thehuffingtonpostuk--2020-11-23--Experts Explain Why Mondays Are So Psychologically Hard

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As far as days of the week go, Monday arguably has the fewest fans.
Multiple studies suggest that people’s moods are typically at their lowest on Mondays. The day is the subject of a number of songs with rather melancholy sentiments, including “Monday, Monday” by the Mamas & the Papas, “Rainy Days and Mondays” by the Carpenters, “I Don’t Like Mondays” by the Boomtown Rats and “Manic Monday” by the Bangles.
But what exactly makes Mondays so psychologically hard? HuffPost asked mental health experts to break down the different reasons. And while these explanations don’t apply to everyone, one or more may resonate if you’re a strong Monday-hater.
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Your body’s natural rhythm is messed up.
There are physiological factors involving the body’s natural cycle that help explain why Mondays can feel so rough, particularly for those of us who follow traditional Monday-to-Friday workweeks. The main issue is that we tend to abide by a different sleep schedule during the weekend compared to the rest of the week.
“Getting extra sleep on the weekends is a good thing, but changing sleep patterns every five to six days can disrupt the body’s natural rhythms,” said Sanam Hafeez, a neuropsychologist in New York. “So even if you get a good night’s rest on Sunday night, you might still feel sleepy on Monday. When we’re tired, we’re more easily irritable, impatient and displeased than normal.”
For many people, the weekend is actually more tiring and draining than they imagine.
“People like to think of weekends as a time of rest and rejuvenation, where in reality, many of us cram as much in as possible ― eating and drinking too much and going to sleep later than usual,” said Meg Gitlin, a psychotherapist and the voice behind City Therapist, a therapy insight Instagram account.
“They may use the weekend to catch up with family and friends, which while nice, requires emotional and logistical energy. Therefore, on Mondays we are more tired than we’d like to be, which is directly correlated to low mood.”
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skynesher via Getty Images
You’ve lost a sense of freedom.
“The most common reason people find Mondays so difficult is that it follows two days of freedom and enjoyment,” Hafeez said. “Even if weekends are still a busy time, there are plenty of moments (e.g. waking up later, going out for lunch) to relax. This massive emotional shift can make Mondays really dreadful and difficult for some.”
On Monday, many people grieve the loss of the weekend and the carefree feelings that accompany those days. It’s psychologically difficult to transition away from leisure and personal time back into obligations and a routine of responsibility ― especially because you don’t have any control over this natural passing of time and thus don’t have a say in the matter.
“When Monday rolls around, many people feel a sense of disappointment and dread about having to return to their responsibilities rather than spending time how they choose to spend it,” said Becky Stuempfig, a licensed marriage and family therapist based in Encinitas, California. “It may feel like a loss of independence and control because other people are determining how you spend your time.”
In 2020, Monday also involves resuming the school week, which for many families means the extra stress of navigating virtual learning, Stuempfig added.
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PhotoAlto/Frederic Cirou via Getty Images
You don’t love your job.
Another common reason for dreading Monday is disliking your job or finding it particularly stressful. You may even feel a bodily response in the form of adrenaline.
“Whether it’s a demanding boss or unfriendly co-workers, feelings of anxiety and depression can begin on Sunday evening, making it hard to take satisfaction in going to work on a Monday,” Hafeez said.
Even if you enjoy your job, additional stressors can make it more challenging, such as the Covid-19 pandemic for health care workers and educators and general employment insecurity amid the economic downturn.
Feeling misaligned in your purpose at work can also make Mondays difficult, as you’re reminded of this sense of aimlessness, Gitlin said.
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“However, I think it’s important to note that even if you are passionate about your job, it’s not only normal to have negative associations with Mondays ― it’s also human,” she added. “Once you accept that every job (even the very best ones) will have inherent struggles, you can ‘point your skis down the mountain’ and move with the stress, not against it.”
You didn’t prepare for the day.
Another reason why Mondays can be especially hard for some people is that they may not have prepared for the start of the week. This can include emotional and logistical preparation.
“Mondays can feel extremely overwhelming for people, but many fail to realise they can be doing it to themselves,” Hafeez said. “When someone fails to prepare, they subconsciously prepare to fail. If Sunday isn’t used to organise ourselves, Mondays can be a very stressful and unbearable event. Some people may choose not to get their ducks in a row the day before simply because what they need to do isn’t enjoyable and elicits negative feelings.”
Our culture tells you to hate Mondays.
“We live in a culture where the prevailing attitude in many workplaces often involves a ‘TGIF’ attitude, and Mondays have become the common enemy,” Stuempfig said.
She pointed to pop culture influences, such as the 1999 dark comedy “Office Space,” which includes the famous line, “Sounds like somebody’s got a case of the Mondays.” The phrase “became popularised and resonated with many people who work in a traditional office environment,” Stuempfig said.
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Your work-life balance is poor.
For people who spend almost all of their time working, negative feelings on Monday may be the mind and body telling them to slow down and take a break.
“Sometimes, the reason why Monday is especially difficult is a lack of work-life balance,” Hafeez said. “Even if you love what you do, those who live, breathe and eat work need a break, too. Going hard all week without breaks and nothing to look forward to can wear on the mind and the body. Even if Sunday was the break, it wasn’t enough to help the person feel ready to dive into the workweek again.”
Indeed, “the Mondays” might be a sign of burnout and an indication that it’s time to reassess those long work hours to combat the mental drag.
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You have social anxiety.
Struggling with Mondays can be linked to feeling anxiety about all the work on your plate, but social anxiety may also be at play. This includes anxiety about being forced to interact with others and being in an environment where you’re compared to them.
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“It can also be linked to anticipation of social issues, so a low-level form of social anxiety,” said Noel McDermott, a psychotherapist based in the United Kingdom. “As social animals, having a break from one main source of social status (work) leads to a buildup of anxiety. On a Sunday evening, we can begin to ruminate on that.”
Transitions are hard for you.
The sense of change that Mondays bring is one reason why John Mayer, a clinical psychologist in Chicago, calls them “Moandays.”
“Moandays involve transitions, and people get anxious before, after and during transitions,” Mayer said. “This is because transitions always involve facing the unknown. Mondays — the start of the new work or school week — brings a host of unknowns that we have to face.”
People with challenging life circumstances can also have more reason to feel anxious about transitions.
“For children of divorced parents, many times they need to switch houses on Mondays and those transitions can be hard for both the kids and parents,” Stuempfig said. “For people in long-distance relationships, Mondays can represent saying goodbye to their partner until the coming weekend, and that can feel very depressing.”
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You’re looking ahead at an unknown week.
On Monday, you have the full week ahead of you and may be anticipating the stressors it may bring.
“By the time Wednesday rolls around, you are moving and grooving and feel confident in your ability to get through any challenges that may arise. You have two days under your belt by then, and feel in the swing of things,” Gitlin said.
“But on Mondays, your belief in your ability to weather the storm may be wavering and the stress of the workweek is looming,” she continued. “Add to this fatigue, and it makes sense that you would really struggle to believe in your ability to ‘survive the week.’ By the time Thursday rolls around, your attention is already on the weekend and the associated positive thoughts.”
Stuempfig believes this sense of the looming workweek is particularly difficult because we live in a rewards-driven culture. Rather than finding joy and purpose in the journey, we’re focused on the destination as the reward.
“People are often focused on outward, external rewards, such as praise from their boss, a monetary raise or job promotion, rather than finding their motivation from internal sources such as pride in a thorough job, small personal goals that they set for themselves, finding meaning in their work or simply doing their personal best as opposed to competing to be the best,” she said. ”With so much emphasis on external rewards from a job, for example, the daily grind on Mondays can feel particularly lacking in joy. ”
You live for the weekend.
For someone who sees their weekend experience as all that matters, Monday may quite literally feel like the end of what Hafeez considers to be your “true life.”
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thehuffingtonpostuk--2020-11-22--'It Gave Us A Sense Of Identity': Lovers Rock Stars On The Soft Reggae Soundtrack Of Small Axe

