thehuffingtonpostuk--2020-07-20--Black Woman Charged More Rent Than White Neighbour For Identical Property

Selma Nicholls Supplied
A Black business owner has been paying twice as much rent as her white neighbour who lives in an identical property.
For the past four years, Selma Nicholls has been leasing a “live/work” unit in north London from Sanctuary Housing association.
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These properties are designed to accommodate tenants’ professional and personal lives.
However, during a conversation with her white neighbour on the day after George Floyd’s murder at the hands of US police, the 40-year-old learned that she was being charged a completely different rate.
Nicholls said the only difference between her and her neighbour is their ethnicity, and she believes race is a key factor in this disparity. Sanctuary has denied the claim.
The neighbour has since provided Nicholls with proof of the disparity, seen by HuffPost UK, and said: “We should all be looking out for each other.”
Nicholls has been paying £1,000 more rent a month than her neighbour since August 2018, and was paying £500 a month more for the year before that, giving a grand total of £30,000 difference.
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“My first reaction was disbelief and I immediately sought clarification from my neighbour,” Nicholls told HuffPost UK.
“As a Black single mother with an independent fledgling business in Tottenham, one of the poorest wards in [one of] the most deprived boroughs in the whole of the UK, it is staggering that I have been paying double the amount of rent for the identical property as my white counterpart.”
As per her contractual agreement, Nicholls’ rent increased incrementally between 2016 and 2019: £1,000 a month in the first year, £1,500 a month in the second year; and £2,000 a month in the third year. After the third year the rent remains at £2,000 per month for three more years.
On the other hand, her neighbour’s rent has remained fixed at just under £1,000 a month after she asked a Sanctuary worker for a temporary rate freeze for financial ease. Nicholls had made the same request as she struggled to get her business off the ground, but was refused by the same worker.
Meanwhile, despite the neighbour’s freeze having long since expired, her rent has not been reviewed or increased, Sanctuary has confirmed to HuffPost UK.
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Selma Nicholls Supplied
“To find out about this disparity and know that the only difference between us is race – I just didn’t want to believe that this was happening and Sanctuary has not given a proper explanation,” Nicholls said.
“This appears to be discriminatory practice and goes against the company’s ethos of treating residents equally and fairly. I feel like I’ve been discriminated against. [...]
“There’s no other difference between my neighbour and I. It seems that Sanctuary felt a sympathetic connection towards her which allowed her to receive this sweetheart deal which has made her experience a lot easier.”
The neighbour has also been permitted to sub-let to a lodger, which Nicholls is not allowed to do.
When this was put to Sanctuary, a spokesperson said: “Our lease agreements would not generally allow tenants to sub-let their property or any part of it.”
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Nicholls’ neighbour, who we have chosen not to name, told HuffPost UK she felt compelled to support her.
″I never would have thought that mine and Selma’s rents weren’t in line with each other and I was shocked to hear that she was being charged almost double,” she said.
“Of course allyship is important but to stand up for someone when they are not being treated fairly is what it means to be a good neighbour and part of a community.
“We should all be looking out for each other to make sure people aren’t being driven out of their neighbourhoods, especially in view of the rapid gentrification of Tottenham.
“While I never questioned the need to fight for Selma’s rent to be the same as mine, I am also incredibly fearful that it will mean a rent rise that I cannot afford, especially as most of my income has been put on hold by Covid 19, and I will have to upend my life again. Renters in the UK have very few rights and the fear of eviction or rent increase is often a real hurdle when fighting for fairer treatment.”
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Nicholls is the CEO and founder of Looks Like Me, a talent agency that aims to raise the profile of underrepresented groups in the fashion and advertising world.
Like many other businesses during the Covid-19 lockdown, the agency’s income stopped and Nicholls was awarded a small business grant from the government to cover her rent for March to June 2020.
She struggled to make it stretch between covering rent and food while her neighbour, who received the same grant, didn’t have that problem.
When Nicholls couldn’t pay her rent on time over a four-month period in 2019, Sanctuary Affordable Housing served her with an eviction notice.
Sanctuary did not address the circumstances around this eviction notice when asked by HuffPost UK.
Nicholls immediately made a complaint to the housing association, with help from her local MP David Lammy. The neighbour, who Nicholls describes as an “ally”, has assisted by providing proof of her discounted rent and lobbying for equity in the price.
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“My neighbour has been fantastic – she’s been an ally in the sense where she’s been open about her fees and shown me letters confirming her rent amount. She feels it’s really unfair and thinks it makes sense for them to increase her rent and lower mine so that we meet – but they’re not prepared to do that at all,” Nicholls added.
Sanctuary has not commented on this suggestion when approached by HuffPost UK.
Lammy’s office confirmed to HuffPost UK that he has written to Sanctuary to make an enquiry on Selma’s behalf, and that Sanctuary has not responded after being contacted multiple times.
Nicholls feels she was treated differently from her neighbour purely because of her skin colour hyejin kang via Getty Images
Nicholls was diagnosed with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) some years ago and this experience has severely impacted her mental health.
“My daughter’s eight years old and sometimes asks me why I am crying. I’m crying because this injustice is not fair,” she said.
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“From the get go, I’ve been placed at a disadvantage and it’s been so hard trying to push this business knowing that I could’ve hired an assistant for £30,000, there’s so many things I could’ve done to help what I’m doing – I’m an advocate for diversity, inclusion and equality.
“I talk about that every day from this premises. I’ve built an organisation based on those values and to know that I’ve been subjected to this unfairness...it’s hard.”
Sanctuary has denied any discrimination against Nicholls, and acknowledged it should have reviewed her neighbour’s rent earlier.
Housing inequality does exist. A recent study by the Human City Institute found the level of what experts call “housing stress” is much higher in Black communities than it is among white people.
Homelessness has also increased over the last two decades within those communities in comparison to the rest of the population.
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Between 2009/10 and 2016/17, the number of homeless Black households almost doubled, rising from 5,600 to 9,330 before falling back to 8,050 in 2017/18, a government audit has highlighted.
Some 17% of all complaints against UK estate agents last year were related to discrimination against customers, the Property Ombudsman recently revealed.
The English Housing Survey (2018) highlighted a disparity in levels of home ownership between different communities: almost three-quarters of Indian households were homeowners, as were 68% of white British households. At the other end of the scale, just 20% of Black African people owned a home. This suggests that Black households are more likely to rent properties and be at the mercy of discrimination from landlords.
Earlier this year, it emerged that landlord Elina Vimbsone had banned African tenants from renting her central London property – because “they make the house smell”. She added that her property was “only for European people”.
(Top, second from left) Selma on set for the Looks Like Me 'Hero In Us All' inspirational photography campaign for the BFI preview screening of the Blockbuster Marvel film Black Panther. Supplied
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In 2017, Fergus Wilson – one of the UK’s biggest buy-to-let landlords – instructed agents acting on his behalf not to let his properties to “coloured people” because the smell of curry “sticks to the carpet”.
Over in the US, analysis has shown that African-Americans pay more for identical housing in identical neighbourhoods than their white counterparts, and that this rent premium increases as neighbourhoods get whiter. An equivalent study has not yet been conducted in the UK.
Nicholls, a mother-of-one, is well aware of racial and social equalities.
“I have a name that’s very powerful from the Civil Rights movement in America. I believe in equality; I’ve being putting blood, sweat and tears into the cause of people being treated fairly, so Black people are seen as our authentic selves, especially our children,” she said.
“To be building a business from scratch and training myself as a spokesperson going around the world talking about equality... I now feel wounded. I went through a stage of feeling deep rage – from a place deep in my soul – to confusion and sadness.”
Nicholls is speaking out because she feels a sense of obligation to raise awareness.
“Me speaking out goes beyond me; it’s other other female founders, young people growing up to understand that fairness should be for everyone,” she said.
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“I’ll be doing myself a disservice and other people if I don’t share this information at some point. I have a duty of care. This is not on me – they’ve created this and they need to be held accountable. The heaviness that I’ve been feeling is slowly being lifted even just speaking about it.”
Nicholls added: “They couldn’t admit to making a mistake, at the very least. A Sanctuary staff member apologised to me over the phone and but refused to put it in writing when I asked.”
In an email sent to Nicholls on June 9, and seen by HuffPost UK, a commercial property manager appeared to double down on the housing association’s rent disparity, describing her complaint as “inappropriate”.
“Thank you for your email outlining your disappointment to discover that there is a difference in the rental figure between yourself and your neighbour,” the email rent.
“I have subsequently reviewed the terms of your lease and have noted that you have been correctly been paying rent in line with the agreement. As a result, it would be inappropriate for this to be raised as a complaint at this time.”
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Selma speaking being on the panel at D&AD Festival, 2019 Surface UK & Microsoft
The housing association then suggested sending a surveyor to visit Nicholls’ property to “inform how we move forward”. Nicholls had doubts about why such a move was necessary and, mindful of the risk of transmitting Covid-19, declined the offer.
A spokesperson for Sanctuary Housing told HuffPost UK: “Ms Nicholls and her neighbour have each been paying the correct rent in line with their individual lease agreements for their living/work properties, which were entered into at different points in time and were both set at a discounted rate to market rent.
“We have looked into the case and we recognise we should have reviewed Ms Nicholls’ neighbour’s rental agreement and because we didn’t, they have continued to pay their initial discounted rate.
“Given that both tenants are now out of the fixed period of their leases, we are in discussion with Ms Nicholls and her neighbour and are reviewing both rental agreements.
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thehuffingtonpostuk--2020-07-20--England's Coronavirus Test And Trace Programme 'Breaks Data Protection Law', Campaigners Warn

