thehuffingtonpostuk--2020-07-02--David Starkey's Comments Should Be A History Lesson For Us All

David Starkey Screenshot
Yet again, historian David Starkey is embroiled in another racism controversy. As if his comments about the London riots were not bad enough, it seems Starkey is back for round two.
After being invited on Darren Grimes’ “Reasoned” podcast – ironic, given what Starkey went on to say – Starkey descended into a shocking diatribe on slavery, claiming it wasn’t really “genocide” otherwise there wouldn’t be so many “damn Blacks” in Africa and Britain and “an awful lot of them survived”.
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His comments are a shameless attempt at dehumanising Black people – and he speaks about Black people as if they are undesirable or vermin. Indeed, little discussion is necessary of these comments, because they speak for themselves.
And then, of course, is the outrageous general claim that if there are survivors of a genocide, it did not happen. Not only is that false, ahistorical nonsense – made all the more shocking when it comes from the mouth of a “historian” – it is deeply offensive to communities who have experienced genocides.
Not only that, but it quite literally echoes arguments neo-Nazis use to delegitimise those calling the Holocaust a genocide because there are survivors. It’s no exaggeration to say that Starkey’s comments are a brazen manipulation of history.
Next, is the false claim that the trans-Atlantic slave trade was not a genocide. Not only does it reduce the countless different African cultures and ethnic groups into a monolith – which is racist – but it also, quite literally, erases history. The trans-Atlantic slave trade destroyed communities, wiped out cultures, and erased peoples’ histories.
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Entire ethnic groups were ended, and others decimated. Many slaves were thrown overboard on the voyages from the African continent to the Americas. And, because of all of this, many people in the Africa diaspora do not know their own histories – myself included; my last name, “Batchelor”, is a slave name – and I’ll never know what my true name is, or who my people were, because of slavery. And this links into Starkey’s false parallels he makes about Roman Catholics and the slave trade.
Starkey makes a disingenuous and childish comparison between the trans-Atlantic slave trade and the treatment of Roman Catholics, despite the circumstances – and contemporary consequences – being wildly different.
Roman Catholics were not seen as animals, stripped of their names, stripped of their culture, taken on ships halfway across the world, and enslaved on plantations for centuries. And Roman Catholics in contemporary Britain do not experience anywhere near the chronic levels of socio-economic inequality and racism that Black people face.
Overwhelmingly, the consequences of slavery are still living and breathing – with “compensation” to slave owners for emancipation only paid off in 2015. Starkey, obviously, knows this – and the reason he makes these false comparisons in this context is clear: his ludicrous comparisons attempt to make Black people look unreasonable in their demands for equality, attempt to delegitimise contemporary pain about slavery and its consequences, and attempt to play down the magnitude and the scale of the atrocities committed by the British to protect its reputation. And, of course, all this plays into the deeply racist “Black people have a chip on their shoulder” trope.
Starkey has shown himself to be, yet again, a living embodiment of the pseudo-history racists rely on to justify their bigotry. As he throws out many of the basic principles of what it means to be a curator of history, Starkey now moves towards becoming a living relic of the racist delusions of grandeur associated with the British Empire.
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Furthermore, he has perfectly presented the case for properly educating the nation on the crimes against humanity perpetrated by British colonialism.
Indeed, in many ways this has been a history lesson for us all – that the archaic views of men like Starkey show us there is clearly so much to learn about Britain’s sinister past.


thehuffingtonpostuk--2020-07-02--Parents Told 'Control Your Teenagers' To Prevent Coronavirus Spikes

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Coronavirus has changed everything. Make sense of it all with the Waugh Zone, our evening politics briefing. Sign up now.
Parents have been told to “control their teenagers” by England’s deputy chief medical officer, as she warned a second wave of coronavirus was “quite a possibility”.
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Jenny Harries told the Downing Street press conference on Thursday the “social behaviours” of teens outside of school was much more of a risk than them being together in the classroom.
“We should be more concerned about what teenagers are doing outside school,” she said.
Harries said when children were in school there were “hierarchies of control” and “people keeping an eye on them”.
“The schools are quite a controlled environment,” she said.
“The transmission risk [is] potentially in the social behaviours of the teenagers, the older children, out of school.”
Harries added families should, where possible, “try and control their teenagers in their social interactions outside of schools”.
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“A second wave is quite a possibility – that is not ruled out,” she said.
Gavin Williamson, the education secretary, told the press conference it would be “misleading” to imply the spike in coronavirus cases in Leicester, which has been placed under a local lockdown, was a result of schools reopening.
“School has far more control over my daughters than anything I’ve ever been able to achieve,” he added.
The No.10 briefing took place as the government announced guidelines, much of which was exclusively revealed by HuffPost UK earlier this week, for how schools in England should reopen in September.
Whole schools or entire year groups could be ordered to self-isolate if coronavirus outbreaks are detected once pupils return to class.
Schools have been told to keep children in class- or year-sized “bubbles” and avoid creating “busy corridors” when all pupils return in an effort to limit the spread of the virus.
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Government guidance on how to get all children back after the summer break – following up to six months at home – also suggests older pupils should be encouraged to be kept away from other groups of students and staff.
It warns that health protection teams could order the whole school, or all pupils in a year group, to self-isolate at home if schools have two or more confirmed coronavirus cases within a fortnight, the advice says.


thehuffingtonpostuk--2020-07-02--'Party Saturday' Could Lead To Coronavirus Infection Spikes, Tory Ex-Minister Warns

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Coronavirus has changed everything. Make sense of it all with the Waugh Zone, our evening politics briefing. Sign up now.
Boris Johnson’s decision to lift lockdown on a Saturday risks creating a “party” mentality that could lead to local spikes in coronavirus infections, a Tory former minister has warned.
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George Freeman told HuffPost UK’s Commons People podcast he is worried people may “overdo it” as pubs and restaurants reopen on Saturday.
He said he would have preferred a continuation of the approach that has seen the lockdown eased more gently, with the last new freedoms being introduced on June 1 – a Monday.
The MP also called for all schoolchildren to be given cheap laptops to keep for life, to help them learn at home, suggesting they could go on to use the equipment to start a business.
And he suggested that, were he American, he would “struggle” to vote for Donald Trump in the US presidential election this year as he has driven a “worrying” mentality that is “hostile” to science in his response to coronavirus.
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Addressing this weekend’s lockdown easing, the former transport minister told Commons People: “I’m a bit worried by the kind of ‘party Saturday’ risk that everyone just overdoes it.
“I thought the approach of just gently easing the lockdown restrictions was rather better, and I suspect there will be a few hangovers on Sunday, Monday.
“And also I fear there may well be some very localised spikes.
“Maybe not, maybe this virus is going to be kept back by the sunshine and the heat.
“That was always part of the thinking – I went to a Cobra on coronavirus back in February and that was the advice then – it was felt that the virus would retreat back in the summer.”
Former transport minister George Freeman PA Archive/PA Images
Freeman meanwhile said he was “really worried” about the impact of the coronavirus crisis on education.
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He turned his fire on teaching unions who have been resistant to an earlier full reopening of schools on safety grounds, saying their actions stood in “in stark contrast” to the “magnificent” sacrifices of health and care workers during the crisis.
But Freeman also stressed that the government should have acted more boldly and decisively to ensure children were still educated outside school.
The Mid Norfolk MP said he would like to have seen a “bulk order” of electronic notebooks, noting that they only cost “around a hundred quid”.
“If we’d bought and supplied a notebook to every school-age child I think it would have been a real contribution to helping them learn. Keep the laptops, start a business with it, do whatever, become a games entrepreneur,” he said.
“This is just a moment to do some bold things we don’t normally do.”
Freeman is currently working on an international commission on health economy and said it was “very worrying” to see Trump turn his back on international cooperation after the US president bought up almost the entire world’s stock of coronavirus treatment Remdesivir.
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The former life sciences minister recalled visiting the US with then-PM David Cameron to collaborate on a cancer project being run by then-vice president Joe Biden, who will be Trump’s opponent in this autumn’s presidential election.
By contrast, Americans involved in public health and science now are being left “feeling that their own country is beginning to become hostile to the things science does well and really requires”.
“If I was an American I’d be quite worried about that because it is fundamental to their ability to drive technological leadership and to hold the flag high for western values.”
Asked if he could vote for Trump if he were American, Freeman said: “I think it’s very clear that from what I’ve said I would really struggle if I was an American citizen to feel that Donald Trump embodies the best of America’s values around the world.
“It’s the first time in my life that I’ve seen an American president who seems to thrive on division, internal division, and I think that is quite worrying and it’s likely to foster division within the western alliance.
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“When you’ve got a thinly disguised kleptocracy running Russia, the Middle East in flames, an aggressive and expansionist China pursuing pretty naked economic nationalism, this is no time for the Western alliance to turn in and fight on itself or to withdraw.


thehuffingtonpostuk--2020-07-02--Will Boris Johnson’s Big Reset Work? With George Freeman MP

Will Boris Johnson’s Big Reset Work? With George Freeman MP
Boris Johnson tried to reset the agenda on his premiership this week ahead of the lockdown all but lifting, setting out a “new deal” in the mould of Franklin D Roosevelt to get Britain to flourish once more following the coronavirus pandemic. But was he bold enough during the crisis itself?While Johnson was taking to the stage, a local flare up of cases in Leicester, China’s moves on Hong Kong and Donald Trump’s hoarding of coronavirus drugs showed just how gargantuan his task may be. Tory former minister and founder of the Big Tent Ideas Festival, George Freeman takes a look with Arj Singh, Paul Waugh and Rachel Wearmouth.


thehuffingtonpostuk--2020-07-02--Duffy Criticises Netflix For Glamorising Kidnap And Rape With 365 Days Film

