All broadcasts today lead with the Victory over Japan Day anniversary with it widely reported that the Queen has lead the nation in marking the 70th anniversary celebrations.
VJ Day
The majority of today's papers include stories to mark the VJ Day anniversary.
The Guardian reports comments made Japan's Prime Minister Shinzo Abe that Japan “can't carry on apologising for war” and that future generations should not have to keep saying sorry for what the nation's military did during the Second World War.
The Independent and the Telegraph preview today’s commemorations while The Times runs a feature on a 95-year-old veteran who witnessed the dropping of the Hiroshima bomb and will now attend the events in London. The Mirror runs several pages of features, including a prisoner of war speaking about his leg being amputated with anaesthetic.
Defence Minister Lord Howe said:
The 70th anniversary of VJ Day has brought the UK together to pay tribute to the courage of veterans, civilian internees and Prisoners of War who fought and suffered for their country. It is only right that we recognise the sacrifices made by all those whose actions led to the final victory of Allied Forces in the Second World War and ensured the security at home that we now all enjoy.
SDSR
The Telegraph today reports that experts have accused the Government of "insulting" them by limiting their contributions to the SDSR to just a few hundred words. The MOD is calling for public consultation on this summer's review, but the space to respond to an online form is only 1,500 characters. The Bow Group, a Conservative think thank, has warned that the review risked being superficial, unless given more time to analyse the threats Britain faces. Labour says promises to consult widely were a sham, and DefenceSynergia, a lobby group including several former senior officers and academics, says the approach is "quite frankly, an insult" and that it did not open up SDSR to a broad base of analytical thinking. The piece references that the Royal Navy is expected to use the SDSR to call for 2,500 more sailors.
A Government spokesperson said:
The Government is engaging with a wide range of external experts on the upcoming Strategic Defence and Security Review, including academics, industry, think tanks and non-governmental organisations. This engagement poll is an important tool for inviting comments from the public on the full range of SDSR topics, but it is not the only way in which the Government is seeking external input.
Van explosion
There is further coverage today of the postal van that exploded at Holywood army barracks base in Northern Ireland yesterday. In a short piece, The Mirror says the device ripped apart the van and suggest that it is unclear whether the MI5 headquarters nearby was the intended target.
This incident remains a PSNI lead.
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