thehuffingtonpostuk--2020-01-29--Shaquille O'Neal Is Making A Major Life Change After Kobe Bryant's Death

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Shaquille O’Neal said Monday that he’s making a major life change in the wake of Kobe Bryant’s unexpected death in a helicopter crash on Sunday.
After learning about Bryant’s death, O’Neal said he called friends whom he still had disagreements with to put an end to any lingering conflicts.
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“Look, I’m all about being hard and all that, but after yesterday, I’m gonna to have to delete my beef and my confrontation clause,” O’Neal said during an episode of his podcast, “The Big Podcast with Shaq,” recorded on Monday. ”I don’t want to do that anymore because you know, you never know.”
Bryant and O’Neal famously had a long-standing feud while playing together on the Los Angeles Lakers during the late ’90s and early ’00s that they eventually put aside on an episode of O’Neal’s podcast in 2015.
The two had a loving but contentious and competitive relationship with each other, trading barbs (before quickly making up) as recently as August 2019.
Bryant speaks during ceremony to unveil statue of Los Angeles Lakers former center Shaquille O'Neal at the Staples Center on Mar 24, 2017. USA Today Sports/Reuters
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“So yesterday I just called all the people I had discrepancies with and just said, ‘Look man, I love you.’ And we didn’t talk much after the phone, but I just — I just wish we did,” he added, not naming who he spoke with. “You know, we’re sort of like similar guys, hey, family first, business, and I’ll see you when I see you. I have a lot of best friends, but I don’t do the mushy talking on the phone thing.”
O’Neal said in addition to those he called to settle conflicts with, he also called his best friend and made a promise to check in on his other friends more.
Speaking with palpable pain in his voice, the basketball great added that he’s “not sleeping, not eating, not really functioning,” as he just lost his sister Ayesha Harrison-Jex to cancer in October 2019, and he’s now hurting over the loss of his “brother,” Bryant.
When O’Neal reflected on what he would’ve done differently with Bryant, he said, “I wish I would’ve communicated more. But again, that’s just how we are.”
“When we saw each other it was love and respect and he looked out for the kids and I kept an eye on his daughter Gigi ― she was a fabulous player,” he said. “I just wish I could’ve talked to him like before. That’s it. Everything that happened, happened.”
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On the podcast, O’Neal said he refused to believe the news of Bryant’s death was real, initially thinking that it was a hoax. He was working out with his sons, Shaqir and Greg when Greg showed him a clip from TMZ.
O'Neal jokes with his teammate and rival Bryant before their NBA game against the Detroit Pistons in Los Angeles on Nov. 14, 2003. Lucy Nicholson / Reuters
“I figured someone was just playing around. I didn’t want to believe it. And everyone’s calling me, ‘Is it true? Is it true?’ So, I’m like, it must not be a hoax cause now the whole world knows this information. So now I’m saying, ‘Please don’t be true. Please don’t be true. Please don’t be true,’” O’Neal said.
“And I’m watching. And then you get the confirmation. And sad enough, then you hear his daughter was with him. I didn’t do anything,” he added. “I haven’t eaten. I haven’t slept. I’m looking at all the tapes. But, I’m sick right now. ”
Bryant was traveling in a private helicopter with eight others when it crashed in Calabasas around 10 a.m. Sunday, resulting in the deaths of all on board. Bryant’s 13-year-old daughter, Gianna, was also killed in the crash.
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thehuffingtonpostuk--2020-01-29--Coronavirus Latest: BA Suspends Flights To And From Mainland China

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British Airways has suspended all flights to and from mainland China with immediate effect after the Foreign Office warned against “all but essential travel” to the country because of the coronavirus.
In a statement, the airline apologised for the inconvenience but said “the safety of our customers and crew is always our priority”.
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It added: “Customers due to travel to or from China in the coming days can find more information on ba.com.”
BA operates daily flights to Shanghai and Beijing from Heathrow.
Virgin Atlantic said its flights between Heathrow and Shanghai will continue to operate as scheduled, although passengers are able to rebook or obtain a refund free of charge.
Urgent plans to bring Britons back from the coronavirus-hit Chinese province of Hubei are being finalised by the government.
The deadline for those stuck in the city of Wuhan and surrounding areas to contact the British consulate expressing their wish to leave passed at 3am UK time (11am local time).
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Passengers wearing face masks walk out of the international terminal at the San Francisco International Airport in Millbrae, California. SIPA USA/PA Images
Culture Secretary Baroness Morgan said BA’s decision to suspend all flights to China would give “more impetus” to the Government’s bid to arrange for Britons to travel home.
“The Foreign Office will be working with staff on the ground to identify UK nationals,” the Conservative peer told BBC Breakfast.
Flights taking Britons back home could begin as early as Thursday, according to a British teacher in Wuhan city who said UK citizens were being given details of forthcoming flights.
Due to increasing travel restrictions & public health situation, we now advise against all but essential travel to China. UK govt is urgently working to finalise arrangements for an assisted departure from Hubei Province for British nationals this week https://t.co/jfgE4TDxlp — Dominic Raab (@DominicRaab) January 28, 2020
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The death toll in China has risen to 170, with confirmed infections surging to nearly 8,000.
Four cases have been confirmed in Germany, making it the second European country to report cases, after France.
The United Arab Emirates has also confirmed its first cases of the virus in a family who recently returned to the UAE from Wuhan.


thehuffingtonpostuk--2020-01-29--Piers Morgan Labels David Walliams A 'D***head' After 'Annoying' and 'Smug' NTAs Presenting Debut

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Piers Morgan might have boycotted attending last night’s National Television Awards, but he still watched from home where he made his feelings very clear about new host David Walliams.
The Good Morning Britain presenter didn’t hold back when it came to the Britain’s Got Talent judge, labelling him a “dickhead” on Twitter.
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David took over hosting duties from Dermot O’Leary for this year’s NTAs after the X Factor presenter announced he was stepping down last year.
Piers Morgan (left) and David Walliams Rex
However, his first stint fronting the annual bash came under heavy fire from Piers throughout the night.
“David Walliams already very very annoying. #NTAs,” he quipped at the start of the show.
David Walliams already very very annoying. #NTAs — Piers Morgan (@piersmorgan) January 28, 2020
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Piers then name-checked Golden Globes host Ricky Gervais, who was in the audience, tweeting: “Walliams bombing so badly. Unbearable to know @rickygervais is sitting in the audience but we have to endure this horror hosting. Come on Ricky, storm the stage.”
Walliams bombing so badly.
Unbearable to know @rickygervais
is sitting in the audience but we have to endure this horror hosting.
Come on Ricky, storm the stage.. #NTAs pic.twitter.com/HVK0XhBWXo — Piers Morgan (@piersmorgan) January 28, 2020
When a trouserless David took to the stage in reference to Judy Finnigan’s unintentional bra-flashing back at the 2001 NTAs, it was too much for Piers.
“F*** me. Just when you thought it couldn’t possibly get any worse, creepy Walliams strips half naked to give himself an award,” he wrote.
F*ck me. Just when you thought it couldn't possibly get any worse, creepy Walliams strips half naked to give himself an award. #NTAs — Piers Morgan (@piersmorgan) January 28, 2020
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When a follower asked why he hated the host so much, Piers replied: “Nothing personal - he’s just a massive d***head.”
Nothing personal - he's just a massive d*ckhead. https://t.co/P5VaXKIPuy — Piers Morgan (@piersmorgan) January 28, 2020
I'm enjoying not enjoying it.
Walliams dying on his fat smug a** is most amusing. https://t.co/B7ejcITOqK — Piers Morgan (@piersmorgan) January 28, 2020
Piers has made no secret of his dislike of David, previously branding him a “snivelling toady” after the comedian and author liked a string of tweets criticising him despite being nice to his face.
And it wasn’t just David who was a target...
I can hardly bare the suspense to see if Ant & Dec and Holly & Phil win again, or Walliams gives himself an award. The #NTAs are always SO tense... SO unpredictable! — Piers Morgan (@piersmorgan) January 28, 2020
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They’re as shocked as I am. pic.twitter.com/Vkw3JYV7wo — Piers Morgan (@piersmorgan) January 28, 2020
Awww, they feel more sick every year... yep, know the feeling boys. 🤮 pic.twitter.com/EEy3ugBnFQ — Piers Morgan (@piersmorgan) January 28, 2020
On Tuesday’s Good Morning Britain, Piers revealed he was boycotting this year’s NTAs because he didn’t want to see Ant and Dec win and This Morning beat GMB again.
“I would rather garrotte myself than sit through another Ant and Dec, Holly and Phil carve up so I will be at home with a nice bottle of wine,” he said.
He added: “The winners have to be Holly and Phil and Ant and Dec. I’m not saying they fix, but they have the same agent.
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“It’s important that they win not least for their gigantic egos.”


thehuffingtonpostuk--2020-01-29--Everyone Can See You Are Job Hunting On LinkedIn Unless You Do This

