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September 1st, 2008

‘What on earth was Darling talking about?’ - media ask

Posted by: Avril Ormsby

darling.jpgThe media is still confused about the motives behind the Chancellor’s observation that “(the times we’re facing) are arguably the worst they’ve been in 60 years”.

What about the 27 percent inflation and 12 percent unemployment rates the country endured during the 1970s and 1980s, they ask?

The country has not been forced to go to the IMF, cap in hand, as it did in 1976, nor is it 1992 and another Black Wednesday, leader writers point out in Monday’s newspapers.

The problem seemed to be compounded when Alistair Darling was then forced to explain in a series of TV interviews that he was talking about severity of current economic conditions — the global credit crunch and rising commodities prices — rather than predicting a great depression.

“The pity is that the public doesn’t know what to believe or who to trust,” the Daily Mail says.

Darling also frets in the Guardian article on the weekend about the state of the Labour Party, saying the cabinet was partly to blame for its recent electoral woes and poor showing in the opinion polls because it has ”patently” failed to explain the party’s central mission to the country.

Was Darling then being honest or foolish, newspaper editorials ask.

One thing it seems certain about is that his comments were “astonishing” and in danger of “over exaggeration”, the Mail adds.

“Instead of talking our economy up — as Chancellors traditionally do in time of trouble — he talked it down, undermining confidence even further,” the Daily Mail says in an editorial on Monday.

The Financial Times believes Darling has his priorities the wrong way around.

“On the economy, his prognosis is too bleak. On Labour, his prognosis is nowhere near bleak enough.

“The government will only make matters worse politically and economically if it overreacts to the downturn.”

It adds: “His precise meaning has been in dispute but it would certainly be nonsense to suggest the UK faces the worst downturn in six decades.”

The Daily Telegraph believes it “shatters the myth that Labour’s stewardship has created economic stability”.

Anatole Kaletsky, writing in the The Times, says Darling has got his figures wrong: “On closer inspection, the Chancellor’s reputation for frankness makes his political blunder worse, since it reveals a flaw more serious than deviousness: basic ignorance of economic facts and figures.

“This is a failing that the minister responsible for national finances can never live down.”

He adds: “There is no way of messaging the facts and figures to make his statement even half-right. Despite all the headlines about a credit crunch, financial conditions are also relatively benign.

“What on earth, then, was Mr Darling talking about?”

The Daily Mail said his comments “seem over the top”.

“As to why, we can only guess. Trying to distance himself from Gordon Brown perhaps?”

Kaletsky adds: “Suppose, then, that the Treasury decides to spin his comments not as a description of what has already happened but as a prediction that Britain will suffer its worst economic crisis since 1948 in the year or two ahead.

“If this was what Mr Darling meant, will anybody believe any economic forecast he presents in his next Budget if this is less than catastrophic?

“And if Mr Darling does present a catastrophic forecast in a pre-election Budget, what will this do to Gordon Brown’s chances of survival?

“These questions can yield only one answer: the next Budget will be presented by a new Chancellor.”

May 14th, 2008

Wednesday’s front pages

Posted by: Tim Castle

times-wed-may-14.jpgThe papers are nearly all agreed that Chancellor Alistair Darling’s 2.7 billion pound fix for the 10p tax row is the day’s main story.

Darling seeks end to 10p tax backlash” reports the Financial Times, noting that the move will still leave 1.1 million poorer households worse off following the abolition of the lowest tax band in last year’s budget.

For the Daily Mail the tax giveaway is a “2.7 billion pound gamble” to appease fury on the Labour backbenches over the scrapping of the 10p starting rate.

But the papers also find room for other stories: Drivers face a 185 pound tax to park at work, says the Daily Telegraph of a government push to cut traffic congestion. The paper reports that Nottingham city council will be the first to introduce the “workplace parking levy as an alternative to road pricing.

The Sun reports that Yorkshire ripper Peter Sutcliffe is making a legal bid for freedom from the secure Broadmoor hospital, claiming his human rights have been breached. It says Sutcliffe, jailed in 1981 for killing 13 women, wants to be declared sane and given a release date.

The Independent opts for an analytic lead, suggesting that “Britain could once again be haunted by the spectre of stagflation“. It says a combination of stagnant output and high inflation not seen for decades will dog policymakers for months if not years to come.

By contrast the Daily Express says there is “Now a race to cut prices“, reporting that supermarkets Asda and Tesco and mortgage lender Nationwide have all unveiled plans for a host of cost-cutting deals to help “Britain’s hard-pressed families.”

The Times publishes a revealing photo of Housing Minster Caroline Flint — exposing her briefing notes on the state of the housing market as she walked to a cabinet meeting. “Safe as houses? Not this minister’s private papers” runs the headline over the picture. You can see a magnified image of the notes themselves on the front of the Telegraph.

