thehuffingtonpostuk--2020-03-06--Women Of Colour Are Paying With Their Lives For Healthcare Inequalities

fizkes via Getty Images
Black women are five times more likely to die in pregnancy, childbirth or in the six-month postpartum period than white women – and the picture’s not much better for women of mixed ethnicity, for whom the risk level is increased threefold. For Asian women, the risk is double that for white women.
This worrying pattern is not just visible in maternity care, but also in infant outcomes, breast and cervical cancer diagnosis, and mental health support.
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Ahead of International Women’s Day on 8 March, the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists (RCOG) is calling for the government to take urgent action to tackle these racial disparities in women’s healthcare.
“It is essential that we investigate the root causes of these very concerning trends to ensure that all women and girls have the ability to access the same high standard of healthcare,” said Dr Ranee Thakar, vice president of RCOG.
There are a number of reasons why these disparities could exist, Dr Thakur said – and the most effective way of examining the inequality is to speak to the women who are affected by them on a daily basis.
One possible factor is racial bias from medical staff, which RCOG suggested is unconscious and often unintentional. This bias can hinder consultations, negatively influence treatment options and can lead Black, Asian and minority ethnic women to avoid interactions with health services in some cases.
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“Women should always be at the centre of all decisions and actions pertaining to their own healthcare, and any policies put in place to protect and nurture their health,” Dr Thakar said.
Whichever way you look, the figures are damning. Black, Asian and minority ethnic women are at an increased risk of having a pre-term birth, stillbirth, neonatal death or a baby born with low birth weight. In fact, Black women are up to twice as likely to suffer a stillbirth at all gestational ages than white women.
Data also shows that Black women with breast cancer have a higher mortality rate, incidences of poor outcomes are higher for those suffering with cervical cancer, and there’s also a significantly lower uptake of cancer screening among the BAME population compared to the white British population in the UK. Yet earlier diagnosis can lead to better outcomes.
Medical research needs to become more inclusive to ensure the right choices are being made, said RCOG, which is holding a panel on 6 March, entitled ‘We need to talk about race’, where women will share their own experiences, alongside talks from clinicians and academics.


thehuffingtonpostuk--2020-03-05--Is The Tide Turning In The Tory War Against The BBC?

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BBC too?
It’s not every day you hear Joni Mitchell quoted in the House of Lords. But in a debate on the future of the BBC today, Lord Young of Norwood Green (a mere whippersnapper on the red benches, at the age of 77) couldn’t help citing the songwriter’s immortal line: “You don’t know what you’ve got, till it’s gone”.
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That sentiment was echoed by speaker after speaker as peers let rip at the intimidatory noises coming from No.10 on the licence fee in recent weeks. Given the wealth of former and current BBC staff in the Lords, it’s of course unsurprising that many of them would want to circle the wagons around the Corporation.
Nevertheless, the dark warnings many of them expressed will have unnerved more than a few Conservatives. Melvyn Bragg (whose superb In Our Time series on Radio 4 really is worth the licence fee alone), Joan Bakewell, Margaret Jay and David Puttnam have seen previous attempts to bully the Beeb. But they all said they feared it was now facing the biggest ever political threat to its existence.
And the villain of the piece, cited repeatedly, was Dominic Cummings. Boris Johnson’s chief adviser was director of the New Frontiers Foundation think tank in 2004 when it produced a string of blogs that attacked the BBC. Cummings was one of just two staff at the think tank.
Bakewell quoted a passage calling for “the undermining of the BBC’s credibility and...the creation of a Fox News equivalent / talk radio shows / bloggers etc to shift the centre of gravity”. There was this prescient line too: “Effort should be diverted from Today to programmes that affect the public.” Don’t forget this was written 16 years ago. Today now does indeed suffer a boycott and sources talk of plans to ‘whack’ the BBC by axeing its licence fee income.
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Several peers contrasted the BBC’s responsible reporting on the coronavirus outbreak to the way the US media (and its president) have reacted. Of course all British broadcasters, and most newspapers, have been pretty measured in their coverage, but Puttnam rammed home the Ofcom finding that the BBC has emerged as “the digital gold standard” for trusted information in an era of fake news.
Chief adviser to prime minister Boris Johnson, Dominic Cummings. ASSOCIATED PRESS
What was striking today was the way it was Labour peers who got up to defend the Corporation, despite occasional disputes with this or that bit of coverage. It was a stark contrast to the way many Jeremy Corbyn supporters routinely fire abuse at the BBC as much as, if not more than, its Tory critics. I remember vividly attending a Corbyn rally in Swansea in 2016 and hearing for the first time in my life a string of ostensibly normal people telling me that ‘the BBC is the enemy’.
Plenty of the horrific abuse doled out to Laura Kuennsberg on Twitter is from the Left, and shameful heckles were directed at her from Labour members at campaign events in the last election.
One singularly low moment came last month when Dawn Butler tried to use a deputy leader hustings to attack the Tories for attacking the BBC. “Now they want to get rid of the BBC. So in a way I thought, ok, that will teach you. But then we do need to ensure that it stays in public ownership. We need to ensure that there is some independence.” Yes, ‘that will teach you’.
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Of course the BBC is far from perfect. There is in fact a perfectly credible (and progressive) case for decriminalising the licence fee. HuffPost UK recently spent a day in a magistrates court and found those punished for failing to pay up were among society’s most vulnerable.
Several Tories are slowly beginning to see that dismantling the home of David Attenborough and Antiques Roadshow would be a major vote loser. Today, new culture secretary Oliver Dowden gave his first major speech and devoted much of it to the Beeb. He called for more “genuine diversity of thought and experience” within it, but was careful to add that “the BBC is an institution to be cherished”.
“We would be crazy to throw it away but it must reflect all of our nation, and all perspectives,” Dowden said. That went some way to reassuring the BBC that it was still valued in government. One minister said to me recently that the attacks on the Beeb were “not just nuts, they’re profoundly unconservative”.
In the Lords debate, junior minister Baroness Barran added that the BBC was one of the “success stories of the British economy” and that “it is not for the government to make judgments about any perception of editorial bias”. On Cummings, she said pointedly “it is for advisers to advise and for ministers to decide”.
But perhaps the quote of the day came from Lord Puttnam: “Rage and frenzy will pull down more in half an hour than prudence, deliberation, and foresight can build up in a hundred years.” That wasn’t Joni Mitchell. It was Edmund Burke, the great conservative thinker. With the BBC nearing its own centenary in 2022, the big question is whether that Burkean thought is shared by the prime minister himself.
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Quote Of The Day
“It is now likely that the virus is going to spread in a significant way.”
The prime minister’s official spokesman
Thursday Cheat Sheet
The UK recorded its first death due to coronavirus, as new figures showed the number of people with the disease was now 115. No.10 sources say the shift from ‘contain’ to ‘delay’ phases in handling the disease will take place next week ‘at the earliest’.
EU negotiator Michel Barnier said there were ‘grave’ differences between Brussels and the UK over a potential trade deal. The role of the European Court of Justice, level playing field tests and fishing were all sticking points.
Commons leader Jacob Rees-Mogg told MPs there are ‘no plans’ to close parliament down as a result of coronavirus.
MPs’ pay is to go up by 3.3% to £81,932, IPSA (the Independent Parliamentary Standards Authority) revealed.
Gordon Brown backed Keir Starmer for the Labour leadership.
New ONS figures showed that while most living standards stagnated in recent years, those of the poorest went into reverse.
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thehuffingtonpostuk--2020-03-05--Coronavirus Latest: 142 Brits Stranded On Cruise Ship Off Californian Coast A

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More than 100 Brits are stranded on board another Princess Cruises vessel off the coast of California as tests are carried out for suspected cases of coronavirus.
The cruise operator said groups of guests and crew were being tested for Covid-19, after a passenger on an earlier voyage died and at least one other became infected.
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It confirmed that 142 UK nationals – made up of 121 passengers and 21 crew – were on board the Grand Princess, which was carrying a total of 3,533 people.
Princess added that there had so far been no confirmed cases of Covid-19 on board, and that fewer than 100 people had been identified for testing.
PA Media
“Public health officials have advised that no guests will be permitted to disembark until all results have been received,” it said.
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“Out of an abundance of caution, all guests who have been identified for testing have been asked to remain in their staterooms.”
Japanese authorities said last week that a British tourist who had been on board another of the company’s cruise ships, the Diamond Princess – which was quarantined in Japan – had died after contracting coronavirus.


thehuffingtonpostuk--2020-03-05--Meghan And Harry Make First Public Appearance In UK Since Royal Split

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Meghan Markle and Prince Harry have made their first joint public appearance in the UK in the wake of the ‘Megxit’ crisis.
Harry and Meghan attended the Endeavour Fund Awards at Mansion House in central London to celebrate the sporting and adventure achievements of wounded, sick and injured service personnel. It is one of their last official engagements before they quit royal life.
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The last time the couple publicly stepped out together for a royal event was nearly two months ago at the Canada House in London, just one day before the announcement of their groundbreaking decision to “step back” as working members of the royal family.
The couple attend the Endeavour Fund Awards at Mansion House in London. Samir Hussein via Getty Images
Hannah Mckay / Reuters
The couple walked out to hundreds of camera flashes and cheers of, “We love you!” and “We love you, Harry and Meghan!” as well as one boo, according to video captured by Harper’s Bazaar royal editor Omid Scobie.
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Meghan stepped out in blue suede heels and a gorgeous turquoise dress by Victoria Beckham, according to Daily Express royal correspondent Richard Palmer. It appeared to be Beckham’s pencil midi dress. She paired her look with a bold red lip and a low pony.
Harry coordinated with the duchess in a sharp blue suit.
Chris Jackson via Getty Images
The Duke and Duchess of Sussex, who have attended the Endeavour Fund Awards together the past two years, were there again to “celebrate the achievements of those injured in service who have taken part in remarkable sporting and adventurous challenges after experiencing injury or illness in service”, according to a statement on the fund’s website.
The statement refers to Harry and Meghan as “Their Royal Highnesses”. While the two still retain those titles, they will stop using them when their royal duties draw to a close on March 31.
Harry and Meghan will carry out the last of their royal duties over the next few days in the UK. On Friday, the prince will appear alongside Formula One driver Lewis Hamilton at the Silverstone Experience museum.
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On Saturday, the duke and duchess will attend the Mountbatten Festival of Music, and on Monday they will appear alongside the rest of the royal family for the Commonwealth Day Service at Westminster Abbey.


