UK News
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Rejection of gay clergyman as bishop sends CoE into spin
The Church of England has blocked the appointment of a gay clergyman to the role of Bishop of Southwark after a bitter behind-the-scenes battle which has left the conservatives and liberals at loggerheads and possibly weakened the standing of Rowan Williams, Archbishop of Canterbury, media reports said.
Jeffrey John, Dean of St Albans, was rejected after it was leaked that he was on the Crown Nominations Commission shortlist for the post in south London, one of the most liberal of all the church’s dioceses, the Daily Telegraph said.
It is a second humiliation for the openly gay but celibate John, who seven years ago was forced to stand down from becoming the Bishop of Reading after opposition from evangelicals.
The Archbishop of Canterbury had asked his friend to forgo the Reading post in an attempt to keep the church together, and will be seen as having been central in this week’s decision.
Williams, angry that details from the confidential CNC meeting were leaked for political purposes, said he would not allow himself to be pressurised into backing any one candidate, the Times reported.
Potential schisms within the CoE and the broader Anglican Communion have been frequently mentioned in recent years, but tensions are running particularly high at the moment.
Editorials praise Brown’s energy package
Unions and energy watchdogs lashed out at Gordon Brown’s aid package aimed at helping householders cope with soaring energy bills, saying it was ”too little, too late”. Even pensioners’ charities gave a frosty response.
But newspaper editorials on the whole were supportive, describing it as “bold politics. More importantly, it was good policy”, as The Times said.
From The Guardian to the Financial Times, the editorials praised the “eminently sensible” measures which concentrated on big companies helping householders to lag their lofts and cavity walls.
It may not have delivered on the pre-hype, but the editorials blame the government for bumping up the publicity in a desperate attempt to boost its poor showing in the opinion polls.
But the government resisted the temptation to impose a windfall tax on big power companies — a target on so-called excess profits.
Instead, the utility companies have been persuaded to invest 910 million pounds in helping householders pay the cost of insulating their homes.
The editorials said the government was right to resist pressure from Labour MPs and unions to impose a tax.
Editorials should not praise Brown’s energy package, but should point to his huge lies and huge hidden tax on energy
‘What on earth was Darling talking about?’ – media ask
The 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.
Alistair Darling is guilty of one thing only: telling some semblance of the truth. If everyone faced it we might reshape our spending and living habits to accommodate it.
Unfortunately, telling the truth is not in keeping with NuLab’s policy. Brown’s idea is that we go on in total denial on the sliver of a hope that the problem will go away before too many people are made homeless, bankrupt, dying of hypothermia, victims of a failed NHS etc.
Wednesday’s front pages
The 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.”
Monday’s front pages
There 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
Tuesday’s front pages
The 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
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