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Hello, I'm Simon Calder.

Welcomeing you to my independent travel podcast, bringing you the latest news on travelling, whether you're just dreaming of a great escape or actively on one.

Today, the government's in a mess, but not necessarily for the reasons you might be thinking.

Of course, this podcast is completely free, as is my weekly travel email.

You can sign up for that at independent.co.uk forward slash newsletters.

It's rare these days that you can get some actual good news when you listen to government officials.

But unbelievably in the past two days, or past day actually, we've got a couple of snippets,

which should mean that travel is easier but who knows when that

will start the government is in a bit of a mess not necessarily just because of Christmas

parties because I've been asking now for all six hours a couple of important questions

give us more details is basically what I said,

and I haven't heard anything yet from the Department of Health and Social Care.

So let me tell you anyway what I think is going on.

Last night, there was a debate on health matters,

and Tahir Ali, who represents Birmingham Hall Green for Labour, asked Sajid

about the chances that any nations in the Indian subcontinent could be put on the red list.

Now, you'll recall, this is the list that has Nigeria, South Africa and nine other southern African countries on it.

...