Plus, they're saving panto - oh yes they are!
| | | | Could it be the most important three-course meal in recent UK history, bringing fresh impetus to a diplomatic deadlock? Or a political last supper, signalling the end of efforts to achieve a polite farewell between Britain and the EU? We just don't know yet. We do know Boris Johnson will head to Brussels this afternoon and that he'll sit down for dinner with European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen. We know the key sticking points in the post-Brexit trade talks - fishing, competition rules and methods of governance over any deal reached. And we know time is very short, with the UK set to stop following EU trading rules on 31 December. BBC political editor Laura Kuenssberg says it all hangs on whether the PM and Mrs von der Leyen can look each other in the eye and agree there are still compromises to be made. If so, then it could reset the dial, and negotiations between officials could restart with more flexibility on both sides. The UK and EU have reached agreement on specific trade arrangements for Northern Ireland - including on post-Brexit border checks and trading rules, and how the new Irish Sea border will work. It means the UK has now dropped controversial plans to override sections of the withdrawal agreement signed last year. We'll get more details on the plans later. Read our simple Brexit guide, and find out whether the whole thing could have an impact on your weekly shop. | |
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| Vaccine optimism and pessimism |
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| The UK began its coronavirus vaccination programme on Tuesday, and now, US President-elect Joe Biden has promised that during his first 100 days in office, 100 million Americans will get a jab. He urged Congress, which writes and passes law in the US, to approve more funding to deal with the health crisis. On Tuesday, a report paved the way for a Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine to be approved and rolled out for Americans. How many doses they'll have access to isn't clear though - a member of the Pfizer board said chances to grow the US stockpile were turned down a number of times by the Trump administration. Mr Biden's optimism is in stark contrast to a warning from a group of charities who say nine out of 10 people in poorer countries are likely to miss out on Covid-19 vaccinations next year because rich countries are hoarding supplies. Canada, for example, has ordered enough vaccines to protect each Canadian five times, the People's Vaccine Alliance claims. Oxford-AstraZeneca has pledged to provide 64% of its doses to people in developing nations, but how do you vaccinate billions of people, some in places with little or no infrastructure? | |
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| The independent Climate Change Committee, which advises the government, says the cost of a low-carbon society will be much less than previously thought. It says that for less than 1% of national wealth, the UK can reduce 78% of emissions by 2035, based on 1990 levels. That brings forward the UK's clean energy timetable by 15 years - a previously unimaginable leap. The landmark report says the public are likely to accept the necessary changes because all sorts of clean new technologies, such as electric cars, are more efficient than the ones they'll replace. | |
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| | | | | In any conversation about vaccine safety, there is one statistic worth holding on to: one in 1,000. One in 1,000 people in the UK have already died after being infected with coronavirus. This is the known threat from the disease that any risks have to be balanced against. In medicine there's an important difference between "safe" and "harmless" and between "risk" and something being "risky". "If you mean absolutely no adverse effect, then no vaccine is 'safe' and no drug is 'safe', every effective medicine has unwanted effects," says Prof Stephen Evans, from the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine. "What I mean by safe is the balance of unwanted effects compared with the benefit is very clearly in favour of the benefit.". | |
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| | James Gallagher | Health and science correspondent BBC News | |
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| | | | There's a celebratory mood on many front pages, alongside pictures of the UK's first vaccine recipient, Margaret Keenan. "One small jab for Maggie - one giant leap for all of us" is the headline in the Daily Express. "Heroes" is how the Daily Mail describes the first people to receive the vaccine, many of them elderly. The Daily Mirror says "let us rejoice that help is on its way", but sounds a note of caution with the headline: "One down - 54 million to go". The Daily Telegraph is less upbeat, quoting a warning from the UK's chief scientific adviser, Sir Patrick Vallance, that masks might be with us for another year because of a lack of evidence showing whether the vaccines prevent transmission of the virus. Elsewhere, the Times looks ahead to Boris Johnson's visit to Brussels, quoting one government source as saying, "We must be realistic that an agreement may not be possible." The Guardian says "the future of Britain's relationship with the rest of Europe will hang on the success of a dinner". The Sun feels the PM "must not falter" and offer "any more than some minimal last concession". | |
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| | | Hack US cybersecurity firm hit by "state-sponsored" attack |
| | | | Students Covid causing mental health struggles |
| | | | Player walk-off Champions League match halted after racist abuse allegation |
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| If you watch one thing today |
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| If you listen to one thing today |
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| If you read one thing today |
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| Need something different? |
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