Editorial 22 August 2024.
Thursday’s front pages have a variety of stories as their leads but most of the papers feature the dramatic images of the Italian emergency teams bringing victims of the yacht disaster back to shore.
Elsewhere it’s mostly domestic politics on the front pages as the publications offer up their assessments of challenges the new government faces. Some papers are looking ahead to the upcoming Autumn budget.
Showbiz news, including Taylor Swift’s boost to the UK economy and JLO and Ben Afflect’s divorce, make the front pages.
The sports pages are dominated by Premier League gossip, with most back pages choosing to lead on reports Raheem Sterling is being forced out of Chelsea.
‘Bodies found in yacht wreckage’
Bodies have been brought to shore by specialist divers following the sinking of a luxury yacht, the Metro reports, one person remains missing. “Hope lost” says the Daily Mail, as bodies found in “wreck of £30m vessel”. The Independent has a picture of one of the body bags being brought to shore whilst saying the “hunt for a sixth person continues.” The Sun says amongst the five bodies recovered are Mike Lych and his daughter Hannah. It’s a claim that’s also seen in the Daily Telegraph although there has been no official confirmation of the bodies discovered.
- Fifth body found in Sicily yacht wreck to be brought ashore
- Horror Video Shows Yacht’s Final Moments
‘Labour jobs tax looms’
It’s politics heavy this morning with plenty of different stories and angles being highlighted.
“Difficult decisions” lay ahead, according to the chancellor. The Daily Telegraph quotes Chancellor Rachel Reeves as saying she was “shocked” by the state of public finances after official figures showed the previous government had borrowed almost £5bn more than forecast this year.
Jeremy Hunt, Rachel Reeves’s predecessor as chancellor, says in a Daily Express headline that there is “simply no reason or excuse to raise taxes”.
‘Resetting EU relations’ is the lead story for The Times which reports on government plans for a possible “free movement” scheme that would allow UK citizens under the age of 30 to live and work in the EU for three years for reciprocal rights for their EU counterparts. The paper says government sources have told them that ministers recognise they will have to “give ground” as part of a post-Brexit reset of relations.
Read what the experts say on the two-child benefit cap
Our CEO @alisongcpag: The govt has pledged an ambitious child poverty-reduction strategy but unless it scraps the two-child limit on benefits it will fail to deliver on that.
— Child Poverty Action Group (@CPAGUK) August 21, 2024
Children in poverty are hungry now. Their life chances are being jeopardised now. https://t.co/ROb35iLouT
Clean water campaigner Feargal Sharkey has some harsh words for the new government, saying that Labour has “no real plans to fix the UK sewage crisis.” He’s backing the i newspaper campaign for a complete overhaul of Ofwat.
Rachel Reeves’s plans to keep the two-child benefit cap as chancellor faces £3bn debt rise is another political story on the front page of the i newspaper. The latest from the chancellor is just one amongst several political stories leading the i.
There are “fresh calls” for the chancellor to end the two-child benefit cap, according to The Guardian, as it offers its take on the challenges Labour faces in power.
‘Taylor Swift boosts UK economy’
Showbiz news is popular amongst the tabloids with various stories about pop sensation Taylor Swift, and teaser banners on the front pages announcing the news that US actors Ben Affleck and Jennifer Lopez are divorcing.
Metro picks up on an MP calling for Taylor Swift to be awarded the freedom of the City of London for bringing Britain’s economy a £1bn boost through her Eras Tour.
“Divorce can save Affleck” – that’s the Telegraph’s take on the celebrity divorce. The Mirror says “second time unlucky” – a quip at the fact the pair had been a couple 20 years earlier before calling it a day. The Mail claims to have an exclusive about why the couple’s marriage has “unravelled.”
‘Breakthrough Alzheimer’s drug’
A handful of papers spotlight different leading stories.
The Telegraph reports that the UK is set to get the green light for a breakthrough Alzheimer’s drug, Lecanemab, to be used in Britain. The paper says studies show the drug slows cognitive decline in sufferers by 27%. The move would mean it could be prescribed privately. It would then be decided if it could be used on the NHS. But the paper points out that an NHS rollout of the drug would require a mass expansion of diagnostic capacity, to identify who would benefit from the drug.
The Nation Crime Agency takes to the Guardian to warn it could seek to extradite foreign cybercriminals as part of a crackdown on “sextortion.” The crime of blackmailing people into sending sexual images online has been linked to the deaths of at least two teenagers in the UK in recent years.
The Telegraph and The Times both report that the government is set to allow councils to create more 20mph zones and low-traffic neighbourhoods. The transport secretary, Louise Haigh, is quoted as telling a podcast that local authorities would have her “absolute support” to introduce the schemes. The Sun has a strong stance on the news saying Haigh is abdicating her responsibility by casually letting 20mph zones spring up randomly.