hocus-focus via Getty Images LinkedIn public activity can lead to awkward situations for job seekers.
I don’t know who needs to hear this right now, but your LinkedIn actions are not necessarily private. As a social network for job seekers and a database for recruiters, LinkedIn is a place where professionals can both connect with future employers and check out old colleagues, school friends and exes.
But if you check out your ex boyfriend without taking steps to conceal yourself, he’ll know you looked him up. And if your goal is to quietly switch jobs, know that your job hunt can become public with LinkedIn connections.
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Take this cautionary tale detailed by The Wall Street Journal: After being contacted by a recruiter on LinkedIn, consultant Joshua M. Evans found out his job search had been revealed by a LinkedIn notification. Evans hadn’t turned off his LinkedIn notifications to his network, so his boss saw his new connections with the recruiter and two managers at the company where he was applying. It created “a very awkward situation,” Evans told the Journal.
How to keep your LinkedIn connections more private
Who you are connected with can be valuable information. Beyond snoopy bosses, there are also snoopy recruiters, and maybe you don’t want someone mining your network for potential hires without going through you first. If you want to keep your connections private for either reason, go to your LinkedIn account:
Click “Settings & Privacy.” Select: “How others see your LinkedIn activity.“ Choose who can see your list of connections and select “Only you.”
Maybe you don’t want your current employer to know you’ve been polishing up your LinkedIn bio. If you want to keep your activity notifications more private from curious employers on LinkedIn:
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Under “Settings & Privacy,” select: “How others see your LinkedIn activity.“ Select “Share job changes, education changes, and work anniversaries from profile.“ Choose no when it asks if you want your network to be notified about activity.
Strategies behind going private on LinkedIn ... or staying public
One key feature on LinkedIn is that you can see who has viewed your profile, depending on their privacy setting. For example, if I click on a hiring manager’s LinkedIn profile and my profile views are set to public, they can see that I looked up their profile. If you’re a job seeker, keeping your profile views public can signal your willingness to be contacted about jobs.
You can also signal this desire more directly to recruiters. When you set up your profile, you can click “Looking for job opportunities,” then choose to let either only recruiters or all LinkedIn members know that you are interested in switching jobs, and what kind of jobs you want.
Ilana Gershon, an anthropology professor at Indiana University and the author of “Down and Out in the New Economy: How People Find (or Don’t Find) Work Today,” interviewed job seekers who use LinkedIn for her research. “If you go fairly public and you have a set of skills that recruiters are often looking for, that is a sign that you are an active-passive seeker,” Gershon said. “You are interested in having recruiters approach you. You may not necessarily be applying for jobs.”
Gershon said that limiting available information by going private or semiprivate is another job-search strategy some people use: By withholding information on LinkedIn, like how you appear on viewer lists and what you list in your profile, the theory goes, you entice people in hiring positions to reach out to learn more about you. “The privacy settings on LinkedIn, when you’re doing semiprivate or private, are kind of functioning like the reverse of the thirst trap in which you’re trying to withhold information so that people want to contact you,” Gershon said.
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To choose private mode:
Under “Settings & Privacy,” select: “How others see your LinkedIn activity.“ Select profile viewing options to choose to be public, semiprivate with general details of your industry, or private.
LinkedIn screenshot You can choose how you show up in LinkedIn members' profile views.
LinkedIn states that in this private profile viewing mode, “No other information about you will be shared with the member whose profile you viewed,” and your viewer history will be erased.
If you choose semiprivate, your “job title, company, school, and industry will be shown to the member you are viewing” so that the person can see, for example, that a consultant at State Farm or someone at Accenture has peeked at their profile, according to LinkedIn.
Beyond limiting what information is displayed on your profile when you view someone else’s profile, you can also limit what is seen when someone uses a search engine that turns up your profile. To do that, go to your profile settings and decide if you only want LinkedIn members directly connected to you, all LinkedIn members, or the general public to see information like your bio, summary, the articles you are reading on LinkedIn, and current and past experience.
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Using an incognito browser may not help you stay private
If you are job hunting on work equipment, incognito web browsers can help you keep your search under wraps. You don’t want your browser history to reveal your LinkedIn searches, after all. On an incognito web browser, you can run LinkedIn searches of people you want to work for without using your LinkedIn account.
Y'all really don't snoop on Linkedin in incognito mode, and it shows... :) — Nick Guillory (@nickguillory) March 19, 2019
But here is an important caveat. Although going incognito prevents your web browser from saving your search history, the websites you visit are still collecting your activity like normal. If you don’t want people to know you viewed them, you must be logged out of your LinkedIn account, even in an incognito browser. Trust me: I tried snooping on two of my colleagues’ accounts in a private browser window and both of them saw that I had viewed their profiles because I was still logged in on LinkedIn.
Now let’s take the scenario in which you’re opening a private tab on your mobile phone browser to search for a person’s LinkedIn page. If you have the LinkedIn app installed on your phone, you will get a prompt that asks, “Open in LinkedIn?” Maybe you are too quick to click affirmatively, like I was, and suddenly you are on the LinkedIn app with whatever default settings you have. For me, the default setting is public, so my work to stay incognito was all for naught.
TFW u search someone's LinkedIn in incognito mode, tap on link, and it opens the LinkedIn app
Now they know #networking — Jared Erondu (@erondu) June 26, 2017
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thehuffingtonpostuk--2020-01-29--The Best Valentine's Day Supermarket Dine-In Meals For Two

This year, ditch going out to an overcrowded restaurant to celebrate Valentine’s Day and stay in for a romantic dinner for two at home.
Thanks to the supermarkets offering affordable meals, many including a starter, main, dessert and even a bottle of bubbly, there’s no hard work involved. Simply pop it in the oven, crack open the wine, wait for the timer, serve up and tuck in.
There’s no pricey bill at the end or journey home and once you’re done eating, you can head to the sofa to enjoy the rest of the evening. Don’t forget to bring a gift - find one in our gift guides for her and for him.
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HuffPost UK Marks & Spencer Valentine's Day Meal
One main + one side + one dessert + bottle of wine or non-alcoholic drink = £12
Marks & Spencer’s dine in for two deal for Valentine’s Day has some tasty treats in its line up. We predict the king prawn bucatini will be a firm favourite, as will the carrot and swede crush, two hearty slices of New York vanilla cheesecake, washed down with a glass (or three) of a Bisanco D’sicilia, a fruity white wine.
If you’re a pasta fan, but are aiming to continue veganuary through the year, try the plant based spaghetti bolognese which even comes with a cheese alternative.
HuffPost UK Tesco Valentine's Day Dine In Meal
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Sharing starter + two mains + one side + one dessert + bottle of wine or fizz = £20
There’s a pretty full menu to pick from at Tesco, we’ve got our eye on the caramelised red onion & camembert sharing bread to start, chicken kiev with black garlic and sirloin steak with Diane butter for main, a serving of potato dauphinoise to have on the side, polished off with double chocolate profiteroles.
Tesco have generously thrown in a full bottle of its Finest wine or prosecco with its meal deal this year, or half a bottle of Tesco Finest Premier Cru Champagne if you’re feeling particularly fancy.
There’s also plenty of vegetarian and vegan options including crispy garlic mushrooms with chipotle ketchup, mushroom “scallops” with chilli and lime noodles made from pan fried succulent eryngii mushrooms and served with fresh edamame beans. Delicious.
HuffPost UK Louise/HuffPost UK Morrison's Valentine's Day Deal
One starter + one main + two sides + dessert + a bottle of wine = £15
A mid-range option comes from Morrisons which has a generous deal of two sides and a bottle of wine, trumping Aldi and M&S. Dishes included in the deal include a camembert tear and share bread, British beef wellington, vegetable medley with jersey butter and raspberry panna cotta. Not to mention a bottle from Morrisons own wine, or prosecco, collection.
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If you’re ditching the meat, the roasted aubergine stack, celeriac steaks with a portobello mushroom sauce, petit pois, edamame beans and melt in the middle puddings will surely whet your appetite.
HuffPost UK Asda was unable to provide us with product images, so we used a promotional photo to illustrate its meal deal.
One starter + one main + two sides + one dessert + a bottle of wine = £15
You’ll find our shopping basket full of vegetarian and vegan goodies from Asda this year. With roasted pepper bites, vegan risotto, vegetable parmentier and mango pots look simply scrumptious. A bottle of its extra special malbec will tie the food together nicely too.
If you’re a meat eater, then there’s plenty of alternative options too, including tempura prawns to start, chorizo macaroni cheese, mini flatbreads and brownie domes to feast on.
Aldi/pyxstudio Aldi was unable to provide us with product images, so we used a promotional photo to illustrate its meal deal.
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One starter + one main + one side + one dessert = £9.66
Aldi’s meal deal for Valentine’s Day is as expected, the cheapest on offer – you can get a starter, main, side and dessert for as little as £4.83 each. So for two meal you’ll get change from a tenner. Winner, winner, chicken dinner eh?
We’d recommend the salmon fillets with heart-shaped butter, accompanied with cheddar mash potato and melt in the middle puddings for afters. If you can fit it in.
Bear in mind that Aldi’s deal doesn’t however include a bottle of fizz so you’ll have to buy that separately.


thehuffingtonpostuk--2020-01-29--Andrew Strauss: 'I Try Not To Say I Have Bad Days. They’re Just Days I’m Remembering'

