thehuffingtonpostuk--2020-10-14--Gwyneth Paltrow Reveals Her Worst On-Screen Kiss: ‘It Was Like Kissing My Brother’

LOADING ERROR LOADING
If you’ve ever dreamt of locking lips with someone famous, Gwyneth Paltrow is about to ruin the fantasy for you.
The Oscar-winning star has revealed that when it comes to kissing on screen, the fantasy is usually way better than reality.
Advertisement
Gwynnie was recently joined by fellow thesp Kate Hudson on her Goop podcast when talk turned to who they had kissed on screen.
Gwyneth Paltrow SIPA USA/PA Images
While Gwyneth remained tight-lipped about who her best on-screen kiss was with, she did reveal that she isn’t in a hurry to have a repeat performance with her Iron man co-star, Robert Downey Jr.
“With Robert, like, when I kissed him, I was like, ‘You’ve got to be kidding me, this is literally like kissing my brother’,” she said.
Advertisement
Gwyneth Paltrow and Robert Downey Jr. Eric Charbonneau/Invision/AP
And Kate wasn’t a fan of kissing her How To Lose A Guy In 10 Days co-star, Matthew McConaughey either.
“Every time I kissed McConaughey, I mean, it’s like there’s just something happening and there’s like snot, or wind,” Kate (over)shared.
“Honestly, I feel like I kind of haven’t had the best kissers,” she continued, adding: “I feel like I should have had better ones.”
Kate Hudson and Matthew McConaughey. PA
Advertisement
Last month, Gwyneth pulled back the curtain on how she co-parents with ex-husband Chris Martin.
Gwyneth said it’s often a struggle to be on the same page with the Coldplay frontman following their divorce.
“It’s like you’re ending a marriage, but you’re still in a family. That’s how it will be forever,” Gwyneth said on The Drew Barrymore Show.


thehuffingtonpostuk--2020-10-14--Eric Trump Tried To Troll Joe Biden With Rally Photos. It Did Not Go Well

HuffPost is part of Verizon Media .
We and our partners will store and/or access information on your device through @ @ @ @ @ similar technologies , to display personalised ads and content , for ad and content measurement @ @ @ @ @ development .
Your personal data that may be used • Information about your device and @ @ @ @ @ IP address • Browsing and search activity while using Verizon Media websites and apps Find @ @ @ @ @ use your information in our Privacy Policy and Cookie Policy .
To enable Verizon Media @ @ @ @ @ your personal data select ' I agree ' , or select 'Manage settings ' for @ @ @ @ @ your choices .
You can change your choices at any time by visiting Your Privacy @ @

LOADING ERROR LOADING
Eric Trump, the touter of an imaginary coronavirus vaccine, earned yet another roasting on Twitter Tuesday as people pointed out a major flaw with his latest attack on Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden.
Donald Trump’s son was mocked after he shared two photographs ― one showing hundreds of people crowding a Trump campaign rally, the other of Biden speaking to a socially distanced drive-in rally in Ohio on Monday.
Advertisement
“The polls are wrong…,” Eric Trump captioned the images.
The polls are wrong... pic.twitter.com/p6AT3YW2Wt — Eric Trump (@EricTrump) October 13, 2020
Twitter users noted a big problem with Eric Trump’s argument against polls showing a sizeable Biden lead in the 2020 election.
Namely, that Biden was being responsible at his event because of the coronavirus pandemic, and the president and his rally fans ― standing side by side without face masks ― were anything but.
“You’re comparing the super spreader moronic events that you guys hold to this safe socially distance drive in rallies,” responded one critic.
Advertisement
Another referenced the president’s coronavirus illness: “One is responsible and the other is Covid infected Super Spreader. I’ll go with the responsible adult, not the narcissist.”
Donald Trump has declared himself free of the virus that hospitalized him for three days and has resumed campaigning ― without following coronavirus precautions.
Or Biden has a smarter campaign and supporters who believe in science. My whole family is voting Biden and we’d never go to a rally. Democracy doesn’t need to look like a frat party to work. — Zsenike 💛 👩🏻🏫 🇺🇸🗽 (@Yaragreyjoyfan) October 13, 2020
Joe chooses not to kill people. I like presidents who don't kill people just so their fragile egos get stroked. — A Pidgin Called Minerva (@casual_minerva) October 13, 2020
You’re comparing the super spreader moronic events that you guys hold to his safe socially distanced drive in rallies. Literally no comparison except that I’m voting for the one that wants to keep me safe 🙄 — Jessica Miller (@Jx3MAMA85) October 13, 2020
Advertisement
One is responsible and the other is a Covid infected Super Spreader. I’ll go with the responsible adult, not the narcissist — KL Horn 🏴☠ (@KalayneBuck) October 13, 2020
Sure. We just aren’t completely idiotic during a pandemic. You know what parades I have been enjoying very much. The voting parades we have been seeing. Good luck Eric. Prison is in your 2021 timeline — Matthew Paul Frasca (@MFrasca79) October 13, 2020
We'll see...
Speaking of wrong -- do you think exposing crowds of your supporters to possible infection a few weeks before the election is a good strategy?
Just curious — Adam "Tex" Davis (@AdamTexDavis) October 13, 2020
Yeah. By election day a good number of people in the bottom picture will be too sick to get out and vote. — Paul 👻 (@pablo_honey1) October 13, 2020
Keep telling yourself that. There are quite a few of us that don’t feel the need to go to obnoxious rallies. We don’t need a reality tv president. And we’re ok with Joe being careful & respecting the sanctity of health & life. So... — 🎃🅿ℹ🅿🎃 (@apipkin11) October 13, 2020
Advertisement


thehuffingtonpostuk--2020-10-14--One Of Donald Trump’s Dirty Tricks Is Laid Bare In Damning New Ad

LOADING ERROR LOADING
Donald Trump’s penchant for projection is exposed in a new ad released by the anti-Trump group Really American PAC on Tuesday.
The 79-second spot weaves footage of Trump accusing Democrats of things he has actually done with analysis of the dirty distraction technique from MSNBC anchor Ari Melber and Lance Dodes, a former professor of psychiatry at Harvard Medical School.
Advertisement
“This is a projection. He tells other people that they are what he is,” Dodes says in the video. Adds Melber: “Donald Trump is often guilty of the very things he accuses of others.”
It’s unclear if the ad will air on television. It has proved successful on social media, however, garnering more than 1.2 million views on Twitter by early Wednesday.
The clip also caused the #TrumpProjection hashtag to trend.
Check out the ad here:
NEW VIDEO: Trump says it's the Democrats who colluded with Russia, are committing crimes, and are trying to rig the election. The President is a walking, talking projection. Everything he himself does, he accuses of others. It's just another #TrumpProjection. Pass it on. pic.twitter.com/bv2tVyiw7o — Really American 🇺🇸 (@ReallyAmerican1) October 13, 2020
The jury remains split on the effect that such viral political ads have on swaying swing voters, with critics suggesting they only serve to reinforce filter bubbles.
Advertisement


thehuffingtonpostuk--2020-10-15--13 Hand Sanitiser Mistakes You're Probably Making

