Newspaper review: Horsemeat discovery and GCSE plans dominate
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-21378315 Version 0 of 1. The latest revelation in the ongoing controversy over horsemeat in beef products is reported in a number of Friday's papers. The <a href="http://www.telegraph.co.uk/foodanddrink/foodanddrinknews/9856558/Findus-beef-lasagne-ready-meal-was-up-to-100-per-cent-horse-meat.html" >Daily Telegraph</a> and <a href="http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/news/4784465/Findus-beef-lasagne-up-to-99-horse-tests-show.html" >Sun</a> lead on the discovery of horsemeat in Findus frozen ready meals. The Telegraph says it suggests that contamination is even more extensive than previously realised. Meanwhile, the <a href="http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/tests-reveal-findus-frozen-beef-lasagnes-contain-up-to-100-per-cent-horse-meat-8485962.html" >Independent believes the scandal will lead to a new testing regime for food companies. </a> A number of papers react to the decision by Education Secretary Michael Gove to drop plans to replace GCSEs with a new qualification. "Braking, not turning" is how the <a href="http://www.thetimes.co.uk/tto/news/" >Times</a> sums up his actions. "<a href="http://www.dailymail.co.uk/debate/article-2275342/Held-Lib-Dems---again.html?ito=feeds-newsxml" >The Lib Dems have once again blocked a reform</a> the country desperately needs," says the Daily Mail. Jonathan Freedland, writing in the Guardian, says that a "strong figure" in the government <a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2013/feb/07/gove-u-turn-gcses" >"just got a bit weaker".</a> Several papers remark on the absence of French president Francois Hollande from a scheduled meeting with David Cameron and EU officials in Brussels. The <a href="http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2275309/Francois-Hollandes-fury-David-Cameron-closes-budget-victory.html" >Daily Mail</a> sees it as a "dramatic snub" by Mr Hollande. The paper says it came as Britain appeared to be on the brink of winning the battle for a real terms cut in the EU budget. The <a href="http://www.thetimes.co.uk/tto/news/" >Times</a> marvels at author Danielle Steel after library lending figures show she is the only writer to have been on the list of the top 10 most borrowed authors every year since the chart was first published in 1983. "Her name shines through the past 30 years," says the paper, "like the gold-embossed writing on the covers of her novels." The Daily Express looks at <a href="http://www.express.co.uk/news/uk/376343/Simple-jab-can-beat-arthritis" >the treatment of rheumatoid arthritis.</a> It says just a single injection of a new drug, developed by UK scientists, can give months of relief to patients crippled by the painful disease. <a href="http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/news/politics/4784683/Mind-the-little-chap-David-Miliband-nods-off-on-Tube-with-fly-undone.html" >The Sun has a picture of a weary David Miliband,</a> asleep on London Underground's Piccadilly line. In the image, which is juxtaposed with another of him standing next to Hillary Clinton at the White House, the former foreign secretary has his flies undone. |