Top story: Labour want to bring it all back to you
Good morning, it’s Warren Murray again. Here is what’s going on …
Leaving aside who leaked it, Jeremy Corbyn has declared his election manifesto can transform your life, while Theresa May has been forced on to the defensive over the state of the NHS and other public services under the Conservatives.
Our editorial says Labour’s manifesto is a bold step but some of the promises – like taking the National Grid into state hands – would just bog down a government. In other election pledges, both the Lib Dems and Labour are promising to double the length of paid paternity leave to at least a month if they get into power.
There is plenty more going on in the campaign and if you are getting the Snap then you won’t be missing out. Read to the bottom to subscribe if you haven’t already.
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‘This Russia thing’ – Donald Trump has admitted the allegations of Russian influence on his officials played into his decision to fire James Comey as director of the FBI. The president told NBC yesterday: “When I decided to just do it, I said to myself, I said, ‘You know, this Russia thing with Trump and Russia is a made-up story, it’s an excuse by the Democrats for having lost an election that they should’ve won.’” Trump also told how he directly asked Comey whether he was under investigation in the lead-up to the FBI director’s dismissal. The question has been condemned as highly irregular, though not illegal.
Comey’s former deputy and temporary replacement, Andrew McCabe, has rejected White House claims that his former boss had lost the confidence of the bureau’s rank and file. “It is the greatest honour of my professional life to have worked with him,” McCabe said. “The vast majority of FBI staff enjoyed a deep and positive connection to Director Comey.”
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Sugar tax – All sweets, not just soft drinks, should be hit with a sugar tax to help curb childhood obesity and type 2 diabetes, campaigners have declared. A levy ranging from 18p to 24p on sugary drinks comes in next year, but the health charity Action on Sugar says confectionery, chocolates and sweet treats in cafes and restaurants are another problem. Dentists have also warned of an “epidemic of tooth decay” and argue that leaving sweets out of the sugar tax mix doesn’t make sense.
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‘Schools should be free of weapons’ – Knives are being seized in their hundreds from schools, latest figures show. More than 2,500 weapons were taken from pupils in England and Wales in the last 18 months. Axes and air-guns were among other dangerous items confiscated; some sound more trivial – a rolling pin, an unwound paperclip. But with the death toll from stabbings on the rise in London, authorities are determined to stop young people from carrying weapons. At the Guardian we continue to examine knife crime in the UK with our Beyond the Blade project.
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Big-money divorce – A £453m settlement has been awarded by a judge in London to the estranged wife of an overseas oil and gas magnate. The couple, who met in Russia, fought it out in the family court over who started having affairs, when, and how long they stayed together afterwards. The husband testified via videolink from his €260m superyacht. Mr Justice Haddon-Cave awarded the woman nearly half their fortune. Ex-MP John Hemming, who campaigns for transparency in family justice, condemned the secrecy around the case when “the British taxpayer pays the judge’s wages and the wages of the court, for every glass of water poured and every light switched on. Surely members of the public have a right to know something.”
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Iranian election heats up – A crucial and bitterly contested election to which you perhaps haven’t paid much attention is just a week away. Iranians go to the polls on 19 May and the moderate President Hassan Rouhani, facing a tough fight, has raised hackles with attacks on religiously conservative institutions such as the powerful Revolutionary Guard and the hardline candidates running against him.
As Rouhani makes appeals for women’s equality, the rule of law for all, and social and political freedoms, the Ayatollah has reacted by warning against “sedition”. For the man whose presidency has seen the historic easing of nuclear sanctions, the key to winning for Rouhani may lie in getting out the ballot among undecided or abstaining voters, writes Saeed Kamali Dehghan, our Iran correspondent.
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Family feud but with lightsabers – Forty years since the release of Star Wars, this “galactic soap opera” remains the bright centre in the sci-fi universe. And a soap opera it is, writes Peter Bradshaw, with the Skywalkers instead of the Crawleys of Downton Abbey playing out relationship dramas across the galaxies, rather than dining tables and drawing rooms. In the words of George Lucas himself: “It’s all about family problems – it’s not about spaceships.”
Lunchtime read: China building its influence
Beijing is promising to spend hundreds of billions across Asia – but is it just a ploy to cement economic power? Today, Tom Phillips investigates the “Belt and Road initiative”, which promises to open up China to its neighbours in the region.
There’s an enormous investment of $62bn alone in the plan for a “China-Pakistan economic corridor” that shadows the legendary Karakoram Highway. But the $900bn blitz extends beyond that, writes Tom, “from Mongolia to Malaysia, Thailand to Turkmenistan and Indonesia to Iran”. Chinese money and labour are being poured into power plants, solar farms, motorways, high-speed rail and all manner of other colossal projects. As one expert puts it: “You can be very sceptical about what the Belt and Road itself means … but nobody doubts that China is lending a lot of money and building a lot of stuff.”
Sport
Manchester United will play Ajax in the Europa League final after a nervy finale to a 1-1 draw against Celta Vigo at Old Trafford, where Paul Pogba struggled to justify his lofty valuation, writes Paul Wilson.
Sergio García, a man who can do wrong at the moment, hit a hole in one on his return to action for the first time since winning the Masters at Augusta. There was no such success for Andy Murray at the Madrid Open, where the world No1 fell in straight sets to Borna Ćorcić – his second career defeat to the young Croat.
Lewis Hamilton says he believes his Mercedes team-mate, Valtteri Bottas, is a genuine contender for the Formula One world championship after the Finn won the last round in Russia. And Eddie Jones is planning to fly his England players to Japan for acclimatisation sessions at training camps earmarked for Team GB’s athletes before the 2020 Olympic Games in preparation for the 2019 World Cup.
Business
The embattled Barclays boss, Jes Staley, is feeling the pressure judging by his reply to a prank email that he thought had come from his chairman, John McFarlane. Receiving the missive after a bruising meeting with shareholders angry at his handling of a whistleblower, Staley gushed about his supportive supremo and then ended by saying “thanks for sharing the foxhole with me”. Now it’s time to get the tin hat on as well.
Out in the markets, the pound stabilised a bit at $1.289 and €1.186 after being flattened by a downbeat Bank of England inflation report.
The papers
It’s all about Jeremy Corbyn’s manifesto today – well, nearly all – and might not make for great reading on the breakfast table of a Labour household.
The Sun goes with “Crash Bang Wallies” – essentially referencing the BBC man who was run over by Jeremy Corbyn’s official car, Len McCluskey falling over and what they call the “shambles” of the Labour manifesto. The Telegraph goes with “Labour MPs ditch Corbyn manifesto”, saying senior party figures are rebelling against the party leader and want him out.
The Times has “Labour fights civil war over hard-left manifesto” and cites Ben Bradshaw implying the manifesto has little chance of being implemented as the Tories are so far ahead in the polls. The Mail has “Corbyn’s fantasy land” and claims the Labour leader’s “class war manifesto” would cost every family £4,000.
The Mirror goes its own way with a splash about the NHS. The headline reads: “Dear PM you are destroying nursing.” It has a letter signed by more than 100 nurses spelling out the reality of working for the health service.
The FT reports on a boost for the British tech sector, with Japan’s SoftBank investing $500m in Improbable, a UK simulation software startup.
The Snap
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