thehuffingtonpostuk--2020-11-17--2020 Is Making Us Angry – Here's How To Harness It

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Listen to our weekly podcast Am I Making You Uncomfortable? about women’s health, bodies and private lives. Available on Spotify, Apple, Acast and wherever you listen to your podcasts.
It can rise in a flash of fire, or bubble under the surface longterm, but anger is an emotion we all encounter in ourselves – and others. For the past 10 months, however, we seem to be grappling with it more frequently.
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In HuffPost UK’s How Are You Feeling project, which invites readers to share their shifting experiences of the pandemic, anger is one of the most commonly cited emotions. More than 90 responses since April 2020 have included the words “anger” or “angry”, a further 76 use the word “frustrated”, while seven of you admit to feeling “pissed off”.
The government’s handling of the pandemic is the most common source of people’s fury, with frustrations at people “breaking the rules” a close second.
Others have expressed anger at specific situations, such as the restrictions on maternity services, or Dominic Cummings’ lockdown trip to Barnard Castle back in spring.
Some of you are so overwhelmed with frustration, you can no longer pinpoint the source. “I feel worried all the time. I also feel incredibly angry but it’s an unfocused sort of anger,” one reader told us.
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Jonathan Kirn via Getty Images
Aside from the pandemic, it’s been a charged period of history, with millions of people (quite rightly) expressing their anger about racial injustice through the Black Lives Matter movement, and women protesting for their rights, from demanding more support for those facing domestic abuse in lockdown to the reversal of reproductive rights in Poland. The backdrop to all of this was an especially divisive US election, and the more recent riot on the US Capitol.
This is why we wanted to explore the topic of anger in Am I Making You Uncomfortable?, HuffPost UK’s weekly podcast on women’s health, bodies and private lives.
During the episode, we discuss why women in particular are hesitant about expressing anger, and we ask if the emotion is actually such a bad thing.
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Our first guest, writer, actor and podcaster, Kelechi Okafor, who owns a pole dance fitness studio, says anger has shaped her entire career. She opened her studio, for example, because she was angry at the lack of inclusive spaces for Black women in fitness. “
“It’s because I felt angry, I thought: ‘Now I’m going to do something. So somebody else doesn’t have to feel the same anger,’” says Okafor, who believes it’s important to acknowledge anger, rather than suppress it, using fury as fuel for change.
“I believe that anger is just like water. It needs somewhere to go. If anger doesn’t move, then it calcifies. Then it festers. That’s when it becomes dangerous,” she says. “But if you can allow anger, as an energy, to move through you to create something different to whatever that traumatic experience was, we can see a positive world.”
Alessandro Biascioli via Getty Images Black Lives Matter protesters.
It’s an idea supported by counselling psychologist Dr Chloe Paidoussis Mitchell, who tells HuffPost UK: “Anger is often an appropriate emotion and to feel it is a helpful thing that not only helps us survive, but helps us thrive.”
Anger can an early indicator that something is ‘off,’ she adds. “So to feel anger may be tough, but it is an important feeling that we can learn to handle to get more out of life.”
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Despite this, Dr Paidoussis Mitchell says people in her clinic are often “afraid of anger – especially women”.
“Women often avoid expressing anger, because unconsciously they have been taught to fear it or to see it as unfeminine and unseemly,” she says. “Young women and girls are not allowed to experiment with their expression of anger in the same way as boys are. If they are angry, they are often labeled as mad, bitchy, nuts, psycho...”
Bottling up anger is a risky strategy, because it can contribute to poor mental health, poor physical health and is a predicator for long-term issues such as excessive drinking or gambling.
Ignoring anger diminishes our sense of internal agency, Dr Paidoussis Mitchell explains, leading to thoughts such as “I can’t change anything”, “my life is hopeless” or “I can’t cope with conflict.” It can also mean we remain in situations that don’t serve us, feeling trapped.
SIPA USA/PA Images A protester during the Women's Strike protest in Poland, following a near-total ban on abortion.
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That’s not to say we should all let rip, all of the time. They key to using anger for good is recognising the difference between productive and destructive anger.
Productive anger is anger that centres on communicating our own needs, while destructive anger is focussed on controlling or insulting others.
“Anger is often a power struggle and so it is important to keep it productive by using the ‘I’ rather than the accusatory ‘you,’” says Dr Paidoussis Mitchell.
She sets out nine steps for engaging with anger more productively.
9 Ways To Engage With Your Own Anger
1. Accept that anger is not a bad emotion
2. Recognise what triggers your anger
3. Consider your anger’s message
4. Identify what you need and focus on communicating this clearly
5. Clarify what you would like the other to hear and understand from your experience. Do not focus on telling them what they need to change or think or do. Focus on explaining how you feel and what you hope to feel so they can stand by you without conflict
6. Practise good self-care everyday – tune in to your internal world and accept what you observe, learn from it and show yourself compassion, love and care.
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7. Value yourself by trusting yourself to communicate clearly
8. Focus on actions that carry meaning for you and will help you feel that you have taken positive inspired action to help you feel happier
9. Do not judge yourself for being angry or emotional.
These steps won’t change your experience of anger overnight, or necessarily transform the world to accommodate your views, but, practised longterm, productive anger can help us “establish clearer boundaries, break unhelpful patterns in important relationships and feel like we are looking after our selves”.
Putting them into practice may mean booking a meeting with your boss to explain your needs at work. Or it might mean writing to your MP, to express how they could better support your community through the pandemic.
There is no exact framework, but Dr Paidoussis Mitchell says “expressing anger safely will prevent it from ballooning into rage”.
“This will help others understand us, and therefore help them be more empathic towards us,” she says. “Anger is empowering and is an important emotion we all need to learn to handle and process.”
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thehuffingtonpostuk--2020-11-17--The Only Spaghetti Bolognese Recipe You Need, According To Italian Chefs

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Given the majority of us are still cooped up inside, it’s no surprise we’re getting busy in the kitchen once again, trying to perfect our cooking skills. But we’re done with sourdough and banana bread.
Cue the great spaghetti bolognese debate of November 2020. When Tim Shipman, political editor of the Sunday Times, shared his spaghetti bolognese ingredients on Twitter over the weekend, it provoked some strong reactions.
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Shipman opts for a classic ragu, but with a few extras such as bacon, chorizo and mushrooms – and says he pushes the bol out on special occasions to experiment with sun-dried tomatoes or paprika for that slight extra kick.
My spag bol: mince, tomatoes, tomato paste, garlic, onion, mushrooms (chopped small), bit of bacon or chorizo, black pepper, red wine, rosemary, pinch of sugar. If I'm feeling exotic: sundried tomatoes, paprika — Tim Shipman (@ShippersUnbound) November 14, 2020
“Oh, Tim, no,” responded one commenter. “Nope,” simply said another. “A good recipe (except the mushrooms),” allowed a third.
“That’s Spaghetti Shipman,” someone said. “It might as well be Spaghetti Antarctica for all its connection to Bologna.”
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It did inspire people to share their own versions – one vegetarian uses Quorn mince alongside sofrito: the aromatic holy trinity of finely diced celery, carrot and onion. Others take a more freestyle approach. “Absolution from the Pope for trying to pass that off as spaghetti bol,” wrote one Twitter user of this pic.
Spag Bol, properly done. No carrot. Lots of Italian red. Thank you. pic.twitter.com/76olFHRJCk — John Sweeney (@johnsweeneyroar) November 15, 2020
Who knew such a stalwart pasta dish could be this divisive? To carrot or not to carrot? Red or white onion? Chunky or finely chopped? And what of the much maligned mushrooms?
To settle some of these key questions, we thought we’d better talk to some top pasta chefs to borrow their culinary know-how and ensure no Italians need roll in their graves ever again.
Elia Sebregondi, head chef and owner of London pasta restaurant, Officina 00, lists his “must-have ingredients” for spaghetti bolognese as: beef mince, pork mince, extra olive oil, carrot, celery, onion, tomato sauce, milk and red wine.
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“Carrots are definitely needed because they give a sweet touch which balances out the ragu,” says Sebregondi. “Normally, white onions must be used, but if you use red onion then skip on the carrots as you will have sweetness from those. I definitely don’t use mushrooms. Onions must be finely chopped and the same with the carrot and celery, so they melt in the sauce and spread evenly.”
Each component and ingredient plays a crucial part in the whole, he says. From the type of tomato used to the correct herbage – bay leaves while cooking and fresh chopped parsley at the end – it’s not just a case of sticking things in and hoping for the best. Spaghetti bolognese is a slow and steady race.
“It must be cooked slowly and each step takes a long time,” says Sebregondi, who favours San Marzano tomatoes, which have more pulp and less water. “When you think it’s ready, add some milk and simmer again. This makes the sauce creamier – without it, it tends to split. And the milk will melt better together with the spaghetti – you heard it here first!”
For those who want to have a go at making the ultimate spaghetti bolognese at home, try Stefano Cilla’s recipe. He’s currently running the kitchen at Bancone, and definitely knows a thing or two about pasta.
For a next-level dish, he suggests shopping for high-quality and fattier meat. “It’s important to look for a slightly higher percentage of fat in meat, as it’ll result in a deeper, richer, and tastier dish.” And he’s with Sebregondi that the most important factor for show=stopping spaghetti bolognese is a long simmer time.
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“It’s not a speedy dish as some might think,” he explains. “It’s a slow one and needs a lot of patience. Certainly no horrible mushrooms or big bits of onion!”
Here is Stefano Cilla’s definitive recipe.
Spaghetti Bolognese
Serves: 4 | Prep time: 5 mins | Cook time: 3 hr 30mins
Ingredients:


thehuffingtonpostuk--2020-11-17--Here's How The Four Key UK Vaccine Contenders Work

When the vaccine enters cells inside the body, it uses this genetic code to produce the surface spike protein of the coronavirus, priming the immune system to attack the SARS-CoV-2 virus if it later infects the body.
Analysis of phase 3 trials has found it to be 70.4% effective when combining data from two dosing regimens. In two different dose regimens, vaccine efficacy was 90% in one and 62% in the other. The more effective regimen used a halved first dose and standard second dose. No serious safety events related to the vaccine were identified.
Professor Andrew Pollard, director of the Oxford Vaccine Group and chief investigator of the Oxford Vaccine Trial, said: “Excitingly, we’ve found that one of our dosing regimens may be around 90% effective and if this dosing regimen is used, more people could be vaccinated with planned vaccine supply.”


