British Airways flight 2007. Image: Photographed by Adrian Pingstone and released to the public domain.

Britons flying back from Wuhan on Thursday will be isolated for two weeks possibly at a military base.

Wuhan city in China is sealed-off and countries such as Britain, EU, Japan, Australia and US are making emergency plans to repatriate their citizens.

British Airways has suspended its flights to and from mainland China.

The Foreign office is advising against all but ‘essential travel.’

❝Due to the increasing travel restrictions and the public health situation, we now advise against all but essential travel to China.❞ Foreign Secretary @DominicRaab#coronavirus

— Foreign Office 🇬🇧 (@foreignoffice) January 28, 2020

Nothern Rail to be nationalised

Northern Rail in Wigan. The first Class 195 units and Class 331 introduced in July 2019 Image by Micheal McNiven. CC BY-SA 4.0

The goverment has announced that Northen Rail is going to be renationalised from the 1st of March.

Nothern rail has been owned by Aviva since 2016 but has failed to achieve its promise to modernise and improve its services.

In May 2018, the introduction of new timetables caused major train cancelations which led to an unreliable service.

The services will be managed by a public company reporting directly to the government armed by experienced train managers.

Restrictions on Huawei’s role using 5G networks

Huawei will continue to use 5G Networks in the UK, but with restrictions.

This is despite attempts from the US to discourage the linkup.

The Chinese tech company will only be allowed to use 35% of the network’s periphery and will be prevented from providing kit to ‘sensitive parts’ for the network.

The US secretary of State Mike Pompeo has warned of potential spying risks in giving Huawei access to the network.

Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab said that the goverment’s decision to give limited permission to the company will not affect UK-US relations.

Fisheries’ bill introduced to end EU vessels’ right to fish in UK waters

The Fisheries Bill has been introduced in Parliament today which will end automatic access for EU vessels to fish in the UK waters.

Britain will be able to operate as an independent state after December 31st when it will leave the EU’s Common Fisheries Policy.

Access to UK waters will be an important issue in negotiations for a new trade deal with the EU.

The fisheries question could be a bargaining chip in the UK’s hope to have continued access to the EU’s financial markets.