The Standard

There’s a lot of talk about how vaccines are going to end this global pandemic that we’re embroiled in – but is that true? In today’s episode Dr. David Nabarro, the World Health Organisation’s special envoy on Covid-19, spoke to Rosalind Russel who is leading the Evening Standard’s Vaccine for the World project. The project is designed to highlight the challenges and solutions for the Covid-19 pandemic. Dr. David Nabarro tells us that the bug has a game plan, and it’s going to be around years to come. He also believes vaccines are just one part of an arsenal that has to be deployed, and the focus should really be on extinguishing outbreaks where they occur. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The mayor of London took a walk through the city centre with the Evening Standard’s health editor Ross Lydall and discussed the urgency behind getting more people in the capital vaccinated.A total of 3.62 million more doses are needed in London by the new “lockdown release” day of July 19 under Boris Johnson’s aim of offering the vaccine to all people over 18 while ensuring two-thirds are “double jabbed”.A total of 51,892 first and second doses were given in London on Monday – but this needs to double to at least 100,000 a day. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The Evening Standard’s Jonathan Prynn joins us to discuss the economic impact of pushing back ‘Freedom day’ by four weeks.He’s been speaking to hoteliers, restauranteurs and pub landlords who fear the delay will be the final nail in the coffin for businesses that have barely survived the pandemic.They’re calling for more help from the government, but at the moment it doesn’t look like any new or extended support is on the horizon.Meanwhile, with the sun shining and the Euro 2020 competition underway some bar operators can only look on as they see thousands of pounds worth of trade pass them by.  Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Janine Chamberlin, LinkedIn’s UK country manager, tells us how users of the website have changed their behaviour and attitudes over the course of Britain’s lockdown. In a fascinating interview, she tells us which sectors were hardest hit by the restrictions and what they did to recover.She also reveals how the “stigma of unemployment” has been banished as thousands of people found themselves out of a job and looking for help to get a new one. And she reveals that words such as “remote work” are appearing more and more in job adverts, as the daily commute appears to be on the way out. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The UK and US are to donate more than 600 million Covid-19 vaccine donations between them as part of global efforts to control the pandemic.In this special report, we speak to doctors and other leading experts around the world to look at what kind of an impact that will make.The donations come as African countries face a severe shortage of vaccines for their populations, with medics concerned a third wave will overwhelm hospitals across the continent.We also look at the Evening Standard’s Vaccine for the World project which is highlighting some of the enormous efforts being made to get injections to some of the hardest to reach places on Earth.  Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Boris Johnson’s meeting Joe Biden face-to-face for the first time since the US election as the G7 summit gets underway in Cornwall. The two have much to discuss, and disagree and several areas, but they’re united in their vows to tackle climate change. For the Leader podcast, we’re joined by Nick Mabey who is the chief executive of climate change think tank E3G, an advisor to London mayor Sadiq Khan and a former advisor to the Blair government.He tells us what’s likely to be on the world leaders’ agenda, and how it will affect relations with other countries such as China and Russia.  Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The Evening Standard’s royal editor, Robert Jobson, tells us what’s been happening at Buckingham Palace and in LA as Harry and Meghan threaten legal action over a story about their daughter’s name. The Duke and Duchess of Sussex are hitting back at claims they had not asked the Queen before naming their daughter Lilibet in her honour.A fresh war of words between the couple and the BBC broke out after the corporation quoted a senior Buckingham Palace source saying the monarch was “never asked” about its use.A spokeswoman for Harry and Meghan, now based in California, said: “The Duke spoke with his family in advance of the announcement, in fact his grandmother was the first family member he called.“During that conversation, he shared their hope of naming their daughter Lilibet in her honour. Had she not been supportive, they would not have used the name.” Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

A cabinet minister’s advising people to “holiday at home,” following the rush to get Brits back from Portugal when that country was downgraded to amber from the UK’s green list.Environment secretary George Eustace says he won’t be leaving the country for a break this summer and he doesn’t expect many others will either.But our deputy political editor Nicholas Cecil says that’s not official government advice, with Number 10 insisting people are free to travel to green list countries.Nicholas also talks about the extra measures being put in place to tackle the Delta variant of Covid-19 in Greater Manchester and Lancashire.  Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

As our exclusive poll shows the public wants the coronavirus inquiry to start early, we speak to our political editor Joe Murphy and ask if the chaos in Portugal’s airports will add to the pressure. He tells us that anything that increases people’s “sense of unfairness or resentment” could turn into pressure “in multiple ways” including demands for that inquiry to start this year.Currently, it’s set to launch in Spring next year and not deliver its findings until after the next general election. But just 17 per cent of people support that according to researchers at Ipsos MORI for the Evening Standard.Meanwhile, Brits desperate to escape Portugal before an amber list deadline have spoken of carnage at airports. Confused holidaymakers, desperate to get home ahead of the deadline of 4am Tuesday, were met by two-hour-long queues at Faro Airport.Ipsos MORI interviewed 1002 adults across GB by phone, from May 28 to June 3. Data are weighted. Details at www.ipsos-mori.com Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Securing the future sources of our food, especially in cities, sprouts some critical issues: cost, pesticides, genetically modified crops, delivery miles and ensuring children can access nutritious, fresh fruit and vegetables.During lockdown, a trip to the farm seemed a flight of fancy for many city-dwellers, and a team of volunteers at the Felix Project is helping deliver farms’ surplus to charities and schools to provide healthy meals to those who need it.We spoke Marcus Roberts, relationship manager at the Felix Project about their work getting fresh produce from field to table in quick time, and also visited one exciting London agri-startup hoping to achieve all of this - it’s a new ‘urban’ farm called Sitopia.Chloë Dunnett, founder and chief grower, tells us how volunteers at their organic meadow and poly tunnels on the site of the huge Woodlands Farm Trust in Shooters Hill, south-east London, are getting ready for their first harvest after a stellar crowdfunding campaign. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.