School’s out, forever…

It is now “highly likely” that schools will remain closed after February half term.

The government’s deputy chief medical officer, Dr Jennie Harries, told MPs on the education select committee today that a staggered, regional approach to re-opening schools was to be expected. This could mean London and the South-East opening schools before other areas, because the region was the first to be affected by the new strain of the virus which is likely to spread elsewhere.

The government’s guidelines still state that schools will reopen after half term, on 22 February. But the committee’s chair, Robert Halfon, now doubts this will be the case. “I really hope I’m wrong, but I suspect that schools will be closed for quite a few weeks yet,” he said. “We are damaging the life chances of the coming generation if we don’t get our children back to school on a regular basis.”

Dr Harries also advised that there is no hard evidence that schools are big transmitters of coronavirus: “Schoolchildren definitely can transmit infection in schools – they can transmit it in any environment – but it is not a significant driver as yet, as far as we can see, of large-scale community infections.” She added that it was a “top priority” to get kids back in the classroom when it was safe to do so.

The prospect of delayed re-openings will come as a huge blow to parents and youngsters across the country. The Princes’ Trust annual survey of young people’s happiness and confidence has found that a quarter of 16 to 25-year-olds now feel unable to cope with life. The pandemic has taken a “devastating toll” on youngsters, according to Jonathan Townsend, the trust’s UK chief executive. A Yougov Youth Index poll shows that in 2021, 56 per cent of young adults often or always feel anxious, a new high water mark.

The glimmer of hope in all of this is the continuing success of the vaccine rollout. There’s been plenty of legitimate criticism directed at the government’s handling of the pandemic. But credit where credit’s due: Boris Johnson promised 2 million jabs a week when England’s third nationwide lockdown was announced a fortnight ago. Although the pace of vaccinations in England has slowed in the last week, in the week to Sunday, 1.8 million people were vaccinated, bringing the total to 4.2 million. Despite inevitable setbacks, the vaccine rollout is starting to look like a jab well done.

Genocide rebellion fails

The government has won a narrow victory in the Commons after MPs voted against the Trade Bill – which featured the ‘genocide amendment’, aimed at China – by 319 votes to 308. The Bill covers the UK’s post-Brexit trade policy. Thirty three Tories, including former leader Iain Duncan-Smith, rebelled and backed the amendment which would have given English courts a voice in overturning future trade deals if the country involved had committed genocide. The government believes powers of scrutiny belong to MPs and not the courts, though it supports rejecting trade deals with countries that have a record of human rights abuses.

One more sleep

As Donald Trump approaches his last day in office the mood is subdued. The usual hectic swirl that accompanies the run up to a presidential inauguration – Washington swarming with supporters, lobbyists, and celebrities – is gone, driven away by the pandemic and the storming of Capitol Hill. The National Mall, where supporters usually gather to witness the swearing in, is closed off and surrounded by barbed wire-topped fences. Instead, crowds of Biden’s well-wishers will be surrounded by some 25,000 National Guard troops at his inauguration. The authorities are taking zero chances.

As for Trump, rumours are flying about that he plans to pardon up to 100 people on his final day in office. Those speculated to appear on the list range from white-collar criminal Sholam Weiss to rapper Lil’ Wayne. However, it’s still unclear whether old Trump allies such as Steve Bannon – who faces fraud charges – and Rudy Giuliani will appear on the list. Trump is also apparently not planning to pardon himself – perhaps dissuaded by the fact a self-pardon would face an immediate legal challenge and further alienate some key Senate Republicans. Still, the show’s not over yet – and with Trump a surprise is always possible. It’s what makes great TV, after all.

A miner’s Mecca

Whole districts of Tehran have been repeatedly plunged into darkness in recent weeks. The reason, according to the Iranian authorities, is cryptocurrency miners overloading the country’s electricity grid.

Mining cryptocurrencies, like Bitcoin, involves creating new units of a digital currency by solving computational puzzles. The tech used to do so guzzles electricity and Iran has become a hub for cryptominers due to its dirt cheap energy prices: 0.5p per kilowatt hour, compared to 14p in the UK.

As part of the crackdown, Iranian authorities have seized tens of thousands of bitcoin mining machines and are offering 200 million rials (£3500) for information that leads to illegal mines.

The state electricity company, Tavanir, has closed all known crypto mines, including an Iranian-Chinese behemoth in the city of Rafsanjan, believed to use enough electricity in one hour to power a typical British household for 17 years.

Mattie Brignal,
News Editor