"Why is Mario Draghi popular?

"He was the head of the European Central Bank, famous for saving the euro with the celebrated phrase 'whatever it takes'.

"He is competent, honest, firm and respected abroad, a rare if not unique combination for an Italian politician. However, the right don't like him much because while he's in power, they are not (and they are ahead, unfortunately, in the polls). Therefore they show hypocritical support for making him President of the Republic, basically to get him out of the way. So he is the bulwark against the right, which consists of Salvini's Lega (no longer Lega Nord as he tries to widen his fan base) and the even more dreadful Giorgia Meloni and her 'Fratelli d'Italia', essentially neo-fascists who attract a dispirited section of the population hit sideways by the financial crisis and Covid. However, a significant number of people, including some right-leaners, would like to keep Draghi where he is, because they realise his importance in this period. This, however, opens up another alarming possibility: Berlusconi (you can't keep him down) now well into his eighties, is angling to become President and therefore, hypocritically, supports Draghi.

"It will all unravel in the New Year [the 2022 Italian presidential election will be held in January] and we hope that Draghi's popularity will save the day.

"And that's it.

"Now get rid of Boris. But would that mean the rise of that dreadful Truss woman?

"God save us all."

"On Sunday night, the Prime Minister said in his televised address that 'everyone eligible aged 18 and over in England will have the chance to get their booster before the New Year.'

"But within hours, there was speculation that what he actually meant was that people would be able to book a vaccine appointment by the end of the month.

"Then came a press release from NHS England: 'The NHS vaccination programme will offer every adult the chance to book a COVID-19 booster vaccine by the end of the year.' Some commentators took this as proof that the commitment was much less ambitious than the Prime Minister had made out."

"Finally, we asked the Department of Health to confirm whether 'the government's target is that by the end of December every adult will have been able to receive a booster vaccination if they want one.'

"A spokesperson told FactCheck: 'That's right.'"

"in light of the rapid increase in Omicron cases. Transmission of Covid-19 is already high in the community, mainly still driven by Delta, but the emergence of Omicron adds additional and rapidly increasing risk to the public and healthcare services. [Omicron is] spreading much faster than Delta and vaccine protection against symptomatic disease from Omicron is reduced. Hospitalisations from Omicron are already occurring and these are likely to increase rapidly."

"If I'm honest, we're still in the pandemic and I just really wish everyone to stay safe and have a good Christmas with all their families - and we'll see about next year."

"These results suggest that the introduction of the Omicron B.1.1.529 variant in England will lead to a substantial increase in SARS-CoV-2 transmission, which, in the absence of strict control measures, has the potential for substantially higher case rates than those recorded during the Alpha B.1.1.7 winter wave in 2020-2021. This is due to Omicron's apparent high transmissibility and ability to infect individuals with existing immunity to SARS-CoV-2 from prior infection or from vaccination. Our assumptions regarding the extent to which Omicron might evade the immune response are in line with existing knowledge of previous VOCs' neutralisation, early neutralisation studies of Omicron and preliminary vaccine efficacy estimates. The majority of scenarios considered project that without the implementation of further control measures, hospital admissions resulting from the Omicron wave of transmission could exceed the peak levels recorded in England during the previous winter wave in 2020-2021. Additional control measures may therefore be required to minimise disease burdens and to protect healthcare services."

"Daily infections and deaths projected for an Omicron epidemic in England, with increased mask-wearing from 30th November 2021 to 30th April 2022 (lavender shaded rectangle) and "Plan B" restrictions from 12th December 2021 to 30th April 2022 (blue shaded rectangle). In each panel, the dashed horizontal line shows the previous peak reached during the January 2021 wave in England; the shaded areas show 50% and 90% quantiles across each day, while the small triangles demarcate peaks from each of 50 individual model runs reached between 1st December 2021 and 30th April 2022. Numbers in overlays show the median and 95% projection intervals for total infections and deaths between 1st December 2021 and 30th April 2022."

"To find joy and happiness, start with gratitude:

"I don't think you start with joy and happiness. I think you start with gratitude. You think about what are you truly grateful for in your life. What do you need to do to practise gratitude around that, not just have an attitude of gratitude, but literally practise it? And then I think you think, how do I invite more of it in?

"So for me, playing tennis, family dinners, laughing with my sisters. I'm so grateful for those things. Then what am I doing on a daily basis so that my choices reflect bringing more of that into my life? Am I blocking my time for just meetings? Or am I blocking my time for tennis?"

"I have one simple request for all Member States, and that is: end this pandemic. Just in the past week, this virus has demonstrated that it will not simply disappear. How many more lives and livelihoods it takes is up to us. Ending the pandemic is not a matter of chance; it's a matter of choice.

"I call on all Member States:

"We are one humanity. We have one planet. We have one health. And we have one WHO. Your WHO. I know you're committed to strengthening it, to have better preparedness for the future. Thank you so much. I thank you."

"Ecotricity is a mission-led, not-for-dividend company. We reinvest the money that we make into the things we believe in. We know that businesses can operate in this way - the question is should we continue to let them operate any other way. Pursuit of money above all else leads to poor decisions and ultimately to poor environmental and social outcomes. Business got us where we are today, in many senses, but in terms of the multiple crises we face - absolutely so. We need to repurpose it and use it to get back to a better place."

"We set the car parameters like this: it had to do more than 100mph and do 0 to 60 in a handful of seconds; it had to look fantastic, handle fantastic and have a range of at least 100 miles. All of this was with an eye on the fact that electric cars didn't exist and we knew exactly how they would be received. We didn't want to make an electric car that was a compromise; in fact, we wanted to make an electric supercar. We didn't want a car that anybody reasonable would say 'yes but' about."

"You might be wondering what's the point of a booster if the current vaccines turn out to be less effective against Omicron. We don't know if that will be the case but mutations in Omicron mean the jabs may not perform as well. The vaccines will have taught your body to spot the original coronavirus that emerged in Wuhan in China. The mutations on Omicron are like it putting on a disguise to slip past your body's guard. Boosting is the equivalent of hiring more guards to compensate. You'll have more crucial components of the immune system such as antibodies and T cells circulating in the body to increase the chances of seeing through the virus's disguise. If Omicron does prove to be a problem then boosting is the quickest way of enhancing people's protection as it will take about 100 days to update the vaccines if that turns out to be necessary."

"Keep a physical distance of at least 1 metre from others; wear a well-fitting mask; open windows to improve ventilation; avoid poorly ventilated or crowded spaces; keep hands clean; cough or sneeze into a bent elbow or tissue; and get vaccinated when it's their turn."

"[Omicron] has probably emerged in another country and has been detected in South Africa, which has very, very good genomic sequencing capacity and capability ... it might well be a consequence of an outbreak, probably in some parts of sub-Saharan Africa, where there's not a huge amount of genomic surveillance going on and vaccination rate is low. We still have large unvaccinated populations ... and these are susceptible to big outbreaks."

"New variants are a reminder, if we needed it, that the pandemic is far from over. Inequity is what will extend the pandemic. One contribution to this is the richer countries hoarding doses above and beyond of what we actually need and not following through on commitments to donate vaccines to COVAX or directly to countries themselves."

"failure to put vaccines into the arms of people in the developing world is now coming back to haunt us. We were forewarned - and yet here we are. In the absence of mass vaccination, Covid is not only spreading uninhibited among unprotected people but is mutating, with new variants emerging out of the poorest countries and now threatening to unleash themselves on even fully vaccinated people in the richest countries of the world."

"It is vitally important that inequities in access to COVID-19 vaccines are urgently addressed to ensure that vulnerable groups everywhere, including health workers and older persons, receive their first and second doses, alongside equitable access to treatment and diagnostics."

"My greatest worry at the moment is that people ... if we need to do something more muscular at some point, whether it's for the current new variant or at some later stage, can we still take people with us? I think the extraordinary thing has been the ability of the UK population, with very, very small exceptions, to just accept that there are things we collectively have to do to protect one another and do collectively, including things that have been very destructive to social and economic situations for individuals and families. Obviously, we want to avoid having to do those at all if we can, and to do the minimum ones necessary, but will we be able to maintain public support? And I think my overall view is, I think we will."

"The B.1.1.529 variant was first reported to WHO from South Africa on 24 November 2021. The epidemiological situation in South Africa has been characterised by three distinct peaks in reported cases, the latest of which was predominantly the Delta variant. In recent weeks, infections have increased steeply, coinciding with the detection of B.1.1.529 variant. The first known confirmed B.1.1.529 infection was from a specimen collected on 9 November 2021.

"This variant has a large number of mutations, some of which are concerning. Preliminary evidence suggests an increased risk of reinfection with this variant, as compared to other VOCs. The number of cases of this variant appears to be increasing in almost all provinces in South Africa. Current SARS-CoV-2 PCR diagnostics continue to detect this variant. Several labs have indicated that for one widely used PCR test, one of the three target genes is not detected (called S gene dropout or S gene target failure) and this test can therefore be used as marker for this variant, pending sequencing confirmation. Using this approach, this variant has been detected at faster rates than previous surges in infection, suggesting that this variant may have a growth advantage."

"We understand the concern of experts and have immediately initiated investigations on variant B.1.1.529. We expect more data from the laboratory tests in two weeks at the latest. Pfizer and BioNTech have taken actions months ago to be able to adapt the mRNA vaccine within six weeks and ship initial batches within 100 days in the event of an escape variant. To that end, the companies have begun clinical trials with variant-specific vaccines (alpha and delta) to collect safety and tolerability data that can be provided to regulators."

"Individuals are reminded to take measures to reduce their risk of COVID-19, including proven public health and social measures such as wearing well-fitting masks, hand hygiene, physical distancing, improving ventilation of indoor spaces, avoiding crowded spaces, and getting vaccinated."

"An ancient and environmentally friendly method of catching salmon, by spotting them in the water and taking them with 'net and coble' [a coble is a flat-bodied, wide-bottomed rowing boat], unique to the Cromarty Firth, was recently banned by the Scottish government. The men who knew this way of fishing are no longer young, and there is every risk of their centuries-old techniques dying with them.

"So it is fortunate that a practitioner of the craft for over fifty years has drawn on his knowledge and experience to paint a rich picture of this fishing, the firthland itself and the history of salmon netting. He describes great fishing days, the life of the fishing bothy and the characters who inhabited it. He takes the reader through the fish's life cycle and discusses declining catches and the threats to the wild salmon's future. His and his fellow netsmen's respect for this legendary fish and their love of the firth and its wildlife shine through."

"Here's a list of pleasures taken from the book:

"One thing is certain: I shall never again buy salmon from the supermarket slab."

"The drastic increase in the numbers of people testing positive for COVID-19 in recent days is a stark reminder that the virus is still very prevalent in our community and that it is the responsibility of us all to take every reasonable precaution to protect ourselves and our loved ones. The vaccination programme for 12-15 year olds and the booster vaccination programme are now underway, and Gibraltar received 4680 more doses this week. Everyone who is eligible for a vaccine or a booster is strongly encouraged to take up the offer when they are called."

"In reality we have told one third of the population: you will not leave your apartment anymore except for certain reasons.

"For a long time - maybe too long - I and others assumed that it must be possible to convince people in Austria to voluntarily get vaccinated. We therefore have reached a very difficult decision to introduce a national vaccine mandate. We will initiate countrywide compulsory vaccination."

"More than 4300 cities in 108 countries are now included in WHO's ambient air quality database, making this the world's most comprehensive database on ambient air pollution. Since 2016, more than 1000 additional cities have been added to WHO's database which shows that more countries are measuring and taking action to reduce air pollution than ever before. The database collects annual mean concentrations of fine particulate matter (PM₁₀ and PM_2.5). PM_2.5 includes pollutants, such as sulfate, nitrates and black carbon, which pose the greatest risks to human health. WHO air quality recommendations call for countries to reduce their air pollution to annual mean values of 20 µg/m3 (for PM₁₀) and 10 µg/m3 (for PM_2.5)."

"Air pollution threatens us all, but the poorest and most marginalized people bear the brunt of the burden. It is unacceptable that over 3 billion people - most of them women and children - are still breathing deadly smoke every day from using polluting stoves and fuels in their homes."

"In just two years, India's Pradhan Mantri Ujjwala Yojana Scheme has provided some 37 million women living below the poverty line with free LPG connections to support them to switch to clean household energy use."

"We have to think about the mother in India who, yes, will suffer droughts and floods made worse by climate change, but whose more immediate concern is getting electricity so her children don't have to sit in the dark every night and can't do their homework. That's not a ... You can't dismiss that concern."

"The Conservatives have been comfortably ahead in the opinion polls since their General Election victory in December 2019. As this chart [credited to Wikipedia's 'Opinion polling for the next United Kingdom general election', a poll-of-polls - click to enlarge] shows, Johnson's Tories have enjoyed two years of political dominance with only a short period at the end of 2020 when Starmer's Labour threatened to draw level. But following a period of the 'vaccine bounce', the parties are now broadly level pegging, with one poll (13 Nov) giving Labour a six-point lead.



"While the Tory's electoral popularity has been falling gradually for the last six months as has Johnson's own ratings, following weeks of negative headlines and political attacks around accusations of sleaze, they now find themselves in a new and potentially difficult situation. On top of this is a looming cost-of-living crisis. But it has to be remembered that the Tories are still level pegging despite weeks of negative headlines. Their ideological grip on important voter blocs has not been broken. Put another way, the Brexit Window that has served them so well electorally has not closed and they will work hard to breath more life into the Brexit era.

"Digging down into the latest poll data reveals a complex picture. Important for the Tories, their hold on the older voter remains intact - and it is worth remembering that older voters are more likely to participate in elections. However, the wider political party picture suggests that the scope of the 'regressive alliance' (the amalgam of Tory and Brexit Party/UKIP voters that has proven crucial to Tory success in recent years) has shrunk to under 40 per cent, down from over 50 per cent during the lead-up to Brexit. The Tories can no longer draw on a far-right voter reservoir. Conversely, Labour's latest advance has not been at the expense of the Lib Dems and Greens, who have broadly held their voting intentions. The size of the progressive voting bloc is absolutely critical. Even if Labour manages to hold voting intentions at about 40 per cent or even slightly above it is still going to need political collaboration with the Liberal Democrats, Greens and the Scottish and Welsh Nationalists to create the possibility of a sustainable progressive government."

