Top story: Lockdown delays caused thousands of deaths, says thinktank
Hello, Warren Murray with the first things you should read this Thursday.
The European Medicines Agency (EMA) is due today to announce the findings of its investigation into cases of bleeding, blood clots and low platelet counts in 30 people who had received the Oxford/AstraZeneca Covid vaccine. The EMA head said on Tuesday there was no indication the shot caused the problems, while the WHO has backed the vaccine’s continued use. AstraZeneca has said 17 million people in the EU and UK have received the vaccine and the number of clots reported is actually lower than “the hundreds of cases that would be expected” in the population, independent of the vaccine’s use. Some European countries such as Germany, France and Italy have suspended its use, while others have continued – Belgium has judged that to stop vaccinating people in the face of rising cases would be “irresponsible”.
Delaying the winter lockdown caused up to 27,000 extra deaths in England, the Resolution Foundation thinktank has claimed, as it accused the government of a “huge mistake” that should be central to any public inquiry into the UK’s handling of the pandemic. Labour has thrown its weight behind calls for a full-blown public inquiry. Rachel Reeves, the shadow Cabinet Office minister, said it should begin when the prime minister’s roadmap comes to an end in June.
Patel ‘plans offshore processing’ – Asylum seekers could be sent offshore while their claims are considered under the home secretary’s forthcoming plans to overhaul the immigration system, according to reports. Gibraltar is under consideration, according to the Times, as well as the Isle of Man and other islands off the British coast. Priti Patel is expected to reveal details next week. Leaks have suggested the UK government considered ideas including sending asylum seekers to Ascension Island, more than 4,000 miles from the UK, to be processed, and turning disused ferries out at sea into processing centres. Labour has condemned as inhumane and expensive the suggestion of an asylum processing centre on Ascension. The Times said legislation would include life sentences for people smugglers and establishing migrant reception centres on government land, instead of using hotels.
Kwarteng grabs bonuses back – The government plans to make it easier to claw back bonuses paid to executives of failed companies in what is being billed as the biggest shake-up of Britain’s corporate governance rules in decades. Sweeping reforms designed to break the dominance of the big four auditing accountants – Deloitte, EY, KPMG and PwC – are outlined by the business secretary, Kwasi Kwarteng, in a consultation that is being launched today. It follows the failures of BHS under Sir Philip Green, the outsourced services company Carillion, and the 178-year-old tour company Thomas Cook. It is proposed that big companies would have to make annual statements detailing risks to their business, including climate risks, while directors would have to strongly justify dividend payments or big bonuses.
Covid sparked ‘do not resuscitate’ edicts – Blanket orders not to resuscitate some care home residents, known as DNACPRs, were imposed in some homes at the start of the pandemic, England’s Care Quality Commission (CQC) has found. Its report, titled Protect, Respect, Connect, found some people were not properly involved in decisions or were unaware such an important decision about their care had been made. The report calls for a ministerial oversight group working with the health, care, council and voluntary sectors to deliver improvements in this area. Rosie Benneyworth from the CQC, said: “Personalised and compassionate advance care planning, including DNACPR decisions, is a vital part of good quality care.” Healthcare professionals emphasise resuscitation is both invasive and traumatic, with only a 15-20% survival rate in a hospital and 5-10% success rate outside hospital.
Crackdown on influencer peddling – Social media influencers face being named and shamed over their many posts that amount to advertisements but are not declared as such, the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) has warned. “There’s simply no excuse not to make clear when positive messages in posts have been paid for by a brand,” said Guy Parker, chief executive of the ASA. The ASA has previously issued rulings against influencers including Emily Canham, while in 2019 the Competition and Markets Authority secured formal commitments from 16 celebrities to clearly state if they have been paid or receive any gifts or loans or profits when making posts on Instagram.
Rover needs a tune – Nasa has released the first ever recording of driving on Mars, establishing for humankind that its metal-wheeled Perseverance rover sounds a bit like a broken ukulele being dragged round the floor and down some steps.
The recently arrived rover is looking for a place to release the Ingenuity Mars Helicopter, a drone that it is carrying.
Today in Focus podcast: Progressives – how’s Biden doing?
Lauren Gambino, political correspondent for Guardian US, discusses the $1.9tn Covid relief package, which was passed by Congress last week. It was seen as a major legislative victory for Joe Biden.
Progressives – how's Biden doing?
Lunchtime read: All hail the clown king
Boris Johnson is the archetypal clown, with his antic posturing and refusal to take anything seriously. So how did he end up in charge?
Sport
Thomas Tuchel said that nobody will want to draw Chelsea in the quarter-finals of the Champions League after beating Atlético Madrid 3-0 on aggregate in the last 16. The extraordinary Tiger Roll added another stirring chapter to his story, winning at the Cheltenham Festival for the fifth time in his career and doing so with the vigour and enthusiasm of a horse half his age. The inadequacy of child protection for decades in football and across British life has been shown up by an inquiry that found generations of young footballers suffered horrific sexual abuse.
Another goal and an assist ensured Fran Kirby’s renaissance continued as Chelsea maintained their two-point lead at the top of the Women’s Super League with a 3-0 defeat of Everton. Ellis Genge has lifted the lid on the psychological toll of spending nearly two months in England’s biosecure bubble during the Six Nations. Shawn Bradley, who played 12 NBA seasons and was one of the league’s tallest players in history, suffered a traumatic spinal cord injury in a January crash that has left him paralysed. And Sabine Schmitz, the only female winner of the 24 Hours of Nürburgring, has died at the age of 51.
Business
Japan’s carmaking heavyweights need to raise their game in the race to develop battery-only electric vehicles or risk missing out on a new market worth billion of dollars in the the coming decades, analysts have warned. Despite their traditional strength in the car industry, not one Japanese manufacturer made the top 10 of worldwide sales of battery-only cars last year. The pound is buying £1.395 and €1.166, while the FTSE100 is expected to lift 0.4%.
The papers
Today’s front pages are all about low coronavirus vaccine stocks and the EU’s stance on shipments to the UK. “Covid jabs for under-50s delayed a month due to vaccine shortages” says the Guardian, which also continues front-page coverage of the push for a Covid public inquiry. The i has “Surprise slump in vaccine supplies” as the NHS indicates the situation will become pressing next month, while the FT says “NHS vaccine targets in peril after ‘significant reduction’ in supplies” – AstraZeneca is blamed for “failing to meet its supply commitments”.
The European commission head, Ursula von der Leyen, is pictured on a lot of fronts serving as vaccine villain. “Vaccine shortage to paralyse UK rollout” says the Telegraph. It also says “EU threatens to block Pfizer exports to UK”, referring to the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine that has emerged as Europe’s preferred jab. The Times leads with “Setback for Britain’s Covid vaccine rollout” and says the health secretary, Matt Hancock, is accused of being “in denial” for insisting the programme remains on track. Across the top of the page is “Asylum seekers sent abroad under plan to deter migrants” – a story that others take up including the Mail: “Priti: asylum seekers to be sent overseas”.
The Mail is also among papers tying the UK vaccine shortage with what it calls “Astonishing EU threat to seize vaccines” bound for Britain – others are the Metro: “We’ll grab your jabs”, and the Express: “Proof … if you need it! EU will never let it go”. The Mirror has “Barrymore in new murder quiz”, which is about the death of Stuart Lubbock in Michael Barrymore’s pool 20 years ago.
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