THUGS ATTACK CHRIS WHITTY PROMPTS CALLS FOR SECURITY FOR OFFICIALS

The Mail reports that the Chief Medical Officer Chris Whitty looks extremely concerned as  two men grabbed  him round the shoulder and yell into a camera in St James’ Park. The footage has prompted calls for scientific advisors to be given the same level of protection offered to senior politicians. The Met Police have confirmed they are aware of the footage and are investigating the circumstances. In the video, which has been widely shared on social media, the two men begin cheering and yelling when the camera starts rolling. They both appear to be attempting to restrain Prof Whitty who struggles to get free from their grasps. A spokesman for the Met Police said: ‘We’re aware of a video being shared online showing an incident in St James’ Park on Sunday, June 27. Officers spoke to all those involved at the time and their details were taken. We are in contact with the victim and the circumstances continue to be investigated.’

FREEDOM TARGET DAY ON COURSE TO STAY SAYS JAVID

The Telegraph reports that Sajid Javid, the newly-appointed Health Secretary, has told the Commons that the vaccines are working, including against the Delta variant, as Covid-19 deaths remain “mercifully low” despite a rise in cases. Mr Javid said: “The latest modelling from PHE shows that they have saved over 27,000 lives and have prevented over seven million people from getting Covid-19.” He added: “Two doses of the vaccine are just as effective against hospital admission with the Delta variant compared to the Alpha variant.” He went on: “While cases now are ticking up, the number of deaths remains mercifully low.” Mr Javid added that the numbers are “heading in the right direction”, allowing July 19 to remain the Government’s “target date” for lifting all coronavirus restrictions. “For me, July 19 is not only the end of the line, but the start of an exciting new journey for our country,” he said.

BOOSTER JAB FROM OXFORD USED FOR FIRST TIME

The Telegraph reports: The University of Oxford yesterday injected its new variant vaccine into people for the first time. Academics who created the original jab have updated their blueprint to target the variant first identified in South Africa, also known as B.1.351 or Beta. This Variant of Concern emerged last year and is still in the UK at low levels. It is also less susceptible to the vaccines than other strains, scientists believe. It became the prime candidate for the first “variant vaccine” and the AstraZeneca/Oxford team are now trialling the booster jab — called AZD2816 — in 2,250 volunteers from the UK, Poland, Brazil and South Africa. It was previously tested in a lab and on mice and the researchers said: “AZD2816 is immunogenic after a single dose and when used as a booster dose in animals primed with [the] original vaccine.”

BORIS SAYS IT’S LIKELY THAT NORMAL WILL RETURN ON JULY 19

The Sun reports that Boris Johnson today said it’s “very likely” lockdown will be gone for good on July 19 in a battle cry for Brits to hang on three more weeks. The PM dashed hopes of unlocking early on July 5 but said the prize of waiting a little longer will be a welcome return to pre-pandemic life. On a visit to Batley ahead of Thursday’s by-election, the PM said: “I had a good conversation yesterday, a long meeting with Sajid Javid the new Health Secretary. Although there are some encouraging signs and the number of deaths remains low and the number of hospitalisations remains low, though both are going up a bit, we are seeing an increase in cases. So we think it’s sensible to stick to our plan to have a cautious but irreversible approach, use the next three weeks or so really to complete as much as we can of that vaccine rollout – another five million jabs we can get into people’s arms by July 19. And then with every day that goes by it’s clearer to me and all our scientific advisers that we’re very likely to be in a position on July 19 to say that really is the terminus and we can go back to life as it was before Covid as far as possible.”

KILLER COP LIED ABOUT CRIMINAL RECORD WHEN JOINING THE POLICE

The Times reports: The policeman convicted of the manslaughter of former footballer Dalian Atkinson lied to police about his criminal record when he applied to join, a court was told. PC Benjamin Monk, 42, kept his job despite West Mercia police discovering he had failed to mention cautions for theft and being found drunk when he applied to join the force, Birmingham crown court heard. Monk, who killed Atkinson with a Taser, received a final written warning in 2011 despite being found to have committed misconduct, having breached required standards for honesty and integrity.

