This is your JRN Weekly briefing covering the developments of the last week in three key areas. If you have a story to share, contact our news desk at juniorrowingnews@gmail.com
Covid-19 & World News:
“We are absolutely not going back to the austerity of 10 years ago”
The Prime Minister
Finally, the curve seems to have flattened, so much so that the UK Government is no longer holding its daily press briefings. Despite the promising signs of slowing infections in Europe, many parts of the world continue to see cases rise at an alarming rate as the total number of cases passes ten-million.
In a speech next week the Prime Minister will announce his vision for a post-lockdown Britain and how the nation will get back on its feet. In an interview with the Mail on Sunday, Mr Johnson set out his government’s plans to kick-start the economy, including the new ‘Infrastructure delivery Taskforce’ led by chancellor Rishi Sunak which aims to speed up the construction of hospitals, schools, and roads. It comes as the government faces mounting criticism for their handling of the Coronavirus pandemic after the economy shrank by 20.4% in April – the largest reduction in economic output on record.
A new House of Commons Library analysis, commissioned by the Labour Party, warns of that unemployment levels could soar to levels not seen since the 1980s, causing Shadow Business Secretary Ed Miliband to warn of “Thatcher levels of unemployment.”
Almost nine-million workers have had their wages partly paid for by the Government’s Furlough scheme since the lockdown began, causing the national debt to exceed the size of the national economy. This has caused concern for many who see increased borrowing as the only option if Number 10 is to deliver on their promise of ‘levelling up’ the country.
Covid-19 is far from extinct in the British Isles, however, with a local lockdown in Leicester looking likely after Home Secretary Priti Patel told the BBC that it is “correct” that the government is considering the move. Elsewhere, medics warnings of a second UK spike are continuing to cause great concern after two illegal street parties were shut-down by the Metropolitan Police in London earlier last week.
In Scotland, meanwhile, citizens have been told that the country could be “covid-free” by the end of summer. It comes after a sharp decline in deaths was observed, with no new deaths being reported on Friday or Saturday in Scotland. As a result, comparisons are being made between Scotland and New Zealand, who reported no new cases for over three weeks.
Across the pond, Texas and Florida are considering re-imposing lockdown restrictions as cases there begin to climb once again. The United States has been the worst-hit country during the Coronavirus pandemic, being home to 1-in-4 cases and 127,000 deaths. Mississippi, meanwhile, has begun the process of removing the Confederate symbol from its flag; the state is the last within the US to feature the Confederate flag on its official symbols.
On the Eastern Seaboard, Princeton University has announced that it plans to change the name of its School of Policy so that it is no longer associated with President Woodrow Wilson. The announcement comes in the wake of the George Floyd protests which have sparked a wave of change across the US. President Wilson was Commander-in-Chief from 1913 to 1921 and was pivotal in establishing the League of Nations which would later give rise to the United Nations. He also, however, supported segregation and spoke highly of the notorious Ku Klux Klan or KKK.
Tensions look set to escalate once again between Washington and Moscow after a report from US Officials featured in the Washington Post and New York Times that alleges a Russian Military Intelligence unit offered bounties to the Taliban to carry out killings on the US and NATO allies. Russian officials told reporters that the claims were “baseless” and that they had led to threats on a Russian diplomats life.
The UN is investigating a “disturbing” video that shows acts of a sexual nature being carried out in an UN-branded car. The video shared thousands of times on Social Media was apparently filmed on a main road on Tel Aviv’s seafront. A spokesman for the United Nations said that the behaviour displayed in the video “goes against everything we stand for and having been working to achieve in terms of fighting misconduct by UN staff.”
In India, New Deli has become a Coronavirus hotspot, with more than 77,000 confirmed cases at the time of writing. Critics have said that plans for better lockdown measures and contact tracing efforts should have been implemented sooner, and point to the Southern city of Bangalore as an example of contact tracing saving lives.
In Kenya, a row between police and locals over the wearing of face coverings in the small town in the Rift Valley had led to three deaths. Local police confirmed the deaths but failed to provide detail as to how they occurred. Elsewhere in Africa, the waves of locusts decimating crop yields have placed 5-million at risk of starvation, with more potentially in danger as swarms move towards population centres in India and other parts of Asia and Africa.
