Boris Johnson has said delays in vaccine supplies will not affect the government’s roadmap out of lockdown. ‘We’ve always said that in a vaccination programme of this pace and scale, some interruptions in supply are inevitable,’ he said. ‘The progress along the road to freedom remains unchecked.’
Most side-effects are mild and short-lived, and some groups are more likely to get them than others
According to Public Health England, most side-effects from the Covid vaccines – Pfizer/BioNTech and Oxford/AstraZeneca – are mild and short-lived. These include soreness where the jab was given, feeling tired or achy and headaches. Uncommon side-effects include having swollen lymph nodes.
Continue reading...Exclusive: Brandon Lewis to take new powers to make executive act, as more than 100 women cross Irish Sea for help
The UK government is to take unprecedented action to force Northern Ireland to speed up abortion services, using parliament to give the secretary of state new powers amid concern many women are still being forced to seek help in England.
New figures suggest that more than 100 women have still sought abortions in England from Northern Ireland, despite the risks of the pandemic, including those seeking later-term abortions for significant foetal complications or health risks.
Continue reading...European vice-president Maroš Šefčovič says claim about Brussels trying to erect barrier down Irish Sea undermines UK’s reputation
Britain’s foreign secretary, Dominic Raab, has been accused by Brussels of displaying a “total misunderstanding” of the Brexit deal after claiming the EU was trying to erect a barrier between Northern Ireland and Great Britain.
Maroš Šefčovič, the European commission’s vice-president, said Raab’s comments raised major questions, and warned that Britain was tarnishing its global reputation by ignoring the terms of its agreements with Brussels.
Continue reading...The value of British cultural capital in China makes the souring of relations all the more painful
When it is fully open later this year, the Londoner Macao hotel will be a kitsch recreation of tourist Britain, with a facade modelled on the Houses of Parliament, actors in bearskin hats performing the changing of the guard, and an English fried breakfast served at a restaurant called Churchill’s Table.
The new casino resort in China is one of the more tacky examples of the country’s fondness for British culture. Alongside the US and the Gulf, China is a crucial overseas market for English Premier League football broadcast rights. Britain’s heritage attractions, private schools and designer brands are immensely popular with China’s elite. The UK is also a favoured destination for higher education: numbers of Chinese students at UK universities soared by 56% from 2015 to 2019.
Continue reading...Health secretary says stocks will be affected by need to retest 1.7m doses and delay from India
Matt Hancock has said there will be a significant dip in vaccine supply in April, confirming supplies have been hit by a need to retest 1.7m doses and a delay in arrival of imports from India.
Speaking in the House of Commons, Hancock stressed the overall target timetable for vaccinations would not change but said he wanted to give more information, following the “speculation we’ve seen overnight”, after he was criticised for a press conference on Wednesday where the drop in supply went unexplained.
Continue reading...Alok Sharma sets out UK’s aims as host of climate talks, including new emissions targets for 2030
The world must be put on a path to reaching net zero by 2050 if the goal of holding global temperature rises below 1.5C is to be kept within reach, the UK host of this year’s climate talks has said.
Alok Sharma, the president of the UN Cop26 climate summit, said that for the talks in Glasgow in November to be judged a success, governments must urgently set out their targets to cut greenhouse gas emissions over the next decade including announcing an end to new coal power plants and commitments to phase out existing ones. Sharma is also urging countries to end the sale of new petrol and diesel vehicles.
Continue reading...Reports suggest using Gibraltar, the Isle of Man or paying third countries in an Australian-style system
Asylum seekers could be sent to processing centres abroad under the home secretary’s plans to overhaul the immigration system, according to reports.
The British overseas territory of Gibraltar is a location under consideration by officials, according to the Times, as well as the Isle of Man and other islands off the British coast.
Continue reading...The UK's foreign secretary said the European commission president, Ursula von der Leyen, needed to explain herself after she threatened to ban exports of Covid-19 vaccines to the UK. Raab said such a move would cut across previous assurances. 'Frankly, I'm surprised we're having this conversation,' Raab said. 'It's normally the UK and the EU [who] team up to object when other countries with less democratic regimes than our own engage in that kind of brinkmanship'
Continue reading...The health secretary is not concerned about an NHS warning that a 'significant reduction' of vaccine supplies could leave people under the age of 50 waiting an extra month for their first shot.
Playing down the importance of what he described as a 'normal operational letter', Matt Hancock said the government's plan to offer every adult a vaccine by the end of July had not changed. 'Vaccine supply is always lumpy,' he said. 'These supply schedules have moved up and down throughout this whole rollout –it's absolutely par for the course.'
Plan will also allow states most reliant on tourism to make bilateral arrangements with non-EU members – including UK
The European commission has unveiled a “digital green certificate” that could allow EU citizens who have been vaccinated, tested negative or recovered from Covid-19 to travel more freely within the bloc this summer.
