The reason for me following it , I worked for property developers,they borrowed huge sums of money.
Why do you think it is relevant?
Interest rates going up or down can affect the property market bigtime. The developers have had a field day for years. The loans the guys I’ve worked have had in the past, aren’t mortgages. Shorter term loans, more risk, higher rate.
Changes to interest rates won’t matter anyway with the scale of what’s about to occur with this virus. Normally you use them for troubled times,but this current trouble is of the charts.
Why on earth would you bring up interest rates over and over again, and finally admit that they are irrelevant?
I brought them up because that is the tool they use when the economy needs something. The media seemed to make a big deal about them cutting. The intention of quantitative easing, printing money, is to have more money in circulation. They want people to spend,keep money moving.But when things improve in the economy, you reign it in. Eventually the banks will be in better shape. But they haven’t reigned it in, in fact,the banks could do with higher rates for a better margin. Too late now anyway. I think there’s an 80% chance of a lockdown in the U.K., Good luck to anyone that can sort that out. You can’t pay everybody that’s off work. Lots of bad debts everywhere. I think Brexit will take a back seat tbh.
There’s quite a bit of stigma around your own currency. With the EU, there’s a vast amount of difference between their economies. The European Central Bank sets the rate, banks then lend. They have to weigh up the risks in these countries. If countries lock down in Europe,debts are inevitable. Which means bond defaults. Strange things can happen. Enron was worth $70billion dollars one minute, nowt the next.
Increasing concern over the coronavirus pandemic is the main focus for most of Sunday's papers. "Death toll leaps and forces Johnson to act" is the headline in the Sunday Times. The paper says Prime Minister Boris Johnson is accelerating plans to buy up beds in private hospitals and potentially make the elderly and vulnerable self-isolate - possibly for months. It reports the strict new measures could be brought into force this week - a fortnight earlier than medics and scientists had originally expected. The front page of the Sunday Express also hones in on the implications for older citizens. "Over-70s face stay at home order" is the headline as it details what it describes as a "dramatic plan to save lives". The move comes, the paper says, as Britain is "rocked" by the increase in deaths. It suggests the new rules will also apply to anyone under 70 with pre-existing medical conditions.
The Sunday Telegraph claims Mr Johnson has put industry on a "war footing" to equip the NHS for the "battle ahead". In what the paper describes as an "unprecedented peacetime call to arms", it claims that Mr Johnson is asking manufacturers - including Rolls Royce and JCB - to transform production lines to enable them to make ventilators. Health Secretary Matt Hancock writes in the paper that firms "cannot make too many" ventilators - and he sets out how the government's Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies (Sage) has said extra measures to "shield" older and medically vulnerable people will need to be instituted soon. He urges people to pull together, as British people did in the Second World War. Cartoonist Matt attempts to inject a note of humour. His sketch depicts a suited man saying, as he leaves home for the day, that he's going to self-isolate. Or, he adds - in a reference that will strike home for many retailers - "as I call it, open my shop". The Telegraph also reports that the UK's biggest teaching union, the National Education Union, has written to Mr Johnson "demanding to know why schools are being told to stay open". France, Ireland and Spain have all announced school closures and the Union says its members deserve to see the modelling government is basing its decisions on.
The Mail on Sunday is one of many papers to carry photographs showing scenes of chaos and shelves stripped bare in shops, as it reports that ministers have made plans to deploy troops to guard hospitals and supermarkets as panic-buying hits. Its "at a glance" guide points out that "at least 10 times" as many people have died from winter flu worldwide than from the virus since it was first reported. But it also reports that emergency legislation will be put before MPs to requisition land for "extra graveyards" and to relax regulations to allow for speedier cremations and burials. "It's war on the virus" is the declaration of the Sunday Mirror, which claims that 8,000 private hospital beds will be rented by the NHS, troops will be mobilised and over-70s will be told to self-isolate for up to four months. The concerns of "hundreds of scientists" that the UK response to the virus is wrong, or has fallen short, make the front page of the Observer. The paper contrasts the situation in the UK with measures being taken by other countries around the world: borders closed by Denmark and Lithuania; ports closed in Norway; national lockdowns in France and Spain; and the US extension of a flight ban.