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This article contains details of sexual abuse.
Duffy has criticised Netflix’s “irresponsible” decision to stream the film 365 Days, claiming it glamorises “the brutal reality of sex trafficking, kidnapping and rape”.
Earlier this year, the Grammy-winning star shared an Instagram post in which she explained her years-long absence from the music industry, revealing she’d been drugged, kidnapped and then sexually abused a decade earlier.
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In a letter to Netflix’s chief executive, Reed Hastings, Duffy said the streaming service’s decision to feature the film was “careless, insensitive, and dangerous”.
Duffy PA
The film follows the imprisonment of a young Polish woman (played by Anna-Maria Sieklucka) by a Sicilian man (played by Michele Morrone) who gives her a year to fall in love with him, and features graphic depictions of BDSM.
“365 Days glamorises the brutal reality of sex trafficking, kidnapping and rape,” Duffy wrote.
“This should not be anyone’s idea of entertainment, nor should it be described as such, or be commercialised in this manner.
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“I write these words (ones I cannot believe I am writing in 2020, with so much hope and progress gained in recent years), as an estimated 25 million people are currently trafficked around the world, not to mention the untold amounts of people uncounted.”
Duffy, whose full name is Aimee Anne Duffy, added: “It grieves me that Netflix provides a platform for such ‘cinema’, that eroticises kidnapping and distorts sexual violence and trafficking as a ‘sexy’ movie.
“I just can’t imagine how Netflix could overlook how careless, insensitive, and dangerous this is.
“It has even prompted some young women, recently, to jovially ask Michele Morrone, the lead actor in the film, to kidnap them.”
Anna-Maria Sieklucka and Michele Morrone (centre) appear in 365 Days Netflix
Duffy also urged Netflix and film-makers to produce and broadcast content that portrays “the truth of the harsh and desperate reality” of kidnap and rape.
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365 Days was released at the Polish box office in February, debuting on Netflix last month. While it has been critically panned, it made the streaming service’s top three requested titles in various territories, including the UK and US.
Addressing the film’s fans, she added: “And because 365 Days has proved enormously popular, I also address this letter to viewers directly.
“I encourage the millions who have enjoyed the movie to reflect on the reality of kidnapping and trafficking, of force and sexual exploitation, and of an experience that is the polar opposite of the glossy fantasy depicted in 365 Days.”
Duffy previously told of how she was drugged at a restaurant on her birthday a decade ago, before being held against her will first at her own home, and later being taken to a foreign country.
At the time, she said she was sharing her story because we are living in “a hurting world”, saying: “I am no longer ashamed that something deeply hurt me, anymore. I believe that if you speak from the heart within you, the heart within others will answer.
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“As dark as my story is, I do speak from my heart, for my life, and for the life of others, whom have suffered the same.
“I have no shame in telling you either I had spent almost ten years completely alone and it still burns my heart to write it. I owe it to myself to say it, I feel obliged to explain how challenging recovering truly was and to finally disclose it. I hope it comforts you to feel less ashamed if you feel alone.”
HuffPost UK has contacted a Netflix representative for comment and is awaiting a response.


thehuffingtonpostuk--2020-07-02--Cafe Rouge And Bella Italia Owner To Axe 1,900 Jobs

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The owner of Bella Italia, Cafe Rouge and Las Iguanas has said it plans to cut 1,909 jobs after calling in administrators.
The Casual Dining Group said it would close 91 of its 250 restaurants, but has saved others for now.
It still leaves around 4,050 workers at the company’s sites across the UK, PA Media reports.
The board said that entering administration was in the best interest of stakeholders during the “extreme operating environment” it is having to trade through.
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It is looking for a new owner, but said that the administration would allow it to end negotiations with landlords, a “critical step” before finding a buyer.
JohnDWilliams via Getty Images
Chief executive James Spragg said: “After reviewing all our options with advisers, it became clear that we needed to take this action in order to protect the business and secure the best possible future for Casual Dining Group as we look to conclude a potential sale.
“We are acutely aware of our duty to all employees and recognise that this is an incredibly difficult time for them. Working alongside the administrators we will do everything we can to support them through this process with a view to preserving as much employment as we are able to.”
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Administrator Clare Kennedy, from Alix Partners, said: ““We appreciate that this is an extremely difficult time for all those associated with Casual Dining Group.
“Our immediate priorities are to assist those whose employment has been affected by today’s announcement and to secure a sale for the group in order to protect jobs and provide the Group’s much-loved brands with a sustainable platform for the future.”


thehuffingtonpostuk--2020-07-02--Labour Leader Keir Starmer Appeals To Black People Not To Leave The Party

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Labour leader Keir Starmer has appealed to Black voters not to leave the party, following backlash over an interview in which he dismissed the Black Lives Matter goal of defunding the police as “nonsense”.
HuffPost UK revealed in June that scores of Black people were leaving or considering leaving the party over concerns that anti-Black racism was not being adequately addressed by the leadership.
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It was sparked by a leaked report into anti-Semitism in the party, drafted in March and leaked in April, which also appeared to uncover examples of Afriphobia – prompting Starmer to appoint a four-person panel to investigate.
Still, Black voters have expressed disappointment with silence on the matter from leadership while this is underway.
Speaking to BBC Breakfast on Monday, Starmer said: “Nobody should be saying anything about defunding the police.
“I was director of public prosecutions for five years. I’ve worked with police forces across England and Wales bringing thousands of people to court, so my support for the police is very strong.”
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Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer tells #BBCBreakfast it’s "a shame" the sentiment behind the Black Lives Matter movement is getting “tangled up with these organisational issues" and it’s "nonsense" to call to ‘Defund the Police’. pic.twitter.com/7ydITWGZWN — BBC Breakfast (@BBCBreakfast) June 29, 2020
Now, amid growing backlash from people who described his interview as “disappointing” and cited it as grounds to part ways with Labour, Starmer is appealing to Black people to stay.
“I don’t want anybody to leave the Labour Party,” Starmer told HuffPost UK on Thursday.
“The Labour Party is a broad church. It is a place that I hope and am determined that Black people feel that they are welcome, that they want to be; we definitely need as much Black representation in the Labour Party as we can possibility get.”
The Labour leader described the party as “anti-racist” and suggested that disciplinary procedures have already taken place internally.
“Amongst the reasons we took the actions that we did [to order an independent inquiry] was to try to show as quickly as we could to people that they could have confidence in [deputy leader] Angela Rayner and myself to root out racism and to take swift action in order to do so without inhibitions. [...]
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“We take it really seriously. Angela Rayner and I are determined to root out any racism in the party – whether that’s staff or members. We are a proudly anti-racist party. They are our core values and principles.
“Within hours of getting the leaked report we had ordered an independent inquiry. We didn’t delay, we didn’t just leave it to the internal process, and we have not inhibited that inquiry in any way whatsoever.”
We kneel with all those opposing anti-Black racism. #BlackLivesMatter pic.twitter.com/ZvjBndwqKk — Keir Starmer (@Keir_Starmer) June 9, 2020
“It’s been in place in a matter of a few weeks and people will judge us, I think, when those reports come in. I’m determined it’ll be independent and I’m determined we’ll act upon it when we see the results of that report,” Starmer added.
“Meanwhile the internal processes are going on and that has led to action already – albeit, frustratingly, for a number of weeks I wasn’t able to point to that when people were criticising me because of the confidentiality of the process.”
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He added: “I asked the team, headed up by Martin Forde QC, to go wherever he needs to go on this, and they’ll report to us. There’s no ‘no go areas’. He has not been given any instructions not to look at anything – he has got complete freedom to go where he needs to go, such is the determination to root out any racism in our party and deal with it – and be seen to deal with it – effectively.”
Dawn Butler and Diane Abbott at Labour's Women's Conference in the Telford International Centre. PA Wire/PA Images
Black voters are still reeling from the aftermath of the leaked report and many have told us that they now feel “politically homeless”.
The lengthy document revealed that Labour officials used a string of insults in private WhatsApp groups to describe senior Black MPs and officials including Diane Abbott, Dawn Butler and Clive Lewis. Among those disappointed by the contents of the report were London Mahmoud Junju, who told HuffPost UK it was “damning” and said he found the silence of the upper echelons of the party worrying. He cancelled his membership after almost a decade. “The findings exposed anti-Blackness in the party – especially towards Black Labour MPs like Auntie Abbott. She’s one MP who has faced the most abuse in recent British history and we can’t ignore the fact that it’s mainly because she’s a Black woman,” he said. Starmer’s recent BBC interview won the praise of far-right leader Nigel Farage. When asked by HuffPost UK about his view on that, the Labour leader replied – twice – “I have nothing in common with Nigel Farage.”
Heartily agree with @Keir_Starmer’s condemnation of the Black Lives Matter organisation. https://t.co/LSwoIhoWk1 — Nigel Farage (@Nigel_Farage) June 29, 2020
The Labour leader also came under fire on Monday for describing the Black Lives Matter movement as “a moment, if you like”, with many people taking umbrage with the possible implication that the anti-racism moving is fleeting and lacking in significance. But Starmer told HuffPost UK he meant the opposite and denies accusations that he is courting any racist votes, particularly in light of Farage’s endorsement. “I meant ‘moment’ as in ‘a defining moment’, a turning point, and I genuinely think that reflects the sentiment that many, many Black community leaders have expressed to me in recent weeks. “If there’s one thing that’s come through loud and clear it’s this has got to be a moment, a turning point, a defining point, moment, call it what you like. Because there’s a deep frustration [...] that we’ve kind of been here before where people have said there needs to be change and there hasn’t been change. “In that sense, I was absolutely not pandering to a racist vote. I was trying to recognise the significance of what was happening and express a determination that it should be a turning [point], and to join with those across the Black Lives Matter movement who desperately do want it to be a turning point. And I’m very, very happy to say that over and over again because I think it’s very important.”
#BlackLivesMatterUK #BlackLivesMatters
More than just a #
More than just a moment — Dawn Butler MP✊🏾 (@DawnButlerBrent) June 29, 2020


thehuffingtonpostuk--2020-07-02--You Don't Need To Pretend To Not Have A Family To Be Professional

