thehuffingtonpostuk--2020-08-11--First Week Of Eat Out To Help Out Cost Almost As Much As Summer Free School Meals Programme

Chancellor of the Exchequer Rishi Sunak places an Eat Out to Help Out sticker in the window of a business during a visit to Rothesay on the Isle of Bute, Scotland. PA
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The government may have spent up to £105.4m covering the cost of meals in the first week of the Eat Out to Help Out scheme.
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More than 10m meals were eaten in restaurants using the programme which gives diners 50% off their food, up to £10 per person, on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday throughout August.
If someone ate in a restaurant for breakfast, lunch and dinner each day, the government could have to pay out £90 a week for them.
By contrast, the government’s free school meals programme for children gives parents £90 to cover the entire six-week summer holiday.
Nearly 1.3m children are eligible for the Covid Summer Food Fund, which was introduced following a campaign by Manchester United and England football star Marcus Rashford.
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Extending the free school meals scheme into the summer holidays, which the government initially opposed, cost an extra £120m in additional funding.
The Treasury has put aside £500m to pay for Eat Out to Help Out.
The Treasury said on Tuesday it had received claims for 10,540,394 individual meals from restaurants up and down the country. More than 83,000 restaurants have signed up.
If two people eat out together, that counts as two individual meals in the statistics.
It means that a maximum £105,403,940 may have been claimed in the first week.
Rishi Sunak, the chancellor, said the programme meant not only were customers getting a “great deal” they were “supporting the almost two million people employed in this sector”.
“These amazing figures show that our plan for jobs is delivering,” he added.
The government hopes Eat Out to Help Out will help prevent the hospitality industry, and the jobs that come with it, from being devastated by the impact of the pandemic.
But when it was announced it was revealed the most senior civil servant at HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) had raised concerns.
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Jim Harra, HMRC’s permanent secretary, wrote to Sunak requesting a ministerial direction – a formal order to go ahead with a scheme.
He warned there were “particular value for money risks” with the programme.


thehuffingtonpostuk--2020-08-11--Russia Approves 'World's First Covid-19 Vaccine', Says Putin

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Russia has become the first country to approve a vaccine against Covid-19, according to its president Vladimir Putin.
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He announced on Tuesday that the inoculation, developed by the Gamaleya Institute in Moscow, had been granted regulatory approval after less than two months of human testing.
Final “phase III” clinical trials for the vaccine, where it is given to large numbers of people, are still in process to establish whether it is safe and effective.
But speaking on state television, Putin said the vaccine was safe and hoped the country would soon begin mass production.
“As far as I know, a vaccine against a new coronavirus infection has been registered this morning, for the first time in the world,” he said.
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“I know that it works quite effectively, forms strong immunity, and I repeat, it has passed all the needed checks.”
The Russian president added: “One of my daughters did the inoculation herself.
“After the first injection, her temperature went up to 38, but by the next day it was just a little over 37.
“In this sense, she took part in the experiment.”
The Russian vaccine uses adapted strains of the adenovirus, a virus that usually causes the common cold.
A second vaccine from Russia’s state research centre in Siberia is said to be close behind.
Officials said they plan to begin vaccinating medical staff in August, with mass vaccinations expected at the start of next year.
The announcement has been hailed in Moscow as evidence of the country’s scientific prowess, but there are concerns Russia is prioritising national prestige over science and safety.
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White House coronavirus task force member Dr. Anthony Fauci said he has doubts Russia has shown its vaccine to be safe and effective.
Speaking to the House Select Subcommittee on coronavirus, he said: “I do hope that the Chinese and the Russians are actually testing the vaccine before they are administering the vaccine to anyone.
“Because claims of having a vaccine ready to distribute before you do testing is, I think, problematic at best.”
In Russia, a local association of multinational pharmaceutical companies warned allowing a vaccine for civilian use before clinical trials could put people at risk.
“Why are all corporations following the rules, but Russian ones aren’t? The rules for conducting clinical trials are written in blood. They can’t be violated,” said Svetlana Zavidova, director of the Association of Clinical Trials Organisations.
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“This is a Pandora’s Box and we don’t know what will happen to people injected with an unproven vaccine.”
China has already approved one Covid-19 vaccine for use in its military. It has also won approval to further test the jab in Canada.
More than 100 possible vaccines are being developed around the world. At least four are in final phase III human trials, according to the WHO.


thehuffingtonpostuk--2020-08-11--Why You Shouldn't Wear A Snood Or Scarf As A Face Covering

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Wearing a neck fleece (or snood) as a face covering could actually increase your risk of spreading coronavirus, new research suggests. Meanwhile wearing a scarf or bandana offers “very little” help to stop the spread of Covid-19.
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Researchers from Duke University in North Carolina tested 14 different face coverings to see which type was most effective at limiting the spread of droplets. The coverings ranged from homemade material masks to the professional, hospital-grade masks worn by frontline healthcare workers.
MoMo Productions via Getty Images
The best face coverings were N95 masks without valves (number 14 in the image below), which are hospital-grade coverings used by frontline workers. Surgical or polypropylene masks also “performed well”.
Handmade cotton face coverings provided “good coverage”, the researchers said, “eliminating a substantial amount of the spray from normal speech”.
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On the other hand, bandanas and neck fleeces, such as balaclavas or snoods, didn’t do much at all to block the droplets.
Duke University Duke University
To test the effectiveness of the designs, an operator wore each mask, then spoke in the direction of a laser beam inside a dark enclosure.
Droplets shown through the laser were recorded using a camera and counted using a computer programme. These were then compared to a control test, where the operator was not wearing a mask.
The results, published in the Journal Science Advances, suggest while some masks do little to stop droplets spreading, fleece neck coverings (when pulled up to the face) actually increase the amount of droplets spread to 110% (compared to the 100% control).
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The researchers attribute this increase to “the neck fleece dispersing larger droplets into several smaller droplets, therefore increasing the droplet count”.
Smaller participles “tend to hand around for longer in the air and can get carried away easier,” PhD researcher Martin Fischer explained in a video on Duke ’s website.
On a positive note, the study did show wearing a cotton mask or surgical mask when out and about is worth the effort.
“We confirmed that when people speak, small droplets get expelled, so disease can be spread by talking, without coughing or sneezing,” Fischer said. “We could also see that some face coverings performed much better than others in blocking expelled particles.”
Here’s a list of all 14 masks tested, ranked from most effective to least – as well as their corresponding number on the image above.
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thehuffingtonpostuk--2020-08-11--Smash Mouth Holds Concert For Thousands, Tells Crowd: 'F**k That Covid'

Well, much like the band admitted in 2001, Smash Mouth is apparently not the sharpest tool in the shed.
The band headlined a music festival and motorcycle rally in Sturgis, South Dakota, over the weekend, and was criticised heavily on social media for not adhering to CDC guidelines as the coronavirus pandemic rages on across America.
Sturgis Buffalo Chip is a multi-day festival that attracts hundreds of thousands of people each year and offers attendees everything from bike and stunt shows, shopping, live music and various events, according to its website.
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Smash Mouth was one of several bands — including Trapt, Buckcherry, Drowning Pool, Night Ranger, Reverend Horton Heat, Lit, 38 Special, Quiet Riot, and Big Skillet — to play at the festival this year, but went viral on Monday for its Sunday night performance.
Photos and videos from the band’s performance indicated that most of the attendees were not wearing masks or adhering to social distancing guidelines.
Frontman Steve Harwell even shouts to the crowd at one point, “Now, we’re all here together tonight... fuck that Covid shit!”
🚨HAPPENING NOW🚨 The Buffalo Chip is attracting hundreds, if not thousands, due to the 80th Annual Sturgis Motorcycle Rally (credit KOTATV) #SmashMouth #SouthDakota #Sturgis pic.twitter.com/3QyEtW7vi7 — Connor Matteson (@mattesontv) August 10, 2020
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HuffPost has reached out to the band for comment.
The event’s page on Black Hills & Badlands Tourism Association’s website indicates that the venue had signs posted “at all entry points and gathering areas reminding guests to remain socially distant, encouraging the use of face coverings and explaining recommendations from the CDC to help prevent the spread of COVID-19”.
Additionally, the site claims the event had hand sanitiser stations, masks for purchase, and masked employees behind sneeze guards “at designated points of sale”.
The site also said that guests have the opportunity to social distance with “over 600 acres” available to them and that they were “required to have a mask with them”.
Videos from the event make it clear that a large volume of attendees did not wear masks or attempt to keep the recommended two metres apart from one another.
Here is a brighter video to see all the people (credit KOTATV) pic.twitter.com/P7XW46BLiS — Connor Matteson (@mattesontv) August 10, 2020
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In response to the brazen disregard for the global health crisis, many people on social media weighed in with their thoughts on Smash Mouth holding a concert right now:
me having to cancel smash mouth cuz they dont take the pandemic seriously pic.twitter.com/Hi13f2g16g — ✨Aster✨ (@ceeberoni) August 10, 2020
these people risked it all to see Smash Mouth last night pic.twitter.com/6yDbVXXEGN — Lambgoat (@lambgoat) August 10, 2020
So Smash Mouth fans are straight up willing to risk death to hear All Star live. pic.twitter.com/WC3yanppV8 — BCBudsGaming (@BCBudsGaming) August 10, 2020
Now I gotta cancel Smash Mouth pic.twitter.com/MswJPk5Utf — pissing off conservatives (@iRockets_) August 10, 2020
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thehuffingtonpostuk--2020-08-11--Alyssa Milano Demonstrates Extent Of Hair Loss Due To Coronavirus Four Months After Diagnosis

