Minister’s comments come days after Boris Johnson warns Russia of ‘significant consequences’
It is highly unlikely that Britain or its allies will send troops to defend Ukraine if it is invaded by neighbouring Russia, the defence secretary, Ben Wallace, has said.
US intelligence claims that Russia has stationed about 70,000 troops near the border of Ukraine and has begun planning for a possible invasion as soon as early next year.
Continue reading...If Omicron threatens to disrupt your plans, don’t panic – here’s a guide to making the best of it
So here we are again. Out are the plans to dust off your dancing shoes at the Christmas party, and in is the stockpiling of toilet rolls and boxes of chocolates for the long nights ahead.
With a “staggering” increase in Covid cases accelerated by the spread of the Omicron variant predicted by medical advisers this week, many people are fearing that they will once again face Christmas in not-so-splendid isolation.
Continue reading...Readers are encouraged to donate via other means after annual phone calls to journalists are hit by rise in Covid cases
The annual telethon for the Guardian and Observer’s charity appeal has been cancelled due to the rise in Omicron cases and renewed advice from the government to work from home.
The 2021 charity appeal is focused on the fight for climate justice, supporting four charities that fight to protect the rights and livelihoods of communities hit by extreme weather events caused by the climate emergency.
Donations can be made online by credit card, debit card or PayPal, or by phone on 0151 284 1126. We are unable to accept cheques.
Continue reading...Makeshift vessels got into trouble attempting to make crossing from France to the UK
More than 130 people have been rescued after their makeshift vessels became stranded in the Channel as they tried to reach Britain from France, French authorities said.
Two navy vessels and two lifeboats brought the 138 refugees back to shore after authorities were informed on Thursday that “many boats trying to cross the Channel were in trouble”.
Continue reading...Sharon and Darren Greenham charged with manslaughter of George Arthur Hinds after blast caused by severed gas pipe
A couple has been charged over the death of a two-year-old boy in a gas explosion.
Sharon Greenham, 51, and Darren Greenham, 44, are accused of the manslaughter of George Arthur Hinds.
Continue reading...EU law on medicines may be rewritten and UK has climbed down over ECJ. Here’s what we know
The UK left the European Union on 31 January 2020 and all EU rules fell away at the start of 2021. Soon after, a row broke out over the Northern Ireland protocol, the tortuously negotiated agreement to avoid a hard border on the island of Ireland, by keeping Northern Ireland in the EU single market and customs union.
Continue reading...Brussels remains mistrustful of British government, which objects to ECJ being final arbiter of EU law
An uneasy Christmas truce has been called over the post-Brexit arrangements for Northern Ireland, even as the EU said it would not negotiate over a key British demand in the rancorous talks.
Maroš Šefčovič, the EU Brexit commissioner, said there was “momentum” behind discussions after a major British U-turn, but refused to offer quid pro quo concessions.
Continue reading...Analysis: It’s not Downing Street, it’s him, says a minister, amid fears the PM’s strengths have become weaknesses
Asked on Friday whether he took personal responsibility for the disastrous North Shropshire byelection result, Boris Johnson suggested the problem was that everyone else was talking about the wrong issues. “My job as prime minister is to get the focus on to the things that matter for all of us,” he said.
Yet after weeks of self-inflicted crises and the drip, drip of stories about lockdown-busting parties at the heart of Downing Street, many of his MPs believe it is Johnson himself who is the real problem – and some are warning he is now on borrowed time.
Continue reading...Analysis: If the spread continues at this rate, a small proportion of Covid hospitalisations is a serious matter
With the booster programme at full tilt across the UK, immunity against Covid is rising – so it is perhaps not surprising that the concern shown by experts over the steep rise in Omicron infections has left some bemused.
For while the new variant is believed to dodge Covid vaccines to some degree, it is thought the jabs still offer good protection against severe disease – particularly after a booster. And greater levels of immunity mean a lower ratio of hospitalisations to cases – something we have seen before in the UK, where about 22% of cases in those aged 65 and older ended up in hospital in early 2021, when Alpha was dominant but few had received a vaccine, compared with about 6% after the vaccine rollout was well under way.
Continue reading...Helen Morgan wins a stunning victory for the Lib Dems in a byelection called after environment secretary Owen Paterson resigned
The Liberal Democrats have won a stunning victory in the North Shropshire byelection, taking what had previously been a safe Conservative seat by nearly 6,000 votes, capping a disastrous few weeks for Boris Johnson.
