Brexit 

Express
ICONIC Gower Salt Marsh Lamb has been given protected status in a landmark moment, as ministers used Brexit powers for the first time to protect British products.
The meat is the first item to have been granted the status since the UK left the EU transitional period at the start of the year. After cutting ties with the bloc, the Government launched its independent Geographical Indication (GI) schemes, which aim to ensure popular and traditional products from across the country can obtain special status to mark out their authenticity and origin.
While a part of the EU, Brussels was in charge of determining which products received special status.
Scotch Whisky and Wensleydale Cheese were among those to receive protected status under the bloc’s shackles.
But now free to make its own rules, Britain can provide far better protection for a wider range of goods.
Officials expect GI protection to play a greater role in the future as the UK strikes trade deals with countries around the world. 

Similar stories can be read in the Guardian, iNews 

Covid 

Express
THE DELTA variant cannot be stopped through “herd immunity” as it can still infect vaccinated people, a leading scientist has warned.
Sir Andrew Pollard, Oxford Vaccine Group Director, has issued a stark warning about the eradication of the Delta variant. On Tuesday, the expert told MPs that the strain could still infect vaccinated individuals.
Sir Andrew said: “We know very clearly with coronavirus that this current variant, the Delta variant, will still infect people who have been vaccinated and that does mean that anyone who’s still unvaccinated, at some point, will meet the virus.
“I think we are in a situation here with this current variant where herd immunity is not a possibility because it still infects vaccinated individuals.”
He also warned there could soon be “a variant which is even better at transmitting in vaccinated populations”.
He explained: “We are in a situation with this current variant where herd immunity is not a possibility because it still infects vaccinated individuals.  

Similar stories can be read in the Independent, Telegraph 

Testing 

Guardian
The government is coming under pressure to intervene amid concerns that its Covid testing regime for travellers is close to collapse, with thousands failing to be properly tested on their return.
As photos posted online showed drop-off boxes run by Randox, the UK’s largest PCR testing provider, overflowing with unprocessed swabs, growing numbers of returning holidaymakers are reporting that their test kits are failing to arrive, or are taking up to six days to process.
Even before France came off the amber-plus list on Sunday, private testing companies approved by the government were struggling to cope with the demand. MPs and users have led a chorus of disapproval against the testing regime, which looks set to be overwhelmed as more travellers start returning from August getaways.
The Labour MP Ben Bradshaw said he had been inundated with messages from people all over the UK whose test kits hadn’t arrived on time.
He questioned the need for PCR tests on those who were fully vaccinated and returning from countries where Covid rates are lower than the UK.
“They are completely unnecessary,” he said. “It is a complete scam and completely unacceptable.”
There has also been growing anger about the government receiving millions of pounds from the regime – the tests are subject to VAT at 20%. 

Mail
Asymptomatic Covid testing should be wound down as the UK learns to live with the pandemic, one of the country’s top coronavirus experts said today.
Sir Andrew Pollard, who helped develop the Oxford University/AstraZeneca vaccine, said only people who are unwell should be swabbed. 
As it stands, anyone who has a fever, has a new cough or has lost their sense of taste or smell can get a PCR tests. And anyone can order free lateral flow tests to use at home. 
NHS Test and Trace was given a £37billion budget for the first two years. It had spent more than £4billion on lateral flow tests alone up to the end of March.
Sir Andrew said: ‘Over time we need to be moving to clinically-driven testing… where it’s people who are unwell who get tested and treated and managed, rather than lots of community testing in people who have very mild disease.’
‘I think this next six months is a really important consolidation phase and in that shift from the epidemic to the endemic, which is the “living with Covid”.’ 

Order-Order
Jolyon and The Good Law Project (GLP) are in trouble again, this time for issuing “multiple disparaging statements” towards a Covid test kit manufacturer during his Project’s noble fight against DHSC over government contracts. Starting to look like there might be another loss on the horizon…
Abingdon Health, which provided lateral flow tests to the government last year, is now participating as an ‘interested party‘in the GLP’s judicial review application against the Health Department, after the company’s private effort to stop Jolyon and his friends from making “inaccurate” claims about them appear to have failed. The previously unpublished letter shows that Abingdon attempted to clarify Jolyon’s “factually incorrect” assertions about the price of their kits, and the state of the antibody testing market back in 2020, yet the GLP refused to budge, and now Abingdon is issuing a ‘Detailed Grounds of Resistance to the court. Unsubstantiated and misleading claims from the Good Law Project – who could’ve guessed? 

