Kevin McCloud explains how a CARAVAN helped him film Grand Designs!

The vehicle has been keeping him safe while filming the show

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  • How the UK's vaccine gamble paid off – and the EU left itself without a leg to stand on

    Back in March, the University of Oxford was on the brink of signing a deal with the German drugs giant Merck to research and develop a coronavirus vaccine. The Government stepped in and helped steer Oxford towards a partnership with British-based AstraZeneca instead, taking a huge gamble by helping to fund the research and development of a vaccine that might have proved useless. Instead, the Oxford vaccine became only the second in the Western world to be approved for use, and both the UK and AstraZeneca are now reaping the benefits of the deal that was struck last April. AstraZeneca has, so far, remained fiercely loyal to the Government, resolutely refusing to give in to EU demands that it should redirect supplies of its UK-made vaccine to the bloc. But that close relationship has come under unprecedented strain as the company found itself under huge pressure from Brussels.

  • Grandmother ‘overjoyed’ to be outside after receiving Covid-19 vaccine killed in Portland vehicle attack

    Police have not released a motive in the attack

  • US takes aim at China territorial claims as Biden vows to back Japan

    US takes aim at China territorial claims as Biden vows to back JapanUS president smooths over Trump-era complaints to deepen Japan security alliance as new secretary of state rejects Beijing’s South China Sea claims Japan’s prime minister Yoshihide Suga and US president Joe Biden reaffirmed the countries’ alliance in a phone call between the two leaders. Composite: Reuters/REX/Shutterstock

  • Jill Biden spent her first week as First Lady reshaping the role. Melania Trump spent hers isolated in a tower

    New first lady signals she will be an active and constant presence in the White House - drawing stark contrasts to her predecessor

  • Elizabeth Hurley hits back at critics of snow photoshoot after Piers Morgan’s ‘creepy’ comment

    The 55-year-old hit back at suggestions her teenage son Damian had taken the photos.

  • EU demands AstraZeneca diverts 75m Covid jabs made in UK factories

    Brussels on Wednesday demanded that tens of millions of British-made coronavirus vaccines be diverted from the UK to make up a supply shortfall in the jabs in the EU. The European Commission said it was contractually entitled to doses from two UK plants making the AstraZeneca/Oxford University vaccine as its row with the British-Swedish pharmaceutical giant deepened. The British Government said it had a deal with AstraZeneca to supply 100 million doses of the vaccine with agreed delivery schedules. British sources said that, once the UK factories had fulfilled their commitment to Britain, AstraZeneca would be free to supply other countries – something the firm's CEO, Pascal Soriot, confirmed in an interview on Tuesday. But Stella Kyriakides, the EU's health commissioner, said: "We reject the logic of first come, first served. That might work at the neighbourhood butchers, but not on our contracts and not in our advanced purchase agreements." She said there was " no priority clause" in the EU contract between the four production plants in the agreement, two factories in the EU and the two in the UK. "In our contract it is not specified that any country or the UK has priority... This needs to be absolutely clear," Ms Kyriakides said.

  • Mike Pence is homeless after leaving office and ‘couch-surfing’ with Indiana politicians, report says

    Mike Pence has been residing in public housing for the past eight years

  • Labour attacks Jeremy Corbyn for ‘wasting time and money’ after court defeat over suspension from party

    Party to seek to recover legal costs from its former leader – in new deterioration in relationship

  • Britons required to declare 'valid reason' for travel or face fines

    UK quarantine hotels: how would they work? Our blueprint for getting holidays back to normal Will vaccine passports open up our holidays? 'We can't control the virus with a travel ban' Sign up to the Telegraph Travel newsletter Anyone departing from the UK will be required to declare their reasons for travelling, as the Government today announces tighter border restrictions – including 'quarantine hotels' for arrivals from selected countries. Speaking in the House of Commons this afternoon, Home Secretary Priti Patel said that it "is clear that there are still too many people coming in and out of our country each day," and set out new measures to "reduce passenger flow so that only a small number of people for whom it is absolutely essential to travel are doing so." Transport providers will check passengers' reasons for travel on departure, police presence will be increased at ports and airports, and people will be directed to return home if they do not have a valid reason – and may face a fine. Patel added that police will carry out more checks at physical addresses, to ensure compliance with the restrictions. A new 'quarantine hotel' policy will also see arriving travellers being forced to self-isolate in hotels. The rule will apply to those returning from countries where international travel bans have already been imposed, including Portugal. "They will be required to isolate for 10 days, without exemption, and the Department of Health will set out further details on this approach next week," Patel said. "Despite the stay-at-home regulations, we are still seeing people not complying with these rules. The rules are clear – people should be staying at home, unless they have a valid reason to leave." Scroll down for more on this story, and other breaking travel news.

