A couple of Monday’s papers lead with Rishi Sunak’s action on university degrees. The Daily Telegraph has an interview with the prime minister, who says the policy should say to young people that “there are good alternatives to university”. The paper’s front page also has a story about the heatwave in southern Europe, saying it is likely to “push temperatures to record levels and trigger warnings” for families planning to travel during the school holidays.
Mr Sunak’s university degree plans also lead the Daily Mail, with the paper saying the “PM vows to curb ‘rip-off’ degrees”. Education Secretary Gillian Keegan says “there are too many universities offering poor courses that don’t help people get well-paid jobs or offer skills that are needed in the real world”. It also has a picture of new Wimbledon champion Carlos Alcaraz, next to the caption “all hail tennis’s new King Carlos!”
“Southern Europe is bracing for a second heat storm in a week”, reports Monday’s Guardian. Its lead story says temperature records could be broken on Tuesday, and quotes the European Space Agency as saying the coming week could bring “the hottest temperatures ever recorded in Europe” in a heatwave “named Charon after the Greek mythological boatman who ferries souls to the underworld”.
The front page of the i newspaper focuses on Labour leader Keir Starmer saying he does not plan to scrap the two-child benefit limit, a line which emerged in his Sunday media round. It reports he faces “anger in his party after ruling out change to controversial Tory policy”. Also featured prominently at the top of the page is new Wimbledon men’s champion Carlos Alcaraz.
The Times reports homeowners across the country are “living on ‘negative budgets’, where their income is no longer meeting their basic costs” because of high interest rates. The story is based on comments from Citizens Advice, the UK’s largest debt support charity.
An interesting health story leads the Mirror, with it reporting that drug trial results “could herald the beginning of the end of Alzheimer’s disease”. It says the new treatment could reduce patients’ mental decline significantly. Separately, The Mirror is among the many papers paying tribute to actress and singer Jane Birkin.
The Financial Times leads with a story about Microsoft’s slated $75bn (£57.3bn) purchase of Activision Blizzard, something which has involved a long-running battle with Sony over the Call of Duty video game title. It reports Microsoft has made regulatory breakthroughs in the deal, and is “on the brink of clinching victory”.
The Metro leads on the perpetual issue of water pollution, reporting that “raw sewage has been pumped onto dozens of beaches” with schools set to break up for the holidays this week. It says torrential rain means 33 beaches in the south-west of England are “under sewage pollution alert”.
The Daily Express carries an exclusive drawn from information it received in a freedom of information request. It reports “sex predators assaulted more than 160 people on police premises but hardly anyone was charged”. The figures cover 10 forces over almost four years.
And finally, following on from its story about “scumbag robots” in its Sunday edition, the Daily Star tells its readers that “boffins” believe “flying scumbags”, as the paper refers to seagulls, “are not the enemy”. It encourages its readers to “make peace with the winged pests”.
The government’s plan to crackdown on low-quality university courses is given a push by two high-profile opinion pieces.
Writing in the Daily Mail, the Education Secretary, Gillian Keegan, acknowledges the “significant financial investment” needed to study at university – before warning “it’s not fair if students are saddled with a degree that’s not worth the paper it’s written on.”
Outlining his case in the Daily Telegraph, Rishi Sunak argues that some young people are being “ripped off” because they’re dissuaded from pursuing more vocational options, and are led to believe that university is the “only route to success”. The Mail gives its backing to the plan, saying it will “begin to correct a cruel deception which has gone on for far too long.”
The Times highlights concern about the effects of rising interest rates, expressed by the UK’s largest debt support charity. Citizens Advice says it is now unable to help almost half the 40,000 people who come to it for debt advice every month, as they have already cut back their spending to the bare essentials.
The charity also warns that the number of people it is seeing who can no longer afford the property they live in has almost doubled in a year.
The Financial Times says new research by the Resolution Foundation think-tank has indicated that soaring interest rates have driven the biggest fall in household wealth since the end of World War Two.
The Daily Mirror is excited by drug trial results set to be revealed on Monday afternoon, suggesting they “could herald the beginning of the end of Alzheimer’s disease”.
The BBC has previously reported a claim by the manufacturer that the drug, Donanemab, could slow patients’ mental decline by a third. The Mirror’s leader column welcomes what it calls the “potentially ground-breaking” medical advance – arguing it’s “frustrating” that effective treatment for dementia has been lacking for years, when Covid vaccines were invented, developed, produced and delivered in months.
With the headline “Sex Predators Stalking Britain’s Police Stations”, The Daily Express says freedom of information requests have revealed more than 170 allegations of sexual assaults committed on police premises between 2019 and 2022. “What makes this doubly repugnant”, says the paper, “is that so few of these incidents have resulted in charges”.
It warns that a civilised society “is in grave danger when you can no longer trust those tasked with enforcing the law”.
Photographs of Carlos Alcaraz feature on many front pages, after the 20-year-old Spaniard defeated defending champion Novak Djokovic to win the men’s singles title at Wimbledon.
The Guardian describes the final as a “five-set thriller, watched by a deafening Centre Court crowd who could hardly contain their joy at bearing witness to this match for the ages”.
The Sun notes that Prince George and Princess Charlotte were among those to enjoy the “gobsmacking” match, but their younger brother was absent. According to his mother, the Princess of Wales, Prince Louis was “very upset” to miss out, after he practised being a ballboy at home.
