Yahoo News The 8 things you might have missed this weekend
Theresa May's funding boost for the NHS is coming under intense scrutiny, the bill to rebuild a fire-ravaged Glasgow School of Art could be as much as £100m, and David Dimbleby is to step down from Question Time after 25 years.
Meanwhile, Harry Kane is in a bullish mood ahead of England's World Cup opener against Tunisia today and Brooks Koepka has defended his US Open title.
If you've been away from a screen or newspaper all weekend or want a summary, here's a quick recap of the main events.
1. Stealth tax to pay for NHS boost
Stealth taxes are expected to help pay for Theresa May’s £20 billion increase in NHS spending, The Daily Telegraph has learnt.
On Monday the Prime Minister will set out her plans for the health service cash injection after warning that people will be “contributing more”.
Some of the money will come from a “Brexit dividend” – cash that Britain will no longer send to Brussels after the UK leaves the EU in March next year. But under plans being discussed in the Treasury, personal tax thresholds are expected to be frozen after 2020 to help pay for the spending increase.
These are the salary levels at which people pay the basic and higher rates of tax. Freezing the thresholds means that more people’s incomes will move into the tax brackets as salaries increase through annual pay rises – a process known as “fiscal drag”.
2. 'Digital map ' could save Glasgow School of Art
The fire-ravaged Glasgow School of Art can be rebuilt thanks to a "remarkable" digital map of the world-renowned building made before the blaze but the cost would likely exceed £100 million, it has emerged.
Billy Hare, a professor of construction management, said there was a "growing consensus" the facade of the Charles Rennie Mackintosh masterpiece may have to be pulled down for safety reasons.
He warned that a conservative estimate for taking down then rebuilding the art school with a new internal frame would be at least £100 million.
But it emerged that a restoration project conducted after a smaller blaze in 2014 had mapped every aspect of the building "down to the nearest millimetre."
3. Billy Caldwell's mother demands 'outdated' cannabis laws be changed
The mother of a severely epileptic boy has called for a meeting with cabinet ministers to discuss re-thinking "massively outdated" laws on medical marijuana so other children can receive treatment.
Charlotte Caldwell also said she wanted them to assure her she would not face "another battle" for 12-year-old Billy when the 20-day supply returned by the Home Office runs out.
The Government's initial refusal, and then its change in stance, has prompted renewed debate on legislation, with a Conservative MP who leads a drug policy parliamentary group saying existing laws are "frankly absurd".
After a week-long struggle, Home Secretary Sajid Javid used "an exceptional power" on Saturday to return some of the medicine confiscated from the mother when she tried to bring it into the UK from Canada.
4. Dimbleby to leave Question Time after 25 years
David Dimbleby is to step down from Question Time after 25 years, as the BBC fires the starting gun on the race for its most prestigious hosting job.
The corporation has announced Dimbleby will leave the political debate programme at the end of the year to return to his “first love” of reporting, following his 80th birthday.
The BBC will come under heavy pressure to promote a woman into the senior role, with Kirsty Wark and Kirsty Young both being linked with the job in recent weeks.
Members Own The search for a new presenter comes after the BBC gender pay gap scandal, which saw an embarrassing disparity between the salaries commanded by senior men and high-profile women at the corporation.
5. Melania Trump wades into separated children row
First lady Melania Trump "hates" to see families separated at the border and hopes "both sides of the aisle" can reform the nation's immigration laws, according to a statement about the controversy over separation of immigrant parents and children at the U.S.-Mexico border.
Mrs. Trump was making an unusual entry into a fierce political debate. She didn't refer specifically to the Trump administration's "no tolerance" policy, which was leading to a harp rise in children being separated from their families. Government statistics indicate that nearly 2,000 children were separated from their families over a six-week period in April and May.
"Mrs. Trump hates to see children separated from their families and hopes both sides of the aisle can finally come together to achieve successful immigration reform," said Stephanie Grisham, a spokeswoman for Mrs. Trump. "She believes we need to be a country that follows all laws, but also a country that governs with heart."
However, no law mandates the separation of children and parents at the border. A new Trump administration policy, which went into effect in May, sought to maximise criminal prosecutions of people caught trying to enter the US illegally. More adults were being jailed as a result, which led to their children being separated from them.
6. Bullish Harry Kane sets sights on double
Harry Kane has laid down a challenge to the best in the world by outlining a series of extraordinary ambitions on the eve of England’s Group G opening game against Tunisia.
The England captain believes he can make the World Cup his first trophy, wants to challenge Cristiano Ronaldo for the Golden Boot and insists he is ready to prove himself on the biggest stage.
Kane is yet to score a goal in a major tournament, while England have not made it past the last 16 of the World Cup since 2006, but the striker demonstrated the confidence that is running through the squad.
The striker was speaking as the World Cup saw its latest upset, with Mexico's defeat of reigning champions Germany.
Three of the past four defending champions at World Cup finals have been eliminated in the first round, but Joachim Löw is determined his side won't suffer the same fate.
“We will go to the next round,” he said.
Catch up on all the latest World Cup news here.
7. Koepka snatches back-to-back US Open titles
Sir Nick Faldo believed Tommy Fleetwood had done enough to win his first major here after his record-equalling 63 and so, too, did the bookmakers who made the young Englishman the long odds-on favourite going into the enthralling final hour of the 118th US Open.
But they had not reckoned on the talent and remarkable resilience of Brooks Koepka, the 28-year-old American who became just the third player since the war – following Ben Hogan and Curtis Strange – to defend his title.
Just when it appeared Fleetwood was on the brink of emulating Justin Rose’s success five years ago, so Koepka proceeded to produce a succession of stunning saves before the crucial birdie on the 16th which afforded him the comfort to bogey the 18th to win by a shot on one-over after a 68.
8. England in freefall after South Africa defeat
A season that began with high hopes of creating history can now not finish soon enough for England.
This fifth successive Test defeat, equally the losing streak of Stuart Lancaster’s England side in 2014, saw any lingering hopes of salvaging the Test series against South Africa extinguished in the thin air of Bloemfontein.
But more alarmingly, having gone into the season with the ambition of becoming the first side to win three successive Six Nations titles, England instead find themselves in a state of freefall, with questions mounting about how can they arrest it.
The series defeat, on the back of their fifth-place finish in the Six Nations, has stripped Eddie Jones’s side of the status of genuine contenders for next year’s World Cup that they had worked so hard to establish after winning the first 17 Tests under the Australian.
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