Top story: night of surprises at the Oscars
This is Alison Rourke bringing you the first Guardian morning briefing of the week.
Even with a Bafta and Golden Globe under her belt, Olivia Colman couldn’t hide her shock overnight at winning the Academy award for best actress for her lead role in the Favourite. In a characteristically off-the-cuff acceptance speech, Colman said she wanted to “thanks lots of people” and that if she forgot anyone she would find them later and give them “a massive snog”. Colman said how shocked she was to be there, having once worked as a cleaner. She also thanked Glenn Close, who was widely tipped as the likely best actress winner, saying she had been “her idol for so long; this is not how I wanted it to be”. She thanked her parents, her longstanding agent, her new publicists, and her three children, who she hoped were watching at home “because this isn’t going to happen again”, raising the loudest laugh from the audience. But Colman’s gong was the only one the much-heralded film took home, out of ten nominations.
The biggest surprise of the night came when Green Book won best picture. The feel-good comedy drama, starring Mahershala Ali and Viggo Mortenson, attracted controversy during the awards season, when some people questioned the veracity of its supposedly true story about the friendship between pianist Don Shirley and his chauffeur Tony Lip.
Roma, a tale of domestic workers in 1970s Mexico City, was also nominated for 10 awards. It won best director for Alfonso Cuarón, best foreign film and best cinematography.
Another highlight was Bohemian Rhapsody’s Rami Malek taking out best actor. He thanked Queen and reminded the audience that Freddie Mercury was a gay man of immigrant parents. The film also won best editing, best sound editing, and best sound mixing. But a performance by Queen, fronted by former American Idol contestant Adam Lambert, received a mixed reception.
It was no surprise to anyone that Shallow won the Oscar for best original song. Lady Gaga delivered an emotional speech about working hard for what you believe in. A short time earlier she and co-star, Bradley Cooper, stole the show, performing the song live.
BlacKkKlansman won best adapted screenplay, best production design and best costume design. In accepting the screenplay award, Spike Lee was effusive, honouring his grandmother who saved to put him through college. “My grandmother who saved 50 years of social security cheques to put her first grandchild – she called me Spiky Poo – through … college and NYU grad film. NYU!”
You can see all the red-carpet action here, including a sea of pink dresses and one dinner-suit ballgown, and all the smooches, shocks and funny moments during the ceremony here. A full list of winners is here.
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Brexit vote delay – Theresa May has dug in on her decision to delay the “meaningful vote” on a revised withdrawal deal, and dismissed pressure to step down as prime minister after Brexit. Sunday saw a fierce backlash against the PM, who admitted the vote would not be held before 12 March. She assured people it was “still within our grasp” to leave the EU on 29 March, but Keir Starmer, Labour’s Brexit chief, said delaying the vote was “the height of irresponsibility” and an “admission of failure”. Meanwhile EU sources have reported Brexit could be delayed until 2021 under plans being explored by senior European officials.
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Cue diplomacy – There was a rare moment of distraction for Theresa May when she was challenged to a game of pool by the Italian PM, Guiseppe Conte, at the EU-Arab League summit in Egypt. Conte posted a video on his Facebook page of May being offered a cue and joking that she would be “hopeless”. In the footage, chief of staff Gavin Barwell shows May how to position her hand on the table while striking the cue ball, although the footage ends before she takes a shot. Retweeting the video, the chief secretary to the Treasury, Liz Truss, joked: “Pleased to see nothing’s been taken off the table.”
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Homeless crisis – Councils in England have been accused of deliberately hiding the scale of rough sleeping by changing the way their figures were compiled in 2018. Official statistics reported a 2% drop in England after seven years of consecutive rises. But analysis by the Guardian found that more than 30 councils switched from submitting an estimate – akin to a local census, where agencies work with rough sleepers all year round to get a number – to a one-night street count with some councils reporting reductions in rough sleeping of up to 85%.
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Memo of misunderstanding – A public disagreement between Donald Trump and one of his top trade negotiators left a gobsmacked room of US-China trade officials. In the Oval Office, in front of Beijing’s top negotiator and the Chinese delegation, Robert Lighthizer, the US trade representative, contradicted the president’s claim that memoranda of understanding (MOU) are non-binding. “I don’t like MOUs because they don’t mean anything,” Trump had said. But Lighthizer, who was brought into the White House team because of his anti-China credentials, immediately jumped in to differ: “An MOU is a contract, it’s the way trade agreements are generally used.” Ouch.
