thehuffingtonpostuk--2020-05-26--Why Are Women So Divided On Porn? Our Latest Podcast Finds Out

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Porn can be a pretty uncomfortable topic because, let’s face it, it’s something people usually consume in private. It’s also hugely divisive.
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Some women love it, some women hate it – but porn isn’t going anywhere. Which is why we thought it was an essential topic to tackle in our new weekly podcast Am I Making You Uncomfortable? where every Tuesday, we bring you a frank, honest conversation about women’s bodies, health and private lives.
Tatyana Larina via Getty Images
In this episode, my co-host Brogan and I are joined by Sangeeta Pillai, a sex educator and founder of the Soul Sutras network for South Asian women. We speak about how porn impacts our sex lives, relationships, body image ideals and much more.
You can subscribe, download and listen to Am I Making You Uncomfortable? on Spotify, Apple Podcasts and all major podcasting platforms and you’ll find a transcript of our chat below, to make the podcast accessible for all of HuffPost’s wonderful readers and listeners.
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Join in the conversation on social media by using the hashtag #AIMYU – and go behind the scenes by subscribing to our podcast newsletter to hear what inspired us to tackle the topics you’re probably too squeamish to talk about.
HuffPost UK Brogan Driscoll and Rachel Moss, co-hosts of Am I Making You Uncomfortable?
Episode 5: Transcript
Brogan Driscoll
Welcome to HuffPost’s brand new weekly podcast, Am I Making You Uncomfortable? presented by me, Brogan Driscoll.
Rachel Moss
And me, Rachel Moss. This podcast is a frank, honest conversation about women’s bodies, health, and private lives. We cover under-reported issues and tackle the topics that you’re too squeamish to talk to your mates about.
Brogan Driscoll
This week we’re going to be talking about porn. Specifically, how it impacts our sex lives and relationships. And later we’ll be joined by Sangeeta Pillai, a sex educator and founder of network Soul Sutras, which is all about South Asian female power and sexuality. So to kick things off and make us both feel super uncomfortable, I thought we should start by talking about our own introductions to porn. I know, sorry, but I feel like we’ve got a really –
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Rachel Moss
Go on. We’ve got to do it.
Brogan Driscoll
Exactly. We’ve got to put ourselves in these situations. So, I’ll go first because I know it’s a bit of a tough ask. My first experience of porn was very early on like weirdly early on. Me and my next-door neighbour, we used to play around each other’s houses a lot and we somehow discovered that in my mum and dad’s bedroom.
Rachel Moss
Oh no. That’s enough already. Say no more.
Brogan Driscoll
I know.
Rachel Moss
I’m joking carry on.
Brogan Driscoll
It’s so weird, isn’t it? It’s so weird. But my mum, there’s no way they’re going to listen to this so it’s fine. They had this coffee table book that was, like, from the seventies, apparently, they got given it as a wedding present and I’m a bit like, “Yeah, sure. I don’t know if that’s true.” And it was called the Joy of Sex and I think it’s, like, quite a book. Like, I think it’s got a reputation and it was, basically, a massive book, especially for, I don’t know, a nine-year-old at the time and it was all about... It was kind of set up... like the chapters were like menus. So it was like, had like, starters...
Rachel Moss
Menus?
Brogan Driscoll
It was like a menu so it had starters for foreplay and then it had the main course bit and then it had dessert-
Rachel Moss
Did it have pictures?
Brogan Driscoll
Yeah.
Rachel Moss
Was it like Cosmo style?
Brogan Driscoll
It had massive pictures.
Rachel Moss
Oh, god.
Brogan Driscoll
I’m trying to think in my head whether they were illustrations or pictures but anyway, me and my next-door neighbour who I won’t name. But like when we did, we knew people were downstairs just like creep in and, like, find it and look at it. I don’t, I literally don’t know why I told you that, but anyway, there we go. So that was my first experience of erotica.
Rachel Moss
Hilarious. Also that book does not sound sexy. It just so doesn’t. Okay. So I guess I now have to go. I feel like yours is really innocent and cute, but my first experience of porn was actually a little bit, not as jolly. The first time I saw anything pornographic at all was actually on the phone of somebody that I was dating. I was in my late teens obviously something had been left open that I wasn’t meant to see and borrowed the phone to look up something and bam, you know, wait, didn’t expect to see that. And, you now, it was quite a, like, baptism of fire introduction because as well, we don’t talk about porn. So at the time I was so confused about, like, what am I meant to be feeling about this? Do I laugh it off? Am I meant to be angry? Am I meant to be upset? Am I meant to be turned on? I don’t know. It was just so confusing. Also, because it’s such a taboo like I didn’t tell anyone about it.
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Brogan Driscoll
Am I the first person you’ve told?
Rachel Moss
You are actually. I’ve told my –
Brogan Driscoll
Porn story inside for so long.
Rachel Moss
I know isn’t it crazy. But the only time I think actually I might have mentioned it to a couple of mates since, and this is the only other discussion I’ve ever had with another human being about porn was when a bunch of my girl mates, years and years and years later probably were about like 25 and we were all pissed and then somebody brought up porn. Suddenly you realise that all your friends who you’ve maybe known for, you know, 10, 15 years have all got actually quite divisive opinions about porn. Like, among this group of women, there was somebody who loved it, somebody who hated it, somebody who said, if you listen to porn or watch porn in a relationship, you’re cheating on your partner. And I was just kind of there watching this crazy ping pong battle of opinions happen. And I just didn’t expect it at all and then of course we sobered up and never spoke about it ever again.
Brogan Driscoll
I was going to say, it’s so interesting that you have those conversations you’ve drunk, when you were drunk, sorry, I’m sure a lot of people will relate to that actually, that boldness that comes out after you’ve had some wine. Unfortunately, we haven’t had any wine because it’s still quite early in the afternoon.
Rachel Moss
Oh, no. I had a strong coffee.
Brogan Driscoll
Okay.
Rachel Moss
That’s as bold as it’s getting.
Brogan Driscoll
So I guess the reason that we wanted to talk about porn now is it’s as good a time as any, obviously. It’s something that we haven’t really ever spoken about before with friends. So why not have the first conversation we have broadcast? You know we were talking about how lockdown brings quite an interesting dimension to pornography, just because obviously lots of people are spending this period on their own. People who would normally be dating or able to, like, go out and hook up with people. So there’s kind of a need there to be associated. But also then there are people who are living in close proximity with family, partners, friends. And are they still consuming as much porn as they used to? Are they having to hide it? Are they having to suddenly be open about it? There’s a lot to get into.
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Listener Voice
Yeah, I’m a fan of porn. We’re all really sexual creatures and watching porn is certainly a part of our society now. I think I feel nervous speaking about it publicly as I always sort of thought that porn was a really personal thing. It’s a place where you can explore various themes of your sexual desires without really being judged or embarrassed. I find that my own tastes tend to vary quite a bit dependent on my mood or where I am in my life at the time. I think it’s really great that porn has become far more accessible these days. It’s not like it used to be: no need to go to sex stores or buy plastic coated magazines. I think the rise of internet porn has made things so much easier. I can access pretty much anything from my smartphone, from the comfort of my own bed and privacy of my own room.
Listener Voice
So the first time I really started delving into what porn is has been in the last couple of years. I run an organisation called Sisters. Whilst putting together work around healthy relationships and what those relationships are influenced by, we found that many of the young people we worked with were influenced by porn, except the porn was very derogatory and treated females really badly. And so I started really delving into what porn was and what is ethical porn. I think it’s really important to understand what porn is in the commercial mainstream sense and what ethical porn is and people really need to understand that.
Brogan Driscoll
Today we’re joined by Sangeeta Pillai, a sex educator and founder of network Soul Sutras, which is all about South Asian female power and sexuality. She’s also a host of award-winning, Masala podcast and has been a writer for over 20 years.
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Rachel Moss
So, hi, Sangeeta, thank you so much for joining us today. We’re super, super excited to have you here and I see you have brought a prop with you. What is that?
Sangeeta Pillai
Yes. I’ve got my little favourite stress buster, which is, as you can see Rachel, a very large bottom with a thong in it and you squeeze the bottom like so, and it’s a great stress-busting tool. And I thought it was appropriate for our podcast today.
Rachel Moss
It’s very appropriate and hilarious. I love it. I think every guest should bring a prop and it should probably always be a stress-busting bum.
Sangeeta Pillai
Maybe this could be the prop that belongs to your show-
Rachel Moss
I would love that.
Sangeeta Pillai
It could be your thing.
Brogan Driscoll
We could get our own emoji. I think that’s the kind of stress buster that you can only have in a working-from-home situation. Imagine if you went into the office and someone had that on their desk. Cool –
Sangeeta Pillai
Very serious corporate meeting with the bottom.
Rachel Moss
I like it. I’m all for it. So Sangeeta, before you joined us, we were sharing our first introductions to porn and the first time we saw pornographic material. Brogan’s was ridiculous. Mine was slightly more traumatic, but what was your introduction to porn like?
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Sangeeta Pillai
I think I was about maybe 13 and I lived in India. So I grew up in India, I spent most of my life there. And I... My friends and I went to a video store because that’s what you did then. And we had this video and I remember it was the first time I’d seen sex and I was horrified. And it was some really weird stuff I think because the guy in the film had a lot of hair all over his body. He was like a very large, hairy beast. I remember thinking, this is really weird. This can’t be fun and this was my first experience of watching porn.
Rachel Moss
You’re like, does everyone look like that?
Sangeeta Pillai
Is there something I don’t know? All men look like this under their clothes?
Rachel Moss
As a sexual educator, you’ve developed a super positive attitude to sex over the years and I wondered whether porn had fed into that. I mean, what’s your consumption of porn now?
Sangeeta Pillai
It’s very different to how I was when I was growing up. So I grew up in India in a very traditional Indian family and most Asian girls, particularly the ones that were kind of me and of my generation, sex wasn’t for us. There was sexes for men. What we all we did was be prepared to get married and when you got married sex was something you put up with. You never had an active role in it. You never talked about it. Even our bodies, sex was something that was done to us, not something we did, actively. And there’s also the sense of somehow in traditional South Asian culture that you guard your body. Your body’s this precious pure thing that you guard until the time that you get married to somebody and then they get your body. So there’s no real agency. So then if you look at those kinds of ideas, then things like masturbation or porn are very far away from your experience. So I think I didn’t look at porn or even talk about masturbation with my friends until I was much, much older. None of us did it it. It wasn’t even a thing. So if you sort of think of the shame attached to anything sexual, the shame attached to the female body in any sexual sense, that makes a lot of this very, very difficult for South Asian women.
Rachel Moss
Yeah. Was there a U-turn moment where...when you realised that you didn’t need to internalise that shame?
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Sangeeta Pillai
Yeah, absolutely. For me it was a much later experience I think, sort of even mid-thirties when I was single and I started dating – I’d come out of a long relationship. Starting to sort of meet people and have sex with them was this huge revolution for me and I was like, “Oh my God, this is good. An orgasm feels amazing. This is why people do it.” And, you know, it puts this glow on my skin and this little swing to my hips when I walk and that’s what good sex does. And it was like this big “aha” moment for me to think, “But why was there so much taboo attached to this when it’s actually so good for you?” So that framing of sex as something shameful to this realisation for me personally, that this can be amazing and liberating and fun and it just feels good and does good to us as women, was a huge, huge moment for me I think in my own journey. Which then led me to do the work that I do with other women and in unpacking this taboo and getting us to talk about this stuff. So yeah, it was a massive, massive change for me.
Brogan Driscoll
Here’s one woman who got in touch and she really spoke to the experience of, I guess, consuming porn as a South Asian woman.
Listener Voice
I think porn can be informative, but damaging at the same time. When I was growing up, you didn’t really talk about sex with your female friends. So the only way to find out more about it was through porn. So you’d find out about what you liked, what you didn’t and in a sense that was quite liberating. But when you grow up, you tend to be a little bit disillusioned and it can be quite damaging, especially for people of colour, because porn with people of colour is seen as a fetish rather than the norm. So you don’t really see normal, you know, it’s hard enough to see normal body types, but you don’t really see normal body types for people of colour and you just tend to be slightly disillusioned by that.
