Freedom day
Telegraph
Delaying the June 21 reopening date in England would be “astonishing”, the chair of a major business group has warned, telling the Government “the time is now” to ease restrictions. Baroness Ruby McGregor-Smith, president of the British Chambers of Commerce (BCC), makes her lockdown intervention writing in The Telegraph.She warns Government ministers that businesses are being “hamstrung” by uncertainty as they struggle to plan financially for the coming months without clarity over the rules. However, leading scientists took to the airwaves on Sunday to argue the opposite, urging Boris Johnson to push back the June 21 reopening over concerns about the Indian variant.There is now just a fortnight left before the Government will reveal whether the fourth and final stage of Mr Johnson’s reopening roadmap will go ahead as planned for England.Government ministers have planned to confirm their decisions on June 14, a week before the changes would come into place, but the exact degree of reopening remains in doubt.
The government is aiming to offer everyone aged over 50 their second coronavirus vaccination by June 21 as it battles to prevent the lifting of lockdown restrictions being derailed. With three weeks to go until the next stage of easing, Nadhim Zahawi, the vaccines minister, set a new objective: that everyone in the government’s top nine priority groups will have been protected by then with both doses. He said that it was a “race between the vaccine and the virus” as scientific advisers and public health experts warned of the risk of lifting all coronavirus restrictions while cases of the Indian variant were surging. More than 90 per cent of people in England aged over 70 have already had two doses.
Daily coronavirus cases have risen by nearly 40 per cent in a week to 3,240 while deaths remain flat at just six as 537,000 more vaccinations were carried out in England on Saturday. It comes as ministers prepare contingency plans to extend restrictions beyond June 21, amid fears that a surge in cases of the Indian variant could lead to a spike in hospital admissions and deaths. Department of Health figures published yesterday show that daily cases have risen from 2,325 last Sunday to 3,240, while deaths rose just one in a week – from five last Sunday to six. Meanwhile, NHS England announced 54,379,320 jabs were given across the country between December 8 and May 29, including first and second doses – which is a rise of 537,283 on the previous day. Of these, there were 155,467 more first doses and 381,816 more second doses. A total of 6,900,813 jabs were given to people in London between December 8 and May 29, including 4,334,097 first doses and 2,566,716 second doses, NHS England said. This compares with 6,182,099 first doses and 4,157,677 second doses given to people in the Midlands – a total of 10,339,776. Despite the success of the jabs roll-out, Vaccines Minister Nadhim Zahawi said the Government is waiting for the latest data on June 14 before deciding whether to proceed with the unlocking as planned. NHS chiefs have warned that hospitals are under ‘worrying’ pressure with uncertainty over the transmissibility of the Indian variant and the number of people not fully vaccinated.
MINISTERS are aiming to offer everyone over the age of 50 their second COVID-19 vaccine dose in a bid to save plans to lift restrictions on June 21. The vaccine minister Nadhim Zahawi has set a new objective to fully inoculate the Government’s top nine priority groups. He said it was a “race between the vaccine and the virus” amid concerns over the surging Indian variant. Around 5 million people aged over 50 are currently waiting to receive their second vaccine dose.Ministers hope that by reaching the target, Boris Johnson will not have to extend restrictions beyond the “unlockdown date”. From June 21, the Government hopes to remove “all legal limits on social contact” meaning there will be no limits on how many can meet indoors or outdoors.Analysis by the Times suggests that the new target should be met if NHS England continues to give second doses to 1.5million over 50s each week.
Plans to make Covid-19 passports a legal requirement for large events are set to be dropped, The Telegraph understands. Officials working on the review into Covid-19 status certification believe there is no chance the law will be changed to mandate their use within the UK. “It’s not a case of ‘it’s finely balanced’. It’s not going to happen,” said one well-placed government source close to the review. “Everyone says it’s dead.” It comes as ministers examine data to determine whether the lifting of restrictions can continue as planned from June 21 in England, when it was hoped that the public would be able to return in greater numbers to mass events such as football matches and concerts. The Government first expressed interest in Covid passports in February, when a review into their use domestically was launched as part of Boris Johnson’s reopening roadmap for England. Since then, ministers defined such checks as showing proof of three things: having had a Covid jab, a recent negative test, or antibodies after catching the virus. Showing proof of a jab has become accepted for international travel, given that some countries demand evidence for entry, and UK travellers are already able to do so via the NHS app.
Plans to require coronavirus ‘passports’ for entry into events this summer are “dead”, according to a report. Officials working on the ongoing Covid-19 status review believe that the law won’t be changed to mandate their use in the UK, according to government sources quoted in The Telegraph. It has previously been suggested that proof of vaccination, a recent negative Covid-19 test or a positive antibody test would be needed to participate in large events. Meanwhile, scientists are warning the government that 21 June could be too soon to safely release the nation from all lockdown restrictions. Professor Adam Finn, a member of the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI), told ITV’s Good Morning Britain that it’s “unfortunate” people have a particular date in mind, when “we should be cautious” and “wait to see what’s happening” before making a final decision.Some scientists believe that a third wave is already underway in the UK. European public health professor Martin McKee told The Guardian that “current measures are not stopping cases rising rapidly in many part os the country” and that “this looks very much as if we are now early in a third wave”. Others have also cautioned that 21 June could be too soon to lift remaining lockdown restrictions as cases of the Indian variant rise.
