thehuffingtonpostuk--2020-04-27--The UK Has Steered Clear Of Coronavirus Lockdown Protests. But Will That Continue?

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The headlines would have you believe Britain is a nation of rule-flouting “Covidiots”.
But the UK’s compliance with lockdown measures has been predominantly positive, with concern about the virus at the forefront of most people’s minds in the weeks since it began.
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Two studies totalling more than 100,000 people suggest the public are steeling themselves for more of the same. That may be just as well – Boris Johnson on Monday emerged from his own period of ill health to warn that we could not afford to lift the social distancing rules that have brought our way of life, and large parts of Britain’s economy, to a halt.
One piece of research saw 75,000 responses collected from 34,444 health and wellbeing app users and shared with the NHS and data scientists at the universities of Liverpool and Manchester. It showed growing compliance with, and acceptance of, lockdown rules.
And a University College London study of 75,000 people shows consistently high compliance with in the government guidelines.
Some people even feel the lockdown could be stricter. Parents say they could continue homeschooling their children if they feel schools are reopened too early.
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The Sun front page The Sun
There are exceptions. People are still being fined and arrested for breaching the restrictions and for acts such as spitting at frontline workers. Lambeth Council’s response to 3,000 people amassing on Brockwell Park with many sunbathing or in large groups over a weekend was to (temporarily) close the green space.
Even government officials have been publicly named and shamed for breaking the rules with South Wales Police hitting out at MP Stephen Kinnock for visiting his father, former Labour leader Neil Kinnock, on his birthday. Meanwhile, the Derbyshire force dyed the Blue Lagoon in Buxton black to deter groups of people from gathering at the beauty spot. (This has been a longterm tactic due to the toxicity of the water.)
Despite clear advice, over 3000 people spent today in Brockwell Park, many of them sunbathing or in large groups. This is unacceptable. Unfortunately, the actions of a minority now means that, following police advice, Brockwell Park will be closed tomorrow. #StayHome — Lambeth Council (@lambeth_council) April 4, 2020
But a more dramatic picture is unfolding across the pond, with protesters gathering to demand the lockdown measures are lifted, and dismissing the reasons behind it as hype. Last week Melissa Ackison defied the lockdown to attend a protest in Ohio with her 10-year-old son, telling reporters: “It enrages something inside of you.” She added she had “no fear whatsoever” of contracting the virus.
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In places like Oklahoma, Texas and Virginia, small-government groups, supporters of president Donald Trump, anti-vaccine advocates, gun rights backers and supporters of right-wing causes have united behind a deep suspicion of efforts to shut down daily life to slow the spread of the coronavirus. As their frustration with life under lockdown grows, they’ve defied social distancing rules in an effort to pressure governors into lifting them.
Though a recent survey from the Associated Press notes that most Americans do not believe it is safe to ease the restrictions any time soon, sporadic outbursts continue to occur across the country. On Wednesday, a few dozen protesters took to the streets of New York, with one heard yelling: “You want to stay at home, stay home, the rest of us want to go back to work.”
An individual is questioned on Brighton seafront PA
In Texas, several hundred people rallied in the capital chanting: “Let us work.” Many demanded an immediate lifting of restrictions in a state where more than a million have filed for unemployment since the crisis began.
France, too, has seen rioting amid lockdown tensions, and in Italy organised looting of supermarkets has taken place by protesters claiming they have been left unable to feed their families.
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Professor Stephen Reicher of the St Andrew’s University school of psychology and neuroscience is studying these differences between nations’ responses to lockdown
The Bishop Wardlaw Professor believes the differences between the UK and USA public reactions are rooted in ideological, material and political factors.
Reicher points out that the two countries’ attitudes towards the central state differ vastly. He said: “The US was born was born in a revolution against the central state – it was born out of suspicion of state power and it was organised very strongly to avoid too much centralised state power.
“Britain does not have an anti-state revolutionary tradition in the way that Europe has, in the way that countries born out of anti-colonial revolutions have either in the US or in other countries, say, in Africa.
“In Europe [including the UK], the state on the whole is seen as reasonably progressive and redistributive. In the States it’s seen as tyrannical.”
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This, he says, is the reason Brits struggle to understand the American attitude toward guns – that guns somehow represent freedom against a domineering state – or towards the NHS: that free, nationalised, taxation-funded healthcare that makes choices about people’s treatment could be a bad thing.
Professor Stephen Reicher Supplied
“It doesn’t mean we are servile in general,” said Reicher. “In other ways and next to different authorities you could argue the British are more rebellious. For instance, in the ’70s and ’80s, Britain was known for its trade unionism and its strikes and the like, so a historical and generalised claim that one country is more servile than another just misses the particular relations, the particular forms of authority. What’s going on in the States is an anti-state rebellion – at least that’s how it’s presented.”
This UK compliance with state rhetoric appears to be confirmed so far in an ongoing Covid-19 social study being conducted by University College London. It is collecting data on the psychological and social experiences of adults in the UK and the US during the outbreak. The study, led by Dr Daisy Fancourt, has so far collated five weeks of data from the UK, and has just launched in the US.
Thus far, of the more than 75,000 people are currently participating in the study by completing weekly online surveys about their experiences and behaviours, the UK data appear to show people have retained high levels of confidence in the government guidelines, and a high degree of compliance with the rules.
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Week 3: Compliance with government advice has increased since lockdown was announced. It has been lower in younger adults and highest in those aged 60+. Over 98% of respondents report overall compliance; only 0.1% report ignoring guidelines complete. Confidence in government has increased since the lockdown was announced, and has stayed relatively stable since March Network
Week 4: Compliance with government advice remains very high. Younger adults (aged 18-29) report adhering to the guidelines but less rigorously than adults aged 30+. Confidence in government remains relatively stable, although there has been a slight decrease from levels a week ago March Network
Week 5: Compliance with government advice remains very high. There are signs of a slight decrease in “complete” adherence amongst adults aged 30-59, but the numbers showing overall high adherence remain unchanged. Confidence in government remains relatively stable, although there has been a slight decrease from levels two weeks ago. March Network
Fancourt told HuffPost UK: “Our data suggest that people’s adherence to guidelines is still very high, but a few people may be starting to be slightly less strict in their behaviours. It’s vital that people continue to follow the advice closely.
“The slight increases we see in life satisfaction are promising, but average wellbeing levels are still substantially lower than usually reported, suggesting that people have not recovered from the shock caused by Covid-19 in early March.
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“We are collecting data from the US now to compare experiences and it remains to be seen whether people are having different psychological experiences depending on factors such as the presence of stay-at-home orders and the trajectory of virus cases.”
The findings also support Reicher’s second theory as to the behavioural differences visible so far between the two nations.
He said: “In Britain, there is not a political leadership of any significance which is arguing against lockdown. If anything, the arguments are about ‘the government didn’t go far enough and fast enough in terms of lockdown’, whereas of course in the US Donald Trump leads and argues forcefully against the lockdown – and of course that means that those who support Trump are more likely to listen to it.”
LIBERATE VIRGINIA, and save your great 2nd Amendment. It is under siege! — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) April 17, 2020
LIBERATE MINNESOTA! — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) April 17, 2020
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LIBERATE MICHIGAN! — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) April 17, 2020
“LIBERATE MINNESOTA!” “LIBERATE MICHIGAN!” “LIBERATE VIRGINIA,” Trump demanded in a tweet-storm that saw him back the protests against his own government.
The US president is pushing to relax the US lockdown by May 1, a plan that hinges partly on more testing. He is currently facing a backlash over his extraordinary suggestion it would be “interesting to check” whether injecting disinfectants could help combat coronavirus. Under “no circumstance” should disinfectants be injected or consumed, the company which makes Dettol has warned.
Reicher continued: “There is such a strong polarisation that people just do not believe evidence that comes from those who are on the other side, to the extent that if doctors are on the other side to Trump, people do not believe it.
“Now, I don’t think that’s because people are irrational – it’s always been true that you assess information on the basis of who gives it to you and whether you can trust that they are giving you that information in your interests or in their interests.
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“All that’s changed is the understanding of who is on our side and who isn’t.
“Trumpism, like many autocracies, is organised around the notion that Trump alone represents the nation and anybody that disagrees with him is not only anti-Trump but they’re anti-American. They’re anti- the group as a whole.”
Of course there will also be those joining such protests not out of a sense of an ideological commitment but because they are literally unable to feed themselves or their families without economic support.
Steve Polet holds a sign during a protest at the State Capitol in Michigan last week ASSOCIATED PRESS
Protesters rally against stay-at-home orders related to the coronavirus pandemic at Capitol Square in Richmond, Virginia RYAN M. KELLY via Getty Images
That, says Reicher, is perhaps the most striking reason for comparatively strong levels of compliance in the UK and a lot of Europe: the availability of material support, both from the government and from the community coming together to fight the pandemic.
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He said: “For all the factors that people have talked about – panic buying, people violating lockdown – the overwhelming headline is that of compliance, and part of the reason why that’s possible is that it is being seen by the public as ideologically being done for the good of the community.
“The lockdown isn’t being done for individuals – it’s being done specifically for the vulnerable in the community. It seems legitimate and it’s also seen as equitable.
“Part of the reason why is that the government has made some fairly large economic decisions to support those who have been forced into lockdown.”
Reicher personally believes the UK government should have delivered a universal minimum income for the period of the lockdown.
But he reckons measures taken to support the unemployed, sick pay, and providing wages to those who have been forced to stay at home have made a significant difference.
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“At least enough action has been taken such that people are feeling: ‘Look, we are being enabled to do what is asked of us,’” he said.
“It is hard for a lot of people. It’s hard for the poor. But in the States, there hasn’t been that support, with the consequence that telling people to lock down and stay at home when they can’t put food on the table leads to a profound sense of inequity, a profound sense of injustice.
“It’s because of that sense of inequity that those people can be recruited to a cause, even if they don’t necessarily go along with the ideology.”
Dr Daisy Fancourt is leading a study collecting data on the psychological and social experiences of adults in the UK and the US during the Covid-19 outbreak Supplied
He added: “There have been riots in Italy and France which is what begins to happen when you are put in a position where you are told to lock down; you’re not given the material resources to make that possible; when you go out, you are sanctioned – you are harassed by the police – so you begin to get forms of conflict, forms of disorder, forms of rioting.
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“That could happen in the UK if that sense of inequity arises, if things change such that new regulations are seen to be unequal, unfair, supporting some sections of the population over others, and if we don’t give the material support to people in order for them to go along with those things. So it’s not that the potential for disorder isn’t there, it is, but to date there is a strong sense both of necessity and of sufficient equity.”
Naturally, some of the government measures are being seen as unfair and the current balance is fragile, but for Reicher the factors to foment protests and riots – leading to a cycle of negative interactions with the authorities as they try to enforce laws that are seen as unjust – are not fully ripe.
Easing out of lockdown will require a delicate balancing act to maintain this, he stresses. As discussions about how to ease the lockdown take place, keeping the peace relies on people feeling the measures and mitigations are fair to all sections of society.
“There is and will continue to be some non-compliance, but it tends not to be that people don’t believe in it – it’s that it’s a practical issue.
“I’d argue strongly that the response shouldn’t be to presuppose people of ill will if they don’t comply and threaten them with sanctions. Rather it should be to presuppose they are of good will, which by and large they are, and to support them.
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“You need a facilitative state which asks: ‘What are the issues? What are the problems with abiding by lockdown and how do we help people?’”
But what of the “Covidiots” and the virulent naming and shaming as both newspapers and individuals scramble to point out those people who are congregating in parks or not socially distancing?
Reicher says: “In the end what I think was going on there was not that people were stupid and not that they didn’t want to socially distance, but that they’d been told they could go out, that going out is good for you, but there isn’t the space. I mean, if there is limited space there are going to be bottlenecks. So what is the answer? Is the answer to close the parks? To threaten people with sanctions? Or is it to make more space available, for instance by making golf courses and private playing fields available.”
The stats should ask not how to stop people breaking the rules, but how to help people follow them, he said.
But for lockdown to work, people need to feel that the state is not taking away freedoms but rather giving them the means to collectively help tackle an illness.
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thehuffingtonpostuk--2020-04-27--Watch: Here’s The Latest On Coronavirus Today

