thehuffingtonpostuk--2020-09-17--Joe Biden Warns Good Friday Agreement Cannot Become 'Casualty' Of Brexit

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US presidential candidate Joe Biden has said he will not allow the Good Friday Agreement to become a “casualty” of Brexit if he is elected in November.
The Democratic candidate said any trade deal between the US and UK had to be “contingent” on respect for the Northern Ireland peace deal.
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On Wednesday night, he tweeted: “We can’t allow the Good Friday Agreement that brought peace to Northern Ireland to become a casualty of Brexit.
“Any trade deal between the US and UK must be contingent upon respect for the Agreement and preventing the return of a hard border. Period.”
His comments came as foreign secretary Dominic Raab was visiting Washington DC in an attempt to reassure US politicians that Britain’s support for the Northern Ireland peace agreement was “absolute”.
Conor Burns, Tory MP for Bournemouth West, mocked Biden’s tweet and implied the US Democratic candidate did not properly understand the Good Friday Agreement.
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“It is also called the Belfast Agreement so it doesn’t offend both traditions. Did you actually know that?” he wrote.
“Here if you need help.”
Hey @joebiden would you like to discuss the Good Friday agreement? It is also called the Belfast Agreement so it doesn't offend both traditions. Did you actually know that? I was born in NI and I'm a Catholic and a Unionist. Here if you need help. — Conor Burns (@ConorBurnsUK) September 16, 2020
But shadow foreign secretary Lisa Nandy said Biden’s comments showed “the scale of damage” the UK government had done to Britain’s “standing” in the world”.
“They’ve lost trust and undermined co-operation at the moment we most need it - and all to tear up an agreement they negotiated,” she tweeted.
“Reckless, incompetent and utterly self-defeating.”
This shows the scale of the damage the Government have done to Britain’s standing in the world. They’ve lost trust and undermined co-operation at the moment we most need it - and all to tear up an agreement they negotiated. Reckless, incompetent and utterly self-defeating https://t.co/RcJCqduaW1 — Lisa Nandy (@lisanandy) September 16, 2020
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Boris Johnson has faced accusations of breaking international law by attempting to change parts of the Brexit Withdrawal Agreement made with Brussels, raising concerns that a hard border will be imposed on Ireland.
On Wednesday one of Johnson’s most senior law officers, Lord Keen, quit in protest at the government’s plans while delivering a withering verdict on the legality of the government’s policy in his resignation letter.
“I have found it increasingly difficult to reconcile what I consider to be my obligations as a Law Officer with your policy intentions,” he wrote.
In the US, leading members of the Democratic Party – who currently hold the majority in the House – have warned any undercutting of the Good Friday Agreement could see them veto the US-UK trade deal currently being negotiated.
Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi said there will be “absolutely no chance of a US-UK trade agreement passing the Congress” if the UK “violates its international agreements” and Brexit “undermines the Good Friday accord”.
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Raab insisted the threat came from Brussels’ “politicisation” of Northern Ireland issues and told Pelosi the UK would never erect a hard border in Northern Ireland.
“The UK action here is defensive in relation to what the EU is doing, it is precautionary, we haven’t done any of this yet, and it is proportionate,” he said.
“What we cannot have is the EU seeking to erect a regulatory border down the Irish Sea between Northern Ireland and Britain.”
But US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo defended the UK government, telling reporters in a press conference he was “confident they’ll get it right” and described the ‘special relationship’ as “stronger than ever”.
“We’ve made clear our view of the importance of the Good Friday Agreement, we know the complexity of the situation and we’ve done what we can to provide assistance where we can,” he said.
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thehuffingtonpostuk--2020-09-17--Multiple Detained Women Say Their Reproductive Organs Were Removed Unnecessarily

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Multiple women detained by Immigration and Customs Enforcement alleged on Wednesday that a doctor unnecessarily removed their reproductive organs, corroborating earlier reports of sterilisations without consent on migrant women from a detention facility in Georgia.
MSNBC’s Chris Hayes reported on his show about at least two women who claimed that their reproductive organs were removed and they either did not fully consent to or were coerced into the procedures while detained at the privately run ICE Irwin County Detention Center (ICDC) in Ocilla, Georgia.
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One of the women told Hayes that she was pressured into a full hysterectomy while she was detained. The woman, whose identity is being withheld by MSNBC because she’s in immigration proceedings and fears for her status, said the gynecologist who performed the removal was Dr Mahendra Amin, who has also been accused in other reports of performing unwanted hysterectomies on immigrant women.
Woman claiming she received unnecessary hysterectomy at ICE facility in Georgia speaks with @chrislhayes:
“I felt like I had no right to say anything. Dr. Amin just told me, you're gonna get a hysterectomy done, and schedule an appointment for that. I had no say in this.” pic.twitter.com/2wxZiXwxfI — All In with Chris Hayes (@allinwithchris) September 17, 2020
“I felt like I had no right to say anything,” the woman said in a recording to MSNBC. “Dr Amin just told me, ‘You’re gonna get a hysterectomy done, and schedule an appointment for that.’ I had no say in this.”
Amin’s lawyer told BuzzFeed News the doctor is aware of the allegations and “vigorously” denies them, adding that the gynaecologist has “dedicated his adult life to treating a high-risk, underserved population in rural Georgia.”
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Hayes also reported about an immigrant, who had come to the US at age 2 from Cameroon, who said one of her fallopian tubes was removed without her consent while she was detained at ICDC. Pauline Binam’s lawyer alleged she went to the doctor for a procedure to remove tissue from inside the uterus but that when she woke up after surgery, she was told a fallopian tube had been removed and that she had very little chance of becoming pregnant.
According to MSNBC, ICE was prepared to deport Binam on Wednesday morning ― just two days after a whistleblower complaint alleged there had been mass sterilisations. Representative Sheila Jackson Lee intervened, and Binam was taken off the plane.
The procedure Pauline Binam had was actually a salpingectomy, not a hysterectomy.
Binam went in for a different procedure but when she woke up after surgery was told she had a fallopian tube removed which nevertheless decreased her chances of becoming pregnant. https://t.co/T6vFjYLQUU pic.twitter.com/1P5c2ykz0P — Adolfo Flores (@aflores) September 16, 2020
Several groups filed a complaint made public on Monday on behalf of whistleblower Dawn Wooten, a nurse who worked full time at the facility until July. The complaint alleges that officials have created unsanitary conditions and allowed for “jarring medical neglect” at ICDC.
“Everybody he sees has a hysterectomy ― just about everybody,” Wooten said of Amin in the complaint. “He’s even taken out the wrong ovary” on a detained immigrant woman.
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ICDC is operated by LaSalle Corrections. The for-profit prison company is currently facing a lawsuit over a death at a county jail it runs on the border of Texas and Arkansas.
“LaSalle has a corporate culture of treating all inmates as fakers,” says the lawsuit over Holly Barlow-Austin’s “senseless” death at the Bi-State Jail. “When inmates report medical problems, LaSalle guards and nurses accuse them of feigning illness or distress.”
LaSalle told MSNBC that the company has a “strict zero-tolerance policy for any kind of inappropriate behaviour in our facilities” and strongly denies any allegations of misconduct.
The US has a long history of performing forced medical operations on marginalised groups as a way to try to bolster white supremacy. Up to 70,000 Americans, most of whom were women, were forcibly sterilized from the early 1900s to the 1970s, a time in which 32 states had eugenic-sterilization laws. The victims were deemed unfit to bear children because of eugenics ― the idea that people who are non-white, poor, mentally ill or disabled must be bred out of future generations.
More than 170 House representatives on Wednesday urged an immediate investigation from the Department of Homeland Security’s inspector general into the allegations of mass sterilizations and demanded an update on the status of an investigation by September 25.
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thehuffingtonpostuk--2020-09-17--Kristen Bell Lets Her Kids Drink Non-Alcoholic Beer: 'I'm Going To Get A Lot Of Flak'

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Kristen Bell knows she’s “going to get a lot of flak for this” story, but let’s make one thing clear: She really doesn’t care.
The Frozen actor appeared on the debut episode of chef Carla Hall’s new podcast ― Say Yes! ― on Tuesday and revealed that her daughters, Lincoln, 7, and Delta, 5, like to occasionally drink a non-alcoholic beer with their father, Dax Shepard. Shepard has been sober for 16 years.
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Kristen Bell Willy Sanjuan/Invision/AP
“It’s a sentimental thing for my girls, right? It makes them feel close to their dad,” Bell said of the girls drinking O’Doul’s, which she says they sometimes also order at restaurants. According to O’Doul’s website, the non-alcoholic beverage contains less than 0.5% alcohol by volume.
It all started with their first daughter and some walks around the neighbourhood. Bell said Shepard would “pop a non-alcoholic beer in his hand and the baby would paw at it and put the rim in her mouth.”
“There’s nothing wrong with it. It’s just essentially a bubbly juice,” Bell said. “We also talk to them very much about his sobriety, the importance of it and why Daddy can’t drink.”
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Though both parents are obviously comfortable with the kids’ drink of choice, Bell admitted there was a recent incident that caused her some qualms. Her daughters were on Zoom for their socially distanced school day when the actor walked in.
“There’s nothing wrong with it. It’s just essentially a bubbly juice,” Kristen Bell said of her and Dax Shepard's decision to let their children drink O'Doul's. NBC via Getty Images
“I walk in to check on them at 9:30, and both of them are drinking an O’Doul’s on their Zooms,” she said of the girls’ “just sipping their ’Doulies.”
“And I’m like, ‘What must these other parents and teachers think of me?’” Bell said.
After reminding herself to not worry about other people’s parenting judgments, the Good Place alum said that if anyone took issue with her family about the non-alcoholic beverage, it would be a teachable moment.
“If anything, it opens up the discussion for why Daddy has to drink non-alcoholic beer because some people lose their privileges with drinking,” she said. “Drinking’s not always safe.”
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Bell said she and Shepard decided long ago to "open the kimono — as they say — and allow people to see what our marriage is like.” Danny Moloshok/Reuters
Bell is reliably candid when it comes to discussing parenting and marriage, from talking about fights and therapy to the double standards she faces that her husband, a fellow actor, just doesn’t experience.