"The first time the words ever appeared in print in reference to Ireland was in a 1795 poem by William Drennan, titled 'When Erin First Rose'. Drennan, a poet, physician and political radical, was born in Belfast in 1754. Having moved to Dublin in 1789, in 1791 he and his brother-in-law Sam McTier developed a plan for the Society of United Irishmen: 'a benevolent conspiracy; a plot for the people, the rights of man and the greatest happiness of the greatest number; its general end [to achieve] real independence to Ireland; its business [to adopt] every means to accomplish these ends as speedily as the prejudices and bigotry of the land we live in would permit.'"

"They were a very religious group of players, who got Mass every morning when in collective training. So the idea of this curse is a load of rubbish. A group of players more likely to respect a funeral you couldn't imagine. Poor Paddy. It was basically hurting him that this was going on. As he said himself, if there were any truth in it, 'I'd roll over and die' but he said there wasn't an iota of substance to it. It was grossly insulting and very unpleasant."

"Stroudco is your local online grocer for Stroud, Gloucestershire. We are a community interest company (CIC). Our Mission is to be a reliable not-for-profit online supplier of ethical local groceries for people living in or near Stroud. Our Vision is to help tackle the climate emergency by connecting up the local food economy and promoting low-impact shopping. The model is simple: you buy your items through our online shop and have them delivered (within a 10-mile radius) to your door or to collect from our hub at the Trinity Rooms, Stroud. Over 90% of our suppliers are from within 15 miles of Stroud."

"Whilst we have made progress, we are not there yet on the most critical issues. There is still a lot more work to be done - time is running out. As I speak my ministerial facilitators and negotiators are rolling up their sleeves and working hard to find solutions to some of the most intractable issues. Negotiations on finance really need to accelerate and they need to accelerate now. Having engaged extensively with parties of the past year and at COP, I know that everyone understands what is at stake for the future of our planet here in Glasgow. We still have a monumental challenge ahead of us, but collectively we have no choice but to rise to that challenge and strain every sinew to achieve a timely outcome that we can all be proud of. Because ultimately, this outcome, whatever it is, will belong to all of us."

"The announcements here in Glasgow are encouraging - but they are far from enough. The emissions gap remains a devastating threat. The finance and adaptation gap represent a glaring injustice for the developing world. We need even more ambition in future revised nationally determined contributions. We need pledges to be implemented. We need commitments to turn concrete. We need actions to be verified. We need to bridge the deep and real credibility gap.

"Promises ring hollow when the fossil fuels industry still receives trillions in subsidies, as measured by the International Monetary Fund (IMF); or when countries are still building coal plants; or when carbon is still without a price - distorting markets and investors' decisions. Every country, every city, every company, every financial institution must radically, credibly and verifiably reduce their emissions and decarbonize their portfolios starting now.

"We need action if commitments are to pass the credibility test. We need to hold each other accountable - Governments, non-State actors and the civil society. Because only together can we keep 1.5°C within reach and the equitable and resilient world we need. That is the most important fight of our lives."

"GLASGOW, Nov 10 (Reuters) - The United Kingdom, host of the UN climate change summit in Glasgow, on Wednesday released a draft political decision, which will be negotiated over the next few days, urging countries to strengthen their national climate plans by the end of 2022.

"The first draft of the 'COP cover decision' asks countries to 'revisit and strengthen the 2030 targets in their nationally determined contributions, as necessary to align with the Paris Agreement temperature goal by the end of 2022.'"

"What is the CMA?

"The Conference of the Parties, the supreme body of the Convention, shall serve as the meeting of the Parties to the Paris Agreement. All States that are Parties to the Paris Agreement are represented at the Conference of the Parties serving as the meeting of the Parties to the Paris Agreement (CMA), while States that are not Parties participate as observers. The CMA oversees the implementation of the Paris Agreement and takes decisions to promote its effective implementation.

"The meeting [i.e. this current COP] comprises the twenty-sixth session of the Conference of the Parties (COP 26), the sixteenth session of the Conference of the Parties serving as the meeting of the Parties to the Kyoto Protocol (CMP 16), and the third session of the Conference of the Parties serving as the meeting of the Parties to the Paris Agreement (CMA 3)."

"I am a private citizen now so trips like this feel a little bit different than they used to. I don't get invited to the big group photo. Traffic is a thing again. Music doesn't play when I walk into the room. On the positive side, I can give a speech like this without wearing a tie and not create a scandal back home. I hope. But even though I'm not required to attend summits like this anymore, old habits die hard. And when the issue at hand is the health of our planet and the world our children and our grandchildren will inherit, then you will have a hard time keeping me away."

"The first and most important is, if you are age eligible, to vote the issue. Vote like your life depends on it because it does. I recognize that a lot of young people may be cynical about politics, but the cold hard fact is we will not have more ambitious climate plans coming out of governments unless governments feel some pressure from voters."

"A second way you can have an impact on climate change is by pressuring companies to do the right thing. Members of your generation have already shown you're willing to pay for products that you believe are responsible and responsive to the climate challenge, and that you're also willing to avoid those companies that are actually making climate change worse. I see this in my own daughters and their friends, their peer group, in terms of which companies they support and which products they buy. Not only are they sophisticated consumers, they're active and engaged citizens, and that's a message that CEOs will learn to understand."

"While you're at it, you need to help educate your parents and grandparents, your uncles and aunts, your teachers, your employers, because while a dangerously warming planet is a reality that a lot of you have grown up with as young people, you've studied it in school, you've read about, it's been part of the backdrop of your childhood, members of the older generation don't have that same frame of reference. They do love you, though. They do care about you. They listen to you more than you think. And if you explain how important the issue is to you, you may lead them to rethink their position, or at least be more open-minded. In fact, I'm pretty sure they'll listen to you in a way they might never listen to a politician or some expert on TV or a former president. That's power you have. You have to use it."

"To build the broad-based coalitions necessary for bold action, we have to persuade people who either currently don't agree with us or are indifferent to the issue. And to change the minds of those fellow citizens in our respective countries, we have to do a little more listening. We can't just yell at them or say they're ignorant. We can't just tweet at them. It's not enough to inconvenience them through blocking traffic in a protest. We actually have to listen to their objections and understand the reluctance of some ordinary people to see their countries move too fast on climate change. We have to understand their realities and work with them so that serious action on climate change doesn't adversely impact them.

"I'm talking about the fact that we've got to persuade the guy who has to drive to his factory job every single day, can't afford a Tesla, and might not be able to pay the rent or feed his family if gas prices go up. We have to think about the mother in India who, yes, will suffer droughts and floods made worse by climate change, but whose more immediate concern is getting electricity so her children don't have to sit in the dark every night and can't do their homework. That's not a ... You can't dismiss that concern."

"These statements and declarations are the high-level outcomes from the World Leaders Summit and presidency theme days of the two-week programme of COP26."

"To rapidly scale up technologies and policies in this decade to achieve a transition away from unabated coal power generation in the 2030s (or as soon as possible thereafter) for major economies and in the 2040s (or as soon as possible thereafter) globally, consistent with our climate targets and the Paris Agreement, recognising the leadership shown by countries making ambitious commitments, including through the Powering Past Coal Alliance;

"To cease issuance of new permits for new unabated coal-fired power generation projects (new coal-fired power generation projects are defined as coal-fired power generation projects that have not yet reached financial close), cease new construction of unabated coal-fired power generation projects and to end new direct government support for unabated international coal-fired power generation, recognising the leadership of countries making ambitious commitments, including through the No New Coal Power Compact."

"Dear Mr Lewis,

"With the COP26 climate change conference underway and the environment so much in the news right now, we're all looking for practical ways we can help.

"At Waitrose, we're eliminating single-use plastic - we've got rid of our 5p and are phasing out our 10p plastic bags, and all our own-brand packaging will be reusable, widely recyclable or home-compostable by 2023.

"We're also reducing food waste - we work with the charity FareShare to get leftover food from our stores to charities and community groups. We can all do our bit at home too, so I thought I'd share some of my tips here. They're simple things, but they make a difference.

"Have a great weekend."

"There is a myth about human beings that withstands all evidence. It's that we always put our survival first. This is true of other species. When confronted by an impending threat, such as winter, they invest great resources into avoiding or withstanding it: migrating or hibernating, for example. Humans are a different matter.

"When faced with an impending or chronic threat, such as climate or ecological breakdown, we seem to go out of our way to compromise our survival. We convince ourselves that it's not so serious, or even that it isn't happening. We double down on destruction, swapping our ordinary cars for SUVs, jetting to Oblivia on a long-haul flight, burning it all up in a final frenzy. In the back of our minds, there's a voice whispering, 'If it were really so serious, someone would stop us.' If we attend to these issues at all, we do so in ways that are petty, tokenistic, comically ill-matched to the scale of our predicament. It is impossible to discern, in our response to what we know, the primacy of our survival instinct."

"There are some species of caddisfly whose survival depends on breaking the surface film of the water in a river. The female pushes through it - no mean feat for such a small and delicate creature - then swims down the water column to lay her eggs on the riverbed. If she cannot puncture the surface, she cannot close the circle of life, and her progeny die with her.

"This is also the human story. If we cannot pierce the glassy surface of distraction, and engage with what lies beneath, we will not secure the survival of our children or, perhaps, our species. But we seem unable or unwilling to break the surface film. I think of this strange state as our 'surface tension'. It's the tension between what we know about the crisis we face, and the frivolity with which we distance ourselves from it."

"We focus on what I call micro-consumerist bollocks (MCB): tiny issues such as plastic straws and coffee cups, rather than the huge structural forces driving us towards catastrophe.

"I'm not saying the small things don't matter. I'm saying they should not matter to the exclusion of things that matter more. Every little counts. But not for very much."

"The difficult truth is that, to prevent climate and ecological catastrophe, we need to level down. We need to pursue what the Belgian philosopher Ingrid Robeyns calls limitarianism. Just as there is a poverty line below which no one should fall, there is a wealth line above which no one should rise.

"Wealth taxes strike at the heart of the issue. They should be high enough to break the spiral of accumulation and redistribute the riches accumulated by a few. They could be used to put us on an entirely different track, one that I call 'private sufficiency, public luxury'. While there is not enough ecological or even physical space on Earth for everyone to enjoy private luxury, there is enough to provide everyone with public luxury: magnificent parks, hospitals, swimming pools, art galleries, tennis courts and transport systems, playgrounds and community centres. We should each have our own small domains - private sufficiency - but when we want to spread our wings, we could do so without seizing resources from other people."

"We will endure only if we cease to consent. The 19th-century democracy campaigners knew this, the suffragettes knew it, Gandhi knew it, Martin Luther King knew it. The environmental protesters who demand systemic change have also grasped this fundamental truth. In Fridays for Future, Green New Deal Rising, Extinction Rebellion and the other global uprisings against systemic environmental collapse, we see people, mostly young people, refusing to consent. What they understand is history's most important lesson. Our survival depends on disobedience."

Didn't I make you feel like you were the only man?
Didn't I give you everything that a woman possibly can?

"Climate change is no longer a future problem. It is a 'now' problem. As we saw this year, devastating impacts are spreading across the globe and growing ever stronger. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change told us a few months ago that we have a 50 per cent chance of exceeding a 1.5°C temperature threshold within the next few decades.

"Climate action so far has been characterized by weak promises, not yet delivered. As the Emissions Gap Report 2021 shows, the updated nationally determined contributions (NDCs) under the Paris Agreement fall into the same trap. These pledges only take 7.5 per cent off predicted 2030 emissions, compared to the previous round of commitments. This is far from adequate. Reductions of 30 per cent are needed to stay on the least-cost pathway for 2°C and 55 per cent for 1.5°C.

"If nations only implement unconditional NDCs as they stand, we are likely to hit global warming of about 2.7°C by the end of the century. Current net-zero pledges could cut another 0.5°C off global warming - but these pledges are still ambiguous, delayed in many cases and not folded into NDCs. At the same time, this year's Emissions Gap Report shows that the opportunity to use pandemic recovery spending to reduce emissions has been largely missed.

"To get on track to limit global warming to 1.5°C, the world needs to take an additional 28 gigatons of carbon dioxide equivalent (GtCO2e) off annual emissions by 2030, over and above what is promised in updated unconditional NDCs. For the 2°C Paris Agreement target, the additional need is lower: a drop in annual emissions of 13 GtCO2e by 2030. To be clear: we have eight years to make the plans, put in place the policies, implement them and ultimately deliver the cuts.

"The clock is ticking loudly. The world has to wake up to the imminent peril we face as a species. We need to go firm. We need to go fast. And we need to start doing it now."

I'VE GOT THIN WRISTS - I SLIPPED OUT OF HANDCUFFS

GAIL BRADBROOK

Age: 49

Profession: Extinction Rebellion co-founder

Circumstances of arrest: fur farm protest, Huddersfield, 1991; fracking site blockade, Lancashire, July 2017; Javelin Park incinerator protest, Gloucestershire, August 2017; anti-fracking protest outside the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, London, October 2018; XR action at the Department for Transport, London, October 2019; breaking window at Barclays bank, Stroud, March 2021; raid on home, Stroud, May 2021

I'm losing count of my arrests. In XR, arrest is part of a clear strategy. We have people trained in de-escalation, legal observers. You communicate to people their rights; you have explicit principles and values, including non-violence. Arrest becomes a sacrificial act.

People can be raring to go with civil disobedience, then they go: 'Hang on, what do I do when I need the toilet?' You say: 'You have to wear a nappy' - and that's when you lose them. There are skills you have to develop; it's very good for your pelvic floor.

I don't tend to get arrested as much in the XR rebellions because I'm needed as a spokesperson. The last time was in 2019, protesting outside the Department for Transport - responsible for people dying of air pollution. I got a leg up on to the door and used a little hammer and chisel to break a pane of bulletproof glass. They said it would cost £27,500 to replace.

In March this year, I broke the window of my local Barclays bank - the biggest funder of fossil fuels in the EU. That was part of XR's Money Rebellion over the banks' role in the climate crisis. We make donations to climate causes with credit cards then ask the banks to write off the debt. It's a novel form of protest; we're helping them to do the right thing.

In May, the police raided my home and arrested me over conspiracy to cause criminal damage and encouraging fraud, which I deny. Four officers had come from London to Stroud, which made me feel quite special. They always come at 5.30am. The idea is you're half-asleep, so you're more likely to 'talk'. They even tried to follow me into the bathroom. I told the woman: 'I've got my moon cup to deal with; if you want to watch, that's fine with me.' She stayed outside.

