Category Archives: UK news

Guidance v rules: which Covid measures work better?

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Analysis: the Tories are arguing against further restrictions – but what do scientists think works best to prevent the spread of Covid?

They are questions that have cast a shadow over the festive season: will new Covid measures be needed, and if so, when and what form will they take?

The Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies (Sage) has said peak admissions could be comparable with or even greater than previous highs without significant behaviour change or further interventions, but many Tory backbenchers have argued against legal restrictions, saying that the public should be trusted to make their own decisions on the risks they wish to take.

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Brexit: ‘the biggest disaster any government has ever negotiated’

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Exclusive: British cheesemaker says Brexit and subsequent trade deals have cost his firm £270,000

A British cheesemaker who predicted Brexit would cost him hundreds of thousands of pounds in exports has called the UK’s departure from the EU single market a disaster, after losing his entire wholesale and retail business in the bloc over the past year. Simon Spurrell, the co-founder of the Cheshire Cheese Company, said personal advice from a government minister to pursue non-EU markets to compensate for his losses had proved to be “an expensive joke”.

“It turns out our greatest competitor on the planet is the UK government because every time they do a fantastic deal, they kick us out of that market – starting with the Brexit deal,” he said.

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Afghan ex-BBC journalist stranded for months due to Home Office scheme delays

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Mudassar Kadir said ‘zero progress’ made since he and his family arrived at Dubai refugee centre

An Afghan former BBC journalist who managed to flee the Taliban has been stranded in a refugee camp for months because of delays to a resettlement scheme promised by the UK government.

Mudassar Kadir* is the only one of 14 former BBC employees to have escaped Afghanistan since the Taliban took over in August. The other 13 remain in hiding in fear of their lives.

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Police investigate video after Windsor Castle security breach

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Footage appears to show masked figure saying they wanted to ‘assassinate the Queen’

Police are investigating a video linked to a man who was arrested at Windsor Castle while in possession of a crossbow.

The video, obtained by the Sun, appears to show a masked figure in a dark hoodie holding a crossbow and addressing the camera with a distorted voice, saying they wanted to “assassinate the Queen” in a “revenge” mission.

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Police ‘ineptitude’ contributed to Stephen Port murders, says producer

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Shoddy investigation into serial killer also result of underfunding, says producer of BBC drama about murders

Three victims of the serial killer Stephen Port might still be alive today were it not for a shoddy police investigation that was the result of “ineptitude, poor systems and underfunding”, the producer of a new drama about the crimes has said.

Jeff Pope is senior producer of Four Lives, a dramatisation for BBC One of the murders of four young gay men: Anthony Walgate, 23; Gabriel Kovari, 22; Daniel Whitworth, 21; and Jack Taylor, 21.

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Boris Johnson to examine hospital data before decision on Covid rules

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Sources suggest No 10 leaning away from stricter curbs in England, as doctors’ union says lack of response is ‘ludicrous’

Boris Johnson is expected to examine crucial hospital data on Monday before making any new announcement on Covid measures, but has no plans to recall his cabinet, with ministers still deeply sceptical of further legal curbs.

Sources said the prime minister would “take stock” after being encouraged by improving data on Friday, a sign that No 10 is leaning away from stricter curbs in England, but Downing Street sources said he would act quickly if there were new causes for concern.

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UK’s ambassador drawn into Libyan political crisis after elections called off

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Parliamentary committee accuses ambassador of interference over tweet in support of recognising interim government

Libya’s political crisis has taken on an increasingly international dimension after the UK was accused of defending corruption and interfering in internal processes by calling for the interim government to remain in power pending the rescheduling of delayed elections.

The country’s first presidential elections, scheduled for 24 December, were indefinitely postponed at the last minute, largely because fierce disagreements over who should be allowed to stand had not been resolved.

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‘Almost unsaleable’: slump in school trips to UK blamed on Brexit

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Groups from the continent are going elsewhere, tour operators say, deterred more by passport and visa rules than the pandemic

Post-Brexit changes to Britain’s immigration rules have triggered an unprecedented collapse in bookings for school trips from the continent, organisers say, with countries such as Ireland and the Netherlands now more popular than the UK.

While the pandemic has depressed European school travel in general, the number of short-stay educational visits planned in 2022 to alternative EU destinations where English is widely spoken is significantly higher than inquiries for UK visits.

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The Great British race to space

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In the outermost parts of our islands, a new industry in satellites, rockets and launch ports is poised for take-off

In the next 12 months, Britain is expected to make a remarkable aerospace breakthrough. For the first time, a satellite will be fired into orbit from a launch pad in the United Kingdom.

It will be a historic moment – though exactly where this grand adventure will begin is not yet clear. A series of fledgling operations, backed by the UK Space Agency, are now competing to be the first to launch a satellite from British soil.

