thehuffingtonpostuk--2020-07-05--Health Secretary Has 'Significant Concerns' About Leicester Clothing Factories

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The health secretary has said he has “significant concerns” about employment practices at clothing factories in Leicester, amid reports that workers are being paid less than the minimum wage and are operating without social distancing.
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Matt Hancock said there had been coronavirus outbreaks at food and clothing producers in the city as home secretary Priti Patel insisted “sweatshops” will not be tolerated.
It came after the Sunday Times reported allegations that workers in a Leicester factory making clothes for Boohoo brand Nasty Gal were being paid as little as £3.50 an hour and operating without social distancing measures in place.
The factory allegedly displayed the sign of Jaswal Fashions but the firm told The Times it stopped trading in 2018 and did not supply to Boohoo. Boohoo also said in a statement that Jaswal Fashions was not a “declared supplier” and it appeared a different company was using the firm’s former premises. “We are currently trying to establish the identity of this company,” Boohoo said.
Leicester was last week placed into the UK’s first local lockdown amid an outbreak of Covid-19 cases.
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Hancock said stopping the spread of the virus was “the number one problem” and stressed that “very significant fines” could be handed out or businesses shut down if employment laws and government workplace safety guidance were found to have been breached.
“There are some quite significant concerns about the employment practices in some of the clothing factories in Leicester” says @MattHancock
The health secretary confirms #COVID19 outbreaks in food and clothing factories in Leicester.#Ridgehttps://t.co/B0FBywYVjg pic.twitter.com/CbzIIkk1vW — Sophy Ridge on Sunday (@RidgeOnSunday) July 5, 2020
He did not say if any fines had yet been levied but told Sky News’s Ridge on Sunday: “We’re not just asking nicely, we are very clear to businesses that these are their responsibilities”.
He added: “We’ve seen outbreaks in food factories and in clothing factories. There are some quite significant concerns about some of the employment practices in some of the clothing factories in Leicester.
“They are important problems to deal with, but the number one problem that we’ve got to deal with is getting this virus under control.”
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Patel said the allegations in the Sunday Times were “appalling”.
“I will not tolerate sick criminals forcing innocent people into slave labour and a life of exploitation.
“Let this be a warning to those who are exploiting people in sweatshops like these for their own commercial gain.
“This is just the start. What you are doing is illegal, it will not be tolerated and we are coming after you.”
The National Crime Agency said in a statement: “Within the last few days NCA officers, along with Leicestershire Police and other partner agencies, attended a number of business premises in Leicester area to assess concerns of modern slavery and human trafficking.”
Nasty Gal told the Sunday Times that the company would investigate the claims but said the factory are not a “direct supplier”.
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It said: “Nasty Gal does not allow any of its suppliers to pay less than the minimum wage and has a zero-tolerance approach to incidences of modern slavery.
“We have terminated relationships with suppliers where evidence of noncompliance with our strict code of conduct is found.
“We will take immediate steps to fully investigate the allegations raised.”


thehuffingtonpostuk--2020-07-05--Sharon Osbourne Unimpressed By Kanye West's Tweet About Kim Kardashian's Billionaire Status

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Sharon Osbourne has hit out at Kanye West, after the rapper shared a post on Twitter about his wife Kim Kardashian’s billionaire status.
Speaking on US panel series The Talk earlier this week, Sharon admitted she “cringed” when she read Kanye’s post, particularly as it came at a time when many around the world are struggling financially due to the coronavirus pandemic.
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Kanye’s tweet was accompanied – for some reason – by a photo of a green pepper, a flower and what looked like a cherry tomato, and read: “I am so proud of my beautiful wife Kim Kardashian West for officially becoming a billionaire. You’ve weathered the craziest storms and now God is shining on you and our family.
“So blessed this is still life, so I made you this still life. We love you so much.”
I am so proud of my beautiful wife Kim Kardashian West for officially becoming a billionaire
You’ve weathered the craziest storms and now God is shining on you and our family
So blessed this is still life
So I made you this still life
We love you so much pic.twitter.com/Vvtgzodnah — ye (@kanyewest) June 30, 2020
Asked for her thoughts on the subject, Sharon said: “It isn’t the right time to show off your wealth but, hey, some people, that is what they do.
“I have never been keen on that anyway, whether there is a pandemic or not. I never believe in that. For me I cringe when people do it.”
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Sharon Osbourne appearing on Jonathan Ross' talk show last year Brian J Ritchie/Hotsauce/Shutterstock
In April, Forbes magazine reported that Kanye had reached billionaire status himself, describing his Yeezy trainers line as “one of the great retail stories of the century”.
However, Kanye was unhappy with Forbes and claimed they had undervalued him, reportedly texting them: “It’s not a billion. It’s 3.3 billion since no one at Forbes knows how to count.”
Kanye West and Kim Kardashian Gregory Pace/Shutterstock
Over the weekend, Kanye made headlines once again when he reiterated his plans to run for US president, a claim he first made back in 2015, after receiving the Video Vanguard award at the MTV VMAs.
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thehuffingtonpostuk--2020-07-05--Woman Dies After Car Drives Into Crowd At Seattle Protest Against Police Brutality

A protester has died, and another left seriously injured, after a car drove onto a closed road and struck two people protesting against police brutality in Seattle.
Summer Taylor, 24, of Seattle died in the evening at Harbourview Medical Centre, local authorities have confirmed.
Taylor and Diaz Love, 32, of Portland, Oregon, were hit by the car that barrelled through a panicked crowd of protesters on Interstate 5 early on Saturday morning, officials said.
Dawit Kelete of Seattle drove the car around vehicles that were blocking the road and sped into the crowd at around 1.40am, according to a police report released by the Washington State Patrol.
Video taken at the scene by protesters showed people shouting “Car! Car!” before fleeing the road.
Love is in serious condition in the intensive care unit, spokesperson Susan Gregg confirmed.
Love was filming the protest in a nearly two-hour-long Facebook livestream captioned “Black Femme March takes I-5” when the video ended abruptly. With around 15 seconds of the footage left, shouts of “Car!” can be heard as the camera starts to shake before screeching tyres and the sound of impact are heard.
A graphic video posted on social media showed the white Jaguar racing toward a group of protesters who are standing behind several parked cars, set up for protection.
The car swerves around the other vehicles and slams into the two protesters, sending them flying into the air.
The driver, who was alone, fled the scene after hitting the protesters, Trooper Chase Van Cleave said.
One of the other protesters got in a car and chased the driver for about a mile. He was able to stop him by pulling his car in front of the Jaguar, Van Cleave said.
Troopers arrived, and the driver was put in custody, Washington State Patrol Captain Ron Mead said.
Kelete was described by offices as reserved and sullen when he was arrested, and asked whether on not the pedestrians were okay, according to court documents.
Kelete was booked into the King County Correctional Facility on two counts of vehicular assault. Bail was denied. A judge later found probable cause to hold Kelete on an investigation of vehicular assault.
He faces a second court hearing on Monday at which the judge will determine if he can be released on bail, according to court documents. It was not immediately clear if Kelete had a lawyer who could speak on his behalf.
Officials were trying to determine the motive as well as where he got onto the interstate, which had been closed by the state patrol for more than an hour before the protesters were hit. Mead said police suspected that Kelete had driven the wrong way on a ramp.
Troopers did not know whether it was a targeted attack, but impairment was not considered a factor, Mead confirmed.
He is listed in public records as a student who attended Washington State University between 2011 and 2017 majoring in business and commerce. His enrolment status could not be confirmed because the university was closed on Saturday.
Seattle has been the site of prolonged unrest following the May 25 police killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis, which sparked nationwide protests.
Dozens of people were arrested this past week in connection with protests as demonstrations continue after authorities cleared the Capitol Hill Occupied Protest zone on Wednesday morning.
Protesters had shut down the interstate for 19 days in a row, Mead said at a press conference.


