England’s possible date with destiny in their 11am World Cup final clash with Spain on Sunday leads many front pages. Under the headline “Lioness we can”, the Sunday Mirror reports that the team have said they must play the “game of our lives” to emerge victorious Down Under.
The Sunday People picks up on those words for its front page headline. Featuring an image of the team’s stars celebrating a goal in their semi-final win over hosts Australia earlier this week, the paper reports that England’s talismanic captain and centre back Millie Bright has urged the team to “glory”.
The Mail on Sunday calls for England to “roar to victory” against Spain “by order of the King”. The paper reports King Charles has urged the team on and wished them luck, while noting that Prince William – who is also president of the FA – has apologised for not being able to make it to Sydney to watch the match in person.
England fans will be “celebrating a historic victory or drowning our sorrows” by lunchtime tomorrow, the Daily Star predicts. Noting the morning kick-off time, the paper says the final is an “excuse for an early drink” and the “Lionesses have brought joy to the nation” – regardless of the result.
The Sunday Times has produced a special wraparound in tribute to Lionesses with three simple words “Bring it home” – but paper’s lead focuses on the continuing fallout from nurse Lucy Letby’s conviction for murdering seven babies in her care. The paper reports that the killer was offered a role at a specialist children’s hospital in Liverpool, after managers in Chester dismissed warnings about her as a “witch-hunt”.
A medical expert who gave evidence at Letby’s trial has urged police to investigate “grossly negligent” hospital bosses who failed to acts on warnings, the Observer reports. The paper also reveals managers blamed other NHS services for some unexplained baby deaths, producing a report in May 2016 that said there was “no evidence whatsoever” of wrongdoing beyond coincidence.
The Sunday Telegraph reports that senior doctors are calling for NHS administrators to be held accountable to a regulator similar to the General Medial Council, which can prevent doctors who have harmed patients from ever practicing medicine again. The families of some infant victims have accused the government inquiry of being “inadequate”, as it does not have powers to compel people to give evidence, the paper also says.
Meanwhile, the Sunday Express leads with accusations that the EU is dragging out the migrant crisis as “punishment” for Brexit. Former UK border force chief Tony Smith said EU chiefs are hypocrites for refusing to discuss a deal to take back people who cross the English Channel in small boats, which he says could save lives and make people-smuggling more difficult for criminals running the cross-Channel operations.