Adam Davy / PA Images / Getty Images / HuffPost UK Sir Andrew Strauss
Head In The Game sees athletes across a variety of disciplines speak candidly about their mental wellbeing – from occasional periods of poor mental health to ongoing, sometimes debilitating, struggles with mental illness. They also share coping mechanisms and the support they’ve turned to during their lowest points.
In the summer of 2017, Andrew Strauss’s wife Ruth started experiencing vague symptoms – a sore back, general aches and pains, and feeling tired all the time.
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Scans later revealed a surprising diagnosis: stage four lung cancer – a rare form known as ALK positive non-small cell lung cancer, which mostly affects non-smokers.
“The day Ruth was diagnosed it was like our whole world came crashing down,” says Strauss, who was in Australia with the Ashes at the time and rushed back home to be with her. “She became really unwell very quickly.
“It was a huge surprise for us. We just couldn’t understand for the life of us how Ruth had managed to develop this cancer. We had no idea, actually, that if you don’t smoke, lung cancer is a viable option.”
The reality is that an estimated 10-15% of lung cancers occur in non-smokers. These cancers tend to affect younger people and more women than men, and it’s something Strauss wants to raise awareness of.
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“To hear it was stage four, so it wasn’t one Ruth was going to recover from, that was incredibly hard to take,” he says.
PA Archive/PA Images Andrew Strauss with his wife Ruth after he received his OBE.
Treatment afforded the couple, along with their two young sons, another 12 months together.
“Ruth was incredible in that time, remaining positive, making sure that she appreciated and made the most of every moment, and also not sticking her head in the sand,” says Strauss. “She prepared me and the boys for what was to come.” In December 2018, the family flew to Australia to spend Christmas with Ruth’s relatives. She passed away on 29 December, aged 46.
In the year since Ruth’s death, Strauss has learned a lot about grief – but also life. “I was so busy over the last 15 years playing cricket, working for Sky, straight into the cricket administration,” he says. “It was always that thing of, ‘I’m really busy at the moment, but at some stage things will calm down and we can spend a bit more time together as a family.’
“I think it’s so easy to just keep pushing down that road forever and never really doing it. I’m certainly more conscious of saying ‘no’ more, not sweating the small stuff as much, and savouring life a bit more.
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“I’ve got a responsibility at the moment to raise those two boys, and I’m trying to do as good a job as I can.”
Visionhaus via Getty Images Andrew Strauss with sons Luca (left) and Samuel (right).
Jenny Thomas, the family’s child grief and loss counsellor, told Strauss shortly after Ruth’s death was that there are two key types of behaviour when mourning a loved one: You’re either looking forward and pushing on with your new life, or you’re dealing with a loss, in which case you’re thinking about what’s happened and getting upset.
“Her advice to me was very much like, ‘If you feel like you’re doing too much of one without the other, that’s not great.’ So if you’re just pushing ahead and not thinking about what’s happened, that’s not great,” says Strauss. “And if you’re just sitting there not getting out of bed in the morning, that’s not great either.”
This has become a mantra, of sorts. “There have been some bad days – I try not to say bad because they’re just days when I’m remembering,” he says. “Yes of course, you get sad and you cry. But there have also been a lot of good days as well.
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“I’ve always felt relatively accepting of wherever I am in life and just cracking on with it, but there are times when it still hits you like a 10-tonne truck.”
AP POOL The Strauss family.
In the past year, Strauss’s close friends and family have rallied round, providing support and helping out where needed. But counselling has been indispensable as well.
“Having professional help has been so invaluable, because there’s always someone there that can provide an answer for you – it might not be the right answer, but it provides a way forward for you,” he says.
“Jenny helped us deal with the situation and also helped us prepare the kids for what was coming, and then she’s obviously remained on-hand to help me and the kids deal with bereavement,” Strauss said. “She’s been like a fairy godmother to us, she’s been incredible, and it would’ve been a lot harder without her.”
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GLYN KIRK via Getty Images
Now, Strauss is slowly turning his attention back to cricket. In September, not long after being knighted, he was appointed to a new role within the England and Wales Cricket Board, which will see him play a part in driving all aspects of the professional game, including women’s, men’s and disability cricket.
But he’s also honouring his wife’s legacy by establishing The Ruth Strauss Foundation – and speaking more openly about death and grief. The foundation offers grants for research into rare forms of lung cancers and provides support to patients and their families.
“I feel very grateful that through the foundation I’ve been able to have a very positive outlet for my grief,” Strauss says. “I think that’s really sustained me, and I’ve got this passion about creating a worthwhile legacy for Ruth’s name – it’s an important thing for me, the boys, and it’s important the world knows what a special woman Ruth was.”
In August, on day two of the second Ashes Test between England and Australia, Lords Cricket Ground “turned red” in Ruth’s memory. It was around this time that Strauss decided he wanted to speak more openly, and publicly, about his grief. He wanted to show it’s ok to not be ok.
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“I just feel that death is a bit of a taboo, and people don’t like talking about it, and grief in particular is a very solitary thing,” he says.
“As a society we just don’t deal with it very well – I look at what has happened with mental health in recent years, and even the MeToo movement, in terms of these incredibly tough times that people go through that they feel like they have to go through on their own.
“It feels like with grief, there’s an opportunity there for us to be much more open about it, because people don’t know what to say, and even for the people who are grieving, it’s hard to open up to people.
“My experience is that if you are open and honest about it, and you’re able to have that conversation, then it makes everyone feel a bit easier – and if you’re going through it, the more support you have, the better.”
Visit HuffPost UK’s dedicated Head in the Game site to read our full series of daily interviews with sports people about their mental health and wellbeing.
Getty Images / HuffPost UK Head In The Game
Getty Images / HuffPost UK Head In The Game interviewees: (top, left to right) Frank Bruno, Jordanne Whiley, Becky Downie, Elise Christie, Andrew Strauss; (bottom, left to right) Rebecca Adlington, Liam Broady, Eniola Aluko, Marcus Trescothick, Jo Pavey.
Useful websites and helplines:


thehuffingtonpostuk--2020-01-29--This Octopus Sock Dryer Helps Me Tackle The Mountain That Is My Kids’ Washing

Huffington Post UK Honestly it's life-changing
Honestly, it’s life changing is a regular series where we talk about the weird and wonderful possessions we can’t imagine life without. Think of it as an ode to the mundane, bizarre and, sometimes, wholly unnecessary products in our lives.
There’s one thing they don’t mention at ante-natal classes, and that’s the sock avalanche coming your way. There’s a good reason: it would needlessly terrify parents-to-be at an already intense time.
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All the other rubbish bits of raising a child – the nappies, the 3am feeds, the tantrums, the refusal to eat anything but Wotsits – are phases. And phases come to an end. But not socks, socks just get bigger and more confusing.
For a while the socks in my life were out of control. Or, to be more accurate, were controlling me. I have three young children, which means, including me and my wife, we get through ten individual socks per day most of the year – I’ve tried cutting our usage down but the way my kids treat their feet is truly inhumane.
Ignore them for even a short time and you’re staring at your very own dirty sock Everest. The washing part is easy, but it’s drying them when the pain really starts. That’s what used to keep me up at night – nothing ruins an evening more than remembering at 11pm you’ve got a massive wash to hang up and it’s mostly items of clothing smaller than your hand.
I needed help and it came in the form of a laundry product from the sea gods: IKEA’s octopus hanging dryer.
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HuffPost UK/ IKEA Octopus Dryer
Standard dryers just aren’t cut out for the job. I’ve tried most of them. Tiny socks fall off never to be seen again (don’t talk to me about radiators, once one slides down the back of one of those who knows where it actually goes), big ones fold back on themselves and stay damp for days, and they’re all just taking up valuable towel drying room anyway.
Then it comes to pairing them. I’m not the kind of happy-go-lucky guy who can throw any old socks together if they look vaguely similar. Balling up something that’s pale blue and covered in hotdogs with something that’s darker blue and covered in burgers knocks my universe off its axis.
But that makes the job a horrifically long and tortuous process. Yes, there are highs – finding a match after hours of searching is one of life’s thrills – but mostly it’s lows. Especially when kids hit school age and you’re working various shades of grey.
I feared this was how it would be forever. Then we ordered the octopus and everything changed.
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When it arrived I cut off the packaging, its eight legs flopped down and our eyes met (it literally has eyes, pleading eyes that are begging for more of your tiny garments). It wasn’t love at first sight, but I could tell we were going to be good friends. Where on a real octopus there are suckers, this subset of the species has evolved pegs so I can securely attach socks along its tentacles. Those socks aren’t going anywhere now.
If I’m feeling particularly organised I’ll peg pairs next to each other, sometimes even on the same one. When it’s warm outside I simply pick the plastic cephalopod up by its head and hang it on the washing line. I’ve become so attached I considered taking it on our last family holiday. My wife had to gently prise it out of my hands and whisper: “It’s ok, the children will mostly be wearing sandals without socks.”
Admittedly a few socks still get away, some just don’t want to be paired up for life. But I’ve bought another octopus to help deal with those.
There is one thing that bugs me about this pretty much flawless product though: why didn’t they call it a Socktopus?


thehuffingtonpostuk--2020-01-29--Rugby Showed Me I Had The Strength To Tackle My Mental Health

HuffPost UK Courtesy of the author
Two years ago, I suffered a traumatic experience that left me feeling weak and vulnerable. Before I’d always been really confident, but after what happened, I blamed myself. I began to think that I must be a really weak person. My self-confidence completely deteriorated and I was feeling what’s probably best described as fragile.
I decided I needed an outlet, something to turn to that would help me pick myself up and rebuild my confidence. That’s when a colleague suggested that I come along with them for a rugby training session.
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I’d never come close to even thinking about playing rugby – I’d never even watched a rugby match on TV or otherwise – and I had absolutely no idea what I was getting myself into. If I’m honest, rugby came across as a bit of a brutish sport and I thought you’d have to be quite tough to play it, which really isn’t me. I thought I’d get absolutely annihilated if I tried to play! But my colleague persevered in trying to convince me that there was so much more to it than just being tackled, and I agreed to give it a go.
When I showed up to my first session at Streatham Croydon RFC, I was petrified. But from the very beginning, it was such a supportive atmosphere that eased me in gently through fitness and drills, and learning things like how to throw a rugby ball properly and some of the rules of the game. I enjoyed it so much that I played in a development game that weekend, alongside other women who at a similar level to me.
“From day one, I felt empowered: I realised I wasn’t fragile, and I realised I could hit someone just as hard as they could hit me”
After the first couple of tackles, I found out that, actually, I’m not made of glass and that it turns out most of the fear about getting tackled is in your head. It really doesn’t hurt, and – while there can be injuries in rugby just as much as there can be in any sport – if you tackle properly then you don’t get hurt; you’ll just go down onto very soft, muddy ground most of the time.
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From day one, I felt empowered: I realised I wasn’t fragile, and I realised I could hit someone just as hard as they could hit me. I could do all the things that they could do. I started to have a bit more faith in myself, to start to trust myself again and to trust my instincts, which I hadn’t been able to do for months. This started to manifest itself in everyday life too, and I began to have confidence in myself to strive for more. I set myself goals, both personally and professionally, and I pushed to gain new qualifications at work because I knew that I could do it. Today, my standards are higher than ever before.
We know exercise boosts our mental health, makes us feel stronger, makes our bodies feel better and brings clarity to our thoughts, but when I was on the field, I don’t think I’ve ever been happier. It opened doors for me I never knew were there to be opened, and now I play football, I climb; all things that I would never have tried before playing rugby. I’ve got so much more energy now and I feel that I have an unlimited amount of happiness. That’s something that I never thought would be possible after everything that happened to me.
Rugby is a great game for embracing different types of people, of all shapes and sizes – you’re not expected to be this super athletic person, because that’s not what’s needed for every position. That meant everyone on the team is different, nobody is ever judged, and everyone truly loved you for who you are.
HuffPost UK Courtesy of the author
That also means the social side of rugby, too, is brilliant and kept me wanting to go back time and time again. Some of my teammates have become some of my best friends. In previous friendships, I’ve sometimes found women haven’t been so supportive of other women and sometimes put one another down, but my whole rugby team are so focused on supporting and empowering one another. We all do a variety of jobs and come from very different backgrounds which is fascinating in itself, but we have this shared mentality that you can do anything, regardless of being a woman, of your background, of your sexuality.
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After my traumatic experience, I felt so many emotions. I felt ashamed but didn’t understand why I felt that way; I felt that I was to blame, that I didn’t really know who I was any more, or whether it was even right to feel this way at all. It’s a very complicated thing to go through and I think that I just rolled with it, rather than ever actually dealing with it. Getting into rugby helped me to kickstart that process; I found it easier to speak to some of my new teammates about what had happened to me, which helped to bring a bit more clarity to everything.
As soon as I walked into the club, I felt such complete acceptance from everyone. There are no judgemental feelings, people are just happy to see you and interested in what you’re saying. When I told some of the girls what had happened to me, there was never really any pity, it was more matter of fact than that. They helped me to realise that I didn’t deserve what had happened, and that I had the strength to take my life back and do whatever I wanted to do.
“I don’t feel the need to be anything other than me now, and I think that’s probably the ultimate thing to achieve in life”
Looking back, I can’t imagine not playing rugby now. I’m in my second season, and I’m captain of the development team and looking to build a second development team next season. For others who might find themselves in the same boat, I’d definitely encourage them to be brave and to have a go. It’s not what it looks like – there’s so much more to the game than being tackled to the ground, and I’ve played for two seasons now and never sustained an injury.
While I don’t know if you ever fully recover from trauma, it’s thanks to rugby that I was able to pick myself back up and get back on my feet. Sport is a great way to take your life back. It gives you a new lease of life, and you start to feel stronger and better both physically and mentally, and it happens quicker than you might expect.
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I don’t feel the need to be anything other than me now, and I think that’s probably the ultimate thing to achieve in life: not to have to strive to impress other people and to just be happy with yourself. I think that if you can try playing rugby, you can pretty much try anything.
England Rugby has created the Inner Warrior campaign to encourage women nationwide to have a go at playing rugby, with free Warrior Camps running up until 9 February. For more information or to find a session near you, visit englandrugby.com/innerwarrior


thehuffingtonpostuk--2020-01-29--Birth Diaries: 'My 11lb Baby Got Stuck In The Middle Of My Water Birth'

