The cybersecurity bug that caused IT outages around the world on Friday dominates the front pages.
The Daily Express asks, “How on earth did a digital pandemic paralyse the world?”, while the Daily Mirror dubs it “the day the world stood still”.
The Daily Telegraph carries a warning from insurance comparison site MoneySupermarket that “hundreds” of travel policies are unlikely to provide cover for people whose trips were affected.
A cybersecurity professor at Surrey University, Alan Woodward, tells the Times CrowdStrike appears to have been a victim of its own success in attracting significant clients. He questions how rigorously the software was tested before it was launched – adding it was “unforgivable” that the faulty update had resulted in such significant problems.
The Financial Times quotes a security consultant, Troy Hunt, as saying that – by his estimation – this will be the largest IT outage in history. The paper also reports that some workers in China had an early start to the weekend, as bosses told them to go home because of the problems.
In other news, the Times says independent pay review bodies have told the government it should give millions of teachers and NHS workers an above-inflation salary boost. According to the paper, two bodies have recommended pay rises of about 5.5%, significantly more than the 3% that had been budgeted for.
One health union source tells the paper that workers will not settle for less than what is set out in the independent recommendation – and that ministers should find the extra cash, or face a row with the unions.
Former Conservative home secretary Suella Braverman is “tipped to join Reform”, according to the i. The paper has spoken to a senior Tory source who says there is so much antagonism towards Ms Braverman within the party that many MPs believe she will defect.
A Reform source appears to back up this view, telling the paper that they expect her to join them in the autumn. Mrs Braverman’s spokesperson said she had only recently been re-elected, and that she had been a Conservative Party member for three decades.
The number of infamous biting midges is likely to reach its peak in Scotland in the next few weeks, according to the Guardian. Experts say the insects have been thriving in the wet Scottish summer and that tourist hotspots such as Ullapool, Fort William, and Lochcarron have been some of the worst-affected areas.
The Telegraph reports on a row that has begun in the Cornish village of Mousehole after residents were given new wheelie bins without the old ones being taken away.
Villagers have complained that the old bins are blocking the roads and are covered in seagull droppings – spoiling the charm of the place. Cornwall Council, which has received some 10,000 complaints about the matter, says it has already started clearing the bins away.