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Alyssa Milano has posted a candid video on Instagram revealing the extent of the hair loss she’s suffered since being diagnosed with Covid-19.
The former Charmed star revealed last week that she had contracted coronavirus back in April, sharing a photo of herself taken at that time lying in a hospital bed wearing an oxygen mask.
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Four months later, she’s revealed that she’s continuing to feel the after-effects of the disease, posting a video demonstrating how much of her hair was still coming out when she brushed it.
“I just wanted to show you the amount of hair that’s coming out of my head as a result of Covid,” she explained.
Alyssa Milano Instagram
After using a detangler brush, Alyssa held up a clump that had come out during the process, urging her followers: “Wear a damn mask.”
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She captioned the video: “Thought I’d show you what #Covid19 does to your hair. Please take this seriously.”
Former glamour model and TV personality Linda Lusardi – who was taken to intensive care earlier this year due to coronavirus – revealed last week that she is also still suffering “distressing” hair loss as a result of the illness.
She also spoke about the effects the disease had on both her own and her family’s mental health, stating: “The mental trauma of it has touched us all even though it was me who was sick.
“My children had to deal with the fact they might lose both of us [Linda and her husband, Sam Kane] and then me, and the mental effect it’s had on us has been very traumatic really. I think we’re still suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder a little bit.”


thehuffingtonpostuk--2020-08-11--Coronavirus Cases Hit 20 Million Worldwide As New Hot Spots Emerge In US

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At least 20 million people worldwide have tested positive for the coronavirus, according to data from Johns Hopkins University.
The latest milestone comes just over a month after the world passed 10 million cases. More than 733,000 people have died from Covid-19 globally.
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The US leads with over 5 million confirmed cases and more than 163,000 deaths, making up about a quarter of all Covid-19 cases and deaths in the world. Brazil comes in second, with more than 3 million cases and over 101,000 deaths.
According to a New York Times coronavirus database, the US saw nearly 48,000 new cases on August 3, with many of them concentrated in the South. Several states have continued to reopen their schools and economies despite a surge in cases that began in June.
As the US struggles to contain the virus, data show that Americans increasingly believe that other countries are handling the pandemic better. According to a recent HuffPost/YouGov survey, a 46% plurality of Americans said the US is dealing with the coronavirus worse than other nations. A March poll found that just 28% of Americans held that view, while a May survey put that number at 36%.
World leaders appear to share Americans’ concerns about the US response to the virus. The European Union has temporarily banned most travellers coming from the US, even as it begins to open up to other international visitors.
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Dr Anthony Fauci, the leading infectious diseases expert in the US, recently said that he’s “cautiously optimistic” that there will be a vaccine by the end of the year. But he and the World Health Organization have stressed that the virus may never be fully eradicated.
Stopping Covid-19 outbreaks “comes down to the basics of public health and disease control,” WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said earlier this month, adding that there will likely be no “silver bullet” for destroying the virus. He urged “testing, isolating and treating patients, and tracing and quarantining their contacts. Inform, empower and listen to communities. Do it all.”
Donald Trump has repeatedly claimed without evidence that the coronavirus will “disappear” and has called Fauci an “alarmist.” The US president continues to spin his administration’s response as a success despite the rising numbers of infections, hospitalisations and deaths, as well as the economic shutdown that has led to record unemployment.
During an Axios interview that aired August 3, Trump pushed back against statistics that showed an increase in Covid-19 death rates in the US. Once again the president claimed, contrary to public health experts, that the US only has more cases because of greater testing.
Countries in Asia, Latin America and Europe ― including India, Iran, Brazil, Mexico, Colombia, Spain and the United Kingdom ― have also seen increases in daily new cases per capita, according to the Times database. The database reported in early August that almost twice as many countries had seen a significant rise in new cases over the previous two weeks as had reported a significant decline.
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Prime Minister Boris Johnson recently postponed plans to further ease lockdown restrictions in England from August 1 to at least August 15 “in order to keep the virus under control.” The decision came as the country’s Office for National Statistics said England was experiencing an increase in the number of positive Covid-19 tests.


thehuffingtonpostuk--2020-08-11--Katie Price To Undergo Major Surgery On Broken Feet This Week

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Two weeks ago, the reality star revealed on her YouTube series that she had sustained serious injuries after jumping over a wall at an amusement park in Turkey, and wouldn’t be able to walk for three to six months.
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At the time, she explained to her subscribers: “The hospital here wanted to operate, they wanted to put pins in and stuff, but because I’m away, I’d rather do it all when I get home.”
Katie’s representative has now confirmed that the operation will take place this week, now that she is back in the UK.
Katie Price during a 2019 appearance on Good Morning Britain Ken McKay/ITV/Shutterstock
Speaking to the Daily Mail, they said: “Katie, I can confirm, will be undergoing major surgery this week to correct her injuries sustained on her recent holiday to Turkey.”
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The news comes after Katie revealed she’d received an “absolutely devastating” update from doctors about her condition.
She told her Instagram followers: “Just finished my appointment with my consultant and surgeon about my feet. After further scans, the news is absolutely devastating. I’m gutted!”
According to The Mirror, Katie had found out that “her injuries are not as straight forward as doctors originally believed”, with her spokesperson telling the paper that she will be sharing more details on her YouTube channel.
More recently, Katie has been showing her fans how she’s adapted to her injuries, posting footage of herself on social media walking around her home on knee pads.


thehuffingtonpostuk--2020-08-11--Wear Masks During Sex And Don’t Face Each Other, Charity Recommends

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A charity has published advice on how to reduce the risk of catching coronavirus during sex, including not kissing, wearing a face mask and picking positions where you are not face-to-face.
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Sexual health charity the Terrence Higgins Trust (THT) also recommends “sticking with a regular partner or limiting the number of sexual partners” and washing your hands for more than 20 seconds before and after sex.
Masturbation, using sex toys, or participating in phone or online sex are also advised as safe options to limit the spread of Covid-19.
The “how to” guide comes as a study by the charity has found the number of people seeking new sexual partners decreased after lockdown was announced in March.
It also showed 84% of people had abstained from having sex with people outside of their immediate household because of the restrictions.
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But the charity said indefinite abstinence was no longer realistic and people needed to find a way “to balance our need for sex and intimacy with the risks of the spread of Covid-19”.
While the best sexual partner is yourself or someone you live with, it recommends having one regular partner or limiting the number of partners.
Potential sexual partners should ask if they or anyone in their household have had symptoms of tested positive for coronavirus, and anyone who is feeling unwell or showing Covid-19 symptoms should self-isolate and not have sex.
Condoms and dams for oral sex should also be used, as the virus can spread through “virus particles in saliva, mucus or the breath of those who have it” and has been found in semen and faeces.
Dr Michael Brady, medical director of the Terrence Higgins Trust, said: “We’re clear that abstaining from sex is the best way to protect yourself from coronavirus, but we hope by issuing this advice we will help people to manage the risks of Covid-19 while also being able to have and enjoy sex.
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“Sex is a very important part of life and, as the Covid-19 pandemic continues, we all need to find ways to balance our need for sex and intimacy with the risks of the spread of Covic-19.
“As there are increasing concerns about a ‘second wave’ of Covid-19 your best sexual partner during the pandemic is you or someone you live with. Having said that, there are ways to make your sex as safe as possible.”


thehuffingtonpostuk--2020-08-11--Video Showing Florida Police Attempting To Handcuff 8-Year-Old Draws Outrage

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The arrest of an 8-year-old boy at a Florida school in 2018 has sparked an outcry after civil rights attorney Benjamin Crump, who is representing the boy’s family, posted online footage of police attempting to handcuff the child.
Crump shared police body camera footage on Sunday night of the incident, which had been viewed more than 1.5 million times as of Monday evening. He said in an emailed news release that the boy’s mother, Bianca N Digennaro, had retained him.
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The arrest took place at Gerald Adams Elementary in Key West, Florida, on December 14, 2018, after the boy reportedly punched a teacher in the chest, according to an arrest report obtained by the Miami Herald. The child was arrested on a felony battery charge, according to the report. He is not named due to his age.
In a statement, Crump said the boy had an individual education plan in place to assist with a disability.
“Instead of honouring and fulfilling that plan, the school placed him with a substitute teacher who had no awareness or concern about his needs and who escalated the situation by using her hands to forcibly move him,” Crump said.
“When he acted out, the teacher called the police, who threatened him with jail and tried to put him in handcuffs, which fell off because he was too little.”
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The video shows police officers first telling the child he’s going to jail and then asking him to place his hands up against a cabinet so they can attempt to handcuff him. They stop when the boy’s hands prove too small to be cuffed. They then walk him out of the school with his hands in front of him. When they reach the exit, one officer has a word with the child.
Unbelievable!! @KWPOLICE used “scared straight” tactics on 8yo boy with special needs. He's 3.5 ft tall and 64 lbs, but they thought it was appropriate to handcuff and transport him to an adult prison for processing!! He was so small the cuffs fell off his wrists! pic.twitter.com/iSTlXdKas6 — Ben Crump (@AttorneyCrump) August 10, 2020
“You understand this is very serious, OK?” the officer says in the footage. “I hate that you put me in this position that I have to do this. The thing about it is, you made a mistake. Now it’s time to learn from it and grow from it, not repeat the same mistake again.”
Crump called the incident a “heartbreaking example of how our educational and policing systems train children to be criminals by treating them like criminals.” If convicted, the child would have become a convicted felon at just eight years old, he noted.
“This little boy was failed by everyone who played a part in this horrific incident,” he said.
Crump ― who is also representing the families of George Floyd and Breonna Taylor ― and civil rights attorney Devon Jacob, will file a federal lawsuit against the officers, school officials, the city of Key West and the Monroe County School District, the statement said.
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Key West Police Chief Sean T Brandenburg told the Miami Herald Monday that his officers did nothing wrong.
“Based on the report, standard operating procedures were followed,” he said.
A spokesperson for the Monroe County School District said in an email to HuffPost that the district has not been involved in any litigation about the incident in question. “Due to the possibility of this matter becoming a legal issue in the future, we have been advised not to make further comment about the incident at this time,” the statement said.
A City of Key West representative did not immediately respond to HuffPost’s request for comment.
The video drew condemnation from advocacy groups and many others online, including former Housing Secretary Julián Castro, who called the footage “unbelievable.”
“Police should have no role in punishing our kids or pulling traumatic stunts like this in our schools,” he said.
The American Civil Liberties Union called for an end to police presence in schools, as did the Southern Poverty Law Center.
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“Violent interactions like this between children with disabilities and police cause long-lasting harm and trauma to kids and their families,” the SPLC tweeted.