HuffPost UK
In HuffPost Birth Diaries we hear the extraordinary stories of the everyday miracle of birth. This week, Danielle Bodicoat shares her story. If you’d like to share yours, email amy.packham@huffpost.com.
I’ve always had large babies, but my third was definitely the biggest of the lot. The older two had weighed 9lb 13oz and 8lb 6oz when they were born – and at the time, I read a lot of scare stories about birthing heavier babies. They were all quite negative, to be honest. But despite the few complications I had, I’d love women to know that it’s not always as bad as those fearful articles portray.
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I didn’t even measure big during the pregnancy with my third child. Ironically, my growth had actually slowed down on the charts, so I went in for a scan two weeks before my due date. That’s when I found out he was already measuring over nine pounds – the first indicator my son was going to be on the larger side. But I wasn’t surprised or concerned at that point.
Knowing my baby was going to be big, I had a rountine appointment with the consultant. This is where you talk through the risks, one of which is shoulder dystocia, when the baby’s head has been born, but one of the shoulders gets stuck behind the pubic bone. The baby can stop getting oxygen very quickly and, if that happens, I was told, the room would fill up with people to get the baby out – even if that meant breaking a shoulder. I started to worry a bit.
My son was 10 days late. I was at home taking my other two to bed around 7pm and as I walked up the stairs, I got what I thought was a contraction, but brushed it off – I’d had Braxton Hicks for weeks beforehand, so assumed it was that. They got strong really quickly, though, and I couldn’t ignore them. I’d had really quick births too, you see, so I knew that was a possibility.
My partner and I rang my mum to look after the kids and as soon as she arrived, she told us to ring the hospital – my contractions were just two minutes apart.
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It was 8pm when we got there. The midwife did an examination and went to read my notes, but I had to call her back in almost immediately as I was already feeling the beginnings of an urge to push. It was really painful – and in hindsight, I know why – but also because it was happening so quickly.
My midwife was pretty old school. Very no-nonsense, quite strict with me and bossy, you could say. But I almost needed that to cut through the fog of what was happening (and she actually apologised after, for being so firm).
I was just happy to be in the birthing unit I planned to be in, and got into the pool despite being told I’d have to deliver my son outside the water. I never had time to get out the water in the end. As I was labouring, I told my husband I needed to push – he had to quickly grab the midwife who was eating her sandwich outside. She came in as the head pushed out really easily.
But then the shoulders got stuck.
HuffPost UK Supplied
It was terrifying, everything the consultants had told me about, but it had never happened with the earlier births, which is why I thought I’d be okay. “I dunno if it helps, but he’s got black hair,” my husband said. Our first two are redheads.
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The midwife told him to hit the emergency button, and the room quickly filled with the resuscitation team. I was so glad I was warned about this – it kept me calm. “We need to get this baby out now,” the midwife kept telling me. But they couldn’t get me out the pool at this point. I was being held up and out as they tried to keep my son’s head out of the water – or he would have drowned.
My head was all over the place, and the midwife was getting firm. I didn’t think I had the energy left, but I was so scared of what would happen if I didn’t push him out – I really didn’t want intervention. I rested my elbows on the back of the pool and pushed down with everything I had. The shoulders eased. Behind me, the team were prepping everything for my son’s arrival.
As soon as his shoulders slid out, the rest of him followed – but he was completely tangled up in his cord. It was really long, around his neck and his shoulders. It was horrible to see. He was blue, his eyes were shut, there was no sound. The whole room fell silent.
The midwife cut the cord straight away and passed him to the resuscitation team. I remember hearing his cry, a long, loud, angry cry just a few minutes later and it was amazing to hear. I remember hearing the team talking about how big he was! Someone ran off to get the scales to weigh him, and even though I was in a fog I knew, as I heard them laughing, that everything was going to be okay.
I was lifted out the water on to the bed and had my first cuddle with him. It was comforting knowing that even though I had a big baby – he weighed in at 10lb 15oz in the end – and not everything went to plan, I still had the birth I wanted.
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My birth advice? Having a few mantras in my head really helped! One of the ones my mum told me, which really helped, was: “Every contraction is one step closer to meeting your baby”. She prepped me with a few!


thehuffingtonpostuk--2020-01-29--The 'Useful Idiots': How These British Academics Helped Russia Deny War Crimes At The UN

A group of British academics has sparked “wide and serious concern” among diplomats after its work was used by Russia to accuse humanitarian workers in Syria of staging war crimes.
A European diplomat this week joined Amnesty International in condemning the work of the Working Group on Syria, Propaganda and Media (WGSPM), saying its members were either “unwittingly and naively acting as agents of propaganda for the Russians, or actively support[ing] Russian disinformation”.
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None of the academics – one of whom left his job last year after it emerged he was a supporter of 9/11 conspiracy theories – is an expert in the Middle East, Syria or chemical weapons, and the group has previously been accused of “whitewashing war crimes”.
Yet speaking at the United Nations Security Council last week, a senior Russian official praised the “recognised experts and reputable scientists” of the WGSPM, citing their work as he claimed a chemical weapons attack in 2018 never happened.
The same day, another Russian official tweeted a link to the group’s work that accuses the civilian search and rescue group the White Helmets of being “actively involved” in murdering civilians to frame the Syrian government.
There is no reliable evidence to support the theory and an investigation by the globally recognised Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) concluded that a chemical attack did occur.
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It is indeed very likely the victims at Douma were murdered captives. As such a potential warcrime and one that is being covered up by @opcw management, western governments and most of the mainstream media. But the truth is coming out. — Piers Robinson (@PiersRobinson1) January 23, 2020
Although not mandated to attribute blame, the report found chlorine gas was released from two canisters that had been dropped from the air. Syrian government and Russian forces are the only ones equipped with aircraft meaning opposition forces could not have carried out the attack.
A European diplomat told HuffPost UK: “There is wide and serious concern about the extent to which academics in the WGSPM appear to be pursuing issues which so closely overlay with Russian lies and propaganda, particularly on the use of chemical weapons in Syria.
“Russia appears to be using these academics to amplify and bolster their own disinformation, particularly to undermine the OPCW and divert attention from their own activities.
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“It is unclear whether these academics are unwittingly and naively acting as agents of propaganda for the Russians – or they actively support Russian misinformation.
“Either way, it is difficult to see how their involvement with WGSPM is compatible with having any official role in academia.”
Tim Hayward teaches environmental political theory at the University of Edinburgh. Facebook
The WGSPM counts a number of academics among its members including professors Tim Hayward and Paul McKeigue of the University of Edinburgh, Professor David Miller of the University of Bristol and Dr Tara McCormack of the University of Leicester.
It was established in 2017 by Piers Robinson, who used to teach at Sheffield University but left last year after HuffPost UK reported he was a supporter of 9/11 conspiracy theories.
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Piers Robinson regularly appears on Kremlin-backed media channels. RT/YouTube
Robinson told HuffPost at the time that his “decision to leave [...] was based on a number of reasons relating to both professional goals and personal circumstances,” and that he was not “criticised or pressured to leave by the university because of my research or public statements”.
Shadi Hamid, senior fellow and Middle East expert at the Brookings Institute thinktank, told HuffPost UK: “These academics don’t know enough about the Middle East to be able to sort through what is real and what is not real.
“And because these people don’t know a lot about the Middle East, they are susceptible to these kinds of bonkers ideas.”
It is also an established fact that a) the White Helmets are basically Al Q (they provide most of the reporting from Jihadi held areas and b) that hospitals are used as bases by these groups. — Tara McCormack (@McCormack_Tara) February 5, 2018
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The WGSPM has published a number of papers that all echo Russian disinformation lines and suggest western governments or those working for them are actually responsible for events such as the Skripal poisoning.
How did it start?
Some 40 people were killed in a chemical weapons attack in the Syrian town of Douma in April 2018.
Shortly afterwards, the WGSPM set about trying to prove it had been staged by the White Helmets as a means of justifying the US, UK and French missile strikes against the Assad government that had followed.
“This kind of denial of war crimes in Syria – it’s like saying vaccines cause autism, or that 9/11 was an inside job.
“It’s insane and the fact their universities still employ them is embarrassing for their universities.”
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Why does the Working Group believe the chemical attack didn’t happen?
The WGSPM does not provide any video, picture or documentary evidence to support its theory. Instead, its central argument – which it describes as “[t]he clearest evidence that the White Helmets were actively involved in managing
a massacre of civilians” - rests on a separate attack in 2017 which it argues Syrian jets could not have carried out because of its location. (The OPCW disagrees.)
The Working Group, at something of a stretch, then concludes that “the only possible alternative” is for the White Helmets to have been actively involved in “managing a massacre”.
Professor David Miller teaches political philosophy at the University of Bristol. RT/YouTube
The WGSPM’s claim that the OPCW report is wrong eschews experts and instead relies heavily on a number of dubious sources, many that the academics came across via Twitter, including:
When asked by HuffPost UK about the sources the WGSPM has used in its research, Robinson stood by them all, adding: “We do not ‘rely on’ these sources: in each of the instances you list, we have examined the original material and drawn our own conclusions.”
The leaks
The group’s conspiracy theory was given an apparent boost last year by a leaked internal report penned by an OPCW worker that appeared to cast doubt on the widely held belief that a chemical weapons attack had indeed taken place.
But a source close to the OPCW told HuffPost UK that the document given to the Working Group was based on incorrect assumptions and ignored crucial evidence on which the OPCW investigation’s final conclusions were based – just one of the reasons it was not reflected in the eventual public report.
A further source cited by the academics was a series of leaked anonymous emails apparently written by a different OPCW staffer questioning the organisation’s work. HuffPost UK, however, has learned that much of the OPCW’s investigation was conducted after the whistleblower, self-styled as “Alex”, left the organisation.
The OPCW has stood by its conclusion that a chemical attack using chlorine as a weapon did happen.
Why is Russia interested?
Russia intervened in Syria in 2015 in support of president Bashar al-Assad’s violent crushing of a popular revolution.
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It has subsequently sought to discredit and veto OPCW investigations that have directly accused its ally of a number of chemical weapons attacks.
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Kate Starbird, an expert in online disinformation networks at the University of Washington, told HuffPost UK: “It has all the elements of ‘throw as many different conspiracy theories at the wall until we find one that sticks’.
“It’s taken a few years for them to find one that sticks but the techniques are so similar to what we’ve seen in other events like the [downing of flight] MH17 and the Skripal poisoning.”
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Why do you refer to "Assad's Chemical Attacks"? Can you not distinguish speculation from established fact? — Tim Hayward (@Tim_Hayward_) July 7, 2017
In November last year Russia’s own OPCW representative addressed The Hague and praised the “dozens of experts, recognised and respected people, with remarkable international reputations, led by Professor Robinson” as it made its case that the OPCW had been hijacked by western nations in order to frame the Syrian government.
Russian state media channels have been working hard to promote the narrative, and RT – formerly Russia Today – provided Robinson and McCormack with a platform to air their views.
"You have a corruption of the independence of the OPCW"@PiersRobinson1, co-director of the Organisation for Propaganda Studies discusses war, propaganda and crushing dissent with @uniofleicester's @McCormack_Tara on @Renegade_Inc.
MORE: https://t.co/BjDZaAP9MT pic.twitter.com/hD7K3UbZ2H — RT UK (@RTUKnews) October 19, 2019
Caroline Orr, a behavioural scientist who specialises in disinformation networks on social media, told HuffPost UK the paper was “the latest in a long line of misleading and defamatory claims from the ‘working group’”.
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“It’s done for the purpose of creating confusion about what’s going on in Syria,” she said, “to make people doubt the facts and, ultimately, to bury evidence of some of the most heinous atrocities and war crimes in modern history.
“If you look at the tactics they use, they’re straight out of a propaganda handbook.”
Undeterred, Russia has stuck to the theory and last week reiterated the claim at the UN.
If so, the question arises of who was involved in the staging? The White Helmets are an obvious candidate since they admit to have produced the film of the dead civilians and it is known that they were involved in arranging the bodies of the dead including children. — David Miller (@Tracking_Power) November 14, 2019
Kristyan Benedict, Amnesty International UK’s Syria campaign manager, told HuffPost UK: “Discrediting the White Helmets is partly about discrediting war crimes evidence.
“The White Helmets’ filming at attack sites has meant they’ve built up a significant body of evidence of potential war crimes by pro-Assad and Russian forces – something neither Damascus nor Moscow views kindly.
“The millions of Syrians whose lives have been devastated by years of barrel bombing, chemical weapons attacks, imprisonment, torture and killing deserve genuine truth and justice, not this squalid propaganda.”
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“The millions of Syrians whose lives have been devastated by years of barrel bombing, chemical weapons attacks, imprisonment, torture and killing deserve genuine truth and justice, not this squalid propaganda.” - Kristyan Benedict, Amnesty International UK’s Syria campaign manager
Two days after Russia spoke at the UN, Robinson and Miller appeared at a briefing in parliament sponsored by Labour’s shadow peace and disarmament minister, Fabian Hamilton.
Hamilton has insisted he was unaware of who would be speaking when his office agreed to book a room for an anti-war collective “to discuss the OPCW report”. Hamilton’s spokesperson added that the shadow minister “does not support [the speakers’] offensive and factually incorrect views”.
His spokesperson told HuffPost UK: “Fabian fully supports the OPCW’s conclusions into the vile chemical attacks that took place in Douma in 2018.
“Any suggestion that Fabian somehow supports the ridiculous conspiracy theories held by some of the attendees at this event are ludicrous.”
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Responding to questions from HuffPost UK, Robinson maintained that the OPCW report “can reasonably be described as fraudulent by the standards applied to scientific reporting”.
He added: “As far as we know, no one is denying that the Douma incident and other alleged chemical attacks in Syria were war crimes.