Away from the many pages devoted to the epidemic, the Mail on Sunday reports that the disclosure of private communications between British and US officials has revealed a "smoking gun text" in the case of Anne Sacoolas - the US citizen who left the UK under diplomatic immunity after she was involved in a fatal collision with Harry Dunn last summer. The Mail suggests the correspondence shows that - in spite of insistence from the Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) that it had objected in clear and strong terms to Mrs Sacoolas' departure - a departmental official had stated in the communications that she was free to "leave on the next commercial flight". The FCO insists it acted properly and lawfully.
There’s quite a bit of stigma around your own currency. With the EU, there’s a vast amount of difference between their economies. The European Central Bank sets the rate, banks then lend. They have to weigh up the risks in these countries. If countries lock down in Europe,debts are inevitable. Which means bond defaults. Strange things can happen. Enron was worth $70billion dollars one minute, nowt the next.
The reason for me following it , I worked for property developers,they borrowed huge sums of money.
Why do you think it is relevant?
Interest rates going up or down can affect the property market bigtime. The developers have had a field day for years. The loans the guys I’ve worked have had in the past, aren’t mortgages. Shorter term loans, more risk, higher rate.
Changes to interest rates won’t matter anyway with the scale of what’s about to occur with this virus. Normally you use them for troubled times,but this current trouble is of the charts.
Why on earth would you bring up interest rates over and over again, and finally admit that they are irrelevant?
I brought them up because that is the tool they use when the economy needs something. The media seemed to make a big deal about them cutting. The intention of quantitative easing, printing money, is to have more money in circulation. They want people to spend,keep money moving.But when things improve in the economy, you reign it in. Eventually the banks will be in better shape. But they haven’t reigned it in, in fact,the banks could do with higher rates for a better margin. Too late now anyway. I think there’s an 80% chance of a lockdown in the U.K., Good luck to anyone that can sort that out. You can’t pay everybody that’s off work. Lots of bad debts everywhere. I think Brexit will take a back seat tbh.
This debate was about how the Brexit trade deal would affect our economy. You bring up interest rates time and time again, while at the same time admitting they are irrelevant. That is surely the definition of pointless.
There’s quite a bit of stigma around your own currency. With the EU, there’s a vast amount of difference between their economies. The European Central Bank sets the rate, banks then lend. They have to weigh up the risks in these countries. If countries lock down in Europe,debts are inevitable. Which means bond defaults. Strange things can happen. Enron was worth $70billion dollars one minute, nowt the next.
More pointless.
What ever happens to our economy as a result of coronavirus, euro bonds, interest rates, oil spills, no football, etc, is pure speculation, and will be completely separate to the effect of the Brexit deal.
The Brexit deal will have an effect on our economy, that is a fact. Any effects the above have, will be in addition to Brexit. Any measures that we may be able to take to improve or damage the economy, due to the above, could be taken independently, and will not justify a damaging Brexit deal.
If for instance the Boris Brexit deal damaged our GDP by say 10%, you couldn't argue that increasing or lowering interest rates would offset the damage by 5%, and this therefore somehow makes the Boris deal more palatable.
You would surely choose a less damaging Brexit deal, in addition to adjusting interest rates.
In a nutshell, if there were 2 Brexit deals. One damages the economy by 10%, the other by 5%. Adjusting interest rates improves either deal by 5%. You cant use interest rates as an excuse for opting for the 10% deal. You should surely choose the least damaging deal, in addition to adjusting interest rates.
Boris is choosing the most damaging deal.
This will be exacerbated by some of the other stuff that is going on.
The reason for me following it , I worked for property developers,they borrowed huge sums of money.
Why do you think it is relevant?