NHS 

Telegraph
Doctors have been ordered to stop any non-essential blood tests amid a global shortage of key equipment.
NHS England guidance to GPs and hospital doctors, issued on Tuesday, calls for the rationing of tests, with those for cancer prioritised, until shortages of key test tubes are resolved. 
NHS Supply Chain, the agency responsible for sourcing products, said it expected “some improvement” in the supply position in September. Until then, medics have been ordered to prioritise tests for cancer diagnoses, unwell babies and prenatal screening.
GPs and hospital trusts have been instructed to reduce “non-clinically urgent” tests to safeguard stocks of the crucial diagnostic products. NHS England said “it is important to make clear that routine tests will be deferred only where it is clinically safe to do so”.
The guidance, revealed by Health Service Journal, says tests to be deferred or de-prioritised include routine infertility testing, allergy testing, vitamin D checks and routine wellness screening. It says genomics tests should remain a high priority. 

Telegraph
Soldiers will be deployed to help beleaguered ambulance staff after an influx of staycationers  led to two 999 calls every minute. 
South Western Ambulance Service NHS Trust (SWAS) said it had experienced a “substantial increase” in callouts over recent months due to visitors taking advantage of the sunny weather.
The emergency service, which covers Bristol, Somerset, Wiltshire, Dorset, Gloucestershire, Devon and Cornwall, said it had been forced to call in the military after struggling to handle more than 3,000 emergency incidents daily. 
A “small number” of soldiers would help “alleviate pressures on services”, it added. 
The Trust’s use of military personnel comes after it declared a “critical incident” due to “extreme pressures” in May.
The South West of England has proven particularly popular for domestic tourists this year, with about 400,000 expected to have travelled to Cornwall alone for a half-term break in May. 
On July 18, the Trust recorded its busiest day, with staff responding to 3,522 cases in total – averaging two per minute either in person or via the phone. 
The SWAS pleaded with both tourists and locals not to call for an ambulance unless their condition was considered “life-threatening”. 

WFH 

Mail
Union leaders today blasted ‘insulting and cowardly attacks’ on civil servants after they suggested mandarins who want to continue to work from home should have their pay docked.
The FDA general secretary Dave Penman has demanded reassurances from politicians that it was not Government policy after anonymous briefings yesterday.
One minister suggested to the Mail cutting pay for those who want to continue to work from home, while another told the Times darkly that their promotional opportunities might be hampered.
Downing Street yesterday sided with civil servants, saying there was no plan to cut pay and that civil servants were gradually returning to their offices as planned.
They accepted that flexible working and splitting time between offices and home working would continue.
In a letter to Cabinet Office minister Michael Gove last night, Mr Penman said staff had played a key role in fighting Covid while having to also navigate the upheaval of the pandemic.
‘They have done so willingly, as committed public servants, and in doing so have pioneered new ways of working that will inevitably change the world of work for good,’ he said.
‘Yet those same civil servants have woken up today to threats from anonymous cabinet ministers to cut their pay and a series of denigrating remarks about their commitment and effectiveness whilst working from home. 
‘I cannot impress upon you enough the upset and anger these comments have caused among civil servants. 

A similar story can be read in the Telegraph 

Order-Order
The BBC’s taxpayer-funded offices will remain perpetually half-empty as staff continue to work from home for at least part of the week, following the launch of the corporation’s new “hybrid” rota system. The broadcaster – which rakes in £3.52 billion from the licence fee – says it has no plans to bring workers back to the office despite the fact that all legal Covid restrictions have been lifted. A complete waste of public money, which is easily done when you don’t have to earn it…
A BBC spokesperson told MailOnline:
“We’ve followed Covid-secure workplace guidelines throughout the pandemic and have continued to deliver news and programming direct from our buildings. As additional numbers return to our sites, in common with many organisations we are moving towards a hybrid office and home working model. We will continue to prioritise the health and safety of all our staff, alongside the protection of our output.”
So it looks like civil servants won’t be the only ones staying at home from now on… 

Education 

Telegraph
Traditional A-level grades face being scrapped under government plans, amid fears that record numbers of top marks have rendered the results “meaningless”.
An overhaul of the marking system to tackle grade inflation could see alphabetical A to E grades replaced by numbers, The Telegraph understands.
The shake-up is one of the options under consideration by the Department for Education (DfE) following concern that two years of using teachers’ predictions instead of exams to decide results have created a grading “free-for-all”.
Nearly half of A-levels – 44.8 per cent – were given an A or A* this year – almost double the proportion of top marks awarded in 2019.
Private schools saw a larger percentage point increase in top grades in comparison to state comprehensive schools, with 70.1 percent of all A-levels awarded an A or A* compared to 39.3 per cent – up from 44 per cent and 20 per cent in 2019, leading to claims that this year’s system has worsened inequality.
Teacher predictions also seem to have favoured girls, with 46.9 per cent awarded A or A* grades compared to 42.1 per cent of their male peers. Boys were performing better before the pandemic. 

