Newspaper headlines: Biden's chemical weapon warning and 'Shame on' P&O

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By BBC News
Staff
Reuters

President Joe Biden's words raising the stakes with Russia feature on several of the front pages

Several of Friday's front pages focus on the warning from US President Joe Biden, made after his talks with other leaders in Brussels, that Nato would respond "in kind" if Russia used chemical weapons in Ukraine.

The Daily Telegraph calls it a "toughening in the US stance", while the Guardian believes Mr Biden's threat "raises the stakes" with Moscow.

The Sun welcomes the US president's words. "For once Joe Biden talked a good game," its opinion column states.

But it goes on to say "he has a history of craving hasty exits from foreign conflicts" and expresses hope that he "sticks to every word".

In its leader, the Times hails the unity displayed by Nato - which it says has been "reinvigorated" by Russia's invasion.

But it thinks maintaining that unity will be a challenge "in the face of what may be a prolonged campaign".

The paper suggests Nato should aim for a "swift defeat" of Mr Putin, rather than the "messy compromise and peace deal that some western leaders seem to favour".

The Daily Mail's front page reveals that Boris Johnson is now regarded by the Kremlin as "public enemy number one" because of his attempts to galvanise the international response against Moscow's invasion.

President Putin's spokesman, Dmitry Peskov, is quoted saying Mr Johnson is viewed as "the most active participant in the race to be anti-Russian".

The Headington Shark has been granted heritage status

Moves by the International Criminal Court to investigate alleged war crimes in Ukraine are welcomed by the Financial Times.

Its leader accepts that Mr Putin "will not be in the dock in the Hague any time soon". But it goes on to say that an indictment against him "would bolster Ukrainians' sense of being on the right side of history, and perhaps help persuade Russian soldiers that they are not".

"Shame on you" is the Daily Mirror's front page headline. It's angry about the admission by the boss of P&O Ferries that he knew the firm broke the law when it sacked 800 staff last week without consulting unions.

In an opinion column, the paper expresses fury that there was "no contrition or apology" from Peter Hebblethwaite, during his appearance before a committee of MPs on Thursday.

The Guardian agrees, suggesting that Mr Hebblethwaite made a "brazen attempt" to claim that protecting the investment of P&O Ferries' parent company DP World, "was more important than staying within the law".

DP World is currently a partner in the scheme to develop freeports in the UK. The Guardian thinks ministers need to reconsider this, in light of what it describes as the firm's "casual relationship" with British employment legislation.

Finally, the Telegraph ponders the heritage status granted to the life-sized fibreglass sculpture of a shark's tail, sticking out of the roof of a terraced house in Oxford.

The "Headington Shark" was installed in 1986 in defiance of planning rules. Now Oxford City Council, which tried several times to have it removed, is officially recognising the artwork's merit. The paper concludes "this is one of the problems of an increasingly permissive age: it is getting ever harder to be a rebel".