thehuffingtonpostuk--2020-02-13--This Father And Son Recreated The Orient Express For People With Dementia

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A father-son duo’s ingenious creation is helping people with dementia travel back in time.
The build by Steve Geach and his son Liam, who run a series of care homes in Hampshire, is an ‘Orient Express’ style train carriage, which they designed themselves before a carpenter installed the set in their Oakview care home.
While Steve provided the sketches of what he wanted the carriage to look like, Liam took care of the tech: a pair of TV screens inside the carriage that show rolling footage of the countryside flying past, so it really feels like you’re on an old-fashioned train.
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Liam tells HuffPost UK: “Where we’ve kept so close to the reality of the experience – even the lamps are originals from the Orient Express – the clients have found it absolutely fantastic. We’ve had clients waiting at the doors to be admitted by our activities assistant, as if they’re waiting at the platform.”
Liam Geach Inside the 'Orient Express'.
The pair are keen to use technology to enhance the lives of residents and help them take a trip down memory lane – particularly as, back in the day, most holidays would’ve started by boarding a train.
When Steve first started running care homes, he noticed a lot of residents with dementia often became confused about their whereabouts – they’d feel the urge to leave and sit at a bus stop to try and get home. It was awful to have to tell people with dementia every 10 minutes that they couldn’t travel back to see their mum because she was no longer alive, says Steve.
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To avoid this cycle of heartbreak and upset, he decided to fit a bus stop within the Willow Lodge care home. Residents could go there, sit for a moment and have a sandwich while they waited for a bus. It provided a safe means of escape, if only for a while.
His next project was a basic version of a train carriage at the Shedfield Lodge care home. The “carriage” comprised of two arm chairs with a table and TV screen showing rolling countryside, with curtains either side of the screen.
Liam Geach The train carriage at Shedfield Lodge
But the Orient Express train carriage installation is their biggest venture yet, taking a month to create and costing around £8,000. The carriage can seat eight people, so residents can invite family and friends along (or even host a party) and the care home’s staff provide a silver service afternoon tea to bring the five-star experience to life.
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The synchronised screens show eight different types of scenery, including one through the Rocky Mountains, Liam explains. They also reflect the different seasons and weather conditions – so if it’s actually snowing outside, the visuals in the train carriage will reflect that too. No detail has been overlooked. “We have sound to go with it too,” says Liam. “You can hear the metal on the tracks, all bringing the 1920s carriage to life. They really do believe they are on a train.”
Realistically it can be hard to take clients with dementia on an actual train, says Steve, as their illness can sometimes mean they become rude or aggressive – or frightened. These installations help residents escape the confines of care home life into another world, while keeping them safe and comfortable.
Liam Geach Beach huts at Hunters Lodge care home
Steve and Liam also use VR headsets, which clients can wear to revisit the streets where they use to play in as children. Those who are bed-bound can take a trip to the seaside without having to leave their room. At Hunters Lodge care home, an installation in the garden with sand and beach huts hark back to the days when people would flock to British seaside resorts. “It’s all about being person-centred,” says Steve, “and bringing outside experiences to them.”
Other care homes have previously installed care homes – at Gateway care home in Bradford, residents ride the Gateway Express – and since a video of the Orient Express carriage at Oakview was shared on social media, the Geaches have been contacted by other owners interested in adopting something similar.
“There are many homes that would benefit from this,” adds Steve, who is happy to share his designs and offer consultation for free to others. “I came into this industry in 1996 for the absolute genuine love of elderly people,” he says – but “the tech didn’t exist.” Ultimately, he wants to use technology as a force for good and “enable elderly people to have the best final years possible”.
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thehuffingtonpostuk--2020-02-13--I'm Spending Valentine's Day Without My Husband, Thanks To The Home Office

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Courtesy of the author HuffPost UK
If you’d told me that my husband and I would be spending our next Valentine’s Day thousands of miles apart, I’d have laughed. But if you had told me it would be because of rules put in place by my own government, I’d have been baffled. And angry.
I’m a trainee maths teacher. Maths is my passion – I’ve been a maths geek ever since I was at school, and now my dream is to teach secondary school maths. Too many young people say they hate maths, and I want to turn that around. At the moment, I’m retraining to pursue that dream. But my plans have been totally derailed, all because of who I fell in love with – and worse, my family is still split across two continents.
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Moses and I met at a Bible school in Zambia. I’d been volunteering here in London to raise money for the school. When they invited me out for a visit, I grabbed the opportunity with both hands. That’s when we met.
My friends had always asked me what I thought my future husband would look like. I never had any concrete ideas of how he’d look or how tall he’d be, but I knew what kind of person I’d marry: a loving, kind family man with dreams and a passion for travel. And that’s exactly who I found – he just happened to be in Zambia.
“Our son is now a gorgeous five-month-old. But because of unjust Home Office rules, he’s never been able to meet his dad.”
Moses and I connected instantly, and I knew straight away that he’d be the person I would spend my life with. It’s so strange; we were raised on two different continents, in two different cultures. On paper, everything about us is completely different. But we have the same dreams, and we want the same things for our lives – we’re even both passionate about maths!
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We got married in Zambia in November 2018, with the plan to start a family together back in the UK. As it turned out, I got pregnant while I was still in Zambia. It was a tough pregnancy, and I was really unwell, so I came home to be closer to my mum and to make sure our baby would be delivered safely. That’s where everything started to go wrong.
Fast forward to today, and our son is now a gorgeous five-month-old. But because of unjust Home Office rules, he’s never been able to meet his dad. I’m having to raise our family alone, and my career has been put on hold indefinitely.
Because the person I fell in love with happens to be from outside Europe, our right to a life together depends not on the strength of our bond, but on something as arbitrary as my income. A Home Office policy called the Minimum Income Requirement dictates that I have to be earning £18,600 a year in order to live in the country I was born in, with a partner who was not.
Courtesy of the author HuffPost UK
When I discovered that my husband and I would be split up until I could prove I was earning that amount, I was forced to abandon my studies, shelve plans to teach maths, and go back to work – while our son was just a few months old. I managed to find a job that paid me exactly what I needed, working as a teaching assistant specialising in maths – but even then, the sums didn’t add up. I couldn’t juggle raising my family by myself and working, paying for eye-wateringly expensive childcare just so I could go out to work and try and earn the money so my husband can be here with us. If my husband was here, we’d be able to take turns looking after our family, and both work part-time. As it is, I’ve been forced to become a single parent, abandon my plans for career development and live on Universal Credit while I raise our son alone, for who knows how long.
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We never imagined, not even in our worst nightmares, that we’d end up in this situation. Me and my husband haven’t seen each other since May, and it’s impossible to put into words how that feels. Even when we’re thousands of miles apart, we do loving things for each other every single day. But it’s no substitute for having him here, being able to start our lives as a family together.
Even something as simple as making Valentine’s Day plans – going to Scotland so Moses can see snow for the first time, or just sending the kids for a day at their grandparents’ so we can have some time to ourselves – is out of reach for us. Instead, I’m stressed every moment of the day, trying to bring up our child in the loving environment he deserves while worrying myself sick over how I will ever be able to get his dad here.
“No matter how you try, you just can’t put a price on my husband being there for our baby’s first steps.”
A system that separates families like mine achieves the exact opposite of anything positive. Your right to a family life depends on how much you earn – and if you don’t happen to earn that, you’re made to feel unworthy, almost criminal. Your entire life is judged according to an arbitrary figure plucked out of the air by Home Office bureaucrats who don’t seem to understand how the real world works.
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Because no matter how you try, you just can’t put a price on my husband being there for our baby’s first steps, his first words, his first tooth coming through. It feels uncomfortable for me, someone born here and who’s only ever known this country, to be told by my own government that I don’t deserve that.
I thought marrying someone I love would push our lives forwards. Instead, because of the Minimum Income Requirement, they’re on hold. That, to me, just doesn’t add up.


thehuffingtonpostuk--2020-02-13--Stop Reading Into Your Sex Dreams – And Start Enjoying Them