LOADING ERROR LOADING
For months now, people have been toting around hand sanitiser and slathering it on anytime they touch a shared surface or object in public. We all know that hand sanitiser can help kill germs (including SARS-CoV-2, the coronavirus that causes Covid-19), but there may be some major errors we’re making when applying the product.
“There is no doubt that hand sanitisers are a convenient and handy resource to assist in mitigating the spread of infectious disease. However, it is not a ‘cure all,’” said KC Rondello, an epidemiologist and clinical associate professor at Adelphi University’s College of Nursing and Public Health. “There are many limitations to its use, so consumers must be aware of these caveats in order to utilise hand sanitisers in the most effective way.”
Advertisement
Here are a few hand sanitiser mistakes and tips on how to course-correct, according to experts:
1. You’re using the wrong kind of sanitiser
Not all hand sanitisers are created equal. Rondello recommended using sanitisers that “contain at least 60% ethyl alcohol or 70% isopropyl alcohol” since those most effectively eliminate germs.
You should also read the label of the product to determine if its active ingredients kill bacteria, viruses, both or neither, he said.
“Using a product that is only bactericidal may give you a false sense of security, as it provides no protection from viral pathogens like SARS-CoV-2,” Rondello told HuffPost, adding that some products, such as baby wipes, may not even be antimicrobial at all. “They may have some use in deodorising and removing visible soil, but they will not have a meaningful effect on SARS-CoV-2.”
Avoid brands that contain methanol, which “can be toxic when absorbed through the skin or ingested,” said Makeda Robinson, a virologist who has studied the Zika virus, MERS and now SARS-CoV-2.
Advertisement
2. You’re not using your sanitiser for long enough
You know how you should be washing your hands for a full 20 seconds, enough for you to hum through the “Happy Birthday” song twice from start to finish? Well, you should also be doing this to some degree when you’re applying hand sanitiser as well, said Aaron E. Glatt, chair of the Department of Medicine and chief of infectious diseases at Mount Sinai South Nassau in Oceanside, New York.
You should rub sanitiser into your hands for 20 to 30 seconds and make sure to “rub it in until it’s all gone,” Glatt told HuffPost.
Maryna Terletska via Getty Images Always read the labels of hand sanitisers to determine whether their active ingredients kill bacteria, viruses, both or neither.
3. You’re using too little
Not using enough hand sanitiser could mean that you are not successfully cleansing, Glatt said.
People often think that getting excess product off the spout or even just using a small droplet is fine. In reality, “you should push out roughly the size of a quarter or a nickel,” the epidemiologist said.
For those larger pump containers that are frequently found by the cash registers in stores, Glatt said a full push down on the pump should be sufficient.
Advertisement
4. You’re not getting every area of your hands
Any part of your hands that you leave unsanitised can carry particles of the virus. So even if you only touched something with one finger, you should always properly sanitise your whole hands — front to back — to be safe.
For example, say you pick up a pen between two fingers and sign a credit card receipt. Don’t just rub hand sanitiser around on those fingers. Cover your whole hands, including fingers and fingernails. In fact, you should “scratch your palms while still wet to get some product under the nails,” said Charles Bailey, the medical director for infection prevention at St. Joseph Hospital and Mission Hospital in Orange County, California.
5. You’re not storing it correctly
“You should follow the manufacturer’s instructions in terms of the temperature it’s supposed to be kept at,” Glatt said of hand sanitiser, noting that the wrong temperature can affect a product’s potency. “You don’t put it in the refrigerator, and you don’t put it out in the sun.”
Griffith Hsu, senior medical adviser for the medical supply company Medivico, added that products “must be stored below 105 degrees, as heat can destabilise the sanitiser and render them ineffective.”
6. You’re not sanitising before eating
You may clean your hands after picking up a carryout bag, but what about before you dig into the meal once you get home?
Advertisement
When it comes to hand sanitising, how often you do it is very important. Glatt’s rule of thumb is that if you’re going to put your hands near your mouth, be safe and sanitise again.
“I tell people, ‘Think about what you just touched. Would you be willing to put your hands in your mouth? Touch food? If not, then clean your hands again,’” he said.
7. You’re not being careful around candles or flames
“Consumers need to be aware that, as sanitisers are alcohol-based, they are flammable,” Hsu told HuffPost. “There have been reports of consumers suffering burns because of hand sanitiser use and open flame exposure, like cigarette lighters.”
After using a sanitiser, you should allow some time for the alcohol to evaporate, he added. And, as a general rule, avoid open flames for at least 30 minutes after application.
Morsa Images via Getty Images “I tell people, 'Think about what you just touched. Would you be willing to put your hands in your mouth? Touch food? If not, then clean your hands again,’” said Aaron E. Glatt, chair of the Department of Medicine and chief of infectious diseases at Mount Sinai South Nassau in Oceanside, New York.
Advertisement
8. You’re sanitising when your hands are covered in dirt or grease
If your hands are dirty or greasy, the hand sanitiser may not have sufficient contact with the skin to do its job.
“This may lead you to feeling you’re protected when in fact you are not,” Rondello said.
If your hands are visibly dirty, you should always opt to wash them with soap and water first.
“Keep in mind that hand sanitiser is a good alternative when you are in a situation where you can’t wash your hands or your hands are not visibly dirty,” Robinson said. “However, it is not a blanket replacement for using soap and water, which is the best and most efficient way to clean dirty hands.”
If you are near a sink and also carrying hand sanitiser, using soap and water for 20 seconds should be the preferred method.
“The act of scrubbing with soap and water physically removes germs from the surface of the skin,” Rondello said. “Additionally, the friction created when drying your hands with a paper towel also helps by physically removing pathogens on the surface — an advantage lost when using hand sanitiser.”
9. You’re not allowing the product to dry
It’s important to not wipe your hands before the sanitiser dries.
“Attempting to accelerate the drying process with a towel is going to limit the sanitiser’s effectiveness since you are removing it before it has had a chance to do its job,” Rondello said.
Advertisement
He added that all sanitisers and disinfectants require a certain amount of contact time with a surface in order for them to kill the pathogens they are intended for.
“Removing them prematurely may dry your hands more quickly, but it may also render the sanitiser ineffective — giving you the impression that you’re protected when you’re not,” he said.
10. You’re overdoing it
While this won’t necessarily harm the hand sanitiser’s effectiveness, it could leave you with chapped hands.
“Hand sanitisers kill not only bad bacteria but also good bacteria, which can irritate the skin,” said Nikhil Bhayani, an infectious disease specialist with Texas Health Resources in Arlington, Texas. “People should moisturise their hands immediately after use, preferably with a cream.”
“If skin irritation is developing, change products rather than decrease the amount of product used or the time spent applying or rubbing in,” Bailey added.
Advertisement
11. You’re making your own sanitiser
Panic purchases early in the pandemic led to a lot of people trying their hand at making their own sanitisers. Don’t rely on this method to keep you germ-free.
“Experts advise against it,” Bhayani said. “It’s easy to mistakenly create a mixture that’s not strong enough to kill germs.”
Chalabala via Getty Images It seems simple, but it's easy to forget: Remember to check the expiration date on your sanitiser!
12. You’re not sanitising other items you are frequently touching
Sanitisng your hands but forgetting to sanitise your credit card, keys or phone could leave you open to infection, said Kristin Hughes, an emergency physician based in Chicago. This behavior could cause cross-contamination.
“I recommend putting the hand sanitiser on any high-touch items that you are carrying with you at the time of sanitising,” Hughes said.
Advertisement
13. You’re not checking the expiration date
It might seem simple, but checking the expiration date is important because the active ingredients in hand sanitiser will degrade over time, Rondello said.


thehuffingtonpostuk--2020-10-15--Kate Garraway Says There's Still 'Big Ups And Big Downs' In Husband's Covid Recovery

Kate Garraway has said there are still “big ups and big downs” in her husband’s recovery from coronavirus.
Derek Draper, has been in intensive care for over six months due to complications caused by Covid-19.
On Thursday’s edition of Good Morning Britain, Kate offered an update on Derek’s condition, saying: “The problem is I feel like I’m just boring everyone to death really because it ends up with the same thing, which is stable, but actually in between, when I’m not talking to you, there are big ups and big downs.
Advertisement
Derek and Kate in Australia last year, shortly after she left the I'm A Celebrity jungle James Gourley/ITV/Shutterstock
“Not big ups, small improvements really and worrying downs as well.
“But the last few days have been pretty stable so keeping everything crossed really.”
‘The last few days have been pretty stable so we’re keeping everything crossed.’ @Kategarraway gives an update on her husband Derek’s condition in hospital.
She says her daughter Darcy and Derek’s parents have not been able to visit him for a long time. 😢 pic.twitter.com/HAoRfoQosy — Good Morning Britain (@GMB) October 15, 2020
Kate said that, due to tight hospital restrictions, the couple’s daughter, Darcey, and Derek’s parents have been unable to see him over the past few months.
“It’s tough, it’s very hard,” she said. “You completely understand why hospitals have to do it.
“They have to protect those inside who may be recovering from Covid or may be dealing with lots of other serious conditions but to do that they have to decrease footfall so Darcy has not been able to see Derek, his mum and dad have not been able to see Derek for a long, long time now.
Advertisement
“The fact that they live in Lancashire and that may go into Tier 2, will have an effect because that will be very tough for them to argue the case to be able to visit if they’re in one of those areas with high cases, so, yeah, it is difficult…”
Kate Garraway on Thursday's Good Morning Britain Ken McKay/ITV/Shutterstock
While Derek, who is a former lobbyist and political adviser, no longer has Covid-19, he still remains seriously ill in an induced coma.
However, he has shown signs of consciousness over the last few months, even occasionally opening his eyes.
Kate recently revealed how Derek had lost eight stone since being admitted to hospital.
The couple, who are both 53, married in 2005 and have a 14-year-old daughter and an 11-year-old son, Darcey and William.
Advertisement


thehuffingtonpostuk--2020-10-15--Phillip Schofield Opens Up About His Struggle To Come Out: 'I Couldn't Eat Or Sleep'

LOADING ERROR LOADING
Phillip Schofield has said he went through “the toughest time ever” before deciding to speak publicly about his sexuality.
Advertisement
Phillip details his struggle to come to terms with his sexuality in his new autobiography Life Is What You Make It, and opened up about the experience on Lorraine Kelly’s show on Thursday.
Phillip Schofield on Lorraine Ken McKay/ITV/Shutterstock
He told the presenter: “When you’re going through something like that, and you’re trying to pick your way through, and I say in there it’s not in my nature to hurt people, it’s not the way I’m built, so I was trying to find my way through.
“I talk about the loops that go round in your head – you have to do this, you can’t do this, because if you do this look at the consequences, but you have to, and you’re getting sicker and sicker by worrying about it – it went round and round and round and round.
Advertisement
“Then I couldn’t eat, then I couldn’t sleep. I was walking into make-up next door and people were saying ‘Are you OK? Did you have a nice weekend?’ And I knew I had spent the whole weekend staring into the fire and thinking ‘What am I going to do?’”
Phillip said there were “lots and lots of hours of talking” to his wife of 27 years, Steph, adding: “We talked the whole thing through, there were no secrets, there have never been any secrets. When I knew, she knew. And it wasn’t like a sudden ping, it was like ‘This is tripping me up’ – initially I didn’t understand.”
Lorraine admitted she saw Phillip shortly before Christmas last year and was “shocked” by his appearance.
She said: “You were tiny. You’d lost so much weight, and you didn’t look like yourself. The sparkle was away. I was worried about you. I really was. It was a hard time then wasn’t it?“
Advertisement
Phillip replied: “Toughest time ever.”
The presenter also praised his co-host and close friend Holly, who had supported him during this time.
He said: “She’s very intuitive, she had said ‘What’s up? Just talk to me.’
“If there is anything that comes out of that (it) is if you are struggling, if you are a bloke, you have to talk to someone and trust in the fact that your family will hopefully accept whatever it is you need to say and your friends are there because they love you.”
Phillip added that he had received an “incredible” reaction after coming out on live TV.
“People were so lovely,” he said.
Lorraine airs weekdays at 9am on ITV, while Life Is What You Make It by Phillip Schofield is on sale now.
Useful websites and helplines:


thehuffingtonpostuk--2020-10-15--Boris Johnson Rejects Marcus Rashford's Call For Free School Meals Over Christmas

