Today’s news summary – Paper Talk: Cummings appears at Covid inquiry & Hamas latest
Wednesday’s front pages report on the revelations from Tuesday’s Covid inquiry, as Dominic Cummings – the former adviser to Boris Johnson – made his appearance.
The front pages also report on the latest Israel-Hamas war.
Dominic Cummings Covid inquiry
The Daily Mirror and the i newspaper pick up on a diary entry by the then chief scientific adviser Sir Patrick Vallance who complained that Johnson was “obsessed with older people accepting their fate and letting the young get on with life”.
The Daily Mail says Cummings was “left squirming” after he was accused of “poisoning the pandemic response with toxic briefings against colleagues”. The paper’s columnist Quentin Letts describes him as a “husky-voiced Cassandra” adding that “heaven knows how Boris Johnson put up with him for so long”.
The Daily Express describes the former aide as “Boris’s foul-mouthed and disloyal top adviser” who “should have never been welcomed into Downing Street.” The paper’s editorial calls him a “privileged egotist” who “demonised the people he should have done everything to support.”
Hamas latest
The Guardian leads on Israel’s attack in Jabalia, on the outskirts of Gaza City. The paper quotes a spokesman for the UN children’s agency, Unesco, who describes Gaza as “a graveyard for thousands of children” and “a living hell for everyone else”.
The FT features a story that says as the IDF goes into Gaza, Hamas has the home advantage. Israel estimates that Hamas has about 40,000 elite fighters, plenty of drones and more than 20,000 rockets. An analyst tells the paper that Hamas knows its terrain and will defend it fiercely and with ingenuity.
An FBI warning features in the Daily Telegraph, saying that Hamas poses the greatest terror threat since the defeat of the Islamic State group in Iraq and Syria. There’s a warning that the current war could serve as inspiration for Jihad in the US and across the West.
The Sun leads on videos online showing cops in London and Manchester removing posters of Israeli children held by Hamas. The paper says Greater Manchester Police has made what it calls a “grovelling apology” while the Met says it was taking steps to “stop issues escalating.”