Category Archives: UK news

Four Johnson aides quit in fallout from Downing Street parties

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Policy chief Munira Mirza was first to go, followed shortly by Jack Doyle, Dan Rosenfield and Martin Reynolds

Four of Boris Johnson’s key staff have quit as the fallout from the Downing Street party scandal continued to shake his hold on government.

Johnson’s longstanding policy chief Munira Mirza was the first to go, using a stinging resignation letter to accuse the prime minister of “scurrilous” behaviour when he falsely linked Keir Starmer to the failure to bring paedophile Jimmy Savile to justice.

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It’s not me, it’s you: the political advisers who left Boris Johnson

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The prime minister has parted ways with key aides seven times since September 2020

All prime ministers lose advisers at various points, but those working for Boris Johnson seem to jump ship or otherwise exit at a faster rate than most. Here is a list of significant people who have left his No 10.

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Chelmsford man charged with murder of his Canadian girlfriend

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Jack Sepple, 23, is accused of killing 19-year-old from British Columbia who he met on an online dating app

A man has appeared in court charged with murdering his 19-year-old Canadian girlfriend, as her friends paid tribute to “a beautiful soul”.

Jack Sepple, 23, is accused of killing Ashley Wadsworth at a property in Chelmsford on Tuesday. Essex police attended the address in Tennyson Road shortly after 4pm.

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Northern Ireland first minister resigns over Brexit checks on goods

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Paul Givan’s move triggers parallel departure of deputy first minister and could bring forward elections

The first minister of Northern Ireland, the Democratic Unionist party’s Paul Givan, has resigned, plunging the devolved government at Stormont into turmoil two years after power-sharing with Sinn Féin was restored.

His resignation, over Brexit checks in the Irish Sea, will also bring the parallel departure of the Sinn Féin deputy first minister, Michelle O’Neill, under the power-sharing arrangements.

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World faces ‘bumpy, difficult’ Covid transition, says senior scientist

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‘I just don’t think you wake up on Tuesday and it’s finished,’ says former Sage adviser Sir Jeremy Farrar

Tensions in societies around the world over the current Covid situation are going to be very difficult to handle, one of Britain’s most senior scientific figures has warned.

Sir Jeremy Farrar, the director of the Wellcome Trust, who stepped down as a government scientific adviser in November last year, warned the idea of simply “exiting” a pandemic is not realistic.

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Novavax Covid vaccine approved for use in over-18s in UK

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Nuvaxovid is similar to flu jab and may have reduced side-effects, which could persuade vaccine holdouts

The Covid-19 vaccine developed by Novavax has been approved by the UK regulator for use in people over the age of 18.

The vaccine will not be immediately widely available as its use as part of the UK’s vaccination programme will be considered by the independent Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation.

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Covid: Europe set for ‘long period of tranquillity’ in pandemic, says WHO

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Vaccinations, milder Omicron and arrival of spring should keep death rate low as cases rise to all time high

Europe could soon enter a “long period of tranquillity” that amounts to a “ceasefire” in the pandemic thanks to the less severe Omicron variant, high levels of immunity and the arrival of warmer spring weather, the World Health Organization has said.

In an upbeat assessment, Hans Kluge, the WHO’s Europe director, said the region was in a position of “higher protection” that could “bring us enduring peace”, even if a new, more virulent variant than Omicron should emerge.

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Covid live news: NZ to begin reopening border this month; Czech Republic to end Covid passes next week

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Vaccinated New Zealanders in Australia will be able to return home from the end of the month; Czech move comes despite country breaking its daily Covid record on Wednesday

India reported 172,433 new Covid cases in the past 24 hours, the Times of India reports, a 50% drop on the 347,254 new infections detected on Thursday two weeks ago.

India experienced surging cases last month but there are signs infections have spiked.

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Firms handed £1.3bn in Covid contracts claimed £1m in furlough grants

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Dozen UK companies given VIP fast-track contracts to supply PPE to NHS paid idled staff at taxpayers’ expense

Companies handed a combined £1.3bn in controversial fast-track Covid contracts with minimal scrutiny also claimed at least £1m in furlough grants, it can be revealed.

Analysis of the accounts of companies that won lucrative emergency contracts to supply personal protective equipment (PPE) to the NHS during the height of the pandemic shows 12 also claimed funds to put staff on furlough at taxpayers’ expense.

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‘It is soul-destroying’: lorry drivers face hours stuck in queues at Dover

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Emergency traffic controls triggered 20 times this year as extra Brexit controls and freight volumes cause logjams

His lorry loaded with British Airways aircraft parts, Ivo Hradilik was expecting to drive onto a ferry headed to Calais, before delivering his cargo to the outskirts of Paris.

But there’s a problem with the customs paperwork, and the 26-year-old HGV driver from the Czech Republic will have to park up near the Port of Dover while the haulage company sorts everything out.

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Levelling up? It’s a lot of talk, say sceptical Wolverhampton public

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Of those who have heard of it, many doubt the policy will do much to improve their quality of life

It may have been dominating conversation in Westminster on Wednesday, but questions about levelling up were met with blank stares among shoppers on Wednesfield high street in Wolverhampton.