Interest rates going up or down can affect the property market bigtime. The developers have had a field day for years. The loans the guys I’ve worked have had in the past, aren’t mortgages. Shorter term loans, more risk, higher rate.
Changes to interest rates won’t matter anyway with the scale of what’s about to occur with this virus. Normally you use them for troubled times,but this current trouble is of the charts.
Why on earth would you bring up interest rates over and over again, and finally admit that they are irrelevant?
I brought them up because that is the tool they use when the economy needs something. The media seemed to make a big deal about them cutting. The intention of quantitative easing, printing money, is to have more money in circulation. They want people to spend,keep money moving.But when things improve in the economy, you reign it in. Eventually the banks will be in better shape. But they haven’t reigned it in, in fact,the banks could do with higher rates for a better margin. Too late now anyway. I think there’s an 80% chance of a lockdown in the U.K., Good luck to anyone that can sort that out. You can’t pay everybody that’s off work. Lots of bad debts everywhere. I think Brexit will take a back seat tbh.
Brexit cant take a back seat. The transition is over at the end of the year. Boris swears he wont extend. Therefore we will leave at the end of the year. If we don't have a deal, we will leave with no deal. The Boris deal is a disaster. No deal is a catastrophe. Not much of a choice?
In addition some of the other stuff that is currently going on looks likely to have a catastrophic effect on our economy, on top of Brexit.
The Tory spending plans are unlikely to come to fruition under these circumstances.
I don’t think I need to answer them individually. If a vaccine is not found, and that is unlikely, Brexit, the budget, in fact most things will become irrelevant.Things will grind to a halt, for the foreseeable. I’ll only post again on this thread if a vaccine is found.
I don’t think I need to answer them individually. If a vaccine is not found, and that is unlikely, Brexit, the budget, in fact most things will become irrelevant.Things will grind to a halt, for the foreseeable. I’ll only post again on this thread if a vaccine is found.
If they found a vaccine today, it would take a year before it could be prescribed.
I don’t think I need to answer them individually. If a vaccine is not found, and that is unlikely, Brexit, the budget, in fact most things will become irrelevant.Things will grind to a halt, for the foreseeable. I’ll only post again on this thread if a vaccine is found.
I don’t think I need to answer them individually. If a vaccine is not found, and that is unlikely, Brexit, the budget, in fact most things will become irrelevant.Things will grind to a halt, for the foreseeable. I’ll only post again on this thread if a vaccine is found.
UK ministers will no longer claim 'no successful examples' of Russian interference
Ministers have been told they can no longer say there have been “no successful examples” of Russian disinformation affecting UK elections, after the apparent hacking of an NHS dossier seized on by Labour during the last campaign. The dropping of the old line is the first official admission of the impact of Kremlin efforts to distort Britain’s political processes, and comes after three years of the government’s refusal to engage publicly with the threat. Cabinet Office sources confirmed the position been quietly changed while an investigation into the alleged hacking of the 451-page cache of emails from a special adviser’s personal email account by the security services concludes. Boris Johnson and his predecessor as prime minister, Theresa May, have both appeared reluctant to discuss Kremlin disinformation, with Johnson refusing to allow a report on Russian infiltration in the UK to be published before the election.
