Education 

Guardian
The government’s replacement for the Europe-wide Erasmus student exchange scheme appears to have got off to a flying start – although experts warn that the final numbers of young people taking part are likely to be well below its initial expectations.
The Department for Education said that more than 40,000 young people “will be able to work and study abroad” later this year through the new Turing scheme, introduced by the government to compensate for the UK’s withdrawal from the Erasmus scheme last year.
According to the DfE’s estimates, 120 universities have applied for a share of the £110m scheme, alongside schools and further education colleges, to fund work and study placements. The 40,000 total is said to include 28,000 placements for university students in 2021-22, more than the 18,300 placements that took place under the Erasmus scheme in the 2018-19 academic year.
Paul James Cardwell, a professor at City Law School, University of London, who has compared the Erasmus and Turing schemes, said: “All opportunities to study abroad are welcome, but we need to be clear about how many students will actually go abroad, which will probably be much lower than the numbers that have been bid for.
“We also don’t know whether these placements have been arranged and confirmed and, crucially, how much funding will be allocated to each participant.” 

A similar story can be read in the Express 

Telegraph
The “refusal” to make contingency plans for 2021 exams was the “most unforgivable” aspect of the Government’s mishandling of schools during the pandemic, a report has said.
Ministers did not learn lessons about school closures and exams following the first lockdown, which led to a case of “pause, rewind, repeat”, a paper by the Institute for Government (IfG) found.
Researchers described the first lockdown as “easily the most disruptive period in children’s education since at least the start of the Second World War”.
The report said: “Its most important conclusion is that the most unforgivable aspect of what happened is not just the failure to make contingency plans in the summer of 2020 but the refusal to do so – when it was already obvious that fresh school closures might well be needed, and that exams might have to be cancelled again.
“Lessons were not learnt from the first lockdown, with the result that, for both school closures and exams, the story from July 2020 to Jan 2021 was a case of ‘pause, rewind, repeat’.” 

A similar story can be read in the Guardian. 

The i 
It’s the summer holidays and after a turbulent year, children, teachers and politicians  are all enjoying a much-needed break. 
But, whisper it (particularly if you’re in the vicinity of someone under the age of 18), the new school term is closer than you think.  
In Scotland, students in some council areas will begin returning from next week.  
It means minds are already turning to the thorny question of how to limit the impact of Covid on education.  
Schools will undoubtedly be a key battleground in the next stage of the UK’s fight against the virus. 
Among adults, the vaccination campaign is building up good levels of immunity. But with the Joint Council on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI) yet to recommend jabs for all those under 18, the school-age population will be relatively more likely to pick up and pass on the virus. 
The overwhelming majority of children fortunately only have mild Covid-19 symptoms. However, schools could create networks of transmission, spreading the virus to more vulnerable people. And as we saw last month – when more than one million pupils were out of school in England due to Covid-19 – the virus can still cause turmoil. 
Authorities across the UK are relaxing rules on school “bubbles” to limit that disruption. But this will only increase the importance of other infection prevention and control measures, with headteachers today backing a call by one of the UK Government’s scientific advisers for schools to be provided with air purifiers.  

Trade 

Express
BREXIT Britain’s new state-of-the-art digital customs system will be fully operational by March 2023, officials have said.
Plans to radically transform the UK’s border to make it a world leader as it strikes trade deals across the globe are set to be complete in the next 20 months. The old system currently in use is from the 1990s and is thought to be slowing down checks at ports.
Businesses have complained bureaucracy at the border is slowing down shipments to the EU since the end of the transition period at the start of the year.
Its replacement will be online and will help the UK set the pace globally in creating a digital border.
Checks will be able to take place at a quicker rate, speeding up the process of sending shipments abroad.
Prime Minister Boris Johnson sees making the UK a world leader on new technologies as a key way of proving the success of Brexit. 

EU 

Express
THE European Union has been accused of disregarding alleged police brutalities inside the bloc while holding other nations to a higher standard.
After a 49-year-old man died after being detained by police officers during a protest in Germany, one senior MEP suggested the bloc is starting to resemble a “concentration camp”. The incident happened as violent scuffles broke out between people and the police at a demonstration against the German government’s measures to curb the spread of coronavirus. It was said that around 600 people were detained as protestors defied orders to leave and tried to break through police lines.
In a video published on social media, one woman is shown to have been thrown to the ground by a police officer in riot gear.
Romanian MEP Cristian Terhes told Express.co.uk: “The death of a person who protested for freedom and liberty in the custody of German police is more proof that, far from an area of liberty, the EU is fast becoming a concentration camp run by bureaucrats which, in fact, disregard fundamental human rights and freedoms.” 

