In the headlines
The first deportation flight taking asylum seekers to Rwanda will take off today as scheduled, after the Court of Appeal blocked a last-ditch attempt to stop it last night. Other legal challenges have reduced the list of deportees from 130 to seven, however, and refugee groups are hopeful of cutting that number further today. Keir Starmer’s own shadow cabinet ministers think he is “boring voters to death”, says The Times. “Is he exciting? No, of course not,” one opposition frontbencher told the paper. “To loads of my constituents, he just doesn’t exist in their minds at all.” Open Democracy has published a stash of angry letters from members of the House of Lords complaining to parliament about the quality of its food and wine. “There are only so many smoked salmon or prawn and crayfish salads one can take,” grumbled one peer. “Can something be done?”