Brexit

The Telegraph is upbeat about the forthcoming trade negotiations.

Lord David Frost, the UK’s chief negotiator with the European Union, has said the “outlines” of a free trade deal are now in sight but “familiar differences remain”.
Lord Frost sent a briefing at the end of another week of talks, as the deadline to reach an agreement draws closer.
Boris Johnson’s official spokesman said a deal must be reached by the middle of October to allow UK businesses to prepare for a no-deal exit if necessary before the end of the transition period on January 1.
Lord Frost said he was “concerned” there was “very little time” to resolve remaining disputes.
There was “some limited progress” on the issue of state aid but that the EU needed to “move further” if there was to be an agreement,” he said.

But there’s a face-to-face call due between the two top people this afternoon, reports BBC News.

Prime Minister Boris Johnson and EU Commission president Ursula von der Leyen will speak in a video call later, after negotiations over a post-Brexit trade deal broke up without agreement.
Both sides are calling on the other to compromise on key issues, including fishing and government subsidies.
Mr Johnson told the Daily Telegraph chances of a deal are “very good” if everyone “exercises some common sense”.

And the Times says there will be further negotiations.

Britain and the European Union are to begin two more weeks of intense Brexit negotiations as both sides indicated yesterday that a deal was in sight.
For the first time in three months Boris Johnson will hold one-on-one talks with Ursula von der Leyen, the head of the European Commission.
British government sources said that the video conference call today was intended to inject “high-level impetus” into the negotiations and address the remaining sticking points. Mrs Von der Leyen said yesterday that the EU was ready to intensify talks, with more negotiations next week in London.

The Mirror reports a suggestion that there can’t be an agreement.

Parts of a Brexit trade deal with the EU may prove “impossible” and there is now “very little time” left to bridge the gap, the UK warned today.
The final round of formal talks broke up this afternoon between London and Brussels – just 13 days an EU summit where a trade deal was meant to be agreed.
Instead of having a deal ready to sign, Boris Johnson will now intervene personally tomorrow in talks with the President of the European Commission.
The talks to “take stock and discuss next steps” could prove a crucial moment.
They will decide whether talks should continue informally next week or both sides should walk away.

Fisheries

Our North Sea fish are still causing a problem, says the Guardian.

Boris Johnson will demand that the increasingly isolated French president, Emmanuel Macron, caves in to UK demands on fishing as the price for a trade and security deal at a key meeting with the European commission president on Saturday.
The prime minister will feel strengthened by comments from the German chancellor, Angela Merkel, on Friday, when she described the fisheries deal struck by Britain with Norway this week as a “constructive indicator”.
British officials argue that Norway, a non-EU member state, which conducts annual negotiations with the bloc on fishing quotas, should be the model for a post-Brexit deal on shared stocks.

The German president says there could be an agreement over the fish, reports the Express.

ANGELA MERKEL today raised hopes for a post-Brexit fisheries pact with Britain after the UK’s Norway agreement opened up a potential compromise.
The German Chancellor said the UK’s latest agreement was an “indicator” that a similar deal can be struck between Brussels and London. Speaking at a news conference in Brussels, the influential leader said: “This agreement with Norway is at least an indicator for being on a constructive path, and I don’t think that’s a bad message at all for us. I think it is rather one that shows that one can find ways to come to an agreement.”
The UK and Norway agreed to fix quotas and access to each other’s water annually under the agreement, a proposal previously rejected by Brussels.

Yahoo News claims it’s the French president who is holding up an agreement on the subject.

Boris Johnson will demand that the increasingly isolated French president, Emmanuel Macron, caves in to UK demands on fishing as the price for a trade and security deal at a key meeting with the European commission president on Saturday.
The prime minister will feel strengthened by comments from the German chancellor, Angela Merkel, on Friday, when she described the fisheries deal struck by Britain with Norway this week as a “constructive indicator”.

EU

Ursula has been demanding intensification of the negotiations, says the Independent.

Brexit trade talks are “running out of time” and must intensify, the European Commission president has warned.
Ursula von der Leyen made her comments ahead of a video meeting with Boris Johnson on Saturday, when the pair of leaders will take stock of progress towards a deal so far.
“We have in German a saying: ‘Wo ein Wille ist, ist auch ein Weg’, translated it is more or less ‘where there’s a will, there’s a way’,” the Commission president told reporters in Brussels.
But Boris Johnson insisted that the onus was on the EU to be “common-sensical” and move on key red lines if it wanted a deal.

Reuters also reports the German’s comments.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel said she had no breakthrough to announce on Friday as a week of EU talks with Britain ended, but remained optimistic that sealing a deal on a post-Brexit trade relationship was still possible before the end of the year.
Her words were echoed by Britain’s chief negotiator, David Frost, who said that while progress had been made in some areas, the main differences between the two sides remained, with the gap on fisheries “unfortunately very large”.
British Prime Minister Boris Johnson was more blunt, telling the European Union it was up to the bloc to show common sense.

And Cher Michel says there are still differences between the sides, says Sky News.

