What the Sunday papers say
The Sunday Times
Cabinet ministers are accusing home secretary David Blunkett of attempting to sneak through compulsory ID cards after they blocked the original proposals.
Britain faces higher taxes and interest rates economists warn. The City regards a hike in base rates by the Bank of England in April or May as a near certainty.
US gaming billionaires plan to make the most of plans to liberalise Britain's gambling by investing £5bn to turn the country into the Las Vegas of Europe.
The Independent on Sunday
The Cabinet battle over identity cards has intensified. David Blunkett is being accused by senior colleagues of introducing a compulsory scheme by stealth.
Coca-Cola has finally called time on Dasani, its exotic bottled water brand launched in the UK at a cost of £7m. The product was withdrawn after the Food Standards Agency found excessive amounts of a potentially cancer-causing chemical.
Diary: vodka-bar operator Inventive Leisure will publish half-year results tomorrow (Monday, March 22).
The treasury has quietly sanctioned a massive hike in spending on larger-scale Inland Revenue investigations in an attempt to increase the amount of tax brought in from big companies and wealthy people.
The Sunday Express
Controversial columnist Robert Kilroy-Silk says current plans to label drinks with alcohol warnings, levy pubs and clampdown on underage drinking is a total waste of time - 'too weak, wet and namby-pamby'. The home secretary should insist that being drunk in public at any time will not be permitted. Town centre trouble makers should be locked up and banned from any pub or club.
The Mail on Sunday
This week Wolverhampton & Dudley Breweries will release a trading statement that is expected to show sales up five per cent this year.
Mail columnist Peter Hitchens rants forth in typical hysterical fashion: "If nobody restrains us, we will drink ourselves to destruction. Apart from the Russians and Scandinavians, I know of no people so dedicated as the British to stupefying themselves with alcohol."
British drinks giant Allied Domecq's Dunkin Donuts is poised to join the bidding for US doughnut chain Bess Eaton.
The Sunday Express reveals that Coca-Cola decided not to air an advert for Dasani, which cost £1m to make, because of the preceding bad publicity. The ad showed a huge tidal wave engulfing a major town.
The Sunday Telegraph
No industry-related news.
The Observer
No industry-related news.
