Category Archives: UK news

UK coronavirus live: Gove says lockdown could be extended; Starmer rejects union calls to close schools

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Latest updates: Cabinet Office minister says easing depends on R value coming down; Labour leader says schools should stay open

Sir Desmond Swayne, one of the Conservative MPs most opposed to a second lockdown, told Sky News that the policy announced by the PM yesterday would have “disastrous consequences”. He said:

I’m worried about the disastrous consequences for unemployment, for wrecked businesses, for years of under-investment while we try and pay this off, when the reality is that the number of deaths for the time of year is normal and expected.

It is very difficult to believe scientists who tell you that there is a deadly pandemic taking place when there are no excess deaths beyond the normal five-year average.

Andy Burnham, the mayor of Greater Manchester, has called for schools in his region to close for a period during the lockdown to help drive down the virus. He was speaking at a joint conference with Steve Rotheram, the mayor of Liverpool city region, who also backed the proposal. Burnham said:

It’s my view, and it’s shared by Steve, that we do need to see a period of closure in our schools if we are to get those cases right down, and if we are to avoid a scenario where large parts of the north-west are simply put back in tier 3 coming out of this.

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Jasper Johns Flags I print worth at least $1m donated to British Museum

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Acquisition is one of the most valuable modern prints ever donated to the museum

An American flag artwork worth at least $1m (£770,000) and made by one of the world’s most celebrated living artists has been donated to the British Museum.

With just days to go before the US presidential election, the museum announced that an edition of Jasper Johns’s Flags I (1973) had been gifted to them by New York-based collectors Johanna and Leslie Garfield.

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Transport for London secures £1.8bn government bailout

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Government backs down on demands for fare increases in significant win for Sadiq Khan

Transport for London (TfL) has secured a bailout from the government worth about £1.8bn just a fortnight after Boris Johnson said Sadiq Khan had “effectively bankrupted” the tube and bus service in the capital.

In a significant win for the London mayor, the government has backed down on demands for fare increases, an extension of the congestion zone to cover the entire city and the scrapping of free fares for children and over-60s.

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Keir Starmer says schools must remain open in second Covid lockdown – video

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Keir Starmer has said schools must stay open during England's second coronavirus lockdown. 'The harm caused to children by not being in school is huge,' the Labour leader told BBC One's The Andrew Marr Show. He said the risk of infections could be managed by mass weekly testing at schools. Sir Jeremy Farrar, a member of the government’s Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies (Sage), has suggested schools may need to close to make the lockdown more effective

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Michael Gove says England’s Covid-19 lockdown could be extended – video

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Michael Gove has said the new coronavirus lockdown in England could be extended beyond four weeks if the number of infections does not fall far enough. Gove told Sky's Sophy Ridge on Sunday show that measures would be reviewed on 2 December and could last longer if the virus has not been contained

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UK will not import chlorinated chicken from US, ministers say

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Britain will also ‘not negotiate to remove ban’ on hormone-fed beef in post-Brexit trade deal

The government has finally vowed not to allow chlorinated chicken or hormone-fed beef on British supermarket shelves, defying demands from the US that animal welfare standards be lowered as part of a future trade deal.

The international trade secretary, Liz Truss, and the environment minister, George Eustice, have also revealed the government will be putting the recently established trade and agriculture commission on a statutory footing with a new amendment to the agriculture bill.

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Angry TV film-makers stop release of lauded Iranian documentary

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Coup 53, which charts MI6’s role in the shah’s restoration, has been blocked by makers of an 1985 show, who say it sullies their names

Coup 53 was heralded by critics this summer as a “powerful and authoritative” documentary “as gripping as any thriller”, and judged by historians as crucial to understanding Britain’s relationship with the Middle East.

Made over 10 years by Walter Murch, the celebrated editor of Apocalypse Now and The English Patient, in collaboration with the Anglo-Iranian director Taghi Amirani, it tells the story of covert British intervention in Iran after the second world war and stars Ralph Fiennes, left, as an MI6 spy in a reconstruction of a key incident.

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Understanding how this catastrophe occurred is of critical importance

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The catastrophe facing the UK is a direct result of our government’s obsession with libertarian issues. Now we must avoid repeating the same mistakes

Six weeks ago, the government was given a stark warning that the nation faced a “very large epidemic with catastrophic consequences”. Only by imposing an immediate two-week “circuit breaker” lockdown could it hope to reduce the spread of coronavirus, the Sage group of scientific advisers told ministers.

“As over 90% of the population remain susceptible, not acting now to reduce cases will result in a very large epidemic with catastrophic consequences in terms of direct Covid-related deaths and the ability of the health service to meet needs,” the group warned.

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‘He defined an era and a style’: film world mourns Sean Connery

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The Scottish actor enjoyed a long and varied career but will for ever be associated with the role of James Bond

Sean Connery, one of Britain’s greatest screen stars, has died at the age of 90. The Scottish actor, forever linked with the role of James Bond and regularly saluted as the best to play the famous part, was mourned by the entertainment industry and his many fans on Saturday as the news broke.

Nicola Sturgeon, Scotland’s first minister, said she was “heartbroken” to learn of the loss of the actor, also one of the most prominent campaigners for an independent Scotland: “Our nation today mourns one of her best loved sons. Sean was born into a working-class Edinburgh family and, through talent and sheer hard work, became an international film icon and one of the world’s most accomplished actors.”

