thehuffingtonpostuk--2020-11-13--Yorkshire Ripper Peter Sutcliffe Dies After Contracting Covid-19

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Yorkshire Ripper Peter Sutcliffe has died in hospital after testing positive from Covid-19, it has been confirmed.
Sutcliffe, who was serving 20 life terms for murdering 13 women and attempting to kill seven more between 1976 and 1981, passed away at the age of 74.
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A Prison Service spokesman said: “HMP Frankland prisoner Peter Coonan (born Sutcliffe) died in hospital on 13 November. The Prisons and Probation Ombudsman has been informed.”
There was no confirmation of the cause of death which will be investigated by the coroner.
Rex Features
It was previously reported that Sutcliffe had refused treatment for coronavirus, and was at risk of dying due to his age and health problems.
Most, though not all of Sutcliffe’s victims were sex workers who were mutilated and beaten to death.
He was given 20 life terms for the murders and was caught when police found him with a prostitute in his car.
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They became suspicious and found he had a fake licence plate and weapons including a screwdriver and hammer in the boot.
The former lorry driver from Bradford spent 32 years inside the high-security Broadmoor psychiatric hospital after he was diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia following his life sentence in 1981.
Twelve of the Ripper's 13 victims PA
In 1992 he admitted attacking 14-year-old Tracey Brown with a hammer in 1975 and trying to kill student Ann Rooney. Both cases were dropped because Sutcliffe was already serving life.
Before he was moved to Broadmoor, the killer spent three years at Parkhurst prison on the Isle of Wight.
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Sutcliffe is believed to have been transferred to a jail in 2016 after a mental health tribunal ruled him sane enough to do so.
In 2018 it was reported that Sutcliffe had been interviewed by detectives about widespread allegations that he may have been responsible for further attacks.
Peter Sutcliffe’s victims Marguerite Walls
Yvonne Pearson
Jayne MacDonald
Josephine Whitaker
Wilma McCann
Patricia Atkinson
Helen Rytka
Jacqueline Hill
Irene Richardson
Vera Millward
Barbara Leach
Jean Jordan
Emily Jackson
But West Yorkshire Police confirmed there were no plans to charge Sutcliffe with any further offences. Two years previously the force had confirmed it was continuing to review cases listed in a 1982 report written by Sir Lawrence Byford about the flawed Ripper investigation, which revealed that Sutcliffe could have been responsible for a further 13 offences.
Sir Lawrence’s report was completed in 1982 but only made public in 2006.
In 2016 the force did confirm that officers had visited a small number of people named in the Byford Report.
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It said there was an “unexplained lull” in Sutcliffe’s criminal activities between 1969, when he first came to the police’s attention, and the first officially recognised Ripper assault in 1975.
The report said: “We feel it is highly improbable that the crimes in respect of which Sutcliffe has been charged and convicted are the only ones attributable to him.
“This feeling is reinforced by examining the details of a number of assaults on women since 1969 which, in some ways, clearly fall into the established pattern of Sutcliffe’s overall modus operandi.”
John Apter, chairman of the Police Federation, urged people to remember Sutcliffe’s victims.


thehuffingtonpostuk--2020-11-13--University Students Question If Government Mass-Testing Strategy For Christmas Will Work

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Throughout the summer, students and universities across the UK warned that a return to campus would result in a huge spike in Covid-19 cases.
The government did nothing to mitigate the spread of infection through halls – no staggered arrival, no targeted testing, no say on crippling rents that many students said had forced their return. Cases soared, and students were proven right.
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Questions have loomed about Christmas since the start of a particularly chaotic term, with fears that students – many of whom have spent months isolated away from home for the first time – may not be able to return to their families at all, prompting serious mental health concerns.
Amid the anticipated second wave of the pandemic, the government has finally proposed a solution to try and mitigate the impact of the mass migration of more than a million people for the festive season.
The plans revolve around a six-day “travel corridor” between December 3 and December 9, during which students will be allowed to travel home in a staggered manner.
Questions have already been raised about the logistics of such a plan, and students have spoken out about their fears that rapid testing on a mass scale simply may not become a reality before Christmas – leaving them unsure about how to safely return to their families.
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They will be encouraged to take an asymptomatic test at “targeted” universities in England, though it has not yet been revealed what universities – or how many – will be involved. The Department for Education has, however, confirmed that universities in areas of high prevalence will be prioritised, Sky News reported.
The University of Durham is one of the few universities to pilot the rapid lateral flow tests (LFTs), which can turn results around in as little as 20 minutes. The scheme is currently being trialled in a handful of colleges, largely focusing only on live-in, first-year students.
Third year student and editor-in-chief of the university’s paper Imogen Usherwood said: “At this point it’s only reaching a significant minority of students. I know some universities [for example, Cambridge] are testing students every week, but we’re not. I haven’t been tested once.
“The LFT scheme has been trialled with 850 students so far, and given that there’s 20,000 students in Durham that’s not many. The ideal plan is that everyone is tested every week, but it feels like we’re a long way away from that currently.”
Danny Lawson - PA Images via Getty Images
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Usherwood said the prospect of all students getting a test before the travel corridor opens “feels like a very big step from where we are now.”
She continued: “If the LFTs are as quick as they say they are then perhaps it could work. Though going from testing 800-or-so students who live-in to 20,000 who live all over the city seems like a really big jump. I think it would be really hard to coordinate compared to universities like Oxford or Cambridge where lots of them live in their colleges.”
Leeds graduate Safi Bugel, editor-in-chief of the university’s student paper The Gryphon, said at points during the first term it had been “near impossible” to get a test at the on-site testing centre.
She added: “While at the moment it’s quite easy to get a test, I think that it’s going to get really busy. We’ve seen how hectic it can get, so when everyone wants to get home for Christmas it is just going to explode I think.”
Second year Serafina Kenny, co-editor of the opinion section of the University of Manchester’s student paper The Mancunion, told HuffPost UK it had been easy to get a test in September before the outbreaks began but at points in the term it had been more difficult as the number of cases increased.
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She said: “We’ve got something like 40,000 students – not all of them in Manchester but there is just a huge number of people. We’ve been pretty much fully online since halfway through the first week of term, so at the moment there’s not really much provision for loads of students on campus.
“I’m not sure how they’d go about testing and moving a huge number of students around because we’re not used to having that many people around.”
The University of Manchester made headlines just days ago when students in halls tore down fences that had been erected around their accommodation without any warning – a move students likened at the time to creating a “prison”.
Controversies such as this, Kenny said, risked undermining student confidence in plans such as mass testing.
She said: “There’s been quite a bit of pushback [from students] against a lot of what the university is doing recently, so I’m not sure if the students themselves would be willing to follow university guidance.
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“The relationship between the leadership team and the students at the moment isn’t the best.
Paul Childs / Reuters
“Ultimately I don’t think it’s the failure of the university or the students, there’s been a lot of blame put on us. I think the government have handled it awfully – to be honest I was really surprised to see they’d actually announced some kind of policy [the Christmas travel corridor].
“They were fully aware there was going to be a mass movement of more than a million students in September but just seemed to kind of ignore it.”
Robin Connolly, co-editor-in-chief of the University of Bristol’s student paper Epigram said testing at the university seemed to be working well, but that students had not been told anything about the mass-testing plans.
She explained: At the moment testing within the student population is very much an ad hoc thing – if you’ve been in contact with someone who tested positive or have symptoms then you’d probably get a test.
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“A lot of people I’ve spoken to about it have said they would rather get tested before they go home for Christmas than not because they would rather know if they are safe to go home and spend time with family and grandparents.”
Universities minister Michelle Donelan admitted to Sky News on Wednesday that students had experienced a “hellish” time since arriving for the autumn term, adding that the government would be “complementing” the student travel corridor with testing.
She said: “We’re targeting that testing in some of the most highest-risk areas and universities that are highest risk.
“And also looking at those student percentages who are most vulnerable, for example BAME [Black, Asian and minority ethnic] students.
“That is one element of this strategy, you can never eliminate the risk – we’re in the midst of a pandemic – what we’re doing is trying to manage that risk, reduce it and give students the confidence to go home.”


thehuffingtonpostuk--2020-11-13--Exclusive: Black Lives Matter Sparks 'Largest Racial Justice Movement In UK History'