thehuffingtonpostuk--2020-11-17--Covid Forced Me To Move Back In With My Parents. This Is How It’s Going

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If you’re single, childless and aged 20-34, the chances are you live at home with your parents.
If you do, congrats – like 60% of your peers, you’re one of Britain’s many ’boomerang’ children. The phenomenon of children moving back into the parental home – once a rarity – is now a trend that is here to stay.
And hey, at least you’re in good company. Because now, thanks to coronavirus, I too am a boomerang child.
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After moving out for university in Southampton in 2013, I returned home to Hillingdon, the London outskirt borough I grew up in, after graduating four years later. I started a graduate job in telecom sales (the natural route for an English and Spanish grad, I’m sure) but after switching careers to pursue my dream career in journalism, I moved out and started my adult life this year.
But then, only three months later, the pandemic hit, and lockdown with it. Before long, I was furloughed and had no idea when I’d be back at work. I weighed up my options: either quarantining with a flatmate I barely knew, or going back home where I could be with my family. Just FaceTiming my brother and sister was making me feel so homesick that I decided to move back into my childhood bedroom.
I hadn’t been gone long, so my bedroom was still the same: traces of my teenage years in the scattered stuffed toys and shadows of my post-university life, with stacks of books that I hadn’t ever got around to reading. But having only just left home, this felt like a massive step backwards. Just as I was beginning to feel independent, I was back where I started.
“I know I’m lucky to be able to come back home and live rent-free, but the adjustment has been difficult... let’s just say there’s definitely no more Netflix and chill.”
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I know I’m lucky to be able to come back home and live rent-free, but the adjustment has been difficult. In my flatshare, I’d perfected a routine of waking up, heading to the gym and then work. The evenings were mine for meal prep, entertaining friends and reading, writing or just chilling. This routine was of course altered by the pandemic, but I dedicated more time to working out and cooking for myself, so generally felt like I had my life together.
But back in my parents’ house? Working out feels more intrusive, like I’m upsetting some kind of unspoken balance. I’m no longer cooking just to my tastes, and have to take into account dad’s penchant for spice and mum’s strange aversion to pasta. And let’s just say there’s definitely no more Netflix and chill.
I feel too like in this frustrating limbo, dancing around boundaries that weren’t there when I first moved out. I’ve set hard lines for things like knocking on my bedroom door and planning my own breakfast and lunch meals, but gone are my lazy days of doing nothing. I feel guilty for wanting to spend time by myself, and guilty for not being more productive towards helping mum run the house every day. Whenever I want to sit in my room and binge a show, I compromise and go downstairs to watch something with my mum instead, so that she doesn’t feel alone. And it’s difficult to be in this position of not having independence or autonomy in a way that I’m used to since moving out.
I think my parents are finding it difficult, too. They’re happy to have me home, sure, but I know my mum misses having the house to herself on her days off – it’s hard to enjoy an empty nest when it’s not, well, empty.
I’m in this cycle of feeling guilt and frustration but unable to voice it without sounding spoiled. I have immense gratitude for my parents and being able to live at home, but I also feel like I’m in a child-adult limbo, where expectations are high but freedoms are low.
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“Without better work opportunities and higher wages, not to mention the huge lack of affordable housing, this pandemic will force more of my generations into these situations for longer.”
At the same time, I feel reassured that I’m not the only one in this position. It’s common in South Asian cultures like ours for grown-up children to live at home until they get married, so nearly all my single cousins in the same age bracket still live at home too.
I hadn’t planned on still being in this position though. As a kid, I thought I’d be married by 21 and off with my husband – I’m 25 now, so go figure – and I never thought I’d still be living at home. At the very least I hoped I’d be living in a (not so) glamorous London flat with a dog for company.
The hardest thing, of course, has been lockdown. Now that we’re into a second it’s hard to see the light at the end of the tunnel. A vaccine is surely on the way, but what concerns me more is that, without proper stability – better work opportunities, higher wages, not to mention the huge lack of affordable housing – this pandemic will force more of my generations into these situations for longer. Unlike our parents, who could buy homes on one salary, we’re lucky if we can cobble together a deposit large enough for a lender to give us a mortgage (though the planned 95% mortgages could be a boost). The beginning of our adult lives go on the backburner, and we might miss the opportunity to grow up and become whole people, without the weight of our parents’ presence.
I’m lucky to have support, of course. I also know that I can move out again when things settle down with the pandemic, even if the London rental market isn’t exactly ideal. I’m still at work, so feeling financially secure again, but if it doesn’t work out, hopefully I’ll still have a bedroom to come back to.
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I love my parents, and they love me, but we need space. And that seems to be in short supply.
Anamika Talwaria is a journalist, and editorial assistant at Build It magazine. Follow her on Twitter at @NamiTalwarrior


thehuffingtonpostuk--2020-11-17--11 Baby Names Inspired By Your Favourite Disney Characters

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Who’s your favourite Disney prince or princess?
Chances are, you can name one without even thinking about it - for me it’s Belle (from Beauty and the Beast, of course. I can sing every word to the opening sequence, and once did a karaoke duet to ‘Tale as old as time’. Yep.
Whether you’re an ‘old’ Disney fan (think Sleeping Beauty, Snow White) or ‘new’ aficionado (Frozen, Mulan), you’re bound to feel fondly about one or two of its central characters – the princes and princesses, of course.
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We have a wealth of baby name inspiration on HuffPost UK Parents. Here are 10 of our Disney favourites.
katrinaelena via Getty Images
Aurora
Princess Aurora, also known as Sleeping Beauty, appears in Walt Disney Productions’ 16th animated feature film Sleeping Beauty, in 1959.
Eric
Prince Eric appears in Disney’s 1989 animated feature film, The Little Mermaid. He falls in love with Ariel, who gives up her voice to be with him.
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Elsa
Elsa is princess of the fictional Scandinavian Kingdom of Arendelle, heiress to the throne with magical Frozen powers.
Phillip
Prince Phillip is the love interest of Princess Aurora in the same 1959 animated feature film, Sleeping Beauty.
Merida
Famous for her long, curly red locks, Merida of DunBroch is the bold and fiery centrepiece of the 2012 Disney Pixar film, Brave.
Nala
Lion cub Nala, while not a human princess, earns her royal stripes when her pal turned mate, Simba, becomes The Lion King. Her name means “gift” in Swahili.
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RealCreation via Getty Images
Naveen
Prince Naveen appears in Disney’s 2009 animated feature film The Princess and the Frog. He was transformed into a frog by a voodoo witch doctor – and can only be made human again by kissing a princess.
Jasmine
Princess Jasmine appears in Walt Disney Pictures’ 31st animated feature film Aladdin, which came out in 1992.
John
Prince John is a mountain lion in the 1973 Disney film, Robin Hood. He was voiced by the late Peter Ustinov and is based on the real King John of England.
Belle
The non-conforming, bookworm daughter of a mad inventor, Belle appears in Walt Disney Pictures’ 30th animated feature film Beauty and the Beast.
Tiana
A gifted cook, Tiana is a fictional character in Walt Disney Pictures’ 49th animated feature film The Princess and the Frog, which came out in 2009.


thehuffingtonpostuk--2020-11-17--Kirstie Allsopp Denies Breaking Lockdown Rules After Travelling To Second Home In Devon

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Kirstie Allsopp has denied breaking lockdown rules earlier in the year.
The Location, Location, Location presenter was accused of potentially spreading Covid-19 by travelling to one of her homes in Devon to isolate when partner Ben Andersen already had the virus.
“When Ben was diagnosed with Covid, we weren’t at home, either in London or Devon. We were somewhere else,” she told Radio Times magazine.
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“Because Ben was infectious, we went to Devon, where there’s 40 acres and we wouldn’t infect anyone else.
“There are loads of people who are always going to believe I did the wrong thing,” she said of the trip, during the first lockdown.
“I did not go to Devon (from London) after lockdown. We went to isolate.”
Kirstie Allsopp Jeff Spicer via Getty Images
The 49-year-old, who is the daughter of Charles Henry Allsopp, sixth Baron Hindlip, said she was “very angered by the concept that people think privilege strips you of empathy”.
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“It drives me mad. Death is death, grief is grief, loss is loss, fear is fear,” she said.
“Money absolutely makes life easier. But it doesn’t mean that I’m not aware of all the people who have lost their jobs this year and who have no idea when they will find another one. Or those marriages that just won’t make it through another lockdown. I’m fully aware of how many people are struggling right now.”
Jeff Spicer via Getty Images
Following her husband’s positive test result, Kirstie says she thinks she too could have been infected – albeit to a very mild extend – as she recalled experiencing a “tightness” in her chest.
During an interview on Good Morning Britain back in March, she said: “I think probably I have [come down with Covid-19]. I had a slight tightness in my chest a while ago. I’m pretty sure I’ve had it and I haven’t had bad symptoms.
“I think this is the point that needs to be made really clearly – so many people have it and they don’t know they’ve got it.
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“It’s all very well for us to think we’re fine and we can go out and about, but many of us will have it and never know it. They’ll be asymptomatic.
“You have to be aware of the fact you can have it and not know it.”
The full interview is in Radio Times magazine, out now.


thehuffingtonpostuk--2020-11-17--Lockdown Could Be Relaxed So People Can 'Spend Christmas Together', Says No.10

