thehuffingtonpostuk--2020-09-29--5 Companies Future-Proofing Their Businesses

Jennifer Barton, Commercial Editor, HuffPost UK

Dan Boman 2020 Scania 25 P battery electric 4x2 temperature controlled transport
It’s safe to say that the events of 2020 have thrown us all for a loop, but the companies we’ve got our eyes on are continuing to innovate, to pivot and to ensure they’re relevant for their customers, now and in the future.
Here are five companies in varied fields doing exciting things to future-proof their businesses. One thread that ties them all together? They’re constantly listening and adapting to customer feedback.
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Graham E. Burns Ugly Drinks
Ugly Drinks, water, seltzer and energy drink purveyor: “We have always believed in an omni-channel strategy for beverage brand growth, as consumers discover and consumer beverages in many different ways.”
Drinks manufacturer Ugly makes still, fizzy and flavoured waters, seltzers and energy drinks. Founded with the mission of tackling big soda companies, the brand is motivated by truth-telling and helping customers cut calories, sugar and artificial ingredients from their diets.
The brand is also all about giving back: they donate proceeds from every other can sold to charities like UN Foundation Girl Up and Oceanic Global, which tackles plastic pollution. Ugly’s Plain Ugly range of still and sparkling water, launched in March 2020 as an alternative to plastic bottled water waste, aims to be sustainable down to its supply chain.
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A combination of new product launches and omnichannel retailing, combined with an unwavering commitment to honest messaging and sustainability, has yielded impressive results: Ugly’s direct-to-consumer channel grew over 500% in 2020.
“We are finding more and more people discover our brands online vs. in-store and it’s important to make sure you think through every touch point of the user journey,” founder Hugh Thomas, says.
“At the same time, we still believe consumers will buy beverages when they are thirsty and on other platforms like Amazon, so we believe that looking toward the future, beverage companies will need to consider the new world of omni-channel and make sure they are prepared and upskilled to meet consumers online and offline.”
Ugly has captivated its DTC subscribers and online community in the US with limited-edition runs of unusually flavoured, 100% natural, calorie-free flavoured waters, in tastebud tingling varieties like sour apple and marshmallow.
“If you have a soda habit, these are the perfect swap, and we are excited by the feedback. We launch a new limited edition flavor every month and whilst this initially started in the US, we will bring the concept internationally to the UK in 2021,” Thomas notes. The best performing flavours will become permanent fixtures in the Ugly range.
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Gustav Lindh 2020 Scania P 360 plug-in hybrid 6x2 rear-steer rigid and Scania 25 L battery electric 6x2 rigid
Scania, Swedish commercial vehicle manufacturer: “Electrification is one of the cornerstones in driving the shift towards a sustainable transport system.”
From concrete mixers to refuse collectors to rescue services, our roads are dominated by trucks. Swedish heavy commercial vehicle manufacturer, Scania, wants to ensure those trucks will be running on renewable fuels or electricity as soon as possible to reduce emissions; the brand is passionate about its commitment to energy efficiency through fuel consumption, powertrain performance and vehicle optimisation.
The electric truck revolution has arrived, and Scania is indisputably leading the charge. Just this month, Scania announced the launch of a first-of-its-kind, battery-operated electric truck and updated its popular plug-in hybrid truck, in a move towards a wholly sustainable transport system.
“With electrification, same as with other fuels, it is important where the energy comes from,” explains Åsa Pettersson, head of public affairs and sustainability at Scania.
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“That is why Scania heavily promotes the use of renewable biofuels in its conventional vehicles and hybrids, and that the electricity that charges the batteries in electric or hybrid vehicles comes from renewable sources.”
These electrified vehicles have benefits beyond decarbonising transport: silent deliveries with zero noise pollution extend the hours of transport services (and expedite the delivery process by as much as 30% thanks to factors like fewer cars on the road, according to research from Scania). This not only improves efficiency, but also impacts driver satisfaction.
Dan Boman 2020 Scania 25 P battery electric vehicle
As a brand “obsessed with our customer’s business,” Scania has taken a new approach with its electrified vehicles, putting products out quicker than usual to gather as much information about their performance as possible. Scania also works in close collaboration with customers and those in the policy, infrastructure and energy side of the equation.
“This change will not happen if we work in silos, we must break down traditional borders and work together. We see more and more examples of that which I think is great,” says Pettersson.
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Scania’s new, first-of-its-kind battery-powered electric truck is designed for urban use in low-emission city centre zones (it’s available as an L and a P-cab), and features a 230kw electric motor. It has a range of up to 250km after a single charge, so it can run for the day before recharging in its home depot overnight.
The revamped plug-in hybrid truck combines a silent, emission-free ride with a powerful combustion engine and an increase in range of 60km in electric drive, over its previous incarnation. With three batteries offering a total of 90 kWh, it can be charged from zero to 80% in 40 minutes (conveniently, it can be charged while a driver is loading or unloading).
Watch this space: Scania plans to launch a new electrified product every year from now on, including quick-charging, long-distance electric trucks that drivers will be able to charge during their compulsory 45-minute rest periods. This is part of its science based target to work with its customers to reduce carbon emissions from its rolling fleet of vehicles by 20 percent by 2025. In addition, Scania is committing to halving CO2 emissions from its transport and logistics operations by 2025.
“We are proud to have reached our target to have fossil free electricity in our production by 2020” Now we’re working hard to reach 20% CO2 reduction from when our products, the trucks and buses, are in use, which means we need to work very closely with our customers..,” Pettersson tells HuffPost UK.
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ADAMSLAMA Beryl, urban cycling brand
Beryl, urban cycling brand: “Our evolution from outside looks like quite a radical change in direction and scale, but internally the change came quite organically.”
We’ve been fans of bike safety brand Beryl since 2012, when it launched as a revolutionary bike light designed by founder Emily Brooke. Since then Beryl has expanded its reach and pivoted its business model, pioneering an urban bike sharing scheme that’s currently in five UK cities and due to launch in New York imminently.
Beryl was initially tasked with getting all of its laserlight technology into London’s city bikes before becoming the full tech partner for Transport for London. While London’s bike share scheme is arguably one of the best-run globally, the whole operation was over-complicated.
“We saw there could be a better way of doing things by removing that infrastructure. We improved the efficiency and cost of the scheme,” Brooke tells us.
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Beryl, the only biking company to have achieved BCorp status, has always been on a mission to build a better world by getting more people on bikes. That focus has shifted slightly: now, it’s about getting more people in cities to move more sustainably.
In addition to their e-Bikes, e-Scooters have just launched (fun fact: Beryl is the only bike/e-Bike/e-Scooter brand in the world where everything is done by one operator, based in Norwich).
“It’s about having a team that genuinely cares about making a difference in this world, and that’s a purpose that’s carried through from day one,” says Brooke.
By offering the full mobility mix, Brooke is counting on different customers choosing different modes of transport to suit their needs, describing the new e-Scooters as a “gateway drug” that someone might hop on and use for short distances. Next time, they’ll think of using an e-Bike to get around. Car, what car?
ED REEVE The Collective, co-living space
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The Collective, co-living space: “We have evolved our events model which can be enjoyed online or physically in small groups in shared spaces of the building.”
Co-living spaces, which combine gorgeous living environments with community, have been hailed as the future of urban living, designed to mitigate against loneliness and give people short or long-stay living opportunities that are luxurious, convenient and still affordable.
See: The Collective, which has two locations in London and one in Long Island City, New York. But how did they future-proof once the pandemic hit? Moving everything to the digital space helped people stay connected, as did evolving their business model - The Collective now has an in-house event production team that hosts supper clubs and runs networking and upskilling sessions for members.
Residency at The Collective isn’t just about the amenities, but the events, from comedy classes to breathwork meditations. In response to the lockdown, The Collective changed its events and experiences to a hybrid model of online format and limited-capacity physical programming, so they could continue to provide inspiration and a social outlet to residents.
“We’ve made other changes in the buildings to safeguard the wellbeing of our community too, from contactless room service and grocery delivery to virtual buddy systems and support networks, which allow our members to continue to get the most out of living at The Collective, says Pauline Loeb, head of events.
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Members living across buildings have been offering each other remote support, while community town halls have also moved online. Some have also gotten their own creative juices flowing by hosting their own events for fellow members, like cooking classes.
Teralon Media Huel's Thai green curry
Huel, nutritionally complete food: “In terms of looking to the future, I think what is becoming more interesting is the science-first approach and the functionality of ingredients.”
Making food convenient, yet also nutritious, was the issue Julian Hearn set out to solve when he launched Huel, which makes nutritionally complete plant-based foods, drinks and powders, in 2014. Now, he’s listening to his customers to give them more of what they love - and convert more people to the Huel lifestyle.
As a plant-based company, Huel’s products are made with minimal impact to the environment, and portion sizes are designed to minimise food waste (also achieved by the year-long shelf life of each pouch).
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The brand has just launched Huel Hot & Savoury, a nutritionally complete warm and tasty instant meal made from natural, whole food ingredients like quinoa and vegetables.
“It’s already been described by first-time users as game-changing. Unlike Huel as many know it, this is food and therefore will appeal more to the masses,” explains Hearn.
Hearn hasn’t always done things by the book - the brand’s signature powder was “designed on a spreadsheet, not in a kitchen,” and he has always prioritised communication with his customer base, engaging with them via social media, CRM and a customer forum created in its early days.


thehuffingtonpostuk--2020-09-29--Boris Johnson Admits Lockdown Rules Are 'Confusing' As He Struggles To Explain Them

