Top story: Escalation of hostilities
Good morning – this is Alison Rourke bringing you Monday’s top stories to start your week.
Boris Johnson has kicked off the new parliamentary term by accusing Theresa May of conducting Brexit negotiations with a “white flag fluttering”. It amounts to a significant escalation of hostilities before the Commons returns tomorrow. “The reality is that in this negotiation the EU has so far taken every important trick. The UK has agreed to hand over £40 billion of taxpayers’ money for two thirds of diddly squat,” Johnson wrote in his newspaper column. As Dan Sabbagh writes, the former foreign secretary’s words will be seen as preparing the ground for a leadership challenge to May, just as Brexit negotiations reach their critical phase this autumn.
If a UK-centric attack was not a bad enough start for May’s week, she also faced fighting words from Michel Barnier, who said he was “strongly opposed” to her Chequers proposals on future trade. In his most damning condemnation of her plans yet, the EU’s chief Brexit negotiator said the British offer on customs was illegal and its suggestion of a “common rulebook” on goods would kill the European project.
Meanwhile, experts from the thinktank UK in a Changing Europe have warned that the impact of crashing out of the EU would be “chaotic and severe”, jeopardising jobs and disrupting trade links. Its assessment of a no-deal Brexit includes: temporary disruption of food supplies; European heath insurance cards would become invalid from Brexit day; the status of legal and commercial arrangements would become unclear; and lengthy, uncertain processing times for goods at the border would be “nearly certain”. One ray of light: “It should not be assumed that the damage, while real, will necessarily be long-lasting.”
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‘Heartbreaking’ blaze – Fire crews have fought through the night to contain the massive fire at the iconic Littlewoods building in Liverpool. Nine fire engines and three platform ladders fought an area of flames 200 by 100 metres on the first floor. The building, on Edge Lane, was constructed in 1938 and was initially part of the football pools arm of the Littlewoods empire, which was built up by English businessman Sir John Moores. Fire crews said the blaze had been brought under control by 1.30am on Monday. Liverpool’s mayor, Joe Anderson, described the fire as “absolutely heartbreaking” on Twitter.
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‘He is the problem’ – The Labour MP Margaret Hodge has said that party MPs critical of Jeremy Corbyn are digging in for a long struggle against his leadership and suggested that the antisemitism row would only end if he stood aside. “The problem is that he is the problem,” she told the Jewish Labour Movement conference on Sunday. Hodge said it would no longer be enough if the party’s ruling National Executive Committee (NEC) adopted, as expected, the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance’s definition of antisemitism, with all 11 of the attached examples, on Tuesday. Gordon Brown, meanwhile, urged the NEC to adopt the IHRA code “unanimously, unequivocally and immediately”.
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‘Call to action’ – the home secretary will today call on big tech companies such as Facebook and Google to do more to combat online child sexual abuse. New funding support for law enforcement battling the problem is also expected to be unveiled as Sajid Javid outlines a “personal mission to tackle child abuse in all its forms”, in what is being trailed as a flagship speech. He wants internet giants to prevent the proliferation of indecent images of children and use their knowhow to “design out” some offending. It comes as the National Crime Agency revealed that there are up to 80,000 people in the UK who present some kind of sexual threat to children online – a figure some experts say is conservative.
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‘Incalculable’ loss – Brazil’s oldest and most important historical and scientific museum has been consumed by fire, and much of its archive of 20m items is feared to have been destroyed. The fire at Rio de Janeiro’s 200-year-old National Museum began after it closed to the public on Sunday and was still raging during the night. “It was the biggest natural history museum in Latin America. We have invaluable collections. Collections that are over 100 years old,” said one of its directors, Cristiana Serejo. Marina Silva, a former environment minister and candidate in October’s presidential elections, said the fire was like “a lobotomy of the Brazilian memory”.
