‘Dire consequences’

The timing of the MPs’ report is significant. It’s the Budget next week, the time when the government sets out its spending plans, and they say policing must be prioritised – or there could be “dire consequences” for public safety. In particular, they warn tackling terrorism and gang crime will become harder if neighbourhood policing is cut back further. The Home Office says it’s determined to ensure forces get the resources they need.


‘More civility’
Six suspected explosive devices are now known to have been sent to high-profile US figures. They include Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton, former CIA Director John Brennan and financier George Soros. The FBI has launched a hunt for their sender. None of the pipe bombs exploded, but the developments have pushed up the temperature further in the already overheated world of American politics.
BBC criticised
The BBC said much of the report was out of date and its gender pay gap was among the smallest in the media sphere. But it acknowledged there was more to do. BBC media editor Amol Rajan said that while the report has no legislative implications, the strength and depth of the criticism is striking.
The day the fossil feathers flew
By Jonathan Amos, BBC Science correspondent
There is no greater insult you can hurl at a museum than to suggest its prize fossil is a fake. But that’s what the esteemed astronomer Sir Fred Hoyle did in 1985 when he doubted the authenticity of arguably the most priceless possession in the collections of what is now London’s Natural History Museum. All hell broke loose as the claim made headlines around the world… if the idea of fakery in a transitional fossil went unchallenged, Archaeopteryx would quickly become a cause célèbre for the anti-evolution movement.
What the papers say

More on the “leading British businessman” who has obtained an injunction preventing the publication of his identity after claims of sexual harassment were made against him. The Daily Telegraph, which broke the story, hears from a “well-known socialite” who says a man she suspects of being the executive put his hand up her skirt. The Sun says MPs have expressed fury at the story, with Labour’s Jess Phillips questioning a legal system which allows the wealthy to “buy silence”. The i says she is threatening to unmask the businessman in the House of Commons. Elsewhere, many papers describe the “overwhelming support” received by Theresa May when she addressed her backbenchers on Wednesday. The Daily Mail says she was met with “loud cheers and banging of desks” before she made an emotional plea for them to back her to deliver Brexit. The Daily Mirror, finally, says Prince Harry is likely to demand an explanation for why his wife’s official visit to a Fiji market was cut short.
Daily digest
Transplant ‘The food supplement that ruined my liver’
If you see one thing today

If you listen to one thing today

If you read one thing today



Lookahead
10:00 Shadow chancellor John McDonnell will give a pre-Budget speech, followed by a Q&A, setting out Labour’s demands
Today The 2018 Poppy Appeal is launched with events at six locations around the country
On this day
1964 Zambia becomes the ninth African state to gain independence from the British crown