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Downing Street has said it wants to relax lockdown rules to “ensure that people can spend time together over Christmas”, but would not reveal what system of rules will replace the current national lockdown in England.
The four-week nationwide restrictions will legally expire on December 2.
Boris Johnson has said he wants the country to then return to a system of regional measures.
No.10 said on Tuesday the precise details of what will replace the national lockdown will not be revealed until parliament is told next next week, but signalled that enabling people to enjoy the Christmas holiday was a key objective.
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“It’s our intention to bring the tougher national measure to an end on December 2 and that will happen in law, and we will then move to a regionalised approach,” the prime minister’s spokesperson said.
“We are looking at ways to ensure that people can spend time with close family over Christmas at the end of what there’s been an incredibly difficult year.
“As to what that will be, I’m afraid you will have to wait a little longer.”
A return to a tiered system of local restrictions does not necessarily mean a return to the levels in place before November 5 – MPs will be given the opportunity to vote on what happens next.
It has been reported a fourth more severe level could be added, or that an entirely new regional approach might be introduced.
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On Monday Dr Susan Hopkins, from Public Health England, warned there had been “very little effect” on the infection rate from tier 1 and said there would need to be a “strengthening” of the tiers.
It raises the prospect that England could exit national lockdown into tougher regional measures than it was in before, but then see them relaxed for a short period over Christmas.
Downing Street said decisions over whether to lift any restrictions would be based on a “range of different factors”.
“The R rate is obviously an important one of those. We will also want to look at our hospitalisation numbers, the number of people who are being treated in intensive care units, the pressure which the NHS is under,” Johnson’s spokesperson said. “They will all be factors to be taken into consideration.
“Obviously we’ll wait to see further data over the course of the next week or so.
“The R rate has been coming down in some parts of the country. And what we continue to do is urge people to follow the rules.”
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Downing Street did not say if there was a precise R rate level, number of hospitalisations or number of people in intensive care that the government would benchmark any change in rules against.
Paul Hunter, a professor of medicine at the University of East Anglia who advises the World Health Organisation, told BBC Radio 4′s World at One programme the tier system would work well if it was more “responsive”.
“I’m hoping that we will have some further relaxation over the Christmas period,” he said.
“Maybe only for a few days but I think providing that we have some rules still in place and we avoid too big gatherings I do hope that we can manage to have a more normal Christmas than we might otherwise have been expecting.”


thehuffingtonpostuk--2020-11-18--Johnson And Gove ‘Ripped Up The Rules’ On Covid PPE Contracts For Private Firms

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Boris Johnson and Michael Gove have been accused of “ripping up the rules” on procurement of personal protective equipment (PPE) with secret fast-track treatment for private firms personally recommended by politicians.
Commons spending watchdog chair Meg Hillier hit out after a new National Audit Office (NAO) report revealed that a special “high priority lane” had been created by the government earlier this year to source masks, gloves and aprons to protect staff dealing with Covid.
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The NAO also criticised the lack of transparency and inadequate record-keeping as Johnson and his ministers scrambled to buy PPE and awarded £10.5 billion on contracts without a competitive tender process.
Its investigation revealed for the first time the existence of the “high priority lane”, which was created for officials to act on “leads” from key figures in Westminster and Whitehall.
Among those whose leads were prioritised were “government officials, ministers’ offices, MPs and members of the House of Lords, senior NHS staff and other health professionals”.
These leads, which were deemed “more credible or needed to be treated with more urgency” than others, would mean a company was more likely to get a contract.
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About one in ten suppliers processed through the high-priority lane (47 out of 493) obtained contracts compared to less than one in a hundred suppliers that came through the “ordinary lane” (104 of 14,892), the watchdog found.
The NAO said that while the need for speed was understandable, Gove’s Cabinet Office failed to specify the risks involved in its high priority approach, including “perceived or actual bias in awarding contracts or conflicts of interest”.
In one case, private firm PestFix – which has just 16 staff – was given a £32m contract for PPE, even though its name was “added to the high-priority lane in error”.
Hillier told HuffPost UK: ”This ‘VIP route’ is unbelievable. The idea that MPs, peers and ministers – people inside the Westminster or Whitehall bubble – should fast-track people, should act as ‘gatekeepers’, is very worrying indeed.
“They’ve ripped up the rules, but we didn’t give them the power to ride roughshod over the taxpayer’s interest. To not manage any of the risks, and then to set up alternative weird parallel systems that didn’t even have proper checks and balances, was extraordinary. It gave firms a toe over the line.”
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NAO chief Gareth Davies said that a sifting mechanism for contracts had some merit but it was not accompanied by proper documentation or transparency over possible risks.
“The evidence set out in our report shows that these standards of transparency and documentation were not consistently met in the first phase of the pandemic.”
The report also found that the government paid consultants for months before formally giving them contracts and purchased masks that failed basic requirements.
A £3.2 million contract was awarded in July to Deloitte – the firm that also has big contracts for the NHS Test and Trace system – to support the procurement of PPE that had begun in March.
ASSOCIATED PRESS
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Similarly, the Cabinet Office’s contract with focus group specialists Public First was awarded on June 5, 2020, with the contract backdated to March 3, 2020. “By asking for work to be delivered without a formal contract, risks such as underperformance are increased,” the NAO said.
Shadow cabinet office minister Rachel Reeves added: “The National Audit Office has shown how, at best, this incompetent government can’t even get basic paperwork right.
“At worst, that the government may be deliberately attempting to cover their tracks, avoid scrutiny or withhold information from the public while wasting taxpayer money.”
Health minister Lord Bethell revealed earlier this month that “we relied on a very large network of contacts and informal arrangements in order to reach the people who could manufacture” PPE.
The contract with Public First has aroused particular controversy because of links between its founders and Gove and former aide Dominic Cummings.
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The firm was asked to provide focus group research on an informal basis in March to weigh up how effective public health messages would be. On June 5 the Cabinet Office awarded a retrospective contract for a maximum £840,000, though the company invoiced for £550,000 in total.
James Frayne, founding partner at Public First, said: “No great contract was ever agreed in advance with us. We agreed a pay-as-you-go deal where we could be terminated at any point if they weren’t happy with our work.
“The reason we worked with government for so long was because we provided useful insight, particularly amongst the hardest to reach groups.”
Cabinet Office minister, Julia Lopez, said: “We have been dealing with an unprecedented global pandemic that has posed the biggest challenge to the UK in a generation.
“As this report rightly recognises, we needed to procure contracts with extreme urgency to secure the vital supplies required to protect frontline NHS workers and the public and we make no apology for that.
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“We have robust processes in place for spending public money to ensure we get critical equipment to where it needs to go as quickly as possible, whilst also ensuring value for money for the taxpayer.”


thehuffingtonpostuk--2020-11-17--Does Jeremy Corbyn’s Reinstatement Mean Keir Starmer Has Failed His Own Test Of Leadership?

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You’re reading The Waugh Zone, our daily politics briefing. Sign up now to get it by email in the evening.
In the aftermath of the expenses scandal more than a decade ago, MPs realised that they had to hand responsibility for funding their offices to an independent, outside body. Many have had gripes since about IPSA (not least the award of pay rises in a pandemic), but overall the shift has been welcomed.
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For political parties, however, the idea of passing responsibility to an independent body for their internal affairs has been resisted. Instead they have “elements” of independence. That’s precisely the phrase that was used, for example, to explain reforms to Labour’s own sexual harassment complaints process.
Back in the summer of 2019, the party’s ruling National Executive Committee (NEC) decided that “an independent investigator” should take statements from alleged victims of harassment, and then provide a reasoned assessment to the party after gathering evidence from others. Their report then goes to a Sexual Harassment Panel, made up of NEC members with “appropriate training”.
Some say the system works well, but others believed strongly it failed to go far enough and was not genuinely independent. Tom Watson tried and failed that summer to get a fully independent system installed for all cases of sexism and racism – including anti-Semitism. In the end, the party didn’t even opt for an “element” of independence on anti-Semitism, preferring instead to give NEC panel members even more powers.
Fast forward to 2020 and the ECHR’s damning finding of illegal discrimination against Jews by the Labour party. Within minutes, one of Keir Starmer’s instant reactions was to declare ”we will establish an independent complaints process – and it will be in place as soon as possible in the New Year.” It’s worth remembering that the ECHR mandated such a shift, with its firm conclusions.
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What Starmer didn’t reckon for, of course, was that Jeremy Corbyn would blow up the entire day with a statement that allegations of anti-Semitism had been “dramatically overstated for political reasons”, adding in a TV interview that the number of complaints had been “exaggerated”. He was promptly suspended, but today we learned that he subsequently sent a private message the same day that stated “to be clear, concerns about anti-Semitism are neither ‘exaggerated” nor ‘overstated’.
Today, the issue has blown up once more after the decision of a five-strong NEC panel to vote to lift his suspension, while sending him a “warning of conduct” letter. The news was greeted with delight by Corbyn backers, but by sheer fury among many centrists who had hoped Starmer’s era would see tough action on this whole issue.
There are two theories tonight floating around as to how Corbyn ended up getting away with effectively a minor sanction. One is that the NEC panel didn’t vote the way Starmer’s team expected to, and it is all a shock to them. The other is that the panel did indeed vote precisely the way they were expected to, as part of a grand compromise to readmit the former leader and avoid more civil war, while getting him to make amends.
The first theory could explain why Starmer tweeted what appeared to be irritation and embarrassment at the outcome. “I know that this has been another painful day for the Jewish community and those Labour members who have fought so hard to tackle antisemitism,” he said.
But those furious at the decision think the second theory is supported by the speed with which the Corbyn case was sorted. And it’s usually the general secretary (Starmer’s choice remember) who decides when cases are heard, and who sits on a panel. As one NEC member put it to me: “Why expedite this case? So many cases still waiting for a hearing and they turn things around on this in 19 days. Apart from insult because of the sensitive subject matter it’s just stupid, dumb politics.”
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And that’s the central argument against Starmer tonight: that he and his general secretary should have followed through on the ECHR report by pausing all cases until the new system was introduced. Given that many cases of suspension have been unresolved for months and years, why not wait a few weeks in Corbyn’s case, when an independent process could fairly resolve it? Or as Margaret Hodge put it: “This is a broken outcome from a broken system.”
Starmer’s defenders may argue that the matter was taken out of his hands by Corbyn’s shock statement on the day of the ECHR report. Yet Starmer will be under huge pressure now to explain why he hasn’t followed the spirit as well as the letter of the watchdog’s findings: to ensure all future cases are resolved independently.
There is one other factor, and it’s a legal one. Did Corbyn’s private letter, in which he reversed his position on “exaggerated” numbers (the main reason for his suspension), give him some kind of legal cover should he be booted out and then challenge the party in the courts?


thehuffingtonpostuk--2020-11-17--Boris Johnson To End Sale Of New Petrol And Diesel Cars By 2030