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Watch: Here’s The Latest On Coronavirus Today 24/04/2020
US president Donald Trump took to Twitter with a series of confusing Tweets that included threatening to sue news organisations and calling himself the “hardest working president in history”. The social media posts come as Trump says he will no longer attend press briefing after he was heavily criticised for suggesting medical professionals look into injecting disinfectant and using ultraviolet heat to fight covid-19. In Spain children were allowed outside for the first time in six weeks. The european country, which has the highest number of infections next to the US, is allowing children under 14 one hour of supervised time outdoors each day. Italy is also set to start loosening restrictions as well, starting on May 4th parks will reopen, restaurants will offer takeaway and funerals will be allowed with under 15 people in attendance. New Zealand’s tough lockdown restrictions, which have been in place for more than four weeks, are ending and will see shops, restaurants and schools open on a smaller scale and it’s expected that one million people will return to work on Tuesday. And British war veteran Tom Moore is being honoured with a special postmark by Royal Mail who will stamp all letters with a message for the 99-year-old. Moore raised £29 million for the National Health Service by walking laps in his garden.


thehuffingtonpostuk--2020-04-27--Craig Revel Horwood Is Engaged After His Boyfriend’s (Very Naked) Proposal

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Craig Revel Horwood is engaged after his boyfriend popped the question during a romantic holiday in Australia.
The Strictly Come Dancing judge, who has been dating Jonathan Myring for two years, revealed that his fiancé got down on one knee while they were both naked in the bath together.
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Craig told OK! magazine: “Jonathan popped the question at the end of March on holiday in Tasmania and it was a total surprise – although I did almost ruin it all.”
Jonathan Myring (l) and Craig Revel Horwood Karwai Tang via Getty Images
Jonathan explained he’d initially planned a picnic by the river where they could look for platypus – and he was going to pop the question as soon as he spotted one of the creatures.
However, realising that platypus are notoriously elusive he changed his plan at the last minute.
Jonathan said: “In the end, I drew a salt bath, opened a bottle of champagne and we got in the bath together and I did it in there.”
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Craig added: “It was very romantic. A naked proposal, on his knees in the bath. It was hilarious!...
“I said, ‘Absolutely not!’ [laughs]. And then I said, ‘Oh, alright then, I’ve changed my mind.’ I thought it was really sweet, actually, because Jonathan just said, ‘I want to spend the rest of my life with you.’
“It was absolutely perfect. I would much rather be in a bubble bath with champagne than climbing up a mountain to a waterfall anyway.”
The happy couple are now wearing matching engagement rings, which he had specially made.
“They’re wooden with gold bands through the middle,” Jonathan explained. “The wood is from the eucalyptus trees that grow around Ballarat, where Craig is from in Australia.”
The couple’s plans to throw a lavish engagement party for family and friends were cancelled because of the coronavirus pandemic, but they hope to still have a party once lockdown ends.
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And although they have yet to set a wedding date, the couple – who met in 2018 while Craig was on the Strictly tour – have decided they will tie the knot at their country home in Hampshire.
Craig insists he doesn’t want “a big, splashy, massive wedding”, while Jonathan is looking forward to a “beautiful forest garden wedding”.
Read the full story in this week’s issue of OK! magazine.


thehuffingtonpostuk--2020-04-27--12 Times Gemma Collins' Diva On Lockdown Was The (Ridiculous) Tonic We Needed

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Just when lockdown TV was starting to get a bit tedious, along came Gemma Collins to inject some ridiculousness into the schedules.
The GC’s new reality show, Diva In Lockdown, started on Sunday night, and it was full of quotable lines and meme-able moments that gave us all the laughs we needed right now.
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The fly-on-the-wall series had to adapt when it was announced the country would be going on lockdown due to the coronavirus pandemic halfway through filming.
Gemma Collins ITV
So while the first episode started with Gemma going about her business as usual, it ended with her having cameras fixed up in her Essex mansion so that we could follow her antics in isolation.
Needless to say, it was a hilarious watch...
1. Before the show had even started, she’d said this about it in an interview:
“Like Marilyn Monroe was sent out to entertain the troops in the war times, I realised that the country may need the GC for entertainment and that’s what I want to give with this series."”
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2. And she really believed people were “looking to her to save the nation”
People are looking to Gemma Collins to save the nation pic.twitter.com/91hQngK8uP — Shirley Carter’s Pussy (@ShirleyPussy) April 26, 2020
Can someone please find Gemma’s cape?
3. She kicked off her self-isolation with “seafood, prosecco and mash” and believed that’s “how Jesus must have felt on his last meal”
Gemma digs into her 'Last Supper' and catches up on the latest from the government. The Lockdown has begun, how will @missgemcollins cope? Prosecco helps! 😂 Catch up on #DivaOnLockdown on the ITV Hub pic.twitter.com/yr8j1QC5HI — Only Way is Essex (@OnlyWayIsEssex) April 26, 2020
“I’m like a pig in shit.”
4. This came after scenes where she claimed to have had “a spiritual calling to become a vegan”
You heard it here first, Gemma doesn't believe in... milk 😂 #DivaOnLockdown @missgemcollins pic.twitter.com/FtGiYarVxN — Only Way is Essex (@OnlyWayIsEssex) April 26, 2020
“I don’t believe in milk.”
5. She’d also ripped her dress as she met with Prince Charles at a Princes Trust event prior to the lockdown
Not long before lockdown was announced @missgemcollins was a social butterfly 💃 Everything changes tonight, 9pm @itvbe #DivaOnLockdown pic.twitter.com/4youicUxPD — Only Way is Essex (@OnlyWayIsEssex) April 26, 2020
6. Sorry, we mean “Prince Chiles”
The GC is back and she’s a humanitarian vegan with a good vibey aura ... 😂 Absolutely roaring laffin ... such a tonic - thanks @missgemcollins just what we need during #lockdown #LockdownTV #gemmaCollins @ITVBe #itv pic.twitter.com/zTl8EUZ1IQ — Collette Walsh (@ColletteWalsh) April 26, 2020
7. She wants to be “one of his ambasindas”, apparently
Gemma Collins fancying Prince Charles and wanting to be an “ambasinda” 😂😂😂 #DivaOnLockdown pic.twitter.com/3CQhYFEHKU — Shirley Carter’s Pussy (@ShirleyPussy) April 26, 2020
8. The GC tried it on with her bathroom supplier as she rushed to get her renovations done before the lockdown started
Gemma wants luxury in her new bathroom but is that all she wants? 👀 #DivaOnLockdown @missgemcollins @itvbe pic.twitter.com/6AaBlmGjwf — Only Way is Essex (@OnlyWayIsEssex) April 26, 2020
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9. She was also making a fuss over a cappuccino like she was Jill Tyrell in Nighty Night
10. In this scene (where it was also good to see Gemma offering some solid public health advice), she used “corona” as a way to say goodbye to someone
Think we’re really going to start seeing some change now we have our new health minister: Gemma Collins pic.twitter.com/lashpTXPsy — Pete Burns’ Confiscated Coat (@harrisonjbrock) April 26, 2020
We’re officially adopting that as of now.
11. As lockdown started she found some unexpected things to keep her entertained
Day 44 of lockdown.
My biggest pleasure in life is feeding the birds pic.twitter.com/6ubNeBihxN — Shirley Carter’s Pussy (@ShirleyPussy) April 27, 2020
12. “ALLO, ME DALLYN!”
Me checking up on the group chat planning a zoom party 😂@missgemcollins @itvbe #DivaOnLockdown pic.twitter.com/bJVU19A9Bw — Only Way is Essex (@OnlyWayIsEssex) April 26, 2020
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thehuffingtonpostuk--2020-04-27--Boris Johnson Warns 'New Wave Of Death' Will Come If Lockdown Lifts Too Early