thehuffingtonpostuk--2020-09-17--Disabled People Are Anxious About Returning To Work. Do Not Forget Us

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With the government encouraging us all to get back into the office, disabled people are rightly anxious about returning to work.
This week, as part of Scope’s We Won’t Be Forgotten campaign, the disability equality charity is delivering an open letter to Boris Johnson signed by 30,000 disability campaigners calling for a “new deal for disabled people to show they won’t be forgotten in the Government’s recovery plan, and beyond”.
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This is something I cannot welcome too much, as throughout the pandemic I’ve had to watch with frustration and anger as the government have done nothing to help those left most vulnerable by the virus. As the world went into lockdown – when the government should have been doing everything to ensure disabled people weren’t left without support, food, care, health care and money – to many it felt like we were instead just shut up inside for five months.
Back in February, before coronavirus crisis hit the UK, Johnson wrote to his Cabinet and said he wanted his government, through a National Disability Strategy, to transform the lives of disabled people.
As a disabled person who’s lived under a Conservative government for my whole adult life, I was sceptical but held out hope. The pandemic would’ve been the perfect time to provide more care for disabled people – we were at our most vulnerable after all. But that didn’t happen.
“The pandemic would’ve been the perfect time to provide more care for disabled people... But that didn’t happen.”
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When the government promised help to get us back out into the world I expected then that Johnson would announce some support for disabled people – maybe extra money to get specialists into health centres into the community after we’ve had next to no health care for the last six months? Instead he gave people money off eating out at restaurants.
Thankfully, Rishi Sunak is pledging to help businesses return “back to normal”. Great! Does this mean more provisions to allow disabled people like me to work from home where possible and more funding and funding for those who need to shield? Unfortunately it doesn’t look like it. Instead he’s pushing people to return to the office to support city centres.
I suppose I’m one of the lucky ones – I already worked from home pre-Covid. But the only way I could was by working freelance. When lockdown came, it honestly hurt to see how easily the working from home conditions I had been told weren’t possible could be applied en masse to whole industries.
I failed university three separate times because staff were unsupportive of my mental health needs and wouldn’t allow me to work from home when I needed to – yet home schooling has quickly become the norm. As for home working, when I made the switch to writing and journalism I wasn’t able to hop from newsroom to newsroom like other freelancers due to my low immune system and chronic fatigue. As a result it’s taken me a lot longer to get to the same point in my career as my able-bodied peers. One of my favourite things about being a freelancer in the ‘before times’ was being able to work from my favourite coffee shop or the library. It seems like a silly insignificant thing in the grand scheme of things but being shut in with just my dog and husband has really affected me mentally – and it must be even worse for disabled people who live alone.
Disabled people have been fully cut off from others, and just because everyone else is in a rush to get back to normal doesn’t mean we feel safe to do so. Amid speculation that the country could be at risk of a second lockdown, many are anxious about returning to work. New research by gov.uk reveals just 14% of disabled workers feel safe about returning to work. Despite this, many may be forced to risk their health as they are worried about losing their jobs if they don’t return to work.
“If Johnson really wants the country to get back to normal, he needs to include everyone in his plans and be doing his utmost for disabled people.”
Some 51% of disabled workers said they were “concerned about going back to work, but need to get paid”. A third of disabled workers also feel under pressure to return to work – with employers and the government cited as main sources of pressure. And 25% of disabled workers are concerned about losing their job because their employer can’t make it safe for them to go to their workplace.
This gives a clear message that we shouldn’t force people to return to the office until they are ready and can be certain that it’s safe for them to do so. If Johnson really wants the country to get back to normal, he needs to include everyone in his plans and be doing his utmost for disabled people.
The open letter from Scope calls for the government and employers to embrace flexible working to create more job opportunities for disabled people in the future. The letter states: “The commitment to tackle the disability employment gap set out in the Conservative manifesto must be upheld. For those unable to work, the Government must guarantee a safety net which supports rather than punishes, without fear of ineffective sanctions.”
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Nobody should have to choose between their job and their health. If the government doesn’t start prioritising the needs of disabled people, coronavirus will not be the only killer in this pandemic.


thehuffingtonpostuk--2020-09-17--So, Did We Actually Get Better At Cooking During Lockdown?

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First came the frenzy of sourdough bros, then we went bananas for banana bread. Back in April, at the height of lockdown, more than a fifth of us were cooking every meal from scratch according to a research conducted by Tesco, and 35% of us were getting better at using leftovers to avoid food waste.
Cookery classes boomed on Zoom, grocery box deliveries became standard fare – and the only way we could share a meal was calling each other on FaceTime. This was a world before Eat Out To Help Out and we embraced it.
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But since that collective forced hibernation, have we actually kept up our new habits or let them slide? Are we better cooks than we were six months ago?
Personally, I had an initial burst of enthusiasm and creativity thanks to simply having more free time on my hands. I played around in the kitchen recreating fast food items like chicken nuggets, McDonald’s vegetarian McMuffin, and taste-tested IKEA meatballs for work.
I also became obsessed with making Cantonese dishes like doufuhua (tofu pudding), turnip cake, and claypot rice in a bid to learn more about my heritage and to connect with my parents, who were stuck on the other side of the world – yeah, thanks coronavirus. I cooked and they guided (read, slated) me every step of the way on video call.
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However, as the months went on and the lockdown rules relaxed I slowly drifted back into the same comfortable cooking routine, falling back on the quick and trusty stir-fry recipes I’ve always had on heavy rotation. Am I the only one?
I asked other people whether their culinary journeys during lockdown changed their eating habits for the better or worse longterm. Here’s what they told me.
‘I wanted to learn how to make Korean food’
Stine Kyung Pitney Stine Kyung Pitney making gyoza with her children
Stine Kyung Pitney, 46, from Copenhagen, went all in during lockdown, learning how to cook Korean food and a handful of other Asian dishes for herself and her two sons.
“The first thing I made was gyoza. I just had a craving for them, and since all the restaurants were shut, I thought I’d try and make my own,” she tells HuffPost UK. “It went really well, so I have done that a few times with my youngest. I found out that I can get into my zen zone by just chopping a lot of vegetables. I love planning a meal, and will do so several days, even weeks, in advance.”
Pitney has always had a keen interest in food and cooking, but only recently did she become interested in her own Korean heritage, her upbringing, and being adopted, which she feels can be connected to food.
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“I think the way we eat says so much about us. Food is for feeding, but it’s also history, culture, class, heritage,” she explains. “Using a steamer was new to me and learning how to cook with oils that aren’t olive oil (which for some reason is the only oil we cook with in Europe) was something I had to get used to. When I cooked Kongbul (soybean sprout bulgogi), one of my foodie friends remarked that it’s done completely opposite to everything she has learned.”
‘I genuinely make the best cheese toasties in the world now, no exaggeration’
Paul Gibbin Paul Gibbin's comfort cooking
Paul Gibbins, 31, a Newcastle-native writer based in Barcelona, went for classic comfort dishes such as quiches and cheese toasties, rather than anything ambitious and crazy. The Spanish lockdown was very strict, more so than the UK, which meant Gibbins had to cook at home for weeks, until restaurants felt confident enough to do takeaways and deliveries again.
“During lockdown, we realised how much of our favourite comfort foods and the way we eat them is based on having no time or energy left to cook,” he says of him and his partner.
“We started to get more creative with the basics, experimenting with ingredients or buying better quality ingredients and cooking them in a less rushed way. Life in general slowed right down, and cooking as a shared activity became something enjoyable and intimate, rather than one of us sorting dinner while the other was busy or out. I genuinely believe that I make the best cheese toasties in the world now, no exaggeration.”
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Besides mastering the perfect cheese toastie, Gibbins became obsessed with his blender, leaning how sauces complement dishes and which flavours work together.
“Whether it’s just a simple garlic yoghurt sauce as a dip, or more complex curries and salsas,” he says. “Even learning how to make Nandos sauce is just something we’ve done for a laugh with our friends, I don’t even like Nandos that much, but it’s a shared cultural reference that we can’t access here.”
‘All the joy of taking time to cook disappeared’
Not everyone was living the foodie dream during lockdown. Henry Rowling, 43, who runs charity consultancy, Flying Cars, used to love trying new recipes out, but his priorities changed and cooking became more of a chore, he says.
“It was hard to get supplies into the house – all delivery slots were gone and so I found myself queuing up in Tesco car park at 5:45am to get into the shop. With that backdrop it became buy whatever you can get your hands on,” Rowling explains.
“We ate a lot of rice, dhal and stir fries. Simple food that was quick to cook, but all the joy of taking time to cook and enjoy it disappeared. My wife and I were physically exhausted every day. We have both worked non-stop for the last six months and worked harder than ever before – with full-time childcare on top of that and finding time to exercise to deal with the stress of everything going on.”
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‘You can’t smoke a shoulder of pork from the office!’
William Knox-Walker William Knox-Walker making Tacos al Pastor
William Knox-Walker, 34, from east London, who works in IT, made full use of lockdown, cooking everything from bagels to pizzas and tacos al pastor from scratch –– even investing in a barbecue and a wood-chip smoker to spend more time in the garden.
“I’m still working remotely and try and cook as much as possible. I’ve been suffering from fatigue due to long-term complications with Covid recovery from the beginning of March,” he says. “Cooking is one of those tasks which brings me a lot of joy even as I end up tired and having issues with smell and taste.”
For Knox-Walker, the weekdays are reserved for a fairly light set of meals, and approaching the weekend he turns it up a notch and tried his hand at something fancier.
“My work is still nine to five. But when I can be in my kitchen and working on something by six, rather than on a train or working out, then it suddenly becomes a lot easier to spend the extra time on cooking,” he explains.
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thehuffingtonpostuk--2020-09-17--What To Drink First Thing In The Morning, According To Nutritionists

