Skip to main contentSkip to navigationSkip to navigation
Radcliffe Camera building at the University of Oxford. Photograph: Daniel Smith/Getty Images

Tuesday briefing: Oxford bridges gap for deprived students

This article is more than 4 years old
Radcliffe Camera building at the University of Oxford. Photograph: Daniel Smith/Getty Images

Eligible applicants lacking top grades offered foundation year … F1 legend Niki Lauda dies … and how Nigel Farage copied Italy’s far right

Top story: Catch-up year for talented school leavers

Hello, I’m Warren Murray and this is your first port of call for Tuesday’s news.

Oxford university is to launch a foundation year for talented school-leavers who lack the required grades. It will form part of a programme to address low numbers of students from disadvantaged and under-represented backgrounds. The Foundation Oxford scheme will offer students with “high academic potential” a place on a one-year, pre-degree course, based on a programme already in use at one Oxford college, Lady Margaret Hall (LMH).

The students will receive tuition and coaching, with the intention that they go on to begin an undergraduate degree the following year. David Lammy, the MP who has been a prominent critic of Oxbridge admissions for disadvantaged and minority ethnic students, said it was “a major step forward … [though] for true systemic change to be achieved, admissions should be centralised and contextual data should be used at every stage in the admissions process.”


Vale Niki Lauda – The three-time Formula One world champion Niki Lauda has died aged 70, his family has announced. The Austrian, who won the title in 1975, 1977 and 1984, had received a lung transplant eight months ago. In 1976 a major crash at Nürburgring in Germany left Lauda with severe burns and damaged lungs. Despite doubts he would survive or ever race again, Lauda’s determination was extraordinary and just six weeks later he returned for the Italian Grand Prix, still bandaged and in pain.

Niki Lauda and Britain’s James Hunt at the Belgian grand prix in 1977. Photograph: Sutton

Outside of F1, Lauda pursued business interests including his own airline and went on to have senior roles in F1 management, most recently as non-executive chairman at the hugely successful Mercedes since 2012 where he helped bring Lewis Hamilton to the team. Here are some pictorial highlights from his extraordinary life and career.


‘County lines’ crackdown – Nearly 600 people suspected of involvement in drug dealing have been arrested in a single week, police have said, as officers target so-called “county lines” gangs. Raids turned up £176,780 worth of cocaine, £36,550 worth of crack cocaine and £17,950 worth of heroin, as well as £300,000 in cash and 46 weapons. Police rescued a missing 14-year-old girl and arrested three men on suspicion of offences linked to child sexual abuse. They swooped on an alleged drug ring using a vulnerable person’s home as its base. Nikki Holland from the National Crime Authority (NCA) said: “We know that criminal networks use high levels of violence, exploitation and abuse to ensure compliance from the vulnerable people they employ to do the day-to-day drug supply activity.” Authorities said signs of a young person being drawn into a county lines gang could include new unaffordable belongings, going missing a lot, friendships with older people, and unexplained injuries.


Don’t bust deal, says chancellor – Philip Hammond says a hard Brexit would be a “betrayal” of voters in the 2016 referendum who were told by the leave campaign that Britain would depart the EU with a deal. Cabinet will today discuss final details of what Downing Street calls a “new and improved deal”, expected to include reassurances on the Irish backstop, workers’ rights and environmental protections. The Electoral Commission says it will attend the offices of Nigel Farage’s Brexit party after Gordon Brown questioned the legality of the party’s funding. Farage himself has become the latest target of a milkshake-chucker while campaigning in Newcastle for the EU elections. A survey has shown that since the Brexit referendum 71% of people from ethnic minorities report having faced racial discrimination, up from 58% before the vote.


Lives wrecked by testing scandal – The National Audit Office is expected this week to deliver its report on how the Home Office handled allegations of cheating on English-language tests by foreign students. More than 1,000 people have been removed from the UK as a result of the accusations. Amelia Gentleman has interviewed some of those who say they were falsely accused – like Naveed Khan, 33, who tried to kill himself as a result, and now lives in destitution in Pakistan as his UK lawyer battles to clear his name. And Farzana Boby, 29, who speaks clear and precise English – “It is highly unlikely that she would have needed assistance to pass a straightforward English test,” writes Gentleman – and whose family spent £50,000 on her business degree studies in London. Forced back to Bangladesh, she is desperate for vindication. “I would like to be able to show an apology to my parents, so they know I haven’t done anything wrong.”