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You’re reading How To Get Off, our series celebrating bodies, pleasure and fantasy.
Sex dreams can be fun, thrilling and occasionally mortifying – particularly if you wake up and realise you dreamt about someone off limits. But, as BACP-accredited counsellor Deshara Pariag says, “it’s completely normal to dream about sex, because sex is a normal part of life”.
There’s also science behind it. The neural firings in the brain – which happen when we sleep – can fire up our libido, says therapist Pam Custers, prompting various bodily responses: wet dreams, sleep orgasms or, as Sex Education’s Dr Jean Milburn (Otis’ mum) calls them, nocturnal emissions. “Because our brain is firing, we can get aroused in our dreams,” says Custers.
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Studies have shown men and women experience increased blood flow to their genitals during REM sleep. A healthy man has up to five erections per night, with each one lasting 25 to 35 minutes. And a study found women could orgasm in their sleep simply by thinking about touching their clitoris – one woman’s heart rate increased from 50 to 100 beats per minute, respiration from 12 to 22 breaths per minute, and she had a “marked” increase in vaginal blood flow.
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When we’re dreaming, the emotional (limbic) part of the brain goes into overdrive, while the dorsal lateral prefrontal cortex – which controls executive functions like working memory and cognitive flexibility – is under-activated.
As a result, the cognitions we experience during dreams are “highly emotional, visually vivid, but often illogical, disconnected and sometimes bizarre,” Patrick McNamara, a neurologist at Boston University School of Medicine, told Time. Chances are, many of us have had some truly baffling sex dreams.
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So, should we pay attention to them? They’re very rarely a reflection of our awake state, says Custers. In fact, we may dream about someone we don’t want to dream about in that way at all – a study of 3,500 people found 20% of women and 14% of men had sex dreams about a person who was off limits.
Just because you’ve dreamt about having sex with your boss or next door neighbour, it doesn’t mean you suddenly fancy them. “It simply means that part of a snippet of your experience is being integrated into this REM sleep, which is like a soup of hormones and psychological processing,” explains Custers, who is a member of Counselling Directory.
FoxysGraphic via Getty Images
“Because our brain is firing, we can get aroused in our dreams and that’s perfectly normal.” - Therapist Pam Custers
A lot of the time, sex dreams generally mean nothing at all, and many people will wake up, laugh it off, and take it with a pinch of salt. But that’s not to say people never read into them – it varies from person to person.
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Some believe there can be underlying meanings to these dreams – if you know where to look. Dream analyst Lauri Loewenberg believes if you have a sex dream about someone, it’s not necessarily because you desire them, but more that you want to be like them. “Sex in a dream isn’t as much about a physical union you want, as it is about a psychological union you need,” she told Bustle. “When you dream of someone in that way, there is likely [to be] something about them you need to incorporate into your own life or into your own behaviour.”
Counsellor Deshara Pariag acknowledges there may be times you might want to reflect on your sex dreams a little more – when you feel deeply impacted by the dream, perhaps. For example, you might be dreaming about having sex with a stranger if you’re not satisfied with your sex life, or sex with an ex if you have unresolved issues. You may also keep having a recurring sex dream.
If this is the case, it might be useful to unpack what’s going on in your dream. One way to do this, says Pariag, is to write an email to the person you had sex with in your dream, not to send it to them, but to express what’s going on for you in the dream. This can be a good way to get things out of your brain and help you push forward with why you might feel this way.
Dreams about sex might leave some people feeling vulnerable. This can especially be the case for those who’ve experienced abuse – disturbing dreams or flashbacks can be a symptom of post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Ammanda Major, from the charity Relate, says if your dreams become disturbing, it may be helpful to explore why with a therapist or counsellor.
Ultimately, though, your sex dream could mean anything – and it could mean nothing. “For the vast majority of people, sex dreams aren’t anything to worry about,” Major adds, suggesting there’s a tendency for people to “overanalyse” what their dreams mean. “They’re a healthy expression of something – and what that something is might be quite hard to determine.”
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Moral of the story? Enjoy those sex dreams, and stop stressing.
How To Get Off is our answer to Valentine’s Day, celebrating bodies, pleasure and fantasy – whatever your relationship status. We’ll be exploring what really gets us off in 2020, looking at sexual awakenings, toys and erotica, and real-life experience.


thehuffingtonpostuk--2020-02-13--How Does MAC's Velvet Teddy Lipstick Compare To The Body Shop's Sienna Rose?

HuffPost UK HuffPost UK
In Spenny vs Penny we compare the products we love, with those following in their (sometimes pricey) footsteps. Here we compare lipstick from MAC and The Body Shop.
HuffPost UK Louise/HuffPost UK
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HuffPost may receive a share from purchases made via links on this page. Prices and availability subject to change. The perfect nude lipstick is notoriously hard to find. While there’s no shortage of them to shop from, a good one should flatter your skintone and the rest of your makeup.
As a fair Irish-skinned woman who loves a bright red or pink lippy – sometimes purple if I’m feeling bold – it’s rare for me to find a nude lipstick that does me any favours. Most of the time I end up looking like I’ve slathered concealer over my lips, circa 2007.
I’m a full face of makeup girl might I add. We’re talking primer, foundation, concealer, powder, eyebrows pencil, eyeshadow, eyeliner, mascara, bronzer, blusher and highlighter before I’ve even got to lipstick in my beauty routine. Lipstick still plays a big part, a bright red makes me feel instantly more confident (it’s also a fabulous distraction technique from breakouts or dark circles).
In an attempt to secure a nude lippy that can serve me well, without making me look like a corpse warmed up, I put Mac’s legendary nude shade, Velvet Teddy, to the test to see how it fared against a similar shade from cheaper brand, The Body Shop. But which was best? Read on to find out.
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HuffPost UK Louise/HuffPost UK
I own many a Mac lipstick, so I have high hopes for Velvet Teddy coming out on top in this head to head challenge. It’s a warm-toned, creamy, matte formula – and I’ve tried enough matter lippys to know I need to apply some lip balm before testing this.
As I swipe it on the texture is creamy as promised, and pigmented enough that it only needs one coat – this gets a big thumbs up, I’m not interested in sheer lipstick. A nude lipstick allows for a bolder eye look, so I pat on a shimmering gold shade to my lids to compliment it, paired with my go-to feline eyeliner flick. I’m pleasantly surprised by how flattering it is, as my biggest problem with nude shades is often it looks like you’re not wearing anything at all, but it’s not this case here.
I go about my working day as usual, sipping on cups of tea, eating lunch – y’know the drill. Once I’m done eating, I check the damage in a compact mirror and apart from being a little faded, it’s perfectly in tact. My lips aren’t dry and I layer one another coat that sees me to dinner time. I have no complaints, well done Mac, no wonder it’s one of the best-selling shades.
HuffPost UK Louise/HuffPost UK
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Unlike Mac, I’m completely new to The Body Shop’s makeup line. Sure I’ve walked past it in stores, maybe even swatched an eyeshadow, but this is my first time wearing anything from it.
As I roll up the lipstick bullet, the shade looks like an exact match for Velvet Teddy, but as I’m applying it (after lip balm of course) it comes out looking more pink. It’s less pigmented, so I end up going over it to make sure every inch of lip is filled in and I notice the texture is much thinner.
Throughout the day it fades more when I check it in my mirror, but as it’s pinky, it’s more noticeable. It’s pleasant, if not a little drying, but nothing another touch of lip balm can’t fix.
It’s nice, inoffensive, but I’m left feeling undersold. While it matches my dress and suits my skin tone, it’s not the nude shade I was expecting, which is misleading from what it looks like in the tube.


thehuffingtonpostuk--2020-02-13--The Best Ways To Get Rid Of Hiccups, According To Experts

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Of the many benign issues that plague the human body, hiccups are probably one of the strangest. They seem to strike at the most inconvenient times ― before a big presentation at work, for example ― and last anywhere from two minutes to 48 hours (in severe cases).
Hiccups feel funny at best and painful at worst. Chances are you’ve tried to get rid of them through some of age-old remedies: Have someone scare you! Hold your breath! Chug a glass of cold water!
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But do these remedies actually work? And if not, are there methods that do? Let’s take a closer look.
Klaus Vedfelt via Getty Images
Here’s what might trigger hiccups.
Before we dive into remedies, let’s examine the underlying cause of hiccups. Are they really as random as they seem? The answer is probably yes.
“The reason behind hiccups is one of the great unknowns in the health world,” said Michael Richardson, primary care provider and office director at One Medical.
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There are a few hypotheses, though. “Most theories centre on the ‘hiccup reflex arc,’ which includes the phrenic nerve (the nerve that activates your diaphragm), the vagus nerve (the major nerve in your autonomic nervous system), and several other nerves that activate the muscles in your chest and larynx,” Richardson added. “If this reflex arc is irritated, either by trauma or inflammation, it can trigger a hiccup.”
The problem here is that hiccup triggers are different for different people, which is why they seem so random. Maybe your friend’s reflex arc is irritated by spicy food and carbonated water, but yours is irritated by stress at work. If you’re looking to get the bottom of why your hiccups happen, your best bet is to pay attention to any patterns around what triggers your hiccups.
10'000 Hours via Getty Images “The reason behind hiccups is one of the great unknowns in the health world,” says one primary care provider.
I have a bad case of the hiccups. Now what?
When you’re in the thick of the hiccups, you probably don’t care much about where they come from ― you just want them to stop. The good news is that most cases of the hiccups will go away on their own in a reasonable period of time without any intervention from you.
But if you happen to have a case of the hiccups that’s lasting hours (it happens!) or just want them to get rid of them as soon as possible, there is some evidence to back up the common home hiccup remedies.
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“There are not many high-quality studies looking at how to cure hiccups ... but the ones out there support some of the home remedies we frequently hear about, such as holding your breath or being scared,” Richardson said. “The mechanism isn’t well understood, but they’re all probably an attempt to reset the hiccup reflex arc or alter our breathing pattern.”
Other natural hiccup remedies? Acupuncture, and maybe even sex.
“An interesting non-medication based strategy that has been shown to work is acupuncture, so that may be a go to option if the hiccups are plaguing you longer than expected,” Richardson said. “One case study reported that sex was the cure for one man’s intractable hiccups, but I wouldn’t hold my breath on this working for others.”
“There are not many high-quality studies looking at how to cure hiccups ... but the ones out there support some of the home remedies we frequently hear about.” - Michael Richardson, primary care provider and office director at One Medical
If you have the hiccups for more than 48 hours, this is considered “persistent hiccups,” and it’s probably worth checking in with your doctor about them —there are medications a doctor can prescribe you to help.
According to Beverly Hills-based primary care physician Ehsan Ali, some of the more harmful causes of the hiccups could include acid reflux, stomach distension, stomach irritation, stomach ulcers, electrolyte abnormality. They could also be a side effect of medication. And in rare cases, they’re a symptom of a more severe underlying illness.
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If you have persistent cases of painful hiccups, that’s also an issue worth bringing to your doctor.
“Common hiccups typically should not be painful,” Ali said. “If this is happening to you, there may be something more serious going on and you should seek medical attention for a proper medical evaluation.”
For the most part, hiccups are a harmless, albeit annoying part of life. More research is needed to truly understand the underlying causes of hiccups and how to treat them. For now, it’s probably worth sticking with those tried-and-true home remedies when you want to get rid of them.


thehuffingtonpostuk--2020-02-13--Is Tofu Really Worse Than Meat For The Environment?

