Top story: People might think pandemic ‘all over’
Good morning, Warren Murray pleased to present your Thursday news briefing.
All Covid regulations including isolation after testing positive are due to be abolished in England from Thursday 24 February, Boris Johnson has announced, moving the plan forward by a month. Downing Street confirmed people would be advised to avoid going to work if they tested positive for Covid – though without the current legal obligation and possible fines. Some scientists have warned it risks signalling the pandemic is “all over” while unions said the PM is “going too far, way too soon” and charities warned it could leave clinically vulnerable people exposed.
Here is what the changes will mean for work, travel, isolation, testing, financial support and other issues where the pandemic has a bearing. Hannah Devlin, Guardian science correspondent, looks at the risks for controlling the impact of Omicron and other possible variants. As well, Guardian readers have shared their reactions to the decision, from calling it “laughably shortsighted” to “fully justified”.
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‘Firm and united’ – Boris Johnson will be in Poland today before travelling to Brussels to meet the Nato secretary general, Jens Stoltenberg, about the Ukraine crisis. Johnson is considering further deployments to eastern Europe. Keir Starmer will also visit Nato headquarters. Labour said he would send a “firm and united” message to allies – and to the Kremlin – in support of the UK government’s policy on Ukraine. The foreign secretary, Liz Truss, is in Moscow to meet her Russian counterpart, Sergei Lavrov, though her plan to have put the UK’s “toughest sanctions regime against Russia” on the statute book in time for the trip has fallen through.
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Labour contacts Met over reno-gate – Scotland Yard is considering whether to investigate Boris Johnson over the funding of his Downing Street flat renovation. Solicitors on behalf of Labour have written to the Met commissioner, Dame Cressida Dick, suggesting the force is “duty-bound” to begin a formal investigation because of a “reasonable suspicion” Johnson broke anti-bribery laws. They said the prime minister may have acted improperly by having “linked” a request for funds to cover the refurbishment works – which eventually cost at least £112,000 – with a promise to “promote a project” backed by the benefactor. A No 10 spokesperson called the allegations “categorically untrue” and a clear misrepresentation of the facts. It comes on top of the investigation into Downing Street lockdown parties, in which more than 50 people, possibly including the PM, are to face questions.
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Harry: as with Covid, get HIV test – Prince Harry has urged people to get tested for HIV, saying he hopes to carry on his mother’s work to tackle the virus. More must be done, said the Duke of Sussex, to make progress towards the UK goal of ending new HIV cases by 2030. Noting there had been a drop in HIV testing during Covid, he said that with people regularly testing for coronavirus, it should be “ingrained in us that that’s what we need to do, to know our status in order to be able to keep other people safe”.
The former Welsh rugby captain Gareth Thomas, who lives with HIV, said that taking a test “wouldn’t be scary if you understood what living with HIV in 2022 is”. Of his own diagnosis, he said: “I take a moment at 6am … I take my HIV medication, which is one tablet, and I feel that my day then begins. I’m very active, I go to the gym, I work as hard as I possibly can.” Free HIV test kits to do at home can be ordered from www.startswithme.org.uk
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Longer lives ‘have to be paid for’ – Wealth taxes will be needed to fund a £76bn a year increase in government spending by the end of the decade, caused by an ageing population and more expensive healthcare, the Resolution Foundation says. The thinktank argues previous ways of raising money – such as reducing defence spending and raising national insurance contributions – will no longer be feasible. Dan Tomlinson, a senior economist at the Resolution Foundation, said: “We’ll all benefit from people living longer, healthier lives – as well as reducing our carbon footprint – but it will have to be paid for.”
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Hawking blackboard on show – Stephen Hawking’s blackboard goes on display today as part of a collection of office items acquired by the Science Museum in London. The Cambridge cosmologist, who died in 2018 at the age of 76, treasured a blackboard that became smothered with cartoons, doodles and equations at a conference on superspace and supergravity that he arranged in 1980.