Versions of the “no successful examples” statement were regularly deployed in response to allegations of Russian interference in the Brexit referendum, to the frustration of MPs who believed a full investigation was necessary. Officials said the revised position about Russian interference was set out by Earl Howe, the deputy leader of the House of Lords, in a parliamentary answer earlier this year, when he was asked if there were plans to investigate interference by foreign governments in December’s election. The peer said the government was determined to protect the integrity of the democratic process in the UK. “As you would expect, the government examines all aspects of the electoral process following an election, including foreign interference, and that work is ongoing,” he said
The focus for many of today's papers is on protecting the elderly from coronavirus, after it emerged over the weekend that over-70s would be asked - at some point - to self-isolate. The Daily Mail calls on Britons to "pull together" to help them, reporting that charities are urging people to "get in touch with neighbours" and that hundreds of local help groups have sprung up. The Daily Mirror warns that a long period of isolation will leave elderly people lonely, and says ministers need to explain what support will be put in place for those affected. The Daily Express wants plans to scrap free TV licences for all pensioners to be shelved, saying it would be "scandalous" if the change took place as scheduled in June, at the predicted height of the outbreak. The Daily Telegraph reports that asking Netflix to stream programmes for free for the elderly and food delivery companies to temporarily waive their fees are among ideas being discussed in government. Several papers say they have seen a briefing document from Public Health England (PHE), which predicts the coronavirus outbreak could put nearly eight million people in hospital. The Express says 80% of people are likely to be infected. The Mirror reports that the document warns the crisis will last until spring 2021, and says it's "the first time health chiefs have admitted what many had feared".
Reporting on the announcement that the government will hold daily televised press conferences, the Guardian notes that Prime Minister Boris Johnson has "shown little enthusiasm for exposing himself to media scrutiny" for most of his time in office - and that he is taking the action after calls for the public to be given much clearer guidance. In its editorial, the Times says the "piecemeal" way that the plans for combating the virus have emerged has "created uncertainty".
The Telegraph argues that the government has followed scientific advice, but says it is being "worn down" by criticism from within. The Sun assures its readers that Prof Chris Whitty, the UK's chief medical adviser, and Sir Patrick Vallance, chief scientific adviser, are "eminent doctors ideally equipped to deal with the pandemic". The front page of the Times responds to the cutting of interest rates in the US by saying "banks have acted to save the world economy" from the coronavirus pandemic. It says the US "restarted a money-printing programme" not seen since the financial crisis in 2008. The Telegraph calls the Federal Reserve's decision "drastic" and says the UK needs to do more than the measures outlined in last week's Budget if good businesses are to be saved.
The Guardian says that, according to Iran's ambassador to the UK, the British government is taking a "new approach" to the case of Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe, the British-Iranian woman held on spying charges which she denies. Hamid Baeidinejad has said the two countries are in talks about how to settle a £400m debt owed by London to Tehran - although the paper says "neither side will openly acknowledge" any link to Mrs Zaghari-Ratcliffe.
I don’t think I need to answer them individually. If a vaccine is not found, and that is unlikely, Brexit, the budget, in fact most things will become irrelevant.Things will grind to a halt, for the foreseeable. I’ll only post again on this thread if a vaccine is found.
I am not posting elsewhere until Big Ben is fixed.
Brexit means coronavirus vaccine will be slower to reach the UK And it will cost more here because of the UK pulling out of the European Medicines Agency on 30 December • Three experts explain why Brexit leaves the UK less able to respond to pandemic
The UK faces having to wait longer and pay more to acquire a coronavirus vaccine because it has left the EU, health experts and international legal experts warn today. In an article published today on the Guardian website, the academics and lawyers say Boris Johnson’s determination to “go it alone”, free of EU regulation, after Brexit means the UK will probably have to join other non-EU countries in a queue to acquire the vaccine after EU member states have had it, and on less-favourable terms. The authors include Martin McKee of the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, and legal academics Anniek de Ruijter of Amsterdam Law School and Mark Flear of Queens University, Belfast.
The UK will leave the European Medicines Agency (EMA), the body responsible for the scientific evaluation, supervision and safety monitoring of medicines, at the end of the transition period on 30 December. This means it will no longer be part of the EU’s regulatory regime, which allows for “accelerated assessment” of products developed by drugs companies during a pandemic.
The UK has already withdrawn from the EU’s emergency bulk-buying mechanism for vaccines and medicines, under which member states strike collective agreements with pharmaceutical companies, which speeds up their access to the latest products during a crisis.
The academics write: “For all these reasons ... the UK is likely to have to join the queue for access with other countries outside the EU, and to pay more than it would otherwise as an EU member state.
