Newspaper headlines: 'United in love' and 'Mortgage rates on the rise'
- Published
The families of the students held hands as thousands of people paid their respects at a vigil on Wednesday
Most of the papers are dominated by reports on the special vigil for victims of the attack in Nottingham.
The Times, external carries a picture of the parents of the two students who were killed - Barnaby Webber and Grace O'Malley-Kumar - hugging each other at the huge gathering. The paper reports that Nottinghamshire Police has denied suggestions that it was warned about the man suspected of carrying out the attack. It says the force is still trying to piece together the movements of the 31-year-old using CCTV, with his mental health and possible motives being key lines of inquiry.
The Mail, external calls the killings merciless, brutal and inhumane, and says the parents comforted each other at the vigil, to show the compassion and humanity which it says is "so lacking in the students' killer". "United in love" is the Mirror's, external headline, over a picture of both sets of parents holding each other in their grief. It quotes Grace's father, Dr Sanjoy Kumar, telling those attending the vigil "the love we have out here, I wish we had it everywhere". The Express, external says that students in Nottingham should be have been gathering to celebrate the end of the academic year yesterday, but instead the mood was of "uncomprehending grief".
The Telegraph's, external main story is Boris Johnson's call for Sir Bernard Jenkin to resign from the Privileges Committee, after allegations that he broke Covid restrictions to attend a gathering with drinks. The paper says Sir Bernard has denied the claim. It reports that Mr Johnson wrote to the Committee chair, Harriet Harman, accusing Sir Bernard of what he called "flagrant and monstrous" hypocrisy if he himself broke the rules. The Mail calls it an "exquisite irony" that one of Boris Johnson's "inquisitors" stands accused of attending a boozy lockdown party.
The main story on the front page of the Financial Times, external is that one of the UK's biggest mortgage lenders, HSBC, is poised to raise rates on some products for the second time in a week. The paper says the bank will replace prices for new loans from today and quotes brokers saying other lenders are likely to follow, putting more pressure on Rishi Sunak. The i newspaper, external reports that homeowners are "turning their backs" on the Conservatives, because rising interest rates have increased the cost of their mortgages. Labour, the paper says, now has a 15-point lead over the Tories among mortgage-holders.
The Guardian, external says scientists in Cambridge and America have used stem cells to model the earliest stages of a synthetic human embryo. The models do not have a beating heart, or brain, but do contain cells that would typically go on to form an embryo. The paper suggests the development would pose considerable ethical issues, because lab-grown entities, sidestepping the need for sperm or eggs, lie outside current legislation in the UK or other countries.
The Financial Times front page has a photo of Silvio Berlusconi's coffin arriving at Milan Cathedral for his funeral, watched by hundreds of people. The paper said the media mogul and former prime minister was as polarising in death as he was in life, with many left-wing politicians blaming him for helping to bring Italy's right-wing coalition "to life".
BRAINTEASER OF THE WEEK: Can you open the padlock?
INVESTING SAFELY: What red flags do we need to watch out for?
