that the government has decided that all we can afford is the 1%. new figures show the number of people with coronavirus fell by about a third last week across the uk. the mystery person who tested positive for the brazil variant of concern in the uk has been found following a nationwide hunt. from monday, passengers travelling internationally from england will need to carry a new form setting out that their trip is permitted under current restrictions. cyprus says any britons who ve had both doses of a vaccine can travel there without quarantine, from may 1st, even though foreign holidays will still be illegal. good afternoon and welcome to bbc news. in half an hour, we ll bring you the latest coronavirus briefing from the government, led today by the health secretary matt hancock. first, today s main news. unions are calling it a kick in the teeth nhs staff in england have reacted angrily to the government proposal of a 1% pay rise. ministers say it s what s affordable
of his journalism called dispatches from the diaspora. gary younge, welcome to the media show. let s go back to some of where it all began. you studied french and russian at heriot watt university in edinburgh, and then in yourfinal year you received a scott trust bursary from the guardian to study journalism. and i think you were quite clear at that point that you wanted to be a columnist. why? because i had been very politically involved and my entry into writing was partly because i d studied languages and studied to be an interpreter and i like to manipulate words, but it was also because i had been very involved politically, almost precociously, and that i thought i had things to say. and what i didn t realise at the time was the degree to which reporting, running out, talking to people, finding out, all of that, is the nuts and bolts of everything, including column writing. so as someone who hadn t done an awful lot ofjournalism and heriot watt didn t have a student new
days. scottish national party s chief exec as it has resigned with immediate effect, after the snp was forced to reveal a massive drop in its party member ship this week. you are watching bbc news. time for the media show. my guest today has covered some of the most defining stories of our time. gary younge briefly became part of nelson mandela s entourage, joined revellers as president obama was elected, and has covered much else too gay marriage, brexit, the windrush scandal, and the black lives matter movement. gary left as a full time journalism at the guardian in 2020 to become professor of sociology at the university of manchester. although he continues to write articles for various publications and books. his new one is a collection of his journalism called dispatches from the diaspora. gary younge, welcome to the media show. let s go back to some of where it all began. you studied french and russian at heriot watt university in edinburgh, and then in yourfinal year