Rebel Tory MPs launch anti-lockdown campaign group November 11, 2020 Dozens of rebel Conservative MPs have launched a new group aimed at blocking the rollout of another national lockdown. Former chief whip Mark Harper and Brexiter Steve Baker will lead the new Covid Recovery Group, while Sir Graham Brady, chair of the backbench 1922 committee, is also a member. The group will argue for a [...]
DEBATE: Should NHS staff be given a pay rise? November 11, 2020 Anthony Johnson, a nurse and an organiser with Nurses United, says YES. The Covid crisis has shown like never before just how central the NHS is to everyone’s wellbeing and safety. From our cleaners to our GPs, the entire team is essential. And if we don’t pay people fairly, they will be forced to find [...]
Leaders in Lockdown: Eyes on the road ahead, there’s no going back November 11, 2020 The hope this week of a Covid-19 vaccine has already got people talking of “going back to normal” — perhaps even by spring. But there will be no going back for British business. The events of the last eight months have changed things forever. In March, as Covid spread from mainland Europe to the City [...]
What next for one-term President Donald Trump? November 11, 2020 There perhaps nothing that will hurt Donald Trump more than being a one-term wonder. Politics is a cruel game, there is no second place, and falling short is both brutal and public. For a man with an ego that the world has come to know, the last six weeks as a caretaker President will rankle. [...]
The public are not to blame for the second lockdown November 11, 2020 Justice secretary Robert Buckland last week blamed the public for England’s new lockdown. In particular, the fault was with people failing to self-isolate properly. Of course, in a purely technical sense Buckland is right. The virus spreads by contact with an infected person. If people do not self-isolate, Covid-19 will continue to percolate across the [...]
Biden dubs Trump’s refusal to concede the election ‘an embarrassment’ November 10, 2020 President-elect Joe Biden has described Donald Trump’s refusal to concede the 2020 presidential election as an “embarrassment”. Speaking at an event in Delaware this evening, Biden said nothing is going to stop the US transfer of power after his election victory. Joe Biden secured some 75 million votes in the race for the presidency – [...]
Joe Biden calls Boris Johnson in second diplomatic call as President-elect November 10, 2020 Boris Johnson has scored a diplomatic victory by being the second world leader to speak to President-elect Joe Biden since his victory in the US election. The pair spoke for 20 to 25 minutes from 4pm, after Biden made his first call to Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau yesterday. Biden reportedly then rang French President [...]
Boris Johnson congratulates vaccine taskforce boss Kate Bingham amidst spending scandal November 10, 2020 Boris Johnson has congratulated outgoing government vaccine taskforce chief Kate Bingham on her efforts just days after being embroiled in a spending scandal. It was revealed by the Sunday Times that Bingham, who is married to Tory minister Jesse Norman, had spent £670,000 of public money on PR advisers from a boutique company since being [...]
New law to probe foreign takeovers to be unveiled this week November 10, 2020 A new law which will enable ministers to scrutinise foreign takeovers of companies deemed of national importance will be published on Wednesday. Sky News reported that the National Security and Investment Bill will list 17 sectors of strategic significance that will need governmental approval for transactions. Sources told Sky that these would include nuclear energy, [...]
Dido Harding slammed for ‘three per cent’ Test and Trace success rate November 10, 2020 Baroness Dido Harding has been slammed by MPs for the “three per cent” success rate of England’s contact tracing programme, as the Test and Trace chair faced her first formal grilling in the Commons. Health and social care committee chair Jeremy Hunt pressured Harding to explain why only “three per cent of the total theoretical [...]