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You’ve finally stopped hitting the snooze button, so good for you. Now, before you do anything else, it’s time to drink something. But what’s the best way to start your day? You may have heard that it’s a big glass of water, or perhaps you’ve been told a hot cup of green tea or coffee is the way to go.
We spoke to nutrition experts to find out what they’re downing at daybreak, and why you should follow their lead.
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Drink water, even if you’re not thirsty
Most of the experts who spoke with HuffPost had a clear (pun intended) winner for their morning beverage of choice: water. Even if it seems ho-hum, it’s what your body needs most to rehydrate after a night of sleep.
“You may not necessarily feel thirsty first thing in the morning, but drinking water can be a health habit that you prioritise to stay adequately hydrated throughout the day,” Vicki Shanta Retelny, a registered dietician nutritionist, told HuffPost.
But don’t worry — that H2O doesn’t necessarily have to be tepid tap water that’s drunk from a toothbrush holder cup (come on, we aren’t monsters). Experts suggest picking something you like to drink.
“I tend to prefer a can of seltzer [sparkling water] first thing, because it’s easy to gauge the amount as a mental cue to finish the entire can before I have any coffee,” registered dietician Barbara Ruhs told HuffPost.
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Make it easy on yourself
Not everyone rises in the morning with a song on their lips, but we all deserve to enjoy a crack-of-dawn beverage that promotes minimally civilised behaviour for the rest of the day. Registered dietician nutritionist Karen Ansel shared a tip: “To say I’m not a morning person is an understatement, but my workaround is to prepare the makings for a pot of coffee the night before and the coffee maker on a timer. When I wake up, I have a fresh pot waiting to help kick me into gear.”
Avoid fads
While the Bulletproof coffee fad (which combines coffee with grass-fed butter and MCT oil) still holds sway among true keto believers, nutritionists’ reactions to the high-fat drink ranged from “meh” to “bleh.”
“If you absolutely love to put butter or coconut oil into your coffee, go ahead,” Ruhs said. “Personally I am not a fan, and as a dietitian, I can tell you it’s definitely not ‘healthy.’ I recognise that keto fans don’t want to have a slice of toast with butter on it, but adding it to coffee — yuck!”
The so-called science behind this fad is “based on gibberish,” registered dietician nutritionist Amanda Frankeny told HuffPost, adding, “No peer-reviewed studies have supported the idea that drinking hot buttered coffee in the morning sets you up to shed pounds.”
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Frankeny also had thoughts about those “detoxifying” drinks that might seem tempting after a night of full-on retoxing.
“Don’t believe any drink that’s claiming to detoxify you,” she said. “Our major organs already are very robust detoxification systems. Your body has the know-how to get rid of the ‘sludge.’ If you nourish it, it can do its job.”
Energy drinks, another popular morning choice, also raised concerns.
“Many energy drinks have a lot of caffeine in them, so if you drink one first thing, you have to be super careful about your caffeine intake throughout the rest of the day,” Amy Gorin, a registered dietician nutritionist, told HuffPost.
And while juices have gotten a bad reputation over the years, Ruhs said the occasional glass of orange juice in the a.m. is just fine, and that ”100% juice is not as terrible as people have come to believe.”
“It’s true that juice doesn’t have all of the fibre of the whole fruit, but it still can be included once in a while as a good source of vitamin C,” she added.
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Tea — at any temperature — is a healthy choice
For a fad-free beverage with health benefits, consider adding hot or iced tea to your morning routine.
Registered dietician nutritionist Toby Smithson, who was diagnosed with diabetes at age 8, said she brews a full pitcher of tea every morning to last her the whole day.
“Research has shown health benefits, including for diabetes prevention and management, from drinking tea,” she told HuffPost. “The polyphenols in tea appear to influence insulin activity, and other benefits include improved insulin sensitivity, maintenance of healthy blood pressure, reduction in risk of heart disease and reduction in risks of developing Type 2 diabetes.”
None of the experts we spoke with felt there was any special magic in hot water with lemon as a first-thing-out-of-bed beverage, but they didn’t discourage it, either.
“I can see the attraction of this idea,” Gorin told HuffPost. “Hot water is incredibly soothing, and lemon adds a nice splash of citrus to the water. Personally, if I’m drinking a hot beverage, I prefer to get antioxidants from it, so I suggest having green tea with lemon instead.”
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Drink coffee to get things moving
If you’re looking to — as Ruhs put it — “get that business done before leaving the house,” she suggested having a cup of coffee. Frankeny agreed, sharing her own personal routine: “If you want something that helps with regularity, this drinking routine works wonders for me: I chug about 16 ounces of water right away and follow that with a cup of joe.”
For Frankeny, coffee is a year-round choice, no matter what the weather is like. When it’s hot outside, cold brew is her go-to.
“Overnight, I steep two to three heaping tablespoons of coffee grounds with two cups of water, a little cinnamon and a teaspoon of brown sugar,” she said. “The next morning, I strain it and combine with milk. I change it up with fennel seeds and white sugar, which makes it taste like a pizzelle, the traditional Italian waffle cookie, while still keeping a relatively balanced nutritional profile.”
Yes, what you drink matters
No matter what, experts agree that your first sip of the day is important.
“It sets the tone for the whole day,” Ansel said. “The last thing you want to do is start the day off with a sugary, highly processed drink like soda or an energy drink that will flood your system with sugars. These may deliver a quick shot of energy, but that’s guaranteed to be followed by a significant mid-morning low.”
Registered dietician nutritionist Sara Haas said: “If you start the day with a sugar-loaded, junk-filled beverage, you’ve already told your body you don’t care much about it. But if you start with water, tea, coffee or something with some nutritional benefit, you’re telling your body, ‘We’ve got this!’ and ‘I care about you!’”


thehuffingtonpostuk--2020-09-17--Coronavirus Stole My Favourite Pastime: Chatting With Strangers

gmast3r via Getty Images mix race subway passengers in protective masks keeping distance to prevent coronavirus in public transport social distancing concept horizontal full length vector illustration
I am that person who will tell everybody everything.
I can’t help it. My day is not complete without a random encounter with a stranger, usually the person sat next to me on public transport, that starts with light chat before turning into deep conversation about love, life and all the things in-between. Talking helps my mental health, not to mention my commute, and it helps me feel understood, brave, and gives me a sense of belonging.
I remember once being on the train to Finsbury Park, torn between ending a relationship or hanging on, when I decided to ask the lady sitting opposite me how you know when you’ve met the right person. She looked surprised, but gave me a familiar smile and asked: ‘’What does your gut say?’’
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My eyes lit up.
For the rest of the journey she told me about her previous relationships – the ones where she didn’t listen to her gut and paid a heavy price. When she got off, I waved, and she mouthed through the window ‘’do what makes you happy’’.
Such simple, potent advice from someone I would never see again. It wasn’t rocket science, but I felt understood. Safe to say, after that conversation, I called things off with him.
“I miss having a long conversation with people in the supermarkets about how the four-pack of bananas have gone up in price since last week.”
Growing up, I remember being taught about stranger danger, and not to talk to people I didn’t know. That is perfect advice for little children, but I think it’s bad advice for us adults. According to research, having a conversation with a stranger may leave you happier than you think; and it turns out these seemingly trivial encounters with minor characters in our lives, from the random guy at the dog park to the barista at our local coffee shop, can affect our happiness and sense of human connection on a typical day.
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It was only when lockdown began it was then how much I realised these tiny interactions with strangers were important to the quality of my life. I miss having a long conversation with people in the supermarkets about how the four-pack of bananas have gone up in price since last week. I miss exchanging giggles with someone on the tube as I chase my suitcase wheeling itself all the way to the end of the carriage. I miss asking the barista to decide what to make for me because I’m an indecisive Aquarius – and I miss getting into a conversation about why on earth these horoscope apps are so damn accurate and triggering before we laugh and exchange goodbyes, knowing that we might not meet again.
So why don’t we speak more often with strangers? Let’s be honest, most of us are worried about saying something stupid, or talking too much, or over spilling. And then there’s the worry they might even shut us down – the very same fear of rejection that stops us going after all the daring things we want in life.
That’s exactly why I believe talking to strangers matters so much. It invites people to challenge our belief system, question everything we think we know about the world around us. It encourages us to be the best versions of ourselves too – allowing only people we know to interact with us shields us from criticism. When we actively choose to avoid and ignore people that are not like us, it is frankly far more damaging than any discomfort that will come from engaging in a conversation. Being uncomfortable, in my experience, is good for you – how do we grow as individuals and enjoy the best that life has to offer if we always play it safe? Breaking out of our comfort zone allows you to expand your world and unfold new possibilities.
“Now more than ever I think it’s important we get past our reluctance to engage with people we don’t know.”
These days, strangers feel like even more of a threat. Because we are living in a pandemic and we are meant to keep six feet away, it’s hard to start small talk with strangers. Some people may go so far as to cross the road altogether to avoid being near you.
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That’s reasonable in the current climate, but now more than ever I think it’s important we get past our reluctance to engage with people we don’t know. These shared human experiences bring us closer together. And in these uncertain times, talking to people we don’t know can help us all feel connected Complimenting someone, smiling, or striking up a conversation may not completely change the course of our lives, but engaging in conversation may bring a sprinkle of day-to-day positivity not to just their life, but to your life too.
Isn’t the whole idea of us being here is that we leave the world and the people we share moments with better than we found them? So go on then, I double dare you, have a chat with a stranger today and tell me you won’t feel better because of it, and one thing worth remembering is people will always forget what you said, but they will never forget how you made them feel, and if you ask me?
That’s a job bloody well done.
Jackie Adedeji is a writer, presenter, and host of the Jackie Big Tits podcast


thehuffingtonpostuk--2020-09-16--Revenge Porn Helpline Cases Surge In Lockdown, With 'Sextortion' On Rise