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Boris Johnson has used his first public appearance since recovering from Covid-19 to warn that lifting the coronavirus lockdown too soon would risk “a new wave of death and disease”.
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Speaking in Downing Street on Monday morning hours after his return to work, the prime minister said the UK was “beginning to turn the tide” against the virus.
But he said this was “the moment of maximum risk” and not the time “to go easy” on social distancing as it would “throw away all the effort and sacrifice of the British people” and risk a second peak.
Drawing on his own battle with Covid-19, which put him in intensive care, he said: “If this virus were a physical assailant, an unexpected and invisible mugger – which I can tell you from personal experience, it is – then this is the moment when we have begun together to wrestle it to the floor.
“And so it follows that this is the moment of opportunity, this is the moment when we can press home our advantage. It is also the moment of maximum risk.
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“I know there will be many people looking at our apparent success, and beginning to wonder whether now is the time to go easy on those social distancing measures.”
He said he understood “how hard and stressful it has been to give up, even temporarily, those ancient and basic freedoms”, before adding that a second spike in cases risked “economic disaster”.
The PM said “difficult judgements” lay ahead as the government considered when to ease the lockdown, and that he would invite opposition parties – including Keir Starmer’s Labour – for talks.
He said: “We will also be reaching out to build the biggest possible consensus across business, across industry, across all parts of our United Kingdom, across party lines, bringing in opposition parties as far as we possibly can.
“I think that’s no less than what the British people would expect.”
He also urged people to continue sticking to the rules on social distancing, adding: “If you can keep going in the way that you have kept going so far; if you can help protect our NHS to save lives; if we as a country can show the same spirit of optimism and energy shown by Captain Tom Moore who turns 100 this week; if we can show the same spirit of unity and determination as we have all shown in past six weeks, I have absolutely no doubt that we will beat it.
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“Together we will come through this all the faster and the United Kingdom will emerge stronger than ever before.”
Johnson resumed full-time duties at the head of the government today, three weeks after he was admitted to hospital with severe Covid-19 symptoms.
He arrived back in No.10 on Sunday evening to a growing clamour from senior Tories to begin lifting the lockdown as its economic impact becomes clear.
Sir Graham Brady, chair of the Conservative backbench 1922 committee of MPs, told BBC Radio 4’s Westminster Hour last night the government should “err on the side of openness and trying to make sure that more people can get on with their lives”.
Labour leader Starmer, who backs the lockdown, added to the pressure with a renewed call for the government to set out an “exit strategy” explaining how it will eventually be lifted.
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Scientists advising the government have warned any relaxation risks a renewed flare up just as the number of patients in hospital with the disease is beginning to fall.
Over the weekend, ministers highlighted a warning by Bank of England governor Andrew Bailey about the economic devastation a second wave of the disease would cause.


thehuffingtonpostuk--2020-04-27--Scientists Joke Asteroid Approaching Earth Looks Like It’s Wearing A Face Mask

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Scientists are joking that even an asteroid set to pass by Earth is exercising caution as the planet tackles the coronavirus pandemic.
The 1998 OR2 asteroid poses no risk to the Earth, but its appearance makes it look as though it were aware of the risks on the planet right now, according to researchers at the Arecibo Observatory in Puerto Rico, who quipped that its shape resembles a face mask.
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“The small-scale topographic features such as hills and ridges on one end of asteroid 1998 OR2 are fascinating scientifically,” says Anne Virkki, head of Planetary Radar at the observatory, according to a press release.
“But since we are all thinking about Covid-19 these features make it look like 1998 OR2 remembered to wear a mask.”
The asteroid is classified as a “Potentially Hazardous Object (PHO),” which means it’s more than 500 feet in diameter and will come within 5 million miles of Earth’s orbit. Researchers estimate this asteroid is roughly 1.2 miles across in size and will still be 16 times farther than the distance to the moon when it comes closest to Earth.
Range-Doppler radar image of asteroid 1998 OR2. Arecibo Observatory/NASA/NSF
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A team of experts at Arecibo Observatory monitors these and other types of near-Earth asteroids, and use their observations to predict the trajectories of future PHOs.
The University of Central Florida, which manages the National Science Foundation facility, teased on Twitter that the asteroid “appears to know our planet is facing a pandemic.”
Astroid in the Earth's neighborhood? 🌍👀
The @NAICobservatory in Puerto Rico is following an asteroid approaching Earth this week and while it poses no threat, it appears to know our planet is facing a pandemic 👇https://t.co/pF7FbT3NCU — UCF (@UCF) April 24, 2020
While the asteroid poses no immediate danger to Earth, researchers say it will approach closer to the planet next time it passes by. It’s key, therefore, to study these types of objects in order to improve risk mitigation technologies, they said.
“In 2079, asteroid 1998 OR2 will pass Earth about 3.5 times closer than it will this year, so it is important to know its orbit precisely,” said Flaviane Venditti, a research scientist at the observatory.
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thehuffingtonpostuk--2020-04-27--Six Things You Need To Know About Coronavirus Today

Get the latest on coronavirus. Sign up to the Daily Brief for news, explainers, how-tos, opinion and more.
Boris Johnson has returned to take charge of the government’s response to coronavirus, two weeks after being discharge from hospital, as MPs call for urgent action on the alarming rise in domestic violence.
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According to the latest figures:
The deaths of a further 350 patients in England, Scotland and Wales who had tested positive for coronavirus have been recorded in 24 hours, bringing the total to at least 21,082. Northern Ireland has yet to report its own figures.
The number of people who had tested positive in the UK as of 9am on Sunday has reached 152,840.
Statista
Here’s the latest:
Nationwide minute’s silence planned for key workers killed in pandemic
The nation is expected to fall silent tomorrow in tribute to key workers who have died in the coronavirus pandemic.
Boris Johnson, who battled the illness himself, including a spell in intensive care, will be among those observing the minute’s silence on Tuesday at 11am.
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Government workers will be asked to take part and the PM’s official spokesperson said it is hoped others will participate “nationwide”.
The Unison union, the Royal College of Midwives and the Royal College of Nursing launched a campaign last week for the nation to take a moment to honour frontline staff who have died during the Covid-19 crisis.
Between them, the organisations represent more than a million NHS and public service workers including porters, refuse collectors and care staff.
Fertility patients get extra two years to freeze embryos
People going through fertility treatment will be able to freeze embryos, eggs and sperm for an extra two years due to the coronavirus pandemic.
Ministers do not want patients to be “unfairly caught out” after procedures were paused earlier this month due to Covid-19.
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Current storage limits are 10 years, at which point people must decide if they want to undergo fertility treatment, or have their frozen eggs, sperm and embryos destroyed.
These time limits will be extended to give time for treatments to resume, the Department of Health and Social Care said.
But many women are still facing an anxious wait to fulfil their pregnancy dreams after their fertility treatments were put on hold due to the outbreak.
PM warns of ‘new wave of death’ if lockdown measures eased too early
PA
Boris Johnson has used his first public appearance since recovering from Covid-19 to warn that lifting the coronavirus lockdown too soon would risk “a new wave of death and disease”.
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Speaking in Downing Street on Monday morning hours after his return to work, the prime minister said the UK was “beginning to turn the tide” against the virus.
But he said this was “the moment of maximum risk” and not the time “to go easy” on social distancing as it would “throw away all the effort and sacrifice of the British people” and risk a second peak
Johnson resumed full-time duties at the head of the government today, three weeks after he was admitted to hospital with severe Covid-19 symptoms.
He arrived back in No.10 on Sunday evening to a growing clamour from senior Tories to begin lifting the lockdown. There is mounting concern at the damage it is causing to the economy.
Johnson has less then two weeks before the next major decision point comes up with the next three-week review of the lockdown restrictions due on May 7.
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Dominic Raab, who had been standing in for the PM, said the government was doing its “homework” in preparation for when the rules could be eased.
It is thought that amongst the first could be a re-opening of schools, although the foreign secretary said that would be “inconceivable” without some further measures in place.
Ministers are also thought to be considering allowing some non-essential businesses to open such as garden centres and car showrooms, provided social-distancing could be maintained.
Raab also indicated that officials were looking at possible checks at air and sea ports with passengers arriving in the UK required to quarantine for 14 days.
Such a measure could form part of the next stage of the government’s response – the so-called “test, track and trace” strategy designed to further suppress the spread of the disease by isolating new cases.
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However, scientific and medical experts have indicated the current infection rate will have to come down further before such tactics can be effective.
Home testing kits run out just over an hour
Home coronavirus testing kits had completely run out bu 9.10am on Monday, according to the government’s website.
The government was forced to apologise on Friday after the kits ran out in minutes on the day of the site’s launch, with the site closing down to prevent new users from attempting to access tests.
Similar shortages were seen over the weekend as the home tests – 5,000 of which become available at 8am – ran out in less than two hours, although some slots for drive-through testing remained available later in the morning.
UN poverty expert slams UK’s ‘utterly hypocritical’ virus response
Philip Alston has warned that some policies enacted around the world reflect 'social Darwinism'. PIERRE-PHILIPPE MARCOU via Getty Images
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Philip Alston, the United Nations’ poverty expert, has fiercely criticised the UK’s response to coronavirus as “utterly hypocritical” after years of cuts to public services. Alston, who has previously attacked the government’s implementation of austerity measures, told the Guardian: “my thoughts of course hark back to the sense of how utterly hypocritical it is now to abandon ‘austerity’ with such alacrity, after all the harm and misery caused to individuals and the fatal weakening of the community’s capacity to cope and respond over the past 10 years. “And of course, many of the worst and most damaging aspects of ‘austerity’ cannot and will not be undone. The damage caused to community cohesion and to the social infrastructure are likely to prove permanent.” He added that around the world “the most vulnerable have been short-changed or excluded” by responses to the virus, which has now claimed more than 20,000 lives in the UK and 200,000 globally. Alongside a warning that the crisis could force half a billion people into poverty, Alston said some policies had reflected a philosophy of “social Darwinism... that prioritises the economic interests of the wealthiest while doing little for those who are hard at work providing essential services or unable to support themselves.” Calls for urgent action on domestic violence as helpline calls surge by almost 50%
Calls to Refuge have increased by almost 50%. coldsnowstorm via Getty Images
Domestic violence support services need urgent emergency funding amid “alarming” signs of a rise in abuse during the coronavirus lockdown, MPs have said. The Commons home affairs committee warned that without urgent action “we will be dealing with serious consequences for a generation”. Calls to Refuge increased by 49% in the week leading up to April 15 compared to the average prior to the pandemic, the committee found. And visits to the charity’s website trebled in March compared with the same month last year in a worrying sign that the lockdown could be trapping victims and leading to more abuse. The Men’s Advice Line meanwhile saw a 16.6% increase in calls and research by Counting Dead Women has calculated that at least 16 domestic abuse killings took place between March 23 and April 12, double that of an average 21 day period in the previous decade.
Committee chair Yvette Cooper said: “Staying at home is an important part of the strategy to prevent coronavirus from spreading and save lives, but for some people home isn’t safe.
“Urgent action is needed to protect victims and prevent perpetrators from exploiting the lockdown to increase abuse.
“There are already alarming signs of the rise in domestic abuse.”
New Zealand prepares to loosen lockdown having ‘won battle’ against spread of virus
New Zealand's PM Jacinda Ardern said the nation had succeeded in tackling community transmission of the virus. MARK MITCHELL via Getty Images
New Zealand has “avoided the worst” of Covid-19, prime minister Jacinda Ardern had said, and has succeeded in halting the “widespread, undetected community transmission” of the virus.
The nation is now preparing to ease stringent level-four lockdown measures, which will lift at 11.59pm on Monday night after more than a month of businesses and schools remaining closed.
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In a media briefing, she said: “There is no widespread undetected community transmission in New Zealand. We have won that battle. But we must remain vigilant if we are to keep it that way.”
The move to level three will see restaurants and schools allowed to reopen their doors, albeit on a much smaller scale.
“We are opening up the economy, but we’re not opening up people’s social lives,” Ardern said.
New Zealand has reported 1,122 cases of Covid-19, with 19 deaths. The daily rate of new infections has remained under 1% for the past two weeks.
Many businesses, as well as parliament and the courts, began preparations over the weekend to restart operations this week while maintaining ongoing social distancing rules.
Eateries announced contactless delivery plans, retail stores showcased their latest collections online for home delivery and office towers posted social distancing rules in elevators and public areas.
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Still, Ardern stressed that public gatherings remain banned and asked people to remain in their “bubble”.
All post sent from today will be stamped to honour Captain Tom’s 100th birthday
Captain Tom Moore raised more than £28m for the NHS. JUSTIN TALLIS via Getty Images
All post sent from Monday will be stamped to celebrate the upcoming 100th birthday of NHS fundraiser Captain Tom Moore.


