Category Archives: UK news

Coronavirus live news: UK continues debate over jabs for children; Australia records highest daily cases

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Sage expert responds to UK watchdog’s decision not to recommend vaccine for 12- to 15-year-olds; 1,756 infections in Australia on Saturday

Vaccine passport restrictions in France could be eased if rates of Covid-19 infections in the country begin to slow, the labour minister, Élisabeth Borne, said on Saturday.

“The health situation is improving. If this is confirmed, we will be able to ease the rules,” Reuters quoted Borne telling France Inter radio, adding that this could be decided “in the coming days”.

In another sporting cancellation, the boxer Oscar De La Hoya has said his comeback fight due for next weekend has been cancelled after he caught Covid.

Wanted you to hear directly from me that despite being fully vaccinated, I have contracted Covid and am not going to be able to fight next weekend. Preparing for this comeback has been everything to me over the last months, & I want to thank everyone for their tremendous support. pic.twitter.com/0wKEnr5Jzv

I am currently in the hospital getting treatment and am confident I will be back in the ring before the year is up. God bless everyone and stay safe.

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Hilary Mantel: I am ashamed to live in nation that elected this government

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Double Booker prize winner tells La Repubblica she may take Irish citizenship to feel European again

Hilary Mantel has said she feels “ashamed” by the UK government’s treatment of migrants and asylum seekers and is intending to become an Irish citizen to “become a European again”.

In a wide-ranging interview with La Repubblica, the twice Booker prize-winning novelist also gave her view on the monarchy, told how endometriosis has “devastated my life”, and how Boris Johnson “should not be in public life”. She also addresses the criticism of JK Rowling and her stance on transgender rights.

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PM’s former aide blames Whitehall for Covid ‘mixed messages’

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Lee Cain says pandemic exposed a communications system ill equipped for the 21st century

Boris Johnson’s former director of communications has blamed a lack of expertise in Whitehall for the government’s struggle to get its message across in the early days of the Covid crisis.

Lee Cain was a key adviser to Johnson, who boasted about shaking hands on a hospital visit, claimed the government could “turn the tide” within 12 weeks, and said it would be “inhuman” to cancel Christmas, days before ordering millions of people to spend the festive season at home.

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Father, 86, dies trying to rescue disabled daughter from canal

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Lawrence Casey went into Bude canal in Cornwall after daughter Jessica lost control of mobility scooter

An 86-year-old man has died while attempting to rescue his disabled daughter from a canal.

Lawrence Casey went into Bude canal in north Cornwall to rescue his daughter Jessica after she suddenly lost control of her mobility scooter and plunged into the water.

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Spencer review – Princess Diana’s disastrous marriage makes a magnificent farce

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Kristen Stewart’s entirely compelling Di has no escape from the dress-up game of monarchy in Pablo Larraín’s unreverential movie

Sandringham, Christmas 1991. Bare trees, frosted fields, dead pheasants on the drive. Inside the grand house the dining table has been laid in readiness, but one of the principal guests – arguably the main course – is running late and lost. She grinds her car to a halt, tosses her perfect hair in frustration. “Where the fuck am I?” asks Diana, Princess of Wales.

And so begins this extraordinary film, which bills itself as “a fable from a true tragedy” and spotlights three days in the dissolution of Charles and Di’s marriage. Working off a sharp script by Steven Knight, Chilean director Pablo Larraín spins the headlines and scandals into a full-blown Gothic nightmare, an opulent ice palace of a movie with shades of Rebecca at the edges and a pleasing bat-squeak of absurdity in its portrayal of the royals. Larraín’s approach to the material is rich and intoxicating and altogether magnificent. I won’t call it majestic. That would do this implicitly republican film a disservice.

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Abba singles race to top of streaming charts in comeback triumph

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Swedish pop group shows cross-generational appeal, amassing 5.5m likes on TikTok since 1 September

Two singles released from Abba’s first album in 40 years have raced to the top of the streaming charts, in a comeback that has generated praise and excitement among fans who remember the original releases and a new younger audience.

The first two singles from Abba’s forthcoming album, to be released on 5 November, were in first and third place on YouTube’s trending rankings in 12 countries on Friday, including the UK. I Still Have Faith In You gained 4.4m views within 24 hours in Britain and Don’t Shut Me Down 1.4m views.

In a further confirmation of the Scandinavian pop band’s cross-generational appeal, Abba have already amassed 991,000 followers and 5.5m likes on TikTok despite only joining the platform on 1 September.

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Stress test: how ‘burnout breaks’ are helping staff recover from pandemic

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Businesses are becoming increasingly aware that exhaustion is a ticking timebomb

This week, staff at Nike’s headquarters in Oregon breathed a prolonged sigh of relief, after learning that they were getting a week off to de-stress and recover from the pressures of the Covid-19 pandemic.

In an open message to staff posted on LinkedIn, Nike’s senior manager of global marketing science, Matt Marrazzo, told staff: “In a year (or two) unlike any other, taking time for rest and recovery is key to performing well and staying sane.”

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Security operation for Queen’s death includes social media blackouts

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Secret documents reveal scale of funeral strategy and government anxieties over resources

The UK government’s vast security operation to manage the immediate aftermath of the death of the Queen include official social media blackouts and a ban on retweets.

These plans, codenamed Operation London Bridge, which were first revealed in a Guardian Long Read in 2017 and have now been seen in full by Politico, detail the scale of the arrangements for the funeral and government anxieties about whether the UK has the resources to execute them.

