Press pillories MG Rover saviours

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The faces of the Phoenix Four are hard to avoid this morning.

The saviours of MG Rover are pilloried in the press after Friday's report on the fortunes they made while, the <a class="inlineText" href="http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/comment/columnists/guest_contributors/article6831468.ece">Times says</a> , driving it into a ditch.

They bought Rover for <a class="inlineText" href="http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/news/sun_says/244723/The-Sun-Says.html">less than the price of a windscreen wiper</a> and made £40m out of it, says the Sun.

But the real losers in all this, says the paper, are the 6,300 Longbridge workers whose livelihoods were destroyed when Rover folded.

Mutual betrayal

Prime Minister Gordon Brown's chat at Chequers on Friday with the leaders of Britain's biggest trade unions attracts a good deal of comment.

The Guardian says the <a class="inlineText" href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2009/sep/12/gordon-brown-unions-peace-summit">two pillars of the Labour movement</a> now look on each other with a mutual sense of betrayal.

Meanwhile the <a class="inlineText" href="http://www.telegraph.co.uk/">Daily Telegraph</a> says Conservative leader David Cameron has begun his own talks with the unions.

It is a sign, the paper says, that some senior union figures have given up on Labour winning a fourth term.

'Stupid scheme'

As the scope of the government's new anti-paedophile vetting laws become clear, the Independent says ministers are seeing <a class="inlineText" href="http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/child-protection-scheme-draconian-1786141.html">widespread public anger.</a>

The scheme could force one in four adults to have criminal record checks.

Matthew Parris, writing in the Times, says it is a stupid scheme <a class="inlineText" href="http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/comment/columnists/matthew_parris/article6831413.ece">that will turn us into outlaws.</a>

But the Sun <a class="inlineText" href="http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/news/sun_says/244723/The-Sun-Says.html">backs the legislation.</a> We cannot have it both ways, it says. Whenever children are victims, the country demands action. Now we have it.

'Just the ticket'

The <a class="inlineText" href="http://www.express.co.uk/home">Daily Express</a> says autumn has arrived three weeks early - with water penetrating tree roots, causing leaves to change colour and fall.

But the Times says the weather has got better - it will be <a class="inlineText" href="http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/weather/article6831546.ece">a barbecue autumn.</a>

Finally the Daily Mirror reports <a class="inlineText" href="http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1212865/The-tale-families-How-gets-parking-ticket--clamped-500-release-charge.html">traffic wardens in Bristol</a> are being rewarded with free lunches and time off work for nabbing the most motorists.

The Daily Telegraph reckons an afternoon off is <a class="inlineText" href="http://www.telegraph.co.uk/motoring/news/6173404/Council-offers-traffic-wardens-rewards-for-handing-out-tickets.html">"just the ticket</a> to motivate our traffic wardens".