10 June - The Knowledge

In the headlines

Joe Biden has accused Boris Johnson of “inflaming” tensions in Northern Ireland, says The Times. The US president will have his first in-person meeting with the PM today ahead of the G7 summit. Nine in 10 schoolgirls have experienced sexist name-calling or been sent nude images by boys, says Ofsted. Some pupils report being contacted by 11 boys a night demanding naked pictures. Boris Johnson will scrap the 30-person wedding limit no matter what, says The Times. The newly married PM is insistent on relaxing the rules, even if other “unlockdown” plans are delayed.

Comment of the day

On the money

Actress Zoë Wanamaker recalls how her friend and co-star, the late Alan Rickman, made a few bob on the side while filming the Harry Potter movies, says Ephraim Hardcastle in the Daily Mail. “In the Great Hall we had to sing, and the prop makers had printed these songs on parchment paper, which were lined with gold. So Rickman and I started to nick some of them. I know Rickman sold one of them in LA for $25,000!”

Inside politics

America’s former ambassador to Britain, Matthew Barzun, used to let David Cameron use the tennis courts at his Regent’s Park residence. When the then PM was wooing Boris Johnson to back remain, the two Tories played a game there, Barzun tells Times Radio. Afterwards, he asked Johnson how it had gone: “It’s unbelievable. He couldn’t not win. He had to beat me.” Johnson, of course, went on secure a political victory in the Brexit referendum.

Tomorrow’s world

Chile has fired up its first thermal solar plant in the sun-drenched Atacama Desert. It gathers the sun’s energy in a fan of solar panels and, unlike traditional solar plants, can generate electricity throughout the night, says Reuters. Its 210 megawatts of clean energy will supply more than 380,000 homes, boosting the country’s effort to become carbon-neutral by 2050. Critics, however, say it has taken eight years to bring online – and cost a whopping $1.4bn.

Sport

More than 18,000 cricket fans at the Second Test against New Zealand, which started this morning at Edgbaston, will be able to order beers from their seats – and, when they’ve drunk their fill, they’ll know which loos don’t have a mile-long queue. A specially developed app prevents bottlenecks around the ground, says BBC Radio 4’s Today: spectators can order food and drink, getting a message when it’s ready to be collected, and “heat maps” show which toilets are busy.

Noted

The US state of Washington is tempting adults to get their Covid vaccine with free marijuana joints. The Joints for Jabs scheme will run until 12 July. That’s great, tweeted comedian Trevor Noah – “But weren’t we arresting black people for this like 10 minutes ago?”

Quoted

“Be as you wish to seem.”

Socrates