Captain Sir Tom Moore’s daughter has said he would never have been able to understand the online 'hate' the family received.
In an interview with BBC Breakfast, Hannah Ingram-Moore said she could not tell her 100-year-old father about the abuse after his fundraising efforts for the NHS. Moore died at Bedford hospital on 2 February after testing positive for Covid-19
Continue reading...Alleged killer Anne Sacoolas had applied for the civil proceedings against her to be dismissed
A judge has ruled that Harry Dunn’s family will be allowed to pursue a civil claim in the US against Anne Sacoolas, who fled the UK after allegedly killing the 19-year-old motorcyclist.
The family will be able to sue Sacoolas for damages after a judge in the eastern district of Virginia dismissed her argument that holding the proceedings in the UK would be “more convenient”.
Continue reading...Police have fined 70 people £200 each after discovering 150 revellers packed into makeshift nightclub in Birmingham. The lockdown-defying event featured a bar, VIP area and DJ. On the same night, officers shut down a bar named the Covid Arms inside a mechanic's garage
Continue reading...New modelling identifies more higher-risk adults, of which 800,000 will be offered priority vaccination
Nearly 2 million more people in England will be asked to shield and 800,000 of those offered priority vaccination as a result of new modelling that has identified adults at higher risk from Covid-19 because of a combination of health factors and their circumstances, including ethnicity and low income.
Until now the NHS identified those most at risk on the basis usually of a single underlying health condition, such as specific cancers, together with age. But a more sophisticated modelling tool developed by the University of Oxford has shown that the shielding list should nearly double, adding 1.7 million people on the basis of multiple risk factors.
Continue reading...‘Tell-all’ interview announcement has prompted reports it will lead to couple being stripped of patronages
The Duke and Duchess of Sussex will not wish to embarrass the Queen despite frenzied speculation over their planned “wide-ranging” interview with Oprah Winfrey, it is understood.
The announcement by CBS of a “tell-all” intimate account by Harry and Meghan of their “Megxit” departure from the UK has led to reports it is the final straw for an exasperated Buckingham Palace who will strip the couple of their royal patronages.
Continue reading...Maroš Šefčovič tells Dáil in Ireland he wants new committee to find solutions to trade problems
The EU is seeking to “de-escalate” Brexit tensions in Northern Ireland with the establishment of a new “clearing house” committee to work out solutions to issues caused by new trade barriers including controls on supermarket and chilled meat supplies.
The European commission vice-president Maroš Šefčovič said the introduction of the Northern Ireland protocol had been “administratively extremely challenging” but the EU was doing as much as possible to “calm down” and stabilise the backlash over checks and controls on goods entering the region from Great Britain.
Continue reading...Exclusive: officials say the employees tested negatively but were sent notifications telling them to self-isolate
Thousands of Amazon workers received the wrong Coronavirus test results after a mistake meant they were given inaccurate information by test and trace.
The Guardian understands that 3,853 staff members at the online retailer received an erroneous result. Officials said they had tested negatively but received notifications to say they had tested positive and asking them to self-isolate.
Continue reading...Julie Walters among signatories to letter saying post-Brexit changes a ‘towering hurdle’ to working in Europe
New visa rules for British artists, actors and theatre workers who want to work in Europe after Brexit are a “towering hurdle” that must be urgently addressed, according to an open letter signed by stars including Sir Ian McKellen, Julie Walters and Patrick Stewart.
In the letter from the performing arts union Equity, some of the biggest names in British theatre have implored the prime minister to go back to the negotiating table to ensure visa-free work in the EU.
Continue reading...Campaigners say veterans should also get compensation for injustice they suffered and pensions restored
Thousands of British military personnel who were dismissed because they were homosexual will be able to have their service medals restored if they had been taken away when they were kicked out of the armed forces.
Gay rights campaigners welcomed the move as the “first step on a journey” but said that issues such as enduring criminal records, lost pension rights and still blemished service records now needed to be dealt with by the Ministry of Defence.
Continue reading...Five twitchers travelled to Devon to photograph a northern mockingbird, last seen in the UK in the 1980s
Five birdwatchers have been fined for breaking Covid-19 restrictions after they travelled to Devon to try to see a rare specimen after a Twitter tipoff.
They were looking to catch sight of a northern mockingbird, normally found in North America, which had been spotted by Exmouth resident Chris Biddle.
Continue reading...Couple, who are expecting second child, to give first interview since quitting as senior royals
The Duke and Duchess of Sussex will break their silence in their first interview since quitting their roles as senior royals when they sit down with Oprah Winfrey next month.
