Queues for tests are growing, Tory MPs are agitated and doctors are sceptical about the ‘moonshot’
For Alex, an NHS call centre worker, the signs that coronavirus was back in earnest came when his phone wouldn’t stop ringing.
Over the summer, Alex would log on at home to see 70 or 80 people in the queue for advice on booking an appointment for a Covid test. “You’d get answered in a few minutes,” he said. “Last week, that went up to about 100. By this week it was 1,500.”
Continue reading...Plan has enraged EU and many Tories but sources say No 10 thinks it will move talks along
Britain’s Brexit negotiators believe Downing Street’s plan to break international law, pushing the trade and security negotiations to the brink, may have helped reboot the talks by offering Brussels a reality check about the looming danger of a no-deal outcome.
The publication of the internal market bill on Wednesday, under which key parts of the withdrawal agreement agreed last year would be negated, has enraged the EU and prompted an internal rebellion within the Conservative party.
Continue reading...Stricter regulations across the UK come as a study reports that mask wearing and lockdown rules are causing deeper social divides than Brexit
The Covid-19 app will be launched across England and Wales on September 24, the Department of Health and Social Care said.
Ahead of the roll-out businesses including pubs, restaurants, hairdressers and cinemas are being urged to ensure they have NHS QR code posters visible on entry so customers who have downloaded the new app can use their smartphones to check-in.
QR codes provide an easy and simple way to collect contact details to support the NHS Test and Trace system.
“Hospitality businesses can now download posters for their premises ahead of the launch of the NHS Covid-19 app. This will allow the public to seamlessly check in to venues using the app when it launches.
Grassroots campaigners for EU nationals in the UK and Britons in Europe have expressed fears that they too could be hit by a government U-turn on the Brexit deal.
They say that Boris Johnson’s willingness to backtrack on the Northern Ireland protocol he agreed in January undermines trust that he will stick with the other core parts of the deal in the future including the section on citizens’ rights.
Continue reading...My J and H keys have been sanitised to death, the reduced seating is full and my anxiety levels are sky high
It’s the same every time. I spend months looking forward to my summer holidays, only to find that the positive effects of being away have worn off within a few days of getting home. This year was no exception, not helped by the government’s decision to end recess a week early, which meant I had to work for the last three days of our second improvised holiday with close friends in Norfolk. Having to leave everyone on Holkham beach on a rare sunny day to get back in time to watch a Matt Hancock statement was not exactly my idea of a fun day out. As it was, it took me the best part of the week to wind down and by the time I felt vaguely relaxed we were packing to go home. It was too cold to swim this time – at least for me, others were rather more brave – but we did get some lovely walks in along the coast. By about day five of the holiday, the dog – who generally never turns down a walk – was completely knackered and pleading for a bit of personal time. As the others went off to see the Anish Kapoor exhibition at Houghton Hall, Herbie stayed behind with me to watch prime minister’s questions. I’ve never much liked the end of summer at the best of times – the nights closing in never fail to lower my mood – but this year has been more difficult than most because I feel cheated of seeing my daughter, who remains out of reach in Minneapolis. I know other people have had to endure far worse during the coronavirus pandemic, but I do miss her dreadfully. It was early December last year that I last saw her and who knows when quarantine-free travel between the US and the UK will resume? I feel so proud of the woman she has become: someone capable of making a life with a man she loves in a foreign country. But part of me can’t help wishing we had brought her up to be just a little less independent.
Continue reading...Charity has made ‘significant steps’ to improve safeguarding and can now apply for government funds two years on from withdrawal
The charity Save the Children can resume bids for government funding after it withdrew from the process two years ago over a sexual misconduct scandal.
The charity, one of the largest British recipients of government funding, receiving £139m in 2017, had taken “significant steps” to improve safeguarding and now meets government standards, the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office confirmed on Thursday.
Continue reading...Agreement in principle comes as Britain races to secure deals before Brexit transition ends
Japan and the UK have agreed a “historic” free trade deal, as Britain races to secure easy access to overseas markets as it prepares to leave the European Union.