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Suicidal asylum-seekers subjected to ‘dangerous’ use of force by guards at detention centre

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Observer investigation finds officers without the usual certification used risky restraint techniques at Brook House

Suicidal asylum seekers were subject to force by guards who the Home Office allowed to remain on duty despite being “effectively uncertified” in the safe use of restraint techniques, according to internal documents charting conditions inside one of the UK’s most controversial immigration centres.

Experts say the department endangered lives last year by deploying custody staff whose training in the safe use of force had expired, as it detained hundreds of people who had crossed the Channel in a fast-track scheme to remove them.

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Covid live news: new restrictions for Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland

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New coronavirus restrictions are being introduced in Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland as the country’s leaders try to combat rising Covid cases

China has reported 206 new Covid cases on Christmas Day, a significant jump from 140 a day earlier, its health authority said on Sunday and Reuters reports.

Of the new infections, 158 were locally transmitted, according to a statement by the National Health Commission, compared with 87 cases the previous day.

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Omicron: bleak New Year or beginning of the end for the pandemic?

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Scientists are cautiously optimistic that the variant may be a sign the virus is losing its power, despite the high infection figures

Once again, Britain is experiencing a festive season hit by waves of Covid-19 infections. Last year, Christmas and New Year were spoiled by the appearance of the Alpha variant. This time, it is Omicron that has sent case numbers soaring. Christmas cancellations have swept through Britain’s restaurants, pubs and clubs and left the country on the brink of another bleak New Year as the NHS warns once more that it is facing the threat of being overwhelmed by spiralling numbers of seriously ill patients.

The scenario has raised fears that this now represents the shape of Christmases to come. Social restrictions and lockdown threats could become our normal festive fare.

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One year on, most voters say Brexit has gone badly

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An Opinium poll also found that 42% of people who voted Leave in 2016 had a negative view of how it had turned out

More than six out of 10 voters believe Brexit has either gone badly or worse than they expected – a year after the UK left the EU, according to an anniversary poll for the Observer.

The Opinium survey – coming a week after the minister in charge of Brexit, Lord Frost, resigned from Boris Johnson’s government – also found that 42% of people who voted Leave in 2016 had a negative view of how Brexit had turned out so far.

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Covid live news: air travel disruption worldwide; China records most cases in four months

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  • Passengers hit after airlines cancel more than 4,500 flights
  • Officials in China rush to contain outbreaks in several regions

New South Wales has recorded its highest ever Covid daily caseload, with 6,288 new infections announced today – by far the highest number of cases in any Australian state since the pandemic began.

Record Covid cases were reported across Australia on Christmas Day as overwhelmed testing clinics were forced to close and tens of thousands of people spent the holiday in isolation.

I would sincerely appeal that they do not again consider closing churches and places of worship.

I think this country has shown that people can make good judgements themselves.

We’re at that point of saying we understand the risk. We know what we should do. Most people are sensible and cautious. We don’t need stronger impositions to teach us what to do.

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Border Force picks up 67 people after Christmas Day attempt to cross Channel

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Agents step in after incident involving two small boats in early hours of morning

UK authorities have rescued 67 people who were attempting to cross the Channel on Christmas Day.

Border Force agents took a group of people to Dover in Kent in the early hours of Saturday, after an incident involving two small boats.

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Armed intruder arrested at Windsor Castle as Queen celebrates Christmas

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Police say suspect was carrying an offensive weapon and royal family have been informed

An armed man was arrested after attempting to break into Windsor Castle where the Queen was celebrating Christmas with her family.

Police said the intruder was carrying an offensive weapon but did not break into any buildings on Saturday morning.

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British estate agent shot dead ‘by evicted tenant’ in Florida

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Sara Trost, from Southend, Essex, fatally wounded as she waited to show property in Coral Springs

A British woman who worked as an estate agent in Florida has been shot dead while preparing to show a property, allegedly by an evicted tenant.

Sara Trost, 40, from Southend, Essex, was shot on Thursday while sitting in her Jeep outside a house in Coral Springs, 40 miles north of Miami, at about 12.33pm.

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Justin Welby sermon: Covid makes all of us face unpredictability

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Archbishop of Canterbury says pandemic has shown our capacity for compassion and generosity

Everyone in society, from Cabinet ministers to rough sleepers, has faced “uncertainty, uncontrollability and unpredictability” during the Covid pandemic, the archbishop of Canterbury has said in his Christmas sermon.

Justin Welby, who led the Christmas Day service at Canterbury Cathedral, added that the past 22 months has also shown people’s capacity for compassion and generosity.

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NHS leaders alarmed by rise in hospital admissions as Covid cases hit record

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Daily hospitalisations in England up by more than 40% in a week at same time as more staff on sick leave

NHS leaders have voiced alarm at a major rise in the number of hospitalisations due to Covid-19 after 1,171 people with the disease across the UK were admitted in a 24-hour period that set another record number of daily cases.

The latest government figures showed 122,186 cases of coronavirus had been recorded as of 9am on Friday. Another 137 people died within 28 days of testing positive.

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