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Britain has seen the largest civil rights movement in its history as a result of the Black Lives Matter movement sparked by the killing of George Floyd, HuffPost UK can reveal.
More than five million people have supported racial justice campaigns in Britain since May, with millions signing some 1,500 petitions on platform Change.org.
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That’s a number which carries “immense significance” according to Kajal Odedra, UK Director of the petition platform.
While modern day technology has afforded activists the opportunity to lobby for causes by signing online petitions, thousands have also taken to the streets this summer calling for an end to systemic racism.
In the days and weeks after Floyd’s murder, Black Lives Matter protests and demonstrations were held across the country despite the coronavirus lockdown.
“Until this year, the biggest anti-racism movement in the UK happened in 1833 during the monumental anti-slavery movement, when 1.3 million people across the UK put their names to petitions,” Odedra said.
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“I knew that, this year, more petitions were being started on Change.org than ever before to address racial justice issues, but even so, mobilising five million people is an enormous milestone. It carries immense significance that this year we’re seeing the largest movement in the UK for racial justice since the abolition of slavery.”
Within hours of Floyd’s death on the May 25, a petition had been started calling for the officers involved in his arrest to be held accountable.
Started by 15-year-old Kellen, it quickly became the largest petition in the site’s history, with almost 20 million signatures to date from people around the world – including three million from the UK.
SOPA Images via Getty Images
The biggest UK petition on Change.org this year has been for justice for Belly Mujinga.
Over two million people have backed the campaign which states: “There are serious questions that need answering and changes that must be implemented in order to prevent deaths like Belly’s happening again”. The railway worker died of Covid-19 weeks after claiming to be assaulted at work in London’s Victoria train station.
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Belly’s family’s campaign for justice – including calls for a public inquiry – has so far been backed by 50 MPs and peers.
Of those new petitions this summer, the most frequent petition topic was to remove statues and signs associated with slave-traders and colonialism, with 1,021 petitions gaining over 1,197,000 signatures.
Inspired by the toppling of the Edward Colston statue in Bristol, these petitions led to some quick successes, often complementing other campaign tactics like protests and direct action to attract the attention of decision makers.
Change.org
In Ashbourne, 86,000 people signed a petition to remove a caricature of a Black man’s head from a pub sign, which was immediately removed pending a council consultation. In Plymouth, a petition to rename Sir John Hawkins Square was won with 5,500 signatures.
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In Glasgow, as 27,000 people signed a petition to rename streets which are named after slave owners, campaigners took direct action to rename streets after Black campaigners, slaves and those who have died in police custody.
One of the most high-profile campaigns was to remove the statue of Cecil Rhodes from Oriel College at Oxford University. The #RhodesMustFall campaign had been running for years, but this summer’s Black Lives Matter movement gave the campaign new momentum to pressure Oriel College into voting to remove the statue.
Dozens of petitions were started on the topic, with one petition reaching almost 190,000 signatures before the organiser, Leo Quartermain declared victory in June.
Quartermain, an 18-year-old white student, started his petition following a conversation with a close Black friend of his who was distressed about the statue – but concerned about the backlash she’d potentially receive through starting a petition herself.
Leo Quartermain Supplied
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He told HuffPost UK: “This year has highlighted just how much inequality there is. It’s not enough to just not be racist, you have to be anti-racist and that’s what white people need to do.
“This petition was something I could easily do without fear of racial abuse, stigmatisation and just get along with. Other people would’ve faced a much harder time than I did. Allyship is understanding that you can do something to help someone else; sometimes it’s just simple things.”
The Department for Education responded saying that “Black history is an important topic which schools can teach to children of all ages as part of the history curriculum” but didn’t go as far as to make specific requirements or recommendations.
Joshua Ezekiel Bailey, 20, started a campaign to include the atrocities of colonial rule and the transatlantic slave trade in Britain’s history curriculum.
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The student, who’s in his final year of Loughborough University, said his aim was to raise awareness around this issue and eventually see it to pass into legislation.
The Black History Month debate in the commons at the end of October, where the curriculum was discussed, was one example of this goal coming to fruition.
"At the moment, history is taught to make one group feel inferior and another... feel superior"
Labour's Dawn Butler says curriculum needs to be "decolonised"
Equalities minister Kemi Badenoch asks why black children are different from other racial groupshttps://t.co/MVQNTHYJZr pic.twitter.com/CstsJKYxhI — BBC Politics (@BBCPolitics) October 20, 2020
“The importance [of these topics being taught] is rarely stated: for the children who get to learn about Black history their racial esteem would be heightened and that’s something that other – white – children get to take for granted,” Bailey told HuffPost UK.
“But as a Black child, currently, if you do’t have family members or some kind of external source that’ll teach you about Black history, you’ll go through your whole school life thinking that the most important contributions that Black people added to the world came through the enslavement of west Africans and Martin Luther King Jr campaigning for civil rights.”
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He added: “It would remove a lot of ignorance from the general public.”
Joshua Ezekiel Bailey Thom Robin
Bailey said the pandemic has presented unique opportunities for activists to mobilise around causes of structural inequalities.
“Social media has played a really important role in influencing people to achieve a certain goal,” he said. “In the 1970s and 1980s it was easy to centre a small group to maybe change the status quo but through the internet, you can start a petition, and create ripples of change that, when added together, can easily turn into a tide that impacts the public opinion.”
“Through the pandemic and the increase in free time, the chaos that we’ve seen this year with lockdown, Covid, Black Lives Matter and everything else, people are waking up to these issues and it’s been in their faces when they scroll on social media.
“People now, more than ever, feel like they can make a difference. Call me naive but I believe that people are going to keep pushing on these issues; I certainly will.”


thehuffingtonpostuk--2020-11-13--Strictly Come Dancing Judge Motsi Mabuse To Miss Two Weeks Of Live Show As She's Self-Isolating

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Strictly Come Dancing judge Motsi Mabuse has announced that she will miss the next two weeks of live shows as she has been required to self-isolate.
Motsi announced on Thursday night that she’ll be appearing on the show via video-link this weekend, as she needed to make an urgent trip to Germany earlier in the week.
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She explained: “Earlier this week I needed to travel to Germany for an urgent reason. I will of course be following the UK government guidelines and self-isolating for 14 days.
“I’ll be watching from home and by the power of technology, should be in your living rooms.”
Motsi Mabuse BBC / Kieron McCarron
“Watch out though, I’ll be doing my own hair and make-up,” she joked.
Motsi’s announcement came hours after Strictly bosses confirmed that Nicola Adams had been forced to leave the competition, after her partner Katya Jones tested positive for Covid-19.
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A spokesperson said: “Katya is asymptomatic and the pair are now self-isolating separately following the latest government guidelines.
“As part of the protocols outlined ahead of the series, this sadly means they will no longer be able to take part in the competition.”
Regular Strictly judge Bruno Tonioli is also missing from the series this year due to travel restrictions, as he’s currently also a judge on the US version of the show.


thehuffingtonpostuk--2020-11-13--John Lewis 2020 Christmas Ad Is A 100% Coronavirus-Free Zone

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Christmas isn’t cancelled. In fact, it’s only just getting started, with the timely arrival of the John Lewis and Waitrose Christmas advert, which – as industry experts predicted – delivers a simple message after a difficult year.
And without a single mention of the C-word.
Set to an original soundtrack by Brit award-winner, Celeste, the ad is part live action, part animation, encouraging the nation to “give a little love” to others before signing off with the line: “Together, we can make a difference.”
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It’s been launched – by no coincidence – on World Kindness Day, as part of a pledge by the retailer to help at least 100,000 families in need over the festive period.
The storyline is based around the concept of “paying it forward”, opening with a little boy staring hopelessly at his football, which is stuck in the branches of a tree, far from reach.
John Lewis and Waitrose
When a girl helps him to retrieve it using her umbrella, she triggers a wave of kindness that ripples through the community.
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Before long we see the boy helping a melting snowman, then the snowman helping change a flat tire. A pigeon even helps a hedgehog. The animals are all friends now.
But the moment that’s likely to make viewers really smile is the man cheering up his lonely neighbour by pulling a Christmas cracker through the window.
There’s also a subtle nod to our key workers, when a health worker is seen fixing a girl’s broken glasses on the bus.
Yet the retailer has avoided referencing the pandemic too overtly and there isn’t a face mask in sight.
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John Lewis and Waitrose
The ad is released on social media on Friday morning, but will make its primetime television debut during ITV’s The Voice on Saturday evening.
It’s certainly a more socially charged take from John Lewis than we’ve seen in recent years, following 2019′s lovable dragon, Excitable Edgar, and 2018′s disappointing Elton John-fest.
The brand has described it as “a campaign like no other, for a year like no other”, but Waitrose’s brand manager, James Morrison, revealed to HuffPost UK that it almost didn’t happen at all.
“There was a very real option for us not to do an ad at all this year,” said Morrison, adding that the team had to adapt earlier ideas and practically go back to the drawing board in March during the first lockdown.
“We were also very aware of the power that our ad has in terms of bringing joy to people’s homes, after what has been the bleakest, most grim year.”
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In the end, creatives “took inspiration from the British public,” he says – and the kindness shown among near strangers throughout the pandemic.
John Lewis and Waitrose
Visually, the ad feels a little jarring at first; it’s made up of nine different vignettes created by eight different artists, all stitched together, and shifts from real-life actors to different forms of moving art, ranging from animation and claymation to CGI and cinematography.
But it’s hard to argue with John Lewis’s justification for the format.
“The unique approach was chosen in a spirit of kindness towards the creative industry, which has been hard hit by the pandemic,” the retailer said in a press release. “Instead of a single production team, multiple artists were selected, giving employment to many people across the creative industry.”
And on second watch, it might well grow on you – the more details you spot, the more you can appreciate the creativity at work.
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John Lewis and Waitrose
The song is also a slow burner, not instantly catchy, but full of heart that’ll gradually warm the soul thanks to Celeste’s gorgeous voice.
In a move away from the breathy, pop covers, the original song was written and recorded by Celeste especially for the ad.
It’ll also be released as a single and every time it’s downloaded, a 10p donation will be added to John Lewis’s charity campaign.
It’s been quite the year for the singer-songwriter, who was named BBC Music’s Sound of 2020 in January (an accolade given to those tipped for success) and has ended the year with the biggest commercial gig of the season.
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John Lewis and Waitrose
The ad is an extension of a campaign announced by Waitrose and John Lewis in October, where the retailer pledged support to FareShare, the Marcus Rashford backed charity that helps those facing food poverty, and Home-Start which works with parents who are struggling.
Instead of the usual stuffed toy merchandise, the retailer has unveiled a series of ‘Give A Little Love’ products, including a slogan t-shirt and a heart-shaped umbrella. All profits will go towards the charity appeal.
A second shorter ad, created with artwork by four post-graduate students from Kingston University, details how customers can further support the campaign.
Christmas fans will be pleased John Lewis went back to the drawing board and teamed up with charities to create a tonally acceptable ad. The end result is undoubtably about helping those in need, but it isn’t a tear-jerker like 2015′s iconic Man on the Moon.
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thehuffingtonpostuk--2020-11-13--5 Positive Coronavirus News Stories From This Week, Because It's About Bloody Time