Then they took me to the nearby cells, put me in a holding pen and handcuffed me. There's no reason other than to try to humiliate me - we all know the game. I've got really thin wrists, so I slipped out. That upset them. I used the police interview to talk about the climate emergency - partly to influence the people in the room but partly so that it's on the record.

I'm awaiting trial in November for criminal damage to the window. But we're not breaking the law; we are conscientious protesters. There needs to be provision made for that as there was for pacifists during the war. Instead, they've taken my phone and laptop and I could be facing up to 10 years' prison if I'm charged with conspiracy. Really, we're conspiring to protect life on Earth.

What gives you hope?

People are longing to move away from this current, consumer-focused system. I think it's a natural human trait to be courageous.

What keeps you up at night?

There are a lot of disagreements in XR and I can let ridiculous things get to me. I've read the climate science, I've been in deep grief, but it doesn't keep me up.

"What is the Plastic-Free Periods campaign?

"The Plastic-Free Periods campaign aims to lift the lid on the hidden plastic in period products. The campaign encourages all of us to make an active and informed choice when it comes to our periods. We couldn't be prouder to be the menstrual cup of choice for this planet friendly periods movement.

"Jasmine Tribe, Campaign Manager at City to Sea, said: 'We're over the bloody moon to be partnering with Mooncup through our Plastic Free Periods campaign! Mooncup have been championing reusable period products for two decades, so with their expertise and our award-winning campaigns, we expect exciting things to come!'"

"The UK Health Security Agency and Department of Health and Social Care need to make it very clear what they mean by the Immensa lab being 'fully accredited'. If it is not at all UKAS [the UK National Accreditation Body] accredited, and it is not an official part of the Lighthouse lab network, which has its own very rigorous accrediting and validation process, then how exactly was it determined to be fit and proper to deliver Covid testing to the UK public?"

"Just had my first jab. The pharmacist said I was a complicated case: English passport, Spanish residence permit, Italian tax number and I've had Covid. Nonetheless, she was very nice and computer said 'yes'."

"WRAP estimated annual food waste arising within UK households, hospitality & food service (HaFS), food manufacture, retail and wholesale sectors in 2018 at around 9.5 million tonnes, 70% of which was intended to be consumed by people, the rest being 'inedible'. This had a value of over £19 billion a year and would be associated with 36 million tonnes of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. Over 85% (by weight) of this wasted food arises in households and food manufacture."



"Every day in UK homes we throw away approximately: 20 million slices of bread; 4.4 million potatoes; 920,000 bananas; 1.2 million tomatoes; 720,000 oranges; 800,000 apples; 2.7 million carrots; 970,000 onions; 86,000 lettuces; 3.1 million glasses of milk; 2.2 million slices of ham.

"The food and drink we waste that could have been eaten would fill (British measures mostly): 8 Wembley Stadiums; 90 Royal Albert Halls; 38 million wheelie bins (based on a standard 240 litres); 3,600 Olympic-sized swimming pools; 490,000 bin lorries."

"Between 2018 and 2020, there was a 65% increase in surplus redistributed; an additional 36,000 tonnes, worth over £110 million and enough to provide the equivalent of 86 million meals.

"The amount of surplus food redistributed in 2020, over 92,000 tonnes, was worth £280 million and was the equivalent of 220 million meals.

"Total food redistributed between 2015 and 2020 equals ~320,000 tonnes, worth £970 million and equivalent to 760 million meals."

"The Government wrote to you in March to tell you that shielding advice was being paused from 1st April 2021. Since 19th July 2021, you have been advised to follow the same guidance as everyone else, whilst potentially thinking about extra precautions you could take to reduce your chance of catching COVID-19.

"Now that vaccination has been offered to all of the adult population, including those previously identified as clinically extremely vulnerable, and other treatments and care pathways are available, I believe it is the right time to end the shielding programme. This means that given the current situation you will not be advised to shield in the future and we will not be providing specific national guidance for you to follow."

"Why am I writing this blog? There will be plenty of other informing output from the Earthshot Prize website and Twitter feeds. What can I add?

"I'm afraid my motivation is selfish.

"While I'm not in denial about climate change, I'm lazy at studying the detail. I hope to be drawn deeply into the issues by taking a more active part, by tracking this initiative.

"I'm bad at addressing problems if I feel pushed into action. I have a better chance if pulled towards a solution. Confronted by darkness I will go to sleep. Beckoned by the light I find energy. This project is all about light."

"Total indigenous resistance - including ongoing struggles, victories against projects never completed, and infrastructure unfortunately in current operation - adds up to 1.8 billion metric tons CO₂e, or roughly 28 percent the size of 2019 U.S. and Canadian pollution. Victories in infrastructure fights alone represent the carbon equivalent of 12 percent of annual U.S. and Canadian pollution, or 779 million metric tons CO₂e. Ongoing struggles equal 12 percent of these nations' annual pollution, or 808 million metric tons CO₂e. If these struggles prove successful, this would mean indigenous resistance will have stopped greenhouse gas pollution equivalent to nearly one-quarter (24 percent) of annual total U.S. and Canadian emissions.

"That 24 percent, equalling 1.587 billion metric tons CO₂e, is the equivalent pollution of approximately 400 new coal-fired power plants - more than are still operating in the United States and Canada - or roughly 345 million passenger vehicles - more than all vehicles on the road in these countries. Indigenous resistance has also contributed an outsized political impact, helping shift public debate around fossil fuels and Indigenous Rights and avoid lock-in of carbon-intensive projects. These impressive figures also underestimate total indigenous resistance, since this report focuses on just the largest and most iconic projects."

"We sail the oceans every day and see the plastic problem growing. At current levels, by 2050 our oceans will contain more plastic than fish. With an estimated 5 trillion pieces of plastic waste littering all major ocean basins. This crucial problem is a high priority on our agenda. That´s the reason why Maersk Supply Services keeps providing offshore project management and vessel operations support to a re-developed offshore cleaning system. The Ocean Cleanup´s long-term ambition is to install a fleet of at least 60 floating screens to remove 50% of the 80,000 tonnes of plastic in the Great Pacific Garbage Patch within 5 years."

"In the first half, we had some serious errors, we could have avoided the lockdown. But having got into the position where we had to have one - we should have locked down earlier. But in the second half, we had the vaccine rollout ... the discovery of treatments which have saved a million lives around the world."

"The Northern Forest has already established over 3 million new trees since 2018 and is transforming the landscape from coast to coast and in and around cities such as Liverpool, Chester, Manchester, Leeds, Bradford, Sheffield, York and Hull.

"The area is home to 13 million people, but it only has 7.6% woodland cover - much lower than the UK average of 13%. Our 50 million trees are transforming this landscape and creating a real asset for the communities that live nearby."

"The Prize aims to turn the current pessimism surrounding environmental issues into optimism, by highlighting the ability of human ingenuity to bring about change, and inspiring collective action."

"Globally, we generate $120 billion of agricultural waste every year. What farmers cannot sell, they often burn, with catastrophic consequences for human health and the environment. The burning of agricultural waste causes air pollution that in some areas has reduced life expectancy by a decade.

"This plays out every year in the fields surrounding New Delhi. Smoke from man-made infernos fills the air, with serious consequences for the health of locals. One of their number is Vidyut Mohan. His social enterprise, Takachar, is putting out the fire.

"Takachar has developed a cheap, small-scale, portable technology that attaches to tractors in remote farms. The machine converts crop residues into sellable bio-products like fuel and fertilizer.

"Takachar's technology reduces smoke emissions by up to 98% which will help improve the air quality that currently reduces the affected population's life expectancy by up to 5 years. If scaled, it could cut a billion tonnes of carbon dioxide a year: a win for India's farmers will be a win in the fight against climate change."

"Ocean warming and acidification are set to destroy over 90% of reefs by 2050, a death sentence for the quarter of marine life who need them to survive. It will be a disaster, too, for the billion human lives dependent on the benefits reefs provide.

"A year after Sam Teicher and Gator Halpern launched Coral Vita's first facility in Grand Bahama, Hurricane Dorian destroyed their coral farm. The experience brought home the extent of the climate emergency and strengthened their resolve to protect our reefs.

"Coral Vita, which grows coral on land to replant in oceans, gives new life to dying ecosystems. Its methods grow coral up to 50 times faster than traditional methods and improves resilience to the impact of climate change.

"As well as restoring reefs, Teicher and Halpern work with local communities, public officials, and private companies to improve education, create new job prospects, and build a model to inject more funding into environmental protection. Coral Vita gives new life not just to the ocean but to coastal economies as well.

"With Coral Vita's methods, a single farm could potentially supply coral for an entire nation, and they ultimately envision a network of such farms in every nation with reefs, kickstarting a restoration economy to preserve the ecosystems that sustain us all."

"A third of all food produced globally is wasted. Each discarded food item uses precious resources and heaps pressure on agriculture. The global food system generates between 25-30% of the world's total greenhouse gas emissions. Meanwhile, hundreds of millions suffer from food insecurity.

"The City of Milan's Food Waste Hubs tackle two problems in one. Launched in 2019 with the aim of halving waste by 2030, each hub recovers food mainly from supermarkets and companies' canteens and gives it to NGOs who distribute it to the neediest citizens.

"Milan is the first major city to enforce a city-wide food waste policy encompassing public agencies, food banks, charities, NGOs, universities and private businesses. And it is working. Today the city has three Food Waste Hubs, each recovering about 130 tonnes of food per year or 350 kg per day, an estimated 260,000 meals equivalent.

"Milan has created a blueprint that can be scaled throughout the world. If more follow Milan's lead, cities may become one of our greatest assets in humanity's progress toward a waste free world."

"It never counts for nothing to be a good example, to lead by example, to show what has to be done, to show how it can be done and how it works. We have a responsibility to do that in the west more than in developing countries because we started this whole climate crisis with the industrial revolution."

"Greenhouse gas emissions from human activity have already raised global temperatures by around 1C since pre-industrial times. This leaves a rapidly shrinking 'carbon budget' to stay within the aspirational 1.5C of the Paris Agreement on climate change. The budget is a simplified way to measure the additional emissions that can enter the atmosphere to stay below 1.5C, or any other temperature limit."

"Based on estimates made in the IPCC's fifth assessment report (AR5), there would be around 120 gigatonnes of CO2 (GtCO2) remaining from the beginning of 2018 - or around three years of current emissions - for a 66% chance of avoiding 1.5C warming. For a 50/50 chance of exceeding 1.5C, the remaining budget was a modestly larger 268GtCO2 - or around seven years of current emissions.

"The IPCC's new SR15 significantly revises these numbers. It raises the budget for a 66% of avoiding 1.5C to 420GtCO2 - or 10 years of current emissions. Similarly, the budget for a 50/50 chance of exceeding 1.5C is increased to 580GtCO2 - 14 years of current emissions."

"The Earthshot Prize is the most prestigious global environment prize in history, designed to incentivise change and help repair our planet over the next ten years.

"The Prize aims to turn the current pessimism surrounding environmental issues into optimism, by highlighting the ability of human ingenuity to bring about change, and inspiring collective action.

"Taking inspiration from President John F. Kennedy's Moonshot which united millions of people around an organising goal to put man on the moon and catalysed the development of new technology in the 1960s, The Earthshot Prize is centred around five 'Earthshots' - simple but ambitious goals for our planet which if achieved by 2030 will improve life for us all, for generations to come."

"The top 1 per cent by income of the world's population account for about 15 per cent of emissions, according to UN data. That is more than double the share of the bottom 50 per cent.

"Almost everything the wealthy do involves higher emissions, from living in bigger houses to running larger cars and flying more often, especially by private jet. Eating meat comes into it, as does owning a swimming pool. Not to mention a holiday home. Or homes.

"Carbon taxes aimed at the wealthy will climb the political agenda. But will tax policies be enough? For the really rich, no normal level of carbon-linked tax will be a deterrent. They can swallow frequent-flyer supplements, levies on big cars and surcharges on household energy bills."

"The launch of a new private space industry that is cultivating tourism and popular use could come with vast environmental costs, says Eloise Marais, an associate professor of physical geography at University College London. Marais studies the impact of fuels and industries on the atmosphere.

"'For one long-haul plane flight it's one to three tons of carbon dioxide [per passenger]', says Marais. For one rocket launch 200-300 tonnes of carbon dioxide are split between 4 or so passengers.

"A new market report estimates that the global suborbital transportation and space tourism market is estimated to reach $2.58bn in 2031, growing 17.15% each year of the next decade.

"'We have no regulations currently around rocket emissions,' Marais adds. 'The time to act is now - while the billionaires are still buying their tickets.'"

"I am not [optimistic]. Nothing has changed from previous years really. The leaders will say we'll do this and we'll do this, and we will put our forces together and achieve this, and then they will do nothing. Maybe some symbolic things and creative accounting and things that don't really have a big impact. We can have as many Cops as we want, but nothing real will come out of it."

"We're really looking forward to working with the Fully Charged team this season - like FGR they're showing a global audience that there's another way to live. Together we can spread the word about electric vehicles, clean energy and green football."

"This non-profit marine wildlife organisation is on a mission to end the destruction of habitat and slaughter of wildlife in the world's oceans, conserving and protecting ecosystems and species. They use innovative direct-action tactics to investigate, document, expose and confront illegal activities on the high seas. We're proud to have their awesome logo on the back of our shirts and proceeds from the sale of our third kit goes towards Sea Shepherd UK's vital work, aimed at defending marine wildlife from illegal exploitation, exposing atrocities to conserving species, and protecting ocean habitats."

"Global Citizen Live is a 24-hour global event starting on September 25 to unite the world to defend the planet and defeat poverty. Hailing from 6 continents, the broadcast will feature artists, celebrities and world leaders coming together to create change and impact climate and poverty.

"The event will feature performances from all over the world, including: Lagos, London, Los Angeles, New York City, Paris, Rio de Janeiro, Seoul, and Sydney. Additional locations and event-specific details will be announced in the weeks ahead, in accordance with local health and safety restrictions.

"Global Citizen Live is part of Global Citizen's 2021 global campaign, a Recovery Plan for the World. The Recovery Plan focuses on five key objectives: ending COVID-19 for all, ending the hunger crisis, resuming learning for all, protecting the planet, and advancing equity for all."