thehuffingtonpostuk--2020-04-27--Meryl Streep And Her Girlfriends Singing In Their Bathrobes While Sipping Cocktails Is A Monday Mood

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If you’ve found that you’re spending a lot more time in your PJs/dressing gown/onesie (delete as applicable) of late, possibly with an alcoholic beverage in hand, then you’re in very good company.
On Sunday night, three stage and screen legends – Meryl Streep, Mamma Mia! actress Christine Baranski and Broadway star Audra McDonald – were doing just that whilst treating us all to a sing-song as part of a virtual concert in tribute to the legendary composer Stephen Sondheim, on his 90th birthday.
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Can we get album with Meryl Streep , Christine Baranski and Audra McDonald singing together #Sondheim90Concert pic.twitter.com/BNVPjmGcdx — Allison the Disney Diva (@Daviesallison1A) April 27, 2020
A whole host of Broadway stars came together to perform, but it was the trio’s rendition of Ladies Who Lunch from Sondheim’s Company that stole the show.
It really does redefine the word camp.
The virtual Take Me To The World: A Sondheim 90th Birthday Celebration event will benefit youth in underserved communities in the US.
You can watch the entire event below. Meryl, Christina and Audra’s Zoom video begins around the 1 hour 58 minute mark.
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thehuffingtonpostuk--2020-04-27--Governors Report Influx Of Calls About Disinfectant After Trump Treatment Suggestion

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Multiple US governors appeared on news shows on Sunday morning to report that their states have seen an increase in calls concerning President Donald Trump’s recent suggestion that patients be injected with disinfectant to cure COVID-19.
During a press conference on Thursday, Trump asked senior health officials to explore disinfectant-related treatments for coronavirus, “almost like a cleaning.” Trump’s request followed an announcement from Department of Homeland Security official Bill Bryan that some studies have shown the virus does not survive well on surfaces ― like countertops and refrigerators ― and in the air when hit with ultraviolet rays or disinfectant.
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In response to Trump’s public suggestion, the manufacturer of Lysol and Dettol issued a statement saying, “Under no circumstance should our disinfectant products be administered into the human body through injection, ingestion or any other route.”
On Sunday, Maryland Governor Larry Hogan said on ABC’s “This Week” that his office has received “hundreds of calls” seeking guidance on Trump’s suggestion, and added the president “needs to make sure these press conferences are fact-based.”
The Maryland Emergency Management Agency warned that “under no circumstance” should disinfectants be ingested.
Gov. Larry Hogan says they received “hundreds of calls” seeking guidance following Trump’s comments and it’s important to communicate “facts.” https://t.co/zB7Ch1H4ND pic.twitter.com/RrFpJqmllo — This Week (@ThisWeekABC) April 26, 2020
On the same program, Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer said that poison control in her state has also seen an increase in calls since Trump’s suggestion, adding, “It’s really important that every one of us with a platform disseminate medically accurate information.”
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“We have seen an increase in numbers of people calling poison control and so I think it’s really important that every one of us with a platform disseminate medically accurate information,” Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer says on Trump disinfectant comments. https://t.co/kz1qZhs59Q pic.twitter.com/aocyhWCg4A — This Week (@ThisWeekABC) April 26, 2020
Doctor Deborah Birx, the response coordinator for the Trump administration’s coronavirus task force, quickly discredited Trump’s suggestion before pivoting to discuss the results of studies she believes Trump was referencing.
“I made it very clear, and so has Dr Fauci and everyone associated with the task force. … This is not a treatment,” she said.
WATCH: Dr. Birx responds to President Trump's comments that disinfectant could be a treatment for COVID-19.
"This is not a treatment. ... What was missed ... [was] the reason that study was important: ... Direct sunlight may actually be able to kill the virus." pic.twitter.com/APMNfOtOOi — Meet the Press (@MeetThePress) April 26, 2020
Dr Birx generously claimed the president was “digesting information” when he made the suggestion, but Trump responded to backlash over his suggestion by claiming he’d made it “sarcastically” to reporters “just to see what would happen.”
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But after Trump’s initial comment, multiple state agencies received calls asking whether ingesting disinfectant can cure coronavirus.
Trump’s disinfectant suggestion wasn’t the first unsubstantiated claim he has made about a potential coronavirus cure. In early April, against the advice of some health officials in his administration, he began promoting an anti-malarial drug, hydroxychloroquine, that has not yet been proven safe or effective for use on people infected with the coronavirus.
“What do you have to lose?” he asked about the drug, repeatedly.


thehuffingtonpostuk--2020-04-27--Domestic Abuse: MPs Plea For Urgent Action After Calls To Hotline Rise 50% In Lockdown

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Domestic violence support services need urgent emergency funding amid “alarming” signs of a rise in abuse during the coronavirus lockdown, MPs have said.
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The Commons home affairs committee warned that without urgent action “we will be dealing with serious consequences for a generation”.
Calls to Refuge increased by 49% in the week leading up to April 15 compared to the average prior to the pandemic, the committee found.
And visits to the charity’s website trebled in March compared with the same month last year in a worrying sign that the lockdown could be trapping victims and leading to more abuse.
The Men’s Advice Line meanwhile saw a 16.6% increase in calls and research by Counting Dead Women has calculated that at least 16 domestic abuse killings took place between March 23 and April 12, double that of an average 21 day period in the previous decade.
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Committee chair Yvette Cooper said: “Staying at home is an important part of the strategy to prevent coronavirus from spreading and save lives, but for some people home isn’t safe.
“Urgent action is needed to protect victims and prevent perpetrators from exploiting the lockdown to increase abuse.
“There are already alarming signs of the rise in domestic abuse.
“Our cross-party committee is calling for an urgent action plan from government setting out practical measures to tackle domestic abuse as an integrated part of the fight against Covid-19.”
Any action plan should include funding for support services, measures to improve outreach and prevention, a boost in housing and refuge accommodation and proposals for a criminal justice response, the MPs said.
Support services now need “urgent and direct funding” as part of the £750m of support chancellor Rishi Sunak outlined for charities or victims will be put at greater risk of harm, the MPs said.
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Home secretary Priti Patel was also asked to sponsor the expansion to supermarkets and other retailers of the safe spaces scheme which offers help through pharmacies for victims who are unable to use the phone at home or talk to friends.
Councils meanwhile should be proactive in visiting families and households where there have been domestic abuse incidents in the past or where there are vulnerable children.
Local authorities, schools, police and other child welfare professionals should work together to find “smarter” ways to enable face to face contact.
“Things are particularly hard for vulnerable children,” Cooper said.
“We can’t abandon them in the middle of this crisis.”
The six-month time limit on reporting some offences common with domestic abuse, such as harassment, assault and battery should be extended to help victims who may be unable to raise their abuse with the authorities during the lockdown, the MPs said.
Local authorities meanwhile need to ensure there is adequate alternative temporary accommodation, with police struggling to secure domestic violence protection orders that prevent an abuser from returning home or having contact with a victim for up to 28 days due to the requirement to provide an alternative address.
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The committee also called for “clear government leadership” on securing hotel and hostel accommodation for victims and ringfenced support for refugees and services for additional costs and loss of income related to coronavirus.
If you, or someone you know, is in immediate danger, call 999 and ask for the police. If you are not in immediate danger, you can contact:


thehuffingtonpostuk--2020-04-27--Chris Pratt and Katherine Schwarzenegger Are Expecting Their First Baby Together

