do you recall any kind of sexual contact with virginia roberts then or at any other time? none whatsoever. this afternoon, prince andrew s team will ask a new yorkjudge to throw out ms giuffre s case. her lawyers say she is confident that won t happen and one way or another, the duke will have to answer her allegations. dominic casciani, bbc news. millions of pupils across the uk are returning from their christmas break today and over the next couple of days, amid concerns about staff shortages caused by the 0micron variant of covid. in england, secondary school students will have to take tests on site before they return to the classroom, as jayne mccubbin reports. for secondary school children this week, it is back to the classroom. back to masks, and in england at least, it will all kick off with a covid test on arrival in school. for ethan and louis, though, this is one last out before that begins. how are you feeling about it? a bit nervous.
injune will lead to many millions of pieces of plastic being removed from scotland s environment, helping to clean up its beaches and protect its natural beauty. lorna gordon, bbc news. looks beautiful there. let s take a look at today s papers. the guardian reports on the deal that virginia giuffre, who has accused prince andrew of sexual assault, struck with the convicted paedophilejeffrey epstein. it says prince andrew, who denies the allegations, hopes the settlement will cause the civil case against him to collapse. the times focuses on borisjohnson s warning that hospitals in england will still face considerable pressure over the next few weeks. however, it quotes a government minister as saying london, the centre of the uk s 0micron outbreak, may already be past the peak of its wave. the i leads with how covid is affecting the nhs, reporting that organisations representing medics are warning
politics going back to normal after being dominated by covid after a couple of weeks although how many times has that cycle repeated and reversed itself? we will get a proper political speech from keir starmer today, trying to sound very patriotic, talking about the commonwealth games and the queens jubilee this year and looking very proud to be british. something his predecessorjeremy corbyn was sometimes accused of being not too enthusiastic about. there will be lots of policies because the labour leader thinks he is unfairly accused of not having enough ideas of what he would do as prime minister. labour say they have loads of policies, although it is fair to say they have not all exactly landed in they have not all exactly landed in the public s mind yet. there are still quite a few gaps. keir starmer thinks he will have to get to move on because he thinks there will be an election in 2023 and labour party rules means that the outlines of the manifesto have to be agreed by the part
the scottish government says the restrictions will be reviewed a week today. wales introduced measures on boxing day, closing nightclubs, reintroducing the rule of six, and people must work from home when it is possible to do so. the welsh government says restrictions are being reviewed on a weekly basis. and in england, face coverings are required in most public venues, and people are being advised to work from home when they can. the government will next review the data tomorrow, but the prime minister says as it stands no further restrictions will be put in place. we re joined now by professor tom solomon, director of the uk s emerging infections research unit, based at the university of liverpool. nice to see you, welcome. i know we don t really have a complete picture of infection levels because there is a delay and the like and if figures but give us your assessment of where we are right now. but give us your assessment of where we are right now-
foraging, fishing, free from the rigours of life. but what led ken smith eventually here to the shores of a remote loch was an attack on him at the age ofjust 26. there was about eight of them. they came charging at me and kicked my head in. eventually, my head, it s like you can hardly ever imagine. it was like it was going to explode. after suffering a brain haemorrhage, he was told he would never speak or walk again. but he did. that s when i decided to never live on anyone s terms but my own. he spent time in the wilderness of canada before walking the length of britain until he found what he now calls home. i thought this is the most isolated place in britain. hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of miles of nothingness.