Ten Things You Need to Know Today: 28 May 2023
The Week’s daily digest of the news agenda, published at 8am
- 1. Ministers battle Covid inquiry
- 2. Russia bombards Kyiv
- 3. Starmer North Sea pledge
- 4. Sunak plans supermarket cap
- 5. Erdoğan tipped for poll win
- 6. Willoughby says Schofield lied
- 7. Tory claimed back driving fine
- 8. Man opened jet door during landing
- 9. Hottest day in Yorkshire
- 10. Charles turns down pool heat
A free daily digest of the biggest news stories of the day - and the best features from our website
Thank you for signing up to TheWeek. You will receive a verification email shortly.
There was a problem. Please refresh the page and try again.
1. Ministers battle Covid inquiry
Ministers may take the “extraordinary step” of launching legal action against the Covid inquiry, in their battle to keep secret a “slew of sensitive messages” from senior figures including Boris Johnson and Rishi Sunak, said The Observer. Just 48 hours remain before the deadline to hand over unredacted messages and notes between Johnson and his ministers, and the government is “standing firm in its refusal to divulge the material”, said the paper. Heather Hallett, the chair of the inquiry, has warned that a failure to comply with her order would amount to a criminal offence.
2. Russia bombards Kyiv
Russia has carried out a massive overnight drone attack on Ukraine’s capital Kyiv, killing at least one person, said the city’s mayor. Vitaliy Klitschko said a man died when drone wreckage fell near a petrol station. Ukraine’s Air Force said that Moscow had launched a record 54 so-called kamikaze drones on Ukrainian targets. Meanwhile, a Ukrainian presidential adviser has said that preliminary operations have begun to pave the way for a counteroffensive against Russian forces.
3. Starmer North Sea pledge
Sir Keir Starmer will promise to block all new North Sea oil and gas developments and limit borrowing to green investment only, reported The Sunday Times. The Labour leader is expected to set out a net zero energy policy, including a pledge to ban all new North Sea oil and gas licences, as part of a radical blueprint to make Britain a “clean energy superpower”. The “seismic shift in decades of UK energy policy”, will be “one of Starmer’s five key pledges to the electorate”, said the paper.
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
4. Sunak plans supermarket cap
Downing Street is planning to suggest voluntary price caps on basic food items such as bread and milk. The prime minister’s team has started work on a deal with supermarkets, similar to an agreement in France, in which the country’s major retailers charge the “lowest possible amount” for some essential food products. The move would amount to “the biggest attempt to manage supermarket prices since controls established by Edward Heath in 1973”, said the Sunday Telegraph.
5. Erdoğan tipped for poll win
Turks are voting in a “momentous” presidential run-off to decide whether or not Recep Tayyip Erdoğan should remain in power after 20 years, said the BBC. Erdoğan’s challenger, Kemal Kilicdaroglu, is backed by a broad opposition alliance but the president is favourite to win after he narrowly missed a chance to take the first round when he attracted more than 49% of the vote. The opposition “sees it as the last chance to defeat Erdoğan”, who has “dominated the political landscape as prime minister and the president for years”, said Daily Sabah.
6. Willoughby says Schofield lied
Holly Willoughby has claimed her co-host Phillip Schofield lied to her over his affair with a young employee. “When reports of this relationship first surfaced, I asked Phil directly if this was true and was told it was not. It’s been very hurtful to now find out that this was a lie,” she claimed on Instagram. However, former colleagues told The Telegraph the relationship was an “open secret” on set. Meanwhile, the Mail on Sunday says Schofield first met the young man when he was 15 years old.
7. Tory claimed back driving fine
A Tory minister claimed back a £80 fine issued to her while she was driving in London in July 2020, listing it under “MP travel expenses”. Amanda Solloway, who served under Suella Braverman at the Home Office, is among several high-profile MPs to have wrongly claimed hundreds of pounds in driving fines on expenses, The Independent reported. Tory MP and select committee chair Simon Hoare, and former Tory vice-chair Bim Afolami, also got taxpayers to cough up for their penalties.
8. Man opened jet door during landing
A man who opened the emergency door of an Asiana Airlines plane just before landing told police that he felt suffocated and wanted to get off the plane quickly. The door of the jet opened as it was coming in to land in Daegu, South Korea, on Friday, “leaving wind whipping through the plane’s cabin as terrified passengers gripped their armrests”, said CNN. Anyone breaking the Aviation Security Act could be prosecuted and sentenced to up to 10 years in prison, said South Korea’s Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport.
9. Hottest day in Yorkshire
The bank holiday weekend kicked off with the hottest day of the year so far, with temperatures reaching 24.3C (75.7F) in Bramham, West Yorkshire, yesterday, ahead of the previous record of 23.4C, which was set on May 22 in Cardiff. The weather is expected to be “more muted” today and tomorrow due to a northern wind sweeping the country, providing a “flush of fresh air”, said forecasters. But “there could be even warmer weather ahead,” said the Sunday Mirror.
10. Charles turns down pool heat
King Charles has turned down the thermostat in the swimming pool at Buckingham Palace, said The Sunday Times. It is understood that the monarch is keen to continue reducing the royal household’s energy use. “A few people using the pool have noticed that the temperature of the water has dropped, and it is quite a bit cooler than it used to be,” said a source. “They have been told the King has had the heating turned down.”
Continue reading for free
We hope you're enjoying The Week's refreshingly open-minded journalism.
Subscribed to The Week? Register your account with the same email as your subscription.
Sign up to our 10 Things You Need to Know Today newsletter
A free daily digest of the biggest news stories of the day - and the best features from our website
-
Should you fire your financial adviser? 4 signs it's time to say goodbye.
The Explainer Breakups are never fun, but you have to protect your wallet
By Becca Stanek Published
-
The daily gossip: Man arrested in connection with shooting of Tupac Shakur, an OceanGate movie is in the works, and more
Feature The daily gossip: September 29, 2023
By Brendan Morrow Published
-
What to expect from an El Niño winter
The Explainer Things might be different thanks to this well-known weather phenomenon
By Devika Rao Published
-
10 things you need to know today: September 29, 2023
Daily Briefing House committee starts Biden impeachment inquiry, court rejects Trump's request to delay civil fraud trial, and more
By Harold Maass Published
-
Ten Things You Need to Know Today: 29 September 2023
The Week’s daily digest of the news agenda, published at 8am
By The Week Staff Published
-
10 things you need to know today: September 28, 2023
Daily Briefing Republican rivals clash as absent Trump tries to upstage debate, the Senate approves a formal dress code, and more
By Harold Maass Published
-
10 things you need to know today: September 27, 2023
Daily Briefing A New York judge rules Trump defrauded banks, Biden visits auto workers on picket line, and more
By Harold Maass Published
-
10 things you need to know today: September 26, 2023
Daily Briefing Congress returns to work with shutdown looming, Ukraine says it killed Russia's Black Sea Fleet commander, and more
By Harold Maass Published
-
10 things you need to know today: September 25, 2023
Daily Briefing GOP leaders pressure far-right holdouts to help prevent a shutdown, Hollywood writers reach tentative deal to end strike, and more
By Harold Maass Published
-