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First came marriage, and now a baby for Chris Pratt and Katherine Schwarzenegger.
The couple are reportedly expecting their first child together, according to multiple reports, after tying the knot in June during an intimate ceremony in Montecito, California, following a year of dating.
This will be Katherine’s first child, while Chris already shares 7-year-old son Jack with ex-wife Anna Faris.
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Back in February, the actor gushed about the Gift Of Forgiveness author becoming a “great mom one day.”
“She’s, God willing, going to be a great mom one day. She’s got great parents, great siblings, she fills in all my many deficits,” he said during an appearance on E!’s In the Room.
“She has changed my life for the better in so many ways,” he added. “My heart, my soul, my son I feel are all so safe with her. She’s a great stepmom.”
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The oldest daughter of Arnold Schwarzenegger started dating the Guardians Of The Galaxy star in the summer of 2018 after being introduced by her mum Maria Shriver. Months later, the couple announced their engagement in January.
At the time, Chris wrote in a sweet post that he was “thrilled” to start his next chapter with her and “live boldly in faith” together.
Arnie recently revealed that he was in no rush to become a grandparent, but said he knew “it’s going to happen eventually.”
“It’s up to Chris and her when they want to do that,” he told Extra in February.
Ana Faris, meanwhile, has been ever-the-supportive ex-wife, offering up congratulations to the couple via social media upon their engagement and praising Pratt in the press.
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The Mom star has also moved onto a new relationship since their divorce.


thehuffingtonpostuk--2020-04-27--Does Deep Breathing Help Coronavirus Patients With Symptoms?

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Earlier this month, CNN anchor Chris Cuomo was in an active fight against the novel coronavirus. He described a relentless fever, wild dreams and difficulty breathing. Then a pulmonary expert told him he needed to “fight” back by stretching his torso and breathing in deeply.
Cuomo said he changed his approach to include deep breathing. “You have got to do the things to beat the virus, you have got to breathe deep when it hurts and it hurts,” he said on his show.
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The CNN journalist wasn’t the first person to adopt a deep breathing regimen. Just days earlier, “Harry Potter” author J.K. Rowling shared a video where physician Sarfaraz Munshi from Queens Hospital detailed a breathing technique he said may keep Covid-19 patients from developing secondary pneumonia.
After coming down with Covid-19 symptoms, Rowling explained that her husband had advised her to follow the steps in the video. “I’m fully recovered & technique helped a lot,” she tweeted.
In the video, Munshi demonstrates how to breathe in deeply, hold one’s breath for five seconds at the top of the inhale, and then breathe out. He recommends two cycles of six breaths, where you complete a big cough on the sixth breath. Munshi also recommends laying on the stomach instead of the back to improve lung function. The idea is to open up your lungs’ air sacs.
Seems like simple solutions to complex symptoms, right? Here’s what doctors want you to know about the technique.
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Catherine McQueen via Getty Images Voluntary breathing exercises have long been useful for people with different pulmonary conditions.
Deep breathing can help lung function when you’re sick.
When your lungs are inflamed, whether from Covid-19 or another condition, some of the air sacs that exchange oxygen and carbon dioxide are replaced with fluid and debris, according to Vandana Patel, a board-certified pulmonologist at Bon Secours Mercy Medical Group in Portsmouth, Virginia, and clinical adviser for Cabinet Health.
“These areas are now less functional for the work of gas exchange,” she said.
When you practice the deep breathing technique like in Munshi’s video, you are pushing air into your lungs, Patel said. As you hold your breath at the end of the exhale, you are “splinting open the air sac, increasing the surface area for gas exchange within your lungs,” she explained, adding that this helps to open collapsed air sacs in the lungs and improve oxygen levels in the body.
Ventilators perform a similar function in patients who are not healthy enough to breathe efficiently on their own, Patel said.
Voluntary breathing exercises have long been useful for people with different pulmonary conditions, added Nikita Desai, a pulmonologist at Cleveland Clinic.
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“If you have a chronic lung disease, like asthma or COPD, breathing can be helpful in getting control of that chronic condition,” she said. “Exercise programs are called pulmonary rehabilitation. For patients, we often recommend things like pursed lip breathing to control breath.”
Desai said this often slows breathing to get more air into the lungs.
The technique also helps with anxiety and control during a scary situation.
Desai said deep breathing may focus a patient’s energy and offer a sense of control over their care, which may, in turn, improve outcomes, especially when used in conjunction with other at-home care tactics.
“What I think this video is saying is, ‘Hey, if you are at home, these deep breathing exercises may help you,’” Desai said. “A lot of feeling better is managing anxiety. If you are anxious, you are going to be short of breath.”
Deep breathing exercises help to manage stress for the same reason. Not only can the practice bring your mind into the present moment, but it can also physically signal your nervous system to calm down. That can be useful in worrisome situations like dealing with the coronavirus.
“Any kind of deep breathing, or a 10-minute meditation, or moment of mindfulness, may be extremely beneficial,” Desai said.
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“A lot of feeling better is managing anxiety. If you are anxious, you are going to be short of breath.” - Nikita Desai, pulmonologist
Don’t expect deep breathing to cure Covid-19.
All that said, take this deep breathing technique with a grain of salt when it comes to the coronavirus.
Desai said a lot of these pulmonary regimens may be done when patients are very ill in the hospital. But she does not think it is a magic bullet that will stop Covid-19 from progressing.
“With this disease, there is a sense of everyone lacking control over this situation,” Desai said. “If people want to do this and it makes them feel better, great. But it won’t prevent you from Covid and it won’t necessarily help you recover.” (Just like a ventilator doesn’t necessarily cure a coronavirus patient, either.)
Petri Oeschger via Getty Images “Any kind of deep breathing, or a 10-minute meditation, or moment of mindfulness, may be extremely beneficial,” says pulmonologist Nikita Desai.
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There are other ways to ease coronavirus symptoms at home.
If you or a loved one comes down with Covid-19 symptoms and you can manage them at home, Patel recommends deep breathing as part of a greater symptom-treatment regimen.
Clinically, it is “a proven method to help improve lung function,” Patel said, noting that it may allow more air to infiltrate the lung tissue, easing some symptoms.
Desai is certainly not opposed to the technique — but only if it makes you feel better. “If the deep breathing makes you dizzy or lightheaded, then it’s too much,” she said.
It is also important to practice anxiety-reducing self-care, Desai noted. If you are anxious about having shortness of breath, that anxiety will only exacerbate the feeling that you can’t breathe. Deep breathing exercises can help with that.
“If you can’t breathe, nothing else matters and you won’t be able to think about anything else,” Desai said. Since Covid-19 symptoms can last a long time, it is really critical to pay attention to your mind as well as your body.
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Beyond that, make sure to “rest and drink plenty of fluids,” Patel noted. “Even a warm shower or having a humidifier nearby can help manage symptoms. Pain relievers such as acetaminophen and cough suppressants can help, as well.”
Just make sure to be a label-reader when you are taking over-the-counter medications. Don’t forget that cough suppressants and cold and sinus medications can contain acetaminophen, too — which you might forget if you don’t regularly read the active ingredient label.
“In most doses you might take acetaminophen, you’ll be okay. But if you do that plus a cold medication with acetaminophen, you could overdose or cause harm,” said Desai. “There is so much as too much of an otherwise benign thing.”


thehuffingtonpostuk--2020-04-27--How I Cope: Keeping My Fermented and Pickled Projects Alive Keeps Me Going

Angela Hui Miso, pickled red cabbage and sauerkraut
You’re reading How I Cope, a series sharing self-care tips as we all adjust to the coronavirus pandemic.
On the day I found out I lost my job because of coronavirus, my mind started racing. How would I pay my rent? How would I afford food? How would I get another job? The stress and uncertainty of it all was overwhelming.
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But instead of taking the responsible road to plan my next step or look for another job opportunity, I took my frustration and sadness out on a big heap of mashed up cooked soybeans in my kitchen.
As I mixed the koji (mouldy rice needed to make miso), grabbing angry fistfuls at a time, squelching the mixture between my fingers to release some negative energy like those gimmicky stress balls, I started to feel much better about my situation.
Angela Hui Homemade miso
Growing up in a Cantonese-speaking household I’ve been accustomed to fermented and pickled flavours all my life: steamed pork with mui choy (preserved mustard greens) at our family’s Chinese takeaway; deep-fried fermented stinky tofu in the streets of Hong Kong; and vermicelli rice noodles with pickled snow cabbage, one of my favourite comfort foods.
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Thanks to my parents’ Chinese heritage I’ve built up my tastebuds to withstand and appreciate some of the wildest food out there. As I got older, my interest in food grew and I became a food journalist to write about underrepresented voices, people’s cooking stories and the Chinese food I was surrounded with. To me, every meal shared is a lesson in someone else’s culture, every meal cooked is a chance to educate yourself with new things.
For years, I’ve been playing around with different ancient preserving methods and giving them as gifts to friends (more like lab rats). Every rented place I’ve lived in has had a fridge shelf dedicated to my test subject babies. Once, I’d forgotten to release the extra gas building up in my jar of kimchi in the back of the fridge and it exploded everywhere. The smell of fish sauce and stained bright red blotches of gochujang (Korean chilli paste) stayed with me for weeks.
Angela Hui Homemade kimchi
Similar to baking, fermenting and pickling is a great, therapeutic way to take your mind off things, focus on the task at hand and create something from scratch using your own two hands. Working with live bacteria serves as a humbling reminder that the world is still turning, even in the midst of so much uncertainty.
The added benefit is that in a pandemic like the one we’re currently living in, at least I’ll have a well-stocked lockdown larder that’ll last me for the months to come in case anything happens.
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Those interested in starting your own fermentation station, I recommend turning to chef and food writer Thom Eagle’s Vittles fermenting column. In this new food newsletter, he explains the ins and outs of the preserving process along with some foolproof recipes to try at home. For more on Chinese ferments, preserves and pickles, head to The Wok’s of Life’s blog for an excellent walkthrough. Once you dip your toe into the wonderful world of fermenting and pickling there’s no going back – it becomes addictive, you grow your collection and learn from mistakes.
It’s truly fascinating to create a product that’s alive to watch it grow and become something completely different from what you first started out with. I love the trial and error process and how every attempt’s outcome will differ slightly from the last. I get excited about the prospect of seeing activity in my ferments; spotting a bubble in sauerkraut, seeing the tamari liquid bypass product form on top of miso or setting timers on phones to remind me to ‘burp’ my kimchi. I guess you can say fermentation is a lot like looking after a child: both need TLC and are incredibly rewarding, but can smell funky and have a high chance of exploding.


