The Standard

Evening Standard crime correspondent Anthony France takes us through the events that turned a peaceful vigil on Clapham Common into a violent protest with four arrests. Could Scotland Yard have done more to ensure the event took place as planned in the first place, and why did officers apparently switch strategies as evening fell and some of those still there became more angry?

He also discusses the future of Met Commissioner Cressida Dick, who is under pressure to resign over what happened with politicians like the Lib-Dem's Sir Ed Davey saying she should quit. 

But Boris Johnson and Home Secretary Priti Patel are giving her their full backing, and she insists she's the right woman to lead the force as London, and the UK, tries to reckon with violence against women.

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Assistant Commissioner Nick Ephgrave has promised Scotland Yard's dedication to the people of London is "undiminished" after it was confirmed Sarah Everard's body had been identified. The Evening Standard's home affairs editor, Martin Bentham, tells us detectives are now trawling through the background of a serving firearms officer who has been arrested on suspicion of the 33-year-old's murder. He also says the Met is facing five investigations by the Independent Office for Police Conduct, including one looking at whether an opportunity to arrest the officer earlier for a different alleged offence was missed. 

And, our city hall editor Ross Lydall joins us to talk about his meeting with London Mayoral candidate Laurence Fox. The actor and "anti-woke" campaigner has sparked a backlash after saying that Britons had a “sovereign choice” to decide whether or not to get vaccinated.

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The Evening Standard's Helena Wadia speaks to one of the organisers of Reclaim These Streets, a series of vigils taking place across the UK following the disappearance of Sarah Everard. 

Jessica Leigh is among those behind an event taking place at the bandstand in Clapham Common at 6pm on Saturday. She says they'll be calling for streets to be safe for women, regardless of what they wear, where they live or what time of day or night it is.

A survey for UN Women UK, published this week, found that 97 per cent of women aged 18-24 said they have been sexually harassed.

Similar vigils are due to be held across the UK. 

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It's emerged the Duchess of Sussex did make an official complaint against Piers Morgan following the former GMB host's claim that she was "lying" during her interview with Oprah. Meghan is one of 41,000 to have raised an issue with ITV, but unlike the public's complaints, hers is reported to have gone straight to the channel's CEO.

Piers Morgan insisted this morning that he "fell on his own sword", but the Evening Standard's Jonathan Prynn says ITV bosses had to have taken Meghan's intervention into account. He also talks about how the interview is having impacts across the world, particularly in Commonwealth countries.

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We don’t know yet precisely how a year in lockdown has affected us, but we’re getting a pretty good idea. An Evening Standard survey found that 42% of our readers say their mental health has been hit by the Covid crisis. 27% don’t know what to do to improve their well-being. 

On March 10th we’re launching London Minds, free online sessions involving inspiring speakers like Arianna Huffington, Dr Rupy Aujla, and Ben Bidwell from the Naked Professors podcast. 

Joining the Leader podcast are co-founder of the Movember campaign JC, and Power Hour podcast host Adrienne Hebert. They talk about the growing mental health crisis, and give simple advice on how to look after yours. 

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Buckingham Palace is struggling to contain the fallout from a series of bombshell allegations from Harry and Meghan in their much-anticipated interview with Oprah Winfrey. The monarchy has been plunged into crisis as the Duchess of Sussex alleged that a member of the royal family had raised “concerns” when she was pregnant about how dark her son Archie’s skin would be. Meghan also told how life as a working royal had taken her to the brink of suicide.

Evening Standard columnist, and senior editor of the Economist, Anne McElvoy joins the podcast to talk about how damaging the allegations could be, and what Buckingham Palace needs to do next to recover? The interview was shown in the States on Sunday night and will be broadcast in the UK on ITV at 9pm tonight and ITV Hub.

Clips in the podcast are courtesy of Harpo Productions/CBS.

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Deputy political editor Nicholas Cecil joins the podcast following his story revealing how several Tory MPs have joined the backlash against the government's once percent pay rise offer for NHS workers. 

Among them is former health minister Dr Dan Poulter MP, who as a doctor has been working on the frontline in a central London hospital during the pandemic. 

He told The Standard the Government should consider an inflation-matching pay rise and a one-off payment of at least two percent of salary to recognise the extraordinary work done by NHS staff in the last year.

Meanwhile, rumblings of industrial action are beginning to mount, and current health minister Nadine Dorries has suggested the government might "move" on the pay issue. 

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Another clip from the Duke and Duchess of Sussex's upcoming interview with Oprah has been released, and for the first time it features Meghan speaking. The bombshell 30-second preview of Sunday's show features her accusing what she calls 'The Firm' of "perpetuating falsehoods" against her and Harry. It comes as Buckingham Palace confirms it's investigating allegations Meghan bullied some staff in October 2018.  Lawyers for the Sussexes dismissed the claims as “a calculated smear campaign based on misleading and harmful information”. The Evening Standard's Jonathan Prynn tells us it looks like a very big row is about to erupt. 

Also, our City Hall editor Ross Lydall was at Sadiq Khan's re-election campaign launch, which didn't quite go to plan. The mayor was forced to hole-up inside a coffee shop for an hour to avoid a small group of residents protesting about a transport scheme. Ross says Mr. Khan was then followed down the street by the group as he made his way to a waiting car. 

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Former Treasury worker, now Evening Standard journalist, Jack Kessler joins the podcast to reveal the thinking behind some of Rishi Sunak's big announcements. He tells us why income and corporation tax hikes are coming, and why they're being delayed. He also explains why successive budgets have seen freezes on fuel duty, including this one. 

Rishi Sunak's moment in the Commons came just a few months after Britain left the EU, but the word "Brexit" didn't appear at all in his speech. Jack says that's because announcements like the 'super deduction' business tax cut would be dwarfed by what's been lost through leaving the world's biggest trading bloc without a deal covering services.

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There are two major events taking place on Wednesday that will both contribute to the survival of the culture industries once lockdown is over. The first is an expected £400m budget announcement by chancellor Rishi Sunak, which will see even more money invested into the Culture Recovery Fund, along with cash for museums and venues to stay afloat until they can re-open in May. 

In the evening, the Evening Standard will be revealing the first recipients of the Future Theatre Fund which was created in association with Tik Tok and in partnership with the National Youth Theatre. 12 up-and-coming talents will receive £10,000 each. The NYT's chief executive and artistic director Paul Roseby joins the podcast to talk about how theatres have been navigating the pandemic, and how important it is that young people who have lost so many opportunities for stage work need to be supported. 

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