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Lovers Rock, a part of the Small Axe anthology, which comprises of five original films by Academy Award, BAFTA and Golden Globe-winning filmmaker Steve McQueen, aired via BBC One on Sunday.
An ode to the romantic reggae genre Lovers Rock and to the youth who found freedom and love in its sound, it tells a fictional story of young love and music at a house party in 1980.
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The episode was co-written by novelist and playwright, Courttia Newland (The Gospel According to Cane, Family Room) alongside McQueen.
Amarah-Jae St Aubyn makes her screen debut opposite the BAFTA 2020 Rising Star award recipient Micheal Ward.
Lovers Rock emerged in the mid-1970s, when the producers and owners of London’s sound systems began recording romantic ballads with teenagers warbling away renditions of soulful hits – in a soft, reggae style.
These anthems and many more provided a soundtrack for the house parties or “blues dances”.
Singer Paul Robinson, who goes by the stage name of Barry Boom, performed as part of a group called One Blood with his four older brothers. Like many of the vocalists of that time – he started out as a teenager, first appearing on record aged 13.
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Born to Jamaican parents in Peckham, Boom explains that racist white UK nightclub venues did not welcome Black migrants at the time – so that generation would have parties at each other’s houses and it soon became a tradition that Boom’s generation would maintain for years after.
Barry Boom Supplied
Indeed, as the McQueen production captures, the ritual of young love unfolded many a time at these events.
Young Black people would adorn their best clothes, pay a small admission fee, dance to romantic reggae songs, buy drinks, eat goat curry and rice and enjoy the sweet liberation of celebrating life and each other.
Against a backdrop of a hostile wider society and brewing political tensions, these parties were a cocoon of serenity, a melodic act of resistance which would go on to define British history.
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Boom remembers the parties well.
“When you’d go to the house parties, the rooms were dark, the music is very sensual and very loving, romantic, it had mostly everybody in that zone. The energy was all about love – it was an amazing feeling,” he tells HuffPost UK.
“The music would embrace you, hug you like a person; you could be by yourself and have a wonderful time in the dance. We need more of that nowadays.”
“This created memories so when you go forward in time and you look back at that time with fond memories. The warmth, closeness of the room, the drinks and food: Special Brew, Thunder Bird, Baby Cham, curry goat with rice. The music playing, bass, those kind of things.
“The music would embrace you, hug you like a person; you could be by yourself and have a wonderful time in the dance. We need more of that nowadays, some of that old school essence in the music. Yes, we’re in a modern time but we need some of that realism.”
After Caught You in a Lie (1975) by Louisa Mark was widely hailed as the first lovers rock single, Janet Kay made history by becoming the first British born Black female reggae artist to have a number one song in the British pop charts with Silly Games (1979). The track, written and produced by Dennis Bovell, scored big in Europe too.
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Quickly after, Kay became widely known as the Queen of Lovers Rock recording more hits, winning awards and landing a record deal.
“The music was made at a time when we were all teenagers, mid to late 1970s, and we sang about falling in love for the first time because that’s what was happening, meeting our partners, working,” Kay says.
Janet Kay Supplied
“For us, it was an expression of how we were feeling at that time. That’s a part of our DNA as second generation Black people (born to Windrush migrants); when we go out and still perform those songs, it’s still in our DNA. The music is our creative expression.
“We didn’t have any Black radio shows to talk of back then. They weren’t playing any reggae music other than a couple of hours on a Sunday afternoon or Saturday night when Steve Bernard and Tony Williams presented shows. We listened to the regular stuff on radio that they played like pop, Motown, American R&B and soul. All of that mixed together made lovers rock.”
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Over the years, a handful of independent films have explored, at least in part, lovers rock music and culture such as Burning an Illusion (1981) and The Story of Lovers Rock (2011) both by Menelik Shabbaz.
The 1980 cult classic Babylon, starring Aswad front-man Brinsley Forde, is a tale about young Black Londoners exploring the roots reggae scene and navigating systemic racism. There’s an iconic scene featuring of a party where lovers rock is playing and lovers are enwrapped in one another’s arms.
Kay points out while lovers rock is not new – it’s positive that more people are talking about it in the lead up to the Small Axe series.
“It’s as though, for some people, this is like a new phenomenon where it isn’t. But it’s good because the musical library is there for people to go and look up. This didn’t just start today – it’s been going on for donkey’s years,” she says.
“UK lovers rock holds a place in a lot of people’s hearts, it takes them somewhere. They relive times of their lives – happy and sad.”
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The cast of Small Axe. BBC
Over the years, a star-studded roster of artists recorded popular cover versions of US soul ballads and some original standards too such as TT Ross, Cassandra and trio 15, 16, 17.
In a sense, the genre encompassed a womanist ethos: most of the singers were women who delivered powerful anthems about their personal experiences from within a male dominated industry.
Carroll Thompson first found fame with smash hit I’m So Sorry (1981) and a slew of hits followed including Simply In Love and Hopelessly in Love. The latter single was the title track of an album which sold over one million the same year – a unprecedented feat.
Carroll Thompson Supplied
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When asked whether she realised she’d go on to be a part of the history which is immortalised through music and TV portrayals of life at that time, Thompson laughs.
“No, no! That came much later,” she recalls. “All I knew was that I was a part of something that everybody was embracing. It was all very natural and authentic. I didn’t even believe that the album would still be relevant all these years later.
“At the time we were just young people making music that made us feel good. We were representing ourselves.”
Moving into the 1980s, artists like Peter Hunnigale, Sandra Cross, Lorna G, Kofi and John McLean recorded hits before the scene began to fizzle out in the early 1990s.
Digital, more hardcore styles of reggae music by Jamaican artists eclipsed the more mellow appeal of UK lovers rock across Black radio and in venues – while Britain’s mainstream music industry never quite accepted it to begin with.
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“A lot of the DJs stopped playing it,” Carroll Thompson says. “They said it was too soft; the onslaught of fantastic music coming from Jamaica, dancehall and everything else, rendered the softness and soulfulness of UK lovers rock as kind of redundant. What were they meant to do? The blues is the blues,”
Carroll Thompson Juliet Roberts And Jane Eugene David Corio via Getty Images
She adds that the mainstream industry didn’t embrace lovers rock because they never controlled it.
“It was controlled by independent Black record labels and the one or two songs that they put their might behind say Trevor Walters, Janet Kay, maybe Aswad later on and a few in between, were just one-off singles,” she says.
“Back in the day independent record labels didn’t get chart positions – you had to be a major company or a very big independent. That is why we were working in parallel to the mainstream music industry and that’s why we have never been recognised along soul, jazz, funk. We were not signed en masse.”
Carroll continues: “There’s a lineage, a trajectory, in terms of UK sound and the mother of that is lovers rock. It goes right through to Estelle and Corinne Bailey Rae, you can hear the influences in their sound. Sade called her album Lovers Rock; without lovers rock you wouldn’t have Soul II soul – the lead vocalist was a member of Brown Sugar: Carol Wheeler.
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thehuffingtonpostuk--2020-11-24--Trump Administration Finally Clears Way For Biden Transition To Begin

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US federal agency the General Services Administration has ascertained that Joe Biden is the “apparent winner” of the November 3 US election, clearing the way for the start of the transition from Donald Trump’s administration.
Emily Murphy, the administrator of the GSA, said the transition between Trump and Biden can begin, releasing millions of dollars in funds and clearing the way for a new administration.
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“I have dedicated much of my adult life to public service, and I have always strived to do what is right,” Murphy wrote in a letter to Biden on Monday.
“Please know that I came to my decision independently, based on the law and the available facts. I was never directly or indirectly pressured by any Executive Branch official — including those who work at the White House or GSA — with regard to the substance or timing of my decision.”
Trump thanked Murphy for her work just moments later.
I want to thank Emily Murphy at GSA for her steadfast dedication and loyalty to our Country. She has been harassed, threatened, and abused – and I do not want to see this happen to her, her family, or employees of GSA. Our case STRONGLY continues, we will keep up the good... — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) November 23, 2020
...fight, and I believe we will prevail! Nevertheless, in the best interest of our Country, I am recommending that Emily and her team do what needs to be done with regard to initial protocols, and have told my team to do the same. — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) November 23, 2020
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Biden’s campaign released a statement shortly after Murphy’s announcement, calling the decision a “needed step to begin tackling the challenges facing our nation, including getting the pandemic under control and our economy back on track”.
“This final decision is a definitive administrative action to formally begin the transition process with federal agencies,” the Biden-Harris transition executive director, Yohannes Abraham, said in a statement. “In the days ahead, transition officials will begin meeting with federal officials to discuss the pandemic response, have a full accounting of our national security interests, and gain complete understanding of the Trump administration’s efforts to hollow out government agencies.”
The president noted on Twitter that while he still planned to fight the outcome of the election, he agreed the transition should begin “in the best interest of our country.”
“I am recommending that Emily and her team do what needs to be done with regard to initial protocols, and have told my team to do the same,” he wrote.
The move will make $6.3 million available to Biden and his team to begin the transition process, as well as additional funds to prepare his staff and appointees.
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Murphy had drawn widespread ire over her delay in “ascertaining” that Biden won the election, which is required before millions of dollars in transition funds and access to government officials can begin. She said, however, that Trump’s bevy of court losses and the certification of votes in several battleground states had allowed her to determine that Biden was the likely winner of the election.
Murphy added that she received many threats amid the delay in what she called an “effort to coerce me into making this determination prematurely”, although they, too, had not influenced her decision.
“I do not think that an agency charged with improving federal procurement and property management should place itself above the constitutionally-based election process,” she wrote on Monday.
Several notable figures had lambasted the Trump administration over the delay, saying any further refusal to declare Biden the winner could hamper the country’s efforts to fight the Covid-19 pandemic, which has entered its most dangerous stage as the country beings to travel en masse before the holiday season.
Dr Anthony Fauci, the nation’s top infectious disease expert, said last week he was “concerned” that things hadn’t gone “smoothly” and Biden said “more people may die” if Trump kept obstructing the transfer of power.
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thehuffingtonpostuk--2020-11-24--EastEnders Unveils New ‘Whodunnit?’ Plot To Take Centre Stage In Christmas Episodes

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EastEnders bosses have unveiled details of a brand new “whodunnit?” storyline that is set to take centre stage this Christmas.
Ian Beale will be left for dead in a surprise attack over the festive period after making one too many enemies on Albert Square.
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Having become the most hated man in Walford, one resident takes matters into their own hands and seeks revenge on the Queen Vic landlord in the pub.
The fallout of the attack will see Walford in turmoil throughout the festive season with many residents suspicious of dealing the brutal blow and desperate to cover their tracks.
Adam Woodyatt as Ian Beale BBC / Jack Barnes
Elsewhere, it’s set to be another unhappy Christmas for the Carter clan, as Mick and Linda are driven further apart, as Danny Dyer’s character’s traumatic past continues to haunt him.
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While Linda feels more alone than ever, she seeks comfort elsewhere after months of temptation. Will Mick find the strength to open up about his demons before it’s too late?
Across the Square, Denise is preparing for her first Christmas with estranged son Raymond, but an unexpected blast from her past rattles her to her core.
Diane Parish plays Denise Fox in EastEnders BBC/Nicky Johnston
While the identity of the mystery visitor remains unconfirmed, it was recently announced that Denise’s serial killer ex Lucas Johnson is set to return to Walford.
EastEnders bosses have also teased that this Christmas will also see love blossoming for an unlikely pairing, while another couple “faces new challenges as the festive season stirs up old feelings”.


thehuffingtonpostuk--2020-11-24--BBC Unveils Christmas TV Highlights For 2020 – Here Are 16 Shows To Look Out For

