The Guardian – Starmer risks clash with pub firms over plan for outdoor smoking ban
The Guardian says curbs on outdoor smoking could cause “serious economic harm” according to hospitality groups. The head of the JW Lees Brewery, William Lees-Jones, is quoted as saying the idea was a “bolt from the blue” and has not been discussed with the industry. But the paper also goes on to say health experts and the public back the measure.
There’s also a picture of Angelina Jolie promoting her film “Maria” at the Venice Film Festival.
Elsewhere, an article reporting that the EU is working on a fresh proposal for a youth mobility scheme with the UK makes the splash.
Starmer faces pushback from pubs over ‘bonkers’ outdoor smoking curb plans
Keir Starmer is on a collision course with the hospitality industry and political opponents after signalling plans for major curbs on outdoor smoking.
The proposals, not denied by the prime minister, would potentially prohibit tobacco use outside pubs and restaurants, including on pavements. The restrictions would come on top of existing plans to gradually outlaw smoking year by year.
While the latter proposal was devised under Rishi Sunak, the Conservatives argued restrictions on outdoor smoking were about “social control”, with Priti Patel – among those standing to replace Sunak as Tory leader – calling them “beyond stupid”.
Angelina Jolie says women are defined too much by other people’s perceptions
Angelina Jolie has said it is often “other people’s perception of a woman” that defines too much who she is, as she discussed portraying the famed opera singer Maria Callas in a new biopic.
Maria, by the Chilean film-maker Pablo Larraín, premieres at the Venice film festival on Thursday, but it has already generated Oscar buzz over Jolie’s depiction of the renowned “diva”.
Asked during a press conference about her relationship to that word, Jolie said: “I think [the term diva] has often come with a lot of negative connotations.
“I’ve relearned that word from Maria, I have a new relationship to it. It’s often other people’s perception of a woman that defines too much who she is and who she was. I think Maria was one of the hardest working people who didn’t hurt anybody.”
EU states working on fresh proposal for youth mobility scheme with UK
EU member states are working on an updated proposal for a youth mobility scheme with the UK after an earlier paper by the European Commission was rejected out of hand by Labour in April, it has emerged.
EU sources say the 27 countries hope to come up with viable negotiating points for Brussels in coming weeks to feed into the expected negotiations on a reset of EU-UK relations being sought by the British prime minister, Keir Starmer.
It is thought new proposals would also allow Starmer’s team a fresh start on the issue, including a possible counter-proposal, and minimise any political pushback by Eurosceptics.
The conversation in EU capitals comes as the German chancellor, Olaf Scholz, spoke of a lamentable decline in interaction with the UK’s young people across the EU.
Today’s news summary – Paper Talk
If you are someone who reads every perspective of a story, here is a news summary of all of today’s front pages from today’s newspapers; summarised in a 2-minute read
Editorial 30 August 2024.
Friday’s leads report on the latest from Downing Street with many papers assessing what the government’s plans to ban outdoor smoking in pubs will do to trading. Pub landlords have not welcomed the news and the traditional right-leaning publications dramatically claim it’s ‘the end of British pubs!’
The plans have put the Labour government on a collision course with the hospitality industry – which is already struggling. But the news has been welcomed by health experts.
Working hours, the NHS and health studies also make Friday’s front pages along with a dose of showbiz and royal gossip.
The back pages report on the latest Premier League gossip, the England National football team and Joe Root’s 33rd Test Century for England.