Top story: ‘I urge people not to accept this’
Good morning and welcome to this Monday briefing with me, Alison Rourke.
Aung San Suu Kyi and senior members of the government of Myanmar, including the president, have been detained in early morning raids. She has called for public protests and encouraged her supporters to resist: “I urge people not to accept this, to respond and wholeheartedly to protest against the coup by the military,” a statement released in her name said. Phone lines to the capital were down, state TV said it could not broadcast, and soldiers were on the streets of the capital. The military announced it had taken control and declared a state of emergency for a year, with power handed to commander-in-chief General Min Aung Hlaing. Viewed as the country’s de facto leader, Aung San Suu Kyi spent nearly 15 years under house arrest until 2010. She became a symbol of resistance against 50 years of junta and despite being criticised internationally for not stopping the persecution of Rohingya Muslims, remains beloved inside the country. Her party’s landslide victory in November was questioned by the generals, who alleged voter fraud. Her arrest came hours before parliament was due to hold its first session.
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‘Exhausted and traumatised’ – The NHS will take months to return to normal after Covid, because its workforce is “exhausted and traumatised”, according to a senior hospital trusts boss. Chris Hopson, the chief executive of NHS Providers, says “very large numbers” will go on long-term sick leave or leave their jobs because of the stress of seeing huge numbers of people die and being unable to decompress after working so intensely. Patients should not expect a speedy return to treatment services and cancelled surgeries, including for cancer, will take time to return to normal. “There’s potentially quite a tension between giving staff who are completely exhausted the space and support they need to recover, and at the same time the NHS recovering the backlogs of care that have built up, particularly in the hospital sector,” said Hopson, whose organisation represents England’s 240 NHS trusts. The warning comes as the NHS is expected to reveal today that it has offered vaccines to all older residents in care homes in England. In another milestone, a record nearly 600,000 people were vaccinated on Saturday. Meanwhile, Captain Tom Moore, whose charity walks raised £39m for the NHS, was admitted to hospital yesterday with Covid-19 and pneumonia. A family spokesperson said he had not been vaccinated because of the medication that was treating the pneumonia.
In other Covid news, the pandemic could cost children £350bn in earnings due to lost learning, according to the Institute for Fiscal Studies. UK patients are dying needlessly due to unfounded fears about ventilators, doctors say, with some critically ill people refusing intubation, wrongly associating it with a higher risk of death. US experts have warned that a “hurricane is coming” over fears the UK variant will become the dominant strain of the virus in the country. Stay up to date with all the daily developments on our live blog.
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Impeachment – Donald Trump has hired a new defence team for next week’s trial in the Senate, after his previous team fell apart after mass resignations. The former president has until Tuesday to submit a preliminary memo laying out his defence. The new team is not without controversy: David Schoen defended Roger Stone (who was convicted in November 2019 of obstructing a congressional investigation into whether the Trump campaign colluded with Russia to win the 2016 election) and also met with sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. The other new lead lawyer, Bruce Castor, is a former acting attorney general of Pennsylvania and a prominent Republican who has been criticised by advocates for victims of sexual crimes because of his stance against reforms involving help for past victims of Catholic priests. He gained notoriety for declining to prosecute Bill Cosby when he was a district attorney in 2005.
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Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe – The Foreign Office has told the husband of jailed British-Iranian dual national to stop publicising plans to free her on 7 March or else risk jeopardising her release from prison. Richard Ratcliffe rejected the advice, writing on Twitter: “We continue to believe that transparency is the best form of protection from abuse. We have also made clear that the government’s role is to remind the Iranian authorities that Nazanin has the UK’s protection not to act as a messenger for the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps mafia tactics and suppression.” Zaghari-Ratcliffe is under house arrest at her parents’ home in Tehran and is due to complete her five-year sentence for spying on 7 March.
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Steer clear – Thames Water has been discharging untreated sewage into a chalk stream in Buckinghamshire, causing what campaigners say is untold harm to infant trout and habitats in the river. The discharges into the River Chess in Chesham occurred days after the head of the environment agency told MPs that this should never happen, although he later qualified his remarks to allow for some exceptional circumstances. Paul Jennings, chairman of the River Chess Association, said it had been notified of the sewage releases, which Thames Water says are legally permitted, every day except one over the past week. Jennings is planning to erect signs along the river to alert the public to the discharges.