thehuffingtonpostuk--2020-08-11--Robert Pattinson Got Caught Telling A Huge Lie About His Batman Audition

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Robert Pattinson has a lot to learn about deception before he goes full stealth as Batman.
Second only to his enduring fib about once witnessing a clown dying at a circus, the British actor admitted that he pulled the “family emergency” card on the set of his new film Tenet in order to sneak away for Batman-related duties.
Except this time Pattinson got caught because the much-delayed spy film is directed by Christopher Nolan, who, of course, helmed three previous Batman films.
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Robert Pattinson tried to keep a Batman secret from Christopher Nolan, director of three Dark Knight movies. Richard Shotwell/Invision/AP
“It’s funny because Chris is so secretive about everything to do with his movies,” Pattinson told The Irish Times in a recent interview. “And then I had to be really secretive about Batman stuff.”
In May, the actor was cast as Bruce Wayne in the upcoming Matt Reeves-directed film titled The Batman, which will reportedly explore the superhero’s formative years. Pattinson beat out such contenders as Armie Hammer and Nicholas Hoult for the part.
But production on Tenet overlapped with the audition process for the Batman film, which left Pattinson with a dilemma.
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“I had to lie to Chris about having to go for a screen test,” he admitted. “I said I had a family emergency. And as soon as I said ‘it’s a family emergency’ he said: ‘You’re doing the Batman [audition], aren’t you?’”
Pattinson didn’t reveal Nolan’s reaction to the lie, but it’s safe to say no one understands the importance of secret-keeping more than the director, who famously bans phones on set. Last year, the actor revealed that Nolan had given him a few tips about playing the Caped Crusader.
And it turns out the stunt-heavy Tenet was just the kind of preparation Pattinson needed for the superhero role.
Jordan Strauss/Invision/AP
“When I’m running on screen I’m generally paired with John David [Washington] who is an ex-NFL player so it was the most unfair thing in the world,” Pattinson said of his Tenet co-star. “The maximum workout I do most of the time is a casual stroll. John David can run all day long. It was good that I ended up being pretty fit. But definitely, at the beginning, there were days I just could not walk afterwards.”
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But then the coronavirus lockdown arrived and his fitness regimen went out the window, much to the dismay of his personal trainers.
“I think if you’re working out all the time, you’re part of the problem,” Pattinson told GQ magazine this spring. “You set a precedent. No one was doing this in the ’70s. Even James Dean ― he wasn’t exactly ripped. ... Literally, I’m just barely doing anything.”


thehuffingtonpostuk--2020-08-11--Flash Gordon Is The Queen’s Favourite Film, According To Its Star Brian Blessed

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We always thought The Queen would be into cosy period dramas when it came to film choices, but not so says veteran actor Brian Blessed.
In a somewhat unexpected twist, Her Maj is more of a fan of campy 80s sci-fi, at least according to Brian, who claims her all-time fave is the fantasy adventure Flash Gordon, which he starred in.
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Brian Blessed is made an OBE by Queen Elizabeth II PA
Apparently, the 94-year-old monarch loves nothing better than watching the 1980 “space opera” with her grandchildren each Christmas.
Brian, who stars as Prince Vultan in the film, told broadcaster Edith Bowman on Yahoo Movies: “The Queen, it’s her favourite film, she watches it with her grandchildren every Christmas.”
Flash Gordon Universal
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The 83-year-old actor followed up by impersonating HRH’s voice, saying: “You know, we watch Flash Gordon all the time, me and the grandchildren. And if you don’t mind, I’ve got the grandchildren here, would you mind saying ‘Gordon’s alive’?”
He added: “Everywhere I go, they all want me to say ‘Gordon’s alive!’. The butcher, the baker, the candlestick maker, horses and queens, and prime ministers, they all want me to say, ‘Gordon’s alive!’, it’s their favourite film.”
Was the actor was using a little artistic licence? Maybe, he was on the promo trail for the 40th anniversary reissue of the film. But the thought of our Queen settling down to watch the camp classic is just too irresistible not to think there’s some truth to the tale.


thehuffingtonpostuk--2020-08-11--Thunderstorm Warnings For Almost All Of UK As Welsh Town Floods

Thunderstorms are set to strike this week with most of the UK covered by a Met Office yellow warning until Thursday. Inner_Vision via Getty Images
Thunderstorms are expected in much of the UK after flash flooding left parts of a Welsh town under water.
Isolated flooding is possible across parts of England over the next few days due to heavy storms, the Environment Agency has warned.
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On Monday storms brought flash flooding and power cuts to Aberystwyth, in west Wales.
Councillor Ceredig Davies said the area hadn’t seen a downpour like it in years.
“There are a number of properties in town that have flooded towards the lower part of the town - and a number of high street shops have had water coming through,” he told WalesOnline.
“It was such a downpour.”
Thunderstorms are set to strike this week with most of the UK covered by a Met Office yellow warning until Thursday.
The Met Office has warned flash flooding could cause travel disruption and power cuts.
There is also a small chance homes and businesses could be damaged by flooding.
Bonnie Diamond, a meteorologist at the Met Office, said: “There is a pretty broad warning in place today, but there is another for central UK – the Midlands up to the North West of England to about Cumbria, and into Wales – which we are watching really closely.
“We are looking at the potential for some thunderstorms there from about 4pm to the early hours.
“It’s a worst-case scenario - a caution, really, for what could happen - but we are looking at a potential for 150mm of rain in three or four hours.
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“Normally for August you’re looking at around 70mm for the month, so it’s potentially a lot of rain.
“To get that much it will take some areas seeing frequent thunderstorms, and not just passing through.”
Caroline Douglass, flood duty manager at the Environment Agency, said heavy thunderstorms this week “could lead to surface water and river flooding in some communities” into Tuesday morning.
“Isolated flooding is also possible more widely across England today through until Thursday due to further heavy thunderstorms,” she said.
“Severe thunderstorms” are expected for the next few days, following a series of scorching days that saw temperatures reach the 30Cs.
On Saturday, HM Coastguard dealt with 340 incidents across the country – the highest number of call-outs in a single day for over four years.
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An amateur powerlifter drowned in a lake in Norfolk two days after his 22nd birthday.
Kristers ‘Kris’ Bednarskis was swimming at Bawsey Pits Country Park, on Saturday morning when he got into difficulty.
His body was pulled from the water following a major search effort involving two rescue boats and four fire crews.


thehuffingtonpostuk--2020-08-11--Trump Schooled Online After Claiming '1917' Flu Pandemic 'Probably Ended' WWII

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Donald Trump got history wrong on multiple counts Monday when he claimed that the “1917” Spanish flu pandemic likely led to the end of World War II ― which began more than two decades later.
“The closest thing is in 1917, they say, the great pandemic. It certainly was a terrible thing where they lost anywhere from 50 to 100 million people,” Trump said during his White House press briefing. “Probably ended the Second World War, all the soldiers were sick.”
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Leading up to that comment, Trump had been praising his administration’s response to the coronavirus pandemic that has killed more than 160,000 people in the US, claiming without evidence that without his ban on foreign travellers, millions more would be dead.
Trump has incorrectly referred to the year of the 1918 pandemic dozens of times, even though his own grandfather Frederick Trump died of it in New York City in 1918.
The President says the “1917 pandemic” ended the Second World War pic.twitter.com/jSltuSYim2 — Acyn Torabi (@Acyn) August 10, 2020
The Spanish flu pandemic of 1918-1919 overlapped with the final months of World War I, which is ostensibly what the president intended to refer to. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, it was first identified in military personnel in the spring of 1918 before spreading to an estimated 500 million people worldwide. It continued until the following year. The spread was likely exacerbated by the widespread deployment of troops, crowded wartime living conditions and other effects of the war, the CDC states.
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World War II began in 1939.
Given the Trump campaign’s repeated efforts to frame presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden as lacking mental acuity, Twitter users did not allow Trump’s gaffe to slide.
Critics, including Representative Eric Swalwell, former White House ethics chief Walter Shaub and conservative group The Lincoln Project joined the fray:
The Second World War ended in 1945. It’s cruel for @DonaldJTrumpJr and family to let @realDonaldTrump stand out there like this. https://t.co/E0v9VAcBWX — Rep. Eric Swalwell (@RepSwalwell) August 10, 2020
The President of the United States of America is the stupidest man in the world. https://t.co/O1CSD5eAIy — Walter Shaub (@waltshaub) August 11, 2020
Trump: In 1917, the great pandemic, where they lost 50 to 100 million people, probably ended the Second World War.
1. The pandemic happened in 1918, not 1917.
2. About 37 million people died in WWI, not 50 to 100 million.
3. The Second World War ended in 1945, not in 1917. https://t.co/EEsnVUkXcE — Keith Boykin (@keithboykin) August 10, 2020
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A significant part of Trump’s (and the Trump campaign’s) message against Biden has been that Biden gets confused and makes speaking mistakes. https://t.co/pfNGzsQYt2 — Daniel Dale (@ddale8) August 11, 2020
The president thinks the Spanish Flu probably ended World War Two (!) because “all the soldiers were sick.”
The atomic bomb dropped on Nagasaki fell 75 years ago yesterday, bringing a long and devastating war to a shattering, violent end.
Remember history. Don’t distort it. — George Takei (@GeorgeTakei) August 10, 2020
By the way the 1918 flu pandemic started in 1918, not 1917.
World War 2 ended in 1945.
And for some reason it's the Trump Campaign that's trying to run on mental fitness. — The Lincoln Project 🏴☠ (@ProjectLincoln) August 11, 2020
The republicans are worried about Joe Biden’s mental acuity https://t.co/NpmQGSqcjp — Molly Jong-Fast🏡 (@MollyJongFast) August 10, 2020
If anyone says anything about Joe Biden flubbing a line ever again, just post the clip of Trump saying the 1917 pandemic ended the Second World War over and over again. — Nick Jack Pappas (@Pappiness) August 11, 2020
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Trump says the Spanish Flu in 1917 "probably" ended the Second World War.
The Spanish Flu was in 1918 and WWII ended in 1945. It's "probably" a good thing the Secret Service cut that press conference short. pic.twitter.com/sHQj2Uqov6 — Amee Vanderpool (@girlsreallyrule) August 10, 2020
"The closest thing is, uh, in 1917, they say, uh, The Great- the Great Pandemic; & it certainly was a terrible thing where they lost anywhere from 50 to 100 million ppl; probably ended the Second World War, all the soldiers were sick."
-The US President just spoke this sentence — John Fugelsang (@JohnFugelsang) August 10, 2020
The genius MAGA crowd who worships and defends the guy who can’t pronounce “Yosemite” or “Thailand” and says the 1917 pandemic probably ended WW2 thinks Joe Biden is mentally compromised. https://t.co/xt2KY8l1kQ — Richard Marx (@richardmarx) August 11, 2020
Obama fought WWII but was forced to concede defeat because of the pandemic of 1917 and since then the cupboards have been bare. They couldn't even test for it because there weren't any tests. All the while our soldiers didn't have any bullets. No bullets. Could you imagine? No bu — Brian Tyler Cohen (@briantylercohen) August 11, 2020
If you were wondering why President Drink Bleach has botched the response for 7 straight months:
In 1917 "the great pandemic certainly was a terrible thing where they lost anywhere from 50 to 150 million people. Probably ended the second world war. All the soldiers were sick." pic.twitter.com/R9YRAcvCZj — Andrew Bates (@AndrewBatesNC) August 10, 2020
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thehuffingtonpostuk--2020-08-11--Chris Pratt And Katherine Schwarzenegger Welcome First Child Together