“Looking further ahead, this problem will not be limited to emergencies and the UK can expect slower and more limited access to medicines, especially those for rare conditions or those used to treat children, where the market is small.”
While it appears the UK government wants to press ahead with its own regulatory system and rapid market authorisation system for emergencies, the experts say this will be all but impossible to put in place in time for a new Covid-19 vaccine, which is expected in about a year.
“Vaccine makers and drug companies may decide to first seek approval from the EMA, which represents some 500 million patients, before seeking approval from the UK MHRA, which covers a smaller patient pool.”
Asked about the prospect of the UK having to pay higher prices for a vaccine, he said: “If a coronavirus vaccine is developed, EU countries may choose to band together to jointly procure the vaccine. This would give EU countries more bargaining power against a vaccine maker to try to secure a lower price. If the UK were excluded from such a joint procurement scheme, it’s possible that the UK would end up paying a higher price than the EU for the same vaccine.”
EMA was based in London until January last year, when Brexit saw it relocate to Amsterdam.
In the UK, the Financial Times reports that the government's measures drew an angry response from the hospitality and entertainment industry - with pubs and theatres saying the "strong advice" to avoid their businesses, without the government ordering closure, will leave many unable to claim insurance. But the Times reports that the chancellor has started work on a significant new bailout for businesses. James Forsyth - on the Spectator website - says he suspects the £12bn of coronavirus measures announced in the Budget will turn out to be just the start of what the government has to spend to try and limit the social and economic damage. According to Buzzfeed News, teachers have warned that schools risk becoming "breeding grounds" for the coronavirus because the government has not provided them with the funding for deep cleaning and hand sanitisers. A teacher at a secondary school in Yorkshire with more than 1,000 pupils and staff says that in order to follow official guidance, there would have to be about 6,000 hand washes a day, but it's just not happening because there aren't enough santisers - or sinks to get everyone washing their hands regularly.
Comments
The media seemed to make a big deal about them cutting.
The intention of quantitative easing, printing money, is to have more money in circulation.
They want people to spend,keep money moving.But when things improve in the economy, you reign it in.
Eventually the banks will be in better shape.
But they haven’t reigned it in, in fact,the banks could do with higher rates for a better margin.
Too late now anyway.
I think there’s an 80% chance of a lockdown in the U.K.,
Good luck to anyone that can sort that out. You can’t pay everybody that’s off work.
Lots of bad debts everywhere.
I think Brexit will take a back seat tbh.
With the EU, there’s a vast amount of difference between their economies.
The European Central Bank sets the rate, banks then lend.
They have to weigh up the risks in these countries.
If countries lock down in Europe,debts are inevitable.
Which means bond defaults.
Strange things can happen. Enron was worth $70billion dollars one minute, nowt the next.
If s hit happens,we’ll see how strong their Union is.
Increasing concern over the coronavirus pandemic is the main focus for most of Sunday's papers.
"Death toll leaps and forces Johnson to act" is the headline in the Sunday Times. The paper says Prime Minister Boris Johnson is accelerating plans to buy up beds in private hospitals and potentially make the elderly and vulnerable self-isolate - possibly for months.
It reports the strict new measures could be brought into force this week - a fortnight earlier than medics and scientists had originally expected.
The front page of the Sunday Express also hones in on the implications for older citizens. "Over-70s face stay at home order" is the headline as it details what it describes as a "dramatic plan to save lives".
The move comes, the paper says, as Britain is "rocked" by the increase in deaths. It suggests the new rules will also apply to anyone under 70 with pre-existing medical conditions.
The Sunday Telegraph claims Mr Johnson has put industry on a "war footing" to equip the NHS for the "battle ahead". In what the paper describes as an "unprecedented peacetime call to arms", it claims that Mr Johnson is asking manufacturers - including Rolls Royce and JCB - to transform production lines to enable them to make ventilators.
