Saturday, January 4, 2014

Wild weather and Only Fools return

Wild weather and Only Fools return on front pages

Daily Mirror front page 4/1/14 The seemingly endless bad weather continues to dominate the papers. The Daily Mirror focuses on one "mad dad", as it puts it, who took his young daughter close to a "20ft wave". It says he "risked his girl's life by ignoring danger warnings to lift her up to peek over the harbour wall at the huge waves".
Daily Telegraph front page 4/1/14 The same shocking series of images of a family "almost swept away" in Mullion Cove Harbour, Cornwall, also graces the Daily Telegraph front page. Its top story, meanwhile, concerns a warning from outspoken Business Secretary Vince Cable about the "worrying" rise in house prices in southern England.
Independent front page 4/1/14 The Independent is one of several papers to use a striking image of waves breaching a sea wall in Saltcoats, Ayrshire, and coming very close to a train. The Indie's main story says that so far, fewer than one in three Conservative prospective parliamentary candidates for the 2015 general election are female.
Daily Mail front page 4/1/14 The "worst storm in 20 years" is how the Daily Mail puts it. Its lead says GPs are earning "nearly £1,500 a shift to work nights and weekends in crisis-hit A&E units". The paper says the news emerged "on the day doctors came under fire for suggesting that patients should be charged up to £10 to visit a casualty unit".
Financial Times front page 4/1/14 The Financial Times has the same image as the Independent, a train hurrying through waves in Ayrshire. Its lead says seven US technology giants, including Apple, "paid just £54m in UK corporate tax in 2012". It says the "relatively modest" sum "will add urgency to a planned rethink of global tax rules".
i front page 4/1/14 Same image again for the i, which reports that the environment secretary has promised "to protect front-line flood defence services despite hundreds of job cuts" at the Environment Agency. Elsewhere the front page mentions a warning from midwives of "disastrous shortages of staff on wards".
Daily Express front page 4/1/14 The Daily Express goes even further with its weather story, warning that the wild storms will give way to a "new big freeze". Ice and heavy snow is "set to sweep in", it says. The paper also features Celebrity Big Brother contestant Lionel Blair and an apparent "falling out" he's had with Sir Bruce Forsyth.
Sun front page 4/1/14 A "luvvly jubbly TV exclusive" on the front of Saturday's Sun - news that Only Fools and Horses is to return to our screens "within months". The story says "locations have been secretly scouted after a new script was written". Sir David Jason and Nicholas Lyndhurst will both be back, it claims.
Times front page The Times is one of only two papers not to feature the weather on its front page. Its lead says "developers could be allowed to destroy ancient woodland if they agree to plant 100 trees for each one felled". The environment secretary has reportedly described the idea as "biodiversity offsetting".
Guardian front page The cost of long-term medical conditions such as diabetes and dementia is "threatening to 'overwhelm' the NHS", according to a senior health official quoted in the Guardian. The paper also reports from Ronnie Biggs' funeral, saying the "carnival" of his life ended with "a two-fingered floral salute".
Daily Star front page 4/1/14 Finally, the Daily Star devotes its entire front page to Celebrity Big Brother. It says the "raunchy lot" have "vowed to make this year's show TV's steamiest flesh-fest". They were "handcuffed in pairs" for the launch show, it adds.

Narrow escapes from huge waves feature on several front pages on Saturday.

The Daily Mirror and Daily Telegraph show a family almost overwhelmed as they walk along a harbour path in Cornwall, while other papers picture a train travelling past a wall of water in Ayrshire.

Elsewhere, the Sun says it can exclusively reveal that much-loved sitcom Only Fools and Horses is to return with new episodes "within months".

And a number of papers lead with NHS stories, including the cost of long-term illness in the Guardian, and the cost of A&E staffing in the Daily Mail.

Discussing the papers for the BBC's News Channel, freelance Parliamentary reporter Rob Merrick says Vince Cable appears to have "gone nuclear" in the Daily Telegraph, warning of the "worrying" rise in house prices following the introduction of the Help to Buy scheme.

He says the business secretary has told the paper "the government is repeating the mistakes of Gordon Brown, which is about as damning a thing as you can say about any government in Conservative eyes".

Alison Phillips, weekend editor of the Daily Mirror, says the Help to Buy scheme is "a bit of a quick fix" aimed at "all those house owners who voted Conservative at the last election and may wish to vote Conservative again at the next election if they can see a little bit of an increase in prices".


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