Tero Vesalainen via Getty Images
The UK’s revenge porn helpline has dealt with more cases so far this year than it did during the whole of 2019, amid fears of a post-lockdown “new normal” when it comes to online image abuse.
Some 2,050 reports of so-called revenge porn had been made to the government-funded helpline as of Monday. This represents a 22% rise on the 1,685 reports over 2019 and its busiest year on record.
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The helpline, run by the charity SWGfL, part of the UK Safer Internet Centre, saw cases almost double in April compared to the same month the previous year – from 122 to 242.
Advisers thought this spike may settle, but despite the coronavirus lockdown easing, cases have remained high through to August.
From April to the end of August, 1,387 reports were made, the equivalent of nine every day. Last month, the helpline dealt with 285 cases, a 63% increase on the 175 dealt with in August 2019.
The sharing of private or sexual images or videos of a person without their consent became an offence in England and Wales in April 2015.
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Research by Refuge found one in seven young women have received threats that their intimate photos will be shared without their consent, suggesting this is a common form of abuse.
Around two thirds of cases reported to the helpline involve women. It has helped remove 22,515 images this year – 94% of the 23,913 reported by victims.
Its experts predict the UK total could rise to 2,700 reports by the end of the year – 60% higher than the 2019 total.
Helpline manager Sophie Mortimer believes the sustained rise is evidence of a long-term behaviour triggered by the lockdown, and greater awareness of the crime and support. “It’s interesting it hasn’t dropped and for me, that really does confirm we were only seeing the tip of the iceberg,” she told PA news agency.
“I think it did show that there’s a lot more going on behind closed doors, and the tighter those doors are closed, the more intense some of that behaviour has become, and maybe brought things to a head that otherwise would have taken a lot longer or might have taken a different shape.”
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martin-dm via Getty Images
Sextortion cases – when someone threatens to distribute your private and sensitive material if you don’t provide them images of a sexual nature – have also risen since lockdown, and now make up almost a fifth (18%) of the total cases dealt with by the helpline. Before the lockdown, they accounted for 13% of the total.
While around three quarters of the 363 sextortion cases involved male victims this year, figures suggest a greater number of women are being exploited. In March and July, 30% of the sextortion cases flagged to the helpline involved women.
David Wright, director of the UK Safer Internet Centre, said: “The lockdown produced an extreme set of circumstances which are bringing a lot of problems.
“What we are seeing here, however, suggests something more long-term has happened which could mean we will be busier than ever before.
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thehuffingtonpostuk--2020-09-16--Boris Johnson Can Fudge His Brexit Bill, But He Can’t Fudge Covid’s Rise

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Fudging It
It took him a week to find his conscience, but Lord Keen finally decided he couldn’t live with breaking international law. Having been hung out to dry by cabinet minister Brandon Lewis (whose political street fighting skills made Keen look like a rank amateur), in the end he really had little option but to quit.
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For shadow attorney general Charlie Falconer (another political bruiser), the only thing that was surprising was that it took him so long. And in many ways, this was Falconer’s scalp (and that of Labour’s savvy Lords operation), having yesterday roughed up the Advocate General with a mix of cold anger and ridicule.
His jibe at Keen on Tuesday - “The key characteristic for law officers is not brains – they can get all the advice they want from the English bar of lawyers – it is backbone” - clearly stung his fellow QC in the Lords. Goaded by Falconer’s heckling, Keen then effectively signed his own political suicide note by suggesting Lewis had misspoken.
PA
It’s perfectly possible that Keen had also worked out that even the new ‘compromise’ between No.10 and Tory rebels still involved breaking international law. The PM has indeed been forced to accept Bob Neill’s argument that MPs, rather than ministers, should get the first say over triggering such a nuclear option. But an option it remains, written in statue.
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The resignation of a fellow law officer certainly puts pressure on attorney general Suella Braverman (who has been incredibly silent in public on this whole affair) and justice secretary Robert Buckland.
Few MPs expect Braverman to do anything other than blindly back No10. But Buckland has been wobbling. His line to Sky News today - that he would resign if the government broke international law in “a way that cannot be fudged” - made clear that fudging was now his own justification for staying on.
Still, Buckland’s political capital among like-minded liberal lawyers like Neill seems to have been enough to help avoid a showdown next week. Levelling with the rebels, about what was politically possible and their mutual interest on the issue, paid off.
Deputy Labour leader Angela Rayner speaks during Prime Minister's Questions in the House of Commons, London. (Photo by House of Commons/PA Images via Getty Images) House of Commons - PA Images via Getty Images
So, with a resignation and yet another climbdown in the face of a backbench rebellion, has the PM ended today weaker? Not according to one minister I talked to today. “It’s like that old Michael Caine saying, ‘I’ve been poor and unhappy and I’ve been rich and unhappy. And believe me, rich is better!’” they said. “We had a difficult time governing with no majority, and how we have a difficult time governing with a majority of 80. And believe me, a majority of 80 is better!”
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Both No.10 and Labour realise that the spats about the Internal Market Bill pale in comparison to public unease over coronavirus spikes and testing failures. On an impressive debut at PMQs, Angela Rayner never lost sight of that bigger picture. And Johnson made clear at the Liaison Committee that the rising infections would “lead to mortality...that is the reality”.
That sounded like an echo of his warning way back in early March, before the virus took off and before the lockdown: “It is going to spread further and I must level with you, I must level with the British public: many more families are going to lose loved ones before their time.” Today, however, he didn’t level with us, as he had no real explanations for the bottleneck in testing.
The short-term solution will be “prioritisation” of tests, with possibly schools added to the hierarchy of hospitals and care homes, when Matt Hancock unveils the rationing programme in coming days.
The PM notably didn’t rule out a second national lockdown today. If big areas like the north east, Leeds and Birmingham join the north west in local curbs, England will feel like it’s already in a new national lockdown anyway.
That’s why perhaps Johnson does need to ‘level’ with us all more. “We just need to be a bit more honest with people,” one minister says. The PM did today admit capacity was inadequate for demand, but daily testing capacity numbers are no longer available, just when more transparency is needed.
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Tomorrow’s weekly test and trace stats need to get better too.
Fudging breaking international law is one thing, fudging coronavirus’s spread is altogether more dangerous.
Quote Of The Day
“We don’t have enough testing capacity now”
– Boris Johnson
Wednesday Cheat Sheet
Nearly 4,000 people in the UK were confirmed as having Covid-19, the highest since early May.
No10 agreed a compromise over the Internal Market Bill. But it added an extra amendment that critics said made judicial review of its sweeping powers even harder.
Joe Biden tweeted a warning about the UK breaking international law. “We can’t allow the Good Friday Agreement that brought peace to Northern Ireland to become a casualty of Brexit.”
Former transport secretary Chris Grayling, who once gave a no-deal Brexit ferry contract to a company with no ships, is to be paid £100,000 a year to advise a leading ports company (which is owned by Beijing-friendly Hong Kong tycoon Li Ka-shing).
What I’m Reading


thehuffingtonpostuk--2020-09-16--Anti-Maskers March Through Shop Chanting ‘Take Off Your Mask!’

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Video showing a group of mask-less demonstrators parading through a Target store in Florida and hollering at customers take off their masks has gone viral on social media.
The video, apparently taken by someone shopping in the store, popped up on Reddit, and later on Twitter. It shows some protesters wearing red MAGA shirts or hats and bellowing, “Take it off.”
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Anti-maskers in Florida invade a Target pic.twitter.com/Z8TWbl8ihD — Fifty Shades of Whey (@davenewworld_2) September 16, 2020
One participant was Cristina Gomez, who shared a livestream of the protest as she marched through the Target in Ft. Lauderdale on Tuesday.
In the livestream, Gomez and others in the group can be heard shouting, “Take your mask off!” and cheering on customers to join them. They blasted the song “We’re Not Gonna Take It” by Twisted Sister.
“If an infant doesn’t wear a mask, then no one should wear a mask,” says Gomez in her livestream, before adding: “People looking at us like, ‘What’s going on?’ Isn’t it crazy how people now look at me like we crazy because we don’t have a mask on? I think y’all crazy for having a mask.”
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Neither Gomez nor Target immediately answered HuffPost’s requests for comment.
Another protester, Nathan Babcock, told HuffPost that he thought it was successful and plans to join similar events in the future.
“It’s your right to do what you want, like it’s my right to do what I want,” Babcock said. “If you want to wear a mask and think [it] makes you safer ...that’s absolutely you’re right, 100%. Just don’t force me to wear a mask ... because it’s my right not to wear one.”
Babcock said he joined a protest at the store because “all our city halls are closed” and he wanted to express himself: “We have no voice in what is being done to us. That’s why we have had to organise and protest the lockdown,” he said.
Before the protest, Gomez had promoted it with a graphic on her Facebook page, calling it an “anti mask flash mob.”
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Target, like many retail chains, requires shoppers to wear masks or face coverings, except for those with medical conditions and for young children. The store where the anti-mask protest was held greeted telephone callers with a recorded reminder that face masks are required and that disposable masks will provided if needed.
Gomez made waves in June at a public meeting of Palm Beach County commissioners, where she gave an animated speech against the local mask mandate.
“You literally cannot mandate somebody to wear a mask knowing that that mask is killing people,” she said. “Every single one of you that are obeying the devil’s laws are going to be arrested and you, doctor, are going to be arrested for crimes against humanity.”
Video of those comments also went viral:
This angry Florida woman argued today against the mask mandate, while bringing up the devil, 5G, Bill Gates, Hillary Clinton, "the pedophiles" and the deep state.
Enjoy... pic.twitter.com/yqKUZNQYLQ — Rex Chapman🏇🏼 (@RexChapman) June 24, 2020
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Currently, 34 states and the District of Columbia mandate face coverings in public spaces. Florida is not among them, but some localities in the state have mask requirements.


thehuffingtonpostuk--2020-09-16--New Restrictions Expected For North East England Amid Rising Covid-19 Cases

It said care home visits will be restricted to essential visitors, and people will be advised to avoid public transport at peak times except for essential journeys, and to avoid car-shares.
Forbes tweeted: “Some additional, temporary restrictions are being planned to prevent another full lockdown.”
One Twitter user asked when the announcement would be made, adding that the “uncertainty creates lots of anxiety for people”.
He replied: “We are waiting confirmation from Government on the final version of the regulations; I am expecting an announcement by the Health Secretary at 11am tomorrow.”
(PA Graphics)
Chronicle Live said the plan is for measures to come into force just after midnight on Friday.
The restrictions will reportedly apply to Newcastle, Northumberland, North Tyneside, South Tyneside, Gateshead, County Durham and Sunderland – which have all seen rises in cases, according to the latest weekly rates.
The most recent figures show Newcastle to have recorded a sharp increase in its weekly rate, up from 51.2 to 64.1, with 194 new cases in the seven days to September 13.
It comes after local measures in the likes of Greater Manchester and Birmingham have been put in place in a bid to address rising rates of infection.


