Newspaper headlines: Win for 'hero' Rashford as 'footie drought' ends

The Manchester United striker Marcus Rashford beams out of the front pages after, in the Guardian's words, forcing the prime minister into a "humbling U-turn" on free school meals".

"Rashford has played a blinder," the paper says. It accuses Prime Minister Boris Johnson of "repeatedly [demonstrating] a tin ear on charged and emotional matters", and employing what it calls a "strange mixture of cynicism and incompetence".

Rashford has been propelled on to the news pages by what the Daily Express calls a spectacular victory for his campaign on free school meals.

He even makes the front page of the Financial Times - photographed in full flight, scoring for Manchester United.

"Rashford 1, Johnson 0," is the headline for the Times, the Independent and the i.The Metro goes with a twist on the famous 1966 World Cup final commentary: "They thought free school meals were all over, they're… NOT NOW!"

The Daily Star declares "Rashers for PM!" It adds, tongue in cheek: "If the lad could now sort out Covid, Brexit and the seagulls, that would be smashing".

The Daily Mirror combines the story with the return of the Premier League, saying both will lift the spirits of the nation. "Back of the net!" is the celebratory headline. The paper argues it's time to show Mr Johnson the red card, arguing that the episode is a "damning indictment of an out-of-touch" prime minister. "How much longer must the country endure in Downing Street a man clearly out of his depth?" it asks.

In the view of the Sun, it will have been "tough" for the prime minister to "swallow his pride and U-turn", but it was the "right thing to do".

The Spectator's deputy political editor, Katy Balls, says part of the government's reluctance to change tack on school meals was down to concerns in Downing Street about "agreeing to new policies that will become permanent".

"Ministers believe it could be hard to row back in future years," she explains, even if the measure is framed as a pandemic one-off.

Huffpost UK says Rashford's campaign "finally grabbed" Boris Johnson's "full attention on Tuesday morning, when he was shown the BBC Breakfast interview with the England star from the day before". But it says there was some "raw politics in play too", with a growing number of Tory MPs threatening to rebel.

'Wonder drug'

The main story for the Times is the discovery of the world's first coronavirus treatment proven to save lives. It says the steroid Dexamethasone is decades old and Britain has built up a supply sufficient for 200,000 patients.

The drug's low cost particularly impresses some. The Daily Express hails it as the "£5 wonder drug". For the Mail, it's the "50p-a-day pill to conquer Covid".

The Financial Times reports that Chancellor Rishi Sunak is preparing to break the Conservative party's manifesto commitment to protect state pensions because the pandemic has made it unaffordable.

According to the FT, a forecast rebound in wages when the furlough scheme ends has alarmed the Treasury, because pension payments would have to rise by the same percentage. In a joint statement, the Treasury and No 10 say that announcements on tax and pensions policy are for budgets - though they stop short of denying the story.

Tuesday's unemployment figures prompt the Mail to warn of a "tsunami" of job losses for the Covid-crippled country.

It's worried the public have been lulled by furlough and the sun, and says it's time for the prime minister to - in a memorable phrase - "shake us out of this morbid funk".

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The Politico website says Mr Johnson has given his "strongest hint yet" that he will do what the Mail wants and scrap the social distancing rule to remain two metres away from others.

The Telegraph's cartoon, called "Britain Still Isn't Working", recalls a famous Tory election poster, but with a long queue snaking outside a shop rather than a job centre.

Farewell, DFID

The Sun welcomes the merger of the Department for International Development with the Foreign Office. It argues that aid money will now be spent "where it counts" - not on what it calls "overseas vanity projects with no possible benefit for Brits".

"Good riddance to the department for blank cheques," is the headline in the Telegraph's comment pages. Taking the opposing view, the Independent worries that the merger heralds a "return to the shady era of 'aid for trade'". The New Statesman thinks the reorganisation has been "well-orchestrated" but it says the UK will now be "more likely" to support foreign governments "regardless of their human-rights record".

The Telegraph reveals private schools are preparing to disregard government guidance and open in September "come what may". It says that some are setting up their own track and trace systems, which they aim to have up and running for the new academic year. The Telegraph quotes one private school governor who says heads are "furious" with ministers for "dithering", adding that schools "could have legally and safely opened this term".

'They're off'

The crowd may have been missing from Royal Ascot yesterday but that didn't deter race fans from dressing for the occasion. The Queen's granddaughter, Zara Tindall, appears on the front of the Mail in a peacock blue dress and hat, with her husband Mike in a topper, though the couple watched the action from their home in Gloucestershire.

"And they're off…" says the Times "…to the garden in their Ascot finery". Matt's cartoon in the Telegraph suggests a more relaxed dress code was in force in most lockdown living rooms… a dressing gown, or tracksuit bottoms and an old t-shirt.

Finally, scientists have discovered the secret of the incredible sticking power of limpets. According to the Telegraph, it's not down to muscle power, as commonly assumed, but mucus.

A study in the journal Open Science suggests the bottom of the limpet's rubbery body secretes a "super-glue slime" which lets it cling to wet and slippery surfaces. The researchers have exhaustively catalogued the ingredients of this bio-adhesive in the hope that it will one day inspire synthetic versions for use in medicine or food.