Number of young Australians in psychological distress continues sharp rise

Annual Hilda survey of 17,000 Australians shows ‘clear trend of younger people becoming lonelier and feeling more isolated as time goes on’

Australians are experiencing a large up-tick of psychological distress, with loneliness rising sharply among young people during the pandemic, a new study has revealed.

The annual Household, Income and Labour Dynamics in Australia (Hilda) report examines data gathered between 2001 and 2021, by tracking over 17,000 people in over 9,000 households.

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Tearful Sturgeon said the number of lives lost during the pandemic was ‘far too high’ – as it happened

This live blog is now closed, you can read more on this story here

Sturgeon once again says she wants to be “very clear” that it was not her practice to have lengthy or detailed discussions through “these means” – a reference to WhatsApp.

“It’s not my style,” she insists.

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Sturgeon admits errors in handling of ‘incredibly stressful’ Covid pandemic

Ex-first minister of Scotland admits to inquiry that she failed to properly record key discussions about crisis

Nicola Sturgeon has admitted failing to properly record key discussions about the Covid crisis after being pressed at the UK Covid inquiry over claims some decisions were too centralised and secretive.

The former first minister, who led Scotland’s response to the pandemic, pushed back tears when she admitted she found the pressure of crisis “incredibly stressful”, and at times wished she had not been in charge.

An admission that crucial discussions with her closest advisers during private “gold command” meetings should have been recorded.

She regretted not telling people about Scotland’s first outbreak, involving 38 cases linked to a Nike conference in Edinburgh in March 2020, as that “had the potential to undermine public confidence”.

She acknowledged she should not have promised journalists in August 2021 that all her WhatsApp messages would be kept, knowing she had been systematically deleting them.

It was inappropriate for her to give the public health expert Devi Sridhar her private SNP email address.

She “thought wrongly” that her chief medical officer, Catherine Calderwood, could remain in post after admitting she breached lockdown rules by visiting her holiday home.

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Michelle Mone and the PPE Medpro investigation – podcast

After the peer admitted to lying about her involvement in lucrative government PPE deals during the Covid crisis, the fate of her high-profile lingerie company raises further questions. David Conn reports

When Michelle Mone sat down for an interview with the BBC’s Laura Kuenssberg last month it was against the backdrop of serious allegations that she had been facing since 2020. Mone and her husband, the Isle of Man-based businessman Doug Barrowman, are the subjects of a long-running National Crime Agency investigation into allegations of bribery and fraud in their securing of £200m in government contracts for a company, PPE Medpro.

She admitted to Kuenssberg that she had lied for years when denying her involvement in the lucrative PPE deals, emphasising in the interview that she was a ‘very successful individual businesswoman’.

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Nicola Sturgeon regarded Boris Johnson as ‘a clown’ because of his handling of Covid, inquiry learns – UK politics live

Former Scotland first minister used expletives in private messages about former UK PM’s handling of pandemic

At the Covid inquiry hearing in Edinburgh Liz Lloyd, Nicola Sturgeon’s former chief of staff, was asked about her wanting a row with the UK government. (See 11.35am.)

Asked if she was looking for a spat, Lloyd replied:

I was looking for a spat with a purpose.

It had been shown in the past that they would sometimes change their mind if they felt that pressure and I wanted them to change their mind.

Sturgeon said his address was “fucking excruciating” and that the UK communications were “awful”. Sturgeon also told Lloyd: “His utter incompetence in every sense is now offending me on behalf of politicians everywhere.”

Lloyd said she was “offended” on behalf of special advisers everywhere. Sturgeon replied: “He is a fucking clown.”

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Older people urged to get Covid jab as UK study shows avoidable deaths

More than 7,000 hospital admissions and deaths could have been avoided if people had been fully vaccinated

Older people are being urged to become fully vaccinated against Covid as a world-first study shows thousands of hospital admissions and deaths in the UK could have been avoided if everyone had had all of their doses.

The rollout began strongly in the UK, with 90% of the population over the age of 12 vaccinated with at least one dose by January 2022. However, rates of subsequent doses fell sharply, a study shows, with less than half the population fully jabbed by June 2022.