thehuffingtonpostuk--2020-09-16--Judge Grounds Charter Flight Due To Take Asylum Seekers To Madrid

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A charter flight due to take asylum seekers to Madrid has been grounded by a judge after lawyers raised concerns that passengers could end up destitute in Spain.
Lawyers representing three men, who arrived in Britain on small boats during the summer, had mounted a High Court challenge in a bid to halt the flight, which had been chartered by home office officials.
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They said the three men should not be flown to Madrid until more investigations had been carried out into Spanish immigrant reception facilities.
Lawyers representing Home Secretary Priti Patel had argued that the flight should be allowed to leave and said Spanish authorities could be trusted to comply with their obligations to asylum seekers.
NIKLAS HALLE'N via Getty Images
Sir Duncan Ouseley on Wednesday ruled in favour of the three men, and said the flight should not leave, after considering rival arguments at a High Court hearing in London.
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The three men, a Syrian and two from Yemen, had travelled to Britain from north Africa, but had first set foot on the European mainland in Spain, the judge heard.
Spanish authorities had agreed they should be returned and make asylum claims in Spain.
Other immigrants due to be on the flight scheduled early on Thursday are thought to be in a similar position.
Lawyers representing the three men said there had been criticism of Spanish reception facilities, with reports of asylum seekers being forced to sleep rough because the border post at Madrid Airport had been “overwhelmed by demand”.
The three men were vulnerable and had mental health issues, lawyers said.
Ouseley said the men’s lawyers had raised a serious issue related to immigrant reception facilities in Madrid.
He said the charter flight should not leave until that issue had been fully investigated at a trial.
The judge said that trial should be staged in the near future.
PA


thehuffingtonpostuk--2020-09-16--'No Ships' Chris Grayling To Be Paid £100,000 A Year To Advise Ports Company

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Former transport secretary Chris Grayling, who once gave a no-deal Brexit ferry contract to a company with no ships, is to be paid £100,000 a year to advise a leading ports company.
Grayling, once dubbed the “worst transport secretary of all time” by Labour, will collect his six-figure salary in return for just seven hours of work per week for Hutchison Ports Europe.
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The Tory MP’s appointment as a “strategic adviser” was approved by the Advisory Committee on Business Appointments earlier this month, the latest MPs’ register of interests shows.
Grayling’s time at the Department for Transport left taxpayers with a £100m bill for ferries chartered to bring in vital supplies if there was a no-deal Brexit, but which were never used.
He also faced calls to resign after awarding one of the contracts - worth £13.8m - to run Channel crossings between Belgian port Ostend and Ramsgate in Kent to Seaborne Freight - a company which had no ferries.
But Grayling refused to apologise for the debacle, describing criticism of him as “baffling” and at one point telling the Commons “I did see ships”, in a reversal of Horatio Nelson’s famous quote.
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Liberal Democrat MP Christine Jardine said: “The now former minister for no ships must wish his list of successes was as long as his list of nicknames.
“With a role like this, the public deserve to know that MPs are on the side of public interest and not the pockets of lobbyists.
“To allow a conflict of interest would be an utter outrage.”
"I did see ships" JUSTIN TALLIS via Getty Images
Grayling held on to his job before being eventually sacked by Boris Johnson when he replaced Theresa May as prime minister in 2019.
More recently, Grayling found himself at the centre of another controversy after he failed to be elected chair of the influential Commons intelligence and security committee despite being Johnson’s top pick for the post.
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In a major snub, backbencher Julian Lewis was instead picked by the nine-strong committee.


thehuffingtonpostuk--2020-09-16--Boris Johnson Climbs Down On Law-Breaking Brexit Plans Amid Tory Rebellion

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Boris Johnson has struck a compromise with Tory MPs who were rebelling over his controversial plans to break international law over Brexit.
The prime minister revealed he would accept demands to give MPs a parliamentary veto on key powers which would allow ministers to renege on the Brexit withdrawal agreement (WA) he negotiated and signed this year.
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It came with the government facing a major Tory rebellion on the issue in a Monday Commons vote on the Internal Market Bill.
Dozens of MPs were lining up to back the amendment by senior Tory and Commons justice committee chair Bob Neill, to ensure parliament had a vote before the key powers were exercised.
But Johnson and the MP have now agreed that the government will table its own amendment to achieve this, which Neill and potentially other rebels will back.
It came after one of Johnson’s most senior legal officers resigned over the law-breaking plans.
Jonathan Jones, the head of the government’s legal department, and the PM’s religion envoy Rehman Chishti, have already quit over the plans.
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Neill, No.10 and Damian Green, chair of the Tory One Nation caucus, announced the compromise in a joint statement.
They said: “Following constructive talks over the last few days, the government has agreed to table an amendment for committee stage (of the Bill, on Monday).
“This amendment will require the House of Commons to vote for a motion before a minister can use the ‘notwithstanding’ powers contained in the UK Internal Market Bill.
“The Internal Market Bill was designed to give MPs and peers a vote on the use of these powers via statutory instrument.
“But following talks, it is agreed that the parliamentary procedure suggested by some colleagues provides a clearer, more explicit democratic mandate for the use of these powers, and also provides more legal certainty.
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“The government will table another amendment which sets clear limits on the scope and timeliness of judicial review into the exercise of these powers.
“This will provide people and businesses with the certainty that they need.
“We welcome the way the parliamentary party has come together on these issue.


thehuffingtonpostuk--2020-09-16--Boris Johnson Warns Of More Covid Deaths - But Says Second Lockdown 'Wrong' And 'Disastrous'

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Boris Johnson has warned Brits to prepare for more deaths from Covid-19 - but said a second national lockdown would be “disastrous” and “wrong” for the UK.
Speaking to MPs on Wednesday, the prime minister cautioned it was the “reality” that the recent jump in infections among the young would “proportionately” hit elderly and vulnerable people in the weeks ahead.
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And while he ruled out any relaxation of social distancing rules, he said a blanket national lockdown “would be completely wrong for this country”.
The UK has regularly been recording daily case numbers of around 3,000 and on Friday government scientists confirmed the pandemic is growing again after months of calm.
It comes as children return to school and a huge surge in demand for Covid checks has left the testing system buckling under pressure, with people travelling long distances.
Johnson told the Commons liaison committee “we don’t have enough testing capacity”, later adding: “It [the pandemic] is growing, alas, although the number of cases symptomatic or asymptomatic is obviously far smaller than it was in the spring, we must expect those infections proportionately to lead to mortality. That is the reality.”
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Urging people to obey new laws backing up the “rule of six” on social gatherings, he added: “I don’t want a second national lockdown – I think it would be completely wrong for this country and we are going to do everything in our power to prevent it.
“And can we afford it? I very much doubt that the financial consequences would be anything but disastrous, but we have to make sure that we defeat the disease by the means that we have set out.
“So when I see people arguing against the rule of six or saying that the government is coming in too hard on individual liberties and so on – I totally understand that and I sympathise with that, but we must, must defeat this disease.”
Health secretary Matt Hancock has accepted it will take “weeks” to sort out testing delays and that a new rationing system would have to be introduced to ensure sick people and care home residents were first in the queue
Commuters, some wearing protective masks to protect against coronavirus travel on a Jubilee Line underground train, in London ASSOCIATED PRESS
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Following a series of local lockdown measures being imposed, most recently Bolton, Downing Street on Wednesday did not deny reports a curfew could be introduced in London, amid fears a second wave was imminent.
Johnson admitted testing capacity was not enough, adding some who were not suffering from symptoms were ordering tests.
He promised, however, that there would be capacity for 500,000 tests a day by the end of October.
But he urged people without symptoms to stay away from testing centres – although he acknowledged the reasons why they may want to find out if they had Covid-19.
“What has happened is demand has massively accelerated just in the last couple of weeks,” he told MPs.
Pressed repeatedly on NHS Test and Trace, Johnson said: “Everything is being done that we possibly can to increase testing capacity.”
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He said a total of four new labs were being built across the country and 300 people were being hired.
“Testing capacity just in the last two weeks has gone up 10%,” he added.


thehuffingtonpostuk--2020-09-16--“Certified Young Person” Paul Rudd Says Wear A Mask In Hilarious PSA

“Certified Young Person” Paul Rudd Says Wear A Mask In Hilarious PSA
Paul Rudd talks directly to his fellow millennials in a hilarious PSA about wearing masks to prevent the transmission of COVID-19. In the spoof commissioned by the New York Governor's Office, Rudd employs his best slang to appeal to his fellow youths. Only breaking character at the end, when the obviousness of his message gets the better of him.