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The winter months are closing in, and the majority of the population is under another lockdown.
While the short-term future still appears dreary, a few green shoots of good news have sprung up this week.
The Pfizer vaccine, which could come to some of us as soon as December, has already made major headlines. But a number of other promising developments, which didn’t make such a splash, have also emerged.
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We took a look at what they are and what they mean.
The 30-minute Covid test
Testing yourself for Covid quickly and at home took a huge step to becoming a reality this week after research found a new type of test is both accurate and sensitive enough to pick up asymptomatic cases.
Clinical evaluation by Public Health England and the University of Oxford showed that so-called “lateral flow tests” – which don’t need a laboratory for processing – detect 95% of cases where there is a high viral load.
The PHE/Oxford study found they are effective in identifying people without symptoms but who are infectious and are most likely to transmit the disease.
The fast turnaround time also allows positive people to isolate quickly to reduce the virus’s spread.
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British Army Brigadier, Joe Fossey, who is coordinating the mass coronavirus testing pilot in Liverpool, holds up the components of a lateral flow Covid-19 test. WPA Pool via Getty Images
The rapid tests are currently being trialled in Liverpool, and the latest breakthrough on their ability to spot the virus was seized on by ministers as a major step forward in the fight against the pandemic.
Health minister Lord Bethell said: “It is right we’ve taken a dual-track approach to evaluating this technology – by piloting them in the field so we can understand how to best to make these tests available, and by getting our world-leading academics and clinicians to undertake rigorous evaluation of their ability to detect the virus.
“I’m delighted that both are already demonstrating that lateral flow tests can be the reliable, highly sensitive technology we need to help get this virus under control, and return to as close to normality as possible.”
Travel, testing and self-isolation
Another massive bonus of the above-mentioned test is that it opens up the possibility of quarantine-free travel, although it’s a still a little way off.
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But even before we get to that particular holy grail, there was a positive development in that arena this week – it was announced the amount of time people have to self-isolate after returning from holidays abroad could be reduced.
Grant Shapps said on Monday the government was making “very good progress” on a new system that would offer arrivals a coronavirus test when they land in the UK.
There is a catch though, you have to pay for the test yourself.
picture alliance via Getty Images
Speaking to the Airport Operators Association annual conference, Shapps said he would soon present Boris Johnson with a plan designed to support the tourism industry.
“This will consist of a single test for arrivals into the UK provided by the private sector at a cost to the passenger, allowing us a much-reduced period of self-isolation,” he said.
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“Beyond the lockdown, this should encourage more people to be able to book flights with confidence, knowing there is an option which allows them to shorten self-isolation if they’re going somewhere which isn’t in – or does become outside – a travel corridor.”
Under current rules, people have to quarantine for 14 days when arriving from the overwhelming majority of countries, including popular holiday destinations such as France and Spain.
The inhaled protein
While this doesn’t sound particularly appetising, a protein treatment that can be inhaled directly into the lungs has been shown to “accelerate recovery” and reduce the odds of developing severe Covid-19 in hospital patients.
The scientists behind it have said the results of a UK clinical trial suggest patients who received the drug, known as SNG001, were more than twice as likely to recover from Covid-19, compared to those who received a placebo.
Developed by Southampton-based biotech Synairgen, SNG001 contains interferon beta-1a – a protein the body naturally produces when it gets a viral infection.
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The protein is inhaled by Covid-19 patients using a nebuliser, in the hope that it will stimulate an immune response.
The researchers said their findings, published in The Lancet Respiratory Medicine journal, serves as proof-of-concept that SNG001 could help Covid-19 patients in hospital recover.
But they added further research is required with larger randomised clinical trials, as the study involved a small group of 98 volunteers.
The economy
This piece of news only just made the cut as while it certainly is positive, in the grander scheme of things the UK’s economy remains in a precarious situation.
The latest figures show it surged out of recession with record growth of 15.5% between July and September, but those same figures show the recovery slowed sharply even before the second lockdown.
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The Office for National Statistics (ONS) said the economy grew 1.1% month-on-month in September as the recovery since the nadir of the recession in April began to run out of steam.
Data shows that at the end of September, the economy was still 8.2% below levels seen in February before the crisis struck despite the record-breaking jump in gross domestic product (GDP) in the third quarter.
ASSOCIATED PRESS
The vaccine
This week, after months of uncertainty, hype and more than a little prolonged hope, it was finally revealed that a vaccine against Covid-19 was not only possible, but a reality.
Pfizer and Germany’s BioNTech announced to huge fanfare that its coronavirus vaccine has been found to be more than 90% effective in preventing Covid-19 during trials.
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As if that wasn’t enough, the study of more than 43,500 people – which was held across six countries – did not uncover any serious safety concerns, the companies said.
No.10 said the UK had procured 40m doses of the vaccine, with 10m set to be manufactured by the end of the year if the jab is approved by regulators.
Now this is clearly great, great news, there are some practical hurdles before it’s rolled out and warnings not to consider the vaccine a “silver bullet” which will bring the pandemic to an end.


thehuffingtonpostuk--2020-11-13--No, I Will Not Be 'Reaching Out' To Trump Voters, Now Or Ever. Here's Why.

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When Donald Trump was elected in 2016, like millions of other Americans, I was horrified. He had campaigned on a platform of hate, pledging to ban Muslims from entering the United States and build a literal wall to keep Latinos out of the country. He stoked anti-Semitism, mocked a disabled reporter and had a history of misogyny.
Once Trump actually became US president, he called white supremacists “very fine people,” locked children in cages and systematically sought to dismantle the Affordable Care Act, disregarding the millions of Americans who would be left without access to healthcare if he were successful.
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Over the past four years, I’ve lived in fear as Trumpism has taken over the country. In counties where Trump held campaign rallies, hate crimes increased a shocking 226%, showing that this rhetoric has real consequences for marginalised groups. Nearly everyone in America who is not a natural-born white, Christian, heterosexual male in relatively good health has been targeted by the policies of the Trump administration.
“These calls for unity come from a place of privilege, and they’re coming from mostly straight, white, cisgender people who are financially secure.”
As a Jew, an atheist, a woman and the mother of a disabled child, I have watched as my communities have been threatened repeatedly. The day the 2020 election was called with Joe Biden projected to be our next president, I danced in the streets at Black Lives Matter Plaza along with thousands of others who finally felt like this long nightmare was coming to an end.
But almost immediately, we began to hear calls to reach out to Trump supporters to mend fences. Pop star Katy Perry encouraged fans to follow her lead and tell family members who voted for Trump that they are “here for them.”
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Political scientist Ian Bremmer encouraged Biden voters to reach out to Trump supporters to show empathy. Former senator Rick Santorum, who compared same-sex marriage to bestiailty while holding office, urged Biden supporters to give Trump and his voters “space” to work through their feelings. These suggestions enraged me.
These calls for unity come from a place of privilege, and they’re coming from mostly straight, white, cisgender people who are financially secure. They may not have liked some of Trump’s policies, but they were not actively harmed by them. They likely never feared for their safety or wellbeing in Trump’s America.
Gestures toward reconciliation are also premature, given that Trump has yet to concede the election and still has about two months left in office to inflict even more damage.
Before any attempt at “unity” can be made, there needs to be a reckoning, an acknowledgment that so many of Trump’s actions have been unconscionable and do not align with societal ideals that claim to value all life.
Building bridges with people who share Trump’s views sends a clear message that you are willing to keep the peace at the expense of the dignity and wellbeing of those with less power and privilege.
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My friends and family members who supported Trump had four years to renounce his policies. Instead, they stood by him. They knew that Trump’s policies had a very real impact on my life, and they showed me time and time again that they did not care.
These calls for understanding ignore the very real fact that Trump has had a tremendous impact on the lives of so many marginalised people.
Jews like me were literally slaughtered in their place of worship in my home state of Pennsylvania, where a gunman opened fire on the congregation at the Tree of Life synagogue in Pittsburgh. The president failed to implement common sense gun control policies while stoking anti-Semitism, claiming that “Jews are only in it for themselves.” Trump repeatedly questioned whether Jews could be loyal to the United States by telling Jews that Israel is “your country,” seemingly unwilling to distinguish American Jews from Israelis. In this climate, it was inevitable that violence would be unleashed against Jews and that some would lose their lives. I will not forgive, and I will not forget.
As an atheist, I have watched in horror as the Trump administration has tried to turn our country, which was founded on the belief that church and state should remain separate, into a theocracy. Trump’s latest Supreme Court pick, Amy Coney Barrett, is poised to impose her extreme religious views on the rest of us. She has gone so far as to state that Catholic judges are “obliged to adhere to their church’s teaching on moral matters”. Religious views have allowed corporations such as Hobby Lobby to circumvent laws requiring insurance coverage for birth control and discriminate against the LGBTQ community.
As the mother of two daughters, I have spent the Trump years fearing that none of us will have the right to control our own reproductive choices if Trump had his way. I have watched as Trump’s atrocious handling of the pandemic has forced women out of the workforce in record numbers. He bragged about how his celebrity status allows him to sexually assault women without impunity, and then he lashed out at the 26 women who have accused him of sexual assault. The fact that such a person could rise to the most powerful office in the world has created a dangerous environment for all women.
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Time and time again, Trump has tried to dismantle the Affordable Care Act. Each time, his administration has put my disabled daughter’s future at risk, along with the futures of millions of other Americans with preexisting conditions. My daughter’s wellbeing depends on the ACA, and trying to save it has consumed much of my life for the past four years. My daughter got to know Capitol Hill well, as I often visited with her and challenged senators to look at her and tell her that life had no value, that she was too expensive to insure.
Over the past eight months, I’ve felt helpless as Trump has failed to control Covid-19, preferring instead to wish it away. Even though he said at least 40 times that the coronavirus would disappear, it is instead tearing through the country with a vengeance, claiming the lives of two of my family members and making several of my friends and family very ill. Some of them have not yet fully recovered. Trump’s wishful thinking has forced my family to isolate and kept my children from school and away from their grandparents. It has deeply hurt friends who are small-business owners and others who have lost their jobs as a result of Trump’s stunningly poor handling of the virus.
My heart has broken many times over as I’ve witnessed other atrocities wrought by Trump. The children forced into camps, separated from their parents. My friends in loving same-sex and trans relationships who worried their marriages would no longer be recognised and who rushed to adopt their own children when Trump took office, fearing that he would take away their parental rights. My Black friends who had to endure their president making openly racist remarks and advocating violence against Black Lives Matter protesters.
Indifference in the face of such cruelty does not deserve understanding, now or ever. Some fences cannot be mended.
Through all of this, my communities have come together in solidarity with one another to fight against Trump’s hateful acts. We are allies to one another, even when not directly under attack. Those who supported Trump, and those who still do, lack the compassion and the basic decency to recognise that every life has value. I have no need for them in my life and no desire to now pretend that I can accept their views, that any of this was ever OK.
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Those who supported Trump and those who remained neutral in the face of such cruelty enabled him. I will not forget, and I certainly will not forgive.