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England’s NHS coronavirus Test and Trace programme has broken a key data protection law, privacy campaigners have warned.
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In a letter to the Open Rights Group (ORG), the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) acknowledged it had failed to carry out a risk assessment on how the Covid-19 tracing programme would affect privacy.
The ORG – which has threatened the government with legal action – said this means the system has been operating unlawfully since it launched on May 28.
What does the law say? A Data Protection Impact Assessment (DPIA) helps to identify and mitigate risks relating to the use of personal data. A DPIA assessment is a requirement under General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) laws.
Responding to a letter from the ORG – a privacy campaign group – the government confirmed that while a DPIA is a legal requirement – it had not yet been completed for the Test and Trace programme.
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The letter from DHSC, which is dated July 15, said the legal requirement is being “finalised”.
A spokesperson for the department said there was “no evidence” of data being used in an unlawful way.
Speaking on BBC Breakfast on Monday, education secretary Gavin Williamson said: “In no way has [there] been a breach of any of the data that has been stored.”
He added: “I think your viewers will understand that if we are to defeat this virus, we do need to have a test and trace system and we had to get that up and running at incredible speed.... Are you really advocating that we get rid of a test and trace system? I don’t think you are.”
“The information that they give is treated with the absolute highest security”
On #BBCBreakfast Gavin Williamson MP reacts to claims that England's test and trace programme has broken the GDPR data protection law.https://t.co/7PHIVt4Aiy pic.twitter.com/5yU3MZF1EC — BBC Breakfast (@BBCBreakfast) July 20, 2020
But Silkie Carlo, director of privacy campaign group Big Brother Watch, said it was wrong for ministers to “brush these serious errors aside”.
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“Public health relies on public trust in medical confidentiality,” Carlo said.
“The government’s disregard for privacy underpins a succession of major contact tracing failures over the past four months. This not only undermines citizens’ rights, but endangers public health too.”
She added: “It shouldn’t be down to NGOs to keep raising the alarm, the Information Commissioner should be doing her job of ensuring these huge data collection systems are at least lawful. So much is at stake.”
Jim Killock, executive director of ORG called the government’s behaviour “reckless”.
“We have a ‘world beating’ unlawful Test and Trace programme,” he said.
“A crucial element in the fight against the pandemic is mutual trust between the public and the government, which is undermined by their operating the programme without basic privacy safeguards.”
Ravi Naik, legal director of the data rights agency AWO, instructed to act on behalf of ORG, said that failing to carry out the “appropriate assessment” meant all data collected is “tainted”.
“These legal requirements are more than just a tick-box compliance exercise,” he said.
“They ensure that risks are mitigated before processing occurs, to preserve the integrity of the system. Instead, we have a rushed-out system, seemingly compromised by unsafe processing practices.”
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A DHSC spokesperson said: “There is no evidence of data being used unlawfully.
“NHS Test and Trace is committed to the highest ethical and data governance standards – collecting, using, and retaining data to fight the virus and save lives, while taking full account of all relevant legal obligations.
“We have rapidly created a large-scale test and trace system in response to this unprecedented pandemic.


thehuffingtonpostuk--2020-07-20--Kate Garraway Emotional After Myleene Klass Arranges Sweet Surprise For Son's Birthday

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Kate Garraway has said it was “emotional” celebrating her son’s birthday without her husband Derek Draper, as she revealed the sweet surprise Myleene Klass set up for 11-year-old Bill.
Derek remains seriously ill in hospital after contracting coronavirus in March, but said he would be “proud” of the celebrations Bill enjoyed at the weekend.
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Kate’s Smooth Radio colleague Myleene arranged for a special jungle camp to be set up in Kate’s garden on Saturday as her son turned 11.
She wrote on Instagram: “So I was super nervous about Bill’s birthday this year – we usually have a family do with grandparents & a few of his friends but obviously this not possible.
“So we are seeing grandparents separately but wanted to do something for him & his mates in the garden. Derek is so brilliant at this, organising treasure hunts & boys own adventures so mentioned to @myleeneklass really didn’t want to let Bill down & did she know anyone with a tent we could borrow in case it was wet.
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“Little did I know what I was unleashing! She is in her element! At 8.30 this morning she arrived with Apollo in tow to supervise the brilliant @sleepyteepeeuk to set up the most amazing jungle camp ever!!! ….”
Sharing a video of Bill exploring the teepee, which was set up for a sleepover, she wrote: “When Billy woke up he could not believe his eyes!!!! Thanks @sleepyteepeeuk & @myleeneklass and the fabulous @ariannemerry … feel so emotional but know Derek will be so proud and pleased. Can never thank you enough.”
Kate and Myleene were also joined by the Good Morning Britain presenter’s I’m A Celebrity campmate Roman Kemp, who donned his jungle outfit for the occasion.
Sharing a video of Roman playing Nerf wars with the kids at the party, she wrote: “You are a total star & great mate - so lovely to see you & your dad @martinjkemp.”
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Speaking about the weekend’s celebrations on Monday’s Good Morning Britain, Kate said: “Billy absolutely loved it, he was completely overwhelmed.
“He was emotional too of course, but I said we were gonna do it all again when Derek gets back.”
Earlier this month, Kate revealed her husband was out of his induced coma, but said he is still “desperately” ill and in a “minimal state of consciousness”, with doctors telling her they’ve never treated anyone so sick.


thehuffingtonpostuk--2020-07-20--Trump Doubles Down On Claim Coronavirus Will Disappear: 'I'll Be Right Eventually'

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As coronavirus infections continue to surge across America, Donald Trump repeated his unsubstantiated claim that the pathogen will simply “disappear” one day.
During an interview with “Fox News Sunday,” host Chris Wallace suggested Trump had made a mistake when he stated in January and February that the virus had largely been contained.
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On February 10, Trump said the virus would “miraculously” go away by April.
“It’s going to disappear,” the president said later that month. “One day, it’s like a miracle, it will disappear.”
Meanwhile, his administration’s top public health officials were sounding the alarm about the virus, which they warned would likely have devastating impacts on American lives for months to come.
As of Sunday, the US is leading the world in known coronavirus infections and deaths, with over 3.7 million cases and 140,000 deaths recorded nationwide, according to data compiled by Johns Hopkins University.
But Trump stood by his comments during his interview with Wallace.
“I’ll be right eventually,” he said. “You know, I said, it’s going to disappear. I’ll say it again, it’s going to disappear. And I’ll be right.”
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Asked if such a statement, which has been debunked by many scientists, discredits him, Trump said he didn’t think so.
“You know why it doesn’t discredit me? Because I’ve been right probably more than anybody else,” Trump said.
WATCH: President Trump discusses the U.S. response to the coronavirus. Plus, his relationship with Dr. Fauci and much more. #FoxNewsSunday pic.twitter.com/JUo1c2i96Z — FoxNewsSunday (@FoxNewsSunday) July 19, 2020
During the wide-ranging ― and at times, testy ― exchange with Wallace, Trump threatened once again to cut federal funding to schools that don’t fully reopen in the fall due to the coronavirus.
“Schools have to open,” Trump said. “Young people have to go to school. And there’s problems when you don’t go to school, too. And there’s going to be a funding problem. ... We’re not going to give them money if they’re not going to school, if they don’t open their schools.”
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As Wallace pointed out, federal funding makes up roughly 10% of school districts’ budgets nationwide. Local property and sales taxes account for much of the educational budgets.
“Do you know where the money goes? It goes overwhelmingly to disadvantaged kids and children with disabilities,” Wallace said. “Why wouldn’t you send more money so the schools would be safer?”
“Let the schools open,” Trump responded, avoiding the question and pointing to the relatively low rates of death among children who contract the virus.
As schools grapple with whether to reopen fully, partially or not at all in the fall, public health experts have warned that the virus could spread rapidly if in-person instruction resumes in areas that continue to have high rates of infections.
Though coronavirus-linked deaths in children are rare, the long-term impacts of the virus are still unknown. In rare cases, an inflammatory disease similar to Kawasaki’s Disease has appeared in some children who have tested positive for the coronavirus.
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A new study from South Korea found that children ages 10 and older are just as likely as adults to spread the coronavirus ― a finding that could impact how schools reopen in states like Florida, where almost one-third of children who are tested for the virus are confirmed to have it.
On his relationship with Anthony Fauci, the top infectious disease expert on the White House’s coronavirus task force, Trump told Wallace that it was “very good.”
“I spoke to him yesterday at length,” the president said.
Fauci, the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, said last week that he hadn’t briefed Trump on the coronavirus in at least two months.
Fauci’s office did not immediately respond to HuffPost’s request for comment.
Members of Trump’s reelection campaign, as well as Trump’s top trade adviser Peter Navarro, have spoken out against Fauci in recent weeks, claiming that he is leaking information to the press and that he’s been wrong about the virus.
Asked why his campaign is trying to discredit Fauci, Trump claimed it isn’t before taking several jabs at the scientist.
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thehuffingtonpostuk--2020-07-20--Coronation Street Uses Mannequin To Film TV's First Socially Distanced Stunt