Health Secretary Matt Hancock writes in the paper that firms "cannot make too many" ventilators - and he sets out how the government's Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies (Sage) has said extra measures to "shield" older and medically vulnerable people will need to be instituted soon. He urges people to pull together, as British people did in the Second World War.
Cartoonist Matt attempts to inject a note of humour. His sketch depicts a suited man saying, as he leaves home for the day, that he's going to self-isolate. Or, he adds - in a reference that will strike home for many retailers - "as I call it, open my shop".
The Telegraph also reports that the UK's biggest teaching union, the National Education Union, has written to Mr Johnson "demanding to know why schools are being told to stay open". France, Ireland and Spain have all announced school closures and the Union says its members deserve to see the modelling government is basing its decisions on.
The Mail on Sunday is one of many papers to carry photographs showing scenes of chaos and shelves stripped bare in shops, as it reports that ministers have made plans to deploy troops to guard hospitals and supermarkets as panic-buying hits.
Its "at a glance" guide points out that "at least 10 times" as many people have died from winter flu worldwide than from the virus since it was first reported. But it also reports that emergency legislation will be put before MPs to requisition land for "extra graveyards" and to relax regulations to allow for speedier cremations and burials.
"It's war on the virus" is the declaration of the Sunday Mirror, which claims that 8,000 private hospital beds will be rented by the NHS, troops will be mobilised and over-70s will be told to self-isolate for up to four months.
The concerns of "hundreds of scientists" that the UK response to the virus is wrong, or has fallen short, make the front page of the Observer. The paper contrasts the situation in the UK with measures being taken by other countries around the world: borders closed by Denmark and Lithuania; ports closed in Norway; national lockdowns in France and Spain; and the US extension of a flight ban.
Away from the many pages devoted to the epidemic, the Mail on Sunday reports that the disclosure of private communications between British and US officials has revealed a "smoking gun text" in the case of Anne Sacoolas - the US citizen who left the UK under diplomatic immunity after she was involved in a fatal collision with Harry Dunn last summer.
The Mail suggests the correspondence shows that - in spite of insistence from the Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) that it had objected in clear and strong terms to Mrs Sacoolas' departure - a departmental official had stated in the communications that she was free to "leave on the next commercial flight". The FCO insists it acted properly and lawfully.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/blogs-the-papers-51893135
What has this got to do with Brexit?
We are definitely leaving.
How does the strength of the union affect us going forward?
What is the point of this post?
You bring up interest rates time and time again, while at the same time admitting they are irrelevant.
That is surely the definition of pointless.
What ever happens to our economy as a result of coronavirus, euro bonds, interest rates, oil spills, no football, etc, is pure speculation, and will be completely separate to the effect of the Brexit deal.
The Brexit deal will have an effect on our economy, that is a fact.
Any effects the above have, will be in addition to Brexit.
Any measures that we may be able to take to improve or damage the economy, due to the above, could be taken independently, and will not justify a damaging Brexit deal.
If for instance the Boris Brexit deal damaged our GDP by say 10%, you couldn't argue that increasing or lowering interest rates would offset the damage by 5%, and this therefore somehow makes the Boris deal more palatable.
You would surely choose a less damaging Brexit deal, in addition to adjusting interest rates.
In a nutshell, if there were 2 Brexit deals.
One damages the economy by 10%, the other by 5%.
Adjusting interest rates improves either deal by 5%.
You cant use interest rates as an excuse for opting for the 10% deal.
You should surely choose the least damaging deal, in addition to adjusting interest rates.
Boris is choosing the most damaging deal.
This will be exacerbated by some of the other stuff that is going on.
The transition is over at the end of the year.
Boris swears he wont extend.
Therefore we will leave at the end of the year.
If we don't have a deal, we will leave with no deal.
The Boris deal is a disaster.
No deal is a catastrophe.
Not much of a choice?
In addition some of the other stuff that is currently going on looks likely to have a catastrophic effect on our economy, on top of Brexit.
The Tory spending plans are unlikely to come to fruition under these circumstances.
