Newspaper headlines: Dam 'nightmare' and Bank of England prediction By BBC News

Staff Published duration 2 August 2019

image copyright PA Media image caption Rescue teams are trying to pump the water out from the reservoir

Pictures of the crumbling dam wall in the town of Whaley Bridge in Derbyshire feature on some of the newspaper front pages, after the town was evacuated as the reservoir threatened to break through.

The Daily Mirror says the town's 6,500 residents had to "flee dam quick", adding that experts say it could take "four or five days" to pump out the necessary amount of water to reduce the pressure on the wall.

One resident told the paper: "If it's going to go, it's going to go straight through the village."

Meanwhile, the Bank of England's slashing of its growth forecast on Thursday also makes several papers, after it warned that a no-deal Brexit would hit the economy and trigger a further drop in the value of the pound.

The Daily Telegraph leads on criticism from Brexiteers. It quotes Conservative MP Mark Francois as saying it was "not helpful" that Mr Carney "seeks to undermine" the Brexit negotiations "by intemperate comments".

And former Tory leader Iain Duncan Smith told the paper: "This is what Mark Carney does... He's one of the architects and promoters of Project Fear."

The Financial Times reports Mr Carney dismissed suggestions the Bank was guilty of a "gloomster" attitude, saying it was clear the level of uncertainty was affecting business.

It focuses on the Bank's prediction that there is a one-in-three chance the UK economy will shrink at the start of next year.

image copyright Getty Images image caption Governor Mark Carney warned there are limits to the extent to which the Bank can help in the event of no deal

The i newspaper reports HSBC is "considering large-scale jobs cuts and relocating more roles away from London to Paris".

It says some departments are already being affected by redundancies, as the bank focuses on its most profitable business lines.

The paper's acting business editor, David Parsley, believes "it comes as little surprise" following similar announcements by Deutsche Bank and Citibank.

Meanwhile, the Times reports that scientists have developed a blood test that can detect the onset of Alzheimer's - a breakthrough that it says could speed up diagnosis.

The test is said to have more than 90% accuracy in spotting toxic proteins in the brain that can be an early indication of the disease.

TV licence petition to No 10

Both the Daily Mirror and the Daily Express highlight a petition urging Boris Johnson to reinstate free TV licences for all over-75s.

The Mirror says a letter, representing 1.2 million pensioners, was delivered to Downing Street on Thursday.

The National Pensioners Convention warns Mr Johnson's failure to act would be a "defining issue in the next general election".

In the Express, Caroline Abrahams of Age UK writes that the number of messages it has received on the issue amounts to the "largest response to any campaign" in its history.

She says "the issue has touched the hearts of not only older people but their loved ones and people in their communities who understand the importance of TV in older people's day-to-day lives".

The Daily Mail suggests Prince Harry has come in for criticism after he attended a climate change conference hosted by Google in Sicily.

The paper says the Duke of Sussex and the other A-list attendees "faced a storm of controversy" for flying to the event by private jet and helicopter laid on by the technology giant.

Environmental campaigners say the organisers could have used more responsible ways to travel.

Several papers report that an answer may have been found for one of the great British bugbears - queue-jumpers being served first in a pub.