Labour jobs go over £27m debt
The Labour Party is to cut millions of pounds from its budgets as it grapples with a cash crisis after its free-spending general election campaign last year (Greg Hurst writes).
Dozens of staff face redundancy and its network of regional offices may be scaled back or axed, with the party facing debts of £27.2 million.
Labour has been kept afloat by loans of almost £14 million from wealthy businessmen, some of whom are at the heart of the loans-for-peerages police investigation, after spending £17.9 million on the most expensive election in history.
Yesterday officers of the party’s National Executive Committee announced plans for “root and branch restructuring”.
A Labour source told The Times that the NEC was “looking for a 20 per cent reduction in budgets”. Party accounts for 2005 show annual running costs of £23.8 million, although these were inflated by election spending.
Eton Tories
David Cameron’s new-look Conservative Party has been accused of being old-fashioned after an analysis showed that he had 16 Old Etonians in his frontbench team.
According to figures compiled by Denis MacShane, Labour MP for Rotherham, 16 of the 145 MPs and peers in frontbench positions went to Eton. That compares with 22 members of Margaret Thatcher’s first government in 1979. Mr Cameron replaced Michael Howard, who was educated at a grammar school, to become the first Eton-educated leader of the Conservatives since 1963.
Mr MacShane said that Mr Cameron had appointed a Shadow Cabinet that had a narrow base and that was “in his comfort zone”.
Chickens suffer
Welfare standards for the country’s 200 million factory farmed chickens have deteriorated, according to a new report commissioned by the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Valerie Elliott writes).
The report found that 27.3 per cent of chickens observed on five of the country’s biggest production plants suffered pain from leg injuries. The injuries were caused because they are fattened so quickly that their limbs are unable to support their weight.
The findings of the study by University of Bristol veterinary experts appear to be a damning verdict on British chicken production. The last similar study, in 1992, found that 26 per cent of chickens were suffering.
Girl, 13, drowns on sports trip
A 13-year-old British girl has drowned after an abseiling accident during an adventure holiday in France. Amy Stitch, from Penrith, Cumbria, apparently died on her descent into a gorge near Lac de l’Eychauda in the French Alps on Sunday, while on a canyoning expedition.
Canyoning involves travelling down a water course using ropes or descending freestyle. It is thought that Amy was walking and abseiling down the gorge when she fell and her safety cord caught on a branch.
Paramedics and people from her party were unable to reach her in time and she died in hospital.
She is believed to have been on holiday with her father.
The Lac de l’Eychauda region of the Alps is a popular area for adventure sports, as well as for walking, cycling and hiking.
Rapped over rap
The BBC governors have sought assurances that Radio 1 will not play music that encourages knife and gun crime, in response to concerns raised by David Cameron. The Conservative leader had called on BBC DJs to show some “shared responsibility” and stop broadcasting rap songs that incite murder.
Wheels of justice
Two men arrested in Torquay for non-payment of fines were taken on a 26-hour road journey to court in Perth. It would usually take 8½ hours. The Reliance prison escort van was involved in a minor crash, which also delayed it. Reliance said that a trip could take longer if other prisoners had to be picked up.
Linekers divorce
Gary and Michelle Lineker have divorced after 20 years of marriage. Mrs Lineker, 40, was granted a decree nisi on the ground of her husband’s unreasonable behaviour. Neither she nor the former England football star, 45, who have four sons, attended the proceedings in the Family Division of the High Court.
Jogger death
Garath Davies, 22, appeared at the Old Bailey charged with murdering Egeli Rasta, 27, a former Harrods worker who disappeared while jogging in Mitcham, South London. Her body was found on Mitcham Common. Mr Davies, from Mitcham, was remanded in custody to reappear on October 24.
A healthy goal
Young men with depression are to find help in football. Sir Bobby Charlton, who launched the It’s a Goal! project at Manchester United’s Old Trafford ground, said that young men were more likely to walk into a football stadium than a mental health unit. Old Trafford will host discussions and therapeutic activities
Give Clarkson a break, says BBC
Viewers must learn not to be offended by comments made by the television presenter Jeremy Clarkson, according to the BBC (Adam Sherwin writes). The corporation issued a statement rejecting 500 complaints about Top Gear, saying that its audience should be “familiar enough” with the show’s tone to cope with “provocative comments”.
A complaint over a Nazi salute by Clarkson on the show was rejected last month.
Crash kills family
A family of four returning from a holiday in France has been killed in a road accident. Two children and their parents, believed to be from the Midlands area, died in the crash on the A34 near Bicester, Oxfordshire. Police are trying to work out the cause of the crash, which involved a lorry, five cars and a car-transporter.
Ecstasy haul
Police have seized 88lb (40kg) of ecstasy with a street value of £750,000 in an international operation in Belgium and South Wales. About 160,000 tablets destined for Britain were intercepted in Belgium on Friday. Police in South Wales found a further 10,000 tablets at a house in Newport. Five men were arrested.
Rapist's identity
A 15-year-old sentenced to be detained for nine years for raping a girl, 11, in a supermarket lavatory must not be identified, a judge sitting at Coventry Crown Court ruled. He rejected an application by media organisations to have the restriction lifted, saying anonymity was necessary for the welfare of the boy’s family.
Nokia most stolen
Nokia accounted for half of all mobile phone thefts in London last year, with the Nokia 6230 receiving the unenviable title of the most frequently stolen handset. Nokia dominated thefts for 2005 with seven of its phones in the top ten, according to a survey carried out by Justice of the Peace magazine.
Fun day cancelled
A planned Muslim fun day at Alton Towers has been cancelled because of poor ticket sales. The park had agreed to require all visitors to observe Muslim customs on September 17, when up to 28,000 Muslims were expected to visit the attraction. A spokesman refused to say how many tickets had been sold.
Champion pint
A golden ale has been crowned Champion Beer of Britain for the second year running. Crouch Vale Brewers Gold, an Essex beer, beat more than fifty finalists to scoop the Campaign for Real Ale accolade — the first day of the Camra Great British Beer Festival at Earls Court in West London.
