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THEWEEK 17 July 2021

The main stories...

It wasn’tall bad

“Soit’scertain,”saidTheSun.Nextweek,Englandwillbe

almostentirelyfreefrom“Covidcurbs”.Andrightlyso.

“ZeroCovid”isn’taviablestrategy,anda

furtherdelayinunlockinguntilschoolsreturn

andtheweathercoolscouldleadtoa“bigger

andmoredeadlywavenextspring”.Thisis

certainlyastepintherightdirection,agreed

theDailyMail.Butit’llhardlybe“freedom

asweknowit”.Maskswillstillbe“strongly

advised”inindoorspaces;workingfromhome

willcontinue;andministershaveconspicuously

failedtoruleoutanotherwinterlockdown.

Evenwithcaveats,thePM’sstrategyisarisky

one,saidTheObserver.Casenumbersroseby

some58%lastweek,withanestimatedonein

160 peopleinEnglandcurrentlyinfected.And

whilevaccineshave“dramaticallycut”theriskofdyingfrom

thevirus,we’vestilldoublejabbedonly65%ofUKadults.

MostBritonsactivelywantrestrictionstocontinue,saidThe

Economist.Recentpollingshowstwo-thirdsthinkmasks,

socialdistancingandtravellimitsshouldremainforanother

month;anda“sizeableminority”wantfreedomsrestricted

permanently.Oneinfourofusarehappytoseenightclubs

closeforgood;twointenwantapermanent 10pm curfew.

BorisJohnsonconfirmedthisweekthat

almostallremaininglegalCovidrestrictionsin

EnglandwillendonMonday–buturgedthe

publictoexercise“extremecaution”when

enjoyingtheirnewfreedoms.Indoorvenues

suchascinemas,theatresandpubscanoperate

atfullcapacity,andmaskswillnolongerbe

mandatory(thoughtheywillremainsoon

Londontransportandpossiblyinothercities).

ThePM’sdecisionwastakendespitegrowing

casenumbers,whichgovernmentscientistssaid

couldleadtohospitaladmissionsrisingabove

Januarylevelsto4,800aday,withupto2 00

dailydeathswithinweeks.Johnsonurged

peoplenottobe“demobhappy”followingthe

relaxationinrules.“ThisisnottheendofCovid,”hewarned.

RestrictionswillalsobeeasedslightlyinScotlandonMonday

–butlimitsongatheringsinsideandoutsidewillcontinue,and

facemaskswillremainmandatory.TheScottishgovernment

saysithopestoremoveremainingrestrictionson9August.In

WalesmostremainingCovidrestrictionswillendon7August;

but face coverings willstill berequiredin indoor public places.

What happened What theeditorialssaid

The PM: it’s “not the end”

Freedom day

It would beeasyto regard this resultas “yet another sad and

sorry failure forthenational team”,said TheIndependent.

Easy, butwrong.Whileit may have endedwith the customary

penalties“nightmare”, this was afantastic

tournamentforEngland. Itfieldedayoung

andinspiring teamwho reached the first major

finalin 55 years, beating Germany along the

way. Whatashame,though, thatthis

enjoyablefew weekshad sucha“squalid

postscript”, saidTheGuardian.The good

memorieshave beenspoilt bythe racist abuse,

andthe violent scenesat Wembley.

The olddemonsof Englishfootball –racism

andhooliganism –haveresurfaced, saidthe

FT. Butthefurore over thevile attacks “is,

paradoxically, asign of progress”. Racist

abuse used tobe routinein football.Players

werejust expected toput upwith it.Today,

rightly, itcauses anoutcry, and players don’thesitate tocall

it out. There’sstillsome wayto go, though. Patel refusedto

condemn fanswhobooed theEngland team forkneeling–and

dismissed the gesture.But th eabuse of players“underlines

exactly whythegesturewasand is necessary”.

England’shopes ofwinningitsfirst majorfootball

tournament since 1966 were dashed on

Sundaynight when it lost theEuro 2020

final toItaly. Thedefeatwas watched by

a70,000-strongcrowd at Wembley,along

with anestimatedUK TVaudience of 31

million.Therewereviolent scenesbefore the

match when hundredsof ticketless England

supporters stormed thestadium,breaking

through securitybarriers.The eventwas

further marred by aslewof racistabuse on

socialmedia aimedat the three England

players who missedtheirpenalties: Marcus

Rashford,JadonSanchoand BukayoSaka.

EnglandmanagerGareth Southgate

condemnedthe abuseas “unforgivable”, as

did seniorministers. ButEngland defenderTyrone Mings

accused Priti Patel,the HomeSecretary,ofdouble

standards, sayingshehad fuelledthe vitriol by suggesting

that the practice of players “taking the knee” to protest

against racialinequality was “gesturepolitics”.

What happened What theeditorialssaid

SouthgateconsolesSaka

Defeat at Wembley

ABritish teenager last week

became the youngest person

to fly solo around the world.

Travis Ludlow, from Ibstone in

Buckinghamshire, completed

the 25,000-mile flight at the age

of 18 years and 149 days, 13

days younger than the previous

record-holder. The entire trip

took 44 days, with Ludlow

sometimes spending eight

hours unbroken at the controls

of his single-engine Cessna.

“It was very stressful,” said his

proud father Nick Ludlow. “I’m

glad it’s over.”

ALondon hospital has staged

the first public performance of

astring quartet composed by

asix-y ear- old boy. Apollo

Premadasa first contacted

St Bartholomew’s hospital

in the City last year, to say

that he had written the piece,

Pandemia,asa“thank you” to

health workers everywhere. Its

three movements–“Surv ival ”,

“Hope” and “Fight”–are

intended to represent the

world’s experience of the

pandemic over the last 18

months. The quartet was played

by medical staff in the hospital’s

Great Hall.

After 30 years, China has

taken the giant panda

off its list of endangered

species. The Ministry

of Ecology and

Environment in Beijing

said that the number of

giant pandas in the wild

had increased by almost

20% inadecade to at

least 1,800, thanks to

the creation of more

nature reserves, and the

replanting of bamboo forests which are vital to the panda’s diet; an

adult panda eats up to 45lbs of bamboo stemsaday. The ministry

said that populations of other rare and endangered species,

including the Siberian tiger, the Asian elephant, and the crested

ibis, had also increased “significantly”.

COVER CARTOON: HOWARD MCWILLIAM