If a vaccine is not found, and that is unlikely, Brexit, the budget, in fact most things will become irrelevant.Things will grind to a halt, for the foreseeable.
I’ll only post again on this thread if a vaccine is found.
I think Boris is guaranteed to use coronavirus as an excuse for some of the difficulties we will be confronted with post Brexit.
This is despite the fact that the path that he has chosen will cause many difficulties, rather than minimise them.
In addition to having no mandate for his chosen path.
To magic up 50,000 properly trained, and efficient, border administrative staff is hardly likely to streamline the operation.
To have no border checks, at the same time as taking back control is surely impossible.
Ministers have been told they can no longer say there have been “no successful examples” of Russian disinformation affecting UK elections, after the apparent hacking of an NHS dossier seized on by Labour during the last campaign.
The dropping of the old line is the first official admission of the impact of Kremlin efforts to distort Britain’s political processes, and comes after three years of the government’s refusal to engage publicly with the threat.
Cabinet Office sources confirmed the position been quietly changed while an investigation into the alleged hacking of the 451-page cache of emails from a special adviser’s personal email account by the security services concludes.
Boris Johnson and his predecessor as prime minister, Theresa May, have both appeared reluctant to discuss Kremlin disinformation, with Johnson refusing to allow a report on Russian infiltration in the UK to be published before the election.
Versions of the “no successful examples” statement were regularly deployed in response to allegations of Russian interference in the Brexit referendum, to the frustration of MPs who believed a full investigation was necessary.
Officials said the revised position about Russian interference was set out by Earl Howe, the deputy leader of the House of Lords, in a parliamentary answer earlier this year, when he was asked if there were plans to investigate interference by foreign governments in December’s election.
The peer said the government was determined to protect the integrity of the democratic process in the UK. “As you would expect, the government examines all aspects of the electoral process following an election, including foreign interference, and that work is ongoing,” he said
https://uk.yahoo.com/finance/news/uk-ministers-no-longer-claim-120000686.html
The focus for many of today's papers is on protecting the elderly from coronavirus, after it emerged over the weekend that over-70s would be asked - at some point - to self-isolate.
The Daily Mail calls on Britons to "pull together" to help them, reporting that charities are urging people to "get in touch with neighbours" and that hundreds of local help groups have sprung up. The Daily Mirror warns that a long period of isolation will leave elderly people lonely, and says ministers need to explain what support will be put in place for those affected.
The Daily Express wants plans to scrap free TV licences for all pensioners to be shelved, saying it would be "scandalous" if the change took place as scheduled in June, at the predicted height of the outbreak. The Daily Telegraph reports that asking Netflix to stream programmes for free for the elderly and food delivery companies to temporarily waive their fees are among ideas being discussed in government.
Several papers say they have seen a briefing document from Public Health England (PHE), which predicts the coronavirus outbreak could put nearly eight million people in hospital.
The Express says 80% of people are likely to be infected. The Mirror reports that the document warns the crisis will last until spring 2021, and says it's "the first time health chiefs have admitted what many had feared".
Reporting on the announcement that the government will hold daily televised press conferences, the Guardian notes that Prime Minister Boris Johnson has "shown little enthusiasm for exposing himself to media scrutiny" for most of his time in office - and that he is taking the action after calls for the public to be given much clearer guidance.
In its editorial, the Times says the "piecemeal" way that the plans for combating the virus have emerged has "created uncertainty".
The Telegraph argues that the government has followed scientific advice, but says it is being "worn down" by criticism from within. The Sun assures its readers that Prof Chris Whitty, the UK's chief medical adviser, and Sir Patrick Vallance, chief scientific adviser, are "eminent doctors ideally equipped to deal with the pandemic".
The front page of the Times responds to the cutting of interest rates in the US by saying "banks have acted to save the world economy" from the coronavirus pandemic. It says the US "restarted a money-printing programme" not seen since the financial crisis in 2008.