thehuffingtonpostuk--2020-07-05--Five Years After Its Broadway Debut, Hamilton Arrives On Disney+ To A Nuanced Response

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The release of Hamilton on Disney+ on Friday finally made the Pulitzer-winning musical available to a mass audience, and social media takes on the tale of the first secretary of the treasury were mixed, reflecting viewpoints of a year very different from 2015, the year the play premiered on Broadway.
A number of voices praised creator Lin-Manuel Miranda’s unique blend of hip-hop music and historical reenactment, highlighted the “audacious” way it included actors of colour and urged audiences to support a theatre industry suffering during the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic.
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You want your mind blown even further? After you have watched Hamilton once, take some time to gather your emotions which will be all over the room, then turn on the captions and watch it again. So. Many. Incredible. Words. Packed. Into. Milliseconds. #Hamilfilm — Ben Schwartz (@rejectedjokes) July 4, 2020
What I love about Hamilton is how much the founding fathers would have *hated* it — Katy Stoll (@katystoll) July 4, 2020
I feel like what’ll be lost to history about Hamilton is just how audacious this show was. Staging a show with majority POC - almost all non household names - on Broadway and turning that into a smash was unprecedented. And a hip hop musical on politics to boot? Absurd. — Sopan Deb (@SopanDeb) July 4, 2020
If you’re going bananas watching @HamiltonMusical PLEASE realize EVERY human who helped in creating and cultivating that magic piece of ART still needs the governments financial help past July 31.
THEATRE IS STILL OUT OF WORK THROUGH 2021.
You enjoy art? Let’s keep it alive. — Emily Lavengood (@EmilyLavengood) July 4, 2020
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But others offered more muted takes, particularly audience members who argued that casting performers of colour as slave-owning Founding Fathers such as George Washington and Thomas Jefferson did not necessarily reclaim United States history for people of colour — especially in 2020, a year defined by racial injustice protests sparked by the police killings of George Floyd and other Black Americans.
Miranda, who is of Puerto Rican descent, also received criticism.
Some commenters brought up his lobbying for Barack Obama’s 2016 Puerto Rico Oversight, Management and Economic Stability Act, known as PROMESA, which was designed to reduce debt in the territory but has been criticised for cutting the budgets for vital public services.
Miranda himself qualified his support of PROMESA when he brought Hamilton to Puerto Rico in 2019, acknowledging that the law resulted in “unintended consequences”.
"liking hamilton as a musical and appreciating the work it has done to give poc more recognition on broadway" and "recognizing that it doesn't portray history accurately and the founding fathers were actually horrible people" are statements that can coexist — vinny 🐷💤 (@T3CHNOBL4DE) July 2, 2020
Do you think Lin Manuel Miranda effectively utilized media representation of BIPOC to funneling money into PROMESA which along with forming La Junta gutted social services in Puerto Rico, eliminated pensions for public-sector employees, and closed over 500 schools — shai isn't swedish (@haikkonst) July 3, 2020
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I’m not saying you’re a bad person for enjoying it, no media is ideologically pure. But there’s a very clear disconnect when white leftists/liberals start talking about the removal of problematic media and figures... and then stan Hamilton. — Bug Enthusiast 🦋✨Commissions Closed ✨ (@Idolomantises) July 4, 2020
go and enjoy the music, but i'm telling you it's inherently problematic because of it's biased storytelling.
i.e.: luna and goyo actually SHOWED their downsides and put judgement up to viewers. hamilton has no trace of his bigotry so you are programmed to think he's good. — gian's kumu manager 🏳🌈 (@bayagestetapang) July 3, 2020
casting poc to partake in a biased telling of a white slaveowner's life is not reclamation especially considering the fact that THEY probably don't even know THEIR OWN ancestry because of these colonizers.
people who are unable to separate actors and characters sicken me. — gian's kumu manager 🏳🌈 (@bayagestetapang) July 3, 2020
Culture critic Jeva Lange argued that Hamilton feels “outdated” in 2020. The musical’s diverse casting seemed monumental in 2015, but “the past four years have illustrated the devastating limits of representation without accompanying fundamental change,” she wrote in The Week on the day Hamilton debuted on Disney+.
“[Hamilton] emerged during the sunny optimism of the late Obama era,” Lange wrote. “Half a decade on, we now live in a world where Hamilton has failed to age along with it, having idealistically put its full-throated faith into pre-packaged American values and ideals without acknowledging the underlying forces — like the fear-mongering, xenophobia, mean-spiritedness exploited by President Trump — that lay siege to them being realised.”
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David Klion of The Nation and New Republic echoed these sentiments, tweeting that Hamilton was “Obamaism in a microcosm”.
Like Shakespearean plays, it appeals to people across the social spectrum in the vernacular of their time, and it compellingly captures human drama in a way that transcends its ideological leanings, which are more interesting to scholars than most audiences. — David Klion (@DavidKlion) July 4, 2020
It’s fine to enjoy things while also critically analyzing them. We can do both! — David Klion (@DavidKlion) July 4, 2020
Commentaries on Lin-Manuel Miranda’s romanticised vision of Alexander Hamilton are not new.
Historian Annette Gordon-Reed told The Harvard Gazette in 2016: “A Broadway show is not a documentary.”
The play portrays Alexander Hamilton as a scrappy underdog who criticised Thomas Jefferson for maintaining slaves, but Gordin-Reed pointed out that “opposing slavery was never at the forefront of [Hamilton’s] agenda”. The Founding Father was “elitist ... [and] in favour of having a president for life,” she added.
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Rutgers professor Lyra D. Monteiro expressed similar views in The New York Times. “[Hamilton] over-glorifies the man, inflating his opposition to slavery while glossing over less attractive aspects of his politics, which were not necessarily as in tune with contemporary progressive values as audiences leaving the theatre might assume,” she said in 2016.
For his part, Miranda stressed that the play — as well as the flawed character of Alexander Hamilton himself — were both still relevant to America in 2020, which is “having a real reckoning” to uproot the legacy of slavery.
“When you write a musical that brushes against sort of the origins of this country, it’s always going to be relevant,” Miranda said in an interview with NPR this week. “The fights we had at [America’s] origin are the fights we’re still having.”


thehuffingtonpostuk--2020-07-05--Kanye West Is Still Running For President Of The United States, Because Of Course He Is

