Vaccine triumphs and the lockdown question
Political Fix
Financial Times
4.2 • 1.2K Ratings
🗓️ 6 February 2021
⏱️ 31 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
This week the UK faced the prospect of the emergence of new coronavirus mutations while surging past 10m vaccinations. Will this progress speed up the relaxation of the lockdown? What timetable is the prime minister working to? Plus, we discuss how Brexit is affecting trade in Northern Ireland and whether the contentious trade protocol will be suspended or improved to ease tensions. Presented by Sebastian Payne. With Sarah Neville, Clive Cookson, George Parker and Peter Foster. Produced by Anna Dedhar and Josh de la Mare. The sound engineer was Breen Turner and the editor Liam Nolan.
Review clips: 10 Downing Street, Parliament TV, BBC Radio Ulster
Further reading:
UK coronavirus quarantine system to start on February 15
Treasury economists work on plan for phased lifting of Covid restrictions
Johnson remains cautious on easing England’s lockdown
Can the Northern Ireland Brexit protocol survive?
Brussels pushes back on UK bid to rewrite Northern Ireland protocol
Johnson threatens to use emergency powers to avoid barrier in Irish Sea
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Hello, it's Jamie and Sophie here. So we've been enjoying twining sleep blend and OMG, |
| 0:06.0 | that's oh my god, it's changed the nighttime routine completely with natural ingredients. |
| 0:12.3 | Sophie, read them to me sister. Oh, I'll read them to you brother. It includes chamomile, |
| 0:17.6 | passion flowers, the spice apple, vanilla flavorings, honestly, it's delicious. |
| 0:22.1 | And go and tell the listener that we've been drinking together, it's like our routine. |
| 0:26.0 | It's true, two cups of twinings before bed at APF. Yeah, it's really important to |
| 0:30.4 | unwind before bed to get into bed and just to have like a restful time together. It's part of |
| 0:34.8 | the routine. It makes everything just feel so much better. And all you've got to do is visit twinings.co.uk slash sleep. |
| 0:44.8 | The UK is past the worst of its second wave of coronavirus as attention turns to how and when |
| 0:50.9 | to lift the nationwide lockdown. Yes, I mean, I think that most of my colleagues think we are |
| 0:55.3 | past the peak. Provided people continue to follow the guidelines. We're on the downward slope of |
| 1:00.9 | cases of hospitalizations and of deaths. Welcome to Payne's Politics, your central inside a |
| 1:08.3 | guide to what's happening in British politics from the financial times, with me Sebastian Payne. |
| 1:13.7 | In this episode, we'll be discussing the latest COVID-19 developments as you heard from Professor |
| 1:19.2 | Chris Whitty at the top, progress with the vaccine rollout, the threat from mutant variants, |
| 1:24.4 | the latest on the lockdown debate on what's going on with hotel quarantine. |
| 1:28.8 | During to discuss our in-house expert science editor Clive Cooxon and health editor Sarah Neville. |
| 1:36.0 | And later, we'll be looking at the troubling situation in Northern Ireland over the trade deal |
| 1:40.9 | between the UK and the EU. What are the problems? Can they be solved and has the EU's actions |
| 1:46.8 | over the last fortnight made it worse? Political editor George Parker and public policy editor Peter |
| 1:52.4 | Foster will be unpacking. Sarah and Clive, welcome back to the podcast. |
| 1:57.7 | I said. Thanks very much so. Well, we've all made it through January and the darkest coldest part |
... |
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