The Nifty 250: news of the day in so many words

THE FAILURE TO deal with the waste mountain will see Merseyside’s tax bill for burying rubbish soar to £100m. Spending on landfill will escalate by 50 percent during the next three years as government taxes increase and the city region is punished for producing more rubbish than it is allowed to throw away. Plans to build a waste incinerator to combat the backlog are at risk of falling through, so could be another drain on resources.

NURSES HAVE VOWED to fight a proposal to close an elderly ward at Liverpool Royal Hospital. Staff and union representatives at the hospital were told yesterday about a proposal to close specialist older people’s ward 2B. Despite no job losses, nurses are concerned about their elderly patients, and have vowed to fight the plan.

LIVERPOOL’S BILLY ELLIOT has been awarded a scholarship for a top ballet school. Jamie Scotland, from Norris Green, beat hundreds of hopefuls to secure a place at the prestigious Elmhurst School for Dance in Birmingham. Proud mum Clare Scotland said, “In a time when some youths are obsessed with crime, I am so proud that Jamie and his brothers have dedicated themselves to dance.”

THE EASYJET LASER-BOY has pleaded guilty to pointing a laser beam into the cockpit of a plane carrying 180 people. Appearing at Liverpool Youth Court yesterday, the 16-year-old admitted two charges of recklessly endangering an aircraft after shining the laser pen at the Easyjet Belfast flight as it landed at John Lennon Airport in November.