The government’s 10-point plan on climate:
– Offshore wind: Producing enough offshore wind to power every home by 2030, supporting up to 60,000 jobs.
– Hydrogen: Creating the capacity to generate low carbon hydrogen for industry, transport, power and homes, and aiming to develop the first town heated entirely by hydrogen by the end of the decade.
– Nuclear: Advancing large scale nuclear plants and developing the next generation of small and advanced reactors, which could support 10,000 jobs.
– Electric vehicles: Accelerating the transition to electric vehicles, and transforming national infrastructure to better support the technology.
– Public transport, cycling and walking: Making cycling and walking more attractive ways to travel and investing in zero-emission public transport.
– Jet Zero and greener maritime: Research projects for zero-emission planes and ships.
– Homes and public buildings: Making homes, schools and hospitals greener, warmer and more energy efficient, including a target to install 600,000 heat pumps every year by 2028.
– Carbon capture: Becoming a world-leader in technology to capture and store harmful emissions away from the atmosphere, with a target to remove 10 million tonnes of carbon dioxide by 2030, equivalent to all emissions of the industrial Humber.
– Nature: Protecting and restoring the natural environment, including planting 30,000 hectares of trees every year.
– Innovation and finance: Developing cutting-edge technologies and making the City of London the global centre of green finance.


thehuffingtonpostuk--2020-11-17--Little Mix's Jesy Nelson Taking Extended Time Off From Band For 'Private Medical Reasons'

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Little Mix singer Jesy Nelson is to take an extended break from the chart-topping girl band for “private medical reasons”, it has been announced.
On Tuesday evening, Little Mix’s publicist Simon Jones tweeted: “Jesy is having extended time off from Little Mix for private medical reasons.
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“We will not be issuing any further comment currently and ask media to please respect her privacy at this time.”
Little Mix Statement:
Jesy is having extended time off from Little Mix for private medical reasons. We will not be issuing any further comment currently and ask media to please respect her privacy at this time. — Simon Jones (@simonjonespr) November 17, 2020
The group later appeared during this year’s Children In Need charity telethon, again without Jesy.
Jesy at the NTAs earlier this year, where she received an award for her BBC Three documentary Odd One Out David M. Benett via Getty Images
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Little Mix have just released their sixth album, Confetti, which reached number two in the UK.
The album was preceded by the singles Break-Up Song, Holiday and current hit Sweet Melody, which is currently at number three in the charts.
In support of Confetti, the band recently announced they’ll be touring the UK in 2021, where they’ll be supported by Since September, the winners of Little Mix The Search.
Little Mix at the launch of their Pretty Little Thing collection last year David M. Benett via Getty Images
Little Mix were put together on The X Factor in 2011, having originally auditioned as solo artists, and went on to win the show, becoming the first ever band to do so.
Since then, they’ve topped the UK singles chart on four occasions – including with signature tracks like Black Magic and Shout Out To My Ex – and received two Brit Awards.


thehuffingtonpostuk--2020-11-17--Jeremy Corbyn Has Labour Party Membership Reinstated

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Jeremy Corbyn has had his Labour membership reinstated, sparking outrage among Jewish members and jubilation among left-wingers.
The former leader was issued with a “warning of conduct” letter as a sanction after the party’s ruling National Executive Committee (NEC) decided he should be readmitted, HuffPost UK has been told by a senior party source.
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The watchdog found the party committed unlawful acts of harassment and discrimination while Corbyn was leader.
In response Corbyn said allegations about anti-Semitism had been “dramatically overstated” by his political opponents.
Now, after 19 days, Corbyn is once again a member of the Labour Party.
Corbyn has said he is “pleased” to have been readmitted to the party, adding: “Our movement must now come together to oppose and defeat this deeply damaging Conservative government.”
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But Labour leader Keir Starmer said it has been “another painful day for the Jewish community” as he vowed not to allow “a focus on one individual to prevent us from doing the vital work of tackling anti-Semitism”.
Labour MP Margaret Hodge called the result “ridiculous”, tweeting: “This is a broken outcome from a broken system.
“A factional, opaque and dysfunctional complaints process could never reach a fair conclusion.
“This is exactly why the EHRC instructed Labour to setup an independent process!”
I simply cannot comprehend why it is acceptable for Corbyn to be a Labour MP if he thinks antisemitism is exaggerated and a political attack, refuses to apologise, never takes responsibility for his actions & rejects the findings of the EHRC report. Ridiculous. — Margaret Hodge (@margarethodge) November 17, 2020
Fellow MP Neil Coyle, a prominent critic of Corbyn, suggested the EHRC may reopen its investigation.
He said: “The EHRC found the Labour Party guilty of unlawful discrimination and instructed us to implement a new, independent complaints process and end political interference.
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“That could not be more demonstrably necessary. The EHRC may not be done with Labour yet.”
The Jewish Labour Movement called the news “extraordinary” after the former leader failed to offer an apology.
JLM also branded the NEC group which overturned the suspension “a factionally aligned political committee” loyal to the party’s left.
A spokesman said: “After his failure of leadership to tackle anti-Semitism, so clearly set out in the EHRC’s report, any reasonable and fair-minded observer would see Jeremy Corbyn’s statement today as insincere and wholly inadequate.
“He has offered no apology for his total failure of leadership to tackle anti-Semitism in the Labour Party, or contrition for his role in allowing political manipulation of the disciplinary process by his own office in his name.
“His statement on the day of the report’s publication made no mention of this and was grossly offensive as it downplayed the reality of antisemitism in the Labour Party. Today’s decision will only embolden those who agreed with him.
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“Once again we find ourselves having to remind the Labour Party that Jeremy Corbyn is not the victim of Labour anti-Semitism – Jewish members are.”
The Board of Deputies of British Jews said the decision to reinstate Corbyn was a “retrograde step” for Labour.
Its president Marie van der Zyl, Jewish leadership chairman Jonathan Goldstein and community security trust chief executive Mark Gardner said: “Today’s decision is a retrograde step for the party in its relations with the Jewish community. Jeremy Corbyn’s dismissive approach to the damning EHRC’s findings rightly saw him suspended.
“For Jeremy Corbyn’s allies on the NEC to expedite his case whilst hundreds of other cases languished under his tenure, and his confected non-apology earlier today adds insult to injury.
“This politicisation of the process goes against what the EHRC recommended just last month. Labour’s mountain to climb to win back the trust of our community just got higher.”
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I know that this has been another painful day for the Jewish community and those Labour members who have fought so hard to tackle antisemitism.
I know the hurt that has been caused and the trauma people have felt. — Keir Starmer (@Keir_Starmer) November 17, 2020
Jeremy Corbyn's statement in response to the EHRC report was wrong and completely distracted from a report that identified unlawful conduct in our tackling of racism within the Labour Party. This should shame us all. — Keir Starmer (@Keir_Starmer) November 17, 2020
I know we have a long way to go, but I am absolutely resolute in my determination to make the Labour Party a safe place for Jewish people.
I stand by the commitments I made last month to accept the findings and the recommendations of the EHRC’s report in full. — Keir Starmer (@Keir_Starmer) November 17, 2020
I know we have a long way to go, but I am absolutely resolute in my determination to make the Labour Party a safe place for Jewish people.
I stand by the commitments I made last month to accept the findings and the recommendations of the EHRC’s report in full. — Keir Starmer (@Keir_Starmer) November 17, 2020
Karen Pollock, chief executive of the Holocaust Educational Trust, said: ”’What message does this send?
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″‘Zero tolerance’ either means zero tolerance or it’s meaningless. The scathing report from the EHRC less than three weeks ago outlined a stream of racism and discrimination by the Labour Party on Jeremy Corbyn’s watch. Yet here we are.
“Once again Corbyn has failed to take responsibility and the Labour Party have let him off the hook.”
Unite general secretary Len McCluskey, a staunch ally of Corbyn’s, called the readmission a “correct, fair and unifying decision”.
He tweeted: “As a party we now move forward to implement the EHRC’s recommendations and redouble our efforts to inspire voters about Keir’s 10 pledges and the transformation of our nations into fairer places for our people.
“Only Labour, united and strong, can bring this about.”
Keir Starmer, who took over as party leader in April, said the EHRC report was a “day of shame” for the party and he was “truly sorry”.
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He said anyone who believed accusations were “exaggerated or a factional attack” was “part of the problem” and “should be nowhere near the Labour Party”.
The readmission of Corbyn is likely to spark fresh infighting amongst the party’s ranks, however.
Meanwhile, Amanda Milling, co-chair of the Conservative Party, said: “Keir Starmer is failing to stand up for British Jews.
“By allowing Jeremy Corbyn back into the Labour Party he is sending a message that the shameful antisemitism of recent years should be allowed to continue.”


thehuffingtonpostuk--2020-11-17--Des O'Connor's Daughter Kristina Pays Beautiful Tribute To The TV Legend

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Des O’Connor’s daughter Kristina has shared an emotional tribute to her late father, following his death at the age of 88.
The TV legend died in hospital on Saturday, following a fall at his home in Buckinghamshire a week earlier.
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On Tuesday, his musician daughter Kristina – who performs under the stage name Tarantina – paid her respects to her dad on Twitter, sharing their poignant final moments together with her followers.
“It is impossible for me to adequately explain how heartbroken I am, but I wanted to say something about the passing of my dad,” she wrote. “I feel very grateful that we were able to spend some of his last moments together (Covid-safely), just the two of us, and to say what we needed to say to one another.
The late Des O'Connor, pictured in 2014 S Meddle/ITV/Shutterstock
Kristina continued: “I told him about the deep feeling of pride in my belly whenever somebody points out how similar we are, both as performers and as people. He told me that I was going to make him cry if I carried on talking like that (as he dabbed at his eye). The other things we said were just for us.”
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“It wasn’t always easy to share my dad with the rest of the world. Sometimes I just wanted him all to myself. But after witnessing such an overwhelming outpouring of love and warmth in tributes, being able to share him now feels, itself, like one more gift.
“There is so much more that I want to say, but maybe I can’t find the words. But thank you all for sharing your thoughts, your condolences and your favourite moments from his career.
“I’m discovering old clips and photos that I’ve never seen before and it brings me comfort. Even now, the saddest I have ever felt, Daddy can still make me laugh.”
Des’ former daytime co-host Melanie Sykes shared her own tribute over the weekend, saying: “When he chose me to be his co host on the ‘Today’ daytime show it was one the greatest days of my professional life. It was an education and a privilege to work with him for the years that followed.
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“We worked long hours but always laughed lots, not least because when it it was showtime he would always tell me I looked like robbers dog! These years I will never forget and nor will I forget him. Darling Des you will be forever missed.”
Des’ TV career began in 1963, when he began hosting variety series The Des O’Connor Show for ITV.
Over the years, he hosted multiple similar shows for both the BBC and ITV, as well as gameshows like Take Your Pick and Countdown.
He was also a successful recording artist, releasing 36 albums in his lifetime.