LOADING ERROR LOADING
Boris Johnson has rejected a call by England footballer Marcus Rashford for free school meal vouchers to be given to poor children over Christmas and other holidays.
As the Manchester United striker launched a new parliamentary petition demanding the move to reduce child hunger, a No.10 spokesperson made clear its policy would not change.
Advertisement
“We took that decision to extend free school meals during the pandemic when schools were partially closed during lockdown. We’re in a different position now with schools back open to all pupils,” he said.
“It’s not for schools to regularly provide food to pupils during the school holidays. We believe the best way to support families outside of term time is through Universal Credit rather than government subsidising meals.”
Rashford responded to the news on Twitter, posting: “Merry Christmas kids... It’s also not for food banks to feed millions of British children but here we are. 250% increase in food poverty and rising... This is not going away anytime soon and neither am I...”
Merry Christmas kids...
It’s also not for food banks to feed millions of British children but here we are. 250% increase in food poverty and rising...
This is not going away anytime soon and neither am I... https://t.co/dCwT07WShz — Marcus Rashford MBE (@MarcusRashford) October 15, 2020
Advertisement
The Welsh government announced on Thursday that it would be going ahead with free school meal help for all its holidays up to Easter 2021, a move praised by Rashford.
But after being forced by the footballer to U-turn on the issue earlier this summer, Downing Street is now refusing to budge once more.
Within a single day of its launch, Rashford’s new petition smashed through the 100,000 signature threshold needed to trigger a Commons debate. His plan to end child hunger is supported by 20 charities and key figures in the food industry.
Remember when I said I was going to need your help...
For the millions who do not have the platform to be heard.
Let's stand as a 'United' Kingdom to #endchildfoodpoverty
Sign the petition today: https://t.co/FvvpO6JYWX — Marcus Rashford MBE (@MarcusRashford) October 15, 2020
100k in less than a day.
The bigger the number the louder the voice...
We’re not stopping here - please sign and keep sharing.https://t.co/xRTvLb5YVt — Marcus Rashford MBE (@MarcusRashford) October 15, 2020
Advertisement
It also calls for the provision of free meals to all households on Universal Credit, plus the extension of food vouchers to all low income pregnant women and pre-school youngsters.
The footballer, who was awarded an MBE last week for his role in helping deprived children, stepped up the pressure on the prime minister as new data released by the Food Foundation revealed that 1.4 million 8- to 17-year-olds visited foodbanks over the summer holidays.
Rashford said: “For too long this conversation has been delayed. Child food poverty in the UK is not a result of Covid-19. We must act with urgency to stabilise the households of our vulnerable children.
“In 2020, no child in the UK should be going to bed hungry, nor should they be sat in classrooms concerned about how their younger siblings are going to eat that day, or how they are going to access food come the holidays.
“The school holidays used to be a highlight of the year for children. Today, it is met with anxiety from those as young as seven.”
Advertisement
“Today, millions of children are finding themselves in the most vulnerable of environments and are beginning to question what it really means to be British. I’m calling on you all today to help me prove to them that being British is something to be proud of.”
Rob Halfon, the Tory chairman of the Commons education committee, expressed his own dismay at the No.10 decision.
This is very disappointing from @BorisJohnson @10DowningStreet. We need a long-term plan to combat child food hunger, especially given 32% of families have had a drop in income since March. @obr_uk predicts 336,500 more workers facing food insecurity due to rising unemployment. https://t.co/zyhoHRfxkv — Robert Halfon MP -Working Hard for Harlow- (@halfon4harlowMP) October 15, 2020
Former PM Gordon Brown added: “Marcus Rashford deserves all our support in requesting that children who receive free school meals should benefit from the Holiday Activities and Food programme during the midterm break and the Christmas holidays as well as in the summer holidays.
“We hope we can see an immediate response from the Government before the autumn break to support low income UK families as we approach one of the toughest winters on record. I also support action to deliver the three objectives Marcus has chosen from the report of the food strategy review.”
Advertisement
Shadow education secretary Kate Green said: “Failing to give struggling families the support they need is what we would expect from Scrooge, not the British government.
“Boris Johnson’s Dickensian approach will make life harder for millions over Christmas. The government must do more to support families, and ensure that their mishandling of coronavirus does not make it harder for families to put food on the table.”
The news came on the day that Louise Casey, a former homelessness adviser warned that people face “destitution” and may have to “prostitute themselves” without more Covid help.
Anna Taylor, executive director of Food Foundation, said: “School holidays are a financial pressure point which many families just can’t afford at the moment. Hunger does not take a holiday.”
Earlier, a department for education spokesperson said: “We have taken substantial action to make sure children and families do not go hungry by extending free school meals when schools closed, increasing welfare support by £9.3bn, and giving councils £63 million to provide emergency support to families for food and other essentials.
Advertisement
“We also appreciate it has been a challenging time for families, which is why we have increased the safety net available to them with income protection schemes, mortgage holidays and support for renters.
“We are grateful to Marcus Rashford for his work shining a light on the significant challenges families are facing at this time.”
Paul Whiteman, general secretary of school leaders’ union NAHT, said: “The government’s response today is out of touch with public opinion and with the real life hardships that many families are facing. We are not in normal times. Normal solutions like Universal Credit may not be enough.


thehuffingtonpostuk--2020-10-15--Donald Trump Throwing Face Masks Into Rally Crowd Sparks Hilarious Photoshop Battle

LOADING ERROR LOADING
A “Photoshop battle” has broken out on Reddit over a picture of president Donald Trump throwing face masks at supporters attending this week’s campaign rally in Sanford, Florida.
The image taken by Associated Press photographer Evan Vucci shows Trump tossing masks into Monday’s crowd. Trump shuns masks for himself and mocks others for wearing them, even though the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says they are key to slowing the spread of Covid-19.
Advertisement
Several Redditors reimagined the photo to make it seem as if Trump was hurling coronavirus particles at his fans. Just hours before the rally, Trump claimed he was non-contagious. He was hospitalised for three days the previous week for Covid-19 treatment.
Others on Reddit inserted vice president Mike Pence (and his debate fly) and Democratic nominee Joe Biden into the images.
One referenced Trump’s bonkers suggestion that injecting disinfectant could be a treatment for Covid-19. Another recalled Trump’s throwing of paper towels at Puerto Ricans in the aftermath of Hurricane Maria in 2017.
Advertisement
Advertisement


thehuffingtonpostuk--2020-10-15--John Legend Dedicates Billboard Music Awards Performance To Chrissy Teigen

LOADING ERROR LOADING
John Legend delivered a stirring rendition of Never Break at the Billboard Music Awards on Wednesday, and dedicated the song to his wife, supermodel Chrissy Teigen.
It was John’s first performance since the couple lost their third child, a son they named Jack, following pregnancy complications.
Advertisement
“This is for Chrissy,” John said before launching into the emotional performance at the Dolby Theatre in Los Angeles.
John Legend performs onstage at the 2020 Billboard Music Awards Kevin Winter/BBMA2020 via Getty Images
The song’s message was clear:
We will never break
We will never break
Built on a foundation
Strong enough to stay
We will never break
As the water rises
And the mountains shake
Our love will remain
Chrissy and John have two children: daughter Luna, four, and Miles, two. They announced in August that Chrissy was pregnant again.
Advertisement
She battled complications with the pregnancy and spent several weeks on bed rest before she was hospitalised for excessive bleeding. In a Twitter message to her followers at the start of the month, Chrissy shared the devastating news that the baby had not survived.
“We are shocked and in the kind of deep pain you only hear about, the kind of pain we’ve never felt before,” she wrote.
“On this darkest of days, we will grieve, we will cry our eyes out. But we will hug and love each other harder and get through it,” she concluded her post.
The couple has been quiet on social media since that time.


thehuffingtonpostuk--2020-10-15--Trump's Lawyer Rudy Giuliani Caught On Tape Doing Racist Chinese Impression

LOADING ERROR LOADING
A hot mic moment accidentally posted by his own team showed Donald Trump attorney Rudy Giuliani talking in a racist fake Chinese accent while repeatedly bowing, The Daily Beast reported on Wednesday. (See the clip below.)
The former New York City mayor had just wrapped up his “Common Sense” podcast interview with former White House press secretary Sean Spicer when he began teasing someone off-camera he calls Jayne Zirkle, whose Twitter account says she is a “Trump supporter”.
Advertisement
As the camera still rolled in the now-private YouTube footage (captured by The Daily Beast), Giuliani playfully admonishes Zirkle for being upset about something and tells her: “You’re gonna be the most famous model in China.”
He then puts on a fake Chinese accent. “Ah, get me Jayne Zirkle, get me Jayne Zirkle,” he says. The Trump surrogate continued his racist affectation while pretending to defer to Zirkle in a dinner order.
“Jayne Zirkle, pick ’em,” he said.
He then bows repeatedly while uttering Zirkle’s name with an “ah so” over and over.
WATCH: An animated Giuliani starts affecting a stereotypical Chinese accent while telling an assistant who appears to be Jayne Zirkle that she’s “going to be the most famous model in China.”
Read more: https://t.co/YBjwSwalvI pic.twitter.com/tNpwoO51pb — The Daily Beast (@thedailybeast) October 15, 2020


thehuffingtonpostuk--2020-10-15--The Crown's Emma Corrin Reveals The Princess Diana Memento She Stole From Set

LOADING ERROR LOADING
Emma Corrin has admitted she got a bit light fingered on the set of The Crown, revealing the item she stole from her stint as Princess Diana.
The actor is set to debut as the late royal in the hit Netflix drama’s fourth season next month, and when filming wrapped earlier this year, it seems she couldn’t resist taking a memento.
Advertisement
Speaking to ODEntertainment alongside her on-screen husband Josh O’Connor, who plays Prince Charles, Emma revealed: “So the scene we were doing was in Diana’s room or something, and there was just like loads of jewellery in a jewellery box and there was a gold chain.
“So I stole the gold chain, which I wear.”
Emma Corrin plays Princess Diana on The Crown Netflix
Emma was quick to insist it was a piece of costume jewellery rather than an expensive item, Josh said her pilfering was an “absolute outrage”.
He joked: “It came from the V&A and she’s nicked it and everyone’s looking for it!”
Josh said he resisted the urge to take something from the set himself, despite taking a liking to a paperweight.
Advertisement
He said: “I had this plan to steal it and then I thought, no, I’m a good Catholic boy, I won’t steal.
“Because Covid happened and we were a week away from ending filming I never got it.”
Emma and Josh as Princess Diana and Prince Charles Netflix
While fans of The Crown are yet to see Emma in action as Diana, it has already been confirmed Elizabeth Debicki will succeed her in the role for the fifth series.
Meanwhile, Lesley Manville will be playing Princess Margaret, while it’s yet to be confirmed who will be appearing as Prince Charles.
Advertisement


thehuffingtonpostuk--2020-10-15--Christian Group Hits Trump: ‘The Days Of Using Our Faith For Your Benefit Are Over’

