The Know Daily - Thursday 11 May 2023

_{Thursday 11 April ∙ Read in 5m 15s ∙ Listening to Céline Dion}

A former soldier has launched a project to triple the UK’s temperate rainforest over the next 30 years. Merlin Hanbury-Tenison found solace in the rainforest of Cabilla, Cornwall, after experiencing PTSD. His restoration project will transform land on Bodmin Moor and involve local farmers who will identify further areas for regeneration. What a tree-mendous idea!

🗣️ The archbishop’s intervention

The Archbishop of Canterbury has clashed with ministers after describing the Illegal Migration Bill as “morally unacceptable” during a heated debate in the House of Lords on Wednesday.

Remind me what the bill’s about?
The government’s Illegal Migration Bill is aimed at “stopping” small boats from crossing the English Channel. It will place a legal duty on the home secretary to detain those arriving in the UK illegally, deporting them to Rwanda or another “safe” third country.

The bill has prompted outrage from human rights campaigners, who argue that it is unworkable, endangers modern slavery victims and could breach international law.

What did the archbishop say?
Justin Welby said it was “morally unacceptable and politically impractical” for the UK to let the world’s poorest countries deal with asylum seekers when the government is cutting its international aid spending. He added that the bill does not address the two key causes of international migration: the climate crisis and war.

How did the government respond?
Immigration Minister Robert Jenrick urged peers to back the bill and said the archbishop was “wrong”. “There is nothing moral about allowing the pernicious trade of people smugglers to continue,” he told BBC Radio 4’s World at One.

So what next?
The legislation has cleared its first parliamentary hurdle in the Lords, after a Lib Dem motion to block the bill failed. However, it is expected to face significant further opposition in the Lords - where the government does not have a majority.

📣 Measles PSA

Public health experts are urging children and adults to take up free vaccinations against measles amid an uptick in cases.

Tell me more.
The warning from the UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) comes after statistics revealed that there were 49 cases of measles in the first four months of 2023, compared to 54 in the whole of 2022. Around two-thirds of the cases were in London.

While measles - a highly contagious viral infection - was considered to be eliminated in the UK in 2016 and 2017, cases have been rising in recent years.

What’s driving the increase?
Takeup of the MMR (measles, mumps and rubella) jab had been falling in the UK before the Covid pandemic, but lockdowns further disrupted vaccination programmes. Last year, the World Health Organisation (WHO) said that gaps in immunisation coverage had created a “perfect storm” for measles, whereby millions of children were now unprotected.

In the UK, uptake of the two MMR doses in children aged five is just 85% - well below the 95% target set by the WHO, which is necessary to reach and maintain elimination.

Why are officials so concerned?
An estimated 17.1 million lives are thought to have been saved by the measles vaccination globally since 2000, as complications from the infection can be very serious in some people.

“Measles spreads very easily and can lead to complications that require a stay in hospital and on rare occasions can cause lifelong disability or death,” said Dr Vanessa Saliba, consultant epidemiologist at UKHSA.

Got it. So what can I do?
All MMR jabs are free on the NHS, and parents and guardians can check if children are up to date with their vaccinations by consulting their red book or contacting their GP. Teenagers and adults are also being urged to get the jab if they haven’t yet received it.

🐐 A baaad mistake: Body cam footage showing police officers in Oklahoma rushing to help someone has gone viral - as it shows them realising that the “person” was actually a bleating goat.

🇪🇺 “Bonfire” of laws ditched: The government has scrapped a plan to replace all EU laws by the end of 2023 - a promise made by PM Rishi Sunak during his leadership campaign last summer.

📈 Interest rates: The Bank of England is widely expected to raise interest rates to 4.5% today, following a meeting of the Monetary Policy Committee. This would mark the 12th consecutive time that the bank rate has gone up in a bid to control inflation.

🇺🇸 Donald Trump: The former US president appeared at a CNN town hall last night to unleash what The Guardian described as “a litany of lies about the 2020 election and E Jean Carroll’s lawsuit”.

🧠 Surgical specimens: Central London’s free Hunterian Museum, which features an extraordinary collection of anatomical oddities from pickled organs to dental curiosities, has reopened after a six-year absence.

Trivia answer: B) Taylor Swift - the book is most probably not her memoir, but check out the clues her fans pieced together to come to this conclusion.

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