As most UK countries start including reinfections in overall total, we look at why this is happening now
With reinfections now included in the daily Covid case numbers for most countries in the UK, we take a look at why the shift matters.
Continue reading...Paul Givan’s move triggers parallel departure of deputy first minister and could bring forward elections
The first minister of Northern Ireland, the Democratic Unionist party’s Paul Givan, has resigned, plunging the devolved government at Stormont into turmoil two years after power-sharing with Sinn Féin was restored.
His resignation, over Brexit checks in the Irish Sea, will also bring the parallel departure of the Sinn Féin deputy first minister, Michelle O’Neill, under the power-sharing arrangements.
Continue reading...Ireland’s European commissioner criticises decision by DUP minister affecting food and animal imports
A decision by a Democratic Unionist minister to halt all Brexit checks on food and animals entering Northern Ireland has been described by Ireland’s European commissioner as “an absolute breach of international law”.
The move announced by the devolved administration’s agriculture minister, Edwin Poots, on Wednesday has been branded an electioneering stunt by opposition parties in Northern Ireland and has set the UK on a collision course with the EU.
Continue reading...The director’s first cousin Martin Hamilton tells of family and the Troubles that went on to inspire an acclaimed memoir
There is one man with very personal reasons for finding the scenes of sectarian intimidation in Sir Kenneth Branagh’s film homage to his home city particularly haunting – his first cousin, Martin Hamilton.
Hamilton, who grew up with Branagh and his family in inner-city north Belfast, says the images of Catholic families being forced out of the mainly Protestant district brought back painful memories of his own fractured friendships that were lost in the Troubles.
Continue reading...Winds of more than 100mph reported in parts of Scotland, with widespread disruption to travel and power supplies
Two people have been killed by falling trees as Storm Malik battered northern parts of the UK on Saturday, cutting off power from thousands and causing widespread disruption.
A nine-year-old boy died in hospital after a tree fell on him and a man in Winnothdale, near Stoke. Emergency services were called at 1pm on Saturday, and they were taken to the Royal Stoke university hospital. The man is still receiving treatment.
Continue reading...As Derry prepares to mark the 50th anniversary of Bloody Sunday, we revisit the archive to show how the day unfolded on 30 January 1972, when British paratroopers opened fire on a civil rights march and killed 13 civilians
Continue reading...PM says amendment is being pulled after Tory Northern Ireland affairs committee chair spoke out against it
The UK government has abandoned plans to introduce a law that would have allowed the leader of the Democratic Unionist party to potentially “double-job” in the Stormont assembly while remaining a Westminster MP.
Before a debate on the legislation in the Lords on Wednesday afternoon, Boris Johnson told the Commons that an amendment enabling dual mandates was being withdrawn.
Continue reading...Antrim musician Feargal Lynn offers Royal Mail ‘hearty applause’ for successfully delivering letter to him
Sherlock Holmes might have balked, but the Royal Mail detectives came up trumps when they correctly delivered a letter with an address that was more like an episode of This Is Your Life than a conventional street name and postcode.
Writing on Twitter, the County Antrim musician Feargal Lynn said the postal system deserved “hearty applause” for successfully delivering the letter addressed by following a brief history of his family in the area.
Continue reading...Liz Truss and Simon Coveney meetup comes before talks on protocol with EU Brexit negotiator
The UK foreign secretary, Liz Truss, and her Irish counterpart, Simon Coveney, have had a “good and friendly” first meeting over the vexed issue of the Brexit arrangements in Northern Ireland, Irish government sources have said.
They met for the first time over dinner in London on Thursday night and discussed the Northern Ireland protocol, the wider relationship with the EU, and UN security matters including the crisis in Ukraine and Kazakhstan.
Continue reading...Chief medical officer says people should isolate until testing negative, contradicting official guidance
Prof Chris Whitty has sparked confusion by saying people should stay in self-isolation “until their test goes negative”, despite official guidance allowing a day 10 exit even with a positive lateral flow test.
Last month the rules on self-isolation in England changed to reduce the self-isolation period from 10 to seven days for people who have tested positive for Covid, provided they have a negative lateral flow test on both day six and seven and they do not have a high temperature. Wales and Northern Ireland have followed suit, with Scotland facing pressure to do the same.
