Newspaper headlines: Danny Cipriani charged and Brits flee Genoa bridge
- Published
The England rugby player Danny Cipriani finds himself all over the papers after being charged with assaulting a police officer on the island of Jersey. His arrest, says the Sun, came "hours after the England cricket star Ben Stokes was cleared of affray" in Bristol. The Times says Cipriani had seemed to resurrect his playing career in South Africa in June and recalls that the England coach Eddie Jones had warned him about his conduct off the pitch. The Daily Mail describes him as a star whose "colourful private life" in the past had "hit his career".
To the tens of thousands of young people waiting no doubt nervously for their A-level results, the Daily Mirror has a simple message: "Good Luck!" It thinks all deserve an "A for anxiety," if nothing else. Other papers also have messages of reassurance - sort of. The Daily Mail believes this will be "the easiest year ever for those going through clearing" because eight out of 10 degree courses still have places on offer.
As the Daily Telegraph points out, some A-levels were supposed to have been made "tougher" this year. But the paper goes on to say that steps have been taken to ensure that roughly the same proportion of students as last year should obtain pass marks, despite the changes that were made. It reckons that "students can get almost half the questions wrong and still get an A in some of the new tougher A-levels".
The Times also offers a boost to morale declaring that "this year it is a buyer's market for students" because a dip in the numbers applying for higher education places means that "universities are competing to attract" them.
The main story for the Guardian is the decision by the BBC not to appeal against the outcome of the privacy case brought against the corporation by Sir Cliff Richard. The paper says the cost to the BBC of the case could run into millions of pounds. The Sun takes the corporation to task for its decision saying it was "a dark day for the free press" because the judge's ruling appeared to give "all suspects a right to anonymity until they are charged". The paper believes that will impede the progress the police can make in investigating some cases. The Daily Telegraph also thinks the judge's ruling a bad one, which seemed to impose new restrictions of the rights of the media to name suspects identified by the police. It says the courts must support free speech as well as privacy.
Few things matter more to some than the value of their home and, for them, the Daily Mail has a disturbing opinion. It devotes its front page to a report suggesting that prices in many places, including London, the north-east, Oxford, Winchester and Blackpool, are heading for a correction if not a crash.
The Financial Times thinks the proposals set out by the government to address the crisis in social housing amounted to little more than "a damp squib". Councils are broke, it says, and there is no state money for housebuilding which means, it argues, that the costs of homes are subsidised through housing benefit, which ends up paying off the mortgages of private landlords. The Guardian meanwhile fears that the market remains broken and people on average earnings have little prospect of buying a home if they don't already have one.
There's a dour reaction to the news that regulated rail fares will rise next year by on average 3.2%. The Sun calls that "a rate train robbery". The Guardian says passengers are clamouring for a price freeze. The Times believes commuters will end up paying more than £100 a year extra to get to work. The Daily Mail calculates that those with season tickets will have to hand over around a third of their take-home pay.
Following the collapse of a motorway bridge in Genoa, the Daily Telegraph reports that "hundreds of Italian bridges and tunnels" may be at risk. A writer living in Italy tells the Daily Mail that many people there don't feel safe but fear that the prospect of a big boost in spending on repairs will enhance the powers of politicians and divert money into the pockets of organised crime gangs.
A decision by Sir Rod Stewart to sell off some of the furniture from one of his mansions in Essex causes the Times to raise an eyebrow. With its eye on the relatively modest values of the objects going under the hammer, it asks: "Do ya think I'm thrifty?" But the Daily Mail calls the furnishings from Durrington House "glitzy" and adapts one of the star's best-known songs for its headline: "We are selling!"
