Publisher labels ‘bitch’ as offensive but fails to satisfy some equality campaigners
Oxford University Press has updated its dictionaries’ definitions of the word “woman” following an extensive review triggered by equality campaigners.
Among the updates to Oxford Dictionaries’ definitions is the acknowledgement that a woman can be “a person’s wife, girlfriend, or female lover”, rather than only a man’s.
Continue reading...‘Large differences remain’ after call between Boris Johnson and Ursula von der Leyen
The Brexit negotiations remained stuck after a call between Boris Johnson and Ursula von der Leyen before a decisive week of talks.
The European commission president and the prime minister both highlighted in their post-call statements the contentious issues of EU access to British waters and agreement on future rules to ensure fair competition.
Continue reading...Sir John Oldham suggests coronavirus lockdown will be futile unless system is overhauled
The government faces renewed calls for the central NHS test and trace system to be scrapped in favour of handing responsibility for contact tracing to local public health teams.
Weekly test and trace figures for England show it reached just under 60% of close contacts of people testing positive, the lowest since the service began. It comes as the Office for National Statistics indicated the steep rise in new infections was levelling off in England and stabilising at about 50,000 a day.
Continue reading...Couples alter weddings up to four times amid constantly changing Covid rules
They have had to reschedule the best day of their lives not once, twice or thrice – but four times. Now couples forced to alter their wedding plans repeatedly due to changing coronavirus measures have told of being left “heartbroken and exhausted”, amid a lack of government support for the wedding industry.
Under the regulations for England’s second national lockdown this week, weddings will not be permitted to take place except where one of those getting married is seriously ill and not expected to recover. These ceremonies will be limited to six people, leaving thousands more couples scrambling to rearrange their nuptials.
Continue reading...Chris Whitty, chief medical officer for England, understood to be concerned by new strain
All travel to the UK from Denmark is being banned amid mounting concern over an outbreak in the country of a mutation of coronavirus linked to mink, the Guardian understands.
Downing Street had already taken action to remove Denmark from the travel corridor, forcing arrivals to quarantine for two weeks from Friday at 4am.
Continue reading...Phonecall with Ursula von der Leyen could be final chance for PM to avert no-deal Brexit
Boris Johnson and the European commission president, Ursula von der Leyen, will hold talks on Saturday before a potentially decisive week in the Brexit negotiations, amid growing concern in Brussels at the lack of progress.
UK sources played down expectations of a breakthrough moment but with time short for parliamentary ratification the phonecall may prove to be the final chance for a political intervention in the troubled talks.
Continue reading...Latest updates: ONS figures represent around 1.13% of population; Operation Moonshot trial launches in Liverpool on Friday
A coronavirus passport app promoted by the Olympian Zara Tindall has been reported to a health regulator over concerns it is mis-selling antibody tests.
The V-Health Passport was touted as a “game changer” to get sports fans back into stadiums and major events. It involves spectators getting a rapid antibody test prior to attending an event, with results uploaded on a health passport on an app.
In the advert, Zara and Mike Tindall were being told they don’t have the virus – you can’t say that. This could do harm, with people getting into sporting events with negative results while they are infectious.
I have no problem with the app, it’s the use of the app. A lot of health professionals have seen it with their head in their hands.
Some schools may be sending children home “too readily” amid the pandemic, the chief inspector of Ofsted has said.
Parents of pupils with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) have been told that schools cannot accommodate their children due to Covid-19 risk assessments, according to Amanda Spielman.
And here, many parents haven’t made an active decision to keep their child at home – they’ve been told that schools can’t accommodate them. Because it’s too difficult, because Covid risk assessments won’t allow it. It’s deeply concerning and, understandably, many parents feel cut adrift.
For the children with SEND that have been able to get back into education, it hasn’t been plain sailing either. We’re hearing that many have suffered setbacks in their communication skills – probably down to having reduced social interaction for such a long time.
Continue reading...Story of BBC journalist Martin Bashir’s dealings with Princess of Wales is of searing public interest
It was just six days before transmission that Buckingham Palace learned that the BBC’s Panorama programme was to broadcast Martin Bashir’s compelling, explosive – and now highly controversial – interview with Diana, Princess of Wales.
In the palace press office, there was dismay and resignation. “Then everybody looked at each other and said: ‘Martin who?’” recalled Dickie Arbiter, then an assistant palace press secretary.
Continue reading...No 10 has admitted an ‘error’ in the way data was presented to make case for second lockdown
The UK Statistics Authority has rebuked the government over its lack of transparency around projected Covid-19 deaths and hospital admissions, saying it could cast doubt over official figures.
A range of estimates were used to make the case for a second English lockdown in a press conference on 31 October. However, the UKSA said “the data and assumptions for this model had not been shared transparently”, potentially undermining confidence in official figures.
Continue reading...One of Danish mink strains prompts country to cull all its mink; Sweden registers 4,697 new infections, highest since pandemic began
The Kremlin has said it is early to judge how effective Russia’s coronavirus restrictions are without lockdowns, as the country reported a record daily number of new Covid-19 infections.