thehuffingtonpostuk--2020-01-29--The 10 Must-See Moments From The National Television Awards 2020

With 2020 marking the 25th anniversary of the National Television Awards, the pressure was on to make it one to remember.
And while it wasn’t always for the right reasons, people were certainly talking about the event on Tuesday night.
But if the thought of sitting through two-and-a-half hours of famous types slapping each other on the back was a little too much, don’t worry, we’ve got you covered.
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From touching speeches, to surprise appearances and unfortunate jokes, here’s the things you need to see...
David Walliams’ opening sketch
Something tells us David Walliams is going to have some explaining to do when he heads back into work on Britain’s Got Talent later this week.
The new NTAs host transformed into his fellow judges for his opening skit, and let’s just say we don’t think they will be too thrilled with the result – although we must admit, David nailed Alesha Dixon’s laugh.
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Laurence Fox gets booed
ITV
Having made a rather controversial name for himself in the last few weeks, the NTAs audience let Laurence Fox know exactly what they though of him when they booed a mention of his name during one of David’s links.
The presenter said: “You guys are the real stars by which I mean you are miles away from earth. Without you, us lot down here would be nothing. I mean, I would be fine – I have got my best-selling children’s books. But these people, their diaries would be emptier than Laurence Fox’s.”
Curtis Pritchard has an awkward moment
ITV
Our toes properly curled with Love Island star Curtis Pritchard was forced to watch one of his most infamous moments from the villa.
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The ITV2 reality show had been nominated for Best Challenge Show and as the nominations were read out, we relived the moment Amy Hart found out Curtis’ eyes had wandered.
The camera then cut to him and current girlfriend Maura Higgins in the audience, and their pained smiles said it all.
Jesy Nelson gets emotional
The Little Mix singer was reduced to tears as she won Best Factual for her BBC Three documentary Odd One Out, in which she opened up about the abuse she has faced since appearing on The X Factor in 2011 at the hands of internet trolls, which drove her to attempt suicide.
Jesy became emotional as she began to make her speech, in which she paid tribute to her boyfriend, Love Island star Chris Hughes.
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“This is so overwhelming. I’m such a baby. Thank you so much,” she said.
Nessa has a flirt with Tom Jones
Gavin & Stacey made a triumphant return on Christmas Day! 👏 A throughly deserved win for the Impact award! Lets hope for more iconic episodes in the future✨#NTAs pic.twitter.com/74Sxzi0Gd8 — National TV Awards (@OfficialNTAs) January 28, 2020
Having been the most-watched show of the last decade with a whopping 18.5 million viewers, it was only right Gavin & Stacey was honoured with a special Impact award on the night.
What we weren’t expecting though, was to see Ruth Jones, aka Nessa, having a little flirt with Sir Tom Jones, with whom the character is said to have history with on the show.
“You never write, you never call!” she joked. “There’s still a lot of electricity between me and Sir Tom, and don’t you knows it!”
Judy Finnigan returns to the scene of the crime
Doug Peters/EMPICS Entertainment
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This year marks 20 years since Judy’s infamous appearance at the NTAs, during which she made an acceptance speech for This Morning completely unaware that her bra was on display.
Returning to the stage to present the award for Best Live Magazine Show (which subsequently went to This Morning) alongside husband Richard Madeley, Judy joked: “It is nice to be back with all my clothes on this time.”
Actual Ross from Friends presents an award
ITV
Without wishing to sound unkind, the NTAs doesn’t always pull it out of the bag when it comes to finding people to present each award.
However, that was not the case this year, as not only had they secured Caitlyn Jenner, but actual Ross from Friends.
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Of course, David being buddies with David Schwimmer, he couldn’t help but make a few digs at him, and after Schwimmer plugged his new Sky comedy Intelligence, Walliams quipped: “I’m sure both of Sky’s viewers will enjoy it.”
Michelle Visage still isn’t over being voted off Strictly
Michelle Visage at the NTAs ITV
Speaking of awards presenters, Michelle Visage and the queens of RuPaul’s Drag Race UK sashayed their way onto the stage to hand out a gong – an opportunity Michelle used to make one last dig about being prematurely voted off last year’s Strictly.
After being met with a rapturous round of applause, she joked: “Where were all of you clapping when I Vogued on television?”.
Indeed.
Michael Palin pays touching tribute to Terry Jones
ITV
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Sir Michael Palin paid tribute to his late Monty Python co-star Terry Jones, who died last week, as he accepted the special recognition award.
“I want to dedicate this award tonight to someone who taught me more about television than anyone else, my dear friend and erstwhile Python, Terry Jones,” he said.
“Anyone who knows or has worked with Terry will have been infected with his infectious and extraordinary enthusiasm. Terry always worked to get something right. He had a certain skill in being very ruthless but also charming at the same time.”
David Walliams makes ill-judged Caroline Flack joke
David Williams: It's nice to see Caroline flack back on TV 😳😂 #NTAs pic.twitter.com/2v8MRbXDT6 — Neil Vorderman AKA nrsismad 💻 (@nrsismad) January 28, 2020
David was booed by the crowd after making a quip about Caroline Flack, who is currently awaiting trial after being charged with assaulting her boyfriend last month.
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After he thanked Joel Dommett, who appeared on stage with Hedgehog from The Masked Singer to present Best Serial Drama, David said: “So nice to see Caroline Flack back on TV as well.”
It was somewhat unclear whether David was referencing Hedgehog or indeed a clip from Emmerdale that was played as the nominations were read out, which featured a fight, but his comment was met negatively.


thehuffingtonpostuk--2020-01-28--David Walliams’ Joke About Caroline Flack Did Not Go Down Well At The NTAs

