Transcripts For BBCNEWS Coronavirus 20200617 : comparemela.c

Taking steps forward. Downing street says there were no injuries when the Prime Ministers car was shunted by an escort vehicle as a protester ran into the road outside parliament. The husband of a nurse who died after contracting coronavirus, says his wife shouldnt have been allowed to work while she was heavily pregnant. Inflation hit its lowest level forfour years in may with the price of fuel seeing its biggest fall on record. Good afternoon. In 90 minutes time, the premier league will kick off for the First Time Since lockdown began. Its a moment millions of fans have been waiting for but theyll have to stay at home to watch the rest of the season. All the games will be played behind closed doors. It is 100 days since weve had the top flight game, and players have been training for the last few weeks. It comes as the england striker Marcus Rashford has vowed to continue speaking up for disadvantaged families after he won the campaign for children in england to continue receiving Free School Meals over the summer. In other developments the World Health Organisation has hailed the success of a drug trial by Oxford University as a lifesaving scientific breakthrough. Dexamethasone is a cheap widely available steroid which has shown to be able to save the lives of seriously ill covid i9 patients. With a look at how football is able to make a comeback our first report is from our Sports Correspondent andy swiss. Ready for the big restart. Matchday once again at villa park as footballs 100 days of waiting is nearly over. This was the last time we saw the premier league. Villas game against leicester on march 9th. That was before the sport went into shutdown. Now its back with plenty of flags but no fans. The only ones inside here tonight will be projected on giant screens. I started to support aston villa. It is some a0 years since anne edwards missed a game at villa park but, like everyone this evening, shell have to watch at home. I shall be sitting in the lounge with a television on, bottle of wine ready all the family are villa fans. So in touch with the family and friends about it all. But ijust really cant get my head round what its going to be like. How much have you missed football over the past three months . Just generally. 0h, terribly life is so boring while the premier league is finally back, and it is now frantically playing catch up, the match here between aston villa and Sheffield United, the first of 92 games injust six weeks. A finale to the season the like of which football has never seen before. Premier League Champions Manchester City. Titleholders Manchester City are also back tonight, against arsenal, but after such limited training, even their manager doesnt know what to expect. In germany and spain they have had, like, five or six weeks, and in the premier league, we have only had three weeks, three and a half. Of course, we know it is not enough, but it is what it is. We are tired of screaming for help. We are tired of discrimination. But football is also addressing far bigger issues. A group of players have released this new antiracism message, including raheem sterling. In training, teams have already shown their support for the black lives matter movement. It will be written on their shirts tonight, along with a badge to honour the nhs. It is really important to have black lives matter at this point, at this period of time, and what sport is doing, particularly football, around it, but also hand in hand with the idea that the nhs will be promoted on the shirts as well. Alan hansen, a League Championship winner. 0n the pitch the focus will turn to liverpool with their 30 year wait for the league title potentially over as soon as sunday, but for the entire sport, this extraordinary season is heading for an unprecedented finish. So, after aston villa and Sheffield United Manchester City versus arsenal kicks off at quarter past eight. Its football but not as we know it. Joining me is arsenalfan gooner fanzine columnist and premier league writer rosie tudball. Also im joined by the general secretary of the Manchester City Supporters Club kevin parker. Good afternoon. Rosie, are you excited . Im overjoyed, i cannot wait. It is a tough game but it will not take away the excitement. You will miss the atmosphere . Absolutely, it will be strange with no fans in the ground but hopefully the team can do well without us. Kevin, you look as if you are at the stadium but you are not . No, we are not allowed anywhere near at the stadium, that is just not allowed anywhere near at the stadium, that isjust my screen saver in the background. We have to watch at home which is understandable but very strange feeling knowing it is match day and i live in the city centre and the game isa i live in the city centre and the game is a mile away but we cannot get near it. We understand that but it is strange. What would you normally be doing on match day, do you have a ritual . I think most foot ball you have a ritual . I think most football fans who go to the games regularly have a ritual, they know what time they need to leave home to get to the stadium, whether you have a lucky scarf or lucky way to get to the stadium. So that is all a bit odd. Watching the home game on television for the likes of me and maybe 40,000 other people will be very strange because normally we would be at the stadium. There are occasions you do not go to the etihad, away games are slightly different of course because not many people can get tickets. It is going to be art, the club have done a fantasticjob trying to liaise with