A new set of tougher national restrictions are to be imposed across the whole of England following the recent rise in coronavirus case numbers, Boris Johnson has confirmed.
The Prime Minister outlined the measures in a televised address from Downing Street on Monday evening (January 4), calling the spread of the new variant “frustrating and alarming”.
Under the new rules, people should not leave their homes for any reason except for essential purposes (such as shopping, medical needs, or exercising with one other person).
People should work from home unless they cannot do so.
The clinically vulnerable should shield again.
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Primary and secondary schools will close immediately and move to online learning for all pupils except children of key workers and the most vulnerable.
Higher Education provision will remain online until mid February for all except future critical worker courses.
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BREAKING: @BorisJohnson confirms National Lockdown in England until mid Feb.
Johnson had warned of stricter rules just hours prior to his evening speech; telling press there was “no question” of tougher measures during his visit to a hospital administering the Oxford/AstraZeneca vaccine.
Whilst Johnson vowed the government would “do everything we can to keep the virus under control”, he also admitted there would be “tough, tough” weeks ahead in the UK’s fight against COVID-19.
First Minister Nicola Sturgeon previously announced a nationwide lockdown in Scotland would come into force from midnight tonight, with a legal requirement to “stay at home”.
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Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer on Sunday had demanded a national lockdown in England within 24 hours.
Mr Starmer responded to the announcement urging the need to “get the virus under control, protect the NHS and create the space for the vaccine to be rolled out as quickly as humanly possible”.
The new restrictions come as it was confirmed the UK recorded 58,784 new coronavirus (COVID-19) cases today – the highest daily total since the start of the pandemic.
It is the seventh day in a row that there have been more than 50,000 daily cases.
Government figures also showed there have been 407 more deaths in the past 24 hours.
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The UK’s coronavirus alert level is also being raised from 4 to 5 for the first time since the system was set out in May of last year.
Level 5 or “red” means there is a “material risk of healthcare services being overwhelmed”, compared to Level 4 when transmission of the virus is “high or rising exponentially”.
The COVID-19 alert level refers to the threat of the epidemic, and is separate from the tiering system in England.
The House of Commons will sit from 11.30am on Wednesday in order to hear a statement from Mr Johnson and to debate public health regulations, with Speaker Sir Lindsay Hoyle adding: “As per my advice on the previous recall, I would strongly urge you NOT to physically come to Westminster to participate in any business unless absolutely necessary due to the current severe public health situation”.
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For the latest information, guidance and support during the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic in the UK, please do refer to official sources at gov.uk/coronavirus.
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95% of Mancs apparently want the city to be ‘cashless’, new study reveals
An eye-opening new study has found that only 5% of Mancs still use cash as their preferred method of payment nowadays.
It comes as no surprise that cash is less of a ‘king’ nowadays than it used to be, but now a new report by global financial technology company SumUp has suggests that only 5% of people in Manchester prefer to pay with cash, while 59% choose debit and credit cards, so that leaves one question… is Manchester on its way to becoming a cashless city?
To discover how payment preferences are evolving, SumUp conducted a nationwide survey to gather insights from UK consumers about their payment habits.
The company was particularly intrigued to not only discover payment methods people prefer, but what their concerns around certain payment methods, alongside how they feel about businesses that don’t accept digital payments.
95% of Mancs apparently want the city to be ‘cashless’ / Credit: Mylo Kaye (via Unsplash) | Pexels
Firstly, before we go any further, it’s important to note that almost two thirds (63%) of Manchester residents said they have changed the way they make payments over the past year.
Unsurprisingly, debit and credit cards remain the top choice for the majority of Mancs, with over half (59%) saying it was their preferred method of payment, followed by mobile payment methods such as Apple Pay and Google Pay at 24% – which is likely thanks to their ease of use and the ability to have multiple cards on one device.
While a third (31%) of Mancs said that they ‘don’t mind’ cash and still opt to carry it for situations where digital payments aren’t an option, a growing number of people in the city are feel that digital payments are more favourable, with 25% thinking that businesses should adapt to modern payment methods and whilst 28% finding it ‘inconvenient’ when a business doesn’t accept digital payments.
A further 11% of people even say that cash-only businesses wouldn’t be an option they’d consider, and would actually avoid them wherever possible.
Only 5% use cash as their preferred method of payment / Credit: Rawpixel
When it comes to concerns around digital payment methods, where do Mancs stand then? Well, the survey found that a third (33%) of people are worried about their reliance on technology, especially being unable to pay if their phone dies, for example, while an additional 32% of people are concerned about security risks such as hacking, fraud, or stolen card details.
Among other things, 26% of survey respondents also said they worry about the privacy aspect of digital banking and the tracking your data.
“While debit and credit cards continue to dominate as the preferred payment method, it’s clear that cash is slowly declining in use, particularly among younger generations,” Corin Camenisch, who is the Marketing & Growth Lead at SumUp, commented on the report.
“Looking ahead, we can anticipate a rise in innovative payment methods like digital wallets, especially as younger consumers increasingly embrace the convenience and flexibility they offer.”
Featured Image – Pavel Danilyuk (via Pexels)
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Met Office predicts UK is set for ‘hotter than average’ summer
The Met Office is predicting that the UK is set for a ‘hotter than average’ summer this year.
Fresh off-the-back of the news that 2025 is already the hottest spring on record, with a recorded 630 hours of sunshine from 1 March until 27 May, beating out the previous sunniest spring in 2020 by just four hours, the Met Office is now predicting that the UK is on the verge of a summer that’s ‘hotter than usual’.
According to its three-month outlook, the Met Office has predicted that it’s 2.3 times more-likely than ‘normal’ that it will be hot in the UK between 1 June and 31 August.
The average temperatures during those months are set to range from 10-17°C.
🌡️ ☀️ The UK has recorded its warmest and sunniest spring on record, according to provisional Met Office statistics.
Spring 2025 is now the 4th sunniest season overall for the UK, with only 3 summers sunnier since 1910.
Details in release below, or read this short thread 👇🧵
After it was revealed that this has also been the UK’s driest spring in more than a century, meteorologists are warning Brits that there could heatwave conditions could be reached at various times throughout the summer.
The release of the long-range forecast – which gives an indication of possible temperatures, rainfall, and wind speed over a period as a whole – comes after temperatures soared to 8°C (46F) above the average for this time of year this Saturday just gone (31 May).
It is important to note, however, that the Met Office thinks these predicted temperatures are similar to those in recent years, and it does not guarantee ‘prolonged’ hot weather.
The Met Office is predicting that the UK is set for ‘hotter than average’ summer this year / Credit: Mylo Kaye (via Unsplash)
The Met Office said in a statement: “While the current three-month outlook shows an increased chance of a hot summer, the temperature signals for this summer are similar to those for recent years and consistent with our warming climate.
“The increased chance of hotter than average temperatures is not a guarantee of prolonged hot weather or heatwaves, but it does mean that heatwave conditions could be reached at times.
“However, it’s important to bear in mind that an increased chance of hot conditions could also reflect a mix of hot and cool days, warm nights, or less extreme levels of warmth rather than continual heatwave conditions specifically.”
The Manc -
4th January 2021 