"Boris Johnson wants to take away your gas boiler. It would be a big step towards zero carbon by ending the use of fossil gas in our homes but makes no sense. The idea is for everyone to have a heat pump. As it's green technology I should be in favour but I'm not. Gas boilers are actually the best choice to heat our homes. So today Ecotricity and the Daily Express have launched a new campaign to save Britain's gas boilers. The big news is that we can keep them and still eradicate carbon emissions. We can do it faster, cheaper and simpler than with heat pumps. All we have to do is replace fossil gas with green gas. How we can make that gas will surprise you.

"But first let's look at what the Government is proposing. Heat pumps work like a fridge in reverse, using electricity to take heat most commonly from the air. But they're expensive to install at about £8,000 per house. And expensive to run at about £400 per year more than using a gas boiler. That's another £7billion a year on our nation's energy bills. Worse still we will need to upgrade the grid to generate the electricity to power these new devices. The total cost could approach £300billion. A mad sum of money especially when we can do the job for a fraction of that.

"Ecotricity has pioneered a new way to make green gas using grass. The total cost is just £30billion with zero per cent of the hassle, upheaval and waste. And with some big upsides. It will create thousands of jobs in the rural economy plus vast wildlife habitats. And within 10 years we could be energy independent for our gas. We actually have enough marginal grassland to make enough to power all of our homes. This is not theory. Existing technology known as anaerobic digestion does the job. It works like a cow's stomach but the methane is harnessed and used to power our country rather than power the climate crisis. Our only by-product is fertiliser. Our first grass-fed gas mill is being built in Reading. Next year it will be pumping green gas into the grid and fuelling 4,000 homes.

"Our Government needs to wake up and smell the freshly mown grass. The answer to the question about how we heat our homes and fight the climate crisis is growing right under our feet."

"We're having another energy crisis this winter but it won't be the last unless we change our approach. The market won't just sort itself out. We need to sort ourselves out. The immediate crisis started with a shortage of electricity, driven by three things. Britain's nuclear fleet is offline unexpectedly after scheduled maintenance. Our wind fleet is suffering from the lowest summer wind speeds tor 60 years. And on top of that a fire has taken out an interconnector that we use to import electricity from Europe. It really is a perfect storm. To make up the shortfall we look to use gas power stations but there are shortages of gas. Global demand is soaring in Asia as those economies bounce out of lockdown. Boris Johnson got that bit right but it's just one piece of the puzzle. Russia has reduced its gas supply to Europe for what appear to be political reasons. And Britain has little gas storage to buffer demand. And so we have record demand for gas while it is in short supply. This causes the price to rocket, taking electricity with it. This exposes our main problem that we are dependent on global markets and supply chains for our energy. The talk right now is about how many suppliers will go bust. But we need to fix the key issue: where our energy comes from. We need to be independent once more, making everything here and we need to do that using renewables - the wind and sun for electricity and grass for gas. As ever, the answer to the climate crisis is the answer to many other problems we face."

"It's destroyed economies, laid waste to people's lives and created a tsunami of health and social problems due to the precautions we have introduced to fight this unproven and untestable pathogen, which has a similar death rate and vector as the 'flu ... from an initial '3 weeks to flatten the curve' to 18 months of life-changing restrictions, we can now start to get a handle on the patterns of behaviour of this respiratory disease which can magically adapt to almost any environment or social setting.

"The point of these confusing and nonsensical restrictions we have all to put up with over the last 18 months is to render people helpless from fear, so they don't know what to believe and give up trying to make sense of anything - 'just take the shots and you'll be fine'. Psychologists call it 'learned helplessness' and governments have been practising this for centuries to control populations. The best way to combat this or any other future 'pandemic' or psychological fear project emanating from the mass media system, owned and controlled by the same people who own all the corporations including the big pharmaceutical companies, is to ignore it and continue making the best decisions for you and your family from your own research and good sense."

"A funeral director has told how he has recorded no excess deaths since the first lockdown last year. John O'Looney, from Milton Keynes, also revealed to The Light how he received regular weekly calls from a government agent asking for numbers of deaths and encouraging him to attribute deaths to Covid-19. 'There have been glaringly obvious coercive conversations, trying to get me to say the deaths could possibly be Covid-19', he claimed. 'It felt to me like it was an effort to falsely inflate Covid-19 death rates.'"

"Is Covid dictator Emmanuel Macron biting off more than he can chew? Demanding total compliance with vaccination and biomedical surveillance, on pain of banishment from society, the French government has sparked a wave of protests from Chambery to Clermont Ferrand. Pseudo-medical apartheid has crossed a line for millions of citizens, who have caught the bug of resistance. A message on one placard was 'Macron et Madame Guillotine: a marriage made in Heaven'.

"Crises have always been exploited to boost control. Once power is taken, it is rarely given back: the security response to the Twin Towers event continues two decades on. Hitherto efforts for global governance having faltered, with toothless agencies and cooperation thwarted by international rivalries, the globalists have found a way to usurp state power through a border-defying health emergency. Suddenly the World Health Organisation became the unquestionable authority.

"Indeed, the pandemic seems highly convenient; it was certainly predicted by the likes of vaccine-touting eugenicist Bill Gates, gain-of-function virus funder Anthony Fauci, and the World Economic Forum in its prescient 'Event 201' exercise. Fear, loathing and bribery were incited to stunning effect, bringing almost every government into line in imposing lockdowns and mass vaccination, mostly with the willing compliance of the people."

"To vaxx, or not to vaxx, that is the question:
Whether 'tis nobler for society to suffer
The needles and vials of outrageous pharmacy
Or to take arms against a sea of despots
And by opposing, end them."

"This is our Stroud-specific Stand in the Park group for citizens who stand for our freedom and constitutional rights. We Stand for Personal Truth and Freedom in Unity. Every Sunday, 52 weeks a year, rain, hail or shine (preferably shine), 10-11am, wearing or having an item of yellow. We urge all brothers and sisters, to Stand with us, in Stratford Park by the bandstand consistently, to ultimately, pave change for our children's and our freedom. This is our line in the sand and it won't move. If it's not us now, then who is it, and when? DISCLAIMER: These events are not a 'protest'. We are simply making a stand, together, in yellow. We are peaceful."

"It is difficult to know precisely when the coronavirus hoax really started - or who was responsible for initiating what has, without question, turned out to be the greatest fraud in human history. This book explains just how a bunch of crooks are using the fear which has been deliberately created out of a fairly ordinary flu bug to take over the world. Making huge profits has been effectively disguised as philanthropy.

"The usual suspects are, of course, the Rothschilds, the Rockefellers, the Bliderbergers and the Jesuits. But a variety of modern billionaires and self-styled philanthropists (such as Gates and Soros) have been added to the mix.

"It is vital to remember that behind the whole fraud lies the global warming scam.

"This fraud, which first surfaced back in the 19th century, was resurrected in the 1990s and deliberately chosen by the Club of Rome as a means to an end: the excuse to create a New World Order.

"The hysterical simpletons who are now scaring themselves silly over global warming don't realise that the only thing which is man-made about the scare is the scare itself."

"Last month, Dominic Raab was third from top in our Cabinet League Table, on 73 per cent. This month, he drops by 21 places to fourth from bottom, coming in at 6 per cent and narrowly avoiding negative ratings. It's one of the biggest falls ever in our table - almost on the scale of Theresa May's dizzying fall from top of the table into negative territory in the wake of the bungled 2017 election.

"Meanwhile, Ben Wallace moves up from ninth, on 51 per cent, to fourth, on 64 per cent.

"The Westminster story of the last week or so has concentrated on Raab v Wallace - and this finding seems to show Conservative activists taking sides. Our take is that it's more of a verdict on how British servicemen and the Foreign Office have reacted to events in Afghanistan; and on Wallace's robust take on Joe Biden and, perhaps, Pen Farthing. The Defence Secretary seems to be morphing into a politician who, like the Prime Minister himself, is seen by many people outside Westminster as authentic.

"Boris Johnson drifts up from fourth from bottom on three per cent to seventh from bottom on 13 per cent.

"Otherwise there's little change in the table, but it's worth closing by having a look at Priti Patel. Last month, she was tenth from bottom on 26 per cent. This month, she is eight from bottom on 18 per cent. As recently as May, she was among the top members of the table: sixth from top on 64 per cent. You will have your own view on the reasons for her fall. Ours is: channel boats."

"Oyster beds of Bouzigues on the Bassin de Thau. €6 a kilo, but Soph doesn't eat them. Dunno if I can do it alone. Dad, you better drive down."

"We went on a walk to Portofino today. Stunningly beautiful, very touristy and stinking rich. Made me think of 'The Wolf of Wall Street'. Amazing, but I think I preferred Friuli. Didn't even dare to have a coffee!"

"Ben, you preferred Friuli? That's my boy!"

"Liguria has all the Italian stereotypes: beautiful coastline, crazy scooters, Mediterranean food, and I want to come back many more times, but what we've seen seems a little spoilt by the wealth and pretence. Friuli was maybe a little quieter - less 'Italian' - but, in its own way, just as beautiful and a lot more real."

"We now have 64 million confirmed cases and 1.3 million deaths. Thirty-three Member States report a greater than 10% increase in 14-day case incidence. This high transmission is deeply worrying - particularly in the light of low vaccination uptake in priority populations in a number of countries.

"Several countries are starting to observe an increased burden on hospitals and more deaths. Last week, there was an 11% increase in the number of deaths in the Region - with one reliable projection expecting 236 000 deaths in Europe by 1 December.

"Three factors account for this increase. The first is the more transmissible Delta variant, now reported in 50 countries in the Region. The second factor is the easing of public health measures, and the third is the seasonal surge in travel, driving significant growth in case numbers in most countries. We are seeing a particularly steep increase in cases in the Balkans, the Caucasus and the central Asian republics."

"In the past 6 weeks, vaccination uptake in the Region has slowed down, influenced by a lack of access to vaccines in some countries and a lack of vaccine acceptance in others. As of today, only 6% of people in lower- and lower-middle-income countries in our Region have completed a full vaccination.

"There is a clear need to increase production, share doses and improve the vaccine access of Member States so that they may offer a full series of vaccination to populations. Everyone, everywhere should have the right to receive the full course.

"Vaccination is a right, but it is also a responsibility. The stagnation in vaccine uptake in our Region is of serious concern. Now that public health and social measures are being relaxed in many countries, the public's vaccination acceptance is crucial if we are to avoid greater transmission, more severe disease, an increase in deaths and a bigger risk that new variants of concern will emerge.

"Vaccine scepticism and science denial are holding us back from stabilizing this crisis. It serves no purpose, and is good for no one."

"We now have vaccines. The ingenious jabs substantially reduce the risk of hospitalisation and death from the virus. They do not mean zero risk or, for that matter, zero cases. But they change the calculation: elimination becomes a costly strategy with very limited benefit. What's the point of lockdowns and maintaining closed borders for a virus that, with vaccines in the mix, no longer causes much harm to individual people?

"New Zealand has not come to this realisation. It has fetishised 'zero risk' for the past 17 months and shown little interest in updating its strategy.

"New Zealand's zero Covid strategy has had frightening consequences. A once-welcoming nation is turning into an isolated dystopia, where liberties are taken away in a heartbeat and outsiders are shunned. Living under the constant threat of disruptive and psychologically crushing lockdowns. Being closed off to the world, with citizens' ability to travel curtailed and foreigners largely prevented from entering. So much for the open, welcoming liberal nation projected by Ardern.

"Ardern has shown little serious interest in protecting her people. New Zealand has fully vaccinated just one in five of its population, the second lowest in the OECD. It even shut down vaccination centres when it entered 'level 4' restrictions this week. Lockdown first, foremost and forever."

"We're on a campsite in Rapallo tonight. It's in Liguria, home of focaccia and pesto. It's right next to Parma too, and we all know what that's famous for. Basically, it could be worse."

For every 10 million people vaccinated with the AstraZeneca vaccine (ChAdOx1 nCoV-19):

For every 10 million people vaccinated with the Pfizer vaccine (BNT162b2 mRNA):

"Increased risks of haematological and vascular events that led to hospital admission or death were observed for short time intervals after first doses of the ChAdOx1 nCoV-19 and BNT162b2 mRNA vaccines. The risks of most of these events were substantially higher and more prolonged after SARS-CoV-2 infection than after vaccination in the same population."

"Mr. Watts, who had no taste for the life of a pop idol, was an unflashy but essential presence with the band.

"Reserved, dignified and dapper, Mr. Watts was never as flamboyant, either onstage or off, as most of his rock-star peers, let alone the Stones' lead singer, Mick Jagger; he was content to be one of the finest rock drummers of his generation, playing with a jazz-inflected swing that made the band's titanic success possible. As the Stones guitarist Keith Richards said in his 2010 autobiography 'Life', 'Charlie Watts has always been the bed that I lie on musically.'"

"Australia has been one of a number of countries, including China and New Zealand, which have attempted to completely eradicate Covid-19 inside their borders, and until recently the strategy had been largely successful. To date, Australia has seen just 44,026 confirmed Covid-19 cases and 981 deaths.

"But several major Australian cities, including Sydney, Melbourne and the capital Canberra, are under lockdown as authorities struggle to contain an outbreak of the Covid-19 Delta variant.

"On Saturday, thousands of Australians took to the streets of Melbourne and Sydney to protest against the long lockdowns, leading to hundreds of arrests. At least seven police officers were injured during violent clashes.

"In his opinion piece published by news.com.au on Sunday, Prime Minister Scott Morrison said he recognized the 'heavy toll' that the strict coronavirus prevention measures had inflicted on Australian citizens and businesses, but said it was 'darkest before the dawn. [The lockdowns] are sadly necessary for now, and we will keep providing health and income support to get people through, but they won't be necessary for too much longer.'

"Morrison said the Australian government intended to shift its focus from reducing case numbers to examining how many people were getting seriously ill from Covid-19 and requiring hospitalization.

"'After all, this is how we manage all other infectious diseases,' the Australian leader said, adding the country's public health system was strong enough now to cope with an increase in coronavirus cases."

"With the third amendment to the regulations of the Federal Ministry for Social Affairs, Health, Care and Consumer Protection coming into force on 15 August 2021, the United Kingdom is no longer considered a virus variant area. Austria has removed the general entry ban for travellers arriving from the United Kingdom. Please note that either proof of vaccination, proof of recovery from COVID-19 or a negative COVID-19 test result must be presented upon entry into Austria. Fully vaccinated people no longer have to self-isolate."

