Coronavirus

Much of the country is back in lockdown but the traumas of the pandemic look to have improved attitudes to the EU and blunted the appeal of populists. “It is our darkest hour: but we will make it.” In March 2020, the (now former) prime minister of Italy, Giuseppe Conte, echoed the words of Winston […]

The UK could have saved the European Union from vaccine disaster.

The prime minister is due to receive his first dose of the AstraZeneca vaccine as a host of European countries announced they would return to using the jab following fresh safety assurances. A slew of countries, including Germany and France, reversed their decision to temporarily pause its use over blood clot concerns after the European […]

Conspiracy theories abound, but what does explain the EU’s seemingly baffling attitude to the AstraZeneca jab? The precautionary principle has longstanding European roots and modern international credibility. It is a scientific idea that grew out of an older German concept. Properly applied, it is difficult to argue against it. An international academic conference in 1998 defined […]

More than 25 million people in the UK have received a first dose of coronavirus vaccine but the country faces a looming squeeze on supply and a possible block on doses from the European Union. The milestone was passed in the first 100 days of the vaccination campaign, but the NHS warned there would be […]

Ireland’s prime minister is to hold talks with US president Joe Biden as the traditional St Patrick’s Day engagement goes online. The Taoiseach traditionally travels to Washington DC for St Patrick’s week to hold a series of high-level meetings with the most powerful political figures in the US. But the pandemic has prevented Micheal Martin […]

Downing Street has not denied reports that Boris Johnson thought the best approach in the early stages of the coronavirus pandemic was to “ignore it”. The prime minister’s official spokesman pointed to the government’s approach of doing “everything we can” to reduce transmission of the virus, protect the NHS and save lives. The BBC reported […]

Downing Street had mulled over the possibility of “chickenpox parties” as a way to build immunity at the start of the coronavirus pandemic, a BBC report has revealed. More than 20 senior politicians and officials who were present when pivotal decisions about Covid-19 were made spoke with the BBC, sharing what was a litany of mistakes […]

UK leaders and medical experts have defended the use of the AstraZeneca vaccine despite multiple European countries pausing its use due to concerns over possible adverse side effects. Boris Johnson said there was “no reason at all” to stop the vaccine’s rollout and Scottish first minister Nicola Sturgeon said she would accept her jab “without […]

Bonnie Greer on how American’s obsession with personal freedom makes Joe Biden’s fight against coronavirus even tougher “Vaccine, vaccine, vaccine, vaccine, I’m begging of you please don’t hesitate. Vaccine, vaccine, vaccine, vaccine, ’cause once you’re dead then that’s a bit too late.” And to the tune of her great song Jolene, Dolly Parton got herself […]

Turkey expects to welcome British holidaymakers this summer without requiring proof of a coronavirus vaccine or negative test. Tourism minister Mehmet Ersoy said the country is “looking forward to welcoming British tourists with open arms”. British nationals made more than 2.5 million visits to Turkey in 2019, according to government figures. Ersoy said: “We have […]

An MP is cross-referencing constituents’ complaints about Dominic Cummings’ trip to Durham with those who complained about the Clapham Commons vigil. According to Guido Fawkes reporter Tom Harwood, an MP is sifting through his emails from people who complained about both in a bid to “point out the hypocrisy of their positions”. He tweeted: “One MP tells […]

Angela Merkel’s Christian Democratic Union (CDU) party has suffered a historic defeat in state elections – with one senior member describing it as a “wake-up call”. Final results streaming in early Monday confirmed the centre-right CDU lost out in two elections to popular incumbent state governors – the Greens’ Winfried Kretschmann in Baden-Wuerttemberg and the centre-left […]

AstraZeneca has insisted its coronavirus vaccine is safe, after concern around blood clots prompted Ireland to become the latest European country to suspend use of the jabs. A review of available safety data in more than 17 million people who have been vaccinated across the UK and EU has shown no evidence of increased risk, […]

Scottish secretary Alister Jack has hailed the vaccination programme against the virus as being a success for the UK. The minister claimed Scotland would still be in the “vice-like grip” of coronavirus if it had followed SNP advice on vaccinations. He insisted: “Had we followed the SNP’s advice on vaccines and waited for the flat-footed […]

Next week’s elections in the Netherlands will be seen as a test of how voters assess their government’s performances in the Covid crisis.  Four years ago, the world watched the Dutch elections – among the first major votes after the Brexit referendum and election of Donald Trump – for a clue to whether the anti-European, populist right was poised for a […]

