Boris Johnson to face court over Brexit ‘lie’, mayors call for nationalisation of Northern Rail, and more top news

The news professionals are talking about now, curated by LinkedIn’s editors. Join the conversation on today's stories in the comments.

Conservative leadership contender Boris Johnson has been ordered by a district judge to appear in court over allegations he lied during the Brexit campaign. Johnson, who is frontrunner to succeed Theresa May when she steps down as prime minister, stated Britain would be ￡350 million a week better off outside the EU but opponents argued that it was deliberately misleading. Misconduct in a public office carries a maximum sentence of life in prison. The ruling comes as new figures reveal the government has paid nearly ￡100 million of public money on Brexit advice from private consultancy firms. ? Here's what people are saying

The mayors of Manchester and Birmingham have called for Northern Rail to be stripped of its rail franchise and for the routes to be nationalised. Andy Burnham and Steve Rotherham said the train operator had failed to restore public trust after a chaotic rail timetable shake-up a year ago. A fifth of services arrived late, 28,000 were cancelled and twice as many services had carriages reduced between December and April, they said. "Enough is enough," said Burnham, Manchester's mayor. ? Here’s what people are saying.

Also… Online rail ticketing company, Trainline, hopes to raise ￡75 million by listing its shares on London's stock exchange in June. Trainline employs more than 600 people across offices in London, Paris and Edinburgh and sells tickets on behalf of 220 transport providers in 45 countries.

Britain needs more vets, web designers, psychologists and architects, says a government advisory group, and non-European migration rules should be relaxed. The Migration Advisory Committee says these roles and many others in health and engineering should be on the Shortage Occupation List which allow workers from outside the European Economic Area (EEA) to jump the queue. Workers within the EEA (including the EU, UK, Norway, Iceland and Lichtenstein) can move freely without visa restrictions but there’s a cap of 20,700 for highly-skilled migrants. ? Here’s what people are saying.

The UK’s competition watchdog is turning its gaze to the ￡1.3 billion hostile takeover of Provident Financial by Non-Standard Finance (NSF). The Competition and Markets Authority is asking for comments on the impact of the merger and potential for decreased competition in the home credit market. The bid by NFS, run by its former boss John van Kuffeler, has been labelled “flawed” by Provident and investors are refusing to back it. But NSF has offered to sell its home credit arm and van Kuffeler maintains the deal will benefit investors and staff. ? Here’s what people are saying.

Do you know what your iPhone is secretly doing at night? A Washington Post privacy experiment with monitoring software found 5400 hidden app trackers operating on an ordinary iPhone over the course of just one week. A range of trackers shared personal details such as email addresses and locations with third parties, particularly overnight, it said, creating a trove of personal data for marketing and political messaging. While some apps require trackers to function properly, the experiment raises concerns about the transparent use of consumer data. ? Here’s what people are saying.

Idea of the Day: As workaholism becomes more prevalent, reward your employees for the quality of their work, not the quantity of hours worked, says Alistair Cox, chief executive at Hays.

“ Review how you measure success and assess candidates for promotion — are your long-standing processes rewarding the right things? If not, it’s time for a rethink.”

What's your take on today’s stories? Share your thoughts in the comments.

—  Cathy Anderson and Andrea Beattie