thehuffingtonpostuk--2020-04-20--Broadway Star Nick Cordero Has Leg Amputated Due To Coronavirus Complications

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Broadway star Nick Cordero has had his right leg amputated after suffering complications caused by coronavirus.
The 41-year-old actor, who has starred in the musicals Rock Of Ages and Waitress, was admitted to hospital at the end of March after initially being diagnosed with pneumonia before testing positive for Covid-19.
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His wife, Amanda Kloots, confirmed he had undergone surgery to remove his right leg after he began to experience complications due to blood clots in the leg, meaning blood would not reach his toes.
Nick Cordero Paul Archuleta via Getty Images
The blood thinners he was being treated with began to affect his blood pressure and cause internal bleeding in his intestines whilst on life support.
The actor remains unconscious and is on a ventilator at the Cedars-Sinai Medical Centre in Los Angeles.
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His wife updated fans at the weekend in an Instagram post.
“He made it through the surgery which is really big, because obviously his body’s pretty weak,” she wrote.
“They’re taking him back to the room to recover and rest, so hopefully he’ll just kind of relax and rest.”
In another post, Amanda wrote: “I just wish I could see him. Hold his hand. Touch his face. I do believe this would help him WAKE UP!”
Days before the surgery Amanda revealed that doctors didn’t know if her husband would walk again.
“The doctor said for Nick’s heart and lungs right now they’re in the best condition that they could be,” she said.
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“The fact that he’s off [the ECMO machine] is great. We don’t know if he’ll be able to walk again. We don’t know if he can walk again — what that’ll look like.
“I think that there will definitely be a lot of rehab and definitely physio in order for that leg to get working again.”


thehuffingtonpostuk--2020-04-20--Trump Defends Right-Wing Protesters Fighting Coronavirus Restrictions: 'These Are Great People'

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President Donald Trump on Sunday defended right-wing protesters he appeared to previously encourage to rally across the country for states to reopen the economy despite governments and health experts deeming it not safe enough to do so.
Since last week, thousands of protesters in more than a dozen states have taken to the streets to demand stay-at-home orders be lifted, even though public health officials have warned that lifting restrictions too early could lead to a spike in cases.
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The protesters have been mostly right-wing followers, anti-vaccination advocates and gun rights activists who in some photos can be seen standing close together without masks or gloves, in defiance of the social distancing guidelines meant to slow the spread of the virus and flatten the curve.
At Sunday’s White House coronavirus briefing ― an event that the president has mostly used to campaign and push misinformation ― Trump was asked what his advice would be to protesters who want to lift states’ stay-at-home orders.
“You’re allowed to protest. … I watched a protest and they were all six feet apart, I mean it was a very orderly group of people,” Trump said, despite photo evidence of many of these rallies showing otherwise. “But you know, some governors have gone too far. Some of the things that happened are uh, maybe not so appropriate, and I think in the end it’s not gonna matter because we’re starting to open up our states.
“I see protesters for all sorts of things, and I’m with everybody,” he said.
Trump on his advice to anti-stay-at-home protesters: "You're allowed to protest ... I'm with everybody." pic.twitter.com/XQYMRpwFjF — Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) April 19, 2020
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In a series of tweets on Friday, Trump called to “LIBERATE” Minnesota, Michigan and Virginia ― three swing states with Democratic governors ― in an echo of the protesters’ demands. A day earlier, the president outlined guidelines in three phases for reopening the economy in some areas over a period of several weeks.
Asked on Sunday if he was concerned that his tweets helped incite violence against the governors ― some of whom are receiving death threats from protesters ― Trump immediately denied it.
“I’ve seen the people, I’ve seen the interviews of people. These are great people,” Trump said. “Look they want to get ― they call cabin fever, you’ve heard the term ― they’ve got cabin fever. They wanna get back. They want their life back. Their life was taken away from them. And you know, they learned a lot during this period. They learned to do things differently than they have in the past. And you know, they’ll do it hopefully until the virus has passed.
“I think these people are ― I’ve never seen so many American flags,” he continued. “I’m seeing the same thing you’re seeing.”
"I've seen the interviews of people. These are great people" -- asked if he's concerned that he's inciting violence with his tweets in support of anti-stay-at-home protesters, Trump defends the protesters and says he's not worried about it pic.twitter.com/roLTWAL2Ik — Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) April 19, 2020
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When the reporter who asked the question pointed out there have also been Nazi flags flown at these rallies, Trump repeated: “No, no.”
“They’re who? Well, that I totally would say, no way,” the president said. “But I’ve seen ― I didn’t see that. I see all ― of course, I’m sure the news plays that up. I’ve seen American flags all over the place. I have never seen so many American flags at a rally as I have at these rallies. These people love our country and they wanna get back to work.”
Demonstrators gather in front of the Colorado State Capitol building to protest coronavirus stay-at-home orders during a "ReOpen Colorado" rally in Denver, Colorado, on April 19, 2020. - Hundreds protested on April 18 in cities across America against coronavirus-related lockdowns -- with encouragement from President Donald Trump -- as resentment grows against the crippling economic cost of confinement. (Photo by Jason Connolly / AFP) (Photo by JASON CONNOLLY/AFP via Getty Images) JASON CONNOLLY via Getty Images
Keith Weber of Centralia, Washington holds a flag that combines a Gadsden flag from the American Revolution with a Confederate flag from the American Civil War as he talks to protesters holding flags with US President Donald Trump on them as people demonstrate against Washington state's stay-home order at the state capitol in Olympia, Washington, on April 19, 2020. - Hundreds protested on April 18 in cities across America against coronavirus-related lockdowns -- with encouragement from President Donald Trump -- as resentment grows against the crippling economic cost of confinement. (Photo by Jason Redmond / AFP) (Photo by JASON REDMOND/AFP via Getty Images) JASON REDMOND via Getty Images
Trump’s enabling response to the protesters echoed his handling of the 2017 Unite the Right rally in Charlottesville, Virginia ― where neo-Nazis protested against taking down Confederate monuments in a violent white supremacist rally that left one counter-protester dead and dozens more wounded.
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After the Charlottesville violence, Trump refused to single out the activity of white supremacists and instead falsely claimed that there was “bigotry and violence on many sides.” He then doubled down on his comments, equating Nazis with people who are against fascism by saying there were “very fine people on both sides” at the rally.
In the United States, at least 40,666 people have died as of Sunday evening from COVID-19, the disease caused by the virus, with at least 758,720 confirmed cases, according to data compiled by Johns Hopkins University. The death toll in the U.S. is almost twice as high as Spain’s, the country with the second-most virus-related deaths in the world.


thehuffingtonpostuk--2020-04-20--Gunman Kills 16 In Nova Scotia In Canada's Deadliest Mass Shooting

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A female police officer was one of at least 16 people killed during a shooting rampage that began on Saturday night in Nova Scotia, and ended after a police pursuit and the gunman’s death.
Constable Heidi Stevenson, a 23-year veteran of the force and mother of two, was killed while another officer was left with non-life threatening injuries.
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Police said the shootings appeared to be random, and some of the victims didn’t seem to have known the suspect — who reportedly wore a Royal Canadian Mounted Police Constable (RCMP) uniform at one point.
“The impact of this incident will extend from one part of the province to another,” said RCMP Chief Superintendent Chris Leather during a Sunday evening press conference.
The attack is Canada’s deadliest mass shooting.
Statement from Nova Scotia RCMP Commanding Officer, Assistant Commissioner Lee Bergerman https://t.co/mV9IcRqe2B pic.twitter.com/yRaL8F8EdS — RCMP, Nova Scotia (@RCMPNS) April 19, 2020
Police first responded to a firearms complaint and several 911 calls in the Portapique area, a rural coastal village about a 130 kilometres from Halifax, on Saturday night.
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When they arrived, police found several people dead inside and outside a residence, said Leather, estimating “in excess of 10 people” had been killed. It was difficult to specify the number of victims because “the investigation continues into areas that we have not yet explored across the province.”
About 100 people live in Portapique year-round, while the population grows with cottagers in the summer.
RCMP Commissioner Brenda Lucki said late Sunday that the victim death toll had risen to 16, which surpasses the 14 people killed in the 1989 Polytechnique massacre in Montreal.
RCMP officers prepare to take a suspect into custody at a gas station in Enfield, N.S. on April 19, 2020. Tim Krochak/Canadian Press
Suspect Gabriel Wortman, 51, was stopped by police in Enfield, N.S. RCMP
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As a search was launched for Gabriel Wortman, 51, residents in the area were told to lock their doors and stay in the basement.
Police said Wortman was driving what appeared to be an RCMP cruiser and wearing an RCMP uniform. They also said he seemed to have switched cars several times during the provincial pursuit which stretched over Saturday night and into Sunday morning.
The manhunt led to multiple sites around the area, some of which were on fire, said Leather.
#Colchester: Gabriel Wortman may be driving what appears to be an RCMP vehicle & may be wearing an RCMP uniform. There's 1 difference btwn his car and our RCMP vehicles: the car #. The suspect's car is 28B11, behind rear passenger window. If you see 28B11 call 911 immediately. pic.twitter.com/yyeOeBt8Ui — RCMP, Nova Scotia (@RCMPNS) April 19, 2020
At 10:40am on Sunday, police tweeted that Wortman was in custody. Leather said the pursuit ended with Wortman’s death, but didn’t provide details on the cause. At one point, police and Wortman did exchange gunfire, he said.
The suspect was stopped about 90 kilometres away in Enfield, a scene that was surrounded by a half dozen police vehicles.
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Yellow police tape surrounded the gas pumps, and a large silver-coloured SUV was being investigated by police. A body was seen lying at the gas station. Police would not comment on the body’s identity.
“This was a quickly evolving situation and chaotic scene,” the chief superintendent said.
A Gabriel Wortman is listed as a denturist in Dartmouth, according to the Denturist Society of Nova Scotia website. A suspect photo issued by the RCMP matches video footage of a man being interviewed about dentures by CTV Atlantic in 2014.
RCMP Chief Supt. Chris Leather, left, and N.S. RCMP Commanding Officer Lee Bergerman field question at a news conference at RCMP headquarters in Dartmouth, N.S. on April 19, 2020. Andrew Vaughan/THE CANADIAN PRESS
NS RCMP Commanding Officer Lee Bergerman said that Stevenson left behind two children and a husband. “There are no words to describe their pain,” she said.
Police were asked if the Covid-19 pandemic might have played a part in the shooting, but Leather said there was nothing to indicate that.
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On Sunday, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau touched on the shooting during his daily pandemic briefing.
“My heart goes out to everyone affected in what is a terrible situation,” he said. “I want to thank the police for their hard work and people for co-operating with authorities.
“As a country, in moments like these, we come together to support one another. Together we will mourn with the families of the victims, and help them get through this difficult time.”