THE Government is reportedly ditching plans for Covid passports – after months of debate on whether Brits would need them to watch the football or visit a pub.Top officials on the Covid-19 taskforce believe there’s no chance the law will be changed to mandate their use within the UK, although ministers are yet to make the final call. If the scheme is given the green light, Brits could be forced to produce evidence of a jab, a negative test or Covid antibodies to get into big events like concerts or sports matches. It’s understood that, whatever the decision is for crowds, the idea has been jettisoned altogether for boozers and restaurants. And one ‘well-placed’ source told The Telegraph the idea is dead in the water.
The race to double jab millions of over-50s by June 21 is likely to be won as it emerges the NHS drive should be on target to get second doses to the most vulnerable in time for ‘Freedom Day’. Vaccines Minister Nadhim Zahawi yesterday set a deadline for the first time amid increasing concern over the Indian variant, which is highly transmissible and causing a third surge of the virus ahead of ‘unlockdown‘. Around 5 million people aged over 50 are currently waiting for their second dose, with the NHS needing to vaccinate 225,000 of them every day to meet the target. But second jabs were handed out at a rate of 400,000 a day most days last week, meaning it would take something catastrophic to knock the drive off course. Ministers hope that by hitting the target, they won’t have to extend restrictions – such as the use of face masks – beyond the ‘unlockdown date’, which Boris Johnson has set for three weeks’ time. Analysis by the Times now suggests that the new aim should be met if NHS England continues to give second doses to 1.5 million over-50s each week. The paper said that at the present rate of inoculation, everyone in that age group should be fully vaccinated by the week ending June 20.
Scientists have warned ministers that a third wave of coronavirus may have already begun in Britain, casting doubt on plans in England to lift all lockdown restrictions in three weeks’ time. Experts cautioned that any rise in coronavirus hospital admissions could leave the NHS struggling to cope as it battles to clear the huge backlog in non-Covid cases. Downing Street insisted it was too soon for speculation about whether the plan to lift all lockdown rules in England on 21 June could go ahead, prompting calls from the hospitality industry for the government to ensure it provided “advance notice” for struggling businesses of any “lingering” measures. The vaccines minister, Nadhim Zahawi, refused to deny that some restrictions such as mask wearing and working from home might remain in place to reduce the spread of the virus. Senior scientific advisers believe that, where possible, working from home makes sense beyond June because it would cut the number of people who come into contact with each other.
Fisheries
ESCALATING tensions over EU vessels accessing Irish waters in the wake of Brexit have threatened to boil over after footage appeared to show a Spanish ship attempting to ram an Irish one off Ireland’s south-west coast. Ireland’s Sea Fisheries Protection Authority (SFPA) said the boat was “operating within the waters of Bantry Bay and therefore within Ireland’s 12-nautical mile limit”. The crew of the Irish trawler caught the incident on camera. During the course of the confrontation, the Irish skipper can be heard on VHF radio warning the Spanish ship to keep away, according to Afloat.ie.C hief Executive of the Irish South and West Fish Producers’ Organisation, Patrick Murphy, said: “This was an attempt to force Irish boats off our own fishing grounds. It is intimidation. “Our authorities must take action against this vessel acting extremely dangerously at sea and endangering life.It is appalling. This was a threat to life at sea, so action must be taken against the vessel which tried to do the ramming.The Spanish boat should be arrested and stopped from fishing in Irish waters.”
France
British travellers will have to provide ‘compelling reasons’ to enter France from today as President Emmanuel Macron battles to suppress the Indian variant.Travel from the UK will only be permitted for EU nationals, French residents or those travelling for essential reasons such as bereavement or childcare.Those who are allowed to make the journey must take a pre-departure Covid test and quarantine for seven days on arrival. The British Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office said the new French rules apply to all air, car, ferry and train passengers. France is currently listed as an ‘amber’ destination by the UK Government, which means people are being advised against travelling there – while those who do must self-isolate for 10 days and take two tests on return. Stricter rules for visitors from the UK were first raised by French foreign minister Jean-Yves Le Drian last week amid concern over the Indian variant. An explanation of the new rules on the website of the Consulate General of France in London said: ‘Given the development of the so-called Indian variant, health measures have been tightened for people travelling to France from the UK.’ It added that from this morning ‘compelling reasons will be required for foreign nationals outside the EU not resident in France to travel to France from the UK’.
EMMANUEL Macron has introduced tough new travel restrictions for people wanting to travel to France from Britain, amid fears about the spread of the Indian Covid variant in the UK.As of Monday, only EU nationals, French citizens or those travelling for essential reasons will be allowed to travel to France. Those allowed to travel will have to take a PCR or antigen test less than 48 hours prior to departure. On arrival in France, they will be required to self-isolate for seven days.The rules will apply to all air, train, ferry and car passengers without exception.The Consulate General of France posted a statement on its website explaining the new measures.It said: “Given the development of the so-called Indian variant, health measures have been tightened for people travelling to France from the UK.”The statement said there would be no exemption to the rules even for those fully vaccinated against COVID-19.
