Newspaper headlines: 'Energy crisis as bad as Covid' and police failures

People walk on parched ground in Greenwich Park in London, UKEPA
By BBC News
Staff

The Daily Telegraph leads on a warning that wildfires threaten to sweep across parts of the country this weekend in what it calls an "unprecedented" risk to homes and the countryside.

The paper says fire chiefs have held an emergency meeting with government officials in which they said that destructive blazes, fuelled by dry conditions and strong easterly winds, were likely to spread to residential areas.

The front pages of the Times and the Daily Mail focus on the damning report by the police watchdog that says victims of burglary, robbery and theft are being "routinely failed" by the police.

Energy firms are being threatened with a new windfall tax, according to the i and the Financial Times.

Both papers say electricity providers are coming under pressure to invest their "extraordinary profits" in greener renewable energy rather than pay dividends to shareholders. The Financial Times quotes one unnamed industry figure as saying "the government is in a complete tailspin" and "there is a degree of panic and everything is on the table".

Sign up for a morning briefing direct to your inbox.

The former prime minister Gordon Brown has written an opinion piece in the Guardian calling on the government to bring energy companies into temporary public ownership if they cannot lower people's bills.

Mr Brown compares the current situation to the financial crisis in 2009 when some banks were nationalised for a time to protect customers and tells the paper the energy price cap should be scrapped. Mr Brown is scathing about the lack of government action so far, writing that crises "do not hang fire to suit the convenience of a departing PM and the whims of two potential successors".

The Daily Express reports a warning from pharmacists that there is a shortage of key medicines which is putting patients lives at risk. The paper says supply issues mean many people are having to visit several chemists to get the prescription drugs they need, with some even returning to their GP for alternatives.

And some of the back pages report the remarkable return of Michael Knighton - who famously tried to buy Manchester United in 1989.

According to the Daily Mirror he has made the "incredible claim" he is launching a hostile takeover to force out the club's current owners the Glazer family, who he describes as "inept" and "useless".

The 70-year-old insists his bid is legitimate. As the paper reminds readers, Mr Knighton did "keepy uppies" on the Old Trafford pitch 33 years ago - only for that bid to fall through.