thehuffingtonpostuk--2020-11-13--This Mouthwatering Dal Makhani Recipe Is Diwali-Inspired Perfection

1 tbsp ghee
1⁄4 tsp asafoetida
3⁄4 tsp Kashmiri red chilli powder
1⁄4 tsp garam masala
1. Strain and rinse the lentils and kidney beans. Place them in a large pot with five times the amount of water, bring to a boil and simmer until cooked (this should take approximately 90 minutes). They should be soft and breaking apart, so don’t be scared to overcook them.
2. Place a large pan on a medium heat and add the ghee. As it begins to melt, add the bay leaf, cumin, black cardamom and cloves. Sauté for just a few seconds.
3. Add the chopped onions and sauté until caramelised. Once onions are done, add the ginger-garlic paste and chopped tomatoes, and cook till they are soft and mushy.
4. Add the turmeric, ground coriander and Kashmiri chilli powder, and cook for a further minute.
5. Now it’s time to add your cooked lentils and beans. Carefully tip them into the pan, adding extra water if the mixture is very thick.
6. Add the Kasoori Methi, some salt and leave to cook for about 15 minutes while you do the next step.
7. For the tempering, heat the ghee in a small frying pan and once hot, add the rest of the ingredients. Let them sizzle for a few seconds before adding into the lentil mix.
8. Before serving, swirl the double cream on top and garnish with chopped coriander. Serve with a garlic naan or roti.


thehuffingtonpostuk--2020-11-13--5 Gloriously Silly Pub Quiz Rounds To Convert Even The Naysayers

I’m a visual person, who has a photographic memory for the stupidest and most pointless things – like did you know in The Simpsons they have a small green star sticker on their dishwasher? Anyways, I digress. Normally, I ace picture rounds which isn’t actually that uncommon in most pub quizzes.
In the first lockdown, like the rest of the country, I was well into quizzes and spent a ridiculous amount of time photoshopping picture rounds and carefully cropping friends faces over movie stills. My magnum opus is my crisp brand picture round, which I’m sure during this lockdown there’ll be a part two of.
Angela Hui, life reporter


thehuffingtonpostuk--2020-11-13--How To Master The Art Of Pouring Wine (And Not Spill It Everywhere)

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One of the things we’re never really taught – unless you work in a restaurant or bar – is how to pour wine correctly.
But if you’re into your wine, the way you pour really does matter, says Lukas Kolodziejczyk, head of fine wine at Cult Wines, as it can enrich the taste of it.
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He strongly recommends decanting your wine once you’ve opened the bottle, which serves two functions: firstly, to stop naturally occurring sediment from reaching your glass, and secondly, to help the wine aerate and ‘open up’ before it’s drunk.
But if you don’t have a decanter, fear not. Open the bottle and, leaving the glass on the table, hold the bottle towards its bottom (“never the neck!”) and gently pour the wine into the glass. It doesn’t really matter where in the glass you pour, as long as you avoid splashing.
“Take particular care if it’s a sparkling wine,” he says, “pour a small amount into the flute, let the bubbles settle and then finish pouring until the glass is three-quarters full.”
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artisteer via Getty Images
Kolodziejczyk says if you want to do things by the book, glasses should always be filled from the guest’s right-hand side.
For red and white wines, the usual measure is about 125ml for a smaller serving or 175ml for an average-sized serving. “This is pretty tricky to do by sight,” points out Kolodziejczyk. “So usually, your best bet is to fill to the widest part of the glass, or at least a couple of inches from the rim – this gives the wine the best opportunity to breathe.”
To stop the wine from dribbling all over the label and making it look a right eyesore, he suggests a little extra care when opening the bottle. Rather than pulling the entire foil capsule from the top of the bottle, cut it neatly right below the lip of the bottle, so the wine doesn’t pass over the foil and on to the label.
In addition to this, you need to get your wrist flourish right so you don’t drip wine everywhere after pouring – “just before pulling the bottle away, give it a quick quarter-turn with your wrist and then tilt it upright,” he says.
“You might also keep a crisp white cloth nearby to wipe the mouth of the bottle afterwards, just in case.”
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thehuffingtonpostuk--2020-11-13--Working As A Cam Girl Has Transformed My Own Sex Life. Here's How

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You’re reading Sex Diaries, a HuffPost UK Personal series about how we are (or aren’t) having sex. To share your story, get in touch on ukpersonal@huffpost.com.
When I slip into my work uniform, I think back to the days of my 9-5 jobs: sweating in a restaurant, feet aching in a bookshop, the time I worked in a supermarket and had to literally fight customers off me whilst I reduced food. My new uniform, a bright pink lingerie set, is not what most people would consider workwear – but that’s the life of a cam girl.
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I started my camming journey ten months ago when I came across an advert on Instagram – a picture of a group of women with different bodies, skin colours, some stretch marks, all laughing together. I knew nothing about the camming industry, and so had never thought of it as a career move. I was at a real low point in my life, and thought this could be the fresh start I needed. Working from home would be ideal for me, as I struggle with my mental health, and being self-employed could help me finally take control of my finances. And, I thought, perhaps camming could even help me explore and push my until-then vanilla sexuality.
Once I had done my research on the agency, Off The Record, I tentatively broached the subject with my partner of five years. I’ve learned a lot of women in the business choose not to tell their partners, but I’m terrible at keeping secrets and I felt like he had a right to know what I was thinking of doing as a job.
My whole body was shaking and I had butterflies. I was so nervous at how he may react; my boyfriend is very liberal but I was scared he’d consider this cheating. Instead? He said “this could be the making of you. It’s like you were made to do this”. Not the reaction I expected from a builder who would be ruthlessly taunted about it if his colleagues found out. But that’s my partner – always seeing an opportunity that could help me.
“So many people just assume cam girls get naked and are there to get men off, but this isn’t the truth.”
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In the camming industry it can be hard to stick out – every single woman you see is genuinely stunning and diverse. I specialise in role plays and cosplays; I can be whoever you want me to be (or at least I try). I have a background in performing arts, and never thought it would help me in the career I find myself in now. From the West End to camming – who would’ve thought it?
So many people just assume cam girls get naked and are there to get men off, but this isn’t the truth. I’m a huge geek, so a lot of my chats are me discussing the latest Marvel comic and arguing my point to regulars who I do think of as friends, which can be strange when you think about it. Because of the hate I have of my body, I personally don’t get naked. I’m more of a tease and a fantasy girlfriend. That’s not to say I don’t get naughty, but if I spilled to you what I do that would be telling...
My boyfriend is the only person who knows about my secret life. He even plays video games next to me while I cam on the sofa, trying not to laugh as I fake orgasm, or passing me cups of tea and chocolates when I’m with a client, trying to make me giggle.
And I can’t put into words what camming has done for our sex life. Let’s just say I am a lot more confident in bed – and a lot more adventurous. We’d never used toys before but after realising how essential toys are for cam work, they quickly made their way into the bedroom. People think when you have to bring toys into your sex life it’s the kiss of death but it’s the complete opposite; it allows you to explore your bodies further and have a different type of orgasm. Even the ‘me time’ I have now is made so much better (why didn’t I know this earlier? Why didn’t they mention this in the sex-ed classes?)
“Camming has made me more accepting of my body, and I finally see the strength and sexiness in my curves.”
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There’s been a few times where I’ve slipped into some lingerie for work and my boyfriend can’t keep his eyes off me the whole time I’m trying to work. He’s never been the one to make the first move but recently I’ve found he’s definitely paying more attention to me, and I love it. He’s open to trying new things in bed that I want and has even opened up to me about things he’d like to try, after five years together. I hear about a lot of kinks at work, which I tell him about, and we discuss the ones we want to try, or he tries not to look too scared about the ones he definitely won’t attempt...
Of course, there have been days when he can become annoyed at not so much what I do but how much I make. He works long days, in all weathers, for not much pay, and some days he comes home to find me beaming about making £300 in a few hours. I can see how that must be hard for him and it’s caused the occasional argument; at the beginning he didn’t consider what I do a job, sitting on the sofa all day, in lingerie and PJs, talking to men. During lockdown he really got to see what my days were like, days where I would work 12 hours just to get enough money for rent. Not every day is amazing, but you have to take the highs with the lows.
Can I see myself doing this forever? Honestly, I don’t know. It’s mentally hard work and it can be lonely, sitting all day at my laptop, talking to men about this and that, acting sexy when some days I don’t feel it. Can I see my boyfriend being happy with my career in ten years, when maybe we’re married or have kids? Maybe this isn’t a life-long career, but right now I am loving it. I am my own boss. I make my own money. I am in charge of what I will and won’t do. And nowadays, that counts for a lot.
Because right now, camming has made me more accepting of my body, and I finally see the strength and sexiness in my curves. And I’ll always be grateful for my job helping me open up to trying new things, whether that’s positions or kinks or dress up. Let’s just say dressing up as Wonder Woman is no longer just for work.
Brooke is a camgirl, writing under a pseudonym
Have a compelling personal story you want to tell? Find out what we’re looking for here, and pitch us on ukpersonal@huffpost.com


thehuffingtonpostuk--2020-11-13--I Was Addicted To Dating Apps. Here's What Happened When I Deleted Them For Good