Speaking to reporters on Friday, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said that the increase in coronavirus cases to a daily high of 20,582 was alarming and that authorities would take action depending on how the situation developed.
New coronavirus restrictions came into force in Italy on Friday but from pavements dotted with coffee drinkers to lines of striking taxi drivers, the picture on the streets was different from the ghostly scenes of the first lockdown, Reuters reports.
The restrictions, which divide the country into three zones according to the severity of the latest outbreak, are less severe than the blanket measures imposed when the pandemic first took hold in March.
Continue reading...France’s new infections more than 2,000 higher than previous record; Italy registers 37,809 new cases; Russia says Covid was main cause in 5,199 cases. This blog is now closed
NSW has reported one new case of locally transmitted Covid-19 in the 24 hours to 8pm last night.
Four cases were also reported in overseas travellers in hotel quarantine, bringing the total number of cases in NSW to 4,270.
Dr Michael Douglas provides a #COVID19 update for Saturday 7 November 2020. pic.twitter.com/T2q5LFhLy1
Continue reading...Exclusive: public health and environment at risk as water companies overuse emergency overflows, says pressure group
Water companies discharged raw sewage into bathing water beaches almost 3,000 times in the past year, polluting the environment and risking public health, new analysis shows.
Related: Face masks and gloves found on 30% of UK beaches in clean-up
Continue reading...Asymptomatic people encouraged to get tested as scheme launches amid some confusion
The UK’s first mass-testing trial is under way in Liverpool as part of the government’s Operation Moonshot drive to test up to 10 million people a day.
Six new testing centres opened their doors to Liverpudlians at noon on Friday as the city’s health chief urged the city’s 500,000-strong population to volunteer for a coronavirus test over the next fortnight.
Continue reading...Latest updates: PM gives televised address after Sunak extends furlough until end of March
Q: What is your response to concerns about the data presented by government? (See 4.11pm.)
Johnson says the government is happy to share the data it has.
Q: Won’t we have to live with restrictions for some time?
Stevens says the NHS is prepared for coronavirus.
Continue reading...Nadarajah Nithiyakumar pleads guilty to manslaughter of son, three, and daughter, 19 months
A man has admitted slitting the throats of his two young children during lockdown. Nadarajah Nithiyakumar, 41, attacked his daughter Pavinya, aged 19 months, and three-year-old son Nigash at the family home in Ilford, east London, on 26 April.
The children’s mother, named locally as Nisa, was in the shower at the time of the killings and alerted the police. Pavinya was pronounced dead at the scene while Nigash was rushed to hospital in Whitechapel, London, where he also died.
Continue reading...The chancellor has announced that the government will extend the UK's furlough scheme until March as the second wave of Covid-19 infections and new lockdown threaten to push up unemployment. In a major climbdown, Rishi Sunak said the Treasury would continue to pay 80% of workers’ wages
Continue reading...England has begun its second nationwide lockdown, after parliament approved Boris Johnson’s coronavirus strategy despite dozens of his own MPs voting against it
Continue reading...Richard Browning is pursuing the stuff of a million childhood dreams. But having built a working jetpack, will anybody use it?
On a gloomy afternoon in a Sussex wood, a 21st-century superhero appears. Dressed in black, helmeted, a pack on his back and jets on his arms, he rises to a couple of metres above the ground, accelerates up above a grassy bank and then hovers in a swirling cloud of autumn leaves.
No matter how many times you’ve watched a video on YouTube, nothing can quite prepare you for the sight of a human being in flight. It is the embodiment of a thousand myths, from Hermes and Peter Pan to Iron Man, as well as a million childhood dreams, and is the only correct answer to that old conundrum: which superpower would you choose, invisibility or flying? If it wasn’t for the roar of the jet engines and the smell of fuel, you would assume it was just a dream.
Continue reading...Daily Italian total comes as Piedmont, Calabria, Lombardy and Aosta Valley face new restrictions from Friday; three-week restrictions in Greece
The head of France’s public health service has said the coronavirus crisis in the country is getting worse and every day in the fight to slow the spread of infections counts.
“We’re facing a very high wave (of infections),” Jérôme Salomon told a news conference. “The epidemic is progressing. We must all slow the spread together.”
Salomon: "The situation is deteriorating. Every day counts. We have to break the chain of this epidemic. Each of us must act to put a brake on the virus." He is outlining the health safety measures. "The slightest doubt, take a test."
Greece has reported 2,917 new coronavirus cases, hitting a new daily peak hours after authorities announced a second nationwide lockdown is going into effect this Saturday, 7 November.
Thursday’s cases follow on the 2,646 cases reported on Wednesday, which was a new record. Authorities said infections have risen 20% in recent days.
Continue reading...Three women share ‘shattering’ experiences in statement made to public inquiry
The former wives of undercover police officers have told a public inquiry about the “shattering” discovery that their marriages were “imbued with deceit” as a result of their husbands’ covert deployments.
A statement was made to the inquiry on behalf of three women who believed they were making personal sacrifices so their husbands could go undercover to infiltrate political groups during long-term deployments.
Continue reading...