thehuffingtonpostuk--2020-10-22--Trump Is The Biggest 'Superspreader' Of Anti-Asian Racism, Advocates And Scholars Warn

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Since March, a coalition of Asian American advocacy groups and scholars has been collecting and documenting the alarming surge in anti-Asian racism related to the Covid-19 pandemic.
The thousands of incidents, from respondents across the country, have ranged from being called racial slurs, being spat on and/or physically assaulted, as well as being denied services, experiencing workplace discrimination and other potential civil rights violations.
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On Wednesday, the group, STOP AAPI HATE, laid the blame right at the feet of US President Donald Trump, unveiling research that concludes he is by far the most influential “superspreader” of anti-Asian racism.
Throughout this year, Trump has routinely used racist slurs and epithets to refer to Covid-19. He also frequently blames China, placing an outsized focus on where the virus originated, in order to deflect from his own catastrophic response to the pandemic.
In a new report, University of Michigan professor Melissa Borja and a team of researchers analysed tweets from all of this year’s presidential, vice presidential and US Senate candidates that mentioned the pandemic or Asian Americans, from January through the end of August.
Trump is by far the “main source of the rhetoric that stigmatises Asian and Asian American people,” Borja said during a press briefing, referring to both the frequency of his tweets and their reach and engagement.
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The advocates and researchers stressed that while both parties have criticised the Chinese government and Chinese leaders’ initial handling of Covid-19, only Trump and Republicans have actively used scapegoating language, which leads to racism and xenophobia against Chinese Americans and anyone of Chinese or East Asian descent.
For example, 136 of the tweets used or defended racist terms like “Chinese virus.” All of them came from Republicans.
Members of the Asian American Commission hold a press conference on the steps of the Massachusetts State House to condemn racism toward the Asian American community because of coronavirus on March 12 in Boston. John Tlumacki/The Boston Globe via Getty Images
The analysis of the tweets found that Democrats did not use such stigmatising rhetoric. And as for any politicians tweeting support for Asian Americans facing racism during the pandemic, all but one of the tweets came from Democrats.
In September, the House passed legislation to condemn and denounce “any and all anti-Asian sentiment in any form,” and to urge federal, state and local officials to document, investigate and collect data on any reports of anti-Asian hate incidents.
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But what lawmakers thought would be a bipartisan issue, especially given that the resolution was nonbinding and largely symbolic, became a divisive one. The vote was largely along party lines, and instead of quickly moving to pass the resolution, lawmakers spent more than two hours debating it on the House floor. Republicans repeatedly dismissed the magnitude of the issue and claimed the legislation was simply meant to attack Trump.
Representative Doug Collins claimed the bill wasn’t “really about” racism, but “Democrats ignoring the real issues plaguing Americans just for the opportunity to criticise President Trump.”
And House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy claimed, “there is no kitchen in America that thinks this is the priority.”
But the numbers and the stories from Asian Americans tell otherwise. At Wednesday’s press briefing, STOP AAPI HATE’s founders said that since March, they have received reports of more than 2,700 racist incidents from 47 states and Washington, D.C. The number is likely an undercount because the data is self-reported and voluntary.
Many of those incidents involved the assailants using racist rhetoric like Trump’s. And in 46 incidents, they actively invoked Trump, according to San Francisco State University professor Russell Jeung, who read off some of the reported incidents.
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“I agree with Trump. Fuck China!” one incident report said. “It’s because of you, the Chinese, that we have to wear a mask.”
Another incident report read: “A man sitting on the corner shouted: ‘Go back to your fucking country! Go Trump!’”
The racist rhetoric has many other political and economic effects. Jose Ng, the immigrant rights program manager at Chinese for Affirmative Action, said that many of the Chinese immigrants his organisation serves have been fearful of seeking economic assistance during the pandemic — not just from the government, but from community organisations like his.
For example, he said they have provided gift cards to help immigrants facing economic hardship to pay for their groceries and other needs.
“Our team had to explain to them that receiving the gift card would not jeopardise their immigration status,” Ng said.
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Connie Chan, who is running for a seat on the San Francisco Board of Supervisors, recounted incidents of racism she has faced during her campaign — noting that even in a progressive city like San Francisco, which has a robust Asian American community and many Asian American elected officials, she feels that racism is “absolutely increasing today.”
She also worries that racism against elected officials and community leaders like her could discourage everyday Asian Americans from civic engagement.
“They’re thinking: ‘How can I voice my support ... when I could be under the same attack?’” Chan said. “That’s an attack on our democracy.”
At the same time, STOP AAPI HATE’s founders hope the wave of racism will galvanize Asian Americans to speak out and take action. For those eligible to vote, voting in this year’s election is crucial, they said. In addition, Asian Americans should also get involved in organisations advocating for immigrant rights and working to dismantle structural racism across all communities of colour.
“As it’s been said over and over again, Covid has exposed the preexisting conditions of structural racism that’s always just below the surface,” Cynthia Choi, the co-executive director of Chinese for Affirmative Action, said. “For Asian Americans, it is a constant reminder of our conditional status. So just as then and now, we have used, as a community, every means available to us to fight back and to use our voice.”


thehuffingtonpostuk--2020-10-22--Martin Bashir, Veteran Journalist And Celebrity X Factor Star, Seriously Unwell With Covid-19

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Veteran journalist Martin Bashir is “seriously unwell” with coronavirus-related complications, the BBC has said.
The 57-year-old, best known for his 1995 interview with Diana, Princess of Wales, currently works as the BBC News religion editor.
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A spokeswoman for the BBC said: “We are sorry to say that Martin is seriously unwell with Covid-19 related complications.
“Everyone at the BBC is wishing him a full recovery.
“We’d ask that his privacy, and that of his family, is respected at this time.”
Martin Bashir Ian West - PA Images via Getty Images
Bashir began working as a journalist in 1986 but made headlines around the world in 1995 for his BBC interview with Diana, Princess of Wales for Panorama.
That interview has seen renewed interest in the lead up to a new Channel 4 film, which examines the circumstances behind their meeting.
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Diana, Princess of Wales, during her interview with Martin Bashir for the BBC, which is on a new chart of the most-watched programmes in the 80-year history of British television. PA
Bashir’s other high-profile interviews have included the suspects in the Stephen Lawrence murder case, entertainer Michael Barrymore, Jeffrey Archer and Major Charles Ingram, dubbed “the coughing major”.
In 2003, he conducted a series of interviews with pop singer Michael Jackson for the controversial ITV documentary Living With Michael Jackson.
He later moved to the US where he co-anchored the current affairs show Nightline on ABC before moving to MSNBC, where he served as a political commentator until 2013.
He subsequently returned to the BBC as the broadcaster’s religion editor.


thehuffingtonpostuk--2020-10-22--Chris Evans Goes All Captain America On Donald Trump During Biden Fundraiser

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Who besides Thanos could get the Avengers to assemble together? Well, apparently there’s one person.
The Avengers took on President Donald Trump in a fundraiser for Democratic nominee Joe Biden and vice presidential nominee Kamala Harris — with the “fate of the universe once again on the line,” as Avengers director Anthony Russo said in his opening remarks.
The virtual event, called “Voters Assemble,” included Chris Evans, Don Cheadle, Scarlett Johansson, Paul Rudd, Mark Ruffalo, Zoe Saldana and Avengers directors Joe and Anthony Russo as well as California Sen. Harris.
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Early on in the conversation, the cast asked one another questions sent in by fans, with Evans tackling a question about how playing Captain America affected his personal life and his role in politics.
Chris Evans Axelle/Bauer-Griffin via Getty Images
The actor first downplayed the idea that he had any role in politics — again, he said this while at a virtual fundraiser for Biden — but got candid when pushed by his cast mates.
“It’s tough right now because I have strong political opinions, but what I see happening right now, as I’m sure we all see it happening, is that we’re just such a divided country,” he said.
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“And not to start throwing bombs this early in this thing, but I think the fish rots from the head down, and I think we certainly have someone who is actively trying to divide us, so my involvement in politics these days is more about trying to just get people engaged.”
Shortly after, Harris joined the chat and added to Evans’ comments while comparing the presidential election to the Marvel superhero films.
“Chris, I heard you talking before I came on, right? And I couldn’t agree with you more about the fish, by the way. But the importance of honour and courage and unity and those being some of the, I think, guiding principals among many in the Avengers series, right?” Harris said.
She added: “Joe and I, of course, are committed to honouring the dignity of work, protecting the most vulnerable, respecting science and truth in the White House, and of course we all know honour and decency matters, and it matters whether you are saving the universe from Thanos or fighting for the soul of our nation, but the integrity that should come and be in any leader in terms of valuing that principal I think is very important.”
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Harris also went on to talk about the Avengers coming together at the end of Endgame to take down supervillain Thanos, saying there’s “symmetry” around that and this current moment.
“That was about the fate of the universe and he held the fate of the universe in his hand and right now we are looking at somebody who is denying science,” Harris said, later wrapping up her statement by adding, “I guess if the Avengers can assemble from across the galaxy, then the American people can get together from wherever we are, whoever we voted for in the last election and whatever language our grandmother spoke and come together to get our country on the right track.”
If you think comparing Trump to Thanos — a villain who wiped out half the life in the universe — is a little much, just remember Trump’s own campaign already made that comparison. So as Thanos might say, it’s “inevitable.”
Other highlights from the event included an appearance by Robert Downey Jr.:
Some super-powered trivia:
I just have to share this bit because @ChrisEvans made me laugh so hard when @KamalaHarris answered for Team Rudd 😂
Please donate at least a buck if you watch this clip and enjoy it https://t.co/u7IFpi7lRn #VotersAssemble #BidenHarris2020 https://t.co/kpoC9Akpt8 pic.twitter.com/4fyjHI1vZV — Lis 🌊🗓 Donate Now. VOTE EARLY 🗳🌊 (@Ameligatha) October 21, 2020
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And Harris echoing Captain America:


thehuffingtonpostuk--2020-10-22--Man Takes Banksy Art He Pulled From Wall To Antiques Roadshow And It Doesn't Go Well