Brogan Driscoll
I wondered whether we could talk about some of the themes around how people of colour are portrayed within porn and how, you know, from that testimonial we heard how the lady feels quite kind of alienated in that space, so didn’t feel that, you know, porn was necessarily for her.
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Sangeeta Pillai
There’s a lot of stereotyping in porn. I think whether that’s white, Caucasian bodies...there is a lot of racial stereotyping, I think. Even the way porn is categorised, whether it’s, I don’t know, Eastern women or submission or, you know, South Asian, all of that. So I think the issue is that already as brown or black women, we’re already occupying really small spaces. And then when you get into porn, those boxes become smaller where, particularly if you’re South Asian, you’re meant to be the submissive, good wife material that we’re trained all our lives to be. And then in porn, you get into those smaller boxes and if you look at categories within porn - hubs or portals - they are Asian or they are black or they are certain kind of... And it is just...those are not the people we are. It doesn’t capture who we are and it is a particular kind of fetishisation, I think, which is not healthy.
Sangeeta Pillai
The other thing is I have yet to see a South Asian couple on porn, on any porn film that looks anything like my experience or anywhere that I recognise myself. So I think that’s a huge problem with porn. While porn in itself is fine and I, you know, I’m a believer and I think it is good for us, it shows us what we want to experiment with within a relationship or with ourselves, but there are lots of issues with it. This being one of them, I think this racial stereotyping of us and our experiences. So I absolutely hear what she’s saying.
Rachel Moss
And I think you touched on there, the visual representation of people as well, just in terms of the ‘porn body’. Whatever race you are, it seems like there’s sort of an acceptable body type in porn that everyone adheres to and that’s for men and for women. We’ve read loads of reports, a load of studies around body image for young girls and a rise in people thinking they need labiaplasty or, you know, designer vagina surgery and all these things. Is that something that you’ve come across as well? Do you think porn does play a part in that?
Sangeeta Pillai
Massively. If you think about it, the way we perceive a beautiful body now is essentially a porn body. We have hairless vulvas. That’s the normal.
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Rachel Moss
Yeah.
Sangeeta Pillai
I remember dating this much younger guy a couple of years ago. He’d never seen a vulva with hair – he was really shocked. And thinking about it, a lot of my younger friends, so I’m in my late forties, so my sexual experiences are different to people in their twenties or thirties and I’ve had conversations with young South Asian women where they’ve said, we’d never in a million years sleep with somebody with hair. To me, it’s really bizarre: that what is perfectly natural, pubic hair, is there for a reason; we were born that way; it’s what separates grown women from younger girls, right? It’s coming of age and it’s protective and it’s all of those things. But now pubic hair is a fetish. I mean, how messed up is that? And that comes from porn, I think, because we’ve normalised what is not normal. It’s just bizarre. That’s one of my pet peeves I think against porn. A lot of the reasons people do labiaplasty is because they want a porn vulva. But again, that’s not... I mean, who says that’s beautiful? Porn does.
Brogan Driscoll
It’s like a uniform...
Sangeeta Pillai
Yes.
Brogan Driscoll
... vulva and we know that, you know, vulvas are all different and that’s kind of weird but we’re only being shown one type.
Sangeeta Pillai
Shown one particular type and I think that’s the point. I think that’s the problematic point where we’re only being shown one type of able-bodied, large breasted, large penist if that’s even a word, body. And everything else (which is what? 99% of the human race) doesn’t fit to that because porn actors are actors, they’re performing, they look a certain way. They spend a lot of money and time to look like that’s their job. We don’t do that. We don’t look like that and I read again, a lot of reports which say that a lot of young people because now porn is accessible from our phones and we watch... It’s so easy to consume, right? But if you grow up with that being the dominant narrative of how sex looks like, how our bodies look like, how women look like, and then when we have real sex it doesn’t measure up. Of course, it’s not going to, that’s a film. This is real life.
Rachel Moss
Yeah. I think our...we were saying earlier, our introductions to porn were so shaky, but... So I’m in my late twenties, Brogan’s in her early thirties. So we’re just about within the generation who didn’t grow up with smartphones. I got it towards the end of my school career I think. Thank God for that. Because now as you say, kids have got it all the time and I don’t know whether the sex ed in schools has caught up. I’ve got a few friends who are teachers and I think some of them have spoken to students about porn, but some of them haven’t and you just think, what are kids growing up with now? If we’re confused about it, what must they be thinking about it?
Sangeeta Pillai
And I think it’s particularly damaging to young women because I saw this really interesting show, I think it was on channel four or something, about the effect that a lot of consumption of porn has on younger women. Younger women think that is normal, like a guy grabbing your hair and forcing you to go down on him is normal sexual behaviour. Violence becomes normalised and I think those are the issues. I think if we are to carry on watching porn, we must find a way to make it more equal and educate people in terms of what is okay and what is not I think. I think that’s a really important thing to think about.
Brogan Driscoll
I know that there are a lot of... there are some feminist porn sites like Erika Lust, her work comes up a lot in terms of ethical porn. But I mean a question for you Sangeeta, how do we know what is okay? Do you have any recommendations? Is there...Are there any sites or organisations that you speak to your network about?
Sangeeta Pillai
I think Erika Lust, as you mentioned, absolutely. I think it’s important to see where it comes from. So if we can afford ethical porn, we must try and do that where you know that the actors have been paid and the people that have created are actually being paid for the content, which I believe most of the, what they call the free tube channels don’t necessarily do. So absolutely. Someone else I know is called Anna Richards. So she’s got a network called FrolicMe, she’s got a company and again, her whole ethos is about feminist porn, about storylines that depict female sexualities, female pleasure.
Sangeeta Pillai
And then there’s this whole other area, which I’m very interested in, which is audio porn, things like Dipsea and you know...there’s a few other people that are doing that and where there’s a whole emphasis on storylines, characters...And I think that is one of the ways maybe we could go around this kind of “what is ethical and what is not?” And also there are lots of porn actors who now have their own websites. I interviewed a South Asian porn star for my podcast on series two of Masala podcast called Sahara Knite and she, you know, has her own channel: so there you know it’s going to the performers themselves. So that might be another way around it as well. So I think looking at who’s providing ethical porn, looking at who’s aligned with our value systems as well: so if we’re feminists and if we’re thinking that it’s really important to show different types of bodies, that female pleasure is at the center of this for us, then going to people like Erika Lust and Anna Richards and Dipsea and places like that, where we know that that’s happening.
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Rachel Moss
I love that you brought up audio porn actually because we had a feature on HuffPost about it and it just turns out something that I hadn’t really thought about before, but makes total sense, is that audio porn is making porn more accessible to a much bigger audience. So for example, there was one guy who was interviewed as a case study in this piece and he’s blind and he was talking about how, you know, disabled people are often desexualised, but having audio porn means that he can engage and he can enjoy it and that’s such a positive thing. And then there was also a girl who’d moved back in with her parents who said, “Like hell am I going to watch visual porn in my parents’ house?” Because can you imagine them walking in? But listening to a bit of, you know, horny audio in your headphones is pretty harmless. And so I’m all for that it’s been on my to-do list actually. I need to check it out. Sorry, mum if you’re listening.
Sangeeta Pillai
I loved it. Yeah. Absolutely loved it. When you mentioned that, I have a funny story. A friend of mine was at home during lockdown and she’s got kids. So she said, “Oh, I’m going to go into my bedroom. Turn on my laptop, have a little me-time.” Turns on the video. She’s watching it and there’s no sound. So she’s thinking “What’s going on?” so she carries on watching it. Then there’s a knock on the door and her son comes up and says, “Mum, there’s a funny sound on the Bluetooth.”
Rachel Moss
Oh, no.
Brogan Driscoll
Oh my God.
Sangeeta Pillai
I asked if I could mention it on the podcast. She said, “Yes, don’t give my name.” I won’t give your name.
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Brogan Driscoll
That’s made me feel really-
Rachel Moss
Brogan’s flushed and fanning. That’s made her feel so uncomfortable.
Sangeeta Pillai
I can see your skin’s got a little bit flush there Brogan.
Rachel Moss
I knew as soon as you were...the sound had gone out. I was like, “Oh my God, who’s using the headphones. Someone’s using the headphones at home.”
Sangeeta Pillai
I didn’t even think about it. I was like, “Yeah, maybe it just didn’t work.” And then: “Bluetooth! Mum!”
Brogan Driscoll
Oh my god. Well at least they were young enough to not really understand.
Sangeeta Pillai
Yeh, I don’t think they quite understood what was happening. They just said, “There’s a funny sound coming out of the speaker.”
Brogan Driscoll
Well, that kind of brings us onto another topic we wanted to talk about today because obviously during lockdown people’s porn habits are going to have to change. If you’re someone who does consume it regularly and then you’re suddenly with parents or your partner, that’s a whole issue. And we were also talking about maybe, you know, even if you’ve been in a long term relationship, you might not necessarily realise what your partner gets up to when you’re not at home, but now you’re at home together all the time. Do you think couples are going to have to have that conversation at the moment?
Sangeeta Pallai
Definitely I think because there is no escape. You’re going to know everything that the other person gets up to. So I think this is a good opportunity to sort of talk about stuff you’re into. Obviously people are a little bit hesitant because they might be sharing things about themselves that maybe they don’t feel so comfortable sharing with their partners. But I think it’s a great opportunity to share different aspects of you so they can get to know what your sexual repertoire might include. Might make things really exciting. But there’s this other aspect I think where for some people, their porn is a private thing. It’s their kind of...their headspace where they go to, it’s their kind of fantasy. If that’s what it is for you, maybe talk to your partner and say, “Would you like to go for a walk for an hour? Have your social distance walk.” And I’m going to have my-
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Rachel Moss
I’m having some self-love in the-
Sangeeta Pillai
Yeah self-love while you do your social distancing.
Rachel Moss
An hour feels like quite a while. I mean...
Sangeeta Pillai
Well, it just depends. Doesn’t it? I can do an hour. You know?
Rachel Moss
So with each of our guests who come onto the podcast, we ask the same question. So as a way to end Sangeeta, what makes you uncomfortable?
Sangeeta Pillai
Ooh, that’s a very...that’s already made me uncomfortable.
Rachel Moss
Just Brogan’s voice.
Sangeeta Pillai
What made you uncomfortable? What makes me uncomfortable? Yes. Things that I’ve kind of battled all my life. People’s judgment where if you, you know as a South Asian woman, if I say I watch porn, that’s immediate judgment. And then I’ve got to kind of fight my battle within myself to say, “Yeah, they might think that, but that doesn’t make it abnormal for me to do this.” So those things make me uncomfortable because they’re deeply wired I think in my psyche, in my upbringing. So that’s my personal discomfort, if you will. There was one other thing I wanted to say about porn actually. What porn has done within kind of heterosexual relationships is made sex fit into a little box. It’s this penis-centric view of sex that we’ve all now, you know, internalised as that being sex. Man, woman, penis into vagina, boom, boom, boom. Man has an orgasm and that’s it and everybody goes home. You have a sandwich, whatever, you know. Finished. End off.
Sangeeta Pillai
But within a relationship, or even within somebody you might be having casual sex with, sex is this whole, you know, wonderful feast of all of these things you could do with each other. Penetration is one part of it and we seem to have lost the rest of it. It’s like going into this buffet, absolute feast of 50,000 things you could eat, but you get stuck on the chicken because that’s the only thing that everybody’s told you about. You know? So I think that’s something that porn’s done as well and I think it would be good to keep it in mind when you’re with your partner, your lover, you know, to say there’s all of this wonderful stuff out there.
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Rachel Moss
Sangeeta, thank you so much for joining us. That was such a fun chat and I learned a lot so wonderful, educational and fun.
Sangeeta Pillai
Thank you so much for having me. It was an absolute pleasure.
Brogan Driscoll
That’s it from Am I Making You Uncomfortable? This week. I’m Brogan Driscoll and you can find me at @Brogan_Driscoll.
Rachel Moss
I’m Rachel Moss and you can find me at @RachelMoss_
Brogan Driscoll
This podcast is produced by Chrystal Genesis and our sound engineer is Nag Kirinde.
Rachel Moss