France 

Express
EMMANUEL MACRON is bracing for pandemonium as a huge strike over vaccine laws is set to cripple France.
Last month, the French President announced COVID-19 vaccines would be compulsory from September. It would be mandatory for health workers and special passes would be required for anyone wanting to go to a restaurant or on a train or a plane.
The controversial decision has been met with backlash from politicians and members of the public.
Now, the Sud Santé Social union has called for a strike from August 4 in opposition to the “vaccination obligation”.
In a statement, the union said: “The Sud Santé Social union calls for participation in social mobilisations and the defence of freedoms which have nothing to do with the demonstrations initiated by the far-right and the conspiracy theorists, which we are fighting.” 

Times
President Macron has been accused of stonewalling plans for an Anglo-French summit amid a “toxic” diplomatic relationship between London and Paris.
Diplomats have been attempting to arrange a high-level meeting between Boris Johnson and the French president for months in an effort to reset the so-called “entente cordiale”.
But amid recriminations on both sides the French are understood to be refusing to agree a date for the summit, with one source saying the relationship was “appalling”.
“The government has reached out to try to arrange a summit but the French aren’t interested,” said one senior diplomatic source. “They’ve simply said there’s no point.” 

Child grooming 

Breitbart 
Former detective turned grooming gang whistleblower Maggie Oliver said that the apologies offered in the latest review to child rape victims in Bradford are “pointless” and that the scourge of rape gangs persists “everywhere” in the UK.
An independent review into five child grooming cases in Bradford, West Yorkshire since 2001 found that “children suffered abuse no child should have to experience”.
The review repeated the oft-heard refrain from such findings that the Bradford Partnership “fully accepts more needs to be done”.
“We want to apologise to the young people identified in this report and any others where the actions of agencies in Bradford has failed to protect them from child sexual exploitation.”
One of the victims highlighted in the report, referred to as Anna, was placed into the care of foster parents whose son was her abuser.
Anna was then forced into an Islamic wedding with her abuser after becoming pregnant at the age of fifteen, all of which, she claimed, was sanctioned by Bradford authorities. 

Covid 

Express
COVID cases have fallen in the UK but remain high, with more than 20,000 people infected every day, in part because vaccinated people can still spread the virus. How do vaccinated people spread Covid?
Vaccination has gifted many Britons a new lease of life, with people now enjoying relatively restriction-free society for the first time in more than a year. The looming threat of Covid remains, however, as tens of thousands of cases continue to rip through the UK’s fledgling immunity. Although fully vaccinated people have the best protection, they’re not entirely immune, and they can continue to spread the disease.
How do vaccinated people spread Covid?
Vaccines provide a veil of protection for people, roughly 95 percent following a second dose.
Data has also shown they reduce viral transmission, cutting virility by more than 80 percent in some cases.
As such, they can still infect other people when they eject virus particles by sneezing or coughing. 

Express
THE UK is expected to rebound faster from the COVID-19 pandemic than the eurozone, data has suggested.
Analysis by EY claimed Britain’s economy was growing at its fastest pace in 80 years and could recover back to pre-pandemic levels by the end of 2021. EY, formerly Ernst and Young, said GDP would grow back 7.6 percent, the fastest annual growth since 1941.
It comes after the UK economy shrank by 9.8 percent in 2020, the worst performance in the G7. 

Lockdown 

Mail
Yet again the Covid pessimists have been proved wrong. These peddlers of doom predicted the near-complete easing of restrictions on July 19 would lead to a dramatic spike in infections, creating a public health disaster.
Neil Ferguson, aka ‘Professor Lockdown’ and the scaremonger-in-chief on the official Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies (Sage), warned that the number of new daily cases could rise to 100,000 to 200,000. Thankfully this grim scenario has not materialised.
The number of new infections has maintained a steady and significant decline since Freedom Day, falling to 21,952 cases on Monday, the lowest daily figure for more than a month.
Nor has there been any surge in hospitalisations or deaths.
There are two obvious lessons to be drawn from this.
The first is that Covid vaccinations are key to protecting the public and building herd immunity. Thanks to the success of the roll-out since last December, almost 60 per cent of us have now been double-vaccinated, with the rate above 90 per cent in vulnerable groups. The second is that lockdowns are far less effective than their noisy advocates claim. 

