As the world battles the coronavirus pandemic, communities are coming together to support each other through difficult times. From improvised festivals to a flypast for Capt Tom Moore at 100, here are some of the small and big things people are doing to keep each others' spirits up.
Continue reading...Category Archives: UK news
Robert Jenrick announces £76m support for abuse survivors affected by lockdown – video
The communities secretary has announced £76m in support for survivors of domestic and sexual abuse who have been affected by the coronavirus lockdown. Admitting the measures have been 'a nightmare' for people trapped at home with abusers, Jenrick said the money would be used to provide more safe spaces and accommodation, recruit workers for survivors of sexual violence and support frontline charities working with those in need
Continue reading...Two suspects arrested over murder of NHS worker David Gomoh
Pair, aged 19 and 17, in custody after Londoner, 24, stabbed days before father’s funeral
Two teenagers have been arrested on suspicion of murdering David Gomoh, the NHS worker killed outside his home in east London last weekend.
Gomoh, 24, worked for Barts Health NHS trust in supplies and procurement. He was stabbed to death just days before he was due to attend the funeral of his father, who died from a Covid-19-related illness.
Continue reading...Row over EU office in Belfast threatens to derail Brexit talks
UK refuses request from Brussels for Northern Ireland presence for second time
The Irish border question threatens to derail Brexit talks again as the depth of the row over the EU’s desire to have an office in Belfast is revealed.
The UK’s paymaster general, Penny Mordaunt, has written to the EU to firmly reject a repeated request for an office in Northern Ireland: “The UK cannot agree to the permanent EU presence based in Belfast,” she wrote.
Continue reading...UK commuters may be asked to check temperature before travelling
Other ideas to ease lockdown reportedly include wearing face masks and a reduction from 2 to 1 metres distancing
UK commuters could be asked to check their temperatures at home before travelling under plans to ease the coronavirus lockdown being considered by the government.
A change in physical distancing measures, including reducing the recommended gap between people in public from 2 metres to 1 metre, is also being considered, according to reports, as Boris Johnson prepares to lay out a “roadmap” next week for schools and businesses reopening.
Continue reading...‘Truly shocking’: the area of the UK worst-affected by Covid-19
Coronavirus has hit the London borough of Newham – one of the UK’s most deprived areas – harder than anywhere else
Kamrul Islam doesn’t dare visit his local supermarket. Over the last few weeks, he said three of his closest friends fell ill with the coronavirus shortly after shopping there. One friend’s mother became seriously unwell after contracting the virus and sadly died.
The 40-year-old former cab driver says a day doesn’t go by when he isn’t aware of a death or infection of someone he knows. While the coronavirus has spread widely across the UK, the pandemic has taken a huge toll on the area where Islam lives, the east London borough of Newham, which has recorded the worst mortality rate in England and Wales.
Continue reading...Is 100,000 tests a day an effective strategy against coronavirus?
UK government has been accused of inflating tally to hit goal for Covid-19 testing
The government has been accused of counting some tests prematurely, reportedly expanding its daily count to include tests that have been sent out in the post, rather than those actually carried out in labs. While it denies the charge, regardless of whether the 100,000 target has been met, countries that have taken a “test, trace, isolate” approach are running a far higher proportion of tests to positive cases than the UK. Germany, which is down to fewer than 1,000 daily positive cases, is performing nearly 1m tests per week. South Korea is doing 15,000 tests per day, but has had no more than 100 daily cases since the beginning of April. So, for a robust “test, trace, isolate” regime in the UK, the number of tests would need to be vastly increased or we would need to wait for the number of cases in the community to fall significantly.
Continue reading...Foreign Office obstructed search for truth, say Harry Dunn lawyers
Legal team for family of dead 19-year-old to seek answers in meeting with Raab aides
The Foreign Office has obstructed a search for truth into the death of 19-year-old motorcyclist Harry Dunn, lawyers for his family have claimed prior to a potentially tense meeting with aides to Dominic Raab, the foreign secretary.
Dunn died in August when his motorcycle collided with a car driven by Anne Sacoolas, the wife of a US intelligence officer stationed at a US spy base at RAF Croughton, Northamptonshire. Sacoolas immediately admitted to the police she had caused the accident by driving on the wrong side of the road.
Continue reading...MPs press for sanctions against Israel over West Bank annexations
PM urged to impose sanctions if Netanyahu carries out threat to annex parts of West Bank
Nearly 130 parliamentarians, including former Conservative cabinet ministers, have written to Boris Johnson urging him to impose economic sanctions against Israel if Benjamin Netanyahu’s new coalition government goes ahead with its threat to annex parts of the West Bank.
The letter, signed by the former Tory chairman Lord Patten and the former international development secretary Andrew Mitchell, says annexation would be clearly illegal under international law.
Continue reading...Why BAME people may be more at risk from coronavirus – video explainer
NHS staff from black, Asian and minority ethnic backgrounds may be given roles away from the frontline under plans to reduce their disproportionately high death rate from Covid-19.
The Guardian revealed last week that minority groups were over-represented by as much as 27% in the overall Covid-19 death toll. Additionally, 63% of the first 106 health and social care staff known to have died from the virus were black or Asian, according to the Health Service Journal.
Senior reporter Haroon Siddique looks at the figures and explains why BAME people may be more at risk.