What all the graffiti and in-jokes mean is taking some time to unravel, so curators are hoping surviving attendees of that conference will drop by to explain. The temporary display called Stephen Hawking at Work includes his 1966 PhD thesis, his wheelchair, and a host of memorabilia including a jacket from the Simpsons, which he appeared on many times.
Today in Focus podcast: When things unravel at No 10
Gavin Barwell was in No 10 when Tory MPs were plotting the downfall of his boss, Theresa May. Now, as Boris Johnson’s premiership hangs in the balance, he tells Nosheen Iqbal what it’s like on the inside when things start falling apart.
Lunchtime read: Death of the department store
The closure of John Lewis’s store in Sheffield after almost 60 years was a bitter blow. As debate rages over what to do with the huge empty site, the city is becoming a test case for where Britain’s urban centres may be heading.
Sport
At the Winter Olympics, the Team GB’s women’s curling team have played their first game of the day, which Switzerland won 6-5. The men will play Italy before the women return against Sweden. Matt Weston sat tied for 13th after today’s skeleton, and Huw Nightingale is competing in the snowboardcross. The American snowboarder Chloe Kim has become the first woman to successfully defend the Olympic halfpipe title, while compatriot Nathan Chen has won gold in men’s figure skating. Keep up with all the action at our live blog.
Tottenham fluffed their lines against Southampton. They would get nothing in the 3-2 loss, which was what they deserved, in the first serious misstep of Conte’s Premier League tenure. Rather like Aston Villa, swashbuckling their way into a 3-1 lead before dipping away to allow Leeds to battle back for a draw, Steven Gerrard built up Jacob Ramsey’s candidature for an England call-up before asking us all to stay calm and let him develop. Manchester City seem intent on making their title defence a procession. After a 2-0 defeat of Brentford their lead is now 12 points and though Liverpool can cut it back to nine by beating Leicester on Thursday, Pep Guardiola’s team have a relentlessness that may soon propel them far into the distance.
Joe Marler has revealed “in-house bitching” is becoming a thing of the past within the England squad after holding his hands up for how he choked during his costly lineout clanger in the defeat by Scotland. Jimmy Anderson and Stuart Broad are insisting their omission from England’s squad to tour West Indies next month is “not the end of the road” and are focused on forcing their way back into the Test side, according to Andrew Strauss. Simone Biles and Lindsey Vonn are among the US sports stars who have thrown their support behind Mikaela Shiffrin as the American Alpine skiing star’s nightmarish start to the Winter Games continues.
Business
Shipping costs are soaring for British businesses as the supply chain problems convulsing the world economy continue to bear down on consumers. Pickering’s Gin saw the cost of shipping glass bottles from China rise sixfold last year and although it has come down a bit, it’s still four times more expensive than pre-pandemic. The FTSE100 is looking flat this morning, as is the pound at $1.353 and €1.184 ahead of US inflation data later.
The papers
The Guardian’s front page today has “Covid rules to be abolished in England in a fortnight”. Also the story of the man who murdered two partners – after Ian Stewart was arrested for killing his fiancee in 2016, it was discovered his first wife had also died at his hands six years earlier. Stewart, 61, has been jailed on a whole-life order. The Times says “PM among 50 set to be questioned by police” about partygate.
A picture of the PM with an “open bottle of bubbly” is on the front of the Metro and the headline is “Cops’ quiz question”, referring to a “Downing Street Christmas quiz” that took place. The i’s wording is “Police quiz Johnson and 50 staff for partying in lockdown”. The Mirror has the quiz picture on the front though its main story is about Coleen and Wayne Rooney’s marriage.
The Telegraph says “Police to contact fifty No10 partygoers”. As on some other fronts, Liz Truss, the foreign secretary, is shown taking a photo-op in front of colourful scenery in Moscow where she is to meet her Russian counterpart about the Ukraine crisis. It’s a happy day for the Daily Mail: “England tears up Covid rules – and leads the world”. The Express is also gleeful and cries “Freedom!” And the top story in the Financial Times is “US regulator moves to strengthen disclosure rules for private equity funds”; while a big moment in fusion power research is summed up as having produced enough power to “boil 60 kettles”.
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