Brexit
Our Brexit negotiator will start the next round of talks next week with a positive attitude, says the Express.
BORIS JOHNSON’s chief negotiator hopes to overcome “significant differences” with the European Union next week when Brexit talks restart in London.
David Frost is understood to be eyeing his first breakthrough in the future relationship negotiations after holding talks with his EU counterpart Michel Barnier in Brussels. The pair agreed to put added emphasis on Britain’s future security pact with the EU as a potential landing zone for an agreement emerged. The two sides will hold four separate sessions on “law enforcement and judicial cooperation” as the Capital hosts its first ever round of negotiations with Brussels.
As part of the four-day talks, UK and EU officials will also discuss the bloc’s demands for regulatory level-playing and access to Britain’s fishing grounds.
Mr Frost will host Mr Barnier for dinner on Monday evening to officially open the fifth negotiating round, which is schedule to run until next Thursday.
EU
But the bloc is looking at its post-Covid budget with worry, says the Telegraph.
Divided European Union leaders appeared certain to head into a second day of marathon talks over a €750 billion rescue fund to kickstart the bloc’s economy after the coronavirus pandemic on Friday.
Heads of state and government of the remaining 27 member states were downbeat over their chances of striking a deal as they met in Brussels for their first face to face summit since the pandemic at 10am local time. By the evening, there was no sign of a breakthrough in negotiations over the unprecedented stimulus package.
Angela Merkel and Emmanuel Macron, the bloc’s two most influential leaders, have thrown their weight behind a European Commission plan to give €500 billion in grants and €250 billion in loans to countries worst-hit by the crisis.
They face strong opposition from the Netherlands, Austria, Sweden and Denmark. The “frugal four” want stricter conditions on the cash, which they would prefer to be in loans, and balk at the bolstered €1.1 trillion EU Budget for the next seven years, which is also under negotiation.
The expectations of an agreement are ‘low’, reports BBC News.
EU leaders are meeting in their first face-to-face summit since the coronavirus crisis, with low expectations of a deal on a €750bn (£670bn) post-Covid stimulus package.
The mask-wearing leaders, who met with elbow bumps not handshakes, must also agree a seven-year, €1.07tn budget.
French President Emmanuel Macron said it was a “moment of truth” for Europe.
There are splits between leaders over whether the post-Covid package should be given as grants or loans.
Mr Macron and German Chancellor Angela Merkel want grants to mostly finance the fund. Four northern nations insist on loans.
Arriving for the talks in Brussels, Mrs Merkel said “the differences are very very big and I cannot say if we will find a solution this time”. It would be desirable, she said, but people had to remain realistic.
Other leaders gave her and Portuguese Prime Minister Antonio Costa birthday gifts – however, the good-natured scenes inside the summit come after weeks of squabbling over the rescue package.
And the Mail outlines the size of the discord.
European leaders are preparing to battle ‘very very large’ disagreements this morning as they try to save a €1.9trillion EU budget, according to German Chancellor Angela Merkel.
The marathon of talks will continue from 11am today after the Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte dug his heels in on Friday over a plan to help struggling southern countries including Spain and Italy.
Chancellor Merkel and French President Emmanuel Macron are backing a package of loans and subsidies to member states to revive economies shattered by the virus and preventive lockdowns.
Yesterday, European leaders gathered face-to-face for the first time in five months as talks got underway in Brussels.
The bloc is split in every direction over the budget – north and south disagree over a coronavirus rescue package, while west and east have drawn up battle lines over climate targets and legal reforms.
It’s brinkmanship, says the Express.
BREXIT talks on a trade deal between the UK and European Union could go down the wire, a former Europe minister has predicted, but a former special advisor on European affairs has warned the two sides are on a “collision course for failure”.
Britain and the European Union are continuing talks in a desperate attempt to strike a post-Brexit trade deal before the end of the transition period on December 31. The UK officially left the bloc on January 31, with trade talks beginning in Brussels two months later, led by Boris Johnson‘s chief negotiator David Frost and Brussels counterpart Michel Barnier. Face-to-face talks were put on hold due to the coronavirus crisis sweeping through the continent, but resumed last month in Brussels, followed by further meetings in London at 10 Downing Street last week.
But both sides have lamented the lack of progress made in negotiations to this point, continuing to insist “significant differences” remain between them.
The UK and EU teams have attacked each other over demands made in a future trade deal, with elements such as fisheries, a level playing field and access from the City of London to EU financial markets acting as major stumbling blocks.
The Sun is more positive, reporting most of the agreement has been reached.
BRITISH and EU negotiators have agreed 80 per cent of a deal and are gunning for a breakthrough on a post-Brexit security pact next week.
