Top story: PM’s past-tense praise for Brexit critic
Hello, Warren Murray with your Wednesday news sampler.
Theresa May has suggested she will fight any leadership challenge from Boris Johnson and take the Conservatives into the next general election. The PM damned her Brexit critic with faint praise – “I was very pleased Boris was foreign secretary for the period that he was foreign secretary” – and said: “I am in this for the long term. I am in this for delivering for the British people, and that’s what I’m focused on.”
May is visiting Africa but attention is turning to her party’s annual conference in Birmingham next month as she faces continued grassroots hostility over her Chequers plan for Brexit. The PM says she will use the conference to highlight housing, healthcare and other non-Brexit domestic issues.
This morning, Best for Britain warns that it could cost £2bn for the government to stockpile medicines for a no-deal Brexit. Owen Smith, the former shadow Northern Ireland secretary who backs the campaign for a second referendum, said: “I don’t remember anyone warning that Brexit would mean we’d have to stockpile drugs or that this would cost the NHS and taxpayers up to £2bn. Maybe they should have slapped that on the side of the bus.”
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Scallop wars – Stones were thrown and boats rammed as French and British fishermen clashed in the Channel over access to scallops. The scary episode on Tuesday night was the latest in a years-long feud.
Normandy fishing chief Dimitri Rogoff said about 40 French boats had gathered in protest at British vessels’ “pillaging” of the scallop supply in the Baie de Seine. Barrie Deas from Britain’s National Federation of Fishermen’s Organisations called for the British government to provide protection “for our vessels which are fishing legitimately … We are advising all parties to be calm, as from the video clips some vessels are manoeuvring very dangerously.” If Britain crashed out of the European Union next year without a deal the problem would be solved, said Rogoff. “After 29 March 2019 they would be treated as a third party and would no longer have access to these areas.”
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Midweek catch-up – Time to clear the cache …
> The US might resume war games over the border from North Korea because Donald Trump’s nuclear negotiations are not going well. It would infuriate Kim Jong-un’s regime and frustrate the South which is trying to improve relations with its volatile neighbour.
> Former chief rabbi Jonathan Sacks says Jeremy Corbyn’s comment about Zionists was the most offensive statement by a senior UK politician since Enoch Powell’s “rivers of blood” speech. Labour dismissed that as “absurd and offensive”.
> The mother and daughter stabbed to death at home in Solihull were on the phone to police as the attack unfolded, detectives have said. Janbaz Tarin,21, is being sought in connection with the killings of Raneem Oudeh, 22, and Khaola Saleem, 49.
> A year after Hurricane Maria struck Puerto Rico, the official death toll has been raised to 2,975 people – compared with the previous official figure of 64.
> Donald Trump thinks even Google has been rigged against him, ranting on Twitter that searching for “Trump news” only turns up “fake news … so that almost all stories & news is BAD”. Here is why he is wrong.
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Teen self-harm – More than 100,000 children aged 14 in the UK are self-harming, with one in four girls of this age having deliberately hurt themselves, according to a report from the Children’s Society. Experts have put the behaviour down to a combination of pressure from school, austerity and gender expectations. Nearly a quarter said they heard jokes or comments about other people’s bodies or looks all the time, while more than a fifth of those in secondary school said jokes or comments were often made about people’s sexual activity. The mental health campaigner Natasha Devon said more needed to be done to treat the causes of self-harm. “We need to look at the environment young people exist in at home and in school so these issues don’t arise in the first place rather than fire-fighting once they have manifested.”
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Road games – Partly flat batteries, extra-hard tyres, delayed gear changes. Some of the twisted games being played by carmakers to manipulate vehicle testing. Our exclusive report today reveals that on one hand, manufacturers are actually trying to boost their cars’ reported emissions at the moment, so that a 15% reduction they have to achieve by 2025 under EU rules will not be as difficult. On the other hand, they are telling consumers their cars use 42% less fuel than they do in the real world. Research and campaign group Transport & Environment has calculated it cost motorists in Europe €150bn (£136bn) in extra fuel between 2000 and 2017. UK drivers paid €3.5bn more in 2017 alone, and a total of €24bn since 2000.
