Top story: Forcing people into jobs flawed – experts
Hello, Warren Murray taking you on a quick scroll through the news.
Unemployed workers will be forced to take up a job in any sector within four weeks or face losing part of their universal credit, ministers have announced. The Way to Work campaign was flagged up by an embattled Boris Johnson at prime minister’s questions, with the opposition calling it out as an attempt to distract from his political woes. It is pitched as an initiative to get 500,000 people into work by June and fill 1.2m job vacancies nationally.
Welfare experts said it would be counterproductive, forcing people into worse jobs and damaging careers. “The government is right that people need and deserve good jobs, but these will not be delivered by compelling people to seek any work, and against a context of continuing in-work poverty,” said Ruth Patrick from the University of York. The National Audit Office has found no evidence that benefit sanctions achieve their goal of pushing people into jobs.
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Numbers build against PM – A new raft of senior Conservative MPs are poised to send letters of no confidence in Boris Johnson when the long-awaited “partygate” report is published. Among those prepared to move against Johnson are more than two dozen out of 70 former ministers, according to Tory rebels’ calculations. There has been no official explanation for why Sue Gray’s report has not yet been sent to Johnson. On Wednesday night the business secretary, Kwasi Kwarteng, indicated on ITV’s Peston that it might not be out until next week. Police will ask aides of Johnson who end up being named in Gray’s report whether they are guilty over the lockdown parties and will accept a fine under regulations passed by the government they work for.
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Biden to make his mark on court – Joe Biden has been gifted the opportunity to change the political narrative around his administration with a supreme court justice set to retire. The expected departure of Justice Stephen Breyer will allow the president to fulfil his promise to make the first ever appointment of a black woman to the bench. After a year in the White House, Biden has been limping with a stalled legislative agenda, tenacious pandemic and Vladimir Putin threatening Ukraine. Although the ideological balance of the court will not change, Biden could choose a young liberal who will serve for decades.
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Nuclear option – Ministers have thrown a further £100m behind EDF Energy’s £20bn Sizewell C nuclear power station in Suffolk. The government will have rights to an equity stake in the development company behind the project, and over the site. If EDF is able to secure enough investor backing to make a final decision on Sizewell, it would reimburse the government with a stake in the project or in cash. It is understood that EDF and the UK government also hope to secure enough new investment to replace Chinese state-controlled CGN, which has a 20% stake. Sizewell, which is still going through planning and development, would power 6 million homes, but has been plagued by opposition from local campaigners, fears over its price tag and China’s involvement.
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Pipe crimped if Russia invades – The Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline between Russia and Germany will not be switched on if Russia invades Ukraine, the US state department has said. The pipeline bypasses the traditional transit route through Ukraine. It has faced resistance within the EU for its potential to make Europe too directly reliant on Russian gas. In a letter to the Russian regime, the US has repeated its commitment to upholding the “open-door” policy to countries like Ukraine joining Nato, while offering a “principled and pragmatic evaluation” of the Kremlin’s concerns, said the US secretary of state, Antony Blinken. Britain and other Nato allies are considering a request from the US to deploy hundreds more troops to support member countries in eastern Europe in advance of any Russian invasion or attack on Ukraine.
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Uni diversity – Black and Asian students won places at prestigious UK universities at record levels in 2021, rising by 19% in a year, alongside increasing numbers of students from all backgrounds, and the chief executive of the Ucas admissions service has said there could be 1 million applications for places by 2026. The record numbers of applications and acceptances were driven by the rise in higher A-levels awarded in 2021 after the government’s decision to cancel exams and replace them with teacher-assessed grades. The boost in results and rising numbers of 18-year-olds in the UK population saw more applicants awarded places across the board, with 492,005 students accepted on to a course.
Today in Focus podcast: The edge of war
With diplomatic talks at an apparent impasse, Vladimir Putin seems prepared to start a war. Andrew Roth reports from Moscow.
Lunchtime read: Covid exposes the kink in our amour
During the pandemic there has been a sharp drop in one-off encounters, researchers say, but more people are enjoying friends with benefits and getting experimental in bed, Zoe Williams writes.
Sport
Australia have made a strong start in the women’s Ashes under way at Canberra’s Manuka Oval – Rachael Haynes (86) and Meg Lanning (93) leading the charge. Australia were 317-6 just now going into the last 10 overs of the day. Nicholas Pooran and Rovman Powell have blasted West Indies to a 20-run victory over England in their third T20 at Kensington Oval in Barbados. In football’s Africa Cup of Nations, Egypt have beaten Ivory Coast on penalties after a 0-0 draw, as Mohamed Salah’s decisive spot-kick was enough for Egypt to progress.
Professional female footballers in England are to benefit from maternity and long-term sickness cover in a landmark change to their contracts. The Six Nations chief executive, Ben Morel, has denied that Italy’s dismal recent record is damaging the credibility of the tournament and kept the door shut on South Africa joining Europe’s premier rugby event. Robert Kitson writes that it is shaping up as a wonderfully poised and evenly matched tournament.
Business
Asian shares have plunged today after the US Federal Reserve signalled it is on course to make fighting inflation a priority this year by raising interest rates. The prospect of more costly borrowing has unnerved markets but the confirmation of Fed intentions saw heavy losses in Japan, South Korea and Australia. The FTSE100 is tracking for a hefty drop of almost 2% at the opening while the pound is on $1.343 and €1.197. Meanwhile, private rents in Britain have risen at their fastest on record, piling pressure on household finances.
The papers
Our Guardian print edition leads with “PM accused of lying over rescue of animals during fall of Kabul”. New Foreign Office emails appear to contradict Boris Johnson’s insistence he did not authorise the rescue of cats and dogs from a British charity in Afghanistan during the fall of Kabul. In the picture slot, the food writer and activist Jack Monroe hails the new way that official inflation will be calculated, to account for a wider range of income levels and household circumstances. On the third-edition front page we also have “Andrew demands trial by jury in US”. The Duke of York has denied he was a co-conspirator of Jeffrey Epstein and insisted on a jury trial in Virginia Giuffre’s sexual abuse lawsuit against him, his lawyers said in court papers filed on Wednesday.
On that latter story the Mirror says “Andrew: I’ll face a sex trial jury” while the Sun has “Andrew: I’ll go to trial … no sweat”. It’s also on the front of the Mail, which says the duke has issued 41 denials over sex claims, but the paper’s lead is “Tory MPs tell Boris: spike tax hike and we’ll back you”. It’s the other way round in the Express, which has as its lead “Andrew shock: I want jury trial” while Boris Johnson gets a full-width picture and the supportive headline “Party rallies behind Boris” – presumably meaning the Conservative party, not another accidental booze-up or cake ambush.
The Express has “Andrew: it’s trial by jury” while the Financial Times leads with “ECB warns Europe’s banks over risks in Russia-Ukraine sanctions”. The Telegraph says “National insurance rise will push up prices, PM warned”. And the front-page lead in the Times is “Shops and trains stick to masks as plan B ends”.
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