Londonâs Crowded Housing Moves Up Political Agenda in Pandemic
Apr 24 2021, 5:40 PM
April 24 2021, 9:30 AM
April 24 2021, 5:40 PM
(Bloomberg)
(Bloomberg)
When the mother of 18-year old Sonia Amri caught Covid-19 in December, it didnât take long for the whole family to test positive. Seven of them live in a two-bedroom apartment in Newham, East London, making it impossible to keep a distance from each other.
Londonâs high death toll in the pandemic, especially in the most densely populated boroughs, has lifted the lack of housing higher up on the political agenda. Candidates in the race for mayor are promising solutions for a city where 8% of housing is cramped, according to the Trust for London charity.
The West’s War Against the Islamic State
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Ruined side-street in Shingal (Sinjar) following war with the Islamic State. Photo by Levi Meir Clancy via Unsplash.
April 24, 2021
The West’s War Against the Islamic State: Operation Inherent Resolve in Syria & Iraq | Andrew Mumford | I.B. Taurus | February 2021.
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he rise of the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) and the Western coalition response is perhaps one of the most interesting, if under appreciated, developments in recent history. That an insurgent movement could seize and hold such a massive amount of territory, implement a pseudo-state, export its extremist ideology, attract would-be adherents as “immigrants”, and field a frighteningly capable conventional force is fascinating. Equally, that the West largely America was able to roll back the Islamic State’s gains by providing on-the-ground special operations support backed by massive airpower, could well be a model for future proxy war campaigns.
Leading scientists are calling on the Government to remove all coronavirus restrictions and allow people to ‘take back control of their own lives’ when the ‘roadmap’ to freedom ends in June.
With real-world data showing vaccines reduce the risk of death by 98 per cent and hospitalisations by more than 80 per cent, the experts say Covid-19 is being turned into a ‘mild’ disease in Britain, akin to the flu.
In an open letter to The Mail on Sunday, they criticise ‘confused and contradictory’ messages from Ministers and scientific advisers about the virus, which they say are exaggerating the real threat.
The signatories of the letter include Carl Heneghan - Nuffield Department of Primary Care Health Sciences, University of Oxford
Jena Ardell via Getty Images
Two cases of human-to-cat Covid-19 transmission have been discovered in the UK. Scientists from the University of Glasgow discovered the cases as part of a Covid-19 screening programme of the feline population.
Sadly one of the cats – a four month-old female Ragdoll kitten – died from lung damage as a result of the virus.
University of Glasgow researchers believe the two known cases of human-to-cat transmission are likely to be an underestimate of the true frequency of spread in the UK, as animal testing is limited.
Since the pandemic began, there have been reports of cats from Covid-19 households in Hong Kong, Belgium, the USA, France, Spain, Germany, Russia, Japan, Italy, Chile, Canada, Brazil, Argentina, Switzerland and Latvia that tested positive for the virus and were presumed to be infected by their owners.