Corrections and Clarifications 2021

December 10, 2021
In an article published in The Times on May 5, 2021, and online, we incorrectly suggested that Barra McGrory QC and SC, the then Director of Public Prosecutions in Northern Ireland, may have been improperly motivated when the decision was taken to prosecute the two former paratroopers for the killing of Joe McCann. We accept this was not the case and we apologise to Mr McGrory for this suggestion.

December 4, 2021
We report in today’s Magazine that the antiviral molnupiravir is 50 per cent effective at keeping vulnerable Covid-19 patients out of hospital. Since the Magazine went to press, new data has revised that figure down to about a third.

The photograph accompanying the obituary of Ronald Jones online (Dec 3) was of the Queen with Sheikh Zayed of Abu Dhabi, president of the UAE, not King Fahd of Saudi Arabia. We apologise for the mistake.

December 3, 2021
National insurance and income tax amount to 30.4 per cent of the earnings of a worker on £75,000 in the UK, rather than 22.8 per cent, as our graphic on personal tax burdens in the UK and the US (Business, Dec 2) incorrectly stated.

December 2, 2021
Universities UK estimates that a 43-year-old lecturer earning £50,000 who had been in the universities superannuation scheme for eight years would be eligible for a pension of about £20,000 in retirement, not £100,000 as we mistakenly said (News, Dec 1).

December 1, 2021
An obituary of Sir John Butterfill contained errors (Register, Nov 24). He did not fail the 11-plus exam. He did not repay £60,000 to the Inland Revenue in the wake of the expenses scandal, having been found not to owe any additional sums. Further, his family has stated that he made no profit on the family home after renovation expenses were accounted for; and that he had announced his retirement before the controversy around expenses arose. We apologise for the errors and are happy to set the record straight.

November 30, 2021
Owing to a production error, we said the winter fuel payment for those on a state pension is £3,000 (Money, Nov 27). In fact it is between £100 and £300.

November 29, 2021
We wrongly said that Catherine the Great was the first Russian to receive Edward Jenner’s smallpox vaccine (news, Nov 27). She underwent variolation, an earlier immunisation procedure. The mistake was due to an editing error.

November 27, 2021
We wrongly said that Cpharm, an Australian company, had reached a deal with the Taliban (World, Nov 25). No such deal exists. We apologise for the error.

November 26, 2021
Legal & General manages £1.4 trillion of assets, not £1.4 billion as we wrongly stated (Business, Nov 24).

November 25, 2021
We said that a study published in The BMJ found that mask wearing reduced coronavirus infections by 53 per cent (News, Nov 1, and Times2, Nov 22). We have been asked to make clear that while the study found that mask wearing was “associated with” a reduction in risk, the limitations of the research made it difficult for the authors to draw a causal conclusion.

November 22, 2021
A photograph showed Lance-Corporal Rambahadur Limbu with his son, not his daughter as the caption wrongly stated (obituaries, Nov 20). We apologise for the error.

We reported a claim that the two-minute silence at the Imperial War Museum was interrupted by rap performers (news, Nov 20). The museum has stated that no such interruption occurred. We are happy to put this on record.

November 15, 2021
We said in a headline that “Durham University trains its students to be sex workers” (News, Nov 12). In fact, as the accompanying article explained, the university is offering safety training for students who may be working in the sex industry. We are happy to make this clear.

November 12, 2021
We said that “A fêted new rare earths processing facility in Yorkshire, benefitting from UK government support . . . inked a partnership to build its Angolan mine in partnership with a Chinese state-backed group” (Red Box, Nov 9). Pensana, the company responsible for the project in question, has asked us to make clear that it has no partnership with any Chinese companies in Angola or elsewhere. We are happy to correct the record.

November 9, 2021
We cited a Soil Association report as stating that each year the poultry industry uses 2.2 million tonnes of imported soya as feed (Comment, Nov 3). In fact the report said that overall soya imports are 3.2 million tonnes, and the majority of imports from South America are used as poultry feed. The figures are disputed by the Agricultural Industries Confederation, which says the poultry meat sector uses 1.26 million tonnes of imported soya bean meal for animal feed.

We reported an allegation from the China Africa Project that Sharon Duncan-Brewster, a black British actress, had been removed from a poster promoting the film Dune in China (World, Oct 27). The China Africa Project has withdrawn the allegation, which was false. Multiple posters, not all of which portrayed Duncan-Brewster, were used to promote the film in both Chinese and English-language markets. We are happy to make this clear.

November 6, 2021
We said that Graham Riddick, then a Conservative MP, took cash for asking parliamentary questions in 1994 (News, Nov 5). Later investigations found the payment was for legitimate consultancy and cleared him of any wrongdoing. We are happy to make this clear and apologise for any distress caused.

November 5, 2021
We wrongly said that St Andrews University had received dozens of claims of sexual abuse at events held by a student society (News, Oct 3). In fact a dozen such claims were made on social media.

