Category Archives: UK news

Boris Johnson: travel abroad will remain difficult in 2021 – video

Posted on by

Boris Johnson has said he believes 19 July will be the 'terminus point' from which coronavirus restrictions in England will be lifted. The prime minister also played down the prospects of any significant easing of travel restrictions for people wanting a foreign holiday any time soon. 

'I want to stress that this is going to be, whatever happens, a difficult year for travel. There will be hassle, there will be delays, I'm afraid. Because the priority has got to be to keep the country safe and stop the virus coming back in,' he said

Continue reading...

EU prepares to cut amount of British TV and film shown post-Brexit

Posted on by

Exclusive: number of UK productions seen as ‘disproportionate’ and threat to Europe’s cultural diversity

The EU is preparing to act against the “disproportionate” amount of British television and film content shown in Europe in the wake of Brexit, in a blow to the UK entertainment industry and the country’s “soft power” abroad.

The UK is Europe’s biggest producer of film and TV programming, buoyed up by £1.4bn from the sale of international rights, but its dominance has been described as a threat to Europe’s “cultural diversity” in an internal EU document seen by the Guardian.

Continue reading...

Why can’t world leaders agree that a nuclear war should never be fought? | Jane Kinninmont

Posted on by

Biden and Putin must persuade other nuclear states that such a conflict ‘should never be fought’

Meeting last week, the US and Russian presidents issued a joint statement declaring: “a nuclear war should never be fought and could never be won”. This consciously echoes what Ronald Reagan and Mikhail Gorbachev said in a landmark summit in 1985, when the US and USSR started to step up nuclear arms control, and gradually reduced the world’s fear of nuclear catastrophe.

Many reports of the Biden-Putin summit have not even mentioned this joint statement, because it sounds like simple common sense. Who wants a nuclear war?

Continue reading...

Simon Jenkins is wrong about the NHS infected blood inquiry | Letters

Posted on by

A public inquiry was the only way to get justice for those affected by this scandal, which went on for two decades and was covered up for 20 years more, writes Diana Johnson MP

I categorically disagree with the comments from Simon Jenkins about the use and purpose of public inquiries, and with his particular reference to the NHS infected blood inquiry (Public inquiries are institutionally corrupt, we should just give the money to victims, 17 June) .

After nearly 40 years of campaigning and the refusal by the state to acknowledge the harm done to thousands of people, the NHS infected blood inquiry was finally announced in 2017 when all opposition parties in the Commons came together, threatening to vote against Theresa May’s minority government.

Continue reading...

‘It’s going to come as a big shock’: UFO experts await Pentagon report

Posted on by

UK ufologists are worlds apart on the importance of a hotly anticipated US intelligence release

Nearly 75 years after Roswell, the possibility that we are not alone in the universe is once again the talk of mainstream politics.

The impending release of a Pentagon report on the activities of the Advanced Aerospace Threat Identification Program (AATIP) has sparked a wave of interest and recent pronouncements from the programme’s former director, Luis Elizondo , have raised the eyebrows of ufologists worldwide.

Continue reading...

New EU rules would permit use of most polymers without checks, experts warn

Posted on by

Proposals would allow common plastics to be used despite valid concerns about possible harms, scientists say

New rules on chemicals to be debated by the EU this week would allow most polymers to be used without further checks, according to a group of scientists.

Only about 6% out of about 200,000 polymers would require extensive safety checks under proposals being discussed as part of Europe’s Reach chemicals regulations.

Continue reading...

Karim’s story: Egypt’s crackdown on human rights workers – podcast

Posted on by

Ten years since the Arab spring rocked Egypt and removed its president, the country is still detaining human rights workers and locking up political prisoners

Karim Ennarah, a human rights worker for the Egyptian Initiative for Personal Rights, was at a beach resort in South Sinai when he was arrested and accused of joining a terrorist group and “spreading false news”. He was detained in a prison in Cairo and became one of thousands of political prisoners in the country.

Ennarah tells Anushka Asthana that his arrest was only the beginning of his separation from his British wife. Jess Kelly describes to Anushka the moment that she found out her husband had been arrested by the security services as she rode her bike along a London street, and the great difficulties she herself has faced to be reunited with him.

Continue reading...

House asking prices hit record levels across Great Britain

Posted on by

Rightmove data shows largest June increase since 2015 but economists suggest Covid boom may be fading

House asking prices have hit record levels across every region of Great Britain, according to latest figures, although some experts have questioned whether the pandemic boom is finally starting to wane.

The price of properties coming to market rose by 0.8% month on month in June to a third consecutive record of £336,073, according to data from Rightmove, a property listings website.

Continue reading...

High stress may make ‘broken heart syndrome’ more likely, study finds

Posted on by

Condition also known as takotsubo cardiomyopathy is brought on by an acute emotional shock

Two molecules associated with high stress levels have been implicated in the development of broken heart syndrome, a condition that mainly affects post-menopausal women and is usually brought on by severe stress, such as the loss of a loved one.

The syndrome, formally known as takotsubo cardiomyopathy, is characterised by weakening of the heart’s main pumping chamber and was first identified in 1990 in Japan. It looks and sounds like a heart attack and is consequently often confused for one.

Continue reading...

UK reports 9,284 Covid cases on day before lockdown was due to end

Posted on by

More than 1m jabs booked on Friday and Saturday after all adults in England invited to get vaccine

More than 9,200 Covid cases were reported in the UK on Sunday, the day before it was originally planned that all remaining Covid restrictions in England would be lifted.

It came as figures revealed that more than 1m Covid jabs were booked in two days following the invitation on Friday for all adults in England to come forward for vaccination.

