Category Archives: Politics

Give families cash to feed their children, there’s overwhelming evidence it works | Arthur Potts Dawson

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Vouchers and money to buy food bring families the dignity everyone deserves, as the World Food Programme has shown

Dignity is not a word that you would normally associate with your weekly supermarket shop, or with planning how you might be going to feed your children each night.

But right now, when families are under intense pressure to find enough money to keep food on the table and ensure their children have access to a healthy and nutritious diet, dignity is something we should all be demanding for those who depend on others for the means to feed their loved ones.

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‘Internexit’ for Leave.EU as domain name temporarily suspended

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Error message greets visitors to site registered in name of Irish businessman who claims he does not know campaign group

Leave.EU has been forced to “Internexit” after the group’s EU domain name was temporarily suspended. It comes after the Irish businessman in whose name the pro-Brexit campaign group’s domain name is registered denied having any involvement with the organisation.

Now visitors to the site are greeted with an error message, and the EU’s online registry marks the domain as under a server hold, meaning it is “temporarily inactive and under investigation”.

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Questions will be asked over timing of closing UK travel corridors

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Analysis: poor implementation ends another week of shifting Covid policy by the government

The announced closure of all international travel corridors to the UK marks the end of another week of changing policy, with the timing and implementation dismaying many.

Travel corridors will be axed in effect from Monday morning. The corridors, which exempted inbound travellers from the requirement to quarantine for 10 days, may make little practical difference to the airline and travel industry in the current context.

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UK Covid live: 1,280 deaths reported in last 24 hours as R value now between 1.2 and 1.3

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A further 55,761 people have tested positive in the UK; experts say latest number shows need to remain vigilant; Wales unveils new measures

The UK government said a further 1,280 people had died within 28 days of testing positive for Covid-19 as of Friday, bringing the UK total to 87,295.

Separate figures published by the UK’s statistics agencies for deaths where Covid-19 has been mentioned on the death certificate, together with additional data on deaths that have occurred in recent days, show there have now been 102,000 deaths involving Covid-19 in the UK.

A further 807 people who tested positive for coronavirus have died in hospital in England, bringing the total number of confirmed deaths reported in hospitals to 59,519, NHS England said on Friday. Patients were aged between 32 and 101. All except 51, aged between 40 and 97, had known underlying health conditions. The deaths were between 18 November and 14 January. There were 31 other deaths reported with no positive Covid-19 test result.

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Regulator refuses to approve mass daily Covid testing at English schools

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Exclusive: Boris Johnson’s plan to test millions of pupils a week in disarray after concerns raised

Boris Johnson’s plans to test millions of schoolchildren for coronavirus every week appear to be in disarray after the UK regulator refused to formally approve the daily testing of pupils in England, the Guardian has learned.

The Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) told the government on Tuesday it had not authorised the daily use of 30-minute tests due to concerns that they give people false reassurance if they test negative.

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Asylum seeker housing conditions under scrutiny at third ex-military site

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Allegations of poor conditions, poor food quality and mental health crises at RAF Coltishall in Norfolk

A third former military site being used as temporary housing for asylum seekers is facing allegations of poor conditions, poor food quality and mental health crises, it has emerged.

The Home Office has been housing asylum seekers in a former officers’ mess at RAF Coltishall, north of Norwich, since April last year. The Norfolk site has not received as much scrutiny as two similar facilities, Napier Barracks in Kent and Penally Barracks in Pembrokeshire, which have been dogged by allegations of cover-ups, poor access to healthcare and legal advice, and crowded conditions.

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Covid restrictions on visits to detained children and parents are ‘cruel’, MPs told

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Prison, care home and mental health institution visit limitations failing to consider impact on family life, campaigners say

Children with parents in prison have been forgotten during lockdown, campaigners have told MPs.

The cross-party human rights committee is looking at the impact on the right to family life, with a focus on people in institutional settings including prisons, care homes and mental health facilities.

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Aid sector is ‘last safe haven’ for abusers, UK investigation warns

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MPs say sexual exploitation still rife despite series of scandals and call for more effective measures

The sexual abuse and exploitation of local women by international aid workers remains “rife”, say MPs, describing the sector as the “last safe haven” for perpetrators.

A parliamentary inquiry found evidence of widespread abuse of beneficiaries, ineffective investigations and whistleblowers forced out of jobs, despite a series of recent scandals that had prompted some reforms.

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EU halts imports of seafood from smaller Scottish companies

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Export firms point to post-Brexit delays around health certificates, IT systems and missing customs papers

Deliveries of Scottish seafood to the EU from smaller companies have been halted until Monday, 18 January, after post-Brexit problems with health checks, IT systems and customs documents caused a huge backlog.

Scottish fishing has been plunged into crisis, as lorry-loads of live seafood and some fish destined for shops and restaurants in France, Spain and other countries have been rejected because they are taking too long to arrive.

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UK spent £2.4m to help Saudi Arabia comply with international law

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Over the last four years, the Gulf state has been accused of bombing and killing Yemeni civilians

Britain spent £2.4m over the last four years to help Saudi Arabia’s military comply with international humanitarian law – during which time the Gulf state has been accused of indiscriminately bombing and killing Yemeni civilians.

The figures – obtained via parliamentary questions – are the first time the UK has detailed the amount spent via secretive funds to the kingdom, prompting a campaign group to say British taxpayers were backing the country’s military.

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Top scientists warn of ‘ghastly future of mass extinction’ and climate disruption

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Sobering new report says world is failing to grasp the extent of threats posed by biodiversity loss and the climate crisis

The planet is facing a “ghastly future of mass extinction, declining health and climate-disruption upheavals” that threaten human survival because of ignorance and inaction, according to an international group of scientists, who warn people still haven’t grasped the urgency of the biodiversity and climate crises.