“This is a historic moment for the UK and Japan as our first major post-Brexit trade deal,” Liz Truss, the international trade secretary, said after a video call on Friday with the Japanese foreign minister, Toshimitsu Motegi.
Continue reading...Dublin minister says UK plan to undo Brexit deal would have ‘unthinkable’ consequences
The Irish government has accused Boris Johnson of trying to sabotage the Northern Ireland peace process with a “unilateral provocative act” based on spurious claims about the Good Friday agreement.
As Brexit talks hang by a thread following the UK’s threat to renege on parts of the withdrawal agreement, Thomas Byrne, Ireland’s European affairs minister, branded the UK government’s claims that its move was to protect the peace process as “completely false”.
Continue reading...Britain’s beleaguered picture palaces desperately need bums back on seats. But some filmgoers have to consider the risks more than others
Lockdown in the UK cost its cinemas an estimated £111m in lost revenue, and their annual income could be down 60% on last year’s. Abandoned filming means there are few enticing titles in the pipeline, and production safety guidelines are hampering new production. If cinemas are to survive while socialdistancing slashes their capacity, they’ll have to fill as many as they can of their remaining available seats.
Filmgoers will need to show up in force, whatever their age, gender or physical condition. I’m an ardent film fan; unfortunately, I’m also male and medically vulnerable, which makes me low-hanging fruit for Covid’s scythe. An over-75-year-old is 623 times more likely to die from the disease than an under-45-year-old. Men are over twice as much at risk as women, and a dodgy cardiovascular system doesn’t improve your chances.
Continue reading...Minors were at house party in a villa in Marconia di Pisticci in southern Basilicata region
Italian police have arrested four people in connection with the alleged gang-rape of two British girls in the south of the country.
The rape reportedly took place on Monday night at a house party in Marconia di Pisticci, a town of about 8,000 people in the Basilicata province of Matera.
Continue reading...UK study claims solidarity in early weeks of coronavirus pandemic has given way to distrust
Mask-wearing and lockdown rules are now causing deeper social fractures than Brexit, according to a UK-wide study which suggests that the solidarityof the early weeks of the pandemic has given way to distrust.
Polling of 10,000 people found that half of mask-wearers in Britain (58%) have severely negative attitudes towards those who do not wear a mask, and the majority (68%) of people who did not break lockdown rules have strong negative views about lockdown rule-breakers.
Continue reading...French cases near 10,000 in a day; single biggest rise in Greece; Portugal limits gatherings to 10 people; Mexico signs agreement for Sputnik V vaccine
Here’s a quick summary of the biggest developments before we head over to a new blog. Thanks for following along.
Brazil recorded 40,557 additional confirmed cases of the coronavirus in the past 24 hours, and 983 deaths from the disease, the health ministry said on Thursday.
The country has registered more than 4.2 million cases of the virus since the pandemic began, while the official death toll has risen to 129,522, according to ministry data.
Continue reading...The UK internal market proposals turn Britain into a country whose word cannot be trusted. Conservative MPs must use their power to stop this shameful plan
The damage is real, the damage is mounting and the damage must be ended as soon as possible. By trumpeting its readiness to override some of its treaty obligations towards the European Union, Boris Johnson’s government has cast Britain as a country that does not act in good faith and cannot be trusted to keep its word. The irresponsibility makes the Brexit process more difficult, triggering Thursday’s EU ultimatum to withdraw the plan. It subverts the rule of law at home and abroad. It pulls the rug from under Britain’s reputation everywhere from Ireland to Hong Kong, and wherever else people hope they can rely on Britain to play fair. The plans set out this week in the United Kingdom internal market bill read like an application for rogue state status.