"Current accommodation availability:

"Rooms for MIQ are gradually released in batches over several weeks and months. We're working on some options around how we can alert people that rooms are becoming available. There are still more rooms to be released for September, October and November. Keep checking the system for available dates. Rooms for December will be released once airlines have confirmed their schedules.

"NOTE: At any one time there are hundreds of users online trying to secure a date. For the best chance of securing a voucher, please log in, complete all your details (these will be saved), and look for dates on the calendar."

"What has happened is an appalling and unnecessary self-inflicted wound. We are being presented with a choice: invest more blood and treasure or walk away. No: we had a steady state, give or take, in Afghanistan for the last few years, and the mission was a train, equip and mentor one. It was large, but for between 5,000 and 20,000 troops, contractors, special forces and so on who were there, it was smaller than many NATO/US bases and missions around the world. We have chosen to withdraw politically; we have not been forced to do so on security grounds. I think we will regret that decision for many years.

"The collapse happened because a truly dreadful US President, Donald Trump, who was probably in hock to the Russians, dealt with the Taliban behind the Afghan Government's back - a shocking betrayal. Joe Biden, who admires Kennedy - we had some great quotes from Kennedy earlier - could have changed things. He has chosen not to and has opened the United States, Europe, India and many allies throughout the world to considerable terrorist risks from the 2,500 to 4,000 jihadi nut jobs - pardon my French - who are currently being released from Bagram, Kandahar and Kabul. When they have stopped slaughtering our friends and beheading a few key women journalists, they will turn their attention to us. We have walked away from a successful anti-terrorist operation after 20 years. Sooner or later, we will reap the rewards.

"Many people have said that the Afghans did not fight. In my experience, many Afghans fought very hard. In many ways, those people were a model of courageous integrity. They were effective and efficient, they loved their country and they knew right from wrong. They are probably dead. If they were not killed a year ago, they will be finished off as we speak, and I find that upsetting.

"Russia and China are happier today and Taiwan and Ukraine are considerably more nervous. We are weaker. Europe has been as bad as the United States in not stepping up to the mark. A weak and divided west is not a recipe for a caring future for anybody. It is a recipe for global instability and greater global threat."

"The Pashtun saying 'You have all the watches, we have all the time' reflects the speed with which the Taliban have acted."

"We are one of the last countries in the world to have the Delta variant in our community. We're in the position to learn from experience overseas, and what actions work, and what actions don't work. Delta has been called a gamechanger -- and it is. It means we need to again go hard and early to stop the spread. We have seen what can happen elsewhere if we fail to get on top of it. We only get one chance."

"This change comes at an interesting time when daily case numbers remain high and there is increasing evidence that double vaccinated individuals can still get infected with the delta variant and spread infection to others. It is very likely that this change will fuel increased levels of infection and that this will lead to further hospitalisations and deaths."

"Experts have previously recommended that we can go back to normal when case numbers have fallen, ideally, as in Germany, to fewer than 10 cases per 100,000 population per week. We are clearly a long way from that; and the decline in case numbers we saw recently seems to have plateaued - case numbers are no longer falling. And before we know it schools will return, and more socialisation will take place indoors, both of which will further drive transmission.

"Policy decisions have undermined our ability to control the pandemic, and are the reason why case numbers in the UK have been so much worse than in many similar countries.

"Personally I am very unconvinced that this policy change is a good idea, certainly now while we have very high case numbers, and if we had low case numbers it would not be necessary anyway."

"The daughter of a man who died after complications from Covid-19 has urged people to take precautions even if they have had both vaccine doses. Jade Allum's father, David, died in hospital, aged 58. He had been double-jabbed but suffered a cardiac arrest as a result of coronavirus. Ms. Allum is urging people to keep wearing masks and take regular tests. She said: 'I know it's a little bit uncomfortable but if you think that's going to save your life, or your mum's life, or your auntie's life, or someone you don't know, it's such an easy thing to do.'"

"I spoke to the leader of the Taliban today, we had a good conversation, we have agreed there is no violence, don't want violence. We will see what happens. They're dealing with Afghanistan but we will see what happens. The relationship is very good that I have with the Mullah."

"Nous sommes en France!"

"We are currently driving on the N124 towards Auch, which I like to pronounce 'Owch'. It's very hot to the point that even the sunflowers are looking at the ground. We're heading past Toulouse in the hope of arriving in Albi this evening but first, un Intermarché."

"Made it just past Albi. Got to Millau to the east. I think we're parked on the D991 in the Gorges de la Dourbie."

"A COVID-19 cluster in England's worst-hit area has been linked to a nightclub, according to health bosses. On 3rd August, Lincoln had the highest case rate in the UK with 653.6 cases per 100,000 people - more than Northern Ireland, which had by far the highest case rate out of all the UK regions at 486.7. It came as new cases increased by 83% to 649 in the week to 29 July. The Wharf and University district, which is a hotspot of cafes, restaurants and nightclubs, recorded a rate of 1,140. Natalie Liddle from Public Health Lincolnshire told the BBC that the majority of cases were in people aged under 30. She said: 'We are currently managing a cluster of outbreaks in and around Lincoln - and we've seen a particular increase in cases linked to the night-time economy.'"

"The title of the book comes from an expression by the people of 'Gagliano' who say of themselves 'Christ stopped short of here, at Eboli' which means, in effect, that they feel they have been bypassed by Christianity, by morality, by history itself - that they have somehow been excluded from the full human experience."

"I have been fighting all year with my health after what happened at the end of last year [Ed: he contracted the virus in December] and it is still a battle. I had really big dizziness and everything got a bit blurry on the podium. I haven't spoken to anyone particularly about it but I think it is lingering. I remember the effects when I had it. The training has been different since then and the levels of fatigue you get are different and it's a real challenge. So [I'm] just continuing to try and train and prepare the best way I can. Who knows what it is today? Maybe it's hydration but I've definitely not had that experience. I had something similar in Silverstone but this is way worse."

"The estimated percentage of the community population (those not in hospitals, care homes or other institutional settings) that had COVID-19 was:

"We would like the resurgence in cycling that we saw during the lockdowns in England to herald a golden age, rather than be wasted."

"Last summer, the Prime Minister launched ambitious plans to boost walking and cycling, with a vision that half of all journeys in towns and cities are walked or cycled by 2030. This includes a £2bn package of funding for active travel over five years, which is the largest amount of funding ever committed to increasing cycling and walking in this country."

"Migrateful runs cookery classes led by refugees, asylum seekers and migrants struggling to integrate and access employment. The cookery classes provide ideal conditions not just for learning English and building confidence, but also for promoting contact and cultural exchange with the wider community.

"Due to legal, linguistic and social barriers, finding work can be extremely difficult for many migrants. Being unable to provide for themselves and their families has significant negative effects on self-esteem and mental health.

"Migrateful's mission is to empower and celebrate refugees and vulnerable migrants on their journey to integration, by supporting them to run their own cookery classes."

"You can return to work if you've not had a high temperature for 48 hours and feel well. Contact your employer first."

"Your recent coronavirus test has come back negative. Please enter your result into the NHS COVID-19 app as soon as possible using this code: xxxxxxx. This will update your self-isolation advice on the app. No personal data will be shared when you enter your test result into the app. If you have been advised to continue isolating, the app has all the latest guidance on self-isolation and what support is available to you. Please make sure that you have updated your app to the latest version. Some older versions of the app do not support the latest test codes. If you do not have the app, please download it now to help protect your loved ones and the NHS. It's free. Just search for 'NHS COVID-19' in the Google Play or Apple App Store."

"For me there are two big ones: schools closing and an increased awareness of a growing epidemic - alongside nicer weather. There's constant news coverage reminding us we're in a pandemic. Contact levels post step-3 were far below normal, a third below pre-pandemic levels of 10 contacts per day on average."

"Hopefully we're moving away from that cliff [of hitting 100,000 cases per day] but we are still close to it. One of things you've got to remember is there is a lot of infection still out there. If behaviour changes, then you're only two doublings away from 100,000 (25,000 cases to 50,000 cases to 100,000 cases). I'd like to see another week or two before being confident."

"There is an enormous shortage of HGV drivers that we estimate at between 85,000 and 100,000. We are weeks away from gaps on the shelves, it is as serious as that. We don't know if it's because Europeans who would traditionally be in these roles have left because of Brexit or because of Covid and aren't able to come back yet because of the pandemic, but it is a very real problem."

"The Prime Minister keeps asking me if I will support his chaos: no, and I want to bring the Prime Minister back to one of our earlier exchanges in this House. On 26 May I asked the Prime Minister if he had ever used the words 'Covid is only killing 80-year-olds' or words to that effect. On that day the Prime Minister pointedly did not deny using those words, and now we have the proof that he did. We have all now seen the Prime Minister's text message: 'The median age' of Covid fatalities 'is 82 ... that is above life expectancy', and we have the Prime Minister's conclusion in the same text - 'So get Covid and live longer.' I remind the Prime Minister that more than 83,000 people aged 80 or over lost their lives to this virus, every one leaving behind a grieving family and loved ones. So will the Prime Minister now apologise for using those words?

"We have rolled out vaccines faster than any other country in Europe: 96% of people over 50 will now have had a vaccine, and 68% of people have had two jabs. What we are trying to say to the country today - the single most important, serious message - is, "If you have not yet had your second jab, please come along and get it, and if you're over 50 and still have not had a second jab or over 40, please come and get it as well." And we must never forget that if we had followed the advice of the right hon. and learned Gentleman we would have stayed in the European Medicines Agency and would never have had the vaccine roll-out at all."

"There's no zero risk in life; there is only more risk or less risk. The mark of success in the coming fortnight is not zero cases, and I know that some cases have already been detected. The mark of success is making sure that any cases are identified, isolated, traced and cared for as quickly as possible, and onward transmission is interrupted. That is the mark of success for every country. The Olympics have the power to bring the world together, to inspire, to show what's possible. It is my sincere hope the Tokyo Games succeed."

"Busted yet again for thinking the rules that we are all following don't apply to them. The public have done so much to stick to the rules. At a time when we need to maintain confidence in self isolation, parents, workers and businesses will be wondering what on earth is going on in Downing Street. The way the prime minister conducts himself creates chaos, makes for bad government and has deadly consequences for the British public."

"The world is at a perilous point in this pandemic. We have just passed the tragic milestone of four million recorded COVID-19 deaths which likely underestimates the overall toll. Some countries with high vaccination coverage are now planning to roll out booster shots in the coming months and are dropping public health and social measures and are relaxing as though the pandemic is already over."

"I would urge extreme caution in the complete lifting of public health and social measures at this time because there are consequences for that."

"I don't think we should underestimate the fact that we could get into trouble again surprisingly fast. We are not by any means out of the woods. This has got a long way to run in the UK, and it's got even further to run globally."

"If you look over what people have done, and in fact if you look at what people intend to do now, people have been incredibly good at saying, 'I may be a relatively low risk, but people around me are at high risk, and I'm going to modify my behaviours'."

"We're not in a good place. In Africa there was a 16.7% increase in cases in the last seven days. There was a 16.4% increase in the Eastern Mediterranean region, a 33% increase in cases across Europe, an 8.6% increase in South-east Asia, a 10% increase in the Western Pacific.

"[One key] factor that's challenging us right now is the inequitable and uneven distribution of vaccines and you've heard us talk about this over and over again. Large parts of the world remain susceptible to infection. If you have variants of concern that are circulating, if you have increased social mobility and social mixing, if you have the inappropriate use of public health and social measures and you have a very susceptible population the virus will thrive.

"The virus is showing us right now that it's thriving. This is not theoretical. We're not talking about a what-if situation right now. We're not talking about preparing for a surge. It's happening now."

"I'm not prepared to stand by and put Londoners, and our city's recovery, at risk. This is why, after careful consideration, I have decided to ask TfL to retain the requirement for passengers to wear a face covering on all TfL services when the national regulations change.

"What would have been far better is for the national rules to apply across the country, not just in London. That would have provided clarity.

"A number of services coming to London aren't my responsibility. What we are saying is when you're in London you've got to be following our rules, just like if you're on a train going to Scotland, you've got to follow the rules in Scotland and indeed in Wales where the wearing of face masks is still compulsory."

"Like millions of people across this country I woke up this morning sad and rueful, but also filled with pride and hope and with thanks to Gareth Southgate and the whole England squad for the best campaign by any England team in any tournament that I can remember. They made history. They lifted our spirits and they brought joy to this country and I know that they will continue to do so. And to those who have been directing racist abuse at some of the players, I say shame on you, and I hope you will crawl back under the rock from which you emerged."

"We've come to a stage in the pandemic when there is no easy answer or obvious date for unlocking. We have cases rising significantly - with more than 30,000 per day. And we can see what is happening across Europe as the Delta variant takes hold among our friends. We know we're going to see more hospitalisations and more deaths from Covid."

"Every week that goes by we are getting hundreds of thousands more jabs into arms and our delay to the road map that we announced last month has enabled us to get 7 million more jabs in the last 4 weeks alone. By next Monday, two-thirds of adults will have received a second dose and every adult will have been offered a first dose. It is the single most crucial thing now that you get that jab, a jab that could protect you and your family and allow you, for instance, to go on holiday. It is of course only thanks to the vaccine programme that we are able to take these cautious steps now. But to take these steps we must be cautious and we must be vaccinated. So please get that jab."

"I want to send my congratulations and that of my family to you all on reaching the final of the European Championships, and send my good wishes for tomorrow with the hope that history will record not only your success but also the spirit, commitment and pride with which you have conducted yourselves."

"I wanted to congratulate you and all the players on your amazing performance and achievement in this Euro 2020 tournament. You have already made history. You have taken England into the final of a major international competition. For most people in this country, it is the first time this has happened in all their lives. You have forged a band of brothers whose energy and tenacity and teamwork - and sheer flair - seem to shine in everything you do. You have lifted the spirits of the whole country, and tomorrow we know you can lift that trophy too. We are not just hoping or praying. We believe in you, Gareth, and your incredible squad. On behalf of the entire nation, good luck, have a great game - and bring it home!"

"We could not be clearer that anyone behind such disgusting behaviour is not welcome in following the team. We will do all we can to support the players affected while urging the toughest punishments possible for anyone responsible. We will continue to do everything we can to stamp discrimination out of the game, but we implore government to act quickly and bring in the appropriate legislation so this abuse has real life consequences. Social media companies need to step up and take accountability and action to ban abusers from their platforms, gather evidence that can lead to prosecution and support making their platforms free from this type of abhorrent abuse."

