Ten Things You Need to Know Today: Tuesday 27 May 2014

      
   
       NICK CLEGG ‘WOULD LOSE HIS OWN SEAT’      Leaked polling suggests that Nick Clegg will lose his own seat at the general election, claims the Daily Mail. Pressure is growing on Clegg as Lib Dem MPs and activists say it would be “insanity” to keep him as leader and senior Tories discuss what it would mean for the future if he was forced out as party leader. Clegg described the European election results as “gutting”.       
 
     
   
       NHS NEEDS RADICAL CHANGE, SAYS QC      If the NHS were an airline “planes would fall out of the sky all the time” says the chairman of the inquiry into the Mid-Staffs scandal. Robert Francis QC tells the Daily Telegraph the public has been fooled by a falsely positive impression of the quality of service in many British hospitals. He said radical changes are needed to make the system work.      
 
     
   
       NIGERIA: ‘WE KNOW WHERE GIRLS ARE’      Nigeria's top military officer says he knows where the girls abducted by Boko Haram are but he says he will not use force to rescue them. According to the state news agency, chief of defence staff air marshal Alex Badeh said: "But where they are held, can we go there with force? We can't kill our girls in the name of trying to get them back."      
 
     
   
       LEADERS LAUNCH EURO POLL RESPONSE      David Cameron and Ed Miliband are set to launch their responses to Ukip’s victory in the European elections. The prime minister will fly to Brussels for informal discussions with other EU leaders about the election results. Ed Miliband is to deliver a speech in Essex, in which he will set out his approach to rebuilding trust in mainstream politics.        Britain must take on Farage or risk irreversible change       
 
     
   
       STAND-OFF AT DONETSK AIRPORT      Government forces and pro-Russian gunmen are in a stand-off as Ukraine’s military attempts to retake control of Donetsk airport. As armed separatists occupied the airport Kiev deployed fighter jets and helicopters. The violence came as Petro Poroshenko, Ukraine's new president, said he wanted to talk to Russia to end the crisis.      
 
     
   
       POPE: CHILD ABUSE ‘A SATANIC MASS’      Pope Francis will meet a group of sex abuse victims in June after comparing the "ugly crime" to "a satanic Mass". Pope Francis vows that he will show zero tolerance for anyone in the Roman Catholic Church who abuses children. The 77-year-old said any priest who abuses children “betrays the body of the Lord”. He was speaking after his trip to the Middle East.       Pope Francis compares abuse by priests to 'satanic mass'       
 
     
   
       MICHAEL GOVE: I’M NOT BANNING ANY BOOKS      Michael Gove says “culture warriors” are wrong to accuse him of banning American novels including To Kill a Mockingbird from English literature GCSE courses. Writing in the Daily Telegraph, the education secretary said the claims are “rooted in fiction” and that teachers are free to teach the US novels in the classroom.       
 
     
   
       FLOOD WARNINGS IN EASTERN ENGLAND      Forecasters are warning that heavy rain across the east of England could cause flooding over the coming days. The Met Office, which has issued a yellow weather warning of rain for the region, predicts localised flooding that could cause disruption to travel. Up to 70mm (2.76in) of rain is expected parts of Lincolnshire, South Yorkshire and the Humber.      
 
     
   
       GERMAN TABLOID IN KATE REAR PIC      A German tabloid has published a photograph of the Duchess of Cambridge’s bottom. The phone, published in Bild, was shot in Australia last month. Breeze from a helicopter’s rotor blades caused her skirt to blow upwards momentarily. The subsequent photograph was the subject of an international bidding war after the British press refused to print it.      
 
     
   
       HOT TICKET: MANTEL NOVELS ON WEST END      The RSC's stage adaptations of Hilary Mantel's best-selling novels Wolf Hall and Bring Up the Bodies have transferred to the Aldwych Theatre, West End. The double-bill follows the political machinations of Thomas Cromwell in the court of King Henry VIII. "Magnificent," says the Financial Times. Until 6 September.       Wolf Hall/Bring Up the Bodies – reviews of West End shows