FROST TOO BELLIGERENT FEAR EU DIPLOMATS
The Express reports: Brussels fears post-Brexit relations with the UK could descend into a tit-for-tat battle because of Lord Frost’s tough-talk approach. EU diplomats and officials believe Boris Johnson’s top Europe adviser has sparked a breakdown in trust between the two sides. It comes after his new Brexit minister suggested the bloc should stop sulking and shake off any remaining ill will towards us for leaving. One senior EU diplomat said that trust was low and those in Brussels fear that Lord Frost’s belligerent attitude could lead to a constant stream of rows. Whitehall insiders say that eurocrats do not understand the Good Friday Agreement and risk the peace process by insisting on the bureaucratic checks. But Brussels will move to trigger legal action against Britain for the move to ignore the red tape requirements set out in the divorce deal. Maros Sefcovic, the Commission vice-president in charge of Brexit, will meet EU ambassadors later today to discuss the issue.
ESSENTIAL EXCLUSIVE JABS FOR EUROCRATS
The SUN reports: Eurocrats will be vaccinated in exclusive centres away from the public this month – as Europe’s jabs drive continues to flounder. The EU is setting up special facilities where Brussels’ army of 50,000 officials and diplomats can get the shot from March 22. All three main EU institutions – the Commission, Council, and Parliament – will have their own vaccination centres. At first only vulnerable members of staff will be jabbed, such as over-65s and those with serious illnesses. But many MEPs and Eurocrats could be classified as “essential workers” in April, meaning they’d be fast-tracked for the shot.
NO VACCINE NATIONALISM HERE
The Telegraph reports: The European Council President accused Britain and the US of imposing bans on the movement of jabs as he sought to defend the bloc against allegations of vaccine nationalism. In the latest display of post-Brexit turbulence, the Government struck back to refute his comments and insist the UK has “not blocked the export of a single Covid-19 vaccine”. Mr Michel, in a newsletter on Tuesday, said he was shocked when he heard allegations of vaccine nationalism levelled at the EU, saying: “The United Kingdom and the United States have imposed an outright ban on the export of vaccines or vaccine components produced on their territory.” The Government flatly denied his claims. A spokesman said: ‘The UK Government has not blocked the export of a single Covid-19 vaccine. Any references to a UK export ban or any restrictions on vaccines are completely false.’
WHITTY SAYS MODELLING PREDICTS 30.000 MORE COVID DEATHS
The Daily Mirror reports: England’s Chief Medical Officer Chris Whitty said all the modelling suggests cases will surge as lockdown eases, with predictions of at least 30,000 further deaths. But he added the ratio of cases to deaths will go right down as the vaccine kicks in but England will see another surge of Covid cases this summer, autumn or winter, the Chief Medical Officer predicted. All the modelling suggests cases will soar at some point after restrictions ease – despite more than a third of the UK getting a first vaccine dose so far. And he rejected calls to ease lockdown faster, telling MPs: If you open up too fast, a lot more people die – a lot more people die.
DAMNING REPORT ON TEST AND TRACE
The Times reports: NHS Test and Trace cannot show it has made a measurable difference to the pandemic despite unimaginable sums of public money allocated to it, the Commons spending watchdog has concluded. The system was unable to prevent lockdowns as hoped, most of its contact tracers spent last year sitting idle and, after failing to anticipate a surge for tests as children went back to school in September, a third of its capacity is now going unused, the public accounts committee says in a report published today. Test and Trace is spending more than £2.7 million of taxpayers’ money a day on 2,500 management consultants who are paid daily rates of up to £6,624 and needs to wean itself off expensive temporary staff, the cross-party reported
COVID RESTRICTIONS EASE IN SCOTLAND
The Daily Record reports that Scotland’s stay at home lockdown rules are expected to ease from next week amid a falling number of new coronavirus cases.Nicola Sturgeon outlined details of the Scottish government roadmap out of lockdown towards the end of last month. The First Minister will address MSPs at Holyrood tomorrow afternoon to give details on the state of the pandemic in Scotland. Sturgeon is also expected to confirm the easing of restrictions pencilled in for March 15. There are also hopes that Scottish Government could accelerate easing plans as the number of cases continues to fall across the country.