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Boris Johnson has apologised and said he “misspoke” after struggling to explain new restrictions imposed on the north-east of England.
From Wednesday it will be illegal for people in large parts of the region to mix households in indoor settings such as pubs and restaurants.
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The government said the local lockdown is designed to drive down a recent spike in coronavirus cases.
But it was unclear whether it will also be against the law for households to meet in pub gardens.
This morning skills minister Gillian Keegan was unable to answer when pressed. “I don’t know the answer to that question,” she told BBC Radio 4′s Today programme.
Speaking to reporters in Exeter on Tuesday, Johnson also was unable to give a direct answer.
“I totally understand people’s feelings about this. The vast majority of people also understand we need to be getting this virus down allowing people to continue in education and keeping our economy going in the way that we are,” the prime minister said.
“On the rule of six, outside the areas such as the north east where extra measures have been brought in, it’s six inside six outside and in the north east and other areas where extra tight measures have been brought in you should follow the guidance of local authorities.
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“But it’s six in a home or six in hospitality, but as I understand it not six outside. That’s the situation.
He added: “I appreciate that this is one of those things that people will feel is confusing.”
Johnson later tweeted an attempt to clarify the rules, suggesting while it was illegal for household to mix indoors, it was not against the law to do so outdoors even if though it was discouraged.
Apologies, I misspoke today.
In the North East, new rules mean you cannot meet people from different households in social settings indoors, including in pubs, restaurants and your home. You should also avoid socialising with other households outside. (1/2) — Boris Johnson (@BorisJohnson) September 29, 2020
Angela Rayner, Labour’s deputy leader, said: “For the prime minister to not understand his own rules is grossly incompetent.
“These new restrictions are due to come into force across huge parts of the country tonight. The government needs to get a grip.”
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Restrictions will begin on Wednesday and be enforceable by law in the areas of Durham, Gateshead, Newcastle, North Tyneside, South Tyneside, Northumberland and Sunderland.
The leader of Gateshead Council, Martin Gannon, told the BBC on Tuesday that while the new rules were needed they had been introduced in a “chaotic” way.


thehuffingtonpostuk--2020-09-29--The Crown Series 4: New Photos Show Gillian Anderson's Spookily Accurate Margaret Thatcher

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Last month, a trailer for season four of the royal Netflix drama offered a brief glimpse at the long-awaited new arrivals, including a shot of the Princess Diana actor in her wedding dress.
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On Tuesday afternoon, the streaming service’s official Twitter page unveiled new shots from the upcoming series, including Gillian in character outside 10 Downing Street, and Emma walking a red carpet with her on-screen husband, Josh O’Connor, who plays Prince Charles.
“It’s time,” they said. “Here’s your first look at Gillian Anderson as Margaret Thatcher and Emma Corrin as Princess Diana in Season 4 of The Crown.”
It’s time. Here’s your first look at @GillianA as Margaret Thatcher and Emma Corrin as Princess Diana in Season 4 of @TheCrownNetflix. pic.twitter.com/3eg121ugPJ — Netflix UK & Ireland (@NetflixUK) September 29, 2020
Other new photos also show Olivia Colman and Tobias Menzies, who play Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip, as well as Emerald Fennell as Camilla Parker-Bowles.
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The upcoming fourth series will be Olivia’s second in the lead role of the Queen, with production on the new episodes wrapping shortly before the UK went into lockdown earlier this year.
And a few more, because we’re nice like that. Season 4 comes to Netflix on 15 November. 👑 pic.twitter.com/MRH0x4jcKN — Netflix UK & Ireland (@NetflixUK) September 29, 2020
Meanwhile, Lesley Manville and Elizabeth Debicki will be playing Princess Margaret and Princess Diana, although it’s yet to be confirmed who will be appearing opposite her as Prince Charles.


thehuffingtonpostuk--2020-09-29--David Attenborough Reveals Five Sobering Facts About Planet Earth

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David Attenborough’s documentaries about the natural world have increasingly focussed on the effects of climate change, but none so blatantly – and with such urgency – as his new Netflix documentary-film, A Life On Our Planet.
The film, released to Netflix on October 4 and in cinemas now, is more personal than Attenborough’s usual documentaries, covering his life spent filming with animals since the 1950s – and a sobering story of their decline over one lifetime.
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Attenborough uses his own experiences to make the case that if he were born today, and were to reach old age, the world he would witness in 2080 would be a world struggling to grow crops due to the effects of a drastically warming planet.
“We’ve destroyed it, that natural world has gone,” he says. “Human beings have overrun the world... that is my witness statement – the story of global decline over a single lifetime.”
Supplied
David Attenborough’s documentaries about the natural world have increasingly focussed on the effects of climate change, but none so blatantly – and with such urgency – as his new Netflix documentary-film, A Life On Our Planet.
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The film, released to Netflix on October 4 and in cinemas now, is more personal than Attenborough’s usual documentaries, covering his life spent filming with animals since the 1950s – and a sobering story of their decline over one lifetime.
Attenborough uses his own experiences to make the case that if he were born today, and were to reach old age, the world he would witness in 2080 would be a world struggling to grow crows due to the effects of a drastically warming planet.
“We’ve destroyed it, that natural world has gone,” he says. “Human beings have overrun the world... that is my witness statement – the story of global decline over a single lifetime.”
There’s enough gorgeous animal scenery to still make this an enjoyable watch, but it’s also threaded with harrowing images of animals falling victim to our changing climate.
However, it ends with a strong message: we can act now and reverse the damage. Here are six essential takeaways about climate change from A Life On Our Planet.
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1. Attenborough remembers it was January 1978 when he first experienced climate change.
Scenes of Attenborough laying with mountain gorillas during a segment of filming during the 1970s has become iconic, but the clip has been given a dark new meaning as Attenborough revealed it was around this point he first experienced climate change himself.
It was “noticeable” that some of these animals were becoming harder to find due to poaching, he says, which had a knock-on effect to the biodiversity of habitats. “The process of extinction I could see as a boy in rocks [by looking at fossils]... was happening right there, around me,” he says, “to animals with which I was familiar. Our closest relatives. And we were responsible.
“Once the species became our target there was now nowhere on Earth that it could hide.”
2. The derelict city of Chernobyl is an example of how our planet may end up if we don’t act now.
Â© Joe Fereday/Silverback Films Sir David Attenborough pictured in Chernobyl while filming David Attenborough: A Life on Our Planet
Attenborough begins and ends the documentary exploring the abandoned school classrooms, family homes and public spaces of Chernobyl – the Ukrainian city that was evacuated in 1986 due to a nuclear explosion.
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He warns that the vastly bleak scene-scapes of the city is a plausible reality for our planet if greenhouse gases continue to be released into the environment. These gases cause the destruction of biodiverse landscapes, which store carbon dioxide and keep the planet alive.
3. Our planet is losing its ice.
“In my time, I’ve experienced the warming of arctic summers,” he says. “We’ve arrived at locations expecting to find expanses of arctic sea ice, and found none. We’ve managed to travel the boat to islands that were impossible to get to historically, because they were permanently locked in the ice.”
By the time Frozen Planet aired in 2011, he says, the reason for these changes was well established: the ocean had become unable to absorb all the heat caused by our activities. “As a result, the average global temperature today is one degree celsius warmer than it was when I was born,” he says. “A speed of change which exceeds any in the last 10,000 years. Our planet is losing its ice.”
4. Wild animal populations have more than halved since the 1950s.
Since Attenborough began filming in the 1950s, wild animal populations have more than halved on average.
Looking at an old, black and white camera reel of these populations, Attenborough says: “I look at these images now and I realise that although as a young man I thought I was out there in the wild experiencing the untouched natural world, it was an illusion.
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“Those forests and plains and seas were already emptying.”
5. If we don’t change our behaviour now, it could have devastating consequences on our lives.
Supplied David Attenborough in a promotional shot for A Life On Our Planet
By 2040, frozen soils will thaw, releasing methane into the atmosphere, “a greenhouse gas many times more potent than carbon dioxide, accelerating the rate of climate change dramatically,” says Attenborough.
By the 1950s, as the ocean continues to heat and becomes more acidic, “coral reefs die and fish populations crash”. By the 2080s, 60 years from now, “global food production enters a crisis as soils become exhausted by overuse,” he says, “pollinating insects disappear and the weather is more and more unpredictable.”
And by the 2100s, “our planet becomes four degrees celsius warmer; large parts of the Earth are uninhabitable. Millions of people rendered homeless, and a sixth mass extinction event is well underway.”
But it’s not too late to act...
The thrust of A Life On Our Planet is that it’s not too late to act. Attenborough drills through some of the world-leading climate change solutions and suggests how we can adopt these on a national level. The emphasis is that major corporations must make change from the top, down.
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Firstly, we can make renewal power the only energy source, he says: “It’s crazy that our banks are investing in fossil fuel when these are the very things that are jeopardising the future that we are saving for.”
In another segment, Attenborough explains how sustainable fishing is essential. “Fishing is the world’s greatest wild harvest, and if we do it right, it can continue, because there’s a win-win at play: the healthier the marine habitat, the more fish there will be, and the more there will be to eat,” he says.
Netflix / David Attenborough: A Life On Our Planet On land, to restore biodiversity we must radically reduce the area we use to farm, to make space for returning wilderness. The quickest and most effective way to do that is for us to change our diet.
Restricting fishing and banning it entirely in areas where varieties are endangered has positive effects. “Estimates suggest that no-fish zones over a third of our coastal seas would be sufficient to provide us with all the fish we would ever need,” he says. The EU is planning one such project, which Attenborough calls “the world’s greatest wildlife reserve.”
And, he says, we must change our diet. “The planet can’t support billions of meat eaters – there just isn’t the space,” he says. “If we all had a largely plant-based diet, we would only need half the [farming] land we use at the moment.”
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thehuffingtonpostuk--2020-09-29--Pay Carers Better Or Risk 'Stark' Staff Shortages After Brexit, Official Advisers Warn

