Top story: ‘Fear always makes you an accomplice’
Good morning, I’m Warren Murray and this is Tuesday’s foremost news.
Vladimir Putin’s main spokesman has said the west pushed the Kremlin “into the corner” with Nato expansion, while sanctions on trade, finance and oligarchs were akin to “total war” against Russia. Dmitry Peskov’s remarks in an interview on American TV came amid more claims from UK and Ukrainian military intelligence that Russia’s war effort is in serious trouble. The UK Ministry of Defence (MoD) said Russia was expected to bolster its flagging invasion force by sending more than 1,000 mercenaries from its private Wagner military group into eastern Ukraine as the Kremlin continues to suffer heavy losses.
Peace talks that are due to resume between Ukraine and Russia in Turkey today may be overshadowed by reports that the oligarch Roman Abramovich and the Ukrainian MP Rustem Umerov suffered symptoms of poisoning after informal peace negotiations in Kyiv. Both men, who consumed only chocolate and water, were treated in Istanbul for symptoms that reportedly included loss of sight and peeling skin. The account backs up the claims of a potential poisoning first reported in the Wall Street Journal and by the investigative outlet Bellingcat.
This morning, Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, has urged countries to have the courage to keep supplying weapons to Ukraine without fear of possible Russian retaliation, declaring: “Fear always makes you an accomplice.” Zelenskiy hailed military success in Irpin and in parts of Kyiv. Ukraine’s military intelligence said its forces also continued to defend Motyzhyn, Lisne, Kapitanivka and Dmytrivka. It said Ukrainian forces “continue to maintain the circular defence of the city of Mariupol and defend and deter the advance of the enemy in the Chernihiv region” although UK intelligence said the Russians were gaining ground in Mariupol. According to the mayor of the besieged southern city, almost 5,000 people, including about 210 children, have been killed. Keep up with events at our live blog.
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Partygate fines loom – The first fines for lockdown breaches in Downing Street are expected to be issued imminently after Scotland Yard concluded laws were broken at the heart of government, sources have told the Guardian. No 10 has promised to reveal if Boris Johnson receives a fixed penalty notice, which could trigger a vote of no confidence in the Commons. It is understood the Met is expected to firstly issue around 20 fines in the most straightforward cases. For two months the force has been examining material from the Sue Gray inquiry into partygate. Police are investigating 12 separate events in 2020 and 2021, six of which Johnson is said to have attended.
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Smith sorry for slap – Will Smith has issued an apology to Chris Rock, the Oscars and viewers after slapping the comedian on stage, saying it was “not indicative of the man I want to be”. Smith wrote online that he “reacted emotionally” to Rock’s joke about his wife Jada Pinkett Smith’s baldness, related to the condition alopecia, but his behaviour “was unacceptable and inexcusable. Jokes at my expense are a part of the job, but a joke about Jada’s medical condition was too much for me to bear and I reacted emotionally. I would like to publicly apologize to you, Chris.” The Academy condemned the assault and said it would launch an inquiry. Janai Nelson, from the NAACP Legal Defense Fund, wrote online: “I know we’re all still processing, but the way casual violence was normalised tonight by a collective national audience will have consequences that we can’t even fathom in the moment.”
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Special needs at school – Mainstream schools in England are to be required to “change their culture and practice” to become more inclusive of children with special educational needs and disabilities, abbreviated as Send. The government will set out plans to overhaul the Send system in a green paper published today. The paper will propose new national standards across education, health and care to better support children with Send, plus a legal requirement for councils to publish inclusion plans.
An “inclusion dashboard” is proposed to help parents understand what support is available in their area. Under the current regime, parents often have to engage in lengthy battles to try to secure the right provision for their child. Publication of the paper will be followed by a 13-week consultation.
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Type 2 risks abound – People with type 2 diabetes have a higher risk of 57 other health conditions including cancer, kidney disease and neurological illnesses, according to a Cambridge study. The condition, which is linked to being overweight, inactive or having a family history of diabetes, affects millions worldwide. Researchers found those with type 2 have the related health problems as many as five years earlier than people without it. Separately, experts are calling for genetic testing to predict how individuals will respond to medicines. About 6.5% of UK hospital admissions are caused by drug reactions while most prescription medicines only work on 30% to 50% of people. The British Pharmacological Society and the Royal College of Physicians are proposing personalised prescribing according to people’s genes.
