'Pay relief but cuts pain' and Sunak's 'final offer'

The cast of the film Oppenheimer at its premier in Leicester Square in LondonPA Media

Stars of the film Oppenheimer exited its premiere early in support of the SAG actors' strike

By BBC News
Staff

The government's public sector pay offer is the lead on virtually all of the front pages. The Financial Times says Rishi Sunak has thrown down the gauntlet to trade unions with what he called a final offer. The Times calls that approach a "significant escalation of rhetoric". The Guardian leads on the response of the health unions - saying they reacted furiously and have warned that the government risks driving doctors away. The Daily Mirror says the government is taking an axe to already battered public services to fund the pay rises. "Will doctors now end their callous strikes?" asks the Daily Mail, as junior doctors in England continue their industrial action.

A heat map showing almost all of Spain as dark red is used by the Sun to illustrate the impact of a heatwave across continental Europe called Cerberus - named, says the Daily Express, after "hell's guard dog".

The paper says the record high of 48.8C - set in 2021 - is expected to be broken at some point. The i reports on research which suggests the UK is likely to experience the biggest increase in the number of days classified as "uncomfortably hot" - that is, with an average temperature of 18C over a 24-hour period, if global warming continues on its current trajectory.

"Nuclear option" is the caption the Times chooses for its front-page photograph of the stars of Oppenheimer at the film's premiere in London last night, a reference to both its subject matter and the Hollywood acting strike. The Daily Mail says Cillian Murphy, Florence Pugh and Emily Blunt went from the red carpet to the picket line. In its coverage of the dispute, the Guardian predicts chaos across the film and TV industry, and suggests the consequences are likely to be "seismic".

One of the issues in the Hollywood strike is the concern among actors about the use of artificial intelligence in productions. The Financial Times reports on its front page that what it calls AI's lurking perils have spurred US regulators to investigate the technology for the first time. The paper says the Federal Trade Commission will examine Open AI - the makers of ChatGPT.

The Guardian reports on comments from the energy minister, Grant Shapps, which indicate the government's aspirations to replace conventional gas boilers in UK homes with hydrogen-based alternatives are likely to be scrapped. The government had previously targeted 2035 as the date by which it would phase out natural gas boilers used for central heating. However some plans to use hydrogen have been described as unsafe by critics, and have faced local protest movements in some areas.

And the Times tells the story of Nassir - a 14-year-old western lowland gorilla at Toronto Zoo, who has been behaving in an anti-social way towards his fellow primates. Visitors are being blamed. Some have been showing him videos on their mobile phones through the glass. Staff say he has become so enthralled with smartphones and video content that he's no longer interacting with his fellow gorillas in the same way.