There will be a full slate of talks in London with a heavy focus on police cooperation where the two sides are “closest” to a breakthrough.
EU diplomats said the sides share a “common ambition” to keep close ties on tackling crime and sharing information about suspects.
But they have warned the UK will have to stop insisting on lower data protection standards after Brexit to make an agreement possible.
Officials in Brussels believe No10 doesn’t want to commit to matching EU norms because that might affect ties with the US.
Negotiations between Michel Barnier and David Frost broke up without fresh progress.
EU sources said it was “puzzling” the UK had no new proposals to bring to the table.
But Mr Barnier is still confident a deal can be struck despite weeks of “going round in circles”.
Public Health England
Our long-held suspicions over the Covid death rates have been confirmed. Sky News says:
An urgent review has been ordered into how the daily coronavirus death figures are calculated after it was claimed the current method does not take into account the fact that some people may have recovered from COVID-19 and died of a different cause.
Health Secretary Matt Hancock has asked for the examination of Public Health England’s (PHE) data – said by researchers to include a “statistical anomaly” by which “no one can ever recover from COVID-19 in England”.
The government’s own figures show there have been 45,119 COVID-19 associated deaths across the UK.
But that tally is feared to be inaccurate due to the way coronavirus deaths are recorded in England.
Explaining the “strange anomaly”, Sky News’ Rowland Manthorpe said: “Essentially, there is no way to recover, statistically. So, if I tested positive for COVID-19 today and then I got hit by a bus tomorrow, then COVID-19 would be listed as my cause of death.”
A government source confirmed that PHE’s current method of calculation means if a person was previously diagnosed with COVID-19 but subsequently died of unrelated causes, their death would still be counted as part of PHE’s daily coronavirus death tally.
Reuters says a review will be held.
Health Minister Matt Hancock ordered a review into how England reports coronavirus deaths, after academics said the daily figures may include people who have died of other causes. The way Public Health England, a government agency responsible for managing infectious disease outbreaks, calculates the figures means they might look worse there than in other parts of the United Kingdom, according to two academics.
Britain has been the European country worst hit by the virus, with an official death toll of more 45,000. But the government has said international comparisons are misleading because countries record coronavirus deaths differently.
Yoon Loke, from the University of East Anglia, and Carl Heneghan, from the University of Oxford, said Public Health England cross-checks the latest notifications of deaths against a database of positive test results – so anyone who has tested positive can be recorded as dying from the virus.
‘Overexaggerated’ death rates? Really? Who’d have guessed? The Independent says:
Matt Hancock has ordered an urgent review into how Public Health England (PHE) calculates daily Covid-19 death figures.
It comes after scientists said they believed PHE was “over-exaggerating” the daily coronavirus death toll, by counting people if they die of any cause at any time after testing positive for the disease.
Professor Yoon K Loke, of the University of East Anglia, and Carl Heneghan, professor of evidence-based medicine at the Nuffield Department of Primary Care, said on Thursday night that a “statistical flaw” in the way PHE compiles data on deaths created a disparity in figures published by the different UK nations.
“It seems that PHE regularly looks for people on the NHS database who have ever tested positive, and simply checks to see if they are still alive or not,” they wrote.
“PHE does not appear to consider how long ago the Covid test result was, nor whether the person has been successfully treated in hospital and discharged to the community.
“Anyone who has tested Covid-positive but subsequently died at a later date of any cause will be included on the PHE Covid death figures.”
Even the Times reports that anyone who has ever tested positive and then died is a ‘statistic’.
Matt Hancock has opened an urgent review of England’s coronavirus death toll after realising that anyone who has ever tested positive is included in the tally, regardless of their cause of death.
In contrast with Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland, where daily deaths are now often zero, Covid-19 deaths in England have stayed stubbornly high and are falling only slowly. Yesterday 114 deaths were recorded and the seven-day average is 83.
Statisticians have analysed the methodology used by Public Health England (PHE) and found that at least some of the difference in England is due to a method by which even someone who dies in a road accident is included in the coronavirus statistics if they had ever tested positive.
And the Guardian says some of the deaths might just have been from other causes.
The UK health secretary, Matt Hancock, is ordering an urgent review of the daily Covid-19 death statistics produced by Public Health England, after it emerged that they may include recovered former sufferers who could have died of other causes.
The oddity was revealed in a paper by Yoon K Loke and Carl Heneghan of the Centre for Evidence-Based Medicine at Oxford University, titled “Why no one can ever recover from Covid-19 in England – a statistical anomaly”.