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Katherine Schwarzenegger has welcomed her first child with husband Chris Pratt.
She gave birth sometime last week to a girl, Pratt revealed Monday in a sweet Instagram post.
“We are beyond thrilled to announce the birth of our daughter, Lyla Maria Schwarzenegger Pratt,” he captioned a photo of the couple’s hands holding the newborn.
“We couldn’t be happier. Both mom and baby are doing great. We are extremely blessed. Love Katherine and Chris.”
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Pratt followed the announcement with a selection of Bible verses celebrating the baby’s arrival.
A day before the official announcement, Schwarzenegger’s younger brother Patrick let slip that his sister had indeed become a mom.
In a video obtained by Entertainment Tonight, Patrick Schwarzenegger said that the couple were “doing great,” giving a thumbs-up to the camera when he was congratulated on becoming an uncle.
“Just got her a little gift,” he said, then flashed a small package with a pink ribbon.
Katherine Schwarzenegger and Chris Pratt welcomed their first child recently. Jordan Strauss/Invision/AP
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An unnamed source told People at the time that Schwarzenegger had left the hospital and the family was “doing well” at home.
“They knew they were having a girl and were thrilled about it. Kat had a good pregnancy and she is hoping for a quick recovery. So far, so good,” the source said.
“She is going through all the first-time mom emotions. She is extremely happy, but a bit tired and overwhelmed. Chris keeps being amazing though. It’s comforting for Kat that he is already a dad and understands how it is to have a newborn.”
Schwarzenegger, the eldest child of Arnold Schwarzenegger and Maria Shriver, and Pratt married last year in California. They announced Schwarzenegger’s pregnancy in April.
The Marvel star also shares a 7-year-old son, Jack, with his ex-wife, Anna Faris.
Just days ago, Pratt said Schwarzenegger was “ready to pop” while out on a hike together. He shared an Instagram photo of the two on the summit of a mountain, joking he was “kinda grateful it didn’t go down on the trail tho to be real.”
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Instagram
The couple have been staying active during the coronavirus lockdown and have been regularly spotted on walks together.
In June, Schwarzenegger participated in a candid conversation on Instagram Live with Dr. Zelana Montminy and shared that she was doing “really, really well, actually” being pregnant in self-isolation.
“I’m really lucky to be living in very close proximity to my family, which has been very helpful,” she said.
She also gave a shoutout to her “wonderful husband,” praising him for being “very understanding” during this time.
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“It’s been amazing having him home and also very understanding about my need to sanitise everything, have everyone wear masks all the time,” she explained. “That’s been helpful.”
Pratt, meanwhile, recently joked that he has indulged in plenty of the food his wife has been craving, including his fair share of pickles and ice cream.
“Can I be honest with you? I found myself complaining the other day about a little bit of low back and hip pain and how I’ve gained a little weight in quarantine,” he told Extra. “She just looked at me sweetly.”
“I was like … ‘Oh, right, right, I don’t really get to complain about that to you right now, do I?’” he added.
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And in February, the actor gushed about his wife, a children’s book author, becoming a “great mom one day.”


thehuffingtonpostuk--2020-08-11--The Funniest Tweets From Parents This Week

9- Mom, the tooth fairy never gave me money or took my tooth last night!
Me- *digs in bottom of purse*
9- Wait
Me- *Hands over $3.28*
9- Really mom?
Me- She said she was busy last night
9- You literally just handed me change
Me- She said she’s broke too


thehuffingtonpostuk--2020-08-11--Would You Go To Therapy To Save A Friendship?

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Listen to our weekly podcast Am I Making You Uncomfortable? about women’s health, bodies and private lives. Available on Spotify, Apple, Audioboom and wherever you listen to your podcasts.
How far would you go to save a friendship? A text message to share your feelings? Perhaps a letter, if you’re feeling really brave. What about therapy?
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The latter might sound extreme, but with solo therapy and couple’s therapy becoming more normalised in the UK, perhaps it’s time we learned to sit down with our pals for some professional guidance, too.
After all, the end of a longstanding platonic relationship can sting just as much – if not more – than a romantic one, which is why we’re exploring the topic of friendship breakups in the latest episode of Am I Making You Uncomfortable?, HuffPost UK’s weekly podcast on women’s health, bodies and private lives.
In the episode, we discuss the myth of the ‘BFF’ and how not all friendships are destined to last forever. But we also pay homage to those mates that are worth fighting for and hear how therapy can salvage a challenged friendship.
Luis Alvarez via Getty Images
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We’re joined in the episode by Aminatou Sow, who co-hosts the popular Call Your Girlfriend podcast and has co-authored the book Big Friendship, with her long-term, long-distance friend Ann Friedman.
Aminatou and Ann value their friendship to such an extent, they went to friendship therapy when the cracks started to show.
“We entered this period of a couple of years where we really missing each other and we were mis-communicating,” says Aminatou, who’s based in New York, while Ann lives in California.
“There were a lot of things that were left unsaid, and I think that the overwhelming feeling for both of us was really like: ‘Is she doing that on purpose? What’s going on here?’ The friendship itself was becoming increasingly more fraught because there were so many things we were not talking about to each other.”
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The friendship hit crunch point when the pair were offered a new, joint work venture and realised they couldn’t face signing up. It was the catalyst for them to start talking honestly about their friendship. Aminatou describes it as a “relief” when she found out things weren’t working for Ann, either.
They found a couple’s counsellor who was open to working with two dedicated friends and now recommend other pals to try friendship therapy.
“The narrative needs to change, in that we need to understand that friendship is a relationship that belongs to the same place of importance as family bonds and as romantic relationships,” says Aminatou.
“If you say to your romantic partner: ‘Hi, I’d like to discuss that status of our relationship,’ maybe it’s a little bit weird, but there is a social script for that. But if you say that to a friend, it feels very far out there, but I would really like to normalise that.”
Friendship therapy is not common in the US, says Aminatou, and it’s practically unheard of in the UK. But it is available if you seek it out.
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“Relate counsellors are trained to support all types of relationships, including friendships, whether that’s by working with two or more friends together or with individuals,” confirms Dee Holmes who’s a counsellor at Relate, the UK’s largest provider of relationship support.
“Whatever the relationship, there are often common issues when things get rocky like communication and self-esteem. Supporting people to understand themselves and others better and to resolve issues can only be a good thing.”
NoSystem images via Getty Images
It’s hard to make a general statement about what happens during friendship therapy as it will be tailored to the people in the session, explains Dr Miriam Kirmayer, our second podcast guest, who’s a Canadian clinical therapist specialising in friendship. However, it shares similarities to couple’s therapy.
“I’ll encourage clients to become more comfortable asserting certain needs or expectations, or boundaries, and really communicating that to our friends,” she says in the podcast.
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“I think what can happen when we’re so close with people, is that we expect them to be able to know what we’re feeling, and we expect them to be able to know what we need. That really ends up doing us a disservice.”
A big emphasis during traditional couple’s therapy is exploring what each partner considers as “quality time” and making space for both needs to be met, adds Dr Kirmayer. She works with friends to also open up about this.
“It really is a matter of finding ways to prioritise quality time in your platonic relationships,” she says. “For one person it might be a really intimate conversation and for somebody else it might be going out and doing the kinds of things that you really enjoy doing together.”
The more communicative we can be about what we’re feeling and the changes we’re craving in a friendship, the more likely they are to happen, says Dr Kirmayer.
While she believes friendship therapy is worth a shot for a deep friendship that’s struggling, she acknowledges that not all platonic relationships will go the distance.
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“There are situations where we grow apart from friends, and I do think that there needs to be space where we normalise that process,” she says. “Not all friendships will last. In fact an overwhelming majority of friendships don’t last and that that’s okay. That doesn’t make the time we had together any less meaningful, and there’s room for learning in that.”
But therapy did work for Ann and Aminatou, who describes their friendship as being “in a healthier place”.


