Spy case focus on poisoned policeman

The poisoning of a former Russian spy and his daughter in Salisbury once again dominates coverage in the papers, with the Daily Telegraph, Times and Daily Mirror all leading their reports on the news a police officer who went to their aid is also fighting for his life.

The Financial Times says it marks one of the first times a nerve agent has been used away from the battlefield, while the Daily Mirror talks of a “deadly toxin on the streets of Britain”.

It accuses Theresa May of “grovelling before a despotic ruler of a brutal kingdom” – further proof, the paper says, of this government’s lack of ethics.

It announces the launch of a campaign, backed by business leaders, MPs and academics, to help women entrepreneurs raise capital to start a business.

There is a blunt response from some quarters to the warning from the President of the European Council, Donald Tusk, that trade with the UK will be “more complicated and costly” after Brexit.

The Daily Mail agrees, accusing them of putting obstacles in the way of a trade deal.

The intimate 45 minute service was conducted by the Archbishop of Canterbury at the Chapel Royal on Tuesday evening, he says, using water from the River Jordan.

Finally, the announcement that this week’s edition of the music paper, NME, will be the last to appear in print form provokes pages of nostalgic outpourings, not least from Tony Parsons in the Sun.

He began his career there as a 22 year old in 1977, and describes a world steeped in drugs, drink, pop, rock and punk.

“No one cared if we breathed fumes of alcohol over the typewriters after a three-day bender,” he writes, “so long as we hit our deadlines”.