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Coronation Street has made use of a mannequin to film TV’s first socially distanced stunt.
Fans of the ITV soap will see characters Gary Windass and Sarah Platt involved in dramatic scenes next week when his web of lies begin to unravel and he is mowed down by an oncoming car.
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Soap bosses have given viewers a glimpse of how actors Mickey North and Tina O’Brien managed to film the stunt while still observing social distancing guidelines, which revealed they had a helping hand from a plastic mannequin.
Coronation Street used a mannequin to help film the stunt ITV
The storyline will see Rick Neelan’s engraved watch found in the woods before Sarah demands answers from Gary about his involvement in the loan shark’s disappearance.
Terrified by Gary’s admissions, Sarah runs away from him to call the police. As Gary chases Sarah down the street, a car hurtles towards her and Gary dives into the path of danger, pushing her to safety and saving her life.
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However, a dummy dressed in Sarah’s clothes and used in place of Tina O'Brien in certain shots
Mickey revealed: “The stunt was me acting with the dummy Sarah at times and it’s not easy but we have done as best we can, it’s just really nice to get back there and the crew have been fantastic and the scripts have been edited in a way where we can film it.
“It’s changed quite a lot from what we had for this week before lockdown but hopefully we’ve not lost any of the effect from it.”
Tina revealed that the dummy was taken from the soap’s Underworld factory set, but they had to make some changes.
She said: “When I stood next to it, it was towering over me! We had to saw the bottom of the legs off to make it more realistic and more my height but we have a very talented director and post production team so no one will notice when it’s in the show.”
The dramatic scenes will air next week ITV
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The stunt was originally scheduled to be filmed on location, in the woods, but this was also amended in the interest of safety for the cast and crew.
Director David Kester added: “Because of social distancing, Mikey cannot touch Tina or push her away and that is integral to the stunt because his character has got to look heroic and that he has saved her.
“We are cheating it by using a mannequin from Underworld and if we shoot it in the right way, making it a tight shot and we do it very quickly, it will work and will still sell the idea that he has pushed her.”
Coronation Street resumed filming at its studios in Salford with strict protocols in place last month, after production ceased due to the pandemic back in March.
Unlike rival soap EastEnders, Corrie managed to stay on air before running out of pre-recorded episodes, with scenes filmed after lockdown now on screen.
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thehuffingtonpostuk--2020-07-20--US Judge’s Husband Shot, Son Killed By Gunman Reportedly Dressed As FedEx Driver

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Two family members of a federal judge were shot at their home in New Jersey on Sunday by an unknown assailant, officials said.
NBC New York reported a gunman arrived at the home of Judge Esther Salas in North Brunswick, New Jersey, around 5 p.m. The person shot Salas’ 20-year-old son, Daniel Anderl, when he answered the door and then shot her husband multiple times before fleeing. Salas was home at the time but is not believed to have been injured.
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The mayor of North Brunswick, Mac Womack, told ABC News Salas’ son had died. Her husband is believed to be in critical condition. The suspect has not been apprehended, but investigators told the outlet the person may have been dressed as a FedEx driver.
The intended target of the attack was not immediately clear. Salas’ husband, Mark Anderl, is a criminal defence attorney.
“The FBI is investigating a shooting that occurred at the home of Judge Esther Salas in North Brunswick Township, New Jersey, earlier this evening,” the FBI told HuffPost in a statement, noting investigators were looking for one suspect. “We are working closely with our state and local partners and will provide additional updates when available.”
Judge Salas and her family are in our thoughts at this time as they cope with this senseless act. https://t.co/3mOYBSd6TA — Governor Phil Murphy (@GovMurphy) July 20, 2020
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Salas has been a judge on the US District Court for New Jersey in Newark for nine years and is the first Hispanic woman to serve on the federal bench in the state. She was appointed by former President Barack Obama and confirmed in 2011.
The judge has presided over several high-profile cases, most recently the trial of Teresa Giudice, a former star on “The Real Housewives of New Jersey.”
Last week, Salas was assigned to a lawsuit filed against Deutsche Bank. A group of investors has claimed the banking giant failed to flag questionable transactions made by “high-risk” customers, including the disgraced financier Jeffrey Epstein. Epstein, a convicted sex offender, died last August while awaiting trial over sex-trafficking charges.
“My prayers are with Judge Salas and her family, and that those responsible for this horrendous act are swiftly apprehended and brought to justice,” New Jersey senator Bob Menendez told The Associated Press on Sunday night.
The Newark office of the US Marshals Service, which is charged with the protection of federal judges but typically does not guard judges around the clock absent a specific threat, said it was investigating the shooting late Sunday.
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“The US Marshals Service is aware of the tragic incident involving Esther Salas, United States District Judge for the District of New Jersey, and her family and is currently investigating. The US Marshals Service is responsible for the protection of federal judicial officials and we take that responsibility very seriously.”
Womack said Salas had received threats in the past.
“As a judge, she had threats from time to time, but everyone is saying that recently there had not been any,” the mayor told ABC.


thehuffingtonpostuk--2020-07-20--UK Government Signs Deals For 90 Million Extra Doses Of Coronavirus Vaccine

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The government has announced it has signed new deals which will provide more than 90m doses of Covid-19 vaccine.
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In a statement from business secretary Alok Sharma, the government said it has secured an agreement for 30m doses of a vaccine being developed – and currently at phase two trials – by BioNTech and German firm Pfizer.
Sharma said the government has also done an in-principle deal done for 60 million doses of an antibody treatment that is being developed by France’s Valneva for vulnerable patients who cannot receive vaccines.
The partnerships mean England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland could have access to enough doses to vaccinate and protect priority groups such as those at increased health risk and frontline workers.
Sharma said the new agreements would “ensure the UK has the best chance possible of securing a vaccine that protects those most at risk”.
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However Kate Bingham, chair of the UK’s Vaccine Taskforce, warned that despite progress, there are still no guarantees that a successful vaccine will be found.
“We have to be very cautious because there has never been a vaccine against a coronavirus and there may never be one. What we have been tasked to do is to protect the UK population against Covid-19 through vaccination and do so as quickly as we can,” she told Sky News.
“And the announcements this morning show that the UK is absolutely at the forefront of global efforts to source and develop vaccines from across the world, across as range of different technology.”
The figure of 90m is in addition to the 100m doses of vaccine that are being developed by Oxford University in partnership with AstraZeneca, as well as another at Imperial College London which started human trials in June.
Initial data from the Oxford/AstraZeneca trial – which is now in its third phase of human trials in Brazil – is due to be released on Wednesday, with high expectations over its efficacy.
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A general view of AstraZeneca offices and the corporate logo in Cambridge, England, Saturday, July 18, 2020. ASSOCIATED PRESS
This comes after campaigners warned last week that AstraZeneca could price poorer countries out of a British coronavirus vaccine in the future, due to a loophole in the non-profit agreement it signed with Oxford University.
Chief medical officer Chris Whitty encouraged people to take part in coronavirus vaccine trials, adding that the willingness of patients to take part has already led to improved care around the world.
Whitty said: “Now that there are several promising vaccines on the horizon, we need to call again on the generosity of the public to help find out which potential vaccines are the most effective.”
Health secretary Matt Hancock said every volunteer “will be doing their bit towards finding a vaccine for Covid-19 that will have the potential to save millions of lives around the world and bring this pandemic to an end”.
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The human trial of the coronavirus vaccine started in May. The study was designed to assess whether healthy people can be protected from coronavirus with this new vaccine called ChAdOx1 nCoV-19.
Up to 1,102 participants were recruited across multiple sites in Oxford, Southampton, London and Bristol.
The criteria was that volunteers must be aged between 18 and 55, in good health and not have tested positive for Covid-19.
A recent poll revealed that one third of Britons definitely will not or are unsure about whether they would take a vaccine for coronavirus.


thehuffingtonpostuk--2020-07-20--Staring At My Own 40-Something Face On Zoom Has Shattered My Self-Esteem

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I first saw her the Wednesday after the world shut down. She appeared in the upper right-hand window of my Zoom gallery during a virtual PTA meeting. I recognised her, this woman I’d glimpsed each morning, an okay-looking lady staring down middle age and, until recently, winning that contest — or at least, not losing it badly.
She jogged regularly and had often announced her intentions to remain gluten-free. Pre-pandemic, she had looked fine, and for her mid-to-late 40s, fine was good enough.
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But each time I saw her on Zoom, she looked worse. Eyeliner-less, her eyes seemed to bulge, and the dark circles beneath them darkened all the more. Clearly, she’d stopped jogging and had taken to eating gluten; her skin was dry, flaky, loosening. Where did those neck wrinkles come from? Had she always had them? Also: jowls? Already?
If you haven’t figured out, that woman was me. I would stare at my own face, unable to concentrate on the stories people shared, convinced I was ageing prematurely, or at least badly. It helped when I discovered Zoom’s “hide self-view” feature, but by then, the damage was done. Staring into Zoom day after day had changed the way I saw myself.
“Like most women, I have been taught that what matters most about us is our looks in a society that rarely focuses on the changing beauty of middle age. How fitting that an app named Zoom magnifies those feelings of insecurity and loss.”
Zoom fatigue is real and well-documented. It’s psychologically and physically draining to be on camera all the time, unwitting reality TV stars, constantly making eye contact. And we’re not meant to witness ourselves at all times.
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But what I have experienced goes beyond that: the lowering of a few rungs on the self-esteem ladder, which wasn’t that high to begin with.
There are many horrors taking place in the world right now, more than anyone can list or accommodate or fix, far graver than dealing with my face on Zoom. The pandemic has claimed lives, devastated families, evaporated bank accounts and exacerbated inequality in all forms. It is a privilege to complain about how looking at myself on Zoom has affected me. And yet, though Covid-19 has robbed me of more than my self-esteem, this is a real and insistent part of how I’ve been affected.
After all, like most women, I have been taught that what matters most about us is our looks in a society that rarely focuses on the changing beauty of middle age. How fitting that an app named Zoom magnifies those feelings of insecurity and loss.
I polled people who are similarly struggling.
“Do you have a moment to discuss my chins?” my friend Deborah asked.
My friend Bliss said she thinks about the title of Nora Ephron’s memoir, I Feel Bad About My Neck, at least once each workday.
“I space out on Zoom calls, picturing various jowl minimising gadgets I could invent,” said Catherine.
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Melissa added, “I sometimes put a Post-It note over my face. It helps.”
Vanessa, who is Black, spoke of the additional challenge of finding lighting that will properly capture her features since, like so much face-related technology, the app is geared toward lighter skin; there’s a kind of Zoom racism causing her additional distress.
Artur Debat via Getty Images "Staring into Zoom day after day had changed the way I saw myself," the author writes.
She started wearing more makeup to emphasise her features, but that, she says, defeats the whole purpose of working from home, which she’s done for ten years. “Part of the benefit is not having to get dressed and put on makeup and think about how you look,” she said. “Now all these new work-from-homers have ruined it.”
For me, the problem is the compounding of low self-esteem and its intersection with paranoia and self-absorption. I have always felt ashamed of my looks, which I would categorise as exceedingly average with the occasional interruption of cute until I was 40 and had my second kid. That’s when the overarching adjective to describe my face became: tired. I was ignorable. I was fine.
And fine was good enough, especially when I was able to control the amount of time I spent staring at my face. A glimpse in the mirror, adjustment of the chin, positioning the head to avoid the sagging skin — I wasn’t so continuously confronted with myself the way I am these days, in Zoom life.
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“I’d love to turn on Zoom and find beauty in the face staring back at me, to think, 'You’ve been through a lot. You’re still here. That in itself is beautiful. Also: Think about other human beings now.'”
Once regularly on Zoom, I wondered how others saw me, if they felt sorry for me that I was aging badly, if they felt sorry for my husband. I wondered if, after leaving the Zoom meeting, they said to their partners, ”She was staring down middle age and now she’s lost that battle.”
They may seem like superficial and indulgent feelings, but consider the real-life consequences of disorders like body dysmorphia: depression, anxiety, self-harm, and, in its less potent versions, annoying the crap out of your spouses.
At least outside I can retreat into the protective fabric of my mask, with only my bulging eyes visible above the seam. Pandemic upside.
Meanwhile, my 76-year-old father has reminded me that he’d happily trade ages with me. Others have suggested Zoom’s touch-up feature, a filter that apparently offers a virtual facelift, though I fear further distorting my view of myself.
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What I would like instead is to turn on Zoom, and see my friends, my students, my comrades, and just not care about how I look. So many women in their 40s get to this mythical land I’ve heard about, where they “don’t give a fuck.” About anything. I have tried to find the train to that land and it’s just not running from wherever I am.
Or I’d love to turn on Zoom and find beauty in the face staring back at me, to think, “You’ve been through a lot. You’re still here. That in itself is beautiful. Also: Think about other human beings now.”
And some days, I do. Some days, even without hiding my self-view, I’m able to concentrate on the millions of things more important than the transformation of my face or to realise what a luxury it is to complain about it.
Those days, I’m more than a slightly foreign-looking face in a box. I’m a friend, sister, daughter, colleague, trying to connect in a world gone mad, and gone online. Those days, I remember, with a pandemic stealing so many lives, to see ageing for what it is: a gift and a privilege.
This article first appeared on HuffPost Personal