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It’s packed with protein, iron and calcium and is conveniently versatile when cooked, but it turns out tofu is also controversial.
A longtime staple of vegetarian diets – and of course, Thai and Chinese cooking – tofu is now sparking debate as the world wakes up to the environmental impact of their food.
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Speaking at the National Farmers Union conference in London, Dr Graham McAuliffe from the Rothamsted Institute referenced yet to be published research that suggests tofu may have a bigger impact on climate change than some meats.
He acknowledged this early-stage research should be “interpreted with caution”, The Times reports, but suggested the human body finds it harder to absorb proteins from plants, which means people consume them in higher quantities.
“If you look at tofu, which is processed so there is more energy going into its production, [...] you can see it could actually have a higher global warming potential than any of the monogastric animals. To get the same amount of protein, tofu is worse,” he said.
Cue headlines declaring “tofu is worse than meat for the environment” – and a lot of happy farmers. But some environmental groups say this interpretation oversimplifies the issue, with the Sustainable Restaurant Association calling it: “clickbait [that] only really serves writers and people with a product to sell”.
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Amarita via Getty Images
So what’s better, tofu or meat? As with many sustainability conundrums, there isn’t one clear answer. The question often comes down to your personal priorities: animal rights, deforestation, carbon emissions or a combination of all three.
“It’s important to recognise that the vast majority of foods, plant-based or not, are going to have an impact on the environment. That is an inescapable fact,” Matt Turner, a spokesperson from The Vegan Society, tells HuffPost UK.
To help you land upon the right choice for you, here’s what we know about the environmental impact of both meat and tofu:
The issue with meat...
Ever-growing lists of reports have suggested eating less meat is key to reducing our environmental impact on the planet, with the United Nations, the University of Oxford and the Government’s own Committee on Climate Change coming to this conclusion.
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“More than 25% of global emissions come from food, and over half of this comes from animal products,” Andrew Stephen, CEO of the Sustainable Restaurant Association, tells HuffPost UK. “Livestock production accounts for a king-size 16.5% of total global emissions.”
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Rearing livestock uses up resources – from water and land, to fuel used in the transportation process. Cows and sheep also burp methane, which is a potent greenhouse gas, contributing to climate change.
But a major contributor to the environmental cost of meat is the food the animals themselves consume, which regularly includes soybean animal feed. The global demand for soya, or soy, as it’s more commonly called in the US, has led to “vast amounts of deforestation and habitat conversion in some of the world’s most precious places”, according to WWF.
But tofu uses soya, too...
Tofu is made by curdling soya milk taken from soybeans, which is why some critics argue that it’s not a sustainable alternative to meat. However, it’s estimated that 75% of all global soya produced is used to feed livestock.
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“Many involved in the meat industry would like to blame tofu for soya demand and deforestation, but the reality is that the vast majority of soya production is still used to feed farmed animals,” says Turner.
It’s for this reason he questions McAuliffe’s research. “Eating meat, dairy and eggs is an inefficient way of getting calories. Bear in mind that for every 100 calories fed to animals, we receive back only 12 calories by consuming their flesh and milk,” he says.
“Reports from groups such as the Environmental Working Group have illustrated that the greenhouse gas emissions created by 1kg of tofu are far less than that of meats.”
So what’s there to debate?
The main reason for confusion around tofu’s eco-credentials compared to meat is because production methods and supply chains for both vary a lot, says Stephen.
“Not all meat is equally damaging, and some plant-based foods can have big water and land-use footprints,” he explains.
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“According to the Carbon Trust, tofu made with soya from the deforested land in the Brazilian rainforest will have a carbon footprint twice that of chicken (so long as that chicken is not fed on that same deforestation soya). Uncertified South American soy can come with a heavy environmental cost.”
For now, most soya in the world is consumed by livestock. But if we all start replacing meat with tofu, it doesn’t solve the problem of soya consumption, only shifts the source.
What’s the solution, then?
If you’re vegan or vegetarian for animal rights reasons, tofu is still likely to be the right choice for you in a toss up between meat and tofu.
If you have a taste for tofu, but are now worried about its impact on deforestation, you can seek out ethically-produced tofu products to limit the damage.
“Deforestation is a major concern when purchasing any soya product, but most of the leading tofu brands in the UK avoid using soya from areas of risk,” says Stephen. “Look for organic certifications to be assured that the tofu you buy in the supermarkets isn’t doing more harm than good.”
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To truly earn your halo, it could be time to reduce your consumption of both meat and tofu – or ditch them altogether.
“While there are better plant-based options for the environment than tofu, eating a vegan diet is still the best thing you can do to reduce your environmental footprint,” says Turner.


thehuffingtonpostuk--2020-02-13--I Quit My Job And Now My Partner Pays Our Bills. Here's How It's Affected Us.

HuffPost UK Courtesy of the author
“I think you should quit your job,” my partner Kestryl said late one night. I had just gotten home from another rough night at work – a client overdosed, staff called out sick, we didn’t have enough funding. I was sitting across the kitchen table from Kestryl, and I was crying.
This wasn’t the first time we had this conversation; it came up often. For years, I would come home emotionally and sometimes physically beaten down from my job as a director of a large nonprofit in New York City, where I supervised all aspects of the operation of a homeless youth drop-in program. I hated my job, but I couldn’t bring myself to actually quit. I had spent a decade building my nonprofit career and had reached the point where I was regularly called on to participate in meetings with city officials.
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I was seen as a national expert in the field, but I was also miserable and burned out. I had become disillusioned, not just with my job but with the entire nonprofit industrial complex, yet I didn’t feel like I could leave. It wasn’t that I thought my partner’s ongoing offer to cover our finances was disingenuous. Instead, my refusal to quit was tied up in my feminism.
One of the first feminist lessons I learned growing up was to be self-sufficient: to get an education and a career to make money, and never rely on anyone – especially a romantic partner – to pay my bills. Even though I trusted my partner completely, and we had been living together sharing all finances for well over a decade at that time, I was still afraid, not afraid that they would leave me, but afraid that if I quit my job, if I chose to become financially dependent on someone that I was weak and somehow betraying my own politics.
“One of the first feminist lessons I learned growing up was to be self-sufficient: to get an education and a career to make money, and never rely on anyone – especially a romantic partner – to pay my bills.”
But the violence and stress of my job was taking a real toll on not just my emotional health, but my physical health as well. On multiple occasions I found myself hooked up to EKG machines in my doctor’s office, everyone concerned I was having a heart attack. So two years ago this month, I quit my high earning job in New York to pursue writing full time while spending about $40,000 to get an MFA in Creative Writing – probably the least lucrative field imaginable. My partner took over covering all of our bills: mortgage, car, health insurance, vet care for our large family of dogs and cats, food, and everything else we need or want.
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I know that a lot of couples fight about money, and they fight about money a lot. I see it every day on the internet, in memes and jokes that people tell about not telling their husband or wife about a purchase. In fact, I grew up knowing that money was something to fight about. My mother and stepfather fought often about reckless spending, saving money and financial priorities. I had grown up with the idea that I should never trust a spouse, and that I needed to always support myself. It’s funny how much I clung onto that idea since I have systematically worked hard to not hold onto any of the lessons I grew up with.
Kestryl, who uses the pronouns hir and ze, openly communicates with me about every aspect of our relationship, and that was key for me when quitting my job. We have always talked about our finances honestly. There are no secrets, no sneaking around. Big purchases are always decided on together, and discretionary random purchasing happens with open communication. We implemented this nearly 16 years ago when we first started living together. We were young, punk and broke. I was 20 and Kestryl was 19, and we had no meaningful assets and very limited income. Quite frankly, it’s easy to blend finances when you literally have nothing and build trust in one another over time.
“The key for me with quitting my job was the intense open communication that my partner and I have in every aspect of our relationship.”
But what does this practically look like? For the last 15 years, Kestryl and I have had joint checking and savings accounts, as well as a joint credit card where we consolidate purchases for the household. We have similar values, reflected in our monthly budget lines for everything from groceries and car maintenance to new clothing for each of us, and our dogs’ subscription toy box. Separate from that, we each get ‘spending money’ that we can use for anything we want. For me this usually looks like bubble tea; and because I’m a toy collector, small plastic toys, whereas Kestryl usually saves hir weekly money up for bigger ticket items.
Each week on Sunday afternoons we bring our receipts for household purchases together – dog food, vet bills, going out to dinner, groceries etc. For birthdays and holidays, we sit down and discuss the budget for how much we will each spend. Because this is something that we have done since early on in our relationship, it was seamless to transition to doing so on a single income.
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Early on in our professional careers my salary was larger than Kestryl’s whereas now I don’t have a steady salary. For us, worth in the relationship or being able to purchase things we want doesn’t have a correlation with how much money we bring in. Full disclosure: I know that me quitting my job would not have been possible if Kestryl didn’t have a very successful and well-compensated job that ze loved. We have a lot of financial privilege that living on one stable income was not just possible but financially comfortable for us to take that leap.
“We have a lot of financial privilege that living on one stable income was not just possible but financially comfortable for us to take that leap.”
Once we decided I was quitting, I applied to graduate school and got accepted. We planned everything months in advance, down to the day that I would give notice. During this time, Kestryl and I had regular and open conversations including concrete plans and budget reviews, crunching numbers and figuring out the financial details for our family so that I could commit myself fully to freelance writing and going to graduate school. Any money I brought in would be added to savings or be extra spending money to put towards vacations but not needed to cover our bills.
I also am not in any way suggesting that everyone should rely on their partner financially. I grew up in a family where my mother stayed with a physically abusive partner in large part for financial reasons. I think that self-sufficiency can feel empowering, and it did for me for many years as I was building my career, but what felt even more empowering was following my dreams. For objectively looking at a situation, knowing and fully accepting that my personal worth is not in any way tied to if I am making money.
At the same time, my worth in my relationship was not tied to how big my salary was. My partner and I have been together for almost 16 years. We have moved cross country together twice, own a home together and parent a large family of dogs and cats. Our relationship is long term and stable. Knowing this was foundational in taking this plunge, in trusting that quitting my job was the right thing to do. I trusted that this was what was best not only for me, but also for our family and that Kestryl would not resent me for not bringing in the kind of money that I once did.
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“think that self-sufficiency can feel empowering, and it did for me for many years as I was building my career, but what felt even more empowering was following my dreams.”
When I quit my job, I had multiple books in print from small publishers, and I had a growing freelance income, but was not making anywhere near what I had made at my day job. All the writing I did happened on my subway commutes to and from work, and when I could sneak away for a lunch break. Over the last two years, I have focused on the writing hustle. I have spent my days writing and pitching and never been happier. My first year full-time freelancing, my writing income was above the federal poverty line.
This past year, I doubled my income compared to my first year freelancing full time. My writing business still isn’t paying our mortgage, but it isn’t unsubstantial and has been helpful for continuing to build out our savings for the future and fun things like vacations. Although we lost my consistent salary, we gained something far more important – my happiness – which translated into a lot less stress in our home life and for our entire family. Never once in the last two years have Kestryl and I regretted our decision for me to quit my job. Similarly, much to my relief, we have not yet had a single fight about money or finances. Instead, we have continued to openly communicate about our finances, the day to day and the big picture of our goals and plans for the future.
“Although we lost my consistent salary, we gained something far more important -- my happiness -- which translated into a lot less stress in our home life and for our entire family.”
This week marks two years since I left my job and next week, I will be graduating from my MFA programme. My writing business is doing better than ever. Through this journey of leaving my job, I learned that for me, I could also make the empowered choice to take financial risks to prioritise joy and to trust that my partner would pick up the monetary responsibility for our family. Now, I have time and energy to engage with my partner and our family instead of coming home physically and emotionally worn out.
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The biggest thing I’ve learned in this process is that making less money if I’m happier and emotionally healthier is the best financial decision we ever made, and ultimately brought my partner and I even closer together. Quitting my job and prioritising a working life in the arts has completely shifted my relationship to money. I had stayed in a toxic job mostly for the ‘good’ paycheck, and now having freed myself of that situation, I know that money doesn’t make a bad job worth it.
Whether personal or professional money, abuse and fear of the unknown can go hand in hand. For me the abuse came from my job where I stayed only for the money. But now that I am no longer living in fear of what it would mean to not earn a lot of money; I understand that love and trust can be transformative. I wake up every day thrilled and energised to do work that I am passionate about.
This article first appeared on HuffPost US Personal