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Frontline social care workers should be paid at least £10 an hour or there will be staff shortages after Brexit in the middle of the coronavirus pandemic, government advisers have warned.
The end of free movement of EU workers into the UK poses “stark” risks of increased pressure on social care unless ministers urgently boost funding and wages to attract British workers to fill shortages, the Migration Advisory Committee (MAC) said.
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MAC chair Professor Brian Bell said the government should be looking to boost wages to at least £10 an hour to attract domestic workers to fill care staff shortages.
But health secretary Matt Hancock warned earlier this month that Covid-19 had delayed the government’s efforts to deliver a new long-term funding settlement for social care – which had been a Tory manifesto pledge.
The government has faced criticism for failing to do enough to prevent tens of thousands of deaths in care homes during the pandemic.
On Tuesday, the committee added senior care workers and nursing assistants to the “shortage occupation” list, which will mean they find it easier to enter the UK once the Brexit transition and free movement end on December 31.
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But frontline care workers are not eligible for the list because they are not classed by the government as “skilled” workers, meaning they will find it very difficult to enter the UK from 2021 under home secretary Priti Patel’s points-based immigration.
MAC said it had argued “for years” that social care funding needs to be boosted so higher wages can be paid to make frontline roles more attractive to British workers, instead of the sector “relying on migrant workers to fill the gaps”.
Its report on shortage occupations said: “The risks of this funding increase not happening in a timely manner are stark.
“If that does not occur, or occurs with substantial delay, we would expect the end of freedom of movement to increase the pressure on the social care sector, something that would be particularly difficult to understand at a time when so many care occupations are central to the Covid-19 pandemic frontline response.”
Bell made the comparison between an entry-level wage for working on the shop floor at Aldi being £9.40 an hour and carers earning £8.72 an hour for “extraordinarily stressful and hard work”.
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He said: “You have to be well above that kind of level that Aldi’s paying before you begin to attract workers,” adding that the wage needs to be “comfortably above £10” to begin to attract workers.
But his personal view is that they should be paid “significantly higher than £10 an hour”, he said.
How to fund the rise, he said, is a matter for government, which has received reports for “many years now” suggesting different methods. There needs to be progress and decisions made, he added.
Staff at Abbeydale Court Care Home take part in clap for carers and key workers during in Hamilton, Scotland Jeff J Mitchell via Getty Images
Shadow home secretary Nick Thomas-Symonds said: “This latest announcement shows the complete mess the government is making of immigration reforms.
“They are placing our health and social care sector at huge risk, at a time when it’s never been more precious.
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“The Tories have gone out of their way to undermine care workers and make the UK a less attractive place for them to work, because they consider them unskilled.
“It’s now clear that this needs a serious rethink, before some of the most vulnerable people in our care homes are left without the support they desperately need.”
Meanwhile, MAC found “clear evidence” of staff and skills shortages that could be filled by overseas workers in a number of skilled roles.
The advisers therefore added senior care workers, nursing assistants, butchers, bricklayers and welders to the shortage occupation list.
This means that after Brexit they will effectively be able to come to the UK if they have a job offer and speak English, under the points-based immigration system.
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MAC also found that some industries felt it was difficult to find relevant skills among British workers to fill job vacancies.
Industries responding to the advisers’ call for evidence suggested this was down to the skills taught in schools, the urbanisation of the UK, and the general “work readiness” and “work ethic” of British workers.
“In some areas with particularly high employment, employers said that many of those people who did not already have a job did not want one, and only applied for positions to appear as though they were looking for work,” the report said.
There is a particular lack of skills in agriculture, fishing, food processing, textiles, European languages, “mental arithmetic skills” and “the ability to undertake arduous physical work”.
Foreign workers were said to be more willing than Britons to relocate for work, particularly to rural areas, undertake hard and physical work, work in unattractive conditions, or take up work that is insecure, seasonal or temporary in nature.
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The MAC also recommended additions to separate shortage occupation lists for all of the devolved nations.
This includes fishmongers, bakers and horticultural workers for Northern Ireland, childminders and nursery nurses for Scotland and health professionals for Wales.
Bell said: “The number of migrants coming to work in the UK has already decreased and we are likely to see an increase in unemployment over the next year as the economic impact of the pandemic continues, so this has been a very challenging time to look at the shortage occupation lists.
“It has made us more willing to recommend some roles for inclusion simply because it is the sensible thing to do, but we have been clear that migration is not always the solution.”
Boris Johnson’s official spokesperson said: “Firstly, we thank everyone who has worked and continues to work on the coronavirus response. We are helping the care sector in a number of ways, including £1.5bn more funding for adults’ and children’s social care in 2021, and the national recruitment scheme.
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“We have set out that we want the employers to focus on investing in the domestic workforce.
“We will be looking at the recommendations closely and responding in due course, but it is worth noting that the Migration Advisory Committee itself is clear that immigration isn’t the solution to addressing staff levels in the social care sector.


thehuffingtonpostuk--2020-09-29--Jennifer Aniston Considered Quitting Hollywood After A Job That 'Sucked The Life' Out Of Her

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Jennifer Aniston has admitted she recently considered quitting Hollywood after completing a job that “sucked the life” out of her.
The former Friends star said that she had thought more about leaving the industry over the last two years during a an interview with fellow actors Jason Bateman, Will Arnett, and Sean Hayes on their Smartless podcast.
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When asked about the closest she’d ever come to leaving Hollywood behind, Jennifer said: “I would have to say the last two years that has crossed my mind, which it never did before.”
Jennifer Aniston Axelle/Bauer-Griffin via Getty Images
She said it came after working on one project where “the script wasn’t ready” and she was stuck on it for three months.
“It was after a job I had completed and I was like, ‘Whoa, that was really… that sucked the life out of me. And I don’t know if this is what interests me,’” Jennifer said.
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“It was an unprepared project, we’ve all been a part of them. You always say: ‘I’ll never again! Never again! I will never back up into a start date!’”
Jennifer did not name the project, but noted that it was prior to her role as Alex Levy in Apple TV+’s The Morning Show, for which she won a Screen Actors Guild Award earlier this year.
Jennifer Aniston and Steve Carell in The Morning Show Apple
She also told Jason that she would be keen to do more directing, adding: “I would love to jump into that chair more. I enjoy it thoroughly.”
Jennifer’s most famous acting role is undoubtedly Rachel Green in Friends, who she played from 1994 to 2004.
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However, last week, supporting star Jane Sibbett revealed she was originally in the frame to play Rachel.
The actor, who ended up playing Ross’ ex-wife Carol, revealed things didn’t work out because she was pregnant at the time, with Jennifer later awarded the part.
Jennifer is best known as Rachel in Friends NBC
However, the retrospective has now been pushed back for a second time due to the coronavirus pandemic.
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thehuffingtonpostuk--2020-09-29--Thanks To Team Trump, Biden Could Score A Big Debate Win Just By Staying Awake