"The City of London, which is the heart of the UK financial services industry, could lose over 70% of its labour force if everyone who can work from home does so in the long term. The local authority area of Lewisham in south-east London could see an increase in output of up to 60% relative to pre-COVID economic activity."

"This is not just a London phenomenon. In Bristol, Cardiff, Glasgow and other UK cities, our research shows working from home has led to a shift away from city centres into the suburbs. Areas in which many commuters work, such as central Manchester, will lose out, while areas in which many commuters live, such as East Dunbartonshire on the northern outskirts of Glasgow, will win."

"Following positive discussions with the FA, the England senior men's squad are pleased to confirm that a significant donation from their international match fees will be made to NHS Charities Together via the #PlayersTogether initiative. This contribution will be taken from a fund already set aside to support a variety of worthy causes using all match fees collated since September 2018."

"Drink sales in pubs have shot up by 176% since last week thanks to football fans supporting their locals. Initial OrderPay data showed fans have given pubs a total sales growth of 166% since the beginning of the tournament. The data revealed that drink sales at pubs increased 176% during the England v Germany match compared to previous week where pubs saw an uplift of 104%. Carling, Stella Artois, Fosters and Estrella were the biggest sellers. The average spend was £21.70, slightly less than the match against Croatia, where punters spent an average of £23.02.

"The Germany game also saw a boom in Jägerbomb consumption with sales of the shots up 113% compared to the previous week. Gordons Pink Gin revenue was up 92% while Smirnoff Red saw an increase of 70%. The North West were the big spenders with sales in the region increasing by 1,043%, followed by the North East with 457% and the West Midlands 399%."

"I could have filled the bar four times over, hearing the tills ringing four-fold. Instead because of social distancing, no standing, and the rule of six, sadly 24 it is."

"The British Beer and Pub Association has predicted 6.8 million pints will be sold during the England-Denmark match, considerably less than the 12 million that would have been sold had restrictions been lifted."

"Men gathering to watch football may be a potential reason why women were nearly a third less likely than them to test positive for coronavirus, experts have suggested. Professor Paul Elliott, director of the REACT programme at Imperial College, said: 'We have noticed in the current round that the prevalence is higher in men than women - around 0.7% in men and 0.5% in women.'"

"We all want our economy to open and to get back to normal; the question is whether we do it in a controlled way or a chaotic way. The Health Secretary told the House yesterday that under the Government's plan 'infections could go as high as 100,000 a day.' A number of key questions fall from that. First, if infections reach that level of 100,000 per day what does the Prime Minister expect the number of hospitalisations and deaths and the number of people with long Covid will be in that eventuality?"

"There are a number of projections and they are available from the Scientific Pandemic Influenza Group on Modelling graphs."

"The next obvious one [problem] is the huge number of people who will be asked to isolate. If there are 100,000 infections a day, that means hundreds of thousands - perhaps millions - of people are going to be pinged to isolate. The Financial Times estimates this morning that that could be around 2 million people per week. The Daily Mail says 3.5 million people a week. Either way, it is a massive number. It means huge disruption to families and businesses just as the summer holidays begin. We know what the FT thinks. We know what the Mail thinks. We know what their estimates are. Can the Prime Minister tell us: how many people does he expect will be asked to isolate if infection rates continue to rise at this rate?"

"Let us be clear why infection rates are so high: it is because the Prime Minister let the Delta - or we can call it the Johnson - variant into the country."

"He is doing what he always does - crashing over to the other side of the aisle."

"Hundreds of multi-coloured umbrellas have been suspended above Stroud town centre as part of the initiative to raise awareness and understanding of ADHD and other neurodiverse conditions.

"Jane Roberts funded the project in memory of her son Ben who struggled with ADHD before taking his life in 2020. Entitled the Stroud Neurodiversity Project the aim is to shift perceptions of ADHD and encourage others to embrace 'thinking differently'.

"Jane said: 'Ben was six and at school in Stroud when his teacher first suspected ADHD. Had he been correctly diagnosed then his life would have taken a very different path. I'm funding this project because there are a lot more children out there with undiagnosed ADHD. Neurodiverse individuals thrive when given the right support. They are frequently creative, imaginative, energetic and good leaders. The Stroud Neurodiversity Project seeks to help everyone recognise and harness their strengths and achieve their potential.'"

"Schoolchildren have a had a pretty miserable year and Covid is a pretty miserable disease. It does not recognise the inequalities in society and it disproportionately affects some of the poorest, most disadvantaged communities - the same communities that often need extra resource and help to get that educational attainment. What more is the Secretary of State doing to tackle that inequality, which was there before Covid - it will still be there after it and will be exacerbated by it - to ensure that those children have the best start in life? They are our country's future. What more can we do to help them to catch up and excel?"

"The hon. Member and I share the same passion to deliver that sort of change and opportunity for so many children. It should never matter where they grew up or what their personal circumstances are; the ability of every child in this country to access the world's best education and the very best opportunities drives us on both sides of the House."

"We will change the basic tools that we have used to control human behaviour. We will move away from legal restrictions and allow people to make their own informed decisions about how to manage the virus."

"If we can't reopen our society in the next few weeks, when we will be helped by the arrival of summer and by the school holidays, then we must ask ourselves when will we be able to return to normal? And to those who say we should delay again; the alternative is to open up in the winter when the virus will have an advantage - or not at all this year."

"I want to stress from the outset that this pandemic is far from over and it will certainly not be over by the 19th. As we predicted in the roadmap we're seeing cases rise fairly rapidly. There could be 50,000 cases detected per day by the 19th. Again as we predicted we're seeing rising hospital admissions and we must reconcile ourselves sadly to more deaths from Covid."

"Lifting all protections in one go when the infection rate is going up is reckless. A balanced approach, a proper plan, would say keep key protections. One of them would be masks in enclosed places and on public transport, that's a common-sense position. More ventilation - that's happening in other countries - is absolutely essential. And proper payments for those who need to self-isolate.

"[The PM] says if not now then when. He hasn't seen the data yet - he's not getting the data until the end of the week. He's describing what he wants to happen, not what he can say is going to happen. That is no way to make a decision as important as this."

"Tomorrow the Education Secretary will announce our plans to maintain key protections but remove bubbles and contact isolation for pupils."

"We will work with the travel industry towards removing the need for fully vaccinated arrivals to isolate on return from an amber country and the Transport Secretary will provide a further update later this week."

"We are reviewing continuously our travel restrictions and we think that in the foreseeable future those who have received double jabs will then, according to our classification - and now Britain obviously is a high incidence area - be able to travel again without having to go into quarantine."

"We had a new Health Secretary in place by Saturday. Given that we have a pandemic, to move from one Health Secretary to the next with that speed was fast, but it was not as fast as the vaccine roll-out, which is now going so fast that in this week half of under-30s have now had their first jab. That is speed."

"I am proud to tell this House that in the past few days this country has overtaken Israel in the proportion of people that we have vaccinated."

"What we are doing as a Government instead of focusing on stuff going on within the Westminster bubble is focusing on rolling out the vaccines. We will have vaccinated everybody by 19 July; every adult over 18 will have received one jab and everybody over 40 will have received two jabs. That is the priority."

"[We will] roll out those vaccines and allow the people of this country to work forwards towards freedom day, which I devoutly hope will come on 19 July. Never let it be forgotten that if we had followed the advice of the right hon. and learned Gentleman, that would not be possible because it was under his proposals that we would have stayed in the European Medicines Agency and been unable to deliver the vaccine roll-out at all."

"It is as a result of that vaccine roll-out which, as I say, would have been fatally impeded had we followed the policies of the Labour party, that we now have a higher wall of vaccination than virtually any other country in the world and are able to proceed with our cautious but, we hope, irreversible unlocking of the UK economy."

"The couple are using the screen once again to explore grief, this time during COVID-19. 'We struggle in our society to talk about grief,' Jane says, a trained public speaker who has worked in promoting films made by women, 'and yet, with the global COVID-19 pandemic, grief and loss have suddenly been something we've had to become accustomed to, whether directly or through the experience of others. Grief in these times has thrown up new challenges for us. 'Beyond The Mask' invites us to re-evaluate what is important in our lives. So many people feel unheard and isolated and need to be free to speak about their experiences and we want to help share them.'

"'Beyond The Mask' was made entirely during the pandemic. It premiered on the anniversary of the UK being plunged into a first national lockdown, and was launched with a special free online screening hosted by the Death Positive Libraries Project. Co-presented with acclaimed author and palliative care campaigner Dr Kathryn Mannix, it reached an online audience of over 400. And now, on July 4th, it's being shown at the Lansdown Hall presented by Stroud Film Festival."

"I spent my first day as health secretary just yesterday looking at the data and testing it to the limit. While we decided not to bring forward step 4, we see no reason to go beyond July 19, because, in truth, no date we choose comes with zero risk for Covid. We know we cannot simply eliminate it, we have to learn to live with it. We also know that people and businesses need certainty, so we want every step to be irreversible. And make no mistake, the restrictions on our freedom, they must come to an end. We owe it to the British people, who have sacrificed so much, to restore their freedoms as quickly as we possibly can and not to wait a moment longer than we need to. With the numbers heading in the right direction, all while we protect more and more people each day, July 19 remains our target date. The prime minister has called it our 'terminus date'. For me, July 19 is not only the end of the line, but the start of an exciting new journey for our country."

"[The Conservatives] have serious questions to answer about how Gina Coladangelo gained the right to enter parliament unchecked. We need to know why was she sponsored by one of Matt Hancock's chums in the Lords and what work she did for him."

"If anybody thinks that the resignation of Matt Hancock is the end of the issue, I think they're wrong; the incoming Health Secretary and the Prime Minister now have serious questions to answer about the CCTV, the access, the passes, the contracts."

"I am writing to resign as Secretary of State for Health and Social Care. We have worked so hard as a country to fight the pandemic. The last thing I would want is for my private life to distract attention from the single-minded focus that is leading us out of this crisis. I want to reiterate my apology for breaking the guidance, and apologise to my family and loved ones for putting them through this. I also need be with my children at this time."

"It has been your task to deal with a challenge greater than that faced by any of your predecessors, and in fighting Covid you have risen to that challenge - with the abundant energy, intelligence and determination that are your hallmark. Under your leadership, the Department for Health and Social Care has identified and deployed critical life-saving treatments such as Dexamethasone, rapidly increased hospital capacity through the Nightingale programme, and provided 11.7 billion items of PPE to the frontline at record speed. In March 2020, we had the capacity to test 2,000 people a day; now, we have built the largest diagnostic network in British history and have administered over 200 million tests. The vaccine procurement and deployment programme - in my view one of the greatest successes of the modern state - is now forging our path out of the pandemic."

"You should be immensely proud of your service. I am grateful for your support and believe that your contribution to public service is far from over."

"So it turns out there's another thing Matt Hancock is useless at - being a husband. This morning the nation tried its best not to puke into its porridge as photos emerged of him snogging a woman who was most definitely not his wife. A friend of Hancock revealed that he 'has no comment on personal matters. No rules have been broken.' Interesting.

"First up, pretty sure Martha Hoyer Millar, aka Mrs Hancock for the last 15 years, and mother of his three children can think of one or two that have been slightly fractured, shall we say. Oh, and also there's the small matter of the date that the stomach-churning wet lettuce clinch photos were taken. They're reportedly from May 6, almost two full weeks before hugging between households was allowed. No rules have been broken though - Hancock was probably just canoodling to test his eyesight, or something.

"The Other Woman is an old chum from Oxford university, who Hancock has remained 'close friends' (cough cough) with ever since. By complete coincidence - because obviously he has absolutely no previous for giving jobs and contracts to his mates - she got an unpaid role and then a job. Gina Coladangelo was hired first as an unpaid adviser, and then as a paid non-executive director. To clarify, that's paid in money, not kind. Almost definitely.

"The truly bafflingly thing about this embarrassing expose is that it was hard enough to compute that one woman in the world fancied Matt Hancock, and now we're forced to accept that TWO do? Power is famously an aphrodisiac, and admittedly he does have an important sounding job, but come on - this dweeb is a national laughing stock, at best.

"He's cringely fake cried on telly. Replied uncertainly, 'I don't think so?' when asked if he agrees that he's useless. Become the subject of countless memes, due to things like somehow managing not to be able to sit down convincingly. Been ripped to shreds by Piers Morgan on GMB over and over again. Shown himself to be incompetent, negligent, ineffectual, the government's whipping boy.

"And yet there was one woman watching all of that - maybe not even through her fingers, like the rest of us - thinking ... phwoar. Mind-boggling.

"Quite apt that Hancock's the Secretary of State for Health, as after looking at the photos of him getting lucky, many of us are left feeling like we need medical assistance. Prepare for the understatement of the megaannum (that's a million years). Martha and Gina, YOU CAN DO BETTER."

"While Hancock was lecturing the rest of us about strict Covid rules and threatening us with jail, he was taking a saliva sample from the lovely Gina Coladangelo. When he was telling us to responsibly socially distance, he was exploring the lush topography of her bottom."

"Amazon's profit in the first three months of 2021 came in at $8.1bn (£5.8bn) - more than triple what it was in the same period last year. Since the pandemic began the business has posted four consecutive record quarterly profits and attracted more than 200 million Prime loyalty subscribers. Revenue was up 44% to $108.5bn (£77bn), making Amazon one of just four US companies to have reported quarterly revenue above $100bn."

"Our research highlights many ethical issues for Amazon, including climate change, environmental reporting, habitats and resources, pollution and toxics, arms and military supply, human rights, workers' rights, supply chain management, irresponsible marketing, animal rights, animal testing, factory farming, use of controversial technologies, political activities and anti-social finance."

"It is my intention to be as close to the Heel Stone as possible. As on previous occasions it is not my intention to break the law - but be there I shall on one side of the fence or another."

"Passenger numbers at Gatwick fell 78% in the year ended 31 December, 2020 due to the impact of COVID-19. The airport remained open throughout the pandemic, however all revenue streams were impacted and the collapse in passenger demand led to a £465.5m loss for the twelve-month period."

"Italy is to introduce a five-day Covid quarantine for travellers from the UK from Monday amid growing concerns about the spread of the Delta variant. The Italian government said travellers from the UK will also be required to have mandatory Covid tests."