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Just when we thought things had gone a little quiet in the world of Kanye West, the prolific rapper has reiterated his intention to run for US president this year.
Kanye first mentioned that he wanted to set up residence in the White House way back in 2015, after accepting the Video Vanguard award at the MTV VMAs.
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In the years since, the Touch The Sky star has sporadically mentioned his hopes to run for president, and after keeping his head down for a short spell, tweeted a reminder to everyone about his political ambitions on Saturday night.
“We must now realise the promise of America by trusting God, unifying our vision and building our future,” he wrote, before adding: “I am running for president of the United States.”
We must now realize the promise of America by trusting God, unifying our vision and building our future. I am running for president of the United States 🇺🇸! #2020VISION — ye (@kanyewest) July 5, 2020
As if all of that wasn’t Kanye enough, he then got his first high-profile endorsements, not just from his wife Kim Kardashian, but also divisive billionaire Elon Musk.
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The Tesla chief executive wrote back: “You have my full support.”
You have my full support! — Elon Musk (@elonmusk) July 5, 2020
Kanye is truly an inspirational figure, & we all know how much you respect it 😃
This is @elonmusk 's excerpt for TIME in 2015 🥺 pic.twitter.com/AZjp28r14V — Pranay Pathole (@PPathole) July 5, 2020
Yup — Elon Musk (@elonmusk) July 5, 2020
Earlier this week, Kanye revealed he’d been hanging out with Elon Musk at his home, tweeting a picture of them together alongside the message: “When you go to your boy’s house and you’re both wearing orange.”
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When you go to your boys house and you’re both wearing orange 🍊 pic.twitter.com/IyPOdEKaVY — ye (@kanyewest) July 1, 2020
In recent years, Kanye has proved a controversial figure when it comes to politics, having been one of US president Donald Trump’s most vocal celebrity supporters.


thehuffingtonpostuk--2020-07-05--'Crystal Clear' Drunk People Can't Socially Distance, Police Say

“Around 1pm crowds started to arrive… quickly everything got out of control and by 8-9 pm it was a proper street party with people dancing and drinking.
“Barely anyone was wearing masks and nobody respected social distancing… to be honest with that many people on one street it was physically impossible.”
Liszewski estimated there was between two and three thousand people on the street but his shop was only allowing seven customers at a time.
Apter, who was on shift in Southampton where he dealt with “naked men, happy drunks, angry drunks, fights and more angry drunks”, said: “What was crystal clear is that drunk people can’t/won’t socially distance.
“It was a busy night but the shift managed to cope. I know other areas have had issues with officers being assaulted.”
There was disorder in north Nottinghamshire too, where four people were arrested and several pubs decided to close after alcohol related anti-social behaviour.
A major easing of lockdown measures in England saw pubs, restaurants, hairdressers and cinemas opening their doors again under modified social distancing regulations.
Ahead of the weekend Boris Johnson and government experts urged people to stick to the rules to avoid creating a second wave of coronavirus.
Speaking on Friday, Whitty said: “None of us believe, and I’m sure nobody watching this believes, this is a risk-free next step. It is absolutely not, that is why we have to be really serious about it.
“There’s no doubt these are environments whose principal job it is to bring people together, that’s a great thing to do socially but it’s also a great thing from the virus’ point of view.
“Therefore, we do have to have a really clear and really disciplined approach to try and maintain social distancing whilst also enjoying pubs.”


thehuffingtonpostuk--2020-07-05--David And Victoria Beckham Share Candid Family Photos In Honour Of Wedding Anniversary

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David and Victoria Beckham marked their 21st wedding anniversary with a string of throwback photos.
On Saturday, David posted a montage of pictures from throughout their relationship on Instagram, including candid shots of themselves and their four children, accompanied by the Spice Girls classic Say You’ll Be There.
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“About 23 years ago I was sat in a room with Gary Neville and the Spice Girls were on the TV and I turned around to him and said ‘ohhhh I like that one in the little black catsuit’,” he wrote, referring to Victoria’s appearance in the music video.
“Who would have thought that all these years later we are celebrating 21 years of marriage and have 4 of the most beautiful and perfect kids. Thank you & Happy Anniversary, I Love You.”
David also re-shared a message from Gary Neville accompanied by a photo of them from the wedding day, which read: “She swiped right! Happy anniversary, congratulations and [love] you both.”
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Victoria then wished David a happy anniversary, saying: “I can’t believe it has been 21 years since we said ‘I do’. Four children, four dogs, so much laughter and I love you more each day.”
Earlier this year, David revealed he’d held onto an adorable memento from the first time he met Victoria, when she travelled up to see him playing football in Manchester.
“She’d had a couple of drinks so I decided why not, I’ll try and get her number,” he joked.
“We talked for about an hour in the players’ lounge. She actually got the train up that day so she wrote her number down on her train ticket, which I still have.”
The pair eventually tied the knot in 1999, and have four children together, Brooklyn, Romeo, Cruz and Harper.


thehuffingtonpostuk--2020-07-05--Revealed: Students Face Hidden Debt Trap When Loved Ones Die

Cerys Evans and her father, William. Cerys Evans
Bereaved students are being forced to rack up thousands of pounds’ worth of debt to pay for the funerals of loved ones as they are not eligible for government support.
The Funeral Expenses Payment can help cover costs such as burial or cremation fees and death certificates, but is only available for those already claiming certain welfare benefits.
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Students, who are not eligible for benefits, are excluded from the scheme even if they have no other family to assist in covering costs.
Cerys Evans, a 20-year-old student from Caerphilly, lost her father William in May of this year.
“Because I was his only next of kin, any decisions and funeral costs came down to me,” she told HuffPost UK.
“After he died, on top of him dying quite unexpectedly because he was only 51, it came to the funeral arrangements.”
The average cost of a funeral in the UK is £4,271 and even the most basic service can cost over £3,000.
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“We’ve always known what dad wanted because in the last couple of years he was diagnosed with dementia as well,” said Evans.
“So I just assumed that I’d be eligible for the funeral expenses payment, I’d seen other people doing that and getting it straightaway. So with that and the money my dad had in the bank as well, we should have been just about able to cover it.
“But when I applied they told me that because I’ma full-time student there’s no way I can have it. You have to be on some sort of benefit but students can’t claim benefits.”
“This poor young girl’s grief will be overshadowed by the worry of how she will pay the debt from her father’s funeral.” - Labour MP Carolyn Harris
Evans was forced to use the remainder of her student loan – which she had set aside for a badly-needed laptop – to pay for the funeral.
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“It’s been awful,” she said. “I’ve got a younger sister and she’s only 14 and [I am] seeing her struggle with it while trying to explain there were certain things we couldn’t do for Dad because we haven’t got the money. We only had one set of flowers.”
Labour MP Carolyn Harris said Evans’ case “demonstrates how susceptible low income families and vulnerable individuals are to funeral poverty”.
She added: “This poor young girl’s grief will be overshadowed by the worry of how she will pay the debt from her father’s funeral.
“We must ensure the government do more to support anyone struggling to give their loved ones the dignity of a respectful funeral.”
Tiyana Robinson-Henriques, a 20-year-old student at Kings College London, found herself in a similar situation when her mother died of Covid-19 in April.
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Opting for a basic burial, she still faced a bill of £5,000. She told HuffPost UK: “Being a student, there were so many obstacles, and it’s so unfair. If that’s your only income they can’t expect you to use that because then how are you going to take care of yourself?”
She applied for the Funeral Expense Payment but was told she was not eligible.
“It’s very stressful,” she says.
“If you don’t have anyone reliable you only really have a crowdfunder or a charity and even getting access to a charity is very difficult.”
Robinson-Henriques was fortunate enough to receive assistance from Down to Earth, a charity that can provide advice for those struggling to cover the cost of funerals.
But they cannot help everyone and the charity has called for the government to allow students to access the Funeral Expense Payment.
Lindesay Mace, acting manager of Down to Earth, a project of Quaker Social Action, told HuffPost UK: “The abolition of student grants means many already have tens of thousands of pounds of debt, often at a young age, and are in no position to pay these extra costs.”
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Then there is the effect on their studies. “I haven’t had time to focus on uni work,” says Robinson-Henriques.
“The days when I’m not doing stuff for the funeral, I just want to take [time] out and concentrate on myself to breathe, not focus on work.”
Evans has started a petition to highlight what she describes as “an unknown issue to most people”, saying the situation “desperately needs to change”.
A government spokesperson told HuffPost UK: “Losing a loved one is incredibly distressing and our hearts go out to anyone experiencing bereavement.
“The financial assistance we offer is targeted at those on qualifying benefits to ensure that the most vulnerable are supported with these costs.”