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While many TV productions ground to a halt thanks to the pandemic earlier this year, the BBC has still managed to pull it out of the bag with their festive telly offerings for 2020.
Not only are there some top notch new dramas to look forward to, there’s the return of some old classics, plus the residents of Albert Square will be seeing in Christmas in the only way they know how – dramatically.
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Here are 16 of the BBC’s best Christmas shows to look out for this year...
The Vicar Of Dibley
BBC/Tiger Aspect Productions Ltd/Des Willie
Everyone’s favourite Vicar, Geraldine Grainger is back to save 2020, as The Vicar Of Dibley returns for three new specials.
Throughout the year’s difficulties, Geraldine has been writing and delivering sermons to her parishioners via Zoom – when she can make it work, that is.
These new thoughts on life and chocolate will be packaged as three brand new 10-minute shows that will precede repeats of classic episodes. They will also be bundled up into one brand new episode to enjoy during the festive period.
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Doctor Who
BBC / James Pardon
One of the Doctor’s biggest and most feared enemies – the Daleks – return this Christmas in Revolution Of The Daleks.
We catch up with The Doctor locked away in a high-security alien prison with no hope of escape, while sidekicks Yaz, Ryan and Graham are adjusting to life without her.
But old habits die hard when they discover a disturbing plan involving a Dalek forming. How can you fight a Dalek, without the Doctor?
The Serpent
BBC/Mammoth Screen
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Tahar Rahim, Jenna Coleman, Billy Howle and Ellie Bamber star in this new eight-part drama, which is inspired by real events of Charles Sobhraj’s capturing.
As the chief suspect in unsolved murders of young Western travellers across India, Thailand and Nepal’s “Hippie Trail” in 1975 and 1976, Sobhraj had repeatedly slipped from the grasp of authorities worldwide to become Interpol’s most wanted man, with arrest warrants on three different continents.
The arrival of Herman Knippenberg at the Dutch Embassy in Bangkok set off an extraordinary chain of events as he seeks to bring Sobhraj to justice for his terrible crimes.
Pandemonium
After Alison Steadman reprised her role as Pam Shipman in last year’s Gavin & Stacey Christmas special, this year she’s starring in a new one-off sitcom centred on the Jessop family.
Having seen their finances and future plans devastated, they’ve also had to abandon their holiday of a lifetime to California – but the Jessops decide they’re going to have their summer holiday after all, even if it means doing it in December. In Margate.
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Blankety Blank
Iconic gameshow Blankety Blank is back with a brand new host, Bradley Walsh for a festive special, as a new panel of celebrities try to fill in the missing blanks.
And of course, the legendary Blankety Blank Cheque Book and Pen is also set to make a welcome return too.
The Great British Sewing Bee Christmas Specials
BBC/Love Productions/Mark Bourdillon
Denise Van Outen, Shirley Ballas, Dr Ranj Singh, Sara Pascoe, The Vivienne, Lesley Joseph, Sabrina Grant and Sally Philips will all put their sewing skills – or lack thereof – to the test in two Christmas specials based on the unlikely BBC hit series.
Joe Lycett is back as host, as the two sets of stars compete in challenges set by judges Patrick Grant and Esme Young.
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Mrs Brown’s Boys
Brendan O'Carroll in Mrs Brown's Boys BBC
Love it or loathe it, TV’s most Marmite show is back for two new episodes, the first of which sees Agnes and her family getting used to “the new normal”.
Agnes and Winnie have also entered a competition in the Radio Times to perform an alternative Queen’s speech and are waiting to hear if they’ve won. Will either of them be a match for Her Majesty?
Call The Midwife
BBC / Nealstreet Productions / Nicky Johnston
It’s December 1965 and everyone is looking forward to traditional celebrations with all the trimmings, but nothing goes quite to plan.
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As the Circus arrives in Poplar, there are new friendships, new experiences, and an exciting adventure for Nurse Crane. There’s also an unexpected trip to hospital and a surprise reunion for a Nonnatus House favourite.
EastEnders
It’s set to be another dark Christmas in Albert Square this year, as Ian Beale is attacked and left for dead in the Queen Vic in a new “whodunnit?”.
The fallout will see Walford in turmoil with many under suspicion of dealing the brutal blow and desperate to cover their tracks.
Meanwhile, secrets and lies are on the menu this Christmas for the Carters, as Linda falls victim to temptation and turns elsewhere for comfort, and Denise faces a fearsome face from her past…
Miranda’s Celebrity Night In
Miranda Hart hosts a new entertainment show full of Christmas games and fun as three of her favourite celebrity couples play against each other in a host of riotous and outrageous challenges from inside their homes.
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Black Narcissus
FX/Miya Mizuno
Mopu, Himalayas, 1934. A remote clifftop palace once known as the House Of Women holds many dark secrets. When the young nuns of St. Faith attempt to establish a mission there, its haunting mysteries awaken forbidden desires that seem destined to repeat a terrible tragedy in this new three-part drama.
Strictly: The Christmas Countdown
BBC
With a traditional Strictly Come Dancing Christmas special out of the question this year thanks to the pandemic, Tess Daly and Claudia Winkleman will be fronting a special show counting down the 25 most memorable dances of all time, voted for by the public.
From the perfect 40s, the trophy-winning routines and dances that have made us laugh, the pair will also be joined by the judges and the professional dancers, who will kick things off with a brand new Christmas-themed group number.
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The Repair Shop At Christmas
Christmas has arrived at The Repair Shop where its team of passionate and skilled craftspeople are beavering away, repairing and rescuing four beloved festive treasures.
Among the stories on the special episode include that of Steve and Amanda, who bring their cherished rocking horse to the barn. The toy was a Christmas gift for their daughter Tamsin when she was five years old. Tragically, just two years later, their little girl passed away. The horse is now being given a new lease of life to be gifted to their nine-year-old daughter, Hetty, to play on and remember the older sister she never met.
Vicky McClure’s Dementia Choir At Christmas
Two years after Vicky took to the stage at the Royal Concert Hall in Nottingham with her choir of people all living with dementia to perform in front of an audience of 2000, the Line Of Duty star tells the choir’s lockdown story.
There will then be a very special Christmas performance with members of the English National Opera at the London Coliseum for one choir member.
Worzel Gummidge: Saucy Nancy
BBC/Leopard Pictures/Amanda Searle/Matt Burlem
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Worzel Gummidge is returning for another adventure after the success of last year’s festive special.
When Worzel Gummidge, Susan and John visit a scrapyard, Worzel overhears the grumbling of a foul-mouthed old friend – the carved ship’s figurehead, Saucy Nancy. She has been languishing, unsold in the yard for years and longs to return to the sea. Worzel and the kids promise to get her there, but will her ship be waiting?
Mary Berry Saves Christmas
Mary Berry BBC/Endemol Shine UK/Craig Harman


thehuffingtonpostuk--2020-11-24--Two-Week Holiday Quarantine Cut If You Pay For A Covid Test

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Travellers arriving in England will be able to end their quarantine period with a negative coronavirus test after five days from December 15 — if they pay for it.
Under the new rules announced by the government on Tuesday, passengers who arrive from a destination not on the government’s travel corridors list will still need to enter self-isolation.
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But they can reduce the 14-day period by paying for a test from a private firm after five days at a cost of £65-£120. If their test comes back negative, they will be able to leave quarantine.
Grant Shapps, the transport secretary, said the plan was to “focus on what we can now do to bolster international travel while keeping the public safe”.
“Our new testing strategy will allow us to travel more freely, see loved ones and drive international business,” he said.
“By giving people the choice to test on day five, we are also supporting the travel industry as it continues to rebuild out of the pandemic.”
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✈ TEST TO RELEASE FOR INTERNATIONAL ARRIVALS ✈
We’re cutting the self-isolation period by two thirds from 15 DECEMBER for passengers arriving into England. Taking a privately provided #COVID test on day five & receiving a negative result will end self-isolation. pic.twitter.com/2Q6wqZ6XrN — Rt Hon Grant Shapps MP (@grantshapps) November 24, 2020
Matt Hancock, the health secretary, said the reason people would have to pay for a private Covid-19 test was to “protect the capacity of NHS Test and Trace and ensure that any UK resident who has symptoms is able to get a test”.
International holidays are currently banned from England until at least December 2, when the national four-week lockdown ends.
The government also announced it will introduce new financial support for English airports and ground handling firms in the New Year.
The support will cover business rates liabilities up to £8 million at each site.
Chancellor Rishi Sunak said: “The aviation industry is vital to our economy – creating jobs and driving growth- which is why we have supported them throughout this crisis through the job retention scheme, loans and tax deferrals.
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“This new package of support for airports, alongside a new testing regime for international arrivals, will help the sector take off once again as we build back better from the pandemic.”
It came after Boris Johnson unveiled a new three tiered system of local restrictions which will come into force until the end of March.


thehuffingtonpostuk--2020-11-23--How Easter Became The New Christmas In Boris Johnson’s Covid Calendar