thehuffingtonpostuk--2020-04-20--Tony Blair Calls For Clear Lockdown Strategy, Accuses Government Of Being 'Too Slow' In Coronavirus

Tony Blair Calls For Clear Lockdown Strategy, Accuses Government Of Being 'Too Slow' In Coronavirus Fight

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Tony Blair has said a clear strategy is needed to end the coronavirus lockdown as he said Britain was “too slow” in trying to suppress the outbreak of disease compared to other countries.
The former Labour prime minister said the UK needed to be “ahead of the curve” as soon as medical and scientific conditions allowed it to emerge from the lockdown into a “new normal”.
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The ex-premier said: “There are two basic phases to tackling the Covid-19 crisis: suppression of the disease; and managed revival of the economy.
“The ‘normal’ that we return to will be a new normal.
“The suppression is absolutely necessary to save lives; and there will continue for some time to be a raft of rules and restrictions necessary to follow.
“But because of the immense collateral damage done by the lockdown – economic and health related – we must ensure that on easing the restrictions, we are fully prepared and ahead of the curve the moment that the medical and scientific advice allows us to start the process.
“In the suppression phase we can see with hindsight, that we were slow compared with the best of other countries.
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“In this next phase, we must position government to roll out the revival of the economy and as much of normal life as is possible, with efficiency and clarity of strategy.”
Former prime minister Tony Blair. Stefan Rousseau - PA Images via Getty Images
The former premier was commenting as the Tony Blair Foundation for Global Change laid out an exit plan.
He called for mass testing “including the development of the community force” to help with the process.
The ex-PM also said that regarding personal protection equipment (PPE) that “mask acquisition and production on a vast scale” was “essential” for the safety of frontline staff.
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On the development of a vaccine, Blair called for “utilisation of every means nationally and globally to identify those treatments which can reduce the severity of the disease”.
Once new cases fall substantially, the UK could consider easing restrictions by opening schools first.


thehuffingtonpostuk--2020-04-20--10 Scavenger Hunt Clues To Keep Kids Busy During Quarantine

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When schools and daycares in my area shut down, I was naively hopeful about my ability to occupy my kids all day. Sure, we were practicing social distancing, but we have toys and books and plenty of art supplies, I reasoned. We have imaginations! We have Disney+!
Six thousand days later (i.e., one month in), my boys spend a lot of time looking up at me asking: Now what?! And increasingly, I’ve got nothing for them.
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Thankfully, the genius readers of HuffPost Parents have creative scavenger hunt ideas to share. Many of these options don’t just work for people with yards or easy access to non-crowded outdoor spaces; they work equally well indoors, if you’re a city-dweller like yours truly.
Here’s what they had to offer.
Enlist outside help.
Do you have grandparents, aunts and uncles, or family friends who are really missing your kiddos and who are desperate to connect? HuffPost Parents reader Nancy said her kids’ grandparents have mailed them scavenger hunt items for their daily walks, which is a fun way for them all to connect — and seriously ups the novelty factor.
“They were just note cards with things they thought we’d see, but the kids loved it!” Nancy said. “Then they got really creative and sent a ‘listening’ scavenger hunt full of sounds we had to hear in our walk; airplane, motorcycle, dog, bird, people talking. That one was really creative!”
Another HuffPost Parents reader, Emily, said her mother has come up with this cute and creative way to stay involved from afar: “I’m hiding coins all over, and Grandma is calling my little one to say, ‘Oops! Last time I was there, I forgot I hid those for you!’”
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Nadezhda1906 via Getty Images Scavenger hunts could help negate children's boredom.
Lean into learning.
Several parents suggested scavenger hunt ideas that are also sneaky ways to work a bit of learning into your kid’s day.
“My daughter likes the math scavenger hunts,” said Angela. “Go find five crayons, three lovies, and two babies. How many total items? How many if I take two crayons away?”
Mary Lisa suggested having your kids do a five-sense hunt — so, have your kids find something they can see, smell, hear, taste and touch — as well as an ABC scavenger hunt that helps them work on phonetics and letters. “Find something for each letter of the alphabet,” she said.
If your kid is more of an advanced reader, try a phonetics-based scavenger hunt, which is what reader Lynne did for her kiddos.
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Lynne Simpson HuffPost Parents reader Lynne Simpson suggested a phonics scavenger hunt.
Get out for a drive.
If you all need a break from the house, turn a quick drive into a fun activity by writing out a list of things for your kiddo to spot as the world whizzes by.
“We’ve been doing car scavenger hunts!” said HuffPost Parents reader Sarah. “It gets them out of the house for a bit, and if they find all the items, they get a small treat. Each time we change what they have to find.” Some ideas: a stoplight, a car of a particular colour, a dog, a bird, etc.
Amy, another HuffPost Parents reader, turned it into a game of bingo focused on local monuments — with some fun activities peppered in.
Amy Janine HuffPost Parents reader Amy shared this creative game of car bingo, which she plays with her kids.
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Make use of Zoom/FaceTime/your preferred technology.
Reader Jen’s 14-year-old son recently had a blast doing a quick scavenger hunt as part of a Zoom birthday party. Put together a real mix of things you can find around the house (a hat, a highlighter, a vegetable, etc.) and give everyone on the call a short time to rush and grab the items.
“The boys were given five minutes to find everything and assemble it for viewing by the rest of the ‘party,’” Jen said. “He, surprisingly, quite enjoyed it.”
Head out at night.
Reader Brooke has kept things interesting by simply switching up the time of day when scavenger hunts happen: “[We put] tea lights inside Easter eggs hid at night for glow-in-the-dark hunt,” she suggested.
One (perhaps obvious) note: Make sure whatever light source you use is safe.
When in doubt ... keep it simple.
“Because we are lazy, and believe in bribery, we threw balls and shot off Nerf arrows outside,” said reader Jennifer. “The boys get an M&M or small something for every two balls or arrows retrieved — which they have to run to. It gets the energy out.”


thehuffingtonpostuk--2020-04-20--Big Businesses Told To Stop 'Hoarding Cash' From Suppliers Amid Coronavirus Pandemic

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Rishi Sunak has been urged by a cross-party group of MPs to take swift action to ensure small businesses do not collapse during the coronavirus pandemic as a result of big companies failing to pay them on time.
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In a letter to the chancellor seen by HuffPost UK, senior Conservative, Labour, Lib Dem and SNPs MPs demand companies that “hoard cash” from their suppliers be fined.
Sarah Olney, the Lib Dem business business spokesperson leading the call, warned thousands of small businesses could end up having to “close their doors for good” if something was not done fast.
A total of 16,060 patients have died in hospital after testing positive for coronavirus in the UK as of 5pm on Saturday, according to the Department of Health and Social Care.
Amid pressure on ministers to set out how and when the current lockdown measures will be lifted, the MPs told Sunak: “The Covid-19 pandemic spells great uncertainty for many businesses in the UK and with reduced economic activity many are concerned about receiving timely payment from large customers.
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“Many small firms now find themselves in a perilous position.
“Many still have no choice but to trade with long delays to payment imposed on them by larger customers and the pandemic has only exacerbated this problem.
“In light of these difficulties, several large firms have done the right thing and paid their suppliers promptly. But many others have not.
“In the current crisis successful businesses, deprived of payment, may now have to take support loans from the government, lay off staff or even enter administration.
“Large companies should pay their suppliers on time and not hoard cash when their suppliers are struggling.”
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MPs who have signed the letter include Conservatives Julian Lewis and Michael Fabricant, former Labour shadow cabinet ministers Andrew Gwynne and Barry Gardiner, Lib Dem leader Ed Davey and SNP MP Joanna Cherry.
The MPs have called on the government to give the small business commissioner, which ensure fair payment practices, to be given the power to fine large firms which consistently fail to pay suppliers on time.
Sunak has also been urged to make the prompt payment code, which requires businesses to pay 95 percent of its invoices within 60 days, compulsory for companies with more than 250 employees.
Olney said small businesses were “the bedrock of our economy and our communities”.
“With so many of them struggling due to slow or indefinitely delayed payments from large customers, they risk going under if the government fail to act,” she said.
“The chancellor has shown willingness to take steps to support businesses through this crisis, but more must be done.
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thehuffingtonpostuk--2020-04-20--Coronavirus Is Leaving Asylum Seekers Like Me More Vulnerable Than Ever