thehuffingtonpostuk--2020-11-17--Stuff The Rules! Poultry Workers Get Quarantine Exception To Avoid Christmas Turkey Shortage

Bronze free-range turkeys Nick David via Getty Images
Quarantine rules have been relaxed for overseas poultry workers in England as producers race against the cluck to make sure there are enough turkeys for Christmas amid the Covid-19 pandemic.
The government announced on Monday night that seasonal workers arriving in England who would usually have to quarantine for two weeks would be able to start work straight away.
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But these workers won’t be able to stuff the rules completely.
They will have to live on the poultry farm or processing plant where they are working, and will only be allowed to leave in exceptional circumstances.
They will also have to stay within a select group of staff and will not be able to mix with other employees.
Transport secretary Grant Shapps said the move would allow producers “to keep up with the Christmas demand over the festive period”.
The change, which came into force almost immediately at 4am on Tuesday, followed warnings from the industry that the UK could be left with a shortage of the festive birds.
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The British Poultry Council (BCP), who campaigned for the change in travel rules, said turkey could be missing from some Brits’ Christmas tables if UK producers were unable to bring in staff from overseas.
It had argued that there was a shortage of UK workers able to slaughter and process Christmas turkeys – and that there wasn’t enough time to train up new recruits.
According to the Department for Food, Environment and Rural Affairs, around 5,500 seasonal workers usually arrive on English farms each year in the run up to December 25.
BCP chief executive Richard Griffiths said: “The seasonal turkey industry looks to bring in around 1,000 workers and we are hopeful that this exemption will be helpful.”
Industry is determined to “deliver the Great British Christmas” to families across the nation, he added.
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Environment secretary George Eustice said it was “essential” that farmers and food producers get the support they need ahead of Christmas, “so it is good news that seasonal workers will be able to get straight to work once they arrive in the country”.
“The run-up to Christmas is particularly important for farmers and food producers who need more workers on their farms to meet the festive demand,” he said.


thehuffingtonpostuk--2020-11-17--Josie Long Pulls Out Of 'Festival UK 2022' After Realising It's... The Brexit Festival

Comedian Josie Long performs at the Save the Children's Child Refugee Crisis Appeal charity concert in 2015 Ross Gilmore via Getty Images
Comedian Josie Long has pulled out of the so-called “Festival UK* 2022” after learning that the event was actually a rebranding of the government’s widely ridiculed Brexit Festival.
Long, who backed Remain, had been due to receive £100,000 to develop a proposal for the nationwide event, which aims to “showcase the UK’s creativity and innovation to the world”.
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But on Tuesday she announced she no longer wanted to be involved in the project after being made aware of its “nationalistic agenda”.
The comedian appeared to have been unaware of the link until a Twitter used asked why she was involved in the “Brexit festival thing”.
What? Is it a brexit festival? — I had a lasagne for tea (@JosieLong) November 16, 2020
First announced in 2018 by then prime minister Theresa May, 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.
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It has since been rebranded under the rather more prosaic working title “Festival UK* 2022” with a budget of £120m, spearheaded by London Olympics 2012 head of ceremonies Martin Green.
But it 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.
More than 300 artists and groups have signed an open letter by the campaign group Migrants in Culture calling for the cancellation of the festival and criticising the “nationalistic branding exercise that is Festival UK 2022”.
The letter claims the event aims “to whitewash what is essentially a nationalistic project into a ‘national celebration’” at a time of “cultural devastation” with thousands of arts workers out of work and cultural companies and venues facing closure.
“In the midst of a global pandemic, with a devastating loss of life, jobs, earnings, threatening even the ability to remain in the country, the las thing we need is a vacuous celebration of so-called ‘national unity’ when the most at risk are already shouldering the effects of the UK’s economic downturn,” the letter reads.
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“We do not need a festival claiming to ‘bring people together’ while the government’s hostile environment forces people apart.
“We do not need a festival that seeks to whitewash the UK’s endemic racism using our cultural capital.”
Long had been selected alongside 29 other shortlisted teams to pitch ideas to become one of the final 10 commissions in the festival programme.
After the letter by Migrants in Culture was brought to her attention, she announced she would no longer be part of the festival.
Hi, I’m not going to be a part of the festival anymore. Thanks for letting me know what was going on. — I had a lasagne for tea (@JosieLong) November 16, 2020
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“Wow. Thank you,” she wrote on Twitter. “I’m sorry because I obviously haven’t examined this properly. I like the people in my team who invited me and wasn’t aware of any of this.”
Long’s decision was met positively on the platform, with many praising the exchange as an example of productive listening.
“This such a wonderful example of active listening and leadership and I respect the hell out of you for it. Must have been a really difficult decision but I can’t commend you enough for this,” one wrote.
In a statement, Green said: “Festival UK* 2022 is about bringing people together – creatively, as audiences and participants, and from across the four nations and beyond.
“Whilst some may have misconceptions about what the festival is seeking to achieve, hundreds of brilliant individuals are now working together to develop genuinely ambitious projects. When we announce the 10 projects next year that will go into full production for 2022, we are certain they will excite people, whilst demonstrating the festival’s positive aims.”
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Other shortlisted teams include the British-Nigerian historian David Olusoga, the Imperial War Museums, and Jamie Oliver.


thehuffingtonpostuk--2020-11-17--The Crown: The Real And Not-So-Real History In Netflix’s Hit Show

