Children who skip breakfast don’t perform as well as their peers. So says Hiroshima prefecture in Japan, which has just launched a free breakfast scheme for elementary schools. Yesterday 45 students at Ajinadaihigashi Elementary School sat down to a breakfast of staples such as bread, cereal and miso soup, served by local volunteers and provided for free by supermarkets and food companies. The prefecture hopes to roll out the programme at other schools soon, with the goal of teaching students about nutrition and encouraging them to eat properly at home before they leave the house. Japanese schools clearly take nutrition seriously, given that the local government said 5 per cent of 11 to 12-year-olds in the prefecture are skipping breakfast; in the UK the figure is closer to 30 per cent.

UK prime minister Theresa May has convinced her cabinet to accept a draft Brexit agreement, despite internal criticisms. The agreement will see the UK acting as a de facto member of the EU until 2020 and includes a £39bn (€45bn) exit bill. While the acceptance of the draft agreement is a coup for May, pro-Brexit politicians fear it will subject the country to Brussels’ rules while removing the UK’s input in their formulation. “You’ve got Tory MPs openly talking about a leadership challenge but what are the alternatives?” George Parker, political editor of the Financial Times, tells to The Briefing. “They could leave the EU without a deal – and end up with economic chaos.” With her cabinet on board May must now convince the House of Commons of the draft agreement’s merit.