Top story: ‘Freedom to protest is fundamental to democracy’
Hello and welcome to your first dose of briefing news for the week, with me, Alison Rourke.
Demonstrations against plans to give police increased powers to shut down peaceful protests turned violent in Bristol last night, as police vans were set alight, a police station was attacked and several officers were injured. What had begun as a sitdown protest outside a police station escalated into violence, with riot police, dogs and horses deployed as police station windows were smashed. Priti Patel described the scenes as “thuggery and disorder by a minority” that would not be tolerated. Bristol’s mayor, Marvin Rees, criticised the violence as counterproductive, saying that rather than stopping government plans to increase police powers, the “lawlessness on show” will be “used as evidence and promote the need for the bill”. The scenes follow a week of demonstrations in response to the Metropolitan police’s crackdown on a vigil for Sarah Everard, who was allegedly murdered by a serving police officer. The bill, if passed, would give the police in England and Wales more power to impose conditions on non-violent protests, including those deemed too noisy or a nuisance, with protesters potentially facing fines or prison sentences.
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EU vaccine export ban– Britain’s Covid jab rollout faces a two-month delay if the EU imposes an export ban, potentially derailing the government’s plans to reopen the economy this summer. On Thursday, the 27 member states will debate the matter, which would likely force an extension of Covid restrictions here. But according to analysis by the data analytics company Airfinity, any EU ban would not provide a big boost to the bloc’s jab rollout. The analysis estimated it may only speed up the vaccination time for EU adults by “just over a week”. The prime minister, Boris Johnson, is expected to speak to his European counterparts ahead of Thursday’s meeting. Some of the most clinically vulnerable are yet to be vaccinated, according to Guardian analysis. The TUC has urged the government to put pressure on employers who it claims are hindering the UK’s vaccine rollout by refusing to give staff paid time off to receive and recover from their Covid jabs. And the PM has been warned that lifting the ban on foreign holidays in the coming months could risk another lockdown next winter, as concern grows over a third wave of infections in Europe. Stay up to date on all the Covid developments on our live blog.
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Australia floods – Thousands have been forced to evacuate their homes as floodwaters devastate large parts of the country’s most populous state, New South Wales. In western Sydney, rising waters threatened multiple suburbs and the prime minister warned the damage across the state could be significant. “We are grateful at this point that no lives have been lost so far,” Scott Morrison said. Three weather systems have crashed together to create the worst flooding seen in 50 years in many areas. On the weekend, Sydney’s major dam, Warragamba, released 500 gigalitres – the equivalent of the entire volume of Sydney Harbour – in 24 hours. The ongoing deluge has prompted “horrific” swarms of spiders to escape the rain into homes – and up legs. You can see pictures of the flooding here.
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Multiple sclerosis – Doctors in the UK are to launch a world-first clinical trial to assess whether drugs already on the market can prevent MS from worsening over time and even reverse the disabilities it causes. The groundbreaking Octopus trial, so named because of its various arms, will allow researchers to investigate the potential benefits of several drugs at once, in the hope of identifying effective new treatments three times faster than if the medicines were trialled separately. “It’s the first multi-arm, multi-stage trial for progressive MS in the world,” said Prof Jeremy Chataway, one of the trial’s co-leads.
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‘Fertile recruitment ground’ – Instagram has become a hub for young neo-Nazis to recruit young people to far-right groups, a report from an anti-racism group has warned. Hope Not Hate (HNH) identified two far-right groups active in the UK – The British Hand and the National Partisan Movement – which have used the Facebook-owned platform to recruit members. HNH found the Covid-19 pandemic has sped up the move of the British far right from the streets to online.
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Writer’s block – Douglas Adams was one of the most wildly imaginative writers of any generation but even for him, writing could be a torturous process, requiring a “general note to myself” that he would finally get pleasure from it. The previously unseen note will appear in a crowdfunded book that shines light on Adams’ best-known work, including Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy and Dirk Gently. “Writing isn’t so bad really when you get through the worry,” he wrote to himself. “Forget about the worry, just press on. Don’t be embarrassed about the bad bits. Don’t strain at them.”
