The prime minister has taken to the podium to announce tighter pandemic restrictions for many parts of England over Christmas– especially in London and the south East.
He has described the tighter restrictions as ‘tier four’. These restrictions will take effect from tomorrow morning and Johnson reiterates that there’s no evidence that the new coronavirus strain causes more severe illness or higher mortality.
He also confirmed that “everyone, in all tiers” must stay local. This means everybody in England.
“We cannot continue with Christmas as planned,” he says.
Across the rest of the country, rules allowing up to three households to meet will now be limited to Christmas Day only.
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BREAKING: The Prime Minister has announced new measures and says "we cannot continue with Christmas as planned". Household bubbling can only happen for Christmas day. Most of South East will enter Tier 4 – we are all advised to "stay local". More with @maireadtsmyth at 17.20📺
The prime minister was was joined by the familiar cast of England’s chief medical officer Professor Chris Whitty and the UK’s chief scientific adviser Sir Patrick Vallance for a national press conference this evening.
The cabinet today met to discuss action to curb the rise in infections amid concerns over a new variant of coronavirus in the UK.
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England’s current three-tier system of coronavirus measures has faced strong criticism recently for not being effective in stopping the surge in cases – which as prompted thousands to calls for a full lockdown to get back ahead of the curve.
The UK has reported another 27,052 confirmed Covid-19 cases. That’s down slightly on Friday’s figure of 28,507.
There have also been another 534 deaths within 28 days of a positive test. That’s up from 489 a day before.
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Glamorous new Salford restaurant speaks out as controversial resident parrot is rehomed
Daisy Jackson
A new riverside restaurant and shisha lounge has addressed the live parrot that was living in the middle of the restaurant.
Gardens Lounge in Salford opened last week, bringing Mediterranean dining to the banks of the River Irwell, just across the water from Manchester city centre.
But among those admiring the stylish decor were many issuing an outcry over Rio, a beautiful blue macaw displayed in a glass box at the heart of the restaurant.
A loud online campaign, Free Rio, was launched this week, including a petition that’s gained more than 10,000 signatures, which described his conditions as ‘suffering’.
The petition said: “Rio is a highly intelligent, wild animal who is being kept in wholly inadequate conditions. He is being used as a prop and décor to attract customers, this is not an appropriate or acceptable use of a living, sentient being.
“His current conditions cause us serious concern: His cage is entirely unsuitable for a macaw of his size and needs. He has no room to fly. He has nowhere to hide or retreat from the loud music and flashing lights he is subjected to for hours on en
“Macaws are highly social animals who mate for life and live in large family groups, Rio has no mate, no companionship, and no ability to express any natural behaviour whatsoever.
The restaurant has since been working closely with those campaigners – Protect the Wild and Vegan Manchester – and has made the decision to rehome Rio the parrot, saying that the bird has always been ‘a much-loved member of the Garden Lounge’s family’.
Gardens said that the parrot’s welfare has always been ‘of the utmost importance’ and stressed that his living conditions have been fully assessed and approved by the RSPCA.
In their full statement, Gardens said: “The welfare of Rio has always been of the utmost importance to everyone at Garden’s Lounge Manchester.
“Throughout his time with us, his health, wellbeing and environment have been thoroughly monitored and fully assessed and approved by the RSPCA.
The cage that housed Rio the parrot visible from the front door of the Salford restaurantGardens Lounge in Salford is open now
“Following extensive discussions and careful consideration, including conversations with members of the Manchester community whose views we greatly respect, we have made the decision to relocate Rio to a sanctuary environment, where he will have the opportunity to fly freely while continuing to receive specialist care and attention.
“Rio has been, and always will be, a much-loved member of the Garden’s Lounge family, and this decision has been made with his best interests at heart.
“We are proud of the love and care he has received over the years and are grateful to everyone who has shown him such affection and support.
“We look forward to welcoming everyone back to Garden’s Lounge Manchester soon and thank our customers, friends and the wider community for their continued support.”
The ITV hype video for the 2026 World Cup has just done that – let’s make some memories
Danny Jones
We’ll admit, much like with Qatar ’22, there have been a few things about this upcoming World Cup that have made it harder to get in the mood than usual, but we must confess: ITV’s new opening titles for the 2026 edition have got us well and truly HYPED.
It’s funny what a quick little montage and some feel-good music can do.
Let’s face it, there are a lot of things about modern football we don’t like, and there are always going to be criticisms of FIFA and how they handle major tournaments, especially when it comes to the biggest international fixtures of them all.
Sadly, a lot of this is out of our control, but what we can do is our bit as supporters and get behind the boys; with trailers like this, it’s hard not to get yourself up for it…
How well you remember the customary title sequences for each tournament is usually a good barometer.
We have a feeling that this one is going to stick out in the memories of not just the kids enjoying maybe some of their first real major tournaments, but plenty of us adults, too.
The reaction online has been largely positive too, with popular football social media account, The 44, writing: “Oh my god! ITV have smashed it. Better or just as good as 2014”.
Another went on to say, “[It’s] mental how this one minute and nineteen second video has just made me incredibly excited for the World Cup. ITV know how to do an intro, don’t they?”
Furthermore, a third added: “Great intro. And FIFA might’ve messed everything up with 48 teams instead of 32 and blown it on ticket prices, but once the World Cup kicks off, there’s nothing like it.
With fewer fans being able to travel or even begin to remotely afford flying out for just one game, let alone the whole month, it’s great to see Manchester setting up big screens like these.
All that being said, there has, of course, still been lots of backlash over how hosting the World Cup in North America has been handled in general thus far.
Be it the plight of scammers, exorbitant ticket prices, punters and even referees being denied entry to the country due to President Trump’s travel sanctions, or the general political state over in the US, it’s far from a perfect year for ‘the beautiful game’ and its biggest competition.
However, it’s worth reminding that nations like Mexico have as strong an obsession with football as anyone on the planet, and Canada is clearly relishing the opportunity to host matches in Toronto and Vancouver, where footy is still their largest sport overall.
We expect there will still be plenty of protests and demonstrations, not to mention fairly public messages and statements up around the stadiums in the cities involved, no doubt, but one thing we can make sure of is that England will back the Three Lions both up in the stands and back here at home.
Those clips seen in the ITV video serve as yet another undeniable reminder that there is simply nothing like cheering on your country on the big stage, so make sure you lock down where to watch the World Cup in Manchester soon, and don’t miss a second of the action. It’s coming home.
The Manc -
19th December 2020 