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Spain makes facemasks mandatory in hospitals as respiratory illnesses

Rules reintroduced as ‘commonsense measure’ despite opposition from some regional administrations

Face masks will be mandatory in hospitals and health centres in Spain from Wednesday as the country experiences a surge in cases of flu, Covid and other respiratory illnesses.

The government decision, which was made six months after the use of masks ceased to be obligatory in health facilities and pharmacies, has been met with opposition from some regional administrations.

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Health inequalities ‘caused 1m early deaths in England in last decade’

Exclusive: Review by Michael Marmot decries 'shocking political failure’ behind differing life expectancies across country

More than 1 million people in England died prematurely in the decade after 2011 owing to a combination of poverty, austerity and Covid, according to “shocking” new research by one of the UK’s leading public health experts.

The figures are revealed in a study by the Institute of Health Equity at University College London led by Sir Michael Marmot. They demonstrate the extent to which stark economic and social inequalities are leading to poorer people dying early from cancer, heart problems and other diseases.

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Key Covid inquiry report creates election date headache for PM

Heather Hallett’s first findings are to be published before the summer and will show how austerity and Brexit hit pandemic planning

An explosive report spelling out how the Conservative government failed to prepare the country for the Covid-19 pandemic as it obsessed about Brexit is to be released before the likely date of the next general election, the Observer has been told.

In a move that will cause alarm in Downing Street, Heather Hallett’s independent Covid-19 inquiry will issue a detailed interim report “before the summer” on the first batch of public hearings held last June and July, which revealed a catalogue of errors, including the lack of PPE and failures to act on recommendations of previous pandemic planning exercises.

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NHS in England facing ‘storm of pressure’ as flu and Covid cases surge

Average of 3,631 patients in hospital with Covid during Christmas week, data shows, a rise of 57% in a month

A surge in the number of flu and Covid admissions to hospitals in England is adding to a “storm of pressure” facing the health service, NHS leaders have said.

Figures released on Friday showed that in Christmas week, there were on average 3,631 patients with Covid in hospital, up 57% from the same week in November.

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Michelle Mone and ministers trade claims over her hidden links to PPE deals

Disgraced Tory peer says government always knew of involvement in Covid contracts as calls mount for her to stay away from Lords

A furious row has broken out between the disgraced Conservative peer Michelle Mone and the government over how much they knew about her links to a company that won lucrative deals during the pandemic.

Mone claimed the Cabinet Office, which Michael Gove led at the time, the government and the NHS “all knew about my involvement from the very beginning” before awarding her husband’s firm £203m in contracts.

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‘They all knew’: Michelle Mone hits out at Rishi Sunak over PPE deals

Former Tory peer says government was aware of her involvement in PPE Medpro ‘from the very beginning’

Michelle Mone has condemned Rishi Sunak after he expressed concern at her admission she lied about involvement in a company that won lucrative deals during Covid, saying the government “knew about my involvement from the very beginning”.

After the former Conservative peer admitted in a BBC interview on Sunday that she had been untruthful in denying a connection to PPE Medpro, which made millions of pounds in profits over a contract to provide personal protective equipment, Sunak said No 10 was taking the case “incredibly seriously”.

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Rishi Sunak taking Michelle Mone case ‘incredibly seriously’

PM’s comments come as Labour calls for Commons statement about Tory peer who admits lying to media over links to PPE firm

Downing Street takes the case of Michelle Mone “incredibly seriously”, Rishi Sunak has said, as Labour called for a Commons statement after the former Tory peer admitted she lied when denying involvement with a company that won UK government deals to provide personal protective equipment during the pandemic.

Pressure is increasing for action on Mone, who had repeatedly denied a connection to PPE Medpro, which made millions of pounds in profits during the pandemic, but conceded in an interview on Sunday that she had been untruthful.

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Michelle Mone admits she lied to media over links to PPE firm

Ex-Tory peer defends lying to media over links to firm that made millions from PPE deals, saying, ‘It’s not a crime … I was protecting my family’

The former Conservative peer Michelle Mone has admitted that she lied when she denied repeatedly having been involved with a company that made millions of pounds in profits from UK government PPE deals during the pandemic.

Mone said she “wasn’t trying to pull the wool over anyone’s eyes” and had not told the truth about her involvement to protect her family from press attention. When it was put to her that she had admitted lying to the press, Mone replied: “That’s not a crime.”