thehuffingtonpostuk--2020-09-16--Mandatory Recording Of Pregnant Women’s Drinking Is Just One More Attempt To Police Our Bodies

belchonock via Getty Images Closeup view of pregnant woman touching belly on yellow background
As headlines broke this morning surrounding proposals made by the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (Nice), which would see any – and all – maternal alcohol information routinely recorded on children’s health records, questions were quickly raised about the legality of such a system. As we have noted in our briefing on the Draft Quality Standards, which centre on the diagnosis of foetal alcohol spectrum disorders (FASD), one vital aspect has not been accounted for: the consent of the pregnant woman herself.
While improving diagnosis and support services for those with FASD are clearly laudable aims, the proposals assume that women would be happy to forego their legal rights to privacy and confidentiality in healthcare, by virtue of her pregnancy. Women, quite literally, are being written out of the emerging guidelines on alcohol use during pregnancy – indeed, the word ‘woman’ is not mentioned once in Nice’s equality impact assessment, despite the major focus of the Draft Quality Standards centring on changing her behaviour.
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Even though women are routinely bombarded with ‘advice’ warning them of the impact their behaviour could have on their developing foetuses, their ability to make the best decisions for themselves and their pregnancy is increasingly being written out of the script. From drinking the odd cup of coffee to managing their emotional wellbeing, women are defined as the main source of risk to their pregnancy and ultimately, aren’t trusted to make any such decisions which may depart from ‘guidance’. Women are expected to do anything and everything within their power – even to their detriment – to eliminate any amount of risk in their pregnancy, and anything less earns them the designation of the title ‘bad mother’ – before her child is even born.
“We need to trust women in their abilities to understand the relevant evidence, or lack thereof, and make their own decisions about their pregnancies.”
What these standards do is act on the ‘precautionary principle’ (the notion of ‘why risk it?’) through highly coercive means, essentially transforming their advice into mandate. We have seen this through the introduction of routine carbon monoxide monitoring under the guise of ‘expected’ antenatal care, despite the fact that women are already asked about their smoking status. Arguably it’s this development, which passed without much scrutiny, that helped pave the way for the proposals we’re reading about today.
While the current guidance from the UK Chief Medical Officer endorses the message ‘the safest level of alcohol consumption is not consumption at all’, it needs to be articulated such a position is not based on evidence of harm from low level drinking, but rather, an inability to rule out a low risk of harm. At a policy level, we need to trust women in their abilities to understand the relevant evidence, or lack thereof, and make their own decisions about their pregnancies. Yet what we’re seeing through the introduction of Nice’s proposals is an institutionalised response of mistrust in women’s agency and their ability to be honest with their healthcare providers.
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“Instead of pressing on under the view that women are in constant conflict with the needs and interests of the foetus, it is time to rewrite women back into the script.”
Women need to be able to form trusting and open relationships with their healthcare providers, and the proposal of mandatory screening threatens that. Rather than enabling physicians to be free in tailoring their advice and support surrounding alcohol consumption in line with women’s individual needs and preferences, these proposals impose a prescriptive standard which could compromise the ability to have individual health concerns met. In commenting on today’s headlines, the Royal College of Midwives confirm this position, arguing that ‘midwives are best placed to make assessments concerning what information to document during antenatal appointments’.
Instead of pressing on under the view that women are in constant conflict with the needs and interests of the foetus, it is time to rewrite women back into the script. We need to ensure that our approach to pregnancy ensures that women are provided with the necessary information, enabling them to make their own decisions for themselves and their pregnancies. We need to ensure that any approach to pregnancy advice or guidance is delivered in a way that is free from judgment, stigma or coercion.
Ultimately, we need to trust women in their decision-making – and Nice’s proposals just don’t cut it.
Rachel Arkell is a research associate at the BPAS Centre for Reproductive Research and Communication. The consultation period for the NICE Quality Standards on FASD closes on September 18. Individuals are encouraged to comment using the comments form on the project webpage.


thehuffingtonpostuk--2020-09-16--Trump Keeps Retweeting An Obviously Fake Joe Biden Clip

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It will come as no surprise to learn that Donald Trump’s Twitter has been a bit of a mess, but even by the standards of the president, one part of it was particularly bizarre.
Two tweets from the most powerful man in the world were retweets of a clearly faked video of his Democratic rival Joe Biden playing the ’80s classic ‘Fuck tha Police’ by NWA.
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Trump began his journey of misunderstanding with a gentle query of “what is this all about?”
What is this all about? https://t.co/AAmBGgHhyR — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) September 16, 2020
The answer to this question was fairly obvious, especially as Twitter had plastered a large ”Manipulated media” banner across the original tweet.
Twitter Twitter
Perennially undeterred by facts, reasons and logic, Trump continued in his quest to promote the fake video, this time by making some rather dubious assumptions about China.
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China is drooling. They can’t believe this! https://t.co/AAmBGgHhyR — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) September 16, 2020
It’s not clear if Trump thinks China is particularly susceptible to fake videos or if they just love rap music.
Of course what the president is actually trying to do is stoke divisions ahead of the upcoming presidential election by fanning false claims that Biden wants to abolish police forces across the US.
Trump has to engage in such bizarre antics as he is trailing badly in the polls. Even the magazine Scientific American has broken with 175 years of history by endorsing a presidential candidate, coming down heavily on the side of Democratic challenger Joe Biden.
This is about you deliberately putting out an edited video of @JoeBiden because you are losing to him badly. https://t.co/Iz7cScgZYy — Rick Tyler-Still Right (@rickwtyler) September 16, 2020
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Oh and if you’re wondering, it was actually Despacito, obviously.


thehuffingtonpostuk--2020-09-16--Thousands 'Condemned To Lives Of Stress And Fear' Over Government's Failure To Remove Cladding

A love-hear shaped Grenfell board at the memorial site during the 3rd anniversary. SIPA USA/PA Images
Thousands of peoples have been “condemned to lives of stress and fear” due to the government’s failure to meet its target to remove flammable cladding from high rise buildings, a new report has warned.
In the wake of the 2017 Grenfell Tower fire, which killed 72 people, the government vowed that dangerous cladding would be replaced on all high rise buildings by June 2020.
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But three years on from the tragedy, only around a third of high rise buildings – 155 of 455 – with similar cladding to Grenfell have had it replaced to date, parliament’s Public Accounts Committee (PAC) said.
The committee has branded the progress “unacceptably slow”.
Multiple residents of such blocks have reported worsening mental health issues as a result of worries about their safety.
They also face the costs of funding interim measures such as “waking watches” – constant patrols to monitor buildings for signs of fire – as they wait for cladding to be replaced.
Many said they are now “trapped” in the situation, unable to sell flats that have depreciated massively in value.
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Committee chair and Labour MP Meg Hillier said the government’s failure had left “a long tail of misery and uncertainty for those whose lives are in limbo”.
“The department set its own target to remove cladding and yet has failed to achieve even a third of the work it set out to deliver,” Hiller said.
The 24 story shell that remained after the tragedy stands tall above the memorial site during the third anniversary. SIPA USA/PA Images
“Thousands of people have been condemned to lives of stress and fear in unsaleable homes with life-changing bills – for the works and for the fire-watch that is necessary to allow them to sleep at night until it is done.
“The government has repeatedly made what turn out to be pie in the sky promises and then failed to plan, resource or deliver.”
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She added: “The deadly legacy of a shoddy buildings regulation system has been devastating for the victims and survivors of Grenfell but is leaving a long tail of misery and uncertainty for those whose lives are in limbo.
“The government must step up and show that it will put a stop to the bickering over who is responsible, who’s going to pay for the remediation – and just put this right.”
The Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government (MHCLG) has set a new target for works on the remaining high rise blocks to be completed by the end of 2021.
The MHCLG made £600 million available to fund the replacement of aluminium composite material (ACM) cladding on buildings above 18 metres . However, by April this year it had only paid out £134 million.
In March, it announced a further £1 billion would be made available to fund the replacement of other forms of dangerous cladding on high rise buildings, but estimates suggest this would meet only around a third of the total costs.
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The PAC said the MHCLG has no plans to support residents or social landlords to meet the costs of replacing dangerous cladding in buildings below 18 metres.
The committee said the ministry also has no plans to cover the costs of waking watches or other serious defects and shortcomings uncovered by post-Grenfell inspections.
A spokesperson for the MHCLG said it was providing £1.6bn to “speed up the removal of unsafe cladding”, adding: “We are seeing significant progress – over 70% of buildings with ACM cladding have completed or are in the process of remediation.
“We’re introducing the biggest improvements to building regulations in almost 40 years and a new regulator will ensure that people who design, build and manage high rise buildings are held responsible for building safety.
“Building owners have a legal responsibility to ensure their buildings are safe and must ensure that any remaining buildings have started remediation works before the end of this year – if we do not see progress we will not hesitate to take further action.”


thehuffingtonpostuk--2020-09-16--London Curfew Possible Amid Surge In Covid Cases, No.10 Hints

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A curfew may be imposed in London amid fears a second wave of Covid-19 could clobber the capital.
Downing Street did not deny reports in the Evening Standard that health chiefs were actively considering the fresh lockdown measure.
Professor Kevin Fenton, London director of Public Health England, told the paper cases could surge in the city in the coming weeks, with as many as 500,000 students arriving and demand for tests outstripping capacity.
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Meanwhile, 10 of the city’s boroughs have coronavirus rates of around 30 cases per 100,000.
It is thought the curfew could limit the spread of the virus while avoiding the health and economic impact of a full lockdown.
On Friday, the government’s scientific advisors confirmed all regions of England had an “R” rate – reproduction rate – that is “higher than or which spans 1.0”, indicating that the pandemic is now growing.
In London, the R rate was estimated to be between 1.1 and 1.3.
Modelling by the Imperial College London, meanwhile, suggests that the R rate could be as high as 1.7.
Commuters, some wearing protective masks to protect against coronavirus travel on a Jubilee Line underground train, in London in May. ASSOCIATED PRESS
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The curfew imposed in Bolton, which has one of England’s highest rates of the disease, sees pubs and restaurants limited to takeaway and closing between 10pm and 5am.
Downing Street did not reject the prospect of similar restrictions for the capital.
Asking about the report, a No.10 spokesperson said: “By limiting that you also limit the amount of time people are spending in close contact with others.”
Asked about reports that a curfew could be introduced in London, they added: “We will continue to keep the transmission rate under review.
“We’ve introduced the rule of six to try and bear down on the transmission rate given that it has risen recently.
“But as I say we will keep that data and the scientific evidence under review.”
Fenton had told the Standard it could help to curb the disease.
He said: “Before we get to that stage there are many other things that you can do in order to help to reduce the risk of transmission and contain your outbreak.
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thehuffingtonpostuk--2020-09-16--Angela Rayner Blasts Boris Johnson For Making Hunting A 'Priority'