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Dark force – It may sound like a line out of Star Wars, but scientists are about to launch an ambitious search for a “dark force” of nature which, if found, would open the door to a realm of the universe that lies hidden from view. The best theory of reality that physicists have explains only 4% of the observable universe. The rest is a mystery made up of dark matter and the even more baffling dark energy, a substance called upon to explain the ever-accelerating expansion of the universe. Scientists at Sapienza University of Rome will turn on an instrument designed to hunt down this possible fifth force of nature this month. Scientists hope the machine, known as Padme, for Positron Annihilation into Dark Matter Experiment, (coincidentally also the name of Luke Skywalker’s biological mother in Star Wars), will give them some insight into the dark side. “We are shooting in the dark in every sense,” said Mauro Raggi, one of the researchers. “But if you are shooting, you at least have a chance.”
Lunchtime read: Sad summer’s over?
It’s over. The air is cooling. School is the opposite of out and you can probably feel the holiday spirit leaving your body, writes Paula Cocozza. Holidays are good for humans, according to a 40-year study in Finland that tracked the lives of 1,200 businessmen at risk of heart disease. It found that those who took three or fewer weeks’ holiday a year were more than one-third more likely to die young.
Before you despair, consider that immediately after a holiday is the perfect time to make changes to your routine. The plasticity in your brain – its ability to change and adapt to experiences – will be freshly stimulated by a combination of novel experience and physical activity and ready for the idea of positive change. So, with that in mind, click in for Cocozza’s 18 ways how to keep your joie de vivre alive – from being a tourist at home to buying a new carafe for your wine.
Sport
José Mourinho described Manchester United’s victory at Burnley as a win for Ed Woodward after the club’s vice-chairman was labelled “a specialist in failure” in the skies above Turf Moor.
Elsewhere, Jürgen Klopp said he was “really happy” Alisson’s first Liverpool clanger came on Saturday against Leicester and is now out of the way. “We don’t have to wait for it now,” the manager said.
Serena Williams was relieved to emerge from a tough battle with Kaia Kanepi at the US Open as she remained on course for a semi-final meeting with defending champion Sloane Stephens, who beat Elise Mertens in straight sets. In the men’s draw, expectations that the US Open quarter-finals would bring together last year’s finalists were shredded when Rafael Nadal won after a struggle and Kevin Anderson was a brave but exhausted loser in matches of stark contrast.
Joe Root described his side’s series victory over India, the world’s No 1 Test side, as the finest of his captaincy to date and believes his vision for England is starting to take shape as his authority grows over time.
The American cyclist Benjamin King won the mountainous ninth stage of the Vuelta, while Simon Yates took over the race lead. And in Wales, Tour de France winner Geraint Thomas’s heart was willing, but ultimately his body let him down in the opening stage of the Tour of Britain.
Business
A rise in the minimum wage in Britain’s cities would increase productivity and help boost local economies by more than £1bn, says the Smith Institute thinktank. It says the rate should increase from £7.83 to £10.20 an hour in London and £8.75 in the rest of the country.
Shares in Asia fell overnight on worries about a US-China trade war amid Donald Trump’s broadsides about pulling out of the World Trade Organisation. Our economics editor, Larry Elliott, warns that such a move could have serious repercussions for post-Brexit Britain. The FTSE 100 is expected to open flat. The pound was down at $1.293 and €1.114.
The papers
The Guardian’s lead story today is “Antisemitism row: Hodge and Brown pile pressure on Corbyn”. It shares the front with Boris Johnson’s criticisms of the PM and Michel Barnier saying that May’s Brexit plan is unworkable.
Brexit also features on the front pages of the i (“May faces fight to keep Brexit plan alive”), the Times (“Tory rebels pledge to wreck May’s Brexit plan”) and the Telegraph carries Boris Johnson’s scathing attack on May, with the headline: “‘Scandal of Brexit is not that we’ve failed, but that we have not tried’”.
“Is any child safe online?” asks the Daily Mail, as it reports on a speech by the home secretary that at least 80,000 people who pose a sexual threat to children are using websites including social media.
The Mirror reports “600 police stations axed” since the Tories came to power, due to austerity cuts, and the Daily Express reports on “Anger at £98m aid for India”, a figure it says is similar to the amount India spends on its space program.
The Sun’s new campaign to grant police powers to stop stalkers before they are able to commit violence against their victims features on their front page today, as Corrie star Kym Marsh joins the campaign. “Kym: Help Sun stop stalkers”.
For more news: www.theguardian.com
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