thehuffingtonpostuk--2020-04-27--'It's Like I'm Starting Again': We're Recovering From Addiction In Lockdown

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We’re here to guide you through the coronavirus lockdown. Sign up to the Life newsletter for daily tips, advice, how-tos and escapism.
Lockdown is challenging for many of us, but for those in recovery from addiction, every day can feel like an uphill struggle. Long periods of time at home, alone with their thoughts, is something they’re desperate to get away from.
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“We’re taught early in recovery to set goals, keep busy, and minimise time spent in our own heads,” says Ben Robinson, 28, who has been sober for a year and two months. “With lockdown, this is a very hard task. When our minds wander, it wanders to the one thing that solved a lot of our problems – alcohol.”
Since the UK has been on lockdown, physical AA meetings have moved online. This is something Ben has found challenging. “Meetings for addicts are more than just a group getting together and talking about their problems,” he says.
“I’ve walked in [to a physical meeting] many times thinking ‘I’m not in the mood to share today’, then you hear an inspiring story or see someone’s emotion – that’s the beauty of them.”
Ben doesn’t feel that emotional connection in the virtual sessions. “I’m logging onto Zoom meetings, but they’re pretty rammed,” he says. “Share of voice is massively reduced and there might be people in there worse off than me, who can’t get a word in edgeways.”
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“There is support,” he adds. “It’s just different and difficult to adapt to.”
Supplied Ben Robinson celebrating 500 days sober.
Ben can’t pinpoint when he became addicted to alcohol, but recalls how he’d get through copious amounts at university. At one point his housemates staged an intervention to get him to stop. “They wrote ‘intervention’ on the carpet and collected all the bottles I’d drunk that week,” he says. “There was something like 20 bottles of wine and whisky – that was when I was 19.”
In the autumn of 2018, aged 27, he had two seizures and ended up in hospital due to excessive drinking. But he still wasn’t ready to accept help. “I pulled the IVs out my arm and ran across a motorway to get to a Spar shop,” he says. “I was in psychosis.”
Two months later, he’d had enough – he felt ill, looked ill, and couldn’t do it anymore. Ben checked into rehab and stayed there until January 2019. During that time he attended four therapy sessions a day and an AA meeting every evening.
He still went to meetings every day when he was discharged – if not every other day – and went back at the weekends for aftercare. And he’s since worked hard to rebuild his life. Ben moved back to London, started work as a freelancer in marketing and PR, and began socialising again.
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But since lockdown was announced, his daily routine has disappeared and he’s stuck at home with less work to do. “It’s been really tough,” he says. “To be in a situation where all of that is gone and stripped away, it’s kind of like I’m starting recovery again.”
chameleonseye via Getty Images
Ben lives with his partner in Wimbledon, but she’s a key worker so his days are mostly spent alone. “My biggest fear is that I hate being on my own. Isolation has brought a load of that back, as the times I’d drink the most was when I was on my own,” he says. “It’s been a very strange thing – I’ve had to go back and say to myself: I accept I’m an alcoholic and I can’t change it.”
Slowly, though, he’s starting to adapt. At the beginning of lockdown, he says he was panicking, desperately trying to fill his time. But it’s slowed down a bit now, as he’s learning to accept the situation.
The lack of face-to-face contact is a huge challenge for those in recovery right now, says Andrew Harvey, an addictions counsellor. Many rely on those appointments with therapists, in addition to group meetings, to get them through each day. Plus, those who live in busy households might not have the privacy to discuss their addiction or attend meetings from their living room, he adds.
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“Another challenge, I believe, is that many people’s addictions were established by them trying to cope with difficult feelings and emotions,” says Harvey, who runs AddictionsCounselling.net. “They used the addictive substance to mediate those emotions, to turn those emotions down.
“We’re in a highly emotional state, all of us now. If your alcohol addiction was to turn down the feelings of anxiety, right now you’re in recovery, so you don’t have your alcohol – plus you have a whole bunch of anxiety. It’s a real challenge.”
Johner Images via Getty Images
Maddy, who preferred not to share her surname, is further along in her recovery and has welcomed the switch to virtual meetings. She’s been sober for 10-and-a-half years and is enjoying the online format of AA – it’s “just as good, if not better” than in real life, she says.
In 2008, slightly concerned about her drinking habits, she went to her first AA meeting, but didn’t think it was for her, as she didn’t resonate with the other people. She went back to drinking, but her habit got worse. “In July 2009 I drank myself into a stupor,” the 56-year-old from London says.
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She had arrived home drunk and didn’t know how she’d got there. When she woke up and went into the bathroom, she saw she’d knocked a plant over with red flowers on it. “It looked like a human being and the red flowers were the blood,” she says. “I thought: ‘If you’re not careful, that’s going to happen to you.’”
Maddy returned to AA and stopped drinking for good on July 7 2009. In the first two years, she attended meetings every day. Now she goes once or twice a week. That image of the plant is an image she still conjures in her mind.
One of her recent Zoom AA meetings was based in Los Angeles and she found it empowering – better than the ones she’s attended physically in London. “It was an all-female meeting,” she says. “I’ve never attended one of those before. I found it inspiring. It was full of very honest, authentic, empowering women.”
There are downsides to online meets, of course. She acknowledges people can tend to “hide” in AA meetings and the online format makes it easier for people to do that. “But if you go online and listen to what people are sharing, you could get a lot out of it if you wanted to,” she says. “I find it really rewarding.”
Westend61 via Getty Images
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Matt, from Plymouth, is currently attending two or three AA online meetings a week. While Zoom is a “good replacement”, he says “it’s not quite the same” as physical sessions. “I get my power within the group of people, face-to-face,” he explains. “But AA online, for the current circumstances, is a good substitute for that.”
The 45-year-old, who lives with his wife, has been sober for three-and-a-half months. He decided on a whim to stop drinking one day after being a “big drinker” all his life – he’d previously tried to quit but had relapsed. “I was sick and tired of being sick and tired, and being hungover in the morning,” he says.
Despite lockdown, Matt is still going into work six days a week – it’s a structure he’s thankful for, as he knows this situation is throwing up challenges for others in recovery. A friend of his recently relapsed after spending 18 months sober. “It’s difficult times really,” he adds. “Some people find it hard.”
While the format of online meetings is similar to physical ones, Matt is missing the physical reward – a chip received after each month of sobriety. He got a virtual chip to mark his third month of sobriety, but it wasn’t quite the same, he says.
Matt is also doing other things to keep busy and on top of his recovery: he’s in regular contact with other people he’s met through AA and he’s a big fan of using social media to connect with others – the #RecoveryHour and #RecoveryPosse hashtags on Twitter help. He also listens to sober podcasts like Over The Influence and watches AA Shares on YouTube.
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“It’s difficult times really. Some people find it hard.” - Matt, 45, Plymouth
Addictions counsellor, Harvey, urges anyone in recovery who is struggling, to reach out for support and make use of other online resources during this time, such as virtual meetings, Instagram recovery accounts, blogs, videos, and therapists’ web sessions.
Ben has made it his mission to stay connected with others through lockdown – he’s sharing his experiences in his blog, Beyond The Bottle, in the hope it’ll help others feel less alone. Speaking about his temptation to drink during this time, he adds: “I live by a slogan that is: if I drink I’ll die. My body won’t take it again, my mind won’t take it again and I will drink myself into the floor.
“While there is mass temptation there to push the fuck-it button, I know that I can’t because I value being alive.”


