Jo Swinson visits Imagination Technologies on campaign trail
Jo Swinson has visited Imagination Technologies in Kings Langley during her campaign for the General Election. The Lib Dems leader learned about the latest trends in computer science.
Britain faces a three-month lockdown "halfway house" after Easter, with a full reopening delayed until all over-50s have had their second dose of the vaccine, The Telegraph understands. Ministers are considering proposals to begin reopening swathes of the economy in April under similar restrictions to those in place over the summer, with “rule of six” and social distancing measures in force in pubs and restaurants. A return to full normality will be delayed for at least 12 to 14 weeks to allow for all over-50s to have their second dose of the vaccine, according to a source familiar with the discussions. Ministers are keen to reopen hospitality venues in some capacity before the G7 summit in the second week of June, when the UK will host world leaders in Carbis Bay, Cornwall. National measures will be eased in advance of the summit, allowing pubs, restaurants and tourism to begin to trade again. Boris Johnson has previously suggested that England will return to the geographic tier system after the lockdown ends, but sources suggested the tiers may apply to the whole country rather than to specific areas. “The appetite for regional tiers will only come if you have large swathes of the country that are significantly lower in case numbers and new variant case numbers and hospitalisations,” a source said.
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Nicola Sturgeon has refused to confirm that she would quit as First Minister if it is found that she deliberately lied to Holyrood over the Alex Salmond affair, as she accused her predecessor of spreading “false conspiracy theories” about her. The First Minister insisted she had not misled the Scottish Parliament about her handling of sexual harassment complaints against Mr Salmond, as two inquiries examining her conduct, which her opponents believe could see her forced from office, gather pace. In a submission to an investigation into whether Ms Sturgeon broke the ministerial code, Mr Salmond said statements which Ms Sturgeon made to Holyrood about when she first became aware of complaints against him were “simply untrue”.
Speaking ahead of Holocaust Memorial Day on January 27, retired medical doctor Dr Martin Stern, 80, recalled how, as an infant living in the same Amsterdam neighbourhood as Anne Frank in 1942, he was taken in by Cathrien and Johannes Rademaker, friends of his parents, following the death of his mother in hospital, and while his father was in hiding from the Nazis.
When their beloved cocker spaniel, Lupo, died last month, the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge were heartbroken. But their grief was tempered by the arrival of a new puppy, with whom the whole family is said to be “besotted.” The new cocker spaniel, whose name has not yet been revealed, was given to the family by the Duchess’s brother, James Middleton, before Lupo died. And ensuring it remains a family affair, the puppy is Lupo’s niece. Mr Middleton, 33, bred his first litter of puppies from his dog Ella in 2011. He kept one, called Luna, but gave her brother Lupo to the Duchess in early 2012 after the Duke deployed for six weeks to the Falkland Islands while serving as an RAF search and rescue pilot. Last summer, Mr Middleton, who at the time was staying with his parents at their Berkshire home, bred another litter of six puppies with Luna as their mother. The Cambridges, along with their children Prince George, seven, Princess Charlotte, five, and Prince Louis, two, are said to have had the pick of the litter.
Conservative MPs warned the Prime Minister that children are becoming the ‘forgotten victims’ of the pandemic.
The acrimonious split within Republican ranks widened over the weekend as Donald Trump made his foray back into politics, backing the re-election of a hard-line supporter as chair of the party in Arizona. His wholehearted support for Kelli Ward was seen by allies as the former president firing a warning shot across the bows of any Republican senators considering backing his impeachment. Underlining Mr Trump’s grip on the Republican grassroots, the Arizona party also voted to censure John McCain’s widow, Cindy, former senator Jeff Flake and governor Doug Ducey, who refused to back the former president’s claims of election fraud. Mr Trump’s intervention came amid reports that he is considering setting up a “Patriot Party” which would spearhead primary challenges to his opponents in the 2022 mid-term elections. The former president has already amassed a massive war chest with his Save America political action committee declaring last month that it had raked in $207.5 million in donations.
‘The new variant I really worry about is the one that’s out there but hasn’t been spotted’
NHS vaccine centres are offering Covid jabs to friends and family aged under 70 in breach of national policy, The Telegraph can disclose. Senior NHS sources threatened to take disciplinary action against hospitals and GPs across the country offering leftover jabs to relatives and friends of staff despite being outside the top four priority cohorts. Health bosses have insisted that drawing up a ‘friends and family list’ helps avoid waste by ensuring that they never throw away any Pfizer vaccine, which comes in boxes of 975 doses and can only be stored for five days once thawed. However, ministers are understood to be determined that younger people with a connection to NHS staff should not be allowed to “jump the queue” over the vulnerable and elderly. A Whitehall source said vaccine centres must do more to create "a back up list" of patients and staff within the top four cohorts who can receive jabs at short notice. It came as the Government announced a new record-high number of 491,970 first doses administered in just 24 hours, taking the total number who have received a first dose to 6.35 million. The Government will also announce that it will pay community vaccine champions to help persuade their peers in minority ethnic groups to take up the offer of a jab. Nadhim Zahawi, the vaccines minister, will also write to BAME (black and minority ethnic) MPs expressing his concern about low take-up of the vaccine among certain groups and encourage them to promote the community champions scheme.