thehuffingtonpostuk--2020-05-26--White Woman Calls Cops On Black Man Over Dog Leash Dispute In Viral Footage

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Oh, when Karens take a walk with their dogs off leash in the famous Bramble in NY’s Central Park, where it is clearly posted on signs that dogs MUST be leashed at all times, and someone like my brother (an avid birder) politely asks her to put her dog on the leash. pic.twitter.com/3YnzuATsDm — Melody Cooper (@melodyMcooper) May 25, 2020
A white woman called the police and accused a Black man of threatening her and her dog in New York City’s Central Park, as seen in now-viral footage posted to social media on Monday. The man said the confrontation began when he asked her to put her dog on a leash.
The footage was published on Facebook by the man, Christian Cooper, and on Twitter by his sister, Melody Cooper. The video was viewed on Twitter more than 10 million times by late Monday night and sparked widespread outrage.
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It begins with the dog walker, later identified as Amy Cooper, dragging her dog by the collar toward the man and demanding that he stop filming.
“Please don’t come close to me,” the man is heard repeatedly saying as she approaches.
She asks him to stop filming several times and then threatens to call the police. “I’m going to tell them there’s an African American man threatening my life,” she says.
“Please tell them whatever you like,” he responds.
Then, on her phone, the dog walker says: “I’m in the Ramble and there is a man ― African American, he has a bicycle helmet ― he is recording me and threatening me and my dog.”
A New York Police Department spokesperson said the NYPD was called to the Central Park Ramble for a report of an assault just after 8 am Monday. On arrival, they determined two people had engaged in a verbal dispute. There was no crime and no arrests, the spokesperson said.
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According to the Central Park website, dogs must be leashed at all times in the Ramble. The woman is also seen repeatedly dragging her struggling dog by its collar during the video and later attaches the leash.
Melody Cooper said her brother is an avid birder and had politely requested that the woman put her dog on a leash, in accordance with signs in the park. Christian Cooper said the dog was “tearing through the plantings in the Ramble” when he asked the woman to leash her pet. He also said he had pulled out dog treats which he carries for these situations.
The incident was met with a swift backlash on social media.
I'm a birder too, but also a dog owner. I've seen that woman, and her dog offleash in The Ramble many, many times. I always ask nicely to have owners put their dog on a leash&most ignore me. Sorry, this happened to him. Happy to bird with him anytime. — Gloria (@Lucent508) May 25, 2020
This is serious. Happened today in Manhattan. As a public defender for over a decade, I have tried cases where the Manhattan DA uses a "hysterical 911 call" as categorical evidence of guilt. Usually there's no video like this to refute it. (1/4) https://t.co/rvRE8QFT5N — Eliza Orlins (@elizaorlins) May 25, 2020
This woman needs to be arrested. Now. — Kurt Eichenwald (@kurteichenwald) May 25, 2020
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This is terrifying. She abused 911 and intentionally made herself sound like she was in distress. Anything could have happened to your brother. Thank God it didn’t. He should escalate this. She should at least be banned from the park. — Yes. It has two “k’s”. (@erikka2ks08) May 25, 2020
I’m glad to learn that your brother is safe. That this woman was willing to hurt her own dog in order to put him in jeopardy makes this even more pathological. Thank you for calling attention to the fact that calling the cops on black folks can constitute a threat on our lives. — Jamil Smith (@JamilSmith) May 25, 2020
Christian Cooper told NBC New York Monday night that he continued filming because he wasn’t going to be intimidated.
“We live in an age of Ahmaud Arbery where Black men are gunned down because of assumptions people make about Black men, Black people, and I’m just not going to participate in that,” he said.
Amy Cooper told NBC New York she overreacted but claimed that Christian was screaming and that she felt threatened because she didn’t know what was in the dog treats.
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“I sincerely and humbly apologise to everyone, especially to that man, his family,” she told the news station in a phone call. “It was unacceptable and I humbly and fully apologize to everyone who’s seen that video, everyone that’s been offended … everyone who thinks of me in a lower light and I understand why they do.”
Investment management company Franklin Templeton, which social media users identified as Amy Cooper’s employer, issued a statement late on Monday night that an employee had been put on administrative leave while an incident was being investigated.
In response to an incident involving an employee on May 25th, Franklin Templeton issued the following statement. pic.twitter.com/8f2lMwK0r5 — Franklin Templeton (@FTI_US) May 26, 2020
A New York dog rescue organisation, the Abandoned Angels Cocker Spaniel Rescue, Inc., said the dog in question had been voluntarily surrendered while the matter was being addressed.
Thank you to the concerned public for reaching out to us about a video involving a dog that was adopted from our rescue a few years ago. As of this evening, the owner has voluntarily surrendered the dog in question to our rescue while this matter is being addressed. 1/2 — Abandoned Angels (@NYCockerRescue) May 26, 2020
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thehuffingtonpostuk--2020-05-26--My Dad Died Alone Because We Played By The Rules. Why Is It Different For Dominic Cummings?

