Australian Defence Force called in to help with transferring positive cases and close contacts

The rail debacle may have been the last straw for a party painfully divided between ‘red wallers’ who believed the levelling-up spin and more traditional ConservativesAfter a particularly difficult few days for Boris Johnson and his government, a senior figure involved in decision making in Whitehall was tearing his hair out on Friday afternoon.Johnson and transport secretary Grant Shapps had spent the previous day announcing almost £100bn of spending to improve rail links across the north of England. It was supposed to be great news for levelling up and for people behind the red wall. But despite the colossal expenditure, the announcement had gone down like a lead balloon, and the north was crying betrayal. Continue reading...

Cabinet ministers have been meeting with gang leaders as the country targets an ambitious vaccination rate

Federal MP declared ‘hands down’ winner of 2021 award for ‘proponent of the most preposterous piece of pseudoscientific or paranormal piffle’

Diversity report alleges that the FA’s referee system is obstructing black and Asian people from reaching elite levels of the gameEnglish football has been rocked by a fresh racism scandal after black and Asian referees revealed the scale of abuse and prejudice that, they say, is holding them back.A dossier compiled by match officials, and seen by the Observer, alleges that racism in the Football Association’s refereeing system is undermining efforts by black and Asian people to reach the highest levels of the game. Continue reading...

Corsets and crystals will be traded for ‘abandon and a free-flowing physicality’ next year, but tulle lovers needn’t despairFlipping through the Australian Ballet 2022 season program, you could be forgiven for thinking something was missing.Where are the tutus? Continue reading...

State government urged to manage and resource recent property acquisitions to protect native species and habitat

Labour shortages in Covid’s wake loom in industries from software to construction and could affect interest rates as well as the federal election

Astute farm business owners and managers are recognising the need to invest in and develop their people – whether they are related or notThe Covid pandemic turned off the cheap labour tap. That has delivered a “come to Jesus” moment for employers of farm labour.But people shortages are not a new thing in the bush. The underemployment dilemma has been building for a while. John Goldsmith, the former principal of Longerenong Agricultural College, said a decade ago: “It’s not a skills shortage, it’s a people shortage.” Continue reading...

The linguist and computer scientist discusses her optimistic assessment of a misunderstood generation – and delves into the nuanced ways to text ‘OK’Dr Sarah Ogilvie is a linguist, lexicographer and computer scientist at Harris Manchester College, Oxford, who works at the intersection of technology and the humanities. With Roberta Katz, Jane Shaw and Linda Woodhead, she is the author of Gen Z, Explained: The Art of Living in a Digital Age, which paints an optimistic portrait of a much misunderstood generation that has never known a world without the internet.Define Gen Zers.

Prof John Edmunds says millions still unvaccinated and warns that surge on continent ‘shows how quickly things can go wrong’The surge in coronavirus infections across Europe shows the “critical” need for people in the UK to get vaccinated, a government scientific adviser has said.Prof John Edmunds, of the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine, told Sky News that the rise in cases on the continent underlined “how quickly things can go wrong”. He pointed out that there were still “many millions” across the UK who were still not fully vaccinated, while some have not had any Covid shots at all. Continue reading...

Fire crews are attempting to put out the blaze on boulevard des Capucines, near the Place de L’OpéraA large fire has broken out in a building on boulevard des Capucines, near the Place de L’Opéra in central Paris, sending clouds of smoke rising into the air. People were told to avoid the area, which is popular with tourists, as fire crews tackled the blaze on Saturday.“Firemen are intervening,” the préfecture de Police said in a statement on Twitter. Continue reading...