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Labour’s deputy leader took on the prime minister at PMQs on Wednesday as Keir Starmer had been self-isolating.
“This winter, we are staring down the barrel of a second wave with no plan for the looming crisis,” Rayner told Johnson.
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“People can’t say goodbye to their loved ones, grandparents can’t see their grandchildren and frontline staff can’t get the tests that they need – and what was the top priority for the Covid war cabinet this weekend? Restoring grouse shooting.”
She added: “So prime minister, is this really your top priority?”
Johnson replied that “while the Labour opposition has been consistently carping from the sidelines throughout this crisis” the government was “getting on with delivering for the British public”.
He added: “It’s with the common sense of the British people that we will succeed, build back better and stronger than ever before.”
HuffPost UK reported this week the government has exempted grouse shooting and other “hunting” with guns from the new coronavirus restrictions.
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Pro-hunting and shooting groups can continue to hold gatherings of between six and 30 people because they are covered by a loophole that permits licensed “outdoor activity”.
HuffPost UK revealed that the Cabinet Office’s special Covid-19 Operations ministerial committee had initially scheduled a meeting on Saturday, with one agenda item titled: “Exemption: hunting and shooting.”


thehuffingtonpostuk--2020-09-16--Leading Doctor Groups Revolt Against ‘Chaotic’ Test And Trace Service

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Leading doctors groups have slammed the government’s “worrying” handling of the NHS Test and Trace system and raised serious concerns about the amount of public money “potentially wasted” by the private companies that actually run it.
Following health secretary Matt Hancock’s admission on Tuesday that tests for Covid-19 will have to be rationed amid a surge in cases, the British Medical Association told HuffPost UK “we don’t have a fit-for-purpose testing system”.
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Deputy chair Dr David Wrigley, added: “NHS Test and Trace – despite its name – is not an NHS service, it’s a largely outsourced programme that sees numerous private companies given billions of pounds to run testing sites, process samples and manage contact tracing call centres.
“Despite billions changing hands, we don’t have a fit-for-purpose testing system. People can’t access tests, they’re not getting results in time, they’re having to isolate for days on end while waiting for results and we see contact tracers failing to reach enough people.”
Serco staff working on behalf of NHS Test and Trace operate a coronavirus testing centre on July 30, 2020 in Stone, England. Christopher Furlong via Getty Images
The damning comments were echoed by the Doctors Association UK (DAUK), who said the “outsourcing of Test and Trace and privatisations of commercial testing labs has no doubt added to the chaos and may be actively hindering the UK’s effect to control coronavirus”.
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Around 35 different organisations are listed as “data processors” involved in the NHS Test and Trace system but only four are NHS bodies.
A further four are Public Health England bodies and another is the Ministry of Defence.
The remaining 26 are private companies such as:
Serco which “provides facilities management for some regional test sites”
Amazon which “provide logistics for home delivery of test kits, collecting completed test kits from homes and delivering them to labs”
G4S which also “provides facilities management for some regional test sites”
A Department of Health and Social Care spokesperson told HuffPost UK: “These claims are inaccurate and do not present a fair picture or reflect the huge amount of important work being carried out by our professional and dedicated teams. NHS Test and Trace is made up of public health experts from across the UK, including NHS staff.”
HuffPost UK reported last week that testing centres have been turning away thousands of people, including key workers.
Hancock admitted there were “operational challenges” and that prioritisation was “a choice that we must make”.
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But he also blamed members of the public who he said were ordering tests when they had no symptoms.
Dr Samantha Batt-Rawden, DAUK president, told HuffPost UK: “It is unacceptable that the health secretary has seemingly blamed patients and staff for accessing tests inappropriately. This is not the fault of our health service, or of the public, or of staff.”


thehuffingtonpostuk--2020-09-16--EastEnders' Jake Wood To Leave Role As Max Branning After Nearly 15 Years

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EastEnders star Jake Wood is leaving Walford after nearly 15 years as Max Branning.
Soap bosses have teased that viewers will see him exit the Square after a “big storyline”, which is set to kick off in the coming weeks.
However, Max will not be killed off, leaving the opportunity for Jake to return to the role in the future.
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Jake Wood as EastEnders' Max Branning BBC
Jake confirmed the news in a statement, saying: “I’ve had 15 wonderful years at EastEnders and have made some truly great friends.
“I’ll of course miss everyone there but I’m grateful they have left the door open for Max and I’m excited to see what the next chapter holds.”
EastEnders’ executive producer Jon Sen added: “Jake is a truly wonderful actor and EastEnders have been extremely lucky to have him for so long.
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“We have a big storyline for Max that starts in the coming weeks and we are all very excited to see that play out.”
Former Strictly Come Dancing contestant Jake made his first appearance as Max, the son of Jim Branning and the father of Bradley, in June 2006 and quickly established himself as a central character on the soap.
Max and Stacey's affair was revealed in the 2007 Christmas Day episode BBC
Some of his Max’s most memorable storylines include his affair with Bradley’s wife Stacey, which was exposed to the whole family on Christmas Day in 2007, and his revenge plot against the residents of Walford after he was wrongly sent down for Lucy Beale’s murder.
Jake previously took a year out from EastEnders when his character was sent to prison in 2015.


thehuffingtonpostuk--2020-09-16--Michael McIntyre Reveals Coronavirus Joke That Was Cut From His Netflix Stand-Up Special

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Michael McIntyre has revealed he cut a joke about coronavirus from his new Netflix comedy special, which was recorded earlier this year.
The comedian’s latest stand-up show – which is now available to watch on the streaming service – was filmed in front of a live audience in March just weeks before the UK went into lockdown.
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Speaking about the comedy special, titled Michael McIntyre: Showman in an interview on Jessie Ware’s Table Manners podcast, he said that he made the decision to take one gag about the pandemic out of his set.
“I did a joke about [coronavirus],” Michael explained. “I introduced myself on stage when all the hand washing stuff was starting and I said, ‘Ladies and gentlemen, please put your hands together and wash them for 30 seconds as we welcome Michael McIntyre’.
“I actually came on and said, ‘This could be the last time we get together in a crowd’. I said it as a joke! I should never have said that.”
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He then added that he “took all that stuff” out of the finished special, noting: “There are a few more jokes in the Netflix special which I’m hoping are still funny but it’s worried me slightly.”
Michael previously revealed to Metro that he considered taking one anecdote out of the set, which saw him confusing disposable underwear for a face mask when he went for a massage in Hong Kong.
Michael McIntyre SOPA Images via Getty Images
“I have to be honest with you,” he said. “I’ve been worrying about it for months about whether that joke is still funny. I would wake my wife up in the middle of the night and go, ‘Is this thing funny?’.”
“I had other jokes about it, and then now it’s commonplace and we’re all wearing these masks and it’s a completely reasonable mistake to make,” he added.
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thehuffingtonpostuk--2020-09-16--Senior Law Officer Quits Over Boris Johnson’s Plan To Break International Law

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One of Boris Johnson’s most senior law officers has quit in protest at the government’s plans to break international law over Brexit.
The dramatic move by Lord Keen of Elie QC, the Advocate General for Scotland and a justice minister, was finally confirmed by No.10 Downing Street hours after he handed in his resignation.
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A last ditch bid by the PM to hold onto the minister failed, despite moves to reassure Tory MPs that a compromise plan could be worked out to avoid the UK breaching the EU’s ‘divorce’ treaty.
In his resignation letter, Keen had a withering verdict on the legality of the government’s policy.
“I have found it increasingly difficult to reconcile what I consider to be my obligations as a Law Officer with your policy intentions,” he said.
A Downing Street spokesperson said: “Lord Keen has resigned as Advocate General for Scotland. The Prime Minister thanks him for his service.”
Lord Keen resignation letter HuffPost UK
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The Advocate General was last week rumoured to be on the edge of resigning over the cabinet minister Brandon Lewis’s bombshell admission that the government’s new Internal Market Bill “breaks international law in a specific and limited way”.
Keen had sparked ridicule on Tuesday when he told peers that he felt that Lewis had “answered the wrong question” when making his now infamous comment about breaking international law.
But he faced humiliation when Lewis told MPs on Wednesday his colleague had been flat wrong to dispute the government’s stance.
During his own grilling before a parliamentary committee, Johnson had told MPs that “conversations on that matter [Keen’s possible resignation] are still continuing”, adding “I can’t comment on that matter because it’s still, as I understand it, to be resolved.”
But within minutes, the news was confirmed.
Shadow Attorney General Lord Falconer said: “This has been a week of chaos from the government’s own law officers, whose legal advice has been renounced by its own government and the voice of the law officers has been muted, and their authority is completely shot.
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“This has been a farce that shames the entire government”.
The government’s most senior legal civil servant, Sir Jonathan Jones, quit last week after clashing with attorney general Suella Braverman on points of law, including the new legislation to break international law.
Advocate General for Scotland, Lord Keen QC PA Wire/PA Images
Keen’s departure seemed likely after government sources told HuffPost UK on Tuesday night that Keen was not speaking for the government when he suggested Lewis had misspoken.
And in evidence to the Northern Ireland select committee, Lewis rammed home his message that his words were official policy in line with legal advice of the Attorney General Suella Braverman.
“I’ve spoken to Lord Keen. When he’s looked at the specific question I was asked last week, he has agreed with me that the answer I gave was correct. That answer I gave reflects the government legal advice,” he said.
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Lewis had been replying to a question from Tory grandee Sir Bob Neill, who has since threatened a rebel amendment to the legislation that would give MPs the final say on any breach of the EU-UK Withdrawal Agreement on Brexit.
Lewis told MPs: “I read out something very specific because I wanted to ensure that what I said, to make sure that I was giving the House a straight answer.”
The cabinet minister also insisted that the government intends to deploy its “break the law” provisions in parallel with using EU arbitration mechanisms, rather than exhausting the Brussels route first.
“Even if we end up in a situation where we need to use the ‘safety net’ we do that at same time [as going down the EU route],” he said.
Earlier, Lib Dem MP Alistair Carmichael seized on the chaos as he urged Johnson in prime minister’s questions to publish the full legal advice from all his law officers.
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“Last week the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland said that the Internal Market Bill would breach our obligations under international law. Yesterday, the Advocate General for Scotland said the Secretary of State was wrong to say that,” Carmichael said.
“Today, the Secretary of State says that the Advocate General wrong to say he was wrong. It’s of course possible that they are both right in saying that the other is wrong. But surely on an important matters such as this requires clarity.”
Johnson refused the request to publish the full advice.
But Lewis sparked a fresh backlash from the EU when he refused to say whether he would abide by the outcome of the arbitration process agreed with Brussels for any disputes over the Brexit divorce treaty.
Asked directly if the UK would abide by the outcome of such arbitration, Lewis replied: “To get into a hypothetical about what would happen is an unhelpful and dangerous place to be.”
Committee chair Simon Hoare replied that “there are many people in prison” who don’t like “the ruling of the judge” but they accept it nevertheless.
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Irish politician Neale Richmond was swift to condemn Lewis’s latest remarks.
It is not hypothetical in anyway. UK Govt must guarantee their responsibilities and meet their obligations. A very revealing #brexit hearing in front of the @CommonsNIAC this morning. https://t.co/JLPN5LqiJL — Neale Richmond (@nealerichmond) September 16, 2020
Meanwhile, the UK faced fresh anger from the EU after Lewis refused to guarantee that the UK would abide by the outcome of any disputes process agreed with Brussels.
European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen jibed the PM, quoting Margaret Thatcher’s belief that “Britain does not break treaties”, as the Brexit row reignited once more.
In her annual State of the Union address to the European Parliament, Von der Leyen said both sides had agreed the Withdrawal Agreeent was the only way to guarantee the Northern Ireland peace process.
She quoted Mrs Thatcher, as saying: “Britain does not break treaties. It would be bad for Britain, bad for relations with the rest of the world and bad for any future treaty on trade.”
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thehuffingtonpostuk--2020-09-16--Keir Starmer Out Of Self-Isolation After Child Tests Negative For Coronavirus

