TOPLINE &#8211; Boris Johnson’s plan to ease restrictions in England has raised a fresh set of questions about worker safety and the timing of his new “stay alert” message, and has set the U.K. prime minister on a collision course with devolved nations Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland who are insisting their residents “stay at home” to beat coronavirus.



KEY FACTS



<ul><li>Johnson <a rel="noreferrer noopener" href="https://www.gov.uk/government/speeches/pm-address-to-the-nation-on-coronavirus-10-may-2020" target="_blank">addressed</a> the U.K. on Sunday night to announce a slight easing of restrictions in England, but saying it was not time to end the lockdown this week.</li></ul>



<ul><li>He unveiled a new message of “Stay alert, control the virus, save lives”, but the message is at odds with Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland who are sticking with the original message of “Stay home, protect the NHS, save lives.”</li></ul>



<ul><li>WORK: People who cannot work from home “should be actively encouraged” to return to work this week. Later, the government said the changes would come into effect from Wednesday.</li></ul>



<ul><li>Johnson said this includes constructions and manufacturing workers, but his message has caused confusion over which professions would be allowed to return to work. Johnson also discouraged people returning to work in England from taking public transport, and said they should walk, drive or cycle instead.</li></ul>



<ul><li>SCHOOLS: From June 1, the youngest school pupils, including reception, and primary students up to age 11, could return to the classroom. Secondary school pupils who have key exams next year could “get time with their teachers” before breaking for summer.</li></ul>



<ul><li>BUSINESS: A phased reopening of shops could begin as early as June 1, while hotels and restaurants could open on July 1 at the earliest “provided they enforce social distancing,” Johnson said.</li></ul>



<ul><li>LEISURE: People in England were told they can have an unlimited amount of daily exercise and can play sports in parks with the same members of their household. People can also meet up with one member of another household in a park, but maintain a two metre distance.</li></ul>



<ul><li>TRAVEL: People who are travelling into the U.K. by air and other means will “soon” be put under quarantine. It is not yet known for how long, or when this will be enforced. But passengers from Ireland, and now France, are exempt from the rule.</li></ul>



WHAT TO WATCH FOR



The government will release 50-page guidance on the new rules on Monday afternoon.



ADDITIONAL INFO



For lockdown to be lifted altogether, the British government says that five tests need to be met: Ensuring the national health service can cope with the epidemic, a sustained fall in the daily death rate, a fall in the rate of infection or ‘R’, securing enough PPE to meet demand, and making sure that the risk of a second peak is low.



CHIEF CRITICS



There are a few, with most opposition centred on the government’s confusing messaging, short notice, lack of safety information for workers, and concerns that the new guidance leaves white collar staff protected, while factory and shop floor workers face the greatest risk.



The leaders of Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland are united in their opposition to Johnson’s ambiguous “stay alert” message. Scotland’s first minister Nicola Sturgeon simply reinforced the original “Stay Home, Protect The NHS, Save Lives” message that her nation is sticking with. Welsh First Minister Mark Drakeford said his nation’s “stay at home” message&nbsp;<a href="https://twitter.com/fmwales/status/1259547228139651074?s=20" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">remains</a>.



Unions have criticised Johnson’s speech as not being well thought through, and say that the government should be issuing mandatory instructions to workplaces to ensure worker safety, and not just guidance.



Len McCluskey, general secretary of the U.K.’s biggest union, Unite, said in a&nbsp;<a href="https://unitetheunion.org/news-events/news/2020/may/mccluskey-decisions-taken-now-will-shape-our-countrys-future-we-need-clarity-to-build-public-confidence/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">statement</a>: “People cannot get to work safely unless there is safe transport for them to use. Yet there is now a real risk that in a few hours&#8217; time, workers will be cramming onto public transport, putting at risk their lives and those of others.”



Meanwhile, teachers unions called Johnson’s plans “reckless.” General secretary of teaching union NASUWT told the&nbsp;i&nbsp;<a href="https://inews.co.uk/news/education/coronavirus-lockdown-restrictions-easing-schools-teachers-criticise-june-opening-2848500" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">newspaper</a>: “Signalling 1 June is more likely than not to create confusion if not some degree of chaos out there in the system.”



Keir Starmer, leader of the Labour Party, said the government’s plans raise “as many questions as answers.” He criticised the government’s lack of clarity around returning to work, that puts millions of people in a scramble to prepare for entering the workplace with just 12 hours notice.