thehuffingtonpostuk--2020-02-13--How Boris Johnson Ruined His Own Reshuffle As Sajid Javid Refused No.10's Treasury Takeover

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Saj Of Honour
Dominic Cummings wasn’t even in the room when Boris Johnson told a shocked Sajid Javid of his incendiary plan to put the Chancellor’s advisors under the control of Downing Street. But he didn’t need to be. Javid assumed the plan was Cummings’ brainchild and his presence loomed over the tense meeting like a thundercloud crackling with static.
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The gathering in the PM’s study had actually started off not as a confrontation, but a congratulation. Johnson ladled on the praise, saying how Javid had done a great job in the general election campaign and he was the perfect person to be Chancellor. He stressed he felt he had not done enough to include Javid in No.10 morning meetings and wanted him more closely involved. He then dropped the bombshell.
Almost as a throwaway remark at the end of their chat, Johnson said that he wanted to create a brand new joint No.10-Treasury team of advisers to improve joined up government. And that as part of the process, all five of his current team would have to go. Javid was so stunned he asked the PM to repeat what he was saying.
On being told again the plan, Javid said there was no way he could accept such a condition and would have to resign. He pointed out his team had worked hard for the Tory party and the government and had done a great job. The PM did not disagree, but still insisted on a new unit. Javid was told he and the PM would jointly appoint the new team.
Javid was given time to think about the plan and went to a nearby room where senior Johnson aide Eddie Lister and chief whip Mark Spencer tried to persuade him once more of the merits of closer coordination. Helen McNamara, director general of Propriety and Ethics, was also present.
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Javid refused to budge. With the entire reshuffle now on hold until the issue was resolved, he was eventually called into a one-on-one meeting with the PM.
During the 10 minute chat, Johnson pleaded with him several times not to quit, even at one stage offering to compromise on his ‘united team’ plan. When Javid was told he could not retain his full team, he decided the conversation was over. Johnson said he would have a place on the frontbench in future. Javid headed to his flat in No.11, for the last time.
The Treasury had known something was brewing, but had no idea at the start of the day the full extent of Cummings’ masterplan. In what they felt was a classic ‘black-op’, Javid’s aides were blamed for weekend briefings - about a new “Mansion Tax” and about Johnson’s partner Carrie Symonds backing the Chancellor - with which they said they had no involvement at all.
Thanks to one overzealous Treasury insider having briefed that Javid was ready to sign off the HS2 project, a project Cummings had fought against, they knew there would be an attempt to clip their wings. Yet none of them foresaw the scale of the retribution, with not just mass sackings but also Cummings seen as being in charge of the new advisory team.
The curious fact was that Javid had indeed impressed Johnson during the election. It was the Treasury’s costings, its Budget preparation work and strategy on new fiscal rules that did the heavy lifting of the manifesto. Each blunted Jeremy Corbyn’s calls for more spending by offering up Conservative spending pledges in a more credible, responsible way.
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Just before Christmas, Javid sent the PM a 27-page paper on how his Budget would fulfil his ‘levelling up’ election pledges. Yet what still lurked in the background was that the Javid fiscal rules had indeed been opposed by Cummings, who wanted No.10 more freedom to turn the spending taps on wherever and whenever it liked.
Allies of Javid point out that his decision to stand up to the PM finally disproved the claims that he was a ‘Chancellor in Name Only’ (Chino) or a ‘weak’ junior partner. They say the move to undermine his authority proves that it was his firm stance on fiscal credibility that was the real target. Recent reports that Cummings himself was writing most of the coming Budget were met with incredulity in parts of Whitehall.
Some in the party say that the whole events of the day were a huge own goal for the PM, ruining his reshuffle narrative. “And there’s no escaping the fact that he looks like he’s not calling the shots, that Cummings is. That’s such an emasculating thing in the long run,” one insider said. By contrast, Javid has emerged as a man of honour, defending both his staff and the wider credibility of the Treasury. “Cummings has turned this into a needless psychodrama because as great as he is strategically he’s terrible tactically,” a party source said. “After the election the war was meant to be over, but he is addicted to rancour.”
Those close to the PM counter that in fact Johnson himself had decided last summer that he wanted close Cameron-Osborne-style relationship with his Chancellor but various Treasury special advisers had prevented it. “It’s the PM’s idea. The Treasury briefings have not been malicious but they have been naive and the PM felt strongly it should stop. He was furious at the HS2 briefing.”
There was another incident that rankled with Downing Street just before the election, when one Treasury aide was heard to joke that they had briefed against Cabinet Secretary Sir Mark Sedwill after he had opposed the use of Treasury figures to attack Labour. That, plus other smaller scale spin attempts, had made minds up in No.10 that the situation was unsustainable and that when the reshuffle came there would be conditions attached on reappointment. “It was done more in sorrow than anger,” one insider said.
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Yet the fact is that just weeks before a Budget, the date of which No.10 could not confirm today, a brand new No.10-Treasury adviser unit is having to be built from scratch. Liam Booth-Smith, a former Policy Exchange think tank member who was the ‘Budget guy’ in Downing Street, is being sent to head up the new team. Others are being drafted in from across Whitehall, including the Department of Trade, and even the PM’s press secretary Rob Oxley is expected to help fill the gap until Rishi Sunak and the PM agree a more long-term team after Budget Day.
There’s a wider reshuffle of special advisers too, with “more square pegs in square holes”, as one No.10 aide put it. Long serving spads have been moved to different departments or have left government altogether. But critics see the changes as yet more proof of Cummings’ iron grip tightening across Whitehall. “All the junior spads are already terrified of him. There’s even more fear tonight,” one said.
The real problem for Johnson is twofold: the belief that he simply didn’t think through what would happen if Javid refused his conditions; and the perception that he is being led by the nose by Cummings. No one can credibly say that the PM actually planned for his reshuffle to be so spectacularly overshadowed by a major resignation.
Javid’s own parting shot makes life very difficult for his successor, saying “no self respecting minister” could accept he can’t hire his own advisers. He also used his resignation letter to warn Johnson to “ensure the Treasury as an institution retains as much credibility as possible”. The real test will come in the Budget. Will the fiscal rules be relaxed again? If so, several Tory MPs may worry the party is trashing its own key identity with voters.
As for Cummings, there seems no stopping his Whitehall revolution. But some ministers may now fear that the PM’s special adviser is no longer the lightning rod with a valuable role to take the heat for his boss. He may instead be the lightning itself, at risk of burning the PM’s own authority.
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Quote Of The Day
“I was unable to accept the conditions that he had attached, so I felt that I was left with no option other than to resign.”
– Sajid Javid explains his decision to quit
Cheat Sheet
Boris Johnson sacked five cabinet ministers, including Northern Ireland secretary Julian Smith and business secretary Andrea Leadsom. He promoted Rishi Sunak to Chancellor, Anne-Marie Trevelyan to DfiD and Alok Sharma to business secretary and chairman of the COP26 climate conference.
The Lib Dems said Suella Braverman was “unfit” to be appointed Attorney General after her recent remarks attacking “the explosion of judicial review and judicial activism”.
Labour is demanding an inquiry into Boris Johnson’s Christmas holiday after tycoon David Ross said he had donated a luxury apartment as a ‘benefit in kind’.
New statistics showed that 100,578 people waited on ‘trolleys’ for more than 4 hours in A&E in England, the first time this number has been over 100,000.
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The number of women and girls murdered in England and Wales has increased to its highest level for 14 years. There were 241 female victims of murder, manslaughter & infanticide in 12 months to end of March 2019, up 10% on the previous year and the highest total since 2005-06.
The Antarctic has registered a temperature of more than 20C (68F) for the first time on record, Brazilian scientists found.
What I’m Reading
Keir Starmer Isn’t Who You Think He Is - BuzzFeed UK
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thehuffingtonpostuk--2020-02-13--5 Key Takeaways From Boris Johnson's Dramatic Cabinet Reshuffle

