Category Archives: UK news

Coronavirus live news: virus spread in France showing signs of slowing; fears Africa may be at back of vaccine queue

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Daily cases continue to fall in France; health campaigners fear Africa will have to wait until mid-2021 for vaccine; weddings banned and cafes closed in Croatia

The head of British drug manufacturer AstraZeneca said further research was needed on its Covid-19 vaccine after questions emerged over the protection it offers, but the additional testing is unlikely to affect regulatory approval in Europe.

AstraZeneca and its partner, the University of Oxford, announced on Monday that it was seeking regulatory approval for the vaccine after it showed an average 70% effectiveness.

Related: Oxford/AstraZeneca vaccine results face growing scrutiny

Spain’s capital Madrid turned on its Christmas lights on Thursday, spending more than last year to illuminate 30 additional streets and squares despite a sharp economic downturn driven by the coronavirus pandemic.

Banners of LED lights in the red and yellow of the Spanish flag appeared in parts of the city, including stretches of over a kilometre alongside the central boulevard that runs past the world-famous Prado museum.

Así ha encendido Madrid la Navidad

#MD964
DIRECTO https://t.co/Cnw7Ol5lQX@MadridDirecto pic.twitter.com/LkccoTnpkx

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Most of England to enter two toughest tiers when lockdown is lifted

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Signs of growing parliamentary rebellion amid fears measures could stay in place until spring

The majority of England will enter the two toughest tiers of Covid restrictions from next week, ministers are set to announce, amid signs of a growing parliamentary rebellion and fears that the measures could remain unchanged until spring.

On Thursday Matt Hancock, the health secretary, is expected to say that most of the country will be placed into tiers 2 or 3, which imply significant restrictions on hospitality, after the national lockdown ends on 2 December.

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Medical staff urge Priti Patel to close barracks housing asylum seekers

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Letter to home secretary raises concerns about sites holding 600 men in Kent and Pembrokeshire

Healthcare professionals have called for former army barracks being used to house asylum seekers to be closed over concerns about the residents’ wellbeing.

Medical staff have written to the home secretary, Priti Patel, with a damning assessment, to raise concerns about the sites at Napier barracks in Kent and Penally barracks in Pembrokeshire, which between them are holding more than 600 men.

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Kylie Moore-Gilbert released from Iran jail in prisoner exchange

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British-Australian academic has been imprisoned in Iran since 2018

Kylie Moore-Gilbert, the Australian-British academic detained by Iran on espionage charges, has been released in a prisoner exchange for three Iranians.

In what will be seen as a victory for Iranian state hostage-taking by some and a humanitarian move by others, Moore-Gilbert was released on Wednesday morning. The move also raises hopes for the fate of Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe and Anoosheh Ashoori, dual UK-Iranian nationals who have been held since 2016 and 2017 respectively.

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Judge denies Johnny Depp permission to appeal Sun libel action

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Actor ordered to pay £630,000 after libel action against Sun over ‘wife beater’ allegations

The Hollywood actor Johnny Depp has been refused permission to appeal after losing his high stakes libel action against the Sun over its description of him as a “wife beater”.

A high court judge also ordered the actor to make an initial payment to the Sun’s publishers, New Group Newspapers (NGN), of almost £630,000 in legal fees.

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Deadly frost and war with the French: Britain’s recession of the 1700s

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Economic distress caused by pandemic is the first in a very long time to have been brought about by the natural world

The chancellor has said the government will borrow a peacetime record of almost £400bn this year in the face of the worst recession the UK has experienced in more than 300 years. But how many of us know what happened at the time of that distant milestone?

Three centuries ago, Britain looked very different. The country was still largely agricultural and as such was completely at the mercy of nature – though 2020 has shown that perhaps, in a way, it still is. Nonetheless, in the early 18th century it was the success or failure of the harvest, which depended on the weather, that had a profound impact on the rate of economic growth.