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‘Violent people’ – Donald Trump was recorded at a meeting with Christian ministers warning of “violence” if Republicans do not maintain control of Congress in the midterm elections, according to the New York Times. Trump urged them to make sure that “all of your people vote” in November. “You’re one election away from losing everything you’ve got … They will overturn everything that we’ve done and they’ll do it quickly and violently. And violently. There’s violence. When you look at antifa, and you look at some of these groups, these are violent people.” It wasn’t clear if “they” meant Democrats, but “antifa” refers to the anti-fascist movement that confronts fascist, neo-Nazi and white supremacist groups that have been emboldened under Trump’s presidency.
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Sucks to bee you – “You’ve got to count the legs and divide by six to be sure.” Good one Andrew Coté, beekeeper who turned up to oversee 20,000 bees (his estimate) being vacuumed off a New York hot dog stand.
The bees swarmed, passers-by gaped, and a specially trained police officer calmly used an adapted vacuum cleaner to remove them. “Craziest thing I’ve seen,” said one onlooker. The bee all and end all, no doubt. In more serious apian news, it turns out bees can develop a cigarette-like addiction to pesticides called neonicotinoids, which the EU has partially banned over evidence they may be harmful to the insects.
Lunchtime read: The teens who refuse social media
In this day and age, Tyreke Morgan from Bristol can be called a hard man to get hold of. No Facebook account, no Instagram, no Twitter – nothing. “Why would I need 500 flakey friends?” he reasons.
Others his age have been put off by the bullying, the vacuity, the inauthenticity. “Like Instagram,” says Mary Amanuel, who quit social media aged 16. “I was presenting this dishonest version of myself, on a platform where most people were presenting dishonest versions of themselves.” Their wisdom about the vices of technology would shame some adults. Here’s more from the teenage social media refuseniks.
Sport
As the mercury climbed, the players fell – literally in some cases – on a day better for tanning than tennis at the US Open. Britain’s No 1 woman, Johanna Konta was one of the non-medical casualties, losing to the sixth seed, Carolina Garcia, 6-2, 6-2, while Novak Djokovic managed to recover after looking out on his feet playing Marton Fucsovics. Caroline Wozniacki credited cooling thoughts of sipping margaritas on the beach for getting through her opener against Sam Stosur, but in the evening Roger Federer made light work of the energy-sapping conditions.
Jamie Vardy, the Leicester striker who has called time on his England career, says he has the perfect antidote to raging supporters – scoring sensational goals. Meanwhile, Cardiff crashed out of the Carabao Cup as Norwich, Championship strugglers, beat them 3-1 in south Wales. And Virat Kohli has poured scorn on the ECB’s new 100-ball format called The Hundred, saying he does not want to be part of an experiment.
Business
Asian shares pushed upwards overnight after the US and Mexico made a breakthrough on their trade dispute. Tokyo, Seoul, Hong Kong and Sydney were all in positive territory thanks to a strong lead from Wall Street on Tuesday where the S&P500 and Nasdaq both closed at record highs. In London, where Aston Martin is expected to announce plans to float on the public market, the FTSE100 is seen rising slightly when it opens later this morning. The pound is buying $1.286 and €1.100.
The papers
The Guardian today leads on Theresa May pushing back against Boris Johnson and saying she will fight any challenge to her leadership. The story is accompanied by a picture of the PM dancing with children in South Africa. May’s quickstep also adorns the front of the FT, which leads on “Alarm over risk to pension funds from big cash transfers”.
The front page of the Independent’s digital edition features a world map with only South Africa coloured in red. It notes that with 212 days to go until Brexit, the PM has inked her first trade deal. “Just the rest of the world to go” is the headline. The Times eschews a picture of May for Melania Trump gardening in a $4,000 skirt and high heels. It leads on “Tories fear infiltration by Ukip members”. The Express goes with “PM closing in on Brexit deal”. The Telegraph and the Mail are focused on strong criticism of the Labour leader, Jeremy Corbyn, by the former head rabbi. The Mail’s headline reads: “Corbyn’s ‘Rivers of blood’ moment”. The Mirror leads with “Found: the twin girls sold on the web for £8”.
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