Buckingham Palace says monarch has ‘reluctantly accepted medical advice to rest for next few days’
The Queen has cancelled a planned two-day visit to Northern Ireland after advice from her doctors that she should “rest for the next few days”.
Buckingham Palace said in a statement: “The Queen has reluctantly accepted medical advice to rest for the next few days.
Continue reading...Brussels has been ‘preparing for worst’, with options ranging from tariffs on UK imports to ditching deal
David Frost, the UK’s Brexit minister, has warned there is a big gap between the EU and the UK negotiating positions as he enters talks with the European Commission over changes to the arrangements for trade between Great Britain and Northern Ireland.
The EU has offered to sweep away most customs and health checks on animal and plant products entering Northern Ireland under a revision of the current system but both sides privately recognise that fundamental differences remain between their visions for the future.
Continue reading...Paisley says Johnson told him he ‘would sign up to changing that protocol and indeed tearing it up’
Boris Johnson gave personal assurances to Northern Ireland MP Ian Paisley that he would commit to “tearing up” the Brexit protocol that is now the centre of a major row between the UK and the EU, it has been claimed.
The Democratic Unionist party MP made the comments on BBC’s Newsnight just hours after the prime minister’s former adviser Dominic Cummings claimed it was always the intention to sign the withdrawal agreement in January 2020 but “ditch bits” they didn’t like in the protocol.
Continue reading...Maroš Šefčovič attempts to end tussle at press conference but ‘big gap’ remains to UK’s demands
The EU will scrap 80% of checks on foods entering Northern Ireland from Britain but Brussels officials were “preparing for the worst” amid signs Boris Johnson is set to reject the terms of the deal.
Maroš Šefčovič, the EU’s Brexit commissioner, also announced that customs checks on manufactured goods would be halved as part of a significant concession to ease post-Brexit border problems.
Continue reading...Offer to lift up to 50% of customs checks aims to turn page on troubled relationship with Boris Johnson
The EU will offer to remove a majority of post-Brexit checks on British goods entering Northern Ireland as it seeks to turn the page on the rancorous relationship with Boris Johnson.
Up to 50% of customs checks on goods would be lifted and more than half the checks on meat and plants entering Northern Ireland would be abandoned under the bold offer from Brussels.
Continue reading...Nightmarishness meets nostalgia as Jamie Dornan and Judi Dench star in a scintillating Troubles-era coming-of-age tale
There is a terrific warmth and tenderness to Kenneth Branagh’s elegiac, autobiographical movie about the Belfast of his childhood: spryly written, beautifully acted and shot in a lustrous monochrome, with set pieces, madeleines and epiphanies that feel like a more emollient version of Terence Davies. Some may feel that the film is sentimental or that it does not sufficiently conform to the template of political anger and despair considered appropriate for dramas about Northern Ireland and the Troubles. And yes, there is certainly a spoonful of sugar (or two) in the mix, with some mandatory Van Morrison on the soundtrack. There’s a key climactic scene about how you disarm a gunman in the middle of a riot if you have no gun yourself, which has to be charitably indulged.
But this film has such emotional generosity and wit and it tackles a dilemma of the times not often understood: when, and if, to pack up and leave Belfast? Is it an understandable matter of survival or an abandonment of your beloved home town to the extremists? (Full disclosure: my own dad left Belfast for England, though well before the era of this film.)
Continue reading...Point will come when EU says ‘enough, we cannot compromise any more’, warns Irish foreign minister
The EU is close to the end of the road with the UK over the Northern Ireland protocol, accusing David Frost, the Brexit minister, of trying to undermine serious attempts to solve the problem, the Irish foreign minister has said.
Simon Coveney said he had spoken to Lord Frost’s counterpart, the European Commission vice-president, Maroš Šefčovič, on Sunday. They have agreed there would come a point when “the EU will say: enough, we cannot compromise any more”, Coveney said.
Continue reading...EU leaders urged to push back against No 10’s brinkmanship over role of European Court of Justice
Fears that the UK is heading for a trade war with the EU have been fuelled by strong indications from the government that proposals to be unveiled in Brussels on Wednesday over Brexit arrangements do not go far enough.
The Brexit minister, Lord Frost, will use a speech in Portugal on Tuesday to say that scrapping its prohibition on British sausages to resolve the dispute over the Northern Ireland protocol do not meet the UK and unionists demands.
Continue reading...Brussels to offer substantial package of proposals to improve post-Brexit arrangements
The EU will seek to sweeten its package of proposals over the post-Brexit arrangements for Northern Ireland by lifting a prohibition on sausages made in Britain.
The EU’s Brexit commissioner, Maroš Šefčovič, will table four papers on Wednesday as to how the Northern Ireland protocol can be improved.
Continue reading...Brexit minister says he expects Brussels response to UK demand to renegotiate protocol within 10 days
The UK will react in a “robust” manner if the EU launches a retaliatory trade war in the event of Brexit talks on Northern Ireland breaking down, the government has warned.