thehuffingtonpostuk--2020-03-05--Met Police Officer Arrested Over Suspected Link To ‘Far Right’ Terror Group

ASSOCIATED PRESS
A serving Metropolitan Police officer has been arrested on suspicion of being a member of a banned group linked to right-wing terrorism.
The constable, 21, was held by counter-terrorism officers on Thursday at an address in north London, where a search is being carried out.
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The officer, who works in “frontline policing”, has been taken to a south London police station, where he remains in custody.
The arrest relates to suspected membership of a proscribed organisation linked to right wing terrorism, but the Met said there is nothing to suggest there is any threat to the wider public.
Scotland Yard said the force’s directorate of professional standards has been told and the officer’s status is “under review”.
The case has also been referred to the Independent Office of Police Conduct (IOPC) watchdog.
The arrest comes after MPs backed a ban on membership of more right-wing groups last month.
A proscription order was issued which makes joining Sonnenkrieg Division illegal in the UK.
The law also recognises System Resistance Network as an alias of the already banned neo-Nazi group National Action.
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thehuffingtonpostuk--2020-03-05--Coronavirus Latest: First Person Dies In The UK After Testing Positive For Disease

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A patient with underlying health conditions has died after testing positive for coronavirus, the Royal Berkshire NHS Trust has said, making them the first person in the UK to lose their life while having the disease.
It is thought they contracted the virus in the UK.
The older patient had been “in an out of hospital” for other reasons but was admitted on Wednesday evening to the Royal Berkshire Hospital in Reading and tested positive.
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The news comes as cases of coronavirus in the UK have more than doubled in 48 hours as the country moves towards the “delay phase” of tackling the virus.
A statement from the trust said: “Sadly, we can confirm that an older patient with underlying health conditions has died.
“The patient has previously been in and out of hospital for non-coronavirus reasons, but on this occasion was admitted and last night tested positive for coronavirus.
“The family has been informed and our thoughts are with them at this difficult time.
“We will not be commenting further and ask that everybody respects the family’s privacy.”
England’s chief medical officer Professor Chris Whitty said: “I am very sorry to report a patient in England who tested positive for Covid-19 has sadly died. I offer my sincere condolences to their family and friends and ask that their request for privacy is respected.
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“The patient, who was being treated at the Royal Berkshire Hospital, was an older patient who had underlying health conditions. We believe they contracted the virus in the UK and contact tracing is already underway.”
Total coronavirus cases in the UK. Press Association Images
Prime Minister Boris Johnson added: “Our sympathies are very much with the victim and their family,” while Health Secretary Matt Hancock said: “My sincere condolences to their family and loved ones. We will work tirelessly to protect the public from this disease.”
Some 116 people have tested positive, including 105 in England, two in Wales, six in Scotland and three in Northern Ireland.
Just two days ago there were 51 UK cases.
Officials later confirmed 18 people diagnosed with coronavirus have since recovered while 45 of the confirmed cases are being treated at home.
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Coronavirus has spread from Wuhan in China to countries across the world, with tens of thousands of confirmed cases and thousands of deaths worldwide.
The first cases confirmed in the UK were two members of the same family who tested positive on January 31.
Last week, the Foreign Office confirmed a British tourist who had been on board the Diamond Princess cruise ship, which was quarantined in Japan, had died from the virus.
Meanwhile government advice was updated to urge anyone returning to the UK from any part of Italy, rather than just the north of the country, to self-isolate if they develop symptoms.
Downing Street on Thursday said it is “highly likely” that coronavirus will now spread in a “significant way”.
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Earlier, Prof Whitty warned that critical care beds in the NHS could come under intense pressure during a coronavirus epidemic.
Of the new cases, 17 people had recently travelled from countries or clusters already under investigation, while eight people contracted the virus in the UK and are being investigated.
Out of the cases identified in England, 25 of them are in London.
The North West and South East each have 17 cases, the South West 15, the East of England eight, the Midlands nine and the North East and Yorkshire 10 cases.
Four other cases are still to be determined.


thehuffingtonpostuk--2020-03-05--Dossier Of More Than 300 Tory Islamophobia Allegations Submitted To Watchdog

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A new dossier of claims that more than 300 Tories have been Islamophobic has been submitted to the human rights watchdog to persuade it to investigate the party.
The Muslim Council of Britain (MCB) has handed the Equality and Human Rights Commission a detailed file including claims involving MPs, councillors, members and government advisers.
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The document collects together scores of previously publicised incidents and allegations while uncovering new claims, including:
A former councillor calling for “unconditional surrender” by Muslims, who they label “brutes who beat, kill and maim young women”;
A local party association chair who called for Muslims to be banned;
A member who called for Muslims to be thrown from bridges;
Another member who called for the forcible sterilisation of Muslims.
Elsewhere, it includes criticism of the failure to suspend MP Daniel Kawczynski for speaking at a conference alongside far-right leaders.
The MCB also questions the failure to investigate MP Karl McCartney after he shared posts by Tommy Robinson – the English Defence League co-founder whose real name is Stephen Yaxley-Lennon – and Katie Hopkins that “included anti-Muslim and anti-Semitic material”, despite his apology.
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And it highlights HuffPost UK’s revelations that new Tory MP Dehenna Davison had been photographed with two far-right activists, including a former activist banned from the party after making Islamophobic comments online and organising a far-right protest.
MCB secretary general Harun Khan said the Tories have a “systemic and widespread” Islamophobia crisis and accused the party of “denial, dismissal and deceit”.
He criticised the EHRC for having “failed to give any response” to its first formal call to investigate in May when it submitted allegations about 150 individuals, and urged it to now take “swift action”.
The Tories have committed to an inquiry into all forms of discrimination within the party but have resisted calls to set up an independent inquiry into Islamophobia specifically.
Khan said it was “extraordinary” that the watchdog has not announced whether it will take action in the 10 months since the first document was submitted.
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“There is no doubt that the Conservative party has an Islamophobia crisis: it is institutional, systemic and widespread.
“The party’s response has been one of denial, dismissal and deceit,” he said.
“This results in clear discrimination against Muslims because of their religion.
“The absence of meaningful action by the Conservative Party despite the wealth of evidence makes it all the more important that the EHRC recognises the impact of this level of Islamophobia in our governing party, and takes swift action.”
An EHRC spokesperson said the watchdog was still waiting for the Tories to reveal the terms of its inquiry while considering a decision.
“We are actively considering what, if any, action we may take in relation to the handling of Islamophobia and other discrimination within the Conservative party,” she said.
“We are also awaiting the final terms of reference of the party’s independent review which we will consider as part of our decision making process.”
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A Conservative party spokesperson said: “The Conservative Party has a robust approach to discrimination of any kind, and consistently takes decisive action to deal with any incidents of hatred, abuse or intimidation.
“We are holding an independent review which is looking at how we can improve our processes – to make sure that any instances are isolated, and that there are thorough processes in place to stamp them out as and when they occur.”


thehuffingtonpostuk--2020-03-05--Coronavirus Can’t Mask Priti Patel’s ‘Bullying’ Crisis, Feat. David Lammy MP

Coronavirus Can’t Mask Priti Patel’s ‘Bullying’ Crisis, Feat. David Lammy MP
Britain is ramping up its response to the coronavirus outbreak, with the Vote Leave government suddenly listening to “the experts”. But pandemic fears have failed to distract from the alleged bullying scandal engulfing home secretary Priti Patel. Can she hang on in the cabinet?Labour MP David Lammy joins Arj Singh and Paul Waugh to discuss all of this, and his new book Tribes, an exploration of how to heal the divides of a country increasingly riven by tribalism.


thehuffingtonpostuk--2020-03-05--Elizabeth Warren Drops Out Of US Presidential Race

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Elizabeth Warren has ended her bid for the US Democratic presidential nomination.
Despite gaining momentum early on in the race, Warren failed to drum up significant support in the first wave of primary contests. She finished in a disappointing third place in the Iowa caucuses, fourth in both the New Hampshire primary and Nevada caucuses, and fifth in the South Carolina primary.
Warren failed to win a single state on Super Tuesday, finishing third in her home state of Massachusetts behind former Vice President Joe Biden, who was first, and Bernie Sanders, who was second.
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Sanders, the progressive candidate Warren was most often compared to on the campaign trail given their similar policy proposals, emerged as a clear front-runner last month after winning the popular vote in the Iowa caucuses. In the New Hampshire primary, Sanders virtually tied for first with former South Bend, Indiana, Mayor Pete Buttigieg, who dropped out of the race on Sunday, and went on to win the Nevada caucuses with roughly 46% support.
Biden catapulted to the front of the pack following his landslide victory in the South Carolina primary on Saturday and his wave of victories on Super Tuesday.
Warren, a former Harvard Law School professor, was elected to the U.S. Senate in 2012. She previously helped launch the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau under then-President Barack Obama.
It was long expected that Warren would toss her hat into the ring in 2020, particularly after it was widely speculated she’d run for president in 2016 and she decided not to. She formally jumped into the race in February last year.
Her campaign largely focused on fighting corruption, bolstering the middle class and working families, creating affordable housing and implementing “Medicare for All.”
“I have a plan for that” ― a reference to her the more than 75 policy proposals and plans outlined on her website ― became one of Warren’s taglines on the campaign trail.
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Her folksy and optimistic stump speeches were almost always followed by her trademark selfie lines, which would sometimes include hundreds of rallygoers and take the candidate hours to get through.


thehuffingtonpostuk--2020-03-05--Trump Claims Thousands Could Still Go To Work With Coronavirus And Get Better