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I was dropping off shopping for my mum when the hospital called for her permission to withdraw my dad’s life support.
After both suffering flu-like symptoms for two weeks, his condition had quickly deteriorated – he was taken to hospital after suffering a heart attack and a bleed on his brain.
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Now, sat three metres apart in camping chairs outside their home, we waited for the call to tell us he had died. When it came, we cried three meters apart, we did not hug or comfort each other. My otherwise-healthy 60-year-old dad died, alone, in hospital on 14 April. We got no opportunity to say goodbye.
My mum continued to self-isolate for a further eleven days after his death. We could not give each other any physical comfort at one of the most painful times in our lives. Dad’s funeral was a short service for five people in a local funeral parlour. We were not allowed to go to the crematorium, my dad was taken alone by the undertaker. Friends and relatives all over the UK and France had to find their own ways to connect and pay respects to a man who was loved and will be missed by many. We hope that one day it will be safe enough to celebrate his life in the way he deserves.
“We all accepted that we had to maintain the lockdown and social distancing measures to limit the spread of the virus. We acted for the greater good.”
While I’m devastated at the loss of my father, and deeply saddened by the circumstances surrounding his death, we all accepted that we had to maintain the lockdown and social distancing measures to limit the spread of the virus. We acted for the greater good, and I do not resent any of it.
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My dad was a fit, healthy and active man who played golf regularly and enjoyed his life to the fullest. He was my five-year-old son’s best friend, and hero – and I find it incredibly hard to witness his heartbreak and help him make sense of losing his favourite person in the world. Perhaps naively, we assumed my dad would be around until my son was a young adult, and one of the reasons for sharing my story here is to show the risks of Covid-19 to everyone – not only those over seventy or with underlying health conditions.
But there is a second reason. This past weekend’s news that Downing Street adviser Dominic Cummings knowingly breached the rules of lockdown – and worse, the government’s defence of his actions – has triggered immeasurable anger inside me.
Courtesy of the author Courtesy of the author
Cummings has behaved with complete disrespect for our loss and sacrifice, and completely undermined the public health message to stay at home during this pandemic. The Prime Minister, and the government ministers defending him, are undermining the efforts of millions of people who, like me, have spent months in lockdown making their own sacrifices. How will the government now have any authority to ask people to continue with social distancing and lockdown measures, having openly supported Dominic Cummings’ brazen disregard for them? I fear these events will result in many people taking risks without really understanding that we do not know enough about the virus to say with any certainty who is vulnerable until it’s too late. That scares me: I would not want anyone to experience what my family has been through.
None of this is to mention that my husband and I too suffered with coronavirus. We continued to look after our five- and eight-year-old children throughout, drawing on help and support from our local community – including our children’s school. Friends and neighbours shopped and cooked for us, leaving everything on the doorstep in line with government instructions. Teachers called my children and made a doorstep visit to deliver a bereavement hamper to help them process their grief. At no point did we ask anyone to look after our children or do anything that broke the lockdown.
The Prime Minister’s suggestion that Cummings did what any caring father would do only adds insult to injury. My family and I followed the rules to the letter, even in the most horrific circumstances. We did what was needed to safeguard the wider community believing it was the right thing to do.
What does this government line say about us and all the other parents across the country who struggled on through illness and bereavement whilst trying to juggle work commitments, home schooling and all the financial, mental and emotional challenges that came with it? Last week we were being celebrated as law-abiding citizens, but Downing Street’s message this weekend tells us that, by following the rules, we are inadequate parents.
Kathryn de Prudhoe is a counsellor and psychotherapist
Have a compelling personal story you want to tell? Find out what we’re looking for here, and pitch us on ukpersonal@huffpost.com


thehuffingtonpostuk--2020-05-26--Pearl And Petra: 12 Unique Baby Name Ideas For Twins

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It can be hard enough to think of one baby name, let alone two. And when you’re having twins, there are lots of factors to consider: how the two names sound together, whether they should start with the same letter, and which name is likely to naturally roll off the tongue first.
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We have lots of baby name inspiration on HuffPost UK Parents, but here are 12 combinations you might not have thought about for your awesome twosome.
Peace and Joy
Peace means tranquility, and joy will bring a smile to everyone’s face.
Sunshine and Rainbow
Why not go full new age and bring happiness to all you tell?
Pearl and Petra
Alliteration can be everything – and these two are perfectly mysterious. Petra comes from the Greek and means ‘rock’ or ‘stone’.
London and Paris
Place names can be quirky, unusual and memorable – just look at Brooklyn Beckham.
Faith and Hope
You could try giving your little ones names of virtues you would love them to have – such as complete trust and confidence, and the ability to believe.
Rose and Violet
Flower names are always popular, and will never go out of fashion.
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Joshua and Jeremiah
Joshua is a Hebrew name – and Jeremiah, too.
Matthew and Mark
You can’t get much more classic – each of the Gospels in the New Testament is named after Matthew, Mark, Luke and John.
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Isaac and Eli
Another Biblical pairing. Eli can be short for Elijah, a Hebrew prophet, if you prefer the long version. And Isaac means “he will laugh”.
Cooper and Clark
Modern and full of alliteration, they’ll roll off the tongue perfectly. Cooper is an old English name for a maker and repairer, while Clark means scribe or scholar.
Henry and George
There’s a reason traditionally British names like this never fall out of favour. Henry means “old ruler”, while George is Greek and means farmer.
Milo and Stanley


thehuffingtonpostuk--2020-05-26--‘I Felt Relief’: What It’s Like To Have An Abortion At Home In Lockdown

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Kate* began to suspect she might be pregnant a week before Boris Johnson’s lockdown order. At the time, she was also showing symptoms of Covid-19, so was self-isolating at home for 14 days.
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She didn’t want to tell friends or family of her suspicions, so had an agonising wait until she could buy a pregnancy test herself. When she finally did – and her suspicions were confirmed – she knew she wanted an abortion.
The 40-year-old mum-of-three, from Melton Mowbray, had been in a casual relationship before lockdown that had since ended. She asked the man how she could’ve become pregnant when they’d been careful with condoms – he admitted to tampering with the contraception, in a bid to force her into a more serious relationship.
“I was furious, beyond furious. I felt violated,” she says. “I phoned my GP in a panic and he gave me the number for the British Pregnancy Advisory Service (BPAS). They were lovely and very understanding.”
Kate was anxious about accessing an abortion during lockdown, but BPAS told her about the “pills by post” system, which was introduced to help women like her during the pandemic.
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The service enables women to receive two pills in the post – mifepristone and misoprostol – that induce a medical abortion, without the need to visit a clinic. Before lockdown, women in England, Scotland and Wales had to travel to a clinic to take the first pill, then take the second pill at home.
When using the “pills by post” system, women must first have a telephone consultation with a clinician, which covers the same questions usually asked at the clinic regarding their medical history, consent and the treatment itself.
Having the option to take both pills at home has helped many women like Kate, says BPAS, and the charity would like it to remain a choice post-lockdown.
“We know that even outside the pandemic, women struggle to access care in clinics due to childcare responsibilities and transport issues, for example,” says Katherine O’Brien, a spokesperson at BPAS. “Women in coercive or abusive relationships are at particular risk of being unable to attend clinic appointments without their abuser discovering their pregnancy.”
Some women have no choice but to turn to illegal methods, such as buying abortion medication online, risking up to life imprisonment under the current law, adds O’Brien. “To protect this group of extremely vulnerable women, the pills by post service must continue to be provided.”
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So, will lockdown change abortion provision in the UK forever? The decision lies almost entirely with one man: Matt Hancock.
Grace Cary via Getty Images
Under the 1967 Abortion Act, the Secretary of State for Health has the power to grant approval for where abortions can be carried out. The current approval for the pills by post service will last until the day the temporary provisions of the Coronavirus Act 2020 expire – or two years after the permission was granted.
“Just as the Health Secretary was able to grant permission for the new measures, they will be able to extend this permission beyond these dates,” O’Brien explains. “There’s no need for new legislation or parliamentary debate, it is entirely at the discretion of the Health Secretary.
“Women tell us they want to see pills by post to continue. It would make absolutely no sense for the Health Secretary to shut down the service.”
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Kate, a key worker and a single mother, says it would’ve been “almost impossible” to access an abortion during lockdown without this system. “Due to Covid-19 there was a delay with the post,” she says. “I phoned the clinic a few times wracked with anxiety but every time, they put me at ease.”
When the pills eventually arrived, her eldest son, who is 16, received them for her as she was at work. The pills arrive in unmarked packaging to afford women confidentiality. “I told him they were my Lansoprozole [stomach acid] tablets from my GP,” she says. “I hated lying, but like I said, I haven’t told anyone.”
Kate says the instructions were very clear. “I took the first pill on a Thursday, and the next dose 48 hrs later on a Saturday,” she says. “It all went very smoothly.”
Kilito Chan via Getty Images
Critics of the pills by post system – largely anti-abortion groups – have raised concerns that women’s care will suffer without in-person appointments. Some claim the system has safeguarding issues, particularly regarding coerced abortions, at a time when domestic abuse is believed to have increased.
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But BPAS says the service is “safe and effective” due to the extensive phone consultation required. If the clinician has any concerns about a woman’s safety or wellbeing, they will arrange for a safeguarding assessment, conducted in a clinic or over video call.
Anti-abortion groups also claim remote services increase the risk of ectopic pregnancies going undetected. However, as part of the telephone consultation, explains O’Brien, there’s a discussion about the signs and symptoms of this. “If an ectopic pregnancy is suspected, the client will need to attend a clinic for a scan,” she says. “The provision of early medical abortion without routine ultrasound scanning is recommended by NICE in their guidance issued in 2019, and our service is fully in line with the recommendation.”
Other expert bodies, including the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists, also recommended telemedical abortion services before the current pandemic, BPAS adds.
“Women tell us they want to see pills by post to continue.” - Katherine O’Brien, a spokesperson at BPAS
Since the introduction of pills by post, waiting times have reduced significantly, says O’Brien, adding that the charity has received “overwhelmingly positive” feedback from women.
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“Women tell us it gave them both privacy and dignity to take the medication in their own homes, enabling them to avoid long journeys to clinics – often on public transport,” she says. “It also meant their partner could be with them every step of the way if they wanted. Women can access our aftercare service at any time, and know we’re here for them if they have any concerns.”
For Kate, being able to access pills from home will have a significant impact on the rest of her life.
“Yes, I was in pain and uncomfortable, but the moment it was over I felt enormous relief,” she says. “I felt myself again. The sickness and exhaustion left. The anxiety left. I felt I have my life back.”


thehuffingtonpostuk--2020-05-26--40 Funny Tweets That Sum Up The Various Stages Of Quarantine

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thehuffingtonpostuk--2020-05-26--New Mum Diagnosed With Breast Cancer During Lockdown Urges Others To Get Symptoms Checked

