Top story: PM battles to vary tuition fees
Good morning to you, it’s Graham Russell here with a startlingly Brexit-free selection of news stories to start your day.
Theresa May will today tackle the issue of tuition fees, vowing to make universities charge less for some courses based on costs and potential graduate earnings. The broadside, criticised by her own ministers and the education sector, will attempt to head off Labour’s policy of scrapping them altogether, a move that is thought to have been a vote-winner for the opposition at the last election.
In a speech today, the PM will say a competitive market with variable fees has simply not emerged. “All but a handful of universities charge the maximum possible fees [£9,250 a year] for undergraduate courses,” she will say. “Three-year courses remain the norm. And the level of fees charged do not relate to the cost or quality of the course. We now have one of the most expensive systems of university tuition in the world.”
It could be a hard fight to win. She will be grappling with the complexities of a funding system the Tories created and ministers have defended its record in bringing in more people from disadvantaged backgrounds than ever before. She does, however, have a more sympathetic supporter in the education secretary, Damian Hinds, after sacking his more radical predecessor, Justine Greening.
Pays to advertise – Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri emerged the big winner in last night’s Baftas, a film its writer and director, Martin McDonagh, described touchingly in a post-Weinstein era as “a film about a woman who refuses to take any more shit”. It took five awards including best film, best British film (yes, you read that right), best actress for Frances McDormand and best original screenplay. Gary Oldman won best actor, which seems recompense enough for spending four hours a day being made to look like Winston Churchill in Darkest Hour. Here’s Peter Bradshaw to give you the Technicolor to my black and white. And here with the full list of winners and the red carpet (protests).
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Florida gun control – “You guys are the adults. You need to take some action and play a role ... Come over your politics and get something done.” These are the words of David Hogg, a 17-year-old survivor of the shooting at Stoneman Douglas high school in which 17 died. As the ritual cycle of heartfelt pleas and congressional handwringing plays out, everyone is watching to see if something might actually change. The White House has said the president would hold a “listening session” with unspecified students on Wednesday. So far so unexceptional. But on 24 March students from Stoneman Douglas will march on Washington DC, pushing for gun control. And on 20 April a National Walk Out is planned for the 20th anniversary of Columbine. The 1999 shooting that shocked the world is no longer in the top 10 most fatal mass shootings in the US. Meanwhile, a manufacturer of bump stocks – which helped the Las Vegas shooter kill 58 people at a music festival – launched a Presidents’ Day sale for the device, just enter coupon code “maga”.
Oxfam report released – Three Oxfam staff physically threatened a colleague to keep them quiet during the investigation into sexual exploitation and other offences in Haiti, the charity’s inquiry has found. Its report, released today, also reveals fresh details, including that an employee was dismissed for using the charity’s computers to download “pornographic and illegal material”, and the deal that allowed the disgraced country director, Roland van Hauwermeiren, to quietly resign in exchange for helping with the inquiry. Over the weekend Haiti threatened to revoke Oxfam’s permission to work in the country.
Childish attitude – Most employers think women should have to declare at an interview if they are pregnant, a survey from the Equality and Human Rights Commission has found. Almost half said it was also reasonable to ask if she had small children. The commission’s chief executive, Rebecca Hilsenrath, said the findings were “depressing” and showed a need for companies to learn the basics of discrimination law.
Early hope – A blood and urine test has been developed that British researchers say can detect autism spectrum disorders in children, a possible first. The sheer number of symptoms usually makes diagnosis difficult but the new test could speed things up and get children the appropriate help sooner. Researchers believe the new tests could also reveal previously unknown factors that cause the disorders.
Winter Olympics
Day 10 of competition in Pyeongchang is underway, with three medal events scheduled late, including the speed skating (men’s 500m), bobsleigh (two-man competition) and ski-jumping (men’s team competition). You can catch the action as it happens on our liveblog here.
Previously today, Cassie Sharpe laid down the two highest-scoring runs of the ski halfpipe qualifying, with 93.00 on her first attempt and 93.40 on her second. First in the women’s big air qualification was Anna Gasser of Austria with 98.00, followed by Yuka Fujimori of Japan with 94.25 and Reira Iwabuchi of Japan with 92.75. Finally, in the women’s curling round robin session eight, the following countries emerged victorious: USA 7-6 Denark; Canada 8-3 Japan; Republic of Korea 7-6 Sweden, and; Switzerland 11-2 Olympic Athletes from Russia.