Wild idea to cut carbon – A quarter of the UK would be restored to nature under a radical plan to help Britain reach zero carbon emissions. Rewilding Britain says £3bn a year in farm subsidies could be redirected to creating 2m hectares (4.94m acres) of new woodland and 2m hectares of species-rich meadows, and protect 2m hectares of peat bogs and heaths. They would absorb and store carbon dioxide equivalent to 10% of the UK’s annual emissions, without harming farmers and food production, the group says. Separately the BlackRock investment house – the world’s biggest investor in coal – is under pressure to use its influence to push major polluters into taking action on the climate crisis.

Lunchtime read: Nigel Farage’s Italian job

The former Ukip leader forged an alliance with the Five Star Movement just as they bulldozed Italian politics using a tightly controlled digital operation. And now he’s putting their techniques to work in Britain.

Nigel Farage in 2016. Photograph: Niklas Halle’n/AFP/Getty Images/Guardian Design

And in our Today in Focus podcast: with the Brexit party expected to top the polls in this week’s European elections in the UK, the Guardian’s Peter Walker describes a reshaping of British politics. Plus: Samuel Gibbs on Google and Huawei.

Sport

Jofra Archer will see his remarkable cricketing rise capped off by a place in England’s World Cup squad, with David Willey set to be the unlucky seamer who misses out when selector Ed Smith names his final 15 today. Andy Murray is confident he can return to competitive tennis and has hinted at a doubles spot at Wimbledon. The husband of Tom Daley has accused British Swimming of telling lies as a row relating to the couple’s baby son’s access to poolside events escalated on social media.

England’s netball captain, Ama Agbeze, has spoken of her frustration and disappointment after being left out of Tracey Neville’s 12-strong squad for the upcoming World Cup. McLaren offered to buy Fernando Alonso a seat in the Indianapolis 500, but the two-time F1 world champion told the team he was uncomfortable replacing a driver who had earned a spot in the race. And Zinedine Zidane clearly wants Gareth Bale out of Real Madrid but, with three years left on his contract and no other club likely to match his wages, the Welshman is not going quietly.

Business

Asian shares have won some after Washington temporarily eased trade restrictions imposed on China’s Huawei, although fears of a further escalation in tensions kept investors on edge. MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan was up 0.35% but stayed not far from a four-month low touched on Friday. Japan’s Nikkei fell 0.4%. The pound has been trading at $1.272 and €1.140 while the FTSE is tracking to be higher at the open.

The papers

Nigel Farage’s dousing in milkshake features prominently across today’s front pages. “Brexit Party finances get shake-down,” quips the i. The Express takes it more seriously: “Attack on Farage is affront to democracy”.

Guardian front page, Tuesday 21 May 2019.

The Telegraph and Times both feature photographs of a milkshaked Farage but lead with stories about the race to become Tory leader. “Raab: Cut income tax for ‘fairer’ Britain”, is the lead story in the former; “Chancellor leads attack on Johnson over Brexit” runs the latter.

The Guardian has the Farage photograph (caption: “Shaken and stirred”), but splashes with “Revealed: big rise in public racism since Brexit vote”. The FT also carries the picture (caption: “Spilt milk”) while its main story is: “Huawei tees up its own phone software after Google ban”. The Mail leaves Farage well alone, instead reporting that Prince Charles is due to host Donald Trump during his state visit: “Charles’ tea party summit with Trump”. The Mirror has “GPs: Give us more time with patients” and the Sun reports that a labourer, the secret son of an aristocrat, has inherited £50m estate: “Lad of the manor”.

Sign up

The Guardian Morning Briefing is delivered to thousands of inboxes bright and early every weekday. If you are not already receiving it by email, you can sign up here.

For more news: www.theguardian.com

Most viewed

Most viewed