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Wronging rights – The British government is committing “vandalism” as it attempts to dismantle the Human Rights Act and bring in “draconian” legislation on refugees and policing, says Amnesty International’s annual report. Sacha Deshmukh, head of Amnesty UK, said the Human Rights Act was the “central pillar of rights and protections in the UK … It’s the means by which we can challenge police behaviour, contest poorer health outcomes for ethnic minority groups, and ensure a proper Covid inquiry.” Amnesty also criticises the government’s nationality and borders bill, which is going through parliament, and the police, crime, sentencing and courts bill. On a global scale, Amnesty says post-pandemic promises to “build back better” have been broken by governments across the world. Despite enough production to fully vaccinate the world in 2021, by the end of the year under 4% of those living in poor countries had been fully vaccinated.
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Crypto climate stakes – Cryptocurrency mining creates a huge carbon footprint but a switch in its computer coding could fix that, says a campaign being launched today. Change the Code Not the Climate seeks to replace the “proof of work” system – under which computers use huge amounts of electricity to validate and secure transactions – with another system called “proof of stake”, where miners have to pledge their coins to verify transactions. The campaign says it would use 99% less power. Michael Brune, the campaign director, said that under proof of work, redundant fossil fuel plants in the US were being cranked back up just to power crypto mining, meaning there was “no way we can reach our climate goals”. The Ethereum crypto-coin is planned to switch over to proof of stake this year.
Today in Focus podcast: How to make the ferryman pay
P&O’s sacking of 800 UK employees without notice prompted outrage from politicians and unions alike. But will anything change? Joanna Partridge explores a low point in the recent history of industrial relations.
Lunchtime read: Come to your senses and eat
To eat in the modern world is often to eat in a state of profound sensory disengagement. Bee Wilson on how we can restore that lost connection to food.
Sport
The first index to track race representation across UK sport has led to 43% of national governing bodies being handed the lowest three available grades. Paul Collingwood, the interim head Test coach, says England have “bottomed out” and that captain Joe Root has the backing of the players and management. Gareth Southgate has said it is unfortunate that the pandemic means England will face only one non-European opponent in the year leading up to the 2022 World Cup. George Russell has warned that he and his teammate, Lewis Hamilton, have no chance of fighting for the Formula One title unless Mercedes drastically improves. The remaining tickets for the final of the women’s European Championship sold out in an hour with 100 days to go before England kick off against Austria at Old Trafford. And a group of more than 70 current and former Canadian gymnasts have called for an independent investigation into what they described as a “toxic culture and abusive practices” within their sport in the country.
Business
The governor of the Bank of England has warned that the rise in energy prices could be worse than any single year of the oil shock of the 1970s. Andrew Bailey said demand from consumers and businesses was slowing because of soaring prices for gas, electricity and other goods and services. The FTSE100 will gain 0.4% this morning, according to futures trade, and the pound is worth $1.310 and €1.191.
The papers
The Guardian leads today with “Ukraine peace talks resume amid claims Abramovich was poisoned” – the sanctioned oligarch was involved in informal negotiations as part of a Russian-Ukrainian group, separate from the official talks. The main picture shows Will Smith and Chris Rock just after the slap. The Mirror has “Abramovich poisoned at peace talks” while the Daily Mail says he was left “blinded” and with peeling skin. That gets the big headline on the Times’ front as well although across the top it has “Sunak dampens hope of more help with energy bills”.
The Sun says “Chemical ‘attack’ on Roman” while the Telegraph leads with “Partygate fines to be issued from today”. The i says “Johnson and Sunak row goes nuclear” – that’s because the PM’s flagship energy strategy has been held up amid disagreement with the chancellor about funding a new generation of up to eight nuclear power stations, costing the public more than £13bn.
The Express says “Triple lock is back! Pensions are set to rise by 7.4%” – the triple lock won’t be reinstated until next year, though. “Duke back on parade” – that’s the Metro, because Prince Andrew will attend a thanksgiving service for his late father. The Financial Times has “Britons face ‘historic shock’ to incomes, BoE governor warns” and its front-page picture story says the Ukrainians have regained ground against the Russian invaders.
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