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<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">On a serious note the only change in that announcement was that they’re now sacrificing the working class out loud. JOIN. A. UNION.&mdash; Eve Livingston (@eve_rebecca) <a href="https://twitter.com/eve_rebecca/status/1259548880116604928?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">May 10, 2020</a></blockquote><script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
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KEY BACKGROUND



The U.K. went on lockdown on March 23, after scientific models published days earlier suggested that if left unchecked, coronavirus could lead to the deaths of 250,000 people. The government has maintained that it is being guided by science, but with the worst death toll in Europe at 32,000 coronavirus-linked deaths, Johnson’s government is facing serious questions from critics over its strategy, failure to source enough protective gear for health workers, and implement a large-scale testing scheme. With the number of daily deaths falling, ministers say the U.K. has moved through the peak of the epidemic.

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Boris Johnson’s Attempt To Ease England’s Lockdown Is Confusing. Here’s What We Know So Far

Millions loved her, millions more hated her; few could ignore her. When former British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher died of a stroke at the Ritz Hotel in London, on April 8, it knocked the rest of the news off the bulletins for days.
It was the end of a life that made waves from Brussels to Africa with an attitude that could both divide and inspire. When she joined Parliament in 1959, the grocer’s daughter from Grantham was one of the few women in a legislature that resembled a gentleman’s club. In her years in Westminster she overcame prejudice against women and people from humble backgrounds.
“You turn if you want to. The lady’s not for turning,” said Thatcher in one of her most famous speeches, in 1980.
The Iron Lady—as the Russians dubbed her—criticized Europe, sacked her ministers, went to war with Argentina, poured harsh words and legislation on the unions and scorned Africa’s biggest liberation movement.
Thatcher called the African National Congress (ANC) terrorists, she refused to recognize the party and cast doubt on its ability to govern. Despite this, according to Thomas Wheeler, a research associate at the South African Institute of International Affairs, Thatcher found apartheid unacceptable, even though she didn’t believe in sanctions. Zambian president, Kenneth Kaunda, clashed with Thatcher over apartheid at a Commonwealth conference in Lusaka, but the two ended up dancing the night away in the ballroom.
“We acknowledge that she was one of the strong leaders in Britain and Europe to an extent that some of her policies dominate discourse in the public service structures of the world,” the ANC was gracious enough to say.
Thatcher also had little time for the liberation forces of Zimbabwe, then Rhodesia. In 1979, Thatcher banned her envoy from meeting with ZANU leader Robert Mugabe; refusing to talk with someone she regarded a terrorist, until he became Prime Minister. At the time, Britain was mulling over whether to recognize the interim government of the late Bishop Abel Muzorewa. His was the first black-led administration in Zimbabwe, but nationalists saw it as a puppet regime.
Many Rhodesian British passport holders helped vote in Thatcher in the May 1979 election in the hope that it would postpone independence. Ironically, it was Thatcher who pushed through the Lancaster House talks in London, later that year, that ushered in independence on April 18, 1980—the night when the Union flag came down for the last time and Bob Marley played to jubilant thousands at Rufaro Stadium in Harare.
Two years later the Iron Lady was rusting. Her social welfare cut backs angered the poor and led to riots in 1981; by 1982 she was the most unpopular British Prime Minister in history. When British forces repelled the Argentinians from the Falkland Islands in 1982, Thatcher rode a wave of popularity to a landslide victory in 1983.
On that night, covering my first election, I asked one of the more experienced journalists what this victory meant.
“Fewer and fewer people are going to get richer and richer,” he had said on that night.
So it was. Thatcher borrowed free market theory from the Chicago Business School to turn Britain from a dowdy backwater, laden with regulation and exchange controls, into a dynamic capitalist economy. When she deregulated the financial markets of London in 1986, it made fortunes for the dealers and drew capital and expertise from around the world.
On the way, Thatcher crushed the trade union movement, including a victory over the powerful National Union of Mineworkers in 1985, the union which had brought down the Ted Heath government in the early 1970s.
“If you want to make an omelet you have to break a few eggs but she picked up the shells and smashed them against the wall,” said her former opponent, former Labor leader, Neil Kinnock.
Unrest over the growing inequality of wealth and a riot over a highly unpopular Poll Tax in 1990 sealed Thatcher’s fate and by the end of the year her cabinet colleagues had ousted her in favor of John Major.
In death, Thatcher may have won over many sympathizers from Africa. Thousands of British people organized parties to crow over her death and many people on this continent are likely to frown upon that.
Thatcher was cremated after her funeral on April 17, at St Paul’s Cathedral in London.

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Boris Johnson’s Attempt To Ease England’s Lockdown Is Confusing. Here’s What We Know So Far

THE IRON LADY AND THE TERRORISTS