Screenshot Deborah Haynes
“Sorry, that’s my son arriving. I’m really embarrassed. Sorry.”
Those were not my words as my son careened around my agent’s office, pulling open filing cabinets and throwing raisins across the floor.
Not my words when my son pulled down my top, hunting for a nipple halfway through a live radio broadcast.
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Not my words when, halfway through a Zoom call to a group of American execs, my son ran naked and bath-pink down the hallway behind me.
Because, I no longer apologise for having a child any more. And I refuse to be embarrassed.
The apology came, in fact, from journalist Deborah Haynes as she was interrupted live on Sky News last night by her son coming into the room and asking, quite understandably, if he could have two biscuits.
Why was she embarrassed? Why did she apologise? Why did her interviewer, Mark Austin (who has children himself), treat the interruption like someone had just asked to piss in his shoe?
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You know what I’m going to say: it is a foul, three-egg omelette of gender inequality (because the majority of childcare in this country is still undertaken by women), harmful workplace culture and patriarchal bullshit. The sulphuric mess that tells us, so early and quietly in our lives, that we hardly have a chance to question it, that having a family is unprofessional; that having a child and having a career are antithetical; that we need to keep our work life and our home life entirely separate. It is the myth that in order to get ahead we must pretend that we are not human and do not exist outside of our money-making role.
For perhaps a year after my son was born, I strove to walk this nonsense tightrope. I would schedule meetings or interviews only at times when I knew my son would be asleep – and then spend an hour preparing for that meeting by feeding, changing, walking, rocking and sshhhing him until he could be left, alone, in a dark room while I worked.
I would take him to the swings at 9am just so I could push with one hand and answer my emails on my phone with the other. Or I would beg friends to roll round the block with him gurgling or howling in his buggy outside a building where I was having a midday work meeting because I couldn’t afford nursery and didn’t want to impose my child on that company’s bright white conference rooms.
I would wake up at 4am and try to do all my work, in the dark, before he woke up. Or I would apologise at the beginning of emails for replying at 3am or 9pm, or after an unforgivable two hour delay, without explaining that this was because I had been entirely occupied keeping a small, helpless and screaming mammal alive since they had got in touch.
I begged my mother to pass up a day’s supply teaching so she could play with my son in a park while I recorded a radio feature mere metres away. Or I wrote at my kitchen table while my son ripped apart an entire loo roll at my feet because I simply couldn’t think of any way around it.
I was doing this in 2018, when Corona was just a beer and a virus was just what we called our colds. So, it is with a strange, guilty delight that I now see my own compromised work situation played out across the nation.
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When shadow chancellor Anneliese Dodd’s daughter walked in on one of her early television interviews, when Joe Wick’s daughter trotted into shot during one of his morning PE Lessons, when Dr Clare Wenham was interrupted during a BBC interview about lockdown procedure by her daughter brandishing a picture of a unicorn; I cheered. Because you’re all in my boat now. And I have some advice to give from behind my oars.
Firstly, silence the voice inside that tells you that you must hide away your family, your blood, your body and your life in order to succeed. If success means the elimination of those things from your life, then it isn’t success at all.
If you are pregnant, have a child, have just lost a baby, are caring for a relative, are suffering a physical or mental illness, then that does not make you unprofessional. If you can still do your job while weathering those storms then, frankly, you are twice as professional as those colleagues who juggle just the single ball of paid work.
I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: if I worked in recruitment I would give all the biggest jobs to single parents, carers, the parents of several children and people living with long-term illnesses. Because when it comes to logistics, efficiency, motivation, stamina and self-sacrifice, those guys know how to get shit done.
Secondly, be the change you want to see at work. Engage with other people’s lives as you wish them to engage with and understand your own. Be honest about your juggling, explain your parameters, hold firm on what you can and can’t do. BBC News anchor Christian Fraser’s response to Scarlett and her unicorn drawing was great, not just because it showed humanity but because his genuine interest and attention was precisely what Scarlett needed in order to move on. It allowed an informed, professional and erudite woman – Dr Wenham – to make her point. He showed us all how to do it.
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Finally, keep pushing. We all want to return to something like normal when lockdown lifts, but shouldn’t it, couldn’t it, be better than what came before? Now that so much of Britain has actually experienced 24-hour childcare, has seen the juggle involved in making money and simultaneously looking after family, has been stripped back to the bare bones of coping, are we finally ready to embrace a better workplace culture? One that gives decent parental leave, subsidised childcare and flexible working?
I’d take that over two biscuits any day.


thehuffingtonpostuk--2020-07-02--Anger As Windrush Victims Told To Prove Case 'Beyond Reasonable Doubt' To Get Compensation

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The Home Office is facing fresh criticism over the Windrush scandal after it emerged victims are having to prove their case “beyond reasonable doubt” before being given compensation.
It is the same level of proof required to convict defendants in criminal courts across the UK. Immigration lawyer Jacqueline McKenzie told HuffPost UK that as compensation claims are civil cases, the burden of proof should be “on the balance of probabilities”.
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The compensation scheme has been criticised over its slow progress in offering pay-outs to those wrongly told they no longer had a right to be in the UK. At least 83 victims with the right to live in the country have been deported.
By the end of March, 1,275 people had applied under the scheme. But to date, just 60 people have received compensation through the scheme, which was launched more than a year ago, with £362,996 paid out to them. Some estimates suggest the total fund could be between £200m and £500m.
At a Commons home affairs committee hearing on Wednesday, senior civil servants were forced to defend the “complex” scheme.
Underlining the slow pace at which the scheme is moving, chair Yvette Cooper said out of four cases raised with the Home Office by the committee over two years ago, two of the people had since died “before they can get any kind of payment or compensation or any redress for the injustices that they faced”.
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In Home Office guidance, caseworkers are told they must be satisfied “beyond reasonable doubt” when judging the merits of five types of claim, including loss of access to employment and loss of access to education.
Cooper said it was “quite a high threshold” given that “this is a group of people who have already experienced considerable injustice, distress and trauma at the hands of the Home Office”.
When questioned, second permanent secretary Shona Dunn defended the position as the scheme is “funded from taxpayers’ money” and it is “inevitable a degree of evidence will be sought in order to support those payments”.
Labour MP Diane Abbott, who sits on the committee, raised the case of Joycelyn John who, despite living in the UK for more than 40 years, spent 18 months semi-destitute in Grenada before being allowed to return in 2018. The committee heard she has provided 75 pieces of evidence to the Home Office but has yet to receive compensation.
MPs were also told the average length of time it had taken to provide the 60 victims an offer of compensation was “under nine months”. The overall average amount of time people were having to wait to go through the process was “under eight months”, Dunn said.
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Shadow justice secretary David Lammy said asking Windrush citizens for such proof “treats them like criminals when they are victims”.
He tweeted: “It is shameful @BorisJohnson and @pritipatel are setting the bar so high after their government treated this generation with such disdain.”
McKenzie, of McKenzie, Beute and Pope, described the move as “regrettable” and “inaccurate”.
“It’s regrettable in that it seems to be attaching a criminal standard of proof to people who are innocent victims of the outcomes of generations of discriminatory and erroneous decision making both in government and in the Home Office,” she told HuffPost UK.
“These are civil claims and the burden of proof on such claims is on the balance of probabilities. It is also shows a lack of understanding of the scheme in that the only aspect which requires incontrovertible evidence is for claims of actual loss of earnings rather than deemed loss.”
PA
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Martin Forde QC, the architect of the Windrush scheme, has said at several public meetings that a light touch approach to evidence should apply and that the scheme should be “fair” to “generous”, McKenzie added.
She added: “It’s worrying too in that the language used and the tenure of its tone suggests a continuation of the hostility which caused the Windrush scandal in the first place and I for one had hoped that lessons had been learnt but statements like these, two years after the scandal, are disturbing.”
Last month Priti Patel announced that the government will accept the recommendations of the review of the Windrush scandal in full. It followed a petition signed by 130,000 people.
Patrick Vernon, who created the petition and also led the campaign for Windrush Day to be recognised annually, told HuffPost UK the level of proof victims are expected to provide is “ridiculous”.
He said: “It further reinforces the basis that victims are at fault. It should be done on the principles of restorative justice, not criminal justice.
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“Victims are being expected to produce the same standard of proof as loss adjustors.”
Patrick has since launched another petition calling for the compensation scheme to be made easier for victims to access. It has so far garnered 26,000 signatures, and calls for the government to consider taking the scheme off the Home Office and given to an independent organisation.
“We want to get this scheme removed from the Home Office and be run by an independent organisation,” he added.
He has also suggested that due to the delays in getting payouts, all victims should be automatically given £10,000 as “recognition of what the government has done to them”.
A Home Office spokesperson said: “We are determined to right the wrongs experienced by the Windrush generation.
“That is why we established the Windrush Compensation Scheme, which has been carefully designed with independent oversight so that it is as easy to use as possible. We will support people in collating evidence and there is an independent service to provide further assistance.
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thehuffingtonpostuk--2020-07-02--Those Cute Kids Gatecrashing Live TV Aren't News To Parents. That's Our Life

