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School pupils will be offered an extra 100m hours of tuition under the government’s £1.4bn post-pandemic catch-up plan, but unions say the scheme is inadequate. Photograph: David J Green/Alamy

Wednesday briefing: Covid catch-up plan for students ‘inadequate’

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School pupils will be offered an extra 100m hours of tuition under the government’s £1.4bn post-pandemic catch-up plan, but unions say the scheme is inadequate. Photograph: David J Green/Alamy

Pupils to be offered an extra 100m hours of tuition … Biden calls for US to confront its past at Tulsa centenary … and Christina Hendricks on life after Mad Men

Top story: More will be needed, says education recovery tsar

Hello, Warren Murray with an infusion of news in concentrated form.

Pupils are to be offered an extra 100m hours of tuition under a £1.4bn post-pandemic catch-up plan. It is only about a tenth of the £15bn overall spend understood to have been recommended by the government’s education recovery commissioner, Sir Kevan Collins. The scheme also covers extra training and support for teachers, and funding for some year-13 students to repeat their final year if it was badly affected. Unions said the sums committed were insufficient, with the National Education Union calling them “inadequate and incomplete”. Government sources have stressed the total announced for all catch-up work over the past 12 months is nearly £3bn so far.

The UK has reported no deaths from Covid in a day for the first time in 10 months, raising optimism that England could proceed with lifting all social restrictions on 21 June. Experts are still warning, though, about rising infection rates that could be the harbinger of a third wave. Nicola Sturgeon has confirmed that Glasgow will move down a level of Covid controls from Saturday but has slowed the easing of restrictions elsewhere across central Scotland.

The UK’s human rights watchdog has told the government it is reasonable for care home workers to be compulsorily vaccinated against Covid “in order to work directly with older and disabled people, subject to some important safeguards”. Ministers are considering changing the law to require vaccination in some professions that involve regular contact with elderly and vulnerable people. The WHO has given approval to China’s Sinovac jab – more on this and other developments at our Covid live blog.


Midweek catch-up

> Police have made six arrests after a 14-year-old black boy was stabbed to death. West Midlands police initially said there was nothing to support a racial motive but on Tuesday evening the force rowed back, saying it was keeping an open mind.

> Opposition parties must today announce a coalition to replace the government of Benjamin Netanyahu in Israel or face the prospect of another snap election.

> Many asylum seekers have faced hunger in the past 10 days because of problems with new cash cards given to them by Home Office contractors, a charity has said.

> Thousands of ambulance crews in England will be given body cameras after a sharp rise in attacks on NHS staff treating patients.

> The coming months are potentially make or break for Labour, Keir Starmer has told Piers Morgan in an in-depth TV interview that also covered his early life and family, legal career and intense dislike for his middle name: Rodney.


Man catches bird flu – A patient in China’s Jiangsu province has been confirmed as the first human to catch the H10N3 strain of bird flu. The man reported to hospital a month ago with a fever and symptoms, and had since been cleared to be discharged, Chinese authorities said, while medical observation of his close contacts had not found any other cases. Many different strains of avian influenza are present in China and some sporadically infect people, usually those working with poultry. This strain was “not a very common virus”, said Filip Claes from the Food and Agriculture Organization, with only about 160 samplings of the virus in the 40 years to 2018, mostly in wild birds or waterfowl in Asia and some areas of North America, and none in chickens. There have been no significant numbers of human infections with bird flu since the H7N9 strain killed about 300 people during 2016-2017.


The G doesn’t stand for green – Nations making up the G7 have pumped tens of billions of dollars more into fossil fuels than clean energy since the pandemic, despite their promises of a green recovery. According to analysis, the support for fossil fuels from seven of the world’s richest nations – the UK, US, Canada, Italy, France, Germany and Japan – included measures to remove or downgrade environmental regulations as well as direct funding of oil, gas and coal. Boris Johnson will open the G7 summit in Cornwall on 11 June, and then UN climate talks in November. Meanwhile, a report says species such as penguins and puffins will struggle to survive if temperatures rise beyond 1.5C, wiping out the species they feed on, damaging their habitats and upending their life cycles.


