What You Need To Know

ITV News

The quick and expert briefing on the biggest news stories. Our team of specialist correspondents plus guests bring you information and analysis you can trust so you get What You Need To Know in minutes.

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705 episodes
Updated Thursday

Episodes705

Newest first

Feb 25, 2021 · 28 min
Back to school - Top tips to get ready for the big return
As a working mother of three, ITV News Presenter Faye Barker is among millions of parents and guardians preparing to send their children back to the classroom from March 8 after months of home schooling. In this episode,   Erin Price, the head of school at Ramsgate Holy Trinity in Kent, joins Deirdre Kehoe of the Young Minds charity to give Faye everything she - and you - need to know.   So what can she and others do before the big return? What practical steps can be taken to give children the confidence to relearn the daily act of learning in school? And will it matter if they haven't done all their homework?! Plus, what impact has the pandemic had on this generation of school pupils? Our guests share their informed opinions on whether the absence from regular school life really will lead to a so-called 'lost generation'.
Feb 23, 2021 · 25 min
How close are vaccine passports and can tourism recover?
Vaccine passports - allowing those jabbed to travel - could give holidaymakers a fast tracked route back to the continent. So how far away are they and even once travel does return, will traditional tourist cities or cruise ships recover? Few at the ITV News are as well travelled as our Europe Editor James Mates. Stationed for large parts in Italy, he has remained active across the continent and answers those questions above in an engaging conversation with Lucrezia Millarini.
Feb 15, 2021 · 29 min
How safe are the vaccines and will we need annual boosters?
If you follow ITV News on Twitter you'll have seen us put a message out to our audience recently, asking: “Do you have questions or concerns about the current UK vaccines rollout?” It turns out many of you did. So in this episode of Coronavirus: What You Need To Know, Lucrezia Millarini gets all the answers from Professor Anthony Harnden, who advises the government on the vaccine rollout as the deputy chair of the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation. Prof Harnden - who also administers the jabs in his role as a GP - addresses concerns about the safety of the vaccines, the prospect of future annual booster jabs, the AstraZeneca jab's effectiveness against the South Africa variant of the virus and even when lockdown might end.
Feb 12, 2021 · 22 min
How to get a good night's sleep in lockdown
It may feel like it at the time but if you've been finding your sleep disrupted in lockdown you're very much not alone. Professor Jane Falkingham from the University of Southampton has studied the negative impact of lockdown on sleep and found it an increasing problem across the nation. In this episode, she shares her key findings with Lucrezia Millarini before James Wilson - aka The Sleep Geek - is on hand to give his professional advice to help you conquer your sleep woes. So stay listening for information on daytime nap strategies, the impact of eating and drinking before bedtime and what to do the next time you wake in the wee small hours of the night.
Feb 10, 2021 · 28 min
Jabs for kids? Mixing vaccines? JVT answers your key Covid concerns
In this special episode of the podcast, ITV News presenter Nina Hossain puts a wide range of audience questions to England’s Deputy Chief Medical Officer Jonathan Van-Tam. Professor Van-Tam, who has won his own loyal audience for his straight-talking guidance throughout the pandemic, addresses concerns over the AstraZeneca vaccine, the extended gap between the two jabs, the impact of mixing vaccines and the likelihood of summer holidays.   He also answers questions on the prospect of vaccinated people meeting again, the potential to contract Covid-19 after getting the vaccine, why people with mild asthma are not considered a vaccination priority and much more, including the “groundless concerns” over the vaccine’s impact on fertility. Plus stay listening to the end for an update on the health of Professor Van-Tam’s mum and - utterly trivially but still something many of you wanted to know - will we be seeing him on Strictly Come Dancing?
Feb 5, 2021 · 19 min
The fake vaccine scam emails - and how to spot them
Email scammers feed on a crisis so it's no surprise that criminals have looked to exploit the global pandemic to try to steal money and data from unsuspecting victims. In this episode Lucrezia Millarini speaks to Adenike Cosgrove from the cybersecurity researcher firm Proofpoint, who are working to expose the fraudsters. These are the examples of fake emails disguised as vaccine alerts or health official warnings that Proofpoint have detected: https://www.proofpoint.com/us/blog/threat-insight/attackers-use-covid-19-vaccine-lures-spread-malware-phishing-and-bec So how do you spot these fraudulent emails? What actions can you take to protect yourself from cyber criminals? And what should you do if you realise you have fallen victim to a scam? Adenike shares everything you need to know to keep yourself safe online.