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When I fled death threats in my home country of Zimbabwe, I thought that I would find safety as a refugee in the UK. But after seven years of living as an asylum seeker, and fleeing domestic violence here in the UK, I feel forgotten, alone and scared. I’m currently in a refuge for asylum-seeking women, and the outbreak of coronavirus has made my situation so much worse – I’m now more fearful than ever about the safety of me and my eight-month old baby.
Living in cramped, shared accommodation with 40 other people is hard at the best of times – in fact, the government has long been criticised for providing asylum seekers like me with unsafe and unsuitable accommodation. We only have one tiny kitchen and four bathrooms between us. And with patchy hot water, electrical faults and repeatedly blocked sinks, living here has been tough on me and my baby. At times, shared dinners and play-dates have provided me with joy amidst the hardship. But social distancing has made this living situation feel impossible and dangerous, particularly as my baby was born with a heart defect – making him vulnerable to covid-19. When he started showing symptoms of coronavirus, I was advised to self-isolate for 14 days. While I’ve tried to follow government guidance, the asylum system isn’t set up to protect our health.
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Asylum seekers are not allowed to work, even though we would be thrilled to use our skills for good. I’m a former community organiser with a master’s degree and a background in politics and social justice, and I would love to put my skills to use. Instead, we’re given just £37.75 a week to live off, with £5 extra for my son, and we must use a card which the Home Office tops up each week to buy groceries. You can only use it in a limited number of stores and at cash machines – and it can’t be used for online grocery delivery. This means we’re unable to buy in bulk, and must make regular trips to the shops. It feels so demoralising to not be able to earn or manage my own money – now more than ever.
“I felt so alone and unsupported, I didn’t know who to turn to. I asked for help from the other mums in my accommodation – but we’re all in the same boat.”
This tiny sum of money is limiting enough, but at the start of lockdown the Home Office made an error and failed to top up my card, leaving me on the verge of destitution. With the little money I had left I went from shop to shop for formula milk but the shelves were empty. I returned home empty-handed and dejected. I felt so alone and unsupported, I didn’t know who to turn to. I asked for help from the other mums in my accommodation – but we’re all in the same boat, struggling to get by. The council couldn’t help as I have no recourse to public funds – meaning I can’t access normal welfare support. Charities, campaigners and MPs have been calling on the government to give everyone access to public funds during coronavirus, but they have so far refused.
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I was only able to feed my son these past two weeks thanks to the generous support of my immigration lawyer at the Joint Council for the Welfare of Immigrants (JCWI), who dipped into her own pockets to order formula milk for me online. I want to be able to provide for myself but if it wasn’t for her I don’t know what I would have done.
Being cooped up in a tiny bedroom, under highly stressful circumstances, has had a huge effect on my mental health, which was already poor before my quarantine. I suffer from PTSD and depression – conditions shaped by the trauma I experienced in Zimbabwe and the abuse I’ve suffered at the hands of my ex-partner in the UK. Extreme confinement and seeing my baby so ill these past two weeks has naturally exacerbated these problems, bringing me to tears on a daily basis. I’ve felt guilty for subjecting my son to this squalid housing situation, even though it’s not my choice. And I’m anxious that the crammed kitchen and queues for the bathroom will mean any illness is transmitted quickly to others.
“I hope people this crisis shows people how important it is for everyone to have access to decent healthcare, support and housing.”
Thankfully my little one is on the mend. But as long as our situation remains the same – as long as we’re still living in unsanitary conditions, with little money or food to get by – I won’t stop worrying. I’m still waiting for the Home Office to make a decision on my case – with hearings postponed indefinitely due to covid-19 – leaving me in painful and enduring uncertainty. I’ve already been fighting for my status as a refugee to be confirmed for seven long years – a struggle that’s been mishandled by a serially inept Home Office.
I hope that this crisis shows people how interconnected and valuable each and everyone one of us is. I hope people see how important it is for everyone to have access to decent healthcare, support and housing. I hope that the government makes big changes to the broken immigration system – treating asylum seekers with dignity and respect, lifting inhumane conditions like ‘No Recourse To Public Funds’, allowing us to work, and ultimately allowing us to get on with our lives.
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Victoria is an asylum seeker in the UK, writing under a pseudonym


thehuffingtonpostuk--2020-04-20--How I Cope: My Baking Fails Have Made Me Laugh Till I Cry (And Temporarily Forget My Anxiety)

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You’re reading How I Cope, a series sharing self-care tips as we all adjust to the coronavirus pandemic.
As I looked through the glass oven door, I couldn’t help but wonder where I’d gone wrong. I’d followed the recipe closely and yet, all I could see was a lump of dough that’d barely risen and was as pasty as my sun-deprived legs.
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When I pulled it out of the oven, I laughed so hard I cried. On social media I was told it looked more like a blobfish, a tomb or an alien pod. A friend likened it to a meringue. Anything but the trusty loaf I’d expected.
Natasha Hinde Blobfish bread.
After a pretty fraught second week of lockdown (my third week of working from home), this hilarious outburst was a huge relief – and I realised I hadn’t thought about coronavirus once throughout the baking process.
You’ll be unsurprised to learn the ‘blobfish bread incident’ wasn’t the first time I’d failed at baking: there were the hot cross buns, filled with chopped apple because I was out of dried fruit, that looked more like misshapen scones because I’d forgotten to cross them; the oat and banana ‘cookies’ that came out of the oven looking like cat sick; and the banana bread that ended up as a flat, claggy mess (note to self: do not try to substitute butter for peanut butter again).
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Natasha Hinde Banana and oat cookies
So why do I keep on baking when I’m so terrible at it? Well, my creations might not be instagrammable or, at times, even edible, but they’ve buoyed me when I felt I was drowning in it all.
As a journalist, I’m subsumed by the coronavirus story. I spend my days debunking health myths with expert-backed advice, writing about the mental health impact, and interviewing people about their personal stories – all with a hope of making things easier for our readers, but it takes a lot of energy out of me. Every day I spend a good hour in some form of weird stupor, sucked of motivation or happiness, when the death figures come out. Sometimes it lasts a lot longer.
I understand the situation is a lot worse, and a lot more distressing, for many people – the NHS staff on the front line, the teachers having to continue classes, the supermarket workers putting on a brave face to serve the (sometimes abusive) public, the people losing loves ones to this awful virus.
But sometimes I’ve found myself struggling to cope and when it happens, catastrophising becomes almost second nature – I see the death stats and my heart breaks knowing so many have lost loved ones. Then comes the secondary thought process: could someone I know be one of these stats? Then it culminates – I realise how much I miss my family, social interaction, hugs with my mum. Then come the tears.
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Baking, while I’m not very good at it, takes my mind off all of this. When I’m measuring out ingredients or winging it and pouring them in freehand, I’m thinking about the task in hand. When I’m watching them in the oven, I’m thinking about how good they smell, or why they’re not rising, or what they’ll taste like. And once they’re out, I’m thinking about how long it’ll take to cool down so I can scoff them. Either that, or how awful they look – a skill in itself.
Natasha Hinde My attempt at banana bread...
There’s also that sense of accomplishment, regardless of how terrible the end result is, and then there’s the sense of connection when I share my latest creation with others: whether my poor boyfriend who has to eat them (sorry Dan), or friends, colleagues and complete strangers on the internet who get to witness photos of the end result. It doesn’t matter whether they’re laughing at me, I’ll take what I can get.
So yes, I will be continuing my habit of ‘baking bad’ throughout the lockdown, because while my bread might not rise, my spirits certainly do.
We’re here to guide you through the coronavirus lockdown. Sign up to the Life newsletter for daily tips, advice, how-tos and escapism.


thehuffingtonpostuk--2020-04-20--How To Make The Best Egg Salad, According To Experts

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Egg salad has always been an economical mainstay to make at home or to pick up as a takeaway lunch. With a third of the global population quarantined or self-isolating during the coronavirus pandemic, now is a good time to revisit this simple, highly adaptable, high-in-protein food.
Julia Keister An egg salad sandwich from Lil’s Bagels in Covington, Kentucky.
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HuffPost asked several chefs and restaurant owners about their best tips for making egg salad.
“Egg salad is some of the best quarantine food, because it is affordable, easy, versatile and, of course, delicious,” said Julia Keister, owner of Lil’s Bagels in Covington, Kentucky. “You can make a lot for just a few dollars and pretty much eat it for any meal.”
Traditionally, egg salad is made from chopped hard-boiled eggs that are combined with mustard, vinegar and/or lemon juice, mayo and ingredients like onion and capers.
The Eggs
First, opinions on eggs vary.
“I think using the best-raised eggs you can find makes any egg dish taste better, especially something like this where eggs are really the highlight,” said Evan Hanczor, chef at the Brooklyn- and Tokyo-based Egg.
Chef Paul Sletten of Rockford, Illinois, restaurants Abreo, Social Urban Bar and Restaurant, and food truck Disco Chicken likes the “super deep orange yolk” of pasture-raised eggs. Sarah Schneider, founder of Egg Shop in New York City, also likes to use pasture-raised.
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“That being said, I think everyone is trying to buy sustainable and organic when they can,” Schneider said. “It’s not always the most inexpensive option, so I think people should do what works best for them.”
Keister typically uses local, organic farm eggs, but said the kinds of eggs you use doesn’t make much difference ― “as long as you have a good recipe.”
The Mayo
Next, what kind of mayo should you use? Or do you even use mayo at all?
Egg Shop’s healthy recipe, which can be found in the restaurant’s cookbook, substitutes Greek yogurt for mayo. Schneider said she has “never liked mayo,” but mixing yogurt with olive oil becomes “mayo-light.”
“It’s a bit lighter and brighter,” she said. In the warmer months, Egg Shop serves the egg salad as a condiment on a chicken sandwich. “I love that egg salad is cold, which is why I crave it in the summer,” she said. “I also love that it can be many things to many different people. The openness to different flavour profiles is very on-trend, if you ask me.”
Sletten, however, is all about adding mayo, either Hellmann’s or his homemade version. “As a kid, my mum was a Hellmann’s mayonnaise connoisseur,” he said. “She’d lather that stuff on. When I’m not making my own, I stick with the Hellmann’s.”
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At Local Foods in Houston, they mix eggs with house-made aioli, Dijon mustard, fresh chopped parsley, salt and pepper and a dash of truffle oil.
“The aioli is the secret to our egg salad,” said Dylan Murray, Local Foods’ owner and chef-partner. “It’s funny because aioli is an egg-based sauce, but that’s what gives the lush texture. The mustard provides the acid, and the parsley gives that fresh bright flavour. Egg salad is a comfort food but can be decadent at the same time.”
Local Foods At Local Foods in Houston, they mix eggs with house-made aioli, Dijon mustard, fresh chopped parsley, salt, pepper and a dash of truffle oil.
For his “pantry recipe,” Levi Rollins, owner of the Houston-based Urban Eats, likes to mix up eggs with cream cheese, mayo, truffle oil, onion and pesto. “My take is merely based on my love of truffle and fresh herbs,” Rollins said. “I also crave a thicker, creamier salad, hence the cream cheese.”
The Texture
Another key to making egg salad is deciding whether to chop the eggs.
Keister said she chops them so they’ll have “some structure,” but Schneider smashes the hard-boiled eggs with her hands. “We like to be playful and get messy,” Schneider said. “Crushing the eggs with your hands can bring a sense of childlike wonder, and who doesn’t want to feel like that, especially right now?”
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For Hanczor, the chopping decision depends on the kind of bread.
“If I’m serving egg salad on a baguette or bagel, I kind of like it a bit chunkier, so I’ll give the eggs a rough chop with a knife and they’ll break down a bit more in the bowl when mixing in the other ingredients,” he said. “If on a soft sliced bread, I’ll usually go for a smoother mixture.”
Ziggy Gruber, owner of Houston deli Kenny & Ziggy’s, whips his egg salad — similar to making devilled eggs — in a food processor.
“We use local eggs. We use only Hellmann’s mayonnaise and a little salt and a little pepper. Then we whip it,” Gruber said. “That is it. If you use quality eggs and quality mayonnaise, that’s all you need. We sell approximately 175 pounds [of egg salad] a week.”
Toppings And Mix-Ins
Toppings and mix-ins are just as important as the mayo.
Schneider likes to add bacon bits, and Keister enjoys a slice of crispy bacon on top of a sandwich. At home, Sletten will add Cajun seasoning. Schneider recommended sprinkling hot sauce into the base to give egg salad a spicy kick, and Hanczor suggested minced hot pickled peppers.
“I also like a little smoked paprika, which gives it all a more savoury, smoky flavour,” Hanczor said. “If you’ve ever had or seen pickled green coriander berries, those are probably my favourite addition to an egg salad. They offer an amazing salty, tangy pop, kind of like capers but with a bright, cilantro-y flavour.”
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“For a creamy Japanese-style egg salad, I’ll toss in a small splash of milk,” Hanczor said. He adds Kewpie mayo to the mixture and serves the salad on Japanese milk bread or a soft pullman loaf.
Egg Shop In the warmer months, New York's Egg Shop serves egg salad on a chicken sandwich.
Keister’s more traditional egg salad ― she adds red onion, dill, mayo and some spices ― was influenced by her time living in Brooklyn and visiting a bagel shop every weekend. She has concocted a Jewish deli-inspired sandwich called The Yenta sandwich: egg salad placed between slices of rye bread (or a bagel, if you prefer), pickled green tomatoes, lettuce and chopped liver.
However, there’s a has a catch: “Lil’s does have a secret ingredient in our egg salad that is not in most egg salads.” She wouldn’t divulge the secret.
Pre-Make Your Sandwich
Letting the egg salad marinate a bit can be an important part of the process.
“What I love about egg salad is, I love making it and then eating it later,” Sletten said. “There’s something about the level of the moisture that soaks into the bread. It kind of makes it this school-bag lunch sensation. You know how the sandwich kind of crumples up little and becomes one? I love that aspect of egg salad. I don’t know why. Maybe it’s a childhood memory thing.”
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He suggested making the sandwiches — he prefers store-bought wheat bread — and letting them sit for a couple of days before consuming. “If you make it right away, it can be messy and sloppy and fall off the bread,” he said.
Hanczor also recommended making the mixture at least a day in advance so it can “meld into a consistent texture.”
Whether you keep to the classic style of egg salad or decide to get creative, you really can’t go wrong with a quarantine egg salad.
“There’s nothing that doesn’t go well with eggs,” Sletten said.