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David Walliams was booed by the National Television Awards crowd after making a quip about Caroline Flack during the show.
The former Love Island presenter is currently awaiting trial after being charged with assaulting her boyfriend last month.
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Having stepped down from her TV roles, Caroline was the butt of one of NTAs host David’s jokes after Emmerdale was crowned the winner of Best Serial Drama.
David Walliams made a joke about Caroline Flack as he hosted the NTAs ITV
After he thanked Joel Dommett, who appeared on stage with Hedgehog from The Masked Singer to present the award, David said: “So nice to see Caroline Flack back on TV as well.”
It was somewhat unclear whether David was referencing Hedgehog or indeed a clip from Emmerdale that was played as the nominations were read out, which featured a fight.
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Caroline Flack has pleaded not guilty to assaulting boyfriend Lewis Burton PA Wire/PA Images
Either way, the remark was met with a frosty reception from the audience, with boos audibly heard.
David’s joke was also negatively received online – most notably from one of his critics, Piers Morgan, who branded the comment “nasty”.
Walliams' nasty little dig at Caroline Flack went down like a lead balloon.
A bit like his entire hosting performance tonight. #NTAs — Piers Morgan (@piersmorgan) January 28, 2020
I rarely tweet as I find its normally a place where people come to bitch, but I just didn’t get the #CarolineFlack joke hence I came on here to find out... now I know I realise it wasn’t funny, it was unnecessary and spoilt the night. I like class and he showed none. — Harris.sings (@HarrisSings) January 28, 2020
no that caroline flack joke was not funny ! 😾😾#NTAs — Indra Diamandis (@IndraDiamandis1) January 28, 2020
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David Walliams should be sacked, he said it. That was bad the nasty dig at Caroline Flack crossed the line! #NTAs — Grace☺ (@gracex109) January 28, 2020
His comment on Caroline flack was unnecessary low blow. — liz mackin (@liz_mackin) January 28, 2020
Wow David Williams is painful to watch and then nasty digs at Caroline flack (scrapping the bottom of the barrel there!!) #NTAs — jubblyjob (@jubblyjob) January 28, 2020
Caroline was arrested charged with assaulting her boyfriend Lewis Burton in December, with a court later hearing that she allegedly hit him over the head with a lamp as he slept at her north London home.
She has entered a not guilty plea and will face trial on 4 March.
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Posting on her Instagram Story, she wrote: “Good luck to all the team and cast at tonight’s NTAs… it’s such a fun night… cmon Love Island.”
The ITV2 reality show was nominated for Best Challenge Show, but lost out to The Great British Bake Off.
Caroline has been replaced by Laura Whitmore for the current series of Love Island, and previously broke her social media silence to wish her well ahead of the show’s launch earlier this month.


thehuffingtonpostuk--2020-01-28--The Best Looks And Pictures From The NTAs Red Carpet

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With awards season officially in full swing, it was the turn of Britain’s biggest telly stars to get their moment in the spotlight on Tuesday night at the National Television Awards.
Once again, London’s O2 arena plays host to the NTAs, which honour the best of the box over the last 12 months.
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And 2020 marks a special year in the ceremony’s history as it celebrates its 25th anniversary.
Therefore, the stars were keen to dazzle that little bit more as they arrived on the red carpet outside the venue.
Rob Brydon and Ruth Jones Mike Marsland via Getty Images
The stars of Gavin & Stacey were present, following their hugely successful reunion episode over Christmas, which has since become the most watched non-sporting BBC show since current records started in 2002, with a whopping 18.5 million viewers.
The cast of RuPaul’s Drag Race UK were out in force, dolled up to the nines – as were the Loose Women.
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The Loose Women team David Fisher/Shutterstock
Strictly Come Dancing host Tess Daly made a rare red carpet appearance with husband Vernon Kay, while her co-host Claudia Winkleman shared some laughs with The Circle’s Emma Willis.
Vernon Kay and Tess Daly David M. Benett via Getty Images
Take a look at all the arrivals in the gallery below...


thehuffingtonpostuk--2020-01-29--HS2: Chancellor Sajid Javid Set To Back High Speed Rail Project

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Chancellor Sajid Javid is set to throw his weight behind the controversial HS2 rail project.
Javid is minded to support the high speed train initiative at a meeting with prime minister Boris Johnson and transport secretary Grant Shapps on Thursday.
Multiple outlets have reported that having reviewed costs and alternatives the chancellor will “broadly back” the high-speed line from London to Birmingham, Manchester and Leeds.
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Shapps has insisted that no decision on the controversial infrastructure project – the biggest in Europe – will be announced this week.
It has been estimated the scheme, which was allocated £56 billion in 2015, could cost up to £106 billion.
The prime minister told the Commons on Wednesday that a decision on the project would be made “very shortly”.
He said: “I just want to reassure all of my honourable friends and everybody, whatever persuasion they may be about HS2 across this Chamber, that there will be an announcement and a decision very shortly.”
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Some £8 billion has already been spent on the scheme.
The meeting comes as Javid has put pressure on cabinet colleagues to identify where cuts of 5% could be made in their departmental budgets.
In a letter, co-signed by Johnson, the chancellor urged ministers to identify projects that could be abandoned ahead of his first budget as chancellor in March.


thehuffingtonpostuk--2020-01-29--The Appliance Of Science: Why Labour Lags Behind The Tories As The Party Of The Future

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As it tries to prove its northern credentials, there’s no question that Boris Johnson’s government has a lot of big decisions on its plate. Today’s decision to ‘nationalise’ the Northern Rail franchise was a signal of interventionist intent, as was the PM’s apparently soothing reply to ‘Red Wall’ Tories calling in PMQs for HS2 to go ahead.
Yet away from the headlines - and the coming few days will inevitably be dominated by Brexit Day and Johnson’s plans for a UK-EU trade deal - something very significant was also announced today, with little fanfare. Science minister Chris Skidmore told Policy Exchange that he was “working at pace” to get a UK Advanced Research Projects Agency (ARPA to its friends) “up and running this year”.
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Why does this matter? Well, ARPA (for more detail read PX’s new report) has been championed by chief adviser Dominic Cummings as one of the most important initiatives of this entire government. It aims to pursue high-risk, high-reward transformative research, with the hope that it can help create a new generation of world-leading British start-ups in science and tech. Getting it up and running this year would be a huge feat.
Cummings has told colleagues that the new body (loosely modelled on the US’s DARPA that helped fuel Silicon Valley) will have failed unless it produces a high rate of failures. But for every three failures, one breakthrough could be huge, and Whitehall had better be braced for this brand new culture, insiders say. The Huawei decision this week underlined the lack of a home-grown tech giant to rival the Chinese firm, as well as SonyEricsson, Samsung and Nokia.
Soon after he started work in No.10 last summer, Cummings arrived in a T-shirt with the logo ‘Sci Foo’, a science conference held by Google at its California HQ. His many blogs have focused on the economic potential for a post-Brexit Britain of investing in science, tech and mathematics.
Early on he is said to have told some bemused spads that Johnson’s government could be remembered more for “radical science” than for Brexit. Some critics are naturally wary of Cummings’ ‘scientist as hero’ narrative, but at least he is painting a picture of a country with high-skilled jobs that can also finally crack its productivity problems.
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Dominic Cummings, political advisor to prime minister Boris Johnson, leaves 10 Downing Street. ASSOCIATED PRESS
Skidmore himself made a speech last week - in Durham University, near all those newly blue seats in the north east - detailing plans to boost the best manufacturing research across the whole of the UK. He and the PM committed to doubling the public R&D budget over five years, a big step towards the manifesto target of spending 2.4% of GDP on R&D by 2027.
Speaking of manifestos and the election, it was striking just how much the Tories talked about science. The word appeared just once in Labour’s manifesto, but 21 times in the Conservatives’ prospectus. Johnson made a big speech about it, Jeremy Corbyn didn’t. Way back in 2016, the chair of ‘Scientists for Labour’ claimed that “Corbyn himself has no interest in science”, a line disputed at the time but which many critics believe has been proved right since.
All of which is even more curious given Labour’s political history. Harold Wilson back in 1963 made an electrifying speech as Opposition leader with that famous line about forging a new economy in the “white heat” of a “scientific revolution”. Wilson had a chequered history on science projects, although his landmark Open University became the defining legacy of his vision of a modernised, educated nation.
It’s worth reading that Wilson speech in full (thanks to Nottingham Uni you can do so HERE) to get a measure of just how forward-thinking he was and how his powerful message was all about transforming a tired old country. He wrote afterwards that his aim had been to “replace the cloth cap [with] the white laboratory coat as the symbol of British labour”, and he largely achieved it.
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Contrast that with Corbyn, whom many voters felt wanted to take the UK backwards to the 1970s, and whose one modernising policy (free broadband) was simply deemed too incredible or peripheral to people’s lives. Labour actually pledged in its manifesto to get to 3% of R&D spending by 2030, but (apart from John McDonnell) few in the party actually shouted about it. The pharmaceutical industry said the UK’s research base would in fact be damaged by plans to overturn patents for breakthrough medicines and phase out R&D tax credits.
As it happens, all of the Labour leadership candidates seem to get that Corbyn just didn’t sound forward-looking enough. Selling ‘change’ to voters involves selling a vision of the future that is accessible, attractive and credible. Keir Starmer (who has been talking about the importance of AI and tech) is rightly running on a slogan of ‘another future is possible’.
Yet he will need to do much more to draft new science, tech and research policies to get his party back on the pitch it vacated. All of this may seem marginal to some, but Wilsonian optimism is what ended those long years of post-war Tory rule. If Labour is to avoid a decade of post-Brexit Tory rule, it needs something similarly positive. As Johnson clearly grasps, a party that owns the future often gets to own the present.
Quote Of The Day
“Put your flags away, you’re leaving”
A farewell to Nigel Farage from Mairead McGuinness, vice president of the European Parliament,
Cheat Sheet
The UK government has commissioned a charter plane to fly home 200 Britons from Wuhan, on the condition they agree to two weeks of ‘supported isolation’ at an unidentified medical facility in Britain. No.10 just doesn’t like the word ‘quarantine’.
MEPs in Strasbourg sang Auld Lang Syne after their final vote on the Withdrawal Agreement that formally secured the UK’s exit from the European Union.
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Private rail firm Arriva was stripped of the Northern Rail franchise by transport secretary Grant Shapps after “unacceptable” delays, cancellations and dirty trains. But half the delays were due to infrastructure failures.
US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo arrived for talks with Dominic Raab. Pompeo, who told reporters he wants ‘a conversation’ over the UK’s decision to allow Huawei to help build its 5G network, meets the PM tomorrow.
Rebecca Long-Bailey has formally made the final ballot in the Labour leadership election, after firefighters union the FBU endorsed her. She now has the required three affiliates for the final round, with Unite and the Baker’s Union already having given their support.
Select committee chairs were elected by MPs, with Jeremy Hunt getting Health, Tom Tugendhat Foreign Affairs, Tobias Ellwood Defence, Greg Clark Science and Tech, Stephen Timms Work and Pensions.
What I’m Reading
John Bolton Knows What He’s Doing - The Atlantic
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thehuffingtonpostuk--2020-01-29--Nigel Farage Makes One Final Cringeworthy Scene In Brussels As He's Told: 'Put Your Flags Away'