  • Tory MP accused of spreading ‘dangerous misinformation’ on coronavirus

    Former minister reportedly suggested official Covid figures have been ‘manipulated’

  • COVID-19: Breakthrough treatment claims to stop 100% of symptomatic infections

    The makers of an experimental drug, now being trialled by the NHS, say it is 100 per cent effective in protecting against symptomatic cases of the virus. US-based Regeneron Pharmaceuticals says its two-antibody cocktail called REGEN-COV also reduces overall coronavirus infection rates by about 50 per cent. The claims are based on interim results and the "confirmatory stage" of the trial will not be complete until the second quarter of this year, but the company has said it is hopeful it may "break the chain" of rising infections.

  • Piers Morgan apologises to Elizabeth Hurley after she reveals her mum took THOSE snow pictures

    He made sure to say sorry on Good Morning Britain

  • Scotland unable to fight Covid-19 as effectively without England, Boris Johnson to claim on visit

    Prime minister to walk into lion’s den north of the border – three months before expected SNP election landslide

  • Jennifer Aniston shows off blonder hair on set of The Morning Show

    "Aaand we're back."

  • ‘This was absolutely avoidable’: How the UK lost 100,000 lives to Covid-19

    A catalogue of costly errors, the refusal to heed scientific advice at crucial pinch-points and the absence of any real strategy set the UK on a collision course with tragedy, writes Samuel Lovett

  • UK government open to further Russia sanctions over Navalny detention

    MPs urge sanctions on oligarchs linked to English football

  • Biden’s new sign language interpreter runs a right-wing Facebook group and has been pictured in a MAGA hat

    One video featuring Heather Mewshaw is titled ‘Joe Biden is literally and legally not the President elect’

  • Far-Right 'Proud Boy' leader arrested ahead of Capitol riots revealed to have been police informer

    The leader of the Proud Boys extremist group has been unmasked as a "prolific" former FBI informant. Enrique Tarrio, 36, worked undercover exposing a human trafficking ring, and helped with drug and gambling cases, according to court documents. Tarrio's documented involvement with law enforcement related to the period 2012 -2014. There was no evidence of him cooperating after that. But the revelation raised further questions over why police did not take further steps to secure the US Capitol ahead of the riots on Jan 6. At least half a dozen members of the Proud Boys were arrested over involvement in the riots. Tarrio denied ever being an informer, telling Reuters: "I don’t know any of this. I don’t recall any of this."

  • Cases of Covid caught in hospital halve as hopes rise that vaccines cutting transmission

    Cases of Covid likely to have been caught in hospital have halved in three weeks, bringing hope that the rollout of vaccines to staff is beginning to slow transmission. NHS data shows the number of cases has fallen from a high of 635 a day at the start of this month to 367 last week. The trend came despite a rise in the total numbers of Covid sufferers in hospital from around 25,000 to 37,000 over the period. On Wednesday night, Sir Patrick Vallance, the chief scientific adviser, said early findings from Israel – which has already given first jabs to almost a third of its population – suggested they could cut rates of transmission by around 60 per cent. However, Sir Patrick told a Downing Street briefing that he would be "extremely cautious" about making an assessment of the impact of the vaccines on transmission until there was "proper data" to assess. Boris Johnson said proof about the impact of vaccines should emerge by the middle of February. A study by Public Health England (PHE), tracking 40,000 health workers – including those given jabs early in the vaccination programme – is expected to report its findings next month. NHS staff were among those offered Covid jabs when the vaccination programme began in December, with a concerted push at the start of this month after the AstraZeneca jab became available.

  • Lockdown restrictions to stay in place until 8 March at the earliest, Boris Johnson announces

    The PM said schools won’t reopen and 'other economic and social restrictions' won’t be eased until then.