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The first dating app I ever hit “download” on was Plenty of Fish. I was 18, in my best friend’s basement, slightly buzzed off cheap wine when I made her a profile as a joke. POF began probing her with intimate questions. I laughed, but she stiffened and moved the phone closer to her eyes.
“This is kind of fun,” she admitted. When I left her place, the phone was still glued to her thumbs.
I started to sign up for Tinder on nights out, only to regret my matches in the morning and delete my profile, promising myself I wouldn’t go back. I didn’t keep my promise for long.
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When new dating apps began cropping up, I left Tinder to the hands of hookup artists. I met a stable environmentalist on Bumble. We dated for a year.
Post-breakup, I mourned our relationship before downloading a new app: one with no swiping involved. On Hinge, I met a serious paramedic, and then an erratic businessman. I dated each for two months.
After each breakup, I told myself I’d take some time. I wanted to concentrate on myself. I’d reflect on who I was and what I wanted. I wouldn’t download any dating apps.
Like clockwork, two weeks later, lying in bed alone, I’d crawl back to the app store and search “dating” in the blank white bar.
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Drugs I don’t need; even alcohol I abstained from for an entire year. Dating apps? I craved them.
I’m sure there’s a psychological reason we get so addicted. A surge of endorphins or adrenaline when someone we consider attractive considers us attractive, too. All they do is flick their thumb one way, and we feel complimented, confident, validated.
Scrolling became the last thing I’d do before I fell asleep, the first thing when I woke up. At 7 a.m., I peered through sleep-crusted eyelashes at a glaring light just to see if I’d gotten a response that would make me feel fleetingly better about myself.
A 24-year-old probed me to consider giving up my unhealthy habit. In the upstairs of a hipster club, I caught the eye of a tall blond. When he started speaking to me, I realized I hadn’t been approached and hit on in person since ... college? Feeling his body next to mine was euphoric ― an entirely different experience than stretching my fingers to zoom in on pixels lit up behind plastic. When I disclosed my age, he leaned in and said, “It’s OK, I like older women.”
“I’m not old!” I burst, shocked at his reaction to our three-year age gap.
Back in my bed, alone, I opened my dating app. Emoticons and pickup lines abounded, with no substance behind them.
Flirting in person showed me I want so much more than a 7 a.m. self-confidence boost from a guy who will never tell me his last name and takes several days to set up an actual date ― if he does at all.
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I want more than cold fingertips on a touch-screen keyboard. I want eyes catching across the room, lips moving in vociferous sentences, hands grazing the nape of my neck, knees touching thighs to foreshadow a pressure point of intimacy.
I want the real stuff. In person.
Maybe I am old.
I teetered with the idea of deletion. Even if I did erase my account, how long would it last? Would I relapse? Would I become too content being on my own? Would I end up alone forever, with seven cats and a self-published novel?
Five days later, a guy I’d matched with told me he’d moved to the city with his ex, but broken up with her because he wanted to be free.
“And so, you downloaded a dating app?” I typed back.
“Yeah, not really looking to date here, but I’m open to whatever happens.”
His answer made me contemplate my own reasons for flicking through profiles of chest hair, beer bottles and dogs belonging to someone else. As good as it felt to have someone call me beautiful online, it felt a million times better to experience attraction in person.
And, if I was as honest with myself as this random guy was being with me, I’d admit I didn’t really want to go through the effort of meeting someone new. I hadn’t for a while.
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Not the guy from London who sang an Ed Sheeran cover on his Instagram. Not the chef who wrote me strings of ornate words and admitted he just wanted to impress me. Not even the Australian who’d given me his number before backtracking, saying he should concentrate on his career.
There was nothing “wrong” with these guys I messaged, but it felt exhausting to even contemplate meeting them in real life. Confirming they matched their profile was so much more effort than simply twisting my finger a certain degree, and I guess that’s the point. Reality hit me like the “ping” of a new match: All I’m doing on a dating app is wasting time.
Time I could read good books, laugh with friends, sweat in hot yoga, cook new creations. Take classes, write articles, soak in bubble baths, preserving my eyesight and sleep and thumbs for someone, something, meaningful.
Without warning to any of my matches, I pulled the plug. Hopefully, this time, for good.
It wasn’t too long after that that I was sitting across from a cute guy, fresh wet sushi smothered in peanut sauce filling the table between us.
I didn’t give in to the rush of Hinge. I didn’t redownload Bumble or even fall prey to shirtless selfies on Tinder. I didn’t meet the man in front of me on a dating app. He was an old friend, an acquaintance, the smallest spark four years ago that he remembered and decided to give a shot.
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If I’m honest, my memory of him was fuzzy. I remembered talking to him at parties, both of us tied into happy-enough relationships. I recalled him as slightly unattractive and shorter than me. Over slushie rosé drinks, I told two of my girlfriends there was no way I’d be into him. Besides, I was happy on my own.
I walked to the restaurant in my fitness clothes, too apathetic to change. Tavis squeezed me into a hug against his definitely-taller-than-me body. Our chemistry flared at the same time our mutual friend texted me, “Everything happens for a reason.”
I didn’t kiss him when he walked me to my car, but it didn’t take long. He planted one on me in his kitchen while frying up vegan burritos a few days later. The next night, he brought me a sunflower. A week in, he brought my mom flowers. He wrote me a song, then a poem. He was real and tactile and more than I could’ve imagined in my flurried daydreams as I swept right and left and, sure, I guess, right.
Courtesy of Alison Karlene Hodgins Tavis and I on a recent road trip
Tavis didn’t help me get over my fixation on finding the next best swipe. I was already over it, all on my own. Even if I didn’t know it, I was open to him because I was closed to finding an elusive something better on my iPhone screen.
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Tavis wasn’t a reward for beating my dating app addiction. But it was only after I decided to stop looking that I found myself connecting with someone who craved getting to know the real me, beyond whatever 50-character bio, prompting question-and-answer or bikini-clad photo could ever tell a stranger on the internet.
For the first time, I’m not worried about it not working out. I’m not worried about being alone. I’m reassured on my own. I don’t want to look to the digital world for compliments or love. I don’t even miss it. I’d like to think that even if I didn’t have Tavis, I would no longer be searching, swiping, waiting.
On Sept. 15, Tavis and I celebrated our one-year anniversary. What started as a friendship blossomed into a genuine connection and evolved into the most mature relationship I’ve ever experienced, no swiping required.


thehuffingtonpostuk--2020-11-14--Rankin Is Breaking Stigma And Healing Through Photography

Rankin Is Breaking Stigma & Healing Through Photography
British photographer Rankin and mutual insurer Royal London tackle the taboos surrounding death in new digital project 'Lost for Words', the exhibition is available to see for free online.


thehuffingtonpostuk--2020-11-13--Donald Trump's Slip Of The Tongue Suggests He Might Know He's Lost

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Donald Trump has suggested for the first time he might know he’s lost the US election – despite not formally conceding.
In his first public remarks in over a week following his election loss to Democratic challenger Joe Biden, Trump gave an update on the coronavirus, which he said will be available for the entire population as soon as April.
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In an apparent slip of the tongue, Trump said “who knows which administration it will be” when talking about a potential fresh lockdown.
WATCH: President Trump says his admin. will not be going to a coronavirus lockdown, and "hopefully the -- whatever happens in the future, who knows which admin. it will be" will also not go to a lockdown. pic.twitter.com/tX4x6gu8R8 — NBC News (@NBCNews) November 13, 2020
He said: “Ideally, we won’t go to a lockdown. I will not go ... this administration will not be going to a lockdown. Hopefully the ... the whatever happens in the future, who knows which administration will be. I guess time will tell. But I can tell you this administration will not go to a lockdown.”
Considering that Biden reportedly won 306 electoral college votes, you’d think it’s a done deal.
But not as far as the president is concerned. He has made all sorts of bizarre claims that he really won the race.
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For instance, Trump on Friday took credit for what the Department of Homeland Security called the most secure election in US history — and then he argued it was rigged.
The president’s comments attracted a lot of sarcastic political analysis from Twitter users.
He 100% knows he lost. https://t.co/9TCkfmNxQ8 — John Kinnear (@askdadblog) November 13, 2020
Come on, buddy, you can do it. Just say the words, “The Biden Administration.” — Mama_C2 (@mama_c2) November 13, 2020


thehuffingtonpostuk--2020-11-13--'I Want Black People To Trust The Met Police,' Says Sadiq Khan

