Summary
P&O Ferries has caused outrage after sacking 800 workers via a recorded video message. The company plans to replace them with cheaper agency workers. Chris gets the latest from the BBC’s Danny Savage in Hull, where a P&O crew had been refusing to leave their ship.
Covid infection rates have been increasing rapidly across the UK – one of the people to catch the virus is Adam. GP Ellie Cannon worries about the long-term mental health fallout of the pandemic.
And Chris asks Britain’s chief Brexit negotiator, Lord Frost, if Boris Johnson is governing as a Conservative. His answer: “Up to a point.”
This edition of Newscast was made by Danny Wittenberg and John Murphy. The assistant editor was Alison Gee.
Transcript
Click on a timestamp to play from that location
| 0:00.0 | BBC Sounds, Music, Radio, Podcasts. |
| 0:04.8 | So hello, there's usually three of us aren't there on the podcast on a Thursday and today, |
| 0:10.0 | just me, because Laura's been galloping around the Middle East, and Adam has COVID, as you |
| 0:15.0 | have heard if you were listening to newscast on BBC Sounds yesterday. |
| 0:19.6 | So we have Dr Ellie Cannon, GP with us. |
| 0:22.3 | Hello. |
| 0:23.3 | Hi there. |
| 0:24.3 | To talk about COVID, because I guess because of what's been happening in Ukraine, it's |
| 0:27.3 | not been making as much news as it otherwise might have done. |
| 0:30.8 | I've got plenty of questions, but I should start from a question from Adam who has sent |
| 0:34.4 | us a little video from his self-isolation at home. |
| 0:38.2 | Hello, Dr. When I got COVID this week, I hardly had a cough, didn't have a temperature, and |
| 0:44.9 | my sense of taste and smell stayed exactly the same. |
| 0:48.5 | So my question is, do you think the classic symptoms are still the classic symptoms, and |
| 0:54.7 | could that be a problem if they're not? |
| 0:57.0 | Is COVID changing? |
| 0:58.0 | Absolutely. |
| 0:59.0 | I mean, that experience is just what I'm hearing in practice. |
| 1:02.9 | People are not losing their sense of taste, their sense of smell. |
| 1:06.2 | People are having mild upper respiratory tract symptoms, exactly as we've just heard. |
| 1:10.9 | Sort of throw it in other words, that is what I'm talking about. |
| 1:12.9 | Yeah, basically sore throat, runny nose, tiredness, very few people even having a temperature |
... |
Please login to see the full transcript.
Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from BBC, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.
Generated transcripts are the property of BBC and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.
Copyright © Tapesearch 2026.