Hairdressers and beauty salons will be first to reopen in phased easing of lockdown rules
Hairdressers and beauty salons will be able to reopen in Northern Ireland from 23 April, the first stage in a phased reopening of the region’s economy and society, it has been announced.
Outdoor visitor attractions and competitive sports with up to 100 participants will also be allowed from next week.
Continue reading...Brothers will be separated by cousin Peter Phillips as they walk behind coffin, Buckingham Palace reveals
The Dukes of Cambridge and Sussex will walk apart for their grandfather’s funeral, which is likely to see the Queen sitting alone, details released by Buckingham Palace reveal.
Prince William and Prince Harry, whose troubled relationship was further strained after the Sussexes’ controversial interview with Oprah Winfrey, will be separated by their cousin Peter Phillips as they walk behind the coffin of the Duke of Edinburgh on Saturday.
Continue reading...Exclusive: In leaked emails, Matt Hancock’s adviser says there is ‘urgent need for decisions’ on asymptomatic testing
Senior government officials have raised “urgent” concerns about the mass expansion of rapid coronavirus testing, estimating that as few as 2% to 10% of positive results may be accurate in places with low Covid rates, such as London.
Boris Johnson last week urged everyone in England to take two rapid-turnaround tests a week in the biggest expansion of the multibillion-pound testing programme to date.
Continue reading...Fears of 60% reduction in budget for country where 27.3m said to be experiencing acute food insecurity
A consortium of 19 aid agencies operating in the Democratic Republic of Congo has issued a last-minute appeal to the UK Foreign Office to suspend planned aid cuts to the country, where a third of the population faces acute food insecurity.
The Foreign Office, the second largest provider of aid to the war-torn country, has told aid agencies that cuts are very likely. Although the size of them is not yet agreed, one report has suggested a 60% reduction in the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office budget for the country. The FCDO’s aid programme for Congo was worth £180m in 2019.
Continue reading...Mohammed bin Salman warned of damage to Saudi-UK relations if Premier League refusal not ‘corrected’
The Saudi crown prince, Mohammed bin Salman, warned Boris Johnson in a text message that UK-Saudi Arabian relations would be damaged if the British government failed to intervene to “correct” the Premier League’s “wrong” decision not to allow a £300m takeover of Newcastle United last year.
Johnson asked Edward Lister, his special envoy for the Gulf, to take up the issue, and Lord Lister reportedly told the prime minister: “I’m on the case. I will investigate.”
Continue reading...Exclusive: Equalities watchdog tells government documents could create ‘two-tier society’
Covid-status certificates being considered by ministers to help open up society could amount to unlawful indirect discrimination, the government’s independent equalities watchdog has advised.
As ministers decide whether the documents should be introduced as passports to certain events later this year, the Equality and Human Rights Commission has told the Cabinet Office they risk creating a “two-tier society”.
Continue reading...Ruling in Amsterdam overturns company’s decision to exclude operators for alleged sharing of account details
Uber has been ordered to reinstate five British drivers who were struck off from its ride-hailing app by robot technology.
The five drivers, backed by the App Drivers & Couriers Union (ADCU) and the campaign group Worker Info Exchange, argued that they had been wrongly accused of fraudulent activity based on mistaken information from Uber’s technology, and that the company had failed to provide the drivers with proper evidence to support the allegations.
Continue reading...Daren Buckley told armed police ‘somebody’s got to help’ people injured in Manchester Arena terror attack
A man has described attempting to give first aid to victims of the Manchester Arena terror attack but was told to leave by armed police, the independent public inquiry into the attack has heard.
Daren Buckley was leaving the Ariana Grande concert on 22 May 2017 with his son when the suicide bomb exploded, killing 22 people and injuring hundreds.
Continue reading...Three European countries say there is no ‘credible civilian need’ for enriching uranium to 60%
France, Germany and the UK have warned that Iran took a dangerous step towards the production of a nuclear weapon by enriching uranium to levels for which there is no “credible civilian need”.
Tehran, which claims its nuclear ambitions are limited to creating energy, announced this week it was boosting its levels of uranium enrichment to 60%, just short of weapons-grade purity. The 2015 nuclear deal only allows enrichment to a purity level of 3.67%.
Continue reading...Holdings of more than 40,000 hectares in London, Scotland and Newmarket make Dubai ruler one of UK’s biggest landowners
The controversial ruler of Dubai has acquired a land and property empire in Britain that appears to exceed 40,000 hectares (100,000 acres), making him one of the country’s largest landowners, according to a Guardian analysis.
The huge property portfolio apparently owned by Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid al-Maktoum and his close family ranges from mansions, stables and training gallops across Newmarket, to white stucco houses in some of London’s most exclusive addresses and extensive moorland including the 25,000-hectare Inverinate estate in the Scottish Highlands.
Continue reading...Prime minister questioned on controversy over Greensill’s influence within government with links to David Cameron and a senior civil servant
Hi there, this is Rhi Storer taking over from Yohannes Lowe this afternoon. Please feel free to send me any contributions to rhi.storer@guardian.co.uk or alternatively you can contact me on Twitter.