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Any hopes that one man may have had of cashing in on a stencil purportedly painted by Banksy were dashed when he took it onto the Antiques Roadshow for valuation.
The unidentified man claimed to have removed the piece — which looks like one of the artist’s trademark rats ― from a wall on the seafront in Brighton, in the early 2000s.
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“It looked loose. Went over, pulled it off basically, a little bit of a tug,” the man told one of the show’s art experts, Rupert Maas, in the clip.
“I know what it is,” the man added. “It was around 2004, basically trying to get a valuation of it.”
Antiques Roadshow/BBC
Maas quickly dismissed the idea of striking it rich with the work.
“The thing about Banksy, and he’s not the first to have done this, of course, is that he manages his brand very, very carefully indeed,” Maas explained.
“There’s a website where you can go in and you can apply for a certificate of authenticity of his work,” he continued. “And then he, or his team, will issue one if they think that, first of all, it’s authentic, and B, they think that it has not been removed from the public domain for which it was painted, and into the private. Now, that might be a reason not to issue a certificate of authenticity.”
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The service that authenticates Banksy’s works is called Pest Control.
The man told Maas he had applied for authentication but “they said they couldn’t claim it was an original Banksy.”
“I know it’s real,” he added. “Because Brighton was hit quite a bit by Banksy when he was down there around that time.”
Maas left the man with some food for thought:
I think the message here is that, if you do see a piece of graffiti art out there, leave it, leave it for the public. I’m not lecturing you. I’m just saying, without that certificate, it’s just very difficult to sell. With it, it might be worth £20,000 [around $26,000]. Without it, you’re nowhere.
It’s unclear whether the piece was actually by Banksy, although it does bear all of the street artist’s hallmarks. Banksy’s publicist did not immediately reply to HuffPost’s request for comment.
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A message did appear on the Pest Control website, however, that said the Antiques Roadshow segment sums up “rather well” its policy of verification. The organisation also shared the clip on YouTube, above.
Some social media users criticised the owner for hawking the taken Banksy and others speculated he could have been a stooge from Banksy’s team, given the artist’s storied history of satirically critiquing the art world and the 2011 television show. The Antics Roadshow, which he directed about pranks and art activism.
Although the unidentified man appears unable to cash in on the piece, several of the artist’s previous works have been removed from the walls he originally painted them on and sold for high prices at auction.
On canvas, meanwhile, Banksy’s works now regularly fetch six-figure sums.
His depiction of British members of Parliament as chimpanzees sold last year for about $12.9 million.
On Saturday, Banksy appeared to confirm on Instagram that he was behind a mural of a girl hula-hooping with a bicycle tire, next to a trashed bike, in Nottingham:


thehuffingtonpostuk--2020-10-22--18 Tweets That Speak To An Introvert's Core

If you’re an introvert, you value your alone time. You tend to think before you speak. You’d much rather socialise one-on-one than in a group. A phone call is probably your worst nightmare. But most of all, you are silently strong.


thehuffingtonpostuk--2020-10-22--We Asked Over 70s What They Think About Calls For Them To Be Effectively Locked Up All Winter

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Earlier this month a minority group of academics released a document calling for a new approach to tackling coronavirus in the UK dubbed “Focused Protection”.
The so-called Great Barrington Declaration (GBD) gained wide traction and coverage helped not least by the attractive premise it held for many – most people could carry on with their lives as normal, gradually building herd immunity, while vulnerable groups shield from the virus.
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What the document did not contain was a plan to achieve this other than to say “retired people living at home should have groceries and other essentials delivered to their home” and should try and meet relatives “outside rather than inside”.
Nor did it contain the opinions of any of those who would spend the winter months effectively locked away from society while the rest of the country returned to restaurants, bars, gyms and work.
NHS guidelines on who qualifies as vulnerable cover a wide range from those undergoing chemotherapy, to pregnant women to the very obese.
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But the largest group by far that would find themselves subject to the guidelines contained within the GBD are the over 70s, of which there are nearly nine million across the country.
HuffPost UK spoke to a number of people about the prospect of a winter in Focused Protection and discovered the potential reason why the GBD contains no plan to carry it out – it’s just not possible.
The main issue is simply one of obtaining food. Even in the early days of lockdown when support groups were in full swing, grocery deliveries still had major drawbacks.
Michael, a 77-year-old former lab assistant living in Essex, tells HuffPost UK: “We did have a system with the local council where people were delivering but you couldn’t specify what you got.
“And because they weren’t getting it from Aldi I was having to pay at least a third more than what I pay normally and it’s just not viable to do for months at a time.”
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Michael is therefore left with no choice but to venture to the shops himself and the chaos unleashed by the pandemic has affected him in some unexpected ways.
“I have to go to Aldi in Colchester to get my groceries,” he says. “There are shops nearer where I live but they’re much more expensive and I couldn’t afford to do that every week.
“The buses usually run every hour but they stopped at 5pm [because of the pandemic]. I had to walk all the way back, seven miles. I was left stranded in Colchester and the only way back was to walk.”
Yui Mok - PA Images via Getty Images
It’s not just shopping that is forcing over 70s to leave the house, prescriptions and hospital appointments that can’t be picked up or conducted over the phone often mean venturing miles, usually on public transport.
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Joan, 83, has diabetes and is isolating in Liverpool. She tells HuffPost UK: “I’m having trouble with my eyes at the moment and I’m getting injections for that and have to travel quite a distance to get to the hospital.
“I have to either get someone to take me or use the bus again, it’s about 15 miles away. I don’t think it’s really safe, it’s very hard to decide what to do.”
There’s also an assumption that the chain of care stops with anyone over 70, but as 70-year-old former nurse Ann from near Rotherham points out, this just isn’t the case.
“I’ve not been going out because I have a 98-year-old mum who lives 30 miles away,” she says.
“My brother and his wife are looking after her at the moment but I’m trying to keep myself safe in case they become ill and I need to go and spend time with mum, that’s my main worry.”
Neil Brown, 72, from Warwickshire, also has commitments he cannot possibly drop that require he leaves the house on a regular basis. “I have a severely disabled daughter who lives 20 miles away and needs my constant support,” he says.
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“She is also autistic and would not understand the shielding process and it would radically affect her health If i stopped my visits.”
Another aspect of the GBD, that the rest of the country could carry on as normal, is a terrifying prospect for the elderly who already run a public gauntlet of people disregarding current guidelines, particularly those on the wearing of face masks.
“I used to be a nurse so I do understand how bad this disease can be,” says Joan. “I’m doing everything I can, wearing masks when I go out.
“Young people just don’t care. I’ve only been to the supermarket four times since March and every time I’ve gone they’ve not been wearing masks, not bothering to keep their distance.
“If you go shopping it could be any of them next to you that have it. They just don’t care, I’m the one who has to step aside. I think I worry too much about catching it but I don’t want to die just yet.”
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This sentiment is echoed by Michael: “There are so many people with fixed opinions that you can’t get through to like the ones who go about without a mask.
“It makes me so angry when you see pictures on Twitter of the people protesting. People are so stupid.
“Mind you if they weren’t stupid they wouldn’t have voted this government in and I knew Johnson would be a disaster.”
So what should the government do? “All I have to say to the government is get your finger out with the test, track and trace,” says Ann.
“Get that up and running and then everyone can, not get back to normal, but it’ll make people feel safer.”
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A woman smiles while wearing a novelty face mask in a shop on October 1, 2020 in Barry, Wales Matthew Horwood via Getty Images
There is of course a more fundamental with the problem of shielding vulnerable people over the age of 70 – not all over 70s see themselves as vulnerable.
“You’re not locking me up, I enjoy being outside too much,” 70-year-old author and broadcaster Christian Wolmar tells HuffPost UK.
“I’m a pretty fit 70-year-old who runs regularly and has no underlying health conditions snd I’m a very average weight. I don’t consider my Covid age is 70 and I don’t see myself as vulnerable.”
Speaking of the thought of facing a winter locked down, he adds: “I think it’s such a damaging concept, it would have enormous implications for my mental and physical health.
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“I need to be out running most days and I work as well.”
The GBD has already been roundly criticised as being unrealistic and unworkable and the idea of asking all over-65s to shield to slow the transmission of the second wave of coronavirus was described by leader of the NHS in England, Sir Simon Stevens, as “age-based apartheid”.
And another expert said the declaration ignores the growing evidence on long Covid – whereby thousands of fit and young people who contract the virus have been left with debilitating symptoms months after a mild infection.
But perhaps the most galling aspect of the document is the assumption that the elderly should just accept they have to grin and bear the entire brunt of restrictions.
“I stayed in for three months,” says Joan. “My life has come to a stop. I’ve hardly had any contact with anyone.
“Apart from my son in New Zealand, you’re the only person that’s rung me and asked me if I need help or anything.”


thehuffingtonpostuk--2020-10-22--Your Ultimate Beginner's Guide To Autumn And Winter Foraging