thehuffingtonpostuk--2020-07-05--Celebrating 72 years Of Britain’s National Health Service

Celebrating 72 years Of Britain’s National Health Service
Britain’s National Health Service (NHS) started in 1948 with the mission that no person is “denied medical aid because of lack of means.” Today, on its 72nd birthday, it is the 5th largest employer in the world and has pioneered everything from heart transplants to IVF babies.


thehuffingtonpostuk--2020-07-05--Grittier Plots And A True Reflection Of East London: EastEnders Fans Reveal Their Hopes For 'Season

Grittier Plots And A True Reflection Of East London: EastEnders Fans Reveal Their Hopes For 'Season 2'

Peggy Mitchell’s demand for locals to “get out of my pub!” has finally come true: The Queen Vic has closed and Albert Square has been shuttered, after lockdown caused EastEnders to fall off air for the first time ever in June.
But now that the long-running soap has managed to resume filming with social distancing in place, fans have been thinking about the changes they’d like to see when it returns.
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If EastEnders’ so-called ‘season one’ lasted 35 years, will ‘season two’ be the opportunity for a complete overhaul of the show, or will things pick up exactly where they left off?
HuffPost UK spoke to five die-hard fans to hear their hopes for when it’s back on our screens on 7 September...
Lesley, 22, Essex: “I’m just not seeing any west or south African representation”
HuffPost UK
“I’m an actor, and I’d literally love to be on EastEnders, but not because I’m a super fan – because I am yet to see an African household on my TV screen. I appreciate Keegan and Denise, and the actors who play them are amazing, but I am from London, and I’m just not seeing any west or south African representation.
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“Where’s the auntie in the kente coming back from Sunday praise? Where’s the young girl who’s having to sneak her white boyfriend round to the house in the fear that her dad may disapprove?
“I also feel like their mental health storylines are rushed – Honey’s eating disorder storyline was amazing but it was way too quick. As someone who dips in and out of the disorder, it’s a lifelong thing, just like alcoholism. I like how they revisit it with Phil all the time... but there needs to be more.
“I would really love to see more from the sibling dynamic with Bernie, Chantelle, Keegan and Bailey. I feel like something is missing, it feels fake almost.”
Eddy, 22, Bromsgrove: “So many people think EastEnders is for old farts”
HuffPost UK
“As a TV production student, I personally think EastEnders is clinging to it’s past too much.
“There’s all this drama with who’s owning the Vic, Ian playing a part in the death of a child, whether Sharon was gonna keep her baby or not. All of these revolve around the same characters and I’d just love to see something new.
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“Phil, Sharon and Ian hold such strong ties to the show’s legacy but I think they should work on drawing in new younger characters and younger viewers. So many people just think that EastEnders is for old farts and it’s a real shame because I think it has the potential to be really exciting again.
“After such a long break, they’re really gonna need to do something big and exciting to get people in again. If they just carry on exactly where they left off, I think it will be anti-climactic. The break should be seen as an opportunity.
“Of course they have to tackle lockdown but after all, we’ve been living it for three months. Viewing figures show that people aren’t watching coronavirus-related shows anymore and entertainment audiences are rocketing in comparison. So for EastEnders to come back with a bang and do something proper soap opera-like, like a classic murder mystery or a groundbreaking issue storyline, would be peak entertainment.”
Fadzai, 23, Stirling: “I would like to see EastEnders representing London in a more realistic way”
HuffPost UK
“I would love to see more character-driven drama. With the boat crash, the attempt to kill Keanu and the siege all happening within a year, EastEnders has been more about big events that are quite unrealistic.
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“I loved those plots, but I think what people love about the show most is realism, which I want back a bit more in EastEnders, with more focus on relationships as well as character development. I’m excited to see how Ruby and Stacey’s relationship will change once she returns and finds out about Ruby and Martin, for example.
“It would also be great to see some more fleshed-out storylines for characters that get less screen time. For example, I would love for Bernie to get a love interest and for Denise to get a new storyline. I’m also keen to see characters like Habiba and Kheerat developed more as we don’t know too much about them.
“Most of all, I would like to see EastEnders pushing towards representing London in a more realistic way. Being Zimbabwean myself, I would particularly love to see more African representation, as there are a lot of us in east London! It’s a whole different culture, unique to the Caribbean experience, which I’m yet to see the show truly explore. Maybe a storyline featuring someone who’s just migrated even?”
Kayleigh, 21, Leeds: “The teenage population of Walford is practically non-existent, leaving a huge age bracket of people unrepresented”
“I would love to see the show be more brave and daring when it comes back... It’s those storylines (like Kat and Ronnie’s baby swap, Lucy Beale’s murder, Kathy returning from the dead) that get people talking, yet it feels as if EastEnders hasn’t been at that level of relevance for a while now. Although the show does have some big storylines going on right now, they’re not hitting in the way they should be, usually because they go round and round in circles, repeating the same plot points again and again.
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“For example, Ben and Callum’s relationship was one of the biggest developments in the show last year, however only a year in and it already feels as if we’ve seen them have the same arguments and the same issues a million times over. Chantelle and Gray’s abuse storyline is well-acted, harrowing and an important issue to showcase, but it feels as if it’s been forgotten about in the background of other plots, when it could easily be at the forefront of the show.
“Therefore, I’d like to see some escalation of the already-established storylines and see them moving forwards and developing as opposed to how stagnant and repetitive they feel now. It would also be interesting to see EastEnders tackle something they haven’t before; such as male suicide, child illness etc.
“In terms of new storylines, I’d love to see some fresh material for under-utilised characters, such as Tina, Ruby, Lola, Bernie, Jay, Denise etc. There are countless characters that feel as if they haven’t had their own big storylines in years, regardless of the potential they have, and instead get forgotten about.
“Ruby, for example, is the daughter of one of EastEnders’ most notable villains, Johnny Allen, and yet it doesn’t feel as if she’s living up to his legacy because she’s incredibly underused, despite the countless possibilities for her character.
“I also think more focus on the younger generation of characters could be beneficial for the show. Historically, EastEnders has had some brilliant child actors and has shown child-led storylines, such as Stella’s abuse of Ben and Bobby killing Lucy.
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“However, nowadays most of the children are barely seen, let alone given their own decent material, and the teenage population of Walford is practically non-existent, leaving a huge age bracket of people unrepresented.
“Finally, I’d like to see the families on the show built back up. Eastenders has always been known for it’s extensive, dysfunctional families and there was a time where you had the Beales, the Mitchells, the Butchers, the Jacksons and the Brannings all at the centre, yet now, most of those families don’t even have two members left on the show.
“For the last year EastEnders have promoted the tagline ‘family means everything’, but that falls flat when most of the families are now disjointed, don’t interact or consist of two people. Bringing family back to the heart of the show is one of the best things EastEnders could do.”
Amy, 22, Cardiff: “There’s so much more that could really make headlines – if they were brave enough”
“EastEnders is famed for their gritty, hard-hitting storylines, exploring issues like knife crime and child abuse, but there’s so much more that could really make headlines if they were brave enough. Things like missing people/children, mental health – even a classic murder mystery would be enough to really put the show back on people’s radars after a break.
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“What I don’t want to see is the same rehash of their current/recent storylines. Characters like Whitney being put through an endless cycle of trauma; relationships like Ben and Callum going in circles with the same formulaic angst; issue based storylines like Chantelle and Gray’s abusive relationship should finally be brought to a head.
“Some of these have been going on for a very long time and after a break it’s the perfect time to really reinvent what the show tackles. Although I can’t help thinking it will just carry on as it has been! Sharon and Phil feuding, Ian’s secret being exposed – stuff that will be good as it’s been building up for a while now, but it’s just not new and exciting.
“It would be great to have a classic soap affair to get us hooked again.”


