Welcome to hardtalk, i m stephen sackur. Whoever first said that politics and sport shouldn t mix, well, they were wasting their breath. They ve always mixed. And why wouldn t they, given the huge part that sport plays in our culture? right now, england is consumed by an agonising debate about racism in football after three black players on the national team were targeted for vile abuse, but it affects other sports, too. This is lords, the headquarters of english cricket. My guest today is the former west indian fast bowler michael holding, who has become a prominent voice confronting racism. But is this a fight that sport can win? michael holding, welcome to hardtalk. Thank you. Thank you, stephen. It is pretty much exactly a year since you used your platform as a cricket commentator to speak with great eloquence and passion about the continued damage being done to society by racism. Now, in the year since then, do you see any signs of progress? definitely. I see quite a few signs of
Would go on working, as part of a daily testing pilot scheme prompting condemnation from labour. Hundreds of thousands of people are having to self isolate because of the prime minister s reckless decisions. He expects them to follow the rules. As soon as the rules apply to him, what does he do? he tries to wriggle out. We did look briefly at the idea of cars taking part in the pilot scheme which allows people to test daily, but i think it is far more important that everybody sticks to the same rules. We ll be asking what the government s handling of this might do to public confidence, as england prepares to drop most legal covid restrictions in a matter of hours. Also on the programme. More rain and flooding hits western europe. Germany s chancellor angela merkel calls the devastation surreal . Feelings run high in tokyo, with protests against the olympic games as athletes and staff test positive for covid. Hamilton is going to try again! and lewis hamilton wins the british grand
Hello and welcome. Today, monday the 19th, has been called freedom day in england. As of today, most covid restrictions here have come to an end. Prime minister borisjohnson says now is the right time to unlock, but he s urging people to remain cautious. The unlocking comes as the uk is seeing a big surge of infections, driven by the delta variant. Let s take a look at the main changes in england. Some scientists are predicting a could reach 200,000 each day by the end of the year. Businesses have been preparing for this reopening, with many companies having to understand how to interpret the changes and keep their staff save, and those kinds of details. This report contains flashing images. The moment they have been waiting for for over a year. Three, two, one! cheering and applause. The final stage of onlooking and england, with social distancing rules dropped. 1000 people packed into this club in central london, with many more lining up outside. Cheering and applause. They have wait
Experts recommend that a limited group of children should be offered covid jabs, to protect them against the pandemic ahead of this winter. In other news twelve former sub postmasters have had their criminal convictions overturned at the court of appeal, after the computer system, which was installed in branches, has now been shown to have had serious faults. The met office has issued its first ever, extreme heat warning, covering much of wales, all of south west england, and parts of southern and central england. In some of these areas, temperatures are forecast to reach 33 celsius by thursday, when the amber warning is due to end. Now on bbc news it s time for hardtalk . Welcome to hardtalk, i m stephen sackur. Whoever first said that politics and sport shouldn t mix, well, they were wasting their breath. They ve always mixed. And why wouldn t they, given the huge part that sport plays in our culture? right now, england is consumed by an agonising debate about racism in football