Newspaper headlines: 999 calls crisis and MPs' rent expenses loophole
By BBC News
Staff
- Published
"999 calls crisis" is Metro's headline as it reports on the record number of incidents being dealt with by England's ambulance services. Most heart attack and stroke victims are waiting nearly an hour for an ambulance as the system is swamped by a million calls in a month, the paper says.
The Daily Express focuses on the impact of the pandemic on NHS waiting lists, covering what it calls the "stark reality" behind the backlog of 5.8m NHS patients. It urges anyone still hesitant about getting the Covid jab to read the "graphic account of the daily battles faced by frontline health workers".
Prime Minister Boris Johnson was told three times to keep his face mask on during a visit to a hospital, according to the Daily Mirror's lead story. The paper says he has been accused of "callous disregard" for the NHS.
"MPs fill pockets using rent expenses loophole" is the Times's lead story, which says 14 MPs are letting out homes they own in London for at least £10,000 a year, while claiming expenses from the taxpayer to rent another property. The paper says the arrangement is allowed under a loophole, while several of the MPs claimed they are pushed into into it by the expenses watchdog.
Continuing the reporting on concerns over MPs' outside interests, the i newspaper headline is: "MP who told Rashford to focus on the day job has second job". The paper reports that Dover Tory MP Natalie Elphicke, who criticised Rashford for getting involved in politics after his Euro 2020 penalty miss, earns an extra £36,000 for eight hours a week chairing a housebuilding industry group.
The Daily Mail reports that the Prince of Wales' "right-hand man" has resigned over allegations that he helped to secure a knighthood for a Saudi businessman who donated to the prince's charity. The paper says Michael Fawcett, chief executive of the Prince's Foundation, is "heartbroken" amid the "cash for honours" inquiry.
Several of the papers report that the Queen will attend the Remembrance Sunday service at the Cenotaph, after medical advice to rest last month. It's the Sun's lead story, with the headline: "She WILL remember them".
Targets to cut emissions agreed at COP26 are too weak to prevent disastrous levels of climate change, according to the key architects of the Paris agreement quoted in the Guardian. The paper says world leaders will have to return to the negotiating table again next year.
China has paved the way for President Xi Jinping to stay in office until at least 2028 by passing its first "historical resolution" in 40 years, the Financial Times's lead story reports. The paper says the resolution puts him on a par with "revered" Communist Party leaders such as Mao Zedong and Deng Xiaoping.
The Daily Telegraph leads with a warning from US officials, who the paper says have privately briefed their EU counterparts that Russia may be planning to invade Ukraine in a repeat of the 2014 annexation of Crimea. The paper quotes senior Whitehall sources saying there was "anxiety" among UK officials.
Finally, the Daily Star reports that Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp has hit out at Boris Johnson, saying a decent prime minister needs "more than weird hair". "Klopp boots Bozo in the Ballon d'Ors" is the paper's headline.