thehuffingtonpostuk--2020-07-05--There's A Reason Why Socialising Feels So Exhausting Right Now

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Meeting up with family and friends isn’t as easy as it once was.
Gone are the days where the hardest part of a meet-up was agreeing on a date – now, you’re wondering how you’ll get there safely, whether the weather will hold up, where nearby toilets are (if, indeed, they’re open), and if you and your mate will both stick to social distancing rules. It’s no wonder we’re exhausted.
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“We haven’t done it for so long, so face-to-face socialising is something our minds and bodies have become unaccustomed to,” says Lucy Fuller, a counsellor, psychotherapist and member of the UK Council for Psychotherapy.
“We’re having to think and concentrate more about how we go about this activity, so we’re using up more mental energy.”
In lockdown, we hunkered down and became used to doing, well, not an awful lot. “Lockdown cast us all into an extraordinary world where our lives suddenly retracted to not much more than the four walls of our homes,” Fuller explains.
“We will all have adapted in some way to cope with our new existence, something that humans are generally very good at. We possess the animal instinct of survival and we will do our best to adjust our minds and physical activity to fit with how our lives need to be for the foreseeable future.”
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Because of this, we’ve become used to doing very little socialising or having occasional remote connections with friends and family over the internet. As things are changing – and we’re seeing loved ones in person again – we’re having to think of how to stay safe while we do this. We’re also doing a lot more physical activity than we’re used to, compared to the sofa days of lockdown.
“Although we might think of these activities as something just ordinary, because we haven’t done them for a while they become ‘novel’ and we may start to over-think them to a greater or lesser extent,” says Fuller.
People with social anxiety in particular may find it difficult to get back into the habit of socialising, says Fuller. If this is the case, start small. Meet with one close friend and build your social life back up slowly in terms of the number of people you meet and the length of time you spend together.
Another reason for the exhaustion? As lockdown has eased, there’s been a real temptation to go all out and see everyone immediately, says psychotherapist Rakhi Chand, who is a member of the British Association for Counselling and Psychotherapy (BACP). Resist the urge to overdo it. “It’s hard to remember to temper that impulse – and that ‘pacing’ oneself may be important for mental health,” she says.
The “big socialisers” – those who are filling up their diary at every opportunity – will know if they’ve overdone it because they’ll feel depleted of energy, says Fuller, and they’ll probably be left wondering why. “Again, look after your energy and your wellbeing and get your life back on track at a safe and comfortable pace for you,” she says.
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Awareness of how you’re feeling is key in the coming months – so listen to your body and be in tune with what you need, whether that’s rest, contact, fresh air, sleep or stimulation, says Chand. She encourages people to be creative with their social lives, to look for compromise, and to prioritise self-care, too.
“Last night I had this very issue,” she tells HuffPost UK. “I was exhausted but also really wanted to see family I hadn’t seen in a long while. I looked for ways I could rest around that visit, like having a lie-in this morning. Simple stuff, really.”
It’s all about finding your “socialising equilibrium”, adds Chand. Do you feel well rested by socialising every day of the week, every other day, once a week?
“This often links to being able to say ‘no’,” she says. “If saying ‘no’ is hard for you, I’d suggest prioritising some professional help with that – it underpins so much of mental health.”
Useful websites and helplines
Mind, open Monday to Friday, 9am-6pm on 0300 123 3393.
Samaritans offers a listening service which is open 24 hours a day, on 116 123 (UK and ROI - this number is FREE to call and will not appear on your phone bill).
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CALM (the Campaign Against Living Miserably) offer a helpline open 5pm-midnight, 365 days a year, on 0800 58 58 58, and a webchat service.
The Mix is a free support service for people under 25. Call 0808 808 4994 or email help@themix.org.uk


thehuffingtonpostuk--2020-07-05--'It's That Feeling Of Home'. 3 People Of Faith On Returning To Worship

