UK coronavirus news: Boris Johnson apologises for 'misspeaking' on lockdown rules in north-east England

PM had struggled to explain new restrictions; Williamson says students can go home for Christmas – but might have to self-isolate firstBoris Johnson apologises for getting lockdown rules wrongCovid lockdowns in north-east England: new rules explainedIs Boris Johnson really ‘fit as a butcher’s dog’?UK economy faltering before second Covid-19 waveCoronavirus – latest global updates 2.58pm BST The full text of Boris Johnson’s skills speech is now on the No 10 website here. The policy announcements in it were extensively trailed in advance (see here) but the speech itself was still quite interesting, partly because of what it said about jobs, and partly because it marked the moment when Johnson joined the very, very long list of British ministers over the years calling for vocational education to be taken more seriously. (I first covered one in Cardiff as a trainee reporter 30 years ago, but the tradition goes back 100 years or so, as Johnson himself admitted.) Whether Johnson has any more success at this than his predecessors, of course, remains to be seen.Here are the main points.We’ve got to end the pointless, nonsensical gulf that has been fixed for generations – more than 100 years – between the so-called academic and the so-called practical varieties of education. It’s absurd to talk about skills in this limited way. Everything is ultimately a skill– a way of doing something faster, better, more efficiently, more accurately, more confidently, whether it is carving, or painting, or brick laying, or writing, or drawing, or mathematics, Greek philosophy; every single study can be improved not just by practice but by teaching. Suddenly, with that four year entitlement, and with the same funding mechanism, you bring universities and FE closer together; you level up between them, and a new vista of choice opens up.Of the workforce in 2030, ten years from now, the vast majority are already in jobs right now. But a huge number of them are going to have to change jobs – to change skills – and at the moment, if you’re over 23, the state provides virtually no free training to help you …So suppose you work in retail or hospitality, and you think you are going to need to find a new job. And before Covid people were already shopping more online, and already sending out for food. But the crisis has compressed that revolution. 2.28pm BST Blaenau Gwent has the highest and fastest rising case rate for Covid-19 infection in the UK, according to analysis from the BBC.A case rate of 304.9 positive results per 100,000 in the week to 25 September was reported by Public Health Wales. The rate is higher than areas in the north-west and north-east of England. Continue reading…
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