November 3, 2021
We said in a headline that Danny Sriskandarajah, chief executive of Oxfam GB, was “behind” a decision to move a statue of Thomas Guy (News, Sep 11). While Mr Sriskandarajah became a trustee of St Guy’s and St Thomas’ Foundation two months before the decision was taken, it is not the case that he instigated it. We are happy to make this clear.

November 2, 2021
An extension of death benefits to cohabiting unmarried parents will cost the government £220 million over five years, not £220 billion as we wrongly stated (Money Budget special, Oct 30).

October 27, 2021
The picture accompanying our report on a proposed luge track at Blaze Fell, Cumbria (News, Oct 25) in fact showed Bassenthwaite Lake, 21 miles away.

October 26, 2021
Our article on Nic Chapman (Magazine, Oct 16) said her father died of multiple sclerosis (MS). He died from complications arising from the disease, which is not itself fatal. We also said a third of people with MS will eventually need a wheelchair. In fact studies indicate that if the condition is not treated, a third of people with MS will require a wheelchair or other mobility aid after 20 years.

October 22, 2021
An obituary of Gerda Mayer mistakenly carried a picture of Martha Sharp (Sept 18). We apologise for the error.

In editing a letter (Oct 21), “former archbishop of York”, rather than Cape Town, was added to describe Desmond Tutu. We apologise for the error.

October 20, 2021
Airey Neave MP was killed by the Irish National Liberation Army, not the IRA as we wrongly stated (leading article, Oct 15).

October 18, 2021
We referred to money received by the British Council from “the Chinese authorities” for English language teaching. (“The British Council is in crisis and I’m not sure it’s worth saving”, Arts, Oct 15). We have been asked to make clear that the council’s revenues in China come entirely from fees paid by individual students and channelled through the Chinese state exam regulator. The council receives no Chinese government funding.

October 15, 2021
An article on the trial of Stewart Edgar, former head of Gloucestershire fire and rescue service (News, Oct 13), was wrongly illustrated with a photograph of Wayne Bowcock, chief fire officer of Royal Berkshire fire and rescue service, who has no involvement with the case. We apologise for the mistake.

October 13, 2021
The Queen will celebrate her Platinum Jubilee next year, not her Diamond Jubilee as we wrongly stated (News, Oct 12).

October 11, 2021
We wrongly said that Neil Corbel’s duties on the continuous policing improvement command involved training officers on safeguarding vulnerable victims of crime, including sexual and domestic abuse victims (News, Sept 14). The improvement command has such a role but Corbel worked only as part of the national business crime centre.

October 6, 2021
A photograph of the changing of the guard at Buckingham Palace showed a member of the Scots Guards, not the Coldstream Guards as we wrongly said (News, Oct 5).

October 2, 2021
A guide to wild swimming suggested walking from Rydal Mount to Buckstones Jum, Cumbria (Weekend, Sept 25). We have been asked to make clear that part of this route may in fact cross private land. Buckstones Jum can be reached on a public right of way from Ambleside via Birk Hagg Woods. A guide to autumn fell running the same day gave an incorrect postcode for the carpark in Craster, Northumberland. The correct postcode is NE66 3TW.

October 1, 2021
We said that Dame Cressida Dick, commissioner of the Metropolitan Police, called the police officer Wayne Couzens a “bad ‘un” (“At least 15 women killed by police officers in past 12 years”, News, Sep 29). In fact Dick was referring to officers who perpetrate domestic violence, and not to Couzens specifically.

The port of Chittagong is in Bangladesh, not in Sri Lanka as we mistakenly stated (Comment, Sep 29).

September 24, 2021
We said that 6,500 migrant construction workers had died building infrastructure for the World Cup 2022 (News, Sep 2). The government of Qatar has stated that this figure is in fact the total for all deaths in Qatar over the past ten years of residents from India, Sri Lanka, Pakistan and Nepal. We are happy to put this on record.

September 23, 2021
In “Dropped testing firms claim approved status” (News, Aug 17), we alleged that Assured Screening had been removed from the official government list of approved PCR test providers for failing to meet adequate standards and was wrongly representing to the public that it was approved. We accept that these claims were untrue. Assured Screening was temporarily omitted from two lists of official test providers in error by the Department of Health and Social Care but it is government-approved and listed on all relevant government test provider lists. We apologise for the damage caused.

We said that Valerie Brown is believed to be part of Insulate Britain (News, Sep 18). Ms Brown states that she has supported the group on social media but is not part of it.

A map gave an inaccurate depiction of the borders of India and other Asian states (News, Sep 17). We apologise for the error.

September 18, 2021
We wrongly said that Covid-19 cases in Mauritius “have jumped over fivefold to more than 12,600 a day in a population of 1.2 million” (News, Sep 15). The correct number of cases in Mauritius is 14,073 in total since the start of the pandemic. We apologise for the mistake.

September 16, 2021
A diary item wrongly said that Viscount Portman was convicted of an antisemitic hate crime (Comment, Sep 14). It should have referred to Piers Portman. We apologise for the error.