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How the Michelle Mone scandal unfolded: £200m of PPE contracts, denials and a government lawsuit

Conservative peer made multiple denials of any association between her and PPE Medro

The Conservative peer Michelle Mone and her husband, Doug Barrowman, denied for years that they were involved in PPE Medpro, a company that secured more than £200m in government contracts to supply face masks and surgical gowns during the Covid pandemic. They are subject to a long-running National Crime Agency investigation, facing allegations of fraud and bribery, which they deny.

Here’s a timeline of key events.

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Australian Medical Association accuses premiers of ‘actively undermining’ health officials’ response to Covid pandemic

AMA criticises political leaders for ‘painful lack of collaboration’ on vaccines and urges faster rollout of national centre for disease control

The Australian Medical Association has accused some premiers of “actively undermining” public health officials at points during the pandemic and said governments were now seeking to avoid criticism of their actions throughout the Covid period.

In a submission to the federal Covid inquiry, the health lobby group also urged the Labor government to speed up its rollout of a national centre for disease control to combat future pandemics, while lashing former political leaders for “a painful lack of collaboration” during the vaccine rollout.

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Suppliers of unusable PPE should pay back taxpayer money, Australian peak doctors’ group says

Australian health department spokesperson says it is ‘exploring options for viable cost-recovery’

Australia’s peak doctors’ group says the government should recover taxpayer funds from PPE suppliers who provided defective equipment at the height of the pandemic.

Guardian Australia revealed last month that the former government handed a PPE contract worth more than $100m to a small, relatively unknown online retailer, whose previous experience involved selling robot vacuum cleaners, massage guns, bedding, and air fryers.

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One Nation Tory MPs vow to drop support for Rwanda bill if there are amendments as ERG calls for it to be rewritten – as it happened

Damian Green says government must ‘stick to guns’ but chair of European Research Group calls for bill to be pulled and rewritten

Sunak says the PM had to balance competing interests during Covid.

Only he could do that, because only he saw all the competing arguments made by different cabinet ministers.

Your phone, you said, doesn’t retain, and nor do you have access to, text messages at all relating to the period of the crisis.

In addition, you said although on occasion you use WhatsApp to communicate around meetings and logistics and so on, you generally were only party to WhatsApp groups that were set up to deal with individual circumstances such as arrangements for calls, meetings and so on and so forth. You don’t now have access to any of the WhatsApps that you did send during the time of the crisis, do you?

I’ve changed my phone multiple times over the past few years and, as that has happened, the messages have not come across.

As you said, I’m not a prolific user of WhatsApp in the first instance – primarily communication with my private office and obviously anything that was of significance through those conversations or exchanges would have been recorded officially by my civil servants as one would expect.

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‘The optics are terrible’: how Rishi Sunak’s 2020 ‘eat out to help out’ scheme backfired

The then chancellor’s plan proved to be of no economic benefit and was decried by scientists – but it clearly set out the political aims of ‘Dishy Rishi’

There is no blue heritage plaque above the stainless-steel open kitchen at the branch of Wagamama at London’s Festival Hall – but the restaurant might have claims to one. It was here, in delivering a couple of plates of katsu curry – one chicken, one vegan – on 8 July 2020, that our current prime minister in effect launched his campaign for the country’s leadership.

During that lockdown spring as pandemic chancellor, Rishi Sunak had one of the few enviable public roles: he was cast as the man who saved the economy by giving money away. By the time he pitched up at Wagamama that lunchtime, his various Covid-help schemes had dished out £176bn in furlough payments and loans and deferred taxes. In those efforts Sunak, little known before the crisis, had sometimes looked like the only sober and responsible member of her majesty’s government. The headline act of his summer budget statement, “eat out to help out”, changed that narrative.

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Covid lockdowns had ‘catastrophic effect’ on UK’s social fabric, report claims

Research by centre-right thinktank says gap between the mainstream and poorest in society is widening

Covid lockdowns had a “catastrophic effect” on the UK’s social fabric and the most disadvantaged are no better off now than at the time of the financial crash, a new report claims.

The country is in danger of sliding back into the divisions of the Victorian era, marked by a widening gap between the mainstream and the poorest in society, according to an inquiry by the centre-right thinktank the Centre for Social Justice (CSJ).

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