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Add vitamin D to bread and milk to help fight Covid, urge scientists

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Widespread deficiency shows that current government guidance on supplements is failing

Scientists are calling for ministers to add vitamin D to common foods such as bread and milk to help the fight against Covid-19.

Up to half the UK population has a vitamin D deficiency, and government guidance that people should take supplements is not working, according to a group convened by Dr Gareth Davies, a medical physics researcher.

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How plot linked to Kremlin fooled UK peers into fake ‘murder’ probe

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Son-in-law of Russian oligarch seeks apology from parliamentarians

It was a murder straight from the McMafia playbook, a killing that connected Moscow to London and high finance to a criminal underworld.

In its aftermath, a group of Siberian miners launched a campaign to get justice for the murdered man – Evgeny Lazarevich, a coal mine manager who had apparently fallen foul of a magnate whose profits flowed into London via Cyprus.

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Sean Connery, James Bond actor, dies aged 90

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Multiple award-winning Scottish actor best known for 007 role in seven spy films

Sean Connery, the Scottish actor best known for his portrayal of James Bond, has died aged 90. His son, Jason, said he had died peacefully in his sleep, having been “unwell for some time”.

He was admired by generations of film fans as the original and best 007, and went on to create a distinguished body of work in films such as The Man Who Would Be King, The Name of the Rose and The Untouchables.

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National Covid lockdown expected across England next week

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Boris Johnson bows to pressure from experts who warned worst-case scenario could soon be surpassed

Boris Johnson has bowed to pressure from his scientific advisers for new national lockdown restrictions, which are expected to be announced early next week, the Guardian has been told.

Sir Patrick Vallance and Prof Chris Whitty, who head the Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies (Sage), are understood to have warned the prime minister that the time has come for national action across England. Sage scientists presented Johnson with evidence at a meeting in Downing Street, where they explained that Covid-19 is spreading significantly faster than their worst-case scenarios.

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Corbyn-supporting MPs discussed quitting Labour, Ian Lavery warns

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Exclusive: ex-party chair says fear of Starmer ‘purge’ may lead to MPs sitting as independents

Labour MPs who support Jeremy Corbyn have discussed resigning from the parliamentary party and sitting as independents amid fears that Keir Starmer could lead a “mass purge” of the left, an ally of the former leader has warned.

As senior party figures called for calm following Labour’s suspension of Corbyn on Thursday for saying the party’s antisemitism problem had been overstated, Ian Lavery said there are fears that the move was a “war cry” that could force some MPs to leave.

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Mercy Baguma’s son and his father granted UK asylum

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One-year-old Adriel was found with his mother’s body in their Glasgow flat in August

The son of Mercy Baguma, who was found in a distressed state next to his mother after she died in her Glasgow flat in August, has been granted asylum along with his father, who is now the boy’s sole carer.

Baguma’s death caused a national outcry as it emerged that the Ugandan, who had applied for asylum in the UK and was not able to work at the time of her death, had struggled to provide for herself and her baby during lockdown.

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Man arrested over deaths of Iranian Kurd family in Channel sinking

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Iranian man held on suspicion of manslaughter following deaths of at least four people

An Iranian man has been held on suspicion of manslaughter following the deaths of four people, and the disappearance of a further three who are believed to have died, as they attempted to cross the Channel.

Iranian Kurds Rasul Iran Nezhad and his wife, Shiva Mohammad Panahi, both 35, and two of their children, Anita, nine, and Armin, six, drowned on Tuesday as they tried to reach Britain by boat after departing from near Dunkirk.

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Coronavirus live news: US passes 9m cases; Italian cases jump by 31,000 in a day

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Italy also records 199 further deaths; US record surge killing nearly 1,000 Americans a day; Moscow creates vaccination network

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Ecotricity founder to grow diamonds ‘made entirely from the sky’

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UK millionaire Dale Vince says lab-grown gems will be ‘world’s first zero-impact’ diamonds

A British multi-millionaire and environmentalist has set out plans to create thousands of carats of carbon-negative, laboratory-grown diamonds every year “made entirely from the sky”.

Dale Vince, the founder of green energy supplier Ecotricity, claims to have developed the world’s only diamonds to be made from carbon, water and energy sourced directly from the elements at a “sky mining facility” in Stroud.

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Seven men bailed following suspected hijack of oil tanker off Isle of Wight

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Nigerians arrested after SBS stormed Nave Andromeda are still detained by Border Force

Seven Nigerian men detained after British special services stormed an oil tanker off the Isle of Wight have been bailed, police have said.

The raid was carried out by around 16 members of the Special Boat Service (SBS), backed by airborne snipers, who secured the Nave Andromeda tanker in around nine minutes.

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Labour in turmoil as Corbyn suspended in wake of antisemitism report

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Former party leader said problem of antisemitism within Labour was ‘dramatically overstated for political reasons’

Labour was plunged into turmoil after the party suspended Keir Starmer’s predecessor, Jeremy Corbyn, in the wake of a damning report into antisemitism that found the party responsible for unlawful acts of harassment and discrimination.

The decision to suspend Corbyn for saying the problem of antisemitism within Labour was “dramatically overstated for political reasons” by opponents and the media sent shockwaves through the party and led to rumours of a split.

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