Top story: Day of mass action comes ahead of UN climate summit
Good morning and welcome to this Friday briefing with Alison Rourke.
Millions of students are expected to walk out of their classrooms today calling for action on the climate emergency. There has already been a huge response overnight in Australia and across the Pacific, with tens of thousands attending rallies, and you can follow all the action on our liveblog here. The event in London is expected to be part of the biggest mobilisation on the climate crisis the world has seen. Police have imposed restrictions on the scope of protests in the capital, threatening those who do not comply with arrest, a move Amnesty International UK called “heavy-handed”. The global mass day of action comes three days before the United Nations climate summit in New York, where Greta Thunberg will address a rally today. Fridays for Future has published a detailed map of what’s going on where, which can be filtered by country and location.
If you’re looking for inspiration to join the strike today check out the climate crisis in 10 charts, including the rise of CO2, forest destruction, global temperature increase and the uptake of renewables and electric vehicles. The impact of these changes on global health has also been highlighted by a survey of members of the Royal Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene. The vast majority believe governments and health bodies are failing to prepare adequately for the medical impacts of global heating.
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Brexit – Labour kicks off its annual conference tomorrow with a row over Brexit brewing, as party activists vow to force a vote on it becoming a clear party of remain, regardless of Jeremy Corbyn’s personal stance. Corbyn has repeatedly declined to say which side he would campaign on, if any, at a potential second referendum, after pledging that as prime minister he would negotiate a better Brexit deal and put that to a public vote alongside the option of remain. The conference will take place in the shadow of the expected supreme court decision – promised by the president of the court for early next week – on the legality parliament being prorogued. The final arguments in the court yesterday afternoon hinged on who has the power to bring parliament back. In his closing submissions, Lord Pannick QC, representing the legal campaigner and businesswoman Gina Miller, said that if the supreme court found that Johnson had acted unlawfully but he declined to end the suspension of parliament then “in those circumstances we believe it would be open to the Speaker and Lord Speaker to reassemble parliament … as soon as possible next week”.
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Trump whistleblower – Reports that the president made worrying promises to a foreign leader gathered momentum overnight as Trump’s personal lawyer, Rudy Giuliani, offered conflicting answers to questions on whether he (Giuliani) had asked Ukraine to investigate the former vice-president, and 2020 presidential hopeful, Joe Biden. At one point Guiliani, in an interview on CNN, dismissed the claim as ridiculous before admitting it and saying he was proud of it. The reports of Trump’s alleged promises so troubled a US intelligence official that it prompted a whistleblower complaint. The intelligence community inspector general, Michael Atkinson, determined that the whistleblower’s complaint was credible and troubling enough to be considered a matter of “urgent concern”, a legal threshold that requires notification of congressional oversight committees.
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‘Shameful rise’ – The number of children leaving school without basic qualifications by the age of 18 has risen by nearly a quarter in the past three years, according to a report by the children’s commissioner for England. Almost one in five children (18%) left school last year without the government benchmark of five good GCSEs, or the equivalent technical qualifications. The figures for children with special educational needs are particularly stark with almost half (45%) failing to reach what is known as level 2 attainment by the time they finish compulsory education. Pupils on free school meals (FSM) also fared badly with more than one in three (37%) leaving school “without any substantive qualifications”. The children’s commissioner, Anne Longfield, described the figures as shameful and called on the government to urgently investigate
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Reporting rape – Thousands of allegations have been inaccurately recorded by the police over the past three years and in some cases never appeared in official figures, the Guardian has revealed. A review of audits of 34 police forces published between August 2016 and July 2019 showed only three of them were found to have accurately recorded complaints of rape. Of the more than 4,900 audited rape reports, 552 were found to be inaccurate. Complainants with mental health and addiction issues and victims of trafficking were particularly vulnerable to being struck from the record by a number of police forces.