supporters getting photographs and video sending with flags orlando stadium. Theyve tried to make it as good as they can but i do not know what to expect. I think everyone is with you there. Rosie, what have you been doing in the interim because it is 100 days precisely since top notch football was being played, how have you fill the gap . Honestly ido how have you fill the gap . Honestly i do not know, it is almost unbelievable that so many days have gone by. With thejob i do as well, i like writing about football and that has been taken away as well. So football is essentially my life and my work life site had to adapt a lot and find Different Things to do but really nothing comes close to football so im very excited for tonight. And what about the belarus premier league, they continued to play. Did you dip in . I watched a bit of it, arsenal played i think last year or the year before so i was familiar with their opposition but it was not close to the premier league. Tonight will be a great occasion and it willjust seem different without the fans on the ground. And only going to watch with friends who are also watching it online . I will have some friends around just a social distancing of course im just watching the football, we have some opposing fans as well support Manchester City so it will be fun but just as well support Manchester City so it will be fun butjust not as well support Manchester City so it will be fun but just not the as well support Manchester City so it will be fun butjust not the same as going to the ground and meeting up as going to the ground and meeting up with my friends. But what else can we do . Indeed. And kevin up until now what has this season been like for Manchester City . Not too bad, to be honest, we won the league cup and were still in the fa cup and champions league. The premier league has been disappointing compared to the previous two seasons but you have to give credit to liverpool who have to give credit to liverpool who have been unbelievable this season andl have been unbelievable this season and i suppose you probably would not wa nt and i suppose you probably would not want to say that about your rivals but it is fair that the premier League Season should continue for them to be able to win it as they have been the best team this season. That in itself has been quite difficult, weve had this rivalry with them over the last few years which has been almost like a kind of derby feel to it. City have not had too bad a season, no other team has w011 too bad a season, no other team has won a domestic trophy in england since the 19th of may 2018 when chelsea won the fa cup. With one everything that has been going but probably sometimes you look at the media and you would not know that. You have been generous about liverpool, good for you thank you and do enjoy the match this evening. Thats the fans perspective. But what will it be like trying to play in these unfamiliar conditions . Lets speak to former england and Manchester City defender danny mills. He joins us from north yorkshire. Good afternoon. It is going to be a very strange couple of games . M will be very surreal. Footballers are very adaptable and used to change and sudden change in circumstances. But this is going to feel very different even for the home players, home advantage in my opinion has gone out the window completely. Obviously the fans are not there, we all know that, but thenit not there, we all know that, but then it is all those little habits and wejust then it is all those little habits and we just heard there. The route you take to the ground, the place you take to the ground, the place you sit in the dressing room and the way you go through your pre match routine, all these idiosyncrasies that the players have will all change because of social distancing, different changing rooms, everything that has to happen to protect everyone. The atmosphere is going to be strange and i think it will take a bit of time for players to adjust but they know how important it is, to get the win, they are challenging for a trophy or fighting relegation so for a trophy or fighting relegation soi for a trophy or fighting relegation so i expect them to go out and i expect the intensity still to be there. And it they are playing. That is the most important thing, i think we all know the reason why the premier league and obviously the championship closely linked to that, it is about money and to call it off was going to be a financial disaster for so many. I think Going Forward 110w for so many. I think Going Forward now with got to make sure that there is in the premier league and those big clubs in the championship need to make sure that they look after the teams in league1 to make sure that they look after the teams in league 1 and league to come into the National Leagues and further down because the english football pyramid is the strongest throughout the world and weve got to do everything to protect that and i think that this lockdown period, covid, made us realise that there are many football clubs on the precipice, on the edge day to day. And more needs to be done for many to be spread on a fairer basis. And what about individual players, how will they have prepared for this, how much training has gone into today . I would say most premier League Players will have home gyms and they will have their fitness regime, they could have kept their basic fitness very high throughout this. Of basic fitness very high throughout this. Of course they would have lacked a bit of sharpness, football fitness is not like any other. It is may be closer to Something Like by may be closer