The 17 experts, including Prof Paul Ehrlich from Stanford University, author of The Population Bomb, and scientists from Mexico, Australia and the US, say the planet is in a much worse state than most people – even scientists – understood.

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Asylum seekers on hunger strike over conditions at Kent barracks site

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Home Office urged to shut temporary accommodation after allegations of overcrowding and poor hygiene

Hundreds of asylum seekers are reportedly on hunger strike at a former army barracks in Kent being used as temporary housing, amid allegations conditions at the site are worsening.

About 400 men are being held at the Napier barracks site near Folkestone, which has been used as temporary accommodation since September and has faced calls for closure after allegations of cover-ups, poor access to healthcare and legal advice, and crowded conditions.

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In these grim times we all need a saviour and right now it is Chris Whitty | John Crace

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The chief medical officer seems the only person left we can trust to tell us the harsh truth on Covid

Cometh the hour, cometh the man. In these exceptionally grim times we’re all – Boris Johnson included – looking for a saviour to rise from these streets. And right now that salvation appears to be the England’s chief medical officer, Chris Whitty. Just about the only person left whom anyone can trust to tell the country the naked truth about coronavirus.

For months now, we’ve grown used to ministers being sent out on the morning media round to sell the latest U-turn. But sometime over the weekend, someone in Downing Street’s communications team realised many people tended not to take ministers all that seriously. They would hear the horrifying death statistics and still come up with a way of adapting lockdown guidance to their own convenience. And after Dominic Cummings got away with ignoring the rules during the first lockdown, who could really blame them. The rules were seen as an aspiration, not a binding necessity.

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Starmer accepts end of EU free movement in Brexit reversal

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Labour leader rules out extensive renegotiation if party wins next election

Keir Starmer has abandoned the commitment to free movement of people in the European Union he made to Labour members during the party’s leadership contest.

The Labour leader said his party had to be honest with the public, and that if it won the next general election a major renegotiation of the Brexit treaty would not be possible.

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Firms halt deliveries from UK to EU over Brexit border problems

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DPD pauses road service and retailers suspend sales or reduce lines amid concerns over paperwork and tariffs

A growing number of retailers and courier firms are suspending or cutting back deliveries into the EU as companies grapple with new border controls as well as import taxes.

On Friday DPD, the international delivery giant, said it was “pausing” its road service from the UK into Europe, including the Republic of Ireland. Separately, Marks & Spencer said it was concerned that a third of the products in its Irish food halls, including Percy Pig sweets, would now be subject to import tariffs. Such taxes could spell higher prices for shoppers.

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‘We’re bursting’: a day inside a Covid intensive care unit

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The Guardian spends a day with Covid patients and staff at Milton Keynes University hospital

In a private room by the locked entrance of the intensive care unit, Dilip Sharan is sitting up in bed, a plate of stew in front of him. He navigates his spoon around the breathing tube keeping him alive, every mouthful soundtracked by a discordant symphony of beeps and bongs from multiple monitors keeping tabs on his vital organs.

It is his fifth day in the last chance saloon of Covid care. He gasps for air, barely able to speak.

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UK coronavirus live: ‘major incident’ declared in London as cases surge; Moderna Covid vaccine approved

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Latest updates: Sadiq Khan declares major incident in capital with ‘spread of virus out of control’; seven million doses of Moderna vaccine ordered

Making the announcement in London, Sadiq Khan said: “We are declaring a major incident because the threat this virus poses to our city is at crisis point.

“If we do not take immediate action now, our NHS could be overwhelmed and more people will die.

BREAKING: I have declared a major incident in London because the threat this virus poses to our city is at crisis point.

One in 30 Londoners now has COVID-19. If we do not take immediate action now, our NHS could be overwhelmed and more people will die.https://t.co/OjV7SZ4BgQ

The mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, has declared an effective emergency in the city, as it grapples with soaring coronavirus case numbers and hospitals struggling to cope with the influx of patients.

London has been the worst-hit area of the UK so far in the winter peak of Covid-19 cases.

Related: Sadiq Khan declares Covid emergency in London

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Fears Covid vaccines would not work against South Africa variant led to travel curbs

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Minister says extra check on travellers introduced as ‘we simply cannot take chances’

Fears that Covid vaccines will not work against the new South African strain of the virus have prompted the introduction of testing for new arrivals into England and Scotland from abroad, the transport secretary, Grant Shapps, has said.

Outlining the new testing regime for England and Scotland, he told Sky News: “This is an extra check and we’re doing this now because there are these variants that we’re very keen to keep out of the country, like the South African variant, for example.

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‘I’m stuck here’: lorry drivers in Calais begin to feel effects of Brexit

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Truck drivers tell of long delays for checks at the Eurotunnel as trade barrier goes up between UK and EU

Roger White arrived in France at 2.30pm on Tuesday with a truckload of hard cheese from Somerset.

Before Brexit he would have rolled off the Eurotunnel train and carried on up the A16 to Belgium, unloading his wares a few hours later at his ultimate destination in Utrecht.

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Leave. EU leaves Britain after Brexit

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Eurosceptic campaign group founded by Arron Banks is now registered in Ireland

Leave.EU has left the UK, as Brexit forced the Eurosceptic campaign group to choose between its name and its country.

According to domain name registration records, the organisation, founded by businessman and activist Arron Banks, picked the former. The website is now registered in the name of Sean Power, the chief executive of the Ireland-based professional services company BSG.

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