In the headlines
Boris Johnson survived yesterday’s no-confidence vote “by the skin of his teeth”, says The Sun, with only 211 of his MPs backing him. That meant 148 Conservatives (41% of the party) “stabbed him in the back” – a higher proportion than the 37% who voted to oust Theresa May in 2018. It was the “night of the blond knives”. A retired geologist from Bath has been sentenced to 15 years in an Iraqi prison for trying to smuggle 12 shards of 200-year-old pottery out of the country. Some of the pieces were no bigger than a fingernail. Jim Fitton, 66, said he didn’t know he was breaking the law. A granny from California found $36,000 stuffed down the side of a sofa that she got for free off the internet. Vicky Umodu immediately told the previous owners, who gave her $2,200 as a thank you. She’s using it to buy a new fridge.