Category Archives: UK news

All over-50s and high-risk groups in UK offered vaccine ahead of target date

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Achievement hailed by PM as ‘hugely significant milestone’ means people in late 40s should be next to be immunised

All over-50s and high-risk groups in the UK have been offered a coronavirus vaccine a few days before the mid-April deadline set by the government – meaning the second phase of the rollout to younger cohorts can now begin.

Despite fears of a supply slowdown and possible knock in confidence after a change in advice on who could get the Oxford/AstraZeneca jab, Boris Johnson hailed the passing of “another hugely significant milestone”.

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‘World’s biggest rabbit’ stolen from home in Worcestershire

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Owner Annette Edwards offers £1,000 reward for return of Guinness World Record-holding giant rabbit

A rabbit proclaimed the biggest in the world has been stolen from its home in Worcestershire, police have said.

West Mercia police believe the 129cm-long continental giant rabbit, named Darius, was taken from its enclosure in the garden of the property in Stoulton overnight on Saturday.

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Sturgeon blasts decision to refer Holyrood bills to UK supreme court

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Scottish first minister calls UK government decision ‘morally repugnant’ as bills were passed unanimously

Nicola Sturgeon has condemned the UK government’s decision to refer two bills passed by Holyrood unanimously to the supreme court as “morally repugnant” amid an outcry from MSPs.

The Scottish parliament passed the United Nations convention on the rights of the child bill and the European charter of local self-government bill in the weeks before it went into recess.

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David Cameron faces unprecedented formal inquiry into Greensill scandal

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Boris Johnson orders independent investigation into former prime minister’s lobbying on behalf of collapsed finance firm

David Cameron is at the centre of an unprecedented formal inquiry after Boris Johnson ordered a probe into lobbying by the former prime minister on behalf of the collapsed company Greensill Capital.

The independent investigation will examine the firm’s role in government, supply chain financing and communications by employees, including Cameron, who joined Greensill as an adviser in 2018, two years after resigning as prime minister, and who stood to make millions of pounds from his role.

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Greensill scandal: government orders inquiry into Cameron lobbying

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Independent investigation launched into former PM’s lobbying for now-collapsed firm

The government is to a launch an independent investigation into former prime minister David Cameron’s lobbying for the now-collapsed Greensill and the role of the scandal-hit financier Lex Greensill in government.

The independent review, commissioned by Boris Johnson, will be led by the legal expert Nigel Boardman, a non-executive board member of the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy.

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‘My son could die’: the disabled Syrian refugees on the sharp end of UK aid cuts – photo essay

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Two centres in Lebanon are among the casualties of cuts to British aid, with devastating consequences for thousands of patients and families

In January, the British government told its diplomats to start finding 50–70% cuts in aid funding. In March, it was revealed it was slashing aid funding to Syrian refugee projects by a third. Among the many casualties of those cuts is a project in Lebanon.

Two centres – in Zahlé and in Beirut – offer specialised services, such as speech and physiotherapy, for disabled Syrian refugees who can’t afford to pay for them.

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Spring cold snap hits as England relaxes Covid lockdown restrictions

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Snowfall in some areas dampens hopes of businesses reopening their doors for first time in months

The lifting of lockdown restrictions to allow people in England to use pub beer gardens and dine in the outdoor areas of restaurants is being met by snowfall, as a spring cold snap hits.

The inclement weather will come as a blow to thousands of businesses that were hoping to welcome back customers on Monday after months of restrictions.

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Union in peril as PM ‘speaks for England alone’, former civil servant warns

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Philip Rycroft says PM’s ‘muscular brand of unionism’ has deepened divisions between four nations

The pandemic has seeded the idea of a prime minister “who speaks for England alone” as relations between the four nations of the UK deteriorate amid “deep-rooted complacency”, a senior former civil servant has warned.

There is widespread ignorance towards the union, meaning ministers can be kept in the dark about major reforms with little consideration for the four nations, Philip Rycroft, the permanent secretary to the Brexit department until 2019, says in a report.

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Gordon Brown calls for G7 to act on Covid vaccine ‘apartheid’

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Former prime minister says group should commit to global vaccine drive and slams UK’s foreign aid cut

Preventing poor countries suffering from vaccine “apartheid” will require the G7 group of rich nations to commit $30bn (£22bn) a year to a global immunisation drive, Gordon Brown has said.

The former Labour prime minister said the UK should use June’s G7 summit in Cornwall to rekindle the moral purpose of the Make Poverty History campaign of 2005, paying for its share of the new fund by reversing the government’s “misguided” cut to the foreign aid budget.

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PM will allow second referendum if SNP wins, says Sturgeon

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Scottish first minister tells Guardian fresh poll impossible to resist should her party land majority next month

Boris Johnson will not oppose a second independence referendum if the Scottish National party wins a majority in the election next month, Nicola Sturgeon has said, with some UK government ministers reportedly conceding it is an inevitability.

In an interview with the Guardian, Scotland’s first minister said: “If people in Scotland vote for a party saying, ‘when the time is right, there should be an independence referendum’, you cannot stand in the way of that – and I don’t think that is what will happen.”