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With a push on outdoor entertainment amidst the pandemic, there’s never been a better time to try your hand at foraging – and you’ll find plenty to take home this season.
2020 is a bumper year for autumnal nuts and fruits, according to Forestry England – and it’s all because of a natural phenomenon known as a “mast year”, where some tree species produce very large crops of seeds.
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“Part of the fascination of experiencing a mast year is that we don’t completely understand the complex blend of factors that give rise to them and allow plants and trees to co-ordinate the production of so much fruit and seed,” explains Andrew Smith, director of Westonbirt, The National Arboretum.
“Weather and climate can certainly affect fruit and seed production in trees, however we also see certain trees go through cycles of mast years. For oak trees it’s usually every four years.”
Forestry England doesn’t encourage foraging on any of its sites and instead, urges visitors to “only take memories away”. It does, however, run foraging courses.
The Woodland Trust is a little more relaxed, though, allowing foraging on most of its sites for personal use, unless signs explicitly prohibit it for conservation purposes.
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Remember, wherever you forage, you should seek the land owner’s permission and leave plenty for others and the local wildlife. Never consume a wild plant or fungus unless you are absolutely certain of its identification.
Here are a few things to look out for this autumn and winter:
Sloe Berries
Alexander Gabriel via Getty Images
Look out for sloes, which can be used to make sloe gin and are available from September through to December, advises Hazel Jackson, head of conservation outcomes and evidence at the Woodland Trust.
“These can be found on blackthorn bushes and trees and are ready for picking when they become a rich dark purple, which squash easily between your fingers,” she says.
For best results, wait until a cold snap: seasoned gin makers often wait until after the first frost, as this softens the skins and helps to release the juices. You’ll need to add sugar before leaving the berries to infuse your gin.
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Sweet Chestnuts
Westend61 via Getty Images
Chestnuts are a “foraging favourite” for this time of year, says Jackson.
The nuts are pretty versatile and can be baked, roasted, boiled or microwaved – just remember to score a cross in them first to stop them from exploding when cooked. Once softened, they can be eaten whole, but they’re most delicious when added to desserts or folded into stuffing alongside your roast dinner.
Hazelnuts
Joff Lee via Getty Images
Fans of hazelnuts will need to hurry up, as the most ripe nuts are found in early autumn, depending on the weather. You can pick nuts when they’re still a little green, but ripen in a warm, dry, dark place at home, such as an airing cupboard.
“If you collect enough, the shelled nuts can be roasted in the oven or used to make nut butter,” says Jackson.
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Walnuts
Kevin Leah via Getty Images
Walnuts are covered with a green, fleshy husk that starts to split as it ripens. Late autumn is your best bet for finding these.
The nuts can work with sweet or savoury dishes; a mushroom and walnut pâté is a popular vegan option, while coffee and walnut cake remains a classic treat.
Rosehips
Lex20 via Getty Images
You’ll find bright red rosehips from September to November along hedgerows and woodland fringes. The outer later is rich in vitamin C and rosehips have long been used to stave off colds.
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You can use them in wines, jellies or jams, or follow this recipe to make traditional rosehip syrup, which can be used for cordial or pouring onto ice cream or pancakes.
Mushrooms
PIKSEL via Getty Images
You’ll find an abundance of wild mushrooms throughout October and November – but this is where the experts really urge caution.
There’s a guide on mushroom foraging on the Woodland Trust’s website, but their advice is to stick to the supermarket if you can’t tell the difference between “delectable and deadly” – as some varieties are highly poisonous.
If you’re an amateur who’s determined to have some fungi fun, search for a guided mushroom picking class in your area. Wild Food UK offers courses across the country.


thehuffingtonpostuk--2020-10-22--How Long Coronavirus Tiers 1, 2 and 3 Will Last In England

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England’s tiered lockdown system, designed to simplify the rules and restrictions around coronavirus, appears to be causing even more confusion.
Since the tier system came into effect it has been unclear what areas can do to move back down to lower tiers with fewer restrictions.
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This has fuelled growing unease among members of the public and MPs alike.
Sir Graham Brady, chairman of the 1922 committee of Tory backbenchers, recently urged the government to “set a clear end date and a strategy for returning life to normal”.
While we don’t yet have any firm details of a clear end date, here’s what we know – however vague – about how areas can move back to lower tiers.
So, how can areas move down a tier?
Speaking at Prime Minister’s Questions (PMQs) on Wednesday, Boris Johnson confirmed the way for areas to get out of the higher tiered restrictions is to “get the R [rate] down to 1 or below”.
As well as following the rules of their specific tier, people should keep washing hands, wearing a face covering in enclosed spaces, and maintaining a sensible distance from others, he said.
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However when pushed on the finer details of the tier exit strategy by Labour leader Keir Starmer, there was not a huge amount of clarity offered.
“Obviously the R is one of the measures we look at,” Johnson said, “and we will take a decision based on a number of things including the R but also, of course, rates of infection, rates of admission to hospital and other data.”
Health minister Edward Argar was also asked about the criteria that impact whether or not a region can exit the tier it’s in, and said the government will look at the area’s infection rates per 100,000 people, the impact on the NHS in terms of hospital capacity and hospitalisation rates, as well as relying on knowledge from local public health officials.
“Areas in tier 3 or tier 2 will remain in those areas as long as is necessary to protect the health of the local people and the NHS in that region,” he said.
The prime minister said when areas enter a new tier, they are “only in there for 28 days” before the government will review an area’s position within that tier.
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“Areas that have gone into tier 3, I believe, are already making progress and areas where there are restrictions in place are already showing signs of progress,” he added.
Does the government have an exit strategy?
As it stands, UK Covid-19 cases are continuing to rise, alongside hospitalisations and deaths. This week, the UK recorded 241 Covid-related deaths in a single 24-hour period, the highest number since the start of June.
The lack of clarity surrounding how places like Greater Manchester might move back down a tier has left many wondering if and when they’ll be able to see loved ones again, and is causing a great deal of concern over how people will afford to live if they can’t work for months on end.
“Tier 3 is a gateway to weeks and weeks, more likely months and months, of agony from which there’s no likely exit,” Starmer told the Commons. “Can the prime minister not see the problem if there isn’t a clear exit?”
The measures for Greater Manchester will be reviewed by November 11, HuffPost UK understands.
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Data on the spread of the virus across local areas is being monitored and then used to provide advice and recommendations on areas of intervention to ministers. After consultation with local authorities and leaders, the government makes a final decision on the appropriate tier for each area.
In response to HuffPost UK’s request for comment on the matter, a government spokesperson said: “The Covid Alert Levels simplify and strengthen rules to help protect lives and reduce the transmission of the virus, whilst minimising the impact to livelihoods and the economy.
“Decisions are made in close consultation with local leaders and public health experts, informed by the latest evidence from the JBC and NHS Test and Trace, PHE and the Chief Medical Officer for England.
“We constantly review the evidence and discuss measures with local Directors of Public Health and local authorities, and do not wish for restrictions to be in place for longer than is necessary.”
Are there alternatives to the tier system?
Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland have implemented a range of heavier, albeit temporary, lockdown measures to try and reduce infections – a method referred to as a ‘circuit breaker’. The aim is to try and reduce the R rate and prevent health services from being overwhelmed.
The option of a ‘circuit breaker’ lockdown in England hasn’t been ruled out, however there is a reluctance from the UK government to resort to this measure, because some areas have a much lower number of infections than others.
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There are some experts who believe the tiered system isn’t having much of an effect. Independent Sage points out that cases have continued to rise despite the introduction of tiers “and although cases are highest in the North of England, they are rising rapidly across the country”.
“We do not believe the current tiered system is sufficient to reverse the growth of the pandemic,” the independent panel of scientists said.
Professor Deenan Pillay, an expert in virology at University College London and a member of Independent Sage, tells HuffPost UK he believes there should now be a national circuit breaker, along the lines of the two-week circuit breaker introduced in Wales.
Everyone in Wales is currently required to stay at home – this means working from home where possible, with the only exceptions being critical workers and jobs where working from home is not possible. All non-essential retail, leisure, hospitality and tourism businesses have also been forced to close.
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Prof Pillay says: “The varying tiers [in England] are a blunt instrument for an infection which is rapidly spreading in all parts of the UK – albeit with varying numbers at present. It just makes no sense to wait until hospitals are starting to fill up, and deaths increase, to clamp down on the infection.”
Instead, he says, we should be focusing on preventing that rise.
Why test-and-trace matters just as much
Scientists have been calling for improvements to the test and trace system in England for some time now, arguing that it is one of the key ways to keep cases down.
The most recent statistics show the test and trace service has hit another new low after it reported its worst ever figures for tracking down “close contacts” of people with Covid. The system saw just 59.6% of cases in England being reached and told to self-isolate to stop the spread of the virus.
“The apparent dichotomy between protecting the economy on the one hand, and stopping virus spread on the other, is false,” says Prof Pillay. “Those countries which have implemented the most stringent lockdown, and have a fully functioning test and trace system, are those whose economies have fared the best.”
Singapore, for example, has recorded fewer than 30 deaths despite almost 60,000 confirmed cases, which experts believe is down to its effective, rapid test-and-trace programme.
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When will the tier system end then?
Ultimately, we just don’t know. Professor David Hunter, Richard Doll Professor of Epidemiology and Medicine at the University of Oxford, tells HuffPost UK that “from an epidemiological perspective it might appear to make sense to have a tiered system, but from a social and political perspective it does not seem to be working very well”.
Prof Hunter says it’s “impossible” to say how long the tier system will be in place “because the government has been conducting a series of U-turns at regular intervals for almost the whole of the epidemic”.
“If the question is whether the system of tiers is going to control the epidemic, my expectation is that we would all wind up in tier 3 eventually,” he says.
“It’s just a matter of time before tier 2 places become tier 3, and tier 1 places become tier 2, because the evidence is the epidemic is increasing across the country, it has just started with a higher baseline in the areas that are currently tier 3.”
He says a nationwide ‘circuit breaker’ would “make more sense at this point” and would potentially stop tier 1 areas moving up to tier 2, “so it would be a benefit to the whole country” – but he caveats that it wouldn’t be easy (due to the obvious economic and mental health implications) and that we’d almost certainly need another circuit breaker in the future.
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We also need a fully functioning test, trace and isolate system that is “decentralised and effective”, he points out (not for the first time, either).
For those wondering whether to make plans for the foreseeable future, Prof Hunter believes that realistically we won’t see an end to the restrictions and measures until well into 2021. “We won’t get to herd immunity without a vaccine, and I think no-one is ready to let the NHS be overwhelmed,” he says.
“So we are stuck with intermittent lockdowns or ‘circuit breakers’ until the weather gets better in the late spring or early summer and we can be outdoors again and that does seem to help limit transmission.”