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‘There’s a lot to catch up on’ – Lessons on sexting, female genital mutilation and how to recognise anxiety in your friends will be part of new guidelines being unveiled by the Department of Education for schools in England. Children as young as four will be taught about relationships, staying safe online and the link between physical and mental health. The long-awaited package of proposed changes to relationship and sex education are the first since 2000. “Almost 20 years on from the last time guidance on sex education was updated, there is a lot to catch up on,” said the education secretary, Damian Hinds.
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Chinese cyber threats – The UK must be “alert to the threat from Chinese tech firms” according to Jeremy Fleming, the director of GCHQ. In a speech in Singapore, he said the government’s monitoring agency would “need to pioneer a new form of security for the cyber age” to ensure that Britain develops more resilient telecommunications networks. His comments come against a background of international concern about the reliance on the Chinese technology giant Huawei for the future rollout of superfast 5G phone networks in western economies.
Today in Focus podcast: Searching for my sister: America’s missing indigenous women
Every year, thousands of Native American women are reported missing across the US. Many are never found and the murder rate of indigenous women is higher than for any other race in the country. Reporter Kate Hodal investigates. Plus: author Mike Carter on retracing his father’s steps on a walk from Liverpool to London.
Lunchtime read: Teenage Mafia kings
Generational change in the Mafia has brought a whole different approach to street warfare in southern Italy, writes Lorenzo Tondo. While the older bosses often operated out of the limelight, observing omertà – the code of silence – today’s criminals broadcast their exploits on social media, posing in designer clothes and clutching €200 bottles of champagne. They wear hipster-style beards and race through the alleyways of Naples on scooters like packs of wild dogs. And they shoot.
The war for control of the Camorra clans has been taken over by these paranze – literally translated as a small fishing boat – but, in Camorra lingo, it means youngsters or small fish. Many of these teenagers carry 9mm revolvers. In 2014, a man was shot simply because he asked for a cigarette. An Indian man took a bullet in the chest in 2013 when two boys were “testing their gun”. Giovanni Melillo, the chief prosecutor in Naples, says the gangs are widespread in the city, where young people are recruited based on their ability for violence. And the result? A never-ending state of war among Camorra clans for territorial control, with the youthful paranze front and centre.
Sport
Maurizio Sarri’s grip on his position as Chelsea’s head coach has been further loosened after goalkeeper Kepa Arrizabalaga undermined the Italian’s authority by refusing to be substituted in the Carabao Cup final penalty shootout defeat to Manchester City. Jürgen Klopp said Liverpool must learn to adapt to positive pressure after the manager was left bewildered by his team’s performance against an injury‑hit Manchester United.
England’s players have admitted they failed to deal with Wales’s wind-up tactics as their Six Nations grand slam hopes came to an end – but rejected Warren Gatland’s stinging criticism that they are big-match chokers. England’s women’s side, meanwhile, continued to build an unstoppable momentum in their own bid for a Six Nations clean sweep after scoring nine tries in a drubbing of Wales.
Chris Woakes is known as The Wizard among his teammates but, as he prepares to return to the fray in a postcard‑perfect Grenada, England’s most reliable seamer maintains there is no magic behind his success with the new ball. And Dustin Johnson won the WGC-Mexico by five shots but refereeing decisions played their part as Rory McIlrory finished as runner up.
Business
China shares surged in the wake of signals from Donald Trump that the US would offer Beijing some trade respite, confirming he would delay a planned hike in tariffs on Chinese imports as talks between the two sides made “substantial progress”. Chinese blue chips jumped 3.5%. The Australian dollar, a liquid proxy for China investments, got a mild lift from the news and the dollar touched a fresh seven-month low on the yuan. MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan added 0.3% and the Nikkei climbed 0.5%.
The pound was buying $1.31 and €1.15.
The papers
It’s all about Brexit delays today. The Times says “May delays crucial vote until 17 days before Brexit”. The FT runs a similar front page lead: “May holds off vote on Brexit deal to within 17 days of EU departure”. The Telegraph has: “May draws up plans to delay Brexit by 2 months”, the i reports: “May fears revolt and resignations as she delays vote again” and the Guardian’s splash is: “EU chiefs discuss plans to postpone Brexit until 2021.”
The Sun’s lead is “Corrie Kym quits”, the Daily Mirror has a story about the “Scandal of morgue blunders” and the Daily Express has: “Crooks will be spared jail in shake-up”.
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