TANIT KOCH on what the Germans are only just learning about their country under the long rule of Angela Merkel. Most Germans (ven not engaged in ze race for pole pool positions) will have come across one phrase in those heady days when we could actually go on holiday: “You’re lucky, you’ve got Merkel.”  Britons, […]

JAMES BALL on Europe’s very uneven vaccine rollout. With so much riding on the vaccine rollout across Europe, it is perhaps unsurprising it has been quite so tempestuous and bad-tempered. Governments have been accusing one another of irresponsibility, of cheating on supplies, or botching their rollouts. Last week, Italy even stopped a shipment of vaccines destined for […]

Lack of knowledge about the condition has left Long Covid sufferers desperate and vulnerable to quack treatments.  Kate can’t hear properly. She adds hearing loss to a list of other daily symptoms which include migraines, rashes, tremors and nerve damage. An author and chartered psychologist, Kate is on a waiting list for imaging and other diagnostic […]

Amazon and Serco are among a number of businesses to receive government help with New Year Honours nominations even though they are at the centre of a row over Covid contracts, a major Whitehall leak has revealed. The Sun reports officials asked the companies to nominate staff members for the award in a list they accidentally leaked. The […]

A senior European Union diplomat has been summoned to the Foreign Office in a row over coronavirus vaccine exports. Nicole Mannion, deputy ambassador of the EU to the UK, attended the meeting on Wednesday morning after European Council president Charles Michel accused Britain and the US of imposing bans on the movement of jabs. Foreign […]

Dominic Raab has written to the European Council president after he claimed the UK imposed an “outright ban” on coronavirus vaccine exports. Charles Michel accused Britain and the US of imposing bans on the movement of jabs as he used a newsletter to hit back at criticisms of the bloc’s vaccine rollout. The foreign secretary […]

With galleries badly affected by Covid restrictions, street art has come to the fore to chronicle coronavirus. It’s a year or so now since the first lockdown. While many of us have been stranded indoors during this time artists and visual activists for whom the streets are both canvas and in part medium have managed to […]

There is “no clear evidence” the £22 billion Test and Trace scheme contributed to a reduction in coronavirus infection levels, a cross-party group of MPs have said. Meg Hillier, the chair of the Commons Public Accounts Committee (PAC) behind a critical report, urged the government to justify the “staggering investment of taxpayers’ money”. The MPs […]

NHS staff in England were expecting to receive a higher pay rise than the 1% proposed by the government, the head of the health service has confirmed. Sir Simon Stevens, chief executive of the NHS in England, confirmed that plans set out previously had budgeted for NHS pay to increase by 2.1% this year. It […]

Matt Hancock’s department has signed off on two Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) deals worth more than £90million with a state-backed Chinese firm listed at a hotel room in Beijing, new documents show. The Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) struck two lucrative contracts during the first coronavirus wave with Beijing Union Glory Investment Co Ltd, […]

The government has tried to give NHS staff “as much as we possibly can” after recommending a 1% pay rise, the prime minister has said. The proposal has sparked talk of industrial action and demonstrations were planned across England on Sunday, with senior Conservatives also speaking out. An Opinium poll has suggested as much as […]

Despite attempts to bridge it since the fall of the Iron Curtain, the chasm between Eastern and Western Europe remains wide. The pandemic has pushed the two regions even further apart. No-one better embodies the liberation of Central and Eastern Europe from Communism than Vaclav Havel, the Czech playwright, dissident and first democratically-elected president of the modern era. […]

Health minister Nadine Dorries has been left to defend the government’s decision to give a 1% pay rise to nurses and other health workers, following the revelation that the figure has been submitted to the sector’s pay review body (PRB). She gave a series of media interviews on Friday defending the government’s position, saying nurses have […]

Labour has accused the chancellor of failing patients due to planned cuts to day-to-day spending in the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC). Written Budget documents revealed that there is a planned cut of £30 billion in day-to-day spending from April of this year, falling from £199.2 billion to £169.1 billion. NHS England will […]

JAMES BALL on the mounting national debt, and what should be done about it. Think, for a moment, about your home. This should not be a difficult task for most of us, given we’ve all been spending a lot more time than usual stuck there. There’s probably a bed, a kitchen, hopefully a TV – […]

CHRISTINE JARDINE calls for the government to clean up the mess left behind by Brexit and its failed Covid support schemes. This week will be a pivotal moment for our economy and for all our futures. When the chancellor gets to his feet to deliver the budget, millions of people who have seen their lives, […]