Section: UK

The pandemic shows the value of key workers, such as hospital staff, to our society. But will chancellor Rishi Sunak recognise this in the Budget?

Captain Sir Tom Moore, 99, raised over £32 million for the NHS by walking around his garden. But he should not have had to do this. When he died, at the age of 100, Boris Johnson asked us to clap for him. Sir Tom’s marvellous effort was hijacked by the government to distract attention from the deaths of more than 120,000 people.

Britain spends billions on ‘defence’, not because it needs to but because our rulers are still intoxicated by military greatness and by the money to be made. Isn’t it time to move on?

For years, the Queen has been meddling in what laws are passed in this country – just one more example of a corrupt system weighted in favour of the wealthy.

Since 18 January, all travellers to the UK from overseas must show proof of a negative Covid-19 test and quarantine for up to 10 days on arrival. Travel corridors have also been closed and the government is set to announce mandatory quarantine hotels. But why has it taken so long to introduce such measures?

As hospital workers struggle to cope with the Covid crisis, a group of doctors is speaking out about the toll on their mental health.

Mental health stigma persists and continues throughout people’s lives. If children are to cope with the scarring of the past year and the extra mental demands of living in a post-Covid society, we must talk about mental health more so they find it as easy as talking about their physical health, and embed that approach into society.

Brexit is far from sorted. Now Britain has left the EU, the government is embarking a radical programme which will remove protections for employees and threaten the future of the NHS.

A new technique to potentially improve crops, via gene-editing, is being considered now Britain is out of the EU. It’s not like controversial genetic modification (GM). But consumers may still have their doubts.

The question of the degree to which market forces should determine remuneration — especially for those in public service – is a thorny one. Do we let the market decide? How can such work be valued? Tom Serpell explores these and other questions thrown into sharp relief by the Covid pandemic.

As we begin to take stock of the enormity of this seismic shock to the global system, we should acknowledge that there is a much greater disruption on the horizon. Our Earth is in critical condition. And the lessons we’ve all learned over the past year dealing with COVID will be invaluable in combatting the looming climate crisis.

Vivienne Griffiths turns the spotlight on the government’s decisions on re-opening schools. She exposes a predictable pattern of delays, U-turns and threats of legal action that jeopardise teachers’ and students’ safety, and cause anxiety and uncertainty among parents.

The tragedy of the hard Brexit pursued by the UK is that so many Europe-focused businesses have become instantly unviable, whether they’re selling Scottish langoustines to France, Welsh lamb to Germany or language services to the Netherlands. The Brexit impacts that are being disingenuously described as teething troubles are actually structural.

You’d think, wouldn’t you, that the most dangerous lie would be a sneaky one, one that is reasonably close to the truth? One that kind of grows on the truth − on the fertile fabric of what we already know to be true. But no, it seems that a Big Lie is more potent because in order to believe it you have to disbelieve everything else.

In December 2020, Boris Johnson announced the closure of the Erasmus project, which has enabled 9 million young people to experience studying or working in another European country, citing expense as one of the main reasons. This is short-sighted and mean-spirited.

The dreaded second wave of coronavirus needn’t be like the first. One of the most astounding features of human character is the ability to learn, quickly, if needed. Ten months since the UK’s first confirmed coronavirus case is plenty of time to have learnt what does and doesnt work in managing a pandemic.

The BBC is under threat as never before, as right-wing organisations and MPs work to lower its status in the eyes of the nation, while people in the younger age groups are switching off. Solutions for this problem exist – but who has the courage to implement them?

Next week MPs will decide whether or not to back crucial Lords’ amendments to the government’s Trade Bill. If these amendments are not passed, the health service will be treated like any business – its profitable parts privatised and its data (our data) sold to the highest bidder.

It’s January and the doorbell hasn’t worked for most of the previous year. We’ve kinda got used to it by now. I think my wife still believes I’m going to fix it, but it would be fair to say I’ve taken a relaxed approach to its repair. As I have to a number of other DIY issues.

In cities and villages alike, community life has long depended on key buildings. But how many of these beloved edifices will survive the pandemic?

The current government is overwhelmingly white, overwhelmingly male, and, crucially, almost exclusively from upper class backgrounds. This lack of diversity at the highest level means a lack of perspectives, a lack of life experiences and a glaring lack of understanding of the different challenges and needs of the people government is supposed to serve.

Gaslighting is a way of control that enables bullying through manipulating the truth to make the victim doubt themselves. It makes you doubt your version of the truth. What happens when a whole nation is being bullied and gaslit? What happens when the population is living without trust in the truth?

Political certainties have been jettisoned by a combination of Covid and Brexit. Tories traditionally hold the purse strings tight while Labour demonstrates a greater tendency to spend on public services but today, we’re seeing unprecedented levels of public spending increasing. Tom Serpell explores the implications for political loyalties.

The deal with the EU may give some certainty to businesses and hauliers, but it also means a mountain of red tape. Ginny Smith assesses the threat border bureaucracy poses to our local ports like Newhaven.

While citizen journalists in the UK work to combat mainstream media bias, other countries arrest and torture the brave voices who speak truth to power. Susie Courtault examines the treatment of two women journalists, in China and Saudi Arabia, and fears for the future of human rights protection in the UK.

Juliet Lodge summarises reactions on Twitter to the last-minute Brexit deal agreed between the UK and the EU. With Boris Johnson’s early promise of frictionless trade abandoned, and parliament given just one day to debate the deal, what does the future hold for Britain’s relationship with its largest trading partner?

It is time for the government to be called to account for its failure to follow proper contracting and employment procedures.

Johnson’s government is resisting the warnings of five former prime ministers and implementing major cuts to Britain’s international aid budget. Such significant reductions are grim news for people in the world’s poorest countries just as we are seeing the first year-on-year increase in extreme poverty in two decades.

On Saturday 12 December, shoppers in Lewes responded to the problem of food poverty by donating an astonishing 7,002 items of food and household products, up from the 5,661 items collected at Halloween. Organised by Mark Perryman, the 12-hour effort included entertainment from many of the town’s gifted performers.

Rod Watson traces the origins of inns and taverns from the Middle Ages through to the present time: coaching inns, gin joints, the Victorian pubs, the licensing laws and their subsequent liberalisation, the smoking ban and its profound effect on the trade – and the new gangster on the block, Master Covid.