Also to come today is some curling action (men’s and women’s round robins), biathlon (mixed relay) and ice hockey (women’s semifinals play-offs).
Lunchtime read: Liam, the oasis of calm?
Lengthy, funny, full of unexpected digressions, and involving a phenomenal amount of swearing and repeated leaps to his feet – yep, just another interview with Liam Gallagher. But the former Oasis singer, who is up for a Brit award this week, was always going to be a rich seam to mine for great quotes. Take, for example, the decision to ask him to present a Brit award rather than perform live at the event (“They can fuck off if they think I’m going to go there and clap some fucking idiot. I’m not going to go: ‘Fucking great, I’m nominated, let’s get down there and do some fucking – what is it people do these days – networking?’.”)
Here, he speaks to Alexis Petridis about everything from drinking green tea and being “very zen” to his debut solo album, As You Were, and his theory that the German police pulled his teeth out with pliers in retribution for a nightclub brawl in 2002.
Sport
Rochdale’s manager, Keith Hill, has said a Wembley FA Cup replay against Tottenham after a dramatic 2-2 draw at Spotland was the least the League One side deserved and something that would support the club financially for up to three years. In Brazil, a match between Vitoria and Bahia was abandoned with 11 minutes remaining after nine men were sent off in a game marred by a mass punch-up between players from both sides.
Softly spoken England forward Joe Launchbury will be out to show England’s hard edge in their Six Nations clash against Scotland at Murrayfield. Devante Smith-Pelly was taunted by four fans shouting “basketball, basketball, basketball” during the Chicago Blackhawks’ game against the Washington Capitals over the weekend, racial slurs the player said were “disgusting”. And Danica Patrick’s Nascar career has ended with a crash in the Daytona 500.
Business
Philip Green is considering selling his high street fashion empire Arcadia to a Chinese group, according to reports. Arcadia, home to Topshop, Dorothy Perkins and Evans, is valued by Green at £1bn but analysts say he will have to settle for much less because the growth of online competition means the business needs radical restructuring.
On the markets, Asian shares rose again and are well on the way to recouping the losses made during the recent sell-off. The FTSE100 is set to rise slightly at the open. The pound is buying $1.404 and €1.130.
The papers
Today it’s mostly about tuition fees and the Bafta awards, more specifically not the actors but whether the Duchess of Cambridge was wearing enough black.
The Mail thinks the Duchess of Cambridge’s black belt on her Bafta dress was a form of protest and reports Labour MPs were paid thousands to meet Eastern Bloc spies during the cold war.
The Times says foreign fraudsters are siphoning millions out of British pension pots every day. It also carries a side story on the backlash against Theresa May over her proposed tuition fee changes.
The Guardian splash focuses on May’s warning to universities on tuition fees, above an anchor story about the Oxfam Haiti scandal (see above for both). The picture story is given to Gemma Arterton, who attended the Baftas with two “Dagenham girls” whose protests laid the groundwork for the 1970 Equal Pay Act.
The Sun says the army is suffering a huge staffing shortage despite record numbers of applicants (it blames Capita) and says Bafta “luvvies” think the Duchess should have worn more black as a protest.
The Mirror carries the front page most likely to make you get a bit teary with a report on the nine-year-old girl whose donor heart saved the life of 10-year-old Max Johnson. It’s part of their campaign for an opt-out law on organ donation.
The Telegraph reports that people are underestimating their daily calorie intake, fuelling an obesity crisis. It also reports that May thinks degrees are “too pricey and plentiful” and claims Labour MPs met spies for money during the cold war.
The FT reports on Donald Trump’s Twitter tirade against the FBI’s Russia inquiry, the Democrats and his own national security adviser, and also mourns the demise of a big budget speech next month after the Treasury said Philip Hammond would chat only for about 15 minutes and wouldn’t hold up that nice old red box.
The Express reckons the Duchess was in fact wearing enough black and provides an antidote of sorts to the Times’s pension fraud story: company pension schemes are soaring thanks to buoyant stock markets.
For more news: www.theguardian.com
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