What the Sunday papers said

The Sunday Telegraph

• Sky has made an audacious bid to secure exclusive rights to all live Premier League football games for the next four seasons. Click here to read more on this issue on thePublican.com.

Quote of the week comes from Pubmaster executive chairman John Sands who said: "Our problem is to stop people becoming publicans because they don't want to work."

The Higgs report on the composition of company boards will be "watered down" this week. Changes made will include allowing non-executive directors to sit on as many boards as they choose and letting chief executives also hold the role of chairman.

Multinational food companies have known for years about research that suggests many of their products trigger chemical reactions in the brain that lead people to overeat, or, more simply, make their food products addictive.

The Observer​

• The paper's supplement Observer Food Monthly has compiled 'The Hot 101 places to eat this summer', including the top five country pubs for Sunday lunch. Making the list are: The Pheasant, Keyston, Cambs; the Bull and Butcher, Turville, Bucks; the Talbot, Knightwick, Worcestershire; the Lickfold Inn, Lickfold, West Sussex; and the Angel Inn, Hetton, North Yorkshire.

George Best was arrested at the weekend following a brawl in a Young's pub with a tabloid photographer. The altercation happened at The Chequers in Tadworth, Surrey, amid reports that the soccer legend has started drinking again.

The Sunday Express​

• The Express reports on the newly opened Café Signes on the Left Bank in Paris, where all the staff are deaf and customers are told to frantically wave their arms when they are ready to be served.

Shareholder groups are calling on clients to abstain or vote against "fat cat" directors' contracts at annual meetings this week. The move comes as MPs on the Department of Trade & Industry Select Committee consider the issues raised by the government's consultation document Rewards for Failure.

The Sunday Times​

• Young people aged under 18 will benefit from the minimum wage for the first time. Until now workers aged 16 or 17 had been excluded from the law that places a lower limit on pay.

The Sunday Times also reports that scientists have discovered that high doses of fat and sugar in fast and processed foods can be as addictive as nicotine and even hard drugs.

The Mail on Sunday​

• Leisure giant Whitbread is likely to promote from within to replace chief executive David Thomas when he retires next June. The main contenders for his role are Alan Parker, managing director of the hotels division, Stewart Miller, MD of David Lloyd fitness clubs, and Bill Shannon, managing director of (pub) restaurants. Click here to read more on this issue on thePublican.com.

The turf war in the US donut industry between two of the biggest players, Dunkin Donuts and Krispy Kreme, is about to spill over into Britain.