September 10, 2021
Reporting the proposed social care reforms (News, Sept 8), we wrongly said that the means test will be adjusted so that those with assets under £100,000 would pay nothing towards their care costs. In fact those with assets between £100,000 and £20,000 will have their care subsidised. Those with less than £20,000 in assets will not be required to draw on them but may have to contribute from any income.

We said (News, Sep 8) that waiters at the Byron restaurant chain “on zero-hours contracts” are concerned that the company’s management might unduly influence a review of the system under which tips are allocated to staff. Byron states that the staff concerned are hourly employees; that it has no zero-hours contracts; that the review, which is being carried out by independent experts and restaurant staff, cannot be influenced by the management at Byron; and that there is no question of corporate managers taking a share of the tips as our headline implied. We are happy to put the record straight.

September 7, 2021
Our article “The prince, a royal honour and Saudi tycoon’s £1.5m donation” (News, Sep 6) wrongly said that Clarence House had declined to comment on a number of new allegations. In fact we had failed to invite comment before publication, for which we apologise.

September 1, 2021
We wrongly stated that east Jerusalem has been occupied by Israel since 1948 (World News, Aug 30). Israeli control began after the Six Day War in 1967.

We reported a claim by Diana de Vegh that an agreement to conceal her identity had been broken by the author Sally Bedell Smith in a book on John F and Jackie Kennedy (News, Aug 30). Bedell Smith says no such agreement existed, and states that she had been made aware of de Vegh’s identity as Kennedy’s lover by three sources before their interviews for the book took place. We are happy to make this clear.

August 26, 2021
In “Dropped testing firms claim approved status”, (News, August 17), we reported that Lords Pharmacy had been temporarily removed from the official list of providers of PCR tests. We are happy to make clear that this was the result of an error by the Department of Health and Social Care and there is no suggestion of any misrepresentation by Lords Pharmacy. We apologise for any confusion caused.

August 13, 2021
We wrongly said that the Duke of York is admiral of the Sea Cadets (News, Aug 12). He ceased to have this role in 2019.

August 10, 2021
The secretary of state for Wales is Simon Hart, not Ian Hart as we wrongly stated (News, Aug 9).

August 6, 2021
We wrongly said that an Ofqual report showed 87.5 per cent of A-levels taken at private schools and 44 per cent taken at comprehensives were awarded A or A* grades last year. The correct figures are 60.4 per cent and 32.7 per cent respectively.

August 5, 2021
A caption wrongly stated that flights from the US had landed at Heathrow for the first time in more than a year (News, Aug 3). Flights from the US continued through the pandemic.

August 4, 2021
The Vaccine Damage Payments Scheme has paid out on 14 per cent of claims since its inception, not 80 per cent as wrongly stated in a recent letter (Jul 27). The Department of Work and Pensions has said that the £120,000 one-off tax-free payment made under the scheme is “not compensation” but “a payment to help ease the financial burden on . . . individuals where . . . vaccination has caused severe disablement”. Claims are determined on the balance of probability.

August 3, 2021
The Russian Direct Investment Fund states that, contrary to our report (News, Jul 31), no country in the world has cancelled a contract for the Russian Sputnik V vaccine. We are happy to make this clear.

July 31, 2021
We wrongly said in a headline (News, early editions, Jul 30) that Lord Clarke of Nottingham had in 1983 declared NHS blood products to be “safe”. As the accompanying article made clear, he acknowledged concerns over safety but said there was not yet “conclusive proof” that the products caused Aids. We apologise for the mistake.

We said that coronavirus “is not transmitted via surfaces” (Comment, Jul 15). While the latest scientific consensus is that the risk of surface transmission is extremely low, UK government advice is that such transmission remains possible and steps should be taken to avoid it.

We said that a government report into President Macron’s former college, Sciences Po Paris, claimed that the college ignored 31 complaints of rape or sexual assault (World, Jul 29). This was incorrect. The cases involve both Sciences Po Paris and nine other Sciences Po institutes in provincial France and the report found that in at least some of the cases the alleged victims either opposed passing information to prosecutors or had already done so.

July 29, 2021
In an opinion piece published on May 22 (“It’s too simple to blame everything on Bashir”) we wrongly stated that Earl Spencer had refused to assist Diana, Princess of Wales, with the offer of a house after the breakdown of her marriage to Prince Charles. We are happy to report that having considered his sister’s safety, and in line with police advice, the Earl offered the Princess of Wales a number of properties including Wormleighton Manor, the Spencer family’s original ancestral home. It was wrong to suggest he had refused to help his sister or had failed to protect her from Martin Bashir and concealed evidence of the latter’s deception. We did not intend to suggest that the Earl was to blame for his sister’s death. We apologise to the Earl and have agreed to pay his costs as well as make a payment to him which he will donate to charity.

July 28, 2021
About 1 in 5,000 pharmaceutical drugs pass all stages of development and clinical trials to reach the market, rather than 1 in 500, as was wrongly stated in our article “My search for a cure to the disease that killed my mother” (Times2, Jul 27).

Coronavirus vaccines are not “risky” for people with blood cancer, as we mistakenly said (Leading article, Jul 26). Early research suggests their effectiveness may be reduced but side effects are no more common among blood cancer sufferers than for the wider population.