Helen Morgan, the Lib Dem candidate, took 17,957 votes, ahead of the Conservatives’ Neil Shastri-Hurst, on 12,032, a majority of 5,925. Labour’s Ben Wood was third, with 3,686 votes.
Continue reading...Half of UK adults receive booster vaccine; Ireland will also face 50% capacity limit on events
Here is a bizarre story out of the US to add a little light relief to an otherwise sombre news day.
A Florida man wearing a red thong as a face mask was forced off a United Airlines flight after failing to comply with the federal mask mandate.
Continue reading...Brexit minister David Frost is seeking agreement on customs and imports to NI and could drop insistence on total exclusion of ECJ
The UK is to change tack in negotiations over the Northern Ireland Brexit protocol and will push for an “interim” deal to avert any further deterioration of political stability in the region.
Brexit minister David Frost is set to propose a new approach based on a “staged solution” with a deal on customs declarations and physical checks on goods a priority to address the immediate impact on people’s lives and livelihoods.
Continue reading...Firefighters faced an ‘intense blaze’ throughout the ground floor of the property, said London Fire Brigade
Four children have died in a house fire in south London.
The London fire brigade (LFB) said eight fire engines and about 60 firefighters were sent to Collingwood Road, Sutton, at just before 7pm on Thursday in response to reports of the fire.
Continue reading...Will the NHS cope? What’s the worst case scenario? The key questions on the fast-spreading variant’s impact
The rapid spread of Omicron across the UK has led public health officials and ministers to warn that, without action, the country will see 1 million infections a day by the end of the month. The consequences of the Omicron “tsunami” are far from clear, but a picture is beginning to take shape.
Continue reading...MPs promise to raise situation of Ali Mushaima’s father, Hassan, who has been detained in Bahrain for 10 years
A Bahraini man whose father has been detained for 10 years in the Gulf country will end a 23-day hunger strike outside Bahrain’s embassy in London on Friday after MPs vowed to raise his father’s case in the Commons.
Ali Mushaima said he was suffering from back pain and had found the cold nights on a pavement outside the embassy “tough to take”.
Continue reading...Analysis: After a steady stream of reports, how likely is it that Boris Johnson will take advice about imposing tougher restrictions?
• Boris Johnson joined No 10 party during May 2020 lockdown, say sources
Cast your minds back to 15 May 2020. Matt Hancock, the then health secretary before he quit for breaking restrictions by having an affair, was giving a press conference where he said people should be “staying at home as much as is possible”.
Social interaction was strictly limited to outdoors and one person at a time. It was the week when people were told they could meet one parent outside, in a socially distanced way, but not both of them together.
Continue reading...As ban takes effect from midnight, UK travel operators say news is ‘devastating for ski industry’
France has banned all non-essential travel from the UK, starting on Friday night. We explain what it means if you have planned to visit over the festive period.
Continue reading...British tourists banned from entering France from Saturday; border controls in Portugal extended beyond 9 January to limit Omicron spread
New Zealand has detected its first case of the Omicron Covid-19 variant in a Christchurch managed isolation facility.
On Thursday afternoon, the director general of health Dr Ashley Bloomfield said:
This is a person who is in managed isolation in Christchurch. The person arrived in New Zealand on a flight from Germany via Dubai that landed in Auckland...the people on that flight were transferred to Christchurch on a chartered domestic flight trip with all our usual protocols.
We fully expected we will find a case of Omicron and in fact, we are treating every border related case as if it were Omicron until proven otherwise. We have good protocols in place that are designed to stop the virus getting across the border.”
Continue reading...Latest Brexit red tape will come into force alongside a series of further checks at Dover and other ports
Van drivers will be required to get new international operating licences if they want to travel back and forth to the EU from May next year, the government has announced.
The additional red tape will come into force next year alongside a series of further checks at Dover and other ports that were delayed three times in 2021 because of lack of preparation for Brexit in Great Britain.
Continue reading...Dr Susan Hopkins, the chief medical adviser at the UK Health Security Agency, told a select committee on Thursday that for Omicron the R value was between 3 and 5 in the UK and that the variant was spreading rapidly – doubling in size every two days.
Hopkins said data on the severity of Omicron would not be known for another fortnight. At least 250 patients would need to be admitted to hospital before there could be a statistical analysis of the disease, she said
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