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Donald Trump suggested during an interview on Fox News on Wednesday that many people with mild coronavirus symptoms could still go to work and get better. This goes against advice from medical professionals around the world who say that infected individuals should remain in isolation.
“A lot of people will have this and it’s very mild. They’ll get better very rapidly. They don’t even see a doctor, they don’t even call a doctor. You never hear about those people,” Trump told Fox News host Sean Hannity. “So you can’t put them down in the category of the overall population in terms of this corona flu and or virus. So you just can’t do that. So, if you know, we have thousands or hundreds of thousands of people that get better just by, you know, sitting around and even going to work. Some of them go to work, but they get better.”
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Here is the President of the United States telling the country it's okay to go to work with Coronavirus.
I'm not kidding. pic.twitter.com/Tz4kKbyear — Matt Rogers 🎙 (@Politidope) March 5, 2020
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention guidance states that people with COVID-19 who do not need hospitalization should restrict all activities outside the home excluding seeking medical care.
“Do not go to work, school or public areas. Avoid using public transportation, ride-sharing or taxis,” CDC advises.
A growing number of businesses in the US, including Twitter, Amazon and Microsoft, have asked employees to work from home in a bid to limit the spread of the disease. The World Health Organization, as well as dozens of governments and health organisations around the world, have also asked infected people to isolate themselves.
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thehuffingtonpostuk--2020-03-05--MPs Will Now Earn £82,000 A Year After Pay Rise

PA
MPs are to receive a pay rise of 3.1% bringing their annual basic salary to £81,932 from April this year, the Independent Parliamentary Standards Authority (Ipsa) has announced.
Ipsa said on Thursday the increase from the current wage of £79,468 will kick in from April 1, 2020.
The body that sets MPs pay has also proposed an increase in budgets for MPs’ staff, support for their welfare, and for security.
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MPs’ pay is linked to average rises in the public sector, as determined by the Office for National Statistics.
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Richard Lloyd, Ipsa’s interim chair, said his review of staffing budgets in 2019 found demands on MPs’ offices were high, “with staff doing difficult and stressful casework with constituents on a very wide range of problems”.
“There was often high staff turnover, with salary levels below comparable roles elsewhere, based on independent benchmarked evidence,” he said.
“In many MPs’ offices, relatively little time or money was spent on staff training, well-being and development.”
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“As a result, we have provided additional funding in MPs’ 2020-21 staffing budgets for staff training and welfare, security, and changes to the salary bands and job descriptions for MPs’ staff to bring them into line with the jobs they actually do.
“This action demonstrates Ipsa’s ongoing commitment to supporting MPs and their staff to serve their constituents, and we will review this over the next year, in line with our assurance work.”
Following reforms to the way MPs’ pay is calculated, the rise is automatic and not subject to a vote in the Commons.
In February members of the House of Lords were given tax-free pay rise that means they will earn £323 a day.
The hike will give peers a tax-free income of more than £48,000 if they attend all 150 days the Lords typically sits in a year.
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thehuffingtonpostuk--2020-03-05--Boris Johnson Says It's 'Tricky' To Answer Whether He Will Change His Baby's Nappy

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Boris Johnson said it was “tricky” to answer whether or not he would change the nappy of his new baby.
The prime minister and fiancee Carrie Symonds are expecting a child in the early summer.
Appearing on ITV’s This Morning, Johnson said he was “very excited” about becoming a father again.
But he appeared reluctant to discuss his private life, prompting co-host Phillip Schofield to ask: “Is that it?”
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When asked: “How good are you at changing nappies? Will you change nappies?”, Johnson eventually replied: “I expect so.”
Phillip Schofield and Holly Willoughby grill the prime minister over whether he will change nappies. ITV
Johnson would not answer when asked how the rest of his family are taking the news.
“All family life is happening in Downing Street and you won’t talk about it,” Schofield told Johnson.
The prime minister replied: “Very sensibly.”
Johnson added: “I’ve spent an awfully long time deliberately not going on about it, for the very good reason that there are people that I love that I don’t want to put in the debate and that’s the reason.”
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On the nappy question, he added: “That was a very tricky one – there was nowhere to go on that one.”
Over the weekend, Symonds told her followers on Instagram she felt “incredibly blessed”.


thehuffingtonpostuk--2020-03-05--HSBC Evacuates Part Of London Head Office After Employee Diagnosed With Coronavirus

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HSBC has evacuated part of its London head office after an employee tested positive for coronavirus.
Following the diagnosis, the research department at the bank’s Canary Wharf offices is being deep-cleaned.
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Around 100 members of staff have now been told to work from home, Reuters reported.
In a statement, a spokesperson for HSBC said: “We have been informed that one of our employees at 8 Canada Square has been diagnosed with COVID-19.”
The member of staff has self-isolated and is under “medical supervision”, they said, while the company is working closely with health authorities.
The global headquarters of HSBC in Canary Wharf NurPhoto via Getty Images
“We are deep-cleaning the floor where our colleague worked and shared areas of the building. Colleagues on that floor, and others who came into contact with him, have been advised to work at home.”
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The office building, which is in London’s financial district, remains open.
The news came after three more cases of the virus were confirmed in Scotland, bringing the UK total to 90.
England’s chief medical officer Chris Whitty said the government’s response to the coronavirus outbreak had moved to the “delay” phase after failing to “contain” the disease.
The aim of the delay phase is to push back the peak of the epidemic.


thehuffingtonpostuk--2020-03-05--Coronavirus Latest: Cases In The UK Rise To 115 As Government Moves To ‘Delay’ Phase

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The number of cases of coronavirus in the UK has risen by 30 in the last 24 hours as the government’s response to the outbreak has moved into its second “delay” phase after failing to simply “contain” the disease.
Chief medical officer for England, Professor Chris Whitty, said the delay phase was aimed at pushing back the peak of the epidemic by reducing the spread of the virus.
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That could move the peak of cases away from the “winter pressures on the NHS in all four nations of the UK” to the summer months where viruses are less contagious.
It would also allow more time for research into the nature of the Covid-19 virus. The government set out its action plan earlier this week based on four stages - containing the virus, delaying its transmission, researching its origins and mitigating its impact.
Prof Whitty said there would not be a “step move” from the “contain” phase to the “delay” phase but “we are putting greater and greater priority on the elements of this which are delay”.
Boris Johnson’s spokesperson said this afternoon: “We will continue to try to contain this virus. However it is now likely that the virus is going to spread in a significant way.”
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Downing Street said officials would “now accelerate work on preparations for the delay phase”.
‘Delay’ phase
Prof Whitty said: “For the early stages of delay, contain and delay are very similar, not quite the same. They are largely around finding early cases, isolating them, following their chains of transmission, where necessary isolating those people.”
But as time goes by there would be measures that involved “changes to society”, he said.
Meanwhile, the official number of people testing positive for the virus in the UK as of Thursday morning was 115, up from 85 at the same point on Wednesday, the Department of Health said. Eight of the patients contracted the virus in the UK.
UPDATE on coronavirus (#COVID19) testing in the UK:
As of 9am 5 March 2020, a total of 18,083 people have been tested:
17,968 negative.
115 positive.
For latest information and today’s regional breakdown visit:
▶https://t.co/CZh5JdyN2Q pic.twitter.com/QMrVof4XWv — Department of Health and Social Care (@DHSCgovuk) March 5, 2020
The government has said it could encourage home-working, cancel large-scale gatherings and possibly close schools to slow the spread of the disease and delay the peak of the outbreak until summer, when the health service is under less pressure.
Prime Minister Boris Johnson told ITV that Britain’s Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies was meeting to consider options to try to delay the spread of the outbreak ranging from “quite draconian stuff to more targeted interventions.”
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Asked whether Britain was close to taking measures such as stopping large public gatherings, Johnson said: “We’ll see what the scientists advise.”
Prof Whitty told the Commons’ Health and Social Care Committee that at the beginning it was hoped that the virus could have been contained mainly within China with a few outbreaks elsewhere and once the authorities got on top of it the Covid-19 would go away.
But, he said: “That is becoming an extraordinarily unlikely long-term outcome.
“We are not completely there and it is important to acknowledge that for ‘contain’ we need to have an international view about what we do about this.
“This is something which we should, in a sense, take the views of other nations as well as our own.
“But I think we need to be realistic about the fact that with so many different outbreaks, containing looks pretty optimistic.”
Prof Whitty added it is “highly likely” there is “community transmission” of the coronavirus in the UK and that he was “expecting more today, and expecting more over the next few weeks”.
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“I’m expecting the number only to go up, and there are now several – not large numbers, but several – cases where we cannot see where this has come from in terms of a clear transmission, either because someone has come directly from overseas or because they’ve had a close contact with someone who has recently returned from overseas.
“That I think makes it highly likely therefore that there is some level of community transmission of this virus in the UK now.
“I think we should work on the assumption it is here, on very low levels, at this point in time – but that I think should be the working assumption on which we go forward from this point onwards.”
He added that he had a “reasonably high degree of confidence” that 1% is at the “upper limit” of the mortality rate for coronavirus.
Stating it would be “lucky” to obtain a vaccine in the next year, Prof Whitty suggested that existing drugs could play a role in treating Covid-19.
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“Can we find drugs which we have got a licence for, we know the safety, they are widely available and which work against this virus?
“The answer, I think, is going to be yes. They won’t necessarily be perfect drugs but they may be enough to improve the outcomes for the people in the most high-risk groups.”
Smokers are advised to quit as they are deemed more vulnerable to the virus, but Prof Whitty stressed that even for high-risk age groups, catching coronavirus did not mean you would be “a goner”.
He said that firstly “we intend to do what we can to make sure that they are the group that is least affected, as far as we can”.
He added: “Even in the most vulnerable, oldest groups, in the very stressed health service which Hubei was at the point when most of the data come out of, the great majority of people who caught this virus – and not everybody will – survived it, the great majority, over 90%.
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“So, I think it’s easy to get a perception that if you are older and you get this virus then you’re a goner – absolutely not, the great majority of people will recover from this virus, even if they are in their 80s.”
It comes amid news that three more patients have tested positive for coronavirus in Scotland taking the total to six, the Scottish government said.
Scotland’s chief medical officer Dr Catherine Calderwood said the new coronavirus patients are from the Forth Valley, Greater Glasgow and Clyde and Grampian areas and are all contacts of known cases.
In a statement, Dr Calderwood said: “Scotland is well equipped to deal with this kind of infection and we are doing everything we can to contain the virus at this stage and minimise the risk to the public.
“Clinicians are now conducting contact tracing, the process of gathering details of the places those who have tested positive visited and the people they have been in contact with.
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“Close contact involves either face-to-face contact or spending more than 15 minutes within two metres of an infected person. The risk is very low in situations where someone may have passed a patient on the street or in a shop.