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Christmas and Covid: is mixing households a good idea?

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The UK says three households can get together for festivities. Four Britons react – with relief, caution and despair

The UK government’s announcement to allow three households to meet together over five days at Christmas has attracted differing opinions. Many people fear that relaxing lockdown poses too great a risk to life, others are pleased they can see their family after being apart so long. One in four, according to a poll last weekend, would probably treat Christmas as they do normally, despite any restrictions.

The Guardian spoke to four people about their response to the news.

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Coronavirus live news: Germany reports record daily deaths; Sicily asks Cuba to send doctors and nurses

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Germany reports 410 Covid-related deaths in 24 hours; Sicilian hospitals struggling with shortage of medical personnel; global cases near 60m cases

The regional government of Madrid is proposing allowing groups of up to 10 people to gather on Christmas Eve, Christmas Day, New Year’s Eve, New Year’s Day and the feast of the Epiphany (6 January). The number of different households allowed to mix would be capped at three.

Under the plans, which have been submitted to the central government, the current midnight to 6am curfew would be replaced on those days by one running from 1.30am to 6am.

Authorities in Sicily have asked Cuba’s government to send to the region about 60 health operators, including doctors and nurses, as hospitals are struggling with a shortage of medical personnel during the second wave.

The request was filed this week to the Italian embassy in Cuba and consists of intensive care specialists, nurses, anaesthetists, resuscitators, virologists and pneumologists, the Italian newspaper la Repubblica has reported.

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Meghan reveals she had a miscarriage

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Duchess of Sussex writes about her grief and pain in losing a baby, and addresses the stigma of miscarriage

The Duchess of Sussex has revealed her grief after suffering a miscarriage, in an article that speaks to loss and the importance of asking about others’ welfare in times of pandemic and polarisation.

Meghan shared the devastation that she and Prince Harry felt after she lost a baby in July and was admitted to hospital.

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British Library apologises for linking Ted Hughes to slave trade

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The poet had been wrongly included among more than 300 figures whose collections were associated with wealth obtained from colonial violence

The British Library has apologised to Carol Hughes, the widow of the former poet laureate Ted Hughes, after it linked him to the slave trade through a distant ancestor.

Hughes’s name had been included on a spreadsheet from the library detailing more than 300 figures with “evidence of connections to slavery, profits from slavery or from colonialism”. Hughes’s link was through Nicholas Ferrar, who was born in 1592 and whose family was, the library said, “deeply involved” with the London Virginia Company, which was set up to colonise North America.

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‘We made a promise’: fallout from UK’s cut in overseas aid remains to be seen

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David Cameron’s commitment to spend 0.7% of gross national income to help world’s poorest in tatters

The former prime minister David Cameron’s political legacy will be permanently dominated by Brexit, an event he misjudged and abhorred. But until now he could at least comfort himself with one positive foreign policy achievement to his name. He was prime minister when the UK for the first time met its goal of spending 0.7% of its gross national income on overseas aid, and also enshrined it in law in 2015, so apparently entrenching Britain’s commitment to the world’s poorest.

Related: David Cameron and Tony Blair warn against cutting foreign aid

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EU threatens to pull out of Brexit talks if UK refuses to compromise

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Michel Barnier says further negotiations would be pointless if UK does not change stance

The EU’s chief negotiator, Michel Barnier, has warned David Frost that without a major negotiating shift by Downing Street within the next 48 hours he will pull out of the Brexit negotiations in London this weekend, pushing the talks into a fresh crisis.

In talks via videoconference on Tuesday, Barnier told his British counterpart that further negotiations would be pointless if the UK was not willing to compromise on the outstanding issues.

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UK’s foreign aid budget to be reduced to 0.5% of gross national income

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Chancellor announces £4bn cut in spending, breaking Tory pledge to keep to 0.7% target

Britain’s overseas aid budget is to be cut from 0.7% of gross national income to 0.5%, slicing more than £4bn from the annual package and breaking a Tory manifesto commitment made only a year ago.

