Sunday, October 05, 2008


That man is on the front of many of the papers again.

The Sunday Times reports that

Peter Mandelson “dripped pure poison” about Gordon Brown into the ear of a senior Conservative just weeks before his extraordinary cabinet come-back, it was claimed last night.
Mandelson is alleged to have laid out a long and detailed critique of the prime minister’s failings in a private conversation with a leading member of David Cameron’s top team.
In addition, Mandelson, who was summoned back to government last week as business secretary, warned that Brown was vulnerable to the charge that he had presided over a “culture of debt”.


The Telegraph says that

The global financial crisis risks sparking a new wave of economic nationalism that would put the brakes on international efforts to reduce cross-border trade barriers, Peter Mandelson, the new Business Secretary, warned.


The Observer has an interview with the new business secretary,under the headline

'I'm joined at the hip with PM'

Peter Mandelson yesterday buried the threat of a Blairite coup against Gordon Brown, declaring he was 'joined at the hip' to the Prime Minister, who would lead Labour into the next election.
He spoke as it emerged that Brown had been snubbed by Jon Cruddas, the left-wing standard bearer and former deputy leadership challenger, who yesterday rejected several offers of a government job. His decision to remain on the back benches has scuppered plans for a 'unity government' representing all strands of party thinking



The Mail's front page predicts another comeback,

Blunkett set to return to Cabinet as Mandy wrecks Miliband's leadership bid

Gordon Brown plans to bring David Blunkett back into the Cabinet in another dramatic bid to revive Labour's political fortunes.
The Prime Minister is considering a recall for the former Home Secretary – who, like Peter Mandelson, has been forced to resign from the Cabinet twice – as part of a second ministerial shake-up in the New Year.
but claims that

the Prime Minister's first reshuffle, announced on Friday, was already in danger of unravelling as:
• Friends of Foreign Secretary David Miliband hit out at Mr Mandelson, claiming he had sabotaged his attempt to succeed Mr Brown.
• Mr Brown reportedly prepared to sack International Development Minister Douglas Alexander as his Elections chief.
• And Schools Secretary Ed Balls was forced to deny having tried to block Mr Mandelson's return.


The Telegraph says that

David Cameron will reshuffle his shadow cabinet after evaluating his MPs through rigorous performance testing.The Conservative Leader has been monitoring members of his front bench over the past year with public appearances counted and personal popularity with the public assessed,


The News of the World carries its latest poll of the marginals

192 most marginal parliamentary seats shows the public trust the PM AHEAD of Tory leader David Cameron to steer the country through the global meltdown.
But they STILL plan to hand the Tories a 78-seat majority at the next election as Cameron wipes the floor with the Premier in all other aspects of our poll.


The global financial crisis is not far away from the front pages,the Telegraph reporting that,European leaders agree to £12bn financial crisis rescue package

The plan to set up a small businesses fund across Europe was supported by French president Nicolas Sarkozy, German chancellor Angela Merkel and Italian prime minister Silvio Berlusconi at an emergency European Union summit in Paris
The meeting, to discuss urgent solutions to the economic crisis, saw leaders also look for ways to stop European countries acting unilaterally to guarantee bank deposits, thereby hitting their neighbours’ economies


The Times warns that,Britain spirals into recession this winter

This weekend economists cut growth predictions, warning that Britain faces a long and deep recession with unemployment rising by up to 1m.
Gloom over the economic impact of the banking crisis has intensified, with economists warning that the credit crunch is hitting hard because many parts of the financial system have stopped functioning.


Meanwhile the Observer looks at the consequnces in a small European country

The party's over for Iceland

Iceland is on the brink of collapse. Inflation and interest rates are raging upwards. The krona, Iceland's currency, is in freefall and is rated just above those of Zimbabwe and Turkmenistan. One of the country's three independent banks has been nationalised, another is asking customers for money, and the discredited government and officials from the central bank have been huddled behind closed doors for three days with still no sign of a plan. International banks won't send any more money and supplies of foreign currency are running out


The Independent leads with a different story

Power cuts feared in UK nuclear plants crisis

In theory, at least, Britain now has 10 operating nuclear power stations, stretching from Torness on the Firth of Forth to Dungeness on the south Kent coast. Each has two reactors, and ministers boast that they supply about one-fifth of the power that keeps the lights on.
The reality, as an Independent on Sunday investigation shows today, is very different. The majority of the power stations are in dire trouble, and their failure is leading to the most acute concern in years that the country may run short of electricity this winter.


Another face from the past is on the front pages,the Telegraph reports how

OJ Simpson ran out of courtroom luck

describing how Thirteen years to the day after the smiles, fist pump and backslaps when he was cleared of double murder in the "Trial of the Century", OJ Simpson again stood and waited for a jury's verdict.