SURVEY SAYS PAY NHS STAFF MORE
The Guardian reports: The boss of the NHS in England has said staff deserve a 2.1% pay rise next year and confirmed that ministers had planned to give them that rather than the 1% that has sparked a huge outcry. Sir Simon Stevens said the salaries of most of the NHS workforce were due to increase by 2.1% from 1 April under the five-year funding deal former Prime Minister Theresa May gave the service in 2018. May’s administration and the NHS budgeted for staff to receive a 2.1% uplift in 2021-22 as part of the big boost to its budget, which she approved to mark the 70th anniversary of its creation. Critics of Boris Johnson’s decision to offer NHS staff a mere 1% rise seized on Stevens’ intervention on an issue that threatens to trigger a rebellion among Conservative MPs. His remarks came as a new poll found that 53% of the public think NHS nurses should get at least a 5% pay rise and that 83% – including 78% of Tory voters – think the 1% is too little for NHS staff overall. Savanta ComRes undertook the survey for campaign group 38 Degrees.
COUNCIL CUTS ON THE WAY
The Guardian reports: 25 councils in England (7.4%) are at high or acute risk of financial failure. Residents face years more swingeing cuts to local services, from social care to libraries, bin collections and bus routes, as at least 25 councils teeter on the brink of bankruptcy, the public spending watchdog has warned. According to the National Audit Office, the vast majority of English councils (94%) expect to cut spending next year to meet legal duties to balance their budgets. The scarring of council balance sheets since the coronavirus pandemic began has been so fierce that half of town halls do not expect their finances to recover until at least the middle of the decade. The watchdog said a decade of austerity for local government, which has reduced councils’ spending power at a time when demand for services has soared, had left local authorities more vulnerable to the impact of the pandemic than they otherwise would have been.
NEW LAWS TO TARGET MEMORIAL VANDALS
The Daily Mail reports: The Government is set to introduce new laws which will mean vandals could face up to 10 years in prison for damaging a memorial statue. Under new powers, courts will also be able to order those convicted to pay up to £2,500 as the current limit of three months for damage worth less than £5,000 is set to be scrapped. The move comes after a host of memorials and statues across the country have been damaged in the past year as a result of increasing tensions over Britain’s colonial history. The new law – which will be passed under the wide-ranging Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Bill – will not just cover statues but also gardens and flowers or wreaths laid at gravestones. It will also cover structures like the Cenotaph and any other similar monuments installed to commemorate a person or animal alive or dead.
THUNBERG TELLS BIDEN TO TREAT CRISIS AS A CRISIS
The Daily Mail reports: Greta Thunberg has told US President Joe Biden to treat the climate crisis like a crisis and accused him of not doing nearly enough to follow the Paris agreements. The 18-year-old Swede sparred publicly with former President Donald Trump and even endorsed Biden ahead of the election in a rare party political tweet. But despite the US returning to the Paris climate accord and a flurry of executive orders, Thunberg attacked Biden for failing to reduce greenhouse gas emissions to limit global warming to the 2 degrees Celsius set out in the treaty.
ROW DEVELOPS IN NORTHERN IRELAND OVER POST BREXIT PROTOCOL
The Independent reports that a fresh row has broken out over the Northern Ireland protocol after a senior Sinn Fein politician accused Arlene Foster of colluding with loyalist paramilitaries in an attempt to have the post-brexit trading arrangements scrapped. The first minister and DUP leader, her deputy Lord Nigel Dodds and East Belfast MP Gavin Robinson held talks with the Loyalist Communities Council (LCC) last month to discuss opposition to the protocol, which they say has undermined NI’s constitutional place in the UK. The LCC is an organisation that represents the views of the UVF, the UDA and the Red Hand Commandos – all of which are loyalist paramilitaries the UK Home Office has outlawed due to their links to terrorism. Days after the meeting, the banned groups announced through the LCC that they were withdrawing their support for NI’s historic Good Friday peace deal, which brought to an end three decades of bloody violence between loyalist and republican paramilitaries.
AND FINALLY
From the Daily Record: Boots have apologised after an extremely inappropriate advert urged Facebook users to treat their mums to sex toys for Mother’s Day. Stunned retired prison officer Andrew Whiting from Fife was scrolling through his news feed when he had to do a double-take at the Boots ad, which featured four colourful toys of various shapes and sizes below the slogan for every kind of mum. The 53-year-old says while he found the campaign extremely inappropriate, he couldn’t help but laugh at the racy marketing fail. Boots apologised for any offence caused and explained that a technical error meant two separate adverts were combined into one.
When tin-pot “Chief Executives (who do they think they are?) are earning more than the Prime Minister, Council tax rises are criminal.
Well. I was gobsmacked our wonderful Government had done something right at last. They are to increase fines and imprisonment for defacing our monuments and memorials.
I thought there was already a law against criminal damage.
Maybe Chummy – 32 yrs a beat constable, can enlarge on it.
