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As a key Christmas trading route between France and the UK is shut down for 48 hours, France’s Bureau Chief for the Financial Times newspaper, Victor Mallet, tells us this could raise the price of fresh produce in the UK – especially with Brexit pending, and European countries banning travel to and from the UK, where London has just entered the most severe lockdown level in the country. An advisor to the UK government tells us the new strain of coronavirus will not impact the effectiveness of the new vaccine - Cambridge University epidemiologist Dr Hamid Patel also details the evolution of the new mutant covid strain. Plus: is the only way up for the stock markets? Economist Michael Hughes is sceptical.

(Image: The Coronavirus under a microscope. Photo By BSIP/UIG/Getty Images)