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Humza Yousaf was elected leader of the Scottish National party, beating Kate Forbes by 52 per cent to 48 per cent after Ash Regan was eliminated; MSPs then elected him First Minister. Of 19 transgender prisoners in custody in Scotland, 12 began their transition ‘after their date of admission’, according to data obtained under Freedom of Information laws. The National Executive Committee of the Labour party voted 22 to 12 to bar Jeremy Corbyn from standing as a Labour candidate at the next election. The terrorism threat level in Northern Ireland was raised from substantial to severe, meaning an attack was highly likely. The Grenadier Guards who carried the late Queen’s coffin into St George’s Chapel, Windsor, were among those recognised in the Demise Honours list, in which the King made appointments to the Royal Victorian Order by his own choice. The Duke of Sussex visited the High Court to watch proceedings in a privacy case he has brought against Associated Newspapers. Children below 11 will be offered the polio vaccine in London, where there has been some transmission of the virus, although the disease had been eradicated in Britain in 2003. James Bowman, the countertenor, died aged 81.

DP World, which built the London Gateway container port and also owns P&O Ferries, which sacked 800 British workers last year in favour of cheaper foreign ones, was approved to co-run the Thames Freeport in Essex. After interest rates were raised another quarter of a percentage point by the Bank of England, Andrew Bailey, its governor, blamed early retirement for ‘upward pressure on inflation’. Royal Mail, in dispute with the Communication Workers Union, considered declaring the business insolvent under the Postal Act. British Airways cancelled about 32 Heathrow flights a day at the start of the Easter holidays because of a ten-day strike by security workers in the Unite union.

Rishi Sunak, the Prime Minister, came up with some scheme to make vandals mend the damage they had done within 48 hours of being ordered to do so. The government would also make possession of laughing gas (nitrous oxide) illegal. The government said migrants would no longer be put up in hotels but concentrated in camps. The Gambling Commission imposed penalties of £19.2 million on William Hill, the bookmakers, for failing to protect consumers or watch out for money laundering. Westminster School set about becoming fully co-educational by 2030. Cambridge won the 168th Boat Race, widening its lead over Oxford, which has won 81 times.

Abroad

Russia would station tactical nuclear weapons in Belarus, President Vladimir Putin announced. Germany sent its first shipment of 18 Leopard 2 tanks to Ukraine, joining the first of 14 British Challenger tanks. Banking shares came under pressure in Europe, notably those of Deutsche Bank. Lebanon found itself keeping two different times after Najib Mikati, the Prime Minister, delayed summer time until the end of Ramadan later this month, although Christian authorities put the clocks forward in March. Amsterdam launched an advertising campaign discouraging visits by British men aged 18 to 35.

In France, uncollected rubbish was set on fire in the streets. The protests against the raising of the pension age from 62 to 64 led to the cancellation of a state visit by the King of the United Kingdom, who made his first state visit to Germany instead. President Emmanuel Macron quietly took off an expensive watch during a television interview, an act pounced upon by his critics. Uganda passed the death penalty for ‘aggravated homosexuality’, such as sexual abuse of a child or vulnerable person. Shou Zi Chew, the chief executive of TikTok, which is used by 150 million Americans, was questioned and verbally abused for four hours at a US congressional hearing, which called the app a security risk. At a primary school in Nashville, Tennessee, three adults and three children were shot dead by a 28-year-old former pupil who identified as a trans man. A tornado hit Rolling Fork, Mississippi, pop. 1,883, killing at least 25. At least 29 sub-Saharan migrants bound for Italy drowned off the coast of Tunisia; a record 2,500 migrants arrived on the Italian island of Lampedusa in 24 hours. An asteroid perhaps 300ft in diameter, big enough to obliterate a city, passed between the moon and the Earth.