2 Thursday February 3 2022 | the times
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DAB RADIO l ONLINE l SMART SPEAKER l APPTo day’s highlights
7am11am2pm3.35pm10.30pmJames Cleverly, Middle East and North
Africa minister
Matt Chorley chats to Dillibe Onyeama,
the first black person to finish their
studies at Eton College in 1969
Brick Lane author Monica Ali, right, on
her first book in ten years, Love Marriage
Larushka Ivan-Zadeh and Kevin Maher
on film releases and Bafta nominations
A look at tomorrow’s newspapers with
Chris Southworth and Stephen Bush© TIMES NEWSPAPERS LIMITED, 2022.
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e-mail [email protected]Heavy rain in northwestern areas,
with snow in the Highlands. Drier
elsewhere. Full forecast, page 59
THE WEATHER
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THETIMES.CO.UK/SUBSCRIBECBI warns of a
‘lost decade’
Boris Johnson is
leading Britain into the
trap of becoming a
“low growth, high tax”
economy that will lead
to a “lost decade” of
prosperity, the head of
the CBI warned. Tony
Danker said ministers
seemed content with a
“miserable projected
growth rate”. Page 12
Policeman’s
stab threat
An officer at a police
station at the centre of
a racism and misogyny
inqury threatened to
murder a colleague.
The constable was
under investigation for
sexual harassment of a
female colleague when
he threatened to stab
her and two other
officers. Page 13Surge in Covid
reinfections
The Omicron variant
has fuelled a surge of
reinfections, with more
people catching Covid
for a second time in
the past six weeks than
in all of the previous
18 months. Figures from
the Office for National
Statistics show 764
reinfections since
December 20. Page 18Saudis go after
top 100 golfers
Phil Mickelson, the
six-times major
winner, says that Saudi
Arabia’s golf chiefs
have approached the
world’s top 100 golfers
to take part in their
proposed super league.
Players such as Lee
Westwood have signed
non-disclosure
agreements. Page 72Russia strikes
deals with Xi
President Putin and
President Xi will sign a
swathe of deals in
Beijing tomorrow as
well as discussing a
new gas pipeline to
China that could
provide Russia with an
economic lifeline in
the event of American
sanctions over the
Ukraine crisis. Page 30
Bank’s inflation
forecast to rise
The Bank of England
will be forced to revise
up its forecasts for
inflation for a fourth
consecutive time when
it updates its outlook
today. Futures markets
have bet that the Bank
is also certain to lift
interest rates by
0.25 percentage points
to 0.5 per cent. Page 35COMMENT
I’ve watched David Frost’s metamorphosis from
adviser to minister to politician with amazement
DAVID AARONOVITCH, PAGE 25COMMENT 25
THUNDERER 26
LEADING ARTICLES 29MARKETS 44
REGISTER 51
COURT CIRCULAR 53SPORT 61
CROSSWORD 72
TV & RADIO TIMESbelieving they had been injected with
unlicensed or illegitimate products.
Licensed brands of botulinum toxin,
the best known of which is Botox, are
prescription-only drugs. Although
beauticians can administer the injec-
tions, they have to be trained and legal-
ly their clients must first have them pre-
scribed by a registered prescriber, such
as a doctor or a nurse with an additional
qualification. The prescriber must only
do this after a face-to-face consultation.
Reporters found several practitioners
posting on social media that they offered
unlicensed anti-wrinkle treatments.
During an appointment with two
undercover reporters, Vilnis Karklins,
who said he was a doctor trained in Lat-
via, tried to convince them that they
should have Botulax injections in their
faces. He asked them to cross off the
name of a licensed product on a con-
sent form and write “Botulax” instead,
saying: “It’s just a form, it doesn’t
matter. It’s just a brand difference.”
Karklins, who offered the treatment for
£145, about half the typical price, told
reporters a prescription was not neededand “nothing can go wrong” when he
administered it. Karklins is not licensed
to practise as a doctor in the UK.
Samantha Bennett, an aesthetic
practitioner from Manchester who vis-
its people at home to do anti-wrinkle
injections, suggested a female reporter
should have 11 injections in her face.
She offered treatments with Innotox
and ReNTox, neither of which is li-
censed for cosmetic use in Britain.
There is no suggestion that these spe-
cific practitioners botched treatments.
There is no suggestion that problems
were caused by any specific brand.
The Medicines and Healthcare
Products Regulatory Agency is to re-
view the findings. A spokeswoman said:
“If a medicine is not authorised, there is
no guarantee that it meets quality, safety
and effectiveness standards required in
the UK. This can endanger the health
and welfare of people who take them.”
Karklins did not respond to requests
for comment. Bennett said she was not
aware the products she used were not
licensed and that she bought them from
a company that trained practitioners.
“I’ve done nothing wrong,” she said.
Hugel, which manufactures Botulax,said the product was high-quality, safe,
had undergone rigorous clinical trials
and was licensed for use in 28 countries.
However, it said it should not be ordered
or used by practitioners in the UK.
It said it was concerned about coun-
terfeit products being sold under the
Botulax brand name and that problems
such as facial lumps could not be related
to the legitimate product. The firm said
it closely monitored the supply of prod-
ucts claiming to be Botulax and took
legal action against unauthorised dis-
tributors. A spokeswoman said it was in-
accurate to describe Botulax as a black
market product and the firm hoped to
have a version of Botulax with a differ-
ent brand name licensed in Britain in
the near future after it recently complet-
ed a European approval process.