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Hobbit insect – New Zealand researchers have named an insect after JRR Tolkien’s famous character Frodo Baggins. The insect is smaller than its relations and is found in the country’s South Island, where The Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit were filmed. The psylla frodobagginsi was identified during PhD reserach into psyllid insects. Measuring just 1.24mm, it is most easily identified by “its small dimension, light colours, and uniformly spotted wings”.
Today in Focus podcast: Where did it all go wrong for David Cameron?
As the former PM publishes his memoirs, Patrick Wintour tells Anushka Asthana that Cameron’s pursuit of austerity and decision to call an EU referendum sowed the seeds of his demise. Plus, in opinion, George Monbiot on the global climate strike.
Lunchtime read: It’s no surprise a woman was the first to cross the Channel four times
When Sarah Thomas, a 37-year-old from Colorado, emerged from the Channel on Tuesday morning after four non-stop crossings, she admitted to being “pretty tired right now”, but those who follow outdoor swimming are not surprised it was a woman who achieved this monumental feat, writes Alexandra Heminsley. Women have been dominating outdoor endurance swimming for some time, and a combination of obvious and not-so-obvious factors shows that the average Channel crossing time for women is faster than that for men.
In general, women have a greater distribution of slow-twitch muscle fibres, which – while less useful for explosive sprints – mean the body is more resistant to fatigue, and better at coping with feats of endurance. Women also have a higher distribution of fat in their lower body than men, resulting in better buoyancy in the water. This is of particular importance on a competitive swim across the Channel, where wetsuits are not permitted. Swimming is also a sport where technique is everything: it doesn’t matter how much you can bench press or how fast you can run if you can’t glide through the water with minimal effort. Then there’s the mental resilience, something that that sports scientists are increasingly seeing women excel at in endurance events, with Thomas dedicating her swim to fellow cancer survivors.
Sport
George Ford and Owen Farrell have been named together in England’s starting XV for their Rugby World Cup opener against Tonga, with coach Eddie Jones opting for a first-choice side. As Japan wakes up to the arrival of rugby giants, Russia claims the pressure is all on the home nation ahead of the tournament opener.
Mason Greenwood scored his first club goal and came to Ole Gunnar Solskjær’s rescue in Manchester United’s unimpressive Europa League victory over Astana. Castleford aim to “spoil more parties” after proving too good for Warrington in the Super League play-offs. Peter Beardsley has been banned from football for 32 weeks after being found guilty of three charges of racially abusing black players while coach of the Newcastle under-23 team.
And Wales attack coach Rob Howley faces a long wait for the investigation into his suspected breach of rugby’s betting rules to conclude, a delay that could affect his chances of coaching with Italy or the British & Irish Lions.
Business
The future of Thomas Cook is hanging in the balance as the travel company scrambles to raise an additional £200m to secure an emergency rescue deal. Britain’s oldest package-holiday firm must secure the funds before a crucial meeting next Friday after a last-minute demand from its lenders, which include about 10 banks led by RBS, Barclays and Lloyds. In the past fortnight, the banks told Thomas Cook it needed the extra money as a contingency to see it through the winter, on top of a £900m package that was close to being finalised. If the company cannot secure the extra funding it risks going bust.
The pound is buying €1.134 and $1.252.
The papers
The Guardian leads on an exclusive investigation into police investigations: “Revealed: police flaws that betray rape victims”.
David Cameron’s apology for revealing private conversations with the Queen make the front pages of the Times: “Palace anger mounts as Cameron spills secrets” and the i: “Queen’s fury at Cameron”.
The Telegraph says, hopefully: “Juncker offers hope of deal by October 31”, the FT reports: “Saudi Arabia ‘bullies’ wealthy families to pump cash into oil IPO”, the Express has a story about a neo-Nazi group: “Far-right threat to kill chief constable”, the Mirror reports on an unnamed footballer who fled a “blackmail gang”: “Cheating prem star leapt from hotel in pants” is it’s headline. The Sun has the story of a builder charged with fraud after allegedly conning the National Lottery out of £2.5m with a fake ticket: “It was never you”.
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