Free Republic

Fully vaccinated people are much less likely to die with Covid-19 than those who aren't, or have had only one dose, figures from the Office for National Statistics (ONS) show. Out of more than 51,000 Covid deaths in England between January and July 2021, only 256 occurred after two doses. They were mostly people at very high risk from illness from Covid-19. The figures show the high degree of protection from the vaccines against illness and death, the ONS said.

Safety experts are urging the UK government to exclude American cars from any post-Brexit trade deal. They say imported vehicles should meet British safety standards for accidents with pedestrians, cyclists and children. UK PM Boris Johnson has indicated he expects cars to be included in any new transatlantic trade agreement. But safety campaigners point to a spike of pedestrian injuries and deaths in US road accidents. The increase is associated with a boom in large SUVs, which have been engineered to protect passengers but not pedestrians In the UK and Europe, cars are designed to minimise harm to people on...

Boris Johnson is planning a war on obesity after deciding his own touch-and-go battle with coronavirus was exacerbated by him being overweight. The PM is ready to ditch long-standing opposition to 'nanny state' policies and launch a crackdown on the nation's bulging waistlines after coronavirus is defeated. He's told senior advisers that the experience - which he famously said 'could have gone either way' - has left him determined to lead a public health drive. Being obese doubles the risk of needing hospital treatment for coronavirus, research shows. And with one in three British adults now clinically obese, the UK...

May 9 marks traditionally the celebration of the Schuman Declaration, a visionary short statement given by the French Foreign Minister exactly five years and one day after the end of the Second World War. Since then, the European project has, sometimes enthusiastically and sometimes painfully, followed a course which, in retrospect, is totally unique in the history of mankind – a voluntary devolution of powers from 27 countries to a joint set of institutions, decision-making powers in some respect, and more diluted coordination in many others. Rereading the Declaration 70 years later, amidst the worst crisis in Europe since World...

France on Sunday warned Britain to expect a bitter, bloody battle in Brexit trade talks with the EU, saying the two sides would "rip each other apart".

A motorbike firm which said the UK would thrive outside of the European Union has gone into administration just days after the divorce was officially settled. Norton Motorcycles has hit the rocks after reportedly struggling to pay a tax bill, with the owner also blaming Brexit uncertainty for the firm’s demise. In September 2018 Stuart Garner had claimed he had no fears about Brexit, saying that it would be a “huge opportunity” to negotiate trade deals around the globe. He claimed that the UK was better prepared for Brexit than the media would have us believe. “It’s what the country...

BERLIN (Reuters) - Germany’s current account surplus remained the world’s largest last year despite trade tensions, the Ifo economic institute said on Monday, in an estimate likely to renew criticism of Chancellor Angela Merkel’s fiscal policies. The Ifo calculations, reported exclusively by Reuters ahead of publication by the economic institute, put Germany’s current account surplus — which measures the flow of goods, services and investments — at some $293 billion in 2019. It is the fourth successive year that Germany’s current account surplus has been the world’s largest, with Japan’s the next biggest at $194 billion, according to Ifo calculations....

I could tell the way things were going when, in the last week of the election campaign, it became clear that the Conservatives were ahead in Ynys Môn and nervously confident in Newport West. Two very different seats that in their different ways told me the sort of movement that was going on. If voters on Anglesey were ignoring the selection problems of the Conservatives and criticism of the candidate from other parties, where else would they be ignoring such issues? And although the Tories didn’t win Newport West, the fact that they were actually worried about saying they were...

The Tesla chief executive, Elon Musk, has said Brexit uncertainty played a role in the firm’s decision to build its first European factory in Germany rather than the UK. The billionaire entrepreneur revealed that the firm’s European battery plant would be built on the outskirts of Berlin. Speaking to Auto Express after making the announcement, Musk said: “Brexit [uncertainty] made it too risky to put a Gigafactory in the UK.” The US electric carmaker also plans to locate a research and development base in the German capital.

A federal judge has ruled that White House staff can be made to testify before Congress, rejecting the Trump administration's claims of immunity. The ruling specifically compels former White House counsel Don McGahn to testify in the inquiry into Russian interference in the 2016 US election.

