Tony Blair and Vladimir Putin are among the tax-avoiding world leaders whose dubious financial arrangements were revealed in the Pandora Papers, a trove of leaked financial documents. Notably absent are American billionaires such as Jeff Bezos, says the Daily Mail, “because the ultra-rich pay so little tax they don’t need havens”. Boris Johnson is seeking to spin the fuel crisis into “an opportunity that could see him win power for a decade”, says Politico’s Alex Wickham. His aides think they can exploit Labour leader Keir Starmer’s commitment to solving the HGV crisis with 100,000 visas: “Vote Tory to get a pay rise, vote Labour to see mass immigration drive your wages down.” A five-day, 21C Indian summer is set to reach Britain on Thursday. But first: rain.
Eric Zemmour, a far-right television pundit and provocateur who has twice been found guilty of inciting hate, is rising in the polls for the French presidential election next April. The 63-year-old, who rages against identity politics and immigration, could displace Marine Le Pen as Macron’s main opponent, says Andrew Hussey in the New Statesman. Zemmour has picked up a cult following among young right-wingers, who style themselves as “Génération Z”.
Film
Meeting Tom Hiddleston doesn’t come cheap. Superfans of the 40-year-old British actor, who played the villainous Loki in the Thor movies, must pay £225 for a photo at the MCM Comic Con in London this month, and a further £225 if they want an autograph. He’ll be doing 50 of each and will be walled off behind Plexiglas. That’s £45,000 from the mortals to bolster the Norse trickster’s coffers.
Tomorrow’s world
The electric Citroën Ami is “not legally a car” but a “quadricycle”, so 14-year-olds in France can drive one without a licence, says Helen Rumbelow in The Times. The vehicle resembles “a very sweet Portaloo” and has a maximum speed of 28mph. It costs €6,990, but Parisians can lease one for €20 a month as part of a “Boris bike-style” service. It’s set to arrive in the UK next spring.
Quoted
Quoted 04-10
“There is no sunrise so beautiful that it is worth waking me up to see it.”
American actress Mindy Kaling
Snapshot answer
It’s an aerial view of the In America: Remember installation on the National Mall in Washington DC, which commemorates the 700,000 Americans who have lost their lives to Covid. Each white flag carries a message from a loved one and the installation covers 20 acres. “Give people the dignity they deserve,” says its creator, Suzanne Brennan Firstenberg, in The Washington Post. “Please don’t make me, or the next artist, do this again. I don’t want to plant any more flags.”