LOADING ERROR LOADING
A new bipartisan Christian super PAC is taking on Donald Trump with a new ad that accuses him of hypocrisy when it comes to matters of faith.
“Mr. President, the days of using our faith for your benefit are over,” the ad from Not Our Faith warns. “We know you need the support of Christians like us to win this election. But you can’t have it.”
Advertisement
The spot also accuses Trump of “using Christianity for his own purposes,” and shows footage of his Bible-toting photo op in front of St. John’s Episcopal Church, across from the White House, after having peaceful protesters teargassed to clear the area for him.
Not Our Faith’s advisory council includes Michael Wear, a faith adviser to former President Barack Obama’s 2012 reelection campaign, and Autumn Vandehei, who was an aide to former Rep. Tom Delay (R-Texas), The Associated Press reported. The group is launching a six-figure TV and digital ad campaign targeting Christians, especially evangelical and Catholic voters.
“Trump eked out 2016 with unprecedented support from white evangelicals and, important to note, a really strong showing among Catholics. We’re going after all of it,” Wear told AP. “We think Christian support is on the table in this election.”
Advertisement
“Christians don’t need Trump to save them,” the new ad states. “The truth is that Trump needs Christians to save his flailing campaign.”
In a USA Today op-ed, Wear took issue with Trump’s bold claims about faith ― and in particular spoke out against Eric Trump, one of the president’s sons, for proclaiming that Trump had “literally saved” Christianity.
“For Christians, of course, the position of Saviour is already filled,” Wear wrote. “And Jesus is one person Trump can’t fire or bully.”


thehuffingtonpostuk--2020-10-15--Ex-Bush Aide Spells Out Why US Wouldn't Survive Second Term Of Donald Trump

LOADING ERROR LOADING
David Frum spelled out the devastating impact he believes a second term for Donald Trump could have on the United States in his latest column for The Atlantic.
Frum, who served as a speechwriter in the administration of former President George W. Bush, warned in the op-ed titled “Last Exit From Autocracy” published Wednesday that “the most important ballot question” in the 2020 election was “will Trump get away with his corruption.”
Advertisement
And “if the answer is yes,” he wrote, then “be ready for more. Much more.”
Frum, now a staff writer at The Atlantic, noted how “through the Trump years, institutions have failed again and again to check corruption, abuse of power, and even pro-Trump violence.”
He listed just some of the damage the president has caused, citing his eschewing of ethics guidelines to welcoming Russian assistance in his election campaign.
Frum also swiped at Trump’s enablers in the Republican Party, charging the GOP with thinking of “biased rules as necessary, proper, and just—and to view any effort to correct those rules as a direct attack on their survival.”


thehuffingtonpostuk--2020-10-15--Matt Hancock Warns 'Things Will Get Worse Before They Get Better'

LOADING ERROR LOADING
Matt Hancock has said the “threat remains grave and serious”, as he confirmed London would be subjected to stricter coronavirus lockdown restrictions from midnight on Friday.
Speaking in the Commons on Thursday morning, the health secretary said the infection rate in the capital was on “a steep upward path”.
Advertisement
“We must act now to prevent the need for tougher measures later on,” he said.
Hancock told MPs: “Things will get worse before they get better but I know there are brighter skies and calmer seas ahead.”
London will move to tier 2, meaning from the weekend households will be banned from mixing indoors – including in pubs.
Essex, Elmbridge, Barrow in Furness, York, North East Derbyshire, Chesterfield and Erewash will also move to the same “high” alert level.
But a political row has meant no decision has been made on moving Greater Manchester into tier 3, the highest alert level, which would see pubs and bars not serving food forced to close.
Advertisement
A call between Greater Manchester leaders and Downing Street officials failed to reach an agreement on new restrictions and there will be further meetings later today.
Lancashire MPs have been told that the region will stay under tier 2 restrictions, despite speculation it would move into tier 3.
Defending the government’s decision to shun a national lockdown in England, Hancock told MPs “local action is at the centre of our response”.
“The virus is not spread evenly. The situation is particularly severe in some parts of the country,” he said. “We know we can control the virus because we have done it before.
“We must act now. Delayed actions means more deaths from Covid. It means more non-Covid deaths. And it means more economic pain later.”
Advertisement
Jonathan Ashworth, the shadow health secretary, repeated Labour’s calls for a two to three week national “circuit-breaker” in England.
“A full national lockdown stretching for weeks and weeks and weeks, like we had through April, May and June, would be disastrous for society,” he said.
“But we are urging him to adopt a short, time-limited two to three week circuit-break to take back control of the virus, to reboot and fix Test and Trace, to protect the NHS, to save lives.”


thehuffingtonpostuk--2020-10-15--Masterchef Critic Grace Dent Reveals Which Celebrity's Dish She's 'Still Scarred By'

LOADING ERROR LOADING
Devouring endless plates of food made for you by people competing in a cookery competition might sound like a pretty dreamy gig, but it’s not always that way it seems.
Celebrity Masterchef food critic Grace Dent has revealed how one star’s plate of food left her “physically and mentally scarred”.
Advertisement
Grace, who makes regular guest appearances on the BBC One show, named former EastEnders star Sid Owen as being responsible for her nightmare dish.
Grace Dent with Masterchef judges John Torode and Gregg Wallace BBC
Speaking to The Sun, she said: “It’s terrifying. Some of the stuff that comes through, I’m actually still physically and mentally scarred by — Sid Owen serving me gazpacho.
“His gazpacho was just a tin of tomatoes and roughly chopped red onion and some garlic served cold,” she continued.
Advertisement
Sid Owen Dave J Hogan via Getty Images
“I’ll just always remember him, he was so nervous and by the time he came through the door, you could hear him coming really deep breathing and then putting the gazpacho down.”
Despite Grace’s verdict, Sid made the semi-final of Celebrity Masterchef in 2016, narrowly missing out on a place in the final.


thehuffingtonpostuk--2020-10-15--Test And Trace Hits Another New Low With Worst Ever Contact Tracing Rate

LOADING ERROR LOADING
Boris Johnson’s test-and-trace service faces fresh criticism after it reported its worst ever figures for tracking down “close contacts” of people with Covid.
The controversial system hit a new low with just 62.6% of cases in England being reached and told to self-isolate to stop the spread of the virus.
Advertisement
The figure is the worst since the so-called NHS Test and Trace was launched in May, and down on the previous week’s 68.8%, itself a record low at the time.
It means that nearly a third of all people who have been in contact with someone testing positive for the virus have not been reached – and not told to home quarantine for 14 days.
Government scientific experts have advised that the whole system can only work effectively if at least 80% of “close contacts” are actually tracked down and self-isolate
Close contacts are defined as those who have spent more than 15 minutes within two metres of a positive Covid case.
Advertisement
Latest figures for the week between October 1 and October 7 starkly underlined the continuing surge in coronavirus cases across the country, with 89,874 people testing positive for the first time – a 64% increase compared to the previous week.
The so-called NHS Test and Trace system, which is headed by Tory peer and former TalkTalk phone giant boss Dido Harding, has been dogged by criticism since it began earlier this year, with many attacking its use of private firms like Serco and Deloitte.
Although it has managed to dramatically increase testing capacity from 2,000 a day to around 300,000 a day, its performance on getting tests to those who need them has remained under fire.
Baroness Dido Harding, executive chair of NHS Test and Trace. PA
Shadow health minister Justin Madders told HuffPost UK: “It is absolutely staggering that week upon week the performance of test and trace keeps getting worse and worse.
Advertisement
“Surely Ministers must see that the system is falling apart and what was supposed to be world beating is in fact now one of the biggest obstacles to us getting on top of the virus?
“The need for a circuit break is absolutely critical now and that time should be used to fix test and trace once and for all.”
Even on the government’s tweaked version of its contact rate target – defining it as for cases where communication details were available – just 76.9% were reached and asked to self-isolate. Again this is below the crucial 80% figure needed to stem the spread of the virus.
There was slightly better news for ministers with a small rise in the proportion of people with Covid who were reached by the service, up to 76.8% from 74.9% in the previous week.
Testing turnaround times also showed a small improvement, with 32.6% of people who had an “in-person test” – at a regional site, local site or mobile testing unit – receiving their result within 24 hours.
Advertisement
This is up from 27.4% in the previous week, but still a long way short of the 100% that Boris Johnson promised earlier this year would happen by June. The median distance needed to travel to a test also fell.
For all testing routes, including home tests and satellite centres used for care homes, just 14.8% got results within 24 hours, up on the 12.8% in the previous week.
Testing capacity, which is around 300,000 a day but is meant to hit 500,000 a day be the end of the month, also improved.
Across all “pillars”, it stood at 3,013,986 tests, a 5% increase compared to the previous week. For just “swab testing” – a more relevant measure for test and trace – there were 2,166,286 tests, a 30% increase since the start of
September.
Health secretary Matt Hancock told MPs: “This week’s NHS Test and Trace statistics show that testing capacity is up, testing turnaround times are down, and the distance travelled for tests is down too.
Advertisement
“And, thanks to this capacity and this analysis, we’ve been able to take a more targeted approach, keeping a close eye on the situation in local areas, bearing down hard through restrictions on a local level where they’re necessary.”


