Top story: Moscow ties to be examined

Good morning to you, Graham Russell here with a pick of the latest goings-on.

Donald Trump Jr and the US president’s one-time campaign chairman Paul Manafort are set to publicly testify next week as the US Senate’s investigation into ties between Russia and Trump gathers pace. It comes less than two weeks after it emerged they met a Kremlin-linked lawyer in 2016 who offered Trump Jr negative information about Hillary Clinton.

Another figure at that meeting, Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner, is expected to testify next week, but behind closed doors.

Meanwhile, the investigation by special counsel Robert Mueller into Donald Trump’s Russia ties is expected to subpoena or request data from Deutsche Bank, the president’s personal banker, its executives believe. A person close to the matter who spoke to the Guardian said Mueller’s team and the bank have already established informal contact.

The Senate will be without the services of John McCain, who has been diagnosed with brain cancer. A brain tumor known as a glioblastoma was removed from McCain along with a blood clot during surgery on Friday. Messages of support came from across the divide, with Barack Obama praising him as an American hero and that “cancer doesn’t know what it’s up against”.

Thatcher’s justice – Margaret Thatcher intervened to ensure the Moors murderers, Myra Hindley and Ian Brady, were never released from prison, cabinet papers have revealed. She told her home secretary, Leon Brittan: “Their crime was the most hideous and cruel in modern times” and overruled his proposed minimum sentences of 30 years for Hindley and 40 years for Brady.

Other papers reveal how John Major broke the news to Thatcher that he was scrapping the infamous poll tax. In his five-page “Dear Margaret” letter he said “I am convinced that it would never be accepted as equitable and that it would never be properly collectable either.” His note avoids any mention of the officially forbidden “poll tax” phrase.

Grenfell rancour – The newly elected leader of Kensington and Chelsea council faced immediate calls from Grenfell tower residents to resign during a chaotic and angry meeting on Wednesday evening. Elizabeth Campbell promised cultural change and improvements to how social housing was managed but faced boos and cries of “never”, “shame” and “liar”. At an earlier meeting, disaster inquiry head Sir Martin Moore-Bick was repeatedly urged to ensure it considers not just the technical causes of the fire but the impact of gentrification policies in the borough.

BBC pay – Despite making virtually every front page in the land today, what chance is there that publication of the BBC’s vast gender pay gap will lead to lasting change? Sam Smethers, chief executive of the Fawcett Society, said director-general Tony Hall will have to do “some pretty radical things” if he wants to close the gap by 2020.

Miriam O’Reilly, who won an ageism case against the BBC in 2011, said there was now an opportunity to address the issue and banish the idea that somehow men were more valuable because they “brought more gravitas and credibility to news”. But will it bring change? “I think it might change what they pay people, but in terms of the sexism that goes on, no, I don’t think it will. I’m always ever hopeful.”

To broaden the fight beyond beating up only Auntie, here’s a handy guide to pushing for pay equality.

Thom Yorke presses on – Radiohead have performed before a sellout crowd in Tel Aviv, despite protests from activists and dozens of figures in the art world that they should boycott Israel. According to reports, Radiohead played a 27-song set and two encores, including hits such as No Surprises, Creep and Karma Police. Richard Ferrer, editor of the London-based Jewish News newspaper, quoted Thom Yorke telling the crowd: “A lot was said about this, but in the end we played some music.”

Locked away – Thousands of mental health patients are being held in secure wards for years in what one doctor described as a “Victorian” approach to their care. The findings by the Care Quality Commission has prompted fears the patients are becoming institutionalised rather than rehabilitated.

The Command of the Ocean visitor centre in Chatham. Photograph: Helene Binet

Stirling effort: A pier, a campus and some listed sheds are all in the running to win the RIBA Stirling prize for the UK’s best new building. The City of Glasgow College’s city campus is the standout champion if the criteria involve recognising civic spirit, education and sheer complexity, writes Oliver Wainright. My uneducated eye was drawn to the shed-turned-visiter centre at Chatham Historic Dockyard (“like a keenly sharpened pencil”) and the Hastings pier, though images of its woodwork induced a slight sense of seasickness.

MP culpa – An MP in New Zealand has taken the extraordinary step of revealing that she lied in order to avoid losing welfare payments as a young single mother who wanted to go to law school. Here she tells in her own words why she did it, and reasons go beyond national borders.

Lunchtime read: a Pirelli calendar of quality and colour

Photograph: Alessandro Scotti/Pirelli

If you were told the Pirelli calendar had an Alice in Wonderland theme, it might once have conjured up some very different images. But now, we have the likes of Naomi Campbell, Sean “Diddy” Combs and RuPaul posing for images styled by Edward Enninful, the newly appointed editor of British Vogue and the first person of colour to have held the post.

This is not the first time Pirelli has featured an all-black lineup – in 1987, a 16-year-old Campbell posed topless for an edition that featured only black models. This time, however, the tone is wildly different, writes Ellie Violet Bramley. It feels precision-engineered to strike a chord in an era in which fashion finally seems to be addressing its diversity problem.

Sport

With the Open upon us once again, Andy Bull finds Royal Birkdale in readiness for a pleasingly unpredictable title fight among the key contenders. Sean Ingle, on the other hand,wonders whether golf can hold its ground as a major sport in the UK, where participation figures and TV viewership are down. One of the most interesting players in the field is 23-year-old Californian Bryson DeChambeau, whose physics major makes him either far less or far more susceptible to the game’s fickle nature, depending on your worldview. The world No2 Hideki Matsuyama, meanwhile, might be the sport’s most unsung star.

Chris Froome has brushed aside attacks from Romain Bardet and Daniel Martin to retain the yellow jersey in Le Tour, while F1 bosses have confirmed the contentious halo device will be compulsory for drivers in 2018. An investigation into the possibility that a match at Wimbledon was subject to match-fixing is not connected to any of the retirements that took place during the tournament, reports Jacob Steinberg. Less serious and far more amusing: NBA players aren’t happy with their skill ratings in the new NBA 2k18 video game. Surfer Mick Fanning is just pleased to be standing on both feet after being pulled from the water after another shark scare.

Business

Stock markets have surged to a near 10-year high after unexpectedly strong recent profits from US companies sent the Dow Jones, S&P500 and Nasdaq to record highs on Wall Street. The FTSE100 is set to open up 0.33% this morning but the big interest will be in what the European Central Bank say about monetary policy later in the day.

The pound was flat overnight at $1.30 and €1.131.

The papers

It’s all BBC on the front pages.

Photograph: The Guardian

The Mail screams “Mutiny” and says furious employees at the “politically correct” BBC are rising up against lavish pay deals, especially for the male broadcasters.

The Mirror has “Bloated Blokes Club” and says the top seven employees are all white men and only two in the top 14 are women. The Star goes with “Mind the pay gap”.

The Sun highlights what it is says was the awkward moment on BBC Breakfast news when two broadcasters discussed the BBC pay news. The male presenter, Dan Waker, is paid between £200,000 and £249,000 and his co-host Louise Minchin is paid under £150,000. (Walker had this reaction to that front page.)

The Times meanwhile headlines with “BBC faces revolt over pay divide” and says female stars will force salary rises. The Guardian also highlights the “backlash at the BBC” and says the corporation has been attacked for “clear discrimination”.

The Telegraph has the line that the BBC’s male stars may now face a pay cut. It says it has learned the government wants the highest paid to take a 10% reduction.

The FT splashes on the story as well, saying Theresa May has criticised the BBC and called for men and women to be paid equally.



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