A number of Thursday’s papers lead with the build-up to the Coronation on Saturday. The Metro says that a “ring of steel” will be thrown around the King for the event and that security is being reviewed after items believed to be shotgun cartridges were thrown into the grounds of Buckingham Palace.
The Daily Mail says more than 11,500 officers will be deployed to help police the day and that facial recognition technology will be used for the first time at such an event to try to identify terror suspects and wanted criminals.
“King protest warning”, reads the headline in the Daily Mirror. The paper reports that senior police officers have said there will be an “extremely low threshold for criminal behaviour camouflaged as protest” at the Coronation and that “very swift action” will be taken against anyone causing disruption.
The i leads with what it calls a UK plan for the King to “help lead a Brexit detox with Europe”. It says the government is keen to show Britain can still work with EU countries and that it is hoped the King can play a part following the success of his visit to Germany in March. A friend of the King tells the paper he is “above politics” but will do “what is best for the country”.
The head of the London Stock Exchange has said executives at UK companies should be paid more if the country wants to retain talent and stop firms from moving overseas, according to the Financial Times. The paper quotes Julia Hoggett saying the UK needs to encourage companies to “compete for talent on a global basis” or watch as “our biggest exports become skills, talent, tax revenue, and the companies that generate it”.
A study by Durham and Cambridge universities has found that some of the UK’s most elite private schools benefited from the slave trade through donations and endowments worth tens of millions of pounds in today’s money, according to the Guardian. The paper says there are 29 schools still operating that have documented links to donations deriving from the slave trade going back to the 18th and 19th centuries. It quotes Sol Gamsu, lead author on the paper, saying the research exposes the “inequality and violence it [the private school system] has been implicated in internationally”.
The Daily Express reports that a new medication has been found to slow the progression of Alzheimer’s by more than a third in patients who showed early symptoms. The paper says the finding provides “real hope” in the battle against the disease and quotes Dr Susan Kohlhaas, director of research at Alzheimer’s Research UK, calling it a “hugely significant moment”.
Singer Taylor Swift has a “new Brit love”, according to the Sun. The paper says that, following her split from actor Joe Alwyn, Swift is dating Matty Healy, frontman of pop rock group The 1975. It adds that the pair are “ready to go public with their romance”.
And the Daily Star says scientists fear artificial intelligence could trick humans into following invented cults and religions and even launch a nuclear war. “Terrific,” the paper says.