thehuffingtonpostuk--2020-08-11--My Biological Father Ghosted Me. Here's What Happened And How I Coped

damircudic via Getty Images
My mother and father split not long after I was born. I never really got a chance to get to know my father, but my family always spoke highly of him. “We just weren’t meant to be together,” they’d say. This was something I could understand, so I never felt resentment or anger for his lack of contact and appearance in my life.
Still, there was always this looming sadness. I wondered, “Does he think about me? Does he remember my birthday or how old I am? Does he miss me?”
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I thought of him during my first rock climbing competition, where I placed in the top ten in my beginner category.
Completing my firefighter training, I thought of him.
Riding the bus to compete in my first collegiate soccer game, I thought of him.
Finally, passing my third attempt at a college math class and being done with the only subject standing between me and my bachelor’s degree, I thought of him.
In all these moments of personal victory, I wished he were there. I wished I could tell him because in my heart I believed he would be proud.
Three years ago, January 2018, I was 20-years-old. I had had what I think is his number in my phone since my mother gave it to me when I was 16. It wasn’t until this point that I felt I could use it.
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I sent a quick text. “Hey is this ...?” My heart raced with anticipation.
I received a text back within seconds. “Yes. Who’s this?” I told him my name and waited some more. Finally, I received an overjoyed response. I was thrilled!
Months passed, and we talked consistently. My fiance and I went to visit him. He and I sat across the table from each other, looking alike, and told stories from the past 20 years.
He tells me that I have a new family to be loved by, that he’s been waiting for me to reach out, and whenever I need anything, he’s there.
This is the dream. This is what I’ve been waiting for all of these years. A chance to tell him, “Look, look how good I turned out!” For him to be proud and smile the way I always envisioned he would. I feel like I’ve finally done the right thing, and, for once, it actually worked out. Little did I know what was coming.
We were in contact for four months when one day I called him (at the usual time), and he sent me to voicemail. I figured, “I don’t know the guy that well. He could just be busy.” I waited three days. I sent a text. I received no response. I waited a week, then two. Then I called and texted again. No response.
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I waited a month, then finally told my mom about it. She was baffled, and together we waited longer. After a month and a half, I sent one of the hardest texts I’ve ever sent in my life.
“Hey. I see what’s happening here. While I’m upset that you’re not talking to me, I want you to know that I am happy to have met you. I wish that we could’ve had a relationship, but I guess not. I’ll be fine without you. I didn’t need you for all these years, and I don’t need you now. I hope you have a good life. Goodbye.”
I received no response.
As you can imagine, I went through a few stages of grief. There was anger, denial, justification, then anger again, and then sadness. I ran through all possible scenarios for why he would’ve done such a thing. “Did he go on a trip with no cell signal? Did he get busy with work? Did he get in a car accident and was in the hospital? Did he stop liking me? Did he die?”
As time went on, I realised I was never going to know the answer to these questions. What hurt the most was that I felt I had zero closure. Just a one-sided “goodbye” in a text to which I received no response.
I was left with new questions that only replaced the old thoughts from before I met him. I had a chance to tell this man all of the things I always wanted to just to have him ghost me. I realised I was going to have to seek closure on my own, but even now I struggle to understand why someone would do this.
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The worst part was the buildup. You spend years wondering if this person really cares, and through trial and error, you come to find out he doesn’t.
It’s amazing how something that was so brief can hurt so badly. The four-months-long father that I had became one of my triggers. I can be doing nothing, and if I think about it, I’ll just start crying. It’s a reflex.
I spent so much time trying to tell myself, “It isn’t worth being sad over because some people go through much harder things in life, and mine is so trivial.” That’s not entirely true. I can feel for those people and still be sad about my own experiences.
I learned through this that it’s okay to be sad, even if it seems ridiculous. Sadness is a basic human emotion, and feeling it is a part of life.
Will I be sad my biological father isn’t at my college graduation? Yes.
But will I be okay? Yes.
Although I didn’t, and don’t, condone the cowardly way he disappeared, I understand that he hadn’t been a father for 20 years, and to suddenly have a grown-up daughter must have been intimidating. I ultimately took his silence as his saying he didn’t want to, or wasn’t ready to, be a father.
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Although I may never get the closure I need from him, every day I can work on finding my own sense of closure. Only time will heal the painful way he decided to exit. But regardless of whether he’s in my life or not, I will continue to take pride in who I am and what I do. While I may continue to think of him at important moments, I can be proud enough of my own accomplishments for both of us.
This article first appeared on HuffPost Personal


thehuffingtonpostuk--2020-08-11--Being Deafblind Is Like Living In A Dark, Chaotic Nightclub – Forever

HuffPost UK Courtesy of the author
Helen Keller was amazing. After measles left her deaf and blind, with the help of her teacher Ann Sullivan, she was educated and became famous. She was the first deafblind person to go to school and then she went on to university, with her teacher and intervener Ann Sullivan by her side.
But Helen was very lucky. Most children born deaf and blind don’t get an education – they get left in a world of darkness and silence.
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For most deafblind people, like me, it’s not complete darkness or silence; instead, it’s percentages. In my case, I’m more than 65% deaf and blind. This means that I have 4/20 sight, even with my glasses, while most have 20/20 or near that with corrective glasses. I also have severe hearing loss. Being born deaf or blind makes life hard. Being born both? Well, that only makes it more complicated.
From the beginning, learning is hard. Sight and hearing are the major tools used to learn: you see and you copy. You hear and you repeat. I can’t do that the way you can. That made growing up was hard and exhausting. I didn’t speak until I was almost five.
Socialising is next to impossible. Imagine a crowded nightclub with loud, chaotic music and very poor lighting, and you are trying your hardest to hear an important conversation. You have to use every ounce of concentration you have to make out the voices, while paying 200% more attention to where you set your glass of beer down!
This is my life, all at the same time.
“In this pandemic, people are a little more patient – they too now know what it’s like not to hear things properly.”
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So you can imagine I don’t often go to parties. Because I can’t mingle and chat in a loud, crowded room, even trying to do that is just exhausting and not the least bit fun. It’s the same for restaurant invitations. Why go, when the ambient conversation in the room makes it almost impossible to hear the conversation at our table?
In almost all social situations, I end up silent and alone – even though, as my husband can assure you, I have a lot to say. Because of this, I’m often called boring or anti-social behind my back, by friends and acquaintances, even family, who just can’t understand how it feels. It’s unkind, it’s untrue, and it’s made me withdraw into myself for much of my life and that’s a lonely place to be.
But I’m lucky to have friends who understood the problems and made allowances in our friendships to make me feel included. Takeaways at their places or mine, where we can keep background sound to a minimum and actually chat over our chicken wings or Chinese food. Parties where even though I may have been off by myself, they would mingle over to me and make sure I had snacks, drinks and conversation. These times are special, etched into my memory like a brand.
So too, are the things that my husband does to make me feel special and included without making me stand out. Dinner out, is often just for two, and almost always at one of our few favourite places, quiet and well-lit, that understand my sight and hearing loss. And when we are out, he guides me using his wrist: holding hands – and I’m sure looking very romantic – he flicks his wrist to tell me left, right, up or down, in a silent communication only we know. We squeeze hands to say I love you.
HuffPost UK The author, with her husband
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Like everyone else, the recent nightmare that is Covid-19 has made my life even harder too. Just take even socially distant conversation: when someone is trying to talk to me outside and a car goes by or a plane goes overhead, all I hear is noise. And it’s not like I can apologise, get closer, and ask them to repeat what they said. And don’t get me started on facemasks and perspex screens.
However, there are small mercies. In this pandemic, I’ve seen people more willing to repeat what they said without getting angry. They are a little more patient – they too now know what it’s like not to hear things properly.
And though it’s hard, life for the deafblind is much different than it was even 50 years ago for me starting school. Today, deaf and blind children have advocates and intervenors, specially trained to act as go-betweens for those with deafblindness and the able world, using tactile signing to communicate, just as Ann Sullivan did with Helen Keller.
I often wonder if an intervenor might have made school a bit easier, and my grades even higher. But I can never know that. What I do know is that at least they may have me seem less ‘boring’. Because, well, I’m not boring. I’m just deafblind, and that distinction makes all the difference in the world.
Kimberley Preugschat is a freelance writer
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--2020-08-11--Black Women In The UK Discuss The Challenges And Joys Of Parenting

Black Women In The UK Discuss The Challenges And Joys Of Parenting
From conception to parenting, three Black women discuss the challenges and joys of being a mother for Black Ballad's takeover of HuffPost UK.


thehuffingtonpostuk--2020-08-11--Lecturer Called Student's Henna 'Weird Brown Stuff' And 'Unprofessional', London Uni Hears