thehuffingtonpostuk--2020-04-27--This Is Your Body And Brain On Coffee

This Is Your Body And Brain On Coffee

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Now that we’re home at all hours of the day because of coronavirus lockdowns, it’s more appealing than ever to turn to a nice cup of coffee as a way to cope. People are making it to pass the time, consuming it to stay alert through home-schooling and work, even trying out whipped coffee.
Before the pandemic hit, an industry survey estimated that 64% of us drank a cup of coffee every day. And with good reason: There are tons of health benefits.
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For example, studies have linked coffee to a decreased risk of Type 2 diabetes and some cancers. But, as with most good things, too much of it may have negative consequences.
Coffee ― and we don’t mean decaf ― can be a treatment or a trigger for health concerns, depending on a number of variables, including how much you consume, how frequently you consume it, how it’s prepared and your health history. Here are some of the potential benefits and drawbacks of drinking coffee.
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Adding extras to your coffee can negate the effects of its antioxidants.
Coffee is often touted for its disease-fighting properties. The antioxidants and anti-inflammatories in coffee are likely responsible for the association between coffee drinking and the reduced risk of Type 2 diabetes and some types of cancer (including oral cancers).
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Those antioxidants, however, won’t necessarily offset the negative effects of the sugars, syrups and creamers you add.
“If you now load your coffee with sugars and other things that increase inflammation or you have coffee with that big muffin, then the anti-inflammatory or antioxidants in the coffee will not be able to counteract that at all,” said Zhaoping Li, a professor of medicine and chief of the Division of Clinical Nutrition at the University of California, Los Angeles.
Black coffee may help reduce body fat.
One study found that drinking four cups of coffee daily was associated with a reduction in body fat of roughly 4%. (But, again, that was without cream and sugar.)
The caffeine in coffee may raise metabolism, potentially burning more calories and leading to reduced body fat, said Derrick Johnston Alperet, the study’s co-author and a postdoctoral fellow at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health.
“Our study results and evidence from previous studies suggest that regular coffee intake may aid in weight loss and in achieving better overall health if it is incorporated into a healthful diet consisting of fruits, vegetables, fish and whole grains, but less of sugar and artificially sweetened beverages and processed and red meat,” Alperet said.
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Coffee could help extend your life.
Regular coffee drinkers tend to live longer. Coffee drinkers are less likely to die of coronary heart disease, stroke, diabetes and kidney disease.
Caffeine puts your brain on alert.
We can’t talk about coffee without addressing the thing people think of first: caffeine. Caffeine — which occurs naturally in coffee beans, tea leaves and cocoa beans — is a dietary component, not a nutrient. It stimulates the central nervous system, causing you to feel more alert.
“Obviously, when you’re alert, you’re able to concentrate and perform mentally,” UCLA’s Li said. That’s why so many of us turn to coffee to start our day or as an afternoon pick-me-up.
Of course, you’ll also find caffeine in other beverages, including brewed black tea, brewed green tea and caffeinated soda. In terms of natural beverages, though, coffee has the highest concentration of caffeine, Li said.
Different types of coffee can have different amounts of caffeine. A single fluid ounce of brewed coffee will have roughly 12 milligrams of caffeine; a similar amount of instant coffee will have only 8 milligrams, while an ounce of espresso will have a whopping 64 milligrams, according to the U.S. government’s Dietary Guidelines for Americans 2015-2020.
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Drinking too much coffee may lead to heartburn, anxiety or other issues.
Low to moderate amounts of caffeine (50 to 300 milligrams) can increase alertness, energy and the ability to concentrate, according to the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health. Higher doses, however, can lead to negative effects.
“Sometimes people aren’t aware that the side effects they’re having are due to coffee or something else,” such as stress or diet, said Donald Hensrud, director of the Mayo Clinic Healthy Living Program and editor of the Mayo Clinic Diet.
For example, several things can contribute to heartburn, including eating too late, gaining weight or consuming certain types of food or beverages — including coffee.
People who experience anxiety should also take a look at their coffee habits and if coffee could be affecting their symptoms. Anxiety disorders are among the most common mental health conditions in the country, affecting 40 million adults 18 and older. Research suggests that more than 250 milligrams of caffeine — the amount in about 2½ cups of coffee — may trigger anxiety in some people.
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Pregnant women are often advised to limit caffeine, but recommendations on how much can vary.
Coffee makes you pee more.
Caffeine is thought to be a diuretic. Coffee can increase urination and act as a bladder irritant. For people who experience bladder control problems, this can worsen their symptoms, Hensrud said.
Coffee can either help or heal headaches, depending on a few unique factors.
The caffeine in coffee can be either a treatment or a trigger for headaches. On the one hand, caffeine blocks brain receptors associated with pain and relieves headache pain, said Elizabeth Mostofsky, an epidemiology instructor at the Chan School and research fellow at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center.
It can also make other pain medications as much as 40% more effective, Mostofsky added.
But drinking more than three caffeinated beverages a day may actually trigger a headache in people prone to migraines.
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Your metabolism determines whether coffee causes major sleep issues for you.
Have you ever had a cup of coffee late in the afternoon and then wound up starring at your bedroom ceiling until 2 a.m.? Or can you enjoy a cappuccino after dinner and then sleep soundly that night?
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Each person’s body processes caffeine a bit differently, based on his or her tolerance and metabolism. The “awake” feeling we get from drinking coffee can last up to six hours or so, depending on the individual, Li said.
If you notice that you’re still feeling the effects of an afternoon coffee at bedtime, Hensrud advised cutting off coffee earlier in the day.
So how much coffee is okay?
The potential health benefits of drinking coffee are clear. But there’s no advice telling you to start drinking coffee if you don’t already.
“I think if you like coffee, coffee is part of your healthy diet,” Li said. “If you’re not a coffee drinker, there is no necessity to drinking coffee. You can drink tea or water.”
Li added that green tea has much less caffeine than coffee and also happens to be a great source of antioxidants. Decaf coffee can also provide some of the benefits of regular coffee without the effects of caffeine.
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Regular coffee drinkers might be looking for that magic number of cups they should drink to feel their best. Dietary guidelines say that moderate coffee consumption is three to five cups per day (providing up to 400 milligrams per day of caffeine).
“Studies are showing if you have about three cups — some studies are showing four cups — a day, it’s definitely safe,” Li said.
Like most things with diet, though, it really comes down to moderation and paying attention to your body.


thehuffingtonpostuk--2020-04-27--I’m Self-Isolating With My In-Laws... And It's Actually Amazing

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When ‘safer at home’ orders were issued in California last month, I found myself facing the anxiety of both a global pandemic and the prospect of sheltering in place not only with my husband and child, but with my husband’s parents as well.
What came as a surprise to me, perhaps because the looming threat of covid-19 felt so surreal at the time, was that I was far more concerned about the latter. Not that I had much reason to be. My small nuclear family had moved in with my in-laws temporarily nearly three months before, and it had been going swimmingly.
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We ate family meals, shared household duties and worked together as a cohesive team. Still, the prospect of being isolated together, of spending all of our time navigating our lives – work, school and social – in the same few rooms, felt daunting.
The trope of the toxic, obnoxious, overstepping in-laws is familiar and well-worn. Sitcoms, advice columns, stand-up bits – the horror stories are, for many, quite accurate. So I should have expected the reactions I got when I told people about my living situation.
“I can’t imagine how hard that must be,” a concerned friend told me.
“I would just die!” a co-worker said.
But their perceptions couldn’t have been further from the truth.
In reality, my in-laws are very much parents to me. Perhaps because I have known them for more than half of my life, or because their values and beliefs are similar to my own, or because they are simply kind and welcoming people, I have always felt comfortable around them. They made me part of their family decades ago, and these months that we have been living with them have been no different.
In pre-pandemic times, this meant that my daughter, my spouse, my parents, my in-laws and I spent many hours in each other’s homes each week. We cooked and ate meals together, we shared the load in household projects and in child care. And, of course, when we moved in with them, all of this intensified.
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“Though we occasionally feel the pinch of a lack of space or privacy, the benefits of living together far outweigh any drawbacks.”
Now, we alternate chores and shopping trips. If I have a meeting, someone is usually available to watch my daughter, and if someone else has a meeting, I am able to have dinner ready when they get home. In short, we support each other. And though we occasionally feel the pinch of a lack of space or privacy, the benefits of living together far outweigh any drawbacks.
Even as I confront the danger of a life-threatening virus, I have never felt so lucky. And yet, when my friend and my co-worker said those things, I found it easier to laugh along uncomfortably than to correct them. I was actually ashamed to admit that I didn’t really want to move out. In fact, things have been going so well that I am starting to become anxious about the end of our stay, about embarking again on our own as a tiny three-person family.
A “nuclear family” is traditionally defined as a family group that consists of two married individuals and their biological offspring. In the 1920s, when an anthropologist first coined the term, ideas about atomic nuclei were unconfirmed. The meaning of “nuclear” back then was more figurative than concrete, tied mostly to the Latin word nucleus, meaning “kernel,” the central or most important part of something.
In the United States, the nuclear family is held up as virtuous ― an ideal that is part of the white picket fence American dream. And yet, statistics show that the impression that most Americans live in a nuclear family consisting of one father, one mother and 2.5 children is as figurative as the term “nuclear family” itself.
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Though American households in general have grown smaller over time, partially due to a rise in people living alone, today 20% of people live in multigenerational households. This is up from only 12% in 1980, according to data from the Pew Research Center.
The growth of extended family households has been propelled in large part by young adults moving back home — not just for economic reasons, but also to care for their parents as they age. It is also driven by an increasing number of seniors moving in with their children, either to care for their grandkids, to be cared for themselves, or both.
In a March article for The Atlantic, David Brooks calls the shift in preference for nuclear families over multigenerational households that were common before the 20th century “the story of our times,” and he doesn’t mean this favourably. He views nuclear families as fragmented and fragile, as opposed to extended families, which he considers to be robust and resilient. In some ways, this may be true. Extended families have the numbers to really look out for each other. They are a “supporting web” in which one of any number of people can jump in and support a member in a difficult situation. By contrast, a smaller nuclear family appears to have no such buffer. If something bad happens to one of the members, the burden can only be picked up by a precious few.
However, this depiction overlooks the fact that even those of us who do live in a somewhat “typical” nuclear family often rely on a much larger network of people. We have friends and neighbours and co-workers. We have family members who live separately from us and chosen family who are minutes away. We have teachers and nannies and shopkeepers. The list goes on.
“If this crisis has underscored anything for me, it’s how interconnected we all are, how what we do as individuals affects everyone around us.”
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For a more accurate representation of a nuclear family, one might look to another definition of the word “kernel”: the soft, usually edible part of a nut, seed or fruit contained within a hard shell. The nucleus, or kernel, is not something unto itself. Rather, it is part of a whole, the softer part within the strong outer shell. The nuclear family may indeed be soft or fragile on its own, but when it is protected by the rest of its support network, it is a hard nut to crack.
As I write this, I can hear my mother-in-law regaling my daughter with stories of distant road trips before bed. My father-in-law is drying dishes and chatting with my husband, who is finishing a late dinner after a long day of work in his makeshift garage office. The house is calm but not quiet, humming with the machinery of extended family.
I realise this makes me luckier than most. For one, I get along with my in-laws. Beyond that, I have a deep extended support network that includes not only my husband’s family, but my biological family and my friends who have become chosen family.
When social distancing orders went into effect last month, we were sealed into our homes, and many of our connections within our support networks were abruptly severed — or at least significantly altered. But if this crisis has underscored anything for me, it’s how interconnected we all are, how what we do as individuals affects everyone around us.
The ideal of the independently successful nuclear family is ingrained, but it isn’t realistic, and we don’t have to live up to it. We aren’t failing if we rely on others for help. We’re doing what humans have done for centuries: calling on our social connections to get us through.
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Ruth Kogen Goodwin a writer and editor living in Southern California. This article first appeared on HuffPost Personal.