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‘Couldn’t be prouder’ – Veteran environmental activist Dan Hooper, known as Swampy, who is one of nine protesters in a tunnel in central London to raise the alarm about the environmental destruction they believe the high speed rail project HS2 will cause, is in the tunnel with his 16-year-old son, Rory, it has emerged. “To begin with, I didn’t want Rory to be in the tunnel for the eviction, but he was absolutely adamant that he would stay down there with me for it,” Hooper said. “He did help dig it and it is his future at stake, and that of other young people like him, so I couldn’t really argue. He reminds me of what I was like at his age and I just couldn’t be prouder of him.”
Today in Focus podcast: Conversations with kids about coronavirus
Anushka Asthana talks to children across the country about what life has been like under lockdown.
Lunchtime read: Charlene White – ‘I just want to be authentically me’
The broadcaster has just become co-host of the popular chatshow Loose Women. She talks to Elen E Jones about impartiality, her pride in ITV, her joy over Kamala Harris’s election (“This is a woman who you will not be able to ignore”) and being the first black woman to read ITV’s News at 10.
Sport
George Ford has warned England’s rivals he is ready to unleash his new kicking weapon as the Six Nations champions seek to sharpen their attacking instincts during the defence of their title. Jürgen Klopp believes Liverpool are hitting their stride again, as a convincing 3-1 win against West Ham was accompanied by the news the club are finally preparing to sign a centre-back. The British & Irish Lions have confirmed Australia’s surprise offer to stage this summer’s series against South Africa is on the table, but the Guardian understands it is likely to be rejected. Ben Foakes will make his Test return during the current tour of India but he has decided to eschew any thoughts of trying to nail down a permanent spot as England’s wicketkeeper after his experience two years ago. After easing to a four-stroke victory at the Dubai Desert Classic, Paul Casey believes he has a “good chance” at the next Masters in April. Katarina Johnson-Thompson has suffered an achilles injury but says it will not affect her plans for the Tokyo Olympics in the summer. And Harlequins threw off the shackles to begin life after Paul Gustard with a thumping six-try win over Wasps and breathe new life into their season.
Business
Wealthy people in the UK are buying more luxury supercars than ever before, according to Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency figures shared with the Guardian. Almost 16,000 supercars – such as Ferrari, Bugatti, Aston Martin, Maserati and Koenigsegg models – were registered at UK addresses in the year to December 2019, according to figures released after a freedom of information request.
Silver prices have surged to a five-month high today, silver-mining stocks leapt and coin-selling websites were swamped as small-time investors piled in to the metal, the latest focus of a retail-trading frenzy that has set financial markets on edge. Silver has become the latest asset to surge after the GameStop frenzy, when Redditors drove up the share price that big fund managers had bet against.
The pound is buying $1.373 and €1.1326.
The papers
Captain Tom Moore’s hospitalisation for Covid gets top billing in many papers, alongside the vaccination rollout in care homes. The Guardian carries a large picture of the 100-year-old, who shot to fame with his sponsored walks, alongside the headline: “Record jabs in UK as EU supply row continues”. But the Guardian’s splash warns that the “NHS will take ‘months’ to return to normal after Covid crisis ends”. The Telegraph and the Times both carry large pictures of Moore alongside the respective headlines “Vaccine rollout to care homes complete” and, slightly more upbeat: “PM heralds vaccination victory for care homes”. The i says Moore “captured the nation’s heart” and splashes with “UK breaks vaccination record with 600,000 jabs in a day”. The Mirror leads with “Captain Tom in hospital with Covid” and the news that he didn’t get the vaccine because he has also been fighting pneumonia. The Sun and Mail ask readers to “Pray for Tom”, with the Mail headlining its coverage with “Covid’s lost generation”, detailing the financial impact the pandemic is expected to have on children. The Express strikes a positive note: “9m jabs … on our way to a great British summer!”, while the FT reports the international repercussions of the vaccine row: “Brussels rushes to calm global anger over vaccine export curbs”.
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