Friday briefing: Backstop, Fudge and Meltdown
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https://www.theguardian.com/world/2018/jun/08/friday-briefing-backstop-fudge-and-meltdown Version 0 of 1. Top story: ‘Imagine Trump doing Brexit’ Hello, welcome to Friday. I’m Warren Murray with more jargon to add to the Brexit lexicon. Theresa May has bent to secretary David Davis’s demands over the “backstop” that would keep Britain in the EU customs union for the sake of an open Irish border. But divisions persist in the cabinet over Brexit – as evidenced by a secret recording of Boris Johnson, where he warned of a “meltdown” on the road to exiting the European Union and dismissed the Irish border issue as “folly”. The foreign secretary criticised Philip Hammond’s Treasury as “the heart of remain”, saying it had focused on “mumbo jumbo” predictions about short-term disruption, instead of the potential gains from leaving the EU. “Imagine Trump doing Brexit,” Johnson told Tory dining partners at Chatham House. “He’d go in bloody hard … There’d be all sorts of breakdowns, all sorts of chaos. Everyone would think he’d gone mad. But actually you might get somewhere. It’s a very, very good thought.” May has agreed to a backstop “fudge” that says the UK “expects” new, permanent customs arrangements with the EU to be in place by the end of December 2021. It placates Davis, while remainers say it is cosmetic with no legal force. On a plane to the G7 summit in Canada, May refused to give a cast-iron guarantee that the backstop would only be temporary. She emphasised it might never be used. “I’ve always been clear that this was time limited and as we’ve said today [Thursday] the end state at the latest will be in by the end of 2021 and we will be working to ensure that it is in earlier than that.” Michel Barnier, the EU’s chief Brexit negotiator, made what appeared to be a quip on Twitter: “Is it an all-weather backstop?” Life on Mars – Yes it’s another of those headlines but in this case the facts behind it are quite promising. The venerable Mars Curiosity rover has drilled into a piece of mudstone and found chemical traces of organic compounds. “It is not telling us that life was there,” says Jennifer Eigenbrode, a Nasa biogeochemist, “but it is saying that everything organisms really needed to live in that kind of environment, all of that was there.” It points to the Mars of long ago having had lakes that held the carbon-based compounds necessary for life similar to our own. Could life still be there? “These molecules could have been part of life, but they could also have been food for life,” said Kirsten Siebach, a planetary geologist. “This is very promising for the preservation of potential ancient life on the planet.” G7 begins – Donald Trump looks set to clash with everyone else as the G7 summit gets under way in Quebec today. France, Germany, the UK, Japan, Canada and Italy will be lobbying the US president to rejoin the Iran nuclear deal. The UK, Germany and France will demand that European companies having dealings with Iran are spared from US sanctions. More pressing are steel and aluminium tariffs, with the EU poised to impose retaliatory measures on American goods ranging from jeans to motorbikes. Sharp words have circulated between several of the leaders: Emmanuel Macron of France has called for the G7-minus-one to resist Trump’s attempts to impose a “crude hegemony” while Canada’s Justin Trudeau called Trump’s tariffs “unilateral and illegal”. Trump hit back, claiming that Canadian trade policy was “killing our agriculture”. Daily Mail’s next editor – Geordie Greig has been drafted across from the helm of the Mail on Sunday to take over from Paul Dacre as editor of the Daily Mail. Greig has been described as “50% courtier, 50% old-school hack” by a former boss. In contrast to Dacre, at the Mail on Sunday he took an anti-Brexit line. Greig also formerly edited the Evening Standard, and wrote a biography of the artist Lucian Freud. ‘Left to die’ – A 38-year-old woman with advanced breast cancer was denied potentially life-saving chemotherapy for nearly six weeks in what refugee support groups say is another manifestation of the “hostile environment” policy. Kelemua Mulat, from Ethiopia, is now receiving the treatment after the Christie hospital in Manchester managed to override a Home Office decision that she was not eligible for NHS care. Mulat has been refused asylum but