Sun crows as Claims Direct chief executive's reign ends

It's The Sun wot won it - not the election this time, but the end of Colin Poole's reign as chief executive of Claims Direct, - so the paper claimed, at least.Without giving Mr Poole the chance to respond, the paper claimed credit for his decision to become non-executive deputy chairman.

'The switch is the latest major management upheaval aimed at restoring confidence in Telford-based Claims Direct', it said.It was indeed The Sun's campaign last year, dubbing the company 'Shames Direct', combined with an appearance on BBC1's Watchdog, which did mark the start of bad times for claims management companies.

The company's share price tumbled after two profit warnings.Having catalogued Claims Direct's other woes, the paper concluded: 'It's the end of Claims Direct as we know it.

Expect to see the company sold off in the near future.'A more sober assessment came from the Financial Times (7 June), which reported scepticism among some analysts, 'speculating that the statement [on the reorganisation] could signal that Claims Direct could be looking for a joint venture or merger partner'.

Another said: 'The business model needs looking at, as the claims industry has moved on.'In the run-up to the election, the Daily Telegraph (6 June) staged a love-in with Claire Ward, who famously won true-blue Watford for Labour in 1997 while a 24-year-old trainee solicitor, making her Britain's youngest female MP.

The reporter found Ms Ward, wearing 'a lilac jacket and floaty skirt', very on-message.

So in an effort to get her off-message, he tempted the known chocaholic with a packet of Cadbury's chocolate buttons.'Miss Ward melts momentarily.

But let the record state the chairman of the all-party Commons confectionery and chocolate group resisted the bribe, at least until a break in the afternoon's canvassing.'Ms Ward confessed to loving all chocolate, especially Belgian chocolate.

But in these Euro-sceptic times, she quickly added: 'I love good British chocolate best of all.' Obviously she suited the tastes of Watford voters, because she was returned the following night with a slight swing from the Conservatives.Elsewhere, the US smoker who was awarded punitive damages of $3 billion (2.1 billion) received wide coverage (8 June).

The Guardian said at least 2,000 more actions would begin against Philip Morris as a result.

It quoted one juror saying after the trial: 'We want them to be responsible for their product...

We want them to put on their product "It kills".' Most Wall Street analysts - clearly more knowledgeable than lawyers - predicted that the award would be reduced on appeal.The prospects of a similar case in the UK are still poor, the paper added.

A 'pessimistic' Martin Day, the solicitor whose attempt to bring a multi-party tobacco action which collapsed two years ago, said: 'There are enormous hurdles here in pursuing a claim.'Finally, The Guardian's media section reported on possibly the hardest job in law right now - monitoring the Big Brother house (11 June).

Nigel Abbas, an in-house lawyer at Channel 4, said there was always one of his colleagues on duty to advise those monitoring the show's live transmission on cable channel E4 and on-line.The problems are many: bad language before the watershed, libel, contempt, privacy and fairness - 'for example when the housemates start divulging dark family secrets' - all of which lead to the producers having to cut the audio feed.

The lawyers have sorted out copyright issues from the housemates singing songs, which almost led to a singing ban.Unforeseen problems from last year included rumours that Nasty Nick had a past affair with a Channel 4 lawyer.

That would be the most shocking thing of all, perhaps confirming just how nasty he is.

Although Mr Abbas says 'they were completely untrue (I mean, come on)', this time around it was a condition on entry to the house that any such relationship be declared.Neil Rose