Category Archives: UK news

Covid vaccine technology pioneer: ‘I never doubted it would work’

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Katalin Karikó’s mRNA research helped pave way for Pfizer/BioNTech and Moderna’s successful work

The Hungarian-born biochemist who helped pioneer the research behind the mRNA technology used in the two Covid-19 vaccines showing positive results believes it was always a no-brainer.

“I never doubted it would work,” Katalin Karikó told the Guardian. “I had seen the data from animal studies, and I was expecting it. I always wished that I would live long enough to see something that I’ve worked on be approved.”

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Earl Spencer seeks wider inquiry into BBC interview with Diana

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Princess’s brother says investigation should be free to examine every aspect of 1995 Martin Bashir interview

Earl Spencer has said he is “not at all satisfied” with the scope of the BBC’s investigation into the 1995 Panorama interview with his sister Princess Diana.

The news came as a source close to Prince Harry said he is “getting regular updates” about the inquiry into journalist Martin Bashir’s conduct in arranging the landmark show.

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Thieves swap Amazon orders of PlayStation 5 for rice and other items

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Online retailer is investigating a spate of pre-delivery thefts of newly released £450 console

Amazon has said it is investigating reports that brand new PlayStation 5 consoles have been stolen in transit, as customers have complained of missing deliveries, with bags of rice even delivered instead of the electronics.

Supply shortages have left the new games console even more desirable than its £450 price tag would suggest. But some shoppers waiting at home for the console to be delivered received an unwelcome surprise on Thursday and Friday, opening their parcels to find something other than the item they ordered.

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Pavement Picassos: the locked-down artists showing work in their windows

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Galleries are closed due to Covid – so a group of artists have taken to displaying their work from their houses for passersby. Our writer takes to the streets

It is not a good time for art lovers. The second lockdown has closed galleries once more – I’m imagining portraits waiting moodily in the National Gallery in London to be admired again; Van Gogh’s sunflowers wilting further – and so it is not a good time for artists.

Artists Walk is an initiative that aims to improve that state of affairs. It’s a simple idea for an art trail that began as a joint endeavour between printmaker and painter Rosha Nutt, and her art marketing consultant friend Holly Collier. Those who in normal times would be exhibiting in galleries or community spaces can now place their work in the windows or surroundings of their homes for passers-by to admire. Kind of like “how much is that doggy in the window?” Except that it might be that Picasso sketch of his dachshund.

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The cost of Christmas: Boris Johnson faces dilemma on Covid rules

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PM must decide whether to listen to Tory MPs or his scientific advisers on relaxing restrictions

When Boris Johnson ordered the phased reopening of England’s shops and schools in July after a gruelling three-month lockdown, he gave the public permission to hope for a “more significant return to normality” in time for Christmas.

Four months on, and as so often in this crisis, the prime minister’s optimism appears at best premature.

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Brexit deal close to being finalised, EU ambassadors told

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Most key issues largely agreed, but there is still a danger of no deal by accident, envoys hear

A trade and security agreement with Britain is close to being finalised but the risk remains of an accidental no-deal Brexit in six weeks, with gaps on the contentious issues “slowly shrinking”, EU ambassadors have been told.

With Michel Barnier in self-isolation after an EU negotiator tested positive for coronavirus, the talks will be conducted almost entirely online over the next few days.

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Nicola Sturgeon says she is ‘utterly scunnered and fed up’ with Covid restrictions – video

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Eleven council areas in west and central Scotland, including Glasgow, will enter level 4 lockdown – the toughest level of coronavirus restrictions – from 6pm on Friday. The Scottish first minister, Nicola Sturgeon,  said she understood people's frustrations, but the prospect of a vaccine would mean returning to normal from spring. Non-essential shops are to close, along with pubs, restaurants, hairdressers and visitor attractions, but schools will remain open

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Mexico deaths pass 100,000 as fragments found in Victorian sewage

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Obrador rejects criticism as political attacks; Canada fears big rise in cases could overwhelm hospitals; Italy records 37,242 new cases

This blog is now closed. Follow our continuing coronavirus coverage here

Marshall is asked if he admits there have been shortcomings in South Australia’s hotel quarantine system.

“Not at all. There will be a thorough investigation but what we have said since day one is this is a highly contagious disease ... we know that, very highly trained nurses and with all of their PPE, they have been able to contract the disease, so we know there is a risk associated with every time we bring somebody into this country,” he says.

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Half of child psychiatrists surveyed say patients have environment anxiety

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Research finds young people in England feel growing distress about the future of the planet

More than half of child and adolescent psychiatrists in England are seeing patients distressed about the state of the environment, a survey has revealed.

The findings showed that the climate crisis is taking a toll on the mental health of young people. The levels of eco-anxiety observed were notably higher among the young than the general population, according to the Royal College of Psychiatrists, which has just launched its first resources to help children and their parents cope with fears about environmental breakdown.

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China says Five Eyes alliance will be ‘poked and blinded’ over Hong Kong stance

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Foreign ministry rejects calls by western security grouping to reinstate ousted pro-democracy lawmakers

China has rejected criticism by the Five Eyes alliance of its Hong Kong policy, saying it “should face up to the reality” that the former British colony has been returned to China.

Foreign ministry spokesperson Zhao Lijian was responding to a statement on Hong Kong issued by the US, UK, Australia, Canada and New Zealand, which together make up an intelligence partnership known as the Five Eyes.