"Offering all adults a jab less than 200 days after the programme launched is one of our country's greatest collective achievements, saving over 14,000 lives so far."

"This is truly a watershed moment. Whoever you are, wherever you live, if you are aged 18 or older and you are yet to book your Covid jab, today should be the day you make that happen. Only months after delivering the world-first first jab, hardworking NHS staff have given more than 60 million vaccinations in England alone, saving thousands of lives and giving the entire country hope for a brighter future."

"Between rounds 11 and 12, national prevalence increased from 0.10% (0.08%, 0.13%) to 0.15% (0.12%, 0.18%). During round 12, we detected exponential growth with a doubling time of 11 (7.1, 23) days and an R number of 1.44 (1.20, 1.73). The highest prevalence was found in the North West at 0.26% (0.16%, 0.41%) compared to 0.05% (0.02%, 0.12%) in the South West. In the North West, the locations of positive samples suggested a cluster in Greater Manchester and the east Lancashire area. Prevalence in those aged 5-49 was 2.5 times higher at 0.20% (0.16%, 0.26%) compared with those aged 50 years and above at 0.08% (0.06%, 0.11%). At the beginning of February 2021, the link between infection rates and hospitalisations and deaths started to weaken, although in late April 2021, infection rates and hospital admissions started to reconverge. When split by age, the weakened link between infection rates and hospitalisations at ages 65 years and above was maintained, while the trends converged below the age of 65 years. The majority of the infections in the younger group occurred in the unvaccinated population or those without a stated vaccine history. We observed the rapid replacement of the Alpha (B.1.1.7) variant of SARS-CoV-2with the Delta variant during the period covered by rounds 11 and 12 of the study."

"Today marks five years since the murder of our friend and colleague Jo Cox. My thoughts - and I am sure those of the whole House - are with her family and friends."

"As the Prime Minister has already said, today is the fifth anniversary of the death of our dear friend and colleague Jo Cox. Jo had already changed so many lives for the better. She was passionate about creating a fairer, more just world. I know she would have gone on to achieve so much more, and that she would have been so proud of the work of her foundation and what it is doing in her name. Jo and I were in the same intake into this House; we were friends and our children are around the same age. There is not a day that goes by when we do not miss Jo. I know that I speak not just for those on the Opposition Benches, but for many across the House, when I say that today we remember Jo." [Hon. Members: "Hear, hear."]

"Does the Prime Minister recognise that his decision to keep our borders open contributed to the spread of the delta variant in this country?"

"No. Captain Hindsight needs to adjust his retrospectoscope, because he is completely wrong. We put India on the red list on 23 April, and the delta variant was not so identified until 28 April and was only identified as a variant of concern on 7 May. When the right hon. and learned Gentleman criticises this Government for wanting to keep our borders open, just remember that he voted 43 times in the last five years to ensure that our border controls were kept in the hands of Brussels."

"The Prime Minister talks about the dates. Let us go through the dates. On 24 March, a new variant was reported in India. On 1 April, India was reporting over 100,000 new infections a day, and rising. But the Prime Minister kept India off the red list until 23 April. In that time, 20,000 people came into the UK from India. What on earth did the Prime Minister expect would be the consequences of that? The British people did their bit by following the rules and getting vaccinated, but the Prime Minister squandered it by letting a new variant into the country. That was not inevitable; it was the consequence of his indecision. If the Prime Minister disagrees with me what is his explanation as to why Britain has such high rates of the Delta variant?

"The British people do not expect miracles, but they do expect basic competence and honesty. When it comes to care homes, protective equipment or borders, we see the same pattern from this Prime Minister - too slow, too indecisive, over-promising, under-delivering. After all these failures and mistakes, why should anyone believe the Prime Minister now?"

"Since today I cannot say that we have met all four tests for proceeding with step four, I do think it is sensible to wait just a little longer.

"As things stand - and on the basis of the evidence I can see right now - I am confident we will not need any more than 4 weeks and we won't need to go beyond July 19th. It is unmistakably clear the vaccines are working and the sheer scale of the vaccine roll-out has made our position incomparably better than in previous waves.

"But now is the time to ease off the accelerator because by being cautious now we have the chance - in the next four weeks - to save many thousands of lives by vaccinating millions more people. And once the adults of this country have been overwhelmingly vaccinated, which is what we can achieve in a short space of time, we will be in a far stronger position to keep hospitalisations down, to live with this disease, and to complete our cautious but irreversible roadmap to freedom."

"We are continuing to look at the data, no final decision has been taken, and the right time to fill everybody in on what we are going to do with step four with June 21 is tomorrow, as I have said. That's when we will be putting out the whole package of information so that everyone can see it together."

"We felt it necessary to come here today despite the pandemic to let Carbis Bay Hotel and the G7 leaders know that we won't stand by while they take destructive action. The hypocrisy of the world leaders discussing the climate crisis in a so-called eco hotel that is destroying woodland is staggering. Carbis Bay Hotel thinks it can ignore planning laws because of the G7. We're here to tell them they can't and that they will be held to account for their actions. The action taken by the hotel is a small glimpse of the reality facing Cornwall as it prepares to host the summit. Local people will be ignored, their voices will not be heard and their movements will be restricted."

"Sausages from Great Britain could soon be banned from entering Northern Ireland. After Brexit England, Scotland and Wales no longer follow EU rules. However, Northern Ireland does because it shares a land border with the Republic of Ireland, an EU member state. EU food safety rules don't allow chilled meat products to enter its market from non-members. A six-month grace period has been in place since January under which the rules don't apply. Under the terms of the protocol this arrangement runs out at the end of June."

"St Ives isn't wealthy. It is impoverished and has got just as many issues as anywhere else. It is a harsh place to live because it's such a masquerade. So beautiful and so wonderful and the world leaders are coming to our town, yet there is such a forgotten community out there."

"It was refreshing to watch Marvin Rees in Statue Wars. Because here was a politician - the Mayor of Bristol - talking eloquently, intelligently, sensibly and with nuance. A politician who wasn't picking a side in the culture wars, but doing his best to rise above them. Rees is Bristol to his bones, but if he could be tempted to Westminster his future looks bright.

"Isn't it nice to have a grown-up in charge?"

"It's outrageous that they [the BBC] didn't even contact me at any stage. It's a programme called Statue Wars. They have an actual person who was made into a statue in the programme. They didn't even think they needed to include anything about what I might think about it? The reason I got on the plinth in the first place and the reason I agreed to let the statue be made was because consistently black women like me are denied a voice in this society. When the BBC come to make a programme about that the black woman involved is not heard. I am literally living history but I have no right of reply. It feels as though to them again I am just a body, with no thoughts, no mind, no contribution."

"This outage was broad and severe and we're truly sorry for the impact to our customers and everyone who relies on them.

"On May 12 we began a software deployment that introduced a bug that could be triggered by a specific customer configuration under specific circumstances. Early June 8, a customer pushed a valid configuration change that included the specific circumstances that triggered the bug which caused 85% of our network to return errors.

"Even though there were specific conditions that triggered this outage, we should have anticipated it."

"Industry experts have reported a growing trend to book rooms at multiple hotels before cancelling all but one at the last minute to take advantage of generous flexibility being offered for customers amid continued uncertainty. Bookings software provider Avvio said cancellation rates for Britain's hotels are running at 'scarily low' levels of just 4 per cent, well below the normal 30 per cent, because consumers are making multiple reservations. Michael De Jongh, Avvio's chief commercial officer, said: 'Many holidaymakers have booked both a foreign holiday and a UK stay and our data shows they're often holding on to both. If they decide at the last minute to risk a holiday abroad, a late rush of cancellations in the UK would create chaos across the whole industry as hotels scramble to fill their suddenly vacant rooms. Many of these just won't be filled, resulting in tens of millions of pounds in lost revenue.' People may have banked accommodation with the view of potentially ditching it for a trip to a country on a green list instead as they wait and see how the summer of travel unfolds."

"One woman looking for accommodation close to the Dorset coast posted: 'Watch out for Sykes [Ed: Sykes Cottages, an agent with over 15,000 properties] price hikes. The cottage we booked for last April - 2020 - was £580 per week. This year - 2021 - same week £1,010.' Another woman based in Wales who has rented her property through Sykes insisted she has no control over the prices. 'I'm an owner, have just checked my prices and they've gone from £459 to £1,145. I've questioned this and they have said it's due to demand. Quite frankly I'm embarrassed.' "

"While Covid-19 has brought about the trend of sprucing up your living space, Brexit has thrown several spanners in the works. Many shoppers are paying higher prices and waiting longer for their purchases since the UK parted ways with the EU. Which? surveyed 2,010 people in February and found that 24% had experienced delays in receiving their goods. And of the 42% who returned items to sellers or manufacturers in the EU, 87% faced delays, unexpected paperwork or extra charges. With current coronavirus rules meaning all socialising has to be done outdoors, it's not surprising that people are stocking up on garden furniture. And uncertainty surrounding foreign holidays this summer is adding to many people's desire to make their gardens as pretty and practical as possible. Gina Hinde, marketing manager at the Leisure and Outdoor Furniture Association (LOFA), says: 'Demand for outdoor furniture and barbecues has swelled since last March and it will continue because of people spending more time in their gardens rather than going abroad.'"

"A video that appears to show former US President Donald Trump wearing strangely wrinkled suit trousers without a fly set the internet abuzz with people joking that the 74-year-old had unintentionally put the garment on back-to-front. Footage from Trump's long-awaited return to political rallying at a North Carolina Republican Party state conference on Saturday zooms in on his crotch area."

"We're going to have a tremendous 2022, just like we did frankly, 2020. Think of it. More votes than any sitting president in the history of the United States by far. We had a great election. Bad things happened, but we had a great election. You look at our border, it's wide open. Illegal immigration is skyrocketing at a level that we've never seen before, and this is over a period of a few months. Drugs are pouring in. Gas prices are soaring. Our industries are being pillaged by foreign cyber-attacks. That's a lack of respect for our country and for our leaders. Speaking of our leaders, they're bowing down to China. America is being demeaned and humiliated on the world stage. Our freedom is being overtaken by left wing cancel culture and the Biden administration is pushing toxic critical race theory and illegal discrimination into our children's schools."

"We came from a nice tropical country to a small narrowboat, and it was a dream come true. We are really happy, so contented. The boating community is so helpful, everyone is so polite, everyone's immersed in their own environment and nature."

"At the scuba diving schools we went from our three busiest months ever to nothing overnight. [Life on a narrowboat] is something we considered 12 years ago and never got round to doing. I think it's going to be difficult getting us off. We knew we'd like it. I can't believe I'm saying it. I spent most of my adult life trying to get away from the UK, but Covid [means I've found] an awful lot to discover here. I don't think we appreciated how much we'd adjust to it."

"In all corners of the UK, people are rolling up their sleeves when their time comes to protect themselves and the people around them. It seems with every day we pass another major vaccination milestone on the road back to recovery. I encourage everyone who is eligible to join the millions who have the fullest possible protection from this virus by getting their jab when the time comes."

"This latest milestone in our ongoing fight against coronavirus gives us another welcome opportunity to thank everyone in the NHS working flat out to deliver the biggest vaccination programme in our history - they are protecting millions of people at speed and saving thousands of lives. There has never been a more important time to get protected so when it's your turn and you're contacted by the NHS, book your jab or bring forward your second dose."

"I'm calling on my fellow G7 leaders to join us to end this terrible pandemic and pledge we will never allow the devastation wreaked by coronavirus to happen again."

"Vaccine confidence is an international challenge and one that takes international action. At the G7 Health Ministers meeting this week we'll be talking about how to beat this pandemic worldwide."

"A key driver of vaccination is public trust. Trust must be earned. To succeed in vaccinating the whole world governments will have to deploy a range of strategies and tailor them to each country."

"High-income countries representing just a fifth of the global adult population have purchased more than half of all vaccine doses resulting in disparities between adult population share and doses purchased for all other country income groups. Although high-income countries only account for 19% of the global adult population they have bought more than half (54%, or 4.6 billion) of the world's vaccine doses to date.

"These countries currently have enough vaccine doses to cover more than twice their adult populations. Meanwhile upper-middle-income countries can reach approximately one-third or 39% of their populations; lower-middle-income 27%; low-income 38%."

"Last year, when the pandemic arrived, we quickly pivoted and refocused on supporting society and bringing consumers joy, normalcy, and entertainment during a difficult time. Now, as we are hopeful for brighter days ahead, we're once again pivoting our plans to ensure our brands are there to encourage people to think about being together again and returning to activities we love, while reminding them to socialize safely and responsibly."

"When the nation reaches the White House's goal of 70% of adults partially vaccinated, Anheuser-Busch will buy America's next round of beer, seltzer, non-alcoholic beverage or other A-B product - inclusive of over 100 brands - to enjoy with family and friends. Adults 21+ will simply upload a picture of themselves in their favorite place to grab a beer, whether with friends at their favorite local bar and restaurant or with family in their very own backyard, at MyCooler.com/Beer to enter to receive a beer on A-B."

"The researchers surveyed 5,850 adults from all 50 states through Facebook and its associated platforms during the months of March and April 2020. They asked the participants to describe themselves demographically and report how their alcohol use had changed since the start of the pandemic. Of all the participants identifying themselves as drinkers, 29% reported that their alcohol consumption had increased during the pandemic. Women were more likely (33% as opposed to 24%) to have increased their drinking than men. Highly educated people were more likely to have started drinking more (32%) than those without a bachelor's degree (25%). Of the people aged 40-59 years, 30% reported drinking more."

"We continue to top the list of places where people are willing to take, or have taken, a Covid vaccine. I am aware that this isn't a vaccine world cup. Different nations don't compete for one prize. We know that when everyone is safe we're all going to be the winners. Vaccine confidence is an international challenge and one that takes international action.

"Figures from cricket to comedy to cookery and things like the NHS campaign resulted in a sharp uptake in vaccine take-up, including around a 20% increase in Asian communities. We use trusted voices in a cheerful, positive way, from Her Majesty the Queen to Sir David Attenborough. They publicly made it known that they'd got the jab and they played their part in normalising the acceptance of the vaccine.

"Professor Jonathan Van-Tam, our deputy chief medical officer and lead on the vaccine project, has become a household name with people getting T-shirts and mugs with his face on because people admire his straight-talking approach. That I think has helped to build confidence."