thehuffingtonpostuk--2020-10-22--9 Thoughtful Quotes About Being A Stepparent From Kamala Harris

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Kamala Harris has made it clear she loves being “Momala” to her stepkids.
The future vice-president is stepmother to her husband Doug Emhoff’s son Cole and daughter Ella. Since marrying Emhoff in 2014, Harris has shared glimpses of her blended family experience.
In honour of her birthday in October, HuffPost rounded up nine quotes about being a stepparent from Harris.
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On Treading Carefully
“As a child of divorce, I knew how hard it could be when your parents start to date other people. And I was determined not to insert myself in their lives until Doug and I had established we were in this for the long haul. Children need consistency; I didn’t want to insert myself into their lives as a temporary fixture because I didn’t want to disappoint them. There’s nothing worse than disappointing a child.”
On Becoming “Momala”
“A few years later, when Doug and I got married, Cole, Ella, and I agreed that we didn’t like the term ‘stepmom.’ Instead they came up with the name ‘Momala.’”
Drew Angerer via Getty Images Kamala Harris became a stepmum when she married attorney Doug Emhoff.
On The Power Of Family
“My family means everything to me. I’ve had a lot of titles over my career and vice president will be great, but ‘Momala’ will always be the one that means the most.”
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On Her First Time Meeting Cole And Ella
“When the day finally came, I had butterflies in my stomach. The plan was to go to a seafood hut off the Pacific Coast Highway called the Reel Inn, a favorite of the kids. On my way to meet Doug, I picked up a tin of cookies and tied a ribbon in a bow around them. I took a few deep breaths. I was excited, and I was nervous. I rehearsed what I would say. Would the kids think the cookies were really nice or really weird? Was the ribbon too much?”
On Her Relationship With Doug’s Ex-Wife
“To know Cole and Ella is to know that their mother Kerstin is an incredible mother. Kerstin and I hit it off ourselves and are dear friends. She and I became a duo of cheerleaders in the bleachers at Ella’s swim meets and basketball games, often to Ella’s embarrassment. We sometimes joke that our modern family is almost a little too functional.”
On Making Blended Family Life Work
“One of the keys to my relationship with Cole and Ella is their mom. We are friends. We have a very modern family ... The thing about blended families — if everyone approaches it in the way that there’s plenty of love to share, then it works. And we have plenty of love to share within our extended family.”
On Her Stepkids
“They are brilliant, talented, funny kids who have grown to be remarkable adults. I was already hooked on Doug, but I believe it was Cole and Ella who reeled me in.”
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On Balancing Work And Family
“I sought the advice of my female colleagues in the Senate. And it was Maggie Hassan, the senator from New Hampshire, who offered me some sage wisdom. ‘Our kids love us for who we are and the sacrifices we make,’ she said. ‘They get it.’ I believe you don’t have to be a U.S. senator or a candidate for president of the United States for that to ring true. Time is precious, and so many of us understand the struggle to seek balance.”
On Supporting All Families


thehuffingtonpostuk--2020-10-22--Four Symptoms GPs Want People To Get Checked Immediately

12963734 via Getty Images
People who have noticed an unusual or persistent symptom like a lump, bleeding, weight loss or pain that can’t be explained during the pandemic are being urged to see their GPs.
It comes as a survey by Cancer Research UK found more than half (53%) of GPs say they are concerned fewer older adults are contacting them with symptoms compared to before the pandemic.
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Other groups they were worried about hearing less from included patients with learning difficulties (40%), those whose first language is not English (35%), people from poorer backgrounds (23%), ethnic minorities (22%) and those with existing health conditions (21%).
Dr Richard Roope, Cancer Research UK’s GP advisor, said GP surgeries and hospitals are changing the way they do things to keep patients and staff safe – and people should be reassured it’s safe to visit them. The first contact is likely to be by phone, and where appropriate, a face-to-face appointment will follow.
“If you’ve noticed an unusual or persistent symptom like a lump, bleeding, weight loss or pain you can’t explain, tell your doctor, we do want to hear from you,” said Dr Roope.
“In most cases it won’t be cancer, but if it is, catching it early gives the best chance of successful treatment. For those who’ve been unable to get through to your surgery, I would encourage you to keep trying.”
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The findings come from a September survey of 1,000 UK GPs who were asked to compare their experience to before the pandemic.
While some progress has been made since the first monthly survey in June, with fewer GPs reporting reductions in the number of patients contacting them (62% in June compared to 29% in September), GPs are still concerned some groups may not be coming forward to get the help they need.
That’s not to say it’s easy getting an appointment, however – some patients told Cancer Research UK they’ve faced difficulties making one.
nadia_bormotova via Getty Images
Age is the biggest risk factor for cancer and every year more than a third (36%) of all cancer cases in the UK are diagnosed in people aged 75 and over. The earlier cancer is diagnosed, however, the better the chance of survival.
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Covid-19 is making cancer diagnosis more challenging, and progress to see fewer patients diagnosed late is likely to be held up.
The pandemic has had a huge impact on cancer services across the board. Patients have faced delays and altered modes of screening, diagnosis, and treatment, as well as disrupted follow-up and palliative care.
Michelle Mitchell, Cancer Research UK’s chief executive, said the government needs to act now to help cancer patients. “With a backlog of patients to get through, the NHS needs the support of government now more than ever, so that people can get the care they need,” she said.
“The upcoming spending review is the perfect opportunity for the government to act and provide the equipment and staff required.”
A Department of Health and Social Care Spokesperson told HuffPost UK: “Cancer diagnosis and treatment has remained a priority throughout the pandemic – more than 200,000 people were treated for cancer during the first peak – and we continue to urge people to come forward if they have symptoms.
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thehuffingtonpostuk--2020-10-22--Only Half Of England Understands The Coronavirus Lockdown Rules

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Nearly half of the public in England do not “fully understand” the current coronavirus lockdown rules, a study suggests.
Researchers found that around half of adults (51%) in the country said they understand the current Covid-19 restrictions. Only 13% of the respondents said they “fully understand” them.
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And the people making the rules don’t seem to know them either. Numerous government figures have been caught publicly slipping up on the rules, including Boris Johnson, who stumbled over his explanation of the ban on households mixing last month as new restrictions were imposed on the north-east.
On Thursday minister for crime and policing Kit Malthouse denied the tier 3 lockdown restrictions were confusing... and then promptly mixed them up.
Kit Malthouse: ‘It behoves all of us to inform ourselves what conditions we’re living under’#KayBurley: ‘Can gyms open in Manchester?’
Kit Malthouse: ‘I don’t know’ pic.twitter.com/729ww4bHTE — Toby Earle (@TobyonTV) October 22, 2020
On the same day, the Treasury was forced to deny reports that chancellor Rishi Sunak had flouted lockdown rules by holding a meeting at a Waterloo pizza chain to discuss his latest business support package.
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Sunak was pictured in a branch of Franca Manca with communities secretary Robert Jenrick and members of the UK hospitality sector, in apparent contravention of tier 2 rules which forbid household mixing indoors.
The Treasury said this was not the case because it was “not a functioning restaurant at the time.”
A spokesperson for the prime minister later clarified: “There is an exemption for work meetings to take place in hospitality settings. Our intention when providing that exemption had been to provide the opportunity for freelancers or for the self-employed who didn’t have an office space to work in, to use hospitality if necessary.”
Chancellor Rishi Sunak with housing secretary Robert Jenrick, hosting a roundtable for business representatives at Franco Mana in Waterloo, London PA
The ongoing University College London (UCL) Covid-19 Social Study found the latest data was an improvement on the 45% who felt they understood the rules in England in July. Those responses came after lockdown restrictions were firstly significantly eased on July 4.
But it was a significant drop from the initial lockdown period when 90% of respondents said they understood what was and was not permitted.
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Lead author Dr Daisy Fancourt, associate professor at UCL’s Institute of Epidemiology and Health Care, said the findings were “especially worrying” at a time when case numbers were climbing.
“Levels of understanding around what is and isn’t allowed under current lockdown restrictions have dropped markedly since nationwide ‘strict lockdown’ has ended,” she said.
“This issue may well also be exacerbated by the newly introduced system of tiers in England and the differing policies of the devolved nations.
A woman wearing a face mask in Sheffield city centre, as South Yorkshire becomes the latest region to be placed into tier 3 coronavirus restrictions, which will come into effect on Saturday Danny Lawson - PA Images via Getty Images
“As well as this potentially leading to people breaking rules they don’t fully understand, confusing messages or unclear communication could result in people disengaging from trying to keep abreast of restrictions, which could well lead to lower compliance in the long term.
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“These developments are especially worrying at a time when the number of cases continues to climb. So it is vital that the government improves communication of lockdown restrictions and ensures they are as simple to understand and follow as possible.”
The study of more than 70,000 people also found that understanding of the rules was lower in England than in both Wales and Scotland.
It said that in Wales 15% “fully understand” and 62% understand “the majority” of the rules. In Scotland 15% “fully understand” and 66% understand “the majority”.
The levels of control people feel around aspects of their lives have also improved in some areas since July, it added.
Around three fifths of respondents (60%) felt in control of future plans compared with half in July. Meanwhile 70% now felt in control of their employment situation – up from 60% in July.
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Despite this the study found people were still feeling out of control of their mental health. Half of respondents (50%) reported they do not feel at all in control or only feel a little in control of their mental health.
There was also a lack of improvement in people’s sense of financial control with two in five respondents (39%) not feeling properly in control financially, it added.


thehuffingtonpostuk--2020-10-22--Has Boris Johnson’s Test And Trace Gone Beyond The Point Of No Return?