thehuffingtonpostuk--2020-07-20--Freshen Up Weekday Lunches With This Vegetarian Summer Rolls Recipe

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Cooking With Kids is our new weekly recipe series on getting creative in the kitchen with the family.
In need of new lunch inspiration that the kids will love and have fun making? Chef and founder of Rosa’s Thai Cafe restaurant in London, Saiphin Moore, has a healthy veggie solution with her Vietnamese-inspired summer rolls recipe – a quick, easy and healthy dish that can be put together in under half an hour.
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The secret to a good summer roll is in the rolling technique and practice makes perfect. “Kids can learn how to concentrate and be patient when cooking, as rolling summer rolls isn’t as easy as it looks!” she explains. “Each time is better than the last. If the first one goes wrong they can try again to improve.”
The best part is that you can customise it with whatever ingredients on hand and it’s a creative way to get kids to eat their vegetables. “Traditionally, fresh rolls in Vietnam are made with shredded pork with prawns, but this vegan version uses the peanut sauce as a protein source in the wrap,” Moore says. “Feel free to modify the recipe and stuff them with any mixed leaves you prefer and dip them in sweet chilli, peanut sauce, or even tamarind sauce.”
Vegetarian Summer Rolls
Serves: 2 | Prep time: 15 mins | Cook time: 5 mins
Saiphin Moore Vegetarian Summer Rolls
Ingredients:
6 rice paper sheets (spring roll wrappers) with a diameter of 16cm
140g dried rice vermicelli
250g iceberg lettuce, shredded
100g carrot, shredded
30g mint leaves, roughly chopped
30g fresh coriander leaves, roughly chopped
30g Sweet Thai basil (or Italian basil), roughly chopped (Optional)
1 teaspoon of peanut sauce (per roll)
1 pot of sweet chilli dipping sauce or sauce of choice, to serve
Method:
1. Cook the vermicelli for the filling. Bring a large saucepan of water to the boil. While that’s on the go, soak the vermicelli in a bowl of warm water for 15 minutes, then drain. Once the water hits a rolling boil, carefully drop the vermicelli into the pan and cook for 1-2 minutes, until done, then drain and leave to cool to room temperature.
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2. To make the rolls, fill a large shallow bowl with warm water. Take a sheet of rice paper and dip it into the water for 3-5 seconds, until translucent, then place it on a clean work surface. Tip: Make sure the paper rolls don’t become too soft, otherwise you won’t be able to wrap them easily. 5 seconds in warm water max.
3. Put a quarter of the lettuce in a mound in the centre of the paper, followed by a quarter of the carrot, mint, coriander, basil and vermicelli.
4. To roll up, fold the side of the wrapper closest to you over the filling, ensuring it is tucked in neatly and tightly over the filling. Next, fold the right side of the wrapper toward the centre, pulling it taut across the filling, and press down the edges of the wrapper to seal. Repeat with the left side. Now roll up the filling in the wrapper, pushing the roll away from you, to create a log-shaped parcel.
5. Serve with a dipping sauce of your choice. I recommend sweet chilli or peanut sauce.


thehuffingtonpostuk--2020-07-20--'Medical Racism' Could Be Putting South Asian People At Greater Risk Of Coronavirus, Say Doctors

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Discrimination within the UK’s healthcare system could be one of the reasons south Asian people are disproportionately affected by coronavirus, doctors have said.
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South Asian women, in particular, have been known to complain about being dismissed by doctors who claim they are suffering from the so-called “Mrs Bibi syndrome”, also known as “Begum syndrome”.
Derived after the common south Asian surnames “Bibi” and “Begum”, it refers to an imagined condition where south Asian women are said to exaggerate their health complaints despite showing few objective signs of ill health.
This “medical racism” can make patients reluctant to open up to doctors and lead to neglect of health conditions, putting them more at risk from coronavirus.
Research by Public Health England has suggested people of Bangladeshi ethnicity were twice as likely to die as those who are white British.
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A separate study showed south Asian people had a 19% higher chance of dying in hospital in the UK from Covid-19 than white people.
Researchers say that risk is partly due to high levels of diabetes in the south Asian population.
Statistics such as these have not come as any surprise to Prof Sunny Singh – the creative writing and English literature lecturer hasn’t seen a doctor or visited a surgery in the UK in 15 years. “I do not trust the NHS,” she said.
Instead, she goes to India to get full medical checks or Skypes with her doctor in India to get prescription medicine.
Her decision to eschew healthcare in Britain stems from early experiences of doctors here who “ignored or dismissed” her concerns. It’s an experience that many people from Black, Asian and minority ethnic (BAME) communities can relate to – especially women.
Casual clinical stereotypes that can lead to missed diagnoses, delayed treatment and preventable unwanted diseases. Cameravit via Getty Images
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Although often passed off as casual “banter”, racist and sexist stereotyping that “brown women complain about pain a lot” has the potential for very real health consequences. If her grievances are being dismissed as being exaggerated or fabricated, then her doctor risks misdiagnosing or overlooking a genuine problem.
“I’ve been told that because I’m South Asian I’m a hypochondriac,” Singh told HuffPost UK. “It’s happened on multiple occasions.”
Dr Harun Khan, who has previously written about the stereotype, says the problem is in part due to the class disparity between doctors and patients. A 2016 report in the British Medical Journal found only 4% of doctors in the UK came from working-class backgrounds.
“This clear difference between ‘us and them’ on the wards creates a space for discriminatory stereotypes, targeting solely BAME patients, to exist,” he said.
Khan describes a moment when a senior doctor mockingly referred to this “syndrome” while describing a patient – the woman was then discovered to have an acute finding on her CT scan which required elective surgery.
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He said he had only ever heard this syndrome being referred to in a derisive way, adding: “It’s more common than you think.”
One study showed South Asian people were almost 20% more likely to die of coronavirus in hospital in the UK than white people. Ian Forsyth via Getty Images
“If someone is coming with a bias or perception of you before you’ve even presented yourself, it inherently impacts the doctor-patient relationship,” he said. “From the patient’s point of view, it can be quite dehumanising to not be listened to.
Dr Salman Waqar, a research fellow at Oxford University’s Nuffield Department of Primary Care Health Sciences, agrees “there are issues around preconceived ideas of health professionals and their patient’s presentations – we all have them.
“BAME patients do also report poor satisfaction with their GPs compared to white patients,” he told HuffPost UK.
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These experiences can exacerbate “acculturative stresses” that come from being part of an ethnic minority community and that are “probably exacerbated by the intersection with gender and faith, especially for Muslim women.”
“When you add to that this narrative of ‘othering’ minorities that we have all internalised, it’s highly likely that south Asian women from unprivileged backgrounds and in poor health will be on the back foot to begin with.”
Gender and language can also play a factor in creating this “dissonance”, where a vulnerable patient may struggle to articulate and advocate for herself to a physician.
“This is particularly true however in chronic pain – where this Bibi/Begum Syndrome originates from, of all over body aches in a middle-aged south Asian woman,” Waqar added.
He argues the inequalities of higher rates of diabetes, heart disease and conditions that put a person at greater risk of coronavirus are “to a large degree socially patterned, rather than as a result of a genetic disposition”.
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“If patients feel like their practitioners have not listened to them they will be reluctant to open up,” he continued. “And in relation to Covid-19, there certainly are pockets of the population who are scared about seeing anyone.”
Trust is absolutely critical in a doctor-patient relationship. If a patient feels like she is not being heard or understood, she may very well choose to avoid seeing doctors altogether – like Singh.
Her experiences with doctors in the UK were “infuriating” and “frustrating”. “Mostly it’s just fury,” she said. “Come on, I should just be able to get proper medical care without dealing with this kind of stupidity.”
“It’s the kind of thing you have to wind yourself mentally up to go down to the surgery to get a check-up, to work up the emotional energy for that potential for bullshit.
“I just don’t have the energy.”
She admitted the pandemic had left her “slightly concerned”. “I’m thinking now: what do I do if I get sick? I just do not trust the NHS.”
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Dr Fizzah Ali, a neurology doctor who has also written about the “syndrome”, says that while “conscious bias is not compatible with a career in medicine”, the casual clinical stereotype can cause unconscious bias in doctors which could lead to missed diagnoses, delayed treatment and preventable unwanted outcomes.
In the US, implicit bias has led to African American women being less likely to be referred for invasive cardiac procedures despite being at an increased statistical risk of cardiovascular disease.
“These unrecognised biases and associations can alter our perceptions and behaviour,” Ali told HuffPost UK. “It could potentially affect clinical decision making.”
“Medical racism is not an unknown phenomenon,” said Singh, who has tweeted about the subject on several occasions. “It’s not just doctors who deal with it, it’s about medical research and practice.”
The impact of that on south Asian women, she says, is “huge”. “It’s everything from as major as reproductive health to something as small as vitamin D supplements – it’s part and parcel of healthcare in the UK.”
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She points to the studies linking coronavirus deaths to high levels of diabetes, hypertension and heart disease – conditions that people with south Asian backgrounds are at higher risk of developing.
“Part of that must be a genetic propensity,” she said. “The rest is to do with our lack of access to healthcare and racism.”
An official PHE inquiry suggested racism and discrimination were some of the “root causes” to these high death rates from coronavirus in BAME people.
The PHE report described the relationship between ethnicity and health as “complex and likely to be the result of a combination of factors”, including that BAME communities are more likely to live in urban areas, in multigenerational households, in poorer and deprived areas, and occupy key worker roles that expose them to higher risk of Covid-19.
“The unequal impact of Covid-19 on BAME communities may be explained by a number of factors ranging from social and economic inequalities, racism, discrimination and stigma, occupational risk, inequalities in the prevalence of conditions that increase the severity of disease including obesity, diabetes, hypertension and asthma,” the report concluded.
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The truth is not one single factor can explain why south Asian people are almost 20% more likely to die of coronavirus in hospital than white people.
Ali, Khan and Waqar all agree we need to look beyond the current pandemic and focus on the structural barriers of racism within our healthcare system.
“Being aware of these biases is the starter, but what I think is more powerful and effective than [for example] doing unconscious bias training, is having an inclusive healthcare system and a culture of practice that is looking to co-produce and be person-centric,” Waqar said.
“If you look outside coronavirus, it’s about poorer outcomes in relation to health and barriers to accessing healthcare for ethnic minorities,” Ali said.
“It’s about the marginalisation of women patients and women of colour. It’s about why Black women are five times as likely as to die in childbirth than white women, and Asian women twice as likely to die.”
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“The disproportionate Covid-19 deaths is related to the impact of structural racism on ethnic and racial minority communities, so we need to be talking about structural racism,” said Khan. “It’s a much broader conversation.
“Why are Black and brown people more likely to die? Why are they in poverty? What structures do we have in our society that exacerbate these class disparities that affect healthcare provision?” he asked.
For Singh, she plans to continue to fly abroad for her healthcare. “I trust medical care in India more,” she said, acknowledging her privilege of having that option.
“It isn’t just me – we know women aren’t being taken seriously when they come in, women of colour even less.”
She continued: “Racism is baked into the system; it’s baked into medicine.
“When you really start looking at the bigger picture – it isn’t the virus that is killing south Asians. It’s medical racism.”


