News digest 5 August 2011
Is it the end of the week or the end of
the world? If you invested in the stock market the old line is
values can go down as well as up, they went down, badly. Also
having a bad day was Lloyds which saw shares drop by 10 per cent
after racking up losses while Kraft is split in two. The mood in
the public sector darkens while Tories talk of top rate tax cuts,
Lib Dems look to legalise drugs and Labour is after budget
accommodation…
Market mayhem – Stock markets
around the world are struggling as concerns over the global economy
escalate. Some £125 billion has been wiped off UK shares this week
and it looks like the downwards trends will continue. EU commission
president Barroso warns that not enough is being done to prevent
the contagion spreading throughout the eurozone and while the
governor of the European Central Bank, Jean-Claude Trichet,
signalled that the ECB would buy government bonds, rumours of
splits in the bank added to the woes. While all this is happening
Cameron and Merkel are in Italy, Sarkozy is on the French Riviera,
Clegg is somewhere in France while Osborne is in America, then
again imagine how bad it could be if they were here, the real
question is are we heading to Meltdown #2? (Mirror p1/4-5, Sun p1/7, Express p1/4, Mail p1-2/73, Times p1/6, Indie p1/4-5/33, Guardian p1/4-5, Telegraph p1/b1, FT p1/5)
IMF chief probed – And is
history repeating itself, just as the last contagion kicked off the
then head of the IMF was suddenly embroiled in a scandal, now many
of the papers report into a probe into the IMF’s new head Christine
Lagarde over a ‘sweetheart deal’ done when she was French finance
minister (Sun p4, Times p31, Indie p26, Guardian p21, Telegraph p14, FT p5, Morning Star p7)
Lloyds losses – More banking
woes as the UK bank slumped into the red after taking a hit for
payment protection insurance. The bank took a £3.2 billion charge
for mis-selling, but actually recorded a £3.25 billion loss.
Concerns remain over parts of its mortgage book plus the forced
sale of bank branches which has seen less than expected interest.
Lloyds shares are now valued at less than half the bail-out price
paid by the government to rescue the bank (Mirror p58, Sun p50, Express p66, Mail p74, Times p43, Indie p36, Guardian p4, Telegraph b3, FT p13/14, Morning Star p3).
Kraft crumbles – Apparently
chocolate and cheese don’t mix, barely 18 months after saying
bigger is better and how important synergies were, Kraft boss Irene
Rosenfeld announced that the company plans to split into two groups
focused on chocolate and cheese or snacks and groceries. Unite
general secretary Len McCluskey said: ”Kraft is a
company that is built on acquisition and debt. It is a long
time since it profited through innovation … we want strong pledges
from the company that today’s ‘split’ won’t jeopardise jobs and
production in the UK.” (Sun p50, Express p66, Mail p75, Times p39, Indie p36, Guardian p31, Telegraph b3, FT p1/13/15, Morning Star p, Unite
release)
Derby
determined – The Bombardier story is still I the
headlines as the city council leader, Tory Philip Hickson, has told
Cameron that the Bombardier jobs fiasco will cost Cameron dearly,
not to mention the thousands of workers who will lose their jobs if
the decision is not reversed (Mirror p10, Express p5).
Everything must go? – And
talking of local councils communities secretary Eric Pickles has
told councils to flog off derelict buildings as well as community
centres, theatres, hotels and more. Pickles believes councils could
make some £10 billion from the sales but neglects to realise that
without council backing many of the essential services offered
there could close (Sun p2,
Mail p38, Telegraph p1).
Public sector mood darkens –
And the Morning
Star (p3) reports on a survey from recruitment firm Badenoch
& Clark that found that 75 per cent of public servants rate
their mood as ‘average to low’ as a result of fears to jobs,
pensions and pay.
Time for top rate tax
cuts? – As those on the lowest face pay squeezes
senior government figures are floating the idea of cutting the top
rate of tax in the next budget even though the extra 10 per cent on
income over £150,000 generates £2.4 billion a year. As long as some
measures trickle down for the lower paid senior Lib Dems say they
are relaxed about the potential cut from 50p to 45p (Mail p6, Times p7, Indie p1).