thehuffingtonpostuk--2020-10-15--Fatboy Slim Reveals Bizarre Pre-Gig Ritual Now He's Sober: 'It's Like Doing A Line'

LOADING ERROR LOADING
Fatboy Slim’s partying days may be behind him, but the DJ has revealed he still needs a bit of stimulation to get him ready to play a gig.
And while the star’s rider does contain a six-pack of Red Bull, there is another unexpected – and painful sounding – way he gets revved up before taking to the decks.
Advertisement
During a chat with fellow DJ Jodie Harsh on The Life Of The Party podcast, Fatboy, AKA Norman Cook, explained his pre-show ritual.
Fatboy Slim (Norman Cook) behind the decks. KGC-138/STAR MAX/IPx
“My rider is six Red Bulls, two airhorns, two towels and some upmarket nuts,” he explains.
“My ritual before I go on, what turns me from Norman into Fatboy, is I take off my shoes, I put on a Hawaiian shirt, my tour manager slaps me really hard across my cheeks...and then I’m on.”
Ouch.
Explaining the slapping, the DJ continues: “The slapping is like doing a line – three Red Bulls and a slap across the face is pretty much like doing a line just before you go on to DJ.
Advertisement
“They didn’t teach that in rehab,” he adds.
Norman also reveals that he thought he’d “never DJ again” after getting sober.
“My first gig back sober, I have never been so petrified in my life,” he says.
“I was paralysed with fear and felt physically sick and thought… what if I can’t do this anymore. It took me a while to be able to dance again. But I soon worked out that people didn’t mind if I was off my nut or not.
“Having been drunk for 30 years I know what’s going on in the crowd’s heads, and I can push these little buttons – I did my research thoroughly.”
Fatboy Slim is a guest on Jodie Harsh's new podcast series, Life Of The Party. Mike Coppola via Getty Images
And despite the world’s nightlife currently on hold, the DJ is optimistic we’ll be back on dance floors again – but may have a while to wait.
“If you want to appeal to your average Tory, just tell them how much money nightlife generates,” he says.
Advertisement
“It’s always been part of British culture and it’s a reflection of the lovely diverse culture we’ve grown up with. It would be a real shame for that to die.
“But I’m under no illusions that DJs will be the last thing to be put back in place when things get better. It could be a really long time. I think when things do get better we need to make sure the venues are still in business.
“But going out late at night and dancing and getting off your face and getting laid is old as cavemen, and there will always be that desire.”


thehuffingtonpostuk--2020-10-15--Still No Decision On Greater Manchester Lockdown As Local Negotiations 'Break Down'

LOADING ERROR LOADING
No decision has been taken on whether Greater Manchester will move into tier 3 lockdown restrictions.
Local leaders had been expecting the northern city to move from tier 2 into tier 3, the highest alert level, with pubs and bars forced to close if they aren’t serving substantial meals.
Advertisement
But it is thought the move has been met with resistance from council leaders due to the strain it would place on the city region’s economy.
MPs were told in a conference call with health minister Helen Whately on Thursday that a decision has not yet been taken.
Negotiations are thought to have broken down over the financial package available to the city.
Manchester Central MP Lucy Powell said there was “unanimous anger” about the possibility of tier 3 restrictions for the city.
There was unanimous anger on this call at process, evidence base for proposals and economic support. https://t.co/u3TbpDMz5J — Lucy Powell MP (@LucyMPowell) October 15, 2020
Advertisement
Greater Manchester mayor Andy Burnham said on Thursday that proposals put to local leaders earlier this week were “fundamentally flawed” and would “surrender people to certain hardship in the run-up to Christmas”.


thehuffingtonpostuk--2020-10-15--Family Forced To Drive 140 Miles For Covid Testing Find Centre Closed

LOADING ERROR LOADING
The government’s struggling Test and Trace service sent a Liverpool family on a 140-mile round trip to a testing centre that turned out to be closed.
Liverpool Walton MP Dan Carden described the bungle as he tore into the Tories’ “incompetence, cronyism and ideological obsession with outsourcing” that he said had led to “anger and frustration” across Liverpool.
Advertisement
Addressing the Commons, he blamed the “failings” in the Test and Trace system on the government pumping money into “scandal-ridden contractors” with “record of failure after failure”.
The Labour MP said it was “difficult” to describe the “real strength of feeling across Liverpool at the utter failure of this government”.
The whole thing stinks.
This Government’s incompetence, its cronyism, its ideological obsession with outsourcing and rip-off privatisation has undermined our NHS and put lives at risk.
Time to kick the profiteers out of the system and put local public health teams in charge. pic.twitter.com/ivqRy4WgOe — Dan Carden MP (@DanCardenMP) October 14, 2020
“Constituent after constituent has come to my office with heartbreaking stories,” he said.
“One was sent to south Wales on a 70-mile journey, two-and-a-half hours in the car with an autistic child, only to find that the Test and Trace centre had closed for the day because it had run out of tests. The petrol cost them £40 that they simply did not have.
Advertisement
“The anger and frustration are not just at the fact that the response is failing, but that it is failing because the government refused to enable and invest in local authorities and public health teams, and instead chose to pump billions into scandal-ridden government contractors that have a record of failure after failure.
“Under the cover of this pandemic, billions of pounds of public money has been handed to faceless corporations, including Tory-linked firms, without competition or transparency, and without democratic accountability – or any accountability to the public, for that matter.
“It is money that should have been invested in our National Health Service and that should have left a legacy for the British people by building up the properly funded public services we can all rely on in the future, but instead it was siphoned off.”
He took particular aim at the “cronyism” within the government in the appointments of Dido Harding at the head of Test and Trace and Rupert Soames – brother of former Tory MP Nicholas Soames – as head of Serco, one of the firms running the service.
“The whole thing stinks,” he continued. “This government’s incompetence, cronyism and ideological obsession with outsourcing and rip-off privatisation have undermined our NHS and put lives at risk.”
Advertisement
Carden is but one of the many MPs who have savaged the government’s “failing” contact tracing regime, which is largely managed by private firms.
On Wednesday Labour’s shadow Cabinet Office minister Rachel Reeves accused the government of “murky” subcontracting as she urged Boris Johnson to “change course” from the “failed model of outsourcing”.
The frontbencher said Johnson’s “world-beating” testing regime is “barely functioning”, adding: “It’s failing to reach people who have come into contact with someone with the virus, it’s not getting information to local councils who need need to act on it, and it’s wasting hundreds of millions of pounds’ worth of taxpayers’ money that could be spent on a local response using local expertise.”


thehuffingtonpostuk--2020-06-19--UK Black Pride Co-Founder Lady Phyll On Why We Need A Black Pride

UK Black Pride Co-Founder Lady Phyll On Why We Need A Black Pride
In 2005, Phyll Akua Opoku-Gyimah took a busload of queer Black women to Southend-on-Sea for a weekend escape and it was there that the idea for a UK Black Pride was born. Known as Lady Phyll, the UK Black Pride co-founder talks about why Pride and a UK Black Pride is necessary. The activist also speaks from personal experience of not seeing herself represented in mainstream events and what it feels like to see thousands of people reflecting all walks of life at UK Black Pride.


thehuffingtonpostuk--2020-10-15--Rishi Sunak Said Everyone Who Needed Help Would Get It. But Millions Won't