Malawi and the Republic of Ireland have both elected new Heads of State this week, Lazarus Chakwera and Micheál Martin respectively. Mr Chakwera won 60% of the popular vote to defeat the previous incumbent, whilst Mr Martin has formed a historic three-party coalition which had promised to make defeating Coronavirus its priority.
British Rowing:
“The UK-wide campaign will give families, communities, schools and sports clubs the chance to capture the enjoyment, competition and camaraderie they have been missing out on during weeks of school closures and social distancing.”
British Rowing Press Release
As clubs across the country continue to slowly re-open, all major competitions remain in the virtual realm with the British Rowing Virtual Championships making headlines this weekend.
The inaugural British Rowing Virtual Championships (BRVC) saw a huge entry, with four records broken on Saturday, including British Rowing Team member Lauren Rowles who beat her own existing PR2 Women’s 2000m world record in a time of 08:09.7, whilst at age 16 Gabriel Obholzer set a new British Junior 2K Record in an astonishing 05.57.2.
Away from the racing, British Rowing took part in the Youth Sports Trust’s National School Sport Week at Home to promote a love of school sports in children. British Rowing CEO Andy Parkinson said: “We are delighted to support National School Sport Week at Home. School-age rowers are an integral part of the rowing family and school sport has a transformational impact on the lives of young people. With young people experiencing the negative impact of the lockdown, British Rowing is fully supportive of the Youth Sport Trust and all that they do to offer opportunities for all young people to enjoy their sport in these different times.”
Here at JRN HQ, we released our latest episode of the End of the Island in which Emma Twigg and Gary Herbert gave their thoughts on the fate of international racing post-lockdown. Meanwhile, in collaboration with British Rowing, we continued to receive entries for our Young Writers Competition which gives young rowers the opportunity to win Mizuno sports kit and an interview with some of GB’s top rowing stars.
International Rowing:
“The European Rowing Board and the Belgrade Organising Committee have confirmed that the 2020 European Rowing Junior Championships will go ahead. Belgrade, Serbia will welcome junior European athletes from 26-27 September 2020.”
World Rowing Press Release
It has been a busy few days on the international scene, with major announcements from FISA on the fate of the 2020 and 2021 rowing calendars making headlines, along with the recent release of the critically acclaimed ‘A most beautiful thing’ and the death of a Paralympic star.
Originally scheduled for the end of May, the European Junior Rowing Championships were postponed as a result of the coronavirus pandemic; however, the European Rowing Board have confirmed that proposed dates for the competition to take place towards the end of September, have been confirmed. The ERB is keen to stress, however, that although the Covid-19 situation in central Europe appears under control, the situation is constantly evolving and as a result, further changes may have to be made.
FISA has also announced a revised 2021 international events calendar, after an extended consultation period with member federations and stake-holders. The first event of the 2021 season will be World Rowing Cup I in Zagreb, Croatia beginning in late April. The full events calendar can be found here.
June’s athlete of the month has also been announced, with Martin Helseth of Norway receiving the award, whilst this month’s rising start has been named as Anna Santruckova of the Czech Republic.
The final segment of FISA news is that the 2020 rowing awards will be replaced by a month of rowing celebration. The awards event, which took place in London in 2019, highlights the best of International rowing, but with little in the way on inter-continental competition, World Rowing has reassessed the situation and have decided that the federation will instead recognise individuals within the community who have acted with courage during the Covid-19 outbreak with a month of rowing celebration.
The feature film ‘A Most Beautiful Thing’ has recently premiered, which chronicles the story of the first all-black US High-school Rowing team. There was also tragedy in the states, however, with the death of Angela Madsen – former Paralympian and LGBT Rights campaigner – who died whilst attempting to row solo from California to Hawaii.
That’s all for this week’s briefing. Be sure to tune in next week for the latest news, advice, and analysis.
Until then, catch the latest episodes of our podcast here, and keep up with content from across our team on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram.
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Ed Evans
Opinions Editor
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