thehuffingtonpostuk--2020-07-20--I’m An Asylum Seeker. Coronavirus Is Tearing Apart My Second Chance At Life

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When my ex-husband’s torture got worse and worse until it was too much to bear, I took our daughters and fled. He would drink and hit me and he try to rape my daughter. My husband had money and social clout, and because he was so powerful, the authorities would not help us.
We fled with only one bag, telling him we were going out for the day. When we arrived in Britain in December 2017, it was freezing and we had nothing warm. We didn’t know what to do when we got here. We found out how to claim asylum and the Home Office started to give me £5 support a day. It was very difficult to begin with because we needed to buy warm jackets with this money, as well as food.
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We thing we did arrive with was a lot of trauma. I suffered from high blood pressure, as well as depression, panic attacks, and post-traumatic stress disorder. My children have struggled in the same way. If the mailman so much as dropped a letter through the door, they would panic thinking it was their father coming for them. My youngest daughter was so afraid that she would pile things in front of the door to block it and rather sleep there than on the bed.
I never had a chance to use my voice and skills before, but here in the UK through my voluntary work with these groups I feel valued and can make a difference to other women. I have joined women’s groups who have helped me to come to terms with what happened and to understand that his violence was not my fault.
“We do not have internet so she cannot keep up with her studies, and we do not have enough food to eat.”
Coronavirus in China. Novel coronavirus (2019-nCoV), people in white medical face mask. Concept of coronavirus quarantine vector illustration. Seamless pattern. All Royalty-Free licenses include global use rights. via Getty Images
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My eldest daughter was really starting to flourish before this year. She was studying at university and living in student halls, just like anyone else. But lockdown has taken everything away from her. We do not have internet so she cannot keep up with her studies, and we do not have enough food to eat. It feels like her second chance at life has been torn apart.
You feel helpless when you don’t have money or food and can’t give your children what they need. It’s a struggle. We can’t afford to buy fruit, vegetables or meat. We are living off rice and supplementing it with whatever we can get from the foodbank.
Lockdown has hit women like us so hard. I have been volunteering with WAST Manchester to provide food parcels to other women in my local area and connect them to sources of community support, like Safety for Sisters and The River Manchester. I have also worked with eight organisations led by asylum-seeking women across the UK to produce a report on our experiences during the pandemic.
Our voices have not been heard – until now. Organisations that have supported women who have been trapped in violent relationships during lockdown, made homeless during the pandemic and left unable to feed their children. The supportive communities we have built have been a lifeline, while the Home Office has turned its back on us.
“When I finally get leave to remain, I will work to ensure that other women who have survived violence are not left feeling isolated and hopeless.”
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It is not easy for us as small groups to provide the mutual aid that the women in our networks need. Women like us are dying. We see in the news how Black, Asian and minority ethnic communities are more vulnerable to the virus, but the Home Office has made no effort to help us stay safe. We are cut off from help, and they don’t treat us like human beings.
I want the government to see us as human beings and give us a chance. I have been waiting for my refugee status for years so I am trapped in hardship. Each day I try to move forward, but my immigration status is holding me back, stopping me from living my life.
When I finally get leave to remain, I will work to ensure that other women who have survived violence are not left feeling isolated and hopeless. The UK has a chance now to build a more equal society as we emerge from this crisis. Women who are seeking asylum must be part of this conversation.
Nirbhaya is an asylum seeker and domestic abuse survivor, writing under a pseudonym
Have a compelling personal story you want to tell? Find out what we’re looking for here, and pitch us on ukpersonal@huffpost.com


thehuffingtonpostuk--2020-07-19--'We'll Treasure This Time.' The Reality Of Fostering During A Pandemic

