News digest 5 January 2011
The digest starts with news of a slightly
revised offer from Heinz which will now be put to the workers, but
VAT is still hogging the headlines as Osborne says the 20 per cent
rate is here to stay, students are scrambling for places while beds
are filling up due to flu. Although there’s good news for
manufacturing, consumers remain cautious, Ryanair is investigated
while easyJet buys some more planes, more cars are on the way, but
taxis may be hit and its farewell to Rosie the Riveter…
Heinz strike suspended – The
third planned Heinz strike in Wigan was suspended last night as
talks between the union and management on Tuesday resulted in the
new – slightly improved - package being put to workers. Jennie
Formby, Unite national officer for food and drink, said:
“Heinz has tabled a new offer and the senior stewards
unanimously agree that we must give our members an opportunity to
vote on this. However, Unite remains of the belief that the
new offer, which represents only a small improvement, is less than
our members deserve and certainly less than Heinz, a profitable and
recession-resistant company, should and could be
paying.” (BBC,
Unite
release)
Gambling on VAT – All the
papers continue to feature coverage of yesterday’s rise in VAT to
20 per cent. Chancellor Osborne says the increase is here to stay.
The Mirror (p10-11) says
Osborne has more increases planned and quotes TUC general secretary
Brendan Barber as saying: “Raising VAT while failing to
tackle tax loopholes means ordinary people will soon pay higher tax
on purchases and earnings than banks pay on their
profits.” A few of the papers also highlight the
campaign calling Osborne the Artful Dodger over the lack of any
crackdown on tax dodgers, but in the main it’s a mixed review as
the only thing the papers agree on is it will take time to see what
the real effect is (Sun p24,
Express p2, Mail p11, Times p3, Indie p8, Guardian p,4 Telegraph p4, FT p3, Morning Star p1).
Scrambling for university –
With the other broken pledge of a tripling of tuition fees, many
papers report that up to 230,000 students could miss out on getting
a place next year as the scramble to avoid the rise creates record
applications, 1 in 3 won’t get a place as a result. The latest poll
in the Indie (p1) has
the Lib Dems dropping to just 11 per cent; Labour is on 40 per cent
and the Tories are on 38 per cent (Express p4, Mail p6, Guardian p8, Telegraph p1).
Swine flu rises – There’s
more coverage of the rise of flu, the Mail (p13) reports that 18,000
NHS staff are off with flu at the moment and as intensive care beds
fill up there are concerns that the young are bearing the brunt of
the outbreak (Mirror p14,
Sun p15, Express p5, Times p, Indie p, Guardian p, Telegraph p6, FT p, Morning Star p3).
Manufacturing recovery – Back
to the economy and many of the papers also highlight how the
manufacturing sector is growing at a 16 year high as business is
driven by export demand. The Express (p1) goes overboard with
‘our booming new year’ as its front page headline, however the
FT (p1) leads with worries about
the rise in oil prices of close to $100 a barrel which could derail
the fragile recovery (Times p31, Indie p27, Guardian p22, Telegraph b1).
Consumer caution – The
Mirror (p44) notes that last
month saw the smallest increase in consumer borrowing since
December 2008 growing by just £60 million, more than £180 million
was paid back.
Bank levy begins – The
Mail (p65) notes the levy
on banks profits also came into force yesterday, the government is
expected to raise some £2.5 billion with its 0.05 per cent levy,
which rises to 0.075 per cent next year, although tax campaigners
say banks could afford to pay 10 times that figure, which would be
almost twice the amount raised by increasing VAT to 20 per cent,
which would be fairer I wonder.
Back to the branch – Talking
of banks the head of Lloyds retail banking division, Helen Weir,
has announced that all bosses will have to go back to work in
branches in a bid to improve customer satisfaction. 550 managers
will be back on the high street over the next two weeks to
understand the customer experience (Sun p45).
Printing errors? – Oberthur
Technologies - which wants to take over De La Rue - calls on the UK
currency printing company to come clean about its relationship with
the Reserve Bank of India, De La Rue rightly claims client
confidentiality (Express
p64, Mail p65, Times p36, Indie p31, Guardian p23, Telegraph b1, FT p17).
Ryanair probe – Office of
Fair Trading announces it wants to investigate Ryanair’s purchase
of a 29 per cent stake in Irish carrier Aer Lingus, for once
Ryanair chief Michael O’Leary provides a simple reply (Mail p64, Times p36, Telegraph b4, FT p20).
More planes please – easyJet
however ups its orders saying it will buy another 15 A320s for £705
million despite former boss Stelios having some concerns (Mirror p44, Sun p45, Express p65, Mail p64, Times p35, Indie p28, Guardian p23, Telegraph b4, FT p20).
More crashes – A couple of
the papers also report the latest aviation crash statistics, there
was a jump in crashes of 13 per cent last year with 828 deaths
recorded (Guardian p6,
FT p6).
Defence arm on course to be
divested – BAE Systems is close to offloading US-based
Platform Solutions business for $1.5 billion (Telegraph b3).
Ocado on the up? – Shares
finally top offer price, rising to 196.7p yesterday ahead of next
Monday’s trading update which is expected to show a loss (Mail p63, Telegraph b1, FT p18).
BP hits six month high –
Rising oil prices and the talk of Shell’s former interest sees oil
company shares rally in the City (Mirror p44, Express p64, Mail p63, Telegraph b3, FT p17).
GM bullish – And US car
company expects the motor industry to bounce back this year. The
company saw a rise in sales of 7.5 per cent last year and forecasts
1-1.5 million more cars will be sold world-wide this year, with
China driving demand (Telegraph b2, FT p22).
Taxicard cut – Bad news for
disabled and older people as the Morning Star (p4) reports
that the door-to-door scheme that helps people who cannot use
public transport to use London black cabs to get around will be hit
by an increase in charges and a decrease in the maximum distance
they can travel. Wonder what the result of the Equality Impact
Assessment was…
Doyle dies – And talking of
equalities the Morning Star (p6) also
reports that the feminist icon Geraldine Doyle has died aged 86, a
snap of her flexing her muscles was the inspiration for the ‘Rosie
the Riveter’ poster featuring the ‘We can do it’ line that was
adopted by the feminist movement.
Edited by Mik
Sabiers
Subscribe to this post's comments using
RSS
Comments