Most had never heard of the concept, while of those who had, many doubted it would do much to improve their quality of life.

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Priti Patel says Macron ‘absolutely wrong’ over Channel crossings

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Home secretary rebuffs French claim UK immigration policy encourages people to risk dangerous journey

Priti Patel, the home secretary, has said Emmanuel Macron is wrong to say the UK’s immigration policy is encouraging people to risk their lives crossing the Channel from France.

In a further escalation of the row between the two countries, Patel has dismissed claims by the French president that Britain’s immigration system favours clandestine migration and does not allow for asylum seekers to seek legal ways into the country.

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Keir Starmer accuses Boris Johnson of ‘parroting conspiracy theories’

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Labour leader says ‘it’s time to restore dignity’ as PM refuses to apologise for Jimmy Savile remarks

Keir Starmer has accused Boris Johnson of “parroting the conspiracy theories of violent fascists” for political gain after the prime minister doubled down on false claims about the Labour leader’s blame for the failure to prosecute Jimmy Savile.

Johnson has been condemned by victims of the disgraced broadcaster, as well by as some MPs and the Commons Speaker, Lindsay Hoyle, for making the claim in parliament on Monday.

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Met police misogyny: the rot runs even deeper than thought

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Charing Cross station case shows old problems were allowed to fester on social media thanks to culture of fear

Case by case, the idea that the police’s problems with women is the result of a few bad apples rather than a misogynistic culture gets harder to maintain.

The revelations about the hate-filled messages among officers sent via WhatsApp and Facebook at Charing Cross station in central London are exceptionally sickening in their nature.

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Boris Johnson attended leaving do during strict January lockdown

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Exclusive: sources say PM dropped in at prosecco-fuelled farewell in 2021 now being investigated by police

Boris Johnson attended a prosecco-fuelled leaving do for a No 10 aide during the strict post-Christmas lockdown, which is now under police investigation, the Guardian has learned.

Sue Gray’s investigation into lockdown parties this week revealed several events that had not previously been publicised, including a gathering on 14 January 2021 “on the departure of two No 10 private secretaries”. But the redacted report revealed no further details.

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Russian invasion of Ukraine would be a disaster, says Boris Johnson in Kyiv

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PM joins Volodymyr Zelenskiy to spell out consequences of Russian aggression and declare UK will be judged by the level of its support

A Russian invasion of Ukraine would end in a humanitarian, political and military disaster for Russia and the world, Boris Johnson has warned as he stood alongside the Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, in Kyiv, saying the UK would be judged by the level of help it gave to Ukraine.

On a flying visit to the Ukrainian capital, he denied the US and the UK were exaggerating the scale of the Russian threat, saying they were not trying to “big up” the intelligence. “The grim reality” was that Russian troops were “massing on Ukraine’s border. This is a clear and present danger,” he said, addingthat the troop concentration was “perhaps the biggest demonstration of hostility to Ukraine in our lifetimes”, saying it dwarfed the Russian forces mounted before the invasion in 2014.

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‘Incredible’: from Wordle’s Welsh beginnings to the New York Times

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The puzzle’s global success has turned Josh Wardle into a megastar in the gaming world and bemused his family

He is the toast of New York, of London – and of a small village called Llanddewi Rhydderch.

Just four months after Josh Wardle invented the wonderfully simple and soothing puzzle Wordle, he is a megastar in the world of games and is a great deal wealthier after the New York Times acquired his creation for a seven-figure sum.

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Scientists developing single test to detect risk of four cancers in women

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Experts may be able to predict risk of developing ovarian, breast, womb and cervical cancers using cells from routine smear test

Scientists are developing a “revolutionary” test to predict a woman’s risk of four cancers using a single sample collected during cervical screening.

Using cervical cells from a routine smear test, experts may be able to spot ovarian and breast cancer or predict their likelihood of developing, according to two papers published in the journal Nature Communications. Further results are due on the ability of the WID-test – women’s cancer risk identification – to predict womb and cervical cancer, researchers said.

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Has flu fizzled out? Experts assess the threat to NHS – analysis

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Analysis: Threat failed to materialise this winter but experts say all bets off for next season

As winter approached the situation appeared perilous. Not only was the UK in the midst of a Covid pandemic, but experts feared familiar respiratory viruses could also hit hard.

“I will emphasise that actually flu could be potentially a bigger problem this winter than Covid,” Prof Anthony Harnden, the deputy chair of the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation, told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme in June.

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Covid live news: UK records 112,458 new cases; Norway to scrap almost all restrictions with immediate effect

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UK joins France, Italy and Turkey in recording six-figure case numbers; Norwegian PM says relaxing curbs unlikely to jeopardise health services

Tens of thousands of tonnes of medical waste created by the Covid pandemic are threatening human health and the environment, a World Health Organization report has found.

The material – including discarded syringes, used test kits and old vaccine bottles – could expose health workers to burns, needle-stick injuries and germs, the report found, and some of it could still be infectious.

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