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In today’s newsletter: Unsafe buildings and a teacher exodus are only some of the challenges facing schools this year
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Good morning! And commiserations to any young readers and teachers who have had to set their alarms today for the first time in six weeks. I feel your pain, and hope you at least have a nice new pencil case to soften the blow.
Most pupils in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland are already back in class, but many English schools are reopening their doors this week. Unless, of course, they are one of the more than 150 suddenly told by the government on Thursday that they would have to find alternative accommodation due to the presence of a particularly crumbly kind of concrete.
Covid | Coronavirus testing and monitoring are set to be scaled up for the winter, the UK’s public health agency has said, as pressures on the health service are expected to rise. Scientists warned last month that the UK was nearly “flying blind” when it comes to Covid, because many of the surveillance programmes have been wound down.
Police | More than a dozen murder cases and more than 100 sexual offence cases collapsed before trial in England and Wales last year because of lost or missing evidence. The findings were obtained by a freedom of information request by criminal justice researchers and raise concerns about police handling of crucial evidence used to prosecute the most serious crimes.
US | Authorities in Nevada are investigating a death at the site of the Burning Man festival, where thousands of people remain stranded as flooding from storms swept through the desert.
Economy | Jeremy Hunt has said there may be a “blip” in inflation in September. The chancellor’s concession comes despite his insistence that the government’s plan to reduce inflation is working. Inflation has eased to 6.8% from a peak of 11.1% last October, but is still far above the Bank of England’s 2% target.
Books | More than half of children and young people do not enjoy reading in their free time, according to a survey from the National Literacy Trust (NLT). The charity said reading enjoyment was lowest among disadvantaged children, and warned that the research should serve as a “wake-up call”.
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