Wednesday, 18 November 2009

Wednesday's papers

It's the Queen's speech today and the Guardian warns that the Tories will kill off most of the proposed bills

Lord Strathclyde, the Conservative leader in the Lords, predicted that few if any of the bills announced amid tomorrow's fanfare and pageantry would reach the statute book without the consent of Tory peers.
says the paper

The Telegraph reports that Children will be legally guaranteed the right to a good education under new legislation that teachers fear will descend into a “whingers’ charter”.

An education Bill to be unveiled in the Queen's Speech on Wednesday will create a set of pupil and parent “guarantees” for the first time – outlining what families can expect from the state school system in England.


For the Independent,the world stands on the edge of a catastrophy

with average global temperatures rising by up to 6C by the end of the century, leading scientists said yesterday. Such a rise – which would be much higher nearer the poles – would have cataclysmic and irreversible consequences for the Earth, making large parts of the planet uninhabitable and threatening the basis of human civilisation.


The news,says the Guardain

will give greater urgency to the diplomatic manoeuvring before the Copenhagen summit. President Obama and President Hu of China attempted to breathe new life into the negotiations today by announcing that they intended to set targets for easing greenhouse gas emissions next month.


According to the Mail,more than eight in ten savings accounts are paying such a paltry interest rate that customers are effectively losing money,

Financial experts said savers have become the 'sacrificial lambs' of the Bank of England's desperate attempts to rescue the economy.


Many of the papers report that the private details of millions of mobile phone customers, including their numbers and addresses, have been sold illegally.

Staff at T-Mobile passed the information to brokers who then sold it to rival phone companies. The companies then called customers as their contracts were due to expire to offer a better mobile phone deal. says the Times

It leads with the story that

Marylebone Cricket Club will consider selling the naming rights to Lord’s, the sport’s most famous ground, as part of a £400 million redevelopment


Both it and the Independent report that one of Britain's most senior police officers has proposed widespread mergers of the country's police forces in what would be the biggest shake-up of policing in a generation.

Sir Hugh Orde, the president of the Association of Chief Police Officers (Acpo), says amalgamating some of Britain's 43 forces is the best way to make use of Home Office budgets, which he believes are set to shrink by up to 20 per cent due to the recession.


The Sun leads with the story that Dan Scadding is set to be Britain's richest soldier after his dad scooped a staggering £45.6million on the EuroMillions lottery.Dan, 28, an elite Royal Marine commando, learned of the fabulous family fortune while preparing for a tour of duty in Afghanistan next Spring.

Meanwhile the Guardian reports on Rifleman Andrew Fentiman who was killed in Afghanistan

In a blog from the frontline, the Territorial Army soldier Andrew Fentiman, 23, described his Afghan base as calm and was cheered by the cheap cigarettes but worried troops were still waiting for the body armour and helmets they had been promised. Two weeks after being deployed Rifleman Fentiman, who was serving with the 7th Battalion The Rifles, was shot dead while on foot patrol near Sangin in Helmand province on Sunday.


Britain ruled by a Belgian is the headline in the Express as the paper reports that

The Belgian Prime Minister, who wants to impose sweeping Europe-wide taxes, is expected to be picked for the plum new job at a cosy dinner of the Brussels elite tomorrow.


Many of the papers report that The White House expressed exasperation with Israel over a plan to build 900 new houses on the West Bank at a time when Barack Obama is trying to broker a Middle East peace agreement.

Finally Swindon is set to become the most digital town in the UK

In its illustrious history, Swindon has notched up a number of impressive firsts. Alongside the planet's first recorded railway refreshment rooms, the Wiltshire town pioneered xylophone lessons for Victorian labourers and more recently took the enlightened step of abolishing all of its fixed-point speed cameras.
reports the Independent but know it

announced its latest initiative to blaze a trail of technical and social innovation for the rest of Britain to follow – free wireless internet for its entire population of 186,000 souls.

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