A student at City, University of London considered dropping out after a lecturer accused them of being “unprofessional” in front of a packed lecture theatre for wearing henna, which the tutor described as “weird brown stuff”.
It is one of a string of claims of discrimination and microaggressions towards Black, Asian and minority ethnic (BAME) students that were shared with university bosses as City attempts to tackle racial injustices on campus.
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BAME staff were invited to share their experiences of racism at a so-called “town hall” meeting organised by the university on July 20, while City Students’ Union shared students’ anonymous accounts.
The student wearing henna – which is a traditional practice at some Hindu, Sikh and Muslim weddings and other religious festivals – was told by their health sciences tutor that it would make their patients feel “uncomfortable”, the meeting heard.
“It was a highly embarrassing moment for me and I seriously considered dropping out because I wasn’t good enough,” the anonymous student said.
In a video created by the union that was shown at the meeting, a Muslim health sciences student described how she was forced to buy her own uniform for placement because of the university’s failure to understand “the issues faced by Muslim women”.
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Experiences of BAME students at City, University of London were shared by the students' union City Students' Union/ YouTube
After being told there was a “problem” with her clothing because she was wearing sleeves, she tried to explain the situation to her tutor. “I was met with a ‘deal with it’ attitude from my peers and tutor,” she said.
“In the end, I had to spend my own money on buying disposable sleeves for myself because placements and universities do not have the knowledge or equipment to deal with it appropriately due to lack of diversity.”
Another student described how, despite the fact that City is a diverse university, its journalism course is predominantly white.
“It has been challenging to navigate complex and sensitive matters around race and gender when you are the only person in the room who has personal experiences,” they said.
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“We have felt isolated and like we didn’t belong on our course, which has had a detrimental effect on our work.
“If City is truly dedicated to its pledge to stamp out institutional racism, it is important that they employ BAME members of staff, protect freedom of speech and encourage diversity of opinion.”
Experiences of BAME students at City, University of London were shared by the students' union City Students' Union/ YouTube
City, University of London, has said it is dedicated to tackling racial injustices.
In July, the university approved an “ambitious” new equality, diversity and inclusion strategy and started the final steps to join the race equality charter.
Shaima Dallali, who is vice-president for community and wellbeing at City Students’ Union, said the university must “work towards a fairer admission system, take reports of racist incidents seriously and take leaps, instead of steps, to rectify the BAME attainment gap”.
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Meanwhile, staff should take a “critical view” of their curriculum and make it “representative of our values and student body”, she said.
Dallali added: “The world around is changing and a fairer society is on the horizon. In light of a global call for equality, the time for action is now and there is ample opportunity for the university to reflect on its practices as an institution.
“It is a time for us to be introspective and innovate to become a leading institution for social justice which champions inclusion, diversity and equality.”
Professor Zoe Radnor, who is City’s vice-president for equality, diversity and inclusion, said the university was “listening hard”, calling the meeting a “powerful experience”.
“We are sorry that any of our students have had these experiences whilst at City,” she said.
The meeting was one in a series of activities organised by the university’s executive committee to “signal their personal commitment to racial equality and to increase their understanding of racial issues experienced by students and staff”, she explained.
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“We recognise that the experiences discussed by our staff and students are difficult to speak about, even to such a small internal audience.
“The president, the executive committee and I want to reassure all of our staff and students that we will listen to you, we will work to understand and we will support you.”
A statue of English merchant and slave trader Sir John Cass is mounted on the wall of the Sir John Cass Foundation in central London TOLGA AKMEN via Getty Images
The move by the university comes just weeks after it announced plans to rename its prestigious Cass Business School, whose namesake Sir John Cass was a “major player” in the transatlantic slave trade in the 17th century.
The university announced in July it would ditch Cass’s name – which was added to the business school following a donation from the Sir John Cass Foundation in 2002 – saying the connection had caused “great pain and hurt” to students and staff.
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However, HuffPost UK reported how a group of business school graduates launched a petition demanding that the university either retain the Cass name – or compensate them for a loss of “value” to their degrees.


thehuffingtonpostuk--2020-08-11--Iconic Black Radio Station Choice FM To Get Blue Plaque – After Rebrand 'Erased' Its History

Choice FM blue plaque Supplied
A blue heritage plaque in honour of Choice FM – the Britain’s first and only 24-hour Black music station – will be unveiled this year, HuffPost UK can reveal.
This year marks 30 years since the station broadcast its first show. To commemorate its history, the plaque unveiling will take place on October 7 at its first HQ in Brixton, south London.
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It’s being organised through the Nubian Jak community trust – a commemorative plaque and sculpture scheme that highlights the historic contributions of Black and minority ethnic people in Britain – and is part of the London Blue Plaque Scheme, run by English Heritage.
During its 23-year tenure, Choice FM helped to champion Black music of all genres and break acts from around the world.
Choice FM also ran debates on current affairs issues that were not covered by other mainstream stations. Over the years, the station was awarded a number of accolades including a MOBO and Sony Radio Academy Awards.
Neil Kenlock, a co-founder of the station along with Patrick Berry, said: “Many Black British people, and those from many other communities, remember Choice FM and the strong heritage that it has left behind. The station gave opportunities to UK and international artists, businesses, charities and local community groups that did not have a media outlet.
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“Since Choice FM there has never been another Black-owned, commercial licensed station that broadcasts across London. Therefore, celebrating the 30th anniversary is important, touching those who remember it and educating those who are not aware of this British history.
“The blue plaque will highlight the work of Windrush descendents and our huge impact on the radio and music industry in the UK. I would like to thank everyone, including Lambeth Council, for their support for this project.”
Neil Kenlock at Expectations: The Untold Story of Black British Community Leaders in the 60s and 70s. The exhibition of Neil's work can be seen at the Black Cultural Archives in Brixton, London. PA
In 2004, the station was bought by the Capital Radio broadcasting group, now Global Media, and on October 7, 2013, it was rebranded – without warning – to Capital Xtra. All specialist shows – such as gospel and soca – were scrapped, never to be reinstated.
The revered station’s legacy has faded in the mainstream sphere since, with some seeing the move as a direct affront to the Black community and an attempt at erasing an important part of Black culture from British history.
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In June, HuffPost UK revealed that Global staff members had called for right-wing politician Nigel Farage to be sacked from his LBC show for inflammatory remarks about Black anti-racism campaigners. Farage compared Black Lives Matter to the Taliban while criticising the toppling of statues of slave owners, prompting accusations he was “inciting” bigotry. At the time, former Choice FM DJ and plaque campaigner Daddy Ernie – real name Ernie Harriott – told HuffPost UK: “Through what they did to Choice, with no warning and homage since then, Global erased an important part of Black British history.”
Daddy Ernie Supplied
Reacting to news of the blue plaque, Harriott said: “On [March 31, 1990] a station was born that changed the sound of UK radio forever. Choice FM came from humble beginnings at Trinity Gardens and was the sound the community was longing for.
“It played the type of music that mainstream radio didn’t play, making global stars from R&B, reggae, dancehall and soca artists. Now we pay homage and unveil a symbol to mark where it all started.”
Smooth FM Radio presenter and former Choice FM DJ Angie Greaves said: “Choice FM completely changed the way that the 15 to 24 demographic listened to radio alongside mature lovers of ’90s R&B, soul, reggae and soca. It created connections between cultures through the music. Those continuous jams will always be a part of my soul and will also be part of the huge platform of my radio career.”
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Angie Greaves PALAssociates
The plaque has been funded by the Choice FM Blue Plaque Group and other members of the Black community who are making donations – up to £5,000 – through a Go Fund Me campaign.
The money will cover the manufacturing, installation of the blue plaque, a reception event and funds for the African Caribbean Leukaemia Trust. Choice FM worked closely with the charity during its broadcasting years to help provide hope for patients living with blood cancer and other illnesses.
The donation page was launched on Sunday to give people the opportunity to support the campaign for the plaque and raise awareness of the history.
DJ Natty B, who presented The Official Reggae Chart Show on Choice FM for 13 years, told HuffPost UK: “It’s good to see that Choice FM is being recognised in this way. It changed the landscape of radio in the UK and it’s important that history reflects this.”
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Co-founder Dr Yvonne Thompson CBE added “Choice FM was at the vanguard of change that exploded Black music and its iconic fashion and cultural derivatives into British mainstream society.
“This well-deserved blue plaque forever immortalises the time and the place where Black music, fashion, and arts became the norm and not the exception. Choice FM and its loyal stakeholders and listeners spawned a generational cultural shift across all communities, enriching our society as a whole for the better.”
Yinka Bokinni and Shayna Marie Birch-Campbell attend the "Blue Story" world premiere at Picturehouse Central on November 14, 2019, in London Joe Maher via Getty Images
Global – a privately-owned firm which has a stable of radio stations including Capital Radio, Heart and Smooth – also came under fire recently for what is claimed to be its lack of diversity, despite Capital Xtra being the UK’s biggest Black music station.
It also emerged at the time that Capital Xtra breakfast show hosts Yinka Bokinni and Shayna Marie Birch-Campbell said they were “embarrassed” by statements on race issued by Global in response to the recent protests.
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The pair penned a joint statement in the internal discussion group, The Guardian reported.


thehuffingtonpostuk--2020-08-11--Labelling Black Women As BAME Is Literally Costing Us Our Lives