thehuffingtonpostuk--2020-04-20--Coronavirus Can Cause Digestive Problems – What You Need To Know

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By now, most of us know to look out for the respiratory symptoms of coronavirus – the unrelenting cough, the breathlessness. But a growing body of evidence suggests that digestive issues can also be a sign of Covid-19.
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It’s led some people to believe they have ‘gastrointestinal coronavirus’ or ‘gastrointestinal Covid-19’, but that’s not quite right. It’s not a separate virus or illness. Rather, they have gastrointestinal symptoms caused by coronavirus.
“Covid-19 is the name given to the disease that the SARS-CoV-2 virus causes,” Professor Andrew Goddard, president of the Royal College of Physicians, tells HuffPost UK. “The virus causes both respiratory and other symptoms and ‘Covid-19’ covers these. Symptoms from parts of the body outside the chest are common. Most people say the fatigue, joint pains and headache can be worse than the cough when the disease is in its milder forms.”
So, what are the digestive symptoms?
Scientists in China have found evidence that while Covid-19 most commonly presents with respiratory symptoms, such as cough and shortness of breath, the illness can also present with non-respiratory symptoms, most notably digestive symptoms such as diarrhoea, diminished appetite and nausea.
Of 206 patients with “mild” symptoms at the Union Hospital, Tongji Medical College, in Wuhan, 67 of them had diarrhoea, one study found. One in five of these people (19.4%) experienced diarrhoea as the first symptom of their illness.
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In total, 48 presented with a digestive symptom alone, 69 had both digestive and respiratory symptoms, and 89 had respiratory symptoms alone.
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The study found patients with digestive symptoms had the virus in their bodies for a longer time, compared to those with respiratory symptoms. The virus was also far more likely to be found in their poo. “We know that patients with Covid-19 can have nausea and diarrhoea and estimates have ranged from 4% to 57% in different studies,” says Prof Goddard.
In milder cases, the digestive problems may be a more noticeable feature, but people are rarely hospitalised because of these symptoms in the UK – most admissions are due to the respiratory problems the virus creates, he says. So we don’t necessarily hear about the digestive symptoms as much.
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British historian Dr Fern Riddell recently shed some light on her own experience of coronavirus, which caused digestive problems rather than respiratory ones. “I am on day 33 of Covid-19 and for the last 26 [days] I’ve been the sickest I’ve ever been in my life,” she tweeted.
For the first 10 days of the virus, her symptoms were mild, said Riddell, like a summer cold. On day nine, she started to lose her sense of smell and then on days 10 and 11 she went “down hill really fast”. She likens how she felt to being poisoned. She had full body shakes and aches, nausea, diarrhoea, extreme fatigue and serious dehydration. “You feel so, so ill. And it’s terrifying. I don’t remember much of the next 14 days,” she wrote.
How do you develop – and prevent – them?
Dr Brennan Spiegel, director of health services research at the Cedars-Sinai Health System in Los Angeles, told Today.com that if the virus gets into a person’s saliva and they swallow it, it can then enter the intestinal system.
It’s thought digestive symptoms occur because the virus enters target cells through a receptor found in both the upper and lower gastrointestinal tract. The receptors to which the virus binds are expressed at almost 100-fold higher levels in the gastrointestinal organs compared to the respiratory organs.
Scientists said because Covid-19 testing has been largely focused on patients with respiratory symptoms rather than digestive ones, it’s possible there are a large number of undiagnosed patients with low severity illness who are unknowingly spreading the virus.
At this stage, we don’t know how infectious the virus is once it comes out in a person’s stools, which means hand washing is – as always – imperative.
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“The bottom line is that washing hands remains the best defence we all have against the virus,” says Prof Goddard. “Washing hands not only stops it spreading from the respiratory route but also the potential faeco-oral route.”
While acknowledging the debate about whether masks should be worn, Prof Goddard said that “we know hand washing works and works really well”.
Treating digestive symptoms of Covid-19
If you think you might have digestive issues as a result of coronavirus, the message is clear: keep hydrated. You might want to try oral rehydration solutions such as Dioralyte, suggests Dr Philip Smith, a consultant gastroenterologist at The Royal Liverpool University Hospital.


thehuffingtonpostuk--2020-04-20--6 Science-Backed Ways To Boost Your Mood

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It can be increasingly difficult to stay buoyant after the year we’ve had. And while it’s completely normal to feel weird, anxious or completely exhausted right now, there are still things you can do to give yourself a boost each day.
Here are some science-backed ways to improve your mood.
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1. Go for a walk in nature
If you’re feeling flat, go outside if you can. Put your shoes on, grab your jacket and go for a walk – preferably to a park with trees, if you have one nearby.
One study found that visitors to urban parks used happier words and expressed less negativity on Twitter than they did before their visit. Their elevated mood lasted for up to four hours afterwards. The effect was so strong, according to University of Vermont scientists, it was equivalent to the mood spike at Christmas.
And there’s more where that came from – numerous studies have found that nature benefits mood. Another study found a walk in the park had psychological benefits for people with depression. “Walking in nature may act to supplement or enhance existing treatments for clinical depression,” said the study’s lead author, Dr Marc Berman.
2. Change the way you walk
Our mood can affect how we walk: slumped and hunched if we’re sad, bouncing along, upright, if we’re happy. But researchers have shown it works the other way around, too. People who were prompted to walk in a more sad style, with less arm movement and their shoulders rolled forward, experienced worse moods than those who were induced to walk in a happier style.
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Next time you head out on your daily walk, you know what to do.
3. Call your upbeat mates
Both good and bad moods can be ‘picked up’ from friends, according to the University of Warwick. Researchers found that having more friends who suffer worse moods is associated with a higher probability of an individual experiencing low moods and a decreased probability of them improving. The opposite applied to those who had a more positive social circle.
Professor Frances Griffiths, of Warwick Medical School, said: “While the primary target of social interventions should be to increase friendships because of its benefits in reducing of the risk of depression, a secondary aim could be to reduce spreading of negative mood.”
So maybe Zoom call your cheery friend every once in a while to get a boost from them – happiness really is contagious.
4. Increase your fruit and veggies
Eating a healthy diet can improve mood and even reduce symptoms of depression. Dr Joseph Firth, an honorary research fellow at the University of Manchester, who analysed data from almost 46,000 people, said: “Our recent meta-analysis [shows] that adopting a healthier diet can boost peoples’ mood.”
Aim to eat more nutrient-dense meals which are high in fibre and vegetables, while cutting back on fast-foods and refined sugars, he suggested.
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A separate University of Warwick analysis of the eating habits of 80,000 people in Britain found happiness and mental health were highest among people who ate seven portions of fruit and vegetables a day. Start that shopping list.
5. Up your exercise
We all know exercise is good for us physically, but multiple studies have found it to be an effective mood-booster, too. If you’re feeling sluggish, increase your level of physical activity, suggest scientists at Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, who found that increases in physical activity tended to be followed by increases in mood and perceived energy levels.
You don’t need to overdo it. A review of 23 studies on happiness and physical activity found even a small change in levels of physical activity can make a difference in happiness. Several studies found happiness levels were the same whether people exercised 150-300 minutes a week, or more than 300 minutes a week.
6. Wish other people well
Rather than focusing on ways to make ourselves feel better, a team of Iowa State University researchers suggest wishing other people well.
“Walking around and offering kindness to others in the world reduces anxiety and increases happiness and feelings of social connection,” said Douglas Gentile, professor of psychology. “It’s a strategy that doesn’t take a lot of time that you can incorporate into your daily activities.”
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In their study, those who practised loving-kindness or wished others well felt happier, more connected, caring and empathetic, as well as less anxious.