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Way back in July, Boris Johnson was as bright and breezy as an English summer’s day when he set out his Covid “unlockdown” plans. The PM famously talked of a “significant return to normality” by Christmas. Indeed, some of us remember he even ventured this dreamlike state could happen “from November” (as the more observant of you will have noticed, that’s now).
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Today, at his latest No.10 briefing, Johnson said: “I can’t say that Christmas will be normal this year…” Appearing to deploy what he calls “the blessed sponge of amnesia” to himself and the public, his July pronouncements were forgotten. Instead, he offered another key date in the Christian calendar as a new beacon of hope. Yes, we “should be able to inoculate the vast majority of people who need the most protection by Easter”, he said.
The tentative Oxford/AstraZeneca trial results were certainly another welcome boost to the world’s hopes of combatting this awful virus. But although his advisers clearly try to get him to temper his enthusiasm with various scientific caveats, the PM couldn’t help himself earlier in the day. In fact, not long before his televised address, he sounded even more categoric as he declared the way out of the UK’s coronavirus pandemic.
Speaking at the fag end of a long Commons session, Johnson was asked bluntly by the SNP’s Carol Monaghan whether he had “an exit strategy” or was just winging it again with his new Christmas relaxation plan. He replied that he would use “tough tiering”, mass testing and a roll-out of the vaccine to keep the virus down.
Johnson then added: “We must push it down further until such time as we are able to say that all those who are vulnerable have been vaccinated and we can move forward and go back completely to normal.” Yes, you read that right “back completely to normal”. And he went yet further: “That terminus, that end date, looks like being Easter.” So, we will all be back to normal by Easter. He got so carried away, it’s a surprise he didn’t refer to his new coronavirus exit date as ‘Crexit’ (you can have that one for free, prime minister).
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It took Chris Whitty to add a Grinch-like counterpoint to Johnson’s ho-ho-homilies of optimism. When I asked him if Sage had modelled the increase in Covid cases (and deaths) that a festive relaxation would trigger, the chief medical officer warned it “is going to come at a risk”. And it all depended on whether the public would “go wild”, before, during and after Christmas.
That sense of concern at the high stakes being played here had been underlined by Keir Starmer earlier. He too referred to risk, saying the government’s move out of national lockdown into a regionalised approach was “risky... because the previous three-tier system didn’t work”. Starmer didn’t quite say he wouldn’t vote against the plans but he was putting down a marker in case it all goes wrong.
The good news, as well as the Oxford vaccine data, was that Monday’s case numbers in the UK fell to their lowest for six weeks. If they keep falling, the regulations on the tier system will get a much smoother passage through parliament next week. In particular, the alarming rise in cases in the South East (Swale in Kent rocketed this last week) will boost the case for why a national lockdown was needed, rather than just the strict Tier 3.
But the other risky business embarked on involved NHS Test and Trace. Back in July, the PM’s bold summer plan declared: “Over the coming months we will continue to build the NHS Test and Trace service into a world-class operation in infection control.” Those words sound pretty overblown this winter, yet there was a massive injection of cash from the PM today. Its extra £7bn takes it to £22bn this financial year – equivalent to nearly a fifth of the entire NHS budget (£129bn). When Rishi Sunak announces spending squeezes on Wednesday, remember that £22bn figure.
The PM couldn’t tell me how this new money would be divided up between testing and tracing, or whether the tracing cash would go to more local public health staff rather than private firms like Serco. Although mass, rapid testing will be money well spent if it persuades more people to isolate, the system needs to actually reach many more contacts of people with Covid in the first place. And the PM doesn’t have until Easter to sort that out.


thehuffingtonpostuk--2020-11-23--Boris Johnson Signals The Most Vulnerable Could Be Vaccinated By Easter

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Boris Johnson has indicated that the majority of people most in need of a covid-19 vaccination might be able to get one by Easter.
Underlining the recent huge strides made in developing a vaccine in recent weeks, the UK prime minister highlighted the April 4 festival as a date to get the jab to the vulnerable so long as there’s a “favourable wind”.
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But his upbeat tone came as the UK’s top epidemiologist warned the public not to “go wild” over Christmas.
It came as the Oxford-AstraZeneca team said its jab had proved 70% effective, and follows positive results from Pfizer and Moderna.
None of the jabs have yet been approved for use and getting people vaccinated will be a major undertaking.
Johnson, who is self-isolating, made the comments via video-link at a Downing Street press conference with chief medical officer professor Chris Whitty and Oxford Vaccine Group director professor Andrew Pollard.
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He said: “If we can roll it out at a good lick ... roll both vaccines out, or all three vaccines, potentially at a good lick ... with a favourable wind ... this is entirely hypothetical ... we should be able to inoculate the vast majority of people who need the most protection by Easter.
“That would make a very substantial change to where we are at the moment.”
Earlier in the House of Commons, Johnson referred to making sure the most vulnerable have been vaccinated, adding: “Terminus, that end date, looks like being Easter. We may be able to do better and make considerable improvements before Easter, but we should aim for Easter.”
"This is entirely hypothetical, we should be able to inoculate the vast majority of people who need the most protection by Easter."
Boris Johnson comments on how quickly he thinks the vaccine could be rolled out if all three are given medical clearance.https://t.co/BHl3sy8WLd pic.twitter.com/Ze3tR70O3L — SkyNews (@SkyNews) November 23, 2020
Meanwhile, a plan to allow families to be reunited for Christmas is being thrashed out with the leaders of Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland, but Johnson was unable to confirm details on Monday.
Later in the press conference, Whitty warned people not to go “wild” when restrictions are loosened over the festive period.
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Whitty said: “If people do all those things very seriously we will have much less impact from Christmas whilst people are still being able to enjoy it, than if people choose to actually take a very much less public-spirited approach to it and go wild over that period.
“And so I think what we really need to do is we need to say, look if everyone is serious before, during and after then we can minimise the amount of impact it’ll have.”
The prime minister struck a cautious tone as he told the nation that “we’re not out of the woods yet” and that the UK faced a “hard” start to 2021, but that he expected “things will look and feel very different” after Easter.
Johnson said: “We can hear the drumming hooves of the cavalry coming over the brow of the hill but they are not here yet.
“Even if all three vaccines are approved, even if the production timetables are met – and vaccines notoriously fall behind in their production timetables – it will be months before we can be sure we have inoculated everyone that needs a vaccine.”
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He warned that it is “not the moment to let the virus rip for the sake of Christmas parties”, saying: “Tis the season to be jolly, but it is also the season to be jolly careful, especially with elderly relatives.”
Johnson said that the months ahead “will be hard, they will be cold, they include January and February when the NHS is under its greatest pressure”.
That meant the need for new tiers from Wednesday December 2, replacing England’s lockdown, with more areas facing tougher restrictions than under the previous regional regime.
Under the new tier system:
– People will be able to leave their home for any purpose, and socialise with others in outdoor public spaces, subject to the rule of six. But only in Tier 1 will people be able to meet indoors with those not in their household or bubble.
– Collective worship and weddings will resume, though with a cap of 15 guests and receptions will be banned in Tier 3. Thirty people will be allowed to attend funerals, but only 15 will be able to attend a wake.
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– Pubs and restaurants in Tier 3 will only be able to offer takeaway and delivery services, while indoor entertainment, hotels and other accommodation will close. In Tier 2, hospitality must close unless it is operating as a restaurant and in Tier 1 it will be table service only.
– In areas where hospitality venues are allowed to stay open, the 10pm curfew will be replaced with a last orders call at 10pm – but venues must close at 11pm.
– Retail and personal care – such as hairdressers and beauty salons – can reopen in all tiers, and indoor entertainment venues – such as cinemas, theatres, bowling alleys and casinos – will be allowed to stay open in Tiers 1 and 2, but not Tier 3.
– Gyms and swimming pools can reopen everywhere, though restrictions vary across the tiers for classes and organised adult sport. Spectator sport – and theatre – will be permitted in Tiers 1 and 2, though only drive-in events will be allowed in Tier 3.
Details of which areas will be in which tiers will be set out on Thursday.
The latest figures showed a further 206 people had died within 28 days of testing positive for Covid-19 as of Monday and there had been 15,450 more lab-confirmed cases.
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As well as the progress on vaccines, Johnson pointed to the expansion of rapid mass testing as a way of returning to something approaching normality.


thehuffingtonpostuk--2020-11-23--Jeremy Corbyn Told To Apologise 'Without Reservation' By Labour Chief Whip

PA
Jeremy Corbyn must apologise “unequivocally, unambiguously and without reservation” after claiming anti-Semitism allegations were “dramatically overstated”, Labour’s chief whip has said.
In a letter to the party’s former leader, Nick Brown said Corbyn’s response to the Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) report caused “distress and pain” to the Jewish community.
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Factional warfare broke out among Labour’s ranks again last week when Keir Starmer refused to readmit Corbyn as a Labour MP after he was suspended last month.
Corbyn was reinstated as a Labour Party member by the party’s ruling body, the National Executive Committee, after clarifying his comments to say that concerns about anti-Semitism were “neither exaggerated nor overstated”.
But Starmer refused to allow him to sit as a Labour MP.
While Jewish groups and some MPs, including Margaret Hodge, had called for Starmer to act and deny Corbyn re-entry to the parliamentary party, figures on the left, such as Len McCluskey, said he should be welcomed back.
Now Brown has called for Corbyn to say sorry. It comes after Starmer said he would keep his decision “under review”.
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Brown, writing to Corbyn on Monday, said that to inform an investigation into whether the former leader broke the party’s code of conduct he wanted him to consider apologising for his comments.
Jeremy Corbyn and the party's chief whip Nick Brown walk through Portcullis House in Westminster PA Wire/PA Images
According to a letter passed to PA Media, Brown said: “Will you unequivocally, unambiguously and without reservation apologise for your comments made on the morning of 29 October 2020, in particular for saying ‘One anti-Semite is one too many, but the scale of the problem was also dramatically overstated for political reasons by our opponents inside and outside the party, as well as by much of the media’, which caused such distress and pain to Jewish members of the Labour Party and the wider Jewish community?”
Brown also asked Corbyn to confirm that he will remove or edit his response – which he posted on Facebook, and asked for an assurance that he will cooperate fully with the party.
A Labour spokesman said: “Following consultation with the Labour Leader, the Chief Whip has written to Jeremy Corbyn about his precautionary suspension from the whip.
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“In the interests of transparency, a copy of this letter has been put in the public domain. We will not be making as it seeks to implement the EHRC’s recommendations.g any further comments.”


thehuffingtonpostuk--2020-11-23--Boris Johnson Had Strong WFH Energy In His Major Covid Speech