FiveXMore The FiveXMore Campaign,
This story is part of Black Ballad’s takeover of HuffPost UK, a week-long series by Black women on parenting, family, and our post-Covid future.
For decades, Black women have been at higher risk of dying during pregnancy and childbirth in the UK compared to white women – and over the years we have seen that number steadily rising. As recently as the 2018 and 2019 MBRRACE reports into maternal deaths and morbidity, we saw that Black women have a five-fold higher risk of dying during pregnancy and childbirth, yet they only account for 4% of women who give birth in the UK.
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This is a huge disparity and one that needs to be addressed immediately.
The #FiveXMore campaign was set up by myself and Clotilde Rebecca Abe, not only to raise awareness of these shocking disparities in maternal outcomes – but also as a way to support and empower Black pregnant women with our five recommended steps so they can access the care they need and deserve.
Those steps are: speaking up, seeking a second opinion, doing your research, finding an advocate, trusting your gut feeling, and supporting our campaign.
Professionally, we are both founders of parenting-focused ventures – I run the parenting meet-up network @mumsandtea, while Clotilde set up @_prosperitys, a non-profit organisation for maternal wellbeing, supporting Black and South Asian women during the perinatal period – that is, before and after childbirth.
Ultimately though, we are two Black mothers who have had to take matters into our own hands after feeling that nothing had been done about the issue for years – and seeing, in fact, that the numbers are getting worse.
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Since launching the campaign in 2019 with the #fivexmore selfie, we have been bringing this matter to the forefront of people’s attention, while continuing to support the women impacted. Some of our work is practical – we recently launched a partnership with the Positive Birth Company to give 100 black women every month free access to their hypnobirthing course.
We have also been lobbying, hard. In March 2020, we launched a petition to the government asking them to improve maternal mortality rates and health care for Black women in the UK, which gained a lot of traction in the wake of the Black Lives Matter movement with 186,000 signatures at time of writing.
The government response to our petition, which came on June 25, committed to funding research into factors associated with the higher risks for Black and south Asian women – which is welcome.
However the rest of the response left us feeling perplexed. They continued on to tell us about the NHS long-term plan – how it’s committed to the implementation of an enhanced and targeted ‘continuity of carer’ model for BAME women, and of their hope that by 2024, 75% of BAME women will receive this model throughout pregnancy, labour and the postnatal period.
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This response is disconcerting for Black woman for two reasons.
The first is their use of the word BAME, which lumps all women who are not white under the same category. Asian women are twice as likely to die during childbirth and mixed race women three times more likely, but Black women are the ones at the highest risk.
Our petition explicitly asked for improvements in health care outcomes for Black women and we can clearly see the government not answering that specific ask, tailoring their response to one that that suits them instead.
Also, this issue is affecting women right now, as I write. By telling us of your plans for 2024, what happens in the meantime to Black women (and all other women) who are at a higher risk of dying?
This issue should not being tackled with a one-size-fits-all approach. Black women can no longer afford to be thrown under this generic term, that’s as damaging as it is unwelcome to people in the Black community.
Specific and immediate action is needed to address this disparity. The #FiveXMore campaign asks members of the public to continue showing their support by writing letters to their local MPs to urge the Department of Health to give a revised response that addresses the concerns of the original petition and to give a solution outside of the one suggested that will be in place for 2024.
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Going forward, Black women should be addressed as Black women, not as BAME, especially when it comes to issues as serious as this. We can no longer afford to be labelled this way – it is damaging and literally costing us our lives.
Tinuke Awe is co-founder of the Five X More Campaign.
This article was commissioned for HuffPost UK by Black Ballad, the lifestyle platform that tells stories of human experience through the eyes of Black British women and elevates their voices. If you would like to read more, become a Black Ballad member to get unlimited access to content, events and discounts, and to connect to its community of like-minded women.


thehuffingtonpostuk--2020-08-11--Homeschooling My Child Taught Me What I Already Knew. We Need Change

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This story is part of Black Ballad’s takeover of HuffPost UK, a week-long series by Black women on parenting, family, and our post-Covid future.
“Mama, I don’t want to do that, it’s boring!”
“But babe, it’s writing a story, it’s fun! You love writing stories!”
“Yes, but not about that!”
This conversation at our kitchen table about school work set during lockdown stuck in my mind. Our six-year old can often be found creating booklets about whatever she’s interested in at the time. Over lockdown she wrote about the complicated love lives of Greek gods, a series about a little girl of dual vampire and fairy heritage, and her own take on the popular Diary of a Wimpy Kid series. These homemade books are carefully written and illustrated and can currently be found all over our house.
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They often run to 30 pages plus. She loves learning but when she was set the task of writing a story for school during lockdown we struggled to get a paragraph out of her just because the topic didn’t set her on fire. I found myself saying to her, “Your books at home are so good. I know you can write more than two sentences. Why don’t you show your teacher what you can really do with your school work?”
As a parent who also spent many years as a teacher, I had a flash forward of poor assessment grades and a life in bottom sets because she hadn’t demonstrated the full breadth of her knowledge in the way expected.
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Yes, I had these thoughts during homeschooling in a pandemic. Yes, I had these thoughts fleetingly about a six-year-old. I should probably have taken a longer term view, but these fears point to how deeply ingrained the need to assess and measure learning is in the English school system. Parental fears are also linked to perceived high stakes for kids who don’t succeed in that system.
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I’ve spent years teaching classes of teenagers maths they thought they didn’t want to learn. I could silence a room with one look and get high quality work out of the surliest 16-year-old. However my own six-year-old was more of a challenge than I thought and I really needed to get this homeschooling thing done with her so I could get on with my own work.
We decided on a compromise. She tried her best for a set amount of time on the story she didn’t really want to write and I’d send it in via email, as we usually did during lockdown. But I’d also take pictures of her own book, which she’d already spent ages working on, and send it in so her teacher could see what she could really do.
The next day we opened the message from her teacher. Mrs J commented on D’s personal booklet as if it were a part of the work that had been set from school. This started a new pattern. Most days we’d do what had been set from school and other times we took advantage of the learning opportunities all around us, took photos and sent it in.
Some days, pictures of running around the park instead of PE. Other times pictures of butterflies and voice-note descriptions of what had been noticed on our daily walks for science. Each time D’s teacher replied and treated this learning as valuable as if it had been set from school.
As well as anecdotal evidence of Black and mixed-Black kids being underestimated at school, studies have shown that teaching bias means that Black kids in the UK are disproportionately entered for lower tier exam papers, which then caps the potential grades they can achieve and has real consequences for courses and jobs they can apply for.
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To combat systematic racism in education and also perceptions of a narrow curriculum, Black and immigrant communities have a tradition of supplementary schooling and other types of learning that hasn’t been recognised in their mainstream educational lives. While homeschooling during lockdown has certainly been a challenge for many parents, it has also been an opportunity for many children to pursue learning in a more flexible way.
What if, post lockdown, the rich sources of learning that happen in all areas of children’s lives were recognised, valued and officially contributed to their mainstream schooling?
This article was commissioned for HuffPost UK by Black Ballad, the lifestyle platform that tells stories of human experience through the eyes of Black British women and elevates their voices. If you would like to read more, become a Black Ballad member to get unlimited access to content, events and discounts, and to connect to its community of like-minded women.


thehuffingtonpostuk--2020-08-11--These Unique Baby Names Have Come Straight From The Catwalk

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You might not want to fork out thousands on designer baby gear when it’s only going to get milk or pureed carrot all over it. Fair enough.
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But there’s nothing stopping you channelling a sense of A-list haute couture with one of these fashionable monikers.
We have a wealth of baby name inspiration on HuffPost UK Parents, but here are 10 high-end names, straight from the catwalk.
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Chanel
This French name, usually used for a girl, originally meant “dweller near the canal”. It’s more likely to conjure up images of classic designer, Coco Chanel.
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Valentino
The Italian form of the Latin Valentinus, means “healthy” or “strong”. The Italian clothing company Valentino was founded in 1960 by Valentino Garavani.
Armani
The name Armani comes from the Italian, meaning “freeman”; or the German, for “warrior”. Giorgio Armani founded the luxury Italian fashion house.
Kenzo
The name Kenzo comes from the Japanese, meaning “wise one”. Kenzō Takada, a Japanese-French fashion designer, founded the brand that bears his name.
Dior
The name Dior, which means “present”, comes from the French. French fashion designer Christian Dior died in 1957.
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Salvatore
Salvatore Ferragamo, who died in 1960, was an Italian shoe designer and the founder of the luxury goods brand. The name Salvatore means “saviour”.
Dolce
This Italian name means “sweet” or “pleasant”. Italian fashion house Dolce & Gabbana was founded in 1985 by Domenico Dolce and Stefano Gabbana.
Cavalli
Cavalli is an Italian surname, meaning “horses”. Roberto Cavalli is an Italian fashion designer and inventor, famous for exotic prints.
Estée
Estée Lauder was an American businesswoman who co-founded her beauty brand with her husband, Joseph Lauter. The name means “star”.
Versace
Versace is a southern Italian surname. The Italian luxury fashion company was founded by Gianni Versace in 1978.


thehuffingtonpostuk--2020-08-11--Online Political Ads To Be Tagged So Voters Know Who Is Behind Them

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Online political adverts in the UK may soon need a “digital imprint” clearly labelling which party or campaign is behind them.
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Government plans to tighten transparency rules for the digital sphere come amid concern over online campaigning which has been growing since the Brexit referendum.
Campaigners say the current system leaves the UK’s electoral system open to “anonymous ‘dark ads’, dodgy donors, and foreign interference” from hostile states such as Russia.
Constitution minister Chloe Smith said the move represents a “big step forward” would mean the same level of transparency to online campaigning as to other regulated activity.
“People want to engage with politics online. That’s where campaigners connect with voters and is why, ahead of elections, almost half of political advertising budgets are now spent on digital content and activity,” she said.
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“But people want to know who is talking. Voters value transparency, so we must ensure that there are clear rules to help them see who is behind campaign content online.
“The measures we have outlined today are a big step forward towards making UK politics even more transparent and would lead to one of the most comprehensive set of regulations operating in the world today.”
Boris Johnson had pledged to tackle the issue as part of the Tories election manifesto amid complaints groups or organisations behind ads were not clearly identified.
Under the proposals, online material will be required to carry a digital imprint in the same way that other materials such as leaflets and posters must show who is promoting them.
It would also cover content produced by registered political parties, registered third parties, political candidates, elected office holders and registered referendum campaigners – both paid-for and organic.
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The rules will apply all the year round and not just during election or referendum campaign periods.
Ministers said they worked closely with social media platforms, the Electoral Commission, and devolved administrations to develop technical proposals to ensure the rules do not interfere with people’s ability to engage in democratic debate online.
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They will only apply to unregistered campaigners if they are promoting paid-for content.
Officials said the measures would also help curb online intimidation of politicians and others in public life as campaigners will be able to be held accountable for the material they produce.
Digital imprints were a specific recommendation by the Committee on Standards in Public Life in its review into intimidation.
The Electoral Reform Society (ERS) said the changes were long overdue and that it was now essential they were backed with effective enforcement measures.
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“For too long, our democracy has been wide open to anonymous ‘dark ads’, dodgy donors, and foreign interference online. This won’t solve all that, but it will help to plug one of the many leaks in HMS Democracy,” said ERS chief executive Darren Hughes.


thehuffingtonpostuk--2020-08-11--A-Level Students In England Can Use Mock Exam Grades, Government To Announce