Person, woman, man, camera, TV.
After weathering months of insults and millions of dollars in advertising painting him as senile, Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden could likely just recite those five words – which President Donald Trump previously claimed proved his own cognitive acuity – and instantly exceed expectations in Tuesday night’s first debate.
“The president’s branding has ensured that all ‘Sleepy Joe’ needs to do to survive the debate is to stay awake,” said Terry Sullivan, a Republican consultant who ran Florida senator Marco Rubio’s 2016 presidential bid. “Not a real well thought-through strategy when you’re debating a guy who has a lot more experience.”
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“Totally,” agreed David Axelrod, who was a top aide in former president Barack Obama’s 2008 campaign. “It is one of the only times, maybe the only time, that a candidate has so persistently worked to lower expectations for a debate opponent and build them up for himself. Usually, it’s the other way around.”
Trump and Biden are scheduled to meet in the first of three debates on Tuesday night (here’s how to watch in the UK) at Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland. The second is set for October 15 in Miami and the third for October 22 in Nashville, Tennessee. Vice president Mike Pence and Biden running mate Kamala Harris are scheduled to debate on October 7 in Salt Lake City.
Historically, candidates heading into these encounters try to raise expectations for their opponents – the easier to cast their own performance as a great success afterward. Indeed, Trump’s professional campaign staff have been doing just that in recent weeks.
“He always can turn it on for debate night,” Trump campaign spokesperson Tim Murtaugh said of Biden. “He’s been a Washington politician for 47 years, spent decades in the Senate where all they do is debate, won two debates running for vice president, and bested two dozen opponents in 11 primary debates this time. He knows what he’s doing. That’s the Biden we expect to see.”
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Yet Trump himself has undone those efforts at each turn, taking nearly every opportunity to ridicule Biden’s intelligence, cognitive abilities or both.
“The president’s branding has ensured that all ‘Sleepy Joe’ needs to do to survive the debate is to stay awake.” - Terry Sullivan, Republican consultant
At an airport hangar rally in Latrobe, Pennsylvania, on September 3, Trump told his audience that Biden did not understand international trade back when he was in the Senate, and understands nothing at all today.
“He never got it, still doesn’t get it. Now he really gets nothing, I am telling you. He didn’t get it in prime time. Now he really doesn’t get it,” Trump said.
Four days later, at a news conference on the North Portico of the White House, he repeated that insult, and added another: “Biden is a stupid person. You know that. You’re not going to write it. But you know that.”
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Last week, at a rally in Jacksonville, Florida, Trump claimed Biden was too far gone to even understand the policies he is proposing. “Now Biden has put forward the most dangerous and extreme platform of any major party nominee in history. The bad news is he doesn’t even know what the hell it is,” Trump said.
Two nights later, at a rally outside Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, Trump was back to the name-calling: “A dumb guy. He’s a dumb guy. Always known as the dumb guy.”
And on Sunday, Trump returned to a previous baseless claim accusing Biden of somehow improving his mental acuity by using performance-enhancing drugs. Challenged about the source for his information, Trump suggested he found it online: “You can check out the internet. You’ll see. Plenty of people say it.”
The president’s comments build on millions of dollars of television and digital ads – some dishonestly edited to make Biden seem incoherent or doctored to make him look infirm – that the Trump campaign has purchased over a period of months, making it one of the leading lines of attack against his opponent.
All of that, said Trump critic and longtime GOP consultant Rick Wilson, will be wasted if Biden shows on the debate stage that he can string even a few words together.
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“If your campaign has spent millions of dollars and done dozens of tweets, Facebook posts and earned media statements saying that Joe Biden is senile, and he walks on stage and doesn’t drool on himself, you look like a damned fool,” said Wilson, who now helps run the anti-Trump Lincoln Project.
How Tuesday night plays out could have an enormous role in the outcome on November 3, if the debates in the two most recent elections that ended with the loss of an incumbent president are a guide.
In 1980, Democratic president Jimmy Carter was in a tight race again Ronald Reagan heading into their one and only debate. Carter had spent much of the year portraying the former California governor as a trigger-happy warmonger.
“Reagan came off as statesmanlike, not a right-wing radical,” said Rice University historian Douglas Brinkley. “Reagan had to show that he could be calm, warm, tough but not be an extremist.”
With most of the country unhappy with Carter, Reagan wound up winning in a landslide. “Reagan allowed people to imagine him as a sane alternative to Jimmy Carter,” Brinkley said.
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Twelve years later, Republican George H W Bush faced a similarly unhappy electorate, and this time Democrat Bill Clinton was able to use the trio of debates to make himself an acceptable alternative. “Those debates were extraordinarily helpful to Bill Clinton,” Brinkley said. “Clinton sold the argument that he could empathise with people’s problems.”
Trump debated Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton three times in 2016. She demonstrated at each encounter that she had a superior grasp of the facts and could lay them out more logically and coherently. Trump, nevertheless, won the election, and Brinkley said he cannot imagine Trump will back away from his scorched-earth tactic of attacking and belittling his opponent.
Preparations take place in Cleveland on Sept. 28, 2020, for the first presidential debate between Donald Trump and Joe Biden. AP Photo/Patrick Semansky
That approach, though, does offer Biden an opportunity to turn the tables and dress Trump down with pointed finger and outrage over Trump’s performance in office.
“Trump’s bully boy routine we see every day at press conferences,” Brinkley said. “But people could be looking at Biden school Trump on foreign and domestic policy.”
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Trump has attacked Biden’s abilities despite questions about his own mental and physical condition. The president has, on several occasions, confused his father and his grandfather. He called Apple CEO “Tim Apple” instead of Tim Cook, and then later claimed he was using shorthand. He had trouble coming up with the word “origins” and continually pronounced it “oranges”. At a West Point graduation ceremony in June, he had difficulty walking down a ramp and needed two hands to drink from a glass of water.
And at the Latrobe rally, Trump on two occasions started to poll members of the crowd on their preferences – the first on which insulting nickname they preferred for Biden; the second on whether they liked “Keep America Great” or “Make America Great Again” as the campaign slogan. But he seemed to lose his place each time and never did poll the audience.
Further, Trump’s White House has never given a full explanation for the president’s sudden, unplanned trip to Walter Reed National Military Medical Center on a Saturday last November. Trump subsequently has claimed it was both to start a physical and also to complete a physical – but the circumstances of the trip do not match any other he has made to the hospital.
Apparently sensitive to the questions about his health, Trump has taken to spending portions of interviews and speeches bragging about it. He showed off his ability to drink from a glass with just one hand at his lightly attended June rally in Tulsa, Oklahoma, and spent long minutes in a Fox News interview in July explaining how well he did on a dementia screening test he took in early 2018.
“The first questions are very easy. The last questions are much more difficult, like a memory question. It’s, like, you’ll go: ‘Person. Woman. Man. Camera. TV.’ So they’ll say, ‘Could you repeat that?’ So I said: ‘Yeah. So it’s: Person. Woman. Man. Camera. TV,’” he said. “If you get it in order, you get extra points.”
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thehuffingtonpostuk--2020-09-29--Rebekah Vardy Determined To 'Clear Her Name' After Coleen Rooney 'WAGAtha Christie' Row

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Rebekah Vardy has said she is determined to “clear her name” amid her ongoing legal battle with fellow WAG Coleen Rooney.
Last year, Rebekah inadvertently made headlines across the globe when Coleen claimed her Instagram account was the source of fake stories appearing in The Sun newspaper. The former I’m A Celebrity star has always vehemently denied the accusations – in what became dubbed the “WAGatha Christie” row.
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Rebekah speaking to the Good Morning Britain team (in her car, apparently) ITV/Shutterstock
Although she said she couldn’t say much for legal reasons, Rebekah told Susanna Reid and Piers Morgan: “Look, we tried to sort things out amicably, it just didn’t work. I understand people think it’s ridiculous, but what was I meant to do? I need to clear my name. I want to clear my name.
“I will do whatever that takes. I hope it’s going to be resolved soon. It’s just one of the things that has to go through the process unfortunately now.”
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Rebekah quickly added: “I found it really tough – but to be fair, Piers, in comparison to what some people have gone through with Covid and things like that, it’s incomparable.”
Coleen recently said she found the lawsuit “disappointing”, suggesting the money involved could have been put to better use in a pandemic.
Rebekah Vardy and Coleen Rooney Ken McKay/ITV/Paul Greenwood/BPI/Shutterstock
Discussing her upcoming appearance on Dancing On Ice, which will begin airing in January 2021, Rebekah added: “My dad taught me how to stand up on a pair of skates when I was about seven years old, we used to go skating a lot when my mum and dad split up, we would go with him to the local ice rink.
“I’m really excited actually. The only time I’ve been ice skating since is when we take our kids to the rink.”
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She also said that husband Jamie felt her appearance on the show was a “brilliant idea”, adding: “He is really looking forward to watching me and he hopes I don’t fall over too much. I hope I don’t fall over too much.”
Check out the rest of the celebrities confirmed for next year’s Dancing On Ice so far here.


thehuffingtonpostuk--2020-09-29--Sacha Baron Cohen Filmed Borat 2 When No One Was Paying Attention

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It’s no joke: A Borat sequel may soon be on the way.
Sacha Baron Cohen somehow managed to film a sequel to his 2006 comedy during the pandemic and he’s currently screen testing the film, according to Collider.
The plot for the new film is still a secret, according to IGN, who noted that the title reportedly submitted to the Writer’s Guild of America website (and since removed) doesn’t provide many clues: Borat: Gift Of Pornographic Monkey To Vice Premiere Mikhael Pence To Make Benefit Recently Diminished Nation Of Kazakhstan.
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Sources who’ve seen test screenings of the film told The Film Stage that the relationship between President Donald Trump and financier Jeffrey Epstein and the coronavirus play a big part in the film.
Many famous figures, including Vice President Mike Pence and Trump’s personal lawyer Rudy Giuliani, reportedly have cameos, but the website says one as-yet-unrevealed scene could derail the career of a well-known political figure.
Sacha Baron Cohen in character as Borat Phil McCarten / Reuters
Earlier this summer, Giuliani told reporters about his encounter with the actor.
Back in July, Giuliani was participating in what he believed to be a sit-down interview about the White House response to the pandemic when a man came in wearing a pink bikini with lace underneath a translucent mesh top.
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The former New York City mayor told Page Six that the man “had the beard, bare legs, and wasn’t what I would call distractingly attractive”.
Giuliani, who said he was a Borat fan, said he didn’t immediately recognise the “screaming and yelling” actor, and “thought this must be a scam or a shake-down, so I reported it to the police”.
The actor then ran away, according to the mayor.


thehuffingtonpostuk--2020-09-29--US Presidential Debate 2020: How To Watch Trump And Biden Go Head To Head From The UK