Feb 2, 2021 · 32 min
How to deal with homelife hell (with Tired and Tested comedimum Sophie McCartney)
Her song parody videos as a Tired and Tested mum on Instagram and Facebook have won Sophie McCartney a huge online audience during the pandemic. But what ITV News presenter Faye Barker wants to know is: are Sophie's comic mash-ups born from gritty experience or is the mother-of-two secretly having a lot of fun in lockdown? It doesn't take Sophie long to set the record straight and reveal her struggles, as Faye shares her own tricky experiences of homeschooling her three children - before Deirdre Kehoe of the charity Young Minds gives them - and you - valued advice on how to handle homelife hell. So stay listening for the best ways to deal with your stress levels, difficult questions about the pandemic, a sudden child meltdown and much, much more. Plus, hear Faye's son Thomas's lovable misunderstanding when asked whether he misses his friends from school.
Jan 27, 2021 · 18 min
The practical ways to stay positive in lockdown
Lockdown - or any restricted living across the UK - presents a major challenge for everyone's mental health while the pandemic continues to rage. So how can you cope with the winter woes as we all continue to live largely indoors with even exercise largely restricted? Psychologist Elissa Makris of Thrive - a game-based mental health app endorsed by the NHS - talks Kylie Pentelow through several ways you can adapt your actions and ways of thinking to find positivity in negative surroundings. For more help with mental health head to https://www.mind.org.uk/
Jan 19, 2021 · 22 min
How deadly are the new Covid variants and can they defy our vaccines?
UK. South Africa. Brazil. The new variants of the Covid-19 vaccines - originating here and in Africa and South America - are now common parlance but how deadly are they and can the current vaccines protect against them? With some concerning news emerging from South Africa, Science Editor Tom Clarke explains everything you need to know on the various variants to Lucrezia Millarini. Why do they occur? Can we expect more? And why could there be more undetected variants in the US that we may not know about? Tom will explain all...
Jan 15, 2021 · 11 min
How long does vaccine immunity to Covid really last?
How long does immunity to Covid-19 last after you’ve been infected or received the vaccine? Since the pandemic began it's one of the main questions we’ve wanted to answer. Now the SIREN study - the world’s largest investigation into Covid infections - has found antibodies protect us for far longer than the original estimation of three months. In this episode, Science Editor Tom Clarke speaks to the study lead Professor Susan Hopkins, senior medical adviser to Public Health England, about how she recruited 32,000 NHS staff to help her and - crucially - what they found. Among the questions Susan answers are: Are you at risk of getting Covid again? Even if you are protected, can you still pass it on? And what is known so far on how effective the vaccines are against the new variants?
Jan 12, 2021 · 14 min
Top tips to help you cope with the home school challenge
The closure of schools across the UK amid national lockdowns in England and Scotland has intensified pressure on parents and guardians yet again as weeks of home schooling resume. So what can they do to help children - and themselves - cope with the stressful challenge of turning the home once again into a classroom? Kerry-Jane Packman of the charity Parentkind tells Lucrezia Millarini what you need to know to ease the stress of home schooling, explains who you can reach out to for help and offers other little tips to rethink the learning process. For more information online head to https://www.parentkind.org.uk/ or the government site https://www.gov.uk/home-education - while for support with your mental health head to https://www.mind.org.uk/ or https://youngminds.org.uk/ for support for children.
Jan 7, 2021 · 20 min
When could lockdown end and are vaccines being rolled out fast enough?
The start of 2021 feels like a critical moment in the fight against coronavirus. Record levels of daily cases fuelled by a new variant of the virus and the national lockdowns in England and Scotland and mass restrictions in Wales and Northern Ireland mean there are few reasons to be cheerful. Yet the mass rollout of two vaccines shows there is an end in sight. So how far from normality are we? And is everything being done fast enough? ITV News Health Editor Emily Morgan answers those questions as she tells Lucrezia Millarini all you need to know on the biggest health issues at this stage of the pandemic.
Dec 16, 2020 · 16 min
How to save money in this tightened Covid Christmas