We stated that Frasers Group had defended its position of not returning furlough money and business rates support funding by saying “furlough did what it said on the tin and helped us retain thousands of jobs” (Business, Jul 27). This was incorrect. It was JD Sports that made this comment and defended its position.

July 27, 2021
We stated that fully vaccinated UK citizens are required to present a negative Covid test to enter France (News, Jul 26). This is incorrect. They must present proof of vaccination and sign a declaration that they are free of symptoms. We apologise for the error.

July 22, 2021
Our report “Global stocks tumble amid Covid concerns and rising inflation rate” (Business, Jul 20) transposed the previous day’s closing figures for the FTSE 100 and FTSE 250.

July 17, 2021
We referred to “NHS England’s contact tracing app” (news, Jul 15). This was an editing error. NHS England has asked us to make clear that it has no role in the app, which is run by the Department of Health and Social Care.

July 15, 2021
We wrongly said that the Chinese Sinovac and Russian Sputnik vaccines are being administered to patients in Qatar (News, July 14). Only the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines are being used.

July 14, 2021
The Wimbledon men’s trophy was presented by the Duke of Kent, not the Duchess of Cambridge as we wrongly said (News, Jul 12).

July 13, 2021
The Bank of England interest rate is 0.1 per cent not 0.75 per cent as we said. (“Let’s talk about our addiction to cheap money”, Comment, Jul 12).

July 12, 2021
A headline wrongly stated “‘Woke’ culture war is biggest dividing line among voters” (News, Jul 5). As the accompanying article made clear, the polling expert Frank Luntz believes “Wokeism” and the culture wars are on course to becoming the biggest dividing line in British politics but they are not yet ranked first among divisive issues by voters.

Graham McCann’s 1999 book on Morecambe and Wise is not out of print, as we wrongly said (Saturday Review, Jul 9).

July 10, 2021
We said in a leading article that “the Foreign Office still advises against travel to amber list countries” and that this “invalidates many travel insurance policies” (“Holiday Plans”, Jul 9). This is incorrect. As we reported elsewhere, the Foreign Office changed its travel advice in relation to many amber countries on Thursday, declaring them safe for UK tourists (“Vaccinated Britons rush to book quarantine-free holidays in amber-list countries”, News, Jul 9).

July 6, 2021
In the photograph accompanying our review of Le Comte Ory (Times2, July 5), the singer in the centre is Jacques Imbrailo, not Jack Swanson as we stated.

July 2, 2021
We said that it was Stanley Baldwin, three times Conservative prime minister between 1923 and 1937, who introduced the first pension scheme (Obituary, June 24). In fact UK state pensions were introduced in 1909 by a Liberal government.

Roger Federer was not knocked out of Wimbledon in the first round in 2003, as we wrongly stated (Sport, June 30). He won the men’s singles tournament that year, having earlier been knocked out of the French Open in the first round.

July 1, 2021
Our headline “Death rate among those infected during third wave falls to 0.01%” (News, Jun 28) incorrectly rounded the findings of the Medical Research Council’s biostatistics unit. As the text of the article correctly reported, the infection fatality rate of Covid-19 was estimated at 0.085 per cent. The rounded figure should have been 0.1 per cent.

June 30, 2021
A picture in A Good Walk (Weekend, June 26) showed the foliage of a plane tree, rather than that of a sycamore as the caption stated. We apologise for the error.

Archbishop Paul Richard Gallagher is not the top British diplomat to the Holy See, as we wrongly stated (World, June 29). He is the Vatican’s Secretary for Relations with States, a position equivalent to foreign secretary for the Holy See.

June 25, 2021
In “Bafta boss Krishnendu Majumdar worked with scandal star Noel Clarke on diversity” (News, May 3), we reported concerns that Krishnendu Majumdar’s close links with Noel Clarke and their work together to promote diversity could have hampered Bafta’s handling of the sex allegations against Clarke. We accept that this suggestion is incorrect. There are no close links between the men. Bafta’s response to the allegations was delegated to a group deputed to deal with the issue. Bafta has explained that the matter was determined by the lack of evidence it had at the time of having to make its decision on whether to proceed with presenting Mr Clarke with an award. We apologise to Mr Majumdar and Bafta for the distress.

June 16, 2021
Churchill College, Cambridge, has not held any meetings to discuss the possibility of changing its name and denies reports that it has plans to make such a change (News, June 11). We are happy to make this clear.

June 15, 2021
We wrongly said that Acas was among organisations to have withdrawn from Stonewall’s Diversity Champions programme “in recent weeks” (“Taxpayers gave Stonewall £2.6m over four years”, News, June 14). In fact Acas left the scheme in June 2020 for cost reasons and continues to support Stonewall’s work. We apologise for repeating this mistake

June 12, 2021
The three dressing gowns described in our picture caption as belonging to Noel Coward (news, June 10) were in fact made by the design company Georgina von Etzdorf at least ten years after his death. One is silk, as stated, the others cotton and rayon velvet.