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Boris Johnson today faced the question that has become familiar to so many in 2020: “Are you muted?”
The prime minister was not taking part in a family quiz, but giving a statement to parliament on the government’s coronavirus strategy when his video sound cut out.
Neither he nor the Commons accepted responsibility for the technical problem, with both sides blaming each other.
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Johnson is self-isolating after having breakfast with Covid-stricken Tory MP Lee Anderson, so had to update MPs by video from Downing Street.
But as he was answering a question from fellow Tory Mark Harper, the sound went dead.
The chamber erupted with laughter as speaker Lindsay Hoyle made several attempts to regain contact with Johnson.
“Have you pressed the button, prime minister?” he asked, but silence ensued.
One MP could be heard to joke “he’s not paid the electric”, while others began to laugh.
Hoyle continued: “Have you pressed the button by mistake? Are you muted? It’s not our end, prime minister. It could well be yours.”
He then suggested that health secretary Matt Hancock could step in and continue the debate.
The two cabinet ministers seemed unable to decide, leading Hoyle to add: “Is one of you going to do it or not? It’s no good looking at each other.”
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Just after Hoyle suspended proceedings, an echoey Johnson could heard saying “some problem with the sound”.
When the House returned, Hancock started to answer questions on the government’s plan to replace England’s national lockdown on December 2 with a new system of tiers 1, 2 and 3.
Several people on Twitter poked fun at the hiccup.
Boris Johnson's sound drops out.
Matt Hancock declines to step in.
Speaker suspends Commons.
PM shouts: "Some problem with the soun...."
It's still 2020. — Pippa Crerar (@PippaCrerar) November 23, 2020
A self-isolating Boris Johnson suffers a sound failure as he tries to answer a question in the House of Commons prompting one Labour MP to shout: 'He's not paid the broadband bill!' — Jack Maidment (@jrmaidment) November 23, 2020
Perils of virtual parliament – Boris Johnson, speaking to Commons from No 10 in self-isolation, suddenly loses the sound. "Have you pressed the mute button, prime minister?" the Speaker, Lindsay Hoyle, asks the silent PM. — Peter Walker (@peterwalker99) November 23, 2020
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thehuffingtonpostuk--2020-11-23--Covid Rules: New Tier System Will Last Until End Of March In England

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People in England are expected to be living under new local coronavirus restrictions until the end of March, Boris Johnson has announced.
A toughened three-tier system will be reintroduced at one minute past midnight on December 2, when England’s current lockdown ends.
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Each area will then be placed into tiers 1, 2 or 3, with initial allocations to be announced on Thursday and reviewed every two weeks from December 2.
Announcing the measures to the Commons, the prime minister said he was “sorry” to announce that many areas would be placed in tougher, higher tiers than they were in before the lockdown.
March is when the regulations governing the measures expire in law, and the tiered system is expected to last until then despite the recent breakthroughs on vaccines.
The tiers themselves will be also toughened up as government scientific advisers have assessed that the measures predating the lockdown did not do enough to bring the reproduction (R) rate of the virus down.
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Announcing his Covid winter plan, Johnson praised advances in testing, treatment and vaccines and said the “scientific cavalry is in sight”.
WATCH LIVE: Prime Minister @BorisJohnson sets out the COVID-19 Winter Plan in the @HouseOfCommons (23 November 2020) https://t.co/BePmHVUoXt — UK Prime Minister (@10DowningStreet) November 23, 2020
But he told MPs: “We know in our hearts that next year we will succeed.
“By the spring these advances should reduce the need for the restrictions we have endured in 2020 and make the whole concept of a Covid lockdown redundant.
“The hard truth is we’re not there yet.
“First we must get through winter without the virus spreading out of control and squandering our hard-won gains at exactly the time where the burden on the NHS is always greatest.
“Our winter plan is designed to carry us safely to spring.”
Under the tougher new system in tier 2, pubs and restaurants can only serve alcohol alongside “substantial” meals, while all hospitality except delivery and takeaways will be ordered to close in tier 3.
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The 10pm strict curfew for pubs and restaurants will be scrapped. Instead, last orders will be called at 10pm with an 11pm closing time.
The measures are not expected to cover Christmas, when rules around household mixing are likely to be relaxed for a few days.
A pedestrian wearing a face mask walks past Christmas-themed window displays inside Burlington Arcade in central London on Monday TOLGA AKMEN via Getty Images
Elsewhere, in a significant relaxation, fans will be allowed back into football and other sports stadiums in both tiers 1 and 2.
In tier 1, stadiums will be allowed to open to 50% capacity, up to a maximum of 4,000 fans, whichever is lower.
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In tier 2, they can open up to a maximum of 2,000 fans, or 50% capacity, again whichever is lower.
Across England, stay-at-home instructions will end and shops, gyms and personal care will reopen.
Collective worship, outdoor sports and weddings can also resume and the rule of six will apply to meeting in outdoor public spaces.
The foreign travel ban will also end on December 2.
On Thursday, the government will announce which local authority areas are in which tiers.
These tier allocations will be reviewed every two weeks.
Labour leader Keir Starmer raised concerns about re-entering the tiered system without having a fully functioning Test and Trace system.
He said: “If we’re reintroducing a three-tier system without having fixed trace and isolate [sic], that is a major risk and we all need to acknowledge it.
“Because it begs the million dollar question, which is: how confident is the PM that the approach he’s proposing today will keep the R rate below 1?
“Because, if it doesn’t, the infections will go up. They will go back out of control and we could well be back in a national lockdown.”


thehuffingtonpostuk--2020-11-23--Revealed: The Full Details Of England’s New Covid Rules

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Boris Johnson has said he hopes his new three-tier system of local lockdowns for England will control Covid-19 this winter.
The new system came in when the second national lockdown was lifted on December 2 and is expected to remain in place until the end of March.
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This is what you can and can’t do in each level.
Tier 1
The rule-of-six for social gatherings, both indoor and outdoor, will be enforced, unless for work and education purposes.
Shops, gyms, hairdressers, beauty salons and leisure centres will be open.
Pubs and restaurants can open, but there is table service only and venues must take last orders at 10pm and close their doors at 11pm.
Collective worship and weddings can take place, with a maximum of 15 guests.
Outdoor sports can take place but there is a maximum crowd size of either 50% occupancy of the stadium or 4,000 spectators, whichever number is smaller.
Indoor sport can take place with a maximum of 1,000 spectators.
People are encouraged to minimise travel and to work from home where possible.
Tier 2
Mixing of households indoors will be banned and the rule-of-six for social gatherings applies for outdoors.
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Shops, gyms, hairdressers, beauty salons and leisure centres will be open.
Pubs and restaurants can open but alcohol can only be served with a substantial meal, with the same opening times restriction as in tier 1.
Collective worship and weddings can take place, with a maximum of 15 guests.
Outdoor sports can take place but there is a maximum crowd of 50% of overall capacity or 2,000, whichever is smaller.
Indoor sport can take place with a maximum of 1,000 spectators.
People should work from home where possible.
Tier 3
Household mixing both indoors and outdoors is banned. The rule-of-six for gatherings in public gardens or parks applies.
Shops, gyms, hairdressers, beauty salons and leisure centres will be open.
Hospitality venues such as pubs and restaurants, hotels and indoor entertainment venues will be forced to close. Delivery and takeaway services will be permitted, however.
Attending indoor and outdoor sport events is banned.
People should avoid travelling outside their area except for work, education or health reasons.
People should work from home where possible.
How are tiers decided?
The government has said the tiers are non-negotiable but will be reviewed every 14 days.
What areas are in which tiers are decided using five criteria:


thehuffingtonpostuk--2020-11-23--Why The Government's Christmas Coronavirus Rules Are (Almost) Irrelevant

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Christmas has been saved. Sort of.
Over the weekend, plans to relax coronavirus restrictions “for a small number of days” were revealed, to let households mix a bit more freely across the UK during the festive period.
But while the exact details are yet to be announced, one thing is for certain – coronavirus hasn’t gone away.
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What is all this talk about a Christmas ‘armistice’? Are we asking COVID to agree not to infect anyone for a few days? I don’t think it works like that. Maybe it would like a friendly game of football while we’re at it. #armistice #wargames #christmastruce — JellyJones (@UkJudith) November 22, 2020
In other words, all the government is really doing is giving people the freedom to take more risks if they want to.
Similarly, for some, the fact that something is or isn’t legal won’t stop them doing it if they want to enough.
HuffPost UK spoke to seven different people about their plans for Christmas. And while they all varied considerably, not one was basing their decision on what the government says we can or can’t do.
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The centenarian
Lara Smith’s grandmother will be 100 years old on December 13. She lives independently but is looked after by Lara’s mother.
“My mother has already said that even if the government rules allow, she will not let my gran see any family other than herself for her birthday or at Christmas,” says Lara.
“She might not be around next Christmas and I would happily buy full PPE so that I could go and see her, or even sit outside her window to say hello. But no, my mum wouldn’t allow that either.
″I respect her decision but it’s very difficult.”
Lara Smith (right), with her mother and grandmother (centre). Lara Smith
The irresponsible relatives
Lucy is 29 and lives in Leicester with her fiancé. In a normal year she would have a large family Christmas dinner with 10 or so relatives.
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But some of their behaviour during the pandemic this year has made her think twice about seeing them next month.
“My niece and nephew were sent home from school because someone tested positive for Covid and then their parents got Covid,” she says.
“They were seeing friends, and the grandparents were still babysitting – they’ve been so irresponsible. It’s all been a bit of a hot mess.
“I feel like the choice of what we do at Christmas has been taken away from us. I’m just pissed off and angry.”
The vulnerable son
Rebecca hasn’t seen her son since March and will not see him at Christmas regardless of the rules. He has severe learning difficulties and she feels “the risks are too high”.
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“In March he was 5ft7ins, and now he’s four inches taller than me. It’s really hard. He can’t talk so I can’t speak to him on the phone,” she adds.
“Everyone is going to spend it separately. It’s just one day, let’s just get through this and then we can spend more time together in the future.”
The vulnerable father
Yvonne and Tom Oulton live in Buxton and haven’t yet decided if they will see their daughter Lucy and son Nick.
“I’m a 69-year-old cystic fibrosis patient and you won’t hear that very often,” says Tom.
“My lungs are pretty knackered already and if I catch this thing it will finish me off so it’s quite important I don’t get it.
“Even if Lucy does come up, she’ll have to isolate for a couple of weeks and so on, so it will be a pain for her and interfere with her life even more.”
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Tom and Yvonne Oulton Lucy Oulton
Yvonne adds: “Until the vaccine is administered I don’t think anyone can be sure they’re going to be safe.”
The scientist’s view Linda Bauld, professor of public health at the University of Edinburgh, said on Monday that meeting people indoors would not come without risks. With infection levels “higher than we would wish” across the UK, it provides an opportunity for Covid-19 to spread and people could be particularly concerned for older relatives. She told BBC Good Morning Scotland: “Many of us would wish to see our older relatives at Christmas, and we know that mortality from Covid-19 is significantly higher for older people – I think around 86% of deaths in hospital occurred in people over the age of 65 – so this is concerning. “At the moment we still have levels of infection in the community across the UK that are higher than we would wish. “If we come together with people from different households at the time of year when the windows are closed, the people you care about, physical distancing is difficult. It is an opportunity for the virus to spread, so this is really really tough.”
The (potential) rule breakers
Not everyone has made the decision to avoid family gatherings at Christmas. Gracie and Sophie Tyrrell are going to spend the festive season with their parents even if it means being fined.
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“To stop families seeing each other at Christmas is just crazy,” says Gracie.
“I do understand that this is a pandemic and people are dying but we are going to take strict precautions so that we’re all OK.
“I just don’t think they can stop people. It’s just my Mum and Dad, me and my sister and our partners, a relatively small family so we don’t see the harm in it.
“I really hope they don’t cancel Christmas but I don’t think they can because so many people will be in the same boat. We’re going to see each other whatever happens and if that means being fined then, yeah, we would take the fine.”
Gracie (right) and Sophie Tyrrell. Gracie & Sophie Tyrrell
The summer Christmas
Nicola Shelton and her husband normally have an elongated Christmas that involves seeing friends and family across the country with a series of restaurant meals capped off by a big New Year’s Eve party at home in Liverpool.
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This year, they have decided to postpone all of it until the summer.
“My husband is clinically extremely vulnerable and he would only have a 50% chance of survival if he caught pneumonia.
“But he’s not on his way out and given how close we are to the vaccine, we’d be far better to postpone Christmas and have it on July 25. Anything we did this year would be so risky that it would always be tinged with fear.
“It doesn’t matter what the government has to offer.
“I can understand people who want to see family who might not have much time left. But for us, there’s going to be next Christmas too.”
The trade off no one wants
Katy Speeds, 43, is classed as clinically vulnerable and has decided against spending time with her family this Christmas.
“We are sentimental about Christmas but with my health and my parents getting older, is it really worth the risk for a few hours of eating a roast dinner?” she asked.
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thehuffingtonpostuk--2020-11-23--Covid Rules: What Will And Won’t Be Reopening In England From December 2

