as the world watches and waits to see the impact of the omicron covid variant, here boosterjabs are to be offered to everyone over 18. the gap between the second vaccine dose and the booster will be cut from 6 months to three. and all twelve to fifteen year olds will now be offered a second vaccine dose. the government s deputy chief medical officer jonathan van tam says it s pretty likely that vaccine effectiveness will be reduced by the new variant but hopefully only to a small extent when it comes to preventing severe disease. as the number of cases increase in the uk and around the world, scientists believe it will take about three weeks to understand the effects of omicron. our health editor hugh pym has the latest. boosting the boosters, like those being given in derby today. that s now the official response to the new variant. experts have told ministers that, as well as all adults being offered boosterjabs, the gap between the second dose and the next should be slashe
the eastern city of chittagong. now on bbc news, political thinking with nick robinson. hello and welcome to political thinking. the queen has expressed her hope that her platinum jubilee celebrations will focus on what brings us together, on what unites us, not what divides us. my guest on the programme has had to spend much of her career worrying about exactly the opposite, about extremism and how to counter it. she is dame sara khan. herjob now is the government s independent adviser for social cohesion and resilience. before that, she was the country s first counter extremism commissioner. born and raised in bradford to pakistani parents, she once said, there is something going horribly wrong within muslim communities. we need to have an open and honest debate about that. words which won her praise from some, but criticism from many within her own community, who said that she was fuelling rather than countering some of the prejudices about muslim people, and in partic
on what unites us, not what divides us. my guest on the programme has had to spend much of her career worrying about exactly the opposite, about extremism and how to counter it. she is dame sara khan. herjob now is the government s independent adviser for social cohesion and resilience. before that, she was the country s first counter extremism commissioner. born and raised in bradford to pakistani parents, she once said, there is something going horribly wrong with the muslim communities. we need to have an open and honest debate about that. words which won her praise from some, but criticism from many within her own community, who said that she was fuelling rather than countering some of the prejudices about muslim about muslim people, and in particular the idea that many were somehow hostile to their country and their values. dame sara khan, welcome to political thinking. thank you very much. now, we are all this week or are we all? celebrating the jubilee. is this s
more revelations about abuse within the church of england. senior figures colluded with a disgraced former bishop, who abused young men according to an independent review. theresa mayjoins eu leaders in brussels to discuss brexit but angela merkel says her focus but angela merkel says herfocus is on the future of the remaining countries. a post mortem examination finds that 51 year old makram ali, who died at the scene of the terror attack outside finsbury park mosque, died as a result of multiple injuries. prince harry tells a us magazine that no one in the royal family really wants to be king or queen. and no skirting around this issue 50 boys at a school in devon wear skirts to school in protest at not being able to wear shorts during the heatwave. welcome to bbc news. at least three tower blocks have been found to have cladding that couch catch fire. in tests ordered in the wake of the g re nfell tower tests ordered in the wake of the grenfell tower disaster, in w
is terminally ill his parents lose their final legal battle to give him experimental maxing out our credit cards a warning from the bank of england about forgetting the lessons of the past. google faces a record fine from the eu competition watchdog, over £2 billion, for being unfair to other companies. and coming up in sportsday on bbc news, england s women post a record breaking total of 377 in their world cup match against pakistan. good evening and welcome to the bbc news at six. scotland s first minister nicola sturgeon has had to backtrack on her plans to push for a second independence referendum as early as next year. today s decision follows the general election in which her snp lost 21 seats. ruth davidson, the leader of the scottish conservatives, said ms sturgeon was as she put it leaking credibility and confidence . here s our scotland editor sarah smith. nicola sturgeon may not look like a woman thwarted. but she cannot now march ahead with her plans fo