"Nothing in the data at the moment means we cannot go ahead with Step Four. But we've got to be so cautious. I'm sorry that's frustrating for people. I know that people want a clear answer about the way ahead for 21 June but at the moment we have just got to wait a little bit longer."

"The COVID-19 pandemic is reshaping the marketplace. The survey finds that public transport will be severely hit, with a 69% reduction in public transport use for work, a 61% fall in usage for leisure and entertainment pursuits and a 53% decline for household and social travel. More than three-quarters (78%) of respondents say that they are going to be more likely to use their cars for travel in a post-pandemic world. Millennials (24-39 years-old) are expected to lead a car ownership boom in the coming six months across the globe, representing 45% of all first-time car owners."

"We posit that this reconstructed historical aetiology [Ed: The cause, set of causes, or manner of causation of a disease or condition (Oxford English Dictionary)] meets the criteria of means, timing, agent and place to reverse the burden of proof. Henceforth, those who would maintain the zoonotic transfer hypothesis need to explain precisely why our simpler account of laboratory manipulation is wrong, before asserting that their evidence is persuasive. This is more especially when, as we also show here, the evidence used to support some of their arguments is actually in contradiction of them."

"High-containment laboratories have a whispered history of near misses. Could a world full of scientists do all kinds of reckless recombinant things with viral diseases for many years and successfully avoid a serious outbreak? Things can go wrong in a hundred different ways. One day, perhaps, somebody messed up. The news of a novel coronavirus in Wuhan screamed lab release."

"Professor Anne Spurkland, an immunologist from the University of Oslo who was not an author on the paper, told NRK, the Norwegian state broadcaster, that this [inserted sections placed on the SARS-CoV-2 Spike surface] is not evidence that the virus was man-made. Another vaccine researcher, Gunnveig Grødeland, who was also not involved in the paper, told NRK that these sequences can occur when a virus mutates and are found in other viruses including HIV and other coronaviruses.

"Just 3% of Latin Americans have been fully vaccinated against COVID-19 and we still have a long way to go to ensure that everyone is protected, a symptom of how unequally vaccines are being distributed in the Americas."

"If the vaccine does not come to you, it is time to go the vaccine. I'm 46 years old and I didn't think I could be vaccinated in my country before December. I have seen people dying getting closer and closer to home."

"We're setting up mobile vaccination opportunities for tourists in some of the best trafficked parts of New York City, the places that tourists love to go. I think this is part of the welcome back to New York City. We want everyone to be safe."

"There are two main camps in the debate. In one, the belief is that the pandemic originated through natural zoonotic causes; a zoonosis is an infectious disease caused by a pathogen that has jumped from a non-human animal (bat, pangolin) to a human. In the other view, the accusing finger points at human error, careless scientific tinkering, unintentional release from a laboratory."

"Now everybody is agreeing that I was right when I very early on called Wuhan as the source of COVID-19, sometimes referred to as the China Virus. To me it was obvious from the beginning but I was badly criticized, as usual. Now they are all saying 'He was right.' Thank you!"

"New United States COVID cases, because of the record-breaking development of the vaccine and its early purchase and distribution by the Trump Administration, has hit its lowest level in more than one year, and falling fast."

"The latest data show that the number of cases is now rising. Yesterday we saw 3,542 new cases, the highest since 12 April. The variant first identified in India - B.1.617.2 - is still spreading, and the latest estimates are that more than half, and potentially as much as three quarters, of all new cases are now of this variant.

"We're surge testing in the 8 hotspot areas and in other places where cases are lower but rising. In the hotspot areas we're surging vaccines too for those who are eligible. In Bolton for instance we've done 17,147 vaccinations in the last week. Earlier today I spoke to Fiona Noden, CEO of Bolton Foundation Trust, and her message is very clear. The hospital is functioning well and is open to all those who need it. But people need to be careful and cautious and follow the rules, and take personal responsibility to help to slow the spread."

"One of the most serious points made this morning is that the Prime Minister failed to recognise the severity of this virus until it was too late, dismissing it as another "scare story" like the swine flu. Does the Prime Minister recognise that account of his own behaviour? If so, will he apologise for being so complacent about the threat that this virus posed?"

"Another incredibly serious statement from the Prime Minister's former adviser this morning concerns the conduct of the Health Secretary, including an allegation that the Health Secretary misled other Ministers and officials on a number of occasions. I do not expect the Prime Minister to respond to that, but can he confirm: did the Cabinet Secretary advise the Prime Minister that he - the Cabinet Secretary - had 'lost confidence in the Secretary of State's honesty'?"

"There was clearly a lack of planning, poor decision making, a lack of transparency and a Prime Minister who was absent from the key decisions, including five early Cobra meetings, and who was, to quote his former adviser, '1,000 times far too obsessed with the media'."

"His decision to delay for 40 days, from the SAGE guidance on 21 September until 31 October, will be seen as one of the single biggest failings of the last year."

"I notice that the right hon. and learned Gentleman is fixated, as ever, on the rear-view mirror, while we on this side of the House are getting on with our job of rolling out the vaccines, making sure that we protect the people of this country."

"When it comes to hindsight, I just remind him that he actually - he denied this at the time and then had to correct it - voted to stay in the European Medicines Agency, which would have made it impossible for us to do the vaccine roll-out at the pace that we have."

"The Opposition vacillate; we vaccinate. They deliberate; we deliver."

"Senior ministers, senior officials, senior advisers like me fell disastrously short of the standards that the public has a right to expect of its government in a crisis like this. When the public needed us most the government failed."

"The Secretary of State for Health should have been fired for at least 15, 20 things including lying to everybody on multiple occasions in meeting after meeting in the Cabinet Room and publicly."

"You could know from the last week in February that a whole bunch of things were wrong. It was clear in all the meetings, the PHE, everybody, that everything was going wrong, everything we pushed, everything we probed, everything was wrong, bad, terrible."

"It's completely crackers that someone like me should have been in there just the same as it's crackers that Boris Johnson was in there."

"Nobody could find a way around the problem of the Prime Minister just like a shopping trolley smashing from one side of the aisle to the other."

"Did you hear him say 'let the bodies pile high in their thousands' or 'it's only killing 80-year-olds'?" "I heard that in the Prime Minister's study."

"Bedford Borough have just issued a statement saying they have met with national officials who confirm that there are no restrictions on travel in or out of Bedford Borough. This will be a relief to many but when No 10 is saying they 'would not seek to encourage people to go to those areas; we will rely on people's judgement' it still leaves unanswered questions.

"The Government are at pains to say this guidance, which astonishingly no one was actually guided to, won't be enforced by law, but that doesn't help anyone know for sure what they should be doing to prevent the new variant of concern spreading. Why put out advice, then tell people they don't have to follow it? Surely these restrictions are needed or they are not.

"All through the pandemic, the public has tried to do the right thing to keep themselves, their friends, family and community safe and once again they are being let down by appalling mixed messaging from a Government who confuses everyone with double-speak when what is needed is clarity and leadership.

"Over recent weeks, we've been told that we can and can't travel out of the country and now we are being told that we can but we shouldn't travel outside of our town. It's an absolute shambles. The Government needs to get a grip now and come up with a clear plan for the people of Bedford."

"If you've got a holiday booked for half term next week, does the government want you to cancel it or not? If you've got a wedding organised, do you have to cancel your wedding now?"

"make it clearer we are not imposing local restrictions. Instead, we are providing advice on the additional precautions people can take to protect themselves and others in those areas where the new variant is prevalent."

"Our mother lost her life because of this, and nothing has changed. It is my firm view that this Panorama programme holds no legitimacy and should never be aired again. It effectively established a false narrative which for over a quarter of a century has been commercialised by the BBC and others. What saddens me most is that if the BBC had properly investigated the complaints and concerns first raised in 1995 my mother would have known that she had been deceived. She was failed not just by a rogue reporter but by leaders at the BBC who looked the other way rather than asking the tough questions."

"My father used to say to me when I was younger, he used to say to both William and I, 'Well it was like that for me so it's going to be like that for you.'

"I was just all over the place mentally. Every time I put a suit on and tie on, having to do the role and go, 'right, game face,' look in the mirror and say, 'let's go'. Before I even left the house I was pouring with sweat. I was in fight or flight mode. I was willing to drink (a week's worth of alcohol on a Friday or Saturday night), I was willing to take drugs, I was willing to try and do the things that made me feel less like I was feeling.

"I've got a hell of a lot of my mum in me. The only way to free yourself and break out is to tell the truth. Certainly now I will never be bullied into silence."

The chaotic timetable changes three years ago showed all too clearly that the old ways were not working. Then in March 2020 this Review, conceived after those problems and the failure of the East Coast franchise, found itself dealing with something far bigger: the almost total collapse of passenger demand initially, and a profound challenge to the sector's operating model as a consequence of the COVID-19 pandemic. Before the pandemic commuters made up 47% of all rail passengers, a further 10% were travelling for business meetings and 5% were shopping. In other words, around two thirds of passengers were using the railways for purposes that now face potentially permanent change. Much of the old demand will return. Millions of us, imprisoned in front of flickering screens, yearn for human contact. Employers and businesses know that creativity, collaboration, and deal-making are best done in person. Rail freight was heavily impacted at first but has recovered rapidly, demonstrating its agility. But commuting and business travel may never be quite the same again.

We now propose the biggest change to the railways in 25 years, ending the fragmentation of the past and bringing the network under single national leadership. A new public body, Great British Railways, will own the infrastructure, receive the fare revenue, run and plan the network and set most fares and timetables. Network Rail, the current infrastructure owner, will be absorbed into this new organisation, as will many functions from the Rail Delivery Group and Department for Transport.

Private sector innovation has helped deliver the spectacular growth the railways have seen in the last quarter-century; it is essential that we keep the best of this and encourage more, particularly in IT, data and modern payments. In most cases Great British Railways will contract with private companies to operate trains to the timetable and fares it specifies, in a way similar to that used by Transport for London (TfL) on its successful Overground and bus networks. Operators will compete for the contracts, and we expect competition to be far greater than for the old franchises, with simpler procurement, lower costs and no one-size-fits-all approach.

Just three weeks after adding Ivermectin, Delhi now leads India out of the deadly second surge of the COVID pandemic. Cases that had peaked at 28,395 on April 20 plummeted nearly 80% to just 6,430 on May 15. Deaths peaked May 4, and now they are also down 25%.

On May 10, the Indian State of Goa adopted an even more ambitious policy of pre-emptive Ivermectin for all adults in the state. As a direct result, Goa has seen a drop in cases from 3,124 the day after the announcement to 1,314 five days later.

Meanwhile, three other Indian states have followed Goa's lead in adding Ivermectin: Uttarakhand, Karnataka, and Uttar Pradesh. And, as expected, they have seen a drop in new daily cases as well, with Uttar Pradesh down nearly 75% from a peak of 37,944 to just 10,505 on May 16 only four days after they began following the All India Institute of Medical Science (AIIMS) guidance of April 20.

FDA has not approved Ivermectin for use in treating or preventing COVID-19 in humans. Ivermectin tablets are approved at very specific doses for some parasitic worms, and there are topical (on the skin) formulations for head lice and skin conditions like rosacea. Ivermectin is not an anti-viral (a drug for treating viruses). Never use medications intended for animals on yourself. Ivermectin preparations for animals are very different from those approved for humans.

EMA has reviewed the latest evidence on the use of ivermectin for the prevention and treatment of COVID-19 and concluded that the available data do not support its use for COVID-19 outside well-designed clinical trials. In the EU, ivermectin tablets are approved for treating some parasitic worm infestations while ivermectin skin preparations are approved for treating skin conditions such as rosacea. Ivermectin is also authorised for veterinary use for a wide range of animal species for internal and external parasites. Ivermectin medicines are not authorised for use in COVID-19 in the EU, and EMA has not received any application for such use.

Complete an entry form swearing absence of symptoms and no contact with confirmed cases in preceding fortnight; present a negative PCR COVID-19 test result carried out less than 72 hours before departure (privately sourced, not from the NHS); self-isolate for 7 days on arrival before taking another PCR test (which obviously must be negative); for UK nationals returning home, a negative COVID-19 test result taken up to 3 days before departure.

Evidence of a negative result from a PCR test for COVID-19 that has been conducted within the 72 hour period before your arrival time in Greece; proof of two COVID-19 vaccinations completed at least 14 days before travel which exempts you from self-isolation; passengers travelling by air are required to undergo a rapid COVID-19 test on arrival; if testing positive you will have to self-isolate for at least 14 days - you are required to arrange and undergo a fresh PCR test in order to be able to exit self-isolation; complete a Passenger Locator Form (PLF).

Reports by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and OCHA have indicated: 70-80% of Gazans live below the poverty line; 30% of new-borns are living with anaemia; 72% of Gazans are food insecure; 45% of agricultural land is out of production; by the second half of 2014 unemployment affected 45% of Gazans.

"Even before the pandemic, Gaza faced serious systemic issues impacting the quality of health care available for its population, and Covid-19 put the already fragile health-care system on edge," said Suhair Zakkout, a spokeswoman for the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) in Gaza. If the conflict intensifies, Gaza's health-care system "will not be able to cope. More wounded and more Covid-19 patients will likely bring it to, or close to, a total collapse."

Gaza has reported more than 103,000 coronavirus infections and at least 930 deaths since the pandemic began last year, according to the World Health Organization. Last week, just before tensions flared, nearly half of Gaza's intensive care beds were occupied by Covid-19 patients. The United Nations says that just 39,000 inhabitants [Ed: 1.9% of population] have received at least one coronavirus vaccine dose out of the roughly 100,000 doses that have reached the territory.

"The vaccine rollout has stopped", Zakkout said. A vaccine shipment for Gaza from the U.N.-backed Covax initiative was paused Thursday over safety concerns. "At the moment, no goods or people can enter Gaza because the border crossings are closed. This means no medical supplies, including vaccines, can enter," said Sasha Muench, director for the Palestinian territories for the U.S.-based humanitarian group Mercy Corps. "In addition, no fuel to run the generators can enter and Gaza authorities are warning of increased blackouts, including at hospitals, and no electricity in Gaza at all within a few days."

Another concern is that new virus clusters will emerge as families displaced by the bombings seek refuge with relatives or neighbors. In Gaza, most families live in large, multigenerational households, often crammed into single buildings. "Because of this, social distancing and covid-19 prevention measures were undermined," said Alaa Alkhatib, MedGlobal's program manager in Gaza. "There is tremendous overcrowding in hospitals."