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It’s not just restaurants, pubs and hair salons throwing open their doors this weekend. Places of worship are also part of England’s July 4 jamboree of reopening, the biggest relaxation of lockdown since it was imposed three months ago.
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Churches, gurdwaras, mosques, temples and synagogues have been allowed to open for individual or private prayer since mid-June.
But now is the first time since March that people have been able to attend public services or prayers, not to mention weddings – provided there is strict social distancing, no more than 30 guests and no big singalongs.
We spoke to three people of different faiths on how they feel about getting back to communal worship – and how lockdown has nurtured their faith. Happiness, togetherness and a sense of normality are just some of the things they crave.
‘The thing I missed most was the cups of tea’
Min Kaur, 39, a Henna artist and writer from Harlington can’t wait to return to her local gurdwara. “It’s exciting getting a chance to go again and being able to pray in an atmosphere with other people,” she tells HuffPost UK.
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“Although, it’s going to be very weird social distancing because as a SIkh community we are very close to each other and give each lots of hugs.”
Sian Tyrrell Min Kaur
Despite being able to worship and see familiar faces, there are practical implications, she says – not everything will return to normal straight away.
“At gurdwara, we have an open kitchen called langar where they serve free meals to all, but that will obviously be closed,” Kaur explains. “The thing I miss the most is just having a cup of tea, a chapati and some daal, which is so different from what you’d get at home – it’s made with so much love and prayer.
“I know they’ll be serving Parshad, which is like the holy sweet food and I know that that is going to bring back that feeling of home.”
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‘All of this has really strengthened my faith’
Noor Hadi, 24, an iman of the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community, was worried about not being able to go to mosque during lockdown.
But despite the isolation, he says the community has been kept buoyed by its leader, Caliph Hazrat Mirza Masroor Ahmad. “
Many interesting online talks, classes and programmes were organised,” he says, “and members of our community kept engaged spiritually.”
Noor Hadi Noor Hadi
“One of the duties as a Muslim is to help humanity and we consider that also as a form of worship,” says Hadi. ”Where our neighbours were in need, as a community we were able to fulfil that form of worship by effectively helping them in any way possible. Ultimately, all of this really strengthened my faith.”
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Before mosques closed for lockdown and when they partially re-opened in June, many of the Muslim community like Hadi were already taking precautionary measures – encouraging the use of hand sanitiser, avoiding unnecessary contact and telling the most vulnerable to stay at home.
“Before every prayer as a matter of routine we wash and do ablution,” he explains. “We’ll continue doing what we did previously, but also be carrying out temperature checks and taking all measures to be extra cautious.”
‘It’s been hard not having that space to speak’
Habiba Katsha, 24, a staff writer from south London, isn’t going to be rushing back to her church any time soon. Because of its size, it’s going to remain closed for the foreseeable – plus she’s cautious about a potential second wave fo coronavirus.
“I’ve actually really enjoyed going to church at home, because my church is really far from me,” she explains. “I’d have to get the tube, which I’m still not comfortable in doing.”
Habiba Katsha Habiba Kataha
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But while it’s great to be able to continue prayer services and watch sermons online, it’s not the same as meeting in person, says Katsha, It lacks the human connection.
“I miss having that sense of fellowship and community,” she says. “It’s hard not having that one place to speak to others about social issues and talking directly to my pastor, especially with everything that’s been happening at the moment, like George Floyd.


thehuffingtonpostuk--2020-07-05--I Don’t Look Sick But I’ve Had MS For 14 Years. Here's How It's Changed My Life

Brad Fowler / Song of Myself Photography The author.
My headaches appeared out of nowhere. For several weeks in 2006, I couldn’t do my job as a journalist without feeling a nagging pain directly behind my right eye. My co-worker was worried, but I wasn’t. We were reporters working long hours, and I attributed my ailment to eyestrain from staring at the computer every day.
“Just go to the doctor,” she said.
I was only 26 but decided to visit my eye doctor’s office in New York City just to be sure. When I mentioned the headaches, he asked me to cover my left eye so he could test my right one.
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“Can you see what colour this is?” he asked.
I squinted with my right eye. I couldn’t. My left eye had been compensating for my weak one, and I hadn’t even realised it.
“What’s wrong with me?”
“Your optic nerve is swollen,” he replied. “I want you to see a neuro-ophthalmologist.”
I had planned on getting my hair cut after my appointment that day, and didn’t want to be late. “When?”
“You need to go right now,” he said. “I’ll get you the appointment.”
The urgency in his tone worried me, and I knew it had to be serious. That afternoon, a neuro-ophthalmologist confirmed that I had optic neuritis ― a symptom that can be associated with the onset of multiple sclerosis. I had films taken of my brain and spinal cord in an MRI device, where there was only an inch of space between my nose and the machine. I tried to think about anything but my doctor’s suspicion that I had either a brain tumour or multiple sclerosis. Every fidget I made messed up the films.
“You need to stay still,” a nurse said. “Or we’ll have to start over.”
But that’s what I wanted — to start over. In a day, everything changed. I took a cab downtown and took another one back uptown a different person, with black-and-white photographs of my brain that showed lesions, or tiny white splotches, as evidence of multiple sclerosis.
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“I received my diagnosis a couple weeks before my best friend got married, and it felt hard to celebrate, not knowing what was ahead of me. Would I ever find someone to marry me, despite my illness?”
In all my maneuvering around New York, I realized I didn’t know anything about multiple sclerosis and I didn’t know a single person affected by it. I certainly hadn’t ever thought I would have to give myself shots to slow the progression of the disease.
“Do you have someone who can help you? A boyfriend maybe?” a nurse asked me in an examination room, while trying to help me practice injections on a squishy ball.
I didn’t have the heart to tell her that poking myself with a really long needle was probably going to be much easier than dating in New York.
I received my diagnosis a couple weeks before my best friend got married, and it felt hard to celebrate, not knowing what was ahead of me. Would I ever find someone to marry me, despite my illness? I have always considered myself an oversharer, but for the first time, I didn’t want to tell anyone what was going on, out of fear they would judge me. Those who I did confide in usually had the same response: “But you don’t look sick.” No one could really believe it. The illness didn’t run in my family, and I had been healthy all my life. It was unexplainable.
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My doctor at the time advised me to go out and try to enjoy my life, to pretend I was just like other 26-year-old women.
“A little denial will do you good,” he said.
But it was hard to deny my illness when I had to plan my day around my injections. I couldn’t go out and drink at bars and irresponsibly tumble into a cab with cute boys with my friends when I had to go home and give myself a shot.
All my life, I dreamed of moving to New York, but after my diagnosis, it felt like I was spending more time in doctors’ offices than out enjoying the city. Every time I asked my doctor for a prognosis, he told me that multiple sclerosis progresses differently for everyone. Some people could have a symptom and recover completely; others could develop paralysis. There was no way to know. As I sat in waiting rooms surrounded by men and women in wheelchairs, I worried that I was looking at my future.
“My doctor at the time advised me to go out and try to enjoy my life, and to pretend I was just like other 26-year-old women. But it was hard to deny my illness when I had to plan my day around my injections.”
I never thought I’d learn how to inject myself, but when I finally did, after a few weeks of practice, I felt a sense of empowerment. I pinched a fold of skin, took a deep breath and pushed the needle into my body. The shots, which I had to do several times a week, made me feel like I had control over the situation, even though my life had changed so quickly.
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Multiple sclerosis affects women four times more often than men, and many women are young when they’re diagnosed. As someone who enjoyed traveling, I always had to fly with my shots and a doctor’s note (which prompted many bag checks from curious airport security officials). Before my diagnosis, I rarely needed bloodwork, but afterward I got it all the time to check my levels of vitamin D; evidence suggests that lower levels are associated with increased risk of multiple sclerosis. I had yearly MRI scans to monitor disease progression, and every time a scan came back without any new activity, I treated myself to dinner at my favorite Italian restaurant on the Lower East Side to celebrate.
For someone single and in her 20s, as I was, this made dating tricky. I never told men with whom I went on casual dates. I didn’t need to. My illness was well-controlled, and I didn’t look sick. I did yoga every day and could eat my weight in carbohydrates with reckless abandon. It never occurred to me that I might actually have a serious relationship at some point and need to clue him in.
Finally, when I was 29, three years after being diagnosed, I met a man who I had fallen in love with and was sure I was going to marry. I tried to keep the secret of my illness under wraps, and he was clueless that anything was even wrong with my health. I would inject myself in the bathroom at his apartment on the sly, sometimes wondering what on earth he would think if he found my empty syringes by accident in my purse. My illness hadn’t gotten worse, and it would be impossible to know that anything was wrong with me.
“When I fell in love at 29, I tried to keep the secret of my illness under wraps, and he was clueless that anything was wrong with my health. I would even inject myself in the bathroom at his apartment on the sly.”
After a few months of dating, I decided to tell him one night when we were out to dinner. I had been putting off telling him, but that’s the thing about secrets ― the more you ignore them, the louder they get.
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“I have something to tell you,” I said, waiting until he had his second glass of wine.
“I have multiple sclerosis,” I said. “I’ve been dealing with it for several years now, and I’m doing fine.”
I squinted across the table, studying his face for any sign of judgment. I waited for the gasp of surprise that I was so used to from other people. I hoped I wouldn’t scare him off or change the opinion he already had of me. I wanted to control the narrative but couldn’t. With my illness, there was no way to simplify it. My immune system was attacking the nerves in my brain and spinal cord. Unless someone found a cure, I’d be dealing with it for the rest of my life.
I didn’t look sick, but there was always the chance that would change. It was the reason I avoided support groups; it was so hard to see people who had it worse and not compare myself to them. And if my boyfriend had gone online and done a basic Google search about multiple sclerosis, seeing phrases like “vision loss” and “problems with mood swings or sexual function” could have scared him off fast.
“I’m glad you told me,” he said.
His calm response put me at ease, even though I couldn’t give him an idea of what my future with the disease looked like. Hopefully, I’d keep taking medication and stay asymptomatic, but I couldn’t be sure. Even if I forgot about my illness for a day or two, it was always there, hovering in the background. We shared a taxi back to his apartment and slept in the next morning, tucked in under his warm comforter, as if it were any other night.
“With my illness, there was no way to simplify it. My immune system was attacking the nerves in my brain and spinal cord. Unless someone found a cure, I’d be dealing with it for the rest of my life.”
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How hard it had been to make myself vulnerable to him, to share something that I hated to reveal but had to live with. And yet it didn’t really seem to bother him at all. His acceptance made me more willing to share the story of my illness with other people.
That was a decade ago. Now, I am 40, and it’s hard to imagine that I have been living with multiple sclerosis for 14 years. My illness has mostly hovered in the background, thanks to regular checkups with my neurologist and naturopathic physician, who have helped me manage my illness with new medications, vitamins and a healthy lifestyle to minimise stress. In 14 years, I have had only one relapse, which was caused by an injury to my hand that set off an immune response. I had temporary numbness in my legs, but fortunately, with a change in my medication, I was able to recover completely.
When I think back to my diagnosis, I remember being so surprised by how fast life can change. Now I see the flip side of that. Life can normalise just as quickly. Multiple sclerosis doesn’t affect everyone, but none of us are immune to the ups and downs of life. My illness has taught me how to surrender to periods of chaos and, in turn, appreciate the wonderful stretches of calm.
Recently, when I went to get my medication at the hospital, my favourite nurse greeted me with a smile. I did what I always do: extend an arm to help her find a vein. Like usual, she knew right where to find it, and in no time at all I was back out in the world living my life. To many people, this doesn’t sound like a normal day. But to me, it is.
This article first appeared on HuffPost Personal
Have a compelling personal story you want to tell? Find out what we’re looking for here, and pitch us on ukpersonal@huffpost.com