thehuffingtonpostuk--2020-03-06--Starbucks Bans Reusable Coffee Cups During The Coronavirus Outbreak

Coffee chains have banned the use of reusable cups in UK stores amid the coronavirus outbreak. Starbucks was the first to announce the policy change on 4 March, while Pret, Costa Coffee and Greggs followed suit this week.
In the past few years, as part of their green initiatives, many coffee chains introduced policies to offer discounts on beverages if customers chose to bring in a reusable cup, rather than use a disposable one.
As UK coronavirus cases continue to rise, multiple chains have confirmed they will no longer be accepting reusable cups. Starbucks, Costa and Pret said they will still honour the previous discounts offered to customers who bring their own cup to show staff.
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NurPhoto via Getty Images
Dr Edward Wright, a senior lecturer in microbiology at the University of Sussex, explained why reusable cups might be a problem for the spread of coronavirus.
“SARS-CoV-2, which causes Covid-19, is a respiratory virus. This means the virus replicates in cells that line the airways and given the proximity of the airway and mouth, new virus particles produced can readily contaminate the saliva,” he told HuffPost UK.
“Therefore, reusable cups that have not been cleaned and have the virus on their surfaces pose a potential route of transmission for respiratory infections if the cup comes into contact with the coffee machine.”
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Thurtell via Getty Images
Dr Jenna Macciochi, an immunologist also based at the University of Sussex, previously told HuffPost UK that the major way for coronavirus to be transmitted is via coughs and sneezes. However, it is possible for transmission to occur from touch via contaminated surfaces – which could mean anything from self-service check-outs to coffee cups.


thehuffingtonpostuk--2020-03-06--How To Clean Your Phone To Stop Spreading Germs During The Coronavirus Outbreak

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It’s highly likely the UK has never had cleaner hands. But the same can’t be said of the devices we insist on touching immediately after washing off all those potentially dodgy germs.
A new study suggests the virus responsible for Covid-19 could live on our phone screens for up to a month. Australia’s national science agency CSIRO found the virus was “extremely robust” at 20C (68F), or room temperature, and survived for less time at hotter temperatures.
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Dr Debbie Eagles, deputy director of the Australian Centre for Disease Preparedness, said: “For context, similar experiments for Influenza A have found that it survived on surfaces for 17 days, which highlights just how resilient SARS-CoV-2 is.”
There’s lots of advice out there about hand-washing at all opportunities to deter Covid-19. But what should we be doing with our phones, tablets, kindles and work devices?
Malte Mueller via Getty Images
Earlier in the pandemic, Public Health England (PHE) said we should be cleaning and disinfecting “regularly touched objects and surfaces using regular cleaning products”. Academics suggest that people should do this twice a day.
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Researchers have suggested germs can be efficiently inactivated by surface disinfection procedures with 62–71% ethanol, 0.5% hydrogen peroxide or 0.1% sodium hypochlorite within one minute.
But there are concerns that using harsh cleaning products (like disinfectant wipes) could actually damage fingerprint-resistant coatings on smartphone screens. So, what’s the solution?
How to clean your phone properly
When cleaning your phone you should ensure it’s disconnected from any external power supplies and switched off.
Apple’s guidance says people can gently wipe the exterior surfaces of their iPhone with a 70% isopropyl alcohol wipe or Clorox Disinfecting Wipes.
“Don’t use bleach,” it advises. “Avoid getting moisture in any openings, and don’t submerge your iPhone in any cleaning agents.”
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Be warned though: your iPhone has a fingerprint-resistant oleophobic – or oil repellent – coating so using cleaning products and abrasive materials on the screen will eventually diminish the coating and may scratch your phone.
Galaxy devices can be cleaned using a lint-free, soft microfibre cleaning cloth and disinfectant, such as a hypochlorous acid-based solution (containing 50-80ppm) or an alcohol-based solution (containing more than 70% ethanol or isopropyl alcohol).
The company warns not to apply these liquid solutions directly to your device however; they should be carefully applied to the cloth instead.
With Huawei phones, the advice is similar. It advises customers to spray an appropriate amount of 75% medical alcohol onto a soft lint-free cloth, and then gently wipe the screen, rear cover, and sides of the phone from top to bottom.
When cleaning any phone, regardless of make, you shouldn’t wipe the areas around charging or headphone ports or the flash light.
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If you do want to avoid any screen issues later down the line, perhaps it’s worth heeding the advice of Todd Haselton, CNBC’s technology product editor. He recommends buying a cheap screen protector and then using Clorox or Lysol wipes to clean your smartphone, making sure to do the sides and back, but not where the ports are.


thehuffingtonpostuk--2020-03-06--Charlie Martin Is Bringing Trans Visibility To Motor Racing

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“It’s a completely intoxicating moment... and nothing comes close to that feeling,” Charlie Martin says of motor racing, as she drives past the paddocks, woods and manor houses that surround the village where she lives, south east of Birmingham.
The setting sun intermittently bursts through the window as we move, reflecting in the rear-vision mirror, and her blue eyes and blonde hair seem to flash with streams of light. I’m crouched in the back trying to stay out of sight of the GoPro recording, while our cameraperson, Didi, films Martin, 38, from the front seat.
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“You’re just completely locked into what you’re doing, into pushing that car as fast as it will go without crashing,” she says driving her Mini at a more leisurely pace, along the British country roads. This cruising speed a far cry from the endurance racing Martin pursues now, and contests in hill climbs and circuit races in the past.
In 2012, Charlie Martin began living as a woman full time, documenting her gender reassignment on her YouTube channel and gaining hundreds of thousands of views for her videos.
For the more than 16,000 GoCharlie YouTube subscribers, she shares videos covering everything from ‘discovering your female voice’ to ‘opting out of children, and finding a sense of purpose’, while always documenting, or at least talking about, her passion for competing in motor sports.
“It was pretty terrifying... walking back into the racing paddock as me for the first time.”
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It’s a passion that seemed in doubt for a while. Without any contemporary role models to look up to, there didn’t seem to be a place for Martin in racing after transitioning, but when she decided to continue pursuing her dream she had to navigate being accepted in the traditional and male dominated sport.
“It was pretty terrifying, if I’m honest. Walking back into the racing paddock as me for the first time.” But since that first day, Martin has only had one negative experience with a friend in the industry who no longer talks to her.
Instead, free to live as her true self, Martin says she has found a new confidence and a will to push herself harder and harder. “My performance just really changed in a matter of a year or two. And the results that I had, the trophies that I had, the podiums, everything just, it’s like two different careers.”
Despite her passion for motorsports, Martin is not from a racing family herself – it was spending weekends with a friend whose father competed in the sport that gave her the bug.
After finishing university with no money, Martin saved £1,500 working in a summer job, bought a Peugeot 205. She reconditioned the car herself, learning as she went along, and started hillclimbing at 23, her determinedness possibly born from necessity and tragedy – that same year, she lost her mother to cancer. A decade earlier, the disease had claimed her father’s life too.
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Nicolas Millet Charlie Martin stands on the podium in France.
We’re back in the house, talking in her kitchen, Martin is an open book when I ask about various GoCharlie videos: the ones on feminisation surgeries, the ones about racing in Switzerland, and the ones about her family. This doesn’t change when I bring up ‘Sex after GRS – better or worse? Everything I’d hoped for...?’. This frank and truly open video about sex as a trans woman has over 220,000 streams, making it one of Martin’s most viewed uploads.
“The reason I made that video about what it’s like to make love after surgery is because at the time, I couldn’t really find any videos that gave me definitive answers to questions that I would love to have known answers to prior to having surgery,” she tells me. And the comment section below the vid seems to support that impulse with many trans people thanking her for the information and cisgender people applauding her honesty.
This openness is evident throughout filming. There are no off limit topics about her life, struggles and endeavours. In fact, the only time Martin closes down slightly is when we talk about the fact she was married before transitioning, and that is to protect her ex-wife, she says.
“One of the toughest parts of my transition was I ultimately had to choose between the person I was with or being me, really – that was incredibly hard”, she says before politely telling me she cannot say any more out of respect.
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Charlie Martin Charlie Martin poses with prize in front of car.
Martin says she knew she was trans from a young age but, as she grew into an adult, wasn’t sure if transition was right for her. Being interested in ‘boys’ things like motor racing, mechanics and sport was confusing without someone to look up to. “It’s one of the reasons why I’m so passionate about breaking down gender stereotypes, because people should just do what they want to do and what they’re good at,” she says.
Now a Stonewall Sports Champion and living confidently as a woman, Martin is raising transgender visibility in motorsports with initiatives like pride stickers at Silverstone for the British GT Championship in 2018 – and proudly being the representation for others that she would have liked for herself. Her current dream is to become the first transgender driver to compete in the oldest active endurance race in the world, the 24 Hours of Le Mans.


thehuffingtonpostuk--2020-03-06--Shelter Cat Still Seeking Home After No One Came To Her Birthday Party