"We will support jobs, we will support incomes, we will support businesses, and we will help you protect your loved ones. We will do whatever it takes."
Those were Rishi Sunak's words to the Commons as the UK teetered on the brink of lockdown in mid-March.
Advertisement
But truthfully, there were gaps in the government’s support schemes on day one.
And for the vast majority of workers, these issues haven’t improved. In fact, they’ve got worse – with some people now seven months on from their last payslip.
On top of the existing problems, thousands of people – many of whom were furloughed first time around – are now facing winter having been made redundant in the interim, and forced to find new jobs or apply for Universal Credit (UC).
The government has repeatedly insisted support, in one form or another, is available for anyone who needs it. But as more people fall into financial difficulties and thousands say they’re cut off from help, the situation seems more dire than ever before.
Here’s who will be hit even harder a second time around.
People who would have been furloughed
When the pandemic struck in early 2020, it was clear pretty quickly that some industries would be worst hit than others – with hospitality, travel and domestic tourism all severely impacted as restrictions set in ahead of the summer.
Advertisement
But with a national lockdown on the cards, most people were eligible for the same financial support – with the job retention scheme (aka furlough) available across the board.
The scheme has been tapering off since August, with many employers taking decisions about redundancies at the end of the summer. Soon there will be no support at all for employers who are struggling to retain staff – unless they’re in a local lockdown area.
Figures published in August showed almost 750,000 people in the UK had lost their jobs since the start of the crisis – and that was before furlough 1.0 ended, which had been supporting more than eight million jobs. This time around, a huge group of workers won’t be eligible for any support that resembles what they used to earn.
While furloughed workers received 80% of their usual pay (with many employers also choosing to top this up) up to £2,500 a month between March and August, a significant proportion of those who have since been let go will now be surviving on UC – representing in many cases a significant drop in income. In short, they have no jobs to get furloughed from, even if they’re in an eligible area.
Applying for UC isn’t a simple process, and there are a number of everyday circumstances that have rendered some people who lost their jobs totally ineligible for support.
Advertisement
Research carried out by the Institute for Public Policy Research (IPPR) estimates that just 230,000 jobs will be saved under Sunak’s new scheme as full furlough falls away – with an estimated 1.8m viable jobs jeopardised.
Carsten Jung, IPPR senior economist, said: “It is shocking how narrow the range of workers is who would benefit from the current government schemes. Overall, nine in 10 jobs at risk will not be saved by the schemes, at great and wider economic cost.
“A design change to employment support schemes could save hundreds of thousands of viable jobs and hugely improve value for money. It would target resources at those firms that truly need it rather than paying out money to all firms that used job support schemes at some point – including those that are now doing fine or even profited from the pandemic.”
Students
Thousands of students – particularly those set to take important exams and attend graduation ceremonies – missed out on huge parts of the university experience when the UK went into lockdown.
With campuses closed and courses put on hold, huge numbers of students went home in the hope that, by the time September rolled around, the worst of Covid-19 would have passed.
Advertisement
Amid assurances from universities and government alike that great steps had been taken to make campuses safe, students headed back in their droves to crowded accommodation – only to find most classes still online and virtually all opportunities for socialising forbidden.
Yet these dramatic changes to the university experience haven’t necessarily kept students safe. As of October 9, more than 7,000 students had recently tested positive for Covid-19.
Hundreds of thousands of young people now face months isolated in their student houses and flats, remote lectures, and little prospect of finding casual work to help them pay their way through their studies.
Just weeks into the autumn term, the situation has deteriorated to such an extent that students across the country – backed by the National Union of Students (NUS) – are organising rent strikes in an effort to win rent suspensions or reductions amid huge financial worries.
Furloughed workers
Back in March the PM’s message was clear: the UK would “get through this together” – an entire nation locked down under the same basic rules.
Advertisement
With Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland all holding the powers to set their own guidelines, however, it wasn’t long before those one-note rules began to fracture. Soon enough, people living in different parts of the UK were following different rules to one another, and the public health messaging from government became ever more confusing.
After months of fractured local lockdowns, the government has now formalised its strategy – with tiered levels of restrictions coming into force from Wednesday – meaning employees in at-risk sectors such as hospitality in high alert areas are once again facing months without work.
This time, however, the government is only paying out 67% of their salaries up to £2,100 per month – a 16% drop from the 80% promised back in March, with the cap lowered by £400.
Northern leaders have slammed Sunak’s “insufficient” plans, raising concerns that the partial grant will push furloughed employees into poverty.
Speaking at a press conference on Saturday, Liverpool mayor Steve Rotheram said: “If 80% was the right benchmark in March, nothing has changed. If it’s right then, it’s right now,” adding government “can’t do lockdown on the cheap”.
Advertisement
Self-employed people
At the start of the crisis, self-employed people who fell into the right criteria of eligibility could claim a taxable grant that covered up to 80% of lost earnings between March and May, to a maximum of £7,500 – broadly the same level of support offered through the furlough scheme for people in employment.
Applications for that grant closed in July, while applications for a second – worth 70% of average monthly trading profits capped at £6,570 in total and covering between June and August – close on Monday.
The level of support had already dropped by 12.5%, but the latest plans represent a far more significant drop in the amount of money self-employed people will be eligible to claim.
An extension, announced in early October, will provide two further grants covering November 2020 to April 2021. So far, so good – but the budget is much tighter this time around.
The treasury will pay out a taxable grant covering just 20% of average monthly trading profits – capped at £1,875 in total – for November to January. A second instalment will take self-employed workers up to the end of April, but the level of support hasn’t even been agreed yet, with the government planning to “set this in due course”.
Advertisement
Workers who’ve been cut off from support since March
Carly Maynard, 31, from Formby, told HuffPost UK she had “fallen through every single possible crack” since the pandemic struck in early 2020.
With a young daughter and struggling to find childcare, she decided to leave her job in retail and set up her own beauty business working from home in August 2019.
But being classed as “newly self-employed” by the time Covid-19 hit, working from home without a dedicated business premises and living with her husband, Maynard was ineligible for the Self-Employed Income Support Scheme (SEISS), support from her local authority, or even Universal Credit.
Carly Maynard, pictured here with her husband and daughter. Carly Maynard
After losing a baby during pregnancy late in 2019, Maynard was also extremely worried about the impact Covid could have on her and her unborn child after falling pregnant in February – which meant that, as other businesses like hers began to open, she was forced to shield and stay off work.
Advertisement
Maynard used what she had left of her savings to set up a small gymwear business but was ultimately forced to take her maternity allowance months earlier than she had hoped, to help her family stay afloat – meaning she’ll have less time to spend with her newborn.
She said: “We’re really fortunate that my husband has been able to keep working, but we always relied on what I earned to keep the bills paid and everything topped up – and that literally disappeared overnight.
“It’s been devastating – it’s a case of treading water as the bills come in and cutting absolutely everything back. The only other income I get is child support payments, which we’ve had to dip into, which has been one of the most demoralising things I think I’ve ever had to experience in my life.
“To think that £80 that I would love to put aside for my daughter’s future – for her uniform or anything else she needed – has actually been spent on me so we can make sure we’re not in a position where things are being repossessed, is just awful.”
Maynard added that it had been incredibly difficult to watch other business owners in the same industry as her receive support, despite the fact she had paid the same taxes and National Insurance contributions her entire working life.
Advertisement
She said: “It’s important to me not to be bitter about it, but it’s so hard to watch other people who do the same job as me in a completely different financial situation. I’ve paid my taxes the same as everybody else – it feels like I’m paying for a party I haven’t been invited to.
“I am in no dreamland that the government is going to reimburse me for the months I’ve missed out on, but I do think that Rishi Sunak has made a mistake in not creating more of a universal basic income. Everyone who could prove they couldn’t work getting the same amount feels like the only fair way of doing it.
“If I didn’t have the books to prove my income as a self-employed person, why couldn’t they take into account what I earned when I was still in retail? They’ve got a record from HMRC of what I’ve been paid every single year – couldn’t they have looked at that?”
Like thousands of other people who have been cut out of government support, Maynard explained how difficult it had been to see her difficulties brushed aside by government.
She said: “It’s becoming increasingly frustrating seeing MPs raise this whenever the PM is in parliament – and all we hear from him and Rishi is ‘no one has been left out, everyone has access to Universal Credit’.
Advertisement
“I think people have been blinded by that – by lies, really. You look on social media at people sharing their stories and there are so many comments just telling them to apply for Universal Credit. Most people don’t know that to get it you have to meet a certain criteria.”
Anneka Hicks set up Excluded UK back in May, after it became clear that a huge proportion of the workforce had been cut out of government support schemes. An estimated three million people are ineligible for help – a figure the government has disputed – and the non-profit organisation she set up is now 45,000 members strong.
She said: “It’s heartbreaking, to be honest. Over the past seven months many of our members have had to sell their homes, their cars – they’ve depleted their entire life savings.
“They’re predominantly self-employed, so those life savings would have been the equivalent to a pension. Their futures are on the cusp of disappearing.
“They’ve lost their dignity. Many of them have been forced to take state benefits if they can, use food banks to feed their families, lost their businesses, made redundancies. They’re expected to start again with nothing, or less than nothing.”
Advertisement
Some 270 MPs have joined Excluded UK’s campaign and the hardship faced by millions has been repeatedly raised in parliament, with demands for the eligibility for government support schemes to be extended to all UK taxpayers. Despite their work, the government has repeatedly refused to change its position.
But while the group has been campaigning hard for financial support, its efforts have turned more recently to the urgent mental health crisis amongst its members. The past three months, Hicks explained, have been spent fundraising for mental health support and personal development training to help build back confidence in those who had lost everything.
Hicks said: “We are actually at the stage now where we’re providing one-to-one counselling support to our members within 48 hours – whereas the NHS are taking 16 weeks.
“That’s what we’ve had to do based on the urgent demands of our community. We want to help them recover, we want to help them rebuild, but they’re in such dire situations right now that they need all the support they can get – emotionally, mentally and financially.”
What have government said?
At the time of the announcement of the extended support scheme on October 9, Sunak said: “Throughout the crisis the driving force of our economic policy has not changed.
Advertisement
“I have always said that we will do whatever is necessary to protect jobs and livelihoods as the situation evolves.
“The expansion of the Job Support Scheme will provide a safety net for businesses across the UK who are required to temporarily close their doors, giving them the right support at the right time.”
The PM has also recently refuted claims that three million people have been cut out of government support, rejecting Green MP Caroline Lucas’ calls on Monday for acknowledgement of those excluded.
He told the Commons: “The self-employed, which is a group that I think we all care about very much, have received so far £13.5bn of support and we’ll continue to look after them as well.
Without going into any further detail on those who had been frozen out of the government’s support schemes he added that the government’s financial support offered to businesses and workers unable to work due to restrictions is “generous by international comparison”.
Advertisement
Johnson said: “In France, it is 60% for some, 70% for others, in Germany it is about the same, in Italy they have an 80% provision but a serious cap, or a very low cap, in Ireland it is down at 60%.


thehuffingtonpostuk--2020-10-15--London Placed Under Tier 2 Coronavirus Lockdown From Midnight On Friday

LOADING ERROR LOADING
Londoners will be banned from mixing indoors with anyone outside their household from midnight on Friday into Saturday, as the government escalated the capital’s coronavirus level to tier two.
The move means nearly nine million people will no longer be able to socialise in pubs and restaurants with anyone they do not live with.
Advertisement
London MPs were informed of the decision by the government in a conference call on Thursday morning.
Sadiq Khan, London’s mayor, has been warning for some time that the rising infection rate in the city would mean stricter measures would be needed.
England’s three-tier system involves the country being put into different categories labelled as medium, high or very high risk.
The medium level maintains current national restrictions, the high level sees households banned from mixing indoors, while the third tier involves harsher restrictions including the closure of bars.
HuffPost UK understands that the new restrictions will include all of London and that no borough will be exempt.
Advertisement
A government source said: “London escalation plan has always been to try to work with all boroughs together.”
London Mayor Sadiq Khan has written to the PM to ask for financial support for the capital KGC-158/STAR MAX/IPx
Essex, Elmbridge, Barrow in Furness, York, North East Derbyshire, Chesterfield and Erewash will also move to the “high” alert level from 00.01 on Saturday.
A political row has meant no decision has been made on moving Greater Manchester into tier 3, the highest alert level, which would see pubs and bars not serving food forced to close.
Lancashire MPs have been told that the region will stay under tier 2 restrictions, despite speculation it would move into tier 3.
Advertisement
Ellie Reeves, the Labour MP for Lewisham West and Penge was among the MPs on Thursday’s conference call.
She tweeted: “Just got off the call with the minister. London will be moving to tier 2 at the weekend, with no mixing of households inside.”
Khan used a letter to the PM to call for a support package for London from the government, as local authorities will be expected to enforce new rules.
It says: “It is vital London has the resources to engage, explain, encourage and enforce heightened restriction and support compliance.
“One London borough has done some specific work to estimate the cost of providing that service for six months from November onward and it is £300k over and above the allocation that was recently made to councils for support to compliance.
Advertisement
“I am aware that these are discussions that have taken place with other areas that have had restrictions in place and London government would expect to have those discussions as well.”
Labour shadow minister and Ilford North MP Wes Streeting said the new restrictions in London would keep businesses open “in name only” because households would be banned from mixing as he called for more economic support.
“There are lots of restaurants, pubs, bars and other venues whose doors will be open but customers will just not be walking through the door,” he said.