Donald Trump and his Democratic challenger Joe Biden will meet on the debate stage for the first time on Tuesday night, in a long-awaited head-to-head in which pretty much anything could happen.
Millions of voters will get their first opportunity to compare the candidates’ policies and personalities side by side on national television for 90 minutes, just five weeks before Election Day and as early voting takes place in some states.
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When is it on?
The debate will take place at 9pm Eastern Standard Time which is 2am in the UK so you might need a pot of coffee to keep you company.
Where can I watch it?
All the major US news networks will be airing the debate, including ABC, CBS, NBC, Fox News, CNN and MSNBC.
If you don’t have US cable, and why would you, some of these networks stream live online.
For instance, CNN can be watched in the UK here, MSNBC here and ABC News here.
Amazon Fire, Android, Roku, and Apple TV services will also air the debate and if you have Sky, CNN is on channel 506.
Where is the debate being held?
Western Reserve University in Cleveland, Ohio.
Who is chairing the debate?
Chris Wallace of Fox News will moderate the first debate.
The stage is built and technology tested for the first 2020 presidential debate between Donald Trump and Joe Biden in Cleveland, Ohio. The Washington Post via Getty Images
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What should we expect?
The debate will take place at Case Western Reserve University ASSOCIATED PRESS
Unlike in 2016 when he was an underdog no one took that seriously, Trump has a lot to answer for this time around and will be on the defensive.
More than 200,000 Americans have been killed by Covid-19 under his watch – the highest death toll of any country in the world. Tens of millions of people are still out of work.
The country’s cultural and political divisions are widening. And do not forget the weekend revelations that Trump has paid less federal income tax than most working-class Americans for several years.
Moderator Wallace and Biden will likely press Trump on those facts.
Trump, though, seems to revel in hand-to-hand combat, and history suggests that neither facts nor any code of conduct will prevent him from saying whatever he needs to change the subject.
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He can pivot to more friendly issues such as the Supreme Court confirmation fight or “law and order” – or he can jump into the mud by going after Biden’s mental and physical strength or his family.
Such personal tactics worked for Trump four years ago. But now that he is the man in charge of the country, it is unclear if voters will be as willing to accept the brash outsider act.
What about Biden?
Well the Trump campaign may have already handed him the simplest of wins.
Person. Woman. Man. Camera. TV.
Remember that? HuffPost White House correspondent S.V. Date, reports:
After weathering months of insults and millions of dollars in advertising painting him as senile, Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden could likely just recite those five words — which President Donald Trump previously claimed proved his own cognitive acuity — and instantly exceed expectations in Tuesday night’s first debate. “The president’s branding has ensured that all ‘Sleepy Joe’ needs to do to survive the debate is to stay awake,” said Terry Sullivan, a Republican consultant who ran Florida Sen. Marco Rubio’s 2016 presidential bid. “Not a real well thought-through strategy when you’re debating a guy who has a lot more experience. “Totally,” agreed David Axelrod, who was a top aide in former President Barack Obama’s 2008 campaign. “It is one of the only times, maybe the only time, that a candidate has so persistently worked to lower expectations for a debate opponent and build them up for himself. Usually, it’s the other way around.”
How will it affect the race for the White House?
Biden will step on to the Cleveland stage holding leads in the polls – significant in the national surveys, closer in the battleground states – but facing questions about his turn in the spotlight, particularly considering Trump’s withering attacks.
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And Trump, with only 35 days to change the course of the race, will have arguably his best chance to try to reframe the campaign as a choice election and not a referendum over his handling of a virus that has killed more people in America than any other nation.
The president’s handling of coronavirus is likely to dominate much of the discussion.
The pandemic’s force will be tangible as the candidates’ podiums will be spaced far apart and the traditional opening handshake scrapped.
And the debate could be shaped by other recent moments: the death of Supreme Court justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, allowing Trump to nominate a conservative jurist to replace a liberal voice and reshape the high court for generations, and the revelations about Trump’s long-hidden tax history, including that he paid only 750 dollars a year in federal income taxes in 2016 and 2017 and nothing in many other years.
But the impact of the debate – or the two that follow in the weeks ahead – remains unclear.
The tumult of 2020 is difficult to overstate: Covid-19 has rewritten the rules of everyday life; schools and businesses are shuttered; and racial justice protests have swept the nation after a series of high-profile killings of Black people by police, including George Floyd and Breonna Taylor.
Despite the upheaval, the presidential race has remained largely unchanged since Biden seized control of the Democratic field in March.
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The nation has soured on Trump’s handling of the pandemic, and while his base of support has remained largely unchanged, he has seen defections among older and female voters, particularly in the suburbs, and his path to 270 Electoral College votes, while still viable, has shrunk.
Polls suggest fewer undecided voters remain than at this point in the 2016 campaign.
And several high-profile debates in past elections that were thought to be game-changing moments at the time ultimately had little lasting effect.
Four years ago, Democrat Hillary Clinton was widely seen as outperforming Trump in their three debates, but she lost in November.


thehuffingtonpostuk--2020-09-29--Trump Really Wanted Ivanka As His 2016 Running Mate, According To Rick Gates

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It seems that US Vice President Mike Pence was not President Donald Trump’s No. 1 pick for his No. 2.
According to a new book from Trump’s former deputy campaign manager Rick Gates, the president initially suggested that Ivanka Trump, Trump’s eldest daughter and senior adviser, should be his running mate in June 2016 when his campaign aides began discussing the matter, Bloomberg News reports.
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“I think it should be Ivanka. What about Ivanka as my VP?” Trump reportedly asked an assembled group that included Ivanka Trump and her husband, Jared Kushner, who is also a Trump senior adviser.
“All heads turned toward her, and she just looked surprised. We all knew Trump well enough to keep our mouths shut and not laugh,” Gates wrote, according to Bloomberg’s account of the book. “He went on: ‘She’s bright, she’s smart, she’s beautiful, and the people would love her!’”
Ivanka Trump introduced her father at the Republican National Convention, where he delivered his acceptance speech as the Republican presidential nominee in August. Chip Somodevilla via Getty Images
Gates said that Trump’s team nixed the idea of Vice President Ivanka Trump — who at the time was a 34-year-old fashion and real estate executive with no political experience.
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Secretary of state Condoleezza Rice and senator Bob Corker of Tennessee were then considered for the ticket, but they took their names out of the running. According to Gate’s account, Trump’s former campaign chairman and Gate’s former business partner, Paul Manafort, suggested someone like then-Indiana governor Mike Pence “who could bring balance to the ticket.”
“But Trump said, ‘Look, I don’t like any of these people,’” Gates wrote. “Once again, he said, ‘I think it should be Ivanka.’”
According to Gates, Trump was so convinced that the Republican Party would embrace his daughter that his team even polled the idea twice.
She didn’t poll “tremendously high, but higher than we expected,” he wrote. “And that only added to the seriousness of her consideration.”
Then-Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump visited his Scottish golf course with his daughter Ivanka Trump in 2015 Jeff J Mitchell via Getty Images
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It was apparently Ivanka Trump herself who eventually put a stop to the blatantly nepotistic concept, telling her father it wasn’t a good idea.
“And he capitulated,” Gates wrote.
According to Gates, Trump finally settled on Pence after he regaled Trump with a “vicious and extended monologue” about Bill and Hillary Clinton during a meeting later that summer, according to The Washington Post.
The White House did not immediately respond to HuffPost’s request for comment.
“This is not true and there was never any such poll,” Tim Murtaugh, the Trump campaign’s communications director, told the Post on Monday.
Rick Gates leaves federal court in Washington, DC, in February 2018. His book “Wicked Game: An Insider’s Story on How Trump Won, Mueller Failed, and America Lost,” is set to be released in October ASSOCIATED PRESS
In February 2018, Gates pleaded guilty to conspiracy against the United States and lying to federal investigators about lobbying work he and his former business partner, Manafort, did for pro-Russian political forces in Ukraine before joining Trump’s team.
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Despite being sentenced to 45 days in jail, three years of probation, a $20,000 fine, and cooperating extensively in special counsel Robert Mueller’s Russia investigation, Gates’ book is reportedly not a tell-all, unlike the offering from Trump’s former personal attorney Michael Cohen, “Disloyal: A Memoir.”
Rather, Gates defends the president and tells the story of how he and others helped put him in the Oval Office, according to the Post.
Gates told the Post that he does not know if Trump would have seriously put his daughter’s name on the ticket, but included the anecdote in his book because he believes it’s exemplary of the type of unconventional thinking that makes Trump an appealing candidate to some. He also believes it highlights Trump’s commitment to his family and illuminates his brand of loyalty — which is ensuring that those closest to him support only his agenda or “the values and assets that Trump cared most about,” Gates told the Post.


thehuffingtonpostuk--2020-09-29--Tory Minister Admits She 'Doesn't Know' New Coronavirus Lockdown Rules

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A Conservative minister has admitted even she does not know the lockdown rules imposed on the north-east of England.
Tougher restrictions banning people from mixing with other households in any setting will be introduced on Tuesday night in large parts of the region due to a continued sharp rise in coronavirus cases.
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It had been illegal for two households to mix inside or in a garden, but it was only guidance that they should not meet at public venues, including restaurants and pubs.
Gillian Keegan, the skills minister was sent out by the government on Tuesday morning to speak on its behalf.
But questioned on BBC Radio 4′s Today programme on whether separate households were still allowed to meet up in pubs gardens, Keegan said: “I’m sorry I can’t clarify that.
“I don’t know the answer to that question but I’m sure they can find out the answer to that question.”
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Pressed on how people are meant to keep up to date with the latest restrictions when ministers cannot, she added: “I’m sorry I can’t answer that question.
“I’m sure there are many people who could. I don’t represent the north-east.”
Labour’s shadow health minister Alex Norris said: “It speaks volumes that even the government’s own ministers don’t know what’s going on.
“This will do little to inspire public confidence in the north-east and across the country.
“The Conservatives’ incompetence is hampering our response to this pandemic.”
Restrictions will begin on Wednesday and be enforceable by law in the areas of Durham, Gateshead, Newcastle, North Tyneside, South Tyneside, Northumberland and Sunderland.
The leader of Gateshead Council, Martin Gannon, told the BBC on Tuesday that while the new rules were needed they had been introduced in a “chaotic” way.
“We had had discussions last week that led us to believe that this was going to happen. We just weren’t pre-warned that it was actually going to happen. It didn’t help,” he said.
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thehuffingtonpostuk--2020-09-29--29 Joyously Funny Finalists From The Comedy Pet Photo Awards