June 11, 2021
Reporting communications between Sir James Dyson and Boris Johnson, we described Sir James as a Tory donor. We are happy to make clear that a charitable gift from The James Dyson Foundation to the Conservative MP Michelle Donelan was to support the Wiltshire Engineering Festival for school children and did not signal affiliation to any political party; that his company absorbed costs of £20m by responding to the Prime Minister’s direct request for assistance in providing ventilators; and that Sir James was not seeking any favours in text communications with the Prime Minister. We are further happy to reiterate that Sir James contacted Number 10 in response to the Prime Minister’s direct request for assistance in relation to the urgent need for ventilators and his text messages were sent to officials and therefore not private. We apologise to Sir James for any suggestions to the contrary.

Julius Rosenberg ran an espionage ring within American nuclear facilities including the project at Los Alamos, New Mexico, but did not himself work at Los Alamos, as we mistakenly stated (Review, June 5).

June 10, 2021
In an article on the 2021 census we wrongly referred to “transgender patients who may be on long-term therapy … to change their biological sex” (Doctors who mix up sex and gender ‘put patients at risk’, April 3). Hormone therapy cannot change biological sex. We also reported that statisticians were concerned that census questions on sex, trans status and sexual orientation “could distort figures on issues such as illnesses specific to men and women”. We have been asked to make clear that the concerns expressed related specifically to guidance that the sex question could be answered with a gender identity.

June 9, 2021
An Irish subsidiary of Microsoft did not make a profit of $315 billion in 2020, as we mistakenly suggested (leading article, Jun 8). The increase in its balance sheet was due to an inter-company reorganisation.

June 8, 2021
Figures from the Office for National Statistics indicate that one in 60 of the UK population suffers from long Covid, rather than one in 60 of those infected with the virus, as our report incorrectly implied (News, June 5). We apologise for the confusion, which was due to an editing error.

June 7, 2021
Because of a production error, from April 28 to May 6 our graphic on Covid-19 statistics included incorrect figures relating to average annual death comparisons. In fact, weekly deaths were estimated to be between 0.8 and 5.3 per cent lower during this period than the five-year average. We apologise for the confusion.

June 5, 2021
We criticised an application by Jesus College, Cambridge, to remove from the college chapel a monument to its benefactor Tobias Rustat, who had links with the slave trade (leading article, June 1). In fact, before our article was published, the college had revised its original plan and now proposes relocating the statue to a permanent educational exhibition space. The expected cost is £85,000, not “hundreds of thousands” as we said. We are happy to make this clear and have revised the article accordingly. We apologise for failing to note the change in the college’s stance.

June 1, 2021
Facebook denies reports that its head of communications, Sir Nick Clegg, lobbied ministers concerning the appointment of a new chairman of Ofcom (leading article, May 28). The company has asked us to make this clear and we are happy to do so.

May 29, 2021
In reporting that the Bar Human Rights Committee had urged the foreign secretary to back an independent inquiry into alleged war crimes by Israel, we said that Schona Jolly QC, chairwoman of the committee, “did not respond to a request for comment” (“Backlash at barristers’ ‘one-sided’ call for investigation into alleged Israel war crimes”, news, May 17, and The Brief, May 20). This was incorrect. Ms Jolly indicated that she was unable to meet our first deadline for digital publication but undertook to provide a statement soon afterwards. In the statement she pointed out that her committee’s letter to Dominic Raab called for government support for an investigation into alleged war crimes by both the Israeli government and Palestinian armed groups, including Hamas. We are happy to make this clear and apologise to Ms Jolly for the delay in adding her statement to the article online and for not reflecting the BHRC’s position in the version of the article subsequently published in print and promoted in our newsletter, The Brief.

We reported that Acas, the employment dispute service, had withdrawn from Stonewall’s diversity champions scheme after concerns were raised that the campaign group had given unlawful advice on transgender rights (news, May 28). In fact Acas left the scheme in June 2020 for cost reasons and continues to support Stonewall’s work. We are happy to make this clear.

May 28, 2021
We said that “Tavistock patients are overwhelmingly gay, including 90 per cent of girls” (“Banning gay conversion therapy is a minefield”, Comment, May 17). We have been asked to make clear that this figure was an estimate by former Tavistock clinicians who have treated hundreds of young people. The Tavistock itself keeps no data on the sexuality of its clients.

May 26, 2021
Contrary to the impression that may have been given by our leading article (“Cover Up”, May 25), the director-general of the BBC responded to Lord Dyson’s report on the day of its publication. There was then a four-day gap before any BBC response to the Duke of Cambridge’s statement on the report. We are happy to make this clear.

May 25, 2021
A report from the Marine Accident Investigation Branch stated that, before a fatal crash, the skipper of a speedboat was operating “singlehandedly”. This means he was operating the boat alone, rather than with one hand, as we mistakenly reported (News, May 21). We apologise for the error.

May 21, 2021
We reported that the child rapist Kadian Nelson had previously assaulted his former girlfriend and was on the run for three weeks before he carried out a sex attack on a 13-year-old girl (“Partner reported rapist to police weeks before attack”, News, May 20). The Metropolitan Police has asked us to make clear that multiple attempts were made to detain Nelson after the first assault but he could not be traced. His arrest, after the rape, followed an extensive police operation.