is appealing, saying she is part of a pro-democracy group whose members have been sentenced to death or long jail terms. ‘New room in the Great Pyramid’ – An unheard album of John Coltrane’s music has been found and will be released at the end of this month. The session, recorded on 6 March 1963 in New Jersey, features the legendary jazz saxophonist in what is regarded as his “classic quartet”. The master tape was lost but it turned out Coltrane had given a copy to his soon-to-be ex-wife and it remained in her family. Both Directions at Once: the Lost Album comes out on 29 June. The British jazz and improv saxophonist Evan Parker told the Guardian: “This release is most welcome – the ‘classic quartet’ was where Coltrane did his best work.” Lunchtime read: ‘We had a name for ourselves: Travellers’ “I can trace my Romany ancestry back at least six generations; I was brought up to know the Romani language,” writes Damian Le Bas as he goes back on the road to reconnect with his Traveller roots. “I was raised, and still live, in a Romany psychological realm; a mental Gypsyland.” Eight months into his journey to rediscover the stopping places of Traveller life, “I realised how sparsely furnished my van was … bed, stove, wash gear, clothes and so forth. But there were other trappings of Romany life, when it was lived most richly: beautiful furnishings, gilded surfaces, portable pictures, talismans and silks. I’ve been missing a trick.” With his Mum’s help the van was soon decked out: “An Islamic purple velvet hanging … matching Bedouin horse-cloths … brightly coloured Indian tapestry cloths. I slammed the doors and smiled as I thought of the road ahead.” Sport Gareth Southgate has admitted he has “serious decisions” to make over his preferred lineup for England’s opening group game at the World Cup after a much changed team impressed in the 2-0 dismissal of Costa Rica, which served as a productive run-out for a starting team of Plan Bs and second-choicers. England football fans visiting Russia are at serious risk of homophobic, racist and anti-British attacks and have been offered only “vague reassurance” about their safety by the Foreign Office and police, MPs have warned. Red Bull’s Max Verstappen has rejected suggestions he should change his driving approach, saying he might “headbutt someone” if he is questioned any further on being involved in incidents at every race this season. Sloane Stephens brushed aside Madison Keys in an all-American semi-final at Roland Garros to set up a French Open final against Simona Halep, after the Romanian top seed defeated Garbiñe Muguruza. The mouthwatering prospect of Anthony Joshua finally facing the American Deontay Wilder in a huge heavyweight title reunification fight has moved several steps closer. And England have capped plenty of overseas-reared rugby players over the years but none has had a shorter run-up than Brad Shields, their latest newcomer. Business It was the proverbial tough day at the office for executives at some top companies yesterday. TSB boss Paul Pester was lambasted by MPs for not coming clean about the bank’s IT troubles, while M&S execs were told they wouldn’t be getting their usual bonuses because of the retailer’s poor performance. Meanwhile 11,000 jobs are at risk at House of Fraser and Poundland. The FTSE100 due to drop 0.4% according to futures trading. The pound is flat at $1.342 and €1.137. The papers “We must take the fight to the enemy” – that’s the Times’ take on the secret Boris Johnson recording. “Hammond gets both barrels from Boris”, cheers the Daily Mail. In the Telegraph: “Boris: May must show more guts on Brexit” – see how BoJo gets the first-name treatment but Theresa May doesn’t? The Express says Theresa May has declared “Brexit back on track” after striking a compromise deal with her cabinet. But the Sun derides it as “May’s Brexit bodge” and “Two fingers of fudge” – importantly there’s a graphic demonstrating what it would look like if someone had two genuine fingers made of actual fudge. The Guardian leads with thousands of jobs at risk as House of Fraser and Poundworld both struggle. The i says it shows how the UK’s high street retailers are being “Destroyed by internet shopping” while the Mirror declares that we are turning into “Ghost town Britain”. “High street crisis leaves 13,000 jobs in peril” is the FT’s typically comprehensive summation. 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