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We all remember the classic BBC interview, fabulously gatecrashed by two kids during a segment discussing the South Korean president’s impeachment.
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Thanks to the pandemic – and with many people working from home for the foreseeable future – we’ve seen even more moments of eye-watering family carnage played out in real-time. Within a few hours of each other, two live TV interviews were upstaged this week by young children wandering in as their parents were giving their expertise to Sky News and BBC News respectively.
Deborah Haynes, Sky News foreign affairs editor, was interrupted by her son (who wanted two – yes, that’s TWO – biscuits), while Dr Clare Wenham from the London School of Economics was waylaid by her daughter Scarlett, who wanted to know where she should place a framed picture... of a unicorn.
ABSOLUTE SCENES ON THE BBC NEWS CHANNEL pic.twitter.com/hvu9iWkkIz — Scott Bryan (@scottygb) July 1, 2020
Aside from the bafflingly different responses of the male news presenters to these moments – one of them actively engaging with the unicorn dilemma, the other moving on from Biscuitgate as quickly as he possibly could – these “absolute scenes’ will be news to no working parent anywhere.
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One mum on Twitter thanked Wenham and Haynes for showing what life’s really like for working parents at the moment. “As the increasingly frazzled working mum of a toddler who has become somewhat famous on video calls, I needed to see this today,” she wrote. “Carry on, everyone.”
Meanwhile, BBC 6Music breakfast host Lauren Laverne tweeted Wenham and her daughter to say: “Best bulletin in ages! Well done both of you!”
Plenty of parents were moved to shared their own WFH disruptions, including one dad, whose young son alerted him, mid Zoom call, to a desk disaster.
I was on a video call - quite an important one - and my son passed me this note: pic.twitter.com/3WIvcLvzhH — Philip Priestley 🇪🇺🇮🇪 (@PublicPriestley) July 1, 2020
A surplus of poo, wee and vomit are basic facts of life for families of young children. Another mum-of-three, a writer, said the news clips reminded her of the time she was “crouched outside the bathroom door interviewing a professor of medical research and one of my kids did a big poo in the bath.”
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A dad recounted his family’s version: “My wife had a team meeting video call,” he said. “I was supposed to be looking after the two girls. One escaped and crashed the call, shouting, ‘Mummy, Alice did a poo and it leaked!’”
We’ve all discovered lockdown comes with certain challenges – only recently, I found my foot being stuck to the floor with electrical tape by my three-year-old son, who said he was “trying to help me do my work”.
Another day, he clambered on to my lap during a catchup with the HuffPost newsroom to request – in front of my colleagues – that I make him “bum toast”. Just to be clear, this is pieces of buttered toast cut into circles using a cookie cutter, which he insists resembles ‘bums’. His dad was similarly interrupted during an annual performance review on Zoom by our boy running into the room, stark naked, to give him an “urgent kiss”.
But as many parents who watched the BBC and Sky clips of families juggling work and home life have pointed out, perhaps this exposure is good for us all.
As we’ve learned over the past few months, seeing into each other’s living rooms and lives – even, or especially, if that includes unicorns, biscuits and poo – is an invitation to us all to be more understanding of each other’s situations.
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Plus it lightens the load a bit, puncturing those pandemic blues. “I was on an ‘important’ call recently when my daughter came to ask if huskies having blue eyes help them when working in the snow,” shared one mum.
“And it started a wonderful conversation with all on the call.”


thehuffingtonpostuk--2020-07-02--Jeffrey Epstein's Ex-Girlfriend Ghislaine Maxwell Arrested On Suspicion Of Grooming Children

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Ghislaine Maxwell, the British socialite and close friend of Jeffrey Epstein, has been arrested in relation to the late financier’s sex crimes.
Maxwell, the socialite and daughter of the late media mogul Robert Maxwell, was arrested by the FBI in Bradford, New Hampshire, on Thursday morning and is expected to appear in federal court later in the day, an FBI spokesperson told HuffPost.
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Prosecutors say she conspired to entice children to travel to engage in illegal sex acts with Epstein in as early as 1994, according to an indictment filed in New York and obtained by HuffPost.
The indictment states victims were “groomed and/or abused at multiple locations”, including Maxwell’s home in London as well as Epstein’s properties across the US.
Jeffrey Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell in 2005. Patrick McMullan via Getty Images
“Maxwell assisted, facilitated, and contributed to Jeffrey Epstein’s abuse of minor girls by, among other things, helping Epstein to recruit, groom, and ultimately abuse victims known to Maxwell and Epstein to be under the age of 18,” a copy of the indictment reads.
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In some cases, prosecutors say Maxwell would befriend the victims by taking them to the movies or to go shopping. She would attempt to normalise sexual abuse around them and pay for their travel or other opportunities which would make the victims “feel indebted”.
Maxwell faces six counts in all, including conspiracy, enticement and transportation of a minor to travel to engage in illegal sex acts, and two counts of perjury over testimony she gave before the Southern District of New York in 2016 about her role and knowledge of the sexual abuse.
The indictment refers to one of the victims being “groomed and befriended” by Maxwell in London between 1994 and 1995, including “during a period of time in which Maxwell knew that [the victim] was under the age of 18″.
It states she “encouraged” the victim to “massage Epstein [...] knowing that Epstein would engage in sex acts [...] during those massages”. It adds Maxwell “was aware that Epstein engaged in sexual activity with the [victim] on multiple occasions, including when the [victim] was under the age of 18”.
Jeffrey Epstein poses for a sex offender mugshot after being charged with procuring a minor for prostitution in 2013 in Florida. Handout via Getty Images
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Maxwell has previously denied allegations of having a role in Epstein’s crimes, including allegations that she helped recruit young girls and women for him. She has not faced charges.
Epstein, who was convicted in 2008 on an underage prostitution charge, has been accused by dozens of women of sexual abuse — some when they were as young as 14. He killed himself in August while awaiting trial on charges of sex trafficking in New York.
One of Epstein’s alleged victims, Virginia Giuffre, has claimed that Maxwell arranged for her to have sex with the Duke of York at the socialite’s London townhouse in the late 1990s.
Giuffre has claimed she was trafficked by Epstein and alleges the duke had sex with her on three separate occasions, including when she was 17, still a minor under US law. Andrew categorically denies he had any form of sexual contact or relationship with Giuffre.
At a press conference on Thursday, Audrey Strauss, acting US attorney for the Southern District of New York, said: “We would welcome Prince Andrew coming in to talk with us. Our doors remain open.”
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Giuffre has accused Maxwell of having trafficked her to places around the world with Epstein, starting when she was a young teen, where she would be sexually abused.
“Their whole entire lives revolved around sex,” Giuffre said of Epstein and Maxwell in a defamation suit released to the public last August.


thehuffingtonpostuk--2020-07-02--Boris Johnson 'Moving Goalposts' On 24-Hour Covid Test Target

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Boris Johnson has been accused of “moving the goalposts” on his target to get most covid tests returned within 24 hours as latest figures showed he was well short of the goal.
New statistics published on Thursday showed that just 21% of tests were completed within the timeframe in “satellite” test centres used mainly by care workers, 60% in mobile test centres and 71% in regional test centres.
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But government insiders suggested that a more valid interpretation of the target was to get the results received by the end of the next day following a test, partly because sending texts in the early hours of the morning may not be welcome for the public.
On the “next day” test, the figures look much better, with 73.9% of test results in “satellite” centres now getting results the day after the test was taken.
In the 70 regional test centres, 98% got the results the next day, and in 136 mobile testing centres the figure was 96.7%.
Fewer than 10% of home testing with postal kits, which are not included in Johnson’s target, have results returned within 24 hours.
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But shadow health minister Justin Madders said: “We know for there to be an effective testing and tracing system to be in place that results need to be back quickly so it’s both disappointing and concerning that the government is moving the goalposts on its 24 hour turnaround for tests
“Ministers need to come clean about the problems meeting this target and what they are going to do to put it right. The government has been too slow on lockdown, too slow on PPE, too slow on social care – we cannot afford for it to be too slow on this as well.”
The only part of the entire testing structure that has very high turnaround times is the NHS, in so-called ‘Pillar 1’ tests in hospital and Public Health England laboratories.
Just over 90% of NHS labs return results within 24 hours as of June 30. The current average Covid-19 testing turnaround time in the NHS pathology
laboratories is 14 hours.
The prime minister set the goal last month, when he told MPs that 90% of tests were already being turned around within 48 hours but more had to be done to make NHS Test and Trace quicker.
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Johnson promised “to get all tests turned around within 24 hours by the end of June, except for difficulties with postal tests or insuperable problems like that”.
Asked if the PM’s “24 hour” target still stood, his spokesperson said: “You have his words from the chamber.”
But the spokesperson added: “Getting tests back the next day is obviously important and we need to make sure we are achieving that in as many cases as we can.”
Former health secretary Jeremy Hunt had criticised ministers’ failure to produce any figures on the proportion of tests being returned, and had warned it was undermining confidence in the test and trace programme.
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The Commons health select committee chair had spoken of a “golden 48 hours” during which test results must be returned and their contacts then reached if NHS contact tracers are to have any chance of stopping a fresh outbreak of the disease.
Chief medical officer Chris Whitty has said a quick turnaround on tests was necessary to ensure the UK could clamp down on the virus as lockdown measures are eased further.
The new target had followed a more vague commitment from the PM in evidence to the Commons Liaison Committee in May.


thehuffingtonpostuk--2020-07-02--Heinz Launches Ketchup And Mayo Ice Cream – And We Tried Them

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As if 2020 couldn’t get any weirder, Heinz has launched a ketchup-flavoured ice cream, of sorts. Yep, the rumours are true – but it’s not as simple as going to the shop and picking up a ready-made tub.
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In celebration of National Ice Cream Month, Heinz – best known for its condiments, beans and soups – has created limited-edition DIY ice cream kits called ‘Heinz Creamz’.
Jonathan Kennedy Heinz Creamz
For 15 quid, you can buy a set that includes: the sauce of your choice, a recipe card, an engraved golden scoop and golden spoon, plus a reusable ice cream tub. Here’s the catch: you have to make the actual ice cream bit yourself.
Heinz says it’s an “easy-to-make home recipe” with four ingredients – taking 15 minutes to make, before freezing. Don’t fret vegans and those who are lactose intolerant, it’s also developed a recipe for a refreshing ketchup sorbet, too.
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I managed to bypass the DIY bit and try some ready-made sauce-flavoured ice cream to give you my verdict.
HuffPost UK
I dig into the sorbet version of ‘Ketchup Creamz’ first – the acidity and sweetness of the tomatoes are overpowering. To be honest, it’s difficult to get the image of eating frozen ketchup out my mind as I eat it. I have one small spoonful and I’m done.
Safe to say, I’m not a fan of this as a sweet dessert, but it could be worth trying in a Bloody Mary cocktail instead of ice cubes. I’d give a pretty low 2/10.
For the ‘Mayo Creamz’, Heinz recommends “to top with apple and blackberry compote and layer of crumble to create an indulgent treat.” Sadly, I don’t have such delicious toppings to hand, so I go in without.
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Texturally, the first bit lulls me into a false sense of delicious, creamy gelato. Afterwards, though, I’m hit with a taste of mayonnaise that becomes sickly – hints of vinegar, oil, and lemon come through and it gets a bit much.
It’s a bit... odd. But I’d give it a 5/10.
HuffPost UK Heinz Mayo ice cream with apple and blackberry compote and crumble
I thankfully sadly wasn’t able to try the other flavours – BBQ and salad cream – but if you do, I’d love to hear what they’re like.
Speaking in more detail about the unusual flavours, David Chalbert, at Heinz Sauces, said: “This summer is looking different for many of us, and while we might be staycationing or staying at home more than in other years, it doesn’t mean you have to miss out on the joys of a good ice cream.
“We know it might seem like a bit of a crazy combo to some – but with Heinz always at the forefront of innovation, anything is possible.”
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thehuffingtonpostuk--2020-07-03--Here’s What People In England Can Do From ‘Super Saturday’