May 15, 2021
Since our report “Holiday in Portugal — should you book now or hold off?” (weekend, today) went to press Portugal has announced that it will allow British tourists into the country from Monday, May 17.

May 13, 2021
A production error in The Times Scotland School League table saw some schools aligned with the wrong local authority area. A corrected version of the table is available on The Times website.

May 10, 2021
The Thunderer written by Douglas Cusine (“Politicians guilty of ignorance over not proven verdict”, May 6) used government statistics from 2010-16 and stated incorrectly that the not proven verdict was most often in road traffic cases.

May 07, 2021
The Sarah Ferguson who wrote Skiing from the Inside: The Self-help Guide to Mastering the Slopes is not the Sarah Ferguson who married Prince Andrew, as we wrongly stated (news, May 6).

We incorrectly stated that farrowing crates hold pregnant sows for the whole 16 weeks of their pregnancy (leading article, Apr 30). They are used for a maximum of five weeks during the birthing period. “Sow stalls”, in which sows used to spend their whole pregnancy, were banned in 1999. Germany has not, as we stated, banned farrowing crates, but has set in motion legislation to end their use by 2035.

It was agents of Thomas Cromwell, not Oliver Cromwell, who destroyed Becket’s shrine in Canterbury cathedral (arts, May 1).

May 03, 2021
Representatives of Alexander Bondarenko and Vladimir Stolyarenko (World, Apr 28) inform us — and we accept — that they have not been stripped of their Cypriot citizenship and that they are not on any international wanted lists on fraud allegations. We are happy to make this clear.

April 29, 2021
We wrongly described Alexandra Marks as a High Court judge (Business, Apr 28). She is a solicitor and a deputy High Court judge. The error was introduced in editing.

April 28, 2021
The Chinese company Nuctech’s body scanners are used by the the UK Border Force and Her Majesty’s Prison Service but not, as we wrongly said, at the Home Office headquarters in Westminster (news, Apr 27).

April 12, 2021
A photograph in the Easter Sunday radio guide that we said showed Sister Teresa Keswick was in fact of Sister Rita Macauley, who died two years ago (Saturday Review, Apr 3). We apologise for the mistake.

April 6, 2021
A headline in early editions wrongly decribed the late Conservatove politician Dame Cheryl Gillan as a “Labour MP” (News). We apologise for the mistake.

April 4, 2021
We incorrectly used a picture of Jiangxi Nanchang in China to illustrate Tel Aviv (Travel). The picture was miscaptioned by Getty Images. We apologise for the error.

April 3, 2021
In an article published on October 24, 2020 (News), we stated that Ben Delo had been charged with facilitating money laundering in the US and that, as a result, his former Oxford college was seeking legal advice on an endowment previously received from him. Mr Delo has been charged with failing to implement adequate anti-money laundering procedures at his company, a separate charge under US law. We have been assured that Worcester College has not sought legal advice in relation to Mr Delo’s donation. We are happy to set the record straight.

April 2, 2021
In “Charities accused of helping smuggle migrants to Greece” (World, December 10, 2020), we reported allegations made by the Greek authorities that Al-Khair Foundation, a charity based in England, had colluded with human traffickers who were assisting Somali migrants trying to reach Europe, including in one incident which led to the deaths of a number of Somalis in the Mediterranean. We accept that these allegations were and are untrue and we apologise to the Al-Khair Foundation and its Trustees. We have agreed to pay damages and legal costs to Al-Khair and its founding trustee, Imam Qasim.

April 1, 2021
In an article published on October 24, 2020 (News), we stated that Ben Delo had been charged with facilitating money laundering in the US and that, as a result, his former Oxford college was seeking legal advice on an endowment previously received from him. Mr Delo has been charged with failing to implement adequate anti-money laundering procedures at his company, a separate charge under US law. We have been assured that Worcester College has not sought legal advice in relation to Mr Delo’s donation. We are happy to set the record straight.

Because of an editing error, we wrongly stated that a study by Trinity College Dublin had found Google can collect information on “anyone standing nearby” to its Pixel smartphone owners (Phones collect your data every four minutes, Mar 30). The study made no such finding and did not suggest that Google collects this data. We are happy to correct the record.

March 26, 2021
We reported that one of the protesters photographed in Bristol had been identified as Richard Cooper, the 27-year-old son of Mark Cooper, a civil servant (news, Mar 24). We have been informed that this identification was incorrect. We apologise to Richard Cooper and his father for the mistake.

March 25, 2021
We reported an allegation that Roman Abramovich bought a yacht for president Vladimir Putin, when the latter was prime minister (“One superyacht just isn’t enough for Roman Abramovich”, news, Feb 25). We accept that this allegation is not correct. Mr Abramovich has never owned the yacht Olympia and did not give it or any other yacht to Mr Putin. We also wrongly reported that Mr Abramovich gave a yacht to Mr Eugene Shvidler. We are happy to clarify the position and apologise to Mr Abramovich for the errors.