thehuffingtonpostuk--2020-10-15--'Long Covid' Might Be 4 Different Syndromes – Here's What They Are

LOADING ERROR LOADING
Since the start of the pandemic, thousands of people in the UK have been left with debilitating long-term symptoms. Dubbed ‘long Covid’ by those still struggling, there have been calls for more research to explore why it happens, as well as greater medical support for those experiencing it.
Academics have now suggested long Covid (or ongoing Covid, as some call it) might actually be four different syndromes, which could explain the huge differences in symptoms and experiences among long-haulers.
Advertisement
Some people are still suffering symptoms several months after infection. Others, who had a mild illness at the start, can have worse ongoing symptoms than patients who needed intensive care treatment. And another group are people are living with a “rollercoaster of symptoms” that “move around the body”.
Researchers from the National Institute for Health Research reviewed the available – and so far limited – evidence and examined reports from people of all ages and backgrounds with long Covid.
They suggested the issue might not be one illness, but rather four different syndromes, which some patients may be experiencing simultaneously.
Advertisement
1. Post intensive care syndrome (or PICS)
This is made up of cognitive, psychiatric and/or physical disability after treatment in an intensive care unit (ICU).
Advertisement
People might develop muscle weakness, which can take more than a year to recover fully, according to the Society of Critical Care Medicine. It’s often linked to patients who went on ventilators or stayed in the ICU for at least a week. Some people might also have cognitive issues like struggling to pay attention, solve problems and sleep.
2. Post-viral fatigue syndrome
Post-viral fatigue is a prolonged fatigue that starts when a person comes down with a viral infection and then continues for a longer period of time after the infection has gone.
People who experience severe fatigue will often describe a feeling of complete physical and mental exhaustion which is different to the everyday tiredness that everyone will experience at times, according to a guide written by The British Association for CFS/ME (BACME).
For these people, rest and sleep might not feel refreshing, and the debilitating exhaustion can impact on all parts of life including school, work, home life, social activities, sport and relationships.
3. Permanent organ damage
We know that some people infected with Covid-19 have ended up with organ damage as a result of the virus. There have been reports of patients experiencing damage to the lungs, heart and nervous system. This is more common in people who were hospitalised but has also been shown in some so-called ‘mild’ cases.
Advertisement
4. Long term Covid syndrome
A “significant group” of people have debilitating symptoms that do not fit any of the above three categories.
They describe the rollercoaster of symptoms that move around the body, whereby they suffer an illness linked to one part of the body – such as the respiratory system, the brain, cardiovascular system and heart, the kidneys, the gut, the liver or skin – which later abates only for new symptoms to arise in a different part of the body.
The importance of defining it
Such a wide range of symptoms, and different presentations of illness, mean that it is hard for doctors to diagnose and therefore difficult for patients to access the appropriate care.
Researchers said they did not like the term “long Covid” because it may mean that some patients struggling with ongoing after-effects are being missed.
They called for anyone who believes they are suffering long-term after-effects to be logged as such in their NHS records, and the health service should adopt an approach of a “working diagnosis” to help those in need.
Advertisement
Academics stressed that the understanding of the effects are still at an early stage.
Dr Elaine Maxwell, review author, said: “We know from a number of surveys both in the UK and across the world, that a significant number of people experience ongoing effects after a Covid-19 infection. The list of symptoms is huge and covers every part of the body and brain.
“We heard from people who are still unable to work, study or care for dependents several months after their initial infection. We believe that the term ‘long Covid’ is being used as a capsule for more than one syndrome, possibly up to four.”
She said the “lack of distinction” between these syndromes may explain the challenges people are having in being believed and accessing services.
“Some people experience classic post critical illness symptoms, others experience fatigue and brain fog in a way that’s consistent with post viral fatigue syndrome,” she explained.
“Some people have clear evidence of permanent organ damage caused by the virus, particularly lung damage and heart damage. But a significant group have debilitating symptoms that do not fit any of those three categories. They describe the rollercoaster of symptoms that move around the body.”
Advertisement


thehuffingtonpostuk--2020-10-15--Phillip Schofield Details Past Feud With Piers Morgan: 'I Was Furious'

LOADING ERROR LOADING
Phillip Schofield has detailed a past feud with fellow ITV daytime presenter Piers Morgan.
The This Morning host told of how he didn’t speak to the Good Morning Britain star “for a long time” a number of years ago, after Piers penned an unofficial biography about him.
In his own autobiography Life Is What You Make It, which has been previewed in The Mirror, Phillip recalled that Piers had requested “memorabilia” from him, believing the former tabloid editor was penning a series of articles about him.
Advertisement
Phillip Schofield Ken McKay/ITV/Shutterstock
Phillip writes: “As I think I’ve said, I save everything, so interesting bits and pieces were hunted down then sent to Piers. Nothing appeared in the paper. I was worried he may have lost all my mementos. We asked for them back. Nothing.
“Eventually, unannounced, they arrived safely back at the office. A few weeks later, the unofficial biography he’d written about me, including all the stuff I’d sent him, appeared on the bookshelves. I was furious. Not so much that he had written the book, but that he had deceived me.
“We didn’t speak for a long time. There were awkward moments: once, the two us were in a lift for what felt like an endless descent.”
Advertisement
Piers Morgan Ken McKay/ITV/Shutterstock
However, Phillip revealed he decided to end the long-running feud after Piers made a handful of appearances on quiz show Test The Nation, which Phil hosted from 2002 to 2007.
“One day I realised how stupid this feud was,” he said. “I was angry, and he’d actually been flattering and kind in the biography (although utterly deceitful).
“It was time to make up. He was nervous when I walked over. ‘Enough,’ I said, and I shook his hand. We’ve been fine ever since.”
The pair are now colleagues at ITV, and Piers was among those who commended Phillip’s bravery when he came out live on This Morning earlier this year.
Advertisement
However, they are now going head to head again, this time in the book charts, as Phillip’s autobiography has been released in the same week as Piers’ new title, Wake Up.
Life Is What You Make It by Phillip Schofield is on sale now.


thehuffingtonpostuk--2020-10-15--Marston's Pub Group To Axe 2,150 Jobs Over Coronavirus Restrictions

LOADING ERROR LOADING
More than 2,000 jobs are being axed at pub chain Marston’s as curfews and new coronavirus restrictions have hammered trade.
The group said around 2,150 of its pub workers currently on furlough support will be impacted, while it will also launch a further cost-cutting plan by the end of the year.
Advertisement
Marston’s put the blame squarely on the recent nationwide measures to tackle the surge in coronavirus cases, which has seen curfews placed on hospitality venues and the closures of sites not serving food in high-risk areas such as Liverpool.
Buildings are reflected in the window of a Pitcher & Piano bar, owned by Marston's, in London. Simon Newman / Reuters
The pub and brewery group said it has 21 sites in Scotland, of which eight are currently closed, and 18 in the Tier 3 Liverpool region, although the majority of these serve food and are allowed to remain open.
Ralph Findlay, chief executive of Marston’s, said: “The additional restrictions which have been applied across the UK most recently present significant challenges to us and will make business more difficult for a period of time.
Advertisement
“I very much regret that the consequence of this is that the jobs of around 2,150 of our colleagues will be impacted, but it is an inevitable consequence of the limitations placed upon our business.


thehuffingtonpostuk--2020-10-15--Lizzo Sends A Powerful Message With Her Billboard Music Awards Dress

LOADING ERROR LOADING
If the message in Lizzo’s Billboard Music Awards speech wasn’t obvious enough ― her dress should make things crystal clear.
The Truth Hurts singer, wearing a black dress with a white “Vote” print, made an impassioned call to action after winning the Top Song Sales Artist award on Wednesday night.
Advertisement
“I’ve been thinking a lot about suppression and the voices that refused to be suppressed,” she said. “I wonder, would I be standing here right now if it weren’t for the big Black women who refused to have their voices be suppressed?
“I just want to say right now, if you’re at home watching this and you are thinking about changing yourself to feel worthy, this is your sign to remain true to who you are.”
Lizzo appears on stage to accept the award for top song sales artist at the Billboard Music Awards on Wednesday Chris Pizzello/Invision/AP
“Let me tell you all something,” she added. “When people try to suppress something, it’s normally because that thing holds power. They’re afraid of your power. There’s power in who you are. There’s power in your voice. So whether it’s through music, protests or your right to vote, use your power, use your voice and refuse to be suppressed.”
Advertisement
Lizzo was nominated in 11 categories in this year’s Billboard Music Awards. She’s been a vocal voting advocate, using her enormous platform to urge fans to cast their ballots in the upcoming election.


thehuffingtonpostuk--2020-10-15--Demi Lovato Takes Direct Shot At Trump In Political Ballad Commander In Chief

“You do understand as a celebrity I have a right to political views as well?” she wrote. “Or did you forget that we aren’t just around to entertain people for our entire lives ... that we are citizens of the same country and we are humans with opinions as well?”
“I literally don’t care if this ruins my career,” she continued. “This isn’t about that. My career isn’t about that. I made a piece of art that stands for something I believe in. And I’m putting it out even at the risk of losing fans.”
Demi released an accompanying music video on Wednesday, which features people of all races, genders and political affiliations ― even a man wearing a MAGA hat ― singing along to the song’s lyrics.