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Boris Johnson urged to commit to aid budget after defence boost

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Nearly 200 charities and NGOs call on PM to keep spending at 0.7% rather than 0.5% of GDP

Nearly 200 charities and aid organisations have called on Boris Johnson to reconsider plans to cut billions from the international development budget by reducing it to 0.5% of GDP.

Save the Children, Greenpeace UK, Christian Aid, VSO International and others urged the prime minister not to cut Britain’s aid spending while the world was in the throes of the coronavirus pandemic.

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The Queen and Prince Philip celebrate 73rd wedding anniversary

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Royal couple release image showing them reading a card made by great-grandchildren

The Queen and Duke of Edinburgh celebrate their 73rd wedding anniversary on Friday, and have marked the occasion by releasing a photograph of them reading a card made by their great-grandchildren, Prince George, Princess Charlotte and Prince Louis.

The couple are pictured on a sofa in the Oak Room at Windsor Castle, where they are spending lockdown.

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Douglas Stuart wins Booker prize for debut Shuggie Bain

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Scottish-American wins £50,000 for autobiographical novel about a boy growing up in 80s Glasgow, which is ‘destined to be a classic’

The Scottish-American author Douglas Stuart has won the Booker prize for his first novel, Shuggie Bain, a story based on his own life that follows a boy growing up in poverty in 1980s Glasgow with a mother who is battling addiction.

Stuart, 44, has described himself as “a working-class kid who had a different career and came to writing late”. He is the second Scot to win the £50,000 award after James Kelman took the prize in 1994 with How Late It Was, How Late, a book Stuart said “changed his life” because it was the first time he saw “my people, my dialect, on the page”.

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Coronavirus live news: Russia exceeds 2m cases; Danish mink Covid mutation ‘most likely extinct’

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Russia passes landmark number as 23,610 new cases reported; Denmark says no further cases of mutation since mid-September

The UK will be urged to reconsider its opposition to waiving intellectual property rights for Covid-19 vaccines and treatments at a World Trade Organization meeting on Friday, a move that would allow mass production of treatments and inoculations against the disease and could significantly shorten the length of the pandemic, campaigners say.

India and South Africa have proposed that WTO member states be allowed to waive patents and other intellectual property (IP) rights on any treatments and tools related to Covid-19 until the end of the pandemic, including for the Moderna and Pfizer/BionNTech vaccines that are set to be approved for use in the coming weeks.

Related: UK faces calls to drop opposition to patent-free Covid vaccines

More mink mutation news: a number of cases of Covid-19 have been found in people who work in the mink industry in Sweden.

In a statement the Swedish Public Health Agency said it and “the Swedish Veterinary Institute, the Swedish Board of Agriculture and local infection control units are jointly investigating whether there is any connection between the cases and their contact with minks.”

Flera myndigheter utreder fall av covid-19 inom minknäringen. https://t.co/TRDin3ZZHG

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UK to support plans for new global treaty to ‘turn tide’ on plastic pollution

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Lord Goldsmith says Britain, the second biggest per capita producer of plastic waste, could play leading role in tackling crisis

Britain has thrown its weight behind a new global agreement to tackle the plastic pollution crisis, which Lord Goldsmith said would go “far beyond” existing international agreements.

This week, the Guardian revealed there is growing support for such a treaty internationally, but that neither the UK nor the US, the world’s biggest per capita producers of plastic waste, had yet pledged their support.

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Rebekah Vardy suing Coleen Rooney for libel as last resort, court told

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Footballer’s wife seeking vindication after being accused of leaking stories to the Sun

Rebekah Vardy has brought a libel action against Coleen Rooney only as a last resort to “vindicate her reputation”, the high court was told at a preliminary hearing of the high-profile dispute between the wives of two England footballers.

Vardy has faced “widespread hostility and abuse” as a result of being accused of leaking details about the private life of her former friend, her barrister told the court on Thursday.

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Politicised Labour process let Corbyn back in, says Anneliese Dodds

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Internal divisions deepen as former MP quits party over treatment of former leader

The shadow chancellor, Anneliese Dodds, has blamed a “politicised” disciplinary process for Jeremy Corbyn’s readmittance to the Labour party, as a former MP quit the party and its internal rift deepened.

Dodds’ comments came after a backlash against Keir Starmer’s decision not to restore the Labour whip to Corbyn following his suspension. A panel from Labour’s governing body had let him back into the party with a written warning.

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Pandemic could lead to profound shift in parenting roles, say experts

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Men are spending more time with their children and businesses are seeing economic benefits of flexible working

The year 2020 has been transformative for how society sees fatherhood, and could produce the most profound shift in caring responsibilities since the second world war, according to researchers, business leaders and campaigners.

Research has shown that while women bore the brunt of extra childcare during the initial coronavirus lockdown and are being disproportionately impacted by the economic fallout, there has been also a huge surge in the number of hours men are spending with their children.

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Hackers HQ and Space Command: how UK defence budget could be spent

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Creation of specialist cyber force and artificial intelligence unit in pipeline

A specialist cyber force of several hundred British hackers has been in the works for nearly three years, although its creation has been partly held back by turf wars between the spy agency GCHQ and the Ministry of Defence, to which the unit is expected to jointly report.

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Northern Ireland businesses call for Brexit transition extension

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MPs are told region ‘simply will not be ready’ for mandatory border checks on 1 January

Northern Ireland businesses have called for an extension of the Brexit transition period in the region, warning they “simply will not be ready” for the mandatory border checks on 1 January.

They say they are the “rope in a tug of war” between the UK and the EU and warned of a “huge black hole” in information and a “disconnect” with Westminster and Brussels over the reality of Brexit checks kicking in 43 days’ time.

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