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When Ruth Cottle and her husband discovered they were expecting their first baby, they were thrilled and knew 2020 would be a very different year for them. They never anticipated how fraught and challenging it would turn out to be.
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Weeks after the birth of her baby daughter, Ruth was diagnosed with breast cancer – in the middle of the coronavirus lockdown.
The 32-year-old management consultant told HuffPost UK she went to her GP a week or so before lockdown was imposed to get a lump on her breast checked out – but acknowledged that if lockdown had already been in place, she would have delayed seeking medical advice.
She is now urging others with symptoms or fears about cancer to get checked out. Her message comes as experts voice their fears that people are ignoring symptoms because they are reluctant to seek medical help during the coronavirus crisis.
Ruth Cottle spotted a lump in her breast but thought it was down to her body changing with pregnancy. Ruth Cottle
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Latest figures reveal that the number of people seen by a specialist for suspected cancer following an urgent GP referral was down by 60% during April – with urgent breast cancer referrals seeing a huge drop of 78%.
The NHS England data records the number of people seen by a specialist within two weeks of being referred by their GP.
There were 79,573 referrals in April 2020, compared with 199,217 in April 2019.
Urgent breast cancer referrals dropped from 16,753 to 3,759 for the same period.
Experts fear fewer people are coming forward with cancer symptoms because they are worried about catching coronavirus or putting pressure on the NHS.
There are also concerns that hundreds more cancers may be going undetected at the earliest stage every week as vital screenings have been put on hold.
Ruth told HuffPost UK that she was full of excitement at the prospect of having her first baby and had a smooth pregnancy.
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However, towards the end of her pregnancy, she noticed a lump in her left breast. “I had a bit of a google and from what I read, I found it was normal for your boobs to change during pregnancy as the milk production develops,” she said.
“Being 32, I didn’t think it was anything sinister. There is no history of any cancer in my family, let alone breast cancer.”
Ruth, who is married to Mark, gave birth to Madison on February 10 and remembers hearing “murmurings” about coronavirus in China around that time.
Ruth Cottle with her baby daughter Madison. Ruth Cottle
But she noticed she was struggling to feed on the left side, while feeding from the right breast was fine.
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In hindsight she knows she was seeing typical symptoms of breast cancer, which also included a difference in her nipple – but being a new mum, struggling with breastfeeding didn’t ring any alarm bells.
She realised the lump on her breast was still there and was getting quite big. “It was about the size of a table tennis ball,” she said. “I started thinking I should go and get it checked out by a doctor,” she said. “But being a busy new mum, thinking it and doing it were very different things.”
Ruth eventually went to see her GP about a week before lockdown and although her doctor did not seem too concerned, she referred Ruth to the breast clinic as a precaution. A week into lockdown she underwent an ultrasound and biopsy.
“I was still not particularly worried about it being cancer,” said Ruth. “I was more worried about going to hospital during lockdown than I was about cancer.
“Neither me or my husband told our families I had found a lump or that I was going to hospital as we did not want to worry them unnecessarily during an already stressful period.
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“Madison is the first grandchild on both sides of the family and they were already upset at not being able to see her for however long lockdown lasted.”
Ruth Cottle with her husband Mark and baby daughter Madison. Ruth Cottle
Ruth had an appointment to see a consultant on April 1 and to her shock and disbelief, he told her they had found cancer in her breast and lymph nodes.
“It was a huge shock and I wasn’t expecting that diagnosis at all. I thought: ‘It can’t be cancer, I’m only 32’” - Ruth Cottle
“It was a huge shock,” she said. “I thought: ‘It can’t be cancer, I’m only 32’.
“I was at the appointment on my own as my husband had taken my daughter for a walk around while I went into the hospital.
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“My thoughts immediately turned to Madison and I thought: ‘How could I leave my then seven-week-old daughter without a mum?’
“Your mind goes to the darkest places and I started worrying I wouldn’t be around when Madison turned one or that if my time was limited, we wouldn’t be able to do all the things I might want to do because of the coronavirus lockdown.”
Ruth Cottle with her baby daughter Madison. Ruth Cottle
Telling family and friends about her diagnosis also proved difficult for Ruth as the lockdown meant she couldn’t tell them face-to-face and they in turn wanted to help and support her in person, but felt helpless.
“I kept apologising as I felt I was adding to everyone’s worries at a time when they were already upset,” she said.
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Ruth was informed she needed more scans and tests and spent the next month undergoing investigations.
Initial results showed the cancer had not spread which was a huge relief, and Ruth is now recovering after a lumpectomy ahead of chemotherapy.
She had to have a Covid-19 test 48 hours before going in for her surgery which made her feel reassured, and she says her dealings with hospitals and “amazing” health workers have put her at ease about the coronavirus risks.
“My worry has now shifted,” she explained. “For my first couple of treatments, I was more worried about coronavirus than any potential cancer diagnosis. I thought the chances of me having cancer were really slim.”
“Madison is the most wonderful distraction from the cancer. I still had to get up and feed her and look after her and she needs so much of your attention, it has helped keep my mind off cancer.” - Ruth Cottle
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Ruth is urging other people not to delay getting any unusual symptoms checked out, even if it’s just to put their mind at rest.
She added: “I know people will feel uneasy about going to seek medical help, but GPs are still open and they can do phone consultations.
“Going into hospital has been reassuring as they have all the safety measures in place and the staff are all masked up and there’s been hardly anyone else in the waiting rooms.”
Ruth describes baby daughter Madison as 'the most wonderful distraction' from cancer. Ruth Cottle
Ruth Cottle with her baby daughter Madison. Ruth Cottle
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Madison, who is now 14-weeks-old, has been the “most wonderful distraction” from Ruth’s cancer ordeal. She said: “I still had to get up and feed her and look after her and she needs so much of your attention, it helped keep my mind off cancer.
“Madison is lovely and is such a happy, smiling and contented baby.
“I certainly never expected to have a newborn to care for during a pandemic and then get diagnosed with breast cancer on top of that.
“But hopefully, we will be able to look back and think: ‘That was a shit year, but we got through it.’”
Lynda Thomas, CEO at charity Macmillan Cancer Support, which has launched an emergency fundraising appeal during the coronavirus crisis, told HuffPost UK that the decrease in cancer referrals is deeply troubling.
She said the target for 93% of people to be seen by a specialist within two weeks of urgent referral was breached in March for the 13th month in a row.
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“There is a real danger that there are patients sitting on cancer symptoms and the fear is that there will be a growth in people dying of cancer and a tremendous backlog when it comes to appointments.” - Lynda Thomas, Macmillan Cancer Support
“The unintended consequence of having such a strong public message telling people to stay at home is that there are a lot less people going to their doctor or turning up at A&E,” she said.
Lynda Thomas, CEO at cancer charity Macmillan Cancer Support. Macmillan Cancer Support
“But for certain types of people, including cancer patients, you cannot afford to wait and some cancers, particularly aggressive ones, need to be treated urgently as time is of the essence.
“There is a real danger that there are patients sitting on cancer symptoms and the fear is that there will be a growth in people dying of cancer and a tremendous backlog when it comes to appointments.
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“We don’t want cancer to become the ‘forgotten C’ during the coronavirus pandemic.”
Emma Wright, 41, was diagnosed with Stage 2 breast cancer at the end of February, within six days of going to the doctor.
Emma Wright. Emma Wright
She had to go for her first treatment and hormone therapy injections on her own without her husband’s support.
“It was really tough because it’s at these times that you really need somebody with you,” she said.
“Even the simple things like being in a waiting room and having to sit at a distance from people and meeting your oncologist who is wearing full protective gear, it just adds another level of stress and emotion to what is already a very stressful situation.”
Emma is having to deal with having cancer surgery, going through the menopause due to her treatment, home schooling her child, worrying about the financial implications of her self employed husband being off work – and she knows many others living with cancer are going through the same difficult time.
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“After this is over, we do not need a nation with a ticking time bomb of people who have missed the boat and have not got diagnosed early enough.” - Emma Wright
She said: “The most worrying thing I have heard is that people are getting scared to go to the doctors about possible early diagnosis of a lump or a bump they have found.
“That scares me because after this is over, we do not need a nation with a ticking time bomb of people who have missed the boat and have not got diagnosed early enough.”
NHS screening programmes for breast, cervical and bowel cancers can detect the diseases before patients experience any symptoms.
However, experts are concerned as screening has formally been suspended in Scotland, Northern Ireland and Wales. In England, although there has not been a national suspension, specialists say it has effectively been paused.
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For some cancers, early diagnosis detected through screening can have a major impact on survival rates.
Around 200,000 people a week are no longer being screened for bowel, breast and cervical cancer across the UK. Cancer Research UK estimates almost 400 people a week are not being diagnosed through screening.
When bowel cancer is diagnosed at its earliest stage, 92% of people will survive the disease for five years or more compared with 10% when the disease is diagnosed at the latest stage.
“The last thing the NHS wants is large numbers of patients presenting with advanced bowel cancer in the months ahead as they will have much worse outcomes.” - Genevieve Edwards, Bowel Cancer UK
Bowel cancer is the fourth most common cancer, but the second biggest cancer killer. Genevieve Edwards, chief executive of Bowel Cancer UK, told HuffPost UK she was “extremely worried” about the huge drop in people going to their GP.
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Genevieve Edwards, chief executive of Bowel Cancer UK. Bowel Cancer UK
“We think as many as three out of four patients with bowel cancer symptoms are not going to the doctors, she said. “The last thing the NHS wants is large numbers of patients presenting with advanced bowel cancer in the months ahead as they will have much worse outcomes.”
Edwards is also worried about delays inscreening as she says not only can it detect cancer before symptoms arise, it can be preventative as well.
Sara Hiom, Cancer Research UK’s director of early diagnosis, told HuffPost UK that for the vast majority of cancers, early diagnosis means a greater chance of successful treatment.
““When cancers have spread all around the body, it is much more difficult to cure them long term. Treatment will extend life but there will be less chance of an overall cure beyond 10 years.” - Sara Hiom, Cancer Reseach UK
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Sara Hiom, Cancer Research UK’s director of early diagnosis Cancer Research UK
“When cancers have spread all around the body, it is much more difficult to cure them long term,” she said. “For the most part, at this stage, treatment will extend life but there will be less chance of an overall cure beyond 10 years.”
Hiom says pushing the importance of early cancer diagnosis is at the heart of what she has been working on for the last 15 years. She says GPs are keen to allay people’s fears and encourage them to come forward and that there are cancer hubs with Covid-free environments where people can go for diagnostic tests and treatment.
Professor Peter Johnson, the NHS clinical director for cancer, is urging people not to hesitate to get checked if they have symptoms.
“From online consultations to the roll-out of cancer treatment hubs, we are doing all we can to make sure patients receive the life-saving care that they need.” he said. “We know that finding cancer early gives us the best chance to cure it and ignoring potential problems can have serious consequences now or in the future.”


