Category Archives: UK news

Women: an exhibition of British press photography

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To mark International Women’s Day 2021, the British Press Photographers’ Association has curated a new photographic exhibition, Women, telling the stories and highlighting the achievements of women and girls as recorded through the eyes of its visual storytellers.

Organisers Vickie Flores and Isabel Infantes took the decision to include pictures taken by any of the association’s members rather than just focusing on the views of women.

‘One of the aims of the project was to make photographers of all genders think about how we portray women and to achieve equality and gender parity, we need the support of each other’

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Harry and Meghan Oprah interview live: royals speak out in CBS special amid palace row

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Highly-anticipated prime time two-hour special with Duke and Duchess of Sussex airs as transatlantic public relations war mounts

Oprah is now at Meghan and Harry’s new home in Santa Barbara.

There are many chickens. “Archie has always wanted chickens,” says Harry.

Before we cut away to an ad break, there is a clip of Oprah asking: “Were you silent, or were you silenced?”

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Coronavirus live news: death toll in Italy goes past 100,000; vaccinated people can meet indoors, says US

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Italian PM reiterates pledge to speed up the vaccination programme; fully-vaccinated Americans can meet indoors without social distancing or masks

Here the latest key developments at a glance:

More than half of secondary schools and colleges in England have seen nearly all their students opt in for voluntary on-site coronavirus tests as they returned to class, a survey suggests.

PA reports:

Nearly three in four (73%) secondary school heads said more than 90% of pupils had complied with face covering policies in classrooms, according to the snap poll by the Association of School and College Leaders (ASCL).

But some heads reported lower compliance with masks, with 2% saying it was below 70%.

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The Guardian view on women and the pandemic: what happened to building back better? | Editorial

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Around the world, coronavirus has both highlighted and worsened existing inequalities

One year into the pandemic, women have little cause to celebrate International Women’s Day tomorrow, and less energy to battle for change. Men are more likely to die from Covid-19. But women have suffered the greatest economic and social blows. They have taken the brunt of increased caregiving, have been more likely to lose their jobs and have seen a sharp rise in domestic abuse.

In the UK, women did two-thirds of the extra childcare in the first lockdown, and were more likely to be furloughed. In the US, every one of the 140,000 jobs lost in December belonged to a woman: they saw 156,000 jobs disappear, while men gained 16,000. But white women actually made gains, while black and Latina women – disproportionately in jobs that offer no sick pay and little flexibility – lost out. Race, wealth, disability and migration status have all determined who is hit hardest. Previous experience suggests that the effects of health crises can be long-lasting: in Sierra Leone, over a year after Ebola broke out, 63% of men had returned to work but only 17% of women.

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One of world’s rarest toads bred in captivity for first time in Manchester

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Programme may help to ensure the survival of the critically endangered variable harlequin toad

One of the world’s rarest toads has been bred in captivity for the first time, thanks to the scientists at Manchester Museum.

The critically endangered variable harlequin toad, Atelopus varius, lives deep in the central American rainforests of Panama and Costa Rica, breeding only in turbulent streams filled with stones and boulders on which they lay their eggs.

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‘She almost embodies what they fear’: black women on treatment of Meghan

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Three British women say royal controversy points to UK’s failure to confront its racist attitudes

Chanel Ambrose was swept up by the sea of excitement around Prince Harry and Meghan Markle’s wedding. The 33-year-old loved how much Meghan tapped into her culture and heritage for the event: from the choir, the preacher, to her mum, with her natural hair, standing by her side.

She hoped the wedding and what it would symbolise might lead to a greater acceptance of black women across all sectors of society.

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Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe freed but may face new charges

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Five-year sentence in Iran is complete but lawyer says she will have to go to court to face new charges

Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe has been released from house arrest in Iran on the completion of her five-year sentence, but the British-Iranian dual national will have to go to court to face a second set of charges on 14 March, according to her lawyer.

The new charges, long threatened by the Iranians, include involvement in propaganda activity against the Islamic Republic including by attending a demonstration outside the Iranian embassy in London in 2009 and speaking to BBC Persian.

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Food scarcity fears prompt plan to ease post-Brexit checks on EU imports

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Ministers considering ‘lighter touch’ regime to avoid disruption to supplies from bloc

Ministers are preparing to relax post-Brexit plans for border checks on food and other imports from the European Union because of fears that they will further damage trade and could lead to severe shortages in UK supermarkets.

The Observer has been told by multiple industry sources that Boris Johnson’s new Brexit minister, Lord Frost, is considering allowing “lighter touch” controls on imports from 1 April than are currently planned, and scaling back plans for full customs checks, including physical inspections, which are due to begin on 1 July.

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Most Scots would back remaining in UK, new poll suggests

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Respondents say their trust in both Nicola Sturgeon and Alex Salmond dented by Holyrood inquiry

Most Scots would vote to remain in the UK if an independence referendum were held tomorrow, a new poll has found.

The survey of 1,015 Scots suggests that 46% would vote against Scottish independence, compared with 43% in favour.

