Newspaper review: Papers focus on jobs for UK workers

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-21528779

Version 0 of 1.

Figures showing that three quarters of net new jobs went to people born outside of Britain since 1997 are covered on the front page of the <a href="http://www.thetimes.co.uk/tto/news/" >Times</a>.

But the paper reports a "huge turnaround" last year, during which nearly nine out of every 10 jobs created in the UK went to British workers.

The paper says ministers believe their policies on immigration have led to a shift toward British jobs for British workers.

<a href="http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2282007/At-new-jobs-filled-British-workers-thanks-stricter-immigration-policies.html" >"At last," says the Daily Mail</a>, which welcomes an end to the haemorrhaging of jobs to foreign workers - a trend which, it says, began during Labour's years in office.

The <a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2013/feb/20/nick-clegg-mansion-tax-radio" >Guardian is among several papers to report Nick Clegg's advice to a voter that he should remortgage his home</a> to pay the proposed mansion tax.

The deputy prime minister was speaking on a radio phone-in to a man who complained that his London home had "skyrocketed" in value over 20 years and was now worth £5m.

When he said paying a mansion tax of £30,000 a year would force him to sell up and move, Mr Clegg suggested taking out a bigger home loan.

Robust reply

David Cameron's suggestion that millions of pounds from the overseas aid budget could be used to pay for peacekeeping defence operations overseas is <a href="http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/news/sun_says/4508014/The-Sun-says-Wage-war-on-shirkers.html" >welcomed by the Sun</a>.

The paper describes the move as "a small but significant victory for common sense".

The <a href="http://www.dailymail.co.uk/debate/article-2282034/And-man-shame-wont-go.html" >Daily Mail believes redirecting resources away from what it calls "the bloated, wasteful aid budget"</a> would be a good thing - and takes credit for suggesting the idea three weeks ago.

The <a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2013/feb/21/david-cameron-aid-military" >Guardian believes the prime minister is partly motivated by the need to bolster Tory support</a> for rising spending on overseas aid.

An American industrialist known as "The Grizz" has delivered a mauling to the French industry minister, <a href="http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/the-grizz-mauls-lazy-french-workers-over-threehour-day-8503804.html" >according to the Independent</a>.

Arnaud Montebourg had written to Maurice Taylor - the boss of the Titan tyre company - to see if he would take over a struggling Goodyear factory in Amiens.

In a robust reply, Mr Taylor asks: "How stupid do you think we are?"

He questions the productivity of French workers, saying that they only work for three hours a day, spending the other four talking or taking lunch.

Painful sting

The <a href="http://www.telegraph.co.uk/" >Daily Telegraph</a> warns that bees, wasps and other pollinators could be threatened by a lethal invader - the Asian hornet.

The European Environment Agency expects the insect to reach our shores in the next few years because of trade and tourism.

Apart from preying on honey bees and wasps, the Asian hornet is said to have a painful sting.

The paper says it will join the list of other invasive species in the British countryside, such as Spanish slugs, muntjac deer and Japanese knotweed.

And the <a href="http://www.thetimes.co.uk/tto/news/" >Times</a> reflects on the death of the "richly gifted" singer and songwriter Kevin Ayers at the age of 68.

As a founder member of Soft Machine - one of the seminal groups of the 1960s underground - the paper says he made some "wonderfully quixotic and engaging pop music, full of wit, warmth and whimsy".

Here was a man, says the Times, who preferred the life of a bon viveur to fame.

The word "louche", it says, could have been invented to describe him.