Prof Neil Ferguson was the first to sound the alarm – and perhaps provide a clue as to how the prime minister, the health secretary and the chief medical officer all became victims of the coronavirus pandemic. Ferguson is the scientist whose research at London’s Imperial College led to the government’s dramatic pivot in its … Read more
Chris Packham is seeking an urgent injunction to immediately halt HS2’s destruction of ancient woodlands as campaigners criticise construction teams for allegedly ignoring the government’s physical distancing rules for coronavirus and endangering local people. The naturalist and broadcaster’s £100,000 crowd-funded legal challenge includes requesting a judicial review of the government’s decision-making behind the £106bn high-speed … Read more
The mass clapping event (Millions of Britons clap for carers on coronavirus frontline, 26 March) was bittersweet and loaded with irony. It was an unprecedented show of collective gratitude, inspired by a Dutch woman living in the UK, by a nation whose Brexit vote caused a shortage of medical staff as it sent EU citizens … Read more
British companies struggling amid the coronavirus outbreak are to be given greater protection from bankruptcy under emergency changes to insolvency laws due to be unveiled by the government this weekend, the Guardian has learned. Ministers are preparing to announce measures to give firms greater leeway to continue trading, including offering them more protection from creditors … Read more
Boris Johnson has said he is only suffering mild symptoms of Covid-19 and will continue working in the coming days – but if he is incapacitated by the virus, the foreign secretary, Dominic Raab, has been nominated as the “designated survivor”. That means he would take up the prime minister’s responsibilities if Johnson were unable … Read more