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A low moment for a shelter cat has turned into a blessing in disguise for the long-haired tabby.
The staff at Battersea Dogs & Cats Home decided to throw a party on Valentine’s Day for Monique, celebrating both her second birthday and marking the fact that she’d spent more than 100 days at the shelter waiting for someone to adopt her. Battersea staff hoped the event would draw some attention, and possibly a home.
But no one showed up.
Don’t worry – Monique seems to have had a nice time anyway, despite the lack of guests from outside the shelter.
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“We were disappointed that Monique’s birthday didn’t attract any potential new owners but our staff and volunteers were of course more than happy to pop in to give the birthday girl a bit of a fuss – she got a LOT of cheek rubs that day,” Battersea spokesperson Nikki Cummins told The Dodo.
Back on her beat, party for one. Battersea Dogs & Cats Home
And even better, the sad sight of Monique having a party for one went viral, leading to loads of interest in the sweet and affectionate cat.
“Monique is blissfully unaware of her new found fame but the rest of us have been thrilled and overwhelmed by the response to her story,” Cummins told HuffPost in an email.
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As of Thursday, Monique – now at 121 days in the shelter – had still not been homed. But Cummins noted that the shelter is “optimistic” and has received “lots of enquiries and nice messages.”
Monique, looking glamorous. Battersea Dogs & Cats Home
Battersea suspects a big reason Monique has remained at the shelter for such a long time is that she tested positive for feline immunodeficiency virus, a slow-acting virus similar to HIV in humans, although FIV cannot be transmitted to people.
Battersea notes in Monique’s online bio that most cats with FIV live “long, happy and healthy lives,” but Monique will nevertheless need to be the only pet in her household, and any outdoor access will need to be cat-proofed so that she cannot spread the virus to other cats.
While Monique has gotten international attention, Cummins advised that people located anywhere that would require long-distance travel from Battersea – which would be stressful for Monique – look locally for a new furry friend.
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“We would encourage people outside the UK to consider adopting an animal in need slightly closer to home instead,” she said. “There are lots of wonderful animals waiting at rescue shelters for someone to take them home.”
Yet another shot of the lovely Monique. Battersea Dogs & Cats Home
And in the meantime, the solo birthday girl is doing just fine.


thehuffingtonpostuk--2020-03-06--Amber Rudd Criticises 'Rude' Oxford Students Who Banned Her From Giving Speech

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Amber Rudd has hit out at “rude” students at Oxford University who no-platformed her at the last minute before she was due to give a speech about women in politics.
The former home secretary was set to speak at the UN Women Oxford event for International Women’s Day on Thursday.
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But she was blocked after the student society voted to cancel it with just half an hour’s notice.
Rudd was home secretary at the time of the Windrush scandal, which exposed how the government had wrongly been classifying people as illegal immigrants.
Badly judged & rude of some students last night at Oxford to decide to “no platform” me 30 mins before an event I had been invited to for #IWD2020 to encourage young women into politics. They should stop hiding and start engaging. #FreeSpeech — Amber Rudd (@AmberRuddUK) March 6, 2020
Rudd, who stood down as a Tory MP at the election after quitting the cabinet in protest at Boris Johnson’s Brexit policy, also served as minister for women and equalities.
UN Women Oxford, the group which had organised the event, notified guests it was cancelled after a meeting of its ruling body.
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The group had invited Rudd to speak about her experience of being a woman in parliament, while also promising an “honest and frank discussion” about the impact of her policies.
“We will not run away from mentioning any of Ms Rudd’s past comments or policies, and we ask you to attend this event to help us campaign for a truly frank feminism which is not afraid of taking such opportunities to discuss these issues with high profile figures,” the group had initially said.
Rudd was forced to resign as home secretary in 2018 after admitting she “inadvertently misled” MPs when she claimed the Home Office did not have targets for deporting illegal immigrants.
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Following the decision, a number of current and former MPs came to Rudd’s defence.
Dehenna Davison, the newly-elected Conservative MP for Bishop Auckland, tweeted: “Outrageous. Academic institutions are where you are exposed to ideas you don’t agree with, and where you can challenge them through rigorous debate.
“No platforming the former home secretary (and women and equalities minister!) is very badly judged.”
Former Labour deputy leader Tom Watson posted: “If you’re trying to silence Amber Rudd you really are being anti-democratic.”


thehuffingtonpostuk--2020-03-06--Harry Styles Dresses Like A Classy Grandma, And It Works

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Singer Harry Styles and your grandma likely don’t have a whole lot in common, aside from being exceptionally lovable, adorable and ... having the same taste in trousers.
Case in point: a photo taken of Styles this week. He’s wearing a blue sweater with a scalloped, collared shirt underneath, green trousers and a string of pearls. It’s lovely.
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Dia Dipasupil via Getty Images So classy. So chic. So Styles-ish.
Is he going to offer you a caramel from his pocket or serenade you? Inquire about your love life or be the love of your life? Who knows! But he looks good. He always looks good.
Unfortunately for us hoping to recreate this vibe, he does it mostly by wearing Gucci.
With his suiting, both of the two-piece and jump variety, the polka dots, the wide-leg pants and the pearls, Styles has achieved levels of classy grandma aesthetic some people (we) only dream about.
Check out some Styles’ best recent styles below.


thehuffingtonpostuk--2020-03-06--This 'Miracle' Plant Is Supposed To Save The World

Peter Shrimpton always wanted to build something that could be seen from space. With his latest project, the South African social entrepreneur believes he might just manage it. In the outskirts of his hometown of Stellenbosch, Shrimpton is overseeing the planting of a vast labyrinth that he says will eventually cover the same amount of land as Egypt’s Great Pyramid of Giza.
What Shrimpton is most excited about, however, is not the size of the labyrinth but what’s being used to grow it: hundreds of thousands of spekboom trees.
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Spekboom, also known as elephant bush or Portulacaria afra, is very good at absorbing carbon relative to the water it uses. Nahhan via Getty Images
This succulent plant ― also called Portulacaria afra ― used to cover swaths of South Africa’s Eastern Cape before being nibbled to a fraction of its former glory by farmed goats and sheep. In recent months it has shot back to fame amid claims it is a carbon-busting miracle shrub with the potential to negate whole countries’ emissions.
“This is in actual fact a wonder plant,” said Shrimpton. He has been growing spekboom for three years via a network of growers in South Africa’s slums and selling them to individuals and companies wanting to reduce their carbon footprint. Eventually Shrimpton hopes to persuade the South African government to commit to planting a billion of them.
Peter Shrimpton's labyrinth of spekboom starting to take shape in Stellenbosch, South Africa. Peter Shrimpton
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Shrimpton is not the only one obsessing over spekboom. The hashtag #SpekboomChallenge has gone viral on social media, with people across South Africa pledging to plant 10 this year and urging others to follow. The city of Cape Town has promised to plant 5,000 spekboom during April, and shops have been giving them away for free. Just before Christmas, the banking group Investec gave each of its 5,200 South African staff a spekboom to “neutralize” their carbon emissions at work, urging them to pay it forward by giving cuttings to friends and family.
Meanwhile, the government is working up plans to restore a million hectares (2.5 million acres) of spekboom thicket ― roughly 170 times the size of Manhattan ― potentially creating work for thousands of people in the process.
Interest has also spread beyond South Africa. A UK couple this month launched The Spekboom Project, with the stated aim of removing half a million metric tons of CO2 from the atmosphere by persuading millions of British people to keep one as a houseplant.
But is spekboom all it’s cracked up to be?
Spekboom is attractive, virtually pest free and very good at absorbing CO2 relative to the amount of water it uses, said Jan Vlok, a botanist and research associate with Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University in Port Elizabeth, South Africa. Once established, it also drops leaves that turn into mulch and help retain water in the soil after a storm, making it particularly valuable for ecosystem restoration in the arid zones to which it is indigenous, he said.
Existing data suggests a hectare of restored spekboom in dry areas will absorb up to 15.4 metric tons (17 U.S. tons) of CO2 annually ― slightly more than the average American’s annual carbon footprint ― an impressive figure, said Vlok.
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Volunteers starting to plant the labyrinth of spekboom in Stellenbosch, South Africa. Peter Shrimpton
But he worries that the current hype around spekboom goes beyond the science, describing a widely circulated claim that a hectare of spekboom can absorb 10 times more CO2 than a hectare of the Amazon rainforest as a “ridiculous” comparison. “It creates this misconception that it’s OK to chop down the Amazon rainforest ― you just have to plant spekboom ― which is absolute nonsense.”
Such hype could be harmful, Vlok said: “In the long term it’s going to give spekboom restoration a very bad name, where actually it’s doing very good work when it’s done in the right way in the right place.”
Vlok is also wary of claims that individuals will be able to slash their own carbon footprint by planting spekboom at home. “Even if you have 100 plants, it’s simply not going to make you carbon neutral,” he said. And while people from the US to Denmark have shown interest in planting spekboom, Vlok cautions that it is unlikely to be the most suitable plant outside of its natural area ― it hates frost and brackish soil, for example. “I would rather advise them to look for something in their own country,” said Vlok.
Even in South Africa, a narrow focus on spekboom planting could also bring unintended consequences, warned Sally Archibald, an environmental scientist at the University of the Witwatersrand, by email. Planting spekboom across South Africa’s natural grasslands and savannas, for example, would lead to a lot of carbon being lost from the soil. “Digging up natural veld [open, uncultivated landscape] to plant spekboom or any other tree will always be a carbon-costly thing to do,” she said.
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An African buffalo bull eating from a spekboom bush in Addo Elephant Park, South Africa. geoffsp via Getty Images
Spekboom does best in dry areas of the thicket biome ― the shrubland and low forest of the Eastern Cape ― said Kath Smart, a postdoctoral researcher in ecosystem restoration at South Africa’s Rhodes University. Planting needs to be managed carefully, she said, because if planted too densely, for example, spekboom could push out other species by creating a canopy that overshadows plant life closer to the ground.
“I do think [spekboom] has a special role to play,” she said, but added, “it’s not the silver bullet, the panacea, that everyone is making it out to be.”
It’s hardly the first silver bullet idea to hit the climate change debate. From planet-saving bamboo to the algae that will power the world, we’ve been hearing about miracle fixes for decades.
Spekboom’s growing popularity ties in with the wider interest in nature-based solutions to climate change, seen most recently with a sweep of tree-planting pledges, including Donald Trump’s promise to help plant a trillion trees. But while this trend may help spur other actions, the idea that one simple plant can solve all our problems is misguided, experts say.
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“So many of us are feeling so terrified about climate change, I can see why people are thinking, ah, we can just do this.” - Alice Bell, co-director of U.K. climate charity Possible
In an age of climate doom, it is understandable that people turn to simple-sounding solutions, said Alice Bell, co-director of U.K. climate charity Possible. “So many of us are feeling so terrified about climate change, I can see why people are thinking, ah, we can just do this,” she said.
Nature-based solutions, like mass tree planting, may have particular appeal, she added, because they lack the “ick factor” of, say, spraying chemicals into the sky to block the sun’s rays and lower temperatures, or building nuclear power stations.
But the danger of the miracle framing is complacency, said Bell ― a belief that we can offset our way out of the climate crisis; or that small personal actions will be sufficient, when in fact we need to make deep and widespread changes, including “cutting our emissions drastically.”
In the case of spekboom, Shrimpton argues that the buzz around the plant can spur wider change by acting as a “catalyst for mobilising people to think about their carbon footprint.”
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Whether this is likely is still open to debate, said Stuart Capstick, a psychologist at Cardiff University in Wales.
There is research showing that when individual actions are perceived as effective, there is a decline in support for national policies to tackle climate change. One 2017 study in Japan, for example, found that when people were asked to report on the energy-saving measures they were taking at home, support for a carbon tax fell.
But there is also evidence that the opposite can happen, said Capstick — that when the conditions are right, taking one eco-friendly action triggers others. A meta-analysis of studies on environmental interventions published in Nature Sustainability, found that this was most likely when the action was seen as “inherently important or interesting.”
Feeling like your efforts go beyond an individual or household level, and are part of a wider community effort, is important, said Capstick. Since the world is still burning fossil fuels on a massive scale, a huge and concerted societal push for system change is required to tackle climate change.
This is the sentiment Joshua and Alisa Millar hope to create with The Spekboom Project, which plans to direct profits from houseplant sales into rewilding schemes. Joshua said they wanted to get people around the U.K. involved in something positive, beyond posting gloomy environmental stories on Facebook.
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“We know it’s not going to fix the problem,” he said. “But it’s one idea that’s in the right direction. And collectively all these ideas and projects will make a difference.”
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thehuffingtonpostuk--2020-03-06--RuPaul's Drag Race Star Sherry Pie Apologises After Five Men Accuse Her Of Catfishing Online

