England is now back in a third national lockdown, and we’re set to be here until at least the middle of February.
Here’s everything you need to know:
Stay at home
As was the case in March in the first lockdown, residents of England must now stay at home. You can only leave for work if it is absolutely not possible to do your job from home, such as construction, manufacturing or critical care workers.
You can leave your house to shop for necessities once a day, and there’s also a limit on outdoor exercise to just once daily.
You can meet with one person not in your household or with your support bubble outside, but social distancing should be maintained.
You cannot stay at another home other than your own, meaning holidays in the UK and abroad are no longer allowed, including at a second home or caravan.
Schools and Education
From today, Tuesday January 5th, all schools will be closed with learning carried out remotely, with the exception of children of key workers or those that are vulnerable.
You can leave your home to visit someone in your support bubble or to provide informal childcare to children under 14 as part of a childcare bubble.
BTEC exams scheduled to take place over the next few days will go ahead as planned. Summer GCSEs and A-Levels are under review between the government, the Office of Qualifications and Examinations Regulation (Ofqual) and the Department for Education.
However, it is expected they will not take place this academic year, with Boris branding that ‘not possible or fair’.
Shops
All non-essential shops including retail, hospitality and personal care businesses must close. Restaurants can offer takeaway and delivery but are not permitted to serve alcohol.
A list of essential shops such as supermarkets, pharmacies, garden centres, banks and launderettes can remain open.
Essential shops include:
Supermarkets
Pharmacies
Banks
Off-licences
Builders’ merchants
Garden centres
Launderettes
Car repair shops
Car washes
Bike shops
Market stalls selling essentials
Non-essential shops include:
Hairdressers
Personal care salons, like tanning shops and tattoo parlours
Entertainment venues like cinemas, skating rinks and bowling alleys
Restaurants and other hospitality venues (except for delivery or takeaway)
Sports, leisure and worship
All other venues must close including outdoor gyms, zoos, golf and tennis clubs. Elite sports can continue, as can PE lessons and clubs for children. Playgrounds can also remain open.
Places of worship can remain open for socially distanced services.
Weddings and Funerals
Events such as weddings, civil partnerships and funerals can take place with strict limits on attendance.
A maximum of 30 people can attend a funeral, and a maximum of six people can attend commemorative events such as ash scattering. People included in the service are not counted in the limits.
Weddings and civil partnerships can take place with six people in attendance and, according to government guidelines, only in exceptional circumstances such as if one partner is seriously ill.
Visiting care homes
Visits to see relatives in care homes can only take place with ‘substantial screens, visiting pods, or behind windows’. Close-contact indoor visits cannot take place and visits cannot take place if there is a Covid outbreak in the home.
International travel
Only essential journeys are permitted. Holidays abroad or in the UK or not allowed to take place.
Moving house
People are permitted to move house but people outside of your household or support bubble should not help with moving unless absolutely necessary. Estate agents, letting agents and removal firms can continue to work and viewings are also still permitted.
Commuters could be facing the steepest rise in the cost of train travel in more than a decade just months after prices were already increased.
It has been predicted today that train prices across England and Wales could rise by nearly 5% before the New Year.
The 2021 rise in prices was delayed as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic when train travel was at an all-time low, however, tickets still saw a price rise of 2.6% in March.
Abhijit Tembhekar / Flickr
And this morning, the Retail Prices Index for July 2021 was confirmed as 3.8% by the Office for National Statistics, meaning passengers could see fares rise by 4.8% in 2022, which would be the largest hike since 2012.
This means that the cost of rail travel could increase twice within ten months, and would see a Manchester-Glasgow off-peak return rise by £6.30 to £94.90, according to Metro.
Though all hope isn’t yet gone – changes to the fares in 2022 are still yet to be confirmed.
Jon David Houghton / Wikimedia Commons
A Department for Transport spokesperson said: “No decision has been made on national rail fares.
“The government is considering a variety of options and we will announce our decision in due course.”
This news has come as train travel in Manchester and beyond is on the rise – earlier this month, we reported that zero cases of Covid were found in Manchester Piccadilly Train Station, despite thousands of commuters using the station’s services as offices reopen.
Comedian Sean Lock has passed away at the age of fifty-eight after a battle with cancer, his agent has confirmed today.
A statement from his agent from Off The Kerb Productions said: “It is with great sadness that we have to announce the death of Sean Lock. He died at home from cancer, surrounded by his family.
“Sean was one of Britain’s finest comedians, his boundless creativity, lightning wit and the absurdist brilliance of his work, marked him out as a unique voice in British comedy.
“Sean was also a cherished husband and father to three children. Sean will be sorely missed by all that knew him. We kindly request that the privacy of his family and children is respected at this difficult time.”
Fellow comedians have been posting their own tribute messages since the news was announced. Ricky Gervais wrote: “Such sad news. RIP the great Sean Lock. One of the funniest, most influential comedians of a generation. A lovely man.”
John Bishop posted: “I am shocked and saddened at the news of the loss of Sean Lock. He was a brilliant comedian but more importantly he was a great person on so many levels . He will be missed hugely.”
Sean was best known for his role on Channel 4’s comedy panel show, 8 Out of 10 Cats, where he was panel captain. He appeared on the first eighteen series, opposite team captains including Jason Manford and Jon Richardson.
He also appeared on QI, The Last Leg, Have I Got News for You, and The Big Fat Quiz of the Year.
The UK is set to welcome more than 20,000 refugees from Afghanistan following the Taliban’s takeover of the country.
Prime Minister Boris Johnson announced that 5,000 people will be eligible to be resettled in Britain during the first year of the program, with women and girls given priority status, with the rest to be admitted in the ‘long term’.
Those deemed to be at the highest risk of human rights abuses and dehumanising treatment by the Taliban will also be given priority for settlement.
The Prime Minister, who will address MPs today on the ongoing crisis in Afghanistan, said: “We owe a debt of gratitude to all those who have worked with us to make Afghanistan a better place over the last twenty years.
“Many of them, particularly women, are now in urgent need of our help. I am proud that the UK has been able to put in place this route to help them and their families live safely in the UK.”
Manchester council leader Sir Richard Leese added that planes carrying people from Afghanistan are expected to land here in Manchester ‘at any moment.’
He said: “They’re on their way. We’re expecting planes to be landing at any moment. We’re certainly not going to turn our back on those people.
“But what we are going to do is to continue to make the case that actually, if we’re really a caring country, we need to make sure we put the proper resources and systems in to be able to support these people very quickly, get them out of hotels and get them into homes.
“We’re definitely not going to be refusing to take people, but we will continue to make the case for proper support.”
Following the departure of American troops on Sunday, the Taliban took over Afghanistan’s capital city Kabul, almost two decades after they were initially defeated by the US. The Afghan President Ashraf Ghani fled the country, abandoning the presidential palace to Taliban fighters.
Under the Taliban’s rule, Sharia Law, women and girls are stripped of most basic human rights, including the right to have an education, work, and leave the house without a male relative. While the Taliban have promised to take a more modern approach to their ruling, concern for the safety and wellbeing of Afghan women and girls is still rife.
For more information on how you can help the refugees fleeing Afghanistan, visit the following links: