News

Boris Johnson set to announce easing of Plan B restrictions in England

The Prime Minister will review the latest COVID-19 data this morning, before making a statement to MPs.

The Manc The Manc - 19th January 2022

Boris Johnson is expected to announce an easing of Plan B restrictions in England in a statement later today.

It has been reported that the Prime Minister will go through the latest COVID-19 data this morning with government ministers, before making a statement to MPs in the House of Commons this afternoon.

Plan B measures were introduced in England back in mid December 2021 in a bid to curb the spread of the Omicron variant.

Those measures were:

  • Guidance to work from home “if you can”.
  • The reintroduction of a legal requirement to wear face masks in “most public indoor venues”, including theatres and cinemas – with exceptions “where it’s not practical, including while eating, drinking, exercising or singing”.
  • NHS COVID passes for nightclubs, unseated indoor venues with more than 500 people, unseated outdoor venues with more than 4,000 people, and any venue with more than 10,000 people.
  • Daily testing for people identified as a contact of a COVID-19 case – with isolation required only for people who test positive.

Read more: All the ‘Plan B’ restrictions announced and when they will take effect

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Although several changes have been made while Plan B restrictions still stood – particularly with reference to testing and the duration of isolation periods – it was announced at the time that these measures would expire on 26 January, and the government committed to reviewing them before this date.

According to emerging reports, the Prime Minister could opt to retain the mask-wearing requirement for the time being, but choose to scrap the work from home guidance and need for COVID passes.

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Plan B measures were introduced in December 2021 to curb the spread of the Omicron variant / Credit: Flickr | Unsplash

When asked yesterday if restrictions would be lifted next week, as per the initial date set out, Mr Johnson said: “We’ve got to be careful about COVID [and] we’ve got to continue to remember that it’s a threat,” while Health Secretary Sajid Javid also told MPs the same day that he was “cautiously optimistic that we will be able to substantially reduce restrictions next week”.

Speaking ahead of the Prime Minister’s expected statement on restrictions, a government spokesperson said: “Decisions on the next steps remain finely balanced.

“Plan B was implemented in December to slow the rapid spread of the extremely transmissible Omicron variant, and get more jabs in arms [and] it’s thanks to the phenomenal efforts of the NHS and many dedicated volunteers that we have now delivered over 36 million boosters to people across the UK.

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“The Omicron variant continues to pose a significant threat and the pandemic is not over [as] infections remain high.

It was announced at the time that measures would expire on 26 January, and the government would review them before this date / Credit: Unsplash (John Cameron)

“But the latest data is encouraging, with cases beginning to fall.

“Vaccines remain our best line of defence and we urge people to come forward to give themselves the best possible protection.”

Official figures show that the UK has recorded 94,432 COVID-19 cases and 438 COVID-related deaths in the latest 24-hour period, and there are currently 19,450 people in hospital with COVID as of 17 January – which is down 2% week-on-week.

Featured Image – Parliament TV

News

Yorkshire Tea is Manchester’s ‘favourite’ brand of teabags, according to new data

Danny Jones Danny Jones Yorkshire Tea is Manchester's favourite teabag

The Great British debate of which teabag is best is one that will rage on for millennia, that’s just the way it is, but according to new data, it sounds like we might at least have an answer to which brand makes for Manchester’s favourite brew.

It won’t be a surprise to many of you and we can certainly confirm it on our end but the one and only Yorkshire Tea looks to have taken the cuppa crown when it comes not only to Manchester’s preferred teabag but seemingly the best-loved in Britain as a whole.

This is according to numbers pulled by local firm, TonerGiant. The Atherton-based ink and toner suppliers decided a poll around the office wasn’t enough and instead chose to turn their knowledge of the market and consumer trends into a bit of online research.

At the end of the day, tea has got to be the most important of all office supplies, surely?

mancunians favourite brand of teabags
According to the stats, Yorkshire Tea is Manchester’s favourite brand of tea bags. (Credit: Yorkshire Tea)

Using data from trusted online source Statista, which nailed down the top 25 teabag brands in the UK, each make was then ranked in relation to its average monthly searches via Google Keyword Planner to reveal that Yorkshire Tea was clearly the top dog.

With roughly 390 searches per month in Manchester alone, compared to PG Tips as the next best (260), it seems us Mancs have to concede at least one thing to our fellow Northern county: Yorkshire makes a bloody good brew.

The Roses rivalry raged for centuries but if there’s one thing that brings us together, it’s a good cuppa.