thehuffingtonpostuk--2020-05-26--How The British People May End Up Saving Dominic Cummings From Himself

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Thy King Dom come, thy will be done?
With Dominic Cummings, there’s always a blog. In one of his stream-of-consciousness posts in 2014, the man himself set out his approach to problem solving: “My own heuristics for working in politics are: focus, ‘know yourself’ (don’t fool yourself), think operationally, work extremely hard, don’t stick to the rules, and ask yourself ‘to be or to do?’.”
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It doesn’t take a genius to spot the current irony of that penultimate bit of self-help advice: “Don’t stick to the rules”. Since his triumphs in the 2016 EU referendum and the 2019 general election, not doing what others want or expect has served Cummings as well as it has served Boris Johnson. Both have made careers out of defying political convention and political gravity.
But in the middle of a pandemic, getting people to accept that ‘them’s the rules’ is of course pretty crucial for public health. Add the old adage that ‘rule makers can’t be rule breakers’ and you can see why the PM’s chief adviser is in deep trouble with the public and with some of the Tory party.
It’s no surprise that clerics have been critical of Cummings. As the Bishop of Manchester put it: “Religions have had thousands of years of saying actually human instinct on its own is not good enough. We need rules.” And sure enough it was a vicar from Brighton who became the first member of the public to raise his conduct in the No.10 press conference on Tuesday.
Looking like a saintly Santa Claus, the bearded Rev Martin Poole underlined why the Cummings Clause (interpret the rules as for your own ends and put your family ‘instinct’ first) is still rumbling on as an issue. Matt Hancock was so taken by his eminently reasonable suggestion (to rescind all fines given to parents breaking lockdown if they did what Cummings did) that he actually said “we will look at it” (though aides swiftly grabbed the legs of the hare he had set running on that).
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But a clutch of Tory MPs are not as willing to forgive the man who trespassed against them (or rather against the lockdown rules). The eclectic nature of those Conservatives who have called for Cummings to quit reflects his spectacular capacity to offend Brexiteers, Remainers and anyone whom he felt too, well, conservative to match his radical ideas.
Rightwinger Philip Davies says he should “do the honourable thing”. Scots Tory leader Jackson Carlaw said he was now a “huge distraction”. Former attorney general Jeremy Wright said, in fitting legalese, that Cummings’ actions “make it less likely that others will continue to interpret those exceptional circumstances clauses restrictively”.
Jeremy Hunt said there had been “a clear breach of the lockdown rules” on three separate occasions: in “coming back into work when he had been with his wife who was ill, driving to Durham instead of staying at home and visiting Barnard Castle”. We explore just why Johnson can’t bear to part with his adviser, but as one insider put it to us, when a crisis like his happens “Whatever the anti-zeitgeist is, you become that.”
Hunt refrained from calling for Cummings’ scalp, but at least he sounded more credible than Michael Gove’s mental gymnastics in defence of his old friend. Gove suggested he too had once tried to test his eyesight by driving, and then further claimed Cummings had been allowed to take exercise at Barnard Castle (even though police advised only a few days later against driving long distances for exercise).
Dominic Cummings arriving back to his north London home, the day after he a gave press conference over allegations he breached coronavirus lockdown restrictions. PA
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Several of the Tory MPs brave enough to go public today hold marginal seats. They know that their opponents will be logging every word they say and using it in evidence later. Winning the next election isn’t Cummings’ main concern, but winning the war against Covid-19 ought to be. And that’s where his own actions obviously risk most damage.
It’s worth reviewing again just how Cummings justified his actions. He repeatedly said he and his wife were the ones interpreting the rules others had followed without question. “We decided...we had a discussion..We just thought let’s whiz down the road and see how I feel”. His most notable line was of course that “the guidance doesn’t say you’ve just got to sit there.”
But Grant Shapps too (who has largely had a good war) was so keen to defend Cummings that he too endorsed the approach of treating the lockdown list as more of an a la carte than a set menu. “We’ve never told people where they have to specifically locate themselves,” he said this weekend. It will be “different for different people under whatever circumstances their particular family circumstances happen to dictate”
There may be some government cynicism at play here, in that this whole row has less bite because we are no longer at the height of the toughest restrictions. Gove said today that “most people understand that as we move out of lockdown, exercising a degree of common sense and consideration as we adjust to a greater degree of relaxation, is just sensible.” As soon as more shops are open next week, and BBQs and garden parties are allowed, the hope may be that the public starts looking forward, not back.
But the other big thing next week (expect more at the Liaison Committee on Wednesday) will be the PM’s promised ‘world beating’ test-and-trace system with 200,000 tests a day. When put to Matt Hancock that Cummings’ conduct made it less likely anyone would willingly self-isolate for 14 days when ordered to by tracers, the health secretary replied: “It’s your civic duty to self isolate: for yourself, your community and your family.” The words ‘civic duty’ rang particularly hollow in the light of Cummings’ own conduct.
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The most worrying YouGov poll today was not about party share, it was whether the public care.Some 70% (and 59% of Tory voters) say the row “will make it harder for the government to communicate future lockdown messages to the public”. Yet despite that, I suspect the public won’t cut off their nose to spite Cummings’ face.
Today the ONS revealed that there the total UK excess deaths linked directly or indirectly to the pandemic now stands at 59,228. Nearly 60,000 deaths and climbing (with new worries about deaths at home, not just care homes). And as we keep being told by Chris Whitty, the peak is an ‘artificial peak’. That 60,000 number would be much, much higher if the public had not shown the incredible ‘civic duty’ it has to date. Most people do the right thing, and they know what they’ve done has been worth it.
It’s for this reason that many millions will probably comply with the rules again, and Cummings will be able to continue in office, on the back of their continued self-sacrifice for the greater good. But the very fact that the PM probably can keep Cummings perhaps ought to prick his conscience that he shouldn’t - and that maybe he ought to sacrifice his closest aide, for the greater good.
Of course, axeing Cummings would in a way be the easy bit. The public are looking forward to leaving lockdown, but they are also capable of looking back at the same time. And if the UK does end up with one of the worst death rates in the world, the responsibility will lie utlimately with Johnson, not his ragged trousered Rasputin.
Quote Of The Day
“I cannot in good faith tell them they were all wrong and one senior adviser to the government was right.”
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Douglas Ross quits as a minister, citing his constituents’ own sacrifices in the pandemic
Tuesday Cheat Sheet
Matt Hancock revealed that NHS patients will be recruited for a new trial of the antiviral drug remdesivir, saying it was “the biggest step forward in the treatment of coronavirus” since the start of the pandemic started.
Hancock also announced he had signed contracts to manufacture 2 billion items of personal protective equipment PPE.
Westminster’s Opposition parties, apart from Labour, sent a letter to the PM urging him to sack Dominic Cummings.
Labour’s ruling NEC picked David Evans as the party’s new general secretary. Keir Starmer said he would help ‘restore trust with the British people’.
What I’m Reading
The Families Who Stayed Away In Lockdown - BBC
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thehuffingtonpostuk--2020-05-26--White Woman Fired From Job After Calling Police On Black Man In Central Park

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Amy Cooper, the white woman who called the police on a Black man in Central Park over the weekend as seen in a now-viral video, was fired on Tuesday.
Cooper’s employer, Franklin Templeton, announced on Twitter that it made the decision to terminate her after conducting an internal review of the incident in the park, adding: “We do not tolerate racism of any kind.”
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The asset management firm had placed Cooper on administrative leave late Monday during its investigation.
Following our internal review of the incident in Central Park yesterday, we have made the decision to terminate the employee involved, effective immediately. We do not tolerate racism of any kind at Franklin Templeton. — Franklin Templeton (@FTI_US) May 26, 2020
Earlier on Monday, Christian Cooper (no relation to Amy) posted a video on Facebook of Amy Cooper calling the police on him after he reportedly asked her to place her dog on its leash. They were in an area called the Ramble, where off-leash dogs are not permitted.
In the video, Amy Cooper threatens to call the cops, saying: “I’m going to tell them there’s an African American man threatening my life.” She then places the call, repeatedly identifying Christian Cooper, who is Black, as an “African American man” and saying he was recording and “threatening” her.
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Cooper, who is a board member of the conservation group the Audubon Society and was birding in the park at the time, said in his Facebook post that Amy Cooper’s “inner Karen fully emerged and took a dark turn.”
As HuffPost’s Zeba Blay wrote, when Amy Cooper called the police, she “knew exactly what she was doing” by wielding the power of law enforcement, which has a long racist history in the United States of unjust killings of Black people.
Oh, when Karens take a walk with their dogs off leash in the famous Bramble in NY’s Central Park, where it is clearly posted on signs that dogs MUST be leashed at all times, and someone like my brother (an avid birder) politely asks her to put her dog on the leash. pic.twitter.com/3YnzuATsDm — Melody Cooper (@melodyMcooper) May 25, 2020
Amy Cooper apologised on Monday, telling NBC News that her behaviour was “unacceptable.”
In turn, Christian Cooper told CNN on Tuesday that if her apology was “genuine” and “if she plans on keeping her dog on a leash in the Ramble going forward, then we have no issues with each other”.
The Audubon Society said in a statement on Tuesday that the outdoors “should be safe and welcoming for all people.”
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thehuffingtonpostuk--2020-05-26--A Minute Of Kindness: Filmmakers Create Memorial Videos For Those Lost To Coronavirus