The cut was announced in the spending review by Rishi Sunak, the chancellor, which also saw a large three-year increase for the defence budget. Sunak clearly decided to brush aside warnings from across the political spectrum that Britain’s commitment to foreign aid symbolised an outward looking and generous UK.

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UK scientists warn of third wave of Covid after Christmas

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Fears easing restrictions over festive period will lead to rise in cases and overwhelm NHS

Government scientists have warned the relaxation of coronavirus restrictions over Christmas could lead to a third wave of the pandemic, with increased transmission and unnecessary deaths.

Families across the UK will be able to gather in three-household groups of any size over Christmas, the government has announced, prompting warnings from scientists that the plan will almost inevitably result in a rise in the number of coronavirus cases.

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Families bereaved by Covid say UK plan to allow Christmas mixing is ‘sheer madness’

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Support group warns that large gatherings are too risky and calls for low-key festive period

People bereaved by Covid-19 have warned that allowing families in the UK to get together over Christmas is “sheer madness” and urged the public to have a low-key festive period rather than risk the grief they have endured.

Members of the Covid-19 Bereaved Families for Justice group told the Guardian that large family gatherings were too high-risk, with one grieving husband saying anyone prepared to mix family groups should also “prepare for a funeral”.

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The five-day Christmas Covid bubble: how will it work?

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New rules will mean you can’t change your bubble but there is no maximum size for the three permitted households

The government has announced that up to three households will be able to mix indoors and stay with each other overnight from 23 to 27 December under loosened coronavirus restrictions across the UK. But how exactly will these new “Christmas bubbles” work?

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Five days of Christmas UK Covid plan lets groups of three households mix

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Four UK governments agree relaxed rules, and scientists expect rise in cases to follow

Families across the UK will be able to gather in three-household groups of any size over Christmas, the government has announced, bringing warnings from scientists that the plan will almost inevitably see a rise in the number of coronavirus cases.

The long-planned idea of “Christmas bubbles” – which ministers said would require people to make a “personal judgment” over risk for older relatives and others – was thrashed out in a meeting involving the four UK governments.

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Javid advised of ‘hostile public sentiment’ to Shamima Begum, court told

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Officials told then home secretary that withdrawing Isis recruit’s citizenship would not hurt community relations, supreme court hears

Home Office officials declared “public sentiment is overwhelmingly hostile” to Shamima Begum and argued removing her British citizenship would not affect community relations when they advised Sajid Javid to act against her last year.

The then home secretary was formally advised that “the general feeling” was that the young woman, who travelled from east London to live under Isis in Syria aged 15, had “made her decision and must now live with it”.

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UK facing risk of ‘systemic economic crisis’, official paper says

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Exclusive: Cabinet Office briefing seen by Guardian warns that Brexit, Covid, flu, flooding and unrest could lead to chaos

The government has privately admitted the UK faces an increased likelihood of “systemic economic crisis” as it completes its exit from the European Union in the middle of a second wave of the coronavirus pandemic.

A confidential Cabinet Office briefing seen by the Guardian also warns of a “notable risk” that in coming months the country could face a perfect storm of simultaneous disasters, including the prospect of a bad flu season on top of the medical strains caused by Covid.

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Police investigate I’m a Celebrity over fears non-native bugs may be escaping

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Rogue creatures from bushtucker trials including ‘ultimate survivor’ cockroaches could threaten Welsh countryside

Police are investigating I’m a Celebrity … Get Me Out of Here! over concerns non-native wildlife could have escaped into the Welsh countryside during bushtucker trials, the Guardian can reveal.

Rural crime officers from north Wales police are looking into complaints that non-native creatures such as cockroaches, maggots, spiders and worms could threaten wildlife in the 100-hectare (250-acre) estate surrounding Gwrych Castle in north Wales, where the show is being held this year.

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