Lavish royal drama The Crown is drawing both ire and admiration for its portrayal of Britain’s most famous family.
The Netflix series recreates some of the most sensitive and controversial events in the Windsor dynasty – including the death of the Prince of Wales’ beloved uncle Lord Mountbatten and of course, the entrance – and tragic exit of his first wife, Princess Diana.
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Some royal commentators have been quick to deride the series for its portrayal of some of these events – despite writer and creator Peter Morgan’s repeated defence of his right to creative freedom.
The show does employ researchers and Morgan has gone on record to say he regularly meets with royal aides to allow them to “brace themselves” for upcoming storylines.
“We do our very, very best to get it right, but sometimes I have to conflate [incidents]… You sometimes have to forsake accuracy, but you must never forsake the truth,” he told The Times.
Olivia Colman as Queen Elizabeth II Sophie Mutevelian
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Despite Morgan’s transparency about his work, royal commentators and media figures have been quick to dispute some of the show’s more controversial content so far.
Guardian columnist Simon Jenkins has attacked the series, denouncing it as “fake history”, describing it as “reality hijacked as propaganda.”
Jenkins accused the show of taking liberties “by relying on royalty’s well-known – and sensible – reluctance to resort to the courts. This is artistic licence at its most cowardly as well as casual.”
Here are five of the most disputed moments. Spoilers ahead.
Lord Mountbatten and the letter
Prince Charles and Lord Mountbatten Shutterstock
The opening episode of the fourth season features an imagined interaction involving the Prince of Wales and his beloved great-uncle Lord Mountbatten.
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Charles Dance’s Lord Mountbatten admonishes Josh O’Connor’s Charles for his pursuit of Camilla, who at the time was married to Andrew Parker Bowles.
Viewers see the older man writing a letter warning Charles he is in danger of bringing “ruin and disappointment” to the family. On the show, the prince only reads the note after the IRA assassinated Lord Mountbatten in August 1979.
While no record of the letter exists, Morgan believes the interaction to be based in truth.
Speaking on the show’s official podcast, he said: “What we know is that Mountbatten was really responsible for taking Charles to one side at precisely this point and saying, ‘Look, you know, enough already with playing the field, it’s time you got married and it’s time you provided an heir’.
“As the heir I think there was some concern that he should settle down, marry the appropriate person and get on with it.”
He said: “In my own head I thought that would have even greater impact on Charles if it were to come post-mortem, as it were. I think everything that’s in that letter that Mountbatten writes to Charles is what I really believe, based on everything I’ve read and people I’ve spoken to, that represents his view.
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Lord Mountbatten and Prince Charles in The Crown Netflix
“We will never know if it was put into a letter, and we will never know if Charles got that letter before or after Mountbatten’s death, but in this particular drama, this is how I decided to deal with it.”
Piers Morgan has begged to differ, accusing the show of “crossing a line” and going too far with its treatment of the event.
Speaking on Tuesday’s Good Morning Britain, he said: “Charles was utterly heartbroken by the murder of his great favoured uncle and that to me, that crosses a line to me where if you’re inventing a critical letter from someone who’s now dead and can’t respond and there’s no record of that letter ever being sent, what justification is there for that?”
Royal historian Hugo Vickers also pointed out that “Mountbatten was by no means a good influence” claiming (via The Times) he “urged Prince Charles to ‘sow his wild oats’ before finding the unsullied girl”.
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The Queen and the Kennedys
President John Kennedy (right) with his wife (second left) Jacqueline, meeting Queen Elizabeth II and the Duke of Edinburgh on the American President's visit to Britain in 1961 PA
In June 1961, President John F Kennedy and his wife Jackie visited Buckingham Palace.
In The Crown, the Queen finds out some time after their meeting that the First Lady described her to dinner guests as “a middle-aged woman so incurious, unintelligent and unremarkable that Britain’s new reduced place in the world was not a surprise but an inevitability”.
Buckingham Palace did not fare well either, with the fictional Jackie deeming it “second-rate, dilapidated and sad, like a neglected provincial hotel.”
It seems there is a grain of truth to these scenes, with Kennedy confiding to photographer Cecil Beaton that was unimpressed by the palace furnishings and by the Queen’s dress and hairstyle.
Writer Gore Vidal went so far as to say Kennedy felt “resented” by the Queen and found the monarch “pretty heavy going”. She is also said to have remarked: “Philip was nice, but nervous. One felt absolutely no relationship between them.”
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Evidence of tensions is given further weight by Kitty Kelley, who in her 1998 book The Royals, stated: “The Queen’s resentment was real.”
Princess Margaret’s hidden cousins
The Royal Earlswood Hospital, Redhill, Surrey James Cutler/Shutterstock
In episode seven of season four, Princess Margaret (played by Helena Bonham Carter) learns she has two disabled cousins who were removed from their family and sent to live in a hospital.
Katherine and Nerissa were Margaret and Queen Elizabeth’s first cousins, the third and fifth daughter of Queen Mother’s eldest brother John Herbert Bowes-Lyon and his wife Fenella.
“[They were] locked up in the Earlswood Institution for Mental Defectives (later changed to The Royal Earlswood Hospital), you please, in Redhill, [Surrey],” Margaret tells the Queen.
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Olivia Colman in her role as the Queen informs her sister they are “long dead”, but is informed this is not the case. “What my family did was unforgivable,” concludes Margaret in The Crown.
Marion Bailey as the Queen Mother blames the matter on the abdication of Edward VIII in 1936, after which point her daughter became the Queen.
“My family, the Bowes-Lyons, went from being minor Scottish aristocrats to having a direct bloodline to the Crown,” she says, adding that the development “resulted in the children of my brother paying a terrible price.”
Unsurprisingly, there is only scant public knowledge of the Queen and Princess Margaret’s knowledge and relationship to their cousins.
In 2011 Channel 4 screened the documentary The Queen’s Hidden Cousins, which revealed that Katherine and Nerissa, both born with learning difficulties, had been effectively abandoned by their parents after they were placed in hospital at the ages of 15 and 22 respectively.
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According to the documentary, there is no official record of either woman ever receiving a family visit and the 1963 edition of Burke’s Peerage listed the women as both having died in 1961 when they were actually still alive.
In 1987 the Daily Express reported that Nerissa had died the year before, buried in a pauper’s grave. A 1987 statement from Buckingham Palace said the Queen was aware of the report but added: “We have no comment about it at all. It is a matter for the Bowes-Lyon family.”
Lady Elizabeth Anson, a niece of the two sisters, issued a statement to the BBC on behalf of the Bowes-Lyons family saying “there was no attempt at a cover-up” and that the sisters had been visited by many family members.
She added that her grandmother was “a very vague person who often didn’t fill out the forms that Burke’s Peerage sent her, either properly or completely.”
The Royal Earlswood closed in 1997 and Katherine died at the age of 87 in 2014 – though is unclear where she spent the last 18 years of her life.
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When Liz met Maggie
Margaret Thatcher and the Queen in 1979 Sipa/Shutterstock
The Crown paints a fraught relationship between the Queen and Britain’s first female prime minister, Margaret Thatcher.
Played by Gillian Anderson, the women fail to gel, with a dismayed Thatcher leaving a disastrous weekend at Balmoral, telling her husband: “I’m struggling to find any redeeming features in these people at all. They aren’t sophisticated or cultured or elegant or anything close to an ideal.”
Tensions deepen in later episodes which see the two women at odds over sanctions against South Africa. Indeed an upcoming Channel 4 documentary entitled Royals Declassified promises to address the Queen’s relationships with prime ministers, “including mounting tensions with Margaret Thatcher that threatened a constitutional crisis.”
Morgan said: “It could be said that they are two very similar women, born only months apart.
“They are very much defined by the Second World War, by a sense of frugality, hard work, commitment, Christianity and so much more.
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“It was a commonly held piece of wisdom that the Queen and Thatcher didn’t get on. I think there was probably a lot of respect.
“But they also had many differences, it was really fun exploring their differences and their similarities. I also get a chance to explore them both as mothers.
“Writing Thatcher and the Queen as mothers was probably an angle that no-one has explored before. But it yielded one of my favourite episodes in the season.”
Gillian Anderson plays Margaret Thatcher in The Crown's fourth series Des Willie/Netflix
For her part, in her 1993 memoir, The Downing Street Years, Thatcher remained tight-lipped: “Although the press could not resist the temptation to suggest disputes between the Palace and Downing Street, especially on Commonwealth affairs, I always found the Queen’s attitude towards the government absolutely correct.
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“Of course, under the circumstances, stories of clashes between ‘two powerful women’ were just too good not to make up.”
Charles and Diana
Emma Corrin plays Diana in The Crown Des Willie/ Netflix
True to life, The Crown acknowledges the fact that Prince Charles was firstly dating Diana’s older sister Sarah, but its portrayal of the couple’s first meeting is infinitely more romantic than it really was.
The show sees Prince Charles at the Spencer home, waiting to pick up Sarah, when he finds himself face-to-face with a 16-year-old Diana – played by Emma Corrin, dressed as a wood sprite for her school’s production of A Midsummer Night’s Dream, peering puckishly at him from behind a tree.
Director Benjamin Caron said: “That scene wasn’t originally as magical,” though it ended up “leaning slightly into the more magical, wondrous side”.
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He explained: “My instant reaction to that scene was thinking about Baz Luhrmann’s Romeo and Juliet, that moment when Leonardo DiCaprio sees Claire Danes through the fish tank and they catch eyes, how enchanting that was.”
The true circumstances were much less of a fairytale.
Prince Charles with Diana's older sister, Lady Sarah Spencer at Royal Ascot in 1977 Alasdair Loos/ANL/Shutterstock
“We sort of met in a ploughed field,” Diana recalled in an interview following their engagement in 1981.
Charles was at the Spencer home for a grouse hunt, and the same interview, recalled: “I remember thinking what a jolly and amusing and attractive 16-year-old she was. I mean great fun and bouncy and full of life and everything.”
Diana’s first impression of Charles was “pretty amazing” – though in later years she seemed to have revised her opinion, telling author Andrew Morton for his book Diana: Her True Story In Her Own Words that her first thought of Charles was: “God, what a sad man.”
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thehuffingtonpostuk--2020-11-17--Mariah Carey’s Response To Delivery Driver Losing His S*** To All I Want For Christmas Is So Mariah

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It might not even be December yet but Mariah Carey has already declared the festive season has officially started, which means it’ll be hard to avoid The Greatest Christmas Song Of All Time.
The shops might be shut, but it’ll still be almost impossible to go about your business without hearing Mariah’s omnipresent Yuletide classic All I Want For Christmas Is You.
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Especially if you get this particular delivery guy…
FedEx drivers poised for the holiday season...pic.twitter.com/MDdv00ZPfM — Rex Chapman🏇🏼 (@RexChapman) November 16, 2020
This clip of the FedEx driver getting down (and probably whiplash) to Mariah’s huge Christmas hit was spotted by the singer herself, who naturally, had a very Mariah response…
Please note this is how all my packages must be delivered from now on 🎄😂 https://t.co/mMLybc9hL4 — Mariah Carey (@MariahCarey) November 17, 2020
Just for the record, we fully endorse this, Mariah.
While the US star is not exactly one for taking an understated approach at the best of times, the festive season is the time she’s known for getting really extra, famously appearing in a totally over-the-top Christmas ad for Walkers crisps in 2019.
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thehuffingtonpostuk--2020-11-17--Vernon Kay Has Grim Encounter With A Testicle As I'm A Celebrity's Eating Trial Serves Up More TV Go

Vernon Kay Has Grim Encounter With A Testicle As I'm A Celebrity's Eating Trial Serves Up More TV Gold

The moment every I’m A Celebrity fan looks forward to each year is here, as three brave celebrities take on the infamous eating challenge on Tuesday night.
And while there’ve been plenty of changes to the ITV reality show for 2020, one thing remains the same – this Bushtucker Trial is as gruesome as ever.
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In a preview of Tuesday night’s episode, Vernon Kay has an encounter with a grim-looking deer testicle.
Hosts Ant and Dec present him with a “nuts roast”, which contains the, errrrm, delicacy that Vernon must eat in order to win a meal for camp.
Vernon Kay chows down on a testicle ITV
“Stop laughing!” he shouts at the TV duo, who are amused to say the least.
“Oh, it’s not even warm,” he remarks as he picks it up.
But things get a lot worse when he puts it in his mouth and there is a sudden pop, releasing some form of liquid that makes him choke.
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“Oh god, what’s that that’s just come out of it,” Vernon’s fellow campmate Jordan North asked.
The pair will be taking on the trial alongside Coronation Street legend Beverley Callard, after they were selected by the voting public.
A 'nuts roast' ITV
Jordan also appears to be a lot calmer sat round the table than he was during Monday night’s episode, when he was faced with the Viper Vault challenge.
The Radio 1 DJ was crowned the “most terrified I’m A Celebrity contestant ever” as he broke down in tears when faced with being locked in coffin with a bunch of snakes.
See how the trio fare in the latest challenge during tonight’s I’m A Celebrity, airing at 9.15pm on ITV.
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thehuffingtonpostuk--2020-11-17--Boris Johnson May Cut Foreign Aid To Pay For Covid Crisis, No.10 Suggests

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Boris Johnson may slash Britain’s international aid budget to help pay for the UK economy’s recovery from Covid-19, it has emerged.
Downing Street did not deny reports ministers were considering a temporary cut to the aid from 0.7% of gross national income, the current legal requirement, to 0.5%.
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The prime minister’s allies say the plan would save the UK billions and help the country get back on its feet after the pandemic.
But the move is strongly opposed by some MPs, including Tory Andrew Mitchell, who said on Tuesday it “will diminish us on the world stage”.
It follows Johnson’s controversial decision earlier this year to merge the Department for International Development (DFID) with the Foreign and Commonwealth Office, with critics saying it sent a signal the government was mixing “trade with aid”.
Asked about a possible temporary cut in aid and whether it was compatible with the Tory manifesto pledge to stick to aid targets, the PM’s official spokesperson said: “I’m not in the business of speculating on that.”
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Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab is thought to oppose the plans PA
But he added a remark that appeared to confirm the government was considering cuts.
“It may be worth just setting out as a matter of fact, under the International Development Act there may be circumstances in which the government is not able to meet the 0.7% commitment,” he said.
“And if that happened, the [foreign secretary] is required under the Act to lay a statement in parliament explaining why the target is not being met.”
When quizzed over whether the manifesto commitment to spend 0.7% of GDP on overseas aid was still policy, the spokesperson replied only that: “The government is committed to supporting international development and helping the world’s poorest people.”
No.10 also pointed to remarks by communities secretary Robert Jenrick, who said on Tuesday: “It is legitimate to consider where savings can be made when public finances are under huge strain.”
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Downing Street said it was not going to speculate in advance of the chancellor’s spending review due next week, “but we are looking at how the aid budget is spent to ensure it serves the UK’s priorities and represents value for money.”
The Times has reported the foreign secretary Dominic Raab is thought to be against the plan, reported to be driven by chancellor Rishi Sunak.