Big differences remain in post-Brexit trade talks with the UK, Brussels’ chief negotiator has said.
As the deadline for cutting an agreement looms, Michel Barnier welcomed some “positive new developments” following this week’s negotiations in Brussels.
But he warned there had been a “lack of progress” on issues like climate change commitments and “persistent, serious divergences on matters of major importance for the EU”.

Apparently, according to the Express, he’ll be coming to London soon.

MICHEL Barnier has warned Britain and Brussels must overcome “serious divergences” to secure a post-Brexit trade deal in the coming weeks.
The EU’s chief negotiator will travel to London for a fresh round of talks after both sides failed to break the deadlock. He told MEPs an agreement by the October 15 summit of European leaders was now looking unlikely. Mr Barnier suggested talks may now slip beyond Boris Johnson’s deadline into early November before a deal is found.
In a statement after the ninth round of talks, he said this week’s discussions had been held in a “constructive and respectful atmosphere”.
He said “positive new developments” in areas such as aviation safety and social security coordination.
But warned there are “persistent serious divergences on matters of major importance for the European Union”.

Migrants

Dare we believe the Home Secretary is actually getting tough?  The Times says she’s going to make a statement soon.

Priti Patel will tell the Conservative party conference this weekend that the asylum system is broken as official figures suggest that just one in 70 cross-channel migrants has been deported.
The Home Office disclosed that only 76 migrants have been deported from the UK since April. Over the same period 5,330 have made the crossing.
On Thursday a deportation flight took off with one person, a Sudanese man, on board after 29 asylum seekers were taken off because of last-minute legal challenges.

Hospitals

Billions of pounds are to be spent on our hospitals, reports the Telegraph.

The Prime Minister has named the areas that will receive funding as part of a £3.7 billion package to build 40 new hospitals in a decade.
They include new cancer hospitals in Cumbria, Bath and Cambridge, a national rehabilitation centre in Leicestershire, a women and children’s hospital in Milton Keynes and scores of new local hospitals.
Last year, Boris Johnson said he planned to build the new hospitals across England over the next 10 years.
On Friday, the Government said the plan was the biggest hospital-building programme in a generation. Six trusts have already received £2.7 billion from the package to start immediate building work.

The Independent also has the story.

Boris Johnson has promised billions of pounds to build and upgrade more than two dozen hospitals, following criticism of his pledge to build 40 new institutions across England last year.
On the eve of his party’s annual conference, held online this year because of the coronavirus pandemic, the prime minister said he wanted more people to have access to “top-class healthcare services” in their local area.
Last year Mr Johnson pledged his government would build “40 new hospitals across England over the next decade”.

The Guardian has found a challenge to the PM’s figures.

Ministers have set out more details of Boris Johnson’s much-scrutinised election promise to build 40 new hospitals in England, revealing that the bulk of the projects involve rebuilding or consolidation, and that only four have been started.
The scheme comes with a promised spending package of £3.7bn. However, NHS Providers, which represents hospital trusts, said the real cost of building 40 new hospitals would be more like £20bn.
The plan for 40 hospitals to be built by 2030, first made by the health secretary, Matt Hancock, at last year’s Conservative party conference, and repeated many times by Johnson during the subsequent election campaign, was criticised at the time for being based more on aspiration than definite plans.

Housing

In an exclusive report, the Telegraph claims low-deposit mortgages will be made available.

Boris Johnson has promised to create “Generation Buy” with low-deposit mortgages to help get young people onto the housing ladder.
The Prime Minister said he would “fix” the problem of unaffordable deposits that has caused millions of people to put their dreams of home ownership on hold.
Mr Johnson told The Telegraph ahead of the virtual Conservative Party conference that he was determined to press ahead with a “massive domestic agenda” and deliver on manifesto promises, despite the coronavirus crisis.
He also insisted he remained a low-tax, libertarian Conservative who would pay for the cost of the pandemic through a “free market-led recovery”.

‘Rule of six’

Let’s hope Christmas will be as good as we hope it will be.  The Times suggests the rules could be relaxed.

The rule of six could be relaxed for Christmas, Boris Johnson has hinted
The prime minister said he would do “everything we can” to allow extended families to spend Christmas together.
Ministers are worried about a rebellion if strict social distancing rules stay in place over Christmas and are considering how a festive exemption might work, but no firm plans have emerged.
Asked if families of five would not be allowed to have two grandparents over for Christmas, Mr Johnson told ITV: “We’re not saying that at all.”

Second wave

But is the pandemic slowing down?  There are encouraging signs, says the Mail.

More signs emerged today that the UK’s second wave of coronavirus is beginning to slow down, as the number of new positive tests were just 1.4 per cent higher than last week.
Another 6,968 cases were announced today, only marginally higher than the 6,874 last Friday. This small rise comes as most days in September saw a week-on-week increase of more than 35 per cent. Today’s is the lowest weekly increase since August 25, suggesting last month’s resurgence in cases has hit its peak.
The Department of Health confirmed 66 more deaths today, taking the total number to have died within a month of Covid-19 diagnosis to 42,268 – there are now an average 47 deaths per day.

It’s too early to make a judgement, says the Mirror.

