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Main article: Cummings could disappear at Christmas: reports
Good morning to all. I am Martin Farrer and this is the main news this morning.
Tory MPs are warning Boris Johnson that he has his last chance to fix the dysfunctional mess in Downing Street as the fallout from the resignation of communications chief Lee Cain continues to echo in Westminster. As MPs lined up to deliver their unflattering verdicts on how the number 10 has moved from crisis to crisis, speculation grew that Dominic Cummings, the prime minister’s senior adviser and a close Cain ally, might leave. his post at Christmas. The controversial figure, whom Conservative MPs greatly detest, fueled some of the reporting by telling the BBC that his “position has not changed since my January blog” when he said he wanted to make himself “largely redundant” for the end of 2020. It is not clear if this week’s bloodshed will have more victims, but it was interpreted as a turning point for the Johnson regime. Conservative MPs were relentless in their criticism of Sir Roger Gale saying that Johnson had to “get hold of himself,” while another Conservative, who asked not to be named, said of the Downing Street team: “They are children. Ideologists and fools obsessed with one same “.
Reform completed – The metropolitan police will have to recruit 40% of their new recruits from ethnic minorities and the arrest and search incidents will have to be substantiated before community panels as part of the new plans to be announced today to address the racial crisis affecting the Britain’s greatest force. The Guardian learned that Met Commissioner Cressida Dick is expected to accept that the force is not free from racism or discrimination, and agreed to the reforms after months of negotiations with the capital’s mayor, Sadiq Khan. The action plan is the latest in a long series of attempts to address the problem of a lack of trust in the police among black communities.
‘Bash the virus’ – Uğur Şahin, the scientist behind the BioNTech / Pfizer vaccine against Covid-19, told The Guardian that he believes the treatment can “hit the virus on the head.” Şahin, CEO of BioNTech, said in his first interview with a British newspaper that “it will have a dramatic effect” in slowing the spread of the disease, which has now infected more than 50 million people around the world. Britain hit a new daily high of 33,470 confirmed coronavirus cases on Thursday, with another 563 deaths. There was also a record number of new cases in the US – 143,231 – as well as in other countries, including Russia, Japan, Croatia and Greece. Follow all the developments of the pandemic on our live blog here.
Admissions reform – University leaders have endorsed a radical overhaul of admissions policy, which would mean that UK students would only be offered places once they achieve their A-level results. The long-awaited reform aims to make make the system fairer by eliminating the use of predicted grades, which are often unreliable, and will bring the UK into line with other countries, possibly as early as 2023/24.
Fox attack – Donald Trump’s claims that there was widespread fraud in last week’s US presidential battle have received the clearest condemnation yet after a coalition of federal and state officials said the elections were the safest in US history. United States. A statement from the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency said there was no evidence that any voting system had removed or lost votes, changed votes, or was compromised in any way. As he faced more calls to admit defeat, Trump unleashed a series of tweets denouncing Fox News, accusing the network of having forgotten “what made them successful, what got them there.”
Barack Obama believes that Trump won the presidency in 2016 in part because sufficient numbers of Americans had been “scared off by a black man in the White House” during the previous eight years. Writing in his newly published memoir of his time in the Oval Office, Obama says that those voters were prey to “dark spirits … of xenophobia, anti-intellectualism, paranoid conspiracy theories, an antipathy towards black and brown people. “. The book, A Promised Land, also recalls how Joe Biden, then vice president but now president-elect, advised Obama to delay the raid to kill Osama bin Laden in 2011.
They are back – David Marshall has entered the pantheon of Scottish sports heroes after saving Aleksandar Mitrovic’s penalty to send Steve Clarke’s team to the belated final of Euro 2020 next summer. Victory in the penalty shootout in Belgrade means Scotland will play in a major men’s final for the first time since the 1998 World Cup in France. As an added bonus, they can also face England in one of the group games. Scotland captain Andy Robertson said he had never been so excited after a match, adding that he “can’t wait” for next summer’s competition. Ryan Christie, who scored Scotland’s only goal in regulation time, also gave an emotional television interview as he dedicated the victory to “the whole nation.”
Today in Focus Podcast
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Lunchtime reading: AC / DC are back in black – again
Despite death, deafness and drugs, AC / DC is once again wearing black with a new album few expected to be made. Angus Young and Brian Johnson tell Michael Hann how it felt to be back in the studio after the passing of frontman Malcolm Young and the Geordie singer who lost his hearing after decades of hard rock. “It just shows the resilience and the bond that exists between us,” says Johnson. “We went into the studio and you could feel the electricity in the air.”
Sport
Gareth Southgate said after England achieved a 3-0 friendly win over the Republic of Ireland that he expects a “great chance” against Scotland when the two sides meet in the group stage of Euro 2020. However, Northern Ireland was distraught, as Michal Duris’ goal in extra time sent Slovakia through next summer’s tournament. In Swansea, a US youth team held Wales to a goalless draw, in the absence of manager Ryan Giggs. Paul Casey hit a seven-under midfielder in the first round of the Masters at Augusta, where another member of the old guard, Tiger Woods, shot a wonderfully composed 68. The term BAME can be insulting and should be discontinued. found a survey of UK sports organizations. Jack Willis, Ollie Lawrence and Will Stuart will make their first outing in an England XV to play Georgia, showing seven changes since the Six Nations win over Italy. The EFL clubs have collectively agreed to accept the Premier League’s offer of a £ 50 million ransom for the League One and League Two teams. Lewis Hamilton has said that winning a seventh world championship would be a feat “far beyond his wildest dreams.” And the pandemic has exposed the inequalities hidden under the glossy veneer of the Women’s Super League, writes Suzanne Wrack.
Deal
John Lewis’ annual Christmas ad has relegated gifts to the back burner and instead puts kindness to the fore, as the store chain seeks to reflect the year of the coronavirus. The two-minute animation features a hedgehog waiting to fly, a group of hip-hop pigeons, and lots of love hearts to deliver your message. Concerns about the impact of the virus on economies around the world will see the FTSE 100 drop 1% this morning, futures trading shows, while the pound is at $ 1,312 and € 1,116.
The papers
the guardian He leads with the latest developments in the Downing Street / Dominic Cummings soap opera: “Conservative MPs Warn Prime Minister: Last Chance to ‘Control’ Chaos at No. 10.” the Times finds a positive twist with “PM hopes to win back friends with a softer touch”, but the Telegraph is notably negative about the future of Boris Johnson’s favorite assistant: “‘Beginning of the end’ at No. 10 for Cummings.” The story also gives the Star Another chance to wear your cut-and-hold mask from Cummings. Under a slogan that reads “Cummings wants to leave the number 10 without losing face,” the headline reads “Let’s help Dom go!”.
the FOOT has an optimistic-sounding headline that reads “Central bank chiefs optimistic about vaccine boost to world economy,” but the I takes a bleaker view: “Vaccine target put at risk by unfounded safety fears.” the Quick reports on the “Queen’s vow to continue serving her country”, the Mirror has a “£ 450 million lottery winner by accident of death”, and Mail Launches a campaign to allow family members to visit lonely loved ones in nursing homes this Christmas: “The cry that cannot be ignored.” In Scotland, the only thing that matters today is the victory of the national team over Serbia. “We are back,” says the Record. the Herald has a picture of the players celebrating with the headline “The wait is over … Scotland is back.”
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