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As England prepares for the end of its second national lockdown on December 2, we’re faced with another new set of rules to learn.
Boris Johnson made a statement unveiling the “Covid winter plan” in the House of Commons on Monday, confirming: “The national restrictions will end on the 2nd December and they will not be renewed.”
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The three-tier system – which divided the country into three ‘risk levels’ before the lockdown – will return from next Wednesday 2 December, with some slight adjustments and additions in detail. You can find out which tier you are in here.
Some businesses will reopen “regardless of tier”.
Venues reopening across the country include:
Gyms
Non-essential shops
Places of worship (subject to social distancing)
Wedding venues (up to 15 guests permitted nationwide, but receptions not permitted in Tier 3).
Venues for outdoor sport (e.g golf curses and tennis courts)
‘Personal care’ settings (e.g. hairdressers and nail salons)
Prostock-Studio via Getty Images
What’s happening to pubs and restaurants?
The hospitality sector will be subject to the tier system.
Tier 1: Restaurants and pubs can reopen. The 10pm closure rule – referred to previously as the curfew – has been scrapped. Instead, last orders will be at 10 and venues will need to close by 11pm.
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Tier 2: Pubs and bars must close unless they are “serving substantial meals (like a full breakfast, main lunchtime or evening meal), along with accompanying drinks”.
Tier 3: All hospitality must close except for delivery, takeaway and drive-through.
What’s the deal with entertainment venues?
Entertainment venues such as cinemas, theatres, casinos and bowling alleys, can reopen in tiers 1 and 2. However, in tier 3 these businesses can not reopen.
Hotels and other accommodation providers must close in tier 3, except for specific exemptions, “including people staying for work purposes or where they cannot return home”.
Will some things stay the same?


thehuffingtonpostuk--2020-11-24--Self-Confessed Troll Donald Trump Jr. Shares Fake Video Of His Dad Beating Up Biden

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Donald Trump Jr. took time out from cleaning his guns during his coronavirus quarantine to share a spoof video to Instagram of his dad beating up President-elect Joe Biden and prominent Democrats.
Outgoing President Donald Trump’s eldest son — who is currently self-isolating in a cabin after testing positive for Covid-19 last week — shared an edited version of the barroom brawl scene from the Robert De Niro-directed 1993 crime movie “A Bronx Tale,” writing: “Now youse can’t leave!!!
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The clip sees Trump, Vice President Mike Pence, Trump attorney Rudy Giuliani and former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie (R) attacking Biden, Vice President-elect Kamala Harris, former President Barack Obama, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.), Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) and 2016 candidate Hillary Clinton. It ends with Christie breaking wind.
In a video that Trump Jr. shared online Friday to confirm that he’d tested positive for Covid-19, the first son confessed to being a troll on the internet.
“I don’t have the red eyes like they claimed I had for apparently using cocaine prior to my RNC speech,” he said, noting how he was asymptomatic. “That is the world of the Internet. God knows I troll, and do my fair share of it, so I guess it comes back to me, in time, as well. That’s the game.”
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thehuffingtonpostuk--2020-11-24--Shops That Breach Covid Safety Rules Face Seven-Day Shutdown Orders, No.10 Reveals

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Shops and other businesses will face swift closure and high fines if they breach “Covid-secure” safety guidelines after the national lockdown ends, Downing Street has revealed.
Councils in tier 2 and tier 3 areas will be able to impose swift penalty notices of up to £4,000 as part of the crackdown to accompany the shift to regionalised tiers next week, Boris Johnson’s spokesperson said on Tuesday.
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The new powers, part of the PM’s “Covid winter plan”, will create several levels of sanctions when a local authority discovers that companies are not following the rules on social distancing, protective equipment or other measures.
A new “coronavirus improvement notice” will demand that shops or other firms rectify any breaches within 48 hours.
A “coronavirus immediate restriction notice” will order a 48-hour shutdown and a “coronavirus restriction notice” will result in a seven-day closure.
Breaches of the improvement notice will result in fines of up to £2,000, whereas breaches of the restriction notices will trigger fines of £4,000.
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Police will become involved if there are failures to meet a council’s demands.
“Local authorities play a crucial role in encouraging compliance with regulations and taking enforcement action when premises do not follow the rules,” the spokesperson said.
“These new powers will ensure local authorities are equipped with the right tools to ensure rapid improvement where premises are not Covid-secure.
“The powers are something that many local authorities have been asking for, which is why we have introduced them.”
Under the plan published on Monday night, “premises that are posing a risk to public health” were warned they would face new sanctions.
“The government is clear that these powers should only be used where necessary and
proportionate to do so, and by trained local authority enforcement officers,” the plan said.
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“Local authorities will continue the approach they have taken to date; engaging, educating and encouraging premises to comply, and only taking enforcement action to address the most pressing public health risks.”


thehuffingtonpostuk--2020-11-24--Mystery Monolith Appears In Remote Utah Canyon

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It definitely wasn’t planted in a remote Utah canyon by aliens.
Probably.
After all, this is 2020 we’re talking about.
While on a mission to count bighorn sheep last Wednesday, Wildlife Resources officers aboard a Utah Department of Public Safety helicopter spotted a curious sight: a steely, triangular 10- to 12-foot-tall monolith, firmly planted at the bottom of an isolated sandstone gulch.
“During the counts we came across this, in the middle of nowhere, buried deep in the rock,” the department wrote in a caption accompanying the photo on Instagram. “Inquiring minds want to know, what the heck is it? Anyone?”
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Utah Division of Wildlife Resources officers spotted this monolith in the southeast corner of the state on Nov. 18. Utah Highway Patrol
Officials with the Utah Department of Public Safety investigate the monolith they found. Utah Department of Public Safety
“One of the biologists is the one who spotted it and we just happened to fly directly over the top of it,” pilot Bret Hutchings told KSLTV.
“He was like, ‘Whoa, whoa, whoa, turn around, turn around!’ And I was like, ‘what.’ And he’s like, ‘There’s this thing back there ― we’ve got to go look at it!’”
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Hutchings speculated it might be some sort of way-finding device for NASA, but ultimately conceded it’s more likely an art project than something with a deliberate scientific purpose.
The monolith was discovered while officers were counting bighorn sheep from a helicopter. Utah Department of Public Safety
The @UtahDPS helicopter was assisting the @UtahDWR in counting bighorn sheep in remote southern Utah Wednesday when the crew encountered something entirely 'out of this world'...@KSL5TV #KSLTV #Utah
Photojournalist: @Photog_Steve5 pic.twitter.com/f8P0fayDIS — Andrew Adams (@AndrewAdamsKSL) November 21, 2020
Hutchings declined to share the monolith’s exact location, fearing someone might endanger themselves while trying to reach it.
The installation seems to have been ripped straight from a scene in Stanley Kubrick’s 1968 film “2001: A Space Odyssey,” in which a group of ape-men encounter a similar monolith for the first time:
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thehuffingtonpostuk--2020-11-24--What Are The Coronavirus Vaccines And How Do They Differ?

