2 Wednesday April 13 2022 | the times
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DAB RADIO l ONLINE l SMART SPEAKER l APPTo day’s highlights
7.05am7.35am8.15am2pm
8.30pmSir Peter Fahy, former chief constable of Greater
Manchester
Sir Jonathan Jones QC, former permanent
secretary at the government’s legal department
and the Conservative MP Sir Roger Gale
Caroline Slocock, author of
People Like Us: Margaret Thatcher & Me
Call My Agent’s Camille Cottin
Ben Macintyre, right, on his book
Operation Mincemeat, now a filmA surge in cases of hepatitis has left a
number of children needing liver trans-
plants. No cause has been identified,
but scientists are investigating possible
links to coronavirus.
Doctors and scientists are examining
74 cases of hepatitis in children across
the UK since January, in which the
usual viruses that cause the liver
condition have not been detected.
They believe that a group of viruses
called adenoviruses could be behind
the cases but they are also investigating
whether Covid, other infections or en-
vironmental causes could be to blame.
Adenoviruses are common and
typically cause mild symptoms,
including colds, vomiting and
diarrhoea, although hepatitis is a
known rare complication.
The UK Health Security Agency said
there was no link to the Covid vaccine,
with none of the UK patients having
had the jab.
Another possibility being considered
is that the cases are linked to disruptions
in the viral ecosystem caused by the
response to Covid. This could include
the resurgence of viruses that would
have previously infected children moreforce ratio of at least five to one, if not
seven to one, in a frontal assault.
Although Russia was unlikely to be able
to mount a force seven times bigger
than the Ukrainian one, Barrons said,
“this will be a very hard attritional
fight”.
Barrons said the Russians would
probably try to encircle the Ukrainian
troops to force them to leave well-
defended positions. He said Russian
tanks should be able to move quickly
across open country and spread out,
making them harder to target, adding:
“The Ukrainians are going to need
weapons of great range and lethality.”
President Zelensky has said Putin isNEWS
ONE AND ONLY
Portraits of the
Queen are comingtogether for a show
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e-mail [email protected]Early fog clearing to leave sunny
spells and a few scattered showers,
locally heavy. Full forecast, page 58
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COMMENT 29
LETTERS 32
LEADING ARTICLES 33WORLD 34
BUSINESS 37
REGISTER 53SPORT 59
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thetimes timesandsundaytimes thetimesCOMMENT
Benign neglect of children is a lovely idea
but it often doesn’t work in practice
ALICE THOMSON, PAGE 31OFFER
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THETIMES.CO.UK/SUBSCRIBEKnifeman’s 70
pleas for help
An asylum seeker who
stabbed six people in
Glasgow before being
shot dead by police
had called the Home
Office and migrant
support groups more
than 70 times before
the attack. Page 26Jesus College
criticises church
A Cambridge college
will not appeal against
a decision requiring it
to keep a monument
to a participant in the
slave trade in its chapel
but accused the church
of not “understanding”
black Britons. Page 7
Airport vetting
to be prioritised
Counterterrorism
vetting for recruits in
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last-ditch attempt to
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turmoil, the Cabinet
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PA G E 5 3amassing “tens of thousands” of troops
for the offensive after appearing to
abandon his plans to take Kyiv. A west-
ern official said yesterday that as many
as 38 Russian battalion tactical groups
(BTGs), comprising up to 1,000 troops
each, were no longer effective for com-
bat, leaving about 90 BTGs. “Many of
those are either awaiting orders to
move or are moving to reinforce opera-
tions for the Donbas,” the official said.
With a force ratio of five to one, 90,
Russian troops would take on 18,
Ukrainians.
At the start of the invasion Ukraine
had about ten brigades in Donbas,
which western officials said amounted
to slightly less than half the overall
Ukrainian force. James Heappey, the
armed forces minister, said the battlefor Donbas would be between two
“very well-matched” militaries and it
was “quite likely” Ukraine would win.
He told Times Radio: “The Ukrainians
have got the wind on their back. They
have seen off the initial advances [and]
defeated some of Russia’s best regi-
ments and battalions. The next wave of
Russian troops that come at them in the
Donbas will not be Russia’s best.”
He reiterated the view that Putin’s
plan for Donbas is driven by his desire
to show “some big military success” on
May 9, the day Russia commemorates
the defeat of Germany in 1945.
Ukraine reports, pages 8-
Putin sees the war as a spiritual
mission, Roger Boyes, page 30
Nato should welcome Finland and
Sweden, leading article, page 33continued from page 1
Battle for Donbas loomsDoctors investigating surge
in children with hepatitis
Kat Lay Health Editor frequently and at a younger age, but
which were suppressed during the
pandemic.
