6:59 am, April 3, 2021
- Here are the headlines on Saturday, April 3
Nearly 190,000 jobs lost as shops forced to close
Almost 190,000 jobs have been lost since shops were first forced to shut their doors a year ago, according to new figures.
In exclusive data for the PA news agency, the Centre for Retail Research has revealed that 188,685 retail jobs vanished between the start of the first lockdown on March 23, 2020 and March 31 this year.
The figures come less than two weeks before non-essential shops reopen their doors to customers in England after the lengthy third lockdown.
Massive demand for staycations
Staycation businesses are reporting massive demand for their planned reopening on April 12.
That is the earliest when self-contained accommodation providers and outdoor visitor attractions could be allowed to welcome back people under the prime minister’s road map for easing the coronavirus lockdown in England.
Holiday home firm Cottages.com said two-thirds of its properties in coastal locations or with hot tubs had been booked for the week starting April 12.
Four in five teachers’ ‘mental health affected during pandemic’
Nearly four in five teachers feel their job has adversely affected their mental health during the pandemic, a survey has suggested.
More than one in four (27 per cent) teachers whose jobs have had a negative impact on their mental or physical health over the past year have seen a doctor or medical professional about the issues, the poll of more than 4,700 NASUWT members found.
Ministers must recognise that teacher wellbeing needs to be addressed to be able to deliver the recovery programme for pupils affected by school closures, said the teaching union.
Seven blood-clot deaths in UK after AstraZeneca jab
Unusual blood clots have led to seven UK people dying after being given the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine jab, according to a BBC report.
The BBC said it had the deaths confirmed to it by the Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency, although It is still unclear if they were merely a coincidence or a side-effect.
Thirty people out of 18 million who had been vaccinated by March 24 had had the clots, and the medicines regulator said the benefits continued outweighing any risk.
Worst motorway service area named and shamed
A motorway service area on a key tourist route has been named Britain’s worst.
Bridgwater services on the M5 in Somerset was awarded just one star out of five for all categories analysed by Which?, including cleanliness, range of facilities and prices. It received an overall customer score of just 32 per cent.
Meanwhile, Gloucester services – an hour’s drive up the M5 – was ranked number one, with four out of five stars and a customer score of 86 per cent. The findings were based on some 5,600 experiences by 2,700 consumers at 68 motorway service areas.
New device to zap away ‘cluster headaches’ now available on NHS
Thousands of people who suffer from debilitating ‘cluster’ headaches are set to benefit from the rollout of a portable gadget proved to help zap away pain.
The gammaCore device, which delivers a low-level electric current to the neck area to block pain signals, is now available on the NHS.
Cluster headaches are a relatively rare condition more commonly found in men – tending to start when the patient reaches their 30s or 40s.
Commission behind landmark race review hits back at criticism
The commission behind a controversial report on racial disparity has hit back at critics, claiming that disagreement with the government-backed review has ‘tipped into misrepresentation’.
It defended itself against accusations the report had put a ‘positive spin’ on slavery, claiming in a statement that any suggestion it had done so was ‘as absurd as it is offensive’.
The landmark review by the Commission on Race and Ethnic Disparities, published on Wednesday, said Britain was no longer a country where the ‘system is deliberately rigged against ethnic minorities’.
Care home residents to be allowed two designated indoor visitors
Care home residents in England will be allowed a second regular indoor visitor from April 12, the government has said, while babies and young children will also be able to go along.
Infants and children aren’t counted as one of the two visitors, meaning care home residents will be allowed to see small bubbles of loved ones for the first time in months.
Friday Car Dealer headlines you may have missed
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- One year on: Auto Trader boss reflects on a year lockdowns changed car sales forever
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President’s sorrow after police officer killed in Capitol attack
Joe Biden has said he is heartbroken after a police officer was killed when a man rammed a car into two officers at a barricade outside the US Capitol in Washington DC then emerged brandishing a knife.
Video showed the driver of the crashed car starting to run at the officers with a knife in his hand, Capitol Police Acting Chief Yogananda Pittman told reporters.
The officer was named as William ‘Billy’ Evans. Authorities shot the suspect, later identified as 25-year-old Noah Green, who died at a hospital. It comes nearly three months after a mob of armed insurrectionists stormed the Capitol.
Boris ‘an embarrassing buffoon’
Boris Johnson’s former deputy at the Foreign Office has claimed the prime minister is an ’embarrassing buffoon’ in a new book.
Sir Alan Duncan, who was MP for Rutland and Melton from 1992 until the last election and who served on the Conservative front bench for 18 years, also criticises former PMs Theresa May and David Cameron in his memoir In The Thick Of It.
The ex-politician’s diaries, serialised in the Daily Mail, cover his final four years in Parliament amid Brexit and Johnson’s rise to Downing Street.
Weather outlook
Today will see a cloudy start in England and Wales, says the BBC, thinning in the north and west during the afternoon. Plenty of sunshine for Northern Ireland and Scotland, though. It’ll be dry.
However, it’ll cloud over in Northern Ireland as well as the western part of Scotland and northern England tonight. The south-east of England will stay cloudy throughout but the skies will be clearer in the east and south.
Easter Sunday will see the weather turning windy and wet in Scotland, and the rain will reach northern England and Northern Ireland by the evening. It will also turn cold with wintry showers in the far north, but further south should stay dry with sunny spells.