Khan has called for an immediate review of police road traffic stops in the capital and has asked the Met to launch a year-long pilot scheme looking at samples to identify any disproportionality relating to ethnicity.
The mayor’s plan also aims to ensure officers are not relying on the smell of cannabis alone when deciding to stop and search a person, with such incidents subjected to “London-wide scrutiny panels”. Figures show Black people are almost four times more likely to be stopped and searched in the street than white people in London. They are also six times more likely to be stopped in their vehicles, according to City Hall.
Speaking outside Brixton police station, in south London, after a foot patrol of the area on Friday afternoon, Dame Cressida Dick, the Metropolitan Police commissioner, said the force is working with Khan and agrees with about 98% of his plan.
She announced an immediate return of a London residency requirement for most new recruits, meaning they will have to have lived in the capital for three of the past six years.
“I think it’s good for London and Londoners that the police service reflects and understands London,” she said.
The commissioner said she felt “very sorry” that trust of the police among Black communities is so low and admitted: “We need to do more to show people that we have zero tolerance of racism.”
“There are over 40,000 people in the Metropolitan Police Service and I have always said we are not free of racism, we are not free of bias or discrimination,” she said.
Black Lives Matter protests swept the capital following the death of George Floyd in the US on May 25.
The Met faced controversy and accusations of racial profiling following a series of incidents filmed and shared online, including the vehicle stop of Team GB athlete Bianca Williams and her Portuguese sprinter boyfriend Ricardo Dos Santos.


thehuffingtonpostuk--2020-11-13--Starmer Tightens Grip On Labour Machine As Moderates Elected To Ruling Body

Labour leader Keir Starmer SIPA USA/PA Images
Keir Starmer has tightened his grip on the Labour Party machine after elections to the party’s ruling body saw moderates make gains.
Elections to Labour’s National Executive Committee on Friday showed the party’s left lost two representatives to the key body.
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The move means Starmer is likely to have a majority on the key body, which decides on the party’s rule book, policy and plays a role in deciding on the general election manifesto.
The pro-moderate majority was expected after the NEC’s voting system was switched from winner-takes-all to proportional representation.
The elections are the latest step in the new leader taking control of the party from the left, after he secured the role of David Evans as general secretary.
New elections to the NEC include three reps from the moderate ‘Labour To Win’ slate, including Luke Akehurst, Johanna Baxter and Gurinder Singh Josan.
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Former Welsh first minister, also a moderate, Carwyn Jones, was also elected in Wales.
Local government representatives Nick Forbes and Alice Perry, both supportive of Starmer, were also elected.
But the results also showed backing for the left remained strong.
The ‘Grassroots Voice’ slate won five local party representative seats, including Mish Rahman, Gemma Bolton and former North West Durham MP Laura Pidcock.
The left also won the youth representative and disabled representative posts, with Lara McNeill and Ellen Morris.


thehuffingtonpostuk--2020-11-13--Why We Should Remember, Remember The Last Week Of November

Boris Johnson speaks during Prime Minister's Questions in the House of Commons. PA
You’re reading The Waugh Zone, our daily politics briefing. Sign up now to get it by email in the evening.
When Tony Blair was prime minister, Alistair Campbell used to compile a personal collection of newspaper headlines lamenting “Blair’s worst week ever”. It was a reminder not just of media hype but also that every week could be your worst week without an ability to step back and see the bigger picture.
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Despite the loss of his communications chief Lee Cain and the defenestration of his chief adviser Dominic Cummings (seen exiting with No.10 tonight with a box of belongings), this week hasn’t been Boris Johnson’s worst in office. That description should be really applied to early April, when he was fighting for breath in St Thomas’s Hospital and a thousand people were dying every day at the peak of the first wave of the Covid pandemic.
Partly through accident, partly through design, the PM’s most significant week ahead is the final one of this month. On Monday November 23, Johnson is expected to update the Commons on the outcome of next week’s EU summit and the next steps for Brexit. If there’s no trade deal by then, Johnson is ready to spell out why the UK will still prosper.
On the Tuesday, the PM and Matt Hancock are expected to produce their plan for post-lockdown, giving clues as to what the country’s restrictions will look like over Christmas and into the New Year. With MPs given a few days to digest the plans, a vote may take place on the Thursday.
On Wednesday November 25, Rishi Sunak unveils his one-year spending review, a mini-Budget in all but name. Some spending departments are waiting nervously but I’m told there will be some things to cheer Tory MPs as they prepare for the winter ahead. Amid all the talk about a ‘reset’ for the government, the last week in November could be its moment.
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And yet it is on Covid that there is still the most uncertainty. As I wrote last night, Chris Whitty and Stephen Powis have both suggested that there will not be a return to the same tiered system of restrictions that existed before the second lockdown. The PM won’t want to be made to look like a clown by announcing an extension, but he may have to announce tougher local measures.
Today, a November 4 paper from Sage modelling subgroup SPI-M-O was published and it predicted that tougher measures that the last tiers would be needed even after December 2, when the lockdown is due to end. “If England returns to the same application of the tiering system in place before 5 November, then transmission will return to the same rate of increase as today,” it said.
Just what the new system will look like remains unclear, but it may have to include a Scottish-style Tier 4 of even tougher curbs for some areas. The Welsh government’s own Sage equivalent, the technical advisory group (TAG), reported today new evidence that schools being open is associated with higher rates of Covid infection in the wider population. If proven, that may prompt Johnson to agree to masks in classrooms and maybe even rota systems for sixth forms in England.
Add to all that the latest Covid cases and the picture is no less gloomy. The new 27,301 further cases is the second highest daily figure on record, suggesting yesterday’s hike was not a blip. It also adds to other findings that suggest an uptick in cases stemmed from the last few days before the current lockdown started. Critics who said pre-announcing/leaking the lockdown will see this as proof that the public went out in big numbers in a last hurrah that did spread the virus.
The last week of November may be preceded by better news on case numbers. There may be a last-dtich Brexit deal to trumpet, and there will almost certainly be spending boost for some departments (while some less good news for others). But it’s going to be a damned close run thing on Covid.


thehuffingtonpostuk--2020-11-13--Dominic Cummings Courts One Last Moment In The Spotlight As He Leaves Downing Street

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Dominic Cummings has been pictured leaving Downing Street through the front door while carrying a storage box, as he exited the political stage with a theatrical flourish.
Boris Johnson’s top adviser revealed on Thursday night he would be quitting No. 10 by the end if the year following a tumultuous week at the top levels of British government.
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But on Friday night he appeared to be leaving earlier than even he suggested and opted to exit through the famous No. 10 front door.
As political commentators pointed out, Cummings could have left via the basement back door or through the Cabinet Office – but instead chose to depart by way of the media stationed outside the PM’s residence.
One Tory MP pointed out to HuffPost UK the photo showed there was a foot ready to slam the door behind Cummings.
They said: “That doesn’t happen normally as the armoured door is pulled from the back. He’s not even out and they are closing it on him. Extraordinary.”
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Dominic Cummings leaves 10 Downing Street on Friday. REUTERS
REUTERS
The prime minister’s controversial aide was expected to leave his role by the end of the year following the resignation of his fellow Vote Leave veteran Lee Cain as communications chief.
Cummings insisted to the BBC that “rumours of me threatening to resign are invented” after it was suggested he would exit in protest over the treatment of his ally.
But Cummings said his “position hasn’t changed since my January blog” in which he said he hoped to be “largely redundant” by 2021.
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He now appears to have hastened that exit.
The BBC reported Cummings had stepped down from his role with immediate effect, rather than waiting for the end of the year.
The broadcaster said the controversial aide had spoken to the PM earlier on Friday and it was decided it was best for him to go immediately.
But it is understood Cummings is not formally quitting his job immediately, and he and Cain will continue to work for the PM and No. 10 until mid-December.


thehuffingtonpostuk--2020-11-13--Post-Lockdown Covid Rules Must Be Stricter Than Existing Tiers, Scientists Told Ministers

England’s national lockdown will need to be replaced with stricter measures than the previous three-tier structure, scientists advising the government on the spread of coronavirus have said.
“If England returns to the same application of the tiering system in place before November 5, then transmission will return to the same rate of increase as today,” ministers were told on November 4.
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The warning was included in a paper produced by the Scientific Pandemic Influenza Group on Modelling (SPI-M-O), a subgroup of the Scientific Advisory Committee for Emergencies (Sage).
November 4 was the day before the four-week national lockdown came into force.
Boris Johnson had hoped his tiered system of local lockdowns would be enough to suppress the virus.
But in the end the prime minister decided to go further and impose nationwide restrictions closer to those introduced in March, due to the rate at which infections were rising.
He has all but promised the four-week national restrictions will end on December 2 and be replaced with a return to local interventions.
It has been reported a new tier 4 could be added to the current three levels, which would impose even stricter restrictions than tier 3.
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In the paper, made public on Friday, SPI-M-O said: “The longer-term outlook depends on both the nature of non-pharmaceutical interventions that are implemented in England after 2 December and policies over the festive period.
“If England returns to the same application of the tiering system in place before 5 November, then transmission will return to the same rate of increase as today.”
The experts said its analysis had showed there had been a “clear effect” on the infection rate from tier 3 interventions, although “much less” from tiers 1 and 2.
But they warned: “It is not yet clear whether tier 3 measures alone are sufficient to reduce the reproduction number below 1.”
MPs will get to vote on what replaces the national lockdown, and the prime minister may have to rely on Keir Starmer and Labour votes following the formation of a 50-strong group of Tory MPs opposed to any new lockdown.
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The analysis was released shortly after official estimates suggested the reproduction number, or R rate, of coronavirus transmission across the UK has dropped to between 1.0 and 1.2.
R measures the number of people, on average, that each sick person will infect. If R is greater than 1 the epidemic is generally seen to be growing; if R is less than 1 the epidemic is shrinking.