Dr Charlotte Houldcroft, a virologist
at the University of Cambridge, said
that parents should not be unduly wor-
ried. “Adenoviruses are common and
ancient childhood infections, and they
are normally mild. They can be spread
by dirty hands, so hand washing before
eating and after the toilet is important.”
The UK Health Security Agency said
that the children affected had been
aged up to 13 years. It is examining 49
cases in England, 13 in Scotland and 12
across Wales and Northern Ireland.
It said: “Some cases have required
transfer to specialist children’s liver
units and a small number of children
have undergone liver transplantation.”
Doctors at the Royal College of
Paediatrics and Child Health said that
parents should be aware of the symp-
toms of jaundice, including skin with a
yellow tinge most easily seen in the
whites of the eyes, and contact a health
professional with any concerns.
Other hepatitis symptoms include
dark urine, itchy skin, muscle and joint
pain, a high temperature, nausea,
fatigue, a loss of appetite, stomach pain
and pale, grey-coloured faeces.“wouldn’t be right to remove the prime
minister at this time”. However, a senior
backbencher said that Johnson’s posi-
tion was untenable, adding: “These are
rules he wrote... To pretend he didn’t
understand them is risible. There may
be more fines, and at some point even
those defending him will find it
becomes indefensible.”
The Metropolitan Police have issued
fines for only two or three of the 12
events under investigation and said
yesterday that officers were “continu-
ing to assess significant amounts of in-
vestigative material, from which fur-
ther referrals [for fines] may be made”.
Johnson is understood to have at-
tended or been linked to at least six of
the events being assessed by police.
The Covid-19 Bereaved Families for
Justice campaign group said Johnson
and Sunak were “truly shameless” and
should resign. According to a YouGov
poll yesterday, 57 per cent of British
adults believed the pair should quit.
Starmer said: “The British public
made the most unimaginable, heart-
wrenching sacrifices, and many were
overcome by guilt. Guilt at not seeing
elderly relatives, not going to funerals
or weddings, or even seeing the birth of
their children. But the guilty men are
the prime minister and the chancellor.”
Opponents delay challenge, pages 4-
PM must go, Daniel Finkelstein, page 29
Trust is broken, leading article, page 33Workers experienced a sharp drop in
the value of their wages as take-home
pay failed to keep up with the highest
inflation in 30 years.
In February real wages fell by their
biggest margin since 2013 when austerity
measures were in place to raise taxes
and cut spending in the aftermath of
the financial crisis, according to the
Office for National Statistics (ONS).
Real pay, which is the value of earn-
ings after accounting for the impact of
inflation, is likely to decline further as
inflation, which reached 6.2 per cent
this month, continues to rise.
The Office for Budget Responsibility
(OBR), the official forecaster, warned
last month that take-home pay this
year would fall by the largest amount
since records began 66 years ago. Real
incomes will fall by 2.2 per cent in the
2022-23 financial year.
The OBR expects inflation to reach a
40-year high of nearly 9 per cent this
winter when the energy price cap
increases again. Spending power fell by
1.7 percentage points as a 4 per cent
growth in pay, excluding bonuses, in thethree months to February was out-
stripped by inflation averaging 5.7 per
cent on the consumer prices index (CPI),
the headline measure of price rises.
The ONS, which calculates take-
home pay using the CPIH measure of
inflation, which includes rises in the
price of rent and is lower than CPI at
present, said that pay fell by 1 per cent
excluding bonuses between December
and February, compared with the same
period in the previous year.
The average worker in the UK
earned £556 per week excludingWorkers hit in the pocket after
inflation reaches 30-year high
Arthi Nachiappan
Economics Correspondentbonuses in February, the same as Janu-
ary. Bonuses in February contributed
to a slight rise in earnings to £598 per
week, up from £596 in January.
Unemployment, which hit its pre-
pandemic level of 3.9 per cent at the
start of the year, continued to fall in the
three months to February, reaching
3.8 per cent. It is close to the historic low
of 3.4 per cent recorded in 1973. How-
ever, this is not because more workers
are employed, but because more are
leaving their jobs.
Nearly 600,000 people have left
work since the start of the pandemic,
and the number who are not working
owing to long-term ill-health rose by
190,000 to 2.34 million.
Tony Wilson, director of the Institute
for Employment Studies, said: “With
inflation now well above 5 per cent, real
pay excluding bonuses has seen its
largest fall since 2013 and will fall further
in the coming months. However, the
picture for those out of work is, if any-
thing, worse with employment flat
overall, 400,000 more people out of
work than before the pandemic began,
and a record rise in the number not
working due to long-term ill health.”
US inflation hits 40-year high, page 37Real income drop
Average growth rate of weekly earnings2005 2010 2015 202010
8
6
4
2
0With bonus
Without a bonus%Source: ONS. Quarterly datacontinued from page 1
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