thehuffingtonpostuk--2020-07-05--Neil Ferguson Contradicts Trump's Claim That He Saved 2 Million Lives

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Ferguson, the lead author of the report, told HuffPost that’s not true. He added that the number of American lives ultimately lost to the disease will depend on what states do from here on out.
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“Epidemics are not like hurricanes – you don’t hunker down for a few days (or for epidemics, weeks) and then they’re gone,” Ferguson said in an email to HuffPost. “The final death toll from this pandemic will depend as much on what policymakers in different US states do in the next few months as what they did since March.”
Trump compared Covid-19 to a hurricane last month.
“We made every decision correctly,” he claimed. “This was a hurricane, and it’s going to get better fast.”
It’s not getting better. Cases are up in the US and a number of states are smashing records for daily increases.
Professor Neil Ferguson resigned from the UK's Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies after breaching lockdown rules. MarshaJ
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Ferguson estimates that hundreds of thousands of lives were likely saved in the US due to measures like stay-at-home orders, social distancing and quarantining of people who test positive.
But those measures were required by local authorities, not Trump. The president, against health experts’ advice, has held events with thousands of attendees, where few wear masks and there is no social distancing. Such precautions are recommended by the Centers of Disease Control and Prevention to help stem the spread of Covid-19.
The president and many White House officials also do not wear masks, or maintaining 6 feet of social distance.
“The policies adopted in the US over the last months undoubtedly saved many hundreds of thousands of lives,” Ferguson noted. “But unless transmission of this virus is kept under control, those gains risk being reversed.”
Ferguson was the lead author of a study at Imperial College London in March that was shared with the UK government and the White House.
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The study estimated that in the very worst case scenario as many as 2.2 million Americans could die of Covid-19. But that would occur only if government officials and individuals took absolutely no action to stem the spread of the disease or protect themselves – a scenario which would be highly “unlikely,” the study noted.
The study also examined different strategies for saving lives, from a strict “suppression” (or lockdown) approach until a vaccine is developed, to a looser “mitigation” strategy that would isolate and require social distancing for the most vulnerable populations, and quarantine positive cases and contacts in the general population. The mitigation strategy could ultimately cost as many as 1.1 million lives in the US, according to the study.
Recommended strict control measures to save the maximum number of lives – including social distancing of the entire population, isolating suspected cases, quarantining family members of those who test positive, and possible school closings – would suppress the outbreak, the researchers projected. But many of those restrictions would likely have to remain in place until a vaccine is available, which likely won’t happen until well into 2021.
They also warned that the “social and economic effects” of such measures would be “profound.” Restrictions could be “relaxed temporarily in relative short time windows” when cases are down, but measures “will need to be reintroduced if or when case numbers rebound.”
More than 130,000 people have died in the US from Covid-19. ASSOCIATED PRESS
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The study’s demonstration of the effectiveness of social distancing was a catalyst for updated voluntary guidelines by the White House in March, coronavirus task force member Dr. Deborah Birx told The New York Times. Officials then recommended that Americans work from home, and avoid unnecessary trips, crowds of more than 10, and eating in restaurants. By then a number of cities and states had already imposed stricter standards, including stay-at-home orders.
There were no federal laws concerning lockdowns, masks and social distancing. Democrats have recently begun calling for a national mandate requiring masks.
Ferguson said that if states “put in place rigorous test and trace systems, and people continue to act in a way which reduces transmission risk, then I am hopeful that full-scale lockdowns may not need to be reimposed.”
But, he warned, “until vaccines are available, it will not be possible to completely return to life as usual.”
Some have criticised death toll estimates Ferguson came up with for other diseases as inflated, and he left his job in May as Covid-19 adviser to Boris Johnson’s government for breaching lockdown rules.
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“I much prefer to be accused of overreacting than under-reacting,” Ferguson said earlier this year regarding his research. In April he told a meeting of the International Monetary Fund: “We don’t have a crystal ball,” but that researchers try to make their best estimates based on facts.
Trump’s own death toll prediction from Covid-19 in April was 60,000. In early May he raised that to 100,000. The final toll is “still going to be, no matter how you look at it, at the very lower end,” the president insisted then.


