The Front Pages
Brian Lenihan will be happy to hear he’s made another front page headline, as today’s Irish Independent reports ‘Lenihan pushes to close Anglo within 10 years’.
According to the Independent, the Finance Minister is to meet with fellow EU ministers in Brussels today for talks on the ongoing financial crisis. The broadsheet believes that Lenihan will today ‘plead’ with the EU to allow the gradual closure of Anglo Irish Bank over 10 years.
The Irish Times looks beyond our shores for its main headline today, ‘Eta ceasefire seen by Spanish government as ‘insufficient’. Spanish PM Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero was last night said to be ‘deeply sceptical’ over the Basque separatist’s ceasefire announcement and is expected to make a statement this afternoon.
Adolfo Ares, the Basque regional minister, is another sceptic of the announcement’s authenticity, caiming that the group’s wording meant that the statement was ‘not an unconditional ceasefire.’ Sinn Fein president Gerry Adams welcomed the announcement however, and has urged the Spanish government to quickly seize the opportunity to ensure long-term peace.
Tales from the Tabs
‘Tory MP weeps over discovery that his Brazilian wife is £70-a-time suburban prostitute’
Considering MP’s win elections for their judgement and foresight, Conservative MP Mike Weatherley could be battling for the survival of his marriage and political career, through no fault of his own, after weekend reports revealed that the 53-year-old’s wife of seven years is an £70-an-hour prostitute, according to the Daily Mail today.
Topping off a duo of prostitute stings for the paper (including their Wayne Rooney exclusive), the Sunday Mirror originally discovered that Weatherly’s 39-year-old wife Carla had been busying herself working in three different ‘massage parlours’, and was caught on camera by the Mirror’s undercover reporter performing a saucy striptease.
Poor Weatherley wept yesterday after he was approached with evidence of his wife’s secret, adding ‘I will speak to Carla but today I just need to be with my family’. The MP insisted to reporters that he had been separated from his wife since February.
The Sports Pages
No prizes for guessing what stories dominate today’s back pages – Tipp’s All-Ireland Hurling victory at Croke Park yesterday and further fallout from allegations that Wayne Rooney had been playing away with a ‘high-class’ prostitute.
The Irish Independent actually has Tipperary on their front page, with the clever headline ‘Tipperary show Cats have just four lives’, after the county had stopped Kilkenny from winning a fifth Championship on the trot. The broadsheet has plenty of analysis of the big game inside.
Sports news or not, the Daily Mail today reports on the Wayne Rooney prostitute scandal, claiming that the Manchester United striker texted his wife Coleen and admitted his indiscretions – via a text message. The Daily Mirror also reports that Rooney may miss England’s Euro 2012 qualifier Tuesday against Switzerland following the weekend’s allegations.
Elsewhere, The Sun claims former Liverpool boss Gerard Houllier will decide today on whether or not he would like to return to the Premier League and take the reins at Aston Villa. The 63-year-old won five trophies under his Liverpool reign.