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Royals to show united front before Harry and Meghan’s Oprah interview

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Queen, Charles, Camilla, William and Kate to pay tribute to the world’s healthcare workers in TV broadcast

In an apparent attempt to grab attention before the airing of Prince Harry and Meghan’s tell-all interview, senior members of the royal family are to show a united front on Sunday and praise the efforts of doctors and nurses.

Just hours before the interview with Oprah goes out, Queen Elizabeth, Prince Charles, Camilla, William and Kate will appear in a programme celebrating the Commonwealth and paying tribute to the world’s frontline healthcare workers.

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Coronavirus live news: UK still not out of the woods, expert says; Dalai Lama gets first Covid vaccine dose

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Contradictory death figures in Russia; WHO warns against relaxing guard due to vaccines

India’s federal government has asked local authorities to prioritise vaccinations in several districts of eight states, including New Delhi, that have seen a spike in coronavirus cases in recent weeks.

Reuters reports:

More than 60 districts across New Delhi, Haryana, Andhra Pradesh, Odisha, Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Goa and Chandigarh, “continue to be of concern”, the government said.

“These districts are seeing a decrease in total tests being conducted, low share of (tests), increase in weekly positivity and low number of contact tracing of the COVID positive cases,” it added, citing a risk of transmission to neighbouring regions.

More than 1,000 people in north-east England have been checked for coronavirus in the first day of surge testing after a variant from South Africa was discovered in their area.

The BBC reports that everyone aged over 16 living in Stockton’s TS19 postcode area was being urged to get tested even if asymptomatic. The local council said the variant was “more infectious” and cases needed to be identified “as quickly as possible”. Early studies indicate that this variant could be much more resistant to vaccines than the original strain.

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Sarah Everard: Met police ‘concerned’ for missing woman

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Everard, 33, went missing on evening of 3 March while walking from Clapham Junction area of London to Brixton

Police have said they are “increasingly concerned” over the disappearance of a woman who has not been heard from since Wednesday night and are appealing for information.

Sarah Everard, 33, went missing as she walked home to Brixton, south London, from the Clapham Junction area on 3 March after meeting a friend.

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Unions urge Sunak to reconsider 1% pay rise for NHS England staff

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BMA, Royal College of Nursing, Royal College of Midwives and Unison say pay recommendation ‘fails the test of honesty’

The government is under mounting pressure to reconsider its proposed 1% pay rise for NHS staff in England, with four trade unions writing a joint letter to the chancellor, Rishi Sunak, to express their “dismay” and calling for a fair pay deal.

The British Medical Association (BMA), the Royal College of Midwives, the Royal College of Nursing and Unison said the pay deal “fails the test of honesty and fails to provide staff who have been on the very frontline of the pandemic the fair pay deal they need”.

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Justin Welby condemns Nigerian archbishop’s gay ‘virus’ comments

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Archbishop of Canterbury says Henry Ndukuba’s comments that homosexuality should be ‘expunged’ are unacceptable

The archbishop of Canterbury has issued a rare public condemnation of a fellow Anglican primate who described homosexuality as a “deadly virus” which should be “radically expunged and excised”.

Justin Welby, who is the leader of the global Anglican church, said the comments made by Henry Ndukuba, the archbishop of Nigeria, were unacceptable and dehumanising.

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‘A symbolic moment’: Harry and Meghan’s Oprah interview marks turning point

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The conversation, expected to draw millions of viewers, could mark the transition from royalty to Hollywood elite

It may be an American coronation of sorts.

When Oprah Winfrey’s highly anticipated and potentially explosive interview with the Duke and Duchess of Sussex airs in its primetime spot on Sunday evening, millions across the US are expected to watch. It will be the couple’s first interview since since stepping back from their royal duties in early 2020, but it could also mark the moment that the Sussexes evolve from British royalty to Hollywood elite.

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MI5 involvement in drone project revealed in paperwork slip-up

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Exclusive: Document produced by university cited agency as secret funder of research

For an agency devoted to secrecy and surveillance, it is an embarrassing slip-up. An inadvertent disclosure on a university document has revealed that MI5 is partly behind what was meant to be a covert bug and drone research project.

Ostensibly, Imperial College’s research was to create a quadcopter system for charging remote agricultural sensors – but MI5’s participation has emerged because somebody involved stated it was the secret second funder of the programme.

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Mystery person with Brazil variant found thanks to dogged determination, says Matt Hancock – video

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A person who tested positive for the Brazilian variant of Covid has been tracked down to Croydon and appears not to have infected anyone else, the health secretary said. Matt Hancock said the effort took a team of 40 people and was launched in an attempt to prevent the mutation, which is believed to be more transmissible and have greater resistance to vaccines, from spreading

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The very private life of Sir Chris Hohn – the man paid £1m a day

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The hedge fund manager earns Britain’s biggest salary. He also avoids meat, likes yoga and supports Extinction Rebellion

Hedge fund manager Sir Chris Hohn once made a point of telling a high court judge that he was an “unbelievable moneymaker”. This week Hohn proved his point – definitively – when it was revealed that he paid himself just shy of £1m-a-day last year.

Hohn collected $479m (£343m) in annual dividend payments from his The Children’s Investment (TCI) fund in the biggest ever personal payday in the UK after doubling profits at his Mayfair hedge fund, run from an office a couple of doors down from Louis Vuitton’s flagship store.

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