Top story: From Alexandra to Zainab, an A-Z of victims
Good morning. I’m Martin Farrer and these are the top stories to start your week.
Some, like 84-year-old Sheila, had lived in Grenfell Tower for decades. Others, such as Mohamed Neda, an Afghan army officer who became a minicab driver, had come to Britainto make a better life for themselves and their families. Among them were dressmakers, artists, hairdressers, architects, waitresses, teachers, football fans and churchgoers, devout Muslims, big families and people who lived alone. Four of them were not even residents of Grenfell Tower, but perished alongside dozens who had made it their home. With parliament poised to debate the tragedy this week, and with the public inquiry due to start next week, a special Guardian tribute starts today with portraits of the victims’ lives.
One of the editors on the project, Mark Rice-Oxley, explains that while much has been written about the causes of the disaster – from the cladding to administrative neglect – the victims “became known only two-dimensionally” based on “a few facts from a police statement or inquest, a brief, tearful family tribute”. Our reporters have spent months trying to fill in the blanks, talking to as many families as were willing to speak, and asking friends and colleagues for anecdotes and their favourite memories. As befits such a unique bit of journalism, there’s also a slightly different-looking front page today.
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Spy chief’s warning – Andrew Parker, the head of MI5, will warn today that sharing intelligence with our European allies is more important than ever in order to counter the threat posed by Islamic State and Russia. In a speech in Berlin, Parker will say the threat from Isis is still real despite the group being in military retreat in Syria and Iraq and that “we need shared strength”. After the Salisbury poison attack, he will directly blame the Kremlin for “flagrant breaches of international rules” and say its malign activities risk leaving Russia a “pariah”.
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Jerusalem tension – The Middle East is braced for a tumultuous day as the US embassy in Israel officially moves from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem in a ceremony attended by Ivanka Trump and her husband, Jared Kushner. Tension surrounding the controversial move was ramped up today by the leader of al-Qaida, Ayman al-Zawahiri, who has called for a jihad against the US. In a video posted online, Zawahiri says the Middle East peace talks have failed Palestinians and called on them to rise up against America, “the first enemy of the Muslims”. On the other side of the ledger, the city’s top football team, Beitar Jerusalem, has renamed itself Beitar Trump Jerusalem in honour of what it said was a “courageous” decision by the US president to relocate the embassy. Israel is also 70 years old today.
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New Indonesia attack – Surabaya, the second largest city in Indonesia, is under attack for the second day running after a bomb went off at a police station. At least 10 people have been injured in the attack, which comes a day after suspected Islamists killed at least 13 people in coordinated attacks on churches in the city. In addition, three people from one family died in a blast in an apartment building near Surabaya on Sunday evening. A mother and one child died from the explosion while police said they shot dead the father who was carrying a bomb detonator.
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Blinders hit a peak – Most of us were already aware that you don’t mess with the Peaky Blinders, but now the television titans at Netflix know only too well. The BBC’s small screen smash about 1920s Birmingham gangsters scooped the best drama award at the Baftas last night, putting the lustre of Netflix’s The Crown in the shade. Molly Windsor won best actress for Three Girls and Sean Bean took best actor for Broken. Check out all the winners here. And if you want to find out who might win best actor next year, read Sam Wollaston’s five-star review of the first part of the Sky Atlantic series Patrick Melrose, starring Benedict Cumberbatch.
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Rising stress – If you’ve been feeling a bit stressed, you’re not alone. A new survey claims that three-quarters of us have been so stressed at least once over the last year that we have felt overwhelmed or unable to cope. One in three people have been left feeling suicidal, and one in six have self-harmed as a direct result, according to the study of 4,619 Britons for the Mental Health Foundation thinktank. Women were worst affected. While 74% of adults overall said they had high stress levels that left them unable to cope, 81% of women said so compared with 67% of men.
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Jowell boost for cancer – After the sad news of Tessa Jowell’s death, Theresa May has pledged to double funding for brain cancer research to £40m as a mark of respect for the Labour politician’s campaigning on the issue. Gold standard tumour diagnosis tests will be rolled out to all NHS hospitals as well, something Jowell called for in her final speech in the House of Lords. Politicians of all stripes have been paying tribute to the former culture secretary who died aged 70 on Saturday. Our columnist, Matthew d’Ancona, pays his own tribute to a woman he says it was a privilege to know and now “to honour the grit and detail of her achievements as much as the luminous decency that underpinned them”. If you missed our obituary of the “people politician”, it’s here.
Lunchtime read: Write bad, think more good
It’s only a short read today, but a very thought-provoking one on the mangling of the English language by advertising copywriters who come up with daft slogans to sell us stuff. These usually include the wilfully incorrect use of words such as with Zoopla’s “Smart knows” campaign and the equally fatuous “Smart flies Aer Lingus”. As the author of the piece, Christopher Beanland, asks: “Who are these people called Smart and how can we avoid sitting next to them on our next flight?” As Alex Myers, founder of agency Manifest, notes wryly: “Ad agencies need to ‘Think more good’.”
Sport
After a wild 5-4 win over Leicester on the final day of the Premier League season, Mauricio Pochettino appeared to suggest that his future at Tottenham Hotspur is linked to how the club approach the summer transfer window. Meanwhile, Liverpool kept their powder dry for the Champions League final as Mohamed Salah broke a Premier League scoring record in a 4-0 romp against Brighton. Gary Wilson praised Ireland’s openers for displaying “big balls” after following on in their inaugural Test match against Pakistan in Malahide. The 2012 US Open champion Webb Simpson won the Players Championship by four shots as Tiger Woods’s charge stalled at Sawgrass, while in the NBA playoffs, the Boston Celtics scorched the Cleveland Cavaliers 108-83 in Game 1 of the Eastern Conference finals.
Business
Britain’s high streets are suffering a decline in shoppers even greater than that seen during the depths of the recession in 2009, creating a brutal climate that is putting thousands more retail jobs at risk. High street visits declined 3.3% in April, according to the BRC-Springboard tracker. In a sign of the malaise, Mothercare and Carpetright face crucial decisions this week as they seek to persuade investors to give them a cash lifeline so they can close unwanted stores.
The pound is buying $1.356 this morning and €1.134.
The papers
The Times leads with the speech by MI5 chief Andrew Parker. “MI5 attacks Russia over fog of lies”, the headline says, while the Telegraph goes with “MI5 chief’s warning to Europe on security”.
The Guardian has the Grenfell Tower special and the FT leads with “Trump orders u-turn on China’s ZTE after personal plea from Xi”.
The Mail declares its war on plastic to be won – “Thank you, Britain”, its splash headline says – while the Mirror and the Metro both lead with the story that Meghan Markle’s dad will apologise to her for staging paparazzi shots of himself.
For more news: www.theguardian.com
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