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GCSE and A-level students in England will be able to use grades in mock exams to progress to university and college courses and employment, the education secretary is set to announce.
Results in mock tests – which were held before schools were forced to close amid the Covid-19 crisis – will carry the same weight as the calculated results to be awarded this month, the government will say.
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The move comes after unions called on the UK government to follow Scotland’s lead in scrapping moderated grades after the downgrading of more than 124,000 results was reversed.
In a U-turn announced on Tuesday, Scotland’s Education Secretary John Swinney revealed that downgraded results would revert to the grades estimated by pupils’ teachers.
It comes after this year’s summer exams were cancelled amid Covid-19. Teachers were told to submit the grades they thought each student would have received if they had sat the papers.
Exam boards have moderated these grades to ensure this year’s results – for students in England, Northern Ireland and Wales – are not significantly higher than previous years.
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But now education secretary Gavin Williamson is due to tell students in England awaiting their A-level results this week that they can keep their grades in mock exams if they are higher than the calculated grade.
Students will still be able to sit exams in the autumn if they are unhappy with the grades they secured in mock exams, or if they are dissatisfied with results awarded by exam boards on Thursday.
All three grades will hold the same value with universities, colleges and employers, the Department for Education (DfE) is expected to say.
Williamson is also due to announce an additional £30 million in funding to help schools and colleges carry out the autumn exam series for students wishing to sit GCSE and A-level exams.
But the appeals process – where individual students in England are dependent on schools and colleges to appeal against results on their behalf – is expected to remain the same.
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Williamson said: “Every young person waiting for their results wants to know they have been treated fairly.
“By ensuring students have the safety net of their mock results, as well as the chance of sitting autumn exams, we are creating a triple lock process to ensure they can have the confidence to take the next step forward in work or education.”
Evidence will need to be presented to satisfy the exam board that the mock exam was genuine.
The announcement comes as Labour warned that Boris Johnson risked “robbing a generation of young people of their future” unless unfairness in the exams system was addressed.
Concerns were raised by Labour that A-level and GCSE results could be downgraded for thousands of pupils in England because of the replacement grading system introduced.
Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer said: “The SNP have been forced into a humiliating U-turn after a shambolic few days.
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“With 24 hours before results are released, I would urge the prime minister to change course, or he risks robbing a generation of their future.”
Geoff Barton, general secretary of the Association of School and College Leaders, accused the Government of a “panicked and chaotic response”.
He said: “The idea of introducing at the eleventh hour a system in which mock exam results trump calculated grades beggars belief. The government doesn’t appear to understand how mock exams work. They aren’t a set of exams which all conform to the same standards. The clue is in the name ‘mock’. And some students will not have taken them by the time that schools were closed in March. So, this immediately creates the potential for massive inconsistency.


thehuffingtonpostuk--2020-08-11--Priti Patel Is Arguing With An Ice-Cream Company Over Migrant Crossings

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Home secretary Priti Patel has engaged in a war of words with an ice-cream manufacturer over the controversy surrounding migrants crossing the English Channel.
More than 4,000 migrants have made the dangerous voyage across the world’s busiest shipping lane this year, with at least 597 arriving between Thursday and Sunday.
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The surge has been seized on by the media, which has sent reporters out to the Channel to monitor the crossings, with some receiving criticism for the tone of their coverage and accusing them of “voyeurism”. It follows Patel deploying the navy and a campaign by ex-Ukip leader Nigel Farage highlighting the “invasion”.
On Tuesday, the official Ben and Jerry’s UK Twitter account posted a series of tweets tagging the home secretary, which began: “Hey @PritiPatel, we think the real crisis is our lack of humanity for people fleeing war, climate change and torture.”
Hey @PritiPatel we think the real crisis is our lack of humanity for people fleeing war, climate change and torture. We pulled together a thread for you.. — Ben & Jerry's UK (@benandjerrysUK) August 11, 2020
The ice cream maker also cited a HuffPost UK report that revealed the UK hasn’t resettled any refugees since March, despite the fact that “wars and violence continue”, it added.
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“What we need is more safe and legal route,” said Ben and Jerry’s.
It continued by insisting that “stronger borders aren’t the answer” and urged ministers to talk to “expert organisations”, including charity Refugee Action.
The thread ends: “Let’s remember we’re all human and have the same rights to life regardless of the country we happen to have been born in.
“And once more for the back: PEOPLE CANNOT BE ILLEGAL.”
In response to the thread, the BBC reported a “source” close to Patel branding the firm’s product as “overpriced junk food”.
OOOF! Home Office source: “Priti is working day&night to bring an end to these small boat crossings, which are facilitated by international criminal gangs&are of serious concern. If that means upsetting the social media team for a brand of overpriced junk food then so be it.” https://t.co/QIrfXOjZ5w — Chris Mason (@ChrisMasonBBC) August 11, 2020
The Home Office source told the BBC: “Priti is working day and night to bring and end to these small boat crossings, which are facilitated by international criminal gangs and are rightly of serious concern to the British people.
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“If that means upsetting the social media team for a brand of overpriced junk food, then so be it.”
Ben and Jerry’s was founded in 1978 by best friends Ben Cohen and Jerry Greenfield in Vermont, US, and was bought by multinational company Unilever in 2000.
Immigration minister Chris Philp on Tuesday promised a “new, comprehensive action plan” to stem the latest surge in migrant Channel crossings after talks with French officials.
Philp and newly-appointed clandestine channel threat commander Dan O’Mahoney travelled to Paris on Tuesday to seek stronger enforcement measures.


thehuffingtonpostuk--2020-08-11--Kamala Harris Chosen As Joe Biden's Vice President In 2020 Election

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Joe Biden has chosen Kamala Harris as his vice presidential running mate, choosing one of the Democratic Party’s most visible stars and a former competitor from the primary.
Harris, 55, was long considered the front-runner for the job. She is already known nationally and was tested on the campaign trail and in the media during her own presidential bid last year.
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She also seemed to be an obvious fit for three key criteria that Biden publicly laid out for his running mate ― accomplished enough to be “ready to be president”, a similar mindset on key issues, and a woman.
The Democrats’ presumptive presidential nominee made clear early on that he was going to pick a woman, and as the racial justice protests picked up over the summer, he was under increased pressure to choose a Black woman.
“I have the great honor to announce that I’ve picked @KamalaHarris — a fearless fighter for the little guy, and one of the country’s finest public servants — as my running mate,” Biden said on Twitter.
I have the great honor to announce that I’ve picked @KamalaHarris — a fearless fighter for the little guy, and one of the country’s finest public servants — as my running mate. — Joe Biden (@JoeBiden) August 11, 2020
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Even before then, Biden and his team recognised the value of having a Black woman on the ticket. Pundits were writing off his presidential bid after his poor showings in the predominantly white states of Iowa and New Hampshire. But then South Carolina, whose Democratic Party is largely powered by Black voters, delivered an overwhelming victory to Biden, turning around his campaign.
If elected, Harris would be the first Black and first female vice president in U.S. history.
Charismatic and youthful compared to the 77-year-old former vice president, Harris will also provide something of a contrast to Biden.
She had attracted national attention and was considered a rising star as attorney general of California, even before her election to the Senate in 2016.
Biden’s pick for his running mate is particularly important due to his age. If elected, he would be the oldest president ever at the time of inauguration. During the primary, Politico reported that Biden had signaled he might seek only one term, although he subsequently said he had no such plan.
Being chosen for the vice presidential slot immediately makes Harris a leader of the Democratic Party and a likely front-runner for the nomination after Biden.
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The two grew close during his time as vice president, due to her working relationship with his son Beau, who died in 2015. Harris and the younger Biden served as state attorneys general at the same time.
Biden had made clear that he wanted a running mate who was “simpatico with me philosophically.”
“Agrees with me. Now if you’re not, that’s OK, I have great respect,” he said in August 2019. “But you’ve got to be able to turn and say to your vice president, ‘This is your responsibility.’ Because the job is too big anymore for any one man or woman.”
Harris dropped her presidential bid in December after her campaign failed to bring in enough money. At the time, Biden said that he deeply respected the senator and that she could “be the president one day herself.”
In early March, Harris endorsed the former vice president’s bid, saying there was “no one better prepared than Joe to steer our nation through these turbulent times and restore truth, honor, and decency to the Oval Office.”
But Harris and Biden also had one of the most memorable arguments during the primary debates.
During the first Democratic debates in June of last year, Harris challenged Biden over his praise of segregationist senators’ “civility” ― which she called “very hurtful” ― and his opposition to busing in the 1970s.
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“There was a little girl in California who was a part of the second class to integrate her public schools and she was bused to school every day,” she told him. “And that little girl was me.”
The moment was biting. Biden performed poorly during the debate, raising questions about his ability to handle the pressures of the campaign and whether many of his old positions were too out-of-step for the current party. It also stung for Biden, who didn’t expect Harris to go after him so aggressively because of her relationship with his late son.


thehuffingtonpostuk--2020-08-11--UK Urged To Scrap Moderated A-Level Grades After Scottish U-Turn

Student leaders have urged the UK government to scrap moderated A-level grades in England after Scotland’s embarrassing U-turn.
The National Union of Students (NUS) has called for UK education secretary Gavin Williamson to take “decisive action” after Nicola Sturgeon announced 124,564 computer-generated results north of the border would be binned and replaced by teacher assessments.
Students will find out whether they have met the requirements for higher education in the rest of the UK on Thursday.
Scotland’s education secretary John Swinney announced on Tuesday that exam results downgraded by a controversial moderation process would revert to the grades that had been assigned by students’ own teachers.
He also confirmed marks that had been moderated upwards would not change.
There had been outrage that students from poorer backgrounds in Scotland were hit hardest by downgrading.
Exam boards in England, Wales and Northern Ireland have moderated the grades submitted by schools and colleges to ensure this year’s results are not significantly higher than previous years.