Here is video of Vicky Foxcroft’s (Lab) question about sign language at PMQs (see earlier post):
Labour MP Vicky Foxcroft asks a question in sign language
"If the prime minister doesn't understand, why does he still not have sign language at his press briefings?"
Boris Johnson replies “I’m grateful… and will revert to her as soon as I can”#PMQs https://t.co/cNTSzLDCHF pic.twitter.com/zh2nFXn8Yd
PC Colin Noble allegedly made ‘completely inappropriate comments’ at woman’s home, tribunal hears
A police constable visited a domestic violence victim’s house unannounced up to 30 times and made a “catalogue of completely inappropriate comments”, a tribunal has heard.
PC Colin Noble of West Midlands police is accused of “trying it on” with four domestic abuse victims and faces dismissal for gross misconduct.
Continue reading...US label Judith Leiber’s depiction of the god on £6,340 leather clutch criticised as ‘demeaning’
Harrods has stopped selling a luxury handbag after the accessory caused offence among the Hindu community.
The bag, from the New York label Judith Leiber favoured by Beyoncé and Jennifer Lopez, sculptures the Hindu god Ganesha into a leather clutch. Many Hindus saw the image of the god on a handbag as demeaning and commodifying their religion. They believe in non-violence against animals, so the use of leather is considered insensitive, especially in this context.
Continue reading...Well-connected corporate lawyer is ‘supremely qualified’, but his close connections are set to be scrutinised
The corporate lawyer chosen to chair the inquiry into the Greensill lobbying scandal was once named one of GQ’s most connected men in Britain – but his close connections in the world of finance and politics are set to come under scrutiny.
Nigel Boardman was a long-term partner at the international law firm Slaughter and May, a role he left in 2019, though he continues to be a senior consultant at the firm.
Continue reading...Local restrictions may be needed, specialists warn, as South Africa strain is identified in London
Local restrictions should be imposed to curb the spread of coronavirus variants when clusters emerge to avoid local or national lockdowns, scientists have said after the UK’s biggest surge testing operation got under way.
In south London, dozens of cases of the South Africa variant of Covid-19 have been detected, chiefly in the boroughs of Wandsworth and Lambeth, leading to what the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) has said is the “largest surge testing operation to date”.
Continue reading...Exclusive: Kyaw Zwar Minn says he feels unsafe at London residence and family at home fear reprisals
Myanmar’s ousted ambassador to the UK has said that friends and relatives at home have been forced into hiding after the country’s military regime removed him from office for declaring his loyalty to the deposed civilian leader Aung San Suu Kyi.
In his first major interview after he was unceremoniously locked out of the embassy by his deputy last week, Kyaw Zwar Minn said he no longer felt safe at his north London residence and had contacted the police after members of his former staff delivered a letter ordering him to move out by Thursday.
Continue reading...Prof Marie Scully developed a diagnostic test at University College London hospital after seeing rare side-effect in patient
Marie Scully was alarmed and puzzled. “It didn’t make sense,” she said. The consultant haematologist at University College London hospital (UCLH) had seen patients with blood clots in the brain and low platelets before and, although it was unusual, she always knew why. But there was no reason for the condition of the young woman in her 30s she was treating in early March.
“Now when you have blood clots in the brain like that there’s always a cause, and it was difficult to pinpoint the cause,” said Prof Scully. “It didn’t fit our normal diagnostic boxes, let’s say. She was a young woman with cerebral venous sinus thrombosis, and she had a low platelet count.”
Continue reading...It’s easy to laugh at hardcore patriots misunderstanding Bruce Springsteen’s Born in the USA, but such appropriation is increasingly widespread – and dangerously twisting the truth
“Did you know that Born in the USA is actually an anti-Vietnam war anthem?” Since Donald Trump embraced the 1984 Bruce Springsteen song during rallies, the lyrics have prompted so much explanation it now borders on cliche. Yet it’s no less unsettling for it, becoming a prime example of a startlingly widespread trend for the right wing to co-opt music about struggle and progress.
President Ronald Reagan made the first attempt to gloss over the context of the song’s ironically upbeat chorus after the release of the Born in the USA album. Reagan name-checked Springsteen during a New Jersey rally in an attempt to connect the musician to a “message of hope” for America. Springsteen’s opposition to its use didn’t affect the fervour for the song from Trump and his supporters. As Barack Obama noted in an episode of his podcast series with Springsteen this month: “It ended up being appropriated as this iconic, patriotic song. Even though that was not necessarily your intention.”
Continue reading...Nicola Sturgeon says ‘Covid is in retreat in Scotland’ as travel and outdoor rules eased
Nicola Sturgeon has accelerated the relaxation of restrictions on travel and outdoor meetings as she said Covid was “in retreat” in Scotland.
Announcing the changes, which will allow Scots to meet up with family and friends across the country outside in larger groups, the first minister said that from this Friday:
Continue reading...Black, Asian and ethnic minority women report being denied pain relief or feeling unheard to panel investigating mortality disparity
Feeling manipulated into having medical procedures, dismissed by professionals and labelled with racial stereotypes are among the complaints of parents who responded to a national inquiry into racial injustice in UK maternity care.
A panel established by the charity Birthrights is investigating discrimination ranging from explicit racism to racial bias and microaggressions that amount to poorer care.
Continue reading...