Top story: ‘We need clean air zones’
Good morning – it’s Tuesday, I’m Warren Murray, and if I were you I’d be reading these stories.
A new clean air strategy published by the Conservative government has been criticised as “hugely disappointing” by Labour. Other groups say it will do little to tackle toxic air from diesel vehicles in urban areas.
Michael Gove, the environment secretary, will today announce the strategy to crack down on a wide range of pollutants. These include particulates from wet wood and coal burning in homes, ammonia emissions from farms, and dust from vehicle tyres and brakes. Local authorities stand to get new powers to cut pollution. The government says the action, which is subject to consultation, will cut the costs of air pollution to society by £1bn a year by 2020.
Labour says the measures offered by Gove amount to “another consultation” instead of action. James Thornton, the CEO of the environmental lawyers ClientEarth who have defeated ministers three times in court over air pollution, said: “Road transport is still the main source of illegal air pollution in our towns and cities. We need a national network of clean air zones (CAZs) to take the most polluting vehicles out of the most polluted areas.” Separately, London has been ranked as one of Europe’s worst cities for environmentally clean, affordable public transport. Copenhagen is on top followed by Amsterdam, Oslo and Zurich. London comes third from the bottom, above only Rome and Moscow, in the study carried out for Greenpeace.
Ken quits – The former London mayor Ken Livingstone has resigned from the Labour party while facing the threat of expulsion for alleged antisemitism. Livingstone had been suspended since 2016 over comments for which he has since apologised. Livingstone, who has apologised, said the surrounding furore had become a distraction for the party. “I abhor antisemitism, I have fought it all my life and will continue to do so,” said Livingstone in his resignation statement.
Livingstone – a two-term London mayor and 50-year Labour member – said he would continue to campaign to get Jeremy Corbyn elected to government. Corbyn said Livingstone’s resignation was “sad … but the right thing to do.” Critics said Livingstone should have been expelled years ago. “We must now make it clear that he will never be welcome to return,” said the Labour MP for Ilford North, Wes Streeting.
Price of germophobia – The modern-day emphasis on keeping children away from infection and illness is leading to higher rates of leukaemia, a leading researcher has concluded. Professor Mel Greaves, from the Institute of Cancer Research in London, says the immune system needs to be primed from infancy to fight off acute lymphoblastic leukaemia (ALL). Described by peers as “one of the superstars amongst modern cancer biologists”, Greaves explains that some children are born with a genetic mutation putting them at risk of ALL. They will be fine if their immune system is properly set up by benign infections in their first year of life – and social contact with other children and their illnesses, such as through daycare or older siblings, may be enough to accomplish that. ALL rates are low or non-existent in poor countries where there are big families and cross-infection is common. Greaves argues there is a similar story at work in the prevalence of type 1 diabetes, Hodgkin’s lymphoma, multiple sclerosis and allergies in wealthier countries: “The problem is not infection. The problem is lack of infection.”
Big blow-up over nothing? In the next few days, North Korea is expected to destroy its nuclear test site at Punggye-ri, in what has been characterised as a display of commitment to peace and denuclearisation. But the site was already partly out of commission because of earthquakes – and with multiple bombs already thought to be in the regime’s possession, is destroying its proving ground really a meaningful gesture? Benjamin Haas answers some key questions. In other developments the South Korean president, Moon Jae-in, is due at the White House today for talks with Donald Trump. Moon will be trying to get plans for a Trump-Kim meeting back on track after the North warned the US not to make “one-sided” demands for complete denuclearisation.
‘Profoundly negative outcomes’ – Benefit sanctions are not effective in getting people into work and are more likely to drive people into poverty, a study of “welfare conditionality” in the UK has found. A five-year exercise tracking claimants concludes that docking benefits as punishment for alleged failures to comply with jobcentre rules has been a failure. The study finds that jobcentres are largely focused on enforcing benefit rules rather than providing the personalised job support that is the key factor in moving people off benefits into work. “The outcomes from sanctions are almost universally negative,” said the director of the study, Professor Peter Dwyer of the University of York.
Meet Bon and Pon – They are the unlikely new darlings of global fashion: two Japanese sexagenarians doing little more than taking selfies in matching clothes and putting them on Instagram. Tsuyoshi and Tomi Seki appear almost daily in outfits incorporating similar styles and colours. Their tastes have earned them praise from fashion commentators and adoration among almost 720,000 followers.
Bon and Pon have also written two books celebrating married life and are about to launch their own range of clothes and accessories. “It’s not just about coordinating our clothes,” said Tsuyoshi. “We try to choose outfits that complement our surroundings.”
Lunchtime read: ‘Anything was preferable to being me’
“It starts with the obsession. Nothing can be allowed to get between addicts and their drugs.” This is how John Crace introduces us to a world that was once his own: the world of the heroin user, as portrayed in the TV drama Patrick Melrose, based on the novels of Edward St Aubyn.
“In many film and literary depictions of using, the drugs are often relegated to an incidental role,” writes Crace, “because the nature of addiction is so profoundly boring. Here, they get pride of place, centre stage. For a heroin addict, it’s the living that’s incidental.” It is a sketch of a very different kind from our political sketchwriter today. “Edward/Patrick and I are the lucky ones; those who found recovery. I went into rehab on 9 March 1987 and have been clean ever since … I plod on. One foot after another. One day at a time.”
Sport
Arsenal have moved to appoint Unai Emery as the successor to Arsène Wenger. If he does arrive at the Emirates, the tactically astute and well prepared Spaniard will find a more receptive audience in the Gunners’ dressing room than he did with an unruly Paris Saint Germain squad.
Danny Cipriani could make his first England appearance under Eddie Jones in the No 15 jersey after he was named among the full-backs in the squad to face the Barbarians on Sunday. Paul Gustard has revealed he turned down a new England contract to become Harlequins’ head of rugby just 16 months before the World Cup. The French Open has announced it will not give Serena Williams a seeding for her return to grand slam tennis following maternity leave. And the captains of the three teams drawn to play Peru at the World Cup in Russia have appealed to Fifa to lift a ban on Paolo Guerrero, who was suspended after testing positive for cocaine.
Business
Overnight, Sony has announced it is buying EMI Music Publishing for US$1.9bn, creating a single catalogue of more than four million songs.
Asian markets have mostly been lower after Wall Street gained. The pound is worth $1.341 and €1.139 at the moment.
The papers
The Daily Mail trumpets the “New clean air revolution” as Michael Gove promises councils powers over the use of diesel cars and what the Telegraph on its front calls “polluting wood stoves”. The Guardian leads with Ken Livingstone’s resignation. The Times reports that “Google ‘identifies rape victims” – a search about an attacker can also turn up the names of complainants, bypassing anonymity. The i covers the “Meltdown on the railways” after timetable changes triggered chaos.
“Boris rules out snap election”, says the Express, which says he has rebuked agitating Tory MPs. The FT says a court has thrown out charges against Barclays over its emergency fundraising from Qatar during the 2008 financial crisis. The Manchester Evening News marks one year since the Arena bombing with a heart shape made up of bees occupying the whole front page. The Sun has a “Harry and Meghan souvenir cover wrap”.
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