Continue reading...

Sir Patrick Vallance handed tech role to build on vaccine success

Posted on by

Chief scientific adviser will head new government body looking at big bets in science and technology

The government’s chief scientific adviser, Sir Patrick Vallance, has been asked by Boris Johnson to investigate whether the UK’s successful vaccine procurement programme can be replicated in other areas of technology.

Vallance, who has become a household name following his appearances at coronavirus press conferences, will take on the new title of national technology adviser, serving alongside his current roles.

Continue reading...

Covid live: Brazil passes 500,000 deaths; 70% of England’s adults ‘should be fully vaccinated by 19 July’

Posted on by

Protests in Brazil as confirmed death toll soars past half a million; most adults should be double-vaccinated by England lockdown lifting date

Vaccinations have been key to keeping levels of the Delta variant of Covid-19 low in Ireland at a time when it has been surging in the UK, according to an Irish expert.

There have been 180 known cases of the Delta variant - first identified in India - identified in Ireland, according to the Journal.ie. That accounts for five percent of sequenced cases in Ireland.

The Thai island of Phuket is racing to vaccinate as many people as possible in the hope that, if 70% of the population receives a dose before 1 July, the island will become the first Thai destination to reopen to foreign tourists.

If the island can build its immunity, it could soon come back to life again, said infectious disease nurse Bang-orn Rungruang, who is helping to coordinate vaccines at the Angsana Convention and Exhibition Space. The pandemic, she said, had devastated the island’s businesses.

Continue reading...

Mrs Livingstone, I presume? Museum to feature role of explorer’s wife

Posted on by

Revamped gallery to reveal the importance – and presence – of Mary Moffat in missionary’s life and travels

Dr Livingstone, the Scottish explorer and Christian missionary in Africa, was a hero for Victorian schoolboys, his reputation enhanced by exuberant biographies. But next month the reopening of a museum on the banks of the River Clyde, following a £9.1m investment, is to set his famous story in a broader context.

The cliche runs that behind every great man stands a great woman. In Livingstone’s case, the reputation of his fearless wife, Mary Moffat, actually went before him, smoothing his path through remote regions.

Continue reading...

Under-18s could be ‘reservoirs’ for virus when all adults are jabbed, expert warns

Posted on by

Unvaccinated children have potential to drive third wave of highly transmissible Delta variant, says virologist

The drive to vaccinate all adults over the age of 18 in the UK could lead to the concentration of Covid-19 cases in schoolchildren, a leading British virologist has warned.

Under-18s would then become reservoirs in which new variants of the virus could arise, said Julian Tang, of Leicester University.

Continue reading...

Head of Independent Sage to launch international climate change group

Posted on by

Sir David King hopes to emulate success of British Covid advisory body by issuing monthly reports on environmental crisis

Several of the world’s leading scientists plan to launch an independent expert group this week to advise, warn and criticise global policymakers about the climate and nature crises.

The new body has been inspired by Independent Sage – the cluster of British scientists who have held UK ministers and civil servants to account for their lack of transparency and mishandling of the Covid pandemic.

Continue reading...

John Bercow defects to Labour with withering attack on Johnson

Posted on by

Former Speaker says party has become reactionary and xenophobic under its current leadership

• The blue wall: what next for the Tories after shock defeat?

John Bercow, the former Tory MP and Speaker of the House of Commons, has delivered an extraordinary broadside against Boris Johnson and the Conservative party as he announces he has switched his political allegiance to Labour.

In an explosive interview with the Observer, Bercow says he regards today’s Conservative party as “reactionary, populist, nationalistic and sometimes even xenophobic”.

Continue reading...

Bodies of woman, 23, and man in 30s found in fields near Derbyshire village

Posted on by

Police not looking for anyone else in connection with deaths in Duckmanton as reports name woman as Gracie Spinks

Police are investigating after the bodies of a 23-year-old woman and a man in his 30s were found within hours of each other in fields near a Derbyshire village.

The woman was found in a field near Staveley Road in Duckmanton at about 8.40am on Friday, and was pronounced dead at the scene. She has been named in reports as Gracie Spinks, a keen horse rider.

Continue reading...

London stadiums host ‘super Saturday’ of mass rapid Covid vaccinations

Posted on by

Tens of thousands turn up to grounds of West Ham, Spurs and others, as young people are urged to get jabs

Londoners received tens of thousands of Covid jabs in just a few hours on Saturday as football grounds in the capital were transformed into mass vaccination centres.

Huge jab clinics have been set up at the London Stadium, Stamford Bridge, the Tottenham Hotspur stadium, the Valley, home of Charlton Athletic, and Selhurst Park.

Continue reading...

Third wave of Covid ‘definitely under way’ in UK, says expert

Posted on by

Prof Adam Finn’s comments come after PHE reported 79% rise in number of Delta variant cases in just one week

A government scientific adviser has said a third wave of the coronavirus pandemic is “definitely under way” as the vaccine programme races to outpace the Delta variant’s spread across the UK.

It comes after Public Health England reported a 79% rise in the number of cases of the variant first identified in India in a week. Hospital admissions have almost doubled.

Continue reading...

Police interviewed Prince Charles over ‘plot to kill Diana’

Posted on by

Former Met chief reveals he questioned prince as a witness in 2005 about note written by princess

The former Metropolitan police chief John Stevens has disclosed that he questioned Prince Charles over allegations that he had plotted to kill Diana, Princess of Wales.

Charles was interviewed as a witness in 2005, during a three-year investigation into Diana’s death in a Paris car crash in 1997, the Daily Mail reported.

Continue reading...