Boris Johnson speaks during a coronavirus briefing in Downing Street. ASSOCIATED PRESS
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“I am prepared for the worst, but hope for the best.” As the country struggles with this second wave of coronavirus, many will hope that Benjamin Disraeli’s words are being taken to heart by his self-proclaimed “One Nation” heir, Boris Johnson.
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Way back in July, the PM did indeed echo his predecessor as he set out his new “Recovery Strategy”. “I know we can beat this virus,” he declared. “Hoping for the best, but planning for the worst.”
With his next breath, Johnson said: “I’ll now hand over to Dido…” Yes, as he tried to reassure the nation that things in the summer were under control after an awful spring, it was NHS Test and Trace chief Dido Harding who was standing next to him at that No.10 briefing.
Today, almost exactly three months later, the PM’s tone had changed. Harding – these days dubbed “Dido Hiding” by some in Whitehall for her lack of public appearances – was notably absent at the Downing Street press conference. And even Johnson was forced to admit for the first time his frustration at her service’s latest performance failures.
The system is continuing to fail on two key measures. First, it has never met Johnson’s target of 100% 24-hour turnaround of in-person tests. The latest figures show that just 15% of tests hit that metric in the week to October 14. Second, its contact tracing rate (taking into account all contacts identified) scored a new record low of 59.6%, way below the 80% that Sage said was needed to make the entire thing viable.
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Even on the contact tracing measure that is preferred by the department of health (“where communication details are available”), the figure was a new low of 75.1%. So no amount of spin could suggest the magic 80% figure was being achieved, as has all too often occurred in recent months when the stats were bad.
Johnson, who normally bursts with pride at what he once called his “world beating” test-and-trace system, said: “I share people’s frustrations. We do need to see faster turnaround times. We need to improve it.” Chief scientist Patrick Vallance said the turnaround delays and contact tracing rate “could be diminishing the effectiveness” of the whole system. Vallance also suggested the virus was so widespread, test-and-trace’s impact would be limited anyway.
Johnson was even reduced to saying test-and-trace was “helping a bit already to break the transmission” of the virus. Yes, it’s costing the taxpayer £12bn and its impact is to help “a bit”. Whatever happened to “gamechanger”? To be fair, “a bit” almost exactly the verdict Sage came up with in September. That bombshell data dump revealed the scientists felt that test-and-trace “is having a marginal impact”.
So why is “NHS Test and Trace” (we use the quote marks these days because it is in fact “DHSC Test and Trace” and always has been) going backwards in recent weeks? Well, the good news is that its capacity has actually been growing, and is now around 345,000 tests a day. It’s perfectly possible that with a jump in lab space, staff and robotics at current labs, it can hit the 500,000 capacity by the end of the month. New rapid testing pilots also offer great hope.
But the clue is in the name, test and trace. The system has sensibly recalibrated in recent weeks to cut its outsourced national call centre staff and instead boost numbers of public sector local contact tracers and (crucially) the clinicians who advise people over the phone. Yet so far, there has not been any prime ministerial “big target” for increasing tracing capacity, as there has been for testing.
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One irony is that it is the shift to hiring more local contact tracers that has made the performance worse, at least temporarily, according to insiders. Specialist training and access to the database takes time and there has been a hiatus of late, I’m told. If that’s true, the contact rate ought to improve after a blip.
Local contact tracers are much better at finding and isolating contacts (a 98.4% success rate this week) than call centre staff (57.6%). But that is in part because those local teams have dealt with very localised outbreaks (called “complex” cases in the jargon), in hospitals or care homes where it’s easier to identify contacts. “Non-complex” cases’ contacts in the community or social settings are harder to reach. And the proportion of non-complex cases is now much, much higher than it was in the summer.
The real power of local tracers is in getting to “hard to reach” communities, often the most deprived or which need tailored English language support. Around 80% of the 100 or so areas where councils have been put in the lead have shown improvements in getting to such people. Yet it has taken months to localise the service significantly.
There were two stark numbers the underlined the problem on Thursday: 101,690 close contacts of people with Covid were not reached in the week to October 14; and 17,141 people who tested positive for Covid were not reached in the first place. Those are big, big numbers of people walking around the country potentially infecting others, and they are growing each week.
Some people may be refusing to give their contact details, or ducking out of the system because they fear both the loss of income (statutory sick pay is still way too low) and the social isolation that comes from 14 days quarantine. Some may not want to admit they broke the social distancing rules either in their homes or elsewhere. You can have all the testing and even all the tracing but if people don’t self-isolate (and who is going to check on every home?) the system will fail.
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As hospitalisations and deaths rise, the hope must be that more people will be scared into doing the right thing to protect their friends and family. Insiders in test-and-trace do their best to give background insight, but the lack of a public, regular briefing on test-and-trace means there’s a vacuum when there should be reassurance. A full month after the NHS app was launched, DHSC has not published a single statistic on how many people it has helped self-isolate.
Oxford University’s James Naismith said today that he had doubts whether the system could now ever be effective. The NHS Confederation said “without significant improvements, the situation will simply deteriorate”, while NHS Providers said the system was “falling short”. And don’t forget many in the NHS resent their brand being used for what is a ministerial brainchild.


thehuffingtonpostuk--2020-10-22--The Vanity Projects The Government Is Spending Money On Rather Than Feeding Kids

Boris Johnson’s military grey RAF VIP plane will receive a red, white and blue repainting costing “around £900,000”. Jon Nazca / Reuters
On Wednesday, 322 Tory MPs voted against a measure to extend free school meals for the country’s poorest children over the half-term and winter school holidays.
As millions face crippling financial hardship as a result of the coronavirus pandemic, the government opted to cut short a lifeline for the most vulnerable families. As a result, 1.4 million children risk going to bed hungry this Christmas.
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Instead, these are the vanity projects the government has deemed worth British taxpayers’ money:
1. The “Brexit Festival” (£120m)
First announced by then prime minister Theresa May in 2018, the festival – intended to mark Brexit as a moment of “national renewal” and to “celebrate our nation’s diversity and talent” – was given the go-ahead by Boris Johnson last year.
Now temporarily renamed ‘Festival UK 2022’, organisers of the “once-in-generation celebration” say the project could be “one big act or 10 million tiny acts” and “might last a day or a year”.
The festival has long been a subject of ridicule with critics claiming it is a massive waste of taxpayers’ money. Recently there have been calls to divert the £120m to save jobs in the arts sector facing catastrophic job losses as a result of Covid-19.
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2. Repainting the “Brexit plane” (nearly £1m)
Apparently, a Brexit festival is not enough Brexit for Britain – we also needed a Brexit plane. Back in June, Downing Street confirmed Johnson’s military grey RAF VIP plane was going to get a fresh new makeover: a red, white and blue repainting that would cost “around £900,000”.
The prime minister’s official spokesperson said the RAF Voyager was being repainted so it can “better represent the UK around the world with national branding”, but there are concerns the new design could leave it looking similar to a British Airways plane.
Painting over the plane’s “boring” camouflage grey colour could also render it useless for military use. “No one wants to go to war in a jet painted like a brightly coloured lollipop,” warned a former RAP pilot.
The project was slammed for being a waste of public money by Labour and the SNP, but No 10 have insisted everything possible has been done to ensure “value for money for UK taxpayers”.
3. Building the “Brexit Bridge” (about £15bn)
Nothing quite tickles our prime minister more than a costly bridge project that no one – including himself – understands the point of.
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Back in 2018, then-foreign secretary Johnson was ridiculed by senior Tories for his touting of a “Brexit bridge” between Ulster and Scotland.
Fast forward to the present day, when just earlier this month Downing Street confirmed plans for the Scotland-Northern Ireland bridge are underway. “There is a proper piece of work being carried out into the idea,” his official spokesperson told journalists.
Concerns have been raised over the potential cost of the bridge, which Johnson said would “only cost about £15bn”, as well as the fact that more than a million tonnes of wartime munitions have been dumped in the sea on the potential route.
4. Investing in a bankrupt space firm (£400m)
In July, the UK government bought a minority stake worth £400m in failed satellite firm OneWeb as part of a post-Brexit space strategy.
To replace the loss of the EU’s Galileo sat-nav system, the government will receive a “significant equity share” in OneWeb. The company collapsed in March, blaming the coronavirus crisis for not being able to raise more financial support.
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MPs later launched an inquiry into the investment, after it was revealed that a top civil servant had raised concerns about the deal, warning all the money put forward could be lost from taxpayers.
Labour MP Darren Jones said those concerns “prompts further questions about how the government… came to plump for this largely US-based bankrupt satellite company”.
5. Subsidising beer for MPs (£4.4m)
The government may be unwilling to spend more money on feeding the country’s most vulnerable children over the cold winter months, but it seems keen to continue providing heavily taxpayer-subsidised meals and booze to its MPs.
In the members’ tea room inside the House of Commons, a soup costs a mere £1.01 while the most expensive main course runs up to £3.83. Meanwhile a pint in the bar costs £2.60 – surely the cheapest beer you can get in central London.
#1 MPs Staff as well as MPs use the subsidised canteens in Parliament but if we can’t afford to feed our kids in school holidays how is alright to spend circa £4.5 Million subsidising meals in Parliament? — Karl Turner MP (@KarlTurnerMP) October 22, 2020


thehuffingtonpostuk--2020-10-22--5 Times Journalists Thought They Were Scientists And Got It Wrong About Coronavirus