The pushback against this law-breaking bill is already international. The government may have been relaxed about causing consternation in Brussels and exasperation in Berlin. But did it not stop to think of the impact on the politics of Ireland, north and south, or on already alienated opinion in Scotland and Wales, or on trade negotiators in Tokyo and other capitals? Did the government factor in the inevitably frosty response of the Democratic presidential candidate, Joe Biden, who is proud of his Irish ancestry and a friend of the EU, or of Democratic lawmakers (and some Republicans too) in Washington? Did it think about the multitude of other places around the world where goodwill towards Britain cannot always be assumed? Did it not realise that the promise-breaking would be welcomed by the likes of Vladimir Putin, Xi Jinping and Donald Trump, all of whom will feel that Britain has just made it a bit easier for them to go on defying the rules too? If ministers did not think of these things, they are fools. If they did, and still went ahead, they are rogues.
Continue reading...Exclusive: Scottish advocate general warned of breach of ministerial code but two other advisers disagreed, letter shows
A behind–the–scenes rift has emerged between the government’s top legal advisers over the legality of the decision to bring legislation that overrides the EU withdrawal agreement.
Legal advice contained in a three–page letter marked “official – sensitive”, seen by the Guardian, summarises the legal opinions of the government’s three law officers, whose role includes ensuring ministers act in accordance with the law.
Continue reading...Local route managers and signallers will be given more power to cut speeds or close lines
Heavy rain could lead to more trains being cancelled or told to travel at low speed in future, following the Stonehaven crash that killed three people in Aberdeenshire last month.
An interim report by Network Rail into the tragedy spelled out strengthened procedures that could hasten line closures in bad weather, pending safety inspections.
Continue reading...Actor who played Emma Peel in hit spy series and James Bond’s only wife was diagnosed with cancer in March
The actor Diana Rigg, known for her roles on stage and in film and television – including The Avengers and On Her Majesty’s Secret Service – has died at the age of 82.
Rigg, who rose to prominence in the 1960s through her starring role as Emma Peel in The Avengers alongside Patrick Macnee, enjoyed a long and varied career, playing Lady Olenna Tyrell in HBO’s smash hit Game of Thrones, a show she admitted in 2019 that she had never watched. She also played Countess Teresa di Vicenzo, or Tracy Bond, James Bond’s first and only wife to date, in the 1969 film On Her Majesty’s Secret Service.
Continue reading...Martin Hairer takes $3m Breakthrough prize for work a colleague said must have been done by aliens
A mathematician who tamed a nightmarish family of equations that behave so badly they make no sense has won the most lucrative prize in academia.
Martin Hairer, an Austrian-British researcher at Imperial College London, is the winner of the 2021 Breakthrough prize for mathematics, an annual $3m (£2.3m) award that has come to rival the Nobels in terms of kudos and prestige.
Continue reading...Extinction rates for birds and mammals since 1993 would have been ‘three to four times higher’ without action
Up to 48 bird and mammal extinctions have been prevented by conservation efforts since a global agreement to protect biodiversity, according to a new study.
The Iberian lynx, California condor and pygmy hog are among animals that would have disappeared without reintroduction programmes, zoo-based conservation and formal legal protections since 1993, research led by scientists at Newcastle University and BirdLife International found.
Continue reading...Plan to provide rapid tests for 10 million people a day would be hugely costly – and the technology does not yet exist
They call it the “moonshot” – and it is as ambitious as any space adventure.
This is the name given to the government project that aims to ramp up testing to such a scale that it will return the country to some kind of normality. But is it feasible? And what about the cost?
Continue reading...PM believes huge rapid testing programme is ‘only hope’ before a vaccine, leaked document says
Boris Johnson believes a mass testing programme is “our only hope for avoiding a second national lockdown before a vaccine”, according to leaked official documents setting out plans for “Operation Moonshot”.
The prime minister is said to be pinning his hopes on a project that would deliver up to 10m tests a day – even though the current testing regime is struggling to deliver a fraction of that number and is beset by problems.
Continue reading...Dallen died hours after the Guardian published piece that reflected on facing terminal illness
The family of a young man who wrote movingly of coping with terminal cancer against the backdrop of the coronavirus pandemic have told of taking comfort from the huge response to his articles, after he died on Monday.
Elliot Dallen, 31, died hours after the Guardian published the second of two articles by him in which he reflected on his life and shared the lessons which he had learned.
Continue reading...