BATLEY AND SPEN  A TINDER BOX SAYS LABOUR ACTIVIST

The Times writes: It’s a tinder box about to explode,” a Labour activist campaigning in Batley & Spen tells The Times. For the second time in as many months, the party is battling a Tory challenge as it tries to hold on to its seat at a by-election. Labour figures were optimistic to begin with. Ordinarily, the Muslim community here, which makes up a fifth of the population, would offer security against a Tory surge. But that buffer is being swept away by George Galloway, the former Labour MP turned political agitator. As its candidate Labour selected Kim Leadbeater, 45, who became a local community campaigner after her sister Jo Cox, the MP for this seat, was murdered by a neo-Nazi terrorist in 2016.

CLIMATE CHANGE ACTION NOT GOOD ENOUGH SAYS PEER

The Independent reports: The government has claimed that a warning from their own advisers that not enough action is being taken to tackle the climate crisis is “wildly off the mark”. An analysis from the UK’s independent Climate Change Committee (CCC) released on Thursday warned that progress on tackling emissions in key areas such as farming had been “woeful” and that not enough had been done to protect Britons from worsening climate impacts. Lord Deben, the Conservative peer who chairs the CCC said the government’s recent climate commitments, including a pledge to slash the country’s emissions by 78 per cent on 1990 levels by 2035 were “very good” – but warned not enough was being done to turn promises into action.

BORIS GOT 89 TEXTS AND HOUR FROM CARRIE SAYS CUMMINGS

The Independent reports: Former No 10 adviser Dominic Cummings has claimed Boris Johnson only let Matt Hancock resign as health secretary following 89 texts an hour from his wife Carrie. It comes as the prime minister suggested he sacked Mr Hancock for breaking Covid rules, despite initially refusing to dismiss him and declaring the matter “closed”.

BORDER FORCE STRUGGLING TO COPE WITH BOAT MIGRANTS

The Mail reports that People smugglers trying to sneak migrants into the UK have started using boats as big as 36 feet long to pack in more people. The massive dinghies were spotted today in Dover as numbers who have got across the Channel have topped 5,000. By this time last year there had been just 2,000, a rise that has sparked serious questions on the effectiveness of the UK’s borders. It came just days after up to 60 migrants were picked up in a dinghy before being taken to Dover Marina on HMS Seeker, where they then went to a holding facility. Immigration officials have already warned Border Force agents are struggling to cope with the extraordinary surge in crossings, and claimed the system ‘is at the point of collapse’. And Kent County Council said last week it had ‘reached the limit’ for the number of unaccompanied child migrants it can look after.

FARMERS GO FOR SOLAR POWER INSTEAD OF CROPS

The Guardian reports: The number of new solar farms planned for the east of England has more than doubled in recent months as farmers decide to swap crops for clean energy. New solar farm applications for sites across Hertfordshire, Cambridgeshire and Essex in the last five months have climbed to 840 megawatts, or the same as 2m household solar panels. The solar boom is expected to yield more than double the solar energy capacity that came forward for the east of England in the same months last year, and would be enough to power the equivalent of 400,000 homes with clean energy. Most of these new solar farms will be built on former agricultural land as landowners begin to swap growing crops for generating clean electricity, according to UK Power Networks, which manages the local electricity grid.The east of England is particularly popular with renewable energy developers because of its flat fields and sunny weather. However, more landowners are beginning to pursue solar power in the area after UK Power Networks scrapped the upfront cost to connect to the local energy grid.

AND FINALLY

The Mail reports: A mum has claimed her five-year-old son has been turfed out of his Saturday football school – for not being good enough. Lindsey Toyne, 38, signed up Archie Russon-Toyne to the weekly soccer school at Deeping Rangers FC in Deeping St. James, Lincolnshire, last year, and the little lad loved having a kick about with his pals. But she was horrified when coaches told her he couldn’t attend the kick about anymore – because he ‘wasn’t good enough,’ she claimed. 

Baffled mum Lindsey said Archie and two other little pals were deemed ‘not sufficiently talented enough’ to be part of the  sport for Year One children. She had to break the news to a heartbroken Archie, and said the club’s decision was a disgrace, and was afraid of the repercussions it would have on her son’s self-esteem. The club has said it doesn’t have the capacity to run more than two teams of under-sevens and said they understood the decision was hard on the parents and the players.