Top story: Labour champions housing for the needy and ‘just coping’
Hello, it’s Warren Murray putting the news at your fingertips.
A Labour government would link the definition “affordable housing” to people’s income and “restore the principle that a decent home is a right owed to all”, Jeremy Corbyn will say today. The party is releasing a report entitled Housing for the Many that accuses Conservative ministers of stretching the term “affordable” to breaking point to include homes let at up to 80% of market rents – more than £1,500 a month in some areas – and homes for sale up to £450,000.
Britain faces an acute housing affordability crisis, with around 1.7m private rented households currently paying more than a third of their income in rent and a million owner-occupiers paying more than a third of their income on their mortgage. Labour proposes to end right-to-buy, arguing it jeopardises the supply of social housing. The party would also lift the cap on borrowing by local authorities, to allow councils to build more social housing; and set up a housing department and watchdog to make sure promises are delivered.
John Healey, the shadow housing secretary, writes in the Guardian today: “We will build for those who need it, including the very poorest and most vulnerable … and for those in work on ordinary incomes. This is the ‘just coping’ class in Britain today, who do the jobs we all rely on – IT workers, HGV drivers, joiners, warehouse managers, lab technicians, nurses, teaching assistants, call centre supervisors, shop staff.”
‘A gent to work with’ – Tributes are being paid to the former TV game show host Dale Winton who has died at home aged 62. Winton presented television staples from the mid-1990s to the early 2000s, including Supermarket Sweep and the National Lottery’s In It to Win It.
Winton had spoken earlier this year of undergoing several rounds of surgery, and in 2015 discussed a battle with depression. “Dale Winton gave me the best bit of showbiz advice I ever got,” said Graham Norton: “Don’t quit the hit! Thank you Dale.” Here are some moments from Winton’s career in pictures.
‘May must rethink her approach’ – The House of Lords has passed a Brexit amendment that pressures the government to keep Britain in a customs union with the EU. A convincing majority of 123 peers including senior Tories supported the measure, and the Lords passed another amendment curbing the power of ministers to sidestep parliament. It might leave you incredulous to read that the first proper talks on Britain’s future trading relationship with the EU are only just getting started. Meanwhile Scotland and Wales are locked in a court battle over what they say is an attempt by London to wrest back devolved powers in the name of Brexit.
Trump aims for Korea highlight – Donald Trump says he will meet the North Korean dictator, Kim Jong-un, “in the coming weeks” but walk away if the meeting is “not fruitful”. Speaking at a joint press conference with Japan’s PM, Shinzo Abe, the president said: “If we don’t think it’s going to be successful, we won’t have it, we won’t have it. If I think that it’s a meeting that is not going to be fruitful, we’re not going to go … If the meeting when I’m there is not fruitful, I will respectfully leave the meeting.” Trump confirmed reports that Mike Pompeo, the CIA chief and secretary of state nominee, had already met with Kim. And he gave “a promise” to Abe to help return Japanese captives believed held by the regime. “[We want] to see these families reunited as soon as possible.”
More powerful than Atatürk – Turkey’s president has called a snap election, a year and a half ahead of schedule, in circumstances that are tailor-made to entrench him as ruler of an effective one-party state. If, as likely, he is re-elected, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan will gain sweeping new powers, including the ability to rule by decree. Turkey has been under a state of emergency since a coup attempt in July 2016 and Erdoğan turned a subsequent roundup of dissidents into a wide-ranging crackdown on opposition MPs, academics and the media. The election will be held on 24 June. Simon Tisdall writes that Erdoğan is a dictator in all but name who, when it comes to elections, is “no different from Russia’s Vladimir Putin and Egypt’s Abdel Fatah al-Sisi. Their shared idea of democracy can be summed up by the motto: ‘You vote, I win.’”
Meat of the matter – “Do-gooders want your brain to hurt whenever you think about eating meat.” That might be the headline in some other publications, but never here, where we urge you to consider the eight principles (yes, eight, not five, not 10) that the Eating Better coalition says we should adopt when purchasing meat and dairy. Lamb is more likely to be grass-fed … and was your meat reared with too many antibiotics? … and you’d better get on and read the rest including the 21-page PDF before dinnertime. If that all sounds too complicated, you wouldn’t be alone in choosing to go vegan – Tony Naylor writes that beans, peas and pulses are making a flavoursome though still somewhat farty comeback.
Lunchtime read: ‘Difficult to hear’ – the real Hans Asperger
The paediatrics pioneer who gave his name to Asperger’s syndrome was a Nazi collaborator whose work aided the Third Reich’s murderous drive for racial purity, a historian has concluded after eight years of research. Asperger is hailed for his contribution to understanding Asperger’s syndrome and the autism spectrum. But Herwig Czech, from Vienna’s Medical University, writes in the journal Molecular Autism that the scientist allied himself closely with Nazi ideology and frequently referred children to the Am Spiegelgrund clinic where nearly 800 died, many of them murdered, between 1940 and 1945.
Czech reviewed documents from state archives, including Asperger’s personnel files and patient case records. He said the scientist’s contribution to autism research was valuable but he was far from the benevolent figure portrayed in today’s “apologetic” narratives. Carol Povey, director at the UK’s National Autistic Society, said: “Obviously no one with a diagnosis of Asperger syndrome should feel in any way tainted by this very troubling history.”
Sport
News that Aunty has lost the rights to England’s forthcoming overseas cricket series may not be all doom and gloom, writes Barney Ronay, who argues that a challenge to “bumptious BBC self-regard” could be a breath of fresh air. Eddie Jones has set the cat among the pigeons with talk he could be planning to call Hurricanes captain Brad Shields into the England squad. Shield’s fellow New Zealander TJ Perenara has also created headlines, adding his voice to growing condemnation of Israel Folau’s anti-gay comments in a recent Instagram post.
Olympic champion McKayla Maroney has spoken about “hundreds” of instances of abuse at the hands of disgraced former USA gymnastics doctor Larry Nassar. And Sean Ingle reports that Kenyan star Mary Keitany has a cunning plan to break Paula Radcliffe’s world record at the London Marathon on Sunday.
Business
Oil prices remained close to highs last seen in late 2014 helped by signs that the world’s leading exporter, Saudi Arabia, will continue withholding supply to prop up the market. Brent crude came close to $74 a barrel overnight, which helped shares in mining and energy companies across Asia. The FTSE100 is expected to rise slightly when it opens later today. The pound is worth $1.419 and €1.146.
The papers
The front pages of the Sun, Star and Express mourn the death of Dale Winton – variously referred to as “TV Dale”, “telly legend” and “TV’s Mr Nice Guy” in the accompanying headlines. The Express splashes alongside his portrait with more news of crises in NHS care.
The Times says homebuyers are being left in despair as major builder Bovis fails to repair their shoddy houses. The Guardian continues the Windrush coverage with news of Theresa May being challenged over her statements to parliament about the debacle. The Mirror continues the tawdry game of playing Meghan Markle’s family off against each other. “Boris: We must take a hard line on knife crime”, says the Telegraph, as the foreign secretary calls for tough measures including more stop and search. The FT says big investors are threatening to punish Unilever by dumping the company’s shares over its plan to pull out of London.
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