Continue reading...Jonathan Powell says PM and Brexit ministers risking fragile peace in Northern Ireland and ‘don’t seem to care’
One of the architects of the Northern Ireland peace deal has said Boris Johnson and the former Brexit minister Lord Frost have risked “all the work” the previous generation of politicians put into the Belfast Good Friday agreement by putting their hard ideological beliefs ahead of people.
Jonathan Powell, Tony Blair’s former chief of staff and chief negotiator on Northern Ireland, said he was concerned that neither the prime minister nor the recently resigned Brexit minister seemed to understand or care about the fragility of the political settlement in Northern Ireland in 1998.
Continue reading...As the term begins and masks return to England’s classrooms, schools rely on vaccines, testing and hygiene
As a new term is set to start for schools across the UK and the government announces masks will return for secondary pupils in England’s classrooms, we take a look at the potential impact of Omicron on children.
Continue reading...The party is riding high in polls and could complete a seismic shift in Irish politics in three years’ time
Just 30 years ago the IRA was bombing Downing Street, launching three mortar bombs at No 10 while John Major presided over a cabinet meeting.
In 2021, Sinn Féin, the political party associated with the IRA for much of the Troubles, has moved into pole position to lead the Irish government in what could be the biggest shake-up of the state’s politics since its foundation 100 years ago.
Continue reading...Announcement that there will be no new restrictions in England before new year puts it at odds with rest of UK
Ministers have confirmed that no new Covid-19 restrictions will be imposed in England before the new year.
Sajid Javid, the health secretary, told reporters there will be “no further measures before the new year”, adding: “Of course people should remain cautious as we approach new year celebrations and take a lateral flow test if that makes sense, celebrate outdoors if you can, have some ventilation indoors if you can.”
Continue reading...Those promised rewards for Britain of leaving the EU should surely be with us by now. What have been the costs and gains of ‘taking our country back’?
• UK and the EU set to remain best of enemies as 2022 dawns
On New Year’s Day the UK will have been fully out of the European Union for a year: out of its political and legal structures, out of its single market, out of its customs union.
This was what Boris Johnson and Michael Gove – who led the Leave campaign – had wanted. No awkward halfway house like Theresa May had negotiated. No Brexit light. Out completely. Gone. Brexit well and truly done.
Continue reading...The foreign secretary, now chief negotiator with the EU, wants ‘a comprehensive solution’
The UK’s newly appointed chief post-Brexit negotiator, Liz Truss, said she would speak to her EU counterpart, Maroš Šefčovič, on Tuesday amid renewed calls to rip up the controversial Northern Ireland protocol.
The cabinet minister, who is also the foreign secretary, said she wanted to negotiate “a comprehensive solution” to the agreement, which requires post-Brexit checks on goods arriving in Northern Ireland from Great Britain.
Continue reading...Lord Dodds says UK ‘falling into line’ with EU and retreating from commitment to trigger article 16
The government’s retreat from its hardline position in negotiations with the EU over Brexit arrangements in Northern Ireland has elicited a furious response from the most senior unionist in the House of Lords.
Lord Dodds, the former deputy leader of the Democratic Unionist party, has issued a veiled threat of “action” unless it restores the option of pulling the plug on the Northern Ireland protocol by using the article 16 process.
Continue reading...EU law on medicines may be rewritten and UK has climbed down over ECJ. Here’s what we know
The UK left the European Union on 31 January 2020 and all EU rules fell away at the start of 2021. Soon after, a row broke out over the Northern Ireland protocol, the tortuously negotiated agreement to avoid a hard border on the island of Ireland, by keeping Northern Ireland in the EU single market and customs union.
Continue reading...Brussels remains mistrustful of British government, which objects to ECJ being final arbiter of EU law
An uneasy Christmas truce has been called over the post-Brexit arrangements for Northern Ireland, even as the EU said it would not negotiate over a key British demand in the rancorous talks.
Maroš Šefčovič, the EU Brexit commissioner, said there was “momentum” behind discussions after a major British U-turn, but refused to offer quid pro quo concessions.
Continue reading...Brexit minister David Frost is seeking agreement on customs and imports to NI and could drop insistence on total exclusion of ECJ
The UK is to change tack in negotiations over the Northern Ireland Brexit protocol and will push for an “interim” deal to avert any further deterioration of political stability in the region.
Brexit minister David Frost is set to propose a new approach based on a “staged solution” with a deal on customs declarations and physical checks on goods a priority to address the immediate impact on people’s lives and livelihoods.
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