As a new staging of Cabaret starring Eddie Redmayne and Jessie Buckley opens in London, director Rebecca Frecknall and 94-year-old composer John Kander, the only survivor of the original creative team, swap storiesJohn Kander peers over the top of his glasses and smiles broadly. “What are you most scared about? Was there any moment when your heart sank?” he asks, kindly. Rebecca Frecknall grins back. “We’re most scared about 600 people coming to see it,” she says. “There are just so many unknowns.”The pair are thousands of miles apart – one in upstate New York, the other in London - and they are talking via Zoom. But the tie that binds them overcomes distance and space. Composer Kander, with his late, long-time professional partner, the lyricist Fred Ebb, created Cabaret, the show that invented the concept musical. Frecknall is currently directing a starry new production (previews have just started) with Eddie Redmayne as the mysterious and sinister Emcee, Jessie Buckley as lost show girl Sally Bowles and Omari Douglas, so brilliant on TV this year in Russell T Davies’s It’s a Sin, as the bisexual writer Cliff Bradshaw. Continue reading...

As the fragrance turns 100, Chanel’s perfumer-in-chief Olivier Polge describes what it takes to create and curate a classic brandThrough the floor-to-ceiling windows of his seventh-floor office at Chanel’s chic Parisian HQ, Olivier Polge can look out over the French capital. From here, in the western suburb of Neuilly-sur-Seine, much of the city’s iconic skyline is in full view: the Eiffel Tower, mansard roofs, and the greenery of Bois de Boulogne; the Sacré-Cœur atop Montmartre opposite.It’s a vista that has captivated some of Europe’s most celebrated visual minds, but from here Polge takes inspiration for another of his senses. He is, after all, the fashion house’s nose, Chanel’s perfumer-in-chief: the steward of its iconic scents past, and the man charged with creating their fragrances of the future. Continue reading...

The late diagnosis of Melanie Sykes and Christine McGuinness came as no surprise to those who, like Sara Gibbs, have trodden the same pathThe news of Melanie Sykes and Christine McGuinness’s late autism diagnoses may have come as a surprise to many. After all, they are glamorous career women. They look nothing like the stereotype of autism we as a culture are used to. I, however, was not shocked, knowing only too well that you can’t tell anything about someone’s private reality from their public image.As I read their stories, I couldn’t help but imagine what they might be feeling. Were they elated? Confused? Excited? Terrified? Angry? Relieved? All of the above? Continue reading...

Ministers argue that accepting asylum seekers creates a ‘pull factor’, but are refusing to release their evidenceThe Home Office is covering up its own research into why refugees and asylum seekers travel to the UK because ministers “know their arguments don’t stand up,” charities claim.Officials are refusing to release its evidence on whether so-called “pull factors” play a part in asylum seekers making journeys to the UK. Continue reading...

The men’s world No 1 Novak Djokovic voiced his concern for missing Chinese tennis player Peng Shuai. Djokovic said he supported “100%” the WTA’s threat to pull events out of China.Peng, a former doubles world No 1, has not been seen in public since she accused the former high-ranking official Zhang Gaoli of sexual assault on 2 November. A journalist from China's state broadcaster has revealed a set of photos, which he said were posted on Peng’s WeChat social media account on Friday, but analysts debated the authenticity of the images.

Ahead of his epic series Get Back, the director reveals the secrets of 60 hours of intimate, unseen footage of the Fab Four – and why it turns everything we know about their final days upside downWhen the world closed down in March 2020, most of us had to make do with pretending to enjoy video calls with friends or baking bread. Peter Jackson, meanwhile, was busy sifting through a mountain of unseen footage – 60 hours in total – of the Beatles, shot by the director Michael Lindsay-Hogg in 1969.His four-year project is now finished – “we finally completed it on Friday,” says a relieved-looking Jackson from his home in New Zealand – and the resulting series, The Beatles: Get Back, will be released on Disney+ from 25 November. Originally envisaged as a feature film, Covid uncertainty saw plans revised. It is now three two-hour episodes, using the mass of outtakes from Lindsay-Hogg’s work on what would become Let It Be, the band’s fourth feature film. Continue reading...

Antonella Bordon’s hair was her family’s pride and joy. But as the pandemic kept her out of school for 18 months, the 12-year-old Argentinian vowed to lop it all off as soon as she could return to classWhen she finally cut her hair, Antonella Bordon had trouble sleeping. At the age of 12, her first haircut meant more to her than a simple change of style.For most of her childhood, Bordon’s silky hair ran all the way down her back to her calves, such a deep brown it looked like a black mane. Her mother and sister would comb it every day, rubbing the locks with rosemary oil, and helping her style it in a way to keep her cool during the hot Argentinian summer. Continue reading...

