Top story: Protection needed from ‘horrors’ of US

Morning all, Graham Russell stepping in here to give you a preliminary taste of Tuesday’s news.

Britain risks following the US to become one of the world’s most unequal nations, a Nobel-prize winning economist has warned, with a decade of stagnant pay growth pushing the country to tipping point.

Sir Angus Deaton (no, not the TV presenter) told the Guardian: “There’s a real question about whether democratic capitalism is working, when it’s only working for part of the population. There are things where Britain is still doing a lot better [than the US]. What we have to do is to make sure the UK is inoculated from some of the horrors that have happened in the US.”

Deaton, who won a Nobel for his work on inequality, is leading a five-year review for the UK and spoke on Monday as new research showed that “deaths of despair” – those from suicide and drug- and alcohol-related issues, a key factor in inequality – have more than doubled among men in Britain since the early 1990s and risen by more than 70% for women. Meanwhile, average chief executive pay at FTSE 100 firms has risen to 145 times that of the average worker, from 47 times in 1998, and the richest 1% in Britain have seen the share of household income they receive almost triple in the past four decades.

Figures out today are expected to show that unemployment remains at its lowest since the mid-1970s, but many workers remain trapped in poverty as low pay, insecure hours, rising housing costs and cuts to benefits take their toll.

Dave Innes, of the Joseph Rowntree Foundation, said: “The labour market is trapping people in poverty, when it should be offering people a route out. It is very demoralising for people who are doing what society expects of them, going out to work to meet the essentials but still unable to do that.”

A cross party – Senior Tories have cautioned Theresa May against striking any Brexit deal with Labour involving a customs union amid pressure to call off stagnating cross-party talks. The PM’s negotiator, Olly Robbins, is reportedly heading to Brussels to explore whether the political declaration could be changed if both parties were able to reach a consensus. But in a letter to the PM, crucially signed by Sir Graham Brady, senior Tory figures said agreeing to a customs union would be “bad policy and bad politics”. Both parties are taking stock of the talks today, with neither side optimistic . Meanwhile, Tony Blair has criticised Labour for trying to keep “both sides happy” and threw his weight behind a second vote.

‘Scale is truly staggering’ – Ministers will be told today they need to find an extra £2.7bn to fight the “chronic and corrosive” effect of serious and organised crime. The National Crime Agency says at least 181,000 people – equivalent to two British armies – are linked to such crime, which kills more people every year than terrorism, war and natural disasters combined. Agency head Lynne Owens will say: “Some will say we cannot afford to provide more investment, but I say we cannot afford not to.” The Police Federation said the government’s policing cuts had helped serious and organised crime flourish.

Plumbing the depths – An explorer has gone to the farthest ends, or rather deepest depths, of the earth only to come face to face with human litter. Victor Vescovo conducted the deepest dive ever made by a human inside a submarine, descending nearly 11,000 metres down into the Mariana Trench, but found material thought to be plastic at the bottom. Previous expeditions in the trench have found tiny creatures that have eaten plastic fibres.

Facebook Twitter Pinterest An object described as ‘manmade’ is illuminated in the top right by a submarine exploring the Mariana Trench. Photograph: Reuters

Jeremy Kyle off air – Filming of The Jeremy Kyle Show has been suspended after the death of one of its guests a week after he was put on stage, with past episodes also pulled. ITV said it had made the move with immediate effect to give it time to review the episode in which he featured. The death is likely to focus further attention on how reality TV participants are affected. This year, ITV said it would review the support it offered to people on its Love Island programme after the suicides of former contestants.

Patience exhausted – Did you know you can be fined for leaving your engine idling? Me neither but please note: existing rules might soon be tightened so enforcement officers don’t need to ask you twice to switch off. The idea is to help councils fight air pollution, and there are calls for companies whose drivers are regular offenders to pay four-figure sums.

Today in Focus podcast: The Venezuela uprising: the story so far

Nicolás Maduro appeared on the brink after an uprising plotted by Juan Guaidó, but key figures stayed loyal. Tom Phillips in Caracas has watched it play out. Plus: Owen Jones on public schools

Lunchtime read: the birth of real European politics

“We don’t yet have a European politics – there’s no real pan-European public opinion, no transnational political debate or dialogue on the issues that affect our common interests as Europeans – unemployment, the environment, migration, data protection.” So says Alberto Alemanno, a professor of EU law at the HEC business school in Paris. But something is changing, writes Jon Henley. The most recent transnational stirrings have come, paradoxically, from the far-right fringe: by building a common discourse, focusing on just one or two hot-button Europe-wide issues such as immigration, and consistently attacking the EU, rightwingers have “actually Europeanised Europe’s politics in a way no moderate national party has even attempted”, Alemanno said. And now progressives are trying, too. One pro-European group called Volt hopes to become the first true pan-EU party to win seats in the parliament.

Sport

The increased competition for places in Gareth Southgate’s England squad will prompt the healthy contingent of players involved in the Champions League final to declare themselves available for the Nations League semi-final against the Netherlands. Tyson Fury has told Anthony Joshua to “grow a set of nuts” and urged his fellow British heavyweight to do his talking in the ring.

Elia Viviani was stripped of victory as stage three of the Giro d’Italia ended in a chaotic sprint in Orbetello. Serena Willians and Venus Williams will face each other in the second round of the Italian Open, a clash that constitutes the first meeting between the two siblings on European clay for 17 years. And Australian rugby is facing an unprecedented moment of reckoning after star fullback Israel Folau posted a warning on Instagram that “hell awaits” homosexual people.

Business

Global markets have continued their slide in the wake of China’s decision to impose retaliatory tariffs on $60bn on US goods, giving the Dow Jones its worst day since January. Sushovan Hussain, the former CFO of Autonomy, has been jailed in the US for five years for fraud over the $11.1bn (£8.5bn) sale of the British software company to Hewlett-Packard in 2011. And BP is being forced by a group of major City investors to be more transparent in how it plans to fight climate change. Steve Waygood at Aviva Investors, one of those behind the Climate Action 100+ resolution, said: “The scientific consensus is crystal clear on the need for far-reaching action by corporates, with the next decade critical in limiting global warming to 1.5°C.”

The pound is buying $1.295 and €1.153.

The papers

Doris Day and Jeremy Kyle both feature on many front pages, with news that the former has died aged 97 and the latter’s show has been pulled from the air following the death of someone who had appeared on the show. The Sun, Mirror and Mail all splash with the Kyle news.

Photograph: THE GUARDIAN

The Guardian says “Britain ‘risks heading to US levels of inequality’”, the Times has “You’ll split the party, top Tories warn May” and the Telegraph reports “Hunt calls for boost to defence spending”. The i says: “Attenborough turns his fire on plastic”, the Express reports comments from police that “Organised crime now deadliest threat” and the FT has “Global markets reel as Beijing hits back at ‘US protectionism’”.

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