Biden visits Tulsa site – Joe Biden has used the centenary of the Tulsa race massacre as a rallying cry for America to be honest about its history. On Tuesday Biden became the first sitting US president to visit the site where, on 31 May and 1 June 1921, a white mob murdered up to 300 African Americans and burned and looted homes and businesses. Biden spoke directly to the last three survivors of the massacre, who received a standing ovation from an audience of survivors and their families, community leaders and elected officials. “You are the three known remaining survivors of a story seen in the mirror dimly but no longer,” Biden said. “Now, your story will be known in full view … Hate’s never defeated. It only hides. And given just a little bit of oxygen by its leaders, it comes out from under the rock like it’s happening again, as if it never went away. So, folks, we must not give hate a safe harbour.”

Today in Focus podcast: Assad’s decade of destruction

Syria’s president has presided over a devastating civil war that has caused the deaths of hundreds of thousands of people. Martin Chulov describes a man who came back from the brink of defeat to strengthen his grip on a country deeply scarred by war.

Today in Focus

Assad's decade of destruction

00:00:00
00:26:39

Lunchtime read: ‘Everyone just wanted to ask about my bra’

The star of Good Girls, Christina Hendricks, discusses Mad Men, sexual harassment and squaring her glamorous reputation with her “weird, goofy” personality.

Photograph: Rich Fury/Getty Images

Sport

Gareth Southgate was unable to give assurances over Harry Maguire playing for England in the group stage at Euro 2020 after including the defender in a squad featuring Trent Alexander-Arnold as one of four right-backs. Given the glut of defenders available, and a front line of rare skill, the England manager’s role is no longer the impossible job, writes Barney Ronay. Petra Kvitova was forced to withdraw from the French Open before her second-round match after sustaining a freak injury during her press duties. The French Open’s response to Naomi Osaka’s press conference boycott is a shameful moment for the sport of tennis, writes Tumaini Carayol. Japan is showing its support for the world No 2’s stance about her depression and anxiety. Rafael Nadal, in search of his 14th Paris crown, beat Australia’s Alex Popyrin 6-3, 6-2, 7-6 (3) while Ashleigh Barty, the women’s No 1, won in three sets.

Joe Root has set the lofty target of securing seven successive Test victories this summer, starting with England’s opener against New Zealand today. Gloucester’s final home match of the season against Bath on Saturday has been cancelled because of a Covid‑19 outbreak which threatens major disruptions to the climax of the season. Everton have started the search for their sixth permanent manager in five years, having been stunned by Carlo Ancelotti’s sudden departure for Real Madrid. And Florida teenager Erriyon Knighton toppled Usain Bolt’s 200m mark for athletes under 18 at an American Track League meet on Monday.

Business

Asian stock markets have risen overnight in the wake of the US/European session that saw shares boosted by continued evidence of a strong recovery from the pandemic, although the FTSE100 is set for another flat start this morning. Planners in London’s Docklands will be hoping the recovery keeps on delivering as they see the district’s new Design District taking shape in what our reviewer calls an “architectural fashion show”. The pound is on $1.415 and €1.158.

The papers

We have a separate round-up today where you can see the major front pages – our usual summary follows. Many suggest the first day without a single Covid death for 10 months means the full unlocking of England will go ahead as planned on 21 June. The Daily Express says simply “Zero” in large letters, adding that “hopes have been boosted for Freedom Day go-ahead”. The Daily Mirror takes a similar tack with the headline “Zero Covid deaths in the UK” but warns in its story that thousands of fresh daily cases have led to calls to delay the easing of restrictions.

The Guardian’s front page, Wednesday 2 June 2021

The Daily Telegraph says Boris Johnson is now under pressure to lift restrictions on 21 June. The Guardian marks the good news across the bottom of its front page, but focuses on concerns the £1.4bn programme to help children catch up at school post-Covid is not enough. The Times also features concerns about the education package but gives the zero deaths story the biggest treatment. “Fresh hope for June 21 as deaths fall to zero”, it says, but does note that this may just be a blip as a result of the bank holiday weekend. The Daily Mail has a two-part headline: “Zero deaths .. nothing to fear from freedom”. It reports the existence of “an insidious campaign” to delay the easing of restrictions and makes clear to Johnson that he should resist such calls.

The i carries health secretary Matt Hancock’s joy that the vaccination programme appears to be working, and his warning for people to keep following the rules: “Hopes rise for 21 June after zero UK deaths”. Metro goes straight with “Not a single Covid death in UK” but reports a doubling of daily cases in the space of a month. In Scotland, the Daily Record cannot resist an 80s band reference with “Tiers for beers” as it reports that Glaswegians will be permitted to drink inside from Saturday. The Scotsman reports on business frustration after Scotland moves “from lockdown to slowdown”, in reference to Sturgeon’s decisions.

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