thehuffingtonpostuk--2020-04-27--I Can’t Be The Only One Feeling Drained By Virtual Gatherings

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I don’t know about you, but since lockdown began I’ve joined approximately five virtual gatherings per week. From book clubs to work socials to pub quizzes – you name it, I’ve dialled into it.
At first it was great fun, and a real novelty being connected to those I wouldn’t see so often under normal circumstances. But I have to admit it’s starting to turn into a mental drain.
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Somehow, my diary now is even more packed than when we were allowed out. When I’m not working normal hours (sometimes longer) as an advertising professional and freelance writer, I’m struggling to find time to work out, spend quality time with my partner, call my family regularly, as well as cook and clean – let alone get my mind in gear for more general knowledge rounds. Really, how many quizzes can one participate in? Actually, don’t answer that.
The thing is, it’s hard to have a good excuse not to show up. In the real world, if you feel a bit knackered after a long day at work or need to excuse yourself from dinner with the girls because you’ve got to work late, or even just have a headache, you know your friends would understand. Normally, we’re not so fearful of being judged if we have to bail because we all lead busy lives.
“I feel like I can’t opt out of anything. Saying I need some time on my own doesn’t feel valid”
But now, I feel like I can’t opt out of anything. Saying I need some time on my own doesn’t feel valid, and I have no real excuse to bail: I’m home, I don’t have kids I can blame for needing my attention after a long day of business calls. I don’t even have a commute.
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Yet the moment my phone pings with another Zoom invite link – this time for a ‘fancy dress Netflix party’ – I feel a pang of anxiety. It has started to get too much for me to keep up with on top of my day job, that I genuinely cannot be bothered to think of an outfit to customise and dial in and keep up appearances for, well, another appearance.
I feel guilty for not wanting to attend every social ‘event’ – but I don’t think I’m alone. Am I really the only one lying about already having a quiz with my home friends at the same time as my uni girls virtual bingo, just so I can sit on my sofa and have a bit of ‘me’ time?
For the first couple of weeks of lockdown, I didn’t feel this way at all. In fact, none of us did. Most of the world downloaded one piece of video conference software or another and hopped on the virtual social bandwagon – and it was great! Suddenly we were no longer constrained by having to leave and catch the last train home.
But here I am now, trying to cut down the amount of social calls I participate in every week, for the sake of my mental wellbeing. Saying our laptop battery has died is akin to the real world ‘popping to the loo and never coming back’ move.
“Across the world we’re in the loneliest time in living memory… and yet interacting with each other is beginning to become a mental drain”
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Ironic, isn’t it? Across the world we’re in the loneliest time in living memory… and yet interacting with each other is beginning to become a mental drain. If we’re being honest, I think we’re all being people pleasers and feel bad about saying ‘no’. We’re fooling ourselves if we think we actually need this constant interaction at the same time – especially compared to those less fortunate who would kill for a Skype call.
I worry too about how all these digital interactions take a toll on relationships with our loved ones. Like many couples, my partner and I used to have dedicated date nights – but now that we’re together all the time, they’ve fallen by the wayside. The times I want us to have a movie night together, he has a pub quiz, and vice versa. Despite the obvious irony of spending more time with each other than ever before, it feels like we’ve got less time for each other. Hell, I don’t remember the last time I shaved my legs, so who am I to blame him for not putting movie night on top of his to-do list.
I know this is a first world problem – and I completely appreciate there is a much larger number of people who are currently really struggling to cope: those who live alone and feel isolated, those who’ve lost jobs, or even those struggling with anxiety about the future. Parents having to juggle homeschooling along with their own jobs, and their kids struggling to understand why they can’t see their friends.
But now is the time to put ourselves first, and stop feeling guilty that we just can’t fit in another virtual social activity. After all, if in the normal world we didn’t feel bad, why should we in our ‘new’ normal?
Tanisha Sakhawat is an advertising professional and freelance journalist living in London. Follow her work at writebytanisha.com.
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thehuffingtonpostuk--2020-04-27--Boris Johnson’s Tricky Lockdown Balancing Act Has Only Just Started

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Boris is back
The last time Boris Johnson appeared on the steps of No.10, nearly four long weeks ago, he cut a sad and sickly figure. Clapping NHS workers from his self-isolation, he was just days away from entering intensive care, his oxygen supply being monitored by dedicated nurses.
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Today, he tried to reach for the characteristic vim and vigour of old, but the carefully balanced message of his return-to-work speech told its own story. In place of pure puppyish boosterism there were telling phrases like ‘a new wave of death’ and ‘sadness and mourning across the land’. He still managed to be upbeat, but this was a prime minister who knew just how dangerous Covid-19 really was.
In fact, coronavirus has managed to help the Tories in general and Johnson in particular to tackle two of their biggest political weaknesses: first, being seen as out of touch with the experience of ordinary people’s lives; and second, appearing not really to care about the NHS. Or, as Dominic Cummings put it in 2017: “People think, and by the way I think most people are right: ‘The Tory party is run by people who basically don’t care about people like me…’ They don’t care about the NHS.”
Of course, Cummings ensured that the last general election unleashed Brexit to counter the first problem and a relentless message about new hospitals and nurse places to counter the second. But the very fact of Johnson himself being hospitalised by Covid-19 may well have an even greater impact than that landslide-winning campaign.
Since his brush with mortality, not even his harshest critic can say that Johnson doesn’t really understand what it’s like to suffer from this disease. Short of breath, under an oxygen mask in an intensive care unit and isolated from his pregnant partner, this was one experience that was all too realworld. Similarly, his praise for the NHS staff by his bedside was clearly heartfelt and the issue of long-term funding for health is probably a given.
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His experience also means that he is in a better position to deliver the bad news to the public in coming weeks: exit from the current lockdown won’t be quick or easy and some people are not going to get what they want. Coming from a party leader who loves to be loved, and usually wants to accentuate the positive, that message may prove more effective precisely because he is visibly uneasy about it.
There were plenty of negatives he simply ignored, however. Both NHS frontline workers’ fears about a lack of protective equipment and the growing number of deaths in care homes, with many staff and residents untested, were two glaring omissions from his words on the No.10 steps.
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Indeed, when Johnson talked about “apparent success” he was right to use that adjective. With more than 21,000 deaths and some estimates that the total number is already more than 40,000 thanks to care homes and other causes, the qualification was essential. The PM was wise to refrain from Churchilian phrasing, given that 40,000 was also the civilian death toll during the Blitz. It is still possible the UK could come out of this crisis with the highest number of deaths of any European country.
What did slightly jar was his metaphor comparing Covid-19 to a ‘mugger’, complete with the Telegraph columnist-style reference to the mugger being tackled by the country. That may well have been his own experience, but for those tens of thousands of families, coronavirus has proved a killer not a bag-snatcher.
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Perhaps the strangest line however was Johnson’s line that “the United Kingdom will emerge stronger than ever before” from this pandemic. Yes, the NHS has proved incredibly resilient and our testing capacity has been forced into a major overhaul. But some economic output may be gone for good, rather than just frozen before a sharp bounceback. Anyone who loses their job or business won’t thank him for the survival-of-the-fittest rhetoric. And for all the bereaved, such words may have seemed incongruous with the PM’s earlier message of compassion.
Which brings us to the third big weakness often associated with Boris Johnson: competence. He knows that the tricky balancing act of coming weeks and months would test even the most accomplished leader and administration, let alone one as inexperienced as his. And Keir Starmer is a more formidable opponent to expose any failures in the court of public opinion. Should schools go back before shops open? Will people get their hair cut before being allowed on holiday? And, as public questoner Lynne put it today, when will she get to hug her grandchildren?
There’s an unwelcome parallel too for Johnson in the Brexit messaging that got him his large majority in the first place. It was obvious today that the PM wants to slowly prepare the public for what he said was a plan to ”gradually to refine the economic and social restrictions” of the lockdown. It will be slow and complex and not everyone will be happy.
Just imagine if he had a similar ‘contain your impatience’ message on the UK’s exit from the EU: it may need different phases to come out, it will be complicated, but in the long-run the bigger goal (a comprehensive deal with the EU) will be secured.
Despite Michael Gove’s optimism and that of his allies (see our piece HERE) today, and despite the feeling that governments can walk and chew gum at the same time, some Brexiteers would rather a competent exit than an incompetent one.
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Quote Of The Day
“It doesn’t give a huge amount of room for manoeuvre. That’s one of the things that ministers are going to have to consider.”
Chief Medical Officer Chris Whitty on the current virus reproduction rate
Monday Cheat Sheet
Chancellor Rishi Sunak revealed that from next week small businesses will be able to get ‘bounceback’ loans worth up to £50,000 with 100% government backing.
Matt Hancock announced that families of frontline NHS and social care staff who have died from coronavirus will get a £60,000 payout. He admitted there was ‘a lot of work’ to do to hit his target of 100,000 coronavirus tests per day.
A further 360 people died of the virus in the UK, continuing the fall in daily hospital deaths. The total now stands at 21,092. Chris Whitty stressed: “This has got a very long way to run...we have still got some way before it is falling right off - but there is a long, long way to go beyond that.”
NHS England has told hospitals to test all in-patients for Covid-19, including those who have no symptoms at all.
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Cancer services and other non-urgent NHS treatments will start to resume from tomorrow as the system is able to use its spare capacity as the number of virus cases decreases.
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An Oral History Of The Day Everything Changed - Wired
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