Category Archives: UK news

‘More people will die’: fears for clinically vulnerable as England axes plan B

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Coronavirus pandemic’s finishing line has not yet come clearly into focus for millions of people

“We must learn to live with Covid in the same way we have to live with flu,” Sajid Javid told the nation this week. For most people, the parallel with flu is now valid: vaccinations and acquired immunity have defanged Covid to the point that there is no longer much risk of becoming severely unwell.

However, the pandemic’s finishing line has not yet come clearly into focus for a sizeable minority in society. In England, 3.7 million people fall in the clinically extremely vulnerable (CEV) category, including those with blood cancers, an organ transplant, kidney disease and other conditions linked to immunosuppression.

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‘Go-to place for film lovers’: Birmingham’s Electric cinema reopens

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Owners want to bring venue up to date while maintaining heritage of cinema that first opened in 1909

In the 112 years since it began, the Electric cinema in Birmingham has lived through the history of film-making. When it first opened its doors in 1909 it showed silent movies with a piano backing, rolling newsreels and cartoons in the 30s, adult films in the 60s, and blockbusters in the 80s.

But the Covid pandemic nearly marked the end of what is believed to be the UK’s oldest working cinema when its owners decided to sell up after more than a year of continuous closure.

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Kill the Bill and period protests: human rights this fortnight – in pictures

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A roundup of the coverage of the struggle for human rights and freedoms, from Cambodia to Costa Rica

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‘House of Trump is crumbling’: why ex-president’s legal net is tightening

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Some Trumpland observers are convinced that he is in serious legal trouble as New York’s AG investigation of Trump Organizations’s finances intensifies

When Donald Trump announced plans in 2006 to build a golf complex on ancient sand dunes on the Aberdeenshire coast in Scotland he told reporters it was love at first sight. “As soon as I saw it there was no question about it,” he said. It would be the world’s “greatest golf course”.

This week Trump International Scotland became a central element of a case that looks poised to dominate his post-presidential life, and could even put him behind bars.

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PM facing calls to ensure all evidence is published in No 10 parties inquiry

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Labour and Lib Dems call for full transparency as it emerges Sue Gray’s report may just summarise findings

Boris Johnson is facing calls to ensure all evidence on the Downing Street parties is published with the Sue Gray inquiry, as it emerged the pivotal report is likely to amount to a concise summary of findings.

Labour and the Liberal Democrats called on Friday for the report to be published along with its accompanying evidence – including emails and witness accounts – to give full transparency around more than 15 alleged parties under investigation by Gray, a senior civil servant.

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Man in Scottish court denies being international fugitive with 16 aliases

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Nicholas Rossi is wanted by Interpol and faces extradition to the US over an allegation of sexual assault

A man who appeared in a Scottish court using a wheelchair and attached to an oxygen cylinder has denied being an international fugitive with 16 aliases.

The man, who was traced to an intensive care unit in Glasgow while being treated for Covid 19 last December, denied being 34-year-old Nicholas Rossi, who is wanted by Interpol and faces extradition to the US over an allegation of sexual assault in Utah.

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British man killed by stray bullet as he lay in bed in Atlanta

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Matthew Willson from Surrey was shot in ‘reckless’ shooting as he was visiting his girlfriend

An astrophysicist from Surrey has died after being hit by a stray bullet while lying in bed during a trip to Atlanta.

Dr Matthew Willson, 31, from Chertsey, was shot in the early hours of Friday when a weapon was discharged by a group of individuals from a neighbouring block of flats in the suburb of Brookhaven. No suspects have been arrested.

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‘Don’t write me off because I’m in a wheelchair’: Manchester Arena survivor takes on Kilimanjaro

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Martin Hibbert, who was 5 metres from the deadly explosion, is now tackling Africa’s highest mountain

It was a month after the Manchester Arena attack when Martin Hibbert learned the catastrophic toll of his injuries. He and his 14-year-old daughter, Eve, on a “daddy daughter day” to an Ariana Grande concert, were 5 metres from the explosion that killed 22 people and injured hundreds more in May 2017.

Hibbert, 45, from Chorley in Lancashire, was told he would never walk again. Eve would probably never see, hear, speak or move – if she made it out of hospital. They were the closest to the bomb to survive.

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Mixed messages? How end of Covid plan B could change behaviour in England

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Analysis: Experts say when the rules are relaxed there tends to be a gradual erosion of protective behaviours

All plan B measures in England will be lifted next week, meaning an end to compulsory mask-wearing in shops, vaccine certificates for entering venues, and guidance to work from home. But are the public ready to embrace these freedoms just weeks after Covid cases in the UK hit a record high and with daily deaths higher now than when the measures were introduced?

Some are likely to feel more than ready to cast aside restrictions that have been financially and personally cumbersome, while others may fear things are moving too quickly. Regardless of the range of attitudes, changing the rules will shift behaviour.

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Bionic eye implant enables blind UK woman to detect visual signals

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Breakthrough offers hope of restoration of sight to people suffering vision loss because of dry AMD

An 88-year-old woman has told of her joy at becoming the first patient in the UK to benefit from a groundbreaking bionic eye implant that enabled her to detect signals for the first time since going blind.

The woman from Dagenham suffers from geographic atrophy. The condition is the most common form of dry age-related macular degeneration (AMD), which affects millions of people worldwide and can cause loss of sight.