thehuffingtonpostuk--2020-11-13--Man, 23, Arrested On Suspicion Of Murdering Met Police Officer Matt Ratana

A 23-year-old man has been arrested on suspicion of the murder of Sergeant Matt Ratana, the Metropolitan Police said.
Sgt Ratana was killed when he was shot by a handcuffed suspect at Croydon Custody Centre in south London in the early hours of September 25.
That night, a 23-year-old man, who had been arrested for a separate offence, was detained by officers at Croydon Custody Centre and then taken by ambulance to hospital with a gunshot wound.
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Sergeant Matiu Ratana, known as Matt PA
No police firearms were discharged during the incident.
The man’s condition, originally critical, has since stabilised and is no longer considered life-threatening. On Friday he was considered fit to be arrested on suspicion of murder.
As he man remains in hospital, officers will liaise with the relevant medical and legal teams to make an assessment of when he will be fit for interview.
Specialist family liaison officers from the Met’s Specialist Crime Command are in regular contact with and supporting Matt’s partner, his son and wider family. They have been informed of today’s arrest.
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thehuffingtonpostuk--2020-11-14--Covid Vaccine News May Make People 'Complacent' About Lockdown, Scientific Adviser Warns

The news of a vaccine “may be making people feel complacent” about lockdown rules, a government scientific adviser has warned.
Professor Susan Michie, a member of the Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies (Sage), said the next two weeks would be “absolutely crucial” in ensuring that England’s lockdown ends as planned on December 2.
Mitchie urged the public on Saturday to resist breaking current rules, which have now been in place for more than a week, to “be in a position” to spend the festive period with loved ones.
She also warned that the announcement of Pfizer’s vaccine could lead to increased complacency surrounding the measures, adding that the jab will make “no difference” to the current wave.
It comes after documents released by Sage on Friday warned that a return to the tiered system of coronavirus restrictions will see infections rise again.
When asked what should replace current restrictions when lockdown ends, Prof Michie told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme: “It’s too early to know. I think the next two weeks is going to be absolutely crucial.
“They’re going to be a very challenging two weeks, partly because of the weather, partly because, I think, the promise of a vaccine may be making people feel complacent.
“But the vaccine is very unlikely to come in until the end of the year or beginning of next year and that’s going to make no difference to the current second wave.
“So I think for the next two weeks, everybody has to really get all their resolve together.”
Prof Michie, a behavioural scientist at University College London, advised the public to “really pay attention to resisting any urges to break the rules” on social distancing and visiting other households.
“Because that will maximise the chance that in two weeks’ time, on December 2, we’re in a position where actually we don’t have to continue the lockdown,” she added.
“And better still, what everybody wants, is to be in a position where they can spend the Christmas and winter holiday times with loved ones.”
When asked if this meant the gains during lockdown would be lost, Prof Michie said she was “quite hopeful” after tough measures in Wales and Northern Ireland brought transmission rates down.
Newly-released documents, written the day before the second national lockdown was imposed, show a consensus statement prepared by a modelling subgroup of Sage raised concerns about returning to the tier system.
Modelling found that if the lockdown is “well-adhered to”, it is likely to reduce the reproduction number to less than 1, with hospital admissions and deaths expected to fall until at least the second week of December.
But the document, dated November 4, added: “If England returns to the same application of the tiering system in place before November 5, then transmission will return to the same rate of increase as today.”
Other documents from late October state that any hopes of families gathering at Christmas will also be dependent on the R value staying below 1 for “some time”.
On Friday, Sage said that the R rate for the UK has fallen to 1-1.2, with experts believing it is already below 1 in some places.
It is hoped that R will drop in more places next week or the week after, as people remain under lockdown restrictions.
Elsewhere on Friday, the government said a further 376 people had died within 28 days of testing positive for Covid-19.
As of 9am on Friday, there had also been a further 27,301 lab-confirmed cases of coronavirus in the UK, compared to 33,470 on Thursday.
It also emerged this week that eighteen hospital trusts in England now have more patients wit Covid-19 than they did at the peak of the first wave, a fact fellow Sage member Dr Kit Yates described as “unsurprising” – also warning that a return to the tier system would see cases rocket.


thehuffingtonpostuk--2020-11-14--Glenn Close, Hillbilly Elegy And The Myth Of The Overdue Oscar

To win an Oscar, an actor needs an Oscar Scene. It’s the moment — perhaps one of a few moments — that stands out above all the others, encapsulating what it is that makes a particular performance special. On Oscar night, a clip from said scene will air during the presentation of that actor’s category. In roughly 10 seconds, everyone watching is meant to understand why this person deserves this trophy.
Should Glenn Close receive a nomination for portraying a homely Ohio grandma with a lacerating tongue in Netflix’s soon-to-be-released Hillbilly Elegy, what will her Oscar Scene be? Maybe the part where she confronts Amy Adams, who plays her volatile opioid-addicted daughter, about child abuse, the veins in Close’s neck throbbing as she lurches toward her co-star. Or when she browbeats a pair of young goons, taunting in a chunky Appalachian drawl, “Which one of you can spell Mississippi?” Then there’s the monologue in which Close compares humankind to the Terminator franchise, an instant classic.
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No, Close’s Oscar Scene is also the What It All Means Scene. You can catch some of it in the trailer. Late in the film, she stares down her grandson (Owen Asztalos) with tightened lips, ordering him to succeed in school and avoid bad influences because she is counting on him to look after their impoverished family once she’s dead. (Never mind that his older sister seems equally capable.) Close, whose character never gets a name beyond Mamaw, wields a cigarette during this exchange, as she does during most exchanges in Hillbilly Elegy, because that is what movie stars do when they cosplay as blue-collar frumps. Smoking can be such a glamorous act, but in films like this, it is both a white-trash signifier and a crutch intended to emphasise a performer’s emotive gestures.
Close and Amy Adams in Hillbilly Elegy. Netflix
More than any other living actor, Glenn Close is overdue for an Oscar. At least that’s how the narrative goes. She was widely expected to prevail in 2019 for The Wife — her seventh nomination — but Olivia Colman snuck up from behind, wresting Best Actress from Close’s anxious hands. As a result, whatever austere drama Close made next was almost guaranteed to land her in the awards derby, perhaps netting a victory solely on the back of that “overdue” qualification.
For those of us who care about such frivolities, that dynamic stings. An actor is lucky to win a single Oscar during the course of his or her career, and one hopes it will be for something that reflects the best of that person’s abilities — something distinctive, stirring, memorable. But once the “overdue” label is stamped across an A-lister’s portfolio, it can be hard for Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences voters to resist rectifying their lapse at the nearest chance, not wanting to miss yet another opportunity to consecrate Hollywood’s surest talents.
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Close in Hillbilly Elegy. Netflix
A glaring example is the Oscar that Julianne Moore won for Still Alice. It’s a nuanced role in a decent film, and yet it pales when compared to the electricity Moore brings to so many other performances. Part of that is by design: She played a professor facing early-onset Alzheimer’s, requiring the character to retreat into herself with heartbreaking subtlety. Still Alice is a study in trying to keep everything together, but Moore is best when she’s on the verge of losing her wits. The movie has none of the lingering impact of, say, Boogie Nights, Magnolia, The Hours, Far From Heaven, A Single Man or The Kids Are All Right. But Still Alice marked Moore’s fifth nomination, which meant it was her “turn.”
Similarly, Leonardo DiCaprio had already collected three nominations and a bushel of snubs dating back to Titanic and Catch Me If You Can when he earned a nod for the dreary 2015 survival epic The Revenant. He’d committed his all to the film, reportedly sleeping in a horse carcass, eating raw bison and enduring frigid temperatures during the shoot. Throughout DiCaprio’s campaign, those exploits were weaponised to demonstrate his dedication. He really wanted that Oscar. The Revenant may constitute impressive craftsmanship, but it lacks the appeal that makes DiCaprio one of the world’s leading movie idols. Instead of being feted for his gleeful turn in The Aviator, The Wolf of Wall Street or Once Upon a Time in Hollywood, his greatest cinematic contribution, according to the Oscars, is the time he fought off a bear.
Even those with fewer nominations sometimes butt up against this “overdue” mythology. When Viola Davis won for Fences in 2017, some speculated that losing to Meryl Streep a few years earlier helped push her across the finish line. Christopher Plummer won his first trophy — for Beginners — when he was 83; wasn’t it finally time to commemorate his longevity? And in the directing field, Martin Scorsese’s triumph for “The Departed” arrived after six nominations and several other reputation-defining movies for which he was not recognised.
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Still, none of the aforementioned wins felt as wrong as Hillbilly Elegy would for Close, who does far more humanistic work when she isn’t so burdened by needing to seem normal. I’m thinking of The Big Chill, Fatal Attraction, Dangerous Liaisons, Reversal of Fortune and even 101 Dalmatians, which required her to tumble into a vat of molasses. Unaided by the heavy-handed screenplay (written by Vanessa Taylor and based on J.D. Vance’s polarising memoir) and style-agnostic direction (steered by Ron Howard, a veteran with few idiosyncrasies), Close resorts to a caricature of a Southern rube. Her severe gait and unadorned face are meant to connote Serious Acting, but they read more like a movie star doing a theatrical imitation of a demographic that Hollywood knows little about. Close has a naturally aristocratic countenance, requiring the makeup department to do a lot of heavy lifting. It’s less a performance than a tornado. The closest corollary I can conjure is Streep’s pill-popping antagoniser in August: Osage County, a hammy charade that earned her an Oscar nod simply because, well, she’s Meryl Streep.
Close in Dangerous Liaisons, released in 1988 Archive Photos via Getty Images
I hate denigrating Close this way, but Hillbilly Elegy is tacky enough to force my hand. However, here’s a curious wrinkle: Amy Adams also belongs to the proverbial Overdue Club. In fact, she’s probably the next living actor whose Oscar is most considered tardy. Adams has six nominations to her name, having first been anointed for her breakout role in 2005’s Junebug. When I interviewed Adams in 2014, the headline on the resulting story was ”How Amy Adams Became The Oscars’ Golden Child.” She is so frequently included on Academy Award rosters that voters could later afford to write off her performance in the sci-fi masterpiece Arrival.
Adams survives Hillbilly with a bit more dignity intact, but she, too, is subjected to a series of screaming matches and hapless yowls in search of a convincing plot. She built her renown playing naive darlings (Junebug, Enchanted, Doubt) and then flipped the script with brassy hellions (The Fighter, The Master, American Hustle), but this outing barely captures the breadth of Adams’ charms. The story unfolds through J.D.’s perspective, split across two incoherent timelines and struggling to calibrate the central clan’s evolution.
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Netflix is touting Adams for Best Actress (a stacked race led by Viola Davis in Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom and Frances McDormand in Nomadland) and Close for Best Supporting Actress, meaning both women could at last right the Oscars’ wrongs when the April 25 ceremony rolls around. (Nominations will be announced on March 15, after being delayed by two months due to Covid-19.) But how disappointing to imagine Adams’ or Close’s belaboured Oscar narrative coalescing around Hillbilly Elegy of all movies. If either wins, it will double as a career-achievement prize, yet the record books will nonetheless show that an overwrought hodgepodge of working-class clichés represent Adams’ and Close’s gifts.