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Barnardo’s recently called a ‘state of emergency’ in the care system, reporting that the numbers of children referred for foster care in England, Wales and Northern Ireland had risen by 44% during lockdown. The charity also revealed a 47% decline in the number of people coming forward to become foster carers, compared to last year.
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However, Andy Elvin, CEO of fostering and adoption charity TACT Care, told HuffPost UK they have actually seen an 11% increase in queries from people hoping to become foster carers since lockdown began.
Elvin believes some people have been reevaluating what they’re doing with their lives as a result of the pandemic – and says that while they’ve had to be honest with carers that they can’t guarantee a child hasn’t been exposed to Covid-19, most have still gone ahead with their placements.
AndreyPopov via Getty Images
“We’ve actually seen stability in the foster care environment,” Elvin tells HuffPost UK. “More stability than instability. We haven’t had many kids leaving foster homes, and a lot of the children have relaxed into it. Placements have, on the whole, gone ahead – the only ones who have not been okay with it are those with underlying health conditions or health risks.”
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While referrals of new cases from local authorities have decreased by 5%, perhaps as a result of school closures, Elvin believes the pandemic may have actively prompted interest from some carers. “Unemployment is rising and people are looking at doing other things,” he says. “Fostering is recession-proof. Hopefully in three to six months time we’ll have a new cohort of foster carers.
In many ways, social distancing and homeschooling has helped children relax into their new environments, says Elvin.
“For some children, not having the social and academic pressures of school has made things better and easier,” he explains. “It’s improved their mood and given them less anxiety. Often, in foster homes, the evenings are spent dealing with the fall-out of the school day. So, in many ways, if it’s going to work in a new placement - if children are going to settle – it’s a good thing to do it in lockdown.”
HuffPost UK spoke to one family who recently took in two young brothers about what their experience has been like during lockdown – and how it’s affected the way they feel about fostering for the first time.
To protect the identity of children, some personal details have been changed or omitted.
‘The whole idea we had of what fostering would be like changed overnight’
AndreyPopov via Getty Images
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Charlotte and Ian, a couple in their 40s, were officially approved to foster for TACT in March this year. Two weeks later – just days after lockdown began – they welcomed two brothers, aged 10 and seven, into their family.
“They came to us at the end of March, once lockdown had started,” Charlotte tells HuffPost UK. “We had never done it before, so we didn’t know what to expect - but things had to be done very differently.” And in addition to the initial shock of being given just a day’s notice that the boys would be placed with them, they also had to acclimatise to not leaving the house due to the government’s self-isolation guidelines.
“We had to get used to each other quickly, because it was a very unique situation,” Charlotte says. “There was an expectation beforehand that they would be in school, and we had an idea of the clubs they might like to join, and the places we would take them. The whole idea we had in our minds of what fostering would be like changed overnight. It’s not more or less stressful, it’s just totally different to the way I imagined it would be.”
She adds: “Schools had closed, so they didn’t do any of the ‘normal’ socialising they would’ve usually been doing, with all the challenges that might have brought. Instead, we were given the opportunity to get to know them really well, and they got to know us - with continuity, and without distraction. It helped in terms of them getting used to routines – our way of living.”
Charlotte admits the first day and night was challenging – the older boy was angry when he first arrived, while the younger boy wasn’t used to sleeping in a bed on his own. But the intensity of lockdown helped the brothers get used to the new ‘house rules’ – fast.
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“They had to swiftly acclimatise to things that were acceptable, and things that weren’t,” Charlotte says. “Being siblings, there was some fighting – that was quite difficult. They had to get used to how we deal with conflict. We don’t use any kind of physical reprimand, we tend to talk things through and explain why something is wrong and why it isn’t right, to hurt each other. That’s been different, for them. They’ve not been used to having that kind of respectful relationship.”
Charlotte, a social worker, and Ian, who works in social housing, had to juggle working from home around introducing the boys to the family – including Charlotte’s 16-year-old daughter, Suzie. The couple also have a dog and cat – and the presence of the additional family members seems to have had a positive effect in helping the boys settle in.
“Suzie was fantastic, and a huge part of the assessment,” Charlotte says. “She was really keen to be involved with the boys – she does baking and modelling with them, and they love and idolise her. She’s really helpful and they learn a lot from her, because she’s sensible and level headed, but fun, as well. And she’s learning a lot from them, too.”
ThitareeSarmkasat via Getty Images
“For the initial four weeks we were both still working full-time from home,” Charlotte adds. “We muddled between taking annual leave and managing Skype meetings so we could make sure the boys have something to do – I’ve never bought so much Lego in my life! In many ways, we’ve been winging it, like the rest of the country.”
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The younger boy had significant communication challenges but is now happily chatting away, something he was not able to do when he first arrived. The siblings’relationship with each other has also started to improve. And weekly ‘virtual’ contact has been maintained with the birth mother via Whatsapp video.
“If it wasn’t for lockdown, the boys would’ve been going to a contact centre, to meet face to face,” Charlotte says. “That’s been very unusual in terms of the divide between ‘home’ and ‘contact’, because we’ve had to bring that contact into the house. It’s been quite strange, and there’s been pros and cons. Even as adults, we can find video calls intimidating. It’s been interesting, but again – we’re muddling through.”
And even though lockdown is easing, Charlotte says they’re not going to rush the boys into a hectic social whirlwind, just yet. “We’re not going to rush to do things now we can do them,” she says. “We’re just going to go easy. This whole experience has taught us that doing lots of different things would’ve been more stressful for the boys – and they weren’t used to doing those things anyway.”
She adds, with excitement: “We can plan some nice summer experiences now, maybe a couple of days over the summer in a cabin somewhere. We’re not going to overload them. We’re really just looking forward to having some sort of normality – even simply going shopping.
“The time we’ve spent getting used to fostering during lockdown has been so rewarding. They’ve made so much progress in such a short space of time, in terms of their confidence, their relationship with each other and communication. We’ve even been able to teach them to ride bikes. They’d never done that before. I’ll look back and treasure this time. We all will.”


thehuffingtonpostuk--2020-07-20--10 Risk Factors That Could Help Prevent Alzheimer's, According To Science

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We’re here to guide you through the coronavirus pandemic. Sign up to the Life newsletter for daily tips, advice, how-tos and escapism.
There are at least 10 risk factors that may have a significant impact on someone’s likelihood of developing Alzheimer’s and these could be targeted with preventative steps, new research suggests.
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Focusing on these factors, which include cognitive activity, high body mass index in late life, depression, diabetes and high blood pressure, could provide doctors with evidence-based guidelines for preventing Alzheimer’s, researchers say.
Around 850,000 people in the UK are affected by dementia – around two thirds with Alzheimer’s disease – and the condition is a leading cause of death.
Experts are predicting rising case numbers as the population ages, but recent research suggests the number of cases appears to be reducing, perhaps due to lifestyle changes, better education and risk reduction strategies to prevent or delay dementia.
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For the latest study, an international team of researchers led by Professor Jin-Tai Yu at Fudan University in China, reviewed and analysed current evidence to produce evidence-based suggestions on Alzheimer’s disease prevention.
The researchers gathered 395 studies for their analysis. From this, they proposed 21 suggestions, based on the evidence, that could be used in practice by clinicians to try to prevent Alzheimer’s disease.
Ten of these suggestions were backed by strong evidence as being risk factors – and therefore effective targets to help prevent the disease, they said.
These were: education, cognitive activity, high body mass index in later life, hyperhomocysteinaemia [a medical condition characterised by a a high level of homocysteine in the blood], depression, stress, diabetes, head trauma, hypertension in midlife and orthostatic hypotension, which is a form of low blood pressure that happens when you stand up from sitting.
A further nine suggestions had slightly weaker evidence to support them. They included regular exercise, getting enough good quality sleep, maintaining a healthy weight and good heart health in later life, avoiding smoking, and including vitamin C in the diet.
The authors pointed to some study limitations, such as the fact that studies cannot indicate a clear causal relationship. And, they said, the suggestions might be limited by geographic variability, definition of exposure and prevalence of risk factors at population level.
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thehuffingtonpostuk--2020-07-20--Is Matt Hancock Learning The Lessons Of The Covid Crisis In Real Time?

Health secretary Matt Hancock delivers a statement on the government's actions on coronavirus in the House of Commons. PA
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Reasons to be cheerful?
As parliament entered its final week before its summer break, both the government and the rest of us had some reasons to be cheerful today. Progress on a vaccine, another possible new treatment and the number of deaths falling to just 11 across the UK. For the first time in a long time, news of the battle against coronavirus appeared more positive than negative.
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Matt Hancock certainly had a weary ebullience about him in the Commons as he delivered what is likely to be the last detailed Covid update to MPs before September. The health secretary rattled through a list of achievements: an agreed supply line of 30 billion pieces of PPE, the “biggest ever” flu vaccination programme in British history, ventilator numbers up from 9,000 to 30,000; £3bn in new NHS funding on top of £30bn so far.
Hancock flagged the “promising news” of the Oxford University vaccine trial, with early signs that it was both safe and produced a strong immunity response in those tested. He namechecked a possible new treatment too, with Southampton-based biotech firm Synairgen reporting some success in using a protein called interferon beta to help patients avoid going into intensive care.
It was notable how Hancock resisted the temptation to oversell some of the developments, not least the Oxford vaccine, as he pointed out to some MPs that it was early days and no timetable could be given on when it would be available. There was however a stern message that all NHS staff will be expected to get the flu jab this winter, with only exceptions for clinical reasons, plus a vow to take on the ‘anti-vax’ movement. He even hinted he would fight damned hard for smoke-free areas outside pubs, restaurants and cafes.
So far, so consensual. But it was when the health secretary tried to claim that NHS Test and Trace was an impressive public policy success that he ran into most opposition. It was variously “remarkable”, “brilliant” and “working well”. Compare that to the fact that - more than five weeks after its creation - it still not reaching 80% of close contacts that Sage said was needed to make the whole thing viable.
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Hancock’s predecessor Jeremy Hunt pointed out the wider problem: roughly 1,700 people a day are getting infected but only around 400 a day are going into Test and Trace. Hancock said the figures were “a little better” than that worrying low proportion, but “a little better” than one in four isn’t really anything to be proud of.
Of course, a major issue is that Test and Trace relies on people who are infected then requesting a test. With the asymptomatic nature of the disease central to all this, Hancock said for the first time that even those with just mild symptoms should now get a test, while the government was finally doing routine tests of key groups like cleaners and taxi drivers.
Ahead of his session before the Commons science committee tomorrow, he gave a tempting glimpse of progress on calls to routinely test at-risk people living in sheltered housing, not just care homes. But many think that this is long, long overdue and that testing should be routine across swaths of society. The latest lab capacity figures today stood at 337,000, but just 108,000 tests were actually processed.
Perhaps the most significant development was Hancock saying that from today all local public health chiefs will have data on not just postcodes of cases but individual names and addresses. Again, this has long been requested by councils and could make a big difference if it means they can use their local knowledge to trace people better than the centralised Test and Trace.
One of the most alarming stories in recent days was the Independent’s report this weekend that Blackburn’s public health chief felt that Test and Trace was part of the problem not the solution, precisely because it had no ability to knock on the doors of those who were not responding to phone or email messages.
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Barely half of contacts were being reached in his area - which has now overtaken Leicester in cases per capita. Blackburn’s prof Dominic Harrison said “the structure, funding, operation and performance” of NHS Test and Trace were increasing the risk of outbreaks not reducing it.
And for all the repeated praise from ministers for the “brilliant” Dido Harding, she remains a czarina, not a minister who is directly accountable to parliament. Which is rather odd given that she is herself a peer and could presumably be made a minister and answer questions directly in the Lords. It still remains unclear why a Tory peer who ran a phone company was deemed more suitable than a senior civil servant to run the new system.
The suspicion that independent voices are being squeezed out of the system also does little to build public confidence. Chief nursing officer Ruth May’s evidence today suggested she would have “done a JVT” and said Dominic Cummings should have followed the rules like everyone else. Hancock signally failed to answer Jon Ashworth’s question: did he acquiesce in having May “dropped” from the No.10 press conference as a result?
I’m told the decision to switch to Prof John Newton for that briefing was more because questions about testing were expected, but the PM himself will have to give that defence on Wednesday. May’s candour was underlined when she told the Public Accounts Committee that although nurse retention was now improving, “the lack of pay rises that the NHS staff saw for a number of years during austerity did have an impact on retention”.
The government does have a major problem in increasing the number of people to comply with Test and Trace, particularly as making it compulsory could well deter the very groups who are not taking part: the most vulnerable in terms of race and income. Angela Eagle called for extra financial support for those workers forced to self-isolate. I was struck by the fact that Hancock didn’t dismiss this and instead said “I hear the point” and would “take it away”. I’ve been told such a scheme is being worked on but it’s surprising it’s taking so long to develop.
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Today’s move to provide individual names and addresses may well go a long way to making the PM’s “whack-a-mole” strategy work, if it puts local knowledge to good use. Similarly, giving new powers to councils to impose restrictions on may prove a big step forward. If private sector labs could now start matching the turnaround times of NHS and PHE labs - and match their ability to say how many people are tested, not just tests conducted - there could be even more progress.
Hancock joked today that he was “delighted” that Boris Johnson had on Friday set him a new target to get a lab capacity of half a million by the end of October. “So there is my summer sorted,” he said. If the 500,000 mark can be reached, it will need to be matched by rapidly-turned around routine tests as well as a fully functioning Test and Trace system.
The final public inquiry reckoning on huge failures will come in time, and the excess death toll is a number that will not lie. Right now, the key is to make sure no more blunders are made. On the evidence of today, at least Hancock is learning lessons as he goes along, taking up critics’ suggestions and implementing them. Things may indeed look better in September. With a second wave forecast, that may be a cause not for celebration but for brief relief before the winter storm.
Quote Of The Day
“The suggestion that we are in any way under the thumb of the Chinese government is completely and utterly false.”
Theo Bertram, TikTok’s head of public policy for Europe, the Middle East and Africa
Monday Cheat Sheet
Dominic Raab told the Commons that the UK government will suspend its extradition treaty with Hong Kong “immediately and indefinitely”.
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Education secretary Gavin Williamson appeared to concede that school funding had indeed fallen in real terms under the Tories since 2010.
The Intelligence and Security Committee’s long-awaited “Russia report” will be published on Tuesday.
M&S said it was cutting 950 store management and head office jobs because of faster restructuring brought on by coronavirus.
Bank of England chief economist Andy Haldane told MPs that mass unemployment could emerge even though the UK economy has “clawed back” about half the fall in output it saw during the peak of the coronavirus lockdown in March and April.
Less than a dozen Tory MPs rebelled on the Trade Bill in a failed bid to give parliament a vote on new trade deals.
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thehuffingtonpostuk--2020-07-20--How Close Is The UK To Finding A Coronavirus Vaccine?

The Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine is being rolled out in the UK after it was approved by the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA).
Studies have shown the jab to be 95% effective and works in all age groups. No safety concerns arose from clinical trials and it will be made available from early December.
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Some 40m doses have been secured in total, with 10m due in the country by the end of the year.
People will need two doses, meaning enough has been bought for 20m Brits.
In total, the UK has secured 355m future doses of Covid-19 vaccines being produced by Oxford University in partnership with AstraZeneca, Moderna, Valneva, Novovax, Johnson & Johnson and GlaxoSmithKlein (GSK) with Sanofi Pasteur, as well as BioNTech and Pfizer.
In November Oxford University and AstraZeneca announced interim analysis from the latest phase three trial showed their vaccine can stop 70% of people from getting Covid-19, with one dosing regimen showing it could be as high as 90%.
The UK government has already placed orders for 100m doses of the Oxford vaccine, with rollout expected in the coming weeks if the jab is approved.
In November US biotech firm Moderna also announced preliminary results showed its vaccine was 94.5% effective. The UK has secured five million doses, enough to give to 2.5m people, no earlier than the spring.
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Hundreds of vaccines are currently under development across the world, according to the WHO.
So how advanced are the seven vaccine programmes the UK government is pinning its hopes on?
BioNtech/Pfizer
BNT162b2 – a messenger RNA vaccine developed by German biotech firm BioNTech and the US pharmaceutical giant, Pfizer – was approved on December 1 by the MHRA.
It had been found to be more than 90% effective in preventing Covid-19 in early tests.
The vaccine, which uses ribonucleic acid (RNA), has been tested on 43,500 people in six countries and did not uncover any serious safety concerns, the companies said.
In November the firms said they were aiming to produce up to 50m doses by the end of the year and up to 1.3bn doses by the end of 2021.
The UK government has procured 40m doses of the candidate vaccine. Provided it receives approval by regulators, 10m of those will be available to the UK by the end of the year.
The vaccine needs to be kept at an ultra-low temperature, between minus 70C and minus 80C, until a few days before use when it can be transferred to a standard medical fridge.
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Health secretary Matt Hancock said the rollout of the vaccine will be “one of the biggest civilian logistical efforts that we’ve faced as a nation”.
It will need to be stored in regional hubs – including wholesalers and hospitals – before being shipped to GP surgeries and vaccination clinics.
Each person will require two doses each, so the UK’s order could provide enough vaccine for five million people by the end of the year, or 20m people in total.
The vaccine uses the so-called messenger RNA approach, which spurs the body to create specific proteins with its own cells.
BNT162b2 is designed to train the immune system to produce antibodies to recognise and block the spike protein that the virus uses to enter and infect human cells.
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To be successful, it will need to make T-cells that can recognise and kill infected cells as well as generate antibodies to block other viral proteins. Nearly all effective vaccines induce an antibody and a T-cell response.
Pfizer and German biotechnology firm BioNTech are aiming to produce up to 1.2 billion doses of coronavirus vaccine by the end of next year. Jeenah Moon via Getty Images
Moderna
US biotechnology firm Moderna has announced its coronavirus vaccine is almost 95% effective at preventing the disease.
Interim data from the company suggest its jab is highly effective in preventing people getting ill and also works across all age groups, including the elderly.
Health secretary Matt Hancock revealed in November the UK has secured five million doses of the Moderna vaccine.
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It is understood the vaccine requires two doses, similar to the Pfizer jab, meaning five million doses would inoculate 2.5m people.
On Twitter, business secretary Alok Sharma said the government had “the option to procure more”.
A volunteer takes part in the phase 3 trials of the ChAdOx1 nCoV-19 vaccine, developed by the University of Oxford together with the British pharmaceutical company AstraZeneca, in Brazil. NELSON ALMEIDA via Getty Images
Oxford University/AstraZeneca
The government has already ordered 100m doses of the vaccine – called AZD1222 or ChAdOx1 nCoV-19 – developed by Oxford University, in collaboration with the pharmaceutical giant AstraZeneca.
Long described as being one of the world’s “frontrunners” in the race, the vaccine has been shown to stop 70% of people from getting Covid-19.
Interim analysis from the latest phase three trial showed an average efficacy of 70.4% from combining two doses, with one dosing regimen shown to be 90% effective, the other 62%.
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The vaccine can be stored, transported and handled at 2-8 degrees Celsius for at least eight months, and has been shown to work in different age groups, including the elderly
Findings from the first phases of the study earlier this year showed “promising” results which suggested the vaccine is “safe and causes few side effects” for healthy adults aged 18-55.
The phase two research demonstrated a strong immune response in older adults – suggesting one of the groups most vulnerable to serious illness and death from Covid-19 could build immunity.
The vaccine was developed at the University of Oxford’s Oxford Jenner Institute and is made from a genetically engineered virus that causes the common cold in chimpanzees. It is based on earlier work to produce a treatment for MERS (Middle East respiratory syndrome-related coronavirus).
The chimpanzee virus is modified and engineered to express the coronavirus spike protein so it “looks” more like coronavirus to trigger a strong immune response in the human body.
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Health secretary Matt Hancock said manufacturing of the vaccine has already begun in anticipation of positive results.
French president Emmanuel Macron visits an industrial development laboratory at French drugmaker's vaccine unit Sanofi Pasteur plant. ASSOCIATED PRESS
GlaxoSmithKline (GSK)/Sanofi Pasteur
The UK has signed a deal for the supply of 60m doses of a potential vaccine produced by Sanofi and GlaxoSmithKline (GSK), which together have the largest vaccine manufacturing capability in the world.
The vaccine is based on the existing DNA-based technology used to produce Sanofi’s seasonal flu jabs.
Clinical trials began in September and Sanofi, which is leading the programme’s clinical development, said if trials were successful regulatory approval could be achieved by the first half of next year.
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Manufacturing of the vaccine is already being scaled up to produce up to a billion doses a year.
In May it was at the centre of an international political storm after Sanofi chief executive Paul Hudson appeared to promise priority to the US market because it had “the right to the largest pre-order because it’s invested in taking the risk”.
The company later retracted that promise after French prime minister Edouard Phillipe said access for all was “non-negotiable”.
GSK and Sanofi have said they do not expect to profit from the vaccine and are committed to making their vaccine available worldwide, including to lower-income countries.
The firms have committed to providing 200m doses to the World Health Organisation’s global immunisation Covax programme, which will focus on vaccinating the most high-risk people in every country.
Valneva
The UK government has signed a deal worth £422m (€470m) to produce 60m doses of the Valneva vaccine VLA2001, with an option of 40m more if it proves to be safe and effective.
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Developed in France, the vaccine is currently in the pre-clinical stage and is expected to enter clinical trials by the end of the year and potentially reach regulatory approval in the second half of 2021.
VLA2001 uses a more traditional method of vaccine development – taking the whole coronavirus, inactivating it and then injecting it. It has already previously been approved for active immunisation for the prevention of Japanese encephalitis.
Valneva’s scientists hope that, if the vaccine proves successful, it could be suitable for wider use including for at-risk groups, because the jab does not contain a live virus that could cause viral replication. It is the only company signed with the UK that is basing its development on an approach that has worked for almost a century.
“We’re taking an approach that already works, using tried and tested older technologies,” David Lawrence, CFO of Valneva, told HuffPost UK.
Unlike the previous two, Valneva is not in the lead of the coronavirus vaccine race, but the French company has agreed to manufacture the product at its facilities in Livingston, Scotland in return for the government contributing to the cost of UK clinical studies.
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Clinical trials are set to begin in December, with commercial production expected to start in January 2021.
More than 150 vaccines are currently under development across the world, according to the WHO. ASSOCIATED PRESS
Novavax
A potential vaccine by the US biotech company Novavax has recently begun trials in the UK, and besides the Oxford University/AstraZeneca jab, is only the second to enter large scale trials in the country. Early-stage clinical trial data showed the vaccine appeared to be safe.
The Novavax vaccine – NVX-CoV2373 – uses a more traditional approach than Pfizer or BioNTech, consisting of a recombinant protein from the coronavirus and a chemical, called an adjuvant, to intensify the immune response.
Conclusive results from the trial are not expected for several more months, probably early 2021, but Novavax’s scientists are hopeful that the vaccine’s proven approach will give it a reasonable chance of producing an effective vaccine.
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The UK government has already ordered 60m doses in case it proves successful.
Johnson and Johnson
The UK has ordered 30m doses of a potential vaccine from the Belgian-based Janssen Pharmaceutical Company, owned by Johnson and Johnson. Ministers have also agreed in principle to co-fund a global clinical study of the vaccine.
The Ad26.COV2-S is an adenoviral vector vaccine which is developed from a weakened cold virus. Proteins that appear on the outside of the coronavirus are injected into the body to stimulate an immune reaction.
Phase 3 trials of a one-dose regimen were launched across three continents in September, and plans to conduct a separate phase 3 clinical trial for a two-dose regimen are underway. The company has said it hopes to receive results from the one-dose regimen trials by the end of the year.
Janssen Pharmaceuticals have also struck a £758m ($1bn) deal with the US government for 100m doses. If successful, Johnson and Johnson have said it aims to supply more than a billion doses on a not-for-profit basis.
Why does it take so long to develop a vaccine?
One of the main obstacles to developing a vaccine is that scientists currently do not know what level of immunity people need to prevent infection.
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If successful, any vaccine will need to be introduced very cautiously as normal full trials will not take place. Vaccines normally require years of testing, plus time to produce to scale.
Vaccines must follow higher safety standards than other drugs, because they are given to millions of healthy people.
There is also a huge difference between finding a vaccine and producing it. Growing a virus needs to be done in a very controlled manner, with each stage monitored carefully by a highly trained workforce.
When could I get a vaccine?
Health and care workers and the over-80s are among the first in line for the newly-approved Pfizer/BioNTech Covid-19 vaccine.
The “second phase” of the programme could also include specific occupations at most risk, the watchdog said. Among those under 50, teachers, bus drivers, taxi drivers, the military, civil servants and emergency services could then get the jab as a priority.
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The government had previously said people from Black, Asian and minority ethnic groups could be among the first to get the vaccine, though in the priority list published online BAME people are not mentioned.
Widespread vaccination for the public could be available next year at the earliest, with most experts saying it will likely become widely available by mid-2021.
Can I volunteer for trials?
The government is calling on members of the public to sign up for trials of vaccines through the NHS Covid-19 vaccine research registry website.
It said almost 72,000 people have volunteered in the past week to receive information about joining clinical studies to find a vaccine but many more are needed.