thehuffingtonpostuk--2020-11-18--Black Tenant Is Repaid £30,000 After Being Wrongly Charged More Rent Than White Neighbour

Selma Nicholls Supplied
A housing association has repaid tens of thousands of pounds to a Black woman whose rent was higher than her white neighbour’s – in an identical house.
Sanctuary refunded Selma Nicholls £30,000 after the overcharge left her struggling to make ends meet and facing eviction – but has refused her request for compensation after the stress and anxiety it caused.
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To compound her frustration, investigators employed by Sanctuary said they could not be sure whether or not racism had played a part.
HuffPost UK first reported in July that Nicholls, 40, was being charged a completely different rate from her neighbour for an identical property in Tottenham, north London.
She had been paying £1,000 a month extra since August 2018, and £500 a month extra for the year before that.
She had struggled to make ends meet and was once served an eviction notice in 2019 even though Sanctuary had granted her neighbour a reprieve at the same time.
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Though Nicholls is pleased to have been finally repaid the money she was wrongly charged, she is considering legal action against Sanctuary.
She told HuffPost UK: “I feel exploited, manipulated and neglected by how Sanctuary housing has dealt with me. I was exploited – the only person that was unaware that I was paying double the amount for the exact same unit as my neighbour. Everyone at Sanctuary housing was aware and did nothing to rectify this inequality for three years.”
Not until Nicholls approached HuffPost UK did Sanctuary finally launch a review of what had happened.
“I have been manipulated,” she added. “Sanctuary housing refunded my over-payment and reduced my rent in line with my neighbour’s but deny any wrongdoing, which is contradictory. I feel neglected; my neighbour was provided support and I was provided an eviction notice when I needed support.”
hyejin kang via Getty Images
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While the mother-of-one struggled to make ends meet and keep up with the lofty rent payments over the years, she battled depression and anxiety.
Nicholls was diagnosed with PTSD some years ago says her recent experience has severely impacted her mental health.
“I’ve endured endless sleepless nights, extreme stress and intense pressure that could have been averted if I was treated as compassionately as my neighbour. The only difference between me and my neighbour is I have a child and she has a dog, she is white and I am Black,” she said.
“Having given great thought to this whole affair, I believe Sanctuary housing should be held accountable for the untold mental and emotional trauma I have experienced.
“During this process a Sanctuary representative asked me what I wanted and I informed them: (a) over-payment to be returned, which they have done, and (b) restitution. I asked for 10 therapy sessions – this request was refused, compounding my anguish.”
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A recent study by the Human City Institute found the level of what experts call “housing stress” is much higher in Black communities than it is among white people.
Following our initial news report, Sanctuary launched an internal investigation into the matter and commissioned an external independent review to test for discrimination or unconscious bias within its organisation.
The probe, by specialist housing consultancy Altair, found no evidence to suggest that the difference in rent is due to race discrimination or systemic bias.
Ira L. Black - Corbis via Getty Images
But the reviewers were also “unable to provide assurance that race discrimination or unconscious bias did not play a role in the decisions” that resulted in the disparity.
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In a letter it sent Nicholls in August, Sanctuary said the people responsible for setting up her tenancy agreement hadn’t been aware of specific conditions on how her rent should have been set.
But both Nicholls and her neighbour believed race was a key factor in the case as they had both applied for the same rent reduction with similar circumstances, with only the neighbour being granted it.
Sanctuary Housing has always denied it discriminated against Nicholls.
Nicholls is the CEO and founder of Looks Like Me casting agency which aims to raise the profile of underrepresented groups in the fashion and advertising world.
A spokesperson for Sanctuary said: “We will continue to engage with Ms Nicholls and have offered her a meeting with one of our senior directors to discuss the report.”


thehuffingtonpostuk--2020-11-18--5 Things I've Learnt About Masculinity Through Living With Diabetes

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Listen to Chronic, our anti-wellness podcast about living well when you’re chronically unwell. Available on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or wherever you listen to podcasts – just search for “Chronic”.
HuffPost UK Chronic
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Jack Anderson is 20-year-old personal trainer, and Ironman triathlete. He’s also lived with diabetes since being diagnosed when he was 15.
At first, coming to terms with his chronic illness diagnosis was hugely challenging, not least because of his phobia of needles, which gave him an aversion to injecting.
Now, five years on, he’s a Diabetes UK ambassador and advocate for diabetes awareness.
For National Diabetes Month, he’s joining HuffPost’s Lucy Pasha-Robinson on our anti-wellness podcast Chronic.
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The episode explores the themes of ambition and limitations – and how these are impacted by a chronic illness diagnosis. Jack also talks body dysmorphia and eating disorders – all in the pursuit of “wellness” – and the specific barriers some men face in seeking support when living with illness.
Here, he shares five things he’s learnt about masculinity since being diagnosed with diabetes:
1. Acknowledging that I have a condition is so important – it’s sort of like having a pet that needs time, care and attention in order to manage it well.
2. Talking is so important, so I never feel alone.
3. Listening to advice from peers about how to better manage my condition.
4. Proving myself that this is a condition you can coexist with, and it shouldn’t stop you from doing anything you want to do.
5. Inspiring others with the condition to not feel limited.
Hear more from Jack on this week’s episode of Chronic, available on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or wherever you listen to podcasts – just search for “Chronic”.


thehuffingtonpostuk--2020-11-18--5 Things Barack Obama Had To Say About The UK In His New Memoir

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Barack Obama’s long-awaited post-presidential memoir A Promised Land has finally been released, promising to give some juicy insights into the most powerful job on earth.
Naturally, some of this will also include mention of the UK and its leaders during the time he was in office from 2008 to 2016.
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It should be noted that this is only the first volume of the president’s memoirs and ends with the killing of Osama bin Laden in 2011.
As such there is no mention of how he viewed Brexit and the EU referendum so we’ll have to wait until the next book to learn that.
On the Queen
Way back in 2009, Michelle Obama threw out the royal protocol handbook and dared to hug the Queen while wearing a cardigan over a dress.
It was a move that sent UK newspapers and commentators into a spin, or as President Obama put it a “horrified tizzy”.
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He also reveals that “the Queen didn’t seem to mind, slipping her arm around Michelle in return”.
A video grab from television footage shows Michelle Obama hugging Queen Elizabeth during a reception for G20 leaders at Buckingham Palace in London April 1, 2009. POOL New / Reuters
He writes: “Michelle had decided to join me for the first half of the trip, which made me happy. She was less concerned with my performance at the summit—‘You’ll be fine’—than she was with how to dress for our planned audience with Her Majesty the Queen of England. ‘You should wear one of those little hats,’ I said. “And carry a little handbag.”
“She gave me a mock scowl. ‘That’s not helpful.’
“At a reception for the G20 leaders and their spouses with Queen Elizabeth at Buckingham Palace, she was photographed with her hand resting on Her Majesty’s shoulder—an apparent breach of royalty-commoner protocol, although the Queen didn’t seem to mind, slipping her arm around Michelle in return. Also, Michelle wore a cardigan sweater over her dress during our private meeting with the queen, sending Fleet Street into a horrified tizzy.
″‘You should have taken my suggestion and worn one of those little hats,’ I told her the next morning. ‘And a little matching handbag!’ She smiled and kissed me on the cheek. ‘And I hope you enjoy sleeping on a couch when you get home,’ she said brightly. ‘The White House has so many to choose from!’”
In 2018, Michelle revealed the true reason for the affection moment with the monarch – they had just bonded over having sore feet.
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On David Cameron
For the majority of his two terms in office, Obama’s UK counterpart was David Cameron, who he says had the “easy confidence of someone who’d never been pressed too hard by life” (a debatable opinion given the tragic death of his son in 2009).
Obama reveals the two liked each other on a personal level “even when we butted heads” as they worked together on a range of international issues.
Barack Obama plays table tennis against students with David Cameron at the Globe Academy in London May 24, 2011 Larry Downing / Reuters
He writes: “In his early forties, with a youthful appearance and a studied informality (at every international summit, the first thing he’d do was take off his jacket and loosen his tie), the Eton-educated Cameron possessed an impressive command of the issues, a facility with language, and the easy confidence of someone who’d never been pressed too hard by life.
“I liked him personally, even when we butted heads, and for the next six years he’d prove to be a willing partner on a host of international issues, from climate change (he believed in the science) to human rights (he supported marriage equality) to aid for developing countries (throughout his tenure, he’d managed to allocate 1.5 percent of the UK’s budget to foreign aid, a significantly higher percentage than I’d ever convince the US Congress to approve).”
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On austerity
One area where Obama does express disagreement with Cameron is on the latter’s embrace of austerity as a reaction to the financial crisis of 2008, suggesting the UK’s economic woes in the 2010s were predictable.
He writes: “Cameron hewed closely to free-market orthodoxy, having promised voters that his platform of deficit reduction and cuts to government services—along with regulatory reform and expanded trade—would usher in a new era of British competitiveness.
“Instead, predictably, the British economy would fall deeper into a recession.”
On Gordon Brown
Obama has slightly less favourable words for Cameron’s predecessor, Labour PM Gordon Brown who “lacked the sparkly political gifts of [Tony Blair].”
Overall however, he expresses a favourable view and commends his handling of the 2008 financial crash.
Barack Obama and Gordon Brown walk through the Colonnade at the White House in Washington, March 3, 2009. Jim Young / Reuters
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He writes: “A former chancellor of the exchequer in Tony Blair’s Labour government, Brown lacked the sparkly political gifts of his predecessor (it seemed as if every media mention of Brown included the term ‘dour’), and he’d suffered the misfortune of finally getting his turn at the prime ministership just as Britain’s economy was collapsing and its public was tiring of the Labour Party’s decade-long run.
“But he was thoughtful, responsible, and understood global finance, and although his time in office would prove short-lived, I was fortunate to have him as a partner during those early months of the crisis.”
On UK school kids
On a non-political point, there’s a remarkable anecdote about the effect Michelle Obama had on the children she met.
The First Lady visited the all-girls Elizabeth Garrett Anderson School in Islington in 2009 in what was her first public speech abroad in the role.
She told her rapt audience she was finding her new job challenging and was “overwhelmed by the pace, unworthy of the glamour, anxious about our children, and uncertain of my purpose”.
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Michelle Obama hugs pupils during the visit to Elizabeth Garrett Anderson Language School in London, Thursday April 2, 2009. ASSOCIATED PRESS
President Obama writes: “At the school, she talked about her own childhood and the barriers she’d had to overcome, how education had always provided her a path forward. The girls—working-class, many of them of West Indian or South Asian descent—listened in rapt attention as this glamorous woman insisted that she had once been just like them. In the coming years, she’d visit with students from the school several times, including hosting a group of them at the White House.
“Later, an economist would study the data and conclude that Michelle’s engagement with the school had led to a notable spike in the students’ standardised test scores, suggesting that her message of aspiration and connection made a true and measurable difference.


