News and Opinion

A coronavirus vaccine being developed at the University of Oxford is safe and induces an immune reaction, preliminary results of the study show. Researchers say their tests have revealed that the jab could provide double protection against Covid-19. The early stage trial found that the vaccine is safe and causes few side effects. It also […]

The chief nursing officer for England has suggested she might have been dropped from daily Downing Street press briefings because she refused to support Dominic Cummings’ lockdown-breaking trip to County Durham in public. Ruth May told a Commons committee on public administration that she was dumped from coronavirus press conferences after having suggested that ‘everyone’ […]

A long-awaited report on alleged Russian interference in British democracy will be published on Tuesday, despite attempts from a leading Brexiteer to delay the publication further. The report’s publication was made ready in March last year, but eventually delayed by Boris Johnson’s decision to call a general election and the need to re-establish parliament’s Intelligence […]

Boris Johnson will meet with senior ministers in the first cabinet meeting in person since the coronavirus lockdown in March, where face masks will not be compulsory. In order to comply with coronavirus guidance to maintain a safe distance, the prime minister’s senior team will meet in the grand surroundings of the Foreign Office rather […]

A Brexiteer has claimed that the Russia report is an attempt to ‘sabotage’ Brexit and to discredit the referendum result. The report was finalised last March and still had not been approved by the prime minister’s office last October when the general election was called. The publication could have been delayed beyond the summer recess […]

A TV doctor has blasted the government’s handling of the coronavirus crisis, branding the actions of some officials as ‘unforgivable’. Dr Sarah Jarvis appeared on Good Morning Britain to fill in for Dr Hilary Jones, who regular presents medical advice on the show, when she accused ministers of hypocrisy. She told presenters Ben Shephard and […]

Billionaire Brexit backer Arron Banks has called on the Commons intelligence committee to show him any references in the Russia report that reference his name before the document is published. The Leave.EU founder has challenged the House of Commons Intelligence and Security Committee to give him sight of the document before it is published, should […]

A picture of the birthday cards sent to Scotland’s first minister captured social media’s attention after one appeared to mock Boris Johnson. Nicola Sturgeon celebrated her 50th birthday over the weekend with one card getting plenty of attention on Twitter after her husband SNP chief executive Peter Murrell posted a snapshot on the website. Sitting […]

The government has admitted that England’s track and trace programme has broken data protection laws in a letter to privacy campaigners. The Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) confirmed it failed to carry out a risk assessment on how the system would affect the privacy of its subjects. Open Rights Group (ORG) claims that […]

The government has signed deals for 90 million doses of promising Covid-19 vaccines, in addition to the 100 million doses of a vaccine being developed by Oxford Universiy. The latest deal is for vaccines being developed by an alliance between the pharmaceutical giants BioNtech and Pfizer as well as the firm Valneva. Kate Bingham, chairwoman […]

Ministers from the Republic of Ireland are set to ask citizens not to travel to the UK as it releases a list of safe travel destinations. Anyone looking to travel to the UK will instead have to quarantine, Ireland’s foreign minister has warned. The restrictions will be in place regardless of Britain adding Ireland onto […]

Ex-Labour MP and Vote Leave chair Gisela Stuart and former cricketer Sir Ian Botham are expected to be part of the Brexit supporters to receive a life peerage. They are among 30 new peers to be announced later this month, according to The Times. The list is said also to include four ex-Labour MPs – […]

A coronavirus outbreak has been confirmed at an NHS Test and Trace call centre. Measures have been brought in by NHS Lanarkshire to try to suppress the outbreak, which flared up at the Sitel site in Motherwell. NHS Test and Trace is a service operated by the NHS in England to track and help prevent […]

Cornwall council has called on the government to provide it with £700 million in funding which the Brexit-backing region will lose when it leaves the EU. Council chief executive Kate Kennally will meet with local government minister Simon Clarke at the end of July to discuss a plan to plug the shortfall in cash, which […]

Will Self on the enduring appeal of silent films and the bygone movie era. An oddity of silent films is that you can play just about any piece of classical music to accompany them – beginning at a random point for both the visuals and the soundtrack – and the two will mysteriously coordinate. No, […]

A Tory MP who wore black face at a fancy dress party when dressing up as James Brown has complained ‘people lost their sense of humour’ about it. In an interview with the Telegraph’s Chopper’s Politics podcast, Sir Desmond Swayne claimed ‘people have lost their sense of proportion and sense of humour’ over blacking up. […]

More than 400 NHS and public health professionals have signed an open letter calling on the health service to be protected from post-Brexit trade deals. Among the supporters are senior and high profile figures from the health service, health publishing and academia – including The Lancet editor Richard Horton and the president of the Faculty […]