Here’s What People In England Can Do From ‘Super Saturday’
After more than three months in lockdown, England is reopening pubs, restaurants and other facilities for the public to enjoy. Here’s what you can do from 4th July.


thehuffingtonpostuk--2020-07-03--Pubs Told They Can't Open Before 6am Amid Fears Of Midnight Parties

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Pubs cannot open before 6am on Saturday July 4, Downing Street has warned amid fears coronavirus “independence day” could spark midnight parties.
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Boris Johnson announced last month that people will finally be able to go to their local pub for a pint as lockdown measures will be eased in England this weekend.
But new last-minute guidance to be published on Friday will warn establishments cannot throw open their doors at midnight.
It comes amid concern landlords are planning late night parties to mark the lifting of restrictions.
The prime minister’s official spokesperson said pubs should stick to the 6am limit, adding: “It’s a sensible precaution, just to stress that pubs should not open at midnight and that the reopening date should be on the daytime of July 4.”
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During an interview with LBC earlier on Friday, the PM urged Brits not to “blow it” as lockdown measures are lifted, amid fears a second wave of the disease could be on the horizon.
He was also asked why restrictions on going to the pub will be lifted on a Saturday, which typically sees a higher rate of alcohol-related issues for police and the NHS.
Johnson said: “We thought about this carefully and I think we wanted to give pubs time to prepare, we wanted a date early in July and when I look at what is happening I hope very much that people will behave responsibly and enjoy summer safely.
“I hope this will be a reasonable time for people to get ready to enjoy themselves in the weekend but to do it in a safe way.”
Signs being put in place instructing on social distancing at the Chandos Arms pub in London ASSOCIATED PRESS
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When pressed by host Nick Ferrari on why Saturday was chosen rather than Monday and whether he only “hoped” it would be safe, Johnson added: “It’s not on hope, it’s based on a clear understanding of the statistical risks that we now face as a country.
“We’ve progressed thanks to the efforts of the British people from an incidence of the disease at about one in 400 a few weeks ago to maybe one in 2,200 today. You’re appreciably less likely now to be in close proximity to someone who has it than you were even a couple of weeks ago.
“We’re making progress, we aimed for July the 4th, we wanted to set ourselves a target, we think we’re in good shape but my message is let’s not blow it.”
Downing Street has said the coronavirus regulations will not limit the amount of time people can spend in pubs and restaurants.
It comes after some police chiefs said they will cap the amount of time people spend in a bar to two hours.
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The PM’s official spokesman said: “It’s not part of the regulations, as I understand it.


thehuffingtonpostuk--2020-07-03--Vogue Portugal Faces Backlash Over ‘Deeply Problematic’ Cover

Vogue Portugal Instagram One of Vogue Portugal's 'Madness Issue' covers
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Update: Vogue Portugal has pulled the cover from sale and apologised. Read more.
Vogue Portugal’s July/August issue is facing a backlash for fuelling stigma and trivialising mental health.
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The cover, which is one of four shared as part of the magazine’s “Madness Issue”, shows a naked woman in what appears to be a psychiatric hospital, hunched over and hugging herself while being washed by two nurses.
A photo of the cover was shared on the publication’s Instagram account, with the caption: “It’s about love. It’s about life. It’s about us. It’s about you. It’s about now. It’s about health. It’s about mental health.”
But many are appalled over the messaging. Journalist, author, and mental health campaigner, Poorna Bell, who lost her husband Rob to suicide five years ago, says the cover is “deeply problematic” on two counts.
“Not only does it trivialise mental health by calling it the ‘madness’ issue,” she tells HuffPost UK, “the image itself will be troubling and triggering to so many.”
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The image perpetuates the stigma of psychiatric hospitals, says Bell. It also “dehumanises” anyone who has been – or needs to go – to hospital, she adds, recalling a time when Rob, who was struggling with depression and addiction, went to a psychiatric hospital.
“The stigma around it was so great we didn’t feel able to tell anyone, and he felt deeply ashamed at needing to go to one – despite the fact that it was medical help he really needed,” she says.
“That’s why it’s important to break down the stigma around it, and Vogue Portugal should be utterly ashamed of what they’ve done as it will reinforce all of that stigma.”
Vogue Portugal defended the cover, saying its intention is to “open up the topic of mental health, and bring to the discussion the institutions, the science and the people that are involved with mental health today”.
HuffPost UK The Vogue Portugal cover, as shared on the publication's Instagram account.
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Consultant psychiatrist Dr Sarah Vohra has called on Vogue Portugal to remove the issue from sale, apologise and educate themselves. “This is everything that is wrong with the portrayal of mental illness in the media,” she tweeted. “It is not something to be glamourised or falsely and damagingly portrayed.”
Meanwhile Molly King, a student mental health nurse who has previously been sectioned, says she’s “disgusted” with the cover. “As a person with lived experience of mental illness and having spent nine months in hospital as a result, I found this cover beyond hurtful,” she tells HuffPost UK.
“Mental illness isn’t a fashion trend, nor something to be glamorised. I want to know why they felt this was acceptable and what they were aiming to achieve by publishing such damaging content both through the images and terminology of ‘madness’.”
“Mental illness isn’t a fashion trend.” - Molly King, a student mental health nurse
Jo Loughran, director of Time to Change, which is run by mental health charities Mind and Rethink Mental Illness, says it’s “disappointing” to see the outdated depiction of what looks to be a psychiatric hospital – especially on the cover of such a high-profile magazine.
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“Mental health isn’t a fashion statement,” she tells HuffPost UK, echoing King’s comments. “The shame and isolation that many of us with mental health problems experience is only made worse by imagery like this which fuels people’s lack of understanding.”
It’s well known that negative attitudes towards mental illness can stop people from getting the help they need. Time To Change says the shame and silence can be as bad as the mental health problem itself. And compounding negative attitudes towards mental health problems can lead to discrimination.
Loughran says while it’s great to see Vogue Portugal trying to raise awareness of mental health in this issue, “doing so behind this cover is not acceptable”.
“Unfortunately, this isn’t the first time we’ve seen something like this,” she says. “Some really strong stories that may include great content and have educational value are sometimes weakened by the use of inappropriate images.”
Photographer Elliott Morgan branded the cover “extremely disrespectful” and said he couldn’t believe it was approved. Bell agrees. Having worked as a journalist for a number of years, she says the cover would’ve been “signed off by so many people” – including those at the most senior level. “It beggars belief that not one of them thought it was wrong.”
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However, Loughran adds: “While this cover is incredibly disappointing, it’s encouraging to know the public will no longer stand to see mental illness used as a gimmick. When people feel empowered to call out stigma it can send a powerful message to the world – that stigmatising mental health problems is never acceptable.”
In its full statement shared on Instagram, Vogue Portugal said: “Our July/August issue is themed ‘The Madness issue’, with four different covers each designed to address different dimensions of human behaviour, during a time when the global pandemic has brought people to confinement.
“One of the covers portrays a hospital scene where the model is being taken care of by her real life mother and grandmother, shot by photographer Branislav Simoncik. Our intention is to open up the topic of mental health, and bring to the discussion the institutions, the science and the people that are involved with mental health today.
“The cover story explores the historical context of mental health and is designed to reflect real life and authentic stories, inspired by deep research of hundreds of reportage photographs from some of the most relevant and famous documentarists who have captured mental health hospitals. Inside the issue, features interviews and contributions from psychiatrists, sociologists, psychologists and other experts in the field.
“Mental health forms just one of the topics explored within the issue and is not linked to the theme of madness but instead covered as an aspect of human emotions and behaviour. We acknowledge the significance of the topic of mental health and our intention, through visual storytelling, is to shine a light on the important issues of today.”
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Vogue Portugal states the July/August issue is available from July 10.
Useful websites and helplines
Mind, open Monday to Friday, 9am-6pm on 0300 123 3393.
Samaritans offers a listening service which is open 24 hours a day, on 116 123 (UK and ROI - this number is FREE to call and will not appear on your phone bill).
CALM (the Campaign Against Living Miserably) offer a helpline open 5pm-midnight, 365 days a year, on 0800 58 58 58, and a webchat service.
The Mix is a free support service for people under 25. Call 0808 808 4994 or email help@themix.org.uk


thehuffingtonpostuk--2020-07-03--Small Firms Facing ‘A Flood Of Redundancies’, Labour Warns