thehuffingtonpostuk--2020-07-20--When Could A Covid-19 Vaccine Be Ready?

When Could A Covid-19 Vaccine Be Ready?

When Could A Covid-19 Vaccine Be Ready?
Despite the announcement that the UK has secured coronavirus British Prime Minister Boris Johnson said he could not promise there would be a successful vaccine against COVID-19 developed by the end of this year, saying "we're not there yet".


thehuffingtonpostuk--2020-07-20--Every NHS Worker To Be Given Flu Jab This Winter, Matt Hancock Reveals

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Every NHS worker will be given the flu vaccine to help the battle against coronavirus, the health secretary has said.
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Matt Hancock said all health service staff will need to get a jab unless they have a “very good, essentially clinical reason” not to have one.
The government is gearing up for a significant flu vaccination programme to stop the NHS being overwhelmed if there is a second spike in coronavirus infections in winter.
Hancock also revealed that councils will, from Monday, finally be offered names and addresses of people who test positive for Covid-19 following demands from public health chiefs for better data to combat local outbreaks.
Looking to winter, the health secretary has already promised the “biggest flu vaccination programme in history” amid expectations of increased demand on the NHS.
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Health secretary Matt Hancock delivers a statement on the government's actions on coronavirus in Commons PA
Currently those at risk categories are offered the flu vaccine free of charge, including over-65s, pregnant women, long-term care residents, carers at home, those with medical conditions.
Frontline health and social care workers are also eligible but it is up to employers to arrange and pay for it.
Following “promising” results from a trial of Oxford university’s Covid-19 vaccine, Hancock told the Commons: “This isn’t just about the Covid vaccine, it’s about the flu vaccine too and we are moving to make sure that a far, far higher proportion of people in the NHS get the flu vaccine.
“The expectation will be this winter that every single person who works in the NHS will get the flu vaccine unless you have a very good, essentially clinical reason.”
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Shadow health secretary Jon Ashworth meanwhile warned that the gap between the number of people infected for coronavirus and those reached by contact tracers needs to be bridged.
And he said local lockdowns “could have possibly been avoided” had councils had access to the detailed data Hancock was making available from Monday.


thehuffingtonpostuk--2020-07-20--Vagina Brush Designed To Sweep Away Period 'Debris' Disappears From Sale

Tim Robberts via Getty Images
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What do you crave when you’re on your period? We’re guessing a duster for your vagina isn’t the first thing that springs to mind. But that was, effectively, the product being sold by one company – until gynaecologists called BS.
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The start-up, called Blossom Brush Inc, was selling a brush designed to be used by a person on their period to “remove residual blood and debris”.
Looking a bit like a cross between a crab claw and tongue scraper, the product was supposedly meant to “help a woman feel more fresh and make her period more manageable”.
The product was shared on Twitter by Dr Jen Gunter, who’s famous for de-bunking “faux-feminist” products.
“Every day it seems as if someone comes up with a new and thoroughly unnecessary, yet harmful vaginal cleaning product marketed as empowerment,” she said. “I present to you today’s entry.”
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In a follow-up tweet, she added: “The vagina isn’t a cupboard.”
Every day it seems as if someone comes up with a new and thoroughly unnecessary, yet harmful vaginal cleaning product marketed as empowerment. I present to you today’s entry: pic.twitter.com/0onrVLc9mv — Jennifer Gunter (@DrJenGunter) July 17, 2020
Thousands of people commented on the post, with many criticising the product for reinforcing ideas that “periods are dirty”. It could actually do some harm than good, according to Dr Brooke Vandermolen, an obstetrics and gynaecology doctor who runs The Obgyn Mum blog.
“Vaginal cleansing or douching has been consistently shown to be harmful,” she tells HuffPost UK. “The vaginal organisms are carefully regulated to maintain the ideal conditions to prevent infections and support the vaginal environment.
“Products such as this would risk disturbing the delicate lining of the vagina, increasing the risk of infections such as thrush and bacterial vaginosis.”
On top of this, there’s no evidence the vagina needs to be cleansed internally, adds Dr Vandermolen.
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“Leftover menstrual blood does not have potential to cause infections and will gradually leave the body with the natural secretions that form the vaginal discharge,” she says. “It does not need a tool to physically cleanse the blood away and I would urge women to avoid purchasing products such as these which may cause more harm than any benefit.”
Following criticism, the team at Blossom Brush Inc initially posted a statement on their social media channels, stating the product was made with “good intentions”, adding that it had received a positive response from women who’d tried it.
“The benefits have included less usage of tampons and a reduction in the number of days a woman required feminine hygiene products,” they said.
“We do not believe that any person has a ‘dirty’ vagina and we wish to work with the gynaecological community and people who have periods to understand how to appropriately provide women with a new choice in their menstrual management.”
It appears that have since reinstated their posts and posted a "statement" about "the offence caused" and limited comments, only positive ones allowed (screenshots attached) pic.twitter.com/5k6CsaYcFH — Vagina Museum (@vagina_museum) July 18, 2020
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However, after posting the statement, the website and all social media accounts for Blossom Brush Inc appear to have been taken down.


thehuffingtonpostuk--2020-07-20--Nicki Minaj Reveals She's Pregnant On Instagram With Striking Baby Bump Snap

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Nicki Minaj has revealed she’s expecting her first child with her husband Kenneth Petty.
The 37-year-old rapper, singer and songwriter shared the news on Instagram with a photo of herself holding her bare baby bump.
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“Preggers,” she captioned the shot.
In another photo Minaj posted, she wrote: “Love. Marriage. Baby carriage. Overflowing with excitement and gratitude. Thank you all for the well wishes.”
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Rumours have been swirling that Minaj is expecting her first child.
Back in May, she tweeted about having “cravings”. On Twitter, she was asked if she had been been cooking during the pandemic, to which she replied: “Absolutely. Steak. Shrimp. Plus my famous cheeseburgers. So good. Been really having red meat cravings then salad cravings with extra jalapeños.”
Fans were so convinced, many asked her to reveal her baby bump, to which she replied back: “In a couple of months, the world ain’t ready yet.”
Yea in a couple months. The world ain’t ready yet 🥰☺😘 https://t.co/E5bf12pAek — Mrs. Petty (@NICKIMINAJ) May 7, 2020
And then, in June 2020, fans were convinced they spotted a “baby bump” in her music video ‘Trollz’ with rapper Tekashi.
It seems like Minaj is now ready to let the world know she’s expecting. While it’s her first child, her husband Kenneth Petty reportedly already has five children from previous relationships.
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