A radio caller has highlighted a major flaw in Boris Johnson’s latest coronavirus plans which could stop schools from reconvening in September. Pat, whose son is a teacher, outlined a major conundrum facing schools as a result of new coronavirus guidelines. On Friday, the prime minister shared a raft of new measure aimed at opening […]

Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer has said it is time for Boris Johnson to ‘be honest’ about his mistakes during the coronavirus mistakes. Asked if he thought the government’s roadmap out of lockdown is credible, Sir Keir said the Labour Party will be ‘looking into the details’ before commenting. ‘This can’t be done on a […]

Boris Johnson’s latest coronavirus announcement has left so many people confused over how to comply with new measures that it’s led to a new Twitter trend. Prime minister Johnson announced a lifting of coronavirus lockdown restrictions during a live press conference from Downing Street on Friday. Alongside plans to reopen workplaces, Britons can also begin […]

James O’Brien has accused Boris Johnson of further confusing the public over how to comply with new coronavirus measures which were announced on Friday. The prime minister announced a raft of new measures to return Britain ‘to normality’ by Christmas during a live Downing Street briefing. The prime minister introduced plans to allow employers to […]

PETER TRUDGILL tackles a burning issue that has been prompting debate among readers. The word portmanteau refers to a largish travelling bag which opens up into two equal parts. The word was originally borrowed into English from French; and for that reason it was sometimes pluralised as portmanteaux rather than portmanteaus. But it first arrived […]

Boris Johnson has suggested that Britain could ‘return to normality’ by Christmas during a coronavirus press briefing. Johnson announced a raft of new measures aimed at the easing of lockdown including an end to the work-from-home policy by August 1st, allowing local authorities to declare a lockdown, and the reopening of leisure centres and theatres. […]

Health secretary Matt Hancock has ordered an urgent review into how daily Covid-19 death figures are calculated by Public Health England (PHE). PHE’s figures feed into the daily death statistics published by the Department for Health and Social Care (DHSC). In a blog entitled ‘Why no-one can ever recover from Covid-19 in England – a […]

Iain Duncan Smith has accused scientists on the Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies (SAGE) of getting coronavirus measures ‘completely wrong from the start’. The former Tory leader was responding to official SAGE advice calling for work-from-home measures to remain in place when he claimed advisors had no right to tell employers what to do because […]

Health secretary Matt Hancock has claimed the UK entered lockdown a week before Boris Johnson officially announced it. Hancock attempted to bat away Labour questions highlighting comments from Sir Patrick Vallance, the government’s chief scientific adviser, in which he suggested Sage advised ministers on March 16 to move to a full lockdown as soon as […]

John Bercow has slammed Boris Johnson and Tory whips over their attack on the new Intelligence and Security Committee (ISC) chair after he sidestepped them to take the role, labelling it as a case of ‘juvenile bed-wetting’. The former speaker of the House of Commons described Downing Street’s revenge campaign against Julian Lewis, a Tory […]

TIM WALKER recalls working with the creative polymath Sir Peter Ustinov. If ever there was a model European, it was Sir Peter Ustinov. It was working for the first European newspaper – the one launched by Robert Maxwell in the 1990s – that I got to know him. Maxwell may have thought of Ustinov as […]

Vince Cable has urged the Lib Dems to work with Labour, rather than against the party, as it considers a strategy for rebuilding the party. In understanding the party’s 2019 result, the former Lib Dem leader told Prospect that ‘a toxic mix of nastiness and wildly unrealistic utopian economics’ from Labour leadership under Jeremy Corbyn […]

The Floridian city has a prolific record of producing boisterous, exuberant music. SOPHIA DEBOICK reports. Miami is the party city without rival, and its music has rarely deviated from pure aural sunshine. But for all idyllic associations, its geographical location has meant it has faced directly into geo-political strife. In the 15 years after the […]

MP Lloyd Russell-Moyle has stepped down from the Labour front bench, saying he had been the victim of a ‘torrent of online hate’ because of a ‘campaign by the right-wing media’. The Brighton Kemptown representative’s departure from the shadow cabinet is the latest exit of an ally of former Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn. Sir Keir […]

Readers have their say on the Leave.EU campaign’s move to New Zealand to support populist Kiwi politician Winston Peters. I notice from Steve Anglesey’s column that arch-Brexiteers Arron Banks and Andy Wigmore have been in New Zealand campaigning against the incumbent prime minister, Jacinda Ardern, and her ruling party (‘Laughing all the way to Banks’ […]