Some rationality called for amidst the drumbeat to restrictions December 14, 2021 Who would have thought that just five years after the Brexit referendum, Wetherspoon boss Tim Martin and the CBI would be back on the same side. Truly, Covid-19 has made for the strangest of bedfellows. Both have railed, reasonably, against the new Plan B restrictions which are well on their way to being passed into [...]
City Hall warns failure to fund TfL will leave £2.1bn hole in Treasury’s finances December 14, 2021 A failure to strike a long-term funding deal for TfL would result in a £12bn hit to the capital’s economy, according to new City Hall analysis.
Online harms: Westminster committee calls for online giants to be forced to remove scam ads December 14, 2021 Social media giants should be forced to take down paid-for scam advertisements through new online regulations, according to a joint committee of Lords and MPs. The Joint Committee on the Draft Online Safety Bill, a collection of peers and MPs that are scrutinising the government’s proposed online reforms, said Boris Johnson’s government “should introduce legislation [...]
Covid passes invalid unless holders have three jabs as Omicron set to become most dominant variant in the UK December 13, 2021 Sajid Javid tells MPs that Covid passes will not be valid unless holders have had two jabs and a booster, rather than just two jabs, "once all adults have had a reasonable chance to get their booster jab".
Russia invasion of Ukraine would have ‘significant consequences’, Johnson tells Putin December 13, 2021 Boris Johnson has today warned Russia President Vladimir Putin that there will be “significant consequences” if he moves to invade Ukraine. The pair spoke this afternoon, with a Number 10 spokesperson saying that Johnson “expressed the United Kingdom’s deep concern over the build-up of Russian forces on Ukraine’s border, and reiterated the importance of working [...]
Gas prices rise amid escalating Russia tensions and Nord Stream 2 uncertainty December 13, 2021 Gas prices have surged amid growing tensions over Russian troops at the Ukrainian border and increased Nord Stream 2 pipeline uncertainty.
Lateral flow kits run out on government website amid high demand December 13, 2021 Rapid home testing kits are no longer available on the government website as the Omicron Covid-19 variant runs riot.
Brexit: UK-EU talks on Northern Ireland resume this week as UK sets ‘no time limit’ on discussions December 13, 2021 Talks between the UK and the EU on the post-Brexit Northern Ireland Protocol will resume this week, with Number 10 today putting no “set limit” for how long negotiations will drag on. Defacto Brexit secretary Lord David Frost and his EU counterpart Maros Sefcovic will meet twice this week to try and move talks forward, [...]
At least one Omicron patient has died, confirms Boris Johnson December 13, 2021 The Prime Minister has pushed people to get boosters, confirming at least one patient now has died with the Omicron variant of Covid-19.
Avoidable errors have left Ukraine at the mercy of the Kremlin December 13, 2021 Cast your mind back to 2012 and the US Presidential election. Apart from the striking civility of political debate even a decade ago, what’s most memorable about the campaign is Barack Obama’s savage putdown to Mitt Romney’s foreign policy credo. “The 1980s called – it wants its foreign policy back,” said the President. Romney’s crime [...]