to Something Like rugby because it is stopping, starting, changing direction, different speeds, huge variable throughout the game. Then a ball co nsta ntly throughout the game. Then a ball constantly moving so i expect there to bea constantly moving so i expect there to be a bit of rustiness, i expect the base levels of fitness to be high. There could be some misplaced passes and some bad touches early on as the players feel the way back into it but also there the of that that some players, we used to call them Training Ground players, brilliant monday to friday and then they could freeze at times in front ofa they could freeze at times in front of a crowd. With no crowd may be the players could be a bit more expressive and try things that they otherwise would not. Weve often heard before that some teams are better away from home without that pressure of their home crowd. So i think it will be interesting to watch both games this evening to see how the players adapt. And i guess the players when theyre on the pitch will have to observe social distancing to a certain extent . think that will be very difficult. Weve heard about the rules of no spitting, no clearing of the nose. How far do you go, you cannot wipe sweat from your brow and brush it to the floor . I think a lot of this is about the aesthetics of it and how it looks to the wider population. The last thing you be thinking of running for a ball and being competitive, that is why you are an elite sportsman and professional footballer, youre not going to suddenly think about social does sing. And when goals are scored on motion sometimes takes over. Social distancing. Itjust motion sometimes takes over. Social distancing. It just happens and you do not know what youre doing for the next 15 or 22nd so i think that players will be as respectful as they can and when they can do will follow all the rules. But we have got to accept i think that this is competitive sport at the highest possible level. Players are going to brag what we see as those minor rules from time to time. They will not be punished for them andi they will not be punished for them and i think weve got to accept it as part and parcel of sport. Very good to talk to you, thank you so much. Off the pitch, one of the premier leagues biggest stars, Marcus Rashford, says he wants to do more to help those in need after winning a battle with the government to have a Free School Meal Voucher Scheme in england extended. At westminster, the government has been questioned about Child Poverty and has come under further criticism for its coronavirus policies. 0ur Political Correspondent nick eardley reports. The government has a growing to do list with questions over its handling coming thick and fast. The Prime Minister under pressure after being forced into a u turn on Free School Meals in england. Facing claims that he is out of touch with what the crisis means for people around the country. Last week the governments own social Mobility Commission said 600,000 more children are living in poverty than in 2012. Labour echoed fears from the watchdog that the current shutdown could make things even worse. They are really concerned that these projections were made, 5. 2 million, before the impact of covid 19 and they go on to say which we expect to push more families into poverty. This is a serious issue. Im sure that the Prime Minister would agree that an even higher Child Poverty rate would be an intolerable outcome from this pandemic. So, what is he going to do to prevent it . The government says its actions at the start of the crisis will help protect the vulnerable. 11 millionjobs protected by the coronavirusJob Retention scheme, unlike anything done anywhere else in the world. £30 billion worth of business loans, and we intend to make sure that we minimise the impact of coronavirus on the poorest kids in this country. Not for the first time, the Prime Minister accused labour of being unclear when it came to the return of schools, but once again mrjohnson was pressed by opposition parties to do more. Marcus rashford has shown more moral leadership in tackling poverty in a matter of days than this tory government has in the past decade of cuts. But, as he says, people are struggling all year round and more needs to be done. The snp want an extra £20 a week added to the child element of universal credit. The response from the Prime Minister. This is a government that has done everything we possibly can so far, to help families in need, to make sure that nobody is penalised for doing the right thing. There are significant questions facing the government in the next few weeks. How to get schools back in england, whether to relax the two metre rule, whether the guidance for people who had been shielding for months now can be changed. None of the answers are easy. But some have raised concerns that, after some high profile u turns, the governmentjust isnt on top of this crisis. The governments decisions are under more scrutiny than ever. Nick eardley, bbc news, westminster. 0ur Political Correspondent, leila nathoo, is in westminster. Lots going on today but notjust politics. An incident with the Prime Ministers car this afternoon. Politics. An incident with the Prime Ministers car this afternoonm happened just after 2pm, the Prime Ministers motorcade was coming out of parliament, emerging into parliament square, where there are regular assembly of protesters and a police presence. The Prime Ministers car was in front, there was a Police Motorbike in front of him, and behind his carwas a security detail in a range rover and a further Police Vehicle behind that and, a