thehuffingtonpostuk--2020-04-20--The Pandemic Has Reversed The Usual Gender Roles In My House – And I Love It

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It’s late afternoon and I’m hunched over my laptop in a small upstairs room of my home that normally serves as a storage space, but is now my office. It seems like nearly everyone has had a change of workspace in the past month, but mine is a bit different. I normally work directly below this room, in an open home office that’s now been taken over by my two young daughters, recently displaced from kindergarten and daycare.
I’m cloistered in here to escape them. I can hear my husband down there with them, alternately sounding cheerful or strained depending on their behaviour and moods. He’s a natural with kids and loves to spend time with them, but amusing them for days on end isn’t something he’s accustomed to. He works long, odd hours, so typically, when the kids get home in the afternoon and on many weekends, he’s away and I’m doing childcare. But in the alternate universe of social distancing we now find ourselves in due to covid-19, he’s a full-time stay at home dad, and I’m the one earning all the money.
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Before everything changed, any appointment, emergency, or unforeseen event fell on me, as the person earning less in our marriage. It’s a situation many women find themselves in. I’m a former research biologist, now building a career as a freelance science writer. I love my work and want to be taking on more and bigger projects ― complex stories that will make a difference in the world. I’m ambitious, but my workload always has to maintain enough slack and flexibility to be able to absorb the blow of sick kids, snow days, teacher’s strikes, or whatever else comes our way.
My ambition always has to be measured against incidents like last spring’s Stomach Flu from Hell, when I found myself home with a sick-yet-still-highly-active toddler for two weeks while she recovered, working late into the night to try to keep up with my assignments.
“In an instant, a man who normally works 60 hours a week or more found himself at home with no patients to see, and I found myself the sole income earner for our family of four.”
My husband, whom I met while we were both completing our doctorates, works as an optometrist. He earns far more than I do, and works longer hours seeing patients and completing paperwork. He would never think of rushing away from work for anything less than a catastrophe. We both value our careers, but simple math dictates that his comes first.
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Four weeks ago, seeing the writing on the wall, my husband shut down his practice and was forced to lay off his staff. Official orders to do so came only days later. Overnight, everything changed. In an instant, a man who normally works 60 hours a week or more found himself at home with no patients to see, and I found myself the sole income earner for our family of four.
Now he’s the one who cuts sandwiches and wipes bums, while my work has taken on an importance that it was never allowed to have before. And I love it. It’s terrifying, but also strangely empowering. My working time is now respected.
Rather than an open office just off the family room where I am easily accessible — a symbol of my fractured working life — I am tucked away behind a closed door that my children understand is not to be opened, because Mom Is Working. For the first time in my life as a parent, my work takes precedence.
The privilege of being able to afford daycare has meant that my children rarely see me work. They are only vaguely aware that I do, and not in the serious manner of their father, who actually puts on a tie and leaves the house each day. Yet after a week of our reversed roles, my four-year-old built her own “laptop” out of Lego and began to carry it around, typing on it “like Mommy does.”
A few weeks ago, their father might have been standing two feet away from them, but they’d run across the house to have me solve a problem, because Mom is the one you take your problems to. Now, for the first time in their lives, petty squabbles and spilled milk are something to go see Daddy about. I can only hope that this change in their perception of the importance of my work lasts beyond the weeks or months of self-isolation ahead.
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Of course, there have been other times when women’s work has suddenly become more important. The second world war immediately comes to mind, when women stepped up and did the jobs that needed doing while the men were off fighting. For the first time, women saw how valuable their efforts could be, and many didn’t take kindly to being stuffed back into their former roles when the war was over. I don’t think I will either.
“My hope is that something of this time will stay with our daughters, whether they clearly remember it or not — that they’ll know fathers can deal with sibling disputes and mothers can be the providers for their families.”
Does it take a massively disruptive, world-altering event to bring women’s work to the fore? And will this one leave some permanent change behind for those of us who found our working situations improved by it?
I’m lucky to be married to a man who is engaged with and happy to care for his kids, but I wonder how many men are out there now realizing that the hours their wives put in caring for their children aren’t as easy as they look. I’m sure this isn’t the only household with a man out of work and a woman’s usual work-from-home situation unaltered. But I’m facing another problem typical of women’s careers: Because I don’t get paid anywhere near what my husband makes – though I might love being our breadwinner while he enjoys being his children’s caretaker – this isn’t sustainable.
This little bubble of time when we both get what, perhaps, we secretly wanted can’t last. My hope is that something of this time will stay with our daughters, whether they clearly remember it or not – that they’ll know fathers can deal with sibling disputes and mothers can be the providers for their families. Maybe someday they can model in their own lives what they’ve seen in this time of crisis.
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I hear the clink of dishes as my husband lays the table for dinner. I can picture his movements as he finishes cooking and gets our kids washed up and into their bibs and chairs. I’m thrilled that today, and for a little while, it’s me who gets to show up to a hot, home-cooked meal and children who are happy to see their parent after a long workday.
Erin Zimmerman is a biologist and freelance science writer. This article first appeared on HuffPost Personal.


thehuffingtonpostuk--2020-04-20--Union Leaders Demand Judge-Led Inquiry Probes 'Grotesque' PPE Shortages

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A judge-led public inquiry should investigate the “grotesque” failure to give frontline workers personal protective equipment (PPE) during the coronavirus pandemic, a trade union body has said.
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The TUC has made the call for an independent probe, starting by the end of 2020, after the website Nursing Notes said on Monday that at least 100 health workers had died from Covid-19.
Whether frontline workers were threatened with disciplinary action if they refused to work and whether official PPE guidance left them at risk.
Ministers have repeatedly faced criticism for failing to provide enough PPE since the outbreak began and have blamed “distribution problems”, delays and “international demand” for shortfalls.
But critics say poor planning and chaos within government have put NHS frontline workers in harm’s way.
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The crisis came to a head last week when health secretary Matt Hancock admitted there could be shortages of protective gowns within days, and on Friday, Public Health England issued guidance that health workers should reuse PPE if stocks run out.
There have also been reports about care home staff making emergency masks and smocks from bin liners.
“Every day frontline workers are being forced to risk their lives because they don’t have the proper protective equipment,” TUC general secretary Frances O’Grady said. “And now they are being told just to make do.
The TUC says an independent judge-led inquiry should examine: why there were delays in the planning for and delivery of PPE
whether guidance about the need for PPE was robust/timely
whether staff were put under pressure to work with inadequate or out-of-date PPE - and if so why
whether staff were threatened with disciplinary action for raising concerns about the lack of PPE - and if so why
why the NHS, social and residential care and other workplaces have struggled to get PPE from suppliers
“This is a grotesque failure of planning and preparedness. It must never be allowed to happen again. Our NHS, social care and key workers deserve better.
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“Right now, the government must sort out the PPE crisis urgently. But we are also calling on ministers to commit to an independent, public inquiry into the failure to provide frontline workers with adequate PPE, kicking off by the end of this year.”
The inquiry should cover the whole workforce, the TUC says, including both public and private sector workers undertaking essential work which requires PPE.
Health secretary Matt Hancock as he speaks via video-link during the official opening of the NHS Nightingale Hospital Birmingham. JACOB KING via Getty Images
The call also follows warnings from health managers and other unions.
On Sunday, the NHS Confederation and NHS Providers publicly criticised ministers for announcing PPE deliveries that failed to materialise.
A shipment of PPE due to land from Turkey was delayed at the last minute, with the NHS Confederation and NHS Providers issuing a statement expressing “intense frustration and exasperation” on Sunday night.
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The Royal College of Anaesthetists and the Royal College of Nurses have also warned that inadequate supplies of PPE may force staff to stop treating patients.
At the Downing Street press conference on Monday, chancellor Rishi Sunak tried to address the current shortfalls, saying the government would “pursue every possible option” to secure PPE for the UK.
He said: “This is an international challenge that many other countries are experiencing.
“Alongside the efforts of British businesses, and our embassies around the world, we are working hard to get the PPE our frontline NHS and social care staff need.”
He insisted there were regular shipments despite the “unexpected delays” to the consignment from Turkey.
“Today we unloaded a shipment of 140,000 gowns from Myanmar,” he said.


thehuffingtonpostuk--2020-04-20--Oil Prices: Why Have They Fallen Below $0 And Why Does It Matter?