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It was supposed to be a minor revamp of Boris Johnson’s top team, but the first cabinet reshuffle since the prime minister’s big general election win was actually a significant upheaval.
On Thursday, the PM and his advisers vanquished critics and rewarded loyalists, as is tradition in politics. But they also made an audacious bid to redraw how the top of government works in a barely disguised power move. Here are five of the main takeaways.
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Chancellor Javid quits
Sajid Javid unexpectedly resigned as chancellor, to be replaced by rising star Rishi Sunak, who had been serving as his number two at the Treasury. The 38-year-old will have to deliver his first budget in less than a month.
The resignation was a bombshell. Javid, the first British Asian to hold one of the great offices of state, was the first name announced when Johnson unveiled his new cabinet after winning the Tory leadership race in July. The appointment was seen as a reward for a strong performance in the early stages of the contest to succeed Theresa May before he was eliminated.
For Sunak, the appointment marks a meteoric rise. A former banker, the MP for Richmond in Yorkshire entered parliament less than five years ago. He breaks boundaries too as he becomes the first Hindu to take charge at the Treasury.
The Cummings power grab
But there’s was a bigger story at play that belied the initial headline.
Downing Street later announced a new joint team of special advisers was being established in No. 10 and the Treasury to advise the prime minister and the chancellor, breaking down ling-established structures.
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The prime minister also ordered Javid to fire his closest aides and replace them with advisers chosen by Number 10 if he wanted to remain in post. Javid later said that “any self-respecting minister” would reject the condition.
He told reporters: “I was unable to accept those conditions and I do not believe any self-respecting minister would accept those conditions.”
The resignation came against a backdrop of tensions between the ex-chancellor and the PM’s chief adviser, Dominic Cummings.
Dominic Cummings and Press Association
In August, Cummings fired Javid’s aide, Sonia Khan. Cummings accused her of remaining in contact with her former boss, ex-chancellor Philip Hammond.
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Last year HuffPost UK revealed Cummings fired another one of Javid’s advisers, Salma Shah. On Thursday, she told HuffPost UK’s Commons People podcast that Javid was right to quit as chancellor as Downing Street tried to “neuter” him.
Cummings was said to be keen to cast off spending constraints with extra cash for the police and the NHS, while Javid was determined to keep control of the public finances.
Their rift played out in press briefings, with allies of Cummings coining the nickname “Chino” – “chancellor in name only” – for the occupant of the Treasury.
Big names binned
Javid was not the only big name to get the boot. In total, the prime minister sacked six ministers who attend cabinet, including those seen to have done their jobs effectively or aided Johnson’s rise to power.
Julian Smith was fired as Northern Ireland secretary, despite having recently helped secure a power-sharing deal at Stormont.
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Geoffrey Cox, the attorney general, has been removed from his post and said it had been a privilege to serve during “recent turbulent political times”.
Esther McVey has been fired as housing minister and Andrea Leadsom has been ditched as business secretary. Both were fiercely pro-Brexit.
In a post on Facebook, Theresa Villiers said the prime minister told her she had to “make way for someone new” as she lost her job as environment secretary.
Here are the ministers confirmed so far in Boris Johnson’s Cabinet reshuffle: – Prime Minister: Boris Johnson – Chancellor: Rishi Sunak – Foreign secretary: Dominic Raab – Home secretary: Priti Patel – Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster: Michael Gove – Justice secretary: Robert Buckland – Defence secretary: Ben Wallace – Health and social care secretary: Matt Hancock – Business secretary: Alok Sharma – International trade secretary: Liz Truss – Work and pensions secretary: Therese Coffey – Education secretary: Gavin Williamson – Environment, food and rural affairs secretary: George Eustice – Housing, communities and local government secretary: Robert Jenrick – Transport secretary: Grant Shapps – Culture secretary: Oliver Dowden – International development secretary: Anne-Marie Trevelyan – Leader of the House of Lords: Baroness Evans of Bowes Park – Northern Ireland secretary: Brandon Lewis – Scottish secretary: Alister Jack – Welsh secretary: Simon Hart – Conservative party chairman: Amanda Milling – Attorney general (attending cabinet): Suella Braverman – Leader of the House of Commons (attending cabinet): Jacob Rees-Mogg – Chief secretary to the Treasury (attending cabinet): Stephen Barclay – Chief whip (attending cabinet): Mark Spencer
‘Assault on the rule of law’
Some of the new faces to take on new briefs also fit Johnson’s determination to shake things up.
Suella Braverman, a barrister, has joined the cabinet as attorney general and becomes the government’s most senior lawyer amid Johnson’s growing battle with the judiciary.
The 39-year-old’s appointment could raise eyebrows after she said recently that the courts should stay out of politics.
In a comment piece on the Conservative Home website last month, Braverman said parliament must “retrace power ceded to the courts”.
Newly appointed Attorney General Suella Braverman leaving Downing Street PA
She said: “Prorogation and the triggering of Article 50 were merely the latest examples of a chronic and steady encroachment by the judges.
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“For in reality, repatriated powers from the EU will mean precious little if our courts continue to act as political decision-maker, pronouncing on what the law ought to be and supplanting parliament.
“Traditionally, parliament made the law and judges applied it. But today, our courts exercise a form of political power.”
She also said that while the Human Rights Act was “noble in its intentions”, “the concept of ‘fundamental’ human rights has been stretched beyond recognition”.
Liberal Democrat justice spokeswoman Daisy Cooper described the appointment as an “assault on the rule of law” and accused Braverman of being “intent on weakening our courts”.
The survivors
Despite reports he was set to be fired, Ben Wallace kept his job as defence secretary - and laughed as he left Downing Street following a meeting where it was confirmed he will stay at the Ministry of Defence.
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Jacob Rees-Mogg has been hidden away from the public since he suggested Grenfell tower victims lacked common sense during the general election, but he retained his Commons leader post.
Elsewhere, Priti Patel remains as home secretary and Dominic Raab stays as foreign secretary.
Matt Hancock is still health secretary and Liz Truss remains as international trade secretary.
Therese Coffey is staying in post as work and pensions secretary.
Ministers who lost their seat around the cabinet table include: – Sajid Javid resigned as chancellor – Julian Smith was sacked as Northern Ireland secretary – Andrea Leadsom was sacked as business secretary – Theresa Villiers lost her job as environment secretary – Geoffrey Cox was sacked as attorney general – Esther McVey lost her job as housing minister attending Cabinet
Diversity
The number of women attending Cabinet has fallen after the reshuffle. Out of 26 ministers attending the meeting of the PM’s top team, just seven are women – down from eight – and there are fewer women in the most senior roles. This equates to women filling 27% of Cabinet positions.
Leadsom, Villiers and McVey were all sacked, while former culture secretary Baroness Morgan left her role. Patel, Truss, Coffey and Baroness Evans kept their jobs – and Anne-Marie Trevelyan, Amanda Milling and Braverman were promoted. Trevelyan has been appointed international development secretary and Milling will now be Conservative Party chairman and minister without portfolio. But the posts of business secretary, environment secretary and culture secretary were all given to men.
The Sutton Trust charity also raised questions over the education background of the new cabinet and how it fails to mirror the Conservative electoral advances in the north of England and penetrating Labour’s ‘red wall’.
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It found that 62% of the new-look cabinet attended independent schools, a very small decrease from Johnson’s previous cabinet (64%). There was also a slight increase in the proportion educated at comprehensives, from 27% in 2019 to 31% now.
Sir Peter Lampl, founder and chairman of the Sutton Trust, said: “The falling of the ‘red wall’ means Conservative MPs now represent a much more diverse range of constituencies than before, with constituents from many different socio-economic backgrounds.


thehuffingtonpostuk--2020-02-13--5 Bad News Stories Buried By Boris Johnson's Cabinet Reshuffle

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All eyes have been on Boris Johnson as the PM reshaped his top team after winning an 80-seat Tory majority.
But amid all the furore about chancellor Sajid Javid’s dramatic exit, much else has been happening outside of the Westminster bubble.
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Here are five important stories you may have missed.
A&E trolley waits are the worst on record
More than 100,000 A&E patients waited for hours to be treated in hospitals during January – the highest number since records began.
There were 100,578 patients delayed more than four hours, of whom 2,846 waited more than 12 hours from decision to admit to admission, according to performance statistics released by NHS England.
For both delays, this is the highest number of so-called trolley waits since records began.
The British Medical Association (BMA) said the figures show the strain on the NHS is “relentless, deepening and showing no sign of recovery”.
Murder of women at highest level in a decade
The number of women and girls killed in England and Wales soared by nearly 10% in a year to the highest in more than a decade.
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Some 241 females were victims of murder, manslaughter or infanticide in the 12 months to March 2019, according to the Office for National Statistics (ONS).
The rise from 220 the previous year is the second annual increase and the highest number since the year ending March 2006, when there were also 241.
Almost half (48%) of the adult women were killed in a domestic homicide – an increase of 12 to 99 (14%) from the year to March 2018.
Jess Phillips, the Labour MP for Birmingham Yardley, described the figures as “horrendous”, but said they were “no surprise whatsoever” and an “inevitability” in light of cuts to public services over the years.
A minister refused to commit to a human rights accord
Solicitor general Michael Ellis refused to confirm that the UK would be remaining in the European Convention on Human Rights.
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The 1998 Human Rights Act enshrines the Convention, which was initially spearheaded by Winston Churchill and came into force in Britain in 1953.
Labour’s Geraint Davies asked Ellis about the move in the Commons.
“Can he give a solemn undertaking today that we will not be withdrawing from the European Convention on Human Rights?,” he asked, adding: “Nor will we withdraw from the Council of Europe?”
In his response, Ellis said the UK will remain committed to human rights despite Brexit, but refused to be drawn on the specifics of the European Convention.
Davies could then be heard saying: “Churchill will be turning in his grave.”
Social mobility is stalling
The proportion of disadvantaged young people going to university has failed to increase.
New figures show that, of young people starting university in 2018/19, just over one in 10 were from areas of the UK where few youngsters go into higher education – the same proportion as the year before.
The latest statistics show that, in 2018/19, of all UK university entrants, aged under 21, starting their first, full-time undergraduate degree, 11.4% were from “low participation neighbourhoods” – the places with the fewest youngsters going into higher education.
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This is the same proportion as in 2017/18, and up 0.2 percentage points from 11.2% in 2016/17.
Coronavirus has closed a GP surgery in London
A GP surgery in Islington, north London, has temporarily closed due to the coronavirus – the third to do so today.
A warning on the Ritchie Street Health Centre said the premises would be closed until Friday and asked patients with symptoms to call 111 and not come to the practice.
It follows two similar closures in Brighton and one in Taunton, Somerset.
Meanwhile, the quarantine of 83 people being held in Arrowe Park Hospital in Wirral, Merseyside, has been lifted following 14 days in isolation after they all tested negative for the covid-19 strain of the coronavirus.
All of those in quarantine were flown back from China and taken directly to the hospital after arriving in the UK on January 31.


