COVID-19 Updates
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Covid inquiry hears more testimony about Johnson’s ‘brutal and useless’ No 10
Former civil service chief also says he did not trust Matt Hancock, the ‘over-promising’ health secretary UK politics live – latest updates Mark Sedwill, the UK’s most senior civil servant…
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Ex-head of civil service apologises for proposing ‘chickenpox party’ approach to Covid – video
The former cabinet secretary Mark Sedwill apologised for implying a chickenpox party approach might work for mitigating the impact of Covid on public health. According to Dominic Cummings, Sedwill told…
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Covid inquiry to examine PPE procurement after revelations Australia got 46m unusable masks
Panel chair says provision of key medical supplies will be considered as part of inquiry into country’s pandemic response Follow our Australia news live blog for latest updates Get our…
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Ex-civil service head apologises for proposing chickenpox party-type approach to Covid – UK politics live
Mark Sedwill says he can see why the remark, made in private, would be seen as ‘heartless and thoughtless’ Keith is only now asking about Covid. All the questions so…
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Johnson needed reminding to involve cabinet in Covid decisions, says civil service ex-chief – video
The former prime minister Boris Johnson had to be reminded to include his cabinet in the government’s decisions, said the former cabinet secretary Mark Sedwill. Giving testimony to the Covid…
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Optus services restored after outage – as it happened
This blog is now closed. Optus network outage may have been caused by same issue that brought Facebook down in 2021 Optus service outage at a glance: what we know…
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Australia’s Covid inquiry must not morph into chance to ‘retell history’, health experts warn
‘We should remember how many lives were saved … but we need to learn and do better,’ former AMA chief says Follow our Australia news live blog for latest updates…
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Australian Covid inquiry to scrutinise states but politicians unlikely to face public hearings, chief says
Exclusive: Robyn Kruk says ‘incredibly broad’ investigation won’t be ‘adversarial’ but premiers have already been contacted to participate Follow our Australia news live blog for latest updates Get our morning…
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Keir Starmer dismisses king’s speech as ‘exercise in economic miserabilism’ – as it happened
Labour party leader criticises speech as ‘admission that government has no faith in Britain’s ability to avert decline’ Here is Ben Quinn’s guide to what will be in the king’s…
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Top officials called Johnson’s No 10 ‘mad’ and ‘poisonous’, Covid inquiry hears
Cabinet Office’s Simon Case told cabinet secretary Mark Sedwill: ‘I’ve never seen people less well-equipped to run a country’ The two most senior civil servants in the UK exchanged messages…