A blast from the past.From Digital Spy
The United Arab Emirates (UAE) has announced the establishment of its embassy in Tel Aviv as the US national security advisor announced that America hopes to build “on the success of Israel’s normalisation agreements” under the Biden administration. The UAE cabinet decision to approve establishing the embassy comes after they signed the Abraham Accords in September, becoming the first Gulf state to establish a full diplomatic relationship with Israel. No further details about the embassy were given in UAE media. While Israel’s government recognises Jerusalem as its capital, the international community does not, with Palestinians claiming East Jerusalem as the capital of a future Palestinian state. Most countries base their embassies in Tel Aviv. Before the deal, Israel only had peace deals with only two Arab countries, Egypt and Jordan - where it has fortified embassies. Most Arab countries had previously refrained from recognising Israel, believing that recognition should only be granted if serious concessions are made in the Palestinian peace process. Bahrain, Sudan and Morocco later agreed to follow in the UAE’s footsteps and normalise ties with Israel under US-brokered deals.
Schoolchildren have become the pandemic’s “forgotten victims”, Tory MPs have warned Boris Johnson, amid a growing backlash against plans that could keep classrooms closed until Easter. A dozen Conservative MPs, including the former Cabinet minister Esther McVey and Sir Graham Brady, chairman of the 1922 Committee of Tory backbenchers, have backed a campaign by the parents’ pressure group UsforThem to fully reopen schools. They argue that the schools shutdown means education has become an “optional extra”, with the gulf between the most disadvantaged children and their wealthier peers growing “by the day”. At the same time, the pressure on parents who are trying to hold down full-time jobs while also acting as teachers “is simply becoming too much”, they say, meaning schools should reopen now. Gavin Williamson, the Education Secretary, is expected to announce as soon as this week that schools will remain shut to all but the most vulnerable and children of key workers beyond the February half-term break. On Sunday Matt Hancock, the Health Secretary, said the full reopening of schools before the Easter holiday was merely a “hope” rather than an expectation.
An SNP plan to hold an independence referendum without the consent of Westminster has been branded “deluded” and “pointless” by constitutional experts. At an internal SNP online assembly on Sunday, party activists and politicians discussed a new “roadmap” to independence, published at the weekend, which raises the prospect of a court battle with UK ministers if they resist an attempt to hold a new vote. The 11-point plan states that if a majority of pro-independence MSPs are elected after May’s election, an SNP government would once again request a Section 30 order from the UK Government allowing it to organise a new referendum. However, should the request be refused - as Boris Johnson has repeatedly insisted it would be - SNP ministers would seek to legislate for one anyway. The strategy, written by SNP minister Mike Russell, acknowledges that the UK Government could seek to block a referendum on the grounds that it is outwith Holyrood’s powers, but adds that such court action would be “vigorously opposed by an SNP Scottish Government”.
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Boris Johnson faces a major Tory revolt this week over plans to allow children to be used as spies by state agencies against their parents. Iain Duncan Smith, the former Tory leader, and David Davis, former Brexit secretary, are among Tory MPs backing rebel proposals to restrict the use of children as spies when the Covert Human Intelligence Source (CHIS) bill returns to the Commons. Mr Davis told The Telegraph the Government faces a major backlash if it pushed ahead with the plans. “Everyone I have spoken to has been horrified by it when it has been explained to them,” he said. “It will allow 16 and 17-year-olds to spy on their parents. It also authorises them to commit crimes as well, so it needs to be extremely tightly controlled and those controls need to be greater than what the Government is proposing.” Mr Duncan Smith said: “Once you start taking action like this to put spies in people’s homes whatever the purpose, this does have complications. It is very important for Government to recognise that this is not something that should be easily done in a democratic state.” The Government was defeated on its plans in the Lords by 339 to 254 votes earlier this month but now plans to try to overturn the peers’ amendment this week in the Commons when the CHIS bill returns to be considered by MPs. Even if the Government wins, it is likely to lead to a major Commons versus Lords 'ping-pong' battle because of the scale of opposition in the upper house which was led by Lord Young, a former Tory chief whip and cabinet minister. Opponents comprised 13 Tories, including former Cabinet ministers Lord Randall, Lord Garnier, a former solicitor general, and Baroness Warsi, as well as 79 crossbenchers, four bishops, the Labour Party and Liberal Democrats. Among the crossbenchers opposed was former Cabinet Secretary Lord Butler, former independent reviewer of terrorism laws Lord Anderson, former national security adviser Lord Ricketts, Lord Janvrin, the Queen’s former private secretary, former Archbishop of Canterbury Lord Carey, and ex-permanent secretaries and ambassadors. The Government’s CHIS bill allows children to be used as undercover spies by more than 20 state agencies. Covert child agents can break the law if it means they will be able to glean information that could prevent or detect crime, protect public health, safety, or national security or help collect taxes, says the guidance, quietly laid by the Government this month. Older children aged 16 and 17 could even be recruited to spy on their parents if they were suspected of being involved in crime or terrorism. However, the guidance said child spies should only be recruited or deployed in “exceptional circumstances,” with their handlers required to give “primary consideration” to the need to “safeguard and promote the best interests of the juvenile". Critics said the Government’s safeguards did not go far enough and in the Lords passed the amendment which would prevent their deployment if there was a risk of "any foreseeable harm". The Government plans to overturn the amendment this week, because it claims the restrictions it imposes could backfire by making it more difficult even to extricate children from county lines gangs. “We must make sure that we get the safeguards right, otherwise we risk making the capability unworkable which would put children at further risk,” said a Government source. Labour MP Stella Creasy, who has led the parliamentary campaign against the plan, said: “If your 16 or 17-year-old child was arrested for shoplifting, the police would have tell you and ensure an appropriate adult was there when you spoke to them. “But here they are creating a loophole to recruit child spies without any such protection. The Government faces strong opposition in the Lords and in the Commons too and must urgently rethink their plans.”