thehuffingtonpostuk--2020-11-18--Each Day Of Relaxed Rules Over Christmas Will Need Two Days Of 'Tighter' Lockdown, Say Experts

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An extra five days of strict lockdown measures will have to be imposed for every single day the rules are relaxed over Christmas, Public Health England has confirmed.
It is a significantly bleaker picture than the one painted by PHE deputy director Dr Susan Hopkins on Wednesday morning when she told a Downing Street press conference that “for every day that we release, we will need two days of tighter restrictions”.
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PHE has now corrected Hopkins’s statement and said the epidemiologist meant to say five days of restrictions would be needed per day of relaxation to keep coronavirus infections under control.
Hopkins said that “hopefully” Boris Johnson would allow “some mixing” of people over the Christmas holidays.
“Then, I think, once we have got past the Christmas period if there has been a release and some socialisation we will all have to be very responsible and reduce those contacts again,” she said.
According to The Sun, one option under consideration is a five-day period beginning on Christmas Eve during which households could mix.
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If the rules are loosened for five days, that would mean 25 days of tighter restrictions would then be needed.
The government science office said the Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies (Sage) advice on five days of restrictions for every one day of “release” was “very preliminary work” and has not yet been published.
Johnson has all but promised the national lockdown in England will end when the measures legally expire on December 2.
The prime minister has said he wants to then revert to a system of local measures.
A return to a tiered system of local restrictions does not necessarily mean a return to the levels in place before November 5.
It has been reported a fourth more severe level could be added, or that an entirely new regional approach might be introduced.
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But the prime minister is already facing a backlash from Tory MPs, who will be given the opportunity to vote on what happens next.
Mark Harper, the former Tory chief whip, said: “We cannot keep living under a cycle of restrictions, expect people to be grateful for being let out to enjoy the festive season, only to impose strict restrictions on them afterwards, causing health problems and destroying livelihoods.”
❌ On latest No.10 briefing ❌
We cannot keep living under a cycle of restrictions, expect people to be grateful for being let out to enjoy the festive season, only to impose strict restrictions on them afterwards, causing health problems & destroying livelihoods #PMQs — Mark Harper (@Mark_J_Harper) November 18, 2020
Steve Baker, who runs the anti-lockdown Covid Recovery Group of Tory MPs with Harper, said “freedom cannot just be for Christmas”.
“Lockdowns and restrictions cause immense economic, social and non-Covid health damage and we’ve got to start talking about those so that we know the restrictions we’re being asked to live under are not causing more harm than good to our citizens,” he said.
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“We’ve also got to develop a much better strategy for living with this virus that doesn’t require us being locked up and freed by the government.”
Angela McLean, the deputy chief scientific adviser, confirmed a the press conference that scientists advising the government had sent “some advice in over the weekend” to ministers about relaxing restrictions over Christmas.
“But we genuinely don’t know what decisions have been made,” she added. “We are advisers. We advise, they decide.”
Johnson has all but promised the national lockdown in England will end when the measures legally expire on December 2. The prime minister has said he wants to then revert to a system of lo
Steve Baker, who runs the anti-lockdown Covid Recovery Group of Tory MPs with Harper, said: “Freedom cannot just be for Christmas.
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“Lockdowns and restrictions cause immense economic, social and non-Covid health damage and we’ve got to start talking about those so that we know the restrictions we’re being asked to live under are not causing more harm than good to our citizens.
“We’ve also got to develop a much better strategy for living with this virus that doesn’t require us being locked up and freed by the government.”
Opposition from Tory MPs could mean Johnson will have to rely on Keir Starmer and Labour votes to impose any new lockdown restrictions after December 2.
Asked about the scientists’ suggestions of tight restrictions before and after any Christmas “relaxation”, Johnson’s spokesperson said it was No.10′s “clear intent” for the public to have as normal a break as possible.
“It’s obviously important that we look at the most recent data and that will inform the next stages. I’m obviously not going to preempt them, but I would point you back to what the PM has said about returning to a regionalised tiered system,” they said.
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“The PM has been clear in his desire to try and allow families to have Christmas together. We accept it won’t be a normal Christmas. We are taking the tougher measures now to drive down transmission.”


thehuffingtonpostuk--2020-11-18--Great British Bake Off: This Heart-Warming Letter From The Eliminated Semi Finalist Is The Boost We

Great British Bake Off: This Heart-Warming Letter From The Eliminated Semi Finalist Is The Boost We Needed Today

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Warning! This article contains spoilers for the latest episode of The Great British Bake Off.
Great British Bake Off semi finalist Hermine has penned a moving and uplifting letter reminiscing about her time on the hit show.
The 39-year-old accountant from London was controversially sent home ahead of next week’s final on Tuesday night, despite having been one of the favourites in the competition.
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And although many viewers were unhappy with the result, Hermine was still brimming with joyful memories about her time in the tent in a letter that was posted on the show’s official Twitter account after her exit.
Hermine was eliminated from The Great British Bake Off just a week before the final Channel 4
“It has been an absolute privilege to have made it to the tent and to have baked alongside 11 fantastic bakers, each with their own strength. The camaraderie was amazing,” she wrote.
“The friendship meant that although it was a competition, I always felt I was competing against my better self. Never against the other bakers.
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“I bake from the heart and all I wanted to do was put a smile on the judges’ faces with my bakes.
“Every week they enjoyed my flavours, it filled my heart with so much joy. I mean, what more do you need after a Pruegasm or Paul taking your bake for lunch?”
Here’s the amazing Hermine’s heartfelt and hilarious letter to all you Bake Off fans. #GBBO pic.twitter.com/n4jBYrnE60 — British Bake Off (@BritishBakeOff) November 17, 2020
Hermine went on: “Matt and Noel were so kind and full of compassion when we needed it but also a great laugh! Well, when I did get the jokes (which was half the time).
“In 80s week, hearing Steven say how proud he was of me brought happy tears to my eyes.
“It was a summer full of emotions. Happy ones! And now back at home, I take a lot of joy in reflecting on these memories with a smile on my face and a certain warmth in my heart.”
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Hermine then acknowledged the production team, thanking the crew for making the bakes “feel at home”.
“I never thought I would, or even wanted, to go on a TV show. But if asked to chose one, it would be the GBBO.”
Revealing what she’d taken away from the experience, Hermine concluded: “The journey has proved to me that being yourself is all you need to be. Never let your fear come between you and the things you could achieve.
“It is ok to try new things, to be silly every now and then, and to laugh at your own silly self. It does not make you any less reliable and dependable as a person. Yet it is liberating for your soul.”
Hermine also shared a video on her Instagram account thanking fans for their support.


thehuffingtonpostuk--2020-11-18--A Minute Of Kindness: Inventor Creates Bike For Disabled People

A Minute Of Kindness: Inventor Creates Bike For Disabled People
After a serious snowboarding accident, Christian Bagg didn’t want to give up the joy of extreme sports, so he created an adaptive mountain bike for himself, and then a company to help empower others.


thehuffingtonpostuk--2020-11-18--Pfizer Coronavirus Vaccine Is 95% Effective And Has Passed Safety Checks

The coronavirus vaccine from Pfizer – which is due to arrive in the UK before the end of the year – is 95% effective and has passed its safety checks, according to further data from the firm.
The pharmaceutical giant and its partner BioNTech published interim results last week showing the jab could prevent more than 90% of people developing Covid-19.
That data were based on the first 94 volunteers to develop Covid-19, but further figures released on Wednesday are based on the first 170 cases of the virus in the clinical trial.
The vaccine has been tested on 43,500 people in six countries and no safety concerns have been raised.
The UK has secured 40m doses in total of the vaccine, with 10m due in the country by the end of the year if it is approved.
People will need two doses, meaning enough vaccine has only been secured for 20m Brits.
Another jab, from US firm Moderna, was shown this week in early data to be almost 95% effective.
The UK has ordered five million doses of that jab, enough for 2.5m people, and is keenly awaiting the results of the Oxford University and AstraZeneca vaccine study – which is due to report soon. The government has ordered 100m doses of that vaccine.


thehuffingtonpostuk--2020-11-18--Paul Mescal Poses For Portrait Artist Of The Year Painters And We're Not Jealous At All

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We don’t know about you, but we can think of worse ways to spend an afternoon than staring intently at Paul Mescal for hours at a time.
In fact, now that we think about it, that’s exactly what we did when Normal People debuted during the UK’s first lockdown.
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Anyway, a select few lucky painters got to spend a good few hours in the Emmy-nominated actor’s company when he sat for them in a new episode of the Portrait Artist Of The Year series.
Paul Mescal sits for his portrait Chris Lobina/Sky Arts
It was up to host Stephen Mangan to reveal this week’s “celebrity sitter” to the remaining artists, telling them: “Your sitter today is an Irish actor, whose meteoric rise to fame came with the TV adaptation of Sally Rooney’s award-winning novel.
“Even his neck chain has way more Instagram followers than most ‘normal people’.”
And yes, this would pretty much be our reaction, too...
Not even trying to play it cool... we respect it, tbh Sky Arts
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“Oh my god, my friends are going to be so jealous,” one of the painters was heard declaring.
Before posing for his portrait, Paul briefly spoke about how the success of Normal People had affected his life, admitting that he still feels “in the middle of the storm”.