The Daily Mail

Owned by: Daily Mail and General Trust, owned by Jonathan Harmsworth, 4th Viscount Rothermere

Editor: Paul Dacre

Political leaning: Right / far right

Daily circulation: circa 1,490,000

Today’s leading headline: Volvo death knell for petrol cars

Today’s Mail reports on Volvo’s pledge to stop making petrol cars from 2019; the manufacturer will now use either hybrid or electric engines. The paper goes on to say this decision may have been made following “a 15 per cent drop in UK sales of diesels”. The paper mourns this as “the death of the traditional car”.

Afterthought: Volvo are playing catch up here. Toyota have dominated the field for the last couple of years as the greenest manufacturer, and have reaped the benefits — their Prius hybrid model alone “outsells the entire electric vehicle market by a factor of two to one”.

The Daily Telegraph

Owned by: Telegraph Media Group, owned by Sir David Barclay and Sir Frederick Barclay

Editor: Chris Evans

Political leaning: Right

Daily circulation: circa. 460,000

Today’s leading headline: Quarter of care homes are unsafe

Today’s Telegraph leads with their version of the care home findings, reporting that one in four homes surveyed are ‘unsafe’. The paper goes on the state that the Care Quality Commission, in a ‘damning’ report, advise potential clients to ‘smell before you pick a place’ for their elderly.

Afterthought: One can learn huge amounts about a society based on how it treats its elderly. Britain makes an attempt to care for them, but as this report shows often fails shamefully.

The Times

Owned by: News UK, Rupert Murdoch’s company.

Editor: John Witherow

Political leaning: Right

Daily circulation: circa. 446,000

Today’s leading headline: Volvo signals end of the road for diesel and petrol cars.

Today’s Times also covers the news that Volvo will be switching to electric or hybrid model cars by 2019 and ending the production of diesel and petrol cars. The paper writes that “the decline of the combustion engine has been hastened by fears over air quality and the Volkswagen scandal”.

Afterthought: The switch to ‘green’ powered cars may be a knee jerk reaction to falling sales in the diesel and petrol engine market. The commitment to cut the two fuels by 2019 is admirable.

The Guardian

Owned by: Scott Trust Limited, run by a board with a policy of non-interference.

Editor: Katharine Viner

Political leaning: Left

Daily circulation: circa. 161,000

Today’s leading headline: Safety alert on 1,300 ‘failing’ nursing homes

Today’s Guardian leads with the story that just under a third of care homes in the UK have failed to pass inspections made by the Care Quality Commission. The report listed the state of the homes as ‘precarious’, and said that families are playing ‘Russian roulette’ when it comes to choosing a home with adequate care facilities. Andrea Sutcliffe, CQC chief inspector said it was “completely and utterly unacceptable” in today’s society.

Afterthought: 1 in 3 babies born in the UK in 2013 are expected to reach their 100th birthday. Life expectancy continues to increase both nationally and globally. Ageing populations are going to be a problem; as is caring for them. The current state of elderly homes is not good enough.

The i

Owned by: Johnston Press, whose CEO is Ashley Highfield, significant ties to the BBC

Editor: Oliver Duff

Political leaning: Centre

Daily circulation: circa. 264,000

Today’s leading headline: US threatens North Korea with force

Today’s i covers the continuing international problem of North Korea. To celebrate American Independence on the 4th, North Korea’s dictator Kim Jong-un fired an intercontinental ballistic missile. Japan, South Korea and America reacted, and Trump live tweeted his thoughts on the matter.

Afterthought: Why does this matter, you may be asking yourself. Why do I care that North Korea have fired another missile into the air? A couple of points to consider: first, the missile fired was an intercontinental ballistic missile, with a range as far as Alaska according to sources. Per the BBC, “the most recent missile added seven to nine minutes of flight time, an extra 400 miles or so in height and a further 88 miles in overall distance.”

21st century diplomacy

Perhaps more frightening is the implication on America’s foreign relationships in the area. Trump tweets his thoughts as they come to him, and yesterday blasted China for what he perceives to be almost collusion with the North Koreans. In a similar vein, I’ve just finished a fantastic book called Prisoners of Geography: I thoroughly recommend it.

The Daily Mirror

Owner: Trinity Mirror. Its chairman is David Grigson, formerly the chief financial officer at Reuters

Editor: Lloyd Embley

Political leaning: Left

Daily circulation: circa. 716,900

Today’s leading headline: Dementia timebomb

Today’s Mirror continues to focus on the elderly with a headline focussing on dementia. The paper states that up to 1.2m British people will have the disease by 2040, and a cost of 36 billion pounds to the NHS. The Mirror quotes Dr James Pickett of the Alzheimer’s Society saying “Dementia is set to become the 21st century’s biggest killer.”

Afterthought: As the life expectancy grows, so does our chances of getting illnesses and diseases previous generations did not live long enough to have. It’s not all doom and gloom though; at the rate global politics is going, the world may all end in a nuclear cloud before we need to worry.

Financial Times

Owner: The Nikkei, which is based in Tokyo.

Editor: Lionel Barber

Political leaning: Centre

Daily circulation: circa. 193,211

Today’s leading headline: Lloyds chief quells talk of exit as potential heir quits in shake up.

The Financial Times today reports on a wide spread shake up across Lloyds Bank, and the news that its chief executive Antonio Horta-Osorio will remain at the helm. Rumours had claimed that Horta-Osorio would be leaving, but instead a new three-year plan is set to be announced. 9,000 positons are set to be cut by the end of the year.

Afterthought: Mr Horta-Osorio has lead the bank well following the crash in 2008. Last year, the bank’s profits reached £4.2bn.

The Sun

Owner: News UK, owned by Rupert Murdoch

Editor: Tony Gallagher

Political leaning: Right / far right

Daily circulation: circa. 1,611,464

Today’s leading headline: Vicar of fiddly diddly

Today’s Sun reports that a Vicar, Andrew Sloane, stole £14,500 from his church’s collection to pay for rent boys.

Afterthought: Naughty. This comes amid a slew of scandals including a drug-fuelled orgy in the Vatican. Tut tut.

Scottish Papers

Daily Record

Owner: Trinity Mirror. Close ties to Scottish Labour.

Editor: Murray Foote

Political leaning: Left / far left although under Foote its allegiances have become more blurred.

Daily circulation: circa. 160,550

Today’s leading headline: We can sue you sneaking out

Today’s Mirror reports on the news that the taxman has advised those “who benefited from tax doge” to pay their dues. The paper reports that the taxman has come knocking, and urges to pay back the money they owe.

Afterthought: Tax avoidance is a personal bug bear. The tax in this country goes to keeping our NHS. It goes to paying our police. It goes to keeping our roads paved. If you’re making serious cash, just pay the tax.

The Herald

Owner: Newsquest

Editor: Graeme Smith

Political leaning: Central / Left

Daily circulation: circa. 29,000

Today’s leading headline: Anger of carers at ‘obscene’ treatment of elderly.

Today’s Herald also reports on the findings that elderly homes in this country are in a bad state. The paper says the report “warns of human rights breaches”.

Afterthought: A devastating report that unfortunately confirms what many already knew.