Similar stories can be read in the Mail, Times, ITV News, GB News 

Asylum seekers 

Express
SIX EU nations are calling for the bloc’s migration policies to be toughened amid fears of an open door for Afghan asylum seekers.
In a letter to the European Commission, the member states called for the deportation of Afghans to continue despite the advance of the Taliban in the country. The Taliban, fighting to reimpose strict Islamic law, have made huge gains in their campaign to defeat the government as western forces pull out. Austria, Denmark, Belgium, Greece, Germany and the Netherlands have backed calls against halting deportations back to Afghanistan.
They wrote: “Stopping returns sends the wrong signal and is likely to motivate even more Afghan citizens to leave their home for the EU.
“This is why we urge you and your teams at the Commission to intensify talks with the Afghan government on how returns to Afghanistan can and will continue in the coming months.”
Many EU governments are concerned chaos in the region could be a major contributing factor to the emergence of another migrant crisis.
It has already been claimed that Belarus’ regime is using the conflict to wage a “hybrid war” on Brussels by assisting illegal migration into the bloc. 

Illegal migrants 

Mail
Channel migrants ran from a boat and disappeared into a Ministry of Defence firing range during an active shooting exercise.
Firing was abruptly halted as an emergency search for the missing migrants by Border Force and the Ministry of Defence went on for two hours.
When shooting began again after some were caught, four more migrants were seen hidden in undergrowth on the range in Kent, halting the military exercise for a third hour. It is not known if all the migrants were found, a source told the Mail.
The migrants, who were trying to escape Border Force officers on arrival from France, entered the three-mile long coastal range between Dymchurch and Hythe during ‘active firing’ times – advertised publicly online – from 8.30am to 11pm on Wednesday last week
It is thought they ignored or could not read the numerous warning signs surrounded by red flares and bright lights which warn the public not to go into the range during firing hours.
A local who watched the event unfold said: ‘Any of the migrants could have been killed. They were clearly unaware of the dangers of being on MoD land when firing practice was ongoing.’ 

Breitbart
Priti Patel’s Home Office has lost track of hundreds of illegal boat migrants after they absconded from taxpayer-funded hotels throughout Britain.
Amid record numbers of illegal aliens pouring across the English Channel in boats setting off from the beaches of France, the British Home Office has been putting the migrants up in hotels dotted across the country.
It is estimated that as many as 10,000 hotel beds are occupied by illegal aliens, all at the expense of the British taxpayer, with many hotels block-booked by the government.
The Mail on Sunday reported that government sources are aware of hundreds of illegal migrants fleeing from their free hotel accommodation while their asylum claims are processed, escaping into the country.
‘There is growing consternation across Government about how many are coming here – and where they all are going. Nerves are fraying on this,” a government source told the paper.
Though the scale of illegal boat migration has ramped up considerably over the past year, the Home Office losing track of migrants is not a new phenomenon. 

Dementia 

Times
An artificial intelligence system may be able to diagnose dementia from a single brain scan years before symptoms develop, according to scientists working on a new trial.
Using such technology to provide early diagnoses to dementia sufferers would have a “huge impact” on patients and their families, charities have said, signalling hope that these techniques could “open the door to revolutionary new approaches”.
By feeding them thousands or even millions of brain scans, AI algorithms can be trained to recognise abnormalities in the brain when presented with a new scan. Previous research has found that an AI algorithm can diagnose a brain tumour within two-and-a-half minutes  compared to 20 to 40 minutes for a doctor. 

Red Arrows 

Sun
THE Red Arrows red, white and blue smoke trails are going green to save the planet, The Sun can reveal.
The Ministry of Defence has quietly asked private industry to help make the famous jet engine vapour displays less polluting.
The Red Arrows fly two-seater Hawk T1 jets with a top speed of 645 mph and delight millions with their colourful displays – but it comes with a cost to the environment.
Currently red or blue dye is mixed with dirty diesel before being injected into the scorching exhaust to make the famous smoke streams.
But now top military boffins want to replace the diesel with a green friendly replacement solvents within months.
In March the RAF vowed to go net-zero within 19 years.
Air Chief Marshal Sir Mike Wigston, the Chief of the Air Staff, publicly vowed to do all he could “to be the first net-zero air force by 2040”.
On Monday the MoD published call to arms to help create an “environmentally friendly  coloured smoke dye and a diesel solvent alternative for aerobatic displays.”
It explains: “For the display aircraft to produce coloured smoke during display, dye is mixed with a solvent and stored on a pod attached to the aircraft. 

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