thehuffingtonpostuk--2020-02-13--Exclusive: No.10 Tried To 'Neuter' Sajid Javid And He Was Right To Quit, His Ex-Adviser Says

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Downing Street tried to “neuter” Sajid Javid and he was right to quit as chancellor in protest, his former adviser has said.
Salma Shah told HuffPost UK’s Commons People podcast that No.10’s demands to exert more control over the Treasury would have made it “impossible” for Javid to do his job.
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Javid blew up Boris Johnson’s first reshuffle since the Tories’ election victory when he refused demands thought to have come from the PM’s chief of staff Dominic Cummings to establish a joint No.10 and No.11 team of special advisers – effectively giving Johnson and Cummings control of what had been Javid’s own team.
Shah told Commons People: “If you are in a situation where you are asked to get rid of your entire political team, that suggests to me that somebody is trying to neuter you.
“And it’s that great criticism of him [Javid] – chancellor in name only – how can you dispel that and have any kind of authority in your department that runs the economy if a simple matter of staffing you have no control over?”
Shah suggested Johnson may regret following Cummings’ advice as he had a “great relationship” with Javid.
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“I’m not sure this is the outcome the prime minister really wanted,” the ex-special adviser said.
She suggested Downing Street had pushed too hard in a months-long feud with Javid and eventually suffered the “pointless” loss of a chancellor.
And she bemoaned the fact that the only ministers with a Muslim background were no longer in government after transport minister Nus Ghani was sacked.
“I do think it matters,” Shah said, “only insofar as, if we are trying to create this broad consensus for when the next election comes round, it is very sad that people representing a community aren’t there in positions of making decisions.
“Although broadly the ethnic minority count is now good, I think there is an important constituency that is now missing from the top table.”
She added: “When you are in a position where you have an 80-strong majority and you are doing your first reshuffle and you feel all-powerful, I think there are many things you can overlook.”
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Shah worked closely with Javid for years as he occupied a variety of cabinet roles, including home secretary and housing secretary.
“I imagine, as it would be for any of us, [he will be feeling] quite bittersweet,” she said.
“But I think he is a very decisive person and he makes good decisions because they are based on fact and proper assessment.


thehuffingtonpostuk--2020-02-13--Hope Hicks To Return To White House As Senior Adviser

Former White House communications director Hope Hicks departs after a closed-door interview with the House Judiciary Committee on Capitol Hill in Washington on June 19, 2019. ASSOCIATED PRESS
Hope Hicks, a former top aide to President Donald Trump, will return to the White House in a new role in the coming weeks.
She will serve as counsellor to the president and senior adviser reporting to Jared Kushner, Trump’s son-in-law and senior adviser, White House press secretary Stephanie Grisham confirmed to HuffPost.
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Details are still being worked out, but Hicks is likely to start her new job early next month, Grisham said.
Hicks, 31, served as White House communications director from September 2017 until her resignation in March 2018. After leaving the White House, she took a job as the chief communications officer at Fox.
A day before announcing her departure in February 2018, Hicks testified before a House committee investigating Russia’s meddling in the 2016 election that her job sometimes required her to tell “white lies” on behalf of the president.
She insisted, however, after reportedly consulting with her legal team for an extended period of time that she did not lie about any matters related to Russian interference.
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thehuffingtonpostuk--2020-02-13--Woman Calls Out American Airlines Over Passenger Punching Her Reclined Seat

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A woman who recently flew on American Airlines is calling out the company for not properly reacting to another passenger who repeatedly punched the back of a seat that she had reclined.
Meanwhile, the video she tweeted of the incident set off on Twitter the age-old airplane etiquette debate about pushing back one’s seat.
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Wendi Williams said that on January 31, she took a flight on American Airlines subsidiary American Eagle from New Orleans to Charlotte, North Carolina. During the trip, when she first reclined her seat the man behind her asked that she wait to do so until he was done eating.
She accommodated the man and then reclined the seat after he was done, according to Fox News story. However, she said the man reacted by repeatedly punching the back of her seat, which she captured on video.
@BravoAndy Here’s a great jackhole! He was angry that I reclined my seat and punched it about 9 times - HARD, at which point I began videoing him, and he resigned to this behavior. The other jackhole is the @AmericanAir flight attendant who reprimanded me and offered him rum! pic.twitter.com/dHeUysrKTu — wendi (@steelersfanOG) February 9, 2020
Williams said the flight attendant reacted to the incident by telling the man that the seating was tight and then offering him a complimentary cocktail.
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She also said the flight attendant got mad at her for filming the encounter.
When the FA came. She rolled her eyes at me and said, “What?” She then told him it was tight back there and gave him rum! She told me I had to delete the video! It’s against the law to video on a plane. I asked her name & She gave me a Passenger Disturbance Notice! https://t.co/zRwy5JYr9s — wendi (@steelersfanOG) February 8, 2020
Wiliams said that when she contacted American Airlines after the flight, the customer service agent apologised but “really didn’t accept any responsibility” for the way the flight attendant handled the situation. She said she plans to file assault charges with the FBI.
In another tweet, she claimed she suffered horrible headaches for a week after the incident, lost time at work and had to visit a doctor.
I was contacted via phone by @AmericanAir, they apologized but really didn’t accept any responsibility for the flight attendant’s actions. I will be calling the FBI to press charges against the “man” who mistook me for a punching bag. Anyone who doesn’t like it, I don’t care! — wendi (@steelersfanOG) February 9, 2020
An American Airlines spokesperson told Fox News on Wednesday that the airline was “aware” of the customer dispute and was “looking into the issue.”
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Williams received support from some Twitter users, but others thought she was the rude one, especially because the man behind her had apparently had restricted seating. It appeared from the video that he was in the back row and unable to recline.
Think you really need to look at how you have reacted and what you have tweeted!
I am small and also disabled. Before I fly economy I know what the seats are like and what I do has an impact on others.
When people recline in front of me it is a struggle to get out my seat. — Katrina Murphy (@Katty1962) February 12, 2020
You have reclined your seat all the way back. His seat is fixed and won’t recline back so he is squashed in his space. Did he ask for your co-operation to not recline back so far? It would have been helpful if there was CO-OPERATION between the both of you. — Trump 4 Prison in 2020 🍄🍊 (@real_gdm) February 9, 2020
Nick Leighton, who hosts the etiquette-related podcast Were You Raised By Wolves, said that while passengers have the “right” to recline, “whether or not they should is a separate matter.”
“In general, passengers should be mindful about when and how they recline to try to minimise the inconvenience to the people behind them whenever possible,” he told HuffPost.


thehuffingtonpostuk--2020-02-13--Rebekah Vardy Tearfully Claims Stress Caused By Coleen Rooney Drama Landed Her In Hospital Three Tim

Rebekah Vardy Tearfully Claims Stress Caused By Coleen Rooney Drama Landed Her In Hospital Three Times

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Rebekah Vardy has tearfully revealed the stress caused by last year’s WAGatha Christie drama and subsequent online trolling she experienced left her in hospital three times.
The former I’m A Celebrity contestant said that she suffered severe anxiety attacks after Coleen Rooney publicly accused Rebekah of leaking stories about her to the press.
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Coleen - the wife of ex-England striker Wayne Rooney - told her 1.2 million Twitter followers that she “came up with an idea” to spend five months attempting to work out who was leaking stories to The Sun newspaper based on her personal Instagram posts.
The plan saw her block everyone apart from an Instagram page belonging to the person she suspected was the leaker – later announcing to the world that it was “Rebekah Vardy’s account” in a lengthy statement.
Rebekah Vardy appeared on Loose Women ITV
Having vehemently denied the allegations, Rebekah – who is married to England player Jamie Vardy – has now opened up about the effect the saga had, after becoming the target of online trolls.
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Appearing on Loose Women, she said: “It was really really hard. It is probably up there with one of the worst things that I have had to deal with apart from being abused when I was younger.”
Recalling being seven months pregnant when it all happened, Rebekah, who admitted she is “in the middle of a legal battle” over the matter, continued: “We were just about to meet to go for dinner with some friends and we were just in a taxi, my manager messaged me and said you need to see this. I looked at my phone and there it was in all its glory. It was hideous and it was horrible and I don’t think I was prepared for what was to come.
“The trolling was the worst part for me. I have been trolled before and I do get it all the time, but it escalated off the back of this.”
Coleen Rooney accused Rebekah of leaking stories about her to the press Rex
Detailing her severe anxiety attacks she experienced as a result, Rebekah said: “I ended up in hospital three times. I ended up with kidney stones. I felt like I couldn’t go out with people just looking at me just questioning, ‘Did she do it? Did she not do it?’”
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Rebekah also said several arrests were made after she went to the police about the trolls.
“You can’t let them win,” she said. “I think the more we highlight the fact that this is happening and this is really serious the more the chances are of doing something good about it.”


thehuffingtonpostuk--2020-02-13--Who Is Rishi Sunak, The New Chancellor Taking Over From Sajid Javid?

