Wednesday 21 March 2012

Osborne's pre-Budget battles dominate the news


Chancellor George Osborne and his preparations for today's budget was the top story in the UK press for the week ending Sunday, March 18, according to journalisted.

Osborne, who has been busy drafting - and battling over - the forthcoming budget, generated 355 articles; David Cameron's visit to the US, and reassertion of the special relationship, 234 articles; the NHS, prior to the health and social care bill's final reading in the House of Lords, 167 articles; and an American soldier kills 16 Afghans, 127 articles, as there are renewed calls for British withdrawal, 72 articles.

Covered little, according to journalisted, were legal aid, due to be cut significantly in the Legal Aid, Sentencing and Punishment of Offenders bill, currently being debated and amended in the Lords, 33 articles; the ICC, in its first verdict, found the Congolese warlord Thomas Lubanga guilty of using and recruiting child soldiers between 2002 and 2003, 25 articles; and after four days of violence in Gaza - where 25 Palestinians died and 35 Israelis were injured - Egypt steps in to broker a ceasefire between the two, 12 articles.

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