Boris Johnson’s coronavirus “Plan B” could cause £18bn worth of damage to the UK economy in just five months, says Politico. Leaked government documents show that businesses would take the main hit, with millions going back to working from home, and that officials aren’t even sure how much it would reduce transmission of the virus. Rishi Sunak should consider resigning over Budget leaks, says Commons Speaker Lindsay Hoyle. The Chancellor’s team have sent 16 briefings to reporters ahead of tomorrow’s address to MPs. “At one time, ministers did the right thing if they briefed before a Budget,” says Hoyle. “They walked.” Japan’s Princess Mako has given up her royal title after marrying her “commoner” boyfriend. The public disapproved of the wedding so strongly that there were street protests in Tokyo. “We only get one life,” said the groom, Kei Komuro. “I want us to spend it with the one we love.”
The plan was for every Cop26 attendee to be driven around in an electric car, says Dan Hodges in The Mail on Sunday. But there aren’t enough charging points available, one Cabinet minister tells me, “so they’ve been scrambling to find diesel generators to help boost the capacity”.
Noted
Luxembourg will become the first European country to legalise home-grown cannabis, says Daniel Boffey in The Guardian. People aged 18 or over will be allowed to grow up to four plants per household for personal use. In the Netherlands, which is known for its “relaxed attitude” to weed, the drug is technically illegal, but a policy of gedoogbeleid (“toleration”) means its use is accepted within reasonable bounds.
Sport
What do Melinda Gates, Kim Kardashian and Larry David have in common, asks Craig Coyne in Vanity Fair. Answer: they all love pickleball, a sport like tennis but on a smaller court, with a plastic ball. George Clooney has built a court at home and Leonardo DiCaprio plays every day, making up the rules as he goes along. And it’s not just celebrities who are fans. An estimated 4.2 million Americans play pickleball at least once a year – from Silicon Valley billionaires to Floridian retirees.
Eating in
Waitrose customers are using Deliveroo to order “emergency avocados”, says The Times. The brunch staple is one of the five most frequently ordered Waitrose items in every city where the supermarket’s products are available on the delivery app. In Oxford, Cambridge and Brighton, it’s number one.
Quoted
Quoted 26-10
“You are what you do, not what you say you’ll do.”
Carl Jung
Snapshot answer
It’s Otoniel, Colombia’s most wanted drug trafficker, who was caught this weekend. The 50-year-old, whose real name is Dairo Antonio Usuga, had a $5m bounty on his head. He was seized by 500 soldiers, who were so delighted that they posed for selfies. “This is the biggest blow against drug trafficking in our country this century,” said Colombia’s president, Ivan Duque. “It is only comparable to the fall of Pablo Escobar in the 1990s.”
