Newspaper headlines: Ties 'slashed' as UK walks away from EU By BBC News

Staff Published duration 21 August 2019

image copyright Getty Images image caption Brexit is on the agenda for Boris Johnson's meeting with Angela Merkel in Berlin

The Sun believes the EU's immediate rejection of Boris Johnson's alternative border arrangements for Northern Ireland was as inevitable as it was depressing.

The Guardian thinks the co-ordinated response appears to close the door on meaningful Brexit negotiations re-starting.

The Financial Times reports that the stand-off fuelled expectations Britain would exit the EU on the 31 October without a deal.

True to its form, argues the Daily Mail , Brussels responded aggressively to the overtures, slamming the door in Mr Johnson's face.

The Daily Telegraph says the process of leaving will start in just 10 days time after UK diplomats were ordered to reduce contact with their EU counterparts.

The Daily Mirror sees the move as a ramping up of the government's no deal plans.

The Daily Express welcomes the decision, saying it is a sign that the new government is deadly earnest in getting us out. In short, it concludes, the EU is Britain's past and not its future.

The Times looks ahead to the prime minister's meeting with German Chancellor Angela Merkel - and predicts that he will tell her Parliament cannot stop a no-deal Brexit.

The online edition of the Independent talks of Mr Johnson flying to the continent, set on a collision course with EU leaders.

The Guardian feels any possibility of progress towards a new deal rests on meetings this week at the G7 summit in Biarritz.

Writing for the Spectator's website , Isabel Hardman suggests we are approaching the end of what she calls a blame game and things are heating up.

The interim report by National Grid into the power cuts which left more than a million customers without power 12 days ago is considered by the Telegraph

In its editorial, the paper detects a sense that the entire system is always on the edge of breakdown and greater resilience is needed.

The Times worries about what it calls Britain's infrastructure crisis. That successive governments, regulators like Ofgem and private sector operators such as National Grid have done so little to avert this crisis, says the paper, is perhaps a bigger scandal than a no-deal Brexit.

image copyright PA Media image caption The power cut plunged some stations into darkness

The Financial Times feels the resignation of Italian Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte has deepened the political crisis in the country - leaving it searching for a new administration to deal with the faltering economy.

His decision, says the Telegraph , has plunged the country into weeks and possibly months of political uncertainty.

The i notes that the financial markets rallied after the resignation and reports that the ruling Five Star Movement might seek a pact with the centre-left Democratic Party.

image copyright Vintage Mary image caption A bus stop in Gloucestershire has been targeted by "nice vandals"

Over the years bus stops have often been daubed with graffiti and vandalised, much to the disgust of those that use them.

The Daily Mirror describes how what it calls "nice vandals" turned a bus stop in the Gloucestershire village of Thrupp into a comfy den with an armchair, bookshelf and decorative placards.