Impact on daily life

UK. 26^th January
Debenhams to close
Online Fashion company “Boohoo” has bought the Debenhams brand and the website.  They want the name (it is 242 years old) but they do not want any of the 118 shops.  This means 12 thousand people will lose their jobs.
Jenners famous store in Edinburgh was set up in 1838 – it is closing – that means 200 people losing their jobs.
Mastercard Prices to go up
More bad news about prices.  Mastercard (credit card) says its charges for things that are bought from the EU are higher.  This is possibly 5 times higher.  This affects bookings for flights, hotels, car hire and holiday firms that are based in the EU.  The current fees are 0.3% – that is going up to 1.5%.  In the EU, they do not allow this … but Britain is not in the EU anymore.  This will hit Amazon as well because their payments go through Luxembourg.  These costs are added to the extra charges because of the extra custom duties, taxes and administration.
Government still warning that Covid is continuing
No one wants to say when schools will open. The health experts say there are more people in hospital now than since the beginning – 38 thousand.  There are nearly 100 thousand deaths.  Cases are dropping slightly.  They say the vaccine is working against the new UK version of Covid.  They do not know that it works against the Brazil version or the South African version.  The tests are continuing.
UK removes status of EU ambassador
UK says EU ambassador has less status that the other 142 countries officials.  There is a lot of criticism about this.  It means EU officials might be taxed and will not be protected from criminal charges.