“Boxing Day tragedy” writes the Daily Mirror as it reports on the cancer death of Sir Keir Starmer’s brother, Nick, at the age of 60. It quotes the prime minister paying tribute: “Nick was wonderful. He met life’s challenges with courage and good humour.”
The Daily Telegraph leads with Nigel Farage telling the paper that tech billionaire will help Reform UK beat the Conservatives. He tells the broadsheet Mr Musk has been a “huge help” connecting young people with his party and says the Tesla chief executive will donate a “reasonable-sized” amount to Reform. The paper’s main picture if of fitness guruJoe Wicks who tells the paper he is interested in working with the government one day. And to complete a political hat-trick, the paper’s secondary story claims local councils will be given powers to issue fines for climbing trees in parks.
The Times reports million of homeowners will be given grants and cheap loans to convert their properties to solar power as part of the government’s attempt to hit its 2030 clean energy pledge. However, the scheme still needs to be approved by the Treasury, the paper writes. The paper’s main front page picture is of TV presenter and property developer Sarah Beeny who tells the paper about her recovery from cancer.
“Water firms fined just £2 by watchdog despite record sewage levels” headlines the i Weekend. The paper reports water companies in England have only been fined the amount by regulator Ofwat since 2021 for breaching regulations. Campaigners told the paper the fine was “pathetic”.
With a lack of political action to chew on from Westminster, the Daily Mail leads with fresh criticism of a previously-announced rise in air passenger duty because, the paper reasons, many of its readers will be booking their summer holidays in the next couple of weeks. The paper has done its sums on what it calls the “highest ever tax rates” on flights and says a family of four will be taxed £408 to fly to Disney World in Florida – a 16% increase on the current rate. The boss of Airlines UK says the tax “will hit working people in the pocket”.
The Guardian leads with more than 1.5 million children studying in dilapidated school buildings, according to an investigation by the newspaper. The paper says one school in Cumbria had to be evacuated because inspectors found the floor could collapse at any moment. The papers also pictures Gavin and Stacey’s Ruth Jones as it writes she will perform as Nessa Jenkins one last time during the New Year’s Day shipping forecast on BBC Radio 4.
The main image on FT Weekend is an artist’s visualisation of the Parker Solar Probe spacecraft flying into the Sun’s outer atmosphere. Scientists hope the data from probe will help them understand why the sun’s outer atmosphere is hundreds of times hotter than its surface and what drives solar winds, the broadsheet reports. Elsewhere on the front page, the paper claims London is heading into the worst downturn in affordable housing supply for decades as costs hit the finances of housing associations.
The Daily Express reports on Cancer Research calling 2024 the “year of the cancer vaccine” due to more products and projects than ever receiving funding – meaning vaccines for the disease were “going though a renaissance”. Elsewhere, actress and presenter Emilia Fox says she was excited to turn 50 this summer.
The Sun reports Manchester United co-owner Sir Jim Ratcliffe has axed funding for a charity helping former players. The paper says the club previously gave £40,000 a year to the charity and it now fears it will fold without the club’s contributions. The front page also finds room for a picture of actress Zendaya in a glamourous flesh-coloured gown as the paper answers why 2024 was the year of “nude” celeb dresses.
The Daily Star pictures Diana, Princess of Wales and her former butler Paul Burrell as it reports how he claims the spirit of the late royal guided him to meet his husband-to-be on a train.
