Top story: Sinn Féin aims to form coalition with Greens
Morning everyone. I’m Martin Farrer and these are the top stories this Monday morning.
Sinn Féin is celebrating what looks like being a remarkable upset victory in the Irish election that could see the former political wing of the IRA form a government in the republic. With 96% of first-preference votes counted last night, Sinn Féin had 24.1%, with Fianna Fáil on 22.1%, Fine Gael on 22.1% and Greens on 7.4%. The party’s leader, Mary Lou McDonald, told a raucous gathering of supporters in Dublin that they had witnessed a “revolution” and that Ireland no longer had a two-party system. She added that she would try to form a coalition with the Greens and some small leftwing parties but did not rule out talks with Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael, the two established parties that have ruled Ireland between them for nearly 100 years. Gerry Adams, who stepped down as party leader in 2018, said Sinn Féin would use its mandate to plan for its defining goal, a united Ireland. The final allocation of seats in the Dáil Éireann might not be known until later today or tomorrow.
Our Ireland correspondent, Rory Carroll, examines how Sinn Féin rode a wave of voter anger about homelessness, high cost of living and disillusion with the traditional parties to spring what was a surprise result. You can also read his profile of McDonald here.
Ciara chaos – Britain is facing widespread disruption this morning after Storm Ciara battered large areas of the country, leaving flooding, power cuts and major disruptions to transport in its wake. The bad weather is forecast to continue today with blizzards expected in Northern Ireland and most of Scotland along with 20cm of snow. There is also a snow and ice warning in place for north-west England for today and tomorrow with the unsettled weather likely to cause delays on morning commutes today due to blocked roads and cancellations of flights and train services. The main line between Manchester and Scotland was closed and Network Rail said engineers would work through the night to assess the damage. The storm dumped a month and a half’s rainfall on some areas in just 24 hours and also brought gusts of more than 90 miles per hour. Check out or picture gallery on the storm here, or watch this video of Britain being battered by Ciara.
Korea high – The 2020 Oscars belonged to Parasite, the Korean film that has become the first foreign language film to win the best picture award. Not only that, the film’s director, Bong Joon-ho, won the prestigious best director prize, and the movie also picked up the statuette for best original screenplay and best international film. The black comedy saw off big-name opposition from Sam Mendes’s 1917 and Quentin Tarantino’s Once Upon A Time In Hollywood, although the latter did win some recognition when Brad Pitt took home best supporting actor. Laura Dern won best supporting actress for Marriage Story. Joaquin Phoenix won best actor for The Joker and Renée Zellweger triumphed for her portrayal of Judy Garland in Judy. You can read a full list of winners here and get up to date with the red carpet action here.
Virus warning – Sixty new cases of the coronavirus have been confirmed on the cruise ship docked off Yokohama in Japan. It brings the number of infections on board the Diamond Princess to 130. The head of the World Health Organization says “we may only be seeing the tip of the iceberg” with regards to the spread of the coronavirus. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, who dispatched a team of experts to China today, said there were “some concerning instances” of the virus’s spread from people with no travel history to China. In China, where the death toll from the outbreak has jumped to 908 with 40,000 cases, authorities began to oversee a partial return to work for millions of people furloughed last week in an attempt to contain the contagion. Concern is growing, however, for a citizen journalist, Chen Quishi, who has been posting regular updates on the outbreak from Wuhan but has been missing since Thursday. Follow the latest developments at our live blog here. And our economics writer, Phillip Inman, has taken an in-depth look at whether the virus can derail the global economy.
Windrush worsens – The number of people wrongly designated as illegal immigrants in the Windrush scandal could be many times higher than originally believed, with thousands still to come forward. MPs will debate the issue in the Commons today amid growing concern about the slow pace of compensation payments to victims. Only £62,198 has been paid out to 36 people from a Home Office fund set up to pay out up to £750m. So far 1,108 people have applied, as many as 15,000 could be eligible. Also today, dozens of Jamaican-born immigrants are mounting a last-minute bid to block their deportation on a chartered flight set to leave the UK tomorrow.
Fox lobby – Liam Fox lobbied the Bahraini royal family to give a £5bn oil contract to a company owned by a Tory donor which is under investigation by the Serious Fraud Office for bribery and money laundering. Fox’s intervention, which came when he was international trade secretary, was one of several attempts by senior party figures to win support for Petrofac, which is controlled by Ayman Asfari. He and his wife donated almost £800,000 to the Conservative party between 2009 and 2017 in a personal capacity.
Today in Focus podcast
Peter Mandelson and Steve Howell represent the two opposite poles of the Labour party: one was a key architect of Blairism, the other of Corbynism. But they started out as inseparable friends at the same school in north London. Now their focus is on what comes next for the party. Plus: Matthew Taylor on the growing prevalence of climate anxiety.
Labour's divide
Lunchtime read: ‘Overwhelming and terrifying’
The climate crisis has dominated much of the news agenda in the past year with the media saturated with images of drought, fires and flooding. But a worrying corollary to the crisis is the rise of climate anxiety, especially among younger people such as 20-year-old Clover Hogan. Matthew Taylor investigates.
Sport
England’s coach, Eddie Jones, was pleased with the way his players adapted to treacherous conditions in the Six Nations to beat Scotland and the weather. Tournament organisers have launched an investigation into an incident before the game at Murrayfield when a member of England’s coaching staff was struck on the head by a beer bottle. Eoin Morgan said the key to victory was the performance of England’s veteran spin-bowling duo, Adil Rashid and Moeen Ali, after a nerve-jangling but ultimately comfortable two-wicket win against South Africa in Johannesburg. Jemma Reekie has continued her incredible record-breaking run by smashing the British indoor mile and indoor 1500m records at the Millrose Games in New York – just a week after she claimed the national 800m record. Dele Ali has apologised for a video posted on his Snapchat account in which the Tottenham and England midfielder appeared to mock an Asian man and joke about the coronavirus outbreak. And Pakistan’s 16-year-old paceman Naseem Shah has become the youngest player to take a hat-trick in Test cricket.
Business
The new boss of John Lewis has hinted that she might consider store closures as middle Britain’s favourite shop struggles with the changing face of the high street. Our retail expert, Zoe Wood, looks at what was once an unthinkable option. On the markets, Asian shares have dipped 0.5% outside Japan as investors assess the extent of China’s coronavirus woes. The FTSE100 is set to dip 0.25% at the opening while the pound is buying $1.29 and €1.178.
The papers
Many papers lead with the weather story, with some even agreeing on the headline. “Storm of the century”, says the Metro and the i, while the Express comes close with “Storm of the century batters Britain” and the Mirror has “Battered”.
The Telegraph and the Times both have the same weather picture – the wave-swept pier at Newhaven – and the same virus lead. “Pressure on health chiefs over British virus ‘super spreader’”, says the former, while the latter has “Briton infected seven with virus”. The FT says “Shut businesses hit China drive to restart economy despite virus”.
The Guardian splashes with “Known Windrush victims ‘may be tip of the iceberg’”, the Mail has “Internet chemists cashing in on UK HRT crisis” and the Sun leads on Phillip Schofield’s wife saying: “I stand by my Phil”.
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