The UK, Gibraltar and the EU are set to end “almost a decade of uncertainty for the British overseas territory since the Brexit referendum”, said The Standard. A draft treaty drawn up by the three governments aims to “protect British sovereignty, UK military autonomy and secure Gibraltar’s economic future”. Madrid will hope, however, that this deal drags the territory further towards Spanish control.

What is in the treaty?
Under the new rules, the UK will allow Spanish border guards to check passports for those entering the territory by air or sea. This means people will present their passport to both British and Spanish authorities in “dual border control checks” similar to those seen at Eurostar terminals at London’s St Pancras.

In effect, this “shifts the EU’s external border from between Spain and Gibraltar to the Rock’s points of arrival”, said The Times. Gibraltar will not become part of the EU, but residents will be able to pass into Spain freely, and vice versa.

As a result, “the Rock effectively becomes part of the EU’s Schengen zone of passport-free movement”, said The Telegraph. In terms of customs, Gibraltar must now “align with EU single market rules” and be “subject to the jurisdiction of the European Court of Justice”. This means that “cigarettes and alcohol will no longer be as cheap on the Rock”.

Crucially, the draft agreement does not affect the sovereignty of the territory. It declares that the UK will “never enter into arrangements” where sovereignty would pass to another state against the “freely and democratically expressed wishes” of the Gibraltarian people.

Why is this happening now?
Spain was due to apply the EU’s new automated “Entry/Exit” border system, including biometric checks, to Gibraltar from April, said the BBC. Without the draft treaty agreement, this would devastate Gibraltar’s economy, lead to long entry queues and cost hundreds of millions a year to British taxpayers, UK officials said.

What has the reaction been?
British and Spanish diplomats hope “the treaty will improve bilateral relations”, said The Standard. However, Spain still wants to “strengthen” its “legal claim on the Rock, leading the way for Madrid to wield greater influence over the territory”.

Doomscrolling could itself be doomed if European Union regulators have their way. The European Commission ordered TikTok to disable “infinite scrolling”, the mechanism that allows users to browse content endlessly.

‘Compulsive behaviour’
In the preliminary findings of an ongoing investigation into the social media platform, the commission has declared that TikTok’s compulsive design may put it in breach of the EU’s Digital Services Act.

Taking aim at the app’s “addictive” features, it said that “by constantly ‘rewarding’ users with more content, certain design features of TikTok fuel the urge to keep scrolling, and shift the brain of users into ‘autopilot mode’”. This “may lead to compulsive behaviour and reduce users’ self-control”.

If the findings are confirmed, TikTok could face a fine of up to 6% of its global annual turnover, which, based on its 2023 revenue of $23 billion, could be more than $1 billion. It could also be required to “change the basic design of its service” to comply with the law. TikTok “now has the chance to defend itself and its design before the investigation is concluded”, said The Verge.

‘Ruining your life’
Social media is “designed to keep our eyes on it – in order to make us look at advertisements”, said Robin Banerjee, the developmental psychology professor who led the research. This means “we’ve got this very, very clear pattern” of us “spending a lot of time doing stuff that doesn’t particularly bring us joy”.

The “infinite scroll” feature is “ruining your life”, said The Carolinian, because of what’s known as the “scrolling paradox”. This is when users expect a “strong dopamine surge when scrolling endlessly” and that’s what compels them to keep their phone in their hand. But they “simultaneously report feeling increasingly stressed and anxious” by their “inability to stop scrolling”.

But is infinite scrolling a bad thing for everyone? For the “socially anxious”, it “may be a blessing in disguise”, said The New York Times. After all, it’s “no longer considered rude to avert your gaze and stare down mutely at a glowing screen in public”.

A worker wipes graffiti from the statue of Winston Churchill in Parliament Square, central London. A 38-year-old man was arrested this morning on suspicion of racially aggravated criminal damage, after the former prime minister’s effigy was found sprayed with slogans such as “Zionist war criminal”. 

Brook Mitchell / AFP / Getty Images

London: Thornhill Road, Islington N1
This charming building with a Victorian shopfront has been converted by architects into a house with a private roof terrace. 2 beds, 2 baths, kitchen/dining room, recep, study. £1.95 million; Savills.

Devon: The Oyster House, Newton Ferrers
A handsome property with fine rooftop views. 4 beds, 3 baths, open-plan kitchen and living area, study, workshop, garage. £1.25 million; Luscombe Maye.

London: Hilary Mews, London Bridge SE1
Modern townhouse with a private roof terrace that offers far-reaching views over the City of London skyline. The property is in an exceptional location close to Borough Market and the South Bank. 3 beds, 2 baths, kitchen, recep, study. £1.7 million; Dexters.

Cumbria: Linethwaite Hall, St Bees
Commanding country house dating back to 1720, with the benefit of a paved rooftop garden. 6 beds, 3 baths, kitchen/dining room, 3 receps, 2-bed self-contained wing, garden, parking. £1.2 million; Finest Properties.

Perthshire: The Control Tower, Clathymore
This converted Second World War control tower is set in 1.5 acres. 4 beds, 4 baths, open-plan kitchen and living room, recep, sun room, garden, gym, garage, outbuilding. OIEO £1.65 million; Savills.

Gisèle Pelicot shows no victim is safe from being shamed
Rachel Cunliffe in The New Statesman
The “harrowing details” of Gisèle Pelicot’s case spared her the usual “interrogations designed to chip away at a victim’s credibility”, writes Rachel Cunliffe. Most rape victims “are not granted such grace”. Many are presented as “delinquents” who “should have known what they were getting themselves into”. Even Pelicot’s abusers claimed it couldn’t be rape because “they had not been violent”. It seems there is no victim blameless enough to “deflect the impulse to paint shame upon them”.

The defective assisted dying bill deserved to be put out of its misery
The Times editorial board
It’s no surprise that parliamentary “time has now run out” for the assisted dying bill, says The Times. It “was, by wide consent, very poorly drafted”. The bill’s “oddly tone-deaf” supporters didn’t help, with their “attempts to paint all opponents as religious dogmatists”. The House of Lords has “performed its role in exemplary fashion, arguing that the foundational text of the most consequential change in the country’s law in a generation must be precise in every last detail”.

Good maternity care needs good science – but there’s more research on marathon running than on giving birth
Anastasia Topalidou on The Conversation
Recent maternity-care scandals have sparked debate about “staffing levels, organisational culture and accountability”, but “there is another, less visible issue”, writes perinatal biomechanics expert Anastasia Topalidou. We still don’t “fully measure or understand” the intense “physical forces” that affect mothers and babies during childbirth. The biomechanics of marathon running have been “analysed extensively”, yet those of active labour have not. “Birth is one of the most significant physical events in human life” and it should be studied with “scientific rigour”.