A Minute Of Kindness: Filmmakers Create Memorial Videos For Those Lost To Coronavirus
These creatives have banded together to make memorial videos for people who have passed during the pandemic. The free service helps families to grieve their loved ones, whilst regular funerals and services are temporarily unavailable on lockdown.


thehuffingtonpostuk--2020-05-26--Why Boris Johnson Cannot Bear To Let Dominic Cummings Go

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Boris Johnson’s defence of the seemingly indefensible – his refusal to sack Dominic Cummings – has left many people asking one question.
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Why is a newly elected prime minister with an 80-seat majority, who is beginning to turn the tide on coronavirus, burning through so much political capital to save one senior adviser?
Cummings has helped deliver victory after improbable victory for Johnson – from winning the EU referendum with Vote Leave to surviving half a year of chaotic minority government before delivering a thumping election win and getting Brexit “done”.
But now the PM is facing open revolt from MPs, with one even suggesting he should leave No.10 himself if he needs a “svengali” to “tell him what to say”.
And insiders question whether Cummings, seen as one of those political figures who “gets” voters’ concerns, has in fact now “lost it” amid an extraordinary political backlash and tanking poll ratings.
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Either way, Johnson is sticking by Cummings for now, perhaps in a belief that their fates are intertwined.
Here’s why that might be.
‘He’s a winner’
Cummings had been a relatively minor figure until the Brexit referendum of 2016, when he took charge of Vote Leave and won an underdog victory for the ages after coining the “take back control” slogan.
Of course, many derided his campaign for spreading disinformation about the cost of EU membership and the threat of mass Turkish immigration.
Cummings also had a trump card in Johnson, the flawed politician but ace campaigner who made an agonising choice to back Brexit having written both pro-Leave and pro-Remain articles before deciding.
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The faces of Johnson and ally Michael Gove the morning after the result told a story – they had not expected to win.
“Boris had a lot of trust in Cummings from that,” says a former colleague. “He saw someone who is steely, determined [and] focused, and he stayed in touch on and off after that point.”
Michael Gove (left) and Boris Johnson holding a press conference at Vote Leave HQ in Westminster, London, after David Cameron announced he would quit as prime minister following a humiliating defeat in the EU referendum. PA
The “Dom” legend was born as he spent the next three years fighting allegations of wrongdoing in the referendum campaign, deriding the “thick as mince” government for failing to deliver Brexit, and being immortalised by Benedict Cumberbatch in a Channel 4 film.
Johnson meanwhile enjoyed a chequered stint as foreign secretary before quitting the government in protest at Theresa May’s Brexit deal.
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On the backbenches, it looked like he would struggle to realise his lifelong ambition to be prime minister.
But when May was finally ousted with the Tories in civil war, Johnson was perfectly placed to take over: the party feared an imminent election and needed to win.
There was little surprise when Johnson decided to get the Vote Leave campaign back together in Downing Street to fight a new insurgency against the EU (which was refusing to renegotiate the Brexit deal) and parliament (where May had lost the Tories’ majority).
From then on, the Johnson and Cummings team swept all aside and did not care who got in their way – from the Remainer Tory MPs they purged and the judges who overturned their decision to prorogue parliament, to their confidence and supply partners the DUP, who they sold out on Northern Ireland to get a Brexit deal over the line.
The end result was December’s election victory and Britain leaving the EU on January 31.
“Forget everything that’s happening now, as hard as that is, and rewind,” the former colleague says.
“Put yourself in Boris’s position.
“You’re on the backbenches towards the end of Theresa May. It doesn’t look like it’s going anywhere. You’re not necessarily favourite for next leader even if there was a leadership election, which doesn’t look like it’s going to happen, and the Tories look in all kinds of trouble.
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“You’ve got the best opposition leader you can hope for in Corbyn and the Tories still aren’t doing that well in the polls.
“You’re Boris in that position and this guy [Cummings] says to you: ’I can help you be prime minister. Not only that – if we get in, we can get Brexit done or get us into a place where it’s not such a wedge issue, and then we’re going to call an election and you’re going to be prime minister and you’re going to have a majority.”
Johnson driving a Union flag-themed JCB, with the words "Get Brexit Done" inside the digger bucket, through a fake wall emblazoned with the word "gridlock", during a visit to JCB cab manufacturing centre in Uttoxeter, while on the general election campaign trail. PA
One government source, meanwhile, believes Cummings’ winning record goes back even further – highlighting his past campaigns against devolution in his native north-east and against the UK joining the euro.
“He’s a winner,” they said.
“He’s always won – from North-East Says No to the euro campaign, and then Brexit.
“I know he didn’t work directly on the election but all the strategy setting it up almost as a sort of people-versus-parliament thing has his fingerprints all over it.
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“That’s almost as important as the campaign, to be honest.”
‘Whatever the anti-zeitgeist is, you become that’
Since entering Downing Street, Cummings has no doubt ruffled feathers.
He has overseen a clear-out of special advisers, including having one frogmarched out of Downing Street, threatened to completely overhaul the civil service and other British institutions like the Supreme Court, and declared war on sections of the press.
But some of those who remain in government see his value to Johnson, designing and overseeing the “levelling up” agenda for Brexiteer voters in neglected parts of the country on behalf of a PM who likes to delegate.
“Cummings is incredibly productive – he gets a lot more out of a day than anyone else would,” the government source said.
“I’ve seen him be in two meetings at the same time, walking between them – he’s obviously got the brainpower to deal with two quite complicated policy meetings at the same time.
“He’s a massive driving force behind what happens – a lot of the long-term delivery, the project management stuff. He’s got a key role.”
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Cummings leaving 10 Downing Street, London, as lockdown questions continue to bombard the government after it emerged that he travelled to his parents' home during lockdown. PA
The former colleague meanwhile highlights Cummings’ “focus and balls”, his willingness to “keep going on what you think is right even in the face of intense opposition”.
“You’ve got MPs, donors, the cabinet, commentators, saying: ‘This is nuts – you can’t prorogue parliament.’
“Alastair Campbell had that. Thatcher had that.”
They also credit Campbell and Thatcher with basing their battles on a deep understanding of voters, just like Cummings – who “spends days and weeks going up and down the country, going to focus groups, listening to people and putting together ideas”.
But the ex-colleague questions whether his reaction in recent days has been a “mistake”.
“I think now his judgment’s off,” they said.
“I think you would find it hard to argue that even the comms [communications officers] over the last few days have understood what the public mood is on this – they haven’t.
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“That doesn’t mean he’s lost it for good – it may be that it’s too personal.”
They added: “We know it happened with Thatcher and we know it happened with Campbell. You get to a point when you are not in sync with the public.
“Whatever the anti-zeitgeist is, you become that.
“It could just be a blip but there is clearly a point where that happens.”
‘He actively doesn’t like us’
Johnson alongside Douglas Ross, who quit as a Scotland minister over Dominic Cummings' alleged breach of lockdown rules. PA
There is one reason why Cummings is not yet out of the woods – and that’s the drip-drip of Tory MPs coming out calling for his head and the potential of further resignations to follow Douglas Ross.
The aide has always insisted he is not a Conservative and has often ploughed ahead in the face of intense opposition from the party’s MPs, even managing to alienate arch Brexiteers like Steve Baker.
Asked why Johnson values him so much, one Tory says: “There is obviously something there in which people very much value what he does.
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“I can’t really comment on that because they don’t spend any time explaining to us, and Cummings actively doesn’t like us in the parliamentary party. We just don’t get to see it so we have to take it on face value that he’s very useful.
“He’s obviously bright and he obviously knows what he’s doing in referendums.
“But we can’t answer that question, either.”
Another is damning: “I don’t know the bloke, all I know is he’s caused huge embarrassment on more than one occasion to the Conservative party.
“He’s not a Conservative and I don’t understand why the prime minister is so dependent on him unless the prime minister believes he’s got to have a svengali – someone to tell him what to say.
“And, if he has, he shouldn’t be prime minister.”


thehuffingtonpostuk--2020-05-26--David Evans Appointed New Labour General Secretary In Boost For Keir Starmer