The actors recreate their Victor & Barry comedy duo – and recall their unique creative sparkAlan Cumming and Forbes Masson met at Glasgow’s Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama in 1982. Together, they created Victor & Barry, a double act who became legends of the Scottish comedy scene. They went on to present several TV shows, and starred in the BBC sitcom The High Life, as two narcissistic air stewards. Appearing in series such as Catastrophe and EastEnders, Masson has since become a celebrated writer and performer for theatre and musicals, and is an associate artist with the Royal Shakespeare Company. Meanwhile, Cumming’s career skyrocketed in the late 90s, with his Tony award-winning performance in the musical Cabaret on Broadway, before he starred in Spice World, Eyes Wide Shut and GoldenEye, and on stage in Macbeth and Bent. Cumming’s new memoir, Baggage: Tales from a Fully Packed Life, is published by Canongate. Continue reading...

Stephen Barclay asked to oversee efforts to stop voyages after more than 24,500 people arrive in 2021Boris Johnson has ordered a review into Channel small-boat crossings to find a way of cutting the number of people making such voyages from France.The prime minister is said to have grown “exasperated” that there are no current policies in place that will tackle the issue. More than 24,500 people have arrived on the south coast during 2021. Continue reading...

Indian police say four men killed in shootout were militants but families say gunfight was staged and they were innocent civiliansTensions in the Indian state of Kashmir remain on a knife edge after a shootout by the Indian authorities this week left four people dead, with families alleging the gunfight was staged and that police used innocent civilians as a “human shield”.Police initially described the incident, which took place on Monday when officers raided a shopping complex, as a counter-insurgency operation in which two militants and their associates had been killed in a shootout. Continue reading...

As the first Black woman – and the oldest person – ever to win the Turner, the artist reflects on being a trailblazer, and how her early life moulded her

Iván Duque says ‘any apology for Nazism is unacceptable’ after photos of cultural exchange ceremony posted on TwitterColombia’s president, Iván Duque, has issued a rebuke after cadets at a police academy caused outrage by dressing up as Nazis for a cultural exchange event in honour of Germany.Photos of the ceremony were shared on an official police Twitter account on Thursday. Continue reading...

With queues for petrol, inflation and Abba on the radio, it’s easy to compare the two decades. But you wouldn’t if you were there, says Polly Toynbee, as she revisits the styles of her youthQueueing for petrol, I turn on the radio and there are Abba, singing their latest hit. Shortages on shop shelves are headline news, with warnings of a panic-buying Christmas. And national debt is sky high. But this isn’t the 1970s; it’s 2021. People who weren’t born then have been calling this a return to that decade. There are similarities, of course: this retro-thought was sparked by the recent petrol queues, people as frantic to fill up to get to work as I remember back then. Elsewhere, flowing floral midi dresses are back, just like the ones I wore; Aldi is selling rattan hanging egg chairs; and, as well as Abba, the charts have been topped by Elton John. But is this really a 1970s reprise?No, nothing like it; not history repeated, not even as farce – just a stylist’s pastiche, as bold as the wallpaper I’m posing in front of here. Folk memory preserves only the 1974 three-day week; the miners’ strike blackouts, with no street lights and candle shortages; the embargo that quadrupled the price of oil. True, I did queue at the coal merchant’s to fire up an ancient stove for lack of any other heat or light. But the decade shouldn’t be defined by this, or by 1978-79’s “winter of discontent” strikes, a brief but pungent time of rubbish uncollected and (a very few) bodies unburied by council gravediggers. Continue reading...

Spokesman says ship’s 11 crew were detained for interrogation after ship was seized in GulfIranian Revolutionary Guards have seized a foreign ship in Gulf waters for allegedly smuggling diesel, a Guards commander said.“A foreign ship carrying smuggled diesel was seized,” Iran’s state broadcaster quoted Col Ahmad Hajian, commander of the Naval Type 412 Zulfaqar, as saying. Continue reading...

