Ten Things You Need to Know Today: 16 June 2023

Jump to category:

1. ‘End of the road’ for Johnson
2. Cancer blood test next year
3. Nato warns Putin on nuclear talk
4. Spotify drop Harry and Meghan
5. ‘Fixers’ offer housing queue jump
6. Grieving parents criticise Israeli army
7. Ministers lacked energy ‘bandwidth’
8. McGregor denies sexual assault allegation
9. Tributes paid to Glenda Jackson
10. Climate activists disrupt opera

published 16 June 2023

1. ‘End of the road’ for Johnson

Allies of Rishi Sunak have said it is the “end of the road” for Boris Johnson after a report found that he deliberately misled the Commons and aided a campaign to abuse and intimidate MPs who investigated him. The former PM is “yesterday’s game now”, an ally of Sunak told The Times. However, Johnson’s allies have threatened to oust Tory MPs who endorsed the Partygate report’s findings. The episode “threatens to further tear apart the Conservative party”, said The Guardian.

A blood test that could spot 50 cancers early is set to be rolled out to a million people on the NHS from 2024. The unprecedented trial of blood tests could find 5,000 potential cases a year and experts hope it will “transform cancer care forever”. The blood tests could one day be carried out by people in their own homes, a researcher told a conference of health service leaders in Manchester. The Galleri test, devised by the American company Grail, is being tested in 142,000 people without symptoms across England.

Subscribe to The Week

Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE

https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/flexiimages/jacafc5zvs1692883516.jpg

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.

Nato’s secretary general has accused Moscow of “reckless and dangerous” nuclear rhetoric after Vladimir Putin warned that the conflict in Ukraine could escalate into a third world war. “Russia must know that a nuclear war can never be won and must never be fought,” said Jens Stoltenberg, as defence ministers from the West gathered in Brussels. The Russian president had warned on Tuesday that continued supplies of western weapons to Ukraine risked triggering a nuclear conflict with the United States.

Spotify has ended its podcast deal with the Duke and Duchess of Sussex. A joint statement from Harry and Meghan’s company and the streaming giant said they had “mutually agreed to part ways”. The contract was estimated to be worth $25m (£19.5m), but sources told The Wall Street Journal that the royal couple did not meet the productivity benchmark required to receive the full payout. “Struggling” Spotify announced this month it will cut 200 jobs, said the New York Post.

Vulnerable women on housing waiting lists told The Mirror that they have been approached by “fixers” promising help to jump the queue in return for payments of up to £5,000. The tabloid spoke to a number of women from the Somali community in Tower Hamlets, London. A mother-of-five, who has been in temporary accommodation for 12 years, said she was asked to make a payment of £5,000 to a Tower Hamlets official at the housing advice service.

The mother and father of a Palestinian toddler killed by an Israeli soldier have told the BBC that the military’s investigation into his death “makes a mockery of our son’s blood”. Two-year-old Mohammed Tamimi was shot in the head in the occupied West Bank on 1 June. The Israeli military said the soldier was confused by another soldier firing in the air in violation of regulations. However, Haitham Tamimi said the family believes the statement “belittles the scale of the soldiers’ crime and confirms that there is no force that deters them from killing us”.

The Public Accounts Committee has found that millions of people were left waiting too long for energy support due to a lack of government “bandwidth”. The cross-party committee’s report revealed that more than a million households became eligible for support too late, while a further two million households using prepayment meters have yet to redeem their £400 voucher. It also found that there are “serious concerns” over the government’s “lack of urgency” in addressing the energy market failures that are leading to high energy bills for families.

UFC fighter Conor McGregor has denied the allegation that he sexually assaulted a woman after an NBA Finals basketball game in Miami earlier this month. A legal letter outlining the allegations, sent to McGregor, states the alleged assault took place in a bathroom at Kaseya Center. The Irishman’s lawyer said: “The allegations are false. Mr McGregor will not be intimidated.” A series of “arrests (and near-arrests)” have “shadowed the 34-year-old’s athletic career”, said Yahoo News.

Tributes have been paid to Glenda Jackson, the Oscar-winning actress and former Labour MP, who has died at the age of 87 following a brief illness. Diane Abbott described Jackson as a “kind and extremely principled woman”. The Guardian said that Jackson was “fierce, sensual, cerebral” and “brought class to cinema”, the BBC said she was “unafraid to speak her mind” and The Telegraph said that “no one could match” her “steely brilliance”.

Activists from Just Stop Oil halted an opera performance at Glyndebourne by setting off a confetti bomb and blowing an air horn. An hour into the performance of “Dialogues des carmélites” at the opera house in East Sussex the three campaigners leapt from their seats and began shouting. Audience members “booed” and shouted “disgraceful!”, The Telegraph reported. The protesters were removed from the auditorium and the performance resumed around 20 minutes later, with no arrests made. The venue “prides itself on its environmental credentials”, the paper added.

Explore More