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British-born Islamic State terror suspect pleads guilty to multiple charges

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Alexanda Amon Kotey, one of a gang of four IS militants, admits to hostage taking and conspiracy to murder in US court

A British terrorist accused of beheading western hostages for Islamic State has pleaded guilty to multiple charges in a US federal court.

Alexanda Amon Kotey, 37, was one of the gang of four IS militants nicknamed “the Beatles” by their captives due to their British accents.

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Priti Patel orders review into effects of nitrous oxide

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Possession could be criminalised as home secretary vows to ‘take tough action’ on use of laughing gas

Possession of nitrous oxide, one of the most popular drugs among 16- to 24-year-olds, could be criminalised after the home secretary ordered experts to review its effects.

Priti Patel said she was ready to “take tough action” on the widespread use of laughing gas, which is taken mostly through balloons filled from small metal cylinders often seen littering areas around nightclubs and music festivals.

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Government urged to ‘get a handle’ on supply chain crisis

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Chair of commission scrutinising post-Brexit trade deals says ministers must act now to get shelves stocked for Christmas

The government is being urged to “get a handle” on the supply chain crisis, as the chair of a cross-party commission created to scrutinise the UK’s post-Brexit trade deals said ministers need to act now to avoid empty shelves in the run-up to Christmas.

“Red tape and labour shortages from Brexit have exacerbated problems that are being acutely felt across production, processing, manufacturing, retail and of course logistics,” said Aodhán Connolly, who chaired an extraordinary session of the UK Trade and Business Commission, a group of cross-party MPs and business representatives set up as an independent adviser to government in April.

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Abba reunite for Voyage, first new album in 40 years

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Swedish hitmakers to release album of brand new material in November, and digital avatars will appear in London concert residency in 2022

One of the most anticipated comebacks in pop culture has finally come to pass: the return of Abba.

Forty years after the bitter songs written in the wake of two band divorces for their last album, 1981’s The Visitors, the Swedish pop quartet have reunited for Voyage, an album of brand new songs that will be released on 5 November – including, they say, a Christmas song. Two tracks from it, the stately and epic ballad I Still Have Faith in You and the shimmying Don’t Shut Me Down, are out now.

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No urgency on Covid booster shots for healthy adults, says UK scientist

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Exclusive: head of key research into third dose says it may be better to prioritise vulnerable first

There is “almost certainly no urgency” to press ahead with booster shots for healthy adults and it may be better to see how the pandemic pans out before a decision is made, the scientist leading key research into third shots has said.

Prof Saul Faust, chief investigator of the Cov-Boost study whose data next week is expected to help inform a decision on the rollout of boosters across the UK, told the Guardian that for now it may be preferable to prioritise only the vulnerable, including those with compromised immune systems.

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Sage members sent suspicious packages throughout pandemic, says leading scientist

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Prof Calum Semple and others advising government on Covid-19 response have been targeted by anti-vaxxers

Members of the government’s Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies (Sage) have been sent suspicious packages and hate mail throughout the pandemic, one of the UK’s leading virologists has revealed.

Prof Calum Semple, a member of Sage and the New and Emerging Respiratory Virus Threats Advisory Group (Nervtag), said the incidents of abuse included one “particularly nasty” experience when he was targeted by anti-vaxxers.

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Evacuations from Kabul may resume ‘in near future’, says Raab

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Foreign secretary says UK must engage with Taliban in Afghanistan after meeting with Qatari officials

Evacuations may be able to resume from Kabul airport “in the near future”, the foreign secretary, Dominic Raab, has said as he expressed a need for direct engagement with the Taliban.

Speaking after talks in Qatar on Thursday, Raab raised hopes that the Britons and Afghans left behind may be able to leave on flights from Afghanistan’s capital.

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Brexit: food and drink exports to EU suffer ‘disastrous’ decline

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First-half sales fall £2bn, says industry body, as barriers are compounded by staff shortages

Exports of food and drink to the EU have suffered a “disastrous” decline in the first half of the year because of Brexit trade barriers, with sales of beef and cheese hit hardest.

Food and Drink Federation (FDF) producers lost £2bn in sales, a dent in revenue that could not be compensated for by the increased sales in the same period to non-EU countries including China and Australia.

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Scotland proposes Covid vaccine certificates for nightclub entry

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Nicola Sturgeon says certificates in limited scenarios could protect public health and boost vaccine take-up

The Scottish government is proposing vaccine certificates for entry to nightclubs and large-scale indoor and outdoor events in an attempt to curb escalating Covid infections before the autumn.

Announcing the plans, which MSPs will be asked to vote on next week, the first minister, Nicola Sturgeon, said that – although expected with schools returning last month – “the scale of the increase [in infections] in recent weeks has been very concerning”.

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UK has little option but to talk with the Taliban

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Analysis: Insurgents’ cooperation is needed for evacuations, but PM could face criticism for engaging with them

Boris Johnson’s decision to dispatch a senior spy chief to talk directly to the Taliban in Qatar reflects an uncomfortable but necessary reality: the UK has little option but to engage with the insurgent group now in control of Afghanistan.

Thousands of Afghans eligible for resettlement in the UK are believed to remain trapped in the country – UK ministers refuse to say how many – and hundreds of British nationals. With western troops withdrawn, it is only with Taliban cooperation that people will be able to leave safely and smoothly.

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British journalist killed by armed robbers in Ghana

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Syed Taalay Ahmed, who worked for Muslim Television Ahmadiyaa International, was ambushed in Tamale

Tributes have been paid to a British journalist who was killed in an armed robbery in Ghana.

Syed Taalay Ahmed, 31, who grew up in Hartlepool, was working for Muslim Television Ahmadiyaa International (MTA) when he was killed, the station said.

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