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RuPaul’s Drag Race star Sherry Pie has issued a public apology after five men came forward to accuse the performer of catfishing online.
The queen – real name Joey Gugliemelli – is alleged to have posed as a casting director asking the men to perform embarrassing things on camera under the guise of an audition.
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Joey Gugliemelli in drag as alter-ego Sherry Pie Astrid Stawiarz via Getty Images
In a lengthy Facebook post, one of the accusers, Ben Shimkus, said he was asked to perform things that were “particularly sexual and awkward”.
Another man, Josh Lillyman, told Buzzfeed News he had agreed to record himself performing a sex act, believing he was trying out for a role in a show.
Responding to the allegations on Facebook, Gugliemelli wrote: “I want to start by saying how sorry I am that I caused such trauma and pain.
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“I know that the pain and hurt that I have caused will never go away and I know that what I did was wrong and truly cruel.
“Until being on RuPaul’s Drag Race, I never really understood how much my mental health and taking care of things meant.
“I learned on that show how important ‘loving yourself’ is and I don’t think I have ever loved myself. I have been seeking help and receiving treatment since coming back to NYC. I truly apologise to everyone I have hurt with my actions.”
Gugliemelli also apologised to the cast and crew of RuPaul’s Drag Race, adding: “I also want to say how sorry I am to my sisters of season 12 and honestly the whole network and production company.
“All I can do is change the behaviour and that starts with me and doing that work.”
Sherry Pie is one of the queens on the 12th season of RuPaul's Drag Race Scott Roth/Invision/AP
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HuffPost UK has contacted representatives for RuPaul’s Drag Race for comment and is awaiting a response.
Gugliemelli is due to make his debut as Sherry Pie in the second episode of the 12th season of Drag Race, which will air on Netflix UK from Saturday morning.


thehuffingtonpostuk--2020-03-06--Howard From The Halifax Adverts Goes On The Hunt For Love On First Dates

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First Dates diners and viewers got an “extra, extra!” dose of nostalgia on Thursday night, when a familiar face enjoyed a date in the restaurant.
Howard Brown, who appeared in Halifax’s memorable series of TV adverts, popped up on the most recent episode of the Channel 4 dating show.
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The former bank manager rose to fame in 2000 when he was cast as the face of the building society’s advertising campaign.
Howard was known for singing and dancing along to a number of hit songs, including Sex Bomb and Who Let The Dogs Out, that were rewritten with banking lyrics.
Nearly 12 years on from his last appearance in the ads, Howard was on TV again on Thursday night as he looked for love on First Dates.
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We’ve got an EXTRA (😉) special dater in the #FirstDates restaurant tonight, 10pm on Channel 4 👀 pic.twitter.com/WM4ce9Z2mw — First Dates ❤ (@FirstDates) March 5, 2020
The 53-year-old was set up with 61-year-old Bev, and was quickly recognised by the restaurant staff and diners as they sat down for dinner.
But rather awkwardly, his date did not have a clue who he was, claiming to not watch much television.
Howard was looking for love in the First Dates restaurant Channel 4
While Howard’s appearance in the restaurant certainly delighted viewers, his hunt for love didn’t have a perfect ending as Bev opted not to take up an offer of a second date.
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During the height of his fame, Howard released a cover of Barry White’s You’re The First, The Last, My Everything as a charity single, which reached number 13 in the UK charts in 2005.
In 2003, he also appeared as himself in The Office Christmas special alongside Ricky Gervais, in which he took part in a Blind Date game.
First Dates airs on Thursdays at 10pm on Channel 4.


thehuffingtonpostuk--2020-03-06--As Onward Hits Cinemas, Here's Every Pixar Film Ranked