Their analysis suggests that PHE cross-checks the latest notifications of deaths against a database of positive test results – so that anyone who has ever tested positive is recorded in the Covid-19 death statistics.
“It seems that PHE regularly looks for people on the NHS database who have ever tested positive, and simply checks to see if they are still alive or not. PHE does not appear to consider how long ago the Covid test result was, nor whether the person has been successfully treated in hospital and discharged to the community,” the authors said.
The Mail calls it ‘statistical flaw’.
Health Secretary Matt Hancock today ordered Public Health England to review the way it counts deaths because of a ‘statistical flaw’ that means officials are ‘over-exaggerating’ the daily toll.
PHE counts people as victims if they die of any cause any time after testing positive for Covid-19 – even if they were hit by a bus months after beating the life-threatening infection, top academics revealed last night.
The method is likely why the daily fatality tolls are not dropping quickly in England because survivors never truly recover from the disease as their deaths are blamed on the coronavirus – regardless of their real cause.
One of the leading experts who uncovered the flaw told MailOnline his ‘best guess’ was that more than 1,000 people have had their deaths wrongly recorded as caused by Covid-19.
Antibody test
Looks like a test for antibodies is very near successful says the Telegraph.
The hunt for a “game-changing” antibody test may be over after a version backed by the UK Government passed its first major trials with flying colours.
Ministers are drawing up plans to distribute millions of free pregnancy-style tests after they were shown to be 98.6 per cent accurate in secret human trials held last month, The Telegraph can disclose.
Developed by Oxford University in partnership with leading UK diagnostics firms, the fingerprick test, designed for use at home, can tell within 20 minutes whether a person has ever been exposed to coronavirus.
Until now, the only antibody tests approved in the UK have involved blood samples sent to laboratories for analysis, which can take days.
“This rapid test appears to be truly amazing, and it shows we can do this ourselves,” said Sir John Bell, Oxford’s Regius Professor of Medicine, who leads the Government’s antibody testing programme.
The Mail also says it’s a game-changer.
A ‘game-changing’ antibody test for coronavirus that takes just 20 minutes is reported to have passed its first major government trials with highly promising results.
The easy-to-read fingerprick tests were shown to be 98.6 per cent accurate, according to the Daily Telegraph.
Ministers are now planning to distribute millions of the AbC-19 lateral flow tests – which were developed by Oxford University in partnership with UK diagnostics firms – for free.
The antibody tests that are currently approved in the UK involve a lengthy wait with blood samples being sent to laboratories.
But the latest development would significantly speed up the process and allow Britons to be tested at home.
A large number of the tests have already been produced while the makers await regulatory approval.
Home working
Staff could be ordered back to work next month, reports the Mirror.
The Government will update national advice on going to work from August 1 with employers given more leeway on staff returning to offices, factories and other places of work.
Employers in England will have discretion over whether to ask staff to go back to work, Boris Johnson said this morning.
In a statement the Prime Minister announced plans to further relax Covid-19 lockdown measures.
From today public transport will be available to everyone in England – although alternative modes of transport are still encouraged.
And on August 1 bowling alleys, skating rinks, casinos and beauty salons can all reopen, with wedding receptions of up to 30 people also allowed.
Cyber crime
Universities are wide open to hacking, reports the Telegraph.
Hackers can steal valuable research from UK universities in “under an hour” due an “embarrassing” lack of cyber defences, experts have warned.
The comments come after the National Cyber Security Centre on Thursday revealed that hackers backed by the Russian state were trying to steal COVID-19 vaccine research from universities
Oxford University and Imperial College London, the two British teams trying to develop a vaccine, are believed to have been targets.
Jake Moore, a cybersecurity specialist at ESET, said it was “quite frankly embarrassing” for universities to have been attacked, “especially when organisations have had ample time to tighten security and increase awareness.”
Military homes
Accommodation for service personnel is to be upgraded, reports the Mail.
A £200 million funding boost announced for armed forces personnel’s homes will give military families ‘the standard of living they deserve’, according to Defence Secretary Ben Wallace.
More than 5,000 military personnel and their families will have their homes modernised as part of the plan, Mr Wallace announced during a visit to Catterick Garrison, in North Yorkshire, on Friday with Chancellor Rishi Sunak.
The Ministry of Defence (MoD) said the investment will fund new kitchens, bathrooms and furnishings, as well as re-roofing, plus measures to reduce the risk of mould and damp.
It said that the funding injection will mean that 3,500 service homes will be upgraded as well as single living quarters.
The work will also make armed forces estates more environmentally friendly, with plans for better insulated doors and windows, energy-efficient boilers, solar panels and electric vehicle charging points.
