Pope Leo XIV held his first mass in the Sistine Chapel this morning after being elected pontiff yesterday. Robert Prevost, who was born in Chicago but moved to Peru in 1985, became the first American to lead the Catholic Church after four votes in the conclave. Known as a “pacifist warrior”, says Italian newspaper La Stampa, the new Pope’s lifelong advocacy for migrants could put him at odds with his compatriot Donald Trump. Keir Starmer has sealed the first US trade agreement since the Trump administration’s global tariffs came into effect last month. In what the PM calls a “historic” deal, America’s 25% levies on British steel and aluminium have been scrapped, while the 27.5% tariffs on UK car exports have been reduced to 10%. In return, Britain has agreed to slash tariffs on American beef and ethanol – two important exports among Trump’s rural base. Cats are on track to become more popular than dogs in the UK. According to the pet retailer Jollyes, cat ownership among 18-to-34-year-olds has risen “dramatically” in recent years, with 41% of Gen Z owning one, meaning cats will outnumber dogs within two years. Apparently, the trend is driven by celebrity feline fans such as Taylor Swift and Bob Mortimer.

“Peter, great job!” But is it?

Credit where it’s due, says Daniel Hannan in The Daily Telegraph: Keir Starmer’s trade agreement with the US is, “in every sense, a big deal”. America is not simply our biggest export destination, “it is larger than our second, third and fourth markets (Germany, Ireland and the Netherlands) put together”. Almost no-one predicted that we would manage to be the first country to agree a deal under Donald Trump’s “Liberation Day” tariff regime. Sure, the terms could have gone further – but that’s exactly the plan, to sign a more ambitious accord ahead of Trump’s state visit here later this year. For now, the deal will save British luxury car exporters such as Jaguar Land Rover, Bentley and Aston Martin, as well as provide a springboard for future talks. And as Trump himself said, none of this would have been possible were Britain still in the EU. It’s an “unequivocal Brexit boon”.

Steady on, says Gaby Hinsliff in The Guardian. The truth is that this was less a trade deal and more a “hostage negotiation”. The 10% tariff on all exports to the US remains, with no word of when it could get lifted. The deal doesn’t address Trump’s new threat to impose tariffs on foreign-made movies, which could “crucify the British film industry”. All the president has done is reduce levies that didn’t exist a couple of months ago, in exchange for some genuine concessions from the UK. It’s hard to blame Starmer for kowtowing, in as much as it’s hard to blame anyone “with some unfortunate part of their anatomy clamped in a vice”. But the reason diplomats don’t usually pay ransoms to hostage takers is because they’ll “come back for more”. Don’t be surprised if Trump does exactly that.

🧛‍♂️🤝 The deal is a triumph for Peter Mandelson, Britain’s ambassador to the US, say David Charter and Katy Balls in The Times. There were fears the so-called “Prince of Darkness” would struggle to mesh with the Trump administration, given his extensive links to New Labour and the EU. But Mandelson’s “assiduous networking skills” have enabled him to slip into the role of Trump whisperer, with the two acting like “old friends” in the Oval Office yesterday. He left with a memento: Trump’s speaking notes, signed in his distinctive black Sharpie with the words, “Peter, great job!”