Toby Young, repeat offender. EMPICS Entertainment
Once upon a time, the phenomenon of your average Joe insisting they knew better than the experts was largely and happily confined to pub chat about the performance of [insert any football team here].
Alas, the rise of social media, “alternative” news sources, and the widespread belief that shouting on Twitter constitutes actual public debate mean there are many for whom watching videos on YouTube is now considered equal to a lifetime dedicated to the pursuit of science.
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During the ongoing coronavirus pandemic, one class of professional has been guiltier than most – celebrity journalists, many of whom have spent months cherry-picking, distorting and generally getting a bit confused about all things Covid-19-related and then broadcasting these tidbits to their sizeable followings.
the number of people who get paid to loudly misunderstand things is really out of hand — Tom Chivers (@TomChivers) October 20, 2020
And this stuff matters – the effects aren’t confined to Twitter. They have real-world implications.
If you don’t believe us (and to be fair we are also journalists) then here’s Dr Dominic Pimenta, an NHS hospital doctor and chair of healthcare workers foundation Her, who told HuffPost UK: “We face the rather ludicrous situation of radio show hosts arguing with statisticians about false positive rates, for example.
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“There is always a place for proper scientific debate, in journals and academic forums, but in the public arena during a pandemic it has troubling real world implications.
“Downplaying the consequences of the virus or the importance of the guidelines means compliance will naturally fall, increasing the spread of the virus at a critical time for many areas in the UK.
“Having lost 640 health and social care workers already the stakes are very high here, and there is a distinct lack of care and due diligence to what is being broadcast that is unacceptable frankly.”
Here are five guilty parties...
Dan Wootton – 354,500 Twitter followers
“Science has used forever used herd immunity to deal with coronaviruses.”
The latest example is talkRADIO host Dan Wootton, who built a career in writing showbiz and gossip articles for The Sun.
Remember when Dan Wootton was just that guy who *checks notes* rated women's breasts out of ten in The Sun pic.twitter.com/W8o5J4LIVQ — Michael Baggs (@MichaelBaggs) October 20, 2020
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So it was somewhat of a surprise when on Monday Wootton adamantly declared the best way out of the pandemic was to shield all the vulnerable people in the UK while the rest of us deliberately catch Covid-19 in order to reach herd immunity.
When questioned by his guest Labour MP Chris Bryant on how exactly the UK could protect the vulnerable amid a “herd immunity” approach, Wootton declined to give specifics, opting instead to say there is “a whole load of ways to do it”.
Dan Wootton and Labour MP Chris Bryant have a disagreement over the effectiveness of coronavirus lockdowns.
What are your views?@danwootton | @RhonddaBryant
Watch the show in full ► https://t.co/uIRYxKthau pic.twitter.com/fdu7PAkcXw — talkRADIO (@talkRADIO) October 19, 2020
If that sounds familiar, it’s because it is exactly the proposed strategy of the Great Barrington Declaration, a document reflecting the views of a minority of the world’s scientists that oppose lockdowns and say we should all carry on largely as if nothing is happening and let herd immunity do the rest.
But there are four things you need to know about the Great Barrington Declaration:
It completely ignores the fact that herd immunity has never been achieved without a vaccine It provides no plan for how a country can effectively shield all vulnerable people It was sponsored by an organisation funded by Charles Koch – a right-wing billionaire known for promoting climate change denial and opposing regulations on business The vast majority of experts disagree with it
Undeterred by this, Wootton still felt compelled to spout these opinions on shielding and herd immunity in an interview with Bryant, who branded him a “dangerous conspiracy theorist”.
Julia Hartley-Brewer – 234,300 Twitter followers
“Why are we using a Covid-19 test that has 90% false positives?”
Another talkRADIO host, Hartley-Brewer has helped promote the apparently alarming statistic that 91% of coronavirus tests in the UK are “false positives”.
Obviously this would be shocking if true – it would basically mean the pandemic isn’t really a pandemic and we’ve all been sitting in our homes under various forms of restrictions for months all for no reason.
But it isn’t true. You can read about it in detail here, but in short, Hartley-Brewer based her claims on one article written by someone who got their maths a bit muddled.
Alas, the false claims are still circulating and out in the real world it’s having an actual effect on the country’s ability to fight the pandemic.
A tier-2 contact-tracer (tougher-to-reach cases) just told me they're finding people citing the false positive rate back at them when justifying why they shouldn't self-isolate. Obviously, it's the moronic mAthS trUthErs who've just discovered Bayes, rather than a real thing. — Chris Cook (@xtophercook) September 24, 2020
Toby Young – 139,000 Twitter followers
“The virus has melted into thin air. It’s time to get back to normal.”
Toby Young has so much to say about coronavirus that he started his own newsletter called Lockdown Sceptics.
Unfortunately, the former government adviser – who was forced to quit his role in 2018 when people realised he’d spent years saying grossly offensive things – hasn’t got much right so far.
Young hit the ground running way back in March when he wrote he was “beginning to suspect the government has overreacted to the coronavirus crisis” and that “spending £350bn to prolong the lives of a few hundred thousand mostly elderly people is an irresponsible use of taxpayer’s money”.
In normal times the far right eugenicist views of people like Toby Young are just shameful and embarrassing. During a pandemic they can be outright deadly. https://t.co/02vc7X5FjC — Peter Jukes (@peterjukes) March 31, 2020
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And then in June, Young said the virus “had melted into thin air”.
Toby Young in June:
"I’m going to go out on a limb and predict there will be no “second spike” – not now, and not in the autumn either. The virus has melted into thin air. It’s time to get back to normal."
https://t.co/8YuiuZUkKE pic.twitter.com/jEWH4RRcdA — Sam Bowman (@s8mb) October 15, 2020
There are currently over 300,000 new cases every day around the world.
He also subscribes to the false positives myth.
If Whitty and Vallance had taken questions, I hope someone would have asked them what the projected number of cases would be on 13th Oct if you discount the 91% of “cases” that are false positives. I make it 4,410. pic.twitter.com/qyyAFXCj4P — Toby Young (@toadmeister) September 21, 2020
Allison Pearson – 74,200 Twitter followers
“If Hancock ever dares to try and vaccinate children, who are unharmed by Covid, he’ll have a revolution on his hands.”
The coronavirus pandemic has been a bit of a rollercoaster for Pearson, forcing some remarkable U-turns in her opinions on the matter.
She began in the early days of the pandemic by criticising young people and branding them “Generation Me”. She urged them to practise social distancing and suggested they would “start whingeing how ‘stressy’ it all is when the authorities try to curtail their freedom to even a minor degree”.
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Six months later, she now spends much of her time on Twitter getting stressy about her own freedoms being curtailed and even advocated herd immunity when she revealed her son had contracted Covid-19.
"My son has Covid-19. Good. Everyone in his student house has it as well. Even better," writes @allisonpearson https://t.co/YNr73GFp67 — The Telegraph (@Telegraph) September 22, 2020
Pearson has also falsely stated that children are “unharmed by Covid-19”, and railed against vaccinations.
Lots of furious mums asking to join the coronagettes.
If Hancock ever dares to try and vaccinate children, who are unharmed by Covid, he’ll have a revolution on his hands. @UsforThemUK — Allison Pearson (@allisonpearson) October 3, 2020
Then, to top it all off, just the other day Pearson appeared to suggest that postponing death wasn’t a valid objective for medicine and science.
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In a similar vein, we could save large sums by abolishing all hospitals, as they too only delay death https://t.co/obqm4sFs4e — Health Nerd (@GidMK) October 15, 2020
Mark Dolan – 17,300 Twitter followers
“The first step to [getting back to normal] is binning these wretched... scientifically empty masks.”
We come full circle for our last entry, all the way back to the studios of talkRADIO.
This is Mark Dolan. He doesn’t like wearing masks and says there is no science to back up their effectiveness.
And rather than putting up with the ever-so-slight inconvenience of wearing one in a shop in order to help stop the spread of a pandemic that has killed over one million people around the world, he made a very big deal of cutting one up in what we’re sure he thought was a very dramatic and symbolic gesture.
Mark Dolan cuts up his face mask live on air: "If you want to save lives and get the country back on track, the only option is to get back to normal. The first step to achieving that is binning these wretched masks".
Watch live ► https://t.co/wmroLr0b36 | @mrmarkdolan pic.twitter.com/EnK4olEadq — talkRADIO (@talkRADIO) September 4, 2020
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thehuffingtonpostuk--2020-10-22--Has The King Of The North Stolen Boris Johnson’s Crown?

Has The King Of The North Stolen Boris Johnson’s Crown?
Boris Johnson moved Greater Manchester area into the highest tier of local lockdown, setting in motion a war of words and press conferences with mayor Andy Burnham. Tensions spilled over as an extraordinary series of negotiations over a lack of financial support for businesses and workers spilled over in public, with Burnham was branded the “king of the north” as he attempted to defend Manchester from Westminster’s “punishment”.


thehuffingtonpostuk--2020-10-22--Canary Islands, Mykonos, Denmark And The Maldives Added To Travel Corridor List

A passenger wearing a face mask as he arrives at Heathrow Airport PA
The Canary Islands, Mykonos, the Maldives and Denmark have been added to the UK’s list of travel corridors, the government has said.
From 4am on Saturday, people returning to the UK from these destinations will no longer be asked to self-isolate for 14 days.
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Liechtenstein, however, has been removed from the safe list by the Joint Biosecurity Centre and the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office is advising against all but essential travel there.
The full list of travel corridor countries can be found here.
UPDATE: Following an assessment of the latest data, the Canaries, the Maldives, Denmark and Mykonos have been ADDED to the #TravelCorridors list. From 4am on Sunday 25th Oct, you will no longer need to self-isolate if you arrive from those destinations. pic.twitter.com/vVF40XKS2t — Rt Hon Grant Shapps MP (@grantshapps) October 22, 2020
The latest data indicates we need to remove Liechtenstein from the Travel Corridors list. From 4am on Sunday the 25th October, you will need to self-isolate if you arrive from there. — Rt Hon Grant Shapps MP (@grantshapps) October 22, 2020
The news comes amid a surge in cases of Covid-19 in the UK, with huge swathes of the country placed under new local lockdowns.
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A further 21,242 lab-confirmed cases were recorded on Thursday. On Wednesday, 26,688 people had tested positive for coronavirus in the UK in the preceding 24 hours - the highest daily figure ever.
Prime minister Boris Johnson has refused to follow Wales and Scotland in enforcing a so-called "circuit breaker" national lockdown in England, however.


thehuffingtonpostuk--2020-10-22--Black Cat Escapes From Cattery And Returns To Owners 8 Years Later

“It’s incredible to have reunited Mo with his family some eight years on. We all need some good news at the moment,” she said, adding that Mo’s “incredible” story is a reminder about the “amazing power” of microchipping.
“A tiny microchip can make a huge difference. Mo is a great example of how pets can be returned home years and years later – all thanks to identifying an animal in this way. We’re absolutely thrilled to see Mo settling back into his new home – and he has already taken Izzy’s social media by storm!”
The black cat has a lot of catching up to do – the family now has three other rescue cats. “We can’t ever thank the RSPCA enough for bringing home our little one,” says Harris. “I feel incredibly relieved but also, so hopeful. If this can happen, anything can. It’s made me see the world more positively.”
As for Mo, he couldn’t be happier, she says: “He’s settled in so well, it’s like he never left. He is just as we remember him. He doesn’t want to leave our side.”


thehuffingtonpostuk--2020-10-22--Donald Trump's Twitter Account 'Was Hacked Using The Password Maga2020!'