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US man who faked death to evade rape charge rearrested after skipping hearing

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Nicholas Rossi, who is wanted for an alleged assault in Utah, was caught in Glasgow following absence from extradition proceedings

An American fugitive who is believed to have faked his own death to evade a rape charge has been arrested after skipping his extradition hearing in Scotland.

Nicholas Rossi, who used several aliases while on the run from US authorities, was wanted by Interpol in connection with the alleged sexual assault in Utah in 2008.

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Teenager becomes youngest woman to fly solo around the world – video

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A Belgian-British teenager has flown into the record books by becoming the youngest woman to fly solo around the world. Zara Rutherford, 19, touched down at Kortrijk-Wevelgem airport in Flanders, completing a 52,000km (28,100 nautical mile) journey that took in 31 countries across five continents. 'It’s just really crazy. I haven’t quite processed it,' Rutherford, draped in British and Belgian flags, told reporters

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Canada’s Prince Andrew high school announces plan to change name

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School attempt to distance itself from the growing controversy surrounding the Duke of York

A Canadian high school named after the Duke of York has announced plans to rename itself, in an attempt to distance itself from the growing controversy surrounding the Queen’s second son.

The principal of Prince Andrew high school in the province of Nova Scotia told families on Wednesday to expect the change as the school looks for a name that “upholds our values as a safe and inclusive” space.

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Stranded dog saved from rising tide after rescuers attach sausage to drone

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Team in Hampshire ties sausage to drone as ‘last resort’ to rescue Millie the jack russell from mudflats

As the tide rose, it began to look perilous for Millie the jack russell-whippet cross, who had defied the efforts of police, firefighters and coastguards to pluck her from treacherous mudflats.

So the rescuers had to think imaginatively, and came up with the idea of attaching a sausage to a drone and hoping the scent of the treat would tempt Millie to safety. It worked gloriously and Millie has been reunited with her grateful owner after following the dangling sausage to higher, safer ground.

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Belgian-Briton Zara Rutherford is youngest woman to fly solo around world

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Nineteen-year-old completes 52,000km journey that took in 31 countries and five continents

A Belgian-British teenager has flown into the record books by becoming the youngest woman to fly solo around the world.

Zara Rutherford, 19, touched down at Kortrijk-Wevelgem airport in Flanders just after 1pm local time on Thursday, completing a 52,000km (28,100 nautical mile) journey that took in 31 countries across five continents.

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Why is the UK government still getting away with complicity in the Yemen war? | Owen Jones

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For seven years, the Yemeni people have been pummelled with Saudi bombs, many from Britain. Yet Westminster is silent

This is a far greater scandal than the parties in Downing Street. In a just world, it would prove the downfall of our prime minister. This week, airstrikes by the Saudis and their allies killed more than a dozen people in Yemen, civilians among them. Last month an estimated 32 civilians died as a result of the ongoing conflict. The country has been convulsed by civil war since 2014. For seven years, a Saudi-led coalition has been pummelling the impoverished country with bombs, many of them supplied by Britain. Through our staunch military alliance with the Saudi dictatorship, our government is directly complicit with these atrocities.

You can be forgiven for knowing nothing about any of this: Yemen does not matter, you see. Its people have been relegated to the bottom of the hierarchy of death, and most of our media show little interest in scrutinising our government for slaughter that it is directly complicit in. The Saudi violence has only increased in Yemen since October, after the UN human rights council voted to end its war crimes investigation following intensive lobbying by the dictatorship in Riyadh.

Owen Jones is a Guardian columnist

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UK government puts animal welfare policies on pause

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Delayed legislation includes ban on trophy hunting imports and stricter sentences for puppy thieves

Some of the government’s most prized new animal welfare policies are being put on pause in what supporters see as a sneaky attempt to ditch the “woke” measures altogether.

Senior sources in the Conservative party have confirmed to the Guardian that a series of policies including a ban on trophy hunting imports, stricter sentences for puppy thieves and a ban on live exports of livestock have been put on pause after a campaign led by Mark Spencer, the chief whip.

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‘In the name of God, go’: Tory fury spills over as Boris Johnson clings on

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Former minister demands PM’s resignation in Commons, one Conservative MP defects and others clamour for concessions

Boris Johnson has faced a defection and a demand to quit from one of his most senior MPs during a dramatic day in Westminster, with even allies of the prime minister warning the current situation cannot go on.

David Davis caused shockwaves when he told Johnson in the Commons: “In the name of God, go.” Less than an hour earlier, Christian Wakeford, the MP for Bury South, quit the Conservatives and joined Labour in fury at the Downing Street parties scandal.

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UK Covid live: end to England’s plan B measures next week ‘a milestone, not a finish line’, says Sajid Javid

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Latest updates: health secretary leads coronavirus update after Boris Johnson says England’s Omicron measures to end next week

Boris Johnson is expected to instruct millions to return to workplaces across England as he tries to placate furious MPs with a review of Covid restrictions that could end all rules introduced to combat Omicron.

The cabinet will meet on this morning to examine Covid data and review plan B restrictions imposed in December amid the rapid spread of the variant, with Johnson set to update the Commons later in the day.

I think they are a crucial building block of our baseline, a bit like Test and Trace, Test and Protect for us in Scotland, the alcohol gels, the vaccinations, I think these are what we’re going to be left with post-Omicron.

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