thehuffingtonpostuk--2020-11-14--Cher Leads Children In Need's Incredibly Star-Studded Charity Single

This year’s BBC Children In Need charity single has been unveiled, and it’s an incredibly star-studded affair.
The likes of Cher, Kylie Minogue, Nile Rogers and Robbie Williams have come together to record a cover of Oasis ballad Stop Crying Your Heart Out.
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More than 20 artists joined voices to help support disadvantaged children and young people across the UK with the track, which was released on Friday during this year’s Children In Need telethon.
The performing group – who also include Gregory Porter, Paloma Faith, Ella Eyre Mel C, Lenny Kravitz, KSI and Jamie Cullum – have been dubbed the Radio 2 Allstars.
Cher, Nile Rogers, Robbie Williams and Kylie Minogue BBC
The video features footage recorded remotely of a number of the stars performing outdoors interspersed with clips of children smiling or playing.
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Chic star Nile, who recorded his segment in his garden, said: “It was wonderful, it was so inspirational.
“Watching these children every year, it touches your heart, it inspires you to be better yourself, and when I was playing it I was sort of swept away.
“I was really happy too that I could play it at my own house in the back yard.
“Believe it or not, my neighbours started to gather round and wonder what I was doing, that was cool because I actually don’t get a chance to see them very often.”
Over 20 famous faces appear on the BBC Radio 2 AllStars track BBC
Children In Need raised more than £37 million during its 40th anniversary show on Friday.
The One Show’s Rickshaw Challenge contributed £4,750,819 towards the total raised.
The annual event, which was run by TV presenter Matt Baker, was forced to be completed virtually by a team of cyclists after one of the film crew tested positive for coronavirus.
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It was also announced that Joe Wicks had raised £2,108,229 by completing a 24-hour workout.
Manchester United player Marcus Rashford also delivered a heartfelt plea for people to help prevent youngsters from going hungry as he reflected on his own experiences of going without food while growing up.


thehuffingtonpostuk--2020-11-14--Cummings 'Wanted To Leave An Image’ With Downing Street Exit, Tory MP Says

Dominic Cummings’ exit from Downing Street while holding a large box was “entirely deliberate” as he wanted to “leave an image”, former Brexit secretary David Davis has claimed.
Conservative MP Davis said the senior adviser could have left Number 10 through less visible exits, but instead chose to walk out in front of the waiting press.
Images of Boris Johnson’s right-hand man leaving Downing Street on Friday have been featured heavily across national newspaper front pages, and several topics relating to the pictures have trended widely across social media.
Speaking to BBC Breakfast on Saturday, Davis said: “Almost certainly Dominic decided he was going to leave an image. That would have been entirely deliberate.
“Just so your viewers know, he could have walked out the back door, which is almost sort of underground, not visible, or he could have walked out of the entrance out of Whitehall. Out of the Cabinet Office. Either would have been possible.
“He chose to leave that image walking out with a box. He could have perfectly well put his coffee mug or whatever else was in it into his rucksack, but he didn’t.”
The BBC reported Cummings’ departure was brought forward because of “upset in the team” at Downing Street and that Johnson wanted to “clear the air and move on”.
Despite the controversy surrounding his departure, and that of Downing Street director of communications Lee Cain, Cummings has said his “position hasn’t changed since my January blog”, in which he said he hoped to be “largely redundant” by 2021.
Davis said the image of Cummings leaving would help the PM “reset” the government.
He added: “The photograph will last the weekend and people will remember it, but it’s not the key.
“And at one level, as I said, Boris will want to reset government and in a sense, that photograph does part of the resetting for him.”
There has previously been tension between Cummings and Davis, with the former describing the MP in 2017 as “thick as mince”.


thehuffingtonpostuk--2020-11-14--Hugh Grant's End-Of-Series Gift To His Undoing Co-Stars Couldn't Be More Quintessentially Hugh Grant

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Hugh Grant found the most characteristically Hugh Grant gift to give his co-stars on the last day of filming HBO drama The Undoing.
The actor has described filming the psychological thriller – in which he stars alongside Nicole Kidman – as the “last time I remember being truly happy” prior to the pandemic, and marked wrapping the show in a special way.
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Speaking to E! News, Hugh said: “I enjoyed the last day very much. It was a very long shoot, six months. That’s the last time I remember being truly happy. I was thinking, ‘Oh wow, I’m exhausted. This is over.’
“I remember giving everyone cigars including young Noah, who played my son. He was thrilled, but his mother was less thrilled.”
Hugh Grant TOBIAS SCHWARZ via Getty Images
In The Undoing, Hugh plays oncologist Jonathan Fraser who becomes a suspect in the murder of a mysterious woman who suddenly appears in his wife’s life.
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Hugh has moved away from starring in romantic comedies in recent years, earning widespread praise for his role as politician Jeremy Thorpe in the BBC’s A Very English Scandal in 2018, as well as starring in films including Cloud Atlas and The Gentlemen.
Last year, he explained his decision to step away from the genre, telling The Hollywood Reporter: “I’ve gotten too old and ugly and fat to do them anymore.
“So now I’ve done other things and I’ve got marginally less self-hatred.”
Hugh Grant and Nicole Kidman in The Undoing Image by HBO
Earlier this week, Hugh revealed he and wife Anna Eberstein contracted Covid-19 at the beginning of this year.
“It started as just a very strange syndrome where I kept breaking into a terrible sweat. It was like a poncho of sweat, embarrassing really,” he said during an interview with US talk show host Stephen Colbert.
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“Then my eyeballs felt about three sizes too big and this feeling as though an enormous man was sitting on my chest – Harvey Weinstein or someone. I thought, ‘I don’t know what this is’.”
He continued: “Then I was walking down the street one day and I thought, ‘I can’t smell a damn thing’. And you start to panic – by then, people were just starting to talk about this as a symptom.
“I started sniffing flowers, nothing. And you get more and more desperate. I started sniffing in garbage cans. You know, you want to sniff strangers’ armpits because you just can’t smell anything.”


thehuffingtonpostuk--2020-11-14--One Of Donald Trump's Favourite Insults Is Flipped Back On Him In Daily Show Supercut

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thehuffingtonpostuk--2020-11-14--Strictly Come Dancing's Motsi Mabuse Reveals Break-In At Her Dance School, Amid Her Return To German

Strictly Come Dancing's Motsi Mabuse Reveals Break-In At Her Dance School, Amid Her Return To Germany

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Motsi Mabuse has revealed her German dance school has been broken into.
Sharing a picture of a shattered door at the Motsi Mabuse Die Taunus Tanzschule on Friday, the dancer said she is now working with authorities to solve the crime.
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Motsi Mabuse SOPA Images via Getty Images
She wrote: “Unfortunately we have no good news. Someone tried to break into our school @motsimabuse_taunustanzschule.
“We are working with the police to solve this crime. We know we have been targeted on purpose and we will improve security in our school that this will not happen again.”
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Earlier this week, it Motsi announced she would be missing two weeks of Strictly live shows as she has to isolate after her unexpected trip to Germany, where she usually lives.
She wrote on Instagram: “Earlier this week I needed to travel to Germany for an urgent reason. I will of course be following the UK government guidelines and self-isolating for 14 days.
“I’ll be watching from home and by the power of technology, should be in your living rooms.
“Watch out though, I’ll be doing my own hair and make-up,” she joked.
It has since been announced she will be temporarily replaced on the panel by professional dancer Anton Du Beke.
Speaking about his new role on Friday’s It Takes Two, Anton said: “I can’t tell you how excited I am.“I am so thrilled for so many reasons.
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“I just love, love, love the show as everybody knows and to be asked just to fill in for Motsi for the next couple of weeks is just an absolute honour.”
Anton Du Beke will be standing in for Motsi this weekend BBC/Guy Levy
Motsi’s announcement came hours after Strictly bosses confirmed that Nicola Adams had been forced to leave the competition, after her partner Katya Jones tested positive for Covid-19.
Regular Strictly judge Bruno Tonioli is also missing from the series this year due to travel restrictions, as he’s currently also a judge on the US version of the show.
However, he is offering weekly critiques in the Sunday night results show, recorded from his home in LA.
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