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For more than 25 years, Pixar has been gifting us with some incredible computer-animated films, beginning with family favourite Toy Story in 1995, right through to Soul, which debuted on streaming service Disney+ at the end of December.
Soul has already had the thumbs up from both critics and viewers, who have praised its unique premise and oh-so-Pixar emotional moments.
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Inspired by the film’s success, we’ve taken a look back over all 23 of Pixar’s film releases, and ranked them from worst to best. Starting with...
23. The Good Dinosaur
Moviestore/Shutterstock
Falling straight to the lowest spot on our Pixar ranking is The Good Dinosaur.
Why did this 2015 family adventure end up at the bottom of the pile, you ask? Well, for the simple reason we actually have no recollection of this film ever existing, in all honesty. Moving on...
22. Cars 2
Pixar
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Of all of Pixar’s franchises, we think you’d be hard pressed to find anyone outside of the nine-year-old age bracket who counts Cars as their favourite.
To date, three Cars films have been released, and we’d say Cars 2 was the weakest of the series (it is, in fact, the production company’s only film with a “rotten” score on ratings site Rotten Tomatoes, which says a lot).
21. Cars
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We touched on this above, but where Pixar really succeeds is the way they tell stories that are obviously hugely enjoyable for children, but that viewers of any age can really relate to and get something out of.
Cars, probably more than any of the other films on the Pixar roster, feels like it’s catering specifically to kids, which is where it loses us a little bit, and that’s why the films have ranked so low on this list.
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20. Cars 3
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The third in the Cars series did little to change anyone’s (OK, our) mind about Pixar’s most often-maligned trilogy, but at least it was an improvement on its predecessors, helped in no small part by new additions to the cast, and a much more emotionally satisfying story.
19. Monsters University
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A rare miss for Pixar, our biggest criticism of Monsters University is just how low on memorable gags it was. It feels like Monsters University would probably have been an enjoyable short, but we’re not sure it needed to be an entire film.
Still, young Mike Wuzowski is undeniably adorable, which definitely helped draw us in, and the animators were definitely able to let their imaginations run wild while designing all the new characters we got to meet in this sequel.
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18. Brave
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Brave definitely set out with good intentions, and we love what Merida represents to so many young viewers. That being said, this film left us a little cold (and we mean that literally – Pixar films are usually like eye candy, but the medieval setting of this film made it less inviting than we’re used to).
One thing we remember most about Brave is that final sequence where Merida and her mother are reunited, having grown to understand one another’s perspectives a little better – and there’s no denying that’s a genuinely lovely moment.
17. The Incredibles 2
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We did enjoy The Incredibles 2, but compared to the original, it felt like everyone involved was kind of going for a straight-up animated superhero outing, and that’s not really what we’re after when we’re going to see a Pixar film.
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There’s no arguing with the fact it was good to have Edna Mode back in our lives, though.
16. Onward
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Onward hit UK cinemas just a couple of weeks before we went into lockdown in 2020, so most of us had to wait until it came out on Disney+ to watch it. For Pixar fans who haven’t seen it yet, it’s definitely worth a watch, particularly if you have kids that need distraction for 90 minutes.
We have to admit, though, this is action-adventure is a long way off being our favourite (even if we did have an obligatory Pixar cry on about two or three different occasions).
15. Toy Story 4
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It might be the the lowest-placed Toy Story film on this list, but don’t let that fool you, as you still won’t make it to the credits dry-eyed.
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Still, for all we enjoyed Toy Story 4, we still think of the Toy Story series as a trilogy, with this fourth instalment more of a fun epilogue than anything else.
14. Finding Dory
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The sequel Finding Nemo fans waited more than a decade for, Finding Dory did huge numbers at the box office, and we distinctly remember being fans when it came out.
Five years down the line, though, and we can’t actually recall much about his film, other than a recurring Sigourney Weaver gag. Considering the original film is surely one of the most quotable ever, Finding Dory didn’t come close to matching it in that respect.
13. The Incredibles
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The Incredibles was a big turning point for Pixar, as it marked the first time the company centred a film entirely around human characters (even if the humans in question did have superpowers).
We have to say, it wouldn’t be our first pick to watch if we were scrolling through Disney+ for a Pixar film to watch, but it’s still brilliant, with laughs and heart in equal measure.
12. A Bug’s Life
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An oft-overlooked film from Pixar’s early years, you might be surprised to see A Bug’s Life so high on this list, but honestly there’s a lot here to enjoy, even if it doesn’t get the recognition of films like Toy Story or Finding Nemo.
There are so many characters to fall in love with, the silly gags always make us smile and even when the animation looks a little on the rough side in 2021, it all kind of adds to the charm.
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11. Up
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Similarly, you might be surprised to see Up has fallen just outside of our top 10, despite being a critical favourite and one of only three animated films to be nominated for Best Picture at the Oscars (the other being Disney’s Beauty And The Beast and another film yet to come up on this list).
Obviously that opening montage is heart-wrenching, the first shot of those balloons is really gorgeous and that moment Carl flicks through his late wife’s “adventures” book has us in bits just thinking about it.
But outside of those three key scenes… we just feel like Up is lacking something compared to the films that we’ve placed above it. When Up is good, it’s incredible, but it still doesn’t quite to live up to the best of the best.
10. Soul
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The most recent offering on this list, Soul was supposed to hit cinemas in 2020 but, for obvious reasons, ended up arriving on Disney+ in the UK as a Christmas Day present from Pixar.
Our take? We really, really enjoyed it.
We haven’t had that much time to mull it over, which is why we’re hesitant to put it above certain classics on our ranking – but it’s most certainly deserving of a high placing on this list.
9. Toy Story
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The film that well and truly changed it all. We’ve seen Toy Story roughly 5000 times, so we kind of take for granted just how groundbreaking it was when it was released.
Watching it as a child, we remember laughing out loud throughout, and even revisiting the film after all those years, the comedic moments still stand up – as do some of those signature tear-jerk moments that Pixar has become synonymous with over the years.
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8. Ratatouille
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Who would have thought a film about a rat with big dreams about becoming a chef would go on to become one of Pixar’s most-loved films?
And if you don’t believe us, why not have a quick scroll through the theatre enthusiasts on TikTok who turned the whole thing into a musical last year, to see just how far Ratatouille’s legacy stretches.
7. Monsters, Inc.
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Monsters, Inc., at its core, is a buddy movie packed with plenty of laughs, while the universe it’s set in really allowed the animators to go big with their designs.
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But that certainly doesn’t mean it doesn’t have the capacity to move you to tears either – particularly during that devastating scene near the end, when Sully says goodbye to Boo for what he thinks will be the last time, not to mention those final joyful seconds.
6. Coco
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Pixar has never shied away from difficult subjects, and this has never been more apparent than in Coco – a whole film about... well, yes, death, but also family, love and the legacy we all leave behind. The whole thing is pulled off brilliantly, looks amazing and it’s so great to have a Pixar film with songs in it for a change.
Be prepared to weep towards the end, though, over a scene you’ll see coming a mile off, but there’s still no real preparing for.
5. Toy Story 2
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OK, we’re well and truly into the big leagues now.
There’s a lot we could rave about in Toy Story 2 – a rare Disney sequel that not only matched the original film but bettered it in almost every way – but truly, it’s all about that When She Loved Me sequence, isn’t it?
Probably the origin of the signature Pixar tear-jerker, the three-minute scene explores Jessie’s back story and issues with abandonment... not to mention the fact it guilt-tripped pretty much all of us as we remembered all the once-cherished toys that got relegated under the bed when we were teenagers.
4. Finding Nemo
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Ellen Degeneres’ performance as the forgetful Dory is obviously the scene-stealer here, but Finding Nemo is a full-blown emotional rollercoaster as well as a laugh riot.
In a trick that they’d repeat a few years later with Up, Pixar opened this film with its most crushing scene, but scattered throughout are more poignant moments when Marlin regrets being so strict with his beloved son (“You think you can do these things but you just can’t Nemo!”) that pack a real punch, and make the inevitable father-son reunion all the sweeter.
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And the jokes! There are so many – some really clever and some so stupid you can’t help but laugh anyway. There’s a reason Finding Nemo has stood the test of time and is frequently hailed as a Pixar classic.
3. Inside Out
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It’s so hard to pick our favourite aspect of Inside Out; is it the incredible concept? Phyllis Smith’s somehow-adorable portrayal of Sadness? That blink-and-you’ll-miss-it “facts and opinions” joke? The way it’s fundamentally a children’s film that genuinely made us think more in depth about our own emotions and mental health? Or, indeed, all of the above.
Then, of course, there’s that Bing Bong moment.
As we sat in the cinema watching Riley’s imaginary friend disappearing before our eyes for the very first time, a cynical side of us did think, “hmmm… Pixar has only included this scene to try and make us cry in that Pixar sort of way”.
And then, wiping our tears, we realised it had worked. So fair play to them, really.
2. Toy Story 3
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But come on, if you want to talk about Pixar films that made us almost bawl our eyes out, then we have to discuss Toy Story 3.
Not only is there a bit where it genuinely looks like a gang of our childhood favourites are about to be crushed to death by a trash compactor (that bit where they all hold hands!!!!), there’s then heartbreaking scene where Andy plays with his toys for the last time.
We are literally welling up just typing about it, to be honest.
1. Wall-E
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Wall-E is so unlike anything else Pixar (or the Walt Disney Company in general) has ever done, we’re in awe every time we watch it.
The film not only looks stunning, but is packed full of beautiful moments, from Wall-E taking care of Eve during her time on Earth, to the same way she brings him back to life after he saves the day.
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Plus, has anyone in cinema history ever come as close to #CoupleGoals as this robot pair? We think not.


thehuffingtonpostuk--2020-03-06--The Supremes Member Barbara Martin Dies, Aged 76

The Supremes singer Barbara Martin has died at the age of 76.
Barbara was a member of the legendary Motown group from 1960 to 1962, replacing original member Betty McGlown.
Barbara Martin (left) with The Supremes Getty
News of the singer’s death was announced on the group’s official Facebook page on Thursday.
Sharing a post from bandmate Mary Wilson, a statement read: “Our hearts go out to Barbara’s family and friends. Once a Supreme, always a Supreme.”
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The Supremes were originally founded in 1959 as The Primettes, consisting of members Florence Ballard, Mary Wilson, Diana Ross, and Betty McGlown.
Barbara then joined the group when Betty decided to leave just before they were signed to Motown Records in 1960.
While recording a handful of early singles – none of which became hits – the new foursome worked as studio backing singers, providing vocals and rhythmic effects such as hand claps for a number of Motown’s leading groups.
Barbara recorded many of The Supremes’ early singles but left shortly before the release of their first album, Meet The Supremes, in 1962 to start a family.
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However, her vocals remained on the recordings, despite not featuring on the album cover.
The Supremes continued as a trio, but went through numerous further line-up changes in the ensuing years.


thehuffingtonpostuk--2020-03-06--Former Nazi Concentration Camp Guard Ordered Out Of US By Judge

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A judge has ordered the deportation of a former Nazi concentration camp guard living in Tennessee following a two-day trial in Memphis.
German citizen Friedrich Karl Berger was ordered to leave the US because of his “willing service as an armed guard of prisoners at a concentration camp where persecution took place,” said Judge Rebecca L. Holt in her ruling.
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Berger admitted in court that he served as an armed guard in the Neuengamme concentration camp system in 1945. The camp’s prisoners included Russian, Polish, and Dutch civilians, Jewish people, people of other European nationalities, and political prisoners, the US Department of Justice said in a release. Thousands died under forced labor and other horrifying conditions at the camp, while thousands of others were systematically murdered.
Berger told the court that he was tasked with ensuring that prisoners, housed at a subcamp near Meppen in northern Germany, didn’t flee during their dawn-to-dusk workday and while traveling to worksites and back.
When the Nazis abandoned the camp during the advance of British and Canadian forces in March 1945, Berger helped guard the prisoners during their forcible evacuation to the Neuengamme main camp in Hamburg, the court found. In the two weeks of travel it took to reach the main camp, roughly 70 of the prisoners died, the Justice Department said.
Berger admitted that he never requested a transfer from concentration camp guard service and that he continues to receive a pension from Germany based on his past employment, “including his wartime service,” the court heard.
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From 1938 to 1945, more than 100,000 people were imprisoned at Neuengamme, and at least 50,000 of them died. picture alliance via Getty Images
Berger’s attorney, Hugh Ward, told local news station WBIR that his client has never been accused of war crimes before and that he is a law-abiding Tennessee citizen.
“We’re reviewing the judge’s ruling and considering appealing,” Ward told WBIR. He did not immediately respond to HuffPost’s request for comment.


thehuffingtonpostuk--2020-03-06--Anti-Abortion Activists Ramp Up 'Intimidating' And 'Distressing' Protests Outside Clinics For Lent

