Ten Things You Need to Know Today: Thursday 26 Sep 2019

1. Anger from MPs as Johnson hints at second prorogation

There were angry scenes in the Commons yesterday as Boris Johnson and MPs returned after the Supreme Court ruled that the prime minister’s suspension of Parliament was unlawful. A defiant Johnson denied deliberately whipping up public anger over Brexit and prompting death threats to MPs through his “inflammatory” language. The PM’s refusal to rule out proroguing Parliament for a second time triggered further fury.

Today’s newspapers: ‘Bullish Boris ready to walk away’

2. US politicians ‘disturbed’ by transcript of Trump’s Ukraine call

The White House has released a memo summarising the text of a phone call in which Donald Trump asks Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky to investigate Democrat rival Joe Biden’s son, who has business dealings there. One Republican senator said the transcript included “real troubling things”. The Democratic-led House of Representatives has launched a formal impeachment inquiry into Trump over the allegations.

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What Donald Trump said to the Ukrainian president

3. Minimum alcohol pricing in Scotland is working, study finds

The introduction of minimum alcohol pricing in Scotland in May 2018 is proving successful in the push to cut the amount that Scots drink, a study led by Newcastle University suggests. Alcohol must now cost at least 50p per unit in Scotland. The research found that the average amount purchased per person per week has fallen by 1.2 units – equivalent to about half a pint of beer.

4. Thousands of state school teachers giving private tuition

Around 80,000 state school teachers in England are teaching private lessons in a bid to boost exam results, according to new research by education charity The Sutton Trust. The study shows that almost a quarter of state secondary teachers and one in seven primary school teachers have taken on private tuition in the last two years in order to give students extra help. Some head teachers are actively promoting their staff as tutors, despite complaints from teaching unions that their members are overworked.

5. Grant Shapps ‘copied Chris Grayling’s speech’

A statement to the Commons yesterday by Transport Secretary Grant Shapps on the collapse of travel agent Thomas Cook included identical text to a 2017 speech by his predecessor Chris Grayling on the collapse of Monarch Airlines, The Guardian says. The newspaper claims that Shapps lifted whole sections of Grayling’s speech and simply changed the airline name and key numbers.

6. Sweden: newspaper stops taking fossil fuel ads

Swedish daily paper Dagens ETC has stopped taking advertising for fossil-fuel based goods and services. Editor-in-chief Andreas Gustavsson said the decision was “crucial for our credibility” and urged other media outlets to follow his lead. The announcement follows the biggest mass climate protest in the world, led by 16-year-old Swedish activist Greta Thunberg.

7. UK man ‘accidentally ran over and killed wife’ on holiday

Police in Greece say they believe a British man accidentally ran over and killed his wife on the island of Skiathos after a night out. The unnamed 62-year-old man is said to have been unaware that his 58-year-old wife was lying on the ground when he drove over her as he tried to park their car outside their villa.

8. China: social media star exposed as dirty tenant

A Chinese social media star who posts about her glamorous life to 1.1 million followers has been publicly shamed after her landlady gave media a tour of her apartment. Lisa Li’s filthy living conditions contrast with the images of travel adventure, parties and fine dining that she shares online. Her flat was littered with dog excrement and mouldy food.

9. Samuel L. Jackson to voice Amazon Alexa

Amazon has announced that users of its Alexa device will soon be able to make the virtual assistant speak in the voice of Samuel L. Jackson. Although the Hollywood actor is not the first celebrity to feature on Alexa, this is the first time that the speech of a specific person has been synthesised, rather than delivered as pre-recorded words or phrases.

10. Briefing: what the latest Brexit polls reveal

Boris Johnson has been accused of pursuing a similar line to Donald Trump in the US, with his “people vs. Parliament” rhetoric switching to “people vs. unelected judges”.

But what do the people actually want? With the outcome of Brexit hanging in the balance, here is what the latest polls reveal.

Brexit latest polls: what do UK voters want?