Newspaper roundup: 5 September

The Financial Times, Daily Telegraph, Guardian, Daily Mail and Times all reported the publication of a Network Rail report into the fatal derailment of the London-to-Glasgow train in Grayrigg, Cumbria, which admitted repeated failure in track safety. The government-owned company focused on a set of faulty points. Network Rail chief executive Iain Coucher said the points failed because local inspectors and their supervisors failed to notice anything wrong for several months.

The Guardian reported that construction workers could have caused a foot and mouth outbreak at two farms in Surrey, after carrying the virus out of the Pirbright laboratory, thought to be the source of the disease. Around 120 workers are thought to have been involved in the £120m refurbishment of the facility, which is shared by the government Institute for Animal Health and the pharmaceutical firm Merial. A government-commissioned inquiry said they may not have been subjected to the same biosecurity checks as staff, but admitted that the cause of the spread of the disease may never be known for sure.

Most newspapers also covered the strike by Metronet workers, organised by the RMT union, which shut down the majority of the London Underground network. Gordon Brown yesterday called the action "wholly unjustified", but most papers went to press too early to catch news last night that the RMT has now called off its strike.

The Independent reported Hammerson's warning yesterday that turmoil in the world markets could hit demand for offices. The developer warned that: "recent weakness in global financial markets may affect demand for office space with the impact in the City of London likely to be greater than Paris".

Housing has rarely been less affordable that it is today, according to a report in the Independent today. The latest survey by the Royal Institute of Chartered Surveyors warned that a combination of still-rising property prices, coupled with rising interest rates and taxes may have pushed even more people out of range of their own home.