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The price of US oil fell to less than $0 per barrel for the first time in history as the knock-on effects of the coronavirus outbreak shook the world economy.
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The price of a barrel of West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude oil for May delivery ended on minus - yes, minus - $37.63. On Friday, the same product was valued at $18.27.
It led to the bizarre situation of oil producers paying buyers to take the commodity off their hands as they feared they had nowhere to put it.
Coronavirus is largely to blame
The coronavirus pandemic has meant the demand for oil has collapsed. This is the result of the virus’s spread to all corners of the world, lockdowns and other knock-on effects.
Put simply, factories closing and people scaling back on using their car has meant demand for the fossil fuel that literally fuels economic activity has diminished. And there were updates on Monday underlining how the virus is knocking confidence.
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Germany is in severe recession and recovery is unlikely to be quick as coronavirus-related restrictions could stay in place for an extended period, its central bank said. Japanese exports declined the most in nearly four years in March as US-bound shipments, including cars, fell at their fastest rate since 2011.
But there’s also been a price war
Another major factor has been Saudi Arabia ramping up oil production after a falling out with Russia.
Although Saudi Arabia and the rest of the oil producing cartel Opec has now committed to slashing production again, these cuts have yet to make an impact on a market flooded by oil.
Too much supply, not enough demand.
It has meant that many of the world’s oil storage sites are full. The main US storage hub in Cushing, Oklahoma, is expected to fill up in a matter of weeks. With facilities unable to take any more, buyers are nearly impossible to find.
Back in 1986, when I called the collapse of #OPEC & correctly predicted prices of less than $10/barrel, I never thought I would see it again...
But, today will mark the most extraordinary day in the history of oil markets, with some grades of crude trading at negative prices. — Prof. Steve Hanke (@steve_hanke) April 20, 2020
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This price drop may be a quirk
Oil prices have been falling for weeks. But much of the plunge on Monday was chalked up to technical reasons.
Traders usually play a game of pass the parcel with contracts for barrels of oil. They will buy the right to collect 1,000 barrels at a specific date – but sell it on later, preferably for a higher price – before they have to pick up the oil.
Whoever owns the contract when it expires is obliged to take delivery of the barrel.
Normally traders have no problem selling their contracts to a refinery, or other business that wants oil, before the deadline.
But the deadline for May contracts is due to expire on Tuesday and against the backdrop of economic gloom.
It left traders desperately scrambling to get rid of their barrels so they were not left to pick up oil which they do not have the ability to collect and store.
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As a result, traders were actually willing to pay a lot of money to anyone willing to take the oil off their hands.
THREAD EXPLAINING NEGATIVE OIL:
Oil costs $ to store. Due to the economic collapse, oil isn't being used much. So all the storage facilities are filled up. So nobody who can store it will buy it from you. If you want to get rid of oil, you have to pay someone.
That's the thread — Joe Weisenthal (@TheStalwart) April 20, 2020
So is oil ... free?
Producers without storage facilities will pay you to take the oil off their hands, and traders were actually being paid more than 40 dollars to buy a barrel of oil on Monday.
Anyone who was willing to collect oil on-site in Texas was able to pick up perhaps the deal of the century early on Monday evening.
So for them, yes. They even made a profit.
How will it affect consumers?
The news made the normally obscure pastime of following oil prices explode as #OilPrice became the top trending topic on Twitter on Monday evening.
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Gasbuddy.com and Oilprice.com, websites set up to track the price of oil and fuel, crashed under the strain of traffic flowing to their servers.
However, the collapse is unlikely to lead directly to significant discounts for drivers at the pumps. The price of Brent crude to be delivered in June was only down 10% at 25.63 dollars per barrel.
Big importing nations such as China, India and Germany could get some much needed relief from falling energy bills. And generally benefit from lower oil prices thanks to the decline in petrol prices at the pump.


thehuffingtonpostuk--2020-04-20--Why Every Job Saved By Sunak's Furlough Scheme Is Still A Job Hanging In The Balance

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The Rishi Rush Is On
During the coronavirus pandemic, there’s a constant danger of being blinded by the blizzard of numbers involved. Deaths in the thousands, cases in the millions, government spending in the billions or even trillions (the US stimulus package is the largest bailout in history at a cool $2.2 trillion).
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But today, the sheer scale of economic risk was underlined when chancellor Rishi Sunak revealed just how many firms had applied for government funding to pay 80% of the wages of staff ‘furloughed’ during the crisis. In just 8 hours, 140,000 firms had applied (in fact 67,000 had applied in the first 30 minutes that the scheme went live). That’s a million workers who would otherwise have been laid off.
The figures will rise even further in coming days, as the rush is on to get wages sorted for the April 30 payroll deadline (and as the scheme needs six working days for payment, that means this Wednesday is the real deadline for applications for many). The Resolution Foundation think tank reckons between seven and 10 million people could be furloughed in total.
Sunak was right to say that the scheme itself is a huge achievement. Having pledged it would be up by the end of April, the chancellor said “today, we deliver our promise”. Health secretary Matt Hancock may have been watching with some envy, given his own huge promise of 100,000 tests a day by the end of the month is ultimately now in the hands of the private sector, not the state.
And Sunak was right too to pay tribute to the staff at the Treasury and HMRC, including those who came out of retirement and “worked around the clock from their kitchen tables and spare rooms” to implement the new system.
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Credit should perhaps go too to former minister Greg Clark, who first proposed the elegantly simple solution of reverse engineering the tax system. “Instead of firms paying PAYE to the government, that flow should now be reversed,” he urged ministers exactly a month ago. Still, we should be grateful for Sunak or Boris Johnson aren’t following Donald Trump in putting their own signature on cheques sent to workers.
Of course, it’s a massive technological and administrative task to process the claims quickly (one that would have been easier if thousands of HMRC staff had not been culled during austerity). The Treasury claims its Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme (dubbed ‘CJRS’ today by Sunak in a moment of jargon-filled Hancockery) can process up to 450,000 applications per hour. Huge, if true, as the saying goes.
Most notably, Sunak refused to deny claims that the Treasury’s own analysis was more pessimistic than the ‘V-shaped’ quick recovery suggested by the Office for Budget Responsibility. Asked about the likelihood of a U-shaped or even a W-shaped recovery, he simply said ”you would expect any Chancellor” to have plans “for a range of different scenarios”.
Sensible contingency planning is just that, sensible. Especially as Sunak stressed that the fifth of Dominic Raab’s five tests for easing a lockdown was “the most important” one: being “confident” any relaxation would not risk a second peak of Covid-19 cases that could overwhelm the NHS. Still, planning for a slow recovery feels ominous.
And as we ponder those big numbers again today, it’s worth exercising the same pause for reflection that ministers now ritually (and rightly) recommend whenever they list death figures, saying each one is an individual tragedy. Each of those one million jobs possibly saved today by Sunak’s scheme is a family on the brink.
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The government is right to firmly link the economic and health aspects of the outbreak, rather than pitting one against the other. But away from the job retention scheme, which has cross-party backing, there’s one area of policy that certainly lacks consensus: the Immigration Bill. Don’t forget that foreign workers make up a sixth of the 840,000 social care workforce in England.
Many fear that it effectively equates low pay with low skills and sets a points system that will rob an already under-staffed sector of invaluable workers.
Given that the government is not in the mood for contentious legislation right now, will it pull the Immigration Bill (due to be the first bit of business for MPs on their return tomorrow)? What once felt like a bit of timetabling to ‘trap’ a new Labour leader on a ‘culture war’ issue now looks fraught with political danger for ministers instead.
Quote Of The Day
“That’s certainly an interesting hypothesis you raise there.”
Deputy chief scientific adviser Angela McLean on whether allowing the Liverpool-Atletico Madrid champions league match to go ahead caused lives to be lost
Monday Cheat Sheet
The number of UK coronavirus hospital deaths rose by 449 to 16,509. But the number of people in hospital with the virus appears to be flattening, with London seeing its seventh day running of falling cases. Yvonne Doyle, the Public Health England medical director, said she hoped the trend would be repeated in other areas.
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BBC political editor Laura Kuenssberg reported that ‘senior figures’ in government now admitted that they were “a fortnight behind” in getting enough testing and protective equipment to cope with the virus.
An RAF aircraft left the UK for Turkey to pick up a delayed delivery of protective kit amid a row over a shortage in the NHS. It aims to collect 400,000 gowns.
NHS Providers chief executive Chris Hopson revealed that the shortage of gowns had led some hospitals to wash single-use protective gowns at 60C so they can be used several times by frontline staff.
The price of US oil has dipped below zero for the first time in history. Oil producers are paying buyers to take the commodity off their hands over fears that storage capacity could run out in May.
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thehuffingtonpostuk--2020-04-20--Government Scientist Says Theory Liverpool-Atletico Madrid Game Helped Spread Virus Is An 'Interesti

Government Scientist Says Theory Liverpool-Atletico Madrid Game Helped Spread Virus Is An 'Interesting Hypothesis'

Atletico Madrid players celebrate with fans at the end of the match against Liverpool on March 11. ASSOCIATED PRESS
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A leading government scientific adviser has said the idea that coronavirus spread in the wake of the Champions League clash between Liverpool and Athletico Madrid is an “interesting hypothesis”.
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MPs in Liverpool have questioned the wisdom of allowing 3,000 supporters from coronavirus-hit Madrid to travel for the last-16 second-leg fixture at Anfield on March 11.
The match took place before the government decided to ban major events later in March.
Questions have also been raised over the decision to let the Cheltenham Festival go ahead. Four days of horse racing were staged as planned, with additional hygiene measures in place due to the coronavirus pandemic, and concluded on March 13. Prime minister Boris Johnson addressed the UK 10 days later to impose the current lockdown.
At the daily Downing Street press conference, a reporter from the Liverpool Echo asked whether the match could be the reason for a surge of coronavirus-liked deaths in the city.
Liverpool hospitals have recorded more than 250 coronavirus deaths, with more than 1,100 confirmed cases. More than 16,000 people in the UK have died,
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In response, deputy chief scientific adviser Professor Dame Angela McLean, said it is an “interesting hypothesis”.
Asked about the game on March 11, she said: “The question you’ve raised has to be put into context of the general policy at the time.”
When normal life was under way going to a football match was not a “particularly large extra risk”, she said.
“However, when you get to the situation of our strange lives as we live them now where we spend all our time basically at home, of course you wouldn’t add on an extra risk of lots and lots of people going off to the same place at the same time,” she continued.
“I think it will be very interesting to see in the future when all the science is done what relationship there is between the virus that has circulated in Liverpool and the virus that has circulated in Spain. That’s certainly an interesting hypothesis you raise there.”
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Shocking answer from the Deputy Chief Scientific Adviser saying it was an interesting hypothesis. So detached from the reality and loss of life. https://t.co/22NAuXGnBP — Bill Esterson (@Bill_Esterson) April 20, 2020
Dep Chief Scientific Adviser Angela McLean says idea that allowing Liverpool/Atletico game to proceed may have increased spread of #coronavirus is an 'interesting hypothesis.'
Sorry, WHAT?
It obviously did.
It probably cost lives.
Yet this is the first time she's thought of it? — Piers Morgan (@piersmorgan) April 20, 2020
Earlier, culture secretary Oliver Dowden defended his decision to argue the Liverpool versus Atletico Madrid football match and Cheltenham Festival should have gone ahead.
Appearing on Good Morning Britain, Dowden was accused by presenter Piers Morgan of “actively encouraging” people to attend the events after the government decided not to ban major events until late March.
Dowden said: “The scientific evidence we were being given was that, at a mass gathering, the threat at a mass gathering relates to the people who immediately surround you – the people in front of you and behind you.
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“The risk at mass gatherings was no greater or less than it would have been in pubs or restaurants, and the advice at that point was that we did not need to ban mass gatherings.”
Asked whether the advice was wrong, the Cabinet minister replied: “As the situation developed, the scientific advice changed and we changed our guidance off the back of it.
“But mass gatherings are not different to any of those other events I described and at the appropriate moment we took the decision to close pubs, to close restaurants.”