The Observer says that

Standing in the courtroom in 'Sin City', Simpson winced briefly but visibly as Judge Jackie Glass denied him bail and ordered him sent to the cells to await his sentencing date. Dressed in a sharp, dark blue suit, he seemed to nod but remained calm. The same could not said of his sister, Carmelita Durio. She broke down in tears and collapsed to the floor of the court. Paramedics treated her as Simpson was led away.


According to the Times,the Government will spy on every call and e-mail

Ministers are considering spending up to £12 billion on a database to monitor and store the internet browsing habits, e-mail and telephone records of everyone in Britain.
GCHQ, the government’s eavesdropping centre, has already been given up to £1 billion to finance the first stage of the project.
Hundreds of clandestine probes will be installed to monitor customers live on two of the country’s biggest internet and mobile phone providers - thought to be BT and Vodafone. BT has nearly 5m internet customers.


The Independent reports how Charles targets GM crop giants in fiercest attack yet explianing how

making his most anti-GM speech yet, in delivering – by video – the Sir Albert Howard Memorial Lecture to the Indian pressure group Navdanya last Thursday. And he made it clear that he was going to continue. "The reason I keep sticking my 60-year-old head above an increasingly dangerous parapet is not because it is good for my health," he said " but precisely because I believe fundamentally that unless we work with nature, we will fail to restore the equilibrium we need in order to survive on this planet."


One of the stories of the week continues to dominate,the Mail reports that

Sir Ian Blair has furiously denied London mayor Boris Johnson’s account of his departure as Metropolitan Police Commissioner, senior officers said last night, insisting he did not resign voluntarily but was fired.
Mr Johnson issued a statement saying that when the two men met in his office last Thursday morning ‘the decision that Sir Ian took was his decision alone’.

The Independent says that

Gordon Brown has stepped in personally to block Sir Ian Blair from receiving a peerage when he steps down as Metropolitan Police Commissioner, The Independent on Sunday has learned.
Sources said yesterday that allowing Sir Ian a seat in the House of Lords would fuel controversy over his resignation, and the Prime Minister would prefer to distance the Government from the row surrounding it.


Across the tabloids Wendy Richards is featured,My dying wish says the Express

NATIONAL treasure Wendy Richard has spoken of her heartbreak at being told she is dying of cancer.
In an exclusive interview, the former EastEnders actress revealed how she has written a will and planned her funeral after being diagnosed with an aggressive form of the disease that has attacked her kidney and spread to her bones.
The 65-year-old star, who has twice beaten breast cancer, will marry John Burns, her long-term partner, this week – just days before starting a gruelling course of chemotherapy.


Strictly illegal says the News of the World,it reports that

STRICTLY Come Dancing’s Australian judge Craig Revel Horwood LIED to immigration chiefs so he could stay in Britain, the News of the World can reveal.
He claimed he was happily married to a British woman when he applied to the Home Office for UK residency.
But a News of the World investigation has found he had already LEFT his wife Jane.


The Observer reports from Zimbabwe where

As President Mugabe and opposition MDC leaders wrangle over cabinet appointments, millions face starvation in a catastrophe created by economic chaos and the dramatic collapse of commercial farms


The Times picks up the comments of Brigadier Mark Carleton-Smith who

has warned that the war against the Taliban cannot be won.Britain's most senior military commander in Afghanistan said the British public should not expect a “decisive military victory” but should be prepared for a possible deal with the Taliban.
His assessment followed the leaking of a memo from a French diplomat who claimed that Sir Sherard Cowper-Coles, the British ambassador in Kabul, had told him the current strategy was “doomed to fail”.


Obama on the March says the Independent

With less than a month to go in the marathon race for the US presidency, and Barack Obama forging ahead in most of the key states where the election will be decided, John McCain and his Republican allies are preparing a new round of deeply personal attacks on the Democratic front-runner in an attempt to seize back the initiative.


The Telegraph says that

Sarah Palin attacked Mr Obama for his links to Bill Ayres, the former terrorist-turned-education professor, whose Weather Underground group bombed the Pentagon in the 1960s, and with whom Mr Obama worked on community projects in the mid-1990s.
Mrs Palin said: “This is not a man who sees America as you see America and as I see America. Our opponent is someone who sees America, it seems, as being so imperfect that he's palling around with terrorists who would target their own country. Americans need to know this.”


Finally the Mail reports that

An X factor reject faces being booted out of her council house after neighbours made dozens of complaints about 'loud singing' keeping them awake late at night.
Emma Chawner, her parents and older sister, claim they are being victimised 'for being fat' after 130 noise complaints were made about them in less than a year.
But witnesses insist the Chawners sing loudly late at night, play music and watch TV at top volume, let their dog bark constantly and yell abuse at their neighbours.

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