Medytox, which manufactures Inno-
tox, said it does not sell this product in
countries where it is not licensed, in-
cluding in the UK. A spokesman said:
“Medytox will take necessary measures
if any illegal activities related to Inno-
tox’s sales are found.” Pharma Research
Bio, which manufactures ReNTox, did
not respond to requests for comment.
Scars and painful lumps, pages 4-continued from page 1
‘Black market’ Botoxgas could remain high until 2025. The
situation could be exacerbated if Russia
invades Ukraine.
Other measures to help vulnerable
households, such as increasing benefit
payments, have been dismissed as too
narrow. It remained unclear last night
whether the government would in-
crease the warm homes discount,
which is applied to energy bills. Minis-
ters had raised concerns about moving
it on to general taxation.
Ministers have ruled out cutting VAT
on energy as it was seen as “blunt” and
expensive, while scrapping green levies
on energy bills was deemed impossible
because the government is contractu-
ally obliged to pay most of them.
Energy UK, which represents suppli-
ers, said a survey had found that a quar-
ter of people said they would not be able
to afford an increase of £50 a month on
their energy bills. Among those earning
less than £20,000, that figure rose to
45 per cent. Emma Pinchbeck, chief ex-
ecutive of Energy UK, said: “There is a
need for government to act, as other
governments already have, to make a
real difference to bills.”
Industry sources said that the gov-ernment may need to offer further
support later in the year if wholesale
gas prices remained high, with some
analysts forecasting that the price cap
will have to rise again in October.
Inflation forecast set to rise, page 35Warning over
heat pumps
Ben Webster Environment EditorHouseholds face a bill of up to £20,
to switch to heat pumps and Britain will
miss its net-zero target without a “fun-
damental rethink” of the scheme for re-
placing gas boilers, MPs have warned.
The Commons business, energy and
industrial strategy committee said the
government risked missing its target for
decarbonising home heating because of
a “lack of specific, strategic action”.
Home heating accounts for about
17 per cent of UK emissions and 29 mil-
lion homes using oil or gas will need
new low-carbon heating systems to
meet the government’s target of net-
zero emissions by 2050.
The MPs said the £5,000 grants
available from the spring for replacing a
gas boiler with a heat pump would not
be sufficient for low-income homes
because “the overall cost [of switching]
may be as high as £15-20,000”. It also
called for the date for banning the in-
stallation of gas boilers in new homes to
be brought forward from 2025 to 2023.The digital-only bank Monzo will allow
long-serving employees to take three-
month paid sabbaticals as it joins a
growing number of businesses that are
revamping their working practices
following the Covid-19 crisis.
Staff at Monzo, which is headquar-
tered in London, will be able to take
career breaks after they have worked
for the company for four years.
More than 160 of its 2,100 staff are
already eligible and three sabbaticals
have been approved since the smart-
phone-based bank revealed the policy
to employees last week.
Tara Ryan, Monzo’s head of human
resources, said: “Some people might
use it to write a novel, some people
might go and travel the world.
“Ultimately, we want to give people
benefits that really resonate with them,
and time away from work, learning
something new or doing something
different means they come back to
Monzo with a fresh perspective andMonzo allows employees to
take three months’ paid leave
Ben Martin Banking Editor ready to help our customers even more.”
She is among those who are eligible
and is planning to take advantage of
the scheme.
The bank’s sabbatical plan, which
was first reported by the Financial
Times, is the latest sign that the pan-
demic is transforming the way compa-
nies approach the world of work and
the mental wellbeing of their staff. This
has included some businesses testing a
four-day week.
The imposition of lockdowns in 2020
to tackle the spread of the coronavirus
forced white-collar workers out of their
offices en masse in an unprecedented
experiment in remote-working.
Many employers were surprised at
the success of the shift and have now in-
troduced flexible models permanently,
to incorporate an element of home-
working. This allows their staff to retain
the benefits of remote-working, such as
avoiding a commute, while enabling
companies to save money by cutting
their office space.
Monzo — which has more than 5 mil-lion customers and was founded seven
years ago — was an advocate of hybrid
working long before the pandemic
struck, however. Last year it became the
first British bank to introduce a policy
of extra paid leave for staff who are
undertaking fertility treatment or who
lost a pregnancy.
The pandemic has also pushed many
British businesses to do more to
support the mental health of their
workers. Tom Blomfield, one of Mon-
zo’s co-founders who left the business
early last year, has since revealed that
he struggled with the stresses of
running a rapidly-growing company,
particularly during the Covid crisis.
Ryan said: “I think Tom’s openness
about his mental health is a direct re-
sponse to our positive culture around
mental health.”
Companies’ willingness to experi-
ment with new working arrangements
to attract and retain staff has been gal-
vanised in recent months by vacancies
and skills shortages that have surged in
some areas of the economy.continued from page 1
Council tax rebates Council tax bill lotteryIn England the council tax band for
your property is based on its value
in 1991.
If the property was worth up to
£40,000 in that year, it falls into
band A; properties that were worth
£40,001 to £52,000 are in band B;
and those valued between £58,
and £68,000 are in band C.
Bills for newly built homes are
calculated by the Valuation Office
Agency, using location, size and
comparable properties near by.
If you live in a band A studio flat
in Marylebone, central London,
valued at less than £40,000 in 1991
but now worth about £950,000, you
will pay £520.19 per year. That is
about £875 less than a modest
newbuild semi-detached house in
Hartlepool, also a band A property
but worth only £87,000.Banca do Antfer
Telegram: https://t.me/bancadoantfer
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