thehuffingtonpostuk--2020-04-20--Vanessa Feltz Hilariously Recreates *That* Celebrity Big Brother Moment

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It’s been 19 years since Vanessa Feltz first entered the Celebrity Big Brother house and served up one of the most memorable TV moments of all time.
Fans of the reality show will remember how the chat show host had somewhat of a ‘meltdown’ just three days into the series after being nominated for eviction by her fellow housemates.
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Wearing a pair of sunglasses and a leopard print dressing gown, Vanessa began scrawling various words in chalk over the dining table and telling Big Brother to “fuck off!” when she was called to the Diary Room.
Vanessa Feltz on Celebrity Big Brother in 2001 Channel 4
Now finding herself in a similar situation amid the current lockdown of the UK, Vanessa hilariously recreated the moment on Twitter.
Filmed by her partner, Ben Ofoedu – who was shamelessly singing his Phats And Small hit Turn Around (What’s Wrong With You) – Vanessa was seen in her now familiar outfit writing words on her kitchen table.
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Somethings just don’t change 🤷🏾♂ 😂😂😂 pic.twitter.com/NHUQVZ9hxb — Ben Ofoedu (@BigBenOfoedu) April 19, 2020
“Why don’t you just ’eff off?” she shouted at Ben.
“Incarcerated. Immolated. Immured. Isolated... Stuck here with you. Absolutely sick of it!” she ranted.
“I only wanted a cup of tea,” Ben joked.
Posting the clip on Twitter, Ben wrote: “Some things just don’t change.”
Vanessa recreated her most famous CBB moment Twitter
Vanessa was one of six famous faces who entered the Celebrity Big Brother house for the first-ever series in 2001.
She later admitted she had written on the table to amuse herself as she was bored with being in the house.
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Speaking at the Edinburgh TV Festival after the series finished, she said: “It was a blinding moment when I suddenly realised that there was no Big Brother. It was just a researcher. I suddenly thought I’m not going to give back the chalk we had for the shopping list.
“So I started writing words on the table like ‘defenestred’ and ‘innured’ and then I had a look and I said I thought ‘it looks awfully Conran’ but you didn’t see that in the edit. Instead you saw me looking like Jack Nicholson in The Shining.”
The original CBB – which only lasted eight days and was in aid of Comic Relief – was won by Jack Dee and also starred Chris Eubank, Claire Sweeney, Keith Duffy and Anthea Turner.
Vanessa returned to the house in 2010, when she joined a host of other previous housemates in Ultimate Big Brother, finishing in eighth place.
During lockdown, Vanessa has still been continuing to present her BBC Radio 2 and BBC Radio London shows, as well offering advice to viewers on This Morning.
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thehuffingtonpostuk--2020-04-20--Number Of Coronavirus Patients In London Hospitals Drops For Seventh Day Running

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Coronavirus has changed everything. Make sense of it all with the Waugh Zone, our evening politics briefing. Sign up now.
The number of people in hospital with coronavirus in the UK is “stable” and has now fallen in the capital for seven days in a row, the government has said.
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Deputy chief scientific adviser, Angela McLean, said on Monday at the Downing Street press conference she hoped the trend in London – the worst affected area of the country – would soon be replicated across the rest of the UK.
Chart No.10
Also speaking at the press conference, Rishi Sunak said despite the positive signals, the easing of lockdown restrictions remained some time away,.
“We are not there yet,” the chancellor said. “At this stage of the crisis we are absolutely focused on sticking to the guidance.”
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Referring to the government’s five tests for lifting the lockdown, he said: “We are not there yet and it is very clear that, for now, what we should focus on is following the guidance, staying home to protect the NHS.
“Anything else that people might be speculating on is wrong, we are crystal clear on that message.”
It came as organisations representing hospital trusts have rounded on the government over its promise of more personal protective equipment (PPE) to protect workers in the fight against Covid-19.
Chris Hopson, chief executive of NHS Providers, said there was “relatively low confidence” that a shipment of 400,000 surgical gowns which had been due to arrive in the UK from Turkey on Sunday would make its way into the country on Monday.
He said trusts are being forced into “hand-to-mouth” workarounds, including washing single-use gowns and restricting stocks to key areas.
The NHS Confederation, which represents organisations across healthcare, has also reacted angrily to government promises of more PPE, saying delays on the shipment from Turkey “makes a difficult situation worse”.
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The Royal Air Force is on standby to bring the delayed shipment of medical gowns from Turkey to the UK following “some unexpected delays” over the weekend, the prime minister’s official spokesman said.


thehuffingtonpostuk--2020-04-20--More Than 140,000 Firms Ask State To Pay Wages For A Million Furloughed Workers

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Coronavirus has changed everything. Make sense of it all with the Waugh Zone, our evening politics briefing. Sign up now.
More than 140,000 companies have asked the government to help pay the wages of more than a million workers on the opening day of its furlough scheme, the chancellor has announced.
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Rishi Sunak revealed the scale of the applications received between 8am and 4pm on Monday – the opening day of the government’s job retention scheme, which will see the state paying 80% of workers’ wages.
Sunak said the government scheme would help workers who, “if they hadn’t been furloughed, would be at risk of losing their job”.
Firms that applied on Monday would receive their grants in six working days and HM Revenue and Customs will continue to provide updates on the number of furloughed workers.
The scheme sits alongside other measures to help businesses and the self employed through the coronavirus crisis.
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Sunak told the daily Downing Street briefing: “We have never seen an economic crisis like this one.
“Times like this demand that we put aside ideology and orthodoxy.
“Times like this demand that the state turns to its most immediate purpose – the protection and support of its people.
“The goal of the schemes we have developed is to maintain as many people as possible in their existing jobs, to support viable businesses to stay afloat and to protect the incomes of the self-employed to allow them to trade again.
“To maintain, in other words, our economy’s productive capacity so that we can bridge through this crisis.
“That is what we have done.”
The Resolution Foundation said the first day of applications to the scheme would cost £4.2bn.
Dan Tomlinson, an economist at the think tank, said: “The sheer scale of applications for the government’s job retention scheme on its opening day shows just how badly the scheme is needed.
“Without firms having the option to furlough staff, Britain could be facing the prospect of totally unprecedented numbers of people being unemployed.”
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Sunak meanwhile revealed that 12,000 business interruption loans have gone out to small businesses with an acceptance rate of 80% to 90%. In total there have been 35,000 applications.
But he rejected calls for the government to guarantee 100% of the loans, rather than 80%, in order to get banks lending more to companies to help keep them afloat.
“I’m not persuaded that moving to a 100% guarantee is the right thing to do,” the chancellor said.
“Some people have made some comparisons with what’s going on in other countries. I think when you look at the totality of what we’re doing it’s more significant in scope and scale than most of those other countries.


thehuffingtonpostuk--2020-04-20--Killing Eve: 9 Very Important Questions We Have About Episode 2

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Killing Eve’s return may have divided both critics and fans of the show, but there’s no denying the consequences of the first episode will be long-lasting.
After Carolyn’s son Kenny was thrown from the roof of his office block, seemingly by The Twelve, this week’s episode saw the arrival of his mysterious sister Geraldine, who immediately became a subject of interest for Konstantin.
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Elsewhere, Villanelle was busy trying her hand at management (spoiler: it did not go well) before she was visited by an unexpected guest with a bombshell revelation.
Here are the questions we were left asking...
Clowning around: Villanelle did not take well to managing an assassin Sid Gentle Films/BBC
What did Kenny uncover before he died?
The Twelve obviously had a reason for wanting Kenny dead, but it’s not clear yet exactly what information about their finances he had on them.
Could it be that there is something in his work files that reveals something on his phone?
While possible, Eve and Kenny’s editor at Bitter Pill, Jamie, can’t seem to work together properly just yet, so it could be a while before these two pieces of the puzzle lock into place.
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Does Kenny’s girlfriend know more than she’s letting on?
Sid Gentle Films/BBC
While going through his phone, Eve uncovered the fact Kenny had been dating one of his colleagues, Audrey, before his death, and we later saw her paying an unexplained visit to Carolyn.
Could Kenny have confided in her about what he’d found out about The Twelve before he died? And if so, is Audrey in danger?
Who was the woman in the front seat of Konstantin’s car?
There was a very deliberate reason why we did not see the face of the woman who was sent by The Twelve to pick up Konstantin, and he seemingly didn’t either.
However, we couldn’t help but notice that, from the back, she bore more than a passing resemblance to Carolyn’s daughter Geraldine. We also picked up on the fact she was wearing gold stud earrings, just like the ones Geraldine was seen wearing in a later scene.
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We were immediately suspicious of her after she arrived for her brother’s funeral, and given the fact she has never been mentioned before, there’s definitely a reason she has been introduced. Could she be connected to The Twelve?
Is this why Konstantin tracked Geraldine down and bugged her?
Sid Gentle/BBC
We believe that Konstantin may have also realised Geraldine was the woman in his car, and that would explain why he later tracked her down to “bump into” her and give her the bugged magnet.
Which estate agents do The Twelve use?
Seriously, they have some incredible properties. Villanelle’s latest pad in Barcelona may well be our favourite yet.
Will Villanelle face consequences for killing Felix?
After Villanelle was charged with mentoring an up-and-coming assassin, Felix, in a bid to climb higher up the organisation, she quickly decided that “management sucks” and shot him dead.
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Will Dasha and The Twelve tolerate her killing their own? Or could her recklessness cause another incident between Dasha and Villanelle? Speaking of which...
Is Villanelle secretly plotting revenge on Dasha?
Sid Gentle Films/BBC
After Konstantin turned up uninvited at Villanelle’s place to inform her that Eve is still alive, he referenced Vilanelle’s history with Dasha.
Konstantin revealed that Villanelle had previously promised to kill Dasha if she ever saw her again, asking her if she still trusted Dasha “after what she did” to her.
Could it be that Villanelle is actually playing a long game with Dasha and is secretly plotting her downfall?
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And we’ll ask again: What exactly happened between them in the past?
What has Villanelle got in store for Eve?
Now that she knows Eve is still alive, we can’t imagine it will be long before Villanelle is heading back to London...
Why did Carolyn’s line about her blouse being wrongly buttoned cut so deep?
Sid Gentle Films/BBC
Maybe it’s because we haven’t got dressed properly in a month so can relate, or maybe it’s because watching Carolyn try to grieve with a stiff upper lip is weirdly emotional. Either way, this line definitely stuck out to us.


thehuffingtonpostuk--2020-04-20--Watch Live: Rishi Sunak Leads Daily Coronavirus Conference

Watch Live: Rishi Sunak Leads Daily Coronavirus Conference
Chancellor Rishi Sunak hosts the daily coronavirus conference. He is expected to give a further update on government’s furlough scheme, which has gone live for people to apply.


thehuffingtonpostuk--2020-04-20--Who Is Rishi Sunak, The ‘Coronavirus Chancellor’?

