The great escape begins

Millions of children across England and Northern Ireland have returned to school today, marking the first major step in the national lifting of lockdown.

Speaking at today’s Downing Street press conference, Boris Johnson warned of the risk of keeping children out of the classroom “a day longer than necessary”, but again ruled out speeding up the easing of restrictions, despite an influx of highly encouraging data.

The scenes at schools up and down the country have been jubilant, with pupils reunited with their friends and teachers after what will have been, for many, a lonely and frustrating term. After two months of home learning, many parents will be jumping for joy too, after a long lie down in a darkened room. More on the return to the classroom below.

Secondary school pupils are being encouraged to wear masks when social distancing isn’t possible and are being asked to carry out three rapid lateral flow device (LFD) tests over the next two weeks in school, and regular tests at home after that.

The testing policy has raised concerns. The plan was that a positive LFD test would mean 10 days of self-isolation for a pupil and their household, regardless of whether a subsequent, more accurate PCR test confirms they don’t have the virus.

Professor Sheila Bird, a member of the Royal Statistical Society, has pointed out that the LFD test’s lack of sensitivity means it is just as likely to return a false positive as a true positive.

Today the government backtracked. Self-isolation would only be required if a PCR test comes back positive.

Still, the fact that a positive test means parents would also have to isolate throws up another problem. Steve Chalks, Founder of Oasis UK, a multi-academy trust, said today: “What incentive does a family on a very low wage, a zero-hour contract, where the parent has to go out to work every day, what incentive do they have to consent to [their child] doing a test that might mean they have to isolate for 10 days?”

As Johnson acknowledged, the real challenge now is keeping kids in school. With him at the briefing, Professor Jennie Harries, confirmed what we already know – the return to school will inevitably mean a rise in Covid cases. Yet what matters, of course, is not cases themselves, but the numbers of hospitalisations and deaths they cause, which the vaccine drive has already been shown to significantly reduce.

Inevitably, the PM faced questions about the fallout from Prince Harry and Meghan Markle’s CBS interview, but refused to comment, saying simply that he had a great deal of respect for the Queen.

For Reaction, Walter Ellis watched the interview so you don’t have to. His take is below. And the Hound explains the Whitehall/Palace operation designed to “dead bat” the story until it goes away. If you think this latest Royal furore is vacuous celeb title-tattle, you can read about Kim Kardashian’s divorce settlement here instead.

Zaghari-Ratcliffe faces fresh charges  

Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe, the British-Iranian mother and wife imprisoned in Iran, completed her five-year sentence yesterday, but her fate is still uncertain.

The Iranian authorities are now launching a fresh set of charges against her for alleged propaganda activity against the Islamic Republic. The 41-year-old charity worker from London was arrested in Tehran under espionage charges in 2016.

The wider diplomatic backdrop is seen as critical to Zaghari-Ratcliffe’s release.

Zaghari-Ratcliffe and her husband, Richard Ratcliffe, have long contended that she is being held as a bargaining chip in the name of an unpaid government debt. The UK is thought to owe Iran as much as £400 million over the non-delivery of tanks in 1979, with the shipment stopped because of the Islamic Revolution.

But repayment isn’t straightforward. Lord McDonald, the recently retired head of the Foreign Office, said this morning the UK has looked at settling the debt through “humanitarian payments.” However, any repayment is complicated by the fact that “Iran is subject to very comprehensive sanctions.” He argues it sets a dangerous precedent; the UK cannot afford to be seen to cave in to ransom demands.

Zaghari-Ratcliffe’s husband remains hopeful the new charges won’t stick: “I’ve spoken to other former hostages and they say at the end it gets quite bumpy, and to them, this feels like the endgame.”

Deepfakes ramp up a notch

Videos of Tom Cruise playing golf and pratting around in his house wouldn’t normally raise eyebrows. But the recent clips, posted on a TikTok account called DeepTomCruise are “deepfakes” – incredibly realistic, AI generated moving images that allow creators to put words in the mouths of whoever they please.

Christopher Ume, creator of the Cruise deepfakes, has said he “doesn’t want to upset people”. But the clips have rekindled worries about whether humanity stands any chance of sifting fact from fiction ever again.

The Cruise clips look like harmless fun, but the South Korean news channel MBN has used a deepfake of its regular news anchor, Kim Joo-Ha, to read out the day’s headlines. Viewers – who were told in advance about the deepfake Joo-Ha – were left dumbfounded. MBN has announced that it’ll continue to use deepfakes for some breaking news reports.

Ari Folman’s 2013 film The Congress, based on a novel by Soviet sci-fi writer Stanislaw Lem, pre-empted deepfakes. Actress Robin Wright plays a less successful version of herself who is offered a renewed contract by her cynical film studio overlords – a lump sum in exchange for the rights to her image to be owned forever by the studio, and manipulated in any way they see fit using the latest computer technology. The mind-bending results are worth a watch, if only for a glimpse of what could be in store…

Mattie Brignal,
News Editor