Battle of the boats

The Independent's Morning Headlines email [View online]( March 09, 2023 [Morning Headlines]( 1 / [Home Office staff accuse Braverman of ‘cowardly attack’ and say small boats plan ‘won’t work’]( [Suella Braverman]( and [Rishi Sunak]( are on a collision course with [civil servants]( over their controversial small-boats plan. Proposals to turn back all arrivals have provoked a huge row, with the government saying something must be done to stop migrants, while the UNHCR condemned the idea as illegal. Staff within the Home Office told The Independent that the home secretary’s plans are mere “empty threats” and will not work, while former Tory ministers called for more safe and legal routes to be established for asylum seekers. Ms Braverman was condemned for a statement sent in her name to Conservative Party members, which claimed that officials implementing her policies were part of an “activist blob” that had blocked previous attempts to stop the crossings. On Friday, French president [Emmanuel Macron]( is expected to tell Mr Sunak at a meeting in Paris that Britain will have to make annual payments if it wants France to tackle the crisis by stepping up patrols in [Calais](.   2 / [No 10 condemns Gary Lineker tweet comparing Tory policy to Nazis]( BBC licence-fee payers have ‘legitimate concerns’ about small boats, says Downing Street 3 / [Kyiv among targets as Russian missiles rain down on cities across Ukraine]( Ukrainian officials and media say Russia unleashed a massive missile barrage on cities across the country, targeting energy infrastructure facilities 4 / [Heavy snow and blizzard to hit Britain as Arctic blast hits]( Heavy snow to cause “significant disruption” across UK on Thursday and Friday 5 / [Fears NHS weight loss jab could be harmful to those vulnerable to eating disorders]( Approval of weight-loss drug for NHS use is ‘reckless’, argues Dr Asher Larmie   The Big Question When did Britain’s homes become so sad and colourless? You’ve seen the pictures: a “before” photo of Victorian tiling around a fireplace. Or a wooden mantelpiece. Or a pastel pink sink with matching soap dishes inset into a colourful tiled wall. Then you flick to the “after” and find that you’ve suddenly been plunged into a greyscale world, like Dorothy in The Wizard of Oz but in reverse, writes [Eloise Hendy](. Check out this amazing transformation, the posts shriek! Every single unique feature has been pulverised and scrapped, so we can make our homeownership design dream come true. And that dream – the one we have scrimped and saved and strived for, ISA over fist – is to live in the grey zone. Grey walls, grey floors, grey corner sofa. Grey crushed velvet headboard. Grey fences surrounding gardens purged of life in favour of grey paving slabs and pebbles. Grey rattan outdoor furniture and a fire pit. So flammable; so Instagrammable. Dubbed the “grey plague”, this so-neutral-its-deathly palette of “greige” has been the look of our times for what feels like aeons now. On practically every street and at every corner of the internet, you’ll find them – these humourless housing reboots, where all character has been destroyed in favour of life in a desaturated Lego block. You look at each new iteration, a near identikit copy of the last, and it’s hard not to tip into paranoia. Is there a plot to drain colour from the world? Why are so many people falling over themselves to fit a grey filter to reality, covering everything in a dull wash that resembles nothing more than the distorting lens of depression? As one Redditor put it, “It’s just soul destroying to come in from a grey, gringey British cold winter night, and oh look! Your entire house looks like outside.” Why does everything look the same, and also awful? [For the full story click here >](   Enjoying this newsletter? 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