Quarantine 

Telegraph
The 10-day self-isolation period for Covid could be safely halved because people are barely infectious five days after symptoms develop, studies suggest.
On Monday, the NHS contact tracing app was revised so that people no longer need to quarantine if they were in contact with an asymptomatic case more than 48 hours earlier.
The change was based on data that show asymptomatic Covid cases rarely pass on the virus more than two days before testing positive. The same studies also showed that the chance of transmission was even less likely five days after symptoms emerged.
Data from Oxford University’s Pathogen Dynamics Group, the team which advises the Government on the NHS app, showed that 40 per cent of infections occur before symptoms emerge, and 35 per cent within the first and second day of symptom onset.
In contrast, only about two per cent of transmissions are passed on in days five to 10 after symptoms emerge. 

A similar story can be read in the Independent. 

Vaccine 

Mail
Some 1.5 million 16 and 17-year-olds are expected to be told tomorrow they can receive vaccinations within weeks, as Boris Johnson performs another U-turn in a bid to head off an autumn surge of cases in schools.
The Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation had previously ruled that only children with serious underlying health conditions should receive the vaccine. 
But health chiefs are expected to announce on Wednesday that new evidence makes the case for jabbing all aged 16 and over. 
For now, the JCVI will stop short of recommending jabs for all secondary age children, despite concerns that the virus could take off again in schools this autumn.
Instead it is likely to continue to study the case for extending vaccination to younger age groups. Under-18s wanting the jab will have to provide proof of parental consent.
Whitehall sources pointed to polling suggesting a large majority of parents support the vaccination of children.
Jabs could be administered in schools but Education Secretary Gavin Williamson is expected to push for GP surgeries and NHS hubs to be used.
Scottish First Minister Nicola Sturgeon told MSPs yesterday: ‘I am hoping, possibly veering towards expecting, updated advice from the JCVI literally in the next day or so.’ 

WFH 

Mail
As few as one in five civil servants has returned to the office – and they are not being ordered back to their desks in Whitehall.
Skills minister Gillian Keegan conceded yesterday that just 20 to 25 per cent of those in her department had actually come back.
This is despite the Government changing the official ‘work from home’ guidance to recommend a gradual return over the summer. Chancellor Rishi Sunak also highlighted the benefits of young people working in the office this week.
Until last night the Government’s own website was still telling people to work from home, with Gov.uk stating on its main page that ‘everyone who can work from home must do so’.
But the site’s Covid-19 guidance page had a different message, stating: ‘Whilst Government is no longer instructing people to work from home if they can, Government would expect and recommend a gradual return over the summer.’ 

A similar story can be read in the Evening Standard 

NHS 

Telegraph 
The Health Secretary is to review guidance on transgender patients being admitted to single-sex wards in the wake of an investigation by The Telegraph.
Sajid Javid is to take “fresh advice” on policies issued by NHS trusts after The Telegraph  revealed that they included instructions that male sex offenders who self-identify as women  can be placed on female-only wards.
Despite instructions from the Department of Health to eliminate mixed-sex wards, guidance from hospitals across England states that patients should be admitted based on the gender they identify with and can choose which ward, lavatories and facilities they use.
On Tuesday night, Mr Javid said: “All patients, including women and transgender people, should feel comfortable and safe in hospital. 
“It’s not wrong to look at whether guidance is right, or how it’s being applied, to reassure everyone. I’ve asked the Department of Health for fresh advice.” 

Police dogs 

Telegraph
Police dogs are being issued with bullet proof body armour and ID cards following new animal welfare laws designed to protect them from increasing violence by criminals.
Staffordshire is among the first police forces to provide all its dogs with body armour to protect them from knives, bullets, spikes and impact from blunt instruments.
Cheshire police has also issued its dogs with ID cards and individual tags to make them “part of the police team”.
It follows the introduction of Finn’s Law in 2019, which made it a criminal offence to harm a service dog, with a maximum sentence of five years in jail. German Shepherd Finn was stabbed in the head and chest when protecting PC Dave Wardell from a knife-wielding robbery suspect in Stevenage.
The legislation makes it harder for those who harm service animals to claim they are acting in self defence. Under previous legislation, the attack on Finn could only be treated as criminal damage.

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