'Jenas sacking shock' and 'Fury as dementia drug denied'
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The ruling that the first drug to slow the progress of Alzheimer's should not be available on the NHS in England is the main news in the Daily Telegraph. The paper reports that the organisation which made the decision did not take into account the costs of the disease, external to families and society. The Daily Mail, external says the ruling has caused "fury" while the headline in the Daily Express, external asks: "Why is it that only the rich can get the Alzheimer's wonder drug?" The Daily Mirror, external describes the medication's benefits as "sadly out of reach" for most sufferers. The i reports that NHS England has 27 other Alzheimer's drugs in advanced trials which may be approved in the coming years.
The front page of the Times, external says magistrates in England and Wales have been directed to postpone the sentencing of offenders who are on bail and likely to be jailed, in an attempt to ease prison overcrowding. The paper says the ruling will affect hundreds, and possibly thousands, of offenders. It says some magistrates have expressed scepticism about the plan, believing it to be a "sticking plaster" for problems in the criminal justice system.
The Financial Times reports that the drug manufacturer, AstraZeneca, is threatening to move a vaccine manufacturing site from Merseyside to Philadelphia, external, because of the government's plans to reduce state aid for the project. The paper says the Chancellor wants to cut the amount on offer from £90m to £40m. The Treasury said it was in positive discussions with AstraZeneca, while the company said it was committed to the project in Liverpool.
The Guardian claims Rachel Reeves has dropped a hint that she may change the way that debt is calculated , externalin order to meet the government's self-imposed fiscal rules. The paper quotes the chancellor saying that "the precise way to measure debt" will be set out in the Budget, and that it is "reasonable" to borrow to invest. Ms Reeves also told the paper there was no "blank cheque" for pay deals. The Sun, external's editorial warns that further pay rises would fuel a "wage spiral destroying all hope" of growth, while the Mail says a poll suggests that voters think Sir Keir Starmer should have "squared up" to unions, rather than "appeasing them".
The Daily Telegraph reports another stumble for the director Francis Ford Coppola's new film Megalopolis, which he funded with more than $100m of his own money. A trailer for the film has been pulled after it emerged it included fake quotes. It cited negative reviews of some of the film-maker's previous work, including The Godfather and Apocalypse Now, as a narrator says "genius is often misunderstood" -- but the quotes couldn't be found in the original reviews. The Guardian says one of those miquoted said "even if you don't like critics, we hardly deserve to have words put into our mouths".
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