SIPA USA/PA Images
Donald Trump’s Twitter account was allegedly hacked by a Dutch security expert – using the password “maga2020!”.
Victor Gevers claims he gained access to the US president’s account and was allowed to roam in his direct messages, post tweets and change the profile name, De Volkskrant newspaper reported.
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“I expected to be blocked after four failed attempts,” Gevers said. “Or at least would be asked to provide additional information.”
Gevers, dubbed an “ethical hacker,” said it took just five attempts to get into the president’s account, according to TechCrunch. He said the president did not have a two-factor authentication set up.
But Twitter said there is “no evidence” of the claim made by Gevers, saying it “proactively implemented account security measures” for high-profile accounts.
It started six years ago. And hopefully, it will be the last time in 2020. Please switch on two-factor authentication on all of your accounts. 🙏 — Victor Gevers (@0xDUDE) October 22, 2020
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“We’ve seen no evidence to corroborate this claim, including from the article published in the Netherlands today,” Twitter said in a statement.
“We proactively implemented account security measures for a designated group of high-profile, election-related Twitter accounts in the United States, including federal branches of government.”
It’s the second time Gevers says he has gained access to Trump’s Twitter account.
The first time was in 2016, when Gevers and two others extracted and cracked Trump’s password from the 2012 LinkedIn breach.
The researchers took his password — “yourefired” — his catchphrase from the television show The Apprentice — and found it let them into his Twitter account.
Gevers reported the breach to local authorities in the Netherlands, with suggestions on how Trump could improve his password security.
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One of the passwords he suggested at the time was “maga2020!”, he said.


thehuffingtonpostuk--2020-10-22--Test And Trace Becoming Ineffective, Sir Patrick Vallance Admits

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Boris Johnson has admitted his multibillion pound Test and Trace service needs to improve as his chief scientific adviser warned it was becoming ineffective.
The prime minister for the first time acknowledged failings in the service, which is run by Tory peer Baroness Dido Harding, after it posted its worst ever contact tracing figures this week.
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Chief scientific adviser Sir Patrick Vallance meanwhile warned that the so-called NHS Test and Trace service, which has been criticised for its level of outsourcing of the service to private firms like Serco, was becoming less effective as coronavirus cases rise.
It came after figures showed the controversial system saw just 59.6% of cases in England being reached and told to self-isolate to stop the spread of the virus, some way short of the 80% target needed for it to work effectively.
Johnson told a No.10 Covid briefing: “I share people’s frustrations.
“We do need to see faster turnaround times.
“We need to improve it.
“We do need to ensure that people who get a positive test self-isolate.”
Vallance admitted there was “room for improvement” in the NHS Test and Trace system.
He said: “It’s undoubtedly the case that test, trace and isolation becomes much more difficult to have an impact once numbers are high. It’s much more effective when numbers are low.”
The number of tests able to be carried out had increased but “it’s really important to concentrate on numbers of contacts, isolation, as quickly as you can, and getting things back as quickly as you can – ideally you get the whole process done within 48 hours.
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“It’s very clear there’s room for improvement on all that and therefore that could be diminishing the effectiveness of this.”
Later, Vallance said the service would only be effective in areas with lower rates of transmission rather than those with high levels of Covid like Merseyside or Manchester.


thehuffingtonpostuk--2020-10-22--Ministers Add To Confusion Over Covid Rules By Holding Meeting In Franco Manca

Rishi Sunak and Robert Jenrick hold meeting with businesses indoors Rishi Sunak and Robert Jenrick hold meeting with businesses indoors
Chancellor Rishi Sunak was accused of “adding to the confusion” over Covid-19 restrictions after ministers were pictured meeting business leaders in a pizza restaurant.
The images show the chancellor with communities secretary Robert Jenrick and a business group at Franco Manca, near London’s Waterloo station. They were published by the Treasury on Thursday.
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London is in tier 2 coronavirus lockdown, meaning no one should meet people outside their household or support bubble while indoors. Sunak and Jenrick do not live with each other, or with the business leaders they met.
People are allowed to hold “business meetings” in hospitality settings with up to 30 people from other households, but only if they are freelancers or have no office space.
All other workers are advised to hold meetings “remotely via phone or via video conference”, the prime minister’s official spokesperson said.
Sunak and Jenrick are not freelancers but work full time as ministers and have their own offices.
Nonetheless a Treasury source insisted that the pair had broken no rules – because the restaurant was not in use when the image was taken. That means it was just a private indoor workspace, where yet another exemption means business meetings of up to 30 people are permitted whoever they are.
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This did not particularly impress critics.
Christine Jardine, the Lib Dems’ economy spokesperson, told HuffPost UK: “The chancellor is clearly not content will failing to show leadership just once today – by taking part in this photo-op, Rishi is confusing the issue about the government’s own guidelines.
Read more: 7 Times The Government Forgot Its Own Coronavirus Rules
“Politicians, especially the chancellor, should be setting an example rather than adding to the confusion of what the guidelines allow.”
Asked about business meetings taking place in hospitality venues under Covid lockdown, the prime minister’s official spokesperson said: “In the guidance, there is an exemption for work meetings to take place in hospitality settings.
“Our intention when providing that exemption had been to provide the opportunity for freelancers, or for the self-employed, who didn’t have an office space which they could work in to use hospitality if necessary. That remains the case.
“But, more broadly, I think what we would ask people to do is, wherever possible, to hold meetings remotely via phone or via video conference.”


thehuffingtonpostuk--2020-10-22--Boris Johnson Gives Briefing Following Chancellor's New Support Scheme

Stoke-on-Trent, Coventry and Slough will be placed into tier 2 local lockdown from Saturday, Matt Hancock has announced.
Speaking in the Commons on Thursday, the health secretary also said discussions are formally beginning with Warrington about moving to tier 3 restrictions.
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“I hope that with everybody supporting these measures and taking the actions that are necessary, we can keep these restrictions in place for as little time as possible,” he said.
Tier 1: medium Nationwide restrictions, including: Only meet other people in groups of six or less (“rule of six”) 10pm curfew for hospitality Tier 2: high As Tier 1, plus: No households allowed to mix indoors. “Rule of six” applies outdoors including private gardens Tier 3: very high As Tier 1 plus: No households allowed to mix indoors or outdoors All pubs and bars to close unless they can operate as a restaurant People advised against travel in and out of areas
Hancock also said the government will give councils powers to use closure notices to shut premises on public health grounds without delay.
It came as billions of pounds of extra help was been announced for firms and workers hit by coronavirus restrictions.
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The package, announced by chancellor Rishi Sunak on Thursday, includes making the Job Support Scheme, which replaces the current furlough system, more generous.
There will also be grants of £2,100 available for firms in tier 2 areas of England, primarily aimed at helping hospitality and leisure venues which have seen takings plummet due to a restrictions on households mixing.
In a move which could be worth more than £1 billion, these grants will also be available retrospectively for areas which have already been subject to restrictions, and come on top of higher levels of additional business support for areas moving into tier 3.
The move to make the payments retrospective is aimed at heading off criticism from areas of northern England which have been under restrictions for months.
Instead of only being open to people in “viable” jobs working a third of their normal hours, the Job Support Scheme will now cover employees doing just 20% of their usual work.
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The amount that employers are required to pay to top up their wages has also been reduced to just 5% of unworked hours, down from 33%.
Extra help for the self-employed will see the amount covered by grants increase from 20% of profits to 40%, meaning the maximum payout will increase from £1,875 to £3,750.


thehuffingtonpostuk--2020-10-22--Angela Rayner Was Right To Give Scummy Behaviour The Name It Deserves