When his Broadway show became a global phenomenon, the rigours of daily performance kept the actor and songwriter grounded. Then Disney and Hollywood came calling. Now, the ‘musical theatre fanboy’ has returned to his first love

The men’s world No 1 Novak Djokovic has also raised concerns as the WTA threatens to pull events out of ChinaThe UN has called on Chinese authorities to give proof of the whereabouts of tennis star Peng Shuai, as the White House said it was “deeply concerned” and the Women’s Tennis Association (WTA) said it was prepared to pull its tournaments out of China over the matter.Peng, a former doubles world No 1, has not been seen in public since she accused the former high-ranking official Zhang Gaoli of sexual assault on 2 November. Continue reading...

A roundup of the struggle for human rights and freedoms, from Pakistan to Poland Continue reading...

NSW reports 182 cases and ACT 14; anti-fascist activists vow to counter ‘freedom rallies’ they claim have been infiltrated by far-right groups. This blog is now closed

Melbourne ‘freedom’ rally draws largest crowds as counter-protesters avoid confrontationThousands of people have marched in “freedom” rallies in Melbourne, Sydney, Brisbane, Perth and Adelaide, with the largest crowds in the Victorian capital as protests against the state government’s pandemic legislation ramped up again.Protesters marched from Victoria’s state parliament, down Bourke Street and up to Flagstaff Gardens, carrying Australian flags and placards bearing anti-vaccination, anti-lockdown and anti-government slogans, while chanting “kill the bill”, “sack Dan Andrews” and “Aussie, Aussie, Aussie, oi, oi, oi”. Continue reading...

Nevres Kemal demands Miles Scott quits as chief executive of Maidstone and Tunbridge NHS trustThe mother of one of the victims of the morgue rapist, David Fuller, is campaigning for the boss of the hospital where Fuller serially abused corpses undetected for 12 years to resign.The body of Azra Kemal was raped three times in July 2020 in the morgue of Tunbridge Wells hospital by Fuller, a hospital electrician, who is known to have violated at least 100 corpses between 2008 and 2010. Continue reading...

Okehampton welcomes revamp of service connecting Dartmoor town to Exeter and beyondIn 1972, the people of Okehampton turned out in force to wish a fond farewell to the Devon moorland town’s regular passenger rail service.The mayor, Walter John Passmore, carried a funeral wreath and his wife, Daisy, waved the green flag to signal the final train’s departure, just about managing a sad smile for the cameras. Continue reading...

Morale low as scandals and doubts on policy delivery add to worries about PM’s competenceA shame-faced Boris Johnson told his own MPs this week that he had “crashed the car into the ditch” by misjudging the Owen Paterson scandal. As he heads to his country retreat of Chequers this weekend, some at Westminster have begun to wonder if he has what it takes to get the show back on the road.As well as exposing Johnson’s lax approach to probity in public life, the Paterson debacle highlighted what those who have worked with him say is one of his most maddening characteristics – the impetuous style of decision-making and tendency to sudden reversals cruelly caricatured by Dominic Cummings as “like a shopping trolley”. Continue reading...

Ivan, 28, activist, meets Ethan, 23, masters student/waiterEthan on IvanWhat were you hoping for?

Disposable diapers are one of the biggest factors in plastic waste. Efforts to address the problem are popping up all over the worldIn July 2017, Prigi Arisandi stood in the Surabaya River in East Java, Indonesia, and counted nappies. In one hour, “176 diapers floated in front of my face,” he said.The Indonesian biologist, who won the Goldman environmental prize in 2011 for his efforts to stem pollution flowing into the Surabaya, decided to make nappy waste his focus. He launched the Diaper Evacuation Brigade, a movement of volunteers who travel across Indonesia, wearing hazmat suits to fish used nappies out of the country’s rivers. Continue reading...