Lib Dems to legalise drugs? –
Senior Lib Demas expected to call for an independent inquiry into
the decriminalisation of the possession of all drugs, maybe that’s
why they are so relaxed about the tax cut? (Sun p2, Mail p9, Times p, Indie p2, Guardian p14, Telegraph p12, FT p2)
Huhne out Laws in? – The
Sun (p2) joins in some
mischief making saying that disgraced David Laws could be fast
tracked back into the cabinet in the autumn if energy secretary
Chris Huhne is forced out over his speeding points, Cameron had
initially wanted to hold back from a full reshuffle until May
2012.
Mox: Open or closed? Talking
of the energy sector the Indie (p7) reports that the day
after Sellafield’s Mox plant is shut the government is being
pressurised to build a new one while in the Morning Star (p9) former
environment minister Michael Meacher says the costly project must
not be repeated.
Solidarity fuels Honeywell
victory – And the Morning Star (p6) reports
nuclear workers in the US that had faced a 400 day lockout are
celebrating victory after pressure from European comrades forced
the company to cave in to the union’s demands to protect their hard
won terms and conditions.
Siemens to set up wind energy
division – The Times (p47) reports the German
engineering giant to create a stand alone wind division as part of
a restructured renewables business.
Wind energy threat to UK jobs
– Up to 40,000 British workers could lose their jobs under plans to
produce more green energy says a report from think tank Civitas.
That’s not because the government will award the contracts to the
new Siemens wind energy division but because high subsidies are
expected to impact UK investment more as the UK’ s manufacturing
sector is less joined up (Sun p2, Express p7, Mail p8, Telegraph p4, FT p3).
Car sales stall – New car
sales plunged for the 13th month in a row although car production
rose by 1.8 per cent in contrast to July of last year (Mirror p58, Times p45, Indie p38, Guardian p33, Telegraph b2, FT p2).
High speed ahead? From cars
to rail and the Guardian
(p35) interviews the head of High Speed 1 Nicola Shaw who talks of
the advantages of the current line and looks forward to the
possibility of High Speed 2 and the benefits it may bring in
transport terms despite strong local opposition which could derail
the plans.
easyJet soars – Letting the
plan take the strain and the budget airline carries 400,000 more
passengers in July and sees load factor hit 92 per cent (Mirror p58, Mail p75).
Budget hotel for Labour? –
The Sun (p6) reports that
Labour has booked the shadow cabinet and top officials into the
Jury’s Inn hotel in Liverpool for conference in September, the
first time in years Labour has not used a 4 or 5 star hotel. Surely
if Labour booked the best hotel in the city the paper would decry
the party’s excesses, let’s see what the Sun says about the Tories
in Manchester.
Student numbers drop – Half
of all universities are expected to see a fall in student numbers
next year as the hike in tuition fees hits applications (Mail p10, Guardian p18, Telegraph p2).
Shin guards for teachers –
And while toddlers may be known as ankle biters the Express (p19) reports that one
union representing school support staff has called for shin guards
to help tackle bad behaviour.
New NHS structure ridiculed –
And back to health and the Guardian (p12) has a piece citing
Labour’s outline of how the coalition’s changes to the NHS have
created even more bureaucracy There’s an organigram of the new
structure that is almost as complex as the central nervous
system.
Disabled children hit by benefits
cut – And the families of up to 100,000 disabled children
could see their benefits halved as part of the government’s welfare
reforms, charities are trying to force a debate in the commons on
the subject (Times p8,
FT p2).
E-petitions site collapses –
And finally the government’s new e-petitions site crashed yesterday
as people signed a range of petitions including for the restoration
of capital punishment, withdrawal from the EU and the legalisation
of cannabis. Almost 1.5 million people tried to visit the site and
the top campaign was to keep the ban on the death penalty, some
people have kept their heads at least (Express p7, Mail p12, Times p19, Indie p11, Guardian p6, Telegraph p2, FT p2).
Edited by Mik Sabiers
Subscribe to this post's comments using
RSS
Comments