Angela Rayner Angela Rayner
It’s reassuring to know that even in the depths of a pandemic, we haven’t abandoned all claim to public decency.
It’s these values which knit us together as a nation. That on a day when the government’s benches voted overwhelmingly against providing free meals to children from deprived households during half-term and the Christmas break, we can still find the bandwidth to be appalled at Angela Rayner for calling Conservative MP Chris Clarkson “scum.”
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The deputy leader of the Labour party later apologised for her remarks made during a “heated” debate, brought by the opposition regarding the financial support made available to regions affected by Tier 3 coronavirus restrictions.
Despite Rayner’s contrition, the BBC’s News at Ten covered the outburst with the appropriate amount of finger-wagging. The country’s flagship news programme did not, however, consider the free school meals vote worthy of mention.
This is what a healthy political morality looks like apparently – an insistence on being nice to those with power, and indifferent to the needs of those without it.
The relationship between the press and politicians ought to be one of predator and prey. In reality, however, these two arms of our democracy are mutually invested in enforcing the same elaborate system of norms.
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These social codes signal whether someone is a legitimate player in the arena of politics, or an outsider who must be drummed out of public life at all costs.
Take it from somebody who has spent more than their fair share of time in various green rooms. If you can participate in the air-kissing bonhomie backstage at Question Time, if you get invited out for lunch, if you can think of nothing better to do on a Friday night than gossip with some poor SPAD in The Red Lion – well then, my friend, you’ve made it.
“Why should somebody who argues against financial support for struggling small businesses in lockdown, or feeding hungry kids during a pandemic, be entitled to politeness?”
Antagonism is what you have to sacrifice to be an insider. By calling her opponent scum, Rayner broke the first rule of Westminster: we’re all mates here.
The iron law of these invisible codes has little to do with kindness. It’s striking that while Rayner is decried for conduct unbecoming of a parliamentarian, figures like Winston Churchill (who once said of Stanley Baldwin “it would be better if he had never lived”) are celebrated for their rudeness.
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Far from marking you out as a ruffian, being able to refer to this canon of bon-mots is just another way to indicate that you belong in politics.
This might be attributed to the mellowing effects of historical distance. Perhaps if Dorothy Parker lived today (when informed of President Coolidge’s death, she archly replied “how can they tell?”), we could expect her to be roundly denounced on Times Radio.
But I think this contradiction has more to do with class than anything else. Boris Johnson’s successes, first in journalism and then in politics, shows that the same standards of etiquette aren’t enforced when someone comes with all the trappings of an upper-class upbringing.
Indeed, the opposite is true. From calling the investigation of historic child abuse money “spaffed up the wall” to a limerick composed in honour of Turkish president Recep Tayipp Erdogan (“There was a young fellow from Ankara / Who was a terrific wankerer”), Johnson’s refusal to operate within the boundaries of politeness is a big part of his popularity.
“When you’re as posh as our prime minister, being vulgar is a mark of sophistication.”
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The point of being part of the ruling class is that you’re not governed by the same norms as everybody else. When you’re as posh as our prime minister, being vulgar is a mark of sophistication.
Ultimately, maintaining class distinction is the very purpose of the rules that Angela Rayner fell foul of. Her offence is that she has skin in the game. That as someone who left school at 16 and spent years as a care worker, she’s not from that moneyed class which can rise above petty concerns like whether people will be plunged into poverty during a lockdown.
The spectacle of watching backbenchers contort themselves to defend the indefensible warrants nothing but disdain. There’s nothing wrong with giving scummy behaviour the name it deserves, and I do hope that Angela Rayner had her fingers crossed behind her back when issuing her apology.
The social codes which preside over the Westminster chumocracy have little to do with kindness, at either an interpersonal or a structural level. It’s more than mere hypocrisy: it’s about enforcing a divide between those who get to make political decisions, and those who are affected by them.
Ordinary members of the public are held to higher standards than their elected representatives. To starve one child is a crime. To starve a million is politics.
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Why should somebody who argues against financial support for struggling small businesses in lockdown, or feeding hungry kids during a pandemic, be entitled to politeness? No amount of decorum can civilise our politics while the policy is barbarism.


thehuffingtonpostuk--2020-10-22--Stoke-On-Trent, Coventry And Slough Placed Into Tier 2 Coronavirus Lockdown


thehuffingtonpostuk--2020-10-22--I'm A Cleaner At Walter Reed. My Covid-19 Experience Was Nothing Like Trump's

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Walter Reed National Military Medical Center in Bethesda, Maryland, is a world-class facility dedicated to caring for those who bravely sacrifice and serve this country.
When President Donald Trump entered the hospital earlier this month to be treated for Covid-19, he was greeted with a team of world-renowned doctors ready to provide him with gold-standard medical care, experimental vaccines and all of the resources he needed to recover. He stayed comfortably in the hospital’s presidential suite, equipped with a kitchen, living room, conference room and dining room with a crystal chandelier.
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My co-workers know these rooms well, as they were tasked with cleaning the president’s suite. I’ve worked as a contracted cleaner at Walter Reed for 16 years, scrubbing toilets, floors, windows, ceilings, walls, countertops and more.
I am blessed to have my job. But here’s the thing. Within the walls of Walter Reed, there is a tale of two pandemics. The president received the best medical attention that taxpayer money could buy ― to the tune of over $100,000. But as the housekeepers, janitors, cooks, security and other service workers at Walter Reed, our experience with Covid-19 has been nothing like Mr. Trump’s.
“We were told to only go to the hospital if we had trouble breathing because, thanks to the Trump administration’s failure to control the pandemic, our health care system was too overwhelmed to care for us.”
I had Covid-19 earlier this year, as did several of my colleagues. We all have had several friends and family members pass away from the virus, including nearly 140 members of my union, SEIU 32BJ. We did not have the benefit of being rushed to a hospital with a team of doctors devoted to us. All we could do was isolate ourselves at home and do everything we could to beat it on our own. We were told to only go to the hospital if we had trouble breathing because, thanks to the Trump administration’s failure to control the pandemic, our health care system was too overwhelmed to care for us.
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Health care workers were left to frantically triage patients into tiny hospital rooms and hallways packed with beds. There were not even enough ventilators to go around, a shameful reality inside a first-world nation.
Like millions of Americans, I had to deal with the uncertainty that comes with this virus. After seeing so many people in my community and inside Walter Reed face it, testing positive was one of my deepest fears realised. Would the side effects suddenly get worse? What will I do if I have trouble breathing? I reckoned with the chance that I could die. Who would provide for my family, and what kind of a future would they have without a mother?
Unlike the president, I had no professional care to reassure me or treat new pains or changes in my condition. I took care of myself drinking home remedies, alone in my bedroom. I tried to stay calm and reassure myself that I’d fully recover. I did everything I could not to expose my family.
Unlike the president, I am a devout Catholic who believes that life is too precious to do anything that might cause someone harm. As is always the case, my faith in God helped me get through from one day to the next. When I recovered, I quarantined for two weeks, and I continue to wear a mask whether I’m at work or outside. I always stay away from groups of people.
“We’ve been bearing the brunt of this crisis physically and emotionally, while the president continues not to take this pandemic seriously. His administration calls us essential, but no one recognizes our hard work or pays us what we deserve.”
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The insulting irony is that the president ignores every guideline that we faithfully follow. My co-workers and I have taken every step possible to avoid spreading this virus for months. We have always worked hard to maintain high standards, but now our work can be a matter of life or death for us, our families and those who’ve sacrificed for this nation.
The pressure of knowing that a single mistake could get you or someone else infected is ever present, even when you go home at night. We disinfect everything. We wear masks, gloves, PPE and wash our hands religiously to avoid getting others sick, a basic human decency.
That’s why it’s so hard to believe that our own president not only downplays the virus, but has also been reckless in handling his own Covid-19 infection. Minutes after returning to the White House, he took off his mask and walked inside, exposing anyone nearby to this potentially deadly illness.
He continues to spout complete lies and headed back on the campaign trail, only a week after his hospital stay. His rallies of maskless supporters packed shoulder to shoulder expose his staff, Secret Service agents, local communities and health care workers. His superspreader events are perpetuating sickness, death and economic hardship for American families. He ignores social distancing guidelines and rarely wears a mask ― and the worst part is that others follow his lead.
It especially angers me to watch as he campaigns to win over Latino voters, while Black and Latino people are roughly two to three times more likely than their white counterparts to contract the coronavirus, roughly four times more likely to be hospitalised and nearly three times as likely to die from the virus that the president has failed to contain.
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Every person that cleaned Mr. Trump’s suite at Walter Reed was Latino. He does not care about us ― he cares about himself and his wallet.
I will never forgive the president for putting so many lives in danger when his job is to protect us. It fills me with deep sadness. I cried for the White House housekeepers who got infected and were directly impacted by his dangerous behavior and arrogance. We’ve been bearing the brunt of this crisis physically and emotionally, while the president continues not to take this pandemic seriously. His administration calls us essential, but no one recognises our hard work or pays us what we deserve.
In these painful times, I dream of having a competent and honest leader in the White House who recognises our sacrifice. Joe Biden has promised to treat us like the essential workers we are, by giving us paid leave, hazard pay, free testing, affordable treatment and expanded unemployment.
Doing all that we can to save lives must also include voting for change.
Helen Avalos is a naturalized U.S. citizen who fled a bloody war and deep poverty in El Salvador nearly 20 years ago. She has been working as a contracted cleaner at Walter Reed National Medical Center. This article first appeared on HuffPost Personal.
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thehuffingtonpostuk--2020-10-23--Hope As Coronavirus R Rate Drops Slightly To Between 1.2 And 1.4 Across UK

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The Covid-19 R rate has fallen slightly to between 1.2 and 1.4, the official estimate by government scientists says.
Experts from the Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies (Sage) also said that the growth rate of the virus was between +3% and +6% across the whole of the UK.
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The value is the estimate for the reproduction number, or R rate, for coronavirus transmission. Any R rate above 1.0 means that the pandemic is growing.
But it represents hope nonetheless as, last week, the R value was estimated to be between 1.3 and 1.5, with a growth rate between +4% and +7%.
An R number between 1.2 and 1.4 means that on average every 10 people infected will infect between 12 and 14 other people.
The most likely value is towards the middle of that range, according to the experts.
The figures published on Friday saw both the R and growth rate at their highest in the south-west and south-east.
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R value and growth rates across UK and English regions R value and growth rates across UK and English regions
Amid widespread fears the second wave could see people cut off from one another over the festive season, Downing Street said on Friday people may still be able to celebrate Christmas “as a family”.
A No.10 spokesperson told a Westminster briefing: “The PM has been clear previously that he is hopeful that in many ways we could be able to get some aspects of our lives back to normal by Christmas.
“As I say, we’ve been clear about the ambition to ensure that people may celebrate Christmas as a family this year.”
It comes as Boris Johnson enforces the new three-tier local lockdown system across England, with Greater Manchester and Liverpool among the places now subject to the strictest rules.
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