More than 100,000 people had coronavirus in England in the most recent week as experts warn it’s “too early to say” if the recent spike in new cases is levelling off.
There were an estimated 8,400 new cases per day in England’s community the week to September 24 – while an estimated 116,600 were infected overall in that week.
That compares to an estimated 9,600 new cases per day the previous week – with an estimated 103,600 people infected at any point in total.

Vaccine

The Times claims a vaccine won’t be long in coming.

A mass roll-out of a coronavirus vaccine could be completed in as little as three months, raising the prospect of every adult in the country receiving a jab as early as Easter, The Times has learnt.
Scientists working on the Oxford vaccine hope it could be approved by regulators before the start of next year, with some health officials estimating that every adult could receive a dose within six months.
Government sources involved in making and distributing the vaccines told The Times that they expected a full programme, which would exclude children, could take six months or less after approval.

Testing

But the testing system is still not working properly, says the Times.

Patients told by their GP to get a coronavirus test are being turned away at testing sites even when there is capacity to deal with them, a Times investigation has revealed.
Some are operating at a fifth of their previous capacity as Whitehall officials restrict the number of tests they can do because of problems processing the results at government laboratories.
As Britain struggles to cope with demand for tests amid a surge in cases, up to 200 people a day were being sent home from a site in Newcastle-under-Lyme, Staffordshire, without being tested because of the strict daily limits.

Halloween

Do your children go out trick-or-treating?  That could be in doubt, says the Star.

Kids have been banned from trick-or-treating this Halloween – even if they wear a mask.
A No 10 spokesman said going from door to door and interacting with neighbours is not allowed in areas under local restrictions.
Youngsters traditionally dress up as ghouls and ghosts and ask for “treats” to stop them carrying out “tricks” on their neighbours on October 31.
But Downing Street today said the rules affecting 20 million people living in lockdown across the country are “clear” and don’t allow mixing between households.
The restrictions currently affect North East, North West, most of Wales, Scotland, and Northern Ireland, and part of the Midlands.

And the Mail reports the PM’s comment that it’s all our fault.

Boris Johnson tonight blamed the ‘blase’ public for causing a resurgence of coronavirus that forced him to bring in localised lockdowns affecting millions of Britons – and effectively cancelled Halloween.
The Prime Minister accused voters of being ‘complacent’ over the summer and allowing Covid-Z19 to proliferate again, despite his Government allowing pubs to reopen and encouraging people to ‘eat out to help out’ hard-pressed businesses in August.

Trump

Alright, I know, but it’s a big story.  The Telegraph reports:

The White House has insisted that Donald Trump was taken to hospital on Friday as a “precaution” after the US President was infected with coronavirus.
Mr Trump, who along with wife Melania has tested positive for Covid-19, was flown to Walter Reed National Military Medical Centre in Bethesda, Maryland, for a “few days”, his press secretary said.
It comes as a source told CNN that Mr Trump had a fever and was “struggling to breathe”.
The White House physician said the President was “fatigued but in good spirits” and “doing very well”.

The Sun says his treatment is going well.

DONALD Trump has said he “thinks” his experimental Remdesivir coronavirus treatment is “going well” – after he was dramatically airlifted to hospital amid reports he is “struggling to breath”.
In extraordinary scenes at the White House on Friday, Trump, 74, was rushed via helicopter to Walter Reed medical center near Washington DC out of an “abundance of caution” after he was struck down coronavirus symptoms – putting the US election in jeopardy with just weeks to go.

And the Mail says he’s getting the best treatment possible.

President Donald Trump has been treated for COVID-19 with a ‘cocktail’ of antibodies produced by Regeneron, his doctor announced on Friday, and Zis ‘fatigued’ but otherwise in good spirits, as is First Lady Melania Trump.
Trump and Melania announced that they had tested positive in the early hours of Friday morning, hours after he returned from a campaign fundraiser at his New Jersey golf club where he is believed to have come into contact with at least 100 people. It raised $5million for his campaign, which has now canceled all future events in light of the president’s diagnosis.

Mel’s not well either, says the Times.

President Trump was flown to a hospital near Washington last night “out of an abundance of caution” after he and his wife, Melania, tested positive for coronavirus and announced that they would go into quarantine.
The White House said that Mr Trump, 74, “has mild symptoms” and would work from Walter Reed hospital for several days. He has cancelled all personal appearances with 32 days to go before the US election.
Mr Trump was seen walking to a helicopter that transported him. His airlift to the hospital nine miles north of the White House came after it was announced that he had been given a dose of an experimental antibody drug that boosts the immune system.

He was worried says the Metro.

Donald Trump grew ‘spooked’ by his coronavirus diagnosis as he began struggling to breathe, insiders said, amid warnings the president’s condition is ‘serious.’
The President of the United States fears for his own health were revealed as he was helicoptered to Walter Reed Medical Center in Maryland Friday evening. Trump, who is set to spend ‘a few days’ at the military hospital, reportedly grew increasingly alarmed as his symptoms worsened over the course of Friday, a source told CNN. The president is said to have suffered nasal congestion that left him struggling to breathe, a fever and severe fatigue.

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