‘Council cuts on the way’ Before any cuts to public services are considered, the first group of people that should bear the brunt of any cuts are the councilors themselves. In 2017 my local county council controlled by the Conservatives awarded themselves a massive 17% increase in their allowances and another 4.5% increase last year. Conservatives as per usual looking after themselves. With others I will be standing as an Independent candidate and one of our policies is to reduce those allowances back to 2015 levels. Naturally it wont go down too well with them. It is not a case of ‘we are all in it together’ but very much a case of ‘we are all in it together, apart from ourselves’
Colin, you might also campaign for some of those cuts to fall upon the shoulders of the ‘manager class’ hierarchy that has sprung up amongst the ‘unelected’ Council Officers! Some of those people are wielding power outside their remit and no-one seems able to stop them. Anyone in the ‘lower orders’ who dares to question some of the practices are vilified and find their posts are made redundant by re-organisation!!! My local Council has declared itself a ‘Master developer’ and they are using public money in property speculation! In my estimation the scope for corrupt practice is hugely probable. Any ‘members’ who dare to speak out are co-erced into silence because the dominant party tends to side with the Officers on every point and party ‘loyalty’ is deemed paramount!
Frederica I’m sure you are right there. Can’t put my finger on it but I think I have seen similar cases.
Hi Colin. When I read that, I thought, well which councils does the Guardian mean? Do they know what they are talking about? I’m pretty sure the bin collections here are run by the Borough Council and ‘Care’ is run by the County Council. The County Council is the one subject to elections in May. What does the Guardian’s 25% flippin’ mean?
Well never mind. I agree with you. The first cut should be to their allowances.
I’ve just seen a Tice offering on behalf of Reform UK. Not at all impressed. I wanted to shout at him ‘Cut the Cackle, give us the facts’. It was about economic policy. Actually when it did get down to facts it was quite sensible.
So I’m still in the same position I was. When May arrives I’ll see who’s offering – not lib/lab/con/green.
Pauline……..Borough Councils and County Councils have different responsibilities. Refuse collections, planning applications are responsibility of Borough Councils, and Highways and Transport, Police and Fire Service, Libraries etc are responsibility of County Councils. In the past when we set up UKIP street stalls within the town centre, it was the latter whose Inspectors came along and said ‘you can’t do that here without permission, you will have to move or you may be liable for prosecution’ I took their advice and did it properly and submitted an application for four sites covering 4 towns with photographs. Masses of paperwork and Indemnity Insurance which took hours to complete and then drove them 20 miles to the County Highways Dept, who didn’t look at the applications, but turned us down straight away. ‘You’re not allowed its the public highway’ I was told. Funny that, they are not quite so hot on the plethora of ‘A’ boards which have appeared on footpaths up and down the High Street, in addition to tables and chairs outside cafes and the like. I think it had more to do with the fact that we were UKIP…….
You are right its all meaningless cackle and absolutely no substance whatsoever on Tice Talk. We saw the light, and are now standing as Independents……….There is room for another national political party, but it wont be Reform UK.
Working up to increased lockdown again it seems. Will we get six outside from March 29?
Michael. Hopefully TPTB won’t DARE to increase lockdown any more. All the objections MUST be getting through to them now surely.
Isn’t ‘six people meeting outside’ particularly laughable. Do 8 people outside in the street where I live break the rule? What about when they had the stupid clapathons. I’m sure there were more than 6 people stood outside doing that!
Chris Whitty should be laughed at every time he opens his mouth! Living in their ivoRy towers ‘they’ clearly do not realise that every time they mention ‘modelling’ and ‘thousands of deaths’ he simply exposes himself to ridicule! The huge yawns that greet his pronouncements now are embarrassing for Britain!
Test and Trace has not lived up to its self-promoted hype!! Wel! Well! Who could have guessed? Thisis yet another instance of government stupidity and ineptitude. The system was never going to work! Still…..never mind eh! The taxpayer wont notice how many billions have been poured down the drain of yet another ‘white elephant’. Nobody is worthy of £6624 per day! I dont care how clever they think they are. These ‘Mickey Mouse’ salaries are a shameful indication of the corruption extant inside the corridors of power today! In another era Matt Hancock would have been ‘encouraged’ to fall upon his sword long ago! Boris should go with him!
Agreed Frederica. Encouraged to fall on their swords is even a good suggestion. Better than ‘dead in a ditch’ !!
Scientific Modelling predicts Aston Villa will win the League, and Sheffield United will do well.
TG Spokes………..and that is just their committees.
Oh, jolly good T. G. Spokes. That is an excellent use for ‘Scientific Modeling’.