In today’s newsletter: Putin has mobilised reservists and is threatening to use nuclear weapons, but is he serious – and what is really at stake?
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Good morning. Threats of nuclear war from Vladimir Putin are never likely to go unnoticed, and the Russian president’s speech yesterday is all over the front pages of British newspapers this morning.
Putin said that “when the territorial integrity of our country is threatened, to protect Russia and our people, we will certainly use all the means at our disposal” and added “It’s not a bluff”. That led to condemnations from both Joe Biden and Liz Truss at the United Nations general assembly, with Truss saying at 2am UK time that the Russian president’s “bogus claims” were simply about “trying to justify his catastrophic failures”.
Economy | Britain’s mounting debts will be unsustainable if the government presses ahead with sweeping tax cuts in a mini-budget on Friday, according to the Institute for Fiscal Studies thinktank. The IFS said government borrowing would miss Treasury targets legislated in January.
Fracking | Fracking in the UK will be impossible at any meaningful scale and will not help with the energy price crisis, the founder of the UK’s first fracking company has warned. Chris Cornelius, the founder of Cuadrilla Resources, told the Guardian that he believed the government’s support for it is merely a “political gesture”.
Football | A statement from Uefa blaming Liverpool fans for the delays in the Champions League final in Paris was pre-prepared before the day of the match, the Guardian has learned. The accusation outraged Liverpool fans, many of whom were kept in dangerous queues and subjected to riot policing. See the visual investigation here.
Policing | A serving Metropolitan police officer and a former officer accused of sharing racist and misogynistic messages in a WhatsApp group with Sarah Everard’s killer have been found guilty of what a judge described as “sickening” and “abhorrent” behaviour.
Health | No patient should have to wait more than two weeks to see a GP, the new health secretary will demand on Thursday. Thérèse Coffey’s plan was criticised by GPs’ representatives who said it would increase the burden on doctors without improving care.