The Standard

After another warning from the Speaker about the number of leaks coming out of the government, Boris Johnson told MPs why England has to go back into lockdown. The Prime Minister insisted the plans are “time limited” and he hopes to lift the latest draconian restrictions on December 2 when the country will return to the coronavirus tier system. But there has been no clear exit strategy announced. Our editorial column gives a six point plan on how lockdown could finally be lifted, and economist Stephen King looks ahead to what the country could look like after Covid-19. Also, Johnny Depp’s Hollywood career lies in tatters after a High Court judge ruled he was a violent abuser of wife Amber Heard during their tumultuous marriage.  The Pirates of the Caribbean star played a high-stakes gamble when he sued The Sun for libel over a 2018 article branding him a “wife beater”. Mr Justice Nicol has now delivered a devastating judgment for Depp, finding he had attacked his wife on 12 occasions and dismissing Depp’s libel claim. The Evening Standard's courts correspondent Tristan Kirk says it's a "terribly damaging" moment for the film star.  Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Councils and charities today warned they could be facing an "unprecedented rise" in rough sleeping numbers over the winter as furlough ends and town halls struggle with funding. Councils, who housed thousands of people during the first wave, are now struggling with funding. The Evening Standard’s local democracy reporter Rachael Burford says they’re anticipating £97 million in spending to help manage homelessness. And, President Donald Trump and his democratic challenger Joe Biden are in their final days of the 2020 election campaign. The candidates are set to barnstorm across America’s heartland as they race towards the White House. The Economist senior editor Anne McElvoy tells us how Mr Biden’s lead in the polls is impacting Mr Trump’s campaign and whether the President could be the first big political casualty of the pandemic. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Former Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn has been suspended from the party after refusing to accept the findings of a bombshell report into anti-Semitism during his tenure. The Equality and Human Rights Commission found the party was responsible for unlawful acts of harassment and discrimination and the party has now been served with an unlawful act notice requiring it to tackle the issue. Our political editor Joe Murphy tells how the events unfolded.And, The Duchess of Sussex’s High Court legal battle against the publishers of the Mail on Sunday has been delayed until autumn next year on secret grounds. Lawyers for Meghan argued in a private hearing that the trial should not happen in January, seeking a lengthy adjournment from Mr Justice Warby. Speaking in open court this morning, the judge ordered that the ten-day trial would now be heard nine months later in October or November 2021. Our courts correspondent Tristan Kirk tells us what we can expect to happen next. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Environment Secretary George Eustice has called the current approach to coronavirus lockdowns in the UK right ‘for now’. As senior scientists warned of hospitals being overwhelmed with 25,000 coronavirus patients by the end of November, expectations are growing that Boris Johnson will reluctantly have to order a temporary major shutdown before the end of the year. Our political editor Joe Murphy tells us what the means for the Christmas break.And, Comic Relief has dropped trips to Africa for celebrities like Ed Sheeran and Stacey Dooley following criticism of “white saviour” charity appeals. For Red Nose Day 2021 the charity will hire local filmmakers and photographers for a “more authentic perspective”. Executive director or anti-poverty charity War on Wants Asad Rehman says it's a welcome move but, celebrities still have their place in raising awareness. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

President Donald Trump and Democrat Joe Biden are heading into their final days of an historic election campaign. Trailing Biden in national opinion polls, Trump will hold rallies in three states key to his relation hopes: Michigan, Wisconsin and Nebraska. Biden meanwhile will head to Georgia, just days after Trump was there and where the challenger believes he has a ‘fighting chance’. In the Leader US election special, Evening Standard journalist Michael Howie speaks with CNN International correspondent Robyn Curnow who says the battle for Georgia speaks to the political battles being fought across Trump’s America. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

While it used to be that when a footballer’s name was strewn across the front pages, it made for grim reading, now English footballers are dominating the headlines for all the right reasons. Manchester United forward 22-year-old Marcus Rashford is taking on the Government over its refusal to provide free school meal vouchers to pupils during school holidays. And, Manchester City’s 25-year-old Raheem Sterling has plants to create a foundation aimed at supporting disadvantaged young people. The Evening Standard’s football journalist James Robson says the authenticity behind their campaigns is driving real change.And, hidden pockets of water on the moon could be much more common than scientists previously thought, and the discovery could have potential implications for future lunar missions. Paul Hayne, assistant professor in the laboratory of atmospheric and space physics at University of Colorado Boulder, said this could not only have implications for future lunar missions, but also how we understand how we got water on Earth. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The founder of revolutionary charity Teach First has warned the coronavirus pandemic risks undoing years of work spent improving education for poorer children in London and could create an “educational underclass”. Our education editor Anna Davis tells us how Brett Wigdortz is worried about an impending national crisis as London risks “backsliding” on all the good work that has been done to narrow the gap between rich and poor children’s educational achievements.And, female film directors are changing the face of horror. Our arts commissioning editor Katie Rosseinsky says a new wave of female-led films are playing fast and loose with the genre as they take back ownership from what’s traditionally been a boy’s club of directors. As it turns out, they are the perfect opportunity for women to make their debut in the film industry. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

More than 300 Tory MPs have been accused of “cruelty” after they voted against footballer Marcus Rashford’s bid to extend free school meals through the school holidays. Opposition figures branded the outcome ‘disgusting’ with many accusing the Government of “not caring” that the more than 1.4 million children eligible for free school meals would now go hungry. Our editorial column says hungry children need to be a priority. And, School Food Matters CEO Stephanie Slater is among the voices calling for a rethink on the decision.And, Rishi Sunak came to the rescue of millions of people fearing redundancy today with a multi-billion-pound package of support plus help for London’s struggling bars and restaurants. Rising to the crisis posed by a Covid winter surge, the Chancellor announced he was almost doubling the wage subsidy for workers forced to go part-time. The Evening Standard’s political editor Joe Murphy explains who the fifth coronavirus package will benefit. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Every US election is billed as one of the most important of our times, but 2020 really will shape the globe as it either consigns the Trump presidency to history or validates his time as the head of the world's most powerful nation. In the first of weekly Leader episodes that will focus on the US election in the run up to November 3, Evening Standard Editor-in-Chief George Osborne and journalist Philip Collins analyse various outcomes - including for Britain - of the seemingly likely Joe Biden victory or a come-from-behind win by the current President. Listen here and watch the video at standard.co.uk Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In January, up to 90 volunteers could be deliberately infected with Covid-19 in a bid to speed up development of vaccines and learn more about the virus. The group will be kept at the Royal Free hospital for two-and-a-half weeks in the world’s first ‘human challenge’ study for coronavirus. Dr Chris Chiu, from the Department of Infectious Disease at Imperial College London and lead researcher on the human challenge study tells us why this is crucial to answering some of the big questions around the new disease.And, travel bosses have welcomed the roll-out of rapid Covid-19 testing for passengers leaving Heathrow for Italy and Hong Kong as a small ‘step in the right direction.’ The £80 test will allow them to enter the two countries without lengthy quarantine. But, Transport Secretary Grant Shapps has refused to authorise the use of tests at airports on return from trips abroad, arguing that they are not effective in identifying passengers infected with the virus. Travel journalist Lisa Francesca Nand tells us airlines are calling for it to be rolled out more broadly to save the struggling industry. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.