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Sajid Javid’s shock resignation as chancellor left Boris Johnson a huge gap he needed to fill fast or risk a sense of chaos enveloping the government.
And he wasted no time in turning to Javid’s 39-year-old deputy Rishi Sunak, capping a meteoric rise for the softly spoken and highly intelligent former chief secretary to the Treasury.
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Like Javid, Britain’s first chancellor from a Muslim background, Sunak’s appointment breaks boundaries as he becomes the first Hindu to take charge at the Treasury.
A former banker, Sunak entered parliament less than five years ago, stepping into the considerable hole left by William Hague in Richmond, North Yorkshire, and taking his oath in the Commons on the Bhagavad Gita.
He was a Leaver but largely kept a low profile during the 2016 referendum – an approach he replicated on the backbenches and in an 18-month stint as a junior local government minister.
But long earmarked as a rising star, there were few surprises when Johnson catapulted him to the cabinet as chief secretary to the Treasury on taking office as PM in July 2019.
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Sunak was soon thrust into the limelight, gaining No.10′s confidence with solid performances filling in for Johnson in election TV debates and defending the Tories in media interviews. He did, however, admit that a doctored video of Keir Starmer tweeted by the party – showing the shadow Brexit secretary apparently unable to answer a question that he had, in fact, answered – had taken things “a bit too far”.
Rishi Sunak arrives at Downing Street on cabinet reshuffle day ASSOCIATED PRESS
Sunak is married to Akshata Murthy, the daughter of billionaire Indian outsourcing mogul Narayana Murthy.
The pair met while Sunak was studying for an MBA as a Fulbright scholar at Stanford University in the US, and they now have two daughters – Krishna and Anoushka.
Sunak is the son of second generation British Indian parents – his father was a GP and his mother a pharmacist. Sunak credits his parents for helping him enjoy a stellar education.
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Born in Southampton, he was head boy at the private Winchester College before getting a first in philosophy, politics and economics at Oxford University.
After graduating, he went to Stanford and then worked at investment bank Goldman Sachs, before becoming a partner at hedge fund managers The Children’s Investment Fund.
He left to co-found Theleme Partners, a hedge fund that worked with companies from Silicon Valley to Bangalore as well as helping small British businesses.
He was selected as the candidate for the Tory safe seat Richmond in October 2014 and was elected in the following May’s general election.
“In my spare time I enjoy keeping fit, cricket, football and movies,” Sunak writes on his website.


thehuffingtonpostuk--2020-02-13--Job Rejection Letters – The Good, The Bad And The Ugly

creatarka via Getty Images
No one likes receiving a job rejection, but it’s clear some employers need to take a masterclass in dishing them out – because they really can suck.
Some people have sat through long phone calls filled with positivity about their interview, only to find out they didn’t get it at the very last minute. Others simply didn’t hear back at all. Yes, the phenomenon of job ghosting is very much alive – a survey by Jobsite found one in four people have experienced it. The least we deserve is a response.
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So, what are some of the good, the bad, and the ugly job rejections people have received? We asked.
The good
Not all rejection letters are created equal, as Dr Sara Davis, from New York State, discovered. She received “the best rejection letter” ever in response to her application for a position she didn’t even get to interview for.
The letter read: “The faculty position you applied for ... attracted over 65 candidates. I have chaired many searches over a long career and I found myself telling all my friends on campus ‘wow, what an amazing pool – exceptionally strong this year.’ I will never understand the phenomenon: sometimes job notices fail to attract an appropriate group, while other years there is an absolute embarrassment of riches in the collected files.
“Thus, it has taken our committee additional time to carefully evaluate each application, but we have now filled the opening.”
I’ve received many rejection letters on the job market this season, but this letter is the best rejection letter I have EVER received. I wasn’t invited to interview at any stage, but this still made me feel great. Hiring committes take note! pic.twitter.com/tO8uajY6iO — Dr. Sara Davis (@PsySciSar) February 12, 2020
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The letter continued: “We appreciate that you dedicated substantial time to tailoring your materials to introduce us.
“Writing these communiques is never easy, and over the years, I have both received and sent similar news. I am truly sorry that your efforts did not yield the result you hoped for, but we were pleased to have come to know about your work.”
Dr Davis said the response made her “feel great” and urged hiring committees to take note. Many people replied to her tweet to say they felt the same. One person wrote: “Top-notch service work, that.”
Trudy Keil, a teacher from Canada, replied to say she had a positive experience when she interviewed for her first teaching job. The manager said he wanted to hire her and told her she had a great interview, she recalled, but the decision wasn’t his to make. “It gave me confidence for subsequent interviews and I got the next one,” she said.
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When George Fenwick first moved to London from New Zealand he applied for a role at a mental health charity. “I got an interview but didn’t get the job, but they sent me personalised feedback both congratulating me on getting far in the process and also providing very fair and warranted feedback on how I could’ve improved,” he told HuffPost UK.
He’d applied for up to 70 jobs and this was the only personalised feedback he received. “It was such a nice thing, he said. “It felt very true to their brand and ethics as a charity.”
The bad
One HuffPost reader, who wished to remain anonymous, said she applied for a job and received a rejection by phone call – but it wasn’t clear it was a rejection until the very end of that conversation.
She recalled how an in-house recruiter spoke for about 10 minutes, “asking me how I thought it had gone, if I was interested in the company, if I had got on well with the interviewers,” – a proper digest of the whole process.
“She started saying it had gone well, they were impressed... and THEN, after all that time, she said, ‘So we won’t be taking your application any further.’” Talk about psychological torture.
In response to Davis’ tweet, one disgruntled rejectee also explained that he once received feedback that was completely unhelpful. “I got an email the other day with three points on why I didn’t get the job and they had nothing to do with my experience,” he tweeted. ”[It was] just the admin staff being smart about how great there [sic] company was and how they are after a special fit.”
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The ugly
Amanda Moehring said the worst rejection she received was a “badly phrased” letter which said: “We had many excellent applications. Unfortunately, yours was not one of them.” Ouch.
Meanwhile, HuffPost UK reader Lorna was accidentally copied into the world’s most unprofessional email – not meant for her eyes – that read: “Think Lorna would be too gobby for this place.” The email was swiftly recalled and deleted – but the damage was already done.


thehuffingtonpostuk--2020-02-13--Stormzy Postpones A String Of Tour Dates Due To 'Health And Travel Concerns Surrounding The Coronavi

Stormzy Postpones A String Of Tour Dates Due To 'Health And Travel Concerns Surrounding The Coronavirus'

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Stormzy has announced he is rescheduling dates on the Asian leg of his upcoming world tour, due to the Coronavirus outbreak.
The chart-topping grime star had been due to play shows in Malaysia, Singapore, Japan, China and South Korea in March, but these have now been postponed due to what he has described as “ongoing health and travel concerns”.
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Writing on his Instagram page, Stormzy explained: “I was seriously looking forward to bringing the [Heavy Is The Head] World tour to Asia and playing some epic sold out shows but due to the ongoing health and travel concerns surrounding the Coronavirus, I’m regrettably having to reschedule this leg of the Tour.”
Although the rescheduled dates are yet to be confirmed, he assured fans that the information “will follow in due course”, adding: “Please contact your local ticket vendor for any further queries. I promise I’ll be back.”
Stormzy kicked off the Heavy Is The Head tour – in support of his number one album of the same name – in Dubai last week, and is set to begin a string of dates in Australia in May.
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He will be bringing the show to the UK in September, including three dates at the O2 Arena in London.
Stormzy zz/KGC-138/STAR MAX/IPx


thehuffingtonpostuk--2020-02-13--Guinness Confirms 112-Year-Old Chitetsu Watanabe As Oldest Living Man

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It’s an honour that’s been a long time coming: 112 years and 344 days, to be exact.
That’s the age of Chitetsu Watanabe, who has just been declared the oldest living man by Guinness World Records.
Watanabe, of Niigata, Japan, was awarded the honour after the death of fellow Japanese citizen Masazo Nonaka, who was 112 years and 266 days old when he died on Jan. 20.
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Watanabe credits his long life to not getting angry and keeping a smile on his face as much as possible, according to Yoko Watanabe, his daughter-in-law.
Guinness World Records has declared 112-year-old Chitetsu Watanabe as the world's oldest living man. Guinness World Records
“I’ve lived together with him for over 50 years, and I’ve never seen him raise his voice or get mad,” she told Guinness. “He’s also caring. When I was working on my patchwork hobby, he was the one who praised my work the most.”
“I think having lived with a big family under one roof, mingling with his grandchildren and great-grandchildren, helped keep a smile on his face as well,” she said.
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Despite his very advanced age, Watanabe keeps busy by exercising, making origami, and doing calligraphy and math exercises.
Although he turns 113 on March 5, Watanabe has a long way to go before he’s declared the oldest man ever to live. That honour goes to Jiroemon Kimura of Japan, who was 116 years 54 days when he died on June 12, 2013.


thehuffingtonpostuk--2020-02-13--Islington GP Surgery Is Latest To Shut Due To Coronavirus

