After a two week break due to Christmas and, along with 50% of the population
the writer having a Christmas cold/man flue, happy new year to all. Here is a
brief summary of this week’s papers in the U.K.
V.A.T.
Early in the week the papers were concentrating on the 2.5% rise in V.A.T. to
20%. Many were suggesting that prices would be increased by more than the 2.5%
as lots of firms used it as an excuse to raise prices. The Daily Telegraph
speculated on Tuesday that many gyms, mobile phones companies, restaurants and
shops will raise there prices by between 5% and 8%, or possibly more. It is
speculated that the average family could see their annual expenditure rise by
£400.
Postlethwaite dies.
All the papers covered the death of actor Pete Postlethwaite from cancer at
the age of 65. He was a life long smoker, He had been described by Stephen
Spielberg as the best actor in the world. He starred in films such as Brassed
off and In the name of the father.
Rubbish
Local government is coming in for increased criticism for the non collection
of rubbish. Most are blaming it on the bad weather and ice and snow before
Christmas, but some people have not had their rubbish collected for a month. It
was summed up nicely on the front of Tuesday’s telegraph in the Matt cartoon,
which shows a dad looking at a pile of bib bags asking his son “which bag do
you think the instruction manual is in?”
Joanna murder
The papers are becoming more and more frustrated with the lack of progress in
the murder inquiry into the death of Joanna Yeates who was last seen alive on
December 17th and who’s body was found three miles from her home
dumped by the side of the road in Clifton in Bristol. Police originally arrested
her landlord, before later letting him go. He is now contemplating suing the
police for wrongful arrest.
Archers Non suspense.
The Archers Editor has come in for lots of flack from the papers after
accidentally letting slip in an interview on the radio 4 today programme, that
Nigel Pargetter had died when he fell off the roof in the 6o year edition of the
programme on Sunday. Listeners had heard him scream when he fell off the roof
but were faced with an anxious wait to see if he was alive or dead when the
editor, Vanessa Whitburn let slip that “there has been one birth and one death”.
She quickly tried to retract by saying “I said one potential death, but
it was too late. Listeners had heard the truth before the programme want
out.
Flu
Doctors are said to be running out of flu vaccine. Matt again summed it up by
saying “I’m afraid the flu vaccine is reserved for essential people - dustbin
men”.
Economy
According to The Guardian on Friday, the U.K. economy in 2050 will be stuck
in the past and will be overtaken by Brazil, Mexico and Indonesia, with Turkey,
Nigeria and Vietnam overtaking Canada.
The Times headline on Saturday was the jailing of Labour MP David Chaytor for
fiddling his MP expenses. The former MP for Bury North was jailed for 18 months
after admitting forging documents to claim £22,650 expenses. As the whole country knows, he was not the only one to be on the fiddle. Most
people agree it was endemic throughout parliament with most Mps assuming this
was an acceptable way to supplement their income and try to con the public there
was a pay restraint on Mps.
Fishy business
A campaign to reduce the waste of hundreds of thousands of tonnes of fish
being dumped overboard to comply with fishing regulations is being supported by
celebrity chefs and highlighted in Saturday’s Times. The campaign to reduce waste is called “fishing for the Market”. The chefs
will be providing recipes in Fight Fish, a channel 4 season of programmes
starting next week.
Sport…ENGLAND WIN THE ASHES.
Every paper is overjoyed at England’s performance in Australia where they
have won the ashes for the first time for 24 years, and in the process thrashed
a below par Australian team 3 1 with one match drawn. It was the fact that in
each of their three wins England won by an innings and quite a lot of runs. The
first time this has been achieved. Most papers have published supplements highlighting the achievement with Mike
Atherton. The Times chief cricket correspondent on the front
page.