Mars Petcare Comedy Pet Photo Awards 2020
Startled cats, laughing horses and a dog with its nose in a biscuit jar are all vying for the top prize in a comedy photography competition.
The finalists have been announced in the Mars Petcare Comedy Pet Photography Awards, which received more than 2,000 entries from 81 different countries.
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In its second year, the overall winner of the competition will receive £3,000 and be crowned the 2020 Mars Petcare Comedy Pet Photographer of the Year.
The competition aims to raise awareness for homeless pets in the UK, with 10% of its sponsorship fee and 10% of all entry fees donated to the animal welfare charity Blue Cross.
Winners will be judged by competition founders Paul Joynson-Hicks and Tom Sullam and wildlife television presenter and writer Kate Humble, alongside Mars Petcare and the Blue Cross.
“The entries this year have been completely and utterly what we needed to raise our spirits in 2020,” said Mr Sullam.
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“It has been a tough year for many, but these images have not only made us laugh out loud, but also re-affirmed our desire to drastically reduce animal cruelty and pet orphanage.
“The positive movement created by this competition is so uplifting and hopefully we can achieve a similar reaction from all who see this competition!”
The winners will be announced on November 24. Here’s a selection of our favourite pet pics below, and you can see the rest of the finalists here.
©Iain-Mcconnell/Mars Petcare Comedy Pet Photo Awards 2020 Mars Petcare Comedy Pet Photo Awards
©Elke-Vogelsang/Mars Petcare Comedy Pet Photo Awards 2020 Mars Petcare Comedy Pet Photo Awards
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©Teun Veldman/Mars Petcare Comedy Pet Photo Awards 2020 Mars Petcare Comedy Pet Photo Awards
©Pete Von Shnen/Mars Petcare Comedy Pet Photo Awards 2020 Mars Petcare Comedy Pet Photo Awards
©Malgorzata Russell/Mars Petcare Comedy Pet Photo Awards 2020 Mars Petcare Comedy Pet Photo Awards
©Magdalena-Strakova/Mars Petcare Comedy Pet Photo Awards 2020 Mars Petcare Comedy Pet Photo Awards
©Lianne-Richards/Mars Petcare Comedy Pet Photo Awards 2020 Mars Petcare Comedy Pet Photo Awards
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©Kerstin-Ordelt/Mars Petcare Comedy Pet Photo Awards 2020 Mars Petcare Comedy Pet Photo Awards
©Karen-Hoglund/Mars Petcare Comedy Pet Photo Awards 2020 Mars Petcare Comedy Pet Photo Awards
©John-Carelli/Mars Petcare Comedy Pet Photo Awards 2020 Mars Petcare Comedy Pet Photo Awards
©Ilana-Rose/Mars Petcare Comedy Pet Photo Awards 2020 Mars Petcare Comedy Pet Photo Awards
©Iain-Mcconnell/Mars Petcare Comedy Pet Photo Awards 2020 Mars Petcare Comedy Pet Photo Awards
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©Iain-Mcconnell/Mars Petcare Comedy Pet Photo Awards 2020 Mars Petcare Comedy Pet Photo Awards
©Iain-Mcconnell/Mars Petcare Comedy Pet Photo Awards 2020 Mars Petcare Comedy Pet Photo Awards
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©Emma-Newton/Mars Petcare Comedy Pet Photo Awards 2020 Mars Petcare Comedy Pet Photo Awards
©Elke-Vogelsang/Mars Petcare Comedy Pet Photo Awards 2020 Mars Petcare Comedy Pet Photo Awards
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©Dimpy-Bhalotia/Mars Petcare Comedy Pet Photo Awards 2020 Mars Petcare Comedy Pet Photo Awards
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©Daniel-Szumilas/Mars Petcare Comedy Pet Photo Awards 2020 Mars Petcare Comedy Pet Photo Awards
©Carol-Delaney_/Mars Petcare Comedy Pet Photo Awards 2020 Mars Petcare Comedy Pet Photo Awards
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©Candice-Sedighan/Mars Petcare Comedy Pet Photo Awards 2020 Mars Petcare Comedy Pet Photo Awards
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©Alex Class_/Mars Petcare Comedy Pet Photo Awards 2020 Mars Petcare Comedy Pet Photo Awards
©Anne-Lindner/Mars Petcare Comedy Pet Photo Awards 2020 Mars Petcare Comedy Pet Photo Awards
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thehuffingtonpostuk--2020-09-29--Eddie Redmayne Says 'Vitriol' Faced By JK Rowling Is 'Equally Disgusting' As Abuse Faced By Trans Pe

Eddie Redmayne Says 'Vitriol' Faced By JK Rowling Is 'Equally Disgusting' As Abuse Faced By Trans People

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Eddie Redmayne has weighed in on the row surrounding Harry Potter author JK Rowling, saying he believes the “vitriol” that she has received online is “equally disgusting” as the abuse faced by members of the transgender community.
In recent times, Rowling has repeatedly come under fire for comments she has made about transgender people, which Eddie was asked for his thoughts on during an interview with the Daily Mail.
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The Oscar-winning star – who previously played groundbreaking trans artist Lili Elbe in The Danish Girl, and now appears in the Fantastic Beasts series, penned by Rowling – began by saying that he has many transgender “friends and colleagues”, saying they are “having their human rights challenged around the world and facing discrimination on a daily basis”.
However, he went on to say that while he disagreed with Rowling’s views, he feels the “vitriol” that the author received online is “absolutely disgusting”, and recently sent her what the newspaper described as a “private note”.
Eddie Redmayne and JK Rowling at the premiere of Fantastic Beasts David M. Benett via Getty Images
He added that he felt the treatment of Rowling online is “equally disgusting” to the abuse faced by trans people, stating: “Similarly, there continues to be a hideous torrent of abuse towards trans people online and out in the world that is devastating.”
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Since the interview was published, many have voiced their disappointment with Eddie for equating the abuse faced by transgender people with the treatment of Rowling, particularly as a cisgender actor who played a real-life trans figurehead in a major film…
Remember when we critiqued Eddie Redmayne for being a cis man profiting by playing a trans woman and people said cancel culture had gotten out of hand https://t.co/vdTHoEnisq — Tau (@TauZaman) September 28, 2020
every time I see Eddie Redmayne's name, I think about the moment in Disclosure when Jen Richards talks about the link between cis men playing trans women in movies & violence against trans women in real life. pic.twitter.com/wd2NutZIk3 — t.r. wexler (@LetsTurnDayGlo) September 28, 2020
Eddie Redmayne doesn't actually care about trans people? Who could have possibly seen this coming? 👀 pic.twitter.com/83hpr30vqf — Mia Moore 🏳🌈 (@StopTweetingMia) September 28, 2020
what a mysterious change of heart eddie redmayne has had! very strange indeed pic.twitter.com/IkI45ZTLDS — John DiLillo (@dilillicious) September 28, 2020
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Love it when a cis man cashes in on playing a trans woman and then does nothing to support trans people in any way apart from “I have trans friends” and “they’re getting a lot of abuse, eh?” 🙃🙃🙃
Fuck Eddie Redmaynehttps://t.co/DIz4WFKIW9 — Vaneet Mehta #20ThemTy 🌺 (@nintendomad888) September 28, 2020
Remember when Eddie Redmayne played a trans woman and a bunch of us said that there's a problem with cis men playing trans women is that trans women are often framed/solidified as crossdressing men?https://t.co/gHdL35FyP0 — Lovesick Girl (@kat_blaque) September 28, 2020
Eddie Redmayne loves to use trans women as a costume to advance his career, but doesn't want to stand up against TERFism by JK Rolling.
This is why cis actors should never play trans characters. We are not your fucking costume. — (((Kyla Paterson))) (@TipsfortheCis) September 29, 2020
someone send eddie redmayne the judith butler interview
get her, JB pic.twitter.com/HQslmLEKNx — Lindsay Ellis (@thelindsayellis) September 28, 2020
So anyway, cis people need to stop playing transgender roles. You don’t get to tell our story wrong, get awards for it, then shit on us.https://t.co/5iToJAcRGC — CJ the Gadabout (@peglegcegjeg) September 28, 2020
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Back in June, Rowling came under fire when she commented on an article titled Creating a More Equal Post-Covid-19 World for People Who Menstruate, pushing back against the headline for not referring to those who have periods as “women”.
As many online reminded the author that transgender people, non-binary people and gender-nonconforming people can also menstruate, Eddie issued a statement, distancing himself from her comments.
He said: “Respect for transgender people remains a cultural imperative, and over the years I have been trying to constantly educate myself. This is an ongoing process. As someone who has worked with both JK Rowling and members of the trans community, I wanted to make it absolutely clear where I stand. I disagree with Jo’s comments.
“Trans women are women, trans men are men and non-binary identities are valid. I would never want to speak on behalf of the community but I do know that my dear transgender friends and colleagues are tired of this constant questioning of their identities, which all too often results in violence and abuse. They simply want to live their lives peacefully, and it’s time to let them do so.”
Eddie Redmayne ANGELA WEISS via Getty Images
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“I don’t think what she said was offensive really,” the Hagrid actor said. “I don’t know why but there’s a whole Twitter generation of people who hang around waiting to be offended.
“They wouldn’t have won the war, would they? That’s me talking like a grumpy old man, but you just think, ‘Oh, get over yourself. Wise up, stand up straight and carry on.’”
Useful websites and helplines:


thehuffingtonpostuk--2020-09-29--How Can We Talk About Body Image In Schools Without Criticising Capitalism?

