Ten Things You Need to Know Today: Monday 24 May 2010

Slept through the Today programme? Used the Sunday papers to light the barbecue? The First Post's catch-up service, posted at 8.0 am every Monday, is designed to help... BA STRIKE GOES AHEAD Hundreds of BA flights were expected to be cancelled this morning as the first of three five-day strikes called by Unite went ahead. The airline hoped to keep many of its services operating: it planned to use volunteer cabin crew to supplement those staff who chose to ignore their union's strike call and cross the picket lines. The strike went ahead despite a last-minute offer yesterday by Unite to call off the walkout if travel concessions for its members were reinstated. BA in turn urged Unite to return to the negotiating table. FERGIE 'SELLS' ANDY FOR £500K The Duchess of York, aka Sarah Ferguson, has been caught in a News of the World sting offering 'access' to her former husband Prince Andrew for £500,000. Unknown to the prince, who works as a trade envoy for Britain, 'Fergie' promised a reporter posing as a wealthy businessman: "Look after me and he'll look after you... I can open any door you want." As well as the cash payment, she wanted a one per cent cut of the profits made from any deal the 'businessman' might negotiate as a result of meeting the prince. TOP ARMY BOMB DISPOSAL OFFICER QUITS Colonel Bob Seddon of the Royal Logistics Corps, Britain's top bomb disposal officer, has resigned in protest at the shortage of new recruits in Afghanistan. The news followed a high-profile morale-boosting trip to Camp Bastion by David Beckham. "These guys are the bravest people I've ever met," said the footballer as he was photographed handling a heavy submachine gun. "He's a complete legend," said Private Dave Andrews, 19. "It means a huge amount to everyone here." MOURINHO HOLDS EUROPEAN CUP AGAIN Jose Mourinho's club Inter Milan beat Bayern Munich 2-0 on Saturday to win the European Cup - making him only the third football manager in history to achieve the feat with two different clubs, having won it already with FC Porto. Two goals by Diego Milito sealed the victory. Mourinho confirmed he would now be leaving to become manager of Real Madrid. "I want to be the only coach to win the trophy with three clubs," he told reporters. More... UK DEFICIT: THE CUTS START HERE Chancellor George Osborne will lay out plans today for the first £6bn of cuts needed to tackle the nation's £156bn budget deficit. Civil servants' perks, Quangos and business grants are first for the chop. The new government's effort to reduce the deficit will be one of the priorities to be laid out in the Queen's Speech tomorrow. A draft of the speech, leaked to the Sunday Telegraph, reveals that David Cameron aims to get 21 Bills introduced in the next 18 months. Education reform and the scrapping of ID cards are high on the agenda. BRITISH CLIMBER 'SAVED FROM DEATH' It has emerged that 22-year-old Bonita Norris, much photographed last week after she became the youngest British woman to climb Mount Everest, nearly died on the descent. Norris slipped and sustained whiplash. Unable to move, her legs became frozen and she began to suffer serious frostbite. After being alerted by her Sherpa guides, mountaineer Kenton Cool and Maltese doctor Greg Attard climbed back up the mountain and found her semi-conscious. Attard injected 15mgs of the steroid dexamethasone into her arm to bring her back. EIGHT SURVIVORS JUMP FROM INDIAN PLANE Only eight of the 166 passengers and crew of an Air India Express budget flight from Dubai survived when the Boeing 737 crashed at Mangalore in southern India on Saturday. The airliner skidded off the runway and plunged down a jungle ravine into a pond. Survivors jumped through the hole created when the fuselage broke in two. Most of those who died - mainly workers returning home from low-paid jobs in Dubai - were burned beyond recognition. Pilot error is being blamed. Picture... KINNOCK BACKS ED NOT DAVID MILIBAND The former Labour party leader Neil Kinnock has formally endorsed the younger of the Miliband brothers, the former Labour Energy Secretary Ed Miliband, as the man best suited to lead the Labour party now. Lord Kinnock told the Observer: "He has got the X-factor, especially where the X is the sign you put on the voting slip at election time". Kinnock's opinion carries weight because he still has influence with the centre-left of the party, especially among trade unionists. Comparing Ed Miliband to Tony Blair, he said: "Ed is not an actor so it not the Blair thing, it is just Ed." LILY ALLEN 'DROPPED BY CHANEL' Singer Lily Allen may have won three Ivor Novello awards last week, but according to the Mail on Sunday she has been dropped by Chanel as the ambassador for the Coco Cocoon handbag. She has been replaced by Vanessa Paradis, the girlfriend of actor Johnny Depp. Apparently Allen fell out of favour when she got "very drunk" at a party at designer Karl Lagerfeld's Paris home last year. "Karl wasn't impressed," a fellow guest told the Mail. COALITION CABINET CONTAINS 18 MILLIONAIRES Eighteen of the 23 full-time members of the new Cabinet are millionaires, according to research by the Sunday Times. Transport Secretary Philip Hammond is the richest, with a fortune estimated at £7.1m. He is followed by Caroline Spelman (£5m) and George Osborne (£4.6m). William Hague sneaks in with £2.2m. PM David Cameron has £3.4m, which is just as well - his wife Samantha has insisted the kitchen at Number Ten is modernised if she is going to move in with her family. Cameron has promised to pay for the refurb out of his own money.

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