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It’s no secret in Brussels that Nigel Farage and his merry band of Brexit Party MEPs are fond of a cringeworthy stunt.
The European Parliament had barely returned in July when the group tried to stir up trouble by turning their backs while the EU’s Anthem to Europe was played.
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So it wasn’t exactly a shock when the Brexit Party decided to mark Farage’s final speech as an MEP (which he used to repeatedly slam the EU) by enthusiastically brandishing Union Jack flags.
“We know you’re going to miss us,” Farage told parliament (despite people shouting the exact opposite at him).
“I know you want to ban our national flag, but we’re going to wave you goodbye...,” the Brexit Party leader said, before his mic was cut off.
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Unsurprisingly, Mairead McGuinness – the first vice-president of European parliament – was pretty unimpressed with this little production.
“Please sit down, resume your seats,” she told Brexit Party MEPs.
“Put your flags away – you’re leaving – and take them with you if you’re leaving now,” McGuinness added, sparking applause from sections of parliament.
But she wasn’t the only one left cringing at Farage and his attempt at a dramatic exit.
Dear EU: these embarrassing, awful, blinkered, jingoistic, Little England arseholes have nothing to do with me https://t.co/XZ2kDZ8lj5 — Marina O'Loughlin (@MarinaOLoughlin) January 29, 2020
This is embarrassing https://t.co/LQIh7Eqpnz — Ellie Goulding (@elliegoulding) January 29, 2020
You had to invent oppression and pretend you’re getting your freedom from an institution by voting your way out of it. Absolute cringe fest! — Lord Redmond Grinchly (@lord_redmond) January 29, 2020
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i sat in that parliament as a teenager during a school trip, wearing a "LAUGH, LIVE, DANCE, FCUK" t-shirt, and even that wasn't as shaming as this — Hannah Jane Parkinson (@ladyhaja) January 29, 2020
You’d swear the EU had imprisoned them. https://t.co/Dv8wAZarly — Louise McSharry (@louisemcsharry) January 29, 2020
Nigel Farage and the Brexit Party. Charmless and graceless to the very last. Consistent, I suppose — John Crace (@JohnJCrace) January 29, 2020
So embarrassed for us https://t.co/jvmYb5Hhvo — Hadley Freeman (@HadleyFreeman) January 29, 2020
If your aim was to embarrass the nation then you’ve succeeded. — Matchdata (@matchdatacouk) January 29, 2020
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Farage’s speech came on the same day that European parliament ratified Boris Johnson’s Brexit deal, making the UK’s exit from the EU on Friday inevitable.
The vote marked the end of Britain’s 47-year-long membership of the bloc.
The moment sparked emotional scenes in the chamber among Remainer MEPs, who sang Auld Lang Syne and held aloft scarves bearing the words “always united”.
But tweets from the Brexit Party’s Martin Daubney suggest that he and his colleagues were already in the party spirit ahead of the Britain’s departure from the EU on January 31.
“It’s a carnival atmosphere for jubilant Brexiteers,” he wrote, posting a video of MEPs at the bar.
Say what you like about us Brexiteers but we know how to have a good knees-up!
Superb fun at this historic moment with @Nigel_Farage @Michael_Heaver #CheersBrexiteers pic.twitter.com/JQboIjZYm6 — Martin Daubney MEP ➡ (@MartinDaubney) January 29, 2020
It’s a carnival atmosphere for jubilant Brexiteers! @brexitparty_uk 👏🏻🇬🇧🥰 pic.twitter.com/nf97v9F8ZV — Martin Daubney MEP ➡ (@MartinDaubney) January 29, 2020


thehuffingtonpostuk--2020-01-29--'Ashamed' Piers Morgan Apologises For Homophobic Language Used In Historic EastEnders Article

Piers Morgan has apologised for using homophobic language in a historic EastEnders story that has resurfaced on Twitter.
The Good Morning Britain presenter said he was “ashamed” of the language he used when writing about a same-sex couple in the BBC soap in an article for The Sun, which was published 31 years ago.
Piers Morgan S Meddle/ITV/Shutterstock
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The story led on calls from MPs to take EastEnders off air, after it aired a kiss between gay characters Colin Russell and Guido Smith.
Piers referred to the pair as “yuppie p***s” in the copy, noting that the kiss was aired at a time “when millions of children were watching”.
After actor Michael Cashman, who played Colin, was interviewed for a recent piece in the Guardian about his work on LGBTQ rights, journalist Chris Godfrey tweeted The Sun story to demonstrate what “an almighty backlash” the EastEnders storyline faced at the time.
Having pointed his followers in the direction of Piers’ byline on the piece, the journalist-turned-presenter then issued a full apology on Twitter.
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As I've said before, I’m ashamed of some of the inappropriate language I used in The Sun thirty years ago about gay stars. They were different times, but that’s no excuse - it was offensive, it was wrong, and I apologise for it. https://t.co/HjdG9VfLZD — Piers Morgan (@piersmorgan) January 29, 2020
Quote-tweeting the article, he said: “As I’ve said before, I’m ashamed of some of the inappropriate language I used in The Sun thirty years ago about gay stars. They were different times, but that’s no excuse - it was offensive, it was wrong, and I apologise for it.”
Michael played EastEnders’ first gay character, Colin, between 1986 and 1989.
In 1987, the character made soap history he shared a forehead kiss with Barry Clark, which was the first gay kiss to be screened on prime time British television.
Two years later, Colin’s kiss with Guido became the first mouth-to-mouth gay kiss on a British soap.
After leaving EastEnders shortly afterwards, Michael co-founded LGBTQ rights campaign group Stonewall.
He made a brief return to EastEnders in 2016, when his character paid a visit to Dot Branning, played by June Brown.


thehuffingtonpostuk--2020-01-29--Coronavirus: This Is What It's Like To Be Quarantined In China Right Now

Coronavirus: This Is What It's Like To Be Quarantined In China Right Now
Irene and Francis Lau, along with their three-year-old son Freddie, have gone to Beijing, China to visit family for Chinese New Year. They haven't been outside for the last three days as most places are closed. Now, they are awaiting their flight back to the UK but have been told that British Airways flights ‘could be cancelled up two hours before they fly’. Irene is twenty-one weeks’ pregnant and worries she could get sick.


thehuffingtonpostuk--2020-01-29--Brexit Officially Unstoppable As European Parliament Ratifies Boris Johnson's Deal

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Nigel Farage’s final speech as an MEP saw him reprimanded for saying his party “just hate the EU” in the wake of a discussion about Auschwitz.
His jeering colleagues were told to “put your flags away – you’re leaving” by the chair of the proceedings.
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Meanwhile mourning Remainer MEPs sang Auld Lang Syne and held aloft scarves bearing the words “always united” as the European Parliament ratified Boris Johnson’s deal in Brussels and Brexit became officially unstoppable.
The display came after the parliament marked 75 years since the liberation of Auschwitz.
Farage described the vote as “the point of no return”.
Widely anticipated after Westminster backed the withdrawal agreement earlier this month, it means the UK will leave the EU at 11pm on Friday and British MEPs will effectively lose their jobs.
The historic moment, which ends 47 years of Britain’s membership of the bloc, led to emotional scenes in the chamber.
Remainers voiced hopes that the UK would rejoin the EU in future and broke into a rendition of the farewell folk song Auld Lang Syne as the vote was declared.
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Ursula von der Leyen, president of the European Commission, led the debate and paid tribute to Britons to the EU, adding “we will always love you and we will never be far” as she bid UK MEPs farewell.
“No new partnership will bring back the benefits of being part of the same union but we have the duty to seek the best for the British and for the European people in a post-Brexit world,” she said.
“To our British friends and many – perhaps not all – but many of our British MEPs here in the room, I want to use the words of the famous British poet George Eliot.
European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen speaks at a plenary session at the European Parliament in Brussels, Belgium January 29, 2020. REUTERS/Yves Herman Yves Herman / Reuters
“She said, ‘Only in the agony of parting do we look into the depth of love’.
“We will always love you and we will never be far, long live Europe.”
Belgian MEP Guy Verhofstadt, who chairs the parliament’s Brexit steering group, paid tribute to British MEPs’ “wit, charm, intelligence” and “stubbornness” – and predicted the UK would rejoin.
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He said: “It is sad to see a country leaving that twice liberated us, has twice given its blood to liberate Europe.
“I can only say, we will miss you. This vote is not an adieu. This vote is only, in my opinion, an au revoir.”
But Farage was defiant, telling the chamber that Friday “marks the point of no return”.
After 25 years of fighting for independence, this is my final contribution in the European Parliament.
We were told to leave with our British flags, and that's exactly what we did. pic.twitter.com/cBfycWfsN7 — Nigel Farage (@Nigel_Farage) January 29, 2020
He said: “This is it, the final chapter, the end of the road, a 47-year political experiment that the British frankly have never been very happy with,” the Brexit Party MEP said.
“I’m not particularly happy with the agreement we’re being asked to vote on tonight but Boris has been remarkably bold in the last few months and, Ms Von Der Leyen, he’s promised us there will be no level playing field and on that basis I wish him every success in the next round of negotiations.
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“What happens at 11pm this Friday, January 31, 2020, marks the point of no return. Once we’ve left we are never coming back and the rest, frankly, is detail.
“We are going, we will be gone and that should be the summit of my own political ambitions.”
Meanwhile, back in London, Brexiteers are preparing to celebrate Brexit on Friday with a party in Parliament Square.
Johnson will now embark on trade deal negotiations with Brussels, with both sides hoping to agree on a future relationship by the end of the transition period in December.
After the speeches, Brexit Party MEPs shared a round of drinks at the bar in the European Parliament in Brussels.
Say what you like about us Brexiteers but we know how to have a good knees-up!
Superb fun at this historic moment with @Nigel_Farage @Michael_Heaver #CheersBrexiteers pic.twitter.com/JQboIjZYm6 — Martin Daubney MEP ➡ (@MartinDaubney) January 29, 2020
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thehuffingtonpostuk--2020-01-29--Alastair Stewart: ITV News Presenter Steps Down After Social Media 'Errors Of Judgement'