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Keir Starmer has said he is “pleased and relieved” that a coronavirus test result for one of his children had come back negative.
The Labour leader had been in self-isolation since Monday after one of his children experienced symptoms.
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I'm very pleased and relieved that the test result for one of my children came back negative this morning.
Thank you to the NHS hospital where my wife works for ensuring that their staff and family members have quick access to a test. — Keir Starmer (@Keir_Starmer) September 16, 2020
However, I know the situation is desperate at the moment for thousands of families across the country who are struggling to get a test.
They deserve answers and for this problem to be fixed. — Keir Starmer (@Keir_Starmer) September 16, 2020
Angela Rayner, Labour’s deputy leader, will still stand in for Stamer at PMQs today.


thehuffingtonpostuk--2020-09-16--These Simple Charts Explain The Latest On Covid-19 Right Now

We’re in the middle of surge in Covid-19 cases
You have probably already heard that we are in the middle of a surge in Covid-19 cases.
After a huge upturn in coronavirus cases that peaked across April and the start of May – with 6,201 new cases reported on May 1 alone – the UK saw a dramatic decline in infections over the summer.
Throughout June and July cases dropped, with just 352 cases reported on July 6 – the lowest recorded since lockdown began on March 23.
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But since the start of August, cases have been on the rise.
On August 9, more than 1,000 new coronavirus infections were reported by the government for the first time since June 26. Daily cases breached the 1,000 mark 18 more times during the month.
Number of coronavirus cases reported in the UK each day. Graphics by Statista
But it was on September 6 that the UK received a sharp reminder that the pandemic had not gone away over summer, with 2,988 new Covid-19 cases reported.
It was the highest figure recorded in more than three months – and was followed by similar numbers in the following days.
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On September 11, 3,539 new cases were announced in the UK – the first time the number had exceeded 3,500 since May 17.
As a result of these rising figure, the government has implemented strict new rules on meeting with people outside of your own household or bubble.
On Monday, it became illegal in England to meet with more than five other people outside of your household.
Key dates: 31/01/20 – first two cases of Covid-19 reported in the UK 01/05/20 – 6,201 cases reported – the highest throughout the pandemic 06/07/20 – 352 cases reported – the lowest number recorded since lockdown 09/08/20 – daily cases breach 1,000 for the first time since June (1,062 cases) 06/09/20 – daily cases breach 2,000 for the first time since 30/05 (2,988 cases) 11/09/20 – daily cases breach 3,500 for the first time since 17/05 (3,539 cases)
The R rate could be as high as 1.7
A social distancing sign asking people to keep apart when walking in the market town of Wimborne Minster in Dorset, UK. chrisdorney via Getty Images
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However, it’s not just the rise in the number of people testing positive for Covid-19 each day that suggests the spread of coronavirus infections is getting worse.
On Friday, a study by Imperial College London warned that the R rate – the reproduction rate of the virus – could be as high as 1.7 in the UK.
That would mean that every 10 people with Covid-19 would be infecting 17 people – something scientists have branded “concerning”.
The government’s own calculations, however, suggest the R rate is between 1.0 and 1.2, up from between 0.7 and 1.0 when ministers first published the figures in May.
Meanwhile, the latest data also suggests the growth rate of the virus is between -1% and +3%, meaning the number of new infections each day is somewhere between shrinking by 1% and growing by 3%.
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These are the coronavirus hotspots in England right now
Members of the public wear face masks in Bolton town centre as coronavirus restrictions are tightened in the area on September 9. Anthony Devlin via Getty Images
On Sunday, new analysis of government figures revealed that Bolton – which is already under strict lockdown measures – had the highest rate of coronavirus in England.
Public Health England figures show the town recorded 552 new Covid-19 cases in the seven days to September 10 – the equivalent of 192 cases per 100,000 people.
For context, the government usually adds foreign countries to its quarantine list when the rate reaches 20 per 100,000.
But Bolton is not alone – four other areas in England also had rates above 100 cases per 100,000 people.
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Blackburn with Darwen, Hydburn, Oadby and Wigston and Preston all made the list.
Areas of England with the highest rates of Covid-19 Bolton: 126.2 cases per 100,000 people Blackburn with Darwen: 118.2 cases per 100,000 people Hyndburn: 114.8 cases per 100,000 people Oadby and Wigston: 114 cases per 100,000 people Preston: 102 cases per 100,000 people
In total, 210 of the 315 local authority areas in England recorded an increase in the weekly rate of new Covid-19 cases in the seven days to September 10.
The rate fell in 91 areas and was unchanged in 14 areas.
New cases were recorded in all 315 local authority areas.
Despite a spike in cases, coronavirus deaths remain low
Number of Covid-19 deaths reported each day in the UK Graphics by Statista
On March 6, the UK’s first coronavirus death was confirmed by the government.
Since then, another 41,663 people have died, leaving the UK with fifth highest Covid-19 death toll in the world.
Like cases, deaths from the virus peaked in April and May, with more than 1,000 deaths reported on some days.
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But it was on April 21 that the coronavirus pandemic truly spiked, with the deaths of 1,224 people reported in a single day – the highest figure at any time throughout the crisis.
Between the end of April and the start of July, deaths from Covid-19 dropped dramatically.
On July 30, for the first time since March 11, the UK did not report a single death from the virus.
Since then, deaths have remained low – despite the recent spike in cases. However, scientists have warned that this could change.
Jasmina Panovska-Griffiths, a senior mathematical modeller from the UCL Institute of Epidemiology and Health Care, told HuffPost UK: “There is a danger that the number of hospitalisations and deaths may be lagging behind [the recent spike in cases] and we just don’t know at the moment.
“This is the concerning factor – how is this going to develop over the next couple of days, weeks and months?”
Key dates: 06/03/20 – first Covid-19 death reported in the UK 24/03/20 – daily deaths exceed 100 for the first time (148 deaths) 07/04/20 – daily deaths breach 1,000 for the first time (1,105 deaths) 21/04/20 – 1,224 deaths reported – the highest number in the UK throughout the pandemic 17/06/20 – the last time more than 100 deaths were reported (110 deaths) 30/07/20 – zero deaths reported for the first time since 11/03
The number of people in hospital with coronavirus is rising – very slowly
The number of Covid-19 patients in hospital in the UK Graphics by Statista
The picture in the UK’s hospitals now is drastically different to how it was at the peak of the coronavirus crisis.
On April 12, there were 19,872 people in hospital with coronavirus. On September 13, there were just 972 – a huge decrease.
However, while there has undoubtedly been a massive drop in the number of Covid-19 patients in hospital since the height of the pandemic, government data suggests the number of people hospitalised with the virus is on the rise once again.
Since August 11, there have been fewer than 1,000 coronavirus patients in hospitals across the UK, reaching a pandemic-low of 756 on August 28.
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But the start of September brought a creeping rise in hospitalisations.
There have been more than 800 people in hospital with Covid-19 since September 7, rising to 972 on September 13 – the highest number seen since mid-August.
The number of people on ventilators remains low
Number of Covid-19 patients on ventilators in the UK. Graphics by Statista
Like the total number of coronavirus patients in hospital, the number of people with the virus needing mechanical ventilation has also fallen drastically.
On April 12, there were 3,301 people with Covid-19 on ventilators in hospitals in the UK – the highest at any point during the pandemic so far.
Since then, there has been a huge drop in the number of people needing this kind of support breathing, with the figure dropping down into the double digits by the end of July.
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However, there are some indications that could be very slowly changing direction.
On September 14, there were 106 people in mechanical ventilation beds in the UK – the first time the number had risen above 100 since July 24.
What is going on with testing?
The number of Covid-19 tests processed in the UK each day. Infographics by Statista
It’s important to remember as the pandemic has gone on, the UK’s coronavirus testing capacity has increased.
With Covid-19 tests reserved for key workers at the start of the crisis, its likely that there were many more people with coronavirus in March, April and May than official figures would suggest.
According to government data, on September 10 the UK had the capacity to carry out almost 375,000 coronavirus tests – the highest ever.
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Despite this, the testing system has been shrouded in chaos in recent weeks, with people – including sick children – told to travel hundreds of miles for a Covid-19 test.
HuffPost UK reported last week how testing centres have been turning away thousands of people, including key workers.
On Tuesday, health secretary Matt Hancock revealed that – while the government attempts to fix problems in the system – tests for coronavirus will be rationed.
Patients with acute medical needs and people in care homes will be at the front of the queue for Covid-19 checks under a new system, he explained.