Last week, the Department for Education issued new guidance for teachers involved in creating and implementing SRE (relationship, sex and health education).
“Schools should not under any circumstances use resources produced by organisations that take an extreme political stance on matters,” it reads. “This is the case even if the material itself is not extreme, as the use of it could imply endorsement or support of the organisation.”
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Fair enough, you may be thinking. For most people, the term “extreme” renders thoughts of the far right, or Islamist terrorist organisations (who are, incidentally, already prevented from entering schools since anyone who does is made to sign a declaration that they will adhere to the British values of democracy, rule of law and tolerance).
Klaus Vedfelt via Getty Images
It’s the DfE’s definition of extremism which has left me and many other educators baffled, infuriated and a little terrified. For, according to our policy-making overlords, it is now apparently classified as extreme to be critical of capitalism.
There’s some explanatory hokum about anti-capitalism being inherently anti-Semitic, which is in itself, ironically, a deeply anti-Semitic statement, since it relies on first buying into the trope that Jews are in control of and benefit most from capitalist industry.
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It’s clear to me, and indeed anyone with even a nominal understanding of the influences which loom large over the words and actions of the current cabinet, that the agenda here is far from a cuddly-seeming desire to eradicate racism.
In fact, as former Shadow Chancellor John McDonell put it, the measures would essentially outlaw any reference in schools to key events in British history and therefore symbolise a troubling “authoritarianism” within the Conservative party.
From a personal perspective, these new guidelines present quite the quandary.
For more than a decade now I have been visiting schools and colleges throughout the UK delivering talks and conducting research on mental health and related issues like body image, sexuality and gender.
I do this in collaboration with experts in neuroscience, tech and psychology, who are pretty-much unanimous in their belief that any discussion of how we have found ourselves in the midst of an epidemic of mental health issues, particularly amongst the young, necessitates broader analysis of our socio-political environment.
Indeed, one of the largest studies conducted into the rapid increase of anxiety disorders among the UK population in the past 10 years, which analysed data from 6.6 million patients registered at GP surgeries throughout the country, showed the root causes of our mental health issues are a lot less individualised than we might think.
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The report concluded that factors such as the financial crash of 2008, austerity, Brexit, climate change and social media – all inextricably linked with capitalism – were key factors.
“I do not wish to abolish capitalism, I simply believe that capitalism can do better. Which is, technically, a “criticism of capitalism”.”
When it comes to body image, the connection is even more explicit. There is no universal beauty paradigm, other than symmetry, which has been an indicator of beauty in every country throughout human history. Everything else – preferences for certain heights, skin colours, hair types – differs according to when and where it is measured.
Furthermore, standards of beauty are generally hard to obtain. Therefore, in countries with a tropical climate notions of beauty and social standing are tied up with being pale. Here in Britain, where the coming out of the sun is such a rare occurrence it almost always results in a street party, everyone wants a tan.
The more “flaws” the beauty industry can invent, the more money the population will part with trying to “fix” them. The human body has therefore been objectified and commodified in a transparent crusade to keep us apologetic and spending.
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One cannot discuss mental health or body image honestly, or with factual accuracy, without acknowledging these things.
I should declare here that I’m not a communist either. In fact, the takeaway message of my lessons is that young people should use their power as consumers in the attention economy, spending their engagement and clicks wisely in order to create an online environment which is fairer and more diverse.
I also believe in using fitness, fashion and beauty products for creativity and personal expression.
The problem emerges when industries use us for their agenda (often sacrificing our self-esteem and mental wellbeing along the way) when it should be the other way round.
In fact, I’m more of a subscriber to the Caitlin Moran school – she once famously said: “It’s kind of weird that, under late-market capitalism, we can get 300 different types of latte but only one kind of market-led capitalism.”
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I do not wish to abolish capitalism, I simply believe that capitalism can do better. Which is, technically, a “criticism of capitalism”.
You might think the DfE will be savvy enough to make these kinds of subtle distinctions, but anyone who remembers Section 28 – a disgusting piece of legislation introduced by Thatcher which forbade “promotion” of homosexuality in the classroom but in reality led to it never being mentioned at all – will know otherwise.
Pundits would have you believe the battle for “freedom of speech” should be confined to packets of rice being rebranded, Alesha Dixon’s choice of accessory or Meghan Markle having the audacity to be a woman who says things.
But the real silencing of truth has just happened our classrooms. Be afraid. Be very afraid.


thehuffingtonpostuk--2020-09-29--Joaquin Phoenix Names Baby Son River In Memory Of His Late Brother

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Joaquin Phoenix and Rooney Mara have welcomed their first child together, a baby boy named after the actor’s late brother, River Phoenix.
While the press-averse couple have yet to formally announce the news, director Victor Kossakovsky, who worked with Joaquin Phoenix on the wordless, black-and-white documentary “Gunda,” confirmed the newborn’s arrival on Sunday at the 2020 Zurich Film Festival.
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“He just got a baby by the way,” the director said when asked about the actor at a screening of the film. “A beautiful son called River.”
🚨 Viktor Kossakovsky 📽, Gunda: He just had a baby Boy who's Called River. ( about Joaquin) pic.twitter.com/WuUISnuTsZ — Max California's Lover (@Paula_FlorV) September 27, 2020
River Phoenix died in 1993 of a drug overdose at age 23 at the height of his fame after starring in films like “Stand By Me” and “My Own Private Idaho.”
He collapsed outside of the popular West Hollywood nightclub The Viper Room on Halloween night while out with the “Joker” star, who was just 19 years old at the time and called the police for help.
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Joaquin Phoenix, of course, has since followed in his brother’s footsteps, making a name for himself in the film industry, while keeping River Phoenix’s memory alive all these years later.
During his 2019 Oscar speech, while accepting the Best Actor trophy for his performance in “Joker,” the actor made special mention of River Phoenix, while Mara watched on in the audience.
“When he was 17, my brother wrote this lyric,” Joaquin Phoenix said at the end of his speech. “He said, ‘Run to the rescue, and love and peace will follow.’ Thank you.”
Dianna Whitley via Getty Images Joaquin and River Phoenix pictured together as children in 1985.
The actor has been reluctant to speak about his brother in the press given the media attention surrounding his death at the time, but spoke candidly about River Phoenix’s lasting legacy in a “60 Minutes” interview with Anderson Cooper last year.
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“I feel like in virtually every movie that I made, there was a connection to River in some way,” he said. “And I think that we’ve all felt his presence and guidance in our lives in numerous ways.”
VALERIE MACON via Getty Images Joaquin Phoenix Rooney Mara arrive for the 92nd Oscars in 2020.
Mara and Joaquin Phoenix, who got engaged last year, first met on the set of the 2013 film “Her.”
Joaquin Phoenix initially believed that Mara “despised” him upon their first meeting, but the two later developed a mutual attraction.
“She’s the only girl I ever looked up on the internet,” he told Vanity Fair. “We were just friends, email friends. I’d never done that. Never looked up a girl online.”
They went onto spark a romance after starring in two more films together, “Don’t Worry, He Won’t Get Far on Foot” and “Mary Magdalene,” and made their red carpet debut as a couple at the 2017 Cannes Film Festival.
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thehuffingtonpostuk--2020-09-29--Chadwick Boseman Took Pay Cut To Give Sienna Miller Salary She 'Deserved'

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Weeks after Chadwick Boseman’s death, those who knew him are continuing to memorialise a man who more than lived up to his superhero alter ego.
The Black Panther actor starred opposite Sienna Miller in one of his final films, 21 Bridges, which he also produced. Boseman died in August at the age of 43 after a four-year battle with cancer.
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Miller revealed the instrumental role Boseman played in securing her an equitable salary on the film, which she described as the “most astounding thing that I’ve experienced” in the film industry.
Sienna Miller and Chadwick Boseman attend a screening of 21 Bridges in November 2019, in which they both starred. In a new interview, Miller details an act of generosity on Boseman's part that took her by surprise. Dimitrios Kambouris via Getty Images
“I didn’t know whether or not to tell this story, and I haven’t yet. But I am going to tell it, because I think it’s a testament to who he was,” Miller shared with Empire magazine in a tribute to the late actor.
The British actor said that when the studio denied her initial salary demand, Boseman stepped in to donate part of his own paycheck to ensure that she got what she “deserved to be paid.”
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“This was a pretty big-budget film, and I know that everybody understands about the pay disparity in Hollywood, but I asked for a number that the studio wouldn’t get to,” Miller explained.
“And because I was hesitant to go back to work and my daughter was starting school and it was an inconvenient time, I said, ‘I’ll do it if I’m compensated in the right way.’ And Chadwick ended up donating some of his salary to get me to the number that I had asked for. He said that that was what I deserved to be paid.”
“That kind of thing just doesn’t happen,” she continued, recalling he told her that, “You’re getting paid what you deserve, and what you’re worth.”
Boseman was the one who actually approached Miller to star in the film alongside him, she said, and was “really active” to get her to come aboard.
“He was a fan of my work, which was thrilling, because it was reciprocated from me to him, tenfold. So he approached me to do it, he offered me this film, and it was at a time when I really didn’t want to work anymore,” Miller said. “I’d been working non-stop and I was exhausted, but then I wanted to work with him.”
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While the film wasn’t a box office smash and opened to lukewarm reviews, for Miller the experience of working with Boseman was unparalleled.
“It’s just unfathomable to imagine another man in that town behaving that graciously or respectfully,” she said, adding that other male actor friends “all go very quiet” when she recounts the story.
“There was no showiness,” on Boseman’s part about the salary issue, she said. “It was, ‘Of course I’ll get you to that number, because that’s what you should be paid.’”
Miller has previously spoken about the gender pay gap, revealing that years ago she’d turned down a major role in a Broadway production after she was “offered less than half” than her male co-star.
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“I was forced to choose between making a concession on my self-worth and dignity and a role that I was in love with,” she said in a speech back in 2018.
Like most of Boseman’s co-stars, it seems as if Miller was unaware he was battling an illness at the time of filming. In fact, Disney and Marvel were reportedly kept out of the loop about the actor’s health struggles; producer Kevin Feige received an email about Boseman’s condition an hour before the actor’s death, per The Hollywood Reporter.


