Friday newspaper round-up: Steel industry, Daily Mirror, pensions

(Sharecast News) - The UK steel industry has called for the government to promise to buy British as it prepares for a major expansion of offshore wind generation. Wind generation has become a key part of the UK's energy system, contributing 29% of generated electricity in 2023. However, despite the huge increase in the number of turbines, only 2% of the steel used in British offshore wind projects over the past five years was made in the UK, according to a study by the consultants Lumen Energy & Environment, commissioned by UK Steel, a lobby group. - Guardian Labour ministers have backed plans for a £15m fund to redistribute food from farms that otherwise go to waste, particularly around Christmas. Grants starting from £20,000 will be handed to the not-for-profit food redistribution sector in England to repackage farm food and deliver it to homeless shelters, food banks and charities. - Guardian

Journalists at the Daily Mirror have been offered bonuses to write sponsored articles promoting household products as the newspaper's publisher for new sources of revenue. Staff at Reach, which also owns the Express and regional titles including the Manchester Evening News and Liverpool Echo, have been offered an extra £60 if they create "affiliate content" that generates more than £600 in revenues. - Telegraph

A campaign to save a popular "mild" cask beer from Carlsberg's axe has been backed by thousands of drinkers - including former Slade rocker Noddy Holder. Mr Holder, best known for Slade's 1973 hit "Merry Xmas Everybody", has signed a petition urging Carlsberg to keep brewing barrels of Banks's Mild, which was first served 150 years ago. Banks's Mild is among a slate of beers being withdrawn by the Danish brewer next week. - Telegraph

International investors increased their holdings of UK government bonds before the budget as analysts forecast that the pound and shares would be the winners of the country's political stability and closer relations with the European Union in the coming years. Foreign bondholders ramped up their gilt holdings by £55 billion in October - a rare vote of confidence for the new government, which has been widely criticised by business groups for tax rises. - The Times

Pensioners in their eighties and nineties are mounting a campaign to shame some of the world's biggest companies after seeing their real retirement incomes shrink by another 3 per cent in the past year. Former employees of blue-chip companies including American Express, Pfizer, KPMG UK, Hewlett Packard Enterprise and Goldman Sachs have formed an alliance to lobby ministers to put pressure on the businesses, which in some cases have frozen their pensions for years. - The Times