thehuffingtonpostuk--2020-10-15--Billboard Warns Trump Rally Will Be 'Covid Superspreader Event'

LOADING ERROR LOADING
An advocacy group in Iowa has erected a massive red billboard to warn residents that President Donald Trump’s upcoming rally in the state will be a “Covid superspreader event.”
Rural America 2020 on Tuesday began displaying its billboard outside of Des Moines International Airport, where Trump was slated to hold the event as part of his reelection campaign on Wednesday.
Advertisement
The billboard features a huge arrow pointing toward the airport, where Trump will speak.
We’re doing our part to warn Iowans that @realdonaldtrump is in town tomorrow. This billboard is directly outside the Des Moines Airport where he will hold his hangar rally. #Superspreader #SuperspreaderTrump #covidiots pic.twitter.com/KtN9SebH4T — Rural America 2020 (@RuralUSA2020) October 13, 2020
Some locals have already been sharing snapshots of the billboard:
Billboard pointing toward the Des Moines Airport ahead of Trump's rally tonight. pic.twitter.com/5hHXqOiidl — Chloe Matthews (@cematt97) October 14, 2020
Iowa Rural America 2020 steering committee member Chris Henning said in a press release that everyone should “be worried about a President who was in the hospital with Covid last week and who now wants to pack thousands of Iowans into an airport hangar.”
“This is the height of irresponsibility. We saw what happened in the Rose Garden. Why should the President be allowed to bring that kind of superspreader behavior into Iowa, particularly when our cases are rising?” he said.
Advertisement
Henning’s concerns were echoed by Lina Tucker Reinders, executive director of the Iowa Public Health Association, who told the Des Moines Register that she also has concerns about the rally.
“If anyone in attendance is infectious, we are potentially looking at another super-spreader event,” she told the newspaper. “We again today set a record high for hospitalisations. We need to be focusing on bringing those numbers down and controlling the spread, not enabling large events, political or otherwise.”
A Des Moines airport spokeswoman said local officials were told to expect “up to 10,000 people at the rally,” according to the Register.


thehuffingtonpostuk--2020-10-15--Trump Torched For Mocking Biden And Elderly People With Weird Photoshopped Tweet

LOADING ERROR LOADING
US President Donald Trump tweeted an image Tuesday of his Democratic opponent, Joe Biden, edited onto the body of an elderly person sitting in a wheelchair, endorsing him for “Resident” of a retirement home.
The image showed a room full of elderly wheelchair users with Biden’s face superimposed on one of them. Biden is 77, Trump is 74.
Advertisement
Despite being only a few years apart, Trump and his campaign have invested big in trying to cast Biden as too old for the job. Trump has repeatedly called him “sleepy” and “stupid.” He’s seized on the former vice president’s speech issues and gaffes to claim he has dementia.
Trump has been haemorrhaging support from senior voters in the polls, due in part to his handling of the Covid-19 pandemic, which carries higher risks for older people. Trump had a 9-percentage-point advantage with voters 65 and older in the 2016 election against Democrat Hillary Clinton, according to the Pew Research Center, but numerous polls now indicate Biden leads Trump with that group three weeks ahead of the November 3 election.
A recent national Fox News survey found Biden had a narrow lead with likely voters 65 and older. A CNN poll found Biden was up by 21 percentage points, with 60% for Biden and 39% for Trump.
Advertisement
HuffPost has reached out to the Biden campaign for comment on Trump’s tweet.
At a Florida campaign event on Tuesday, Biden told potential voters at a senior citizen community centre that Trump’s careless remarks about the coronavirus affecting “virtually nobody” show he doesn’t care about them.
“To Donald Trump, it’s simple, not a joke, you’re expendable. You’re forgettable. You’re virtually nobody. That’s how he sees seniors. That’s how he sees you,” Biden said.
The Trump camp has courted seniors with an eight-figure ad campaign in swing states. Last week, Trump tweeted a rambling video addressed to “my favourite people in the world, the seniors,” promising them a free Covid-19 “cure.”
While some Trump supporters appeared to find the president’s tweet funny, critics piled on. Some called it ageist, and others said it was a strange move for a candidate to further alienate a voting demographic whose support he has been losing.
Sick burn, sir! Let those old farts know that their time is up. — Tommy Vietor (@TVietor08) October 14, 2020
Advertisement
Probably wise to write off the senior vote at this point. You were already losing them badly. — Helen Kennedy (@HelenKennedy) October 14, 2020
Meanwhile, he’s literally three years older than you are and so far I’ve not seen you doing any kind of exercise. He can even speak while riding a bike *and* wearing a mask. pic.twitter.com/FG3ZePqUMX — Tom Coates (@tomcoates) October 14, 2020
There is no bottom to how low he will go. But the projector is clearly in whatever serves as the basement. Oh, and way to alienate a dedicated voting block. https://t.co/z9tU3WgvZs — Dan Rather (@DanRather) October 14, 2020
"With Donald Trump... you're expendable," Biden told a group of seniors today.
"You're forgettable, you're virtually nobody. That's how he sees seniors. That's how he sees you." https://t.co/qVoEMo4HmV — Andrew Solender (@AndrewSolender) October 14, 2020
My 91-year-old grandfather, who has Alzheimer’s, lives in a long term care facility. I can’t see him in person because of COVID-19.
This is genuinely sickening. Our elders deserve better. pic.twitter.com/2eaqfEL8hU — Mark Joseph Stern (@mjs_DC) October 14, 2020
Advertisement
Trump 2020: Nursing Home Residents Are Disgusting Jokes — Chris Hayes (@chrislhayes) October 14, 2020


thehuffingtonpostuk--2020-10-15--Test And Trace Consultants 'On £7k A Day' Sparks Outrage

LOADING ERROR LOADING
MPs have reacted furiously to reports that the government is paying private sector consultants day rates of around £7,000 to help with its coronavirus test and trace system.
Sky News said it has seen documents revealing Boston Consulting Group (BCG) was paid about £10m for around 40 consultants to provide four months’ work between the end of April and late August.
Advertisement
The broadcaster said the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) received a 10 to 15% discount from BCG, whose day rates for public sector work range from £2,400 to £7,360 for the most senior consultants.
Responding to the reports on Wednesday evening, Labour’s deputy leader Angela Rayner tweeted: ”What an absolute shower. Yet the government apparently can’t pay social care workers the real living wage? Difficult decisions.”
Labour’s shadow health secretary Jonathan Ashworth said: “The figures being spent on this broken system are truly shocking.”
He added: “Testing and contact tracing is failing to keep the virus under control, which makes it even more disgraceful that such huge sums of money are being spent on something that isn’t fit for purpose.”
Advertisement
PAUL ELLIS via Getty Images
Sarah Wollaston, former MP and health and social care select committee chair, said: “This would be excessive even if Test & Trace had been a success but given the dire performance, why hasn’t anyone taken responsibility or been sacked for this?”
Raising the consultant payments reports in the Commons, Labour MP Toby Perkins said: “You won’t find dedicated public servants being paid £7,500 a day.”
He added: “But what you will find is a basic competence, a knowledge of their area, a desire to make sure that the systems work before they are implemented.
“And that is what we need right now in our system.
Ashworth reiterated Labour’s call for a “short circuit-break” lockdown to “fix the failing test and trace system and to ultimately save lives”.
Advertisement
rarrarorro via Getty Images
Meanwhile, Liberal Democrat MP Munira Wilson commented: “Just imagine how far that money would go if it was given to local authorities.
“They are paying these consultants the weekly equivalent of what a nurse earns in a year.”
This comes amid ongoing criticism of the government’s £12bn test and trace system.
The DHSC said efforts to set up NHS Test and Trace required it to work with public and private sector partners, with “every pound spent” going towards keeping people safe and ramping up testing capacity.
Major companies such as Deloitte, PwC and BCG have been working on the government’s response to the Covid-19 pandemic, managing the track and trace system, the purchase of personal protective equipment (PPE) and the search to produce working ventilators.
Sky News reported last week that more than a thousand consultants from Deloitte were working on the NHS Test and Trace programme, on day rates of as much as £2,360.
Advertisement
The broadcaster said documents showed the government had since hired more private sector consultants to work on its Moonshot mass testing programme.
Some 165 consultants were recruited to work on the scheme between now and November, Sky News said. This includes 84 more from Deloitte, 31 from EY and 50 from KPMG, with a further 42 roles potentially available for consultants.
Tamzen Isacsson, chief executive of the Management Consultancies Association (MCA), said a large number of consultancy firms had been brought in during the pandemic to support “critical government projects”, including NHS Test and Trace.
“The consulting sector has provided multi-disciplinary capabilities and senior experience very quickly to support government and has helped deal with complex negotiations around data, infrastructure and procurement at pace,” she said.
gemphotography via Getty Images
Advertisement
Isacsson said MCA member firms used by the government had been procured through “competitively tendered Crown Commercial Service frameworks which evaluate bidding firms against quality and cost criteria”.
Contracts required firms to “upskill civil servants” and “transfer knowledge”, Isacsson said.
She added: “We should remember that government is dealing with an unprecedented volume of workload and major upheaval due to Covid-19 and using external resources has enabled them to work quickly and with intensity in many areas.”
A DHSC spokesperson said: “NHS Test and Trace is the biggest testing system per head of population of all the major countries in Europe.
“It’s processing 270,000 tests a day and nearly 700,000 people who may otherwise have unknowingly been at risk of spreading coronavirus have been contacted.
“To build the largest diagnostic network in British history, it requires us to work with both public and private sector partners with the specialist skills and experience we need.
Advertisement
“Every pound spent is contributing towards our efforts to keep people safe as we ramp up testing capacity to 500,000 tests a day by the end of October.”