Today in Focus podcast: Prof Neil Ferguson on a year of Covid
When the UK government announced a full national lockdown a year ago, it pointed to a devastating report based on the modelling data of one of Britain’s most influential epidemiologists: Prof Neil Ferguson. It showed that unless the government changed course it was heading for a disaster that could result in the deaths of 250,000 people and the NHS being overwhelmed within weeks. He talks to Anushka Asthana about the year that changed our lives.
Lunchtime read: ‘I need to express myself’
In 1985, the actor Christopher Lloyd was shooting himself through time in a DeLorean with a skateboarding Michael J Fox. He had not long since played a Klingon commander in Star Trek III: The Search for Spock. Fast forward to today, and he’s William Shatner’s friend in the romcom Senior Moment. Soon, he will be King Lear. In an interview about fame, friendship and marriage, Toby Moses asks if there is a logic to his apparently chaotic career?
Sport
Eddie Jones is facing crunch talks with the Rugby Football Union chief executive, Bill Sweeney, as part of a review into England’s poor Six Nations campaign with the head coach’s contract understood to contain a break clause. Rugby chiefs have condemned online abuse targeted at Wales players after their Six Nations grand slam dreams were ended.
The Manchester United midfielder Fred was the subject of racist abuse after his side’s 3-1 FA Cup quarter-final defeat to Leicester on Sunday. Tottenham’s Premier League victory at Aston Villa showed some of Jose Mourinho’s players are willing to play for their manager, but whether they will do so consistently remains to be seen. Alexandre Lacazette scored the equaliser as Arsenal came from three goals down to salvage a 3-3 draw at West Ham, while Bristol City held Tottenham to a 1-1 draw at The Hive to climb off the bottom of the Women’s Super League. For 15 minutes at least, Gavin Henson’s rugby league debut seemed to be going to plan, but his West Wales Raiders debut was a fairly brutal exhibition of just how difficult this surprise transition between codes can be. And Katherine Diaz, El Salvador’s top surfer who had been preparing for the sport’s Olympic debut this summer, has been struck and killed by lightning during a training session.
Business
A year of Covid-19 lockdowns has cost the UK economy £251bn – the equivalent of the entire annual output of the south-east of England or nearly twice that of Scotland, according to a report published today. Analysis by the Centre for Economics and Business Research found that while the whole of the country had suffered huge damage from restrictions on activity since the first national lockdown began, some poorer regions had suffered the most. The consultancy said the north-south gap would widen unless the government took steps to ensure that the less well-off parts of the UK did not disproportionately bear the economic losses caused by the pandemic. Meanwhile, at least 40% of households in four London boroughs are having to claim help with affording a place to live as the economic impact of Covid-19 exacerbates the housing crisis in urban areas. In Newham, Haringey, Barnet and Hackney, 40% or more of households are now reliant on benefits – such as the housing element of universal credit – to meet part of their housing costs, according to the Conservative thinktank Bright Blue.
The pound is buying €1.163 and $1.384.
The papers
The EU’s ban on vaccine exports gets top billing in several papers. “EU ban on exports could delay UK vaccine drive by two months,” says the Guardian, adding that foreign holidays “risk new lockdown”. The Telegraph splashes with EU move to block AstraZeneca jab exports, and the Times has “Don’t start vaccine war, Britain tells EU leaders”. The Express takes a stab at Europe’s vaccine rollout, highlighting the UK’s speed: “844,285 jabs in one day! That’s how to do it, EU”. The Mail leads with the “Shattering price of lockdown”, reporting its “huge impact on health and economy” as the EU vaccine block “threatens to hit Britain’s rollout for MONTHS”. The i has “Taxpayers left with bill for test-and-trace waste”, and the FT gives top billing to “Virus surge and new lockdowns cast shadow on Europe’s economy”.
Finally, the Mirror splashes with ITV’s Kate Garraway on her husband’s battle with long Covid: “Kate: Derek told me ‘I just can’t go on’”.
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