Anti-abortion activists have ramped up “distressing” and “intimidating” protests outside clinics for Lent, HuffPost UK has learned.
Protesters taking part in the 40 Days For Life campaign – which began in the US – are targeting 15 abortion clinics across the UK throughout the Christian holy period in a bid to “end abortion”, with plans to picket these centres every day until April 5.
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On its website, the hardline religious campaign – which runs twice a year – boasts of having “saved” more than 16,500 lives and shut down 106 abortion clinics around the world since it launched in 2007.
Clinic workers, campaigners and volunteers say the campaign is leaving women distressed, angry and, in some cases, so scared they they can’t get out of their cars.
Rachel Lees is a volunteer at Sister Supporter, a group that campaigns to stop the harassment of women outside abortion clinics.
She described protests outside a clinic in Bournemouth as “really intimidating”.
According to the British Pregnancy Advisory Service (Bpas), the UK’s largest abortion care service, its clinic in Bournemouth is among those that see the most protests.
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“Outside of 40 Days For Life protesters are at the clinic a few times a week but since the campaign started it has been every day,” Lees said.
“We’ve had reports from residents of baby clothes being left in bushes and we know that they bring leaflets and rosaries with them.”
Baby clothes left by protesters in bushes near a Bpas clinic in Bournemouth Supplied: Rachel Lees
On the first evening of the campaign, there were three protesters stood in front of the clinic.
“It’s just really intimidating,” she said. “It’s dark and they’re standing there holding their rosary beads, not really saying much, praying under their breath.
“It’s just a really disconcerting presence when you’re going into the clinic.”
There have also been 40 Days For Life protests outside of the Marie Stopes clinic in Manchester, where Shelley Doherty works as a front-of-house assistant.
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While groups of demonstrators outside the centre have been smaller than previous campaigns, there were five protesters standing “in a line” near the clinic on Tuesday, Doherty said.
“You can imagine what it’s like for a lady – they’re coming into our building and you’ve got people stood outside with big massive banners saying: ‘Make sure you see a copy of the scan,’ ‘here’s a helpline,’ and ‘Marie Stopes are murderers.’”
In some cases, it’s such an upsetting scene that women don’t feel able to walk past protesters on their own, she said.
Doherty explained: “There are clients who can’t get out of the car – they call up the centre and say they want to get in, but that they can’t walk past those people.”
Anti-abortion protesters regularly demonstrate outside a Marie Curie clinic in Manchester Marie Curie
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But it’s not just women seeking treatment who are affected by demonstrations outside of abortion clinics – staff are also targeted by protesters.
“It’s quite scary sometimes, particularly because the road we are on is a dead end,” she explained. “Particularly where our building is, there are a lot of trees and bushes.” When Doherty goes to work at 7.30am, it’s “pitch black”.
“I’m walking down the street and you have two gentlemen standing there with their banners hurling abuse at us because they don’t agree with what we do. They just want to antagonise us.”
Rachael Clarke, a spokesperson for Bpas, said protests outside abortion clinics can cause “a lot of alarm and distress”.
The charity estimates that in the last 18 months alone, as many as 46 abortions clinics in the UK have been targeted by protesters.
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The 40 Days For Life campaign has led to demonstrations outside two clinics which has never had protesters outside before, Clarke said.
“It makes the situation a lot more distressing for women and more emotionally difficult,” she explained.
“We have very recent accounts of women who feel it’s very difficult to walk past the protests – they may turn around and not come into the clinic.”
Anti-abortion protesters outside a bpas clinic in Finsbury Park, London, at the start of February. It is one of around 46 clinics which have been targeted by activists in the last 18 months. bpas
Meanwhile, other women have been left so upset by demonstrations that they’re unable to consent to treatment on that day, she said.
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“Women tell us it feels like harassment. I think they’re often quite upset that there doesn’t seem to be anything we can do to stop it, or that we seem to be somehow allowing it because legally we can’t stop it.”
In April 2018, Ealing Council made history by introducing a 100-metre buffer zone around a local abortion clinic that was targeted by daily protests in a bid to stop demonstrators harassing women or handing them leaflets.
However, despite calls from activists and abortion service providers for legislation to introduce protest exclusion areas outside of all abortion clinics, buffer zones remain limited.
When asked about protest exclusion zones outside of abortion clinics, a spokesperson for the Home Office said there were “sufficient powers in place” for police and local authorities to restrict harmful protests, citing the buffer outside the Ealing clinic.
“The right to protest is a vital part of a democratic society, but it is completely unacceptable that anyone should feel harassed or intimidated, and we expect the police to take action in such cases,” they added.
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Meanwhile, 40 Days For Life CEO Shawn Carney told HuffPost UK in a statement that the campaign is “proud” of its rapid growth in England over the past decade.
“We take pride in our dedicated volunteers who have held successful prayer vigils across England and positively touched the lives of many as a result,” he said.
“Because all volunteers are required to take an oath to meet the objectives of 40 Days For Life as lovingly and respectfully as possible, we have seen tremendous growth in our local campaigns organised throughout England.”
Carney added: “We are committed to conducting outreach on this model. We strongly condemn tactics that use hateful or accusatory language as this type of behaviour neither reflects nor advances the core causes of 40 Days For Life.”


thehuffingtonpostuk--2020-03-06--Curious If EMDR Is An Effective Form Of Therapy? Here's What To Know

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Trauma doesn’t always look the same. Whether it’s a failed relationship, an unspeakable act of violence or a devastating natural disaster, traumas differ in their severity, as well as their effects on us.
If you’ve ever experienced it, you know how difficult it can be to imagine living a normal life where you’re not regularly reminded of what you experienced. But one therapy treatment promises it can help with some erasure.
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It’s called eye movement desensitisation and reprocessing, or EMDR. The therapy type is supported by research, and considered as an effective treatment for trauma by a host of international organisations, including the American Psychiatric Association, the Department of Veterans Affairs, and the World Health Organisation.
The origins of EMDR date back to 1989, when psychologist Francine Shapiro realised that rapid eye movements helped assuage her own negative emotions while walking through a park. Shapiro spent years developing, practicing and studying the effects of the therapeutic procedure, eventually coining the name EMDR in 1991.
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How does EMDR work?
When we go through a traumatic event, our central nervous system kicks into high gear, reacting with an applicable stress response — i.e., a fight, flight or freeze reaction. Sometimes a distressing event can be processed sufficiently by our brain on its own, and it heals itself.
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But other times, our brain can get “stuck” in the past and continues to react as if we’re still experiencing the disturbing event — as if we’re back in the trauma, explained Charlotte Margulies, a psychotherapist and founder of Aspen Alliance Counselling. That’s where EMDR can help. Through enabling the differing parts of the brain to communicate more effectively, EMDR helps our brain process traumatic memories more effectively.
In EMDR, “the traumatic memory becomes part of the existing positive memory network, which brings relief to the patient,” said Sandra McCluskey, assistant professor of psychiatry at The University of Toledo and a licensed professional clinical counsellor. “The patient can still recall the memory, but because it is finally properly stored with existing adaptive and positive memories, the patient no longer emotionally reacts when they think about it.”
EMDR therapy consists of eight different phases. Phase 1 involves history-taking, where the therapist learns more about the client’s past and develops a treatment plan. In Phase 2, the therapist spends time teaching the client coping and calming skills to help them handle emotional distress, which they can use between and during sessions. The amount of time spent in these phases is determined on a case-by-case basis, McCluskey said, and depends on the patient’s history, their specific traumas and the judgment of the therapist.
During Phases 3 through 6, the client will target and reprocess — or work through — the identified trauma. This is where the signature modality of EMDR comes into play, known as bilateral stimulation (BLS). The three types of BLS to stimulate eye movement include: visual (when a therapist moves a finger or light bar back and forth), auditory (slight chimes or other sounds that alternate in each ear), or tactile (buzzers that you hold in your hand and pulse back and forth).
While engaging in BLS, the client will be instructed to focus on a visual image of the trauma, a negative thought they associate with themselves and bodily sensations.
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Here is where the most unique feature of EMDR becomes apparent: Unlike talk therapy, discussing the details of the trauma is not necessary in EMDR, McCluskey said. “This can be very helpful for people who have experienced things that are too difficult or upsetting to say aloud.”
After the eye movement stimulations, the client is instructed to simply notice whatever thought, feeling, image, memory or sensation comes to mind. Again, these phases will last as long as needed for the client to eventually eliminate feelings of distress associated with the trauma.
Finally, Phases 7 and 8 wrap up the therapeutic sessions. The therapist makes sure the client feels stable and safe moving forward, knowing how to use the self-regulating techniques learned in Phase 2, and evaluates the progress the patient has made.
In order to offer EMDR therapy, mental health professionals must be approved by the EMDR International Association (EMDRIA), Margulies said. Make sure your practitioner is an EMDRIA-approved or -certified therapist.
Lucy Lambriex via Getty Images
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Who is EMDR for?
EMDR is continually emerging as a useful form of treatment for people who have suffered traumatic events, and almost anyone may benefit from EMDR therapy (more on that below).
EMDR is applicable to a range of traumas, such as sexual assault, a car accident, violent crime, bullying as a child and breakups, Margulies explained. Anyone who’s been in talk therapy for a while and not seeing the results they are hoping for might want to give EMDR a try.
Research backs up the effectiveness of EMDR. One notable study found that 12 sessions of EMDR eliminated PTSD in over 77% of combat veterans who participated in the research. Another study found that 100% of the single-trauma victims and 77% of multiple trauma victims no longer were diagnosed with PTSD after only six 50-minute sessions.
And while EMDR might be most studied for its effects on traumatic memories, it may also work for a myriad of other mental health issues, according to both research and anecdotal stories.
“I’ve had so much success using EMDR therapy for so many different issues,” McCluskey said. She’s used it to help patients work through unresolved grief, anxiety and panic attacks.
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Donna Brown, an author and retired registered nurse in Pearce, Arizona, said EDMR helped her to manage her trauma symptoms ― including intense depression, anxiety and suicidal thoughts ― that stemmed from childhood abuse.
“As I sat in front of the machine week after week watching the flashing lights, I wondered if there was any validity to the treatment,” Brown, 68, said. “Nonetheless, as time went on, I began to experience noticeable improvement in my mood and a steady decline in the number of flashbacks.”
After a year of therapy, Brown said she stopped getting horrific flashbacks.
“I was able to live a normal life without fear of recurrence,” she said. “Through my experience of EMDR, I gained invaluable knowledge about this procedure and sense of gratitude to be alive and enjoying life. Perhaps EMDR will not work in all situations, yet I would highly recommend it to others who are struggling with their own mental health challenges.”
Are there any drawbacks to EMDR?
Brown is right that EDMR isn’t a cure-all for everyone. Overall, mental health professionals seem to be in agreement that EMDR is an effective and safe way to help people process traumatic memories. However, there are some cons, said Shirley Porter, a psychotherapist and writer for Choosing Therapy, who has experience with EMDR as both a patient and a professional.
For some people, EMDR is just not a fit, Porter explained. One of the challenges: “Since the therapy itself causes a client to relive the trauma for brief periods of time, some find it too painful to get to a point where the memories of the trauma cause no distress at all,” she said.
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Another reason someone may not want to proceed with EMDR is related to the emotional dysregulation some may experience following an EMDR session. This can manifest as an inability to calm down or manage one’s own emotions, as well as a spike in PTSD symptoms, such as flashbacks or nightmares.
This is why the timing of EMDR sessions is so important, Porter emphasised. “It’s not something one would want to do the week prior to an exam, job interview or major presentation, due to the potential distress that could occur.”
Just like any therapy modality, every individual will respond differently to EMDR. But as Margulies noted, most of the feedback she receives as a therapist from patients going through EMDR is positive.