The plan would also allow southern states such as Spain, Greece and Portugal, whose economies are most reliant on tourism, to make bilateral arrangements with non-EU members – including Britain – providing the deals are approved by the commission.
Continue reading...Goats of Great Orme venturing even further into town, sparking fears for their safety as lockdown eased
The goats of the Great Orme headland in Wales were a worldwide sensation during the first Covid lockdown last year after they were pictured roaming brazenly around the deserted streets of nearby Llandudno.
This year there has been a population explosion of the kashmiri goats in their north Wales headland home after the Covid crisis forced countryside wardens to cancel a planned contraception campaign.
Continue reading...Essex police say 50-year-old man being held in connection with death in 2001
Detectives have arrested a 50-year-old man over the death of Stuart Lubbock, who died at the home of the entertainer Michael Barrymore 20 years ago.
Essex police said the man, who has not been named, was arrested “in connection with the indecent assault and murder of Stuart Lubbock”.
Continue reading...Whalers’ logbooks show rapid drop in strike rate in north Pacific due to changes in cetacean behaviour
A remarkable new study on how whales behaved when attacked by humans in the 19th century has implications for the way they react to changes wreaked by humans in the 21st century.
The paper, published by the Royal Society on Wednesday, is authored by Hal Whitehead and Luke Rendell, pre-eminent scientists working with cetaceans, and Tim D Smith, a data scientist, and their research addresses an age-old question: if whales are so smart, why did they hang around to be killed? The answer? They didn’t.
Continue reading...Investigation appears to show unnecessary cruelty, suffering and disregard for Covid health precautions at more than a dozen farms
Campaigners are urging the UK government to ban fur imports after an investigation appeared to show widespread animal abuse and disregard for Covid-19 health protocols at more than a dozen fur farms in China.
Videos and photos from 19 farms visited in northern and north-eastern China last November and December appear to show foxes and raccoon dogs packed tightly in unsanitary cages and animals being electrocuted in ways that prolong their pain before death, often in front of others awaiting the same fate.
Continue reading...Short-sailings around UK with dining and entertainment to restart but ships will not call at ports
Cruise operator P&O is to restart domestic holidays this summer, but only for UK residents who have been fully vaccinated against Covid-19.
After its fleet has been grounded for over a year, P&O is dipping its toes back in the water by offering passengers short sailings on two of its ships around the UK coastline. Coronavirus restrictions mean the ships will not call at any ports, although there will be the usual onboard dining and entertainment programme.
Continue reading...Analysis: Germany, France, Spain and Italy head an expanding list of EU countries to have put its use on hold
A host of European countries have put all vaccinations with this jab on hold, including Germany, France, Spain, Italy, Denmark, Norway and Ireland. Some others such as Estonia and Austria have suspended vaccinations from particular batches of the vaccine.
Continue reading...The EMA is conducting an investigation into the safety of AstraZeneca’s Covid-19 vaccine after Germany, France, Italy and other EU countries suspended its use over isolated cases of bleeding, blood clots and low platelet counts.
Director Emer Cooke stated the EMA is "still firmly convinced the benefits of the AstraZeneca vaccine … outweigh the risk of these side effects." The investigative panel will meet again on Thursday when they will publish their findings to the public.
Latest updates: PM says UK’s greatest ally will be US as he makes statement to MPs on defence review
In his Sky News interview Tobias Ellwood, the Conservative chair of the Commons defence committee, said the security and defence review said that the UK could use nuclear weapons to respond to an attack with chemical or biological weapons. That was a “big change” in policy, he said.
He was referring to this passage on page 77 of the document (pdf).
The UK will not use, or threaten to use, nuclear weapons against any non-nuclear weapon state party to the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons 1968 (NPT). This assurance does not apply to any state in material breach of those non-proliferation obligations. However, we reserve the right to review this assurance if the future threat of weapons of mass destruction, such as chemical and biological capabilities, or emerging technologies that could have a comparable impact, makes it necessary.
Here is the Scottish government’s summary of the latest plans for easing lockdown restrictions in Scotland. And here is a graphic summarising what it says.
Scotland’s indicative route out of lockdown. If we all stick with it and get the virus more under control as the vaccines do their work, there is hope for a much better summer on the horizon ☀️ pic.twitter.com/gTKHtJTNn5
Continue reading...Exclusive: scientific advisers and ex-Whitehall chief join bereaved families, medics and ethnic minority leaders in calling for inquiry
Senior doctors, government scientific advisers and a former head of the civil service have spoken out in favour of a public inquiry into the UK’s handling of Covid-19, raising pressure on Boris Johnson to finally launch the process as the UK’s coronavirus fatalities rose to almost 126,000.
Thousands of bereaved families, nurses and ethnic minority leaders also backed calls for an inquiry into everything from lockdown tactics to test and trace after the UK’s handling of the pandemic resulted in the worst death toll per capita of any of the world’s large economies.
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