Police have scoured only a fraction of the scrub near where the preschooler disappeared

Citizen reporter Zhang Zhan, who is on a hunger strike, was imprisoned after questioning authorities’ handling of outbreak in cityThe United Nations has urged China to release a citizen journalist jailed for her coverage of the country’s Covid-19 response and who her family say is close to death after a hunger strike.The UN rights office voiced alarm at reports that 38-year-old Zhang Zhan’s health was deteriorating rapidly and that her life was at serious risk from the hunger strike. Continue reading...

The window to achieve that goal is vanishingly small, but it is there. Now we must seize this one last chanceLike many others, I would like to have seen a stronger outcome from Cop26. But we shouldn’t lose sight of the fact that much was achieved – and the final outcome does get us much closer to where we need to be than where we were a few weeks ago.For the first time countries agreed to take action on fossil fuels. Yes, it could have gone further – but let’s not forget that never before has there been a single word uttered on fossil fuels in any Cop agreement. So the agreed text is significant. Continue reading...

Two injured as police in Rotterdam fire warning shots; German health minister says nothing can be ruled out

Syrian questioned by police after reports he has ties to banned Kurdish People’s Protection UnitsCelebrated Syrian singer Omar Souleyman, who has performed at festivals around the world, has been released after being detained over alleged links to Kurdish militants.Souleyman was freed at 10.30pm (19.30 GMT) after a confusing day during which he was released in the morning before being taken back to a detention centre. Continue reading...

Rittenhouse killed two people and injured a third at protests last year after a white officer shot a Black man, Jacob Blake, in the back

Independent MP Helen Haines says it is now a ‘near impossibility’ to introduce and pass measure before election due by mid-May

Plundered items likely to be returned to Nigeria include plaques, bronze figures and musical instrumentsThe University of Oxford is holding 145 objects looted by British troops during an assault on the city of Benin in 1897 that are likely to be repatriated to Nigeria, a report has said.More than two-thirds of the plundered items are owned by the university’s Pitt Rivers Museum, and 45 are on loan. They include brass plaques, bronze figures, carved ivory tusks, musical instruments, weaving equipment, jewellery, and ceramic and coral objects dating to the 13th century. Continue reading...

Attacker used aliases to buy parts for device, which may have detonated prematurely, police sayThe suspected Liverpool bomber packed his homemade explosive device with ball bearings to cause maximum deaths and injuries, police have said.Emad al-Swealmeen, 32, died on Sunday when a taxi he had hired drove to Liverpool Women’s hospital and exploded outside the entrance.Swealmeen bought items for the homemade bomb in person from stores around Liverpool over a period of months.He also had multiple phones and devices and used those to purchase items for the explosive device online.Part of the device contained the homemade explosive HMTD, used in some previous devices such as that used in the 7 July 2005 bombs to attack the London transport system. It is believed other homemade explosives were also in the device.Swealmeen, who had claimed asylum after arriving in the UK, had shown signs he was following his birth religion of Islam again, after going through ceremonies to convert to Christianity in 2015 and 2017.He used his birth name as well as the name he took on converting to Christianity, Enzo Almeni, and other aliases to make the purchases needed to construct the improvised explosive device. Continue reading...

Austria is to go into a national lockdown to contain a fourth wave of coronavirus cases, the chancellor, Alexander Schallenberg, announced on Friday, as new infections hit a record high amid a pandemic surge across Europe. Despite all the persuasion and campaigns, too few people had decided to get vaccinated, Schallenberg said, leaving the country no other choice but to introduce mandatory vaccinations in February

Analysis: Up to now sports associations have rapidly backed down from rows with Beijing

New York is giving kids $100 to get jabbed, and there’s exceedingly good news on the confectionary frontWith a capitalist zeal I admire, New York is bribing young kids to get vaccinated, as it bribed their older siblings and parents before them. Not for these under-12s the lame promise of protecting grandma at Thanksgiving next week. Instead, a more reliable incentive: cold, hard cash. For every child who gets a Covid shot at a state school or city-run site, a guaranteed $100 payment. If you catch Covid and wind up on a ventilator, the American healthcare system will come for your house. But at prevention stage it’s all high-fives and free money. By American standards it’s thrilling. Continue reading...

Women from around the world describe the life-changing impact of finally receiving a diagnosis