Top story: nurses join families in call for inquiry
Morning everyone. I’m Martin Farrer and these are the top stories this morning.
The families of victims of Covid-19 have demanded that Boris Johnson ends the “political pantomime” around his handling of the pandemic and call an inquiry straight away. As the fallout continued over Dominic Cummings’ explosive testimony to MPs this week, the nurses’ union, a former head of the civil service and leading opposition politicians joined the clamour for an immediate inquiry. “This political pantomime continues to show a level of disrespect to our lost loved ones and brings us no closer to the answers we need for lives to be saved,” said Matt Fowler, co-founder of Covid-19 Bereaved Families for Justice.
The government is also facing renewed questions about its current pandemic policies after the health secretary, Matt Hancock, who faced five damaging accusations from Cummings, said yesterday that 75% of Covid cases in the UK were of the Indian variant. Johnson said “we may need to wait” for the lifting of all restrictions in England, planned for 21 June. The cabinet minister Michael Gove said the decision about using “Covid certificates” to open large venues was “finely balanced”, but a study claims indoor gigs could be staged without raising the risk of Covid. It comes as staff at GP surgeries face unprecedented abuse and aggression from patients amid a “meltdown” in the appointments system, family doctors have revealed.
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Viktor parade – Hungary’s rightwing, populist prime minister, Viktor Orbán, will today become only the second EU leader to be greeted by Boris Johnson at No 10 since the UK left the bloc. Orbán, a fierce critic of Joe Biden and an ally of China, is hoping to prove to Hungarian voters ahead of next year’s elections that he can forge influential alliances and that the departure of his governing Fidesz party from the European People’s party centre-right grouping does not usher in an era of political isolation.
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Tobacco timebomb – Smoking killed almost 8 million people in 2019 and the number of smokers rose to 1.1 billion as the habit was picked up by young people around the world, according to a study published in the Lancet. Though smoking has declined in many developed countries, 10 countries make up two-thirds of the world’s smoking population: China, India, Indonesia, the US, Russia, Bangladesh, Japan, Turkey, Vietnam and the Philippines. One in three tobacco smokers (341 million) live in China.
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Blockade Britain – Thousands more European citizens were prevented from entering the UK in the past three months, according to Home Office figures. A total of 3,294 people were turned away even though post-Brexit rules mean they are allowed to visit the country without visas. That compares with 493 EU citizens in the first quarter of last year, when air traffic was 20 times higher.
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Travel bug – Drivers will soon be able to help monitor the worrying decline in Britain’s insect population with a new app that helps to gauge the number of bugs splatted on the front of cars. Citizen scientists will gather the data by cleaning their number plate before a journey and then using a grid to count the number of dead insects.
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Presidential goal – Marcus Rashford has spoken of his awe after having a Zoom conversation with Barack Obama about the power of young people to change society. The Manchester United and England footballer said he also found common ground in the Penguin Books chat with the former US president because both men had been raised by single mothers. “When President Obama speaks, all you want to do is listen,” said Rashford.
Today in Focus podcast: the arrest of Raman Pratasevich
Belarusian journalist Hanna Liubakova examines why Alexander Lukashenko, the president of Belarus, apparently diverted a Ryanair flight in order to arrest 26-year-old blogger Raman Pratasevich. Guardian Moscow correspondent Andrew Roth discusses the fallout from Lukashenko’s action.
Lunchtime read: How Murphy played a Blinder
Peaky Blinders star Cillian Murphy talks about his late colleague Helen McCrory (“one of the finest actors I’ve ever worked opposite”), how he convinced the producers to cast him rather than Jason Statham as Tommy Shelby – and returning to the monster-movie genre in A Quiet Place Part II.
Sport
Grand slam winner Naomi Osaka is one of the most engaging characters in tennis and her silence will be keenly felt at the French Open, after the Japanese player announced she would not speak to the media at this year’s tournament in Paris. Those who know Thomas Tuchel the best have given their insights into what makes the Chelsea manager so successful. Tottenham have held talks with Mauricio Pochettino, who was sacked by Spurs 18 months ago, over a return as manager. Ole Gunnar Solskjær wants to strengthen Manchester United in the centre-back, midfield, wide attacker and No 9 positions, with Pau Torres, Declan Rice, Jadon Sancho and Harry Kane among his preferred targets.
A former American football linebacker is to take charge of Great Britain Wheelchair Rugby, in what those within the sport hope will be a year of Paralympic success. Alberto Bettiol took a fine stage win following a breakaway as Egan Bernal enjoyed a more comfortable day in the pink jersey at the Giro d’Italia. Tiger Woods has spoken about the gruelling recovery process from the car crash earlier this year that left him with serious leg injuries. And Israel Folau has instructed lawyers to take action against the Queensland Rugby League, alleging he is being discriminated against in his bid to return to the sport.
Business
More than £700,000 is lost to bank transfer scams every day, meaning that £491 is stolen every minute, according to Which? The consumer champion said the industry returned less than half the losses to victims. The retail group JD Group has paid its boss Peter Cowgill bonuses of £6m since last February despite receiving more than £100m in government subsidies during the pandemic. The pound is holding near a three-month high of around $1.420 today and will buy you €1.165. The FTSE100 looks like opening up 0.5%.
The papers
The Guardian leads on “Pressure on Hancock over failure to protect care home residents”, and the Telegraph has “Hancock feels heat over care home tests”. The Mirror also thinks that’s the best story and has the headline: “You told them they were safe”. The Scotsman’s lead is “One week lockdown delay may have cost 30,000 lives”. The Times says “Indian surge leaves end to restrictions in doubt” and the i has “Variant fears threaten end of lockdown on 21 June”. The Express – “Boris: We may need to wait for our freedom” – and the Mail – “Don’t steal our summer” – are also both concerned about the possible continuation of restrictions past 21 June. The FT leads with “Moscow forces cancellation of flights routed around Belarus”.
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