Who Is Rishi Sunak, The ‘Coronavirus Chancellor’?
Rishi Sunak was chancellor for just over a month when the coronavirus pandemic forced him to rip up his recently announced budget. Now dubbed the “coronavirus chancellor”, Sunak has had a meteoric rise through politics since becoming an MP in 2015. We look at the life of what many regard as a future prime minister.


thehuffingtonpostuk--2020-04-20--Eamonn Holmes' Coronavirus Comments Lead Ofcom To 'Issue Guidance' To ITV And Its Presenters

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Ofcom has revealed it has “issued guidance to ITV and its presenters”, following Eamonn Holmes’ controversial comments about 5G and coronavirus.
Last week, Eamonn made headlines when, during a live broadcast on This Morning, he appeared to defend a debunked theory suggesting 5G could be responsible for the global pandemic.
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“What I don’t accept is mainstream media immediately slapping that down as not true, when they don’t know it’s not true,” he said of the theory.
“No one should attack or damage or do anything like that, but it’s very easy to say it is not true because it suits the state narrative. That’s all I would say as someone with an inquiring mind.”
Eamonn shared his views during a discussion on This Morning last week ITV
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On Monday, they issued a statement about the incident on their website, branding Eamonn’s comments “ill-judged” and noting they “risked undermining viewers’ trust in advice from public authorities and scientific evidence”.
“His statements were also highly sensitive in view of the recent attacks on mobile phone masts in the UK, caused by conspiracy theories linking 5G technology and the virus,” they said.
“We have taken into account the context provided by Alice Beer, This Morning’s Consumer Editor, who strongly rejected theories linking Covid-19 to 5G earlier in this programme; the prominent caption which rooted the discussion in ‘fake news’ about Covid-19; and an on-air statement broadcast by Eamonn Holmes the following day. In view of these factors, we have issued guidance to ITV and its presenters.”
An Ofcom rep added: “Broadcasters have editorial freedom to discuss and challenge the approach taken by public authorities to a serious public health crisis such as the coronavirus.
“However, discussions about unproven claims and theories which could undermine viewers’ trust in official public health information must be put fully into context to ensure viewers are protected. These responsibilities are especially important when ongoing events – such as mobile phone masts in the UK being attacked – risk significant harm to the public.”
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The day after his divisive comments, Eamonn read out a statement live on This Morning, claiming his comments “may have” been “misinterpreted”.
“I want to clarify some comments that some of you may have misinterpreted from me yesterday, around conspiracy theories and coronavirus and this involved the roll out of 5G,” he began.
“Both Alice Beer and myself agreed in a discussion on this very programme on fake news that it is not true that there is a connection between the present national health emergency and 5G and to suggest otherwise would be wrong and indeed it could be possibly dangerous. Every theory relating to such a connection has been proven to be false and we would like to emphasise that.”
He continued: “However, many people are rightly concerned and are looking for answers, and that’s simply what I was trying to impart yesterday but for the avoidance of any doubt I want to make it clear there’s no scientific evidence to substantiate any of those 5G theories.”


thehuffingtonpostuk--2020-04-20--Meghan And Harry’s Tabloid Shun Could Have Been Groundbreaking. Instead, It Was Tone Deaf

Meghan and Harry attend the 2020 Commonwealth Day service Getty Editorial
First things first: I am no royalist. I am not someone who is in the habit of defending any of the royals. In fact, I don’t really care about them at all. But, despite that, I do find myself repeatedly jumping to the defence of the Duke and Duchess of Sussex.
But their most recent actions have left me in two minds. Last night, the couple issued a statement addressed to the editors of The Sun, Daily Express, Daily Mirror and Daily Mail promising “no corroboration and zero engagement” with their publications, including their Sunday editions and websites
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The statement emphasised “this is not in any way a blanket policy for all media,” but the couple will no longer “offer themselves up as currency for an economy of click bait and distortion.”
“Surely the Sussexes could have envisioned their timing would elicit accusations of tone deafness, and navel-gazing?”
I hope their actions will set a precedent for others who are hounded by the tabloids in the UK and I think they are justified in issuing such a statement.
But why now? In a time of global crisis, when the world’s focus is on preservation of life, the statement seems poorly timed and poorly executed.
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While I don’t agree with either outburst – and, let’s face it, people like Neil and Morgan are never going to be happy with anything Meghan Markle does – surely the Sussexes could have envisioned their timing would elicit accusations of tone deafness, and navel-gazing?
It must be noted that Meghan’s virtual hearing with the Mail on Sunday over its decision to print a letter she sent to her estranged father is taking place on Friday. So perhaps that spurred the announcement.
But even if they felt it important to speak out now, surely a shorter, more concise statement would have been more effective and better received? Perhaps even freezing out the tabloids without dignifying them with a response would have been more fitting still.
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Since this Spring, the Sussexes’ communications strategy has been led by Sunshine Sachs, a US PR company whose clients have included Ben Affleck, Leonardo DiCaprio and Natalie Portman.
But it’s misguided to treat the Sussexes like celebrities. Whether in the limelight or not, the public’s perception of the couple won’t have changed already – to most people, they’re still Prince Harry and his wife. And without Harry’s title to rely on, they will need to lean on their standing in the public eye to earn their livelihoods moving forward.
While such a statement issued by someone like Affleck or DiCaprio on their Instagram stories may cause the public to roll their eyes and then move on with their day, the Sussexes still carry a certain weight of expectation with them.
Less than 12 hours after their announcement, Prince Philip issued a public statement of his own – a rare occurrence – in which he thanks key workers fighting coronavirus and scientists working to find a vaccine. This feels like a well-timed PR move on behalf of Buckingham Palace – this is the sort of thing people want to be hearing from the Royals.
It’s a shame that Harry and Meghan chose this moment to shun the tabloid press. It could have been a landmark move against the culture of harassment perpetuated by certain branches of the UK media. Hopefully, it’s not too late for their actions will mark a turning point for the “economy of click bait and distortion.” But I fear this latest statement may have done more harm than good.
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thehuffingtonpostuk--2020-04-20--Frankie Boyle Hits Back At Media Reports That His Coronavirus Jokes Caused Offence

Frankie Boyle has hit back following reports he caused upset with a string of jokes about the coronavirus pandemic.
The Scottish comedian – known for his near-the-knuckle approach to comedy – has shared a string of Twitter posts in the last few days poking fun at the outbreak, many of which received a lukewarm response from his some of his followers.
Frankie Boyle Dave J Hogan via Getty Images
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Among the tweets in question was one joking about a “campaign to get Big Ben to bong when we reach a million dead”, and another in which he wrote about Boris Johnson’s recent hospitalisation.
“Of course I’m very glad that Boris Johnson didn’t die in hospital,” he said. “But I would like to see clawed hands rise from a vent in the ground and drag his living body into Hell.”
Current British media framing: There are actually many more dead if you count care home residents as people — Frankie Boyle (@frankieboyle) April 20, 2020
Campaign to get Big Ben to bong when we reach a million dead — Frankie Boyle (@frankieboyle) April 19, 2020
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Of course I'm very glad that Boris Johnson didn't die in hospital, but I would like to see clawed hands rise from a vent in the ground and drag his living body into Hell — Frankie Boyle (@frankieboyle) April 19, 2020
My guess is this ends with me staring into the clear plastic workings of a faulty Dyson ventilator as it sucks my lungs out — Frankie Boyle (@frankieboyle) April 19, 2020
On Monday, The Independent ran a piece with the headline “Frankie Boyle condemned for ‘sick’ coronavirus death toll jokes”, which included responses branding his comments “sick” and “definitely not a subject to joke about”.
Although he didn’t refer to any media outlet in particular, Frankie then tweeted: “I feel sorry for journalists trawling through replies to find a few negative responses to a tweet to pad out an article.
“Perhaps Twitter should introduce some system that let us know whether a tweet was popular or not.”
Shortly before this, he had tweeted: “Having Twitter has probably done a lot to combat our sense of isolation, by reminding us that other people are a fucking nightmare.”
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Having Twitter has probably done a lot to combat our sense of isolation, by reminding us that other people are a fucking nightmare — Frankie Boyle (@frankieboyle) April 20, 2020
I feel sorry for journalists trawling through replies to find a few negative responses to a tweet to pad out an article. Perhaps twitter should introduce some system that let us know whether a tweet was popular or not. — Frankie Boyle (@frankieboyle) April 20, 2020
HuffPost UK has contacted Frankie Boyle’s agent for further comment.
Frankie’s comedy has landed him in hot water in the past, including jokes at the expense of Olympic swimmer Rebecca Adlington and people with Down’s syndrome.
His most famous controversy probably came in 2011, when Ofcom ruled he had breached their guidelines with a joke about Katie Price’s then-eight-year-old son Harvey.