The Front Pages
Senator Ivor Callely continues to cover himself in glory, with today’s Irish Independent headline ‘Callely: I got €1,500 from invoice firm chief’s son’. The paper has learned that the disgraced senator took a €1,500 donation from Kevin Baxter for a golf classic in 2005. Baxter whose father, James, was the director of Business Communications Limited – the defunct company whose invoices were submitted by Mr Callely to support his expenses claims.
The statement was revealed from records from the Standards in Public Office Commission, after the troubled senator told an Oireachtas ethics watchdog of his donation. Mr Callely could now be possibly facing three separate investigations into his alleged conduct.
The Irish Times are in no mood for good news either, running with this morning’s headline ‘Shrinking tax tale signals weak recovery and tough budget’, as the newspaper reports that public finances ‘are showing little sign of recovery’, as tax receipts fell by 5.5% from July 2009 to July 2010.
Tax revenues are now €250 million below the Government’s expectations for this point of the year and and the gap is unlikely to close by the end of the year, a fact that could have drastic implications on what looks to be an increasingly tough 2011 budget.
Tales from the Tabs
The Sun today reports with a completely legitimate article on a spaceship “20 times the size of a football field’ that had been seen hovering over Manchester Airport. To back up their claims, the tabloid has also included a sketch which was sent to the Ministry of Defence in 1995, with the secret MoD files released for the first time today.
According to the sketch (which resembles an oven mitt combined with a cheese grater), the spaceship is described as oblong, with a series of small nozzles at its rear. Ex-MoD employee Nick Pope, who had worked on some of the released files, said that ‘a proportion of sightings could not be explained.’
Other sightings contained in the secret MoD files included a “strange glowing object†near Suffolk in 1980, a “cigar-shaped†object above Lancashire in 1977 and a circular “space station†reported in South Wales in 1998. Not to be outdone, a Morecambe reported that he had spotted an alien invasion in Lancashire in 1997.
The Sports Pages
In Arsenal news, the Gunners are demanding skipper Cesc Fabregas makes a public pledge of loyalty today as he comes face to face with his manager and club fans for the first time since his Champions League injury against demanding suitors Barcelona (Daily Mail).
Fabregas is to take part in a squad photo-shoot and training session, though boss Arsene Wenger wants the midfielder to go one further and release a public statement ending speculation on his future, similar to that made by Liverpool star Fernando Torres during the week.
Interesting reports from the Daily Mail this morning are claiming that Manchester United have rebuffed an approach to loan Danny Welbeck from Championship side Bristol City. United have however, offered frequently-crocked veteran Michael Owen to the city instead, despite the striker’s impressive return against the Airtricity League XI last night.
In other United news, youngster Tom Cleverley (who scored a cracking pre-season goal against the MLS All-Stars) may not be pulling on a Red Devils jersey all season – as Wigan look to have secured the chance to acquire the 20-year-old on loan (Daily Mail).