We wrongly labelled Ukraine as Belarus on a map of coronavirus cases in Europe (news, Mar 23). We apologise for the mistake.

We stated (news, Feb 10) that since becoming an MP Matt Hancock has received £32,000 in donations from Neil Record, chairman of the Institute of Economic Affairs (IEA). The IEA has asked us to clarify that it does not make political donations, although its trustees may do so in a personal capacity, and that Mr Record’s donations to Mr Hancock ceased before Mr Hancock was appointed health secretary.

March 20, 2021
We said (news, Mar 15) that Anish Kapoor has British and Indian citizenship. This was incorrect. Sir Anish is a British citizen. A Diary item (Mar 13) suggested that the Countess of Devon was advising the Duchess of Sussex “don’t be seen to be whiny”. This was inaccurate and taken out of context. The countess has asked us to make clear that she strongly supports speaking out on mental health issues, and that she is not personally acquainted with the duchess, knowing her only by reputation. We apologise for the misunderstanding.

March 12, 2021
Foxtons’ operating loss in 2019 was £700,000, not £700 million as we wrongly reported (Business, Mar 11). We apologise for the mistake.

From Feb 26 to March 3 the data provided in our Covid vaccination chart, How Britain Compares, was for the adult population of the UK, rather than for the total population of the UK. The UK’s record is not “second only to Israel” in terms of the proportion of the population to have received first doses of the vaccine (Business comment, Feb 17). Gibraltar, Seychelles, Israel, the Falkland Islands and the United Arab Emirates are all proportionally ahead.

March 9, 2021
The route used by the Marranella mafia clan to ship drugs from Morocco went through Campo de Gibraltar, the Spanish municipality bordering Gibraltar, not through Gibraltar, as we wrongly stated (world, Mar 8).

March 6, 2021
In a story published in the Magazine today we incorrectly report Ana Brnabic, Serbia’s prime minister, describing how she waited in vain to meet the foreign secretary Jeremy Hunt at a conference in London in 2019. The conference she was talking about was in 2018 and the foreign secretary who was too busy to meet her was Boris Johnson. We apologise for the error.

March 5, 2021
We wrongly said that indoor service in pubs and restaurants is likely to be allowed in mid-April (news picture caption, Mar 4). This should have said outdoor service.

March 3, 2021
The architect who built the public lavatory in Tokyo with transparent glass walls is not Kengo Kuma, as we stated (world, Mar 1), but Shigeru Ban.

March 2, 2021
We stated that St Albans has no dedicated police station (news, Mar 1). This was incorrect. We should have said that St Albans has no police station with front counter service.

March 1, 2021
We wrongly reported (news, Feb 27) that Professor Sarah Purdy and another pro vice-chancellor of the University of Bristol had signed a letter of support for Professor David Miller, who has been accused of antisemitism. The pro vice-chancellors were among senior academics to whom the letter was copied. They were not signatories. We apologise for the mistake.

February 23, 2021
It was the Roman Catholic diocese of Shrewsbury, not Salisbury (news, Feb 22), which commented that George Spencer’s conversion to Catholicism had horrified his 19th-century contemporaries.

February 17, 2021
Reporting a study by researchers at Columbia University, we said in a headline that “ten Mars bars a day will boost memory” (News, Feb 16). This was based on a remark by the author of the research. We have been asked to make clear that the study looked at cocoa flavanols rather than Mars bars specifically, and that it is not possible to infer a causal effect.

We wrongly said that Leysin American School in Switzerland is owned by an American company. It has been owned and operated by the Ott family for three generations.

February 11, 2021
On November 12 we reported on comments by Tim Martin, of JD Wetherspoon, and said “ ‘Go work at Tesco’ was his employee-friendly cry” (Bitter Truth, Nov 12). In fact Mr Martin told employees that supermarkets needed staff in the pandemic. Staff offered that work could take it and that they would be given priority at JD Wetherspoon should they return. We are happy to make that clear.

February 9, 2021
Sven Badzak attended Wetherby Preparatory School, not Wetherby Senior School as we said (News, Feb 8). The error was introduced in editing.

February 8, 2021
Our headline, “Children’s cancer surgery cancelled as hospitals feel pandemic pressures” (News, Feb 2) was incorrect. As the story made clear, children’s operations have been cancelled but not children’s cancer surgery.

February 6, 2021
In our article “Chelsea owner Roman Abramovich has £200m British property empire” (News, Jan 30) we wrongly claimed that Mr Roman Abramovich had lost his UK citizenship and reported that he had made his money selling state assets after the fall of the Soviet Union. We accept that Mr Abramovich did not lose UK citizenship, as he never held UK citizenship and the assets sold had first been purchased from the State. In reporting wider concerns regarding individuals with links to the Kremlin, it was not our intention to suggest that Mr Abramovich himself was connected to corruption, organised crime or human rights abuse in Russia or elsewhere. We are happy to make this clear and apologise to Mr Abramovich for any misunderstanding. In view of these errors we have agreed to make a donation to a charity nominated by Mr Abramovich.

