Browsing: The Metro

The news that a school headteacher has not hired classroom staff because a PFI contract forces him to spend £30,000 a year on mowing the grass on the playing fields is the lead story in the Metro.

David Potter says almost 20% of his whole budget is spent on the deal which helped build the school but ties it to the same maintenance firm for decades as prices rise, the paper says.

The Metro reports a new battle has erupted between Donald Trump and Joe Biden after the former US president said he would “encourage” Russia to invade its neighbours if they hadn’t paid their share of NATO’s budget. Biden’s office has labelled the comments “unhinged”, the paper reports.

The Metro’s front page leads on a conspiracy theorist’s claim that the Manchester Arena bombing was faked. A high Court has described the claims as “absurd and fanatical”. Richard Hall is being sued by a father and daughter who were both badly injured in the 2017 attack.

Hall claimed the attack was part of a government exercise and that survivors lied about their injuries.