Labour leader Keir Starmer. PA
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Keir Starmer has received a fresh boost to his leadership after Labour’s ruling body appointed his preferred candidate to be the party’s new general secretary.
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David Evans, a former party official under Tony Blair, will succeed Jenny Formby in the top post, the National Executive Committee (NEC) decided on Tuesday.
Evans, who was an assistant general secretary until 2001, came ahead of nearest rival, the trade unionist Byron Taylor, after a lengthy interviewing session.
The move marks another significant break with the Jeremy Corbyn era and underlines Starmer’s determination to replace internal factional rows with a focus on turning the party’s HQ into an election-winning machine.
Starmer made plain earlier this month that he wanted to “move on” from his predecessor’s tenure, revealing that Formby left the job by “mutual consent”.
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The narrow vote by 20 votes - just over half of the 38-strong NEC - highlighted the slender pro-Starmer majority on the ruling body.
Insiders said that the crucial two votes of the GMB union proved decisive. However, the Welsh Labour representative, Mick Anoniw, is understood to have voted against Evans.
Evans said: “We face a defining period in the history of our great party, with a global pandemic, an imminent recession and a mountain to climb to win the next election. Through the strength of our movement, I know we can rise to this challenge.”
Starmer added: “He brings a wealth of experience to this crucial role and a clear understanding of the scale of the task ahead of us.”
The NEC is due to meet next month for a special meeting on fresh elections of local constituency reps, with a move towards single transferable vote (STV) elections expected to embed the Labour leader’s ‘moderate’ supporters.
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David Evans, a regional secretary in the North West. The Campaign Company
Evans was a regional secretary in the North West in the 1990s and then assistant general secretary for two years, before leaving set up his own consultancy firm, The Campaign Company.
He had upset some leftwingers with a paper he produced under Blair in which he called for a “radical overhaul” of the party to “excite and enthuse our own membership”.
“Done correctly, it will empower modernising forces within the party and marginalise Old Labour,” he had written, when arguing for a shake-up of local constituency parties and more power given to members.
The battle to become Starmer’s general secrertary has been fraught with intringue for weeks. Former party official Emilie Oldknow was a contender until a leaked anti-Semitism report listed her scathing views of Corbyn.
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Lisa Johnson of the GMB union was another fancied candidate until her union was plunged into a crisis of its own by the resignation of general secretary Tim Roache amid allegations about his private conduct.
Unite’s Anneliese Midgley, another possible front-runner, opted not to apply for the post last week but was swiftly appointed as Starmer’s senior adviser.
The final shortlist for the job included former Corbyn policy chief Andrew Fisher, former MEP Neena Gill, former Cooperative Party chief Karin Christiansen and ex-teachers’ union president Amanda Martin.
Scottish Labour leader Richard Leonard was in Holyrood and did not take part in the Zoom video meeting of the NEC.
One NEC member told HuffPost that Welsh Labour rep Antonwiw, who is a member of the Welsh Assembly, had made a mistake in not backing Evans./
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“He has yet to vote in support of the Labour leader. It’s very damaging for the relationship between the UK party and Wales - especially as he’s effectively voting against the Welsh membership.”
But one Left NEC source echoed concerns of FBU general secretary Matt Wrack, who had warned Evans’ appointment could be divisive.
The NEC source said: “Keir urged NEC members to vote for David Evans. If Evans now takes us back to the toxic culture in HQ, purges of left-wing members and stitch ups of parliamentary selections exposed in the leaked report, his appointment will be the worst mistake of Keir’s leadership.
“Keir and Angela both stood on election platforms promising to unite the party. Members won’t forgive them if they allow a hard-right General Secretary to wage factional warfare against the Left.
“They are responsible for making sure Evans fulfils their election promise to bring our party together, not tear it apart.”
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thehuffingtonpostuk--2020-05-26--BBC News Interview Cut Short After Running Out Of Free Zoom Minutes

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With so many of us now working from home in lockdown, plenty of people understand the embarrassment of being about to make a really good point in a Zoom meeting, only to get chucked out when you reach that dreaded 40-minute mark.
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But not all of us have that cringe moment on national television.
Unfortunately, that’s exactly what happened during a BBC News interview on Tuesday afternoon, when Westfield’s managing director Scott Parsons found himself unceremoniously cut off live on air.
He was being interviewed from his home about what could happen to his business in the next stages of lockdown being lifted, but disappeared mid-sentence, having apparently run out of free meeting time on Zoom.
Haha I guess @BBCNews is also using the free version of zoom. pic.twitter.com/WNh25R8D7t — Luke Taylor (@davidluketaylor) May 26, 2020
To make matters worse, before he disappeared viewers were treated to a glimpse of one BBC producer’s desktop and the message: “This free Zoom meeting has ended.”
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Definitely not something we were supposed to see BBC
Oh dear.
The awkward moment did not go unnoticed by viewers watching along on social media, either…
As if @BBCNews have been using a free version of Zoom 🤣😂 pic.twitter.com/vEG9QZBQsN — Rob Davies (@rob_davies) May 26, 2020
Oh how annoying. We’ve all been there @BBCNews. Interesting that zoom has been adopted instead of the usual Skype. #zoomfail pic.twitter.com/Z2y6xacFBz — Luke Dudley (@LukeDudley1) May 26, 2020
This cracked me up! Managing director of @westfieldlondon got cut off @BBCNews as his free zoom session ran out 😂😂😂😂😂 #Covid19UK pic.twitter.com/6ftVwAvU0W — Amana - Social Media Manager (@SocialFactorHQ) May 26, 2020
Lol @BBCNews live interview just went down because their free @zoom_us account ran out of time 😂 pic.twitter.com/kKDsyXFUdP — Alex Price (@alxprce) May 26, 2020
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Looks like the BBC News budget can't stretch to actually paying for Zoom! Just cut to this in the middle of a live interview. pic.twitter.com/HYypFzrPLL — Kevin Murphy (@DomainIncite) May 26, 2020
Omg BBC News interview is terminated because someone used up the 40 FREE MINUTES ON ZOOM https://t.co/ykuVjFDIzw — Scott Bryan (@scottygb) May 26, 2020
Plenty of news anchors have been discovering the trials of live-streaming from home during lockdown in the last few weeks.
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That includes ABC reporter Will Reeve – the son of Christopher Reeve, fact fans – who suffered an unfortunate moment when he inadvertently revealed he’d sat down for an interview without any trousers on.
But that’s nothing compared to the absolute saga that transpired in Spain last month, when Alfonso Merlos was forced to apologise when a semi-nude woman was spotted in the background of one of his home broadcasts… and viewers quickly realised that she was not his girlfriend.


thehuffingtonpostuk--2020-05-26--Even Leave Voters Feel ‘Betrayed’ By PM’s Refusal To Sack Brexit Architect Cummings

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Brexit supporters who Dominic Cummings helped lead to victory in the 2016 EU referendum are demanding the embattled aide resign or be sacked for breaking lockdown rules.
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Cummings’s strategic advice was crucial to the Vote Leave campaign to which Boris Johnson pinned his ambitions four years ago. He was rewarded with an appointment as the prime minister’s chief adviser in 2019 when Johnson entered No.10.
But some of those who gave the campaign and the party their votes say Cummings’s journey to Durham in March during lockdown and Johnson’s subsequent refusal to sack him have left them furious.
It is a stark contrast with Tory ministers who have in some cases tied themselves in knots trying to justify Cummings’s behaviour and his retention as part of the government machine.
Despite being a “big supporter of Boris” and a Leave voter who would “still vote Brexit if we had a vote tomorrow”, Adrian, 44, from Cornwall, said the Cummings story had made him “really angry” and that it had affected how he might vote in the future.
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“I’m really unhappy with the way the government has handled this crisis,” he said.
“[Cummings] has broken lockdown measures that most ordinary people have followed to the letter.
“Yesterday I wanted him to apologise and resign, and all I got was this media circus and him blaming the media and everyone else.”
He added: “He’s sticking two fingers up to us.”
Joe, 58, from Belfast, said he was “outraged” that the government was supporting Cummings’s “laughable story” and added it had “definitely reduced” his opinion of Johnson.
“I expected him to be sacked or forced to resign,” he said. “The loopholes Cummings claims don’t seem to be there for everyone else.”
Madeline Corr, 59, from Ascot, said Johnson and Cummings had “totally compromised the party” and that it was “political suicide”.
“We have all made sacrifices, especially people who have lost loved ones.”
A self-described “Conservative through and through”, she said she would not vote for the Tories again if Cummings remained in office.
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Senior aide to the Prime Minister Dominic Cummings has argued that his journey to Durham in March was justified in order to protect his family health. PA
Other Leave voters described themselves as feeling “betrayed” and “utterly disgusted”. “If something doesn’t change drastically, I will look at another party’s policies in the future,” one told HuffPost UK.
Long-time Conservative supporter Ian said Cummings had shown “complete arrogance” and had “undermined the government’s public health message to stop the virus from spreading.”
“This episode has created a one rule for us and one for the elite,” he said.
Another Leave and Tory voter said: “I put my faith and trust in the PM who had been largely AWOL through the pandemic but rushed to Cummings’ defence.
“It makes you wonder – who is actually in charge?”
The PM has faced fierce criticism for his handling of the saga, with some of his own MPs calling for Cummings to resign or be sacked, and scientific advisers warning that his actions had “fatally undermined” the aim of the lockdown.
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On Tuesday a YouGov poll showed 59% of people believed Cummings should quit, while a change.org petition calling for Cummings to be sacked has received more than 700,000 signatures.


thehuffingtonpostuk--2020-05-26--Government Will 'Look At' Scrapping Lockdown Fines For Families Seeking Childcare

Screen grab of Health Secretary Matt Hancock during a media briefing in Downing Street, London, on coronavirus (COVID-19). PA
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Families hit with fines for leaving their home to seek childcare during the coronavirus lockdown could have their police fines reviewed, Matt Hancock has said.
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It comes after Boris Johnson’s senior adviser Dominic Cummings sparked widespread public fury when it emerged he appeared to have flouted guidance and travelled to Durham in case he and his wife could not care for their four-year-old son.
Cummings is under pressure from Tory MPs to resign, but the prime minister has so far ignored the demands.
Hancock said on Tuesday the Treasury would “look at” reversing penalties for families after he was challenged by Brighton’s reverend Martin Poole at the Downing Street briefing.
The health secretary said: “I will have to talk to my Treasury colleagues before I can answer it in full and we will look at it.
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Hancock added the government would later “make an announcement from this podium” on what they decide.
Dominic Cummings, the top aide to Britain's Prime Minister Boris Johnson. leaves his north London home the day after he a gave press conference over allegations he breached coronavirus lockdown restrictions Tuesday May 26, 2020. (Yui Mok/PA via AP) ASSOCIATED PRESS
“We do understand the impact and the need for making sure that children get adequate childcare,” he said.
“That is one of the significant concerns we have had all the way through this.”
Speaking to Sky News after the briefing, Poole said he challenged Hancock because he felt it was unfair some had faced fines when Cummings’ trip was deemed to be “exceptional”.
He said “this is about unfairness”, adding: “I think people feel a very strong sense it is not right that certain people can behave in a way that the rest of us are not allowed to.”
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Shadow home secretary Nick Thomas-Symonds, meanwhile, said the question about a review of fines needed an answer from home secretary Priti Patel.
He tweeted: “Following today’s Downing St briefing it seems government will review fines issued during lockdown for travel to childcare. This is one of many questions that must be answered after guidance was undermined by ministers over the weekend. @pritipatel-I’d appreciate an urgent reply.”
The health secretary, who has been among those who have leapt to Cummings’ defence, was asked repeatedly about the adviser’s conduct at the briefing.