What Are The Coronavirus Vaccines And How Do They Differ?
Three vaccines have shown over 90% effectiveness in late stage trials against coronavirus. Here’s how the coronavirus vaccines by Pfizer/BioNTech, Moderna and Oxford/AstraZeneca work and how they differ from one another.


thehuffingtonpostuk--2020-11-24--Starmer Accused Of ‘New Labour Style Control Freakery’ In Row Over Ruling NEC

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Keir Starmer has triggered a fresh row with Jeremy Corbyn supporters after key changes to Labour’s ruling body tightened his grip over the party.
Starmer was accused by the left of “New Labour style control freakery” following the election of former deputy leader Dame Margaret Beckett as chair of the party’s National Executive Committee (NEC).
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Beckett’s election, plus that of vice chair Alice Perry, means the Labour leader can now more easily assert his majority on the NEC – and on its all-important officers’ group, which oversees internal party matters.
But Corbyn-backing members of the NEC staged a “digital walk-out” of its annual general meeting, protesting that left-wing union official Ian Murray had been cut out of getting the top post taken by Beckett.
The row came just hours after Corbyn was effectively told by chief whip Nick Brown that he would not be allowed to return as a Labour MP until he gave a full apology for his remarks that anti-Semitism had been “overstated” for factional gain.
Last week, former party chair Ian Lavery told HuffPost that Starmer was waging a “vendetta” against Corbyn and warned a leadership challenge could happen unless there was a change of direction.
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Other flashpoints have seen the Bakers’ Union start a consultation process to end its affiliation to the party, plus left-wing Young Labour members being ordered by party HQ to withdraw a statement opposing the decision to withhold the parliamentary whip from Corbyn.
The latest clash came when 13 left-wing members of the NEC, led by Unite’s Howard Beckett and former MP Laura Pidcock, refused to take part in its meeting on Tuesday morning.
They claimed that, under normal convention, NEC vice chair and Fire Brigades Union official Ian Murray was due to become chair.
The left grouping were just forced to walk out of NEC meeting. The disrespect for the left is something we will not put up with. The leadership undermine governance of the NEC, censor debate & ignore our processes by doubling down on the removal of the whip from @jeremycorbyn — Laura Pidcock (@LauraPidcock) November 24, 2020
However, Starmer supporters pointed out that other conventions had been torn up under Corbyn’s reign and he was simply restoring the principle that those with the longest service on the ruling body took the chair and vice chair posts.
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Beckett and Perry are the two longest serving members of the ruling NEC. One NEC member told HuffPost UK that the protesters were guilty of “breathtaking hypocrisy” because Margaret Beckett was herself excluded from the NEC post under Corbyn for factional reasons.
But Momentum’s Mish Rahman, a newly elected member of the NEC, said it was one of a string of attacks on the left.
“Yet again Starmer is trying to play games with democracy and undermine the role of trade unions within our party. This latest factional attack fits a worrying pattern of control-freakery reminiscent of the New Labour years,” he said.
“There can be no party unity until Starmer fully understands the need to work with the labour movement and the many tens of thousands of grassroots members who can help deliver a Labour government.
“Our walkout today was to remind him of this, and to send a message that we will not put up with petty and repeated attacks on trade unions and members.”
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A joint letter from the 13 left caucus NEC members to general secretary David Evans stated “the real reason” for the decision to bypass Murray from the chair post was because he had signed a letter opposing the continued withholding of the whip from Corbyn.
The protest was described as “extremely childish” by one NEC member. Another said it underlined the growing realisation among Starmer’s opponents that they now lacked the numbers to influence its decisions.
In the recent NEC elections, Starmer’s slim majority on the ruling body was strengthened significantly as centrist group Labour To Win secured more seats.
With his authority underlined, the key posts of chairs of disputes and equalities and other important NEC panels are expected to shift from left-wingers to Starmer supporters next month and in January.
Deputy leader Angela Rayner, often seen as a “go-between” for Starmer and the left, was absent from the NEC meeting on Tuesday.
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Prior to Corbyn’s era, the most high-profile occasion when a vice chair was not elected chair was in 1986/7, insiders said.
That was when Neil Kinnock opted to chair the NEC himself instead of Dennis Skinner, because it was a general election year. Skinner was made chair the following year.


thehuffingtonpostuk--2020-11-24--Florida Man Wrestles His Puppy From Alligator's Jaws In Dramatic Video

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Don’t even think about messing with this Florida man’s puppy.
Richard Wilbanks, 74, acted swiftly when his 3-month-old pup Gunner was snatched by an alligator in the backyard pond of his home in Estero, near South Florida’s Gulf Coast.
In a dramatic video, Wilbanks wrestles the young gator in waist-deep water, bringing it above the surface and prying open its jaws to release the King Charles Cavalier spaniel.
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“We were just out walking by the pond,” Wilbanks told CNN, “and it came out of the water like a missile. I never thought an alligator could be that fast. It was so quick.”
Acting on adrenaline or instinct, Wilbanks said he just “automatically jumped into the water.”
He said he sustained some injuries to his hands and went to the doctor for a tetanus shot to be safe.
Gunner had one small puncture wound to his belly, but is doing fine after a trip to the vet, Wilbanks said.
Wilbanks told WINK News that he understands this is the alligator’s home and does not want it removed from the pond. He urged other pet owners to keep their animals away from the water’s edge.
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The dramatic encounter was caught on camera thanks to a partnership between the Florida Wildlife Federation and the fSTOP Foundation as part of a campaign called “Sharing the Landscape.” Its mission is to help the community understand and appreciate the wildlife they live near and help reduce conflicts.
Meredith Budd, the regional policy director of the Florida Wildlife Federation, said the cameras typically capture videos of deer or bobcats. It’s not often they catch something like what Wilbanks and Gunner went through.
“We live on a shared landscape,” Budd said. “We don’t just want to tolerate wildlife, but, rather, we want to thrive with wildlife on a shared landscape.”
Louise Wilbanks, Richard’s wife, told WINK the incident has given them a new appreciation for the wildlife near their homes.
“We do need to be aware they are wild animals. They’re not here for our benefit. We’re very lucky to share this space with them,” she said.


thehuffingtonpostuk--2020-11-24--Ranvir Singh Addresses Rumours Of Strictly Come Dancing Romance With Giovanni Pernice

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Strictly Come Dancing star Ranvir Singh has downplayed the suggestion that she and professional Giovanni Pernice are anything more than dance partners.
Throughout their time in the competition, Ranvir and Giovanni have been at the centre of speculation about the nature of their relationship.
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Over the weekend, their Argentine Tango routine did little to dispel the rumours, with head judge Shirley Ballas commenting: “Well [that routine] made me rather hot under the collar I have to say.
“I felt like you were in your own room and we were all watching from the window, as your legs got entwined and your lips puckered… and you almost kissed each other – it was so hot! It was so sensational.”
Ranvir Singh and Giovanni Pernice's Argentine Tango got everyone talking BBC / Guy Levy
Ranvir – who protested at the time, joking “my mum’s watching!” – was asked about Giovanni by her Good Morning Britain colleagues on Tuesday morning, but insisted there was nothing going on between them.
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When Piers Morgan questioned if there’d been “hanky panky”, she shot back: “No, of course not. There hasn’t – there really hasn’t.”
“We get on,” Ranvir said. “It’s just that we both ... I suppose what it is, is there’s a performance element to the dancing, which is all about telling the story about two people.
“I mean, of course when you keep replaying that bit, it’s slightly awkward, thank you very much.”
Ranvir and Giovanni performing earlier in the series BBC/Guy Levy
She added: “He’s very much about the energy of the performance. It’s so much more than just about learning the steps or learning the routine, or any of those things.”
Ranvir and Giovanni aren’t the only ones who’ve had to contend with Strictly rumours this year, though, with fellow contestants HRVY and Maisie Smith having also been at the centre of headlines about a potential romance.
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While HRVY has maintained that they are just friends, he has said that he isn’t ruling out a romance in the future, when the Strictly stars are allowed to leave their respective support bubbles.


thehuffingtonpostuk--2020-11-24--On The Mind - The Brain In Love

On The Mind - The Brain In Love

On The Mind - The Brain In Love
Throughout history we have seen love shape our lives, our societies and our economies. It may be assumed that our hearts drive this emotion, but in reality it is our brains. In this episode of HuffPost’s original series on the inner workings of the mind, biological anthropologist Dr. Helen Fisher, explains what exactly is happening when the brain is in love.


thehuffingtonpostuk--2020-11-24--What The Oxford Vaccine Trial's 'Efficacy' And 'Effectiveness' Actually Mean

