Image caption, The Times’s headline features the news that Just Stop Oil protesters have been given long prison sentences. Five activists, including the group’s co-founder Roger Hallam and 22-year-old Cressida Gethin, were given four to five years in prison for conspiring to stage a protest that would block the M25 motorway in 2022. The paper reports that environmental activists are calling the sentences a “gross miscarriage of justice.” The Times also runs a headline that US President Joe Biden’s “old boss” Barack Obama has asked Biden to reconsider whether to continue running for president. Image caption, The Guardian also noted under the headline “Stop the Oil” that the sentence is likely the longest ever given for non-violent protest in the UK. The paper also published a photo of British Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer shaking hands with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, and noted that the Ukrainian president is due to meet with Britain’s new cabinet on Friday.Image caption, A photo of Extinction Rebellion co-founder Roger Hallam dominates the front page of The Daily Telegraph. The paper’s headline reads: “‘Fanatical’ XR founder jailed for five years.” In a statement during his trial, Hallam said he had a “duty” to prevent “unimaginable climate and social breakdown horrors.” The paper also reports that some Democrats believe President Biden could withdraw from the presidential race as soon as this weekend. Image caption, The Daily Mail claims the judge who handed down the heavy prison sentences to the Just Stop Oil activists “spoke for us all”, but TV presenter and environmental activist Chris Packham criticised the verdict, saying the laws under which the activists were convicted were a “reckless and irresponsible infringement of our human rights”.Image caption, According to the i, President Obama reportedly conveyed the message to Biden that “time is up.” In its lead story, the paper said that under new rules outlined by the new Labour government, workers will have the right to ignore emails, texts and phone calls at night. The rules are not mandatory, but are part of “a new code of conduct in the workplace,” the paper said. Image caption, Democratic Representative Nancy Pelosi also reportedly expressed doubts about Biden’s chances of winning the presidential election, the Financial Times reported, adding that Obama had told allies that Biden’s chances of beating Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump later this year had significantly diminished. Image caption, “They have let us all down,” headlined the Daily Mirror’s coronavirus inquiry findings on Thursday. The paper said the report “slammed Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s handling of the crisis” and quoted the UK COVID-19 Bereaved Families Association as saying “the previous government let the public down.” The former prime minister previously apologised to victims for the “pain, loss and suffering” people experienced during the pandemic, but insisted ministers had “done their best” to respond to the virus in difficult circumstances.Image caption, The Metro has run a front page on “damning reports” that Andrew Malkinson, who was jailed for 17 years for a crime he did not commit, could have been acquitted 10 years ago.Image caption, The Daily Express hailed the “progress” as “a new sign of improved cooperation on the boat crisis” after a British ship was reported to have returned migrants to France for the first time, and asked “Is it the end for Joe?” amid growing speculation he will drop out of the presidential race.Image caption, As scorching heat hit the UK on Friday, the Daily Star reported: “Scorchio!”
The findings of the first report of the public inquiry into COVID-19 are being widely reported in the newspapers today.
“They’ve let us all down,” said the Daily Mirror headline, next to a picture of former Prime Minister Boris Johnson wearing a mask. The Guardian quoted an article saying the UK’s Covid-19 response plan was “plagued by fatal flaws.” The Sun reported that flaws in the UK’s Covid-19 response have led to 235,000 deaths. But it said the only real mistake by health secretaries was accepting complacent assurances from the health experts who advised them.
The Times said the report “revealed a lack of imagination among politicians and scientists who failed to consider all the dire scenarios while there was still time to act.” This must never happen again, it said. The Daily Express agreed, saying “We must be prepared next time.”
i, the Financial Times and the Daily Telegraph have all reported that Democrats are urging US President Joe Biden to end his re-election campaign. The Telegraph reports that Biden may step down at the weekend. The paper quoted a friend of the president as saying: “We pray he does the right thing. He’s heading in that direction.”
The i editorial said Biden’s aides were “hiding growing concerns about his fitness to run the campaign and ultimately the top job.” The Financial Times reported that Democratic Party leaders were applying pressure behind the scenes, but Biden’s campaign team was staunchly defending him and insisting he would continue his campaign.
“Judge speaks for all eco-fanatics” reads the headline on the front page of the Daily Mail. Beneath it is a photo of five environmental activists who were sentenced on Thursday to up to five years in prison for blocking the M25 for four days. But The Times criticised the sentence. It quoted entrepreneur Dale Vince as saying that the longest ever prison sentence for non-violent protest was “not right” given prison overcrowding. Guardian columnist George Monbiot said: “This is the kind of sentence you’d expect in Russia or Egypt.”
Image caption, The sketch writer focuses on Sir Ed Davey’s attendance at the Post Office Inspection on Thursday.
Sketchwriters have focused on Sir Ed Davey’s attendance at the Post Office Horizon poll. Quentin Letts of the Daily Mail said it was fortunate that the attendance took place after the general election. If Thursday’s “rock-the-bottom” session had taken place before polling day, Letts said, the Liberal Democrats “might have been a huge failure”.
John Crace of The Guardian wrote, “At times this Ed was shifty Ed, at other times this Ed was bewildered Ed, Ed who couldn’t believe what was happening to him.”
Tom Peck of The Times writes that Sir Ed’s eyes were narrowed and his jaw clenched: “I have personally seen those same eyeballs as their owner prepared to be catapulted 80 feet into the air on a giant pendulum swing, as it went around a high corner at 68 miles per hour and transformed into Europe’s only quadruple barrel roll rollercoaster. I realise only now that I’d never actually seen the man look nervous,” he says.