A man in a hazmat suit and face mask cleans the Ritchie Street Health Centre, Islington, North London, which was closed 'due to operational difficulties' PA
A GP surgery in Islington, north London, has temporarily closed due to the coronavirus – the third to do so today.
A warning on the Ritchie Street Health Centre said the premises would be closed until Friday and asked patients with symptoms to call 111 and not come to the practice.
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Inside, a man wearing protective clothing could be seen cleaning surfaces in the patient waiting area.
Islington CCG has been approached for comment.
It follows two similar closures in Brighton and one in Taunton, Somerset.
Meanwhile, the quarantine of 83 people being held in Arrowe Park Hospital in Wirral, Merseyside, has been lifted following 14 days in isolation after they all tested negative for the covid-19 strain of the coronavirus.
All of those in quarantine were flown back from China and taken directly to the hospital after arriving in the UK on January 31.
On Wednesday evening, the UK’s ninth case of coronavirus was confirmed in London.
The unnamed woman, who is being treated at a specialist NHS centre at Guy’s and St Thomas’, contracted the virus in China.
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Several Chinese airlines are still flying to Heathrow, including Air China from Beijing, China Southern from Guangzhou, Shenzhen Airlines from Shenzhen, China Eastern from Shanghai, Beijing Capital Airlines from Qingdao and Tianjin Airlines from Xian.
The Guardian reported she turned up unannounced at a hospital in an Uber taxi after falling ill.
Rachel Thorn Heathcock, a consultant at Public Health England, said: “We are in contact with Uber to ensure the driver receives advice and information on what to do should they feel unwell in the coming days.
“As the journey was less than 15 minutes, the driver did not have close sustained contact with the individual and are not considered high risk.”
An Uber spokeswoman said: “We will be providing support to this driver.”
Two staff from Lewisham hospital in south London are now in isolation at home after coming into contact with the woman, a Chinese national, it said.
A Department for Education spokesperson said: “The government is well prepared to deal with this virus, and we continue to work with stakeholders to understand and manage any potential impact to the education sector.
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thehuffingtonpostuk--2020-02-13--Katherine Ryan’s Sarcastic Response To Slowthai Isn’t The Problem Here

David M. Benett via Getty Images .
You never really know how you’re going to react to sexual harassment until you’re in the moment. Some days, your instinct is to fight back. Others, it’s to freeze.
Katherine Ryan’s weapon of choice when faced with unwanted sexual attention at the NME awards on Wednesday night was humour, with a healthy dose of sarcasm.
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The comic and event host was involved in an on-stage clash with rapper Slowthai, who was (somewhat ironically) presented with the Hero Of The Year award.
Footage from the night shows Slowthai getting up on stage and telling the audience “she got jealous”, before Ryan replied: “I didn’t get jealous, I was protecting another woman.”
It’s unclear exactly what started the altercation, but things soon escalated.
There was an incident at #NMEAwards2020 last night. British Rapper Slowthai, invaded host Katherine Ryan's space on stage and began making lewd & misogynist comments. Slowthai then began fighting with the audience. The amazing @Kathbum handled it like a pro, seemingly unphased. x pic.twitter.com/TdeV0lDHWI — Stand Up Fanatic (@standup_fanatic) February 13, 2020
As he increasingly encroached on Ryan’s personal space, Slowthai referred to her as “baby girl” inviting her to smell his cologne and saying into her microphone: “She wants me to tend to her flowers.”
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Quick as you like, Ryan told him: “You are, like, the hottest guy I’ve ever seen… I’m so thirsty for your cock. Thank you for the attention.”
Things got even messier when a member of the audience called Slowthai a misogynist. He threw his mic, then a drink, and had to be escorted away. Slowthai has since “unreservedly” apologised for his behaviour, saying: “There is no excuse and I am sorry”.
The incident was shared on social media within minutes, leading to a tide of support for Ryan, before she tweeted “he didn’t make me uncomfortable”, and called Slowthai “a sweet boy”. In a later tweet, she added: “He was fine. I’m the kind of woman he can say whatever he likes to! He’s fun.”
Cue a new wave of criticism, this time aimed at Ryan, rather than Slowthai.
He didn’t make me uncomfortable.
This is why we need women in positions of power. I knew he had lost from the moment he opened his mouth like any heckler coming up against a COMIC - not a woman - a COMIC. I was operating 2/10. What a sweet boy. I defused it.
Tonight was fun! ❤ https://t.co/BBMPZpIvhy — Katherine Ryan (@Kathbum) February 13, 2020
Multiple tweets accused her of “normalising” sexual harassment, criticising her for downplaying the incident and telling her she has a “responsibility” to take the incident seriously to protect other women.
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“Good thing that you find him fun, but the next woman might not enjoy it quite as much. Calling this behaviour out is important, it isn’t okay. It’s lucky you could handle it. But next time he might be with a woman who can’t,” one woman said.
When I first saw Ryan’s response, I read it in the same sarcastic tone she’d used on stage. I assumed she’d referred to Slowthai as “fun” and “a sweet boy” to minimise him and take back the power. But really, her intentions – or my interpretation of them – are almost irrelevant and certainly not up for debate.
There’s no right way to respond to sexual harassment.
Like millions of women, I’ve experienced sexual harassment, from catcalling to sexual assault. There have been times I’ve felt empowered enough to call it out, but there have also been times I’ve frozen on the spot, or cried at home in secret.
I’d also be lying if I said I’d never laughed it off or made a joke about it. On countless nights out, guys have grabbed my bum or made a lewd comment and – like Ryan – I’ve batted it off and moved on with my life. I don’t think that makes me a bad person. Sometimes, being the victim – or even the survivor – of sexual harassment is just too exhausting. Why should women have to take on that emotional load?
There are so many external factors that come into play and influence how you respond to sexual harassment: how public the incident is, whether you feel safe to call it out, your relationship with the other person and, crucially, where your mental health is at and how strong you’re feeling that day. You have to respond in the best way for you at that time. If that means reporting an incident to help other women in future, great. If it doesn’t this time, that’s okay too.
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By suggesting that a woman hasn’t responded in the “correct” way to harassment, you’re playing into the disturbing rhetoric that says women are somehow responsible for the bad behaviour that happens to them. It echos the blame game that all too frequently plays out in courtrooms, where women are questioned about what they were wearing at the time of a rape or sexual assault, or how much they were drinking.
Instead of subtweeting Katherine Ryan to criticise her response, take a step back and ask yourself who you’re really angry at here.
Women don’t have a “responsibility” to call out sexual harassment to protect other women. Men have a responsibility to stop doing it in the first place.


thehuffingtonpostuk--2020-02-13--Slowthai Apologises 'Unreservedly' To Katherine Ryan After Awkward NME Awards Incident

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Slowthai has issued a public apology to comedian Katherine Ryan following an incident at this year’s NME Awards.
Video footage from the night showed Slowthai walking on stage in the middle of the ceremony, seemingly to speak to host Julie Adenuga, with co-presenter Katherine intervening.
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Katherine then dismissively told him: “You are, like, the hottest guy I’ve ever seen… I’m so thirsty for your cock.
“Thank you for the attention. Let’s hear it for him! So hot! I’m so wet I’m going to slip off these stairs any minute.”
Slowthai and Katherine Ryan at the NME Awards David M. Benett via Getty Images
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In a tweet addressed to NME the following morning, Slowthai asked them to “forward my [Hero Of The Year] award to [Katherine Ryan] for she is the hero of the year”.
Recalling his behaviour the previous night, he wrote: “What started as a joke between us escalated to a point of shameful actions on my part. I want to unreservedly apologise, there is no excuse and I am sorry. I am not a hero. “Katherine, you are a master at your craft and next time I’ll take my seat and leave the comedy to you.
“To any woman or man who saw a reflection of situations they’ve been in in those videos, I am sorry. I promise to do better. Let’s talk here.”
.@nme please forward my award to @kathbum for she is the hero of the year. what started as a joke between us escalated to a point of shameful actions on my part. i want to unreservedly apologise, there is no excuse and I am sorry. i am not a hero. (1/2) — tyron. (@slowthai) February 13, 2020
(2/2) katherine, you are a master at your craft and next time i’ll take my seat and leave the comedy to you. to any woman or man who saw a reflection of situations they’ve been in in those videos, i am sorry. i promise to do better. let’s talk here. — tyron. (@slowthai) February 13, 2020
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Katherine previously spoke out to, insist that Slowthai hadn’t made her “feel uncomfortable”.
“This is why we need women in positions of power,” she tweeted. “I knew he had lost [the fight] from the moment he opened his mouth like any heckler coming up against a COMIC - not a woman - a COMIC. I was operating 2/10. What a sweet boy. I defused it. Tonight was fun!”
He didn’t make me uncomfortable.
This is why we need women in positions of power. I knew he had lost from the moment he opened his mouth like any heckler coming up against a COMIC - not a woman - a COMIC. I was operating 2/10. What a sweet boy. I defused it.
Tonight was fun! ❤ https://t.co/BBMPZpIvhy — Katherine Ryan (@Kathbum) February 13, 2020
Shortly after the incident involving Katherine, Slowthai was awarded Hero Of The Year, during which a member of the crowd shouted that he was a “misogynist”, apparently referencing the on-stage exchange.
“Thank you for ruining my speech, thank you very much,” Slowthai said back, after which a microphone and a full glass were thrown in the rapper’s direction.
In retaliation, he threw a glass down into the crowd, before launching himself off the stage, at which point security intervened, and Katherine Ryan could be seen on stage attempting to cool the situation down.
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It’s just kicked off at the NME Awards #Slowthai 😬 just after he won hero of the year #NMEAwards2020 pic.twitter.com/rKmUOXSuhB — Vinesh (@V1nesh) February 12, 2020
NME then reported that Slowthai had been “escorted from the stage” and had “left the NME Awards… following an altercation with the crowd”, but did not specify whether or not it was his choice to leave the venue completely.
Slowthai released his debut album Nothing Great About Britain in 2019, featuring collaborations with Skepta, Mura Masa and the punk band Slaves.
Nothing Great About Britain went on to be nominated for the Mercury Prize, with Slowthai making headlines during the ceremony when he performed holding a dummy of Boris Johnson’s head.
“Fuck Boris Johnson, fuck everything and there ain’t nothing great about Britain,” he shouted during the performance.