Top story: ‘America’s day, democracy’s day’
Hello, Warren Murray pleased to be bringing you this Thursday briefing.
Joe Biden has spent the first hours of his presidency addressing America’s crisis at home and rebuilding its leadership in the world with a series of executive actions, including rejoining the Paris climate accord, calling a halt to Donald Trump’s border wall, initiating urgent action on Covid-19 and renewing US membership of the World Health Organization. If you didn’t catch the inauguration proceedings yesterday afternoon here is a faithful account from Lauren Gambino in Washington. Don’t miss inaugural poet Amanda Gorman’s recitation of her poem The Hill We Climb. “This is America’s day,” Biden said, gazing across the sprawl of the capital city’s national monuments, guarded by a military garrison unprecedented in modern times and devoid of spectators because of the pandemic. “This is democracy’s day.”
Overnight a televised inaugural concert has taken place – opened by Bruce Springsteen singing Land of Hope and Dreams, hosted by Tom Hanks, celebrating America’s everyday pandemic heroes, and closing with fireworks. In contrast to Sean Spicer bawling at the White House press corps about the size of Trump’s inauguration crowd, Biden’s press secretary, Jen Psaki, has opened her first briefing by saying: “It’s an honour to be here with all of you. When the president asked me to serve in this role, we talked about the importance of bringing truth and transparency back to the briefing room.” She promised that Biden was waking every morning and going to sleep every night with one thought on his mind: getting the pandemic under control.
Kamala Harris was sworn in as vice-president, becoming the first woman in American history – as well as the first woman of African American and south Asian descent – to hold the post. Harris later appeared in the Senate, of which she is president, to swear in Democrats Raphael Warnock, Jon Ossoff and Alex Padilla. The new Democrat-majority chamber later voted to confirm Avril Haines as director of national intelligence, making her the first woman to hold the post.
Boris Johnson has laid claim to having “a fantastic joint united agenda” with the new president, saying Biden’s election was “a fantastic thing for America, for a country that’s been through a bumpy period and for us and America, it’s a big moment, we’ve got things we want to do together, we’ve got to bounce back from Covid together.” China has announced sanctions against the “lying and cheating” outgoing secretary of state Mike Pompeo and 27 other top officials under Donald Trump. The US-China relationship will be closely watched for signs of a thaw: Biden’s choice to succeed Pompeo, Anthony Blinken, has said he agrees with Pompeo’s assessment that China has committed genocide against Uighur Muslims in Xinjiang. The funny if it wasn’t so serious QAnon conspiracy movement has been left wondering what to do with itself, after anticipating of a day of reckoning and Great Awakening in which Trump would seize back power and vanquish America’s temporal and spiritual foes – none of which came to pass.
Decline in Covid cases levels out – Cases of coronavirus may no longer be falling across England, an Imperial College London survey has suggested. Boris Johnson described the record 1,820 deaths reported on Wednesday as “appalling” as he warned: “There will be more to come.” Imperial’s survey found 1.58% of people tested in mid-January had the virus, a rise of 74% compared with a similar survey in November-December, possibly linked to the more contagious Covid-19 variant. The Telegraph has reported that Oxford scientists are working to produce new vaccine versions to cope with the emerging variants. A record 343,000 people in the UK received a first dose of a coronavirus vaccine on Tuesday as the NHS scaled up its push to vaccinate 15 million people by mid-February.
‘Skills for jobs’ – The government is to publish its overhaul of skills and vocational education in England, which will seek to align courses with the needs of employers but without any commitments over long-term funding for the further education sector. The white paper will encourage the growth of new higher-level vocational and technical qualifications sitting between school-leaving and an undergraduate degree. The “skills for jobs” white paper will be published alongside three other papers including a consultation on whether sixth formers should delay applying to university until after exam results are published. Key parts of the package have been previously announced, including free tuition for adults lacking qualifications such as A-levels if they take courses in a range of sectors including engineering, health and accountancy.
Laptop lag hits home pupils – Almost a quarter of primary pupils in England are now doing home schooling for more than five hours a day but those in lower income households are still lagging behind with insufficient laptops, according to the Sutton Trust. While schools are now better equipped to deliver remote learning, there are fears of a worsening attainment gap between disadvantaged children and those better off. The trust is calling for a £750m boost to help the most disadvantaged. The Department for Education has said it is giving 1.3m laptops to those who need them most, and free mobile broadband to disadvantaged households. Separately, Tony Blair has joined cross-party calls for a new national child poverty strategy amid concerns about rising social inequality as a result of the pandemic. The government remains under pressure for not committing to extend the £20 a week top-up to universal credit.