- British BAME Covid-19 death rate 'more than twice that of whites'
- ‘So much living to do’: stories of UK's coronavirus victims
Revealed: NHS procurement official privately selling PPE amid Covid-19 outbreak
NHS launches inquiry after Guardian investigation exposes senior official trading protective gear amid pandemic
A head of procurement for the NHS has set up a business to profit from the private sale of huge quantities of personal protective equipment (PPE) in the midst of the coronavirus outbreak, an undercover investigation by the Guardian can reveal.
David Singleton, 42, a senior NHS official in London who has been working at the capital’s Covid-19 Nightingale hospital, launched the business two weeks ago to trade in visors, masks and gowns.
Continue reading...Meghan privacy claim against Mail on Sunday owner ‘continues’ despite setback
Judge rules part of Duchess of Sussex’s case against Associated Newspapers be struck out
Lawyers for the Duchess of Sussex have insisted her privacy claim against the publishers of the Mail on Sunday (MoS) will continue after she was dealt an initial blow when a judge ruled that part of her case should be struck out.
Lawyers for Associated Newspapers had argued last month against elements including that some words and sentences from a letter by Meghan to her estranged father, Thomas Markle, had been “dishonestly” cut out before publication in order to paint a misleading picture of the relationship between the two.
Continue reading...Why the 5G coronavirus conspiracy theory is false – video explainer
Conspiracy theories linking 5G technology to coronavirus have resulted in dozens of phone masts across the UK being vandalised in recent weeks. Theories about the dangers of 5G had already been circulating, despite regulators confirming that the radiation levels of the new technology are well within safe boundaries. So how did the conspiracy incorrectly linking it to 5G start? And is 5G really dangerous? We explain why 5G has nothing to do with Covid-19
Continue reading...May Day workers confronting coronavirus around the world – in pictures
A celebration of the cleaners, transport workers, shop assistants, tradespeople, health workers and more who continue to serve despite the difficulties and risks of the pandemic
Continue reading...Coronavirus live news: Kim Jong-un reportedly appears in public
North Korean leader had not been seen for three weeks; Ireland and India both extend lockdowns, while global markets fall due to threat of US-China trade war
- Exclusive: US germ warfare lab creates test for pre-infectious Covid-19
- Where did Covid-19 come from? What we know about its origins
- Lingering and painful: the long road to coronavirus recovery
- US coronavirus updates - live
- See all our coronavirus coverage
The US president Donald Trump has offered an increasingly bleak picture for the US, telling a White House event:
Hopefully, we’re going to come in below that 100,000 lives lost, which is a horrible number, nevertheless.
The North Korean leader Kim Jong-un has made his first public appearance in nearly three weeks, according to South Korea’s Yonhap news agency.
N.K. leader reemerges from 20-day absence amid rumors over his health https://t.co/z4LhtCf7ox
Related: Kim Jong-un could be sheltering from Covid-19 pandemic, say US and Seoul
Continue reading...Boris Johnson joins UK clap for NHS, key workers and Capt Tom Moore – video
The PM stepped out of No 10 at 8pm to show his support for the NHS. He asked the chancellor, Rishi Sunak, to wish Capt Tom Moore, the veteran who has raised £30m for NHS charities, a happy birthday as the newly appointed honorary colonel marked his 100th birthday on Thursday 30 April
- UK coronavirus news: Britain unites again to applaud key workers on Covid frontline - as it happened
- Global coronavirus updates - live
- See all our coronavirus coverage
Germany and Spain ease lockdown as Eurozone slumps 3.8% – as it happened
This blog is now closed.
We’ve launched a brand new blog at the link below. Follow me there for the latest coronavirus news from around the world, live:
Hello, Helen Sullivan with you now. I’ll have the blog for the next few hours, so please do get in touch on Twitter @helenrsullivan.
Here are the key developments from the last few hours:
Continue reading...Warning over ‘hidden effect of coronavirus’ after grandfather’s suicide
‘Pick up the phone to loved ones’, urges grandson after Dennis Ward’s death
A grandson is urging people to “pick up the phone” and speak to loved ones and vulnerable people in self-isolation after his 82-year-old grandfather killed himself during the coronavirus pandemic.
James Parnaby said his grandfather’s death was one of the “hidden effects of coronavirus” in a tribute posted on Facebook that described Dennis Ward as the “life and soul at family parties”.
Continue reading...Victoria Beckham reverses decision to furlough fashion label staff
Exclusive: application to use public money to support staff is withdrawn following criticism
Victoria Beckham has reversed a decision to furlough 30 staff at her fashion label and said that her team’s welfare “means everything to me” after the decision to apply for public money drew heavy criticism.
Following a change of heart by the designer and her board, the application to the government scheme has been withdrawn and all employees concerned restored to their roles.
Continue reading...Fears Brexit talks could collapse in June but UK still optimistic
‘Limited progress’ in bridging gaps on fisheries, health, environment and workers’ rights
The UK is still optimistic about striking a trade deal with the EU but warned that talks could collapse in June unless Brussels abandons its demands for a common fisheries policy and a level playing field, a source close to the UK’s negotiating team said.
The source said only “limited progress in bridging the gaps between us” had been made at last week’s talks, but there was “confidence that progress can be made quite quickly”.
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