The government has announced plans for a "nationwide blitz" on those working illegally in the UK.

With the number of people arriving in small boats from France up by more than 50% on the same period last year, the issue is "seen by ministers as an area of political vulnerability", said The Guardian.

How many people are we talking about?
Calculating the average number of people living illegally in the UK is challenging – the Home Office does not publish official estimates – but modelling by the Pew Research Center puts the number between 800,000 and 1.2 million.

In the last year, 7,130 people were arrested on suspicion of working illegally, according to the Home Office, an increase of 50% on the previous year. The best guess, therefore, is that the UK's illicit workforce is in the hundreds of thousands.

How do they get work?
Migrants awaiting asylum cannot work for a year, and even then only in a few specific sectors experiencing staffing shortages. All employers have to check their workers' documents and can be fined up to £60,000 if found to have employed someone illegally.

But Britain also has a much larger informal labour market than many other European countries. Rights to work checks only apply to employees, not for the self-employed or agency workers in the gig economy, which has experienced rapid growth in recent years.

There are reports that asylum seekers "can rent legitimate delivery-driver accounts within hours of arriving in the country", said Sky News.
Sectors that rely on subcontracting and agency workers, like construction, care work and hospitality, are also believed to employ a large number of illegal workers.

What's being done?
The Home Office has said its crackdown will be a "major operation" focused on the gig economy, particularly on delivery riders. Uber Eats, Deliveroo and Just Eat have said they will increase the use of facial verification checks.

Labour is also exploring the idea of introducing digital ID cards as a means of cracking down on illegal immigration. Britain and Ireland are the only European countries without an ID card system; "critics argue" that that "has made it attractive to migrants", said The Times.

"Superman is back," said Jonathan Dean in The Times, "and has this divided, destructive world ever needed him more?"

Joe Shuster and Jerry Siegel's cape-wearing hero made his first appearance in an early comic book in the 1930s. Now, James Gunn has directed the first film in the rebooted franchise, and a Superman movie has "rarely felt more timely".

'The immigrant experience'
Some fans will enjoy the "huge fights" and cast of characters, but it's hard to ignore the political context. The movie is being released during a summer of protests in America over Donald Trump's intensified immigration raids; that's "jolting", given Superman's refugee roots.

"Superman is the story of America," Gunn told the newspaper. "An immigrant that came from other places and populated the country, but for me it is mostly a story that says basic human kindness is a value and is something we have lost."

The director's comments "predictably" led some right-wing commentators to "fly into a rage", said Justin Baragona in The Independent, with some even calling for a boycott. "What James Gunn said isn't controversial," said Screen Rant. From his debut to his latest adventures, Clark Kent's story has "unquestionably been that of the immigrant experience" and it is "woven into his DNA".

The first "Superman" comic book strips from 1938, written by Siegel and illustrated by Shuster, both second-generation Jewish immigrants living in New York, were far more "rowdy and rebellious" than the character we know today, said the BBC.

'Superhero fatigue'
Forget "green crystals" and "mad alien generals", said Robbie Collin in The Telegraph. Superman's "deadliest enemy" these days is "superhero fatigue" – and this "snappily vivacious reboot is Hollywood's best hope of defeating it".

Sadly that hope is extinguished by a film that is "occupying the heartsinking Venn diagram overlap between franchise exhaustion and AI soullessness", said Peter Bradshaw in The Guardian.

The conflict between the fictional nations of Boravia and Jarhanpur is a "clangingly on-the-nose representation of current events", said Sophie Butcher in Empire. There is one "saving grace", though: "Krypto, the cheeky, cape-wearing canine sidekick. 'Superman' may not be a great movie, but one thing's for sure: Krypto is a very good dog."

Wiltshire: Cutteridge House, North Bradley
This charming Grade II Cotswold-stone house dates back to the 1700s, is within easy distance of Bath and is set in more than 4 acres. 5 beds, 2 baths, kitchen/ dining room, 2 receps, 2-bed self-contained cottage, stables, paddock, garden, outbuildings, garage. Fox Grant

East Sussex: Swiftsden House, Etchingham
An imposing Arts and Crafts house perched on top of a hill, and surrounded by 29.6 acres of landscaped gardens. 8 beds, 6 baths, kitchen/ breakfast room, 5 receps, orangery, annexe, garden, outbuildings, garage. Blue Book

Scottish Borders: Flat A, Broughton Place, Broughton
An elegant apartment in a Scottish baronial-inspired tower house built in 1938. 3 beds (1 en suite) 2 baths, kitchen/dining room, 2 receps. Rettie

Devon: Wykeleigh, Wyke
Handsome Edwardian house overlooking the East Devon National Landscape AONB, and set in more than 37 acres. 5 beds, 4 baths, kitchen, 3 receps, playroom, garden, shepherd's hut, outbuildings, garage. Symonds & Sampson

South Lanarkshire: Edmonston House, Biggar
A characterful 19th-century B-listed property with plenty of period features, set in approx. 27 acres of gardens. 7 beds, 3 baths, kitchen, 4 receps, 3-bed lodge, garden, outbuildings, garage. Rettie

Russia is digging in for the long haul in Ukraine
Sylvie Kauffmann in the Financial Times
"Unmoved" by US pressure, "Moscow has launched its largest drone attack on Ukraine", writes Sylvie Kauffmann. Vladimir Putin "is determined" to "subjugate" Kyiv. He believes "his battlefield superiority is growing" and "to him, not winning this war is unthinkable. He has built his country's economy and his own legitimacy around it." But "defeat cannot be an option" for Ukraine or its European allies either, so, "one way or another, this will be a long war".

I love dogs – but there is no place for them in restaurants
Simon Kelner in The i Paper
Tennis legend Martina Navratilova wants dogs allowed in restaurants, writes Simon Kelner, but "a restaurant is for people, not dogs". Expecting a dog to "sit patiently while we eat steak is simply not feasible". Navratilova argues that "her dog is small" and "not likely to cause a disturbance", but "how can restaurants employ size criteria?" Besides, "dog owners should respect" those "who find a dog's presence while dining off-putting".

Why are so many English people pretending to be Irish?
Michael Henderson in The Spectator
"Many English people are suddenly keen to present an ersatz Irishness to the world, as a form of civic virtue," writes Michael Henderson. At London gigs by Kneecap and Fontaines D.C., "sizeable numbers of English fans" waved Irish tricolours. "What kind of culture" do they think they're claiming? Irish people "may be jolly" or "petty"; "they may be open-minded or they may be bigots" – "they're much like people anywhere else in the world".