2020 was the year the UK became a nation of amateur epidemiologists.
Under the dark cloud of the Covid-19 pandemic, we throw around terms like “asymptomatic” and “exponential growth” and talked about the “R-rate” like virology has always been a national pastime.
But as the race for a jab to protect us from coronavirus heats up, we are entering the next stage of our education – vaccines.
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In recent weeks, biotech company Moderna and pharmaceutical giant Pfizer have both reported that their trial vaccines can offer around 95% protection from Covid-19, while Oxford University researchers revealed on Monday that their jab could have an efficacy of up to 90%. Or, administered a different way, 70%.
But tens of thousands of people took part in the trial, and only 30 developed Covid after having the jab. So why isn’t the number higher?
We asked some scientists to explain it to us.
What do scientists really mean when they talk about ‘vaccine efficacy’?
For those of us who aren’t part of the scientific community, “vaccine efficacy” probably isn’t a term we’ve come across much in the past.
Vaccine efficacy is a measure of how much a trial participant’s risk of getting a disease drops if they have had the vaccine, compared with those given a placebo jab.
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“The greater the percentage reduction of illness in the vaccinated group, the greater the vaccine efficacy,” the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) explains on its website.
So, how is vaccine efficacy calculated?
The CDC sets out one way of calculating vaccine efficacy on its website.
First, scientists testing a vaccine will establish the number of trial participants who caught the disease even though they’d been given the jab. In the case of the Oxford trial, that was 30.
They then subtract this figure from the number of unvaccinated trial participants (those who got a placebo) who were infected. On the Oxford trial, that was 101.
Then, they divide the result – that’s 71 for the Oxford trial – by the number of unvaccinated participants who developed the disease, which as we just said was 101 in the Oxford vaccine example.
Finally, to get a percentage, multiply that by 100.
I don’t get it
A less maths-y way of thinking about it is this.
Imagine that both groups (those who got the vaccine, and those who got a placebo) were both equally exposed to the virus during the trial. On average, that’s probably a fair assumption if both groups did similar things: travelled, saw colleagues or friends, went shopping.
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The placebo group got 101 cases of Covid between them. That’s the base number of Covid cases a group of that size should be getting without vaccination.
But the vaccinated group only got 30 cases instead of 101. In other words, the vaccine stopped 71 of those expected 101 cases.
Which is just over 70%. So that’s the efficacy of the vaccine.
Incidentally, if 131 cases in a group of 20,000, remember that UK-wide lockdown was taking place for much of the trial, which slowed everything down.
What are the efficacy rates of the leading trial coronavirus vaccines?
A 3D rendering of SARS CoV-2 – the coronavirus that causes Covid-19 dowell via Getty Images
According to results from phase 3 trials, Pfizer’s coronavirus vaccine – made in collaboration with BioNTech – has an efficacy rate of 95%, while the Moderna vaccine has a rate of 94.5%.
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In comparison, the vaccine developed by University of Oxford and AstraZeneca was shown to have an average efficacy rate of around 70%.
However, Oxford researchers reached this figure by combining the efficacy rates of two different dosing systems (what scientists call “regimens”).
The first regimen – which had an efficacy rate of 62% – gave volunteers two full doses of the vaccine, some weeks apart.
The second regimen initially gave volunteers half a dose of the vaccine and then followed up with a standard dose later on. This method gave an efficacy rate of 90%.
Why are coronavirus vaccine efficacy rates different?
On Monday, director of the Oxford Vaccine Group Andrew Pollard said that the efficacy of Oxford’s vaccine would be higher if trials had only measured whether the jab prevented severe disease and hospitalisation.
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In the trial – which involved more than 24,000 volunteers – there were no hospitalised or severe cases in anyone who received the coronavirus vaccine, researchers said. In other words, it appears to have prevented everyone who received it from getting seriously ill.
Pollard told reporters it was hard to explain the different efficacy rates between the AstraZeneca/Oxford shot and the other vaccines developed by Pfizer and BioNTech and one by Moderna.
One reason may be that the companies are measuring for different things, Pollard said, with the Oxford trial tests its efficacy for all levels of disease from severe to mild.
On the other hand, he said, there might also be real differences between all the vaccines.
What about the bigger picture?
A doctor injects a patient with a vaccine. Udom Pinyo via Getty Images
Dr Jasmina Panovska-Griffiths, a senior mathematical modeller, said it was important to look beyond just the headline efficacy figures.
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“One thing that is really important – and we are starting to get data on this – is how effective these vaccines are at protecting specific groups, especially those at higher risk of Covid-19,” she said. “So certain ages – for example the elderly, people in care homes and people with co-morbidities and people of different ethnicities.
“So it’s not just the overall number that matters, but the zoomed in number for different groups.”
Are vaccine efficacy and effectiveness the same thing?
You might assume that “efficacy” and “effectiveness” are interchangeable terms when speaking about how well a coronavirus vaccine works.
But in the scientific community, these terms actually mean pretty different things. (Although one scientist we asked initially told us they meant the same thing, only to correct themselves later by e-mail.)
Efficacy is how well a vaccine works under trial conditions, while vaccine effectiveness looks at how the jab performs in the real world.
So even though a vaccine might have an extremely high efficacy rate during trials, it might not have the same level of effectiveness when it’s rolled out outside of lab conditions.
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10) Finally, vaccine efficacy vs. effectiveness? We like to reserve "efficacy" for estimates from randomized trials, where everyone receives the vaccine as intended (proper cold chain, no missed doses). We distinguish this idealized measure from real-world "effectiveness." END — Natalie E. Dean, PhD (@nataliexdean) September 28, 2020
“Effectiveness relates to real world use of a vaccine and includes all the extraneous factors that may alter the ability of a vaccine to work,” explained UCL’s Dr Joe Grove.
“The trials thus far have only addressed efficacy and will only judge the ability of a vaccine to reduce disease under idealised conditions. The true effectiveness will become apparent with time.
“Nonetheless, these trials are very encouraging and there’s every reason to be optimistic.”
So, what external factors could impact the vaccine in the real world?
”With the current trials there simply isn’t enough people to extract detailed findings for subgroups of individuals,” Grove, an infections expert, explained.
“For example, some people may have some form of mild immunodeficiency.”
This could be from malnutrition, he explained, which could be an important factor in the developing world.
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“In these individuals, the vaccines may not provide as much protection.
“That said, the trials would suggest that most people are going to benefit from good protective immune responses.”


thehuffingtonpostuk--2020-11-24--Director Apologises After Revealing Himself As The Voice In Lukas Gage's Viral Audition Video

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British director Tristram Shapeero has revealed it was his voice that could be heard in the viral video posted by Lukas Gage last week.
On Friday, the Euphoria video shared a video of himself preparing for a Zoom audition, in which a director can be heard insulting the young star’s home, without realising he isn’t on mute.
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“These poor people live in these tiny apartments,” the voice is heard saying. “Like I’m looking at his background, and he’s got his TV and you know...”
At this point, Lukas interrupts, stating: “I know, it’s a shitty apartment. That’s why give me this job, so I can get a better one!”
Posting the video on social media, Lukas joked: “PSA: If you’re a shit talking director make sure to mute ur shit on zoom meetings.”
psa if youre a shit talking director make sure to mute ur shit on zoom mtgings pic.twitter.com/PTgMZcRhEw — lukas gage (@lukasgage) November 20, 2020
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Tristram Shapeero – whose directing credits include episodes of Absolutely Fabulous, Peep Show, The Good Place and Parks And Recreation – has now outed himself as the voice in the clip, issuing a public apology to the actor.
Writing for Deadline, he said: “This Zoom audition took place in August, after four months of lockdown. A number of my co-workers were also on the auditions which happened over several days.
“It was emotional to see actors work so hard to win the few parts available and we were deeply moved by the passion of these young people under the extraordinary circumstances.”
Tristram Shapeero in 2013 Amanda Edwards via Getty Images
He continued: “I was using the word ‘poor’ in the sense of deserving sympathy, as opposed to any economic judgment.
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“My words were being spoken from a genuine place of appreciation for what the actors were having to endure, stuck in confined spaces, finding it within themselves to give a role-winning performance under these conditions.
“As I say on the video, I’m mortified about what happened. While I can’t put the proverbial toothpaste back in the tube, I move forward from this incident a more empathetic man; a more focused director and I promise, an even better partner to actors from the audition process to the final cut.”
Lukas Gage at the premiere of Euphoria Kevin Winter via Getty Images
After the clip went viral, Lukas received support from a number of fellow actors, including January Jones and Downton Abbey’s Hugh Bonneville.
Filmmaker Judd Apatow also said: “As a young man I would have dreamed of an apartment like this one. Look at that sweet flat screen! The guitar! The moldings!”
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thehuffingtonpostuk--2020-11-24--Pub Closing Times: Will The New 11pm Rule Make A Difference?

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The three tier system will return from next Wednesday, bringing yet another set of rules we need to get our heads around.
The government has committed to stricter tiers this time around to curb the spread of the virus, but one restriction seems to have relaxed: the pub curfew.
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In September, pubs, restaurants and other entertainment venues were forced to close between 10pm and 5am in England. That meant an earlier last orders.
Now, pubs have been instructed to serve ‘last orders’ at 10pm, before closing their doors at 11pm. So, what’s going on with the time change and will it actually make a difference?
A government document states that the new system “allows customers to depart gradually and provides greater flexibility”.
This follows post-curfew photos back in September, when crowds were seen spilling out onto the street after closing time, then piling onto public transport.
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It led to some scientists claiming the curfew was doing “more harm than good”.
All the 10pm curfew done was create a new rush hour. This UK is finished 😭😭😭 pic.twitter.com/bOiqA2scEd — Grandson 🐐🇬🇭🇨🇮 (@Blayofficial) September 27, 2020
A report by Sage in September said there was “low confidence” this intervention would actually make a difference to the virus, perhaps signalling the final nail in the coffin for the 10pm curfew.
But Gabriel Scally, visiting professor of Public Health at the University of Bristol and a member of Sage, is concerned that an 11pm closing time could actually make matters worse.
“If it does make a difference, it is, in my view, likely to increase transmission,” he tells HuffPost UK. “An extra hour in an enclosed space with the presence of alcohol is increasing exposure to the virus and therefore transmission is likely to increase.”
Dr Clare Wenham, assistant professor of Global Health Policy at the London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE), previously suggested the focus on closing times had always been political, rather than evidence-based.
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“I imagine it’s a performative effect, where the government want to demonstrate that they are doing something – but don’t want to shut pubs as the economic impact would be significant for the hospitality industry,” she told HuffPost UK. “Plus it could be politically bad to shut pubs, as everyone loves them.”
It remains to be seen what impact the new 11pm closing time will have on transmissions of the virus, but the pub industry says it’s not enough to save struggling businesses.
Unlike the old tier system, pubs in tier 2 can now only serve alcohol “with a substantial meal” (this was previously a tier 3 rule). Meanwhile in tier 3, pubs will only be permitted to open for takeaways.
“Whilst the review of curfew is overdue, the relaxation of the 10pm curfew is meaningless if most pubs are rendered unviable or forced to close under tiers two and three,” The British Beer and Pub Association, the leading trade association representing brewers and pubs, said in a statement.
“If these tighter tier restrictions are forced upon us, far more government financial support will be needed to avoid the resulting carnage. In tier two alone, the new restrictions will mean 90% of pubs will be unviable and will only be able to operate at a loss. In tier three, no pub is viable if restricted to takeaway only. This will also mean our brewing businesses will be hugely damaged too.”