thehuffingtonpostuk--2020-09-29--Chrissy Teigen Explains 'Very Bad' Pregnancy Bleeding: 'There's Really Nothing To Do'

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Chrissy Teigen went on social media to carefully explain her current hospitalisation amid her pregnancy with baby No. 3.
The 34-year-old has been on “super serious bed rest” for “a few weeks” and posted an extensive Instagram Story on Sunday explaining why, telling fans she’s been heavily bleeding and can only get up to use the bathroom or take baths.
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“I was always, always bleeding. I’m about halfway through pregnancy and the blood has been going on for a month. Maybe a little less than a month. But we’re talking more than your period, girls, but definitely not spotting. A lot of people spot and it’s usually fine. But, mine was a lot,” she told fans.
She went on to add that she’d find a lot of blood whenever she’d go to the bathroom and that this weekend, it “was like if you were to turn a faucet on to low and leave it there.”
“It’s so weird because I feel really good. I feel like I’m usually at my happiest pregnant, mood-wise ... I feel happier than I do not pregnant. That’s why it’s so, so hard for me to come to terms with,” she said, adding, “It was at the point today where it was never stopping bleeding. That’s obviously very bad.”
A screenshot from Chrissy Teigen's Instagram Story. Instagram/Chrissy Teigen
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While she thanked fans for their love and care for her well-being, she did push back on doctors on Twitter or in her direct messages who try to diagnose her.
“You have to trust me that I have very good doctors who know what they’re doing, who know the entire story. There’s so much more than you can ever imagine. I share a lot, but not absolutely everything. So trust me when I say they know and I just want to keep things so simple for you guys,” she said.
On a more granular level, Teigen explained that one of the problems she’s experiencing is that her “placenta is really, really weak,” but that she feels “really good” and that the “baby is so healthy, growing stronger than Luna or Miles.”
“He’s so different than they were. He’s strong. I’m so excited for him because he’s so wonderful, the strongest little dude. So, I can’t wait for him,” she said, describing her placenta as the “shittiest house” that’s “falling apart.”
Teigen explained that the next few weeks are the “danger zone” for her to get through.
“We have to get through this first. so, yeah, it is scary, but it’s scary in the way that there’s really nothing to do,” she said, assuring fans again that she’s doing everything she can and that she doesn’t need their advice, as it makes her “anxious” and “nervous” that she’s doing something wrong.
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She echoed those sentiments in a tweet:
I just shared as much as you need to know about what’s goin on, on insta stories - medical Twitter I beg you to please not diagnose me as there are so many factors that make me different from your patients 🙏🏼😊🙏🏼 — chrissy teigen (@chrissyteigen) September 28, 2020
The mum of Luna and Miles also shared some lighter updates of her hospital stay on both Instagram and Twitter.


thehuffingtonpostuk--2020-09-29--Ex-Watergate Prosecutor Says 'No Question' Trump And Ivanka Could Both Face Prison

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A former federal prosecutor during the Watergate proceedings that brought down President Richard Nixon says new tax revelations about President Donald Trump could ultimately send him to prison.
“No question about it,” Nick Akerman said Monday on CNN. “And his daughter could go to jail, too.”
Both the president and his oldest daughter, Ivanka Trump, who also serves as a White House adviser, are named in the New York Times report detailing the schemes that allowed Donald Trump to avoid taxes for much of the past decade and a half.
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“Tax evasion is a five-year felony,” said Akerman, who as an assistant special Watergate prosecutor investigated Nixon’s taxes. “It’s a pretty serious crime, and the more money that’s stolen, the longer you go to jail for.”
Trump has denied any wrongdoing. However, he has also refused to publicly disclose his tax returns, as has been customary for presidential candidates for nearly half a century.
Akerman said the Times report details “a whole series of activities that could qualify as tax fraud, not tax avoidance.”
Avoidance, he said, is merely taking advantage of the tax code in legal ways to maximize deductions. Fraud, on the other hand, involves lying about income and deductions.
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He pointed specifically to consultant fees paid by Trump to Ivanka. Since Ivanka was already an employee of the Trump Organization, Akerman said, there was “no legitimate reason” for those payments.
He speculated the two could have been shifting the money around to avoid paying taxes on it.
That, he said, could lead to an ominous development for the president should he leave office in January.
“The only thing that’s saving him at this point is the Department of Justice’s guideline that says you can’t indict a sitting president,” Akerman said. “Once he’s no longer a sitting president, he is subject to being indicted.”
He added that “any decent prosecutor” could make a “pretty viable” case:
Ex-Watergate prosecutor Nick Akerman says the NYT’s report on Trump’s taxes shows that both he and his daughter, Ivanka could face legal liabilities. “The only thing saving him at this point is the Department of Justice’s guideline that says you can’t indict a sitting president.” pic.twitter.com/4YI1qDhI5g — OutFrontCNN (@OutFrontCNN) September 28, 2020
Akerman also tweeted his reaction to the Times report on Trump’s tax filings on Sunday:
The phrase "Tax Avoidance" in the NYT headline should read Trump's "Tax Evasion." Payments of sham consulting fees to Ivanka to evade income taxes is like what Trump's father did in paying bogus expenses to a phony company to evade estate taxes. — Nick Akerman (@nickakerman) September 28, 2020
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thehuffingtonpostuk--2020-09-29--Is It Even Possible To Spend $70,000 On Hair? Stylists Break It Down

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A recent bombshell New York Times report revealed that US President Donald Trump paid only $750 in federal income taxes in both 2016 and 2017, but an almost equally befuddling part of that report had to do with his hair.
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On behalf of those of us who have overdrawn our bank accounts shelling out $300 for highlights, we must ask: How?
A request for answers from professionals on a beauty and style page on Facebook left me with some answers I expected: It’s possible but not probable; it could be due to a high day rate or medical procedure (like hair plugs); or perhaps some of that money goes toward NDAs that prevent stylists from disclosing details of their services. But the general consensus appeared to be that it would be pretty difficult to get to that number on salon services alone.
Joey Silvestera, founder of Blackstones and Five Wits salons in New York City, said he believes there are one of two scenarios at play here, but only one seems to him to be in the realm of possibility.
“When you do the math over a 12-month period, even if he went to a top stylist and colourist and went every four weeks, which most males do, it’s virtually impossible to hit those numbers,” he told HuffPost over the phone. “Unless there was some sort of medical treatment that year like hair plugs ― which still would be under $20,000 for one treatment ― I don’t think it’s very likely.”
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The less cutting and more logical explanation, Silvestera said, is that Trump had a hairstylist on retainer, working for a salary of $70,000.
“That’s a normal salary for a mid-level hairdresser in places like New York City or Los Angeles, where it’s high fashion and a hard cost of living,” he said. “If he has a hairdresser who follows him around for photos, appearances, to make sure his hair is OK. It would include styling daily, haircutting, colouring, it sounds about right.”
Silvestera pointed to hairdressers he knows who work for morning news programs and make between $80,000 to $100,000. So while he said it’s easy to see how social media would twist it, the amount doesn’t seem too far-fetched.
However, if that’s not the case, Silvestera called the fees “the most expensive hair services I’ve ever heard of on the planet.”
Ashley Watts, a professional hair and makeup artist based in Raleigh, North Carolina, who also does commercial and editorial work, agreed that the amount is feasible. Her calculations, however, break it down in a slightly different way.
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“On average for a political appearance, I make $500 to $1,500 for styling depending on the job, the person, the amount of time I need to be there, etc.,” she said. “But typically stylists who do this type of work are paid per day, on location, and most of us in the political world have to have high clearance to even be in the same room with politicians ― something also common with celebrities.”
According to that logic, Watts said she would guess the stylist is being paid $1,000 minimum per appearance. Calculate that out weekly for a year and you get $52,000 for the stylist fee alone.
Watts also made an educated — but unfounded — guess that Trump may wear a hairpiece, which could contribute to costs.
“I would assume Trump would only want the best hairpiece, made from quality material billed back to the beautiful taxpayers,” she said. “A custom hand-woven lace-front piece made with real human hair would cost about $2,000. He probably had someone who maintains keeping the specimen along with any custom pieces in his wardrobe. So, for the sake of the article, let’s say it’s cleaned once a month and repaired as needed ― that’s around $750 per month. So $9,000 for wig-keeping. Plus, let’s assume he has five pieces in rotation at $2,000 each. Would you look at that? $10,000.”
According to Watts’ guesses, $52,000 for styling, $9,000 for maintenance on hairpieces and $10,000 for “a couple of good custom pieces” total out to $71,000.
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“As you can see, it’s pretty easy to come up with that total if he’s using freelance personnel for this type of service,” she said. “Actually, if this is what he’s paying, he’s probably getting a decent deal!”