Yahoo Finance Monday briefing: New Covid could 'slip through' without quarantine
Top story: London and south-east at risk of ‘levelling down’
Hello, Warren Murray putting the news afoot immediately to hand.
Boris Johnson is facing increasing pressure from cabinet ministers and scientists to require all new arrivals, including British citizens, to quarantine at their own expense in government-supervised hotels. “Anyone who slips through could be a new mutant strain, hence the need for blanket measures,” one Home Office source said. The PM is said to favour only placing people from high-risk countries into hotel quarantine, putting him at odds with Priti Patel, the home secretary, and others in cabinet who favour a stricter approach. Travellers to Britain are already required to self-isolate for 10 days, or five with a negative test, but enforcement has been patchy. Separately there are Tory MPs calling for England’s schools to reopen as soon as possible – but ministers who are worried about infection rates are refusing to commit to pupils being able to go back even after the Easter holidays.
The economic impact of Covid will leave Johnson’s government with a “double challenge” to level up the north and Midlands while protecting affluent towns and cities in southern England, according to a report from the Centre for Cities. The independent thinktank says London and the south-east have been disproportionately hit by job losses during the crisis and rapid action is needed to avoid “levelling down” these places. Birmingham, Hull and Blackpool face the biggest levelling-up challenges, according to the report, but London, Crawley and Slough are of major concern due to their reliance on businesses hit hardest by lockdowns and physical distancing.
The government will provide £23m in funding to dozens of councils in England to help fight misinformation around coronavirus vaccines and encourage uptake in more high-risk communities. Experts and politicians recently called for people in high-risk minority ethnic groups to be prioritised for immunisation. The Mexican president has tested positive for coronavirus, while Joe Biden is to include the UK and Ireland in a ban on travel to the US without evidence of Covid-free status – these developments and more at our global coronavirus live blog.
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Debenhams reduced to online brand – The internet fashion retailer Boohoo has agreed to buy the online business of Debenhams, leaving the department store chain to close its remaining high street shops, according to the Financial Times. The Boohoo deal is likely to mean that the rest of Debenhams, which still employs more than 10,000 people, will be split up, the FT reported. The newspaper put the purchase at around £50m. The chain entered administration in April 2019 while its liquidation at the start of December 2020 came after JD Sports walked away from rescue talks. Boohoo has come under fire during the pandemic after the Guardian revealed workers in its supply chain in Leicester may have been paid as little as £3 to £4 an hour.
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Too drunk for words – The English and Scottish have topped an international league table of how often people get so drunk that they lose their balance and slur their speech. The Global Drugs Survey (GDS) for 2020 suggests more than 5% of people under 25 in the UK reported having sought hospital treatment after getting drunk, compared with a global average of 2%. The GDS report noted: “Seeking emergency medical treatment is a serious consequence of drinking, with a cost to the health service as well as the individual.” The UK rate of hospital admissions because of alcohol was higher than among users of any other drug apart from heroin. The English were among the least remorseful about getting drunk, at 31%, compared with 32.8% around the world, 33.8% in Scotland and a regretful 88.3% of Colombians.
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Fauci on causing a stink – Dr Anthony Fauci has called himself the “skunk at the picnic” in Donald Trump’s White House coronavirus taskforce. Trump criticised the top public health expert and flirted with firing him. Joe Biden has made Fauci his chief scientific adviser. Dr Deborah Birx has also spoken about why she did not quit as Covid taskforce coordinator even though the White House contained “people who definitely believed [Covid] was a hoax … It is also why I went out on the road, because I wasn’t censored on the road.”
Birx, who will soon retire, said she took a data-driven approach but Trump’s advisers supplied him with “parallel” coronavirus data. “I saw the president presenting graphs that I never made,” Birx said.
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Terrorists made in prison – An inquiry into the way prisons deal with convicted terrorists is being launched after the independent terror watchdog warned of growing radicalisation behind bars and “a steady drumbeat over recent years of terrorist attacks against prison officers”. Jonathan Hall QC told the Times there were “an increasing number of individuals who may well have formed their terrorist intent in prison under the influence of high status terrorist prisoners”. Usman Khan, a terrorist prisoner out on licence, stabbed two people to death on London Bridge; while Khairi Saadallah murdered three men in a Reading park after being befriended by a radical preacher in prison; and Brusthom Ziamani, in prison for plotting to behead a soldier, tried to hack an officer to death in Whitemoor jail.
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French company tops green index – Paris-based Schneider Electric has been named the most sustainable corporation on the planet. Britain’s highest-ranking company was Atlantica Sustainable Infrastructure, a renewable energy services company, which came 12th. The US has 20 companies in the index, the highest of any country, followed by Canada, which has 12. The UK has five, and none in the top 10. Schneider sells technology and energy solutions used by the likes of Walmart, Marriott and ArcelorMittal to meet climate targets.
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Sport
The US gymnast Nia Dennis’s latest floor routine, which she dedicated to black culture, has won praise from fans such as Missy Elliott and Simone Biles after it attracted millions of views on social media over the weekend. Joe Root was praised for giving his England players an education in skill and stamina after a masterful 186 in the heat of Galle that kept the tourists fighting in the second Test and continued his own golden start to 2021. Ole Gunnar Solskjær hailed a “statement win” for Manchester United after Liverpool were beaten 3-2 in the FA Cup fourth round at Old Trafford. Everton reached the fifth round of the FA Cup with a comfortable 3-0 win over Sheffield Wednesday at Goodison Park. Steph Houghton became the first player to make 150 Women’s Super League appearances as Manchester City issued a reminder that they remain very much part of one of the top tier’s tightest title races on Sunday. Tom Brady and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers’ road magic have them heading home to the Super Bowl, the first team to play in one on their home field.
Business
A Scottish investment firm has made a profit of $29bn after buying into the electric carmaker Tesla when shares were worth only a few dollars. Scottish Mortgage Investment Trust, which is managed by Baillie Gifford, started buying into Tesla in 2013 when shares were worth around $6. They closed at $846 on Friday, having risen 640% in the past year. The FTSE100 looks set to lift 0.4% this morning while the pound is up again to $1.37 and €1.125.
The papers
The Guardian splash today is “No guarantee schools will open after Easter, government warns”. It raises the prospect of many more weeks of homeschooling before even a phased return to the classroom in England, because infection rates are not coming down as quickly as hoped. The chair of MPs’ education select committee has urging ministers to put “the whole engine of the state” behind paving the way for schools to reopen.
On the same topic, the Telegraph has “Tory revolt over closed schools” and the Metro says “Schools out ‘till Easter’”. “Get kids vacc to school” demands the Sun. The Mail highlights its “Mail Force” campaign to fund laptops for home learners: “Off to a £250,000 flying start”.
The Times leads with “Sunak backs quarantine hotels for all UK arrivals” while the i goes with “Delaying second dose will save more lives, says vaccine chief” – that discussion here. “Half a million reasons to be hopeful” – the Express hails daily vaccination rates in Britain. And the FT looks abroad for its top story: “Poland presses EU to turn up heat on Russia after Navalny arrest”.
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