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Small businesses will suffer “a flood of redundancy notices” in coming months if the government fails to offer targeted coronavirus support next week, shadow chancellor Anneliese Dodds has warned.
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Delivering her first major speech since succeeding John McDonnell in the post, Dodds said that while bigger companies were grabbing the headlines it was smaller firms that would be particularly hard hit as mass unemployment grew.
To combat the threat, chancellor Rishi Sunak should upgrade his summer fiscal update into a full-blown Budget for jobs - with a particular emphasis on hospitality and the creative sectors of the economy - she urged.
One immediate measure should be the government extending furlough and self-employed support schemes for areas like Leicester forced into local lockdowns.
Dodds also said the Treasury should not impose taxes on middle and low income earners to fund rescue packages seen so far, and called for an extension of the benefit sanctions freeze that was put in place to prevent penalising jobseekers during the pandemic.
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Speaking in London via a Facebook live event, Labour’s lead economics spokesperson singled out small businesses owners and their staff for praise, saying they had “put their life and soul” into their companies only to see it wiped away by the impact of the virus.
“It has been heartbreaking to hear from many of them in recent weeks, how they feel their businesses slipping through their fingers because of a temporary lack of cashflow. Even though with the right, targeted support now, they would be perfectly viable in the long term,” she said.
“The reward for months of sacrifice cannot be a redundancy notice. This week we saw a wave of companies announcing enormous job losses - because the government is refusing to shift from its one-size-fits-all approach.
“Smaller companies have a shorter redundancy period. To avoid the same flood of redundancy notices for workers within smaller companies later on this month, government must act now - and abandon its one-size-fits-all approach.”
This week in just a 48 hour period big companies announced plans to make redundant 12,000 people in the UK, with High Street retailers and in aviation hardest hit by the coronavirus lockdown.
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With smaller suppliers often reliant on big chains or factories, Dodds said the focus should now also cover firms with fewer staff.
“We’ve already seen a whole wave of redundancies just being announced, it’s likely that will be mirrored by small businesses, which won’t be hitting the headlines. That will happen every time we see this same one size fits all approach being taken to the withdrawal of support for different industries.”
Dodds added that Leicester, where the government has so far only said firms can “refurlough” staff but not beyond the October expiry date for all other areas, would be a key test of Sunak’s statement next week.
“These support schemes should serve as economic sandbags, ensuring localised second waves of COVID-19 don’t wash away businesses and jobs in their wake.”
Dodds also urged extra help for those who did become unemployed, hitting out at the government’s move to end a sanctions freeze on benefit claimants.
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“The DWP are re-introducing sanctions at a time when there are more than eight people unemployed for every vacancy. This Government seems completely divorced from the scale of the unemployment crisis facing us.,” she said.
But Tory party co-chairwoman Amanda Milling MP said: “Under Keir Starmer Labour will say anything to try and score political points and chase headlines.


thehuffingtonpostuk--2020-07-03--Bodyform's Ad Captures The Love-Hate Relationship We Have With Our Wombs

Listen to our weekly podcast Am I Making You Uncomfortable? about women’s health, bodies and private lives. Available on Spotify, Apple, Audioboom and wherever you listen to your podcasts.
From the sheer joy of getting your period when you’re not ready for a baby, to the utter devastation of seeing blood when you’re trying to conceive, life with a womb brings the highest highs and lowest lows – and they’re perfectly captured in a new advert.
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The ad, from Bodyform, is designed to “push back against the assumption that there is one accepted biological timeline that women live by”.
It shows emotional depictions of periods, pregnancy, endometriosis, miscarriage, infertility, IVF, menopause and more, proving that when it comes to womb health, there’s “no one size fits all” story.
The ad shines a light on the fact that one woman’s disappointment or tragedy might be another’s desire or joy – and that all hopes and dreams are valid.
Bodyform’s short film is certainly a marked change from the period product adverts we grew up with – where blue liquid, white peddle pushers and ecstatic, cramp-free women were the norm.
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Bodyform
The campaign, called #Wombstories, coincides with research by Bodyform’s parent company, Essity, which found 62% of people don’t think women’s anatomy and health issues are talked about openly.
In the survey of more than 8,000 men and women, 40% of women felt their mental wellbeing was negatively impacted as a result of not being able to openly share their experiences.
Bodyform
Around half of women who don’t want children said they feel people are constantly trying to change their mind. Meanwhile 37% of women who experienced a miscarriage said they couldn’t grieve openly without fear of judgement and 42% who’ve had fertility treatment tried to keep it a secret.
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Around four in 10 of women surveyed felt they would be labelled for “over sharing” if they were to talk about an everyday period occurrence, such as leaking, coming on, or a sudden rush. And a third of women also tried to keep their menopause or perimenopause a secret and suffered in silence.
Clearly, there’s still a lot of work to do in breaking reproductive health taboos – something we aim to do on HuffPost UK’s weekly podcast Am I Making You Uncomfortable?
Bodyform
The comments on YouTube also reflect how much an advert like this is needed, for men as well as woman.
“I was crying while watching it,” one woman said. “It was so, so important for me to finally see [the] reproductive system as something normal, something human, connected to a woman herself, in its whole complexity.”
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Another viewer added: “As a new dad this speaks to me a lot, having been through the excitement and pain of trying to have a baby for two years, almost giving up and then succeeding. I cried a little bit to be honest. Bravo.”
Bodyform
The ad was created by Golden Globe-winning and Emmy-nominated director, writer and producer Nisha Ganatra, alongside six female animators. Ganatra said it had been an important and personal project to work on.
“When they’re at their best, our bodies are incredible machines that give us pleasure, and, if we want them to, help us propagate the human race,” she said.
“But they don’t always work. Hell, they don’t often work. Irregular periods. Endometriosis. Miscarriages and infertility. Our bodies can bring joy, but also pain and devastation. It’s an emotional rollercoaster that lasts a lifetime. This is what bonds women in sisterhood.”


thehuffingtonpostuk--2020-07-03--Boris Johnson Says He Would Not Take The Knee For Black Lives Matter

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Boris Johnson has suggested he would not take the knee to show support for the Black Lives Matter movement, saying he does not believe in “gestures”.
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Speaking on LBC on Friday morning, the prime minister said: “I do not believe in gestures, I believe in substance.”
He added: “I don’t want people to be bullied into doing things they don’t necessarily want to do.”
Asked if he wanted to see better black representation at the top of the government, Johnson said “of course we can do more”.
David Lammy, Labour’s shadow justice secretary, did not accept Johnson’s claim he did not believe in “gestures”.
“Says the man who brandished a smoked kipper on stage in the Tory leadership hustings which led to him becoming prime minister,” he tweeted.
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It comes after Dominic Raab, the foreign secretary, also said he would not take a knee, arguing that protest is “a matter of personal choice”.
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The radio interview on focused mainly on the coronavirus crisis, as pubs prepare to reopen on Saturday amid fears of a second spike.
The PM refused to condemn his father for flying to Greece in an apparent breach of Foreign Office guidance.
Stanley Johnson was widely criticised after travelling via Bulgaria to visit his Greek villa.
“I think you really ought to raise that with him. I am not going to get into details of family conversations,” the PM said.
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“I think the overwhelming majority of the British people have understood what needs to be done and have been very prudent, and that is the right thing to do.”
He also urged Britons to “enjoy summer sensibly” ahead of pubs reopening on Saturday, saying “it’s because people stuck to that plan that we’re now able to carefully and cautiously open up hospitality tomorrow”.
He added: “And my message is really for people to enjoy summer sensibly and make sure that it all works.”
But the PM went on to say gyms would be able to reopen in a “couple of weeks”, and vowed to try to get theatres going “as fast as we possibly can”.
He said: “The best way forward for the country is to get the economy moving again. We want to get every part of our industry, including theatres, that are so vital.”
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On gyms, he added: “We are going to reopen gyms as soon as we can do it in a Covid-secure way and I think that the date for reopening gyms at the moment, if we can do it, is in just a couple of weeks’ time.”
Asked if an earlier lockdown could have prevented some deaths in care homes, Johnson said it would be something that the government will “go over and look at”.
He said he disputed claims that people were pushed into care homes from the NHS to make space in hospitals, saying that numbers of people going into care homes fell by 40% from January to March.
“What we certainly wanted to do to was to ensure we had the space in the NHS, that’s absolutely right, but what I’m told is every decision to move people out of the beds in the NHS was taken on a clinical basis and not in any way intended to endanger the care homes,” he said.
“Whether an earlier lockdown would have made the crucial difference is something that really we will have to go over and look at.”
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Johnson revealed he has a Florence Nightingale face covering as he urged people to wear one when in confined spaces with people they do not normally see.
The PM said: “I think that we should wear face coverings in confined spaces where we’re with people that we don’t normally see.
“If you’re somewhere where you’re going to have to stand in a queue, or somewhere where there are going to be people that you don’t know, you should wear a face covering…
“I’ve got an ample supply of coverings.”
Johnson then produced a face covering with a Florence Nightingale pattern, but said it looks “pretty scary when I put it on”.


thehuffingtonpostuk--2020-07-03--Almost 20,000 Care Home Residents Have Died With Covid-19

Death certificates for 19,394 residents mentioned “novel coronavirus” between March 2 and June 12, the Office for National Statistics (ONS) said.
Covid-19 accounted for 29% of the deaths of care home residents over this period and a fifth of all deaths of care home residents this year.
The latest data includes all care home residents who died with coronavirus either at their care home or in hospital.
This pushes the overall care home resident death figure 32% higher than the 14,658 deaths in care homes reported by the ONS on Tuesday.
Three quarters of residents died in their care home while a quarter died in hospital, the figures show.
The latest figures from the Department of Health and Social Care state that, as of 5pm on July 1, 43,995 people in the UK had died after testing positive for Covid-19.


thehuffingtonpostuk--2020-07-03--Love Island's Finley Tapp Reveals He Confronted Producers Over Infamous Headline Task

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Love Island winner Finley Tapp has admitted to having “tiffs” with producers on the show over one of the winter series’ most divisive tasks.
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During this year’s run, Finn and his partner Paige Turley played one of the show’s most infamous games, in which the Islanders have to guess the missing word from a headline written about them.
In this case, the headline was “Casa Amor causes Callum, Finn and Nas’ heads to turn on tonight’s Love Island”.
Viewers took issue with the use of this headline, as it implied that Finn had cheated on Paige during his time in Casa Amor, which was not the case, with 377 even complaining to Ofcom at the time.
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In a new interview on The Reality Tea Podcast, Finn revealed that he wasn’t impressed either, and even confronted producers on the show for trying to stir up trouble between him and Paige.
Shaughna presenting the headline in question to the group ITV
“If I’m honest, I had a few little tiffs with the producers just because I was angry,” he recalled.
“I wasn’t happy… they didn’t really say too much. I was just like, ‘You know what I was like in [Casa Amor]. Like how did you...’ And they were just like, ‘Oh, well, obviously it’s just like the headlines and da, da, da’.
“But, yeah, it was a shame because that could have affected me and Paige, you know? But it didn’t luckily and luckily Paige soon sort of found out.”
HuffPost UK has contacted a Love Island spokesperson for comment.
Paige Turley and Finley Tapp pictured earlier this year David Fisher/Shutterstock
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Fortunately, the headline in question didn’t come between Paige and Finn, who went on to be crowned the winners of the first ever winter series of Love Island.
The pair are still going strong, and have been in quarantine together during the pandemic, with Finn racing to be with Paige in Scotland just hours before movement was restricted. They’ve since moved in to their own flat in Manchester together.


