Associated Press: Facebook slams UK antitrust watchdog over call to sell Giphy. “Facebook has criticized the U.K. competition watchdog’s provisional decision ordering that it sell off Giphy because it said the acquisition of the company stifles competition for animated images. The social network’s strongly worded response to the Competition and Markets Authority sets the stage for a battle over the future of Giphy.”
BBC: Covid: Cornwall tourists urged to ‘stay away’ as cases rise. “Tourists have been urged to stay away from Cornwall unless they have pre-booked a trip because of a huge spike in Covid cases. The latest figures show Cornwall has 770 cases per 100,000 people, double the previous week’s figure. The UK also recorded 174 new Covid-related deaths on Tuesday – the highest figure since March.”
BBC: Data protection ‘shake-up’ takes aim at cookie pop-ups. “The UK’s new Information Commissioner will be charged with a post-Brexit ‘shake up’ of data rules, including getting rid of cookie pop-ups. John Edwards has been named the next head of data regulator the ICO.”
BBC: BBC History release archive to mark 85 years of entertainment television. “As part of its 100 Voices That Made The BBC archive project, BBC History has today launched its Entertaining the Nation Collection, offering a rare insight into broadcast entertainment across the years through newly released interviews from the BBC Oral History Collection, plus an array of rarely seen photographs.”
BBC: Covid: Antibody tests offered to public for first time. “Antibody tests are to be widely offered to the UK public for the first time in a new programme that aims to find out more about how much natural protection people have after getting coronavirus. The government scheme will offer tests to thousands of adults each day.”
Sky News: COVID-19: Almost 5,000 coronavirus cases investigated after Cornwall music and surf festival. “Almost 5,000 coronavirus cases are suspected to be linked to a surf and music festival in Cornwall. Health officials have launched an investigation after it emerged 4,700 people had tested positive for COVID-19 following Boardmasters near Newquay earlier this month.”
BBC: JMW Turner painting goes on display for first time since 1833. “A Turner painting of Malmesbury Abbey in Wiltshire has gone on public display for the first time in nearly 200 years. The watercolour is being shown at the town’s local museum, as part of a scheme to encourage people back to small museums and heritage sites. Other objects going on display around the UK include a 160-million-year-old crocodile, a rare Bronze Age sword and the original Jolly Fisherman painting.”
Vice: These Tweets Show Britain’s Classic Camp TV Moments. “A BBC newsreader sits politely as she adjusts her hair, seemingly unaware the camera is still rolling. Seconds later, EastEnders legend Natalie Cassidy bursts onto the screen, and chaos ensues for a solid two minutes over the face of the oblivious newsreader. This is not the confused end of a coronavirus press briefing, but the start of one of Twitter user Jake McBain’s .avi videos, which he posts routinely on his account to the attention of celebrities including Radio 1 DJ Greg James, Olly Alexander and Drag Race UK’s Divina De Campo.”
The Guardian: Gun licence applicants in UK face social media checks after Plymouth attack. “Applicants for permission to own a firearm or shotgun will be subject to social media checks after the Plymouth mass shooting, ministers have said. Questions have been asked about how the Keyham gunman Jake Davison, 22, obtained a firearms licence and carried out his attack, in which he killed five people before turning the gun on himself.”
PsyPost: A fear of medical procedures and injections accounts for about 10% of COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy in the UK. “According to a study published in Psychological Medicine, a fear of blood, injections, and other medical procedures can explain about 10% of cases of COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy in the United Kingdom. The researchers call for initiatives to make the vaccination process less anxiety-provoking, given that the success of immunization programs relies on vaccinating as many people as possible — even those with fears of injection.”
The News, Portsmouth: New website built in memory of the COPP commandos who trained at Hayling Island from 1942-45. “SERVICEMEN who fought in Burma often claimed they felt they were the ‘Forgotten Army’ with all the attention on liberating Europe. But many special forces units like COPP – Combined Operations Pilotage Parties who trained on Hayling Island – were not even widely known about in the first place.”
Newswise: More than one in ten COVID-19 patients infected in hospital in first pandemic wave. “The researchers examined records of COVID-19 patients in UK hospitals enrolled in the International Severe Acute Respiratory and emerging Infections Consortium (ISARIC) Clinical Characterisation Protocol UK (CCP-UK) study, who became ill before 1st August 2020. They found that at least 11.1% of COVID-19 patients in 314 UK hospitals were infected after admission. The proportion of COVID-19 patients infected in hospital also rose to between 16% and 20% in mid-May 2020, long after the peak of admissions in the first wave.”
Museums+Heritage Advisor: New funding opportunities launched as Paul Mellon Centre film series champions properly funded research. “Telling previously unknown or seldom told stories unearthed by recipients of its funding awards, one of six films charting a broad range of topics will be released each week from today. Shot on location at venues including the British Museum and the British School at Rome, the short films – each no longer than six minutes to ensure maximum impact – have been conceived not only to highlight intriguing new research but to make the case for the importance of properly funded scholarship.”
Vice: Anti-Vaxxers Tried to Storm the BBC. They Got the Wrong Building.. “While Television Centre was once the BBC HQ, it is now mainly used to make light entertainment TV shows and also includes flats, raising the question of why protesters targeted it.”
British Newspaper Archive: Introducing Free to View Pages on the British Newspaper Archive. “Now, with one million pages made free to view today, consisting of 150 titles and spanning the years 1720-1880 more and more people will be able to search the unparalleled resource which is offered by the British Newspaper Archive, in partnership with the British Library. Over the next three years, we will see a total of 3.7 million free to view pages being added to The Archive, with the aim of shedding light on the diverse content held by the British Library.”