Alastair Stewart. PA Wire/PA Images
Alastair Stewart is stepping down from his presenting duties at ITV News following “errors of judgement” in his use of social media.
The veteran presenter, 67, said that he made a “misjudgement which I regret”.
It is unclear what he has done to breach the editorial guidelines of ITN, which produces news broadcasts for ITV, but his departure comes several weeks after he was involved in an exchange with a Black man on Twitter in which he quoted a Shakespeare passage including the phrase “angry ape”.
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With ITV News refusing to elaborate on their decision, speculation was rife on social media.
The Shakespeare quote, which was taken from the play Measure for Measure, was sent during a disagreement with Martin Shapland on January 13.
Others pointed to online rows Stewart had with other broadcast journalists and comments following the announcement of cuts at the BBC. Stewart’s account appears to have been de-activated.
The errr irony of Alastair Stewart "stepping down" for social media "errors of judgement" was he spent a lot of time on this website lashing (often young) broadcast journalists about impartiality with awful lecturing quote-tweets.
Comes for us all, I guess. — Mark Di Stefano (@MarkDiStef) January 29, 2020
Alastair Stewart responded to a black man on Twitter with a passage about "an angry ape" from Shakespeare's Measure for Measure.
But it also seems worth pointing out that he previously used this passage to respond to at least one other tweeter who was not identifiably black... pic.twitter.com/MZgyyPlJuC — Etan Smallman (@EtanSmallman) January 29, 2020
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The ITV deciding that Alastair Stewart is unacceptable on telly given his use of social media while the disgraced former editor of the newspaper is fine for telly despite his history and guest appearances in court docs, and present use of social media okay confuses me a little. — SharErn Malley (@GeoffShadbold) January 29, 2020
Stewart, who joined ITN in 1980 as industrial correspondent, said in a statement: “It was a misjudgement which I regret, but it’s been a privilege to bring the news to households throughout the UK for the past 40 years.”
Stewart has been a staff reporter and presenter on ITV News programmes.
Recently he has worked as a part-time freelance presenter, mainly on the lunchtime news and weekend programmes. Some broadcasters expressed their sadness over Stewart’s departure.
Sharing an article referencing Stewart stepping down, ITV News presenter Julie Etchingham tweeted: “So sad to learn this – we have worked on many big stories together & Al is a trusted friend and guide to many of us.”
Anna Botting, a presenter for Sky News, tweeted: “Alastair hope you can still read these messages – you’ve always been so supportive and encouraging…for which I am very grateful.
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“I share the sadness at your departure and wish you all the very best.”
Michael Jermey, director of news and current affairs at ITV, said: “Alastair has been a long-standing, familiar figure to viewers of ITV News, both reporting and presenting with distinction. We wish him the very best for the future.”


thehuffingtonpostuk--2020-01-29--What Inclusive Barbies Mean To People Like Us

What Inclusive Barbies Mean To People Like Us
A diverse range of new Barbie dolls has been released, including a doll with no hair and a doll with the skin condition vitiligo. Since its debut in 1959, the iconic fashion doll now comes with a range of different body types, hairstyles and skin tones, to “better reflect the world girls see today”. We spoke to two women about what it means to them to see themselves represented.


thehuffingtonpostuk--2020-01-29--Trump Tweeted About 'World War Six' And All Hell Broke Loose

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President Donald Trump’s tweet about “World War Six” on Wednesday immediately sent people on social media into a meltdown.
Trump tweeted “we would be in World War Six by now” if he had listened to his former national security adviser John Bolton, who reportedly makes the Democrats’ case for his impeachment in his forthcoming book The Room Where It Happened.
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For a guy who couldn’t get approved for the Ambassador to the U.N. years ago, couldn’t get approved for anything since, “begged” me for a non Senate approved job, which I gave him despite many saying “Don’t do it, sir,” takes the job, mistakenly says “Libyan Model” on T.V., and.. — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 29, 2020
....many more mistakes of judgement, gets fired because frankly, if I listened to him, we would be in World War Six by now, and goes out and IMMEDIATELY writes a nasty & untrue book. All Classified National Security. Who would do this? — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 29, 2020
Critics reminded Trump that he hired Bolton in the first place and suggested his posts showed he feared his former aide being called to testify against him in his Senate impeachment trial.
One person responded: “So, you would have had us fighting in FOUR more world wars before you figured out what the problem was?? For such a great leader, you sure do pick some winners!”
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“I woke up to World War Six trending. How long was I asleep?” another fired back as the term went viral.
Check out a sample of the replies below:
I saw that “World War Six” was trending and I honestly thought a new Call of Duty video game got released.
Silly me.
It’s just Trump and his tertiary syphilis vomiting psychotic paranoid maniacal delusional incriminating batshit lunacy all over Twitter again.
Carry on. — The USA Singers (@TheUSASingers) January 29, 2020
Remember Republicans this is your president, who’s blaming someone else for World War Six when he’s probably going to be the cause of World War Three pic.twitter.com/1MLeBUsEgH — David Leavitt (@David_Leavitt) January 29, 2020
You made a highly unqualified guy a National Security Advisor?!? You see how that makes you a complete and total moron, yes? — Jeremy Newberger (@jeremynewberger) January 29, 2020
There was no lower position you could graciously fit this guy in, against your best wise and unquestioned judgement? Mar-a-Lago bellhop? Stephen Miller’s armband dry cleaner? Mike Pompeo’s milkshake stirrer? You instead made him NSA? — Jeremy Newberger (@jeremynewberger) January 29, 2020
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FWIW, World War Six is between the US and NPR. — Jeremy Newberger (@jeremynewberger) January 29, 2020
World War One
World War Two
World War 2 Fast 2 Furious
World War Tokyo Drift
The World and the Warrious
World War Six — The Volatile Mermaid (@OhNoSheTwitnt) January 29, 2020
Shit, are we up to World War Six already?
I was still gearing up for the Second Civil War. — Jenpocalypse17 (@Jenpocalypse17) January 29, 2020
"World War Six"??!?!?
So, you would have had us fighting in FOUR more world wars before you figured out what the problem was??
For such a great leader, you sure do pick some winners! pic.twitter.com/iH2JBF5XSn — Bot Detector Alpha (@alpha_detector) January 29, 2020
When something as stupid as World War Six is trending, 99 percent of the time it’s because of something idiotic that Trump said. — David Weissman (@davidmweissman) January 29, 2020
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Sees World War Six trending
Me: "please don't be defending John Bolton, please don't be defending John Bolton, oh god they're defending John Bolton" — Tim Pool (@Timcast) January 29, 2020
This crazy rant shows how scared Donald Trump is of John Bolton testifying at the Senate impeachment trial — Edward Hardy (@EdwardTHardy) January 29, 2020
You planned to skip past WW 3-5?
Remember when you wanted to invite the Taliban to Camp David and he stopped you? https://t.co/LhL0dDI5t3 — D Villella ❄ (@dvillella) January 29, 2020
Wow. So much #Bolton fear, panic and desperation in this tweet... #ImpeachmentTrial — Andy Ostroy (@AndyOstroy) January 29, 2020
I have to admit that I did not have "World War Six" on my Donald Trump Batshittery Bingo card — Jeff Tiedrich (@itsJeffTiedrich) January 29, 2020
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Everyone: 2020 gonna be our year
*WW3 memes happen*
Everyone: That was just a hiccup. Now 2020 is gonna be our ye--
Trending: World War Six pic.twitter.com/yEhW2KQ6YV — Aliza Noria (@AlizaNoria) January 29, 2020
I woke up to World War Six trending.
How long was I asleep?! pic.twitter.com/q1iUthI0cF — Badwolfgirl (@IAmTheBadWolf57) January 29, 2020
When World War Six is trending and you can’t remember World Wars 3 thru 5
World War 6 pic.twitter.com/GFr1Fa7d1Q — Scott Williams (@jswilliams1962) January 29, 2020
Trump makes himself look like more of a fuckup because
1) He hired the guy with all these blemishes on his record
2) He kept him on in spite of the mistakes
3) He just admitted he'll give away an important post just because someone begs the right way.
World War Six indeed. https://t.co/DGioRaAK0l — Dan Winter (@Winter4America) January 29, 2020
World War Six? Hmm. You aren't very good at math are you? Your #TurdReich travesty is a tragicomedy of errors, idiocy and incompetence. What a cretinous, criminal cockwaffle you are, an embarrassment not of riches, but of poorly educated peons proselytizing your propaganda. Sad! — Lesley Abravanel🆘 (@lesleyabravanel) January 29, 2020
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If John Bolton was as bad a choice for National Security Adviser as Trump tweeted this morning--someone who could have gotten us into World War Six--then Trump should resign immediately. He didn't just put our national security at risk in Ukraine. He's doing it every single day. — The Daily Edge (@TheDailyEdge) January 29, 2020
The Trump Model:
1) Inserts lying “tell” by calling himself “sir”
2) Twitter trashes his latest public critic
3) “World War Six” - childlike, immature logic and reasoning
4) “Begging” invective meant to subordinate someone who, in reality, has far more merit pic.twitter.com/1UxlslxqVc — NeuroPsychoPhD (@SethN12) January 29, 2020
World War Six has the same energy as this 😂 pic.twitter.com/SdoehooTQ5 — Kyol 🧢 (@LordJedburgh) January 29, 2020
I must have slept through WW3 and WW4 and somehow through WW5 too because I'm seeing talks about World War Six???
A good nights sleep can do that am I right? pic.twitter.com/mDNnVk5VT3 — Never need a bitch, I’m what a bitch needs (@Quotemeorelse) January 29, 2020
WWI
WWII
WWII - Champion Edition
WWII - Hyper Fighting
Super WWII
Super WWII Turbo
WW Alpha
WW Alpha 2
WW EX
WW III — Doors In The Labyrinth (@joshloughrey) January 29, 2020
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I can help. I'm Adjunct Professor at Trump Univ MNT Dept of Mathematics & Numberry Things. Species Trumpus-Corruptus doesn't know numbers. Math Professor Emeritus Rick Perry was able to teach Trump a universal number 'Oops'. Any number larger than 2 is Oops. Hence World War Six — Tomi T Ahonen (@tomiahonen) January 29, 2020
Trump complains about....the guy he hired almost starting world war six? pic.twitter.com/kUI2j37BO9 — Emily R (@ERahmanPhoto) January 29, 2020
He said World War Six.
Six.
Is that like World War Z? — mike freeman (@mikefreemanNFL) January 29, 2020
“World War Six” — We are living in an odd time, when Democrats are cheering for conservative war hawk John Bolton... and it’s our Republican President who is the one trashing him. https://t.co/S5CrJe8ZuM — Derick Waller (@wallerABC7) January 29, 2020
World War Six? I didn't like World War Two so gave up on that series. https://t.co/MWl2TbtOgN — Jonny Geller (@JonnyGeller) January 29, 2020
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"I know not with what weapons World War Six will be fought, but World War Seven will be fought with likes & RTs."
—Albert Einstein — TrivWorks (@TrivWorks) January 29, 2020