thehuffingtonpostuk--2020-07-03--Homeless Migrants Are Now Being Moved Out Of Emergency Accommodation, Says Charity

Councils have already started evictions. A charity worker told the Bureau that in Nottingham, five people with no recourse to public funds were evicted from a hotel after the local council told the charity in charge of supporting them to cut the numbers staying there.
Police were called to force the group to leave, and intervened again when four of the men moved into a tent across the road.
Gemma Pillay, of the Nottingham Refugee Forum, said that the men told her they felt they were treated “worse than animals”.
She added that the “forced destitution” NRPF inflicts made refugees’ lives too chaotic to successfully apply for leave to remain – a “good outcome”, she claimed, for the Home Office.
Nottingham City Council’s housing chief Cllr Linda Woodings said the group had “displayed anti-social behaviour” leaving the authority with “no alternative” but to evict them from the hotel.
She added that they had been offered alternative places to stay but had “regrettably shown no intention of accepting these offers or undertaking the necessary actions to receive other assistance”.
“Simply staying indefinitely in a hotel is unviable and unrealistic and does not address the underlying issues facing them,” she added.
Mel Steel, director of the Brighton migrant charity Voices In Exile, said she had seen a surge in enquiries from people worried they were destined for the streets once their emergency accommodation ends.
Walid moved to the UK in 2003 and built a life here, having his daughter and earning accolades like employee of the month at his job.
But he could not afford the solicitors’ fees for acquiring Indefinite Leave to Remain, and his right to work in the UK lapsed in 2016. He left his job when he heard that the Home Office had fined the company for employing people like him.
Soon, he was homeless. With Indefinite Leave to Remain, he could have been entitled to public funds and a council may have been able to support him. Without it, officials’ hands were tied.
Everyone In changed that. As the threat of the pandemic loomed, rules that governed access to housing services, such as NRPF and “priority need” were abandoned, and people like Walid were finally helped off the streets.
However, while the government has announced new funding to continue the work of Everyone In, councils in England have been told to decide on an individual basis whether to accommodate people with NRPF, without using government public funds.


thehuffingtonpostuk--2020-07-03--America Spends Billions To Get The Best Intel In The World But Can’t Make Trump Read It

Even as US taxpayers spend many tens of billions of dollars each year so that thousands of analysts can produce a detailed intelligence report each morning for the president, Donald Trump appears less and less interested in receiving it.
In June, as border clashes between nuclear powers India and China flared, Trump – who keeps the lightest work schedule going back to at least Ronald Reagan and possibly Dwight Eisenhower – scheduled just seven “daily” intelligence briefings. In April, when North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un disappeared for days, Trump had only eight.
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And in February, as the coronavirus jumped to Italy and Iran and began spreading unnoticed in the United States, Trump had just three – fewer than the four days he spent golfing in South Florida or the five days he staged campaign rallies.
Through the first half of this year, Trump has had only 41 intelligence briefings, according to a HuffPost review of his daily schedules, an average of 1½ per week.
“His laziness cannot be overestimated, but it doesn’t get enough attention.” - Charles Leerhsen, Trump's ghost writer.
When Trump took office, he scheduled an intelligence briefing nearly every weekday. But that grew more sporadic as the year passed, down to where he had only 13 in October 2017 and 12 in January 2018. On February 6, 2018, the phrase “intelligence briefing” began to replace “daily intelligence briefing” in the public schedule until, by mid-April 2018, the “daily” part had vanished for good.
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And though the written distillation of the briefing material is available to him early each morning in the “President’s Daily Brief” (PDB), Trump does not like to read, particularly information that he finds boring, such as intelligence analyses, according to former White House aides, including ex-national security adviser John Bolton.
“He’s just not receptive to new facts,” Bolton told CBS News on Wednesday. “The intelligence briefings don’t communicate as much information as they should. We tried to think of ways to change that. I think it was probably a doomed effort.”
Ned Price, a former CIA analyst and a spokesman for the National Security Council under former President Barack Obama, said Trump’s unwillingness to pay attention puts the intelligence community in a bind. “It makes it virtually impossible for the president to be an informed participant in the discussion of policy responses,” he said.
A senior White House aide called HuffPost’s tally “inaccurate” and said the public schedule does not reflect all of Trump’s intelligence briefings. “The president receives extensive intelligence briefings by his career CIA briefer several times a week,” the aide said on condition of anonymity. “He’s also routinely briefed on critical intelligence matters throughout the day if they rise to the level of the president of the United States by his national security adviser and chief of staff.”
But the aide would not respond to follow-up questions asking why the White House would put some intelligence briefings on the public schedule but not others. The aide also would not provide examples of intelligence briefings Trump has had that were not on the public schedule.
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White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany did not respond to a HuffPost query asking why Trump takes so few intelligence briefings. During a news conference on Tuesday, she claimed that Trump does, in fact, read. “This president, I’ll tell you, is the most informed person on planet Earth when it comes to the threats that we face,” she said.
Trump’s lack of interest in intelligence is under scrutiny for the second time this year, with news outlets, starting with The New York Times, revealing that US intelligence had learned Russia had been paying rewards to Taliban fighters in Afghanistan for murdering American soldiers but Trump had done nothing about it.
Previously, it was disclosed that Trump’s PDB informed him of the grave threat posed by the coronavirus in the first days of January. Trump, though, was at his Mar-a-Lago resort in Palm Beach on a golf vacation and did not have his first intelligence briefing of the year until January 6, and then only nine all that month.
Former Vice President Joe Biden, the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee, posted a five-word critique of the situation to Twitter on Wednesday: “I’ll read my daily briefings.”
Laziest President In Modern Times
Trump rarely gets to the West Wing before noon. ASSOCIATED PRESS
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The renewed attention on Trump’s intelligence briefings also casts more light on his work habits.
Republican George W. Bush was typically in the Oval Office by 6:45 each morning, when he received his intelligence briefing, although he often took a break later in the day for exercise.
Obama received the PDB on his iPad at 6 each morning, where he read it before starting his day with a workout and getting to the West Wing by 9.
Trump, in contrast, spends most of his mornings watching television in the residence and posting tweets about what he has just seen. He rarely gets to the West Wing much before noon and, as a proponent of an unusual theory that humans are born with a finite quantity of energy, does not exercise.
“His laziness cannot be overestimated, but it doesn’t get enough attention,” said Charles Leerhsen, who ghost-wrote Trump’s book Surviving at the Top. “It may be his core failing.”
“Trump is like a toddler. He has no ability to concentrate.” - Stuart Stevens, Republican political consultant.
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That light work schedule has been a habit for decades, made possible by the hundreds of millions of dollars – more than $1 billion in today’s dollars – he inherited through the real-estate business his father founded and which he took over in his late 20s.
In his book The Art of the Deal, Trump said he didn’t like to schedule his day, preferring instead to come to his office, make some calls and see what came of it. “I play it very loose,” author Tony Schwartz wrote in Trump’s voice. “I prefer to come to work each day and just see what develops.”
Leerhsen said the biggest hoax Trump was able to perpetrate was his business competence. “His schedule was purposely empty, and as similar to the day before as possible. Daily feeling of fabric swatches for new drapes and carpets in his Atlantic City hotels. He hated travel because of germs and because it was broadening,” Leerhsen said. “He really does not want to learn anything. Learning is not what he does. I’ve never met anyone else like him.”
That approach continued when he became a candidate for the 2016 Republican presidential nomination. For the first months of the campaign, while the other candidates spent endless hours crisscrossing the early voting states, with a half dozen events a day, Trump staged one or two rallies per week and mainly campaigned from the atrium of his building in Manhattan through remote television interviews.
Despite this, his White House staff insists that he outworks everyone else in the building – a view Trump himself amplified in statements he posted to Twitter earlier this year. “The people that know me and know the history of our Country say that I am the hardest working President in history,” he wrote. “I work from early in the morning until late at night.”
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Stuart Stevens, a Republican political consultant who worked on the presidential campaigns of George W. Bush and Mitt Romney, said Trump and his staff are confusing activity and tweeting with useful work.
“Trump is like a toddler. He has no ability to concentrate and no interest in anything that doesn’t affect his own immediate world,” he said. “Self-involvement 24/7 is exhausting, but it’s not work.”
It Depends On What “Brief” Means
Trump and his aides, meanwhile, continue trying to defend his handling of the intelligence regarding the bounties – reportedly as high as $100,000 per dead US soldier – that Russians were paying.
For days, White House officials have tried to draw a distinction between what he was told at his February 27 intelligence briefing versus what may have been in his PDB that day.
“It was a career CIA officer with more than 30 years of tenure who made the decision not to brief it up,” McEnany said Wednesday, claiming that the briefer did not mention the Russian bounty information. “And the national security adviser agreed with that decision. She’s an excellent officer and does great work, and made the decision not to brief it up. It was the right decision to make.”
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Trump meets with Russian President Vladimir Putin at the G20 Summit in 2017. ASSOCIATED PRESS
But McEnany’s claim ignores other reports that the information first became known to the White House in 2019 and that then-national security adviser Bolton personally brought the information to Trump’s attention. He declined to confirm that reporting by The Associated Press but over the weekend told NBC News that Trump – who has had multiple conversations with Russian leader Vladimir Putin in the weeks since the February briefing and has been trying to get Russia readmitted into the Group of Seven organisation of the world’s largest democratic economies – would likely deny any knowledge of the intelligence.
“He can disown everything if nobody ever told him about it,” Bolton said Sunday.
And as he predicted, Trump on Wednesday claimed the entire story was a “hoax,” his catch-all term for news coverage that portrays him negatively.
“Do people still not understand that this is all a made up Fake News Media Hoax started to slander me & the Republican Party. I was never briefed because any info that they may have had did not rise to that level,” Trump wrote.
Both Trump and his staff, in leaning so heavily on the excuse that he was not “briefed,” appear to be conceding that he neither reads his PDB nor believes that it is his responsibility to do so.
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“President Obama and Vice President Biden started every day reading and being briefed about the top threats to our nation,” Biden campaign spokesman Andrew Bates said. “But this president shows up to work at noon and devotes more time to ranting about his own optics on Twitter than he does to honouring that all-important duty. He’s even demonstrated that he’s willing to trust Chinese government propaganda, Vladimir Putin and discredited right-wing fever dreams on Fox News more than our intelligence community.”