Christmas is often a time belt-strings are loosened but this year's social restrictions and the economic hardship caused by the pandemic have increased the financial pressures of the season. So how can you spend your money wisely amid the present giving and preparations for this year's limited festivities in our first - and hopefully last - Covid era Christmas? ITV News presenter Kylie Pentelow speaks to Ellie Austin-Williams, a financial coach and founder of the This Girl Talks Money blog, who offers her advice on whether to spend, save or borrow and also explains why she's not a fan of the term "budget" even amid the pandemic pinch.
Dec 8, 2020 · 25 min
The first vaccine patient and the Pfizer rollout explained
In this special edition, Science Editor Tom Clarke speaks to the chair of the UK vaccine task force Kate Bingham on the day history is made in the battle against Covid-19 with the first vaccines being administered in Britain. Kate delivers all you need to know about the rollout, how the vaccine will be delivered across the globe and also talks about its legacy as the NHS launches its biggest ever vaccine campaign. And before that we meet the first person in Britain to receive the Pfizer vaccine. Margaret Keenan, a retired jeweller from Northern Ireland, tells Health Editor Emily Morgan how it feels to make history just before her 91st birthday.
Dec 3, 2020 · 11 min
Pfizer boss Ben Osborn answers the key vaccine questions
In this special edition of the podcast, Science Editor Tom Clarke talks to Ben Osborn, the UK boss of pharmaceuticals giant Pfizer, after the breakthrough news that the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine has been judged safe for use in the UK. Tom puts all the key questions to Ben, including how many doses can be delivered, whether the UK should have ordered more of its vaccine compared to the alternative vaccines, why the Pfizer is more expensive than others and why people can be confident to take the vaccine.
Nov 25, 2020 · 14 min
Why you can't compare vaccines but Oxford's is cause for celebration
At first glance it appears that, at 70%, Oxford-AstraZeneca's vaccine offers less potential protection against Covid-19 than the 95% protection potentially provided by vaccines being developed by Pfizer and Moderna. However, in this podcast edition, Professor Jen Rogers tells Science Editor Tom Clarke why there is very legitimate cause for celebration at the Oxford University interim data results. And she goes on to explain why attempts to compare the three leading vaccines are quickly flawed, along with everything else you need to know about the latest breakthrough in the battle against the pandemic.
Nov 19, 2020 · 10 min
The key Covid stats (plus more vaccine good news)
For ITV News's resident Covid-19 statistician, Professor Jen Rogers, keeping across the deluge of data on the pandemic is an occupational hazard. But what can the rest of us do to make sense of the standout statistics which have filled the news headlines for months? Jen shares her expert advice with Lucrezia Millarini, while also reacting to the latest update on the advances towards a long-awaited viable vaccine.
Nov 11, 2020 · 13 min
What you need to know about the breakthrough vaccine
 Everyone’s excited about the vaccine breakthrough by developers Pfizer and BioNTech. But what does the study tell us? When can you get it? And, crucially, how do we know that it's both effective and safe?   ITV News's Covid-19 statistician - a clinical trial specialist - Prof Jen Rogers tells Science Editor Tom Clarke exactly what you need to know in this special podcast. Including, why we should take confidence from a small number of cases , why the 90% effectiveness isn’t certain , how and when we’ll know if the vaccine is safe and what happens before the vaccine gets to the public.
Nov 5, 2020 · 15 min
How to deal with an addiction in lockdown
“Addiction is an illness of isolation.” So says Michael Rawlinson of Action on Addiction in this conversation with ITV News presenter Lucrezia Millarini. He says he has seen a clear rise in the number of people battling addictions - be it alcohol, drugs, gambling, pornography or other vices - since the UK began a national lockdown back in March. Now the nation is locked down for a second time, how can people cope with addictive behaviour thriving amid the restrictions, what help is available and how could you help a friend or loved one who is suffering? For guidance and more detailed advice head to www.actiononaddiction.org.uk
Oct 22, 2020 · 21 min
What are the chances of catching Covid-19 at the cinema?
Life amid a pandemic has thrown up so many challenges and mathematician David Sumpter accepts that crunching the numbers can't solve all of our problems. Yet the author of The Ten Equations That Rule The World: And How You Can Use Them To Improve Your Life tells Lucrezia Millarini that some relatively simple maths could help guide you while making decisions during the crisis. In this podcast, he explains the key numbers to track in gauging the spread of the virus and how maths can help reassure people over the risk of catching Covid-19 while going to the cinema or sending children to school. For those finding entertainment a little hard to find at home, he even has a formula to judge whether it's worth your time to binge-watch another box set or not.