More than a million people lost up to half of their life savings after the Government gave the public a "wholly misleading picture" of the safety of their investments, an official inquiry into the collapse of Equitable Life finds today.Ministers are formally urged to apologise and pay compensation to the victims of the scandal, thousands of whom are dying every year.
The Times reports that
Ann Abraham, the Parliamentary Ombudsman, accuses the Government and three financial regulators of complacency and serial maladministration that led to losses for Equitable customers estimated at more than £4 billion.
Her damning report calls for a compensation scheme to be set up within six months and demands that the bodies responsible publicly apologise.
A range of headlines across the papers though,the Express calls the 2p a litre tax climbdown a farce,
GORDON Brown was accused last night of trying to pull off yet another confidence trick on tax after delaying a 2p rise in fuel duty.
In a long-expected move, the Government announced that the tax increase on a litre of petrol or diesel due this autumn will be cancelled.
But it did nothing to quell drivers’ anger. Motoring organisations immediately branded the gesture an inadequate “drop in the ocean” and demanded a complete end to rip-off Treasury tax windfalls from spiralling oil prices.
The Independent reporting that
The Chancellor's move followed a backlash from motorists and hauliers over the remorseless rises in prices at the pumps. But he was criticised for the timing of the announcement which the Conservatives claimed was linked to next week's by-election in Glasgow East.
It meanwhile reports that the unions press Brown to raise taxes on rich
The issue will surface next week when Mr Brown attends an important meeting of Labour's policy forum at Warwick University to discuss the party's next election manifesto. Ministers will try to negotiate a new deal on policy with the trade unions: they contribute more than 90 per cent of the party's income. The three biggest unions – Unite, the GMB and Unison – have called for tax rises for the rich in amendments to draft policy statements. So have many constituency Labour parties.
The Telegraph reports that
Motorists face £5 charge to beat jams on motorway hard shoulder
Ruth Kelly, the Transport Secretary, announced that "hard shoulder running" would be rolled out on a cluster of the country's busiest motorways following the success of trials in the West Midlands.Kelly confirmed that ministers are now looking into the practicality of turning the extra lane created though the use of the hard shoulder on at least four motorways into dedicated toll lanes, similar to those used in congested areas in the United States
The Guardian says
Unemployment surges by 15,000 in a month
Unemployment last month rose at its fastest rate since the depths of the early 1990s recession, as the turmoil in the housing and financial markets continued to take its toll on the UK economy.
The number of people claiming unemployment benefit rose for the fifth month in a row, the Office for National Statistics said. The rise - of 15,500 to 840,100 - is the biggest since December 1992. The jobless rate remained at a low 2.6%
It leads with
US plans to station diplomats in Iran for first time since 1979
The Guardian has learned that an announcement will be made in the next month to establish a US interests section - a halfway house to setting up a full embassy. The move will see US diplomats stationed in the country.
The news of the shift by Bush who has pursued a hawkish approach to Iran throughout his tenure comes at a critical time in US-Iranian relations. After weeks that have seen tensions rise with Israel conducting war games and Tehran carrying out long-range missile tests, a thaw appears to be under way
The Times adds
Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, the Iranian President, has welcomed the plan. “We have not received any official request for the moment, but we think that the development of relations between the two peoples is something correct,” Mr Ahmadinejad said on Sunday. “Any proposal in this direction can be examined and we will receive it favourably
More from the Middle East and the Telegraph as does most of the papers reports that
Israel and Hizbollah closed a traumatic chapter of their long conflict when they conducted an emotional exchange of prisoners and corpses, marking the culmination of nearly two years of fraught negotiations. The bodies of two Israeli soldiers came home across the border from Lebanon in spartan black coffins
In the Independent Robert Fisk writes of a 'Theatrical return for the living and the dead'
Yesterday was the last day of the 2006 Lebanon war, the final chapter of Israel's folly and Hizbollah's hubris, a grisly day of corpse-swapping and refrigerated body parts and coffin after bleak wooden coffin on trucks crossing the Israeli border, which left old Ali Ahmed al-Sfeir and his wife, Wahde, stooped and broken with grief. Ali had a grizzled grey beard and stood propped on a stick while Wahde held a grey-tinged photograph of a young man – her son Ahmed, born in 1970. "He was a martyr, but I do not know which lorry he will be on," she said. In the slightly torn picture, he looked whey-faced, unsmiling, already dead.