thehuffingtonpostuk--2020-07-03--Jada Pinkett Smith Says 'Healing Needs To Happen' After Denying August Alsina Relationship Claims

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Jada Pinkett Smith has said there is “some healing that needs to happen”, after family friend August Alsina’s claim that they had a relationship with the blessing of her husband, Will Smith.
Earlier this week, August claimed that Jada and Will are “life partners” but are no longer romantically involved, allowing him and Jada to become involved with one another.
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However, Jada’s rep has denied these claims as “absolutely not true”, while a spokesperson for Will also called the allegations “wrong”.
Breaking her silence on the matter directly, Jada wrote on Twitter: “There’s some healing that needs to happen… so I’m bringing myself to The Red Table.”
There’s some healing that needs to happen…so I’m bringing myself to The Red Table. — Jada Pinkett Smith (@jadapsmith) July 2, 2020
The Girls Trip star was referring to her family’s Facebook Watch series Red Table Talk, which has seen them interviewing stars about a number of difficult topics, most notably when Jordyn Woods addressed claims she’d had an affair with Tristan Thompson, who was with Khloe Kardashian at that time.
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Speaking to The Breakfast Club host Angela Yee in an interview published on Tuesday, August said: “I actually sat down with Will and had a conversation [about dating Jada]. Due to the transformation from their marriage to life partnership that they’ve spoken on several times, and it not involving romanticism, he gave me his blessing.
“I totally gave myself to that relationship for years of my life, and I truly and really, really deeply loved and have a ton of love for her.”
Will Smith and Jada Pinkett Smith at the premiere of Gemini Man Albert L. Ortega via Getty Images
“I devoted myself to it. I gave my full self to it. So much so to the point that I can die right now and be OK with knowing that I truly gave myself to somebody,” he continued, adding, “I really loved the person that I experienced that and know what that feels like, and some people never get that in this lifetime.”
August told Angela that he fell in love with Jada after they were introduced at her children Jaden and Willow Smith’s London concert in 2015.
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He then developed a close bond with the entire family, joining them on a trip to Hawaii the following year.
August and Jada have been photographed and seen together many times in the years since, including on the BET Awards red carpet back in 2017.
August Alsina and Jada Pinkett Smith at the 2017 BET Awards Paras Griffin via Getty Images
In 2018, he appeared on Red Table Talk and explained how Jada had helped him overcome his struggle with addiction. She introduced him as a “dear family friend” at the time.
When asked if he was disappointed that Jada never confirmed their alleged relationship, the singer said he had no ill feelings toward her.
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thehuffingtonpostuk--2020-07-03--Visitors From The United States Will Still Have To Quarantine, Says Grant Shapps

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The United States will be on the “red list” of countries from which visitors to the UK will still have to have quarantine for 14-days when they arrive, Grant Shapps has confirmed.
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The two-week self-isolation policy for people returning to or visiting England from destinations such as Spain, France, Italy and Germany is being lifted from July 10.
A full list of around 60 countries deemed to pose “a reduced risk to the public health of UK citizens” will be published later on Friday.
But speaking to BBC Radio 4′s Today programme, Shapps was asked if the United States would be on a “red list” of countries not included.
“I’m afraid it will be,” the transport secretary said.
July 1 saw 52,000 new infections reported across the United States, a record-breaking number.
Shapps also told BBC Breakfast that passengers who are currently isolating for 14 days will be able to break the restrictions legally from next Friday.
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He said while “nothing could happen” before July 10, “from that point onward you will be legal not to quarantine yourself”.
Ministers failed to guarantee reciprocal arrangements with all the included nations, meaning some may require English holidaymakers to go into quarantine at the beginning of their trip.
They were also unable to convince the devolved administrations to sign off on the overall plan, with the DfT stating that Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland will “set out their own approach”.
The requirement for everyone arriving into the UK – bar a handful of exemptions – to self-isolate for 14 days was introduced on June 8.
It was met with fierce criticism over the impact on the UK’s travel, tourism and hospitality industries.


thehuffingtonpostuk--2020-07-03--Finally, Trump's Critics Agree With Him After US President Caught In Own Goal Twitter Gaffe

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Donald Trump has tweeted something his critics can get behind.
Amid a resurgence of the pandemic that’s killed more than 128,000 people in the US, a struggling economy and nationwide unrest over racism and police violence, Trump’s key 2020 reelection slogan, “Keep America Great,” hardly seems appropriate. So when Trump opted instead to tweet his 2016 campaign slogan on Thursday, “Make America Great Again,” Twitter users agreed that would be a good idea.
It comes as his campaign reportedly scrambles for a new catchphrase as it increasingly backs off the triumphant “Keep America Great” slogan.
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Critics Thursday reminded Trump he’s had almost a full term to “Make America Great Again” and suggested the best way for the country to do so:
Finally, the current occupant of the White House and I agree. Time to Make America Great Again. We do that by firing you and electing @JoeBiden. https://t.co/0uBj3lC3dm — Fred Guttenberg (@fred_guttenberg) July 3, 2020
Final Month Under Obama/Biden:
4.7% unemployment.
After 3.5 Years Under Trump/Pence:
11.1% unemployment.
Make America Great Again:
Vote Biden — David Rothschild (@DavMicRot) July 3, 2020
We were doing a helluva lot better before you came along. https://t.co/avBKcTUZaw — Don Winslow (@donwinslow) July 3, 2020
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This isn’t really a good slogan for an incumbent. Just saying. https://t.co/WXdkMyPEKH — George Conway (@gtconway3d) July 3, 2020
You will notice the Trump campaign has abandoned the slogan “Keep America Great,” because they made America suck and realize it. So they reverted back to 2016. — Mrs. Krassenstein (@HKrassenstein) July 3, 2020
Why doesn’t any Trump supporters realize Trump has reverted back to his campaign of 2016 because America didn’t actually improve, and he knows he can’t say “Keep America Great,” without making people laugh. — Mrs. Krassenstein (@HKrassenstein) July 3, 2020
“The problem for Trump is that his presidency has no point. It is as devoid of purpose as his days are of work. He doesn’t want to make America great. He wants America to make him feel great.” https://t.co/Z6lKzQLv8M https://t.co/d1lp47EEHW — Windsor Mann (@WindsorMann) July 3, 2020
You were already hired to make America great. And you failed. You need a new slogan, sweetie. — The Lincoln Project (@ProjectLincoln) July 3, 2020
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YOUR RESIGNATION WOULD BE A GREAT START — Jeff Tiedrich (@itsJeffTiedrich) July 3, 2020


thehuffingtonpostuk--2020-07-03--Prince Andrew 'Bewildered' Over Claims He Hasn't Cooperated With Epstein Investigation

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Prince Andrew and his legal team are “bewildered” over claims by US authorities that he has failed to cooperate with the investigation into Jeffrey Epstein, a source close to the royal has said.
It comes after the arrest of Epstein’s ex-girlfriend Ghislaine Maxwell on suspicion of grooming children.
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Speaking after the British socialite was detained on Thursday, acting US attorney for the Southern District of New York Audrey Strauss said they would “welcome” talks with the Duke of York.
“We would welcome Prince Andrew coming in to talk with us,” she said at a press conference. “Our doors remain open.”
Prince Andrew has been locked in a long-running battle with law enforcement in the US over his availability to answer questions about his former friend and convicted sex offender Epstein.
In June, he was accused of attempting to “falsely portray himself to the public as eager and willing to co-operate” by Geoffrey Berman, the US prosecutor leading the investigation into Epstein at the time, who had previously said the royal had “completely shut the door” on helping investigators.
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But the duke’s legal team say he has made three separate offers this year to give a witness statement, and a royal source has described Berman’s actions as “frankly bewildering” and a breach of confidentiality rules, PA Media reported.
Prince Andrew STAR MAX
Acting US attorney for the district Audrey Strauss struck a milder tone on Thursday when she told reporters she would simply “welcome” a statement from the Queen’s son at a press conference announcing charges against Maxwell, including allegations she participated in the abuse of young girls by Epstein.
“I’m not going to comment on anyone’s status in this investigation but I will say that we would welcome Prince Andrew coming in to talk with us, we would like to have the benefit of his statement,” she said.
A source close to the duke’s working group told the PA news agency and BBC News: “The duke’s team remains bewildered given that we have twice communicated with the DOJ in the last month and to date we have had no response.”
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In June, a spat was sparked after details emerged of America’s Department of Justice’s (DOJ) mutual legal assistance (MLA) request to the Home Office, to quiz Andrew as a witness in the criminal investigation into Epstein’s offending.
The duke’s legal team said in its statement: “The Duke of York has on at least three occasions this year offered his assistance as a witness to the DOJ.
“Unfortunately, the DOJ has reacted to the first two offers by breaching their own confidentiality rules and claiming that the duke has offered zero co-operation. In doing so, they are perhaps seeking publicity rather than accepting the assistance proffered.”
On Friday Spencer Coogan, the lawyer for some of Epstein’s alleged victims, also called on the Duke of York to speak to US prosecutors about his friendship with Epstein.
He told BBC’s Radio 4 Today programme: “I certainly think Prince Andrew has a story to tell. On behalf of the victims be have continuously asked him to step forward, step up, be a man and tell us what he knows.
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“He has been hiding behind not only the royal family but his attorneys.”