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Covid-status certificates could lead to deliberate infections, scientists warn

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Immunity certification could foster ‘an erroneous sense of no risk’ in people’s behaviour, according to analysts

Covid-status certificates – to allow those who have been vaccinated, recovered from the virus or have tested negative to attend an event or holiday abroad – could do harm as well as good, UK government science advisers have warned.

While they could encourage some people to get vaccinated, the scientists say others may deliberately go out to get infected, in order to test positive for antibodies and get a certificate enabling them to mix more freely.

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Prince Philip: respect and restraint required after duke’s death | Letters

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Martin Buckley, Carl Gardner, Margaret Vandecasteele and Pete Bibby on the death of the Duke of Edinburgh and media coverage of it

“Inevitably he will be remembered for the gaffes,” BBC TV told me on Friday. I interviewed the Duke of Edinburgh for the BBC over 20 years ago for a documentary presented by George Monbiot. The duke (whom we were talking to as president of the WWF) was informal and funny, and his intelligence shone through; he had a manifest love of nature and a terrifically detailed grasp of his environmental brief. The gaffes are a tired trope, endlessly headlined by our alternately sycophantic and feral media. Yes, the duke was impatient with the constraints he was permanently under, and yes, he occasional showed archaic attitudes. But at this time, it would be nice to acknowledge his positive qualities.
Martin Buckley
Farringdon, Hampshire

• I and many of your readers, I’m sure, would like to complain about the 13 pages on Prince Philip in Saturday’s Guardian (10 April). I would be interested to know what percentage of your readers read any of it. After all, by Saturday morning we all knew everything we wanted to know about him, and more, due to almost a full day’s blanket coverage on radio and TV. I expected better than a repeat performance across your pages.
Carl Gardner
London

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‘Rainbow, leopard print or pink’: Prince Philip’s Land Rover shows rise in alternative hearses

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Transportation to one’s own funeral is becoming more personalised, as more seek ‘something different’

The send-off for Prince Philip will be a royal funeral like no other, not least because his coffin will be carried in a bespoke Land Rover hearse he helped to design himself.

It’s a break from royal tradition – but his choice is not uncommon. Alternative hearses have become increasingly popular in recent years as people opt for more personalised funerals.

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Queen says Prince Philip’s death has left ‘a huge void’

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Duke of Edinburgh’s family say his death was ‘peaceful and gentle’ as they prepare for funeral on Saturday

The Queen has described the death of the Duke of Edinburgh as leaving “a huge void” in her life, Prince Andrew has revealed, saying it had brought home to him the loss suffered by so many during the coronavirus pandemic.

The Duke of York said the Queen had “described his passing as a miracle”, thought to refer to the fact Prince Philip died peacefully at home with her and not alone in hospital amid Covid regulations.

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‘She made a pact with God’: why the Queen is not likely to abdicate

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Analysis: though she will probably find it hard without Prince Philip, the Queen is unlikely to step down

The Queen, newly widowed, will find it “difficult” without the support she has leant on over 73 years of marriage to the Duke of Edinburgh, but royal observers have dismissed any speculation that she might consider stepping down.

The former prime minister Sir John Major acknowledged that her position as monarch was “a very lonely position”. He told BBC One’s The Andrew Marr Show: “There are a limited number of people to whom she can really open her heart, to whom she can really speak with total frankness, to whom she can say things that would be reported by other people and thought to be indelicate.”

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Long Covid: many will need specialist therapies, says expert

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Intensive care consultant says doctors are hoping to create a uniform structure for follow-up clinics

A “significant” number of people will require long-term aftercare such as the physiotherapy and speech therapy being received by Derek Draper after a year in intensive care following Covid, a leading doctor has said.

On Friday, it was revealed that Draper, the former political adviser and the husband of ITV presenter Kate Garraway, has been taken off support machines and returned home after a year in intensive care – but will receive 24-hour care at the couple’s newly adapted north London home.

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Virus hotspots could lead to third Covid wave in UK, scientists warn

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Boris Johnson accused of dropping pledge to ‘follow data not dates’ and urged to wait for more vaccinations before easing restrictions

Leading scientists warned last night that the government was risking a third wave of Covid-19 by easing the lockdown at a time when official data still shows virus hotspots across many parts of the country.

With the UK poised to lift many Covid restrictions on Monday, the scientists accuse ministers of abandoning their promises to “follow the data, not dates” in a rush to reopen society and the economy.

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Prince Charles remembers ‘dear papa’ as details of funeral emerge

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Service to be held at Windsor on 17 April and include Duke of Edinburgh’s request that his coffin be borne on a Land Rover

Prince Charles has paid tribute to his “dear papa” as details of the Duke of Edinburgh’s funeral plans emerged, including Prince Philip’s special request that his coffin be borne on a Land Rover.

Speaking at Highgrove, the Prince of Wales said: “My dear papa was a very special person who I think above all else would have been amazed by the reaction and the touching things that have been said about him.”

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Former Big Brother contestant Nikki Grahame dies aged 38

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Reality TV star had written about her experience of anorexia and had been receiving treatment for an eating disorder

Nikki Grahame, the reality TV star who gained fame as a Big Brother contestant, has died aged 38.

Grahame, from Northwood in London, had recently been receiving treatment for an eating disorder at a specialist clinic after a fundraising campaign organised by friends and fans.

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