Sunday Round Up: Cheryl Cole, Britain's Got Talent, BBC, Aegis, Wikileaks, Northern Rock
Sunday Round up this week includes the sale of Northern Rock and Lloyds, a potential acquisition by Aegis, Wikileaks revealing the US verdict on Gordon Brown's handling of Iraq War, more on Cheryl Cole and controversy surrounding the Britain's Got Talent final.
The Mail on Sunday claims that Simon Cowell has persuaded Fox to allow Cheryl Cole to return to The X Factor US. Fox Executives have apparently been persuaded to give Cole a second chance on the series.
Meanwhile, several papers are reporting that an underdog beat the bookies favourite to win Britain’s Got Talent as a result of online allegations that singer Ronin Park had been groomed for stardom. The ‘fix’ claims are being blamed for Park’s defeat in the final to Jai McDowell.
Wikileaks has revealed that a damning verdict on Gordon Brown’s handling of the Iraq war delivered by US officials. Scotland on Sunday says that it has seen cables discussing Brown’s handling of the war within US diplomatic cables.
Advertising group Aegis has reportedly held early discussions with Ipsos Group about acquiring Aegis's £500m market research business Synovate. The Telegraph says that ‘a number of companies’ are circling the market research company.
Financial brands Northern Rock and Lloyds will be sold off by the government in a move worth £1.4bn, claims the Sunday Telegraph. The sale will see the whole of Northern Rock sold, alongside the offloading of 620 Lloyds Banking Group branches.
Finally, the BBC is apparently at the centre of a decency row after Sandy Toksvig told a joke referring to what the Mail on Sunday described as ‘the most offensive word in the English language’ on Radio 4. Toksvig is reported to have said; 'It's the Tories who have put the "n" into cuts' last night, which was cleared for broadcast by a BBC executive.