The MoD said the plan will also include new play areas, resurfaced roads and energy efficient street lighting.
TV licences
The Telegraph reports a call for leniency over pensioners’ television licences.
Millions of pensioners should be given a “grace period” of 12 months before they are prosecuted in the courts for not paying their BBC licence fee, a Tory member of the Digital, Culture, Media and Sport committee says today.
Two million over-75s are being told that they have to start paying for the £157.50 annual charge by the beginning of next month to face criminal prosecution after the BBC withdrew their free licence to save money.
Giles Watling, a Tory member of the House of Commons’ committee, told The Telegraph’s Chopper’s Politics podcast, which you can listen to on the audio player above or subscribe to for free on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or your podcast app: “I am disappointed that people have lost a sense of proportion and a sense of humour and that the things you just can’t say and can’t do, even if they’re done for the best possible reasons.
Chinese seeds
And following a report about poisonous courgette seeds, the Mail claims further seeds – from China – are being sent to gardeners. (This post has now been removed from the Mail’s website. However, details can still be found here and here.)
Horticulturalists have issued a warning after ‘hundreds’ of British gardeners received unsolicited deliveries of seeds thought to have been sent from China.
The mysterious packages have been posted to customers who previously made legitimate seed purchases through sites such as Amazon marketplace and eBay.
But many of the gardeners were left baffled after receiving unexpected deliveries – which were not paid for – marked as ‘petals’ and ‘ear studs’, potentially to avoid customs checks.
Government officials say they have been made aware of the suspect seeds and it is understood at least one police force has been notified.
Now, horticulturalists have warned people not to plant the unwanted extra seeds into their garden as it could result in the spread of an invasive, non-native species.
What’s with these Chinese Seeds? I smell a dead rat!
With regard to our fishing waters. – There should be nothing to negotiate. – Those waters are British, and the fish there in. – It is far more important to get this thoroughly understood, and has everything to do with British Sovereignty !
At some point in the future, it is possible that permission might be given to EU Nations for fishing, but that will only happen when fish stocks have recovered, and if the type of EU vessels are to our agreement ! – I know it is a difficult item for the EU to understand, but THE BRITISH ARE IN CHARGE OF BRITISH FISHING WATERS, not the EU. – They will have to conform to our standards, and gain our permission !
Once the fish stocks have recovered, we could always licence fishing boats AT AN EXORBITANT PRICE! But we’d need lots of patrol boats to enforce the rules.
Yes Debbie. – See previous comments from me on this. – We require fisheries and boarder protection vessels before the end of the year. – UK could buy second hand from the USA due to the lack of planning. – Our fishing industry needs this, and we need this for genuine sovereignty.
🙂
home working wont go away. people have looked at communing costs and the time wasted.
They will say to their employer ‘was my work acceptable while WFH?’ Yes? then why wont it be acceptable going fporward?
While employers may insist on some attendance at the office, that may be maybe 2 days a week. Massive changes for transport, food outets and office provision.
massive game changer.
There may be a sting in the tale for those employees labouring under the belief that they can work from home saving both time and transport costs and still enjoy the same income. An employer may find that he can get exactly the same standard of work done at a much cheaper rate in India or Singapore saving huge costs in employment overheads and pension contributions.
Law enforcement and Judicial cooperation.
If anything we need to remove all judicial interests into oblivion. It is justice that fills the prisons with human refuse.Put the entire Civil Servants of the Justice ministry into uniform and stand em on corners…Justice is ridiculous. LAW and ORDER is paramount.
I read three short sentances and I start writing. It is worrying everything about our society has been destroyed or spoiled or soiled.
Dear TGS – Have you not heard of Common Law Trial by Jury and Jury Nullification (of unjust laws)? Granted to us hundreds of years ago and withheld from us by vested interests ever since.
Brexit:
“significant differences” are a sure sign, if another were needed, that further negotiation will be a fruitless exercise unless Frost capitulates.
Unfortunately for us I don’t believe either he or Boris has the necessary to simply say NO and walk away.
I had an antibody test outside of PHE. This was sent to me in the post and then the test was done under the supervision of a nurse via video conferencing. Negative. Course I could have had it and fought it off via T cells or other coronavirus antibodies but most likely I had a kidney infection as I originally thought before the doctor pronounced Covid. I had 6 of the 7 kidney infection symptoms as opposed to 6 of the 23 and ever growing number of Covid symptoms. Cross me off the stats!
My licence runs out in two weeks. They’ll not get a penny more out of me. The rules are don’t watch live TV directly or by streaming or I player. That will be no great loss since I have an IQ above 75 and hardly did anyway.
What rules? We have no contract.