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Friday evening news briefing: The Great Escape from France

People queue to check-in for a British Airways flight from Nice to Heathrow - Daniel Cole/AP
People queue to check-in for a British Airways flight from Nice to Heathrow - Daniel Cole/AP

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Scramble to get home before French quarantine starts

British holidaymakers are racing back from France today to avoid the two-week quarantine that comes into effect at 4am tomorrow. They face paying hundreds of pounds to make a quick exit from the country with British Airways charging £452 for a direct flight from Paris to Heathrow tonight. The same journey can be made with the airline tomorrow for just £66. The Telegraph has learned of one-way flights from the south of France costing as much as £800. The cheapest ticket on a Eurostar train from Paris to London is £210, compared with £165 tomorrow. Among the up to half a million Britons holidaying in France was Kate Bussmann, deputy editor of the Sunday Telegraph's Stella magazine. She describes how, with the French having to wear masks in all indoor settings, social distancing seems to have been totally abandoned in the country.

The Netherlands has also been placed on the UK's red list and has told its citizens not to travel to Britain, while France has threatened retaliatory quarantine measures. So is it still possible to travel to France? Here is the latest holiday adviceAmbrose Evans-Pritchard thinks the British travel curbs on France are idiotic but suggests President Emmanuel Macron's tit-for-tat cheap populism is just as bad. Where could be next for quarantine restrictions? Transport Secretary Grant Shapps revealed today how the Government could choose which destination might have its air bridge scrapped next. Dominic Gilbert and Alex Clark analyse which countries are charting a similar path to France.

Theatres, casinos and bowling alleys allowed to reopen

Theatres, casinos and bowling alleys will be allowed to reopen in England from this weekend as the Government resumes its easing of lockdown restrictions. From tomorrow, socially distanced audiences will also be allowed back into indoor venues, while wedding receptions of up to 30 people will also be permitted. Yet Rupert Christiansen thinks the conditions for indoor performances are so draconian as to verge on the ludicrous. Meanwhile, beauty salons have been inundated with bookings after finally getting the go-ahead for close-contact services such as eyebrow shaping and facials. Yet Sonia Haria thinks the Prime Minister has lost the trust of the beauty industry after his decision to "put on the brakes" the reopening of some services two weeks ago.

Dylan Hartley: 'Players are chewed up and spat out'

Dylan Hartley captained the England rugby team and won 97 caps during a turbulent 16-year career that was curtailed by injury in 2019. In that time he led England to its first Six Nations Grand Slam in 13 years and on a victorious tour of Australia. He also won the Premiership, which restarts tonight after a five-month hiatus, with Northampton Saints. Yet the price of success is now, aged 34, his body is broken. He has problems with his back, hips, knees, wrists and ankles. He tried jogging gently down his drive and could not walk for a week. He put his hip out mowing the lawn and struggles to finish a family stroll. He told Martin Fletcher in this interview about his worries about brain damage, how he cannot even play with his daughter and how the game needs radical reform.

At a glance: Latest coronavirus headlines

Also in the news: Today's other headlines

A-level results | A senior Tory MP has called on the exams regulator to publish details of the algorithm it used to make its calculations, to ensure pupils from poorer areas were not disproportionately marked down. Protesters have marched on Whitehall demanding the Government act to protect students, after it emerged that nearly 40 per cent had been downgraded by the algorithm. Read on for the latest.

Around the world: Why EU may not sanction Belarus

Pavel Chuduk wants the EU to come down hard on the regime of Alexander Lukashenko. The 30-year-old English teacher has good reason for this. One of an estimated 6,000 picked up by the security forces during protests against Lukashenko's "victory" in presidential elections in Belarus widely regarded as rigged, he was taken to a police station and subjected to torture by electric shock. But sanctions, like much of Europe's approach to the country, may be tempered by a desire to draw Belarus closer to the West. Matthew Day analyses why a fear of Russia may stop the EU sanctioning Belarus over opposition beatings.

Friday interview

Barry McGuigan - 'I keep thinking my daughter will walk back in'

 

Former world boxing champion Barry McGuigan and his daughter Danika -  Niall Carson/PA
Former world boxing champion Barry McGuigan and his daughter Danika - Niall Carson/PA

The much-loved boxer opens up to Ben Rumsby about the death of his daughter Danika, alleged £1bn crime lord Daniel Kinahan, his legal battle with protege Carl Frampton and boxing's policing of doping

Read the full interview

Comment and analysis

Editor's choice: Features and arts

  1. Princess Anne's most enduring relationship | Inside her lifelong love affair with horses

  2. Is it really overrun? | The truth behind those hysterical Salcombe headlines

  3. Katie Morley Investigates | 'My husband died at 33 and left me with five kids and mortgage'

Business and money briefing

Fortnite maker sues Google | Epic Games, the video game business behind the popular Fortnite app, has sued Google and accused the company of “doing evil” after it removed Fortnite from its app store. The legal action against Google came hours after Epic launched another lawsuit against Apple in which it made similar accusations that Apple controls a monopoly over apps on its iPhones. Read on for details.

Sport briefing

England vs Pakistan | England's bowlers continued to enjoy themselves on day two of the second Test. Follow live updates from Southampton.

Tonight's TV

Unreported World, Channel 4, 7.30pm | As Donald Trump fights to stay in the White House for a second term, he can count on strong support from one controversial group: "TradWives". This documentary examines the growing movement. Read on for more.

And finally... for this evening's downtime

'Why I homeschooled my children in Botswana' | It was 1996, and Kate Nicholls had moved her five children – Emily, then 16, Travers, 11, Angus, nine, Maisie, seven, and Oakley, 22 months – from England to Botswana by herself. Funded by renting out her home in the Cotswolds, she reveals why she decided to teach them in southern Africa – under a camelthorn tree, surrounded by lions.