Drug measures ‘a drop in the ocean’ – The government’s drug tsar, Prof Dame Carol Black, told ministers they should find £900m for treatment to tackle misuse, the Guardian has learned, before just £80m worth of measures were announced this week. Boris Johnson lauded those measures but experts have criticised them as “a drop in the ocean”. Black was appointed in 2019 to review how drugs fuel violence. She had previously provided expert advice to the government on the impact of drug addiction. Increasingly, police, as well as public health officials, see treatment as boosting the chances of reducing drug-linked crime and violence rather than relying on the criminal justice system. But treatment services have faced years of cuts.
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Early in Trump’s presidency, emboldened neo-Nazi and fascist groups came out into the open but were met with widespread revulsion. So the tactics of the far right changed, becoming more insidious – and much more successful.
Sport
Ole Gunnar Solskjær paid tribute to Paul Pogba after the France midfielder helped restore Manchester United to the top of the Premier League at Fulham. Earlier, Bernardo Silva and Ilkay Gundogan scored in a 2-0 win over Aston Villa at a wet Etihad Stadium that briefly took Manchester City to the top of the table. Concussion substitutes could be introduced to the Premier League as early as next week after issues over the players’ confidential medical data were resolved. Wales have asked Premiership Rugby to release the six England-based players named in their Six Nations squad for the duration of the tournament to reduce the risk of Covid-19 bursting their bubble.
Scotland have struck a significant early Calcutta Cup blow on the selection front after including Bath’s Cameron Redpath in a 35-man squad for the Six Nations. The England team hotel in Galle was seemingly abuzz after Australia’s defeat in Brisbane this week but this schadenfreude was also tempered by the knowledge that they themselves have nine Tests this year against the might of India. Frank Lampard is running out of time to save his job after Chelsea’s defeat by Leicester prompted the board to start identifying possible replacements for their manager. And Novak Djokovic has defended his “good intentions” after receiving intense criticism for providing Tennis Australia with suggestions on how to improve player conditions and ease some of the protocols in their hotel quarantine.
Business
Unilever plans to spend at least £1.8bn a year with companies owned and managed by women, underrepresented minority ethnic groups, people with disabilities and the LGBTQI+ community by 2025 as it tries to increase inclusivity and tackle advertising stereotypes. The FTSE 100 company, which owns brands such as Dove, Ben & Jerry’s and Marmite, said it planned to use the might of its brands, coupled with its advertising spending power as one of the world’s biggest to make a difference. Investors gave their approval of the Biden era as stocks rose in the US and Asia overnight. The FTSE 100 is set to get in on the act with a 0.5% boost this morning while the pound is on $1.368 and €1.13.
The papers
“Democracy has prevailed” – the words of Joe Biden chosen by the Guardian for its splash headline, overlaying a poster photo of the president delivering his inaugural address on the steps of the Capitol. The Financial Times also goes with a huge picture of Biden and the same headline. The Telegraph headline is another choice quote from Biden – “End this uncivil war”, while the Times goes with “Time for unity”.
The Scotsman’s front page is one picture of Biden and it splashes a longer excerpt of the same part of the new president’s speech. “Democracy is precious. Democracy is fragile. In this hour, my friends, democracy has prevailed”. The Mirror zeroes in on Biden’s opening lines with a “A day of history .. a day of hope”, and uses pictures of the president and his history-making female vice-president, Kamala Harris. The Mail hails a “new dawn for America” with pictures of Trump departing Washington and Biden and his wife, Jill, celebrating his inauguration. “Don’s gone … let’s go Joe!”, says the main headline.
The i can’t resist a bit of rhyme either with its headline “Ready, steady, Joe!” The Express uses Biden’s “uncivil war” quote in one of its subheads but goes with a British angle and what the new president’s relationship with Boris Johnson might be like for its main headline: “Big moment for US and Britain”. Metro uses Donald Trump’s words against him with the headline: “Now make America great again”. My colleague Martin Farrer has rounded up these and other front pages from around the world today.
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