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9 months ago
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A number of Saturday’s papers lead on the death of Derek Draper, the author and former political adviser. He had been living with extreme complications from Covid since contracting the disease in March 2020. The Daily Mirror leads on tributes by his wife, TV presenter Kate Garraway, who said she was “so lucky to have you in my life”.
The Daily Star also leads on tributes to Draper, quoting Garraway – who is pictured with her husband in the paper’s main image - as saying “Rest gently now Derek, my love”.
The Daily Express also reports on Draper’s death, leading with an image of him with Garraway. It describes a “heartbroken” Garraway as calling her husband “darling” Derek. It also has a tribute to Starsky and Hutch actor David Soul who has died at the age of 80.
Draper's death is also the main story on the front page of the Sun, with a past image showing Garraway holding her husband's hand, next to the headline "I held Derek's hand to the end".
A smiling Draper with Garraway is also the main image on the front page of the Times, although its main story says that the Met Police has confirmed that the Post Office is under criminal investigation over the wrongful prosecution of hundreds of sub-postmasters as part of the Horizon IT scandal between 2009 and 2015. The paper reports that it’s not clear if the investigation relates to individual staff or the Post Office as a corporate entity.
The Daily Telegraph leads on the news that Chris Skidmore, a former minister, is quitting as a Conservative MP over the government’s energy plans. He quit ahead of a vote on a bill on Monday to guarantee annual oil and gas licensing rounds. The Telegraph said he launched a “scathing attack” on the government’s green policies
The i weekend leads on a story about rats "infesting UK towns and cities" as bin collection services have been delayed by up to three weeks, due to bank holidays, storms and flooding. Its front page also previews a story from its sport section, reporting that England rugby player Owen Farrell is "in talks to turn his back on English rugby" - French club Racing Metro has denied having an agreement to sign the Saracens fly-half.
The main story on the front page of the FT Weekend reports that the British Library is struggling to recover from a cyber attack in October. The paper reports that the cost of rebuilding most of its digital services could cost £7m, consuming about 40% of its reserves. The paper's main image shows a farmer in Tequila, Mexico, cutting an agave plant to extract the pineapple used to make tequila. The paper reports that the drink is falling out of favour
Photographs of Derek Draper feature on many front pages alongside his wife - the TV presenter - Kate Garraway. She announced yesterday that the 56-year-old former Labour spin-doctor had died after a long battle with Covid. "Goodbye Darling Derek" is the headline in the Daily Mirror - which carries a quote from Garraway - who said she was "so lucky" to have him in her life. The Sun reports that she "held his hand to the end" - and on its inside pages it documents how life changed for the family after Derek first became ill, in March 2020.
The Times - which first revealed the latest development in the criminal investigation into the Post Office - says it's not clear if it relates to individual staff, or to the company as a corporate entity. It quotes a spokeswoman for the Metropolitan Police as saying that officers were investigating "potential fraud offences" arising out of the prosecutions of sub-postmasters - and relating to "monies" recovered from them "as a result of prosecutions or civil actions". The paper also says that the Criminal Cases Review Commission has urged more potential victims to come forward.
The flooding that has affected parts of the country over the past few days is the focus of the Guardian's front page. Its headline is a quote from Labour who accused the prime minister of being "asleep at the wheel" after at least 1,000 properties were flooded and some villages were totally cut off. But according to the paper, Rishi Sunak has rejected the criticism and said that the Environment Agency was responding "appropriately, and with all due haste".
The British Library will need to use almost 40% of its reserves to recover from a cyber attack according to the Financial Times. The paper says the institution - which stores about 170 million pieces of work - was forced off-line in October. Hackers, it says, published hundreds of thousands of stolen files after the library refused to pay a £600,000 ransom. But, according to the FT, it will cost between £6m and £7m to re-build the library's digital services.
The front of the i newspaper warns that rats are infesting many UK towns and cities because of delays to bin collections. These are caused in some places by councils facing what it describes as "a cash crisis". The paper reports that some collections have been delayed by up to three weeks - resulting in rubbish piling up and allowing rodent populations to "thrive".
The Daily Mail tells a more positive "rodent" story, however, with details of a mouse which has been captured on camera tidying a shed during the night. Rodney Holbrook from Powys in mid-Wales, said he set up a recording device after he noticed odds and ends were being moved around his workspace. Footage shows the mouse picking up clothes pegs, corks, nuts and bolts and putting them all in a pot. Mr Holbrook says he calls him the Welsh Tidy Mouse and that he now doesn't have to bother to tidy up himself.
