🔴 Boris Johnson has declined to rule out bringing in new tougher Covid-19 restrictions before Christmas as he revealed at least one patient in the UK has died with the omicron varianthttps://t.co/nIQ1Ctc7wk pic.twitter.com/aFoAckAp37

— The Telegraph (@Telegraph) December 13, 2021

Boris Johnson confirms the first UK death of a person with the Omicron variant as officials warn Britain is facing a "tidal wave" of infections https://t.co/icp0kZqwPq

— CNN Breaking News (@cnnbrk) December 13, 2021

So Omicron cases considered to be tens of thousands already but yet to hit NHS – which is already in crisis.

Boosters are necessary but not sufficient and govt must stop pretending boosters are all we need.https://t.co/noZgxq4nVd

— Prof. Christina Pagel (@chrischirp) December 13, 2021

➡️ Omicron now 20% of England's cases
➡️ Vaccine booking site crashes
➡️ Big Tory rebellion expected over Plan B

Here's our evening coronavirus update https://t.co/N7WBMX2HbV

— BBC News (UK) (@BBCNews) December 13, 2021

Up to SEVENTY Tory MPs, knowing the 'tidal wave' of Omicron is coming, choosing to cry about the light-touch mitigations of Plan B. What is wrong with these guys? Their influence has cost us great loss of life already. And they're the same mob who gifted us hard, ugly Brexit.

— Dominic Minghella (@DMinghella) December 12, 2021

🇬🇧 appears to be an outlier in Europe, as large no. of Tory MPs gear up to rebel against restrictions that might help reduce Omicron deaths + severe illness. By any standard these MPs should be considered extremist ideologues + a danger to public health.https://t.co/rgn8hy7tHA

— John O’Brennan (@JohnOBrennan2) December 13, 2021

THREAD on UK covid situation, Omicron and what's happening…

TLDR: Omicron increasing very fast and we are getting increasing evidence of significant ability to infect previously infected or vaxxed people.

Expect UK response to change rapidly in response. 1/10

— Prof. Christina Pagel (@chrischirp) December 12, 2021

We won't save the NHS from Omicron with booster jabs alone. The Prime Minister really ought to be telling people to cut down on their parties and other socialising. Can anyone think of a reason why he, indeed his whole Government, might find that message difficult to deliver?

— Jo Maugham (@JolyonMaugham) December 13, 2021

South Africa's case fatality rate falls again to 0.5%. The theory that Omicron causes milder symptoms is becoming very hard to ignore… pic.twitter.com/rYxZDTOoGw

— Tom Calver (@TomHCalver) December 13, 2021

NEW thread: data show South Africa’s Omicron wave is resulting in less severe disease and death than past waves, though health officials say it’s too early to be sure, and severe outcomes will continue to climb.

Story by me, @jsphctrl, @mroliverbarnes: https://t.co/32sIrIQQ8M pic.twitter.com/6DClwASKVi

— John Burn-Murdoch (@jburnmurdoch) December 10, 2021

It is nonsense to conclude replacing Johnson would subdue the arm of the Tory party that prevents mitigation measures against Omicron. https://t.co/dBspLpOBDt

— dasv (@dasvee) December 13, 2021

This is quite something https://t.co/qz7IEWm6rc

— Alice Ross (@aliceemross) December 13, 2021

Schoolteacher: Can anyone use the word contagious in a sentence about the omicron variant?

Child: Boris Johnson did a briefing about omicron last night. It was prerecorded, and my dad said it must have taken the contagious.

— Colin the Dachshund (@DachshundColin) December 13, 2021

Amid omicron, Case inquiry, Tory mutiny, and North Shropshire, don’t not take your eye off planned 20 per cent cut in FCDO budget and “Global Britain”. Think of an investment bank-sponsored merger between Foreign Office and DFID, with commensurate savings and bullshit synergies

— Lionel Barber (@lionelbarber) December 13, 2021

EXCL: No 10 staff have received an email this evening warning that some of them will be contacted by the internal investigations team in the coming days to give evidence.

It directs them to "not destroy any relevant information" relating to Christmas parties last year.