Knife crime features on the front of the Mail and the Times,
Shock figures reveal no part of Britain is safe as knife violence spreads EVERYWHERE says the former
Official figures obtained by the Daily Mail show how the shadow of 'Blade Britain' has spread from urban areas to the shires.
Hundreds of knife offences are being committed in county force areas including Devon and Cornwall, Hampshire, Kent, Staffordshire-Cheshire and Northumbria. Crime statistics due out today will for the first time include a breakdown of serious violent offences involving blades.
The Times reports that
Ministers will defy public concern over gang violence by claiming today that crime is falling at a record rate.
Even before the final figures for the British Crime Survey (BCS) were in, Whitehall officials had already begun drawing up plans to trumpet the reduction in offences, The Times has learnt.
The survey, published today, will state that crime is falling in all 43 police forces in England and Wales and that the Government has exceeded its key target of cutting offences by more than 15 per cent since 2003. Its release comes at a time when the credibility of official statistics is being questioned. Senior police are worried about shortcomings in recording two major areas: knife and gun crime.
Where Illegals Dare says the front of the Sun reporting that
TOP brass erupted in fury after learning how five illegal immigrants smuggled themselves INSIDE a frontline British military base aboard a convoy of Army lorries.
The stowaways are thought to have secretly sneaked on at Calais, boarding vehicles returning Land Rovers from Kosovo.
They were discovered only after they had passed through all security checks at the Duke of Gloucester Barracks in South Cerney, Gloucs.
The Independent continues with its tipping campaign,top chefs turn up the heat says its front page
The Independent's campaign for fair tips has won the backing of leading chefs, politicians and restaurant guides. Marco Pierre White, Antony Worrall Thompson and Giorgio Locatelli all demanded an end to the widespread abuses of Britain's waiters and waitresses.
The editor of Britain's gastronomic bible, the Michelin Guide, backed the campaign and said he was considering listing the tipping policy of every restaurant in future editions to provide transparency for customers.
The Telegraph reports that
Teenagers who have just finished A-Levels employed to mark SATs exams
The disclosure, made by the Labour chairman of the House of Commons Schools Committee, piled more pressure on Ed Balls, the Schools Secretary, over the Government's handling of the SATs system.
The Times reveals that
A head teacher is refusing to publish the results of some national curriculum tests after discovering such poor marking that pupils who performed strongly fared worse than poor students.
Janis Burdin, a primary school head in Chorley, Lancashire, described the marking in numerous instances as “absolutely off the radar”. She said that the children’s grades would not be published until the papers were remarked
More education news in the Independent which reports that
At least 18 universities are setting their own admissions tests because they believe they can no longer rely on A-level results alone to gauge a candidate's ability, a report reveals today. Universities UK – the body representing vice-chancellors – estimates that one in seven of its 132 members has introduced such exams.
The Mirror reports on day 3 of the Darwin case where it is revealed that
Canoe wife Anne Darwin wrote a loving email to husband John just hours before he gave himself up to police - begging him not to leave her, a court heard yesterday.
The 56-year-old claims she was bullied into taking part in an alleged scam where he faked his death to claim £250,000 life insurance to pay off their mounting debts.
But the chatty emails seem to show a woman who was at ease with her 57-year-old husband, jurors heard.
The paper leads with Cristiano Ronaldo's £10K night of booze and 'dancing' at club
The Manchester United striker, recovering from an ankle operation, splashed out more than £10,000 on wine, vodka and bottles of Cristal champagne after arriving at trendy nightclub Villa with two friends.
Ronaldo and his mates were met by the four models, who sat with him at a private table in one corner.
The Mail analyses the Conservative declarations of expenses and allowences
Nearly a third of Tory MPs pay relatives from their taxpayer-funded expenses - at a total cost of £1.5million a year.
New figures show 61 Conservatives employ members of their family out of their £102,000 staffing perk.
Sixteen of them pay relatives as much as £40,000 to help run their parliamentary or constituency offices.
Finally problems for Parliament itself as the Guardian reports,Asbestos scare at Houses of Parliament
Visitors to the Houses of Parliament, MPs, peers and officials working in the 170-year-old building are at risk of exposure to a dangerous form of asbestos fibres, according to a safety report seen by the Guardian.
A detailed investigation of the service shafts and piping ducts hidden behind the neo-Gothic committee rooms and chambers warns of "significant dangers" to "all persons" in the Palace of Westminster.
The study - produced by Goddard Consulting, London-based health and safety experts, for the Parliamentary Works Service Directorate - was delivered earlier this year. It documents fears that risks are not being adequately addressed.
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