The Guardian reports that Spain is being forced to ship drinking water to Barcelona to cope with the effects of the worst drought in the country since records began 60 years ago.

The Daily Mirror leads with the arrest of a 19-year-old man over the weekend murder of 16-year-old Jimmy Mizen in a southeast London bakers, while the Daily Star says police are following a reported sighting of missing Madeleine McCann on a flight to Sao Paulo in Brazil.

May 12th, 2008

Monday’s front pages

Posted by: Avril Ormsby

express12.JPGThere were further potentially damaging revelations about Gordon Brown from within the Labour Party, claims about the rising cost of living, as well as coverage of Manchester United’s Premier League title win on Monday’s front pages.

DAILY EXPRESS: Family Tax Up 51 Percent

The tax burden has risen by 51 percent under Labour and the average family now pays a crippling 20,700 pounds a year, the paper says. Story here

FINANCIAL TIMES: Banks’ Losses to Hit Public Finances

Losses suffered by the country’s largest banks as a result of the global credit turmoil will add further pressure on the public finances by cutting the amount of corporation tax paid by the financial services industry, the paper says. Story here 

THE INDEPENDENT: Strawberry Fields Forsaken

Millions of pounds worth of soft fruit and vegetables are likely to be left to rot in fields this summer because of a shortage of foreign pickers caused by the falling value of the pound and new restrictions on the number of seasonal labourers allowed to enter Britain, farmers’ leaders warned the paper. Story here

THE TIMES: Blair Used Wife’s Grief to Protect Iraq Strategy

The paper, which is covering Cherie Blair’s autobiography, tells how she was astonished by the ruthless manner in which her husband and Alastair Campbell made public within hours the fact that she had lost the baby she was carrying in 2002  in order that a delay in their holiday did not trigger false speculation of an early invasion of Iraq. Story here

THE GUARDIAN: MPs Set to Back New Embryo Research Laws

The paper contacted 109 MPs over new embryo research laws, and says MPs will reject demands for tighter controls on abortion but are ready to allow new laws pushing back the boundary of research on human embryo. Story here

THE DAILY TELEGRAPH: Labour in Turmoil as Levy Warns Brown

There was no let up for Gordon Brown after a weekend of potentially damaging revelations. This time it was Tony Blair’s former fundraiser Lord Levy who said Brown should consider his position as prime minster after a series of disastrous poll results. Story here

THE SUN: Cherie: My Lost Baby

The paper also covers Cherie Blair’s heartbreak at the loss of her baby in a miscarriage. Story here

DAILY MIRROR: How Much Did She Know

The paper continues to ask how much the wife of Josef Fritzl knew about the cellar in which he kept his daughter and where he fathered seven children. Story here

DAILY MAIL: Food Inflation Soars to 19 Percent

The paper also looks at the cost of living, saying millions of families are having to spend almost 1,000 pounds a year extra on food after more punishing price rises. Story here

May 6th, 2008

Tuesday’s front pages

Posted by: Avril Ormsby

mailfrontpagemay5.JPGThe destruction and loss of life caused by the cyclone in Burma features on many of the broadsheet front pages, while Chelsea’s win, which keeps the title race going until the final day of the football season, is promoted in all the papers.

DAILY MAIL: Abortion: Fight to Save 2,500 Babies Every Year

MPs will begin a fight to cut the number of abortions by limiting a woman’s right to have a termination for social reasons, from the current 24 weeks to 20, the paper says. Story here

DAILY MIRROR: Boy from the Cellar

The paper features a picture of one of the children born in the cellar in Austria where his mother was kept captive for 24 years. Alex was one of three who was brought up in the family home upstairs. Story here

DAILY EXPRESS: Secret 25 percent Pay Rise for MPs

The paper says politicians are secretly plotting to award themselves a pay rise of up to 14,000 pounds a year, taking their salaries to more than 75,000 pounds. Story here

THE INDEPENDENT: Burma’s Wind of Change

The paper goes with dramatic pictures on its front of the cyclone which has swept across the country, killing thousands, and forcing the military regime to make an unprecedented plea for international help. Story here

THE DAILY TELEGRAPH: Estate Agencies Shut 150 Branches a Week

A further sign of the sub-prime lending crisis and credit crunch hitting home came with the paper’s disclosure that estate agencies were closing 150 branches a week with the loss of 4,000 jobs. Story here

THE TIMES: 10,000 Dead in Cyclone

The paper goes with the stark headline and the same main picture as the Independent to show the impact of the cyclone in Burma. Story here

THE GUARDIAN: Burma Seeks Emergency Aid as Cyclone Kills at Least 10,000

Again, the same picture of a monk crouching under a tangle of fallen tree trunks as it is reported the military leaders are willing to accept foreign help. Story here