— Paul Brand (@PaulBrandITV) December 13, 2021

Ingraham said Trump was "destroying his legacy." Kilmeade said he was "destroying everything" he had accomplished. Hannity asked Meadows if he could get Trump to make a statement and "ask people to leave the Capitol." Trump Jr. said his father had to "condemn this shit ASAP."

— Oliver Darcy (@oliverdarcy) December 14, 2021

Meanwhile on @FoxNews pic.twitter.com/9JbngSdD4k

— lordcharlemont (@lordcharlemont) December 14, 2021

The 1/6 committee's report on Mark Meadows is extraordinary — it's a detailed blueprint of a coup. Notably, it shows Meadows can testify to Trump's reaction to the violence as it unfolded. This is a huge element of what he's covering up. My latest:https://t.co/2M70YDMwI1

— Greg Sargent (@GregTSargent) December 13, 2021

"The picture that emerges is one of a then-White House chief of staff who was directly involved in efforts to overturn a free and fair American election — and who no longer wants to talk to congressional investigators about what he knows."https://t.co/wTCNMDgtnV

— Rachel Maddow MSNBC (@maddow) December 13, 2021

BREAKING: The contempt hearing tonight won't just include a vote, it will include significant new information laying out what was going on in real time. That includes texts between Meadows and former WH employees and a trump family member. Source: @jamiegangel @CNN

— Mueller, She Wrote (@MuellerSheWrote) December 13, 2021

Imagine what Meadows is hiding if he thought *this* was the least-incriminating stuff

— Angry Staffer 🌻 (@Angry_Staffer) December 13, 2021

The day before the attempted Coup, in an email, Mark Meadows said the National Guard would protect the pro-Trump people. We don’t have a Smoking Gun, we have a Smoking Arsenal. Merrick Garland: Save our Democracy. Indict Donald Trump.

— Rob Reiner (@robreiner) December 13, 2021

…counter-protesters to clash with their people and thus justify a military intervention that would have been in support of a coup-like takeover. When that didn't happen, you instead saw an afternoon of weird inaction by NG and Pentagon. The dog that didn't bark 2/2

— Will Bunch (@Will_Bunch) December 13, 2021

NEW: The 2020 election was not the first one @MarkMeadows tried to overturn.

After Trump beat @tedcruz in the 2016 North Carolina primary, sources say Meadows tried to force the state party to send all Cruz delegates to the RNC against voters' wishes.https://t.co/JVcqV9R8f2

— Andrew Feinberg (@AndrewFeinberg) December 13, 2021

Mark Meadows' emails are actually everything trump and his people claim Hillary's emails were.

— Covie (@covie_93) December 13, 2021

SecState Clinton used personal e-mail account for mundane stuff

Trump WH used it while plotting a coup

"The committee said it had questions about why Meadows used a personal cellphone, Signal and 2 personal Gmail accounts to conduct official business."https://t.co/Q5zD2NI4sT

— John Harwood (@JohnJHarwood) December 13, 2021

ANALYSIS: THIS IS THE MOST DANGEROUS PERIOD IN AMERICAN HISTORY. Trump wanted to mobilize the National guard as a private army to protect “pro-Trump” people? HE WILL DO IT IF REPUBLICANS TAKE THE HOUSE NOV 22 & HE WINS IN 2024. https://t.co/SEcvnSynqT

— Malcolm Nance (@MalcolmNance) December 13, 2021

SCOOP: America First Policies, a major Trump-aligned dark money group, was sold earlier this year, according to a group spokesperson. It had just reported millions of dollars of gifts to shady right-wing organizations. Me @thedailybeast https://t.co/J5WJ5M1LHg

— Roger Sollenberger (@SollenbergerRC) December 13, 2021

BREAKING: Air Force discharges 27 over the coronavirus vaccine mandate. They are believed to be the first U.S. service members removed over the shot mandate. https://t.co/DHP1BHaWHy

— The Associated Press (@AP) December 13, 2021

Reminder: The FOMC meeting starts Tuesday, with the policy announcement on Wednesday at 2:00 pm and press conference just after around 2:30 pm.

The consensus estimate is for an acceleration of taper between $10B-20B/month and potentially signaling for up to 3 rate hikes in 2022.

— Markets & Mayhem (@Mayhem4Markets) December 13, 2021