Review of the Papers, Wednesday 06 June

Government

• Drastic cost-cutting ordered by the Government across the NHS has derailed its flagship policy to ensure that no patient waits longer than 18 weeks for hospital treatment. A leaked e-mail seen by The Times reveals that the Department of Health is so worried that new data showing that some patients will have to wait "in excess of one year" will be highlighted by the media that it has issued special guidance on how to spin the news. The Government is expected to announce today that the NHS has made a surplus of more than £500 million in the past financial year after an aggressive drive to reduce spending by health trusts. The e-mail says that more than half of patients are still waiting longer than 18 weeks for treatment. It calls into question the Government's ability to honour its key health pledge that all patients would be treated within this time by the end of 2008. http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/life-and-style/health/article1890473.ece
• The NHS is on the brink of collapse and cannot be saved unless Gordon Brown intervenes when he becomes prime minister to give doctors the authority to organise a recovery, the leader of Britain's 33,000 hospital consultants will claim today. Jonathan Fielden, chairman of the British Medical Association's consultants committee, will tell Mr Brown: "Political meddling has brought the NHS to its knees. Unshackle the profession, give us back the health service, and we will rebuild it. Fail to do so and you will rightly be condemned for destroying the best piece of social capital the country has ever had." http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk-news/story/0,,2096405,00.html
• The Government is facing calls for an investigation into allegations that it is colluding with BAA, the airport operator, over plans to build a third runway at Heathrow and allow an extra 500 flights a day over London. The Department for Transport has secretly passed key information supporting the expansion to the Spanish-owned company six months before it is due to be published in a consultation document. The department has also allowed senior BAA officials to influence a series of tests designed to show whether the third runway would breach limits on air pollution and noise. The Times has learnt that BAA has a team of 34 people working with civil servants, influencing the tests so that they find in favour of building the new runway. The department has given BAA a full copy of the preliminary results but is refusing to allow any opponents of the expansion to see them. http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/politics/article1890224.ece
• Separated parents who fail to agree on maintenance payments could face a charge if they hand over responsibility to the new body replacing the discredited Child Support Agency. The child support bill, published today, will give the government powers to force parents to pay a weekly fee to cover the costs of administration and collection of maintenance, and to fine those who try to evade payment, to recoup the cost of tracking them down. The aim is to encourage as many separated parents as possible to come to private agreements over levels of maintenance and to hand over the money without the state stepping in. http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk-news/story/0,,2096351,00.html
• Even in this television age, one million Britons don't watch the box and prefer to fritter away their time on pursuits such as reading and conversation. While not being renowned for agitation, the television refuseniks are growing restless. Not because they are bored of a life without Coronation Street or The Apprentice, but because of the "harassment" they say they are receiving from the authorities. The TV Licensing authority, that is, which keeps sending them "intimidating" letters demanding to know why they do not have a television licence - despite living in a care home. The letters demand an immediate response and warn of "enforcement officers", proceedings at the magistrates' court and £1,000 fines. Complaints about the fierce-sounding letters and their irritating frequency have been circulating on the internet for years. Now, MPs have finally raised the matter in Parliament with a Commons motion that demands an end to such letters - and criticises the outsourcing company Capita. http://news.independent.co.uk/media/article2617437.ece
• Gordon Brown yesterday promised his union backers for the leadership of the Labour Party that as Prime Minister he will ensure British people get first refusal on jobs in Britain. His remarks were seen as a clear shift from Tony Blair's defence of cheap foreign workers as a means of boosting the British economy. Mr Blair has been accused by trade union leaders of trying to undercut British workers by opening the door to migrant workers from Eastern Europe. But speaking yesterday at a conference of the general workers union, the GMB, Mr Brown said: "I want to ensure that by working with employers in all sectors we can make sure that people have the skills and are given the help so that the jobs, when they come available, can go to those people in Britain who are registered and looking for jobs at the moment." http://news.independent.co.uk/uk/politics/article2617452.ece 
• A drive around the Cornish coast could prove an eventful experience over the next couple of days, as the Ministry of Defence tests new ways of jamming GPS signals. Even in normal conditions, sat nav systems seem entirely capable of directing motorists to the edge of a cliff or into the path of an oncoming train. But add the frisson of intermittent interruptions by MoD experts and the effects could be startling. Accordingly, ambulance crews, firemen and police  officers working in and around Portreath, near Redruth, have been warned against relying on their sat-navs. A similar note of caution has been issued by the Maritime and Coastguard Agency to any passing sailors thinking of steering solely by GPS navigation. The MoD claims that any disruption will be limited to a radius of less than two miles around RAF Portreath, where the tests are being carried out. http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2007/06/06/nsatnav106.xml
• On Monday it was unveiled to a torrent of criticism for being, well, a mess. Yesterday it was being blamed for causing epileptic fits. Life's never dull for Olympic logomakers. Twenty-four hours after its launch, an epilepsy expert claimed that part of the animated footage of the London 2012 Olympic emblem had caused a number of fits, forcing organisers to remove part of the film. Graham Harding, an epilepsy photosensitivity expert, told BBC London News last night: "We now know of eight cases in which seizures have occurred. What it appears has happened is that the flash rate of the diving sequence contravenes the Ofcom guidelines." He said that susceptibility was particularly prevalent among people aged between 7 and 19 and that three quarters of those who suffered from photosensitivity would do so for life. The removal will be an embarrassment for Lord Coe, the organising committee chairman, who lauded the £400,000 logo's dynamism. http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/sport/london-2012/article1890341.ece
• Folklore has long associated the lunar cycle with strange happenings. But now a connection has been identified by a policeman between the full moon and bad behaviour. Insp Andy Parr, of Sussex Police, looked at crime statistics for the Brighton and Hove area's nightlife. He said: "I compared a graph of full moons and a graph of last year's violent crimes and there is a trend. People tend to be more aggressive generally." Behaviour was also worse on pay days, Insp Parr discovered. The force is now planning to put extra officers on the streets for key dates during the summer - including the next full moon on June 30. http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2007/06/06/nmoon106.xml

EU

• Britain's traditional barometer makers and restorers were facing closure last night after the European Parliament voted to uphold a ban on the use of mercury. The decision effectively consigns more than 350 years of unique British tradition and craft to history. The Parliament's environment committee, including two British Labour MEPs, Linda McAvan and Glenis Wilmott, opted not to challenge a European commission ban on the use of mercury in barometers. After a two-year phase-out period, production of thermometers and barometers containing mercury will be banned, ostensibly to prevent the toxic metal entering the food chain. The small but highly skilled barometer industry thought it had won a reprieve from the legislation after winning an initial exemption last year but yesterday's decision signals the end of their campaign to save the instruments. The move, already approved by national governments, was hailed by environmental groups but criticised by Conservative MEPs and makers of traditional barometers. http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2007/06/06/nmercury106.xml