WeekDay AM: 10 Things you need to know this morning
Macron's state visit, adult ADHD referrals, and a row at the National Gallery

 
today's MIGRATION story

Starmer to urge 'one in, one out' migrant deal with France

What happened
Keir Starmer will use Emmanuel Macron's three-day state visit to the UK to push for a migrant deal that would allow Britain to return small boat migrants in exchange for accepting asylum seekers with a family connection here.

The prime minister wants a "one in, one out" arrangement to be the "centrepiece" of an agreement that the two leaders will sign at an Anglo-French summit on Thursday, said The Times.

Who said what
A Border Force source warned that "rushing" to announce the arrangement before it could be applied would trigger a "surge" in crossings over the summer and smugglers advertising discounted prices ahead of the launch of the new system.

The worries are shared by French border officers and the French coastguard, said the source, but a UK government official insisted that "neither the French nor us want a closing down sale".

What next?
Macron will visit Windsor Castle today, where the King will tell him that there are "no borders" between Britain and France in their shared efforts to solve "complex threats", according to The Telegraph.

At a state banquet this evening, the King will speak of the vital partnership between the two countries as "friends and allies" in the face of challenges "emanating from multiple directions".

 
 
today's HEALTH story

Charity takes action over pause in ADHD referrals

What happened
An ADHD charity is preparing to sue an NHS board after it paused referrals for adults over the age of 25.

Coventry and Warwickshire integrated care board made the change in May in a bid to reduce waiting lists for children seeking help with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder. But ADHD UK said this meant that adults would be forced to pay for a private assessment that could cost as much as £1,500.

Who said what
"It's ridiculous," said Henry Shelford, the charity's chief executive. Medication can have a "significant positive effect and you can't get it unless you have a diagnosis".

But "services were designed when ADHD was considered rare", said The Guardian, and now the health service is trying to catch up with the increasing proportion of the public who have it. Sarah Walter, from the NHS Confederation, told the paper that boards were having to make difficult choices within a "very tight financial envelope" and this "may mean prioritising certain groups".

What next?
ADHD UK is "beginning the process to mount a legal challenge under the right to choose legislation", said The Guardian, and has warned that the referral pause could set a worrying precedent for other trusts.

 
 
Today's ARTS story

National Gallery under fire over Christ painting

What happened
A former director of the National Gallery has criticised a major reorganisation of its artworks as "confused and confusing". And a London-based art dealer is also reportedly considering legal action after the gallery removed a Renaissance Italian painting from display that he had donated a decade ago.

Who said what
The new display "has, in general, been well received by critics", said The Times. But it has "descended into a vicious row within the art world".

"There are many good things that are not on display," wrote Nicholas Penny (National Gallery director from 2008 to 2015) to Angus Neill, the art donor. Neill claims that the gallery is in breach of contract by removing "Christ Carrying the Cross". It was donated on condition that it remained on permanent public display or was "readily accessible as part of its Reserve Collection", he said. The gallery has rejected Neill's claim.

What next?
The painting, said to be worth at least £3 million, will continue to be shown occasionally and is available to view by appointment, according to the gallery.

 
 

It's not all bad

A huge time capsule in a small town in Nebraska has been opened half a century after it was sealed. Dubbed the largest in the world at the time by the World Record Academy, the capsule included a bright yellow Chevy Vega car and thousands of letters, photographs and heirlooms. The treasures were packed away in 1975 by local Harold Davisson, who even built a ventilation system to protect the contents. "He was a big proponent of life," said his daughter, Trish Davisson Fisher, as the time capsule was opened with a crane. "He did everything big."

 
 
under the radar

The Swedish church suspected of spying

Swedish intelligence services believe that one of the country's Russian Orthodox churches could be a base for spying.

Almost everything about the "onion-domed" church beside Västerås Airport, about an hour from Stockholm, "seems odd", said France 24. The Church of the Holy Mother of God of Kazan is "spectacular", but there is "something unwelcoming" about its reflective, dark-tinted windows that "make it hard to glimpse inside".

To an increasingly "vocal group of critics" the church is seen as a "potential threat" to Sweden's national security due to its "sensitive location", said Politico. It's close to a strategically important airport, water treatment works, several energy companies and a major motorway linking Stockholm to Norway. Neither the Russian Embassy in Stockholm nor the church have responded to the claims.

This is not the first time that the Russian Orthodox Church has been accused of acting as the eyes and ears of the Kremlin overseas. It is emerging as a "potential conduit" for Moscow's "covert actions" abroad, said Politico. In 2022, Ukrainian security forces raided a monastery in Kyiv to disrupt the "intelligence operations" they claimed were based there. The following year Bulgaria expelled three priests employed by the Russian Orthodox Church, citing national security concerns.

Then, in April of this year, Czech intelligence services claimed that a Russian Orthodox church in a small Czech spa town was being used by Moscow's agents for "covert meetings" and "influence operations" aimed at "destabilising" the EU, said Euractiv.

Authorities in a growing number of countries are turning a "critical eye" towards the presence of the Russian Orthodox Church, said Radio Free Europe. It's suspected that rather than being an "exclusively religious, spiritual organisation", it's an "active tool" of Russian government "soft power".

 
 
on this day

8 July 1996

The Spice Girls released their debut single "Wannabe". It propelled the five members of the British pop band – dubbed Ginger, Sporty, Posh, Scary and Baby Spice – to stardom. Melanie Brown (aka Mel B) has just got married for the third time, to hairstylist Rory McPhee, with Emma "Baby Spice" Bunton among the attendees.

 
 
Today's newspapers

A "furious victim" of Jeffrey Epstein tells The Mirror they've been "silenced all over again" as the FBI wraps up its probe. Israel's plan to force Gaza's population into a camp is a "blueprint for crimes against humanity", legal experts tell The Guardian. Keir Starmer will urge Emmanuel Macron to agree a "one in, one out" migrant returns deal, says The Times.

See the newspaper front pages

 
 
tall tale

A wee bit of an issue

A GP surgery in Scotland has posted a request on social media asking people to stop sending in "inappropriate and unsolicited" urine samples. The Saltoun Surgery in Aberdeenshire said the "high volume" of unsolicited submissions was affecting its "ability to provide timely care to all patients" and that it would from now on only accept samples requested by staff members.

 
 

Morning Report was written and edited by Rebecca Messina, Chas Newkey-Burden, Hollie Clemence, Elliott Goat and Harriet Marsden, with illustrations by Julia Wytrazek.

Image credits, from top: Dan Kitwood / Getty Images; SDI Productions / Getty Images; Guy Bell / Shutterstock; Illustration by Julia Wytrazek / Getty Images.

Morning Report and Evening Review were named Newsletter of the Year at the Publisher Newsletter Awards 2025