championship season
opener - further questions were asked about the capability of
Siemens to deliver on the project as the German company is still
testing key components needed for the order (Mirror p6-7, Express p26, Morning Star p2, Unite
release).
Mox plant to shut – More
industrial concerns with 800 jobs at risk as the Nuclear
Decommissioning Authority says recycling facility at Sellafield
will close after the disaster at Fukushima, Japan was the site’s
sole customer. Unite national officer, Kevin Coyne, said:
"This is a shocking and frankly bizarre decision. The
government is currently deciding whether to give the go ahead for
building a new Mox plant. So where is the rationale in closing the
current one now? … The NDA's decision is short sighted and ill
conceived and we hope it will think again." (Mirror p7, Sun p7, Express p5, Times p, Indie p1/2, Guardian p26, Telegraph b2, FT p3, Morning Star p3, Unite
release)
Holiday 4 UK collapses –
Another closure, this time a travel firm which goes under as the
holiday season hots up, it is the third to go bust this summer and
leaves 13,000 stranded abroad while a further 50,000 holidays are
cancelled (Mirror p1/15,
Sun p2, Express p6, Mail p1/6, Times p, Indie p16, Guardian p2).
Cook chief quits – Travel
giant Thomas Cook lost its chief executive Manny Fotenia-Novoa
yesterday after failing to shake off the impact of three profit
warnings in the past year (Mirror p49, Sun p46, Express p54, Mail p65, Times p33, Indie p33, Guardian p27, Telegraph b2, FT p16).
Northern Rock eyes return to
profit – State owned bank expects to return to profit in
2012 after yesterday racking up more losses. The bank has warned
that more job cuts could be looming. Unite officer Brian Cole said:
“The financial losses announced have come at a massive
cost; the jobs of thousands of workers … government attention must
now turn to securing the future of Northern Rock as a north east
based organisation. The government must begin to heed the demands
for a diverse financial services industry.” (Mirror p49, Sun p46, Express p2, Mail p67, Times p39, Indie p36, Guardian p29, Telegraph b4, FT p17, Morning Star p5)
RBS cuts – the Sun (p46) and FT (p1/17) report the Royal Bank of
Scotland is to cut up to 2,000 jobs from its investment banking arm
as it completes the integration of ABN Amro. In a moment of
corporate clarity John Hourican, head of global banking and
markets, said the ABN Amro deal “was a massive, bold
undertaking at exactly the wrong moment.”
NHS cash crunch – Talking of
cuts as the government’s funding squeeze bites the number of NHS
trusts facing financial troubles has doubled (Mirror p5, Indie p12, Guardian p4, FT p2, Morning Star p2, Unite
release).
Expenses watchdog quits –
Tired of checking receipts Commons expenses watchdog Luke March
resigns; after just two months in the job (Mirror p21, Sun p12, Guardian p16, Telegraph p8, FT p2).
No home help for soldiers –
The Mirror (p19) reports on
another broken government promise as a pledge to give troops
priority for help in buying a home was not worth the paper it was
written on as no extra cash has been put aside for soldiers and
they are just being added to the same priority list as other high
need groups.
Free school turned down – The
Indie (p10) reports
that a pioneering ‘free’ school that aimed to break the link
between teenagers and gang culture has been turned down by the
government, so far just 13 free schools have been approved, another
flagship policy going off the rails?
Boom in social enterprises –
But better news for Cameron’s ‘Big Society’ as the FT (p2) says there has been an ‘explosion’
of social enterprise start-ups, well that’s according to Social
Enterprise UK, the body set up to promote such ventures. The main
rise has been in health sector social enterprises.
Charity begins abroad? –
Party time for the head of troubled London charity Centrepoint.
Chief executive Seyi Obakin was accused of cosying up to the Duke
and Duchess of Cambridge during their recent LA tour instead of
trying to deal with a financial crisis that could see staff lose
thousands of pounds in pay. Unite members at the charity to be
balloted over salary and job cuts (Morning Star p5, Unite
release).
Mubarak in the dock – Talking
of foreign climes and former Egyptian president Hosni Mubarak was
wheeled into a courtroom in his bed, he is charged with killing
protestors (Mirror p14,
Sun p6, Express p4, Mail p8, Times p1/6-7, Indie p1/20, Guardian p1/6-7, Telegraph p13, FT p6, Morning Star p7).
Cop corruption quiz – Police
force left reeling after two senior officers were arrested on
suspicion of corruption. Cleveland’s police chief constable Sean
Price and his deputy Derek Bonnard were questioned by detectives.
The inquiry is believed to be over how business contracts were
awarded (Mirror p4, Express p15, Mail p12, Times p1, Indie p19, Guardian p4, Telegraph p2, , FT p2, Morning Star p5).
Cash for kidneys – University
of Dundee professor Sue Rabbit Roff says the debt laden public
should be able to sell off body parts in order to reduce their
debts, apparently she thinks £28,000 is a good price for a kidney
(Morning Star
p1).
Heather hacked – And could
the hackgate scandal be spreading? Known for her court attire
Heather Mills claims she was a victim of hacking by Mirror
journalists (Sun p2,
Express p6, Mail p4, Times p17, Guardian p9, Telegraph p1).
Cameron’s holiday reading –
After Miliband’s reading list yesterday a couple of the papers
focus on prime minister David Cameron’s book choices for his two
August holidays, he is reading Jerusalem: the biography and Skippy
Dies (Times p4,
Telegraph p7).
Union ties or not – And
contradictory coverage of Labour and Miliband’s plan for working
with trade unions. The FT (p3) and
Morning Star (p2)
say that Miliband faces fierce resistance from unions over his
plans to cut their role in the party, but the Times (p4) has a secret Labour
report which shows the party is planning to integrate more closely
with unions at national and local level.
Move to Mumbai – And finally
if you thought Cameron had tried to detoxify the Tories to make
them caring Conservatives the Indie (p8) reports on a letter
from rail minister Theresa Villiers which said that workers
concerned about losing their job in Newcastle after a call centre
was outsourced to India should be content to take up the
opportunity to transfer to the new employer, and move to
Mumbai…
Edited by Mik
Sabiers
Subscribe to this post's comments using
RSS
Comments