Prince Harry and Meghan, who revealed on Sunday they are expecting their second child, announced their plans to step back from the royal family on 8 January last year.
Continue reading...FTSE 100 posts biggest daily gain for over a month as investors buoyed up by vaccine and US economy hopes
The pound has hit its highest level against the dollar for almost three years as global markets were buoyed up by hopes for a faster economic recovery from the coronavirus pandemic.
Sterling rose by 0.5% to hit a 33-month high against the dollar on Monday, trading above $1.39 on the global currency markets for the first time since 2018, while also rising to a nine-month high against the euro of almost €1.15.
Continue reading...According to a new poll, all manner of everyday occurrences are now over for good – from sharing crisps in the pub to swapping gym equipment
Name: Kissing strangers.
Age: Ancient.
Continue reading...Researchers say 32 cases of B1525 in Britain, with other cases in countries including Denmark, US and Australia
Another coronavirus variant with a potentially worrying set of mutations has been detected in the UK and should be targeted in surge testing, experts have said.
The variant, known as B1525, is the subject of a report by researchers at the University of Edinburgh, who say it has been detected through genome sequencing in 10 countries including Denmark, the US and Australia, with 32 cases found in the UK so far. The earliest sequences were dated to December and cropped up in the UK and Nigeria.
Continue reading...The prime minister said the government would provide target dates for sectors to reopen ‘if we possibly can’ when he reveals his plan for easing lockdown next week. Speaking to broadcasters in Kent, Johnson said: ‘The dates that we will be setting out will be the dates by which we hope we can do something at the earliest’
Continue reading...Stuart Ward of West Midlands police aims to stamp out racist abuse in grounds and online to bring back community spirit
Since starting his role as the UK’s first football hate crime officer earlier this month, PC Stuart Ward has been busier than expected, considering football fans are banned from stadiums as part of the coronavirus lockdown.
Instead of jibes from the stands, players are now fielding more abuse on social media – just the other week, in Ward’s biggest case to date, West Midlands police arrested a man suspected of racially abusing West Bromwich Albion footballer Romaine Sawyers online.
Continue reading...Pandemics are global by definition. Only travel restrictions and equal vaccine access for all countries will end this crisis
Most people have already adjusted their expectations to a spring of disruption – but most are quietly hoping that by the summer, and into the autumn, life in the UK will have returned more or less to normal. Are they right to be confident? What can we do to avoid slipping back into a cycle of lockdowns? In short: how does this pandemic end, and how can we end it faster?
Globally, the UK is in the strong position of having at least five effective and safe vaccines, but there are major challenges ahead. We already know about variants, such as those arising in Kent, Brazil and South Africa, which are proving challenging in terms of being more transmissible, and having potentially more severe health outcomes in the case of the UK variant.
Continue reading...Libya, a transit stop for migrants trying to reach Europe, is now facing an exodus of its own people
After witnessing abuse and discrimination, Sherif Targi*, 21, decided to leave Libya for Europe.
“I saw killing and massacres because of the conflicts between Tuaregs and the Tebu [ethnic minorities],” he says.
Targi is a Tuareg from the desert city of Ubari in Libya’s south-west. Under Muammar Gaddafi, Tuareg people were marginalised – not issued government IDs, and restricted from getting work and public services. Things didn’t improve after the dictator was ousted.
In October 2019, Targi left home, travelling more than 600 miles (1,000km) to the coastal city of Zuwara. From there, he and about 200 other people, mainly Syrians, Moroccans and Sudanese, crammed themselves on board an overloaded wooden boat, and set off on a dangerous 18-hour journey.
Chinese newspaper said countries that boycott 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics over treatment of Uighurs would face retaliation
The Liberal Democrats have warned China against “international bullying” after a call by UK MPs for countries to boycott the 2022 Winter Olympics was met by a warning of potential sanctions.
Last week, Ed Davey, the Lib Dem leader, joined with the Labour MP and former Foreign Office minister Chris Bryant in demanding that the government and the British Olympic Association act over the mass repression of the Muslim Uighur population in the Chinese region of Xinjiang, which campaigners say constitutes genocide.
Continue reading...Research argues ministers should create economic ‘big bang’ for area that turned Tory in last election
The prime minister should repay voters in the north of England who lent the Conservatives their vote at the last election by unleashing billions of pounds of private investment, according to a report.
It argues that ministers should aim to harness the “restless radicalism” from those who voted for Brexit in 2016 and the Conservatives in 2019 by creating an economic “big bang”, along the lines of the Thatcherite deregulation of the City in the 1980s which reinforced London’s position as a global financial centre.
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