The cybersecurity bug that caused IT outages around the world on Friday has been making headlines.
“How did a digital pandemic paralyse the world?” asked the Daily Express, while the Daily Mirror called it “the day the world stopped”.
The Daily Telegraph carried a warning from insurance comparison site MoneySupermarket, saying “hundreds” of travel insurance plans are unlikely to offer cover to people whose trips are affected.
Alan Woodward, a cybersecurity professor at the University of Surrey, told The Times that CrowdStrike appears to have become a victim of its own success in attracting big customers. He questioned how rigorously the software was tested before being released, adding that it was “unacceptable” that a flawed update caused such serious problems.
The Financial Times quoted security consultant Troy Hunt as saying it would be the biggest IT outage in history, and reported that some workers in China had cut their weekends early after being told to go home by their bosses because of the problem.
In other news, The Times reported that independent pay review bodies have told the government that millions of teachers and NHS staff should be given an above-inflation pay increase. The paper said the two bodies have recommended a pay increase of around 5.5%, significantly higher than the 3% earmarked in the budget.
A health and care union source told the paper that workers would not settle for anything less than the independent recommendation and that ministers must come up with the extra funding or face a fight with unions.
Former Conservative home secretary Suella Braverman is “likely to join the Reform Party,” according to the i newspaper, which spoke to a senior Conservative source who said there was so much hostility towards Braverman within the party that many MPs thought she would leave.
Reform sources seemed to back up that view, telling the paper that Mr Braverman plans to join the party in the autumn. A spokesman for Mr Braverman said he had only recently been re-elected and had been a Conservative member for 30 years.
According to The Guardian, Scotland is set to see a peak in numbers of the notorious midge infestation over the coming weeks. Experts say the insects thrive in the country’s wet summer, with tourist destinations like Ullapool, Fort William and Lochcarron being some of the worst-hit areas.
The Telegraph reports that there has been uproar in the Cornwall village of Mousehole after residents were given new bins but their old ones were not collected.
Villagers have complained that the old bins are blocking roads, are covered in seagull droppings and make the area less attractive. Cornwall Council, which has received around 10,000 complaints about the issue, says it has already started removing the bins.