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General election 2019: Campaign officially under way

Parliament has dissolved and the general election campaign is now officially under way. Boris Johnson will see the Queen at Buckingham Palace later to mark the start of the five-week race. His Conservative Party is also launching its campaign, promising to "get Brexit done".

Mr Johnson, writing in the Daily Telegraph, likened the UK to a "supercar blocked in the traffic" by Brexit and promised to get the country "out of our rut".

Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn will later pledge to end in-work poverty and food bank use within five years. He will also promise to be a "very different kind of prime minister".

The Green Party is also launching its campaign, promising £100bn a year for a decade in an effort to tackle climate change. "Some things are even bigger than Brexit," co-leader Sian Berry will say later.

So how is the general election campaign looking? BBC political editor Laura Kuenssberg offers her take.

Also, try our really simple guide to the election.

Police concerns over rise of 'paedophile hunters'

Last year, prosecutors used evidence by so-called paedophile hunters - who fake online profiles, supposedly belonging to young people, and wait for adults to contact them - in more than 250 cases against suspected abusers. But should they?

Senior police officers have raised serious concerns over the activities of these vigilante groups. Read the full story here.

Plus, one paedophile hunter explains why he does it.

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Boeing whistleblower raises doubts over 787 oxygen system

Passengers on Boeing's 787 Dreamliner could be left without oxygen if the plane's cabin were to suffer a sudden decompression, a whistleblower has told the BBC. John Barnett also says faulty parts were deliberately fitted to planes on the production line at one Boeing factory. The company denies his claims, saying its planes are built to the highest standards of quality and safety. Read the full story here.

Could the world cope if GPS stopped working?

By Tim Harford

For a start, we would all have to engage our brains and pay attention to the world around us when getting from A to B. Perhaps this would be no bad thing: we'd be less likely to drive into rivers or over cliffs through misplaced trust in our navigation devices.

Pick your own favourite story about the kind of idiocy only GPS can enable. Mine is the Swedish couple who misspelled the Italian island of Capri and turned up hundreds of miles away in Carpi, asking where the sea was.

But these are the exceptions.

Read the full article

What the papers say

The Guardian says there has been a "furious" reaction to House of Commons Leader Jacob Rees-Mogg's comment that it would have been "common sense" for people living in Grenfell Tower to flee the building, despite fire brigade advice to stay in their flats. He has apologised, but Metro quotes rapper Stormzy saying that Mr Rees-Mogg should resign. The i reports that Conservative bosses want to "sideline" the minister during the election campaign. Meanwhile, the Times says China's government is trying to curb criticism of itself at British universities. And the Sun congratulates the Queen for deciding to stop wearing animal fur.

Daily digest

Grace Millane death Backpacker murder suspect went on date while body was in his hotel room, court hears

Ross England row Rape victim wants cabinet minister Alun Cairns to quit

Universal credit Government adverts aimed at debunking myths banned as "misleading"

Read all about them BBC Arts reveals 100 most "inspiring" novels, including Jane Austen and Jilly Cooper

If you see one thing today

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I followed my father's advice and became a billionaire

If you listen to one thing today

Dancing with the Stars in Myanmar

If you read one thing today

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Do your 'plastic-free' teabags contain plastic?

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Lookahead

Today The Children's Parliament, made up of eight-to-14-year-olds, sits in Edinburgh.

20:00 Tottenham and Manchester City both have away ties in the Champions League, against Red Star Belgrade and Atalanta respectively.

On this day

1999 Australian voters reject a proposal to break ties with the British monarchy and become a republic.

From elsewhere

The vegan economy has arrived (Bloomberg)

How Toys 'R' Us went bankrupt (Wall Street Journal)

Gay Byrne cast a long shadow over Irish broadcasting (Irish Times)

In ancient Rome, citizenship was the path to power (National Geographic)