In terms of other tea brands that came in high on the leaderboard, Pukka Tea (170), Twinings (140)and Teapigs (90) made up the rest of the top five most-searched tea brands in Greater Manchester. It’s also interesting to see how those figures looked when extrapolated nationwide. Here’s the full ranking:

RankTeaAverage UK monthly searches
1Yorkshire Tea27,100
2PG Tips18,100
3Pukka Tea14,800
4Twinings12,100
5Teapigs8,100
6Whittards Tea6,600
7Tetley4,400
8Clipper Tea4,400
9Lipton Tea3,600
10Barrys Tea3,600
11Thompsons Tea1,300
12Typhoo1,300
13Taylors Tea1,300
14M&S Tea1,300
15Tesco Tea1,000
16Tick Tock Tea880
17Sainsbury’s Tea720
18Lyons Tea720
19Asda Tea590
20Aldi Tea590
21Waitrose Tea590
22Lidl Tea480
23Morrisons Tea320
24Bewleys Tea90
25Cafedirect Tea40
Few of these on here we’ve never heard of. Taste test, anyone?

While Yorkshire Tea was found to be Manchester’s and the nation’s favourite, Belfast was the only UK city where Yorkshire Tea didn’t take the top spot. Instead, it was Irish-owned Barry’s Tea that came out as their favourite – we definitely need to hold a ‘brew-off’ between the two. The Hoot, you up for it?

As for supermarket’s own-brand offerings, out of the eight options on the list, Marks and Spencer’s teabags were found to be the most popular, closely followed by Tesco and then Sainsbury’s.

Commenting on the findings, TonerGiant’s Stuart Deavall said: “With so many office workers opting for tea to get through the day, it’s no surprise that the UK has a day dedicated to the drink.

“In light of National Tea Day on Sunday, 21 April, our new data shows that Yorkshire Tea is the nation’s favourite, with over 27,000 Brits searching every month… We can expect many Brits to be celebrating in style this Sunday, no doubt with a mug of Yorkshire tea in hand”. Speaking of, anyone fancy a brew?…

Read more:

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Featured Images — Yorkshire Tea/Rumman Amin (via Unsplash)

News

Manchester palaeontologist unearths bones of what may be the largest known marine reptile

Emily Sergeant Emily Sergeant

A Manchester-based palaeontologist has unearthed the bones of what may be the largest known marine reptile.

This new identification is a crucial part of a fascinating eight-year long discovery journey.

It all started when a seasoned fossil collector named Paul de la Salle found a giant jawbone on Lilstock Beach, near Bridgewater in Somerset, back in May 2016, and then father and daughter, Justin and Ruby Reynolds from Devon, found the first pieces of a second jawbone and another giant bone while searching for fossils on the beach at Blue Anchor, also in Somerset, in May 2020.

And now, a palaeontologist at the University of Manchester (UoM) Dr Dean Lomax, has identified the fossilised remains of the second gigantic jawbone that measures more than two metres long.

Experts have identified these bones as belonging to the jaws of a new species of enormous ichthyosaur – which is a type of prehistoric marine reptile – and astonishing estimations suggest the oceanic titan would have been more than 25-metres long.

Dr Lomax has been working together with Justin and Ruby Reynolds, along with Paul de la Salle and several family members, since the father-daughter duo first contacted them about their groundbreaking discovery in 2020.

A Manchester palaeontologist has unearthed bones of what may be the largest known marine reptile / Credit: UoM

“I was amazed by Justin and Ruby’s find,” Dr Lomax commented.

“In 2018, my team and Paul de la Salle studied and described Paul’s giant jawbone, and we had hoped that one day another would come to light.”

He explained that Justin and Ruby’s new specimen was “more complete and better preserved” than the first find, and that he “became very excited” at the chance to learn more following their discovery.

As mentioned, the Manchester-based research team, led by Dr Lomax, revealed that the jaw bones belong to a new species of giant ichthyosaur that would’ve been about the size of a blue whale, and they have called the new genus and species Ichthyotitan severnensis – which means ‘giant fish lizard of the Severn’.

The bones – which represent the very last of their kind – are around 202 million years old, and date back to the end of the Triassic Period in a time known as the Rhaetian.

During this time, the gigantic ichthyosaurs swam the seas while the dinosaurs walked on land.

The University of Manchester, where Dr Dean Lomax works as a palaeontologist / Credit: UoM

Ichthyotitan is not the world’s first giant ichthyosaur, but the discoveries by Paul, and Justin and Ruby, are said to be “unique among those known to science”, as they appear roughly 13 million years after their latest geologic relatives – including Shonisaurus sikanniensis from British Columbia in Canada, and Himalayasaurus tibetensis from Tibet in China.

Speaking on the confirmation of the bones’ identification this week, Dr Lomax said: “This research has been ongoing for almost eight years.

“It is quite remarkable to think that gigantic, blue whale-sized ichthyosaurs were swimming in the oceans around what was the UK during the Triassic Period.

Read more:

“These jawbones provide tantalising evidence that perhaps one day a complete skull or skeleton of one of these giants might be found.”

Featured Image – UoM

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