sir patrick vallance, the government s chief scientific adviser during the pandemic, has told the covid inquiry that the government s response to limit the spread of the virus in the early months was not, in his words, operationally effective. he said borisjohnson, who was prime minister at the time, had struggled to understand some of the scientific concepts that were presented. the inquiry is currently looking at decisions made by politicians during the pandemic. helena wilkinson reports. sir patrick vallance arriving at the inquiry in central london this morning ahead of giving evidence. he became one of the most recognisable faces during the pandemic. faces during the pandemic. patrick, over to yom faces during the pandemic. patrick, over to you. appearing faces during the pandemic. patrick, over to you. appearing at faces during the pandemic. patrick, over to you. appearing at daily - over to you. appearing at daily covid news over to you. appearing at daily c
rachel reeves, labour s money woman. let me try and communicate. and after the last seven days, real political life might be more far fetched than anything writers could come up with, but the thick of it star and bafta winner joanna scanlan is here, with her brand new tv series just hours away from kicking off. morning. i ll introduce my guests at the desk in a second, but it s unusual that we have two opposite numbers with big, powerful jobs together at the same time, so while you re both still in the chair, let s say hello and ask you the same question we asked both your bosses a few weeks ago. what is something you admire about each other? politics doesn t have to be nasty. jeremy hunt, what do you admire about rachel reeves? she is a survivor, she has been in and out of the shadow cabinet, front bench, still here, and it is a quality and politics. still here, and it is a quality and olitics. ~ ., ., , ., still here, and it is a quality and olitics. ~ ., ., ., politics. wh
what? someone planted only male plain trees. and this is why pollen is horrific at this time. is that true? i ve wondered for years because i used to. working in westminster you used to get absolutely clobbered and like crying on the news, not because of the stories, but because of the pollen. maybe a little bit of that. but, yes, that s what it is. and it s all down. apparently the australians got rid of it. i looked at this a lot because anyway, if i sneeze that is why. tree cast coming soon. so, well let s start with today s news then because it s been a really busy, busy, busy election morning, not with one big gigantic story, but lots of different things coming out. the tories were talking about more changes to the benefit system that they want to do, extra cash for some mental health talking therapies. labour are talking about more prison places, and the difference between them and the conservatives on that is that they would give a justice secretary the power just to b
ps, and i love this bit. i avoided using tartan wall purely for laura s benefits . so handy, we got you here this week. yes. good morning to you, laura. tartan wool. i m not a fan. i m not a fan of tartan wool either. and we will answer that question, connor. we will answer it, but you have to keep listening. and a few other things to go through today. sure. yeah. we have the various commitments made that seem to be fairly new commitments on welfare reform. and we also have the previews for the manifestos. it s going to be an exciting episode of this sunday s newscast. newscast from the bbc. hello, it s laura in the studio. it s faisel in studio two. it s james in glasgow. hurray! how nice to have the two of you with me here on a sunday afternoon, having been abandoned by paddy and henry and adam and everybody else. i fought my way through thickets of pollen. apparently, it s all male trees that try and mate with you. what? someone planted only male plain trees. and this is
Also this hour, how Climate Change is transforming the british garden. They will be looking at new techniques because of rising temperatures. And looking for love online one rhinos search for a partner on the dating app tinder. Good morning. Welcome to bbc Newsroom Live. The labour party has switched its Election Campaigning to the nhs today pledging to give a bigger pay rise to nhs staff in england if it wins The General Election. Labour says it would scrap tuition fees and Restore Bursaries for Student Nurses and midwives which are due to end in august. The party says it would end the current 1 cap on Wage Increases, in part because nhs staff had been undervalued, Overworked And Underpaid by the government. Labour says. And it says its policies would be paid for by reversing Corporation Tax cuts. The party says a Labour Government would also introduce tougher rules to ensure that Staffing Levels in hospitals are safe. The Shadow Health secretary, jon ashworth, said the money was ther