When the Trump administration imposed tariffs on Chinese imports last year, officials insisted China would pay the cost - implying Chinese firms would have to cut their prices to absorb import “taxes” of up to 25% when the goods hit U.S. shores. Instead, the prices Chinese firms charge have barely budged, meaning U.S. companies and consumers are paying the tariff costs, estimated at around $40 billion annually, New York Fed Reserve Bank researchers found in a study released on Monday.

British productivity is falling at its fastest pace in five years and business investment has stalled since the 2016 Brexit vote As uncertainty over Brexit spills into its fourth year, Swiftool Precision Engineering (SPE) has taken a tough investment decision: it will press ahead with a plan to spend £250,000 (about R4.7m) on a 3D printer but a new workshop roof will have to wait. Like many British companies, the small, family-owned firm, which makes parts for aircraft engines and offshore oil wells, wants more clarity on what leaving the EU might mean for its business before carrying out all...

Nigel Farage’s Brexit election dream was at risk of being dashed on day one of his election campaign yesterday after three candidates quit and he lost support from a major financial backer. The Brexit Party leader came out all guns blazing on Monday claiming he would be unleashing 600 election candidates across the UK. But he was warned by senior Tories that he risked ‘splitting the Leave vote’ before two candidates withdrew over fears the Brexit Party could prevent Boris Johnson getting a majority. A third dropped out for personal reasons. Paul Brothwood stood aside in the marginal Dudley South...

https://m.facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=10220621329827579&id=1364854861

Smuggling gangs in Mexico have continuously sawed through President Trump’s controversial border wall using every day power tools, according the U.S. agents and officials with knowledge of the incidents. The security breaches, made with a popular cordless reciprocating saw that can sell for less than $100, has been used to open gaps large enough for people and drug loads to filter through. When fitted with 'specialized' blades, the tool can break through one of the wall's steel and concrete bollards in just minutes. The Washington Post reports that after slicing through a bollard, smugglers will push the steel out of...

Commemorative coins minted to mark Brexit on 31 October will be "recycled" after the UK's exit from the EU was delayed by a further three months. The Royal Mint had been asked to produce new 50p pieces featuring the UK's scheduled departure date. Thousands of 50-pence coins minted to commemorate Brexit on Oct. 31 will be melted down after Prime Minister Boris Johnson accepted an extension from the European Union, two people familiar with the matter said.Up to 10 million new coins were reportedly being made ready for the Halloween deadline, in a project championed by Chancellor Sajid Javid...

Boris Johnson Raised The Issue Of NI Export Forms With Jean-Claude Juncker. And Then Agreed To Them. He was fully aware that the issue of export forms would be problematic back home, but signed it off anyway in order to secure the agreement with the EU. Boris personally raised the controversial issue of businesses having to fill in export forms on goods moving between Great Britain and Northern Ireland in a phone call with European Commission Juncker on the morning the Brexit deal was agreed. Juncker insisted that the matter could not be renegotiated. Shortly afterwards, in a follow-up call,...

An increasing number of British people are leaving the UK to go and live in continental Europe ahead of Brexit, the latest figures show. A study by academics at Oxford University and the Berlin Social Science Centre found that emigration from Britain to the EU is now at a ten-year high. An estimated 84,000 UK citizens migrated to the EU in 2019, up from 58,000 the year before the Brexit vote in 2015, and 46,000 back in 2012. The number of emigrants from the UK to the EU has risen continuously since 2010, and the spike has been exaggerated since...

Brexit has evolved from tragicomedy into a distasteful horror that will be with us for the next decade. The agreement on the withdrawal of Great Britain from the Union is just the beginning. Then there will be the fight for trade, services, agriculture and many other matters that regulate 20,000 European legislation, plus 750 international agreements. Only lawyers and satirists will earn from this divorce. Everyone else will lose. Brexit reveals the pathologies of modern democracy that need to be considered seriously. First, national agreement is a pipe dream. Fighting camps do not accept a result other than what they...

The vast majority of Brexit Party voters disagree with their leader about Boris Johnson’s Brexit deal, a poll has revealed. According to a new poll by Survation, 67% of Brexit Party voters support Boris Johnson’s deal, despite Nigel Farage branding it “appalling” and saying he would rather delay Brexit than see it passed. Last week, Johnson agreed a Brexit deal with the EU, which he will attempt to pass in the House of Commons today, after it was blocked by MPs on Saturday. Farage has subsequently said that the announcement of Johnson’s deal was the “darkest moment” since he started...