| | Furlough scheme ends amid calls for further support |
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It was introduced during the first lockdown, it helped pay 11.6 million wages after coronavirus restrictions meant large parts of the economy closed but now, after 18 months, the UK’s furlough scheme is ending. Furlough - or the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme as it's officially known - was brought in by the government to pay 80% of wages, with a monthly limit of £2,500. That dropped to 60% with employers making up the rest as it started winding down for its closing date today. Chancellor Rishi Sunak says he’s "immensely proud" of the multibillion-pound scheme - which is still supporting 1.6 million workers, according to latest figures. It’s been widely praised for protecting millions of jobs but some firms say they still need support because business hasn't returned to normal.
One business, which helps pets travel overseas, faces the prospect of making redundancies. Animal Aircare hasn’t laid off any staff but director Mark Andrew says: "Furlough ending means there's a real question mark for our business. It seems the airline industry is not buoyant enough yet." Older workers or those in the travel sector, still on the scheme are particularly at risk of unemployment, according to think-tank Resolution Foundation, and like other forecasters, including the Bank of England, it predicts there will be a small rise in unemployment. The Federation of Small Businesses says employers and workers alike will have to cope with the end of the furlough scheme and it "will be tough for many to navigate". However, the government says there's support through its Plan for Jobs scheme. | | |
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| | Sentencing of Sarah Everard’s murderer |
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| | | The sentencing of Sarah Everard’s murderer continues today. Details of what happened to the 33-year-old marketing executive at the hands of Met Police officer Wayne Couzens emerged during the first day of the court hearing on Wednesday. She was abducted by Couzens - who has admitted kidnap, murder and rape - on 3 March as she walked home on her own from a friend's house in Clapham, London. He falsely arrested her for breaching Covid guidelines before, using his warrant card to trick Ms Everard - described as "savvy and streetwise" by her former long-term boyfriend - into being handcuffed and getting in his hire car. During the hearing at the Old Bailey, her mother Susan told how she is "tormented" at the thought of what her daughter endured while her father Jeremy said "there can be no redemption" for what Couzens had done and told him "no punishment that you receive will ever compare to the pain and torture that you have inflicted on us". His sentencing is expected to conclude today, and he could be given a whole-life term. | | |
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| | Spears’ father suspended as conservator |
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| | | Britney Spears’ father will no longer control her fortune after a judge removed him as conservator. He had been overseeing his daughter’s finances and her personally since the legal arrangement was introduced in 2008 amid concerns over her mental health. He stepped down as her personal conservator in 2019 for health reasons, with a care professional replacing him. Following a number of court hearings over the conservatorship - in one of which Britney Spears’ accused her father of years of abuse, which he denies - he filed legal papers to step down. The judge has now suspended Jamie Spears from the position. He’s being replaced with an accountant chosen by his daughter’s legal team. The singer's lawyers also requested another hearing to decide whether to end Spears' conservatorship altogether. | | |
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| | | | | | | | | | | Finally. After pandemic-induced delays and a sudden change of director, the latest long-awaited Bond movie is hitting the screens. No Time to Die is the 25th Bond movie and Daniel Craig's final outing as James Bond. So does the Bond fantasy bear any relation at all to life in the real MI6, Britain's external spy agency, more properly known as the Secret Intelligence Service? And perhaps more importantly, how relevant can a spy agency be in this digital age?
"I think the biggest way it differs," says Sam (not her real name), "is that we're much more collaborative than the people in Bond. Very rarely, if ever, would you go out by yourself, unsupported. It's all about teams... you've always got a security team around you." Sam is a career MI6 case officer with a background in counter terrorism, one of several serving intelligence officers I requested to meet and interview ahead of the latest Bond release. Alright, so if they are not Bond, what exactly do real-life MI6 officers do, whether based in their Thameside headquarters or out "in the field" overseas? | | |
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| | | | | | | Sarah Everard "didn’t stand a chance" says the Sun, which leads with the murder of the 33-year-old who, the court heard, was tricked into a car by police officer Wayne Couzens. The first day of his sentencing for kidnap, murder and rape leads the papers this morning with the Metro, like the Sun and i, showing a CCTV image seconds before Couzens handcuffs Ms Everard in a false arrest for breaching Covid guidelines. The Times reports on her parents telling him to "look at us" as they gave "harrowing accounts of how his crimes had left them broken with grief". Women are losing trust in police reports the i, which says Met Police Commissioner Cressida Dick is being urged to restore trust in the force and improve safety on the streets. Read the newspaper review in full here. | | |
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| | | | | Medication Coming off anti-depressants may not cause relapse - study. |
| | | | | | Exams Grade inflation to be wound back over two years |
| | | | | | North Korea Kim Jong-un offers to restore inter-Korean hotline |
| | | | | | Labour Five things we learned from the conference |
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| | If you watch one thing today |
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| | If you listen to one thing today |
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| | If you read one thing today |
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| | Need something different? |
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| | | It makes sense of coronavirus data and has lots of followers but no-one knew who was behind the hit Australian tracking website, CovidBaseAU - until now. When teenagers Jack, Wesley and Darcy did the big reveal they got a "mind-blowing" response, including one person who tweeted: "Are you telling me that you three high school kids provide clearer info than the entire Department of Health? Damn..." Here’s their story.
You’ll recognise who’s behind the next one but you might not have heard the album. Recorded in 2001, Toy was never officially released before David Bowie died but it’s being dropped the day before what would have been his 75th birthday. Find out more about the album that was shelved.
And finally, to another musician who says his whole life feels like an "out-of-body experience". And that’s not all - Foo Fighters’ Dave Grohl also tells us about aliens, Abba and Nirvana's Nevermind turning 30. Take a look. | | |
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| | On this day | | |
| | | | 1938 British Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain is hailed as bringing "peace to Europe" after signing a non-aggression pact with Germany. Listen to our archive report about the agreement. |
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| | | Let us know what you think of this newsletter by emailing [email protected]. If you’d like to recommend it to a friend, forward this email. New subscribers can sign up here. | | |
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