⏳ Wednesday Fix: Who is Sweating?

Morning all,

The current prime minister faces a "fiery" House of Commons, a former prime minister receives intense objection to his knighthood, and a prince anxiously awaits a judge's decision.

Who is sweating? Well, we know Prince Andrew can't.

Until tomorrow,

Your Fixers

GOOD LISTENER?

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ON TODAY'S AGENDA...

The first Prime Minister's Questions of the year takes place today at noon in the House of Commons.

Sky News noted it will be a "potentially fiery" atmosphere for Prime Minister Johnson, facing topics such as increased energy prices, previous Downing Street parties, the government's response to Omicron etc.

KEEPING AN EYE...

A US Judge said they will decide "soon" on whether or not to dismiss the civil lawsuit against Prince Andrew.  As The Daily Mail reported, the judge "leaves Prince Andrew sweating". #Ifyouknowyouknow 👀

Worth noting: BBC News provided very helpful analysis on this, pointing out that the 2009 settlement between Giuffre and Epstein stated third parties - who had not signed the agreement - could not use it in court without permission.

"Given that Epstein is dead and Ms Giuffre doesn't want the prince to benefit from the agreement's terms, a strict reading of that paragraph would mean the agreement is irrelevant to her damages case." - Dominic Casciani, BBC Home and Legal Correspondent

For anyone interested, the clip below from Channel 4 News provides some more really helpful context on this lawsuit and potential developments.

While we wait... you might enjoy this cartoon coverage from Morten Morland, The Times.

PANDEMIC

• In the UK, daily cases were above 200,000 on Tuesday, for the first time ever. As BBC News noted, "that's affected by a backlog in reporting from Wales and Northern Ireland over the New Year period".
• In tennis, player Novak Djokovic has received a medical exemption from the coronavirus vaccine, meaning he can play in the upcoming Australian Open. The exemption sparked a lot of online debate, but the Open's chief said 26 athletes applied for the exemption, with "a handful" being granted.
• In France, President Macron said he purposely wants to "get on the nerves" of unvaccinated citizens by limiting their access to social activities. worth noting: The Local translated the quote as Macron saying he "really wants to p*** them off".
• In the US, a teacher was arrested for allegedly administering a vaccine to a student in her home, despite not being trained to do so nor having the consent of the student's parents.

PIN DROP - WHAT'S GOING ON IN KAZAKHSTAN?

The entire government has resigned and a two-week state of emergency has been declared, amid mass protests over recent fuel prices.

The central Asian country - which Al Jazeera described as "fairly stable" - saw the demonstrations over fuel prices turn into violent protests calling for free elections and the ousting of top government officials.

According to CNN, the government announced on Tuesday evening they would restore the fuel price cap in a particular region. Prior to that, police had to use flashbang grenades to disperse protestors, with footage reportedly showing burned out police cars.

SOCIETAL SHIFTS

• In England and Wales, a ban on photographing women breastfeeding will be introduced, in an effort to stop women from being "pestered".
• In Ireland, a minimum price of alcohol has been introduced to curb excess drinking, with campaigners saying it could save lives.

"In SuperValu, a slab of 24 cans of Guinness was being sold for €18 yesterday, but under the new laws, that same slab must cost at least €39.77 today." - Context from The Irish Examiner

MOST READ

• BBC News: Australian fury erupts at Djokovic vaccine waiver
• The Guardian: Prof Chris Whitty sparks confusion over England's Covid self-isolation rules
• The Financial Times: Elizabeth Holmes found guilty in criminal fraud trial
• Al Jazeera: Emma Watson Instagram post in support of Palestinian angers Israeli envoys
• The Irish Times: Shane MacGowan: I can't concentrate on music when I can't even walk across the room

TWITTER TRENDS

#EmmaWatson

Why? The actor was trending after an Instagram post expressing solidarity with the Palestinian people was met with some claims of antisemitism by Israeli envoys.

According to The Times, a "combative former Israeli ambassador" to the UN tweeted "10 points from Gryffindor for being an antisemite".

Israel's current ambassador to the UN also acknowledged the expression of solidarity. Many activists were critical of the accusations of antisemitism, saying the reaction to the non-political post showed any deviation from full support of Israeli policies could be labelled antisemitism.

#HAVEYOURSAY

More than 600,000 people have signed a petition to have Tony Blair's recently awarded knighthood removed.

Why? Most cite Blair's role in the Iraq War and the narrative of 'weapons of mass destruction' as a key reason for their objection to the honour.

Who is in support of him? The current Labour leader, Keir Starmer - who already has his knighthood. Starmer said Blair has "earned" the honour, adding the current prime minister has not.

Worth noting: For anyone with a subscription, The Financial Times had an interesting article about Starmer's efforts to move the Labour party back to the centre and adopting the "Blair playbook" to win elections.

In Tuesday's NewsFix, we wrote about a group of girls' schools in England saying admissions will be based on a student's assigned gender at birth.

We asked you about this on our Instagram;

• 55% of you disagreed with the statement, saying admission should not be based on the gender assigned to a child at birth
• 62% of you said you feel it is a discriminatory policy against trans pupils

GUESS WHO?

An anonymous painter using the pseudonym 'Rhed' was fetching five figures for his work.

It turns out, the artist is none other than Madonna and Guy Ritchie's son, Rocco! The revelation has split opinion - with some critics not holding back on their thoughts.

"They compare him with the street artists Banksy and Basquiat but to be honest, the only street they remind me of is the King’s Road where this kind of bad art is sure to sell to posh fools." - The Guardian art critic Jonathan Jones

Here is a link to his full collection of work.

ON A LIGHTER NOTE...

Hey, stop cutting onions.