Newspaper headlines: New Year hope and campaign for 'jabs army'
By BBC News
Staff
- Published
The Daily Mirror has a message of hope on its first front page of the year with the headline "here's to smiling again in 2021" alongside a photo of a care home resident clinking glasses with a member of staff.
"Up yours 2020!" exclaims the Star, in what it describes as a "heartfelt message" to "the worst year in living memory".
While appreciating that the traditional new year optimism may be in short supply this year, the Times believes there are plenty of reasons to hope 2021 will be the start of the "roaring twenties".
The mass coronavirus vaccination programme and the prospect of a robust economic recovery both make the list - as does the post-Brexit trade deal.
The paper acknowledges that some short-term disruption is inevitable as a result of the UK's new relationship with the EU, but is hopeful that a tide of pent-up business investment and innovation will be unleashed, as firms can now plan for the future with confidence.
In a New Year article for the Telegraph, the prime minister strikes an upbeat tone saying the EU trade deal and the Oxford Covid vaccine have the potential to create a "trampoline for the national bounce-back".
Boris Johnson insists that we're not far off from returning to normal life - and that most importantly "we can see with ever-growing clarity how we are going to get there".
He suggests that the Oxford vaccine provides a lesson for the country's future, describing it as a "brilliant collaboration between state activism and free market capitalism".
The Daily Mail says Mr Johnson has happily restored some confidence and credibility with his "Brexit triumph", but that his "most monumental challenge" for 2021 will be overseeing an efficient, effective and rapid vaccination programme.
Vaccine latest
The Times reports it has seen a letter to doctors, in which England's chief medical officer, Chris Whitty, said the shortage of coronavirus vaccines was an issue that could not be "wished away", as he defended the decision to push back the second doses for up to 12 weeks.
Writing in the Daily Express, the vaccines minister Nadhim Zahawi stressed that the vaccination programme will take time - and has urged everyone to help the NHS by following the rules in the meantime.
Meanwhile, the Daily Mail reports that retired medics who've offered to help the vaccination drive are facing "mountains of red tape".
It claims some have been asked to provide 21 documents, proving they are trained in subjects including counter-terrorism and racial equality.
In a comment piece for the Mail, the chairman of the Royal College of GPs, Professor Martin Marshall, says this "box-ticking mentality" is putting off would-be NHS returnees - with potentially serious consequences for patients.
Meanwhile, the i newspaper suggests that the prime minister's pledge of normality by Easter may be missed, because of a shortage of equipment such as medical glass vials.
The paper understands this to be the reason why only 530,000 of the Oxford-AstraZeneca jabs will be available from Monday.
In the Scottish edition of the Times, the former leader of the Scottish Lib Dems Tavish Scott has suggested that furloughed hospitality workers should be redeployed to help carry out coronavirus inoculations, to prevent the NHS from being overwhelmed.
He points out that those in the sector are all about "customer care, reassurance and a friendly face" - all of which would be useful qualities.
The Sun is calling on its readers to sign up to be volunteer stewards at pop-up vaccination centres. "Join our jabs army" is the headline.
Schools 'shut until February'
The Daily Telegraph has heard from a senior government source, who has admitted that it's "entirely possible" that schools in England could remain shut until February.
Most secondary pupils will stay at home until at least 18 January - along with a million from primary schools.
The source explained that coronavirus data for Christmas will be available by the time the closures are reviewed - and it's difficult to see there being an improvement.
The paper also quotes minutes from a meeting of the government's scientific advisory group, Sage, which took place before Christmas. It says the committee did not believe a similar lockdown to November's - where schools remained open - would be enough to control the new variant of the virus.
Brexit also features in many papers, as the long process of leaving the EU was completed.
"Our future, our Britain, our destiny" is the headline on the front of an "historic Brexit edition" of the Daily Express.
It pictures a union flag emblazoned with the word "freedom", projected onto the white cliffs of Dover.
The Express says that although the UK officially left the EU last January, today is the true "Brexit freedom day" - as "we are no longer beholden to rules dreamed up in Brussels".
International Trade Secretary Liz Truss has told the paper that global Britain is ready to "take flight" - with more than 60 trade deals coming into force today.
The Guardian strikes a different tone, saying the UK left the orbit of EU rules "without fanfare" on Thursday night, as the temporarily reconnected chimes of Big Ben rang out at 23:00 GMT to near empty streets.
The paper describes today as one of sadness, while insisting that the UK's departure from the EU remains a "tragic national error".
The Mirror hopes that the UK can now start a new chapter in its history. Its leader column says that if this is to be a moment of renewal, as Mr Johnson claims, then it must start with redressing regional inequality, solving a housing crisis, and delivering skilled and secure jobs.
It dismisses the idea that the divisions caused by the Brexit debate can be left in the past, as the country is still divided over Europe. A cartoon in the paper depicts a globe on which only the UK is visible - with the rest of the world covered over by a paint called "Tory blue".
And several of the papers include photos of the wintry weather that's affecting parts of the UK - while warning that more is still to come.
The stand-out picture has to be that of a 7ft Dalek snowman, which the Star says 48-year-old Paul Cullen from Staffordshire spent four hours building.
"Extermin-art" is the caption in the Mail, while the Express goes with: "Well that's one way to exterminate the cold".