The Brexit minister, David Frost, said he expected the EU to issue its formal response to the UK’s demand for renegotiation of the Northern Ireland protocol within the next 10 days, as he outlined fresh detail on the timeline for talks.
Continue reading...Brexit minister David Frost threatens EU with use of emergency brake
The UK Brexit minister, David Frost, has stepped up demands on the EU to renegotiate the Northern Ireland protocol, a linchpin of Boris Johnson’s Brexit deal. At a speech to the Conservative party conference, Frost said “tinkering around the edges” of the protocol would not be enough. “We cannot wait for ever. Without an agreed solution soon, we will need to act, using the article 16 safeguard mechanism, to address the impact the protocol is having on Northern Ireland.”
Continue reading...Four parties including DUP and Ulster Unionists issue statement warning of ‘grave damage’ under new rules
Four rival unionist parties in Northern Ireland have formed an alliance to fight the Brexit protocol, issuing a joint statement weeks after the Democratic Unionist party threatened to quit Stormont if it was not scrapped.
It is seen as a significant attempt to show that the DUP’s hardline position is not isolated before the expected publication by the EU of fresh proposals to address UK demands to substantially rewrite the protocol.
Continue reading...Further 3,273 infections added to South Korea’s tally; fully vaccinated travellers in Northern Ireland will no longer need pre-departure test from 4 October
The introduction of Covid passes in the Netherlands has sparked protests, with demonstrators marching against the requirement to show proof of vaccination to enter bars, theatres and other venues.
After social distancing was brought to a close on Saturday, customers are now required to show proof of vaccination, recent recovery from Covid or a negative test to enter hospitality and leisure venues in the Netherlands.
The Netherlands ended social distancing measures on Saturday, replacing the restriction with a requirement to show a Covid-19 health pass to enter hospitality and entertainment venues.
Known as the “1.5-meter society” in the Netherland, social distancing measures have been in place for the last 18 months.
Continue reading...Estimates for women broadly unchanged, with a girl born in 2018-20 likely to live for 82.9 years
Life expectancy for men in the UK has fallen for the first time since current records began 40 years ago because of the impact of the coronavirus pandemic, figures show.
A boy born between 2018 and 2020 is expected to live until he is 79 years old, down from 79.2 for the period of 2015-17, according to the Office for National Statistics (ONS).
Continue reading...Referral to prosecutors comes as UK told plan to end Troubles prosecutions ‘could breach international law’
A former police officer of the Royal Ulster Constabulary (RUC) has been referred to public prosecutors in Northern Ireland in relation to a series of potential offences including the sectarian murder of three brothers.
John Martin, 24, Brian, 22, and their 17-year-old brother, Anthony Reavey, were shot by the notorious loyalist Glenanne gang at their home in County Armagh in 1976.
Continue reading...European human rights commissioner warns Northern Ireland secretary that amnesty is ‘deeply problematic’
Boris Johnson’s plan to impose a statute of limitations to end all prosecutions related to the Troubles before 1998 could be in breach of international law, a European human rights commissioner has told the government.
Dunja Mijatović of the Council of Europe has written to the secretary of state for Northern Ireland, Brandon Lewis, saying the UK’s proposals appear indistinguishable from an unconditional amnesty for those not yet convicted.
Continue reading...Joe Biden has underlined the importance of ensuring peace in Northern Ireland is not jeopardised by post-Brexit tensions. Asked about a UK-US trade deal, the US president told reporters in Washington on Tuesday: 'There are two separate issues: on the deal with the UK, that continues to be discussed, but on the protocols, I feel very strongly about those. It was a major bipartisan effort made, and I would not at all like to see – nor, I might add, would many of my Republican colleagues – like to see a change in the Irish accords, and the end result having a closed border again'
Continue reading...Pair, aged 21 and 33, charged with killing McKee as she covered rioting in Derry in 2019, police say
Two men have been charged with the murder of the Belfast journalist Lyra McKee, who was shot dead during disturbances in Derry in 2019.
McKee, 29, one of Northern Ireland’s most promising young journalists, was killed as she observed rioting in the Creggan area of the city on 18 April 2019.
Continue reading...Heather Maddern and her daughter, Sammie-Jo Forde, were care workers and Maddern had shared conspiracy theories online
An anti-vaxxer mother and her daughter died just days apart in a Belfast hospital after they contracted Covid-19, leaving their family “devastated”.
The BBC reported that Sammie-Jo Forde, 32, died in the Ulster hospital on Saturday, where she had been treated on the same ward as her mother, Heather Maddern, 55, who died on 31 August.
Continue reading...Brexit minister Lord Frost tells House of Lords that the European Commission must take renegotiation proposals seriously
The row over Brexit and Northern Ireland has escalated after the UK government issued a new warning to the EU that it will not shy away from unilaterally suspending the Northern Ireland protocol agreed by Boris Johnson last year.
Lord Frost, the Brexit minister, told the House of Lords on Monday night that the EU should take the UK’s proposals to renegotiate part of the protocol “seriously” if it wanted to avoid the protocol collapsing.
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