The Telegraph calls the Federal Reserve's decision "drastic" and says the UK needs to do more than the measures outlined in last week's Budget if good businesses are to be saved.
The Guardian says that, according to Iran's ambassador to the UK, the British government is taking a "new approach" to the case of Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe, the British-Iranian woman held on spying charges which she denies.
Hamid Baeidinejad has said the two countries are in talks about how to settle a £400m debt owed by London to Tehran - although the paper says "neither side will openly acknowledge" any link to Mrs Zaghari-Ratcliffe.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/blogs-the-papers-51902653
Brexit means coronavirus vaccine will be slower to reach the UK
And it will cost more here because of the UK pulling out of the European Medicines Agency on 30 December
• Three experts explain why Brexit leaves the UK less able to respond to pandemic
The UK faces having to wait longer and pay more to acquire a coronavirus vaccine because it has left the EU, health experts and international legal experts warn today.
In an article published today on the Guardian website, the academics and lawyers say Boris Johnson’s determination to “go it alone”, free of EU regulation, after Brexit means the UK will probably have to join other non-EU countries in a queue to acquire the vaccine after EU member states have had it, and on less-favourable terms.
The authors include Martin McKee of the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, and legal academics Anniek de Ruijter of Amsterdam Law School and Mark Flear of Queens University, Belfast.
The UK will leave the European Medicines Agency (EMA), the body responsible for the scientific evaluation, supervision and safety monitoring of medicines, at the end of the transition period on 30 December. This means it will no longer be part of the EU’s regulatory regime, which allows for “accelerated assessment” of products developed by drugs companies during a pandemic.
The UK has already withdrawn from the EU’s emergency bulk-buying mechanism for vaccines and medicines, under which member states strike collective agreements with pharmaceutical companies, which speeds up their access to the latest products during a crisis.
The academics write: “For all these reasons ... the UK is likely to have to join the queue for access with other countries outside the EU, and to pay more than it would otherwise as an EU member state.
“Looking further ahead, this problem will not be limited to emergencies and the UK can expect slower and more limited access to medicines, especially those for rare conditions or those used to treat children, where the market is small.”
While it appears the UK government wants to press ahead with its own regulatory system and rapid market authorisation system for emergencies, the experts say this will be all but impossible to put in place in time for a new Covid-19 vaccine, which is expected in about a year.
“Vaccine makers and drug companies may decide to first seek approval from the EMA, which represents some 500 million patients, before seeking approval from the UK MHRA, which covers a smaller patient pool.”
Asked about the prospect of the UK having to pay higher prices for a vaccine, he said: “If a coronavirus vaccine is developed, EU countries may choose to band together to jointly procure the vaccine. This would give EU countries more bargaining power against a vaccine maker to try to secure a lower price. If the UK were excluded from such a joint procurement scheme, it’s possible that the UK would end up paying a higher price than the EU for the same vaccine.”
EMA was based in London until January last year, when Brexit saw it relocate to Amsterdam.
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/mar/14/coronavirus-vaccine-delays-brexit-ema-expensive
In the UK, the Financial Times reports that the government's measures drew an angry response from the hospitality and entertainment industry - with pubs and theatres saying the "strong advice" to avoid their businesses, without the government ordering closure, will leave many unable to claim insurance.
But the Times reports that the chancellor has started work on a significant new bailout for businesses.
James Forsyth - on the Spectator website - says he suspects the £12bn of coronavirus measures announced in the Budget will turn out to be just the start of what the government has to spend to try and limit the social and economic damage.
According to Buzzfeed News, teachers have warned that schools risk becoming "breeding grounds" for the coronavirus because the government has not provided them with the funding for deep cleaning and hand sanitisers.
A teacher at a secondary school in Yorkshire with more than 1,000 pupils and staff says that in order to follow official guidance, there would have to be about 6,000 hand washes a day, but it's just not happening because there aren't enough santisers - or sinks to get everyone washing their hands regularly.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/blogs-the-papers-51920427