We reported on suggestions by Italian Prosecutors that Professor Abdelrahman of Cambridge University has failed to co-operate with their investigation into the death of the student Giulio Regeni (News, Dec 14, 2020). Cambridge University maintains that Professor Abdelrahman has co-operated fully with the Italian investigation, having answered questions on three separate occasions and voluntarily providing material. We are happy to make clear their position.

February 4, 2021
We stated that new-build flats in Edinburgh’s Western Harbour development cannot be bought or sold until their cladding is removed (Scotland news, Jan 30, Feb 1). This was incorrect.

February 3, 2021
The Edinburgh International Conference Centre and the P&J Live venue in Aberdeen can vaccinate 21,000 and 6,000 people a week and not each day as we stated yesterday (News, Feb 2).

February 2, 2021
The Supreme Court did not rule that fees to bring tribunal cases were unlawful, as we said, but that the fees in force were set at a level that was unlawful because it prevented rights conferred by employment statutes from being exercised (News, Feb 1).

February 1, 2021
A statement by Lord Bates (“National security is the prime legitimate concern of government. If the government felt the need to extend the Atas scheme then I would support it.”) was wrongly attributed to Lord Browne of Madingley (“Foreign Office security vetting will target China academics ‘likely to spy”, News, Jan 30). We apologise for the mistake, which was introduced in editing.

January 30, 2021
We said that the president of the Royal College of Physicians did not disclose details of a plan to sell books from its historic library until the proposed sale was reported by The Times (news, Jan 8). The college has since informed us that the proposed sale was discussed in a Q&A session at the end of its AGM last September. We are happy to put this on record.

January 28, 2021
The photograph of Nathan Evans, singer of sea-shanties, was taken at Newhaven Harbour in Edinburgh, not Airdrie as we stated (Times2, Jan 26).

January 27, 2021
We said that Robert Jenrick “greenlit the first new deep coalmine in Britain for 30 years” (Comment, Jan 26). We have been asked to make clear that he did not intervene but decided not to challenge Cumbria county council’s approval of the project.

The correct number for the helpline for HMRC’s “Chief” system for customs is 0300 322 9434 (letter, Jan 25).

January 21, 2021
We wrongly quoted Ian Whittle (“Jet pioneer Frank Whittle had a Blitz beater in 1938”, News, Jan 4) as saying that “the RAF had refused to entertain [his father’s] ideas until the war was upon them”. Mr Whittle in fact said that it was the Air Ministry that had refused to support turbojet development. We apologise for the error.

An error was introduced in editing to a letter on building emissions (letters, Jan 16). The construction sector alone is not responsible for “about 45 per cent of UK carbon emissions”. That figure relates to the whole built environment, ie the energy consumption of buildings as well as construction.

Priti Patel’s comments about closing borders to control Covid were made in a video call with the Conservative Friends of India, not with the Conservative Friends of Israel as we reported (News, Jan 20).

January 15, 2021
We have been asked to clarify that while Jimmy Page has in the past objected to planning applications by his immediate neighbours, he is not involved with residents’ objections to developments currently being carried out in Ilchester Place, Kensington (News, Jan 13). We are happy to make this clear.

We reported Professor Mark Woolhouse, a member of Nicola Sturgeon’s Covid-19 advisory group, as saying that Scotland “was tracing less than half of cases” (Scotland news, Jan 14). He has asked us to clarify that he was not talking about contact tracing, and that the word he used was “finding”, not tracing.

January 12, 2021
We wrongly stated (news, Jan 9) that the High Court had ruled that Pippa Knight must die in hospital. In ruling that her treatment should be withdrawn, the judge, Mr Justice Poole, specifically allowed for her to be allowed to die at home as an alternative to hospital.

Napoleon died on the island of St Helena, not Elba as we stated (picture caption, news, Jan 11).

January 7, 2021
We wrongly stated (news, Jan 6) that “more than one in 50 Britons have caught Covid in the past week”. The Office for National Statistics figures in fact estimate that more than 2 per cent of the population would have tested positive for Covid- 19 in the last week, not that those infections took place in the past week

January 6, 2021
In our interview with Nicholas Hoult (Times2, Jan 5) we confused two tsars of Russia. Catherine the Great was married to Peter III, not to his grandfather, Peter the Great.
The Victoria and Albert Museum has 19,000 objects from the former East India Company museum, not 90,000 as we stated (news, Jan 2).

January 4, 2021
We wrongly stated that UK travellers will need an international driving licence in addition to a UK driving licence in EU countries such as Germany, Italy, Greece and Spain (“Can I travel freely in the EU after Brexit?”, Jan 1). An IDP is not needed to drive in the EU, Switzerland, Norway, Iceland or Liechtenstein. If a driving licence was issued in Gibraltar, Guernsey, Jersey or the Isle of Man, an IDP may be needed in some EEA countries.

See corrections and clarifications from 2020

See corrections and clarifications from 2019

See corrections and clarifications from 2018

See corrections and clarifications from 2016 and 2017