A surge of low-grade stars has thrown the celebrity world into a sub-prime crisis. Now where’s Mervyn King? Going by this weekend’s headlines, setting next year’s citizenship test should be a doddle.

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Celebrity world is in sub-prime crisis

Trade union leaders called to meeting with ministers today over plans to reform severance deals of 500,000 civil servants The government was today accused of declaring war on trade unions as ministers moved to cut the redundancy terms of public sector workers and reports emerged of plans to tighten up the law on strike ballots. Union leaders have been called to a meeting with ministers today over plans to reform the severance deals of 500,000 civil servants, reducing the cost of laying them off as the government attempts to cut public spending. It was disclosed at the weekend that the chancellor, George Osborne, had asked government departments to draw up plans for budget cuts of up to 40% in the run-up to the government spending review in October.

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Unions accuse govt of declaring war

US secretary of state says she has been kept up-to-date with plans for daughter’s upcoming wedding via email Juggling weighty issues of global diplomacy on a whistlestop tour of eastern Europe with tricky decisions about flower arrangements is not the average dilemma for one of the world’s most powerful politicians. But the US secretary of state, Hillary Clinton, admitted to Polish television today that her paramount preoccupation at present is not missile defence or good governance in the former Soviet bloc but preparations for the forthcoming nuptials of her 30-year-old daughter, Chelsea, who is tipped to be married at the end of the month at a mansion in upstate New York. “It truly is the most important thing in my life right now,” said Clinton, taking time out from dispensing independence day greetings to US consulate staff in Krakow.

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Chelsea’s wedding distracts Clinton

• Gay policing minister Nick Herbert to address the crowd • Cut-price Home Office float to have Moulin Rouge theme When the Conservatives last had their hands on the tiller of power, none of their MPs would admit to being homosexual, they voted against lowering the age of consent for gay sex, and invented a law which made it illegal for schools to mention homosexuality. How things change: tomorrow, eight years after Alan Duncan became the first Tory MP to come out of his own volition, Nick Herbert, the openly gay Conservative policing minister, will give a speech at Pride London about “how the Tories have come a helluva long way”.

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Tories out in force for Gay Pride

Department of Health and NHS criticised for making too little progress on tackling key barometer of inequality The life expectancy gap between rich and poor people in England is widening, despite years of government and NHS action, a hard-hitting National Audit Office report reveals today. Extensive efforts have failed to reduce the wide differential, which can still be 10 years or more depending on socio-economic background, says the public spending watchdog.

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UK poor die 10 years earlier than rich

Department for Business Innovation and Skills to lose 25% of roles in some areas according to sources The government department that considers itself responsible for delivering growth across the economy is to become the first Whitehall operation to feel the pressure of the Treasury’s job axe. The 3,000 staff employed by Vince Cable’s Department for Business Innovation and Skills (BIS) will next week be told of a voluntary redundancy programme to cut £38m of administrative costs as ordered by George Osborne. Up to one in four staff in some BIS operations could be at risk, according to sources who say civil servants in Cable’s department are readying themselves for savage cuts

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Jobs cut in ‘department for growth’

Office for National Statistics says quality check revealed ‘potential errors’ in detailed figures in the national accounts data set The accuracy of government data has been called into question once again following the postponement of important GDP and other economic figures by the Office for National Statistics (ONS) after it found “potential errors”.

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ONS economic figures delayed

Leaked government data concerning next five years shows hidden costs of austerity drive George Osborne’s austerity budget will result in the loss of up to 1.3m jobs across the economy over the next five years according to a private Treasury assessment of the planned spending cuts, the Guardian has learned. Unpublished estimates of the impact of the biggest squeeze on public spending since the second world war show that the government is expecting between 500,000 and 600,000 jobs go in the public sector and between 600,000 and 700,000 to disappear in the private sector by 2015. The chancellor gave no hint last week about the likely effect of his emergency measures on the labour market, although he would have had access to the forecasts traditionally prepared for ministers and senior civil servants in the days leading up to a budget or pre-budget report

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Budget will cost 1.3m jobs, say Treasury figures

Cap on skilled migrants is loose enough to allow the entrance of at least half of those currently applying, detailed policy reveals Nearly half of the skilled migrants who come to Britain from outside Europe are to be exempted from the temporary cap on migration planned by the government, according to detailed proposals revealed today.

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Migration cap exemptions under fire

• Read Paul Wilson’s match report of USA 1-2 Ghana (aet) • Read Daniel Taylor’s match report of Uruguay 2-1 South Korea • Download the latest edition of our World Cup Daily podcast • Watching the match somewhere interesting? Send me a photo 1.39pm: There might be a few empty seats, but the England fans are out in force… 1.35pm: And I’m back.

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England v Germany build-up – LIVE