Post Office
Six Post Office staff may have committed criminal offences in their handling of the IT scandal, according to one of its own lawyers. More than 700 branch managers were prosecuted of crimes including fraud and theft when money went ‘missing’ from their accounts. The Post Office hounded them, bullying many into pleading guilty, and then squandered millions in public money trying to cover it up.Last month 39 postmasters had their convictions quashed following a decade-long fight.The Court of Appeal case revealed that key evidence which could have proven their innocence was not disclosed. One 2013 document, labelled a ‘smoking gun’, revealed that an expert witness had misled the criminal court in several trials – but it became public only last year.Now a former legal adviser has blown the whistle. In a BBC Radio 4 documentary tonight, she says several staff could have a case to answer for perverting the course of justice.She said: ‘Everyone involved in the prosecution process has a duty to comply with the rules, and a deliberate failure to comply with the rules usually amounts to a perversion of the course of justice. I can probably name half a dozen people, with hindsight, who should be very worried.’
Post Office executives “should be very worried” about possible criminal prosecutions after the accounting scandal that triggered the UK’s biggest miscarriage of justice, one of its former lawyers has said. Speaking to a Radio 4 documentary that will be broadcast this evening, an unnamed former lawyer at the government-owned company said that several senior figures could be charged with perverting the course of justice over the Horizon computer system scandal. The lawyer’s comments in the last instalment of the radio series The Great Post Office Trial: The Reckoning came after the Court of Appeal last month quashed 39 convictions of subpostmasters for fraud after it was found that the system, made by the Japanese company Fujitsu, had been faulty.
Afghan interpreters
Ministers gave hope last night to hundreds of Afghan translators who feared being left behind at the mercy of the Taliban. In a significant victory for the Daily Mail’s Betrayal of the Brave campaign, Defence Secretary Ben Wallace announced the fast-tracking of their applications to come to the UK. To protect those who served with British forces, the criteria dictating who qualifies to relocate has also been widened, giving fresh optimism to many hoping for a new life. Western troops are due to pull out of Afghanistan in weeks. Last night, Mr Wallace paid tribute to this newspaper’s award-winning campaign, which has highlighted the cases of translators who fear they will be abandoned to the Taliban. He said: ‘From the start, the Daily Mail has championed these brave Afghans. The Home Secretary and I are grateful for the work it has done to highlight the issue.’ For the first time, at least 30 interpreters who worked with UK troops, but who were not directly employed by the Ministry of Defence, have been told they are likely to be granted sanctuary.This group is set to include around 15 who worked for a Special Forces unit that recruited interpreters directly and those working with British troops employed through a private company. They had feared they would not qualify.
Plans to rapidly relocate hundreds more Afghans who worked for the British military and UK government, mostly as interpreters, have been announced.Including family members, more than 3,000 Afghans are expected to be allowed to settle in the UK, joining 1,300 who have already done so.The decision comes amid fears for their safety as international troops prepare to leave the country.Defence Secretary Ben Wallace said it was “only right” to accelerate plans.He added that those being relocated were those that might otherwise “be at risk of reprisals” from the Taliban.The issue has been a concern since British forces ended combat operations in Helmand in 2014 – with troops who served there being among the most vocal in their support for measures to protect those who assisted them during their deployment.Earlier schemes applied strict criteria on who could apply for a new life in the UK and considered the Afghans’ length of service and precise roles – for example favouring interpreters who worked with British troops on the frontline in Helmand for more than a year.
Moves to relocate to the UK hundreds of Afghans who worked for the British military and government will reportedly be accelerated as foreign forces leave the country. The Afghan Relocations and Assistance Policy was launched this year, allowing the Afghans, who mostly worked as interpreters, to settle in Britain. More than 1,400 Afghans and their families have already relocated to the UK, and hundreds more received funding for education and training. The defence secretary, Ben Wallace, has approved an acceleration of the relocation scheme amid fears for the safety of those who helped the UK as international troops prepare to leave Afghanistan. Including the workers’ family members, about 3,000 more Afghans are expected to settle in the UK. Wallace told the BBC it was “only right” to accelerate the programme, or else those being relocated might “be at risk of reprisals” from the Taliban.
‘They’ say that vaccine passports are’ dead’!!!! I confidently expect that the weasel Gove will be consulting with his Bliar ‘minder’ as to what to do next to get this intrusive ID in by the back door. The thought of having an electronic ID that has everything about me and my life and family sends me into super-hyper-angry mode! Just because they can do that with animals to show where they came from, where they’ve been and where they are going before they are slaughtered doesn’t mean that I will submit to being treated likewise without a fight! I still have a pitchfork in my shed!
Your fears could be justified Frédérica, if the Covid Scamdemic is the Trojan Horse for a global coup d’etat to fulfil the UN’s Agenda 21/30. It could go beyond “vaxpasses” to microchips under the skin, so that we really are all treated like cattle or pets.
After the appalling bullying of Brits by the EU and French government, WHY do Brits want to give the B’Stards any money
Because they can and because its not their personal money.