thehuffingtonpostuk--2020-07-05--Team GB Sprinter Accuses Met Police Of 'Racial Profiling' Over Stop And Search

Bianca Williams has accused the Met Police of “racial profiling” after she and her partner were stopped and searched by officers in west London. Julian Finney - British Athletics via Getty Images
A Black Team GB sprinter has accused the Metropolitan Police of “racial profiling” after she and her partner were stopped and searched by officers in west London.
Bianca Williams, 26, a European and Commonwealth gold medallist, and Ricardo dos Santos, 25, the Portuguese record holder over 400m, were stopped and handcuffed while with their three-month-old baby on Saturday in Maida Vale.
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Footage of the incident was shared widely after it was posted by former Olympic champion Linford Christie, who captioned the video with: “Racist police aren’t just in America #BLM”.
The video appears to show the pair - who are both Black - being aggressively pulled out of a car by officers. The distressed woman is heard repeatedly saying: “My son is in the car.”
Williams later described the incident as being “awful to watch”.
“It’s always the same thing with Ricardo,” she told The Times.
“They think he’s driving a stolen vehicle, or he’s been smoking cannabis.
“It’s racial profiling. The way they spoke to Ricardo, like he was scum, dirt on their shoe, was shocking. It was awful to watch.”
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Dos Santos added he will meet with lawyers about the incident, and said he had been stopped by officers as many as 15 times since November 2017.
The Met Police have said after reviewing social media footage and video from bodyworn cameras of Saturday’s incident, that it had concluded there were no misconduct issues in relation to how the stop and search was carried out.
In a statement, Scotland Yard said a car was stopped in Lanhill Road, Maida Vale, on Saturday afternoon after it was seen driving suspiciously, and a 25-year-old man and 26-year-old woman were searched.
Commander Helen Harper said: “I understand the concern when incidents like this happen and how they can appear when part of it is filmed without context.
“Due to the concern raised, we conducted a review of the stop. This included social media footage and bodyworn camera footage of the officers at the scene.
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“We are satisfied that there are no misconduct issues.
“The officers were deployed to a high-violence area of London and the manner of the driving raised suspicion. It is only right that they act on it. We are open to discussing the incident with the individuals involved if they wish to do so.”
Footage of the incident was shared widely after it was posted by former Olympic champion Linford Christie on Twitter. ASSOCIATED PRESS
In a second tweet, former Olympic medallist Christie - who trained both Williams and dos Santos - called on the Met chief, Cressida Dick, to justify the police officers’ conduct.
“Can Cressida Dick or anyone else please explain to me what justification the Met Police officers had in assaulting the driver, taking a mother away from her baby all without one piece of PPE and then calling the sniffer dog unit to check the car over,” he wrote.
“Was it the car that was suspicious or the black family in it which lead to such a violent confrontation and finally an accusation of the car smelling of weed but refusing to do a roadside drug test.”


thehuffingtonpostuk--2020-07-05--2 Dead, 8 Injured After Shooting At South Carolina Nightclub

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Two people are dead and eight others are injured following a shooting inside of a crowded South Carolina nightclub in the early hours of Sunday, authorities said.
A deputy and a trainee were passing Greenville’s Lavish Lounge just before 2 a.m., following an unrelated call in the area, when a commotion and the sound of gunshots caught their attention, Greenville County Sheriff Hobart Lewis said at an early morning press conference.
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They heard more gunshots and called for backup before entering the club to locate the shooter. Inside, authorities found “a lot of shell casings” and blood, Lewis said.
At least two suspects remained wanted as of late Sunday morning, Lt. Jimmy Bolt with the Greenville County Sheriff’s Office told HuffPost.
“We do have some suspect information but it’s not a lot at this time,” Lewis said at the earlier press conference, later adding that police suspect that the incident was gang related.
A shooting at Lavish Lounge in Greenville, South Carolina, left two people dead and eight others injured. Google
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Police initially reported that 12 people had been shot but later corrected that number to 10. Of those gunshot victims, eight suffered injuries ranging from non-life-threatening to critical, said Bolt.
It’s not clear how many people were inside of the club at the time of the shooting, though authorities said the venue appeared to have been packed with people.
“I know that there was a very, very, very large crowd,” Lewis said. “I promise you they weren’t 6 feet apart.”
The incident came as the country continues to battle the ongoing coronavirus pandemic. Greenville County has the highest number of suspected Covid-19 cases in the state, and the number of cases there has been rising over the past two weeks, according to the state’s Department of Health and Environmental Control.
Gov. Henry McMaster (R) has reopened most of the state’s “non-essential” businesses that were ordered closed in late March. Businesses are still being asked to promote social distancing and to limit capacity.


thehuffingtonpostuk--2020-07-05--Boris Johnson Leads Nationwide Clap As Protesters Call To End 'Racial Disparity Within NHS'

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Boris Johnson has joined people in a nationwide round of applause to mark the 72nd anniversary of the NHS.
Members of the public were encouraged to join in clapping for the NHS at 5pm on Sunday as a gesture of thanks to the staff who have worked throughout the coronavirus pandemic.
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It took place as dozens of protesters gathered in London on Sunday afternoon to call an end of racial disparity in the health system.
The demonstration was organised by the group All Black Lives UK (ABLUK) - which is separate from the main Black Lives Matter movement - who was also responsible for organising the protest in Bristol that led to the statue of Edward Colston being pulled down.
“We are protesting for Black lives and one of the demands we have is to abolish the racial disparity within the NHS, especially towards Black women,” ABLUK spokesperson Tyrek Morris told the crowd.
“We need to implement extensive measures to prevent the disproportionate suffering of Black women in healthcare and bring to an end the significantly increased Black maternal mortality rate.”
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The protest, which moved from Marble Arch towards Downing Street, also called for the defunding of the police.
People hold placards, during an All Black Lives UK protest in London. ASSOCIATED PRESS
Morris said: “Defund the police does not mean abolishing the police. We need police.
“When we say defund the police, we don’t mean abolish the police, we mean take some of that money that you’re putting heavily into Scotland Yard and invest that into the community.
“The lower class systems, but mainly the black community. You take care of the community, you get less crime, you get less violence, you get less poverty.”
The prime minister met with NHS workers in the garden of Number 10 earlier that day, and public buildings including the Royal Albert Hall, Blackpool Tower and the Shard have been lit up blue in tribute to the health service.
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Thank you to the whole NHS family and all of our carers for all you have done and continue to do to keep us well and cared for.
In these past few months, indeed the past 72 years, you have represented the very best of this country. Our gratitude to you will be eternal. #NHS72 pic.twitter.com/h4aWPO9YNT — Boris Johnson #StayAlert (@BorisJohnson) July 5, 2020
On Friday, Johnson said he “does not believe in gestures” when asked on LBC if he would take the knee for Black Lives Matter.
Speaking at a press conference on the same day, Johnson urged people to clap for “those who have worked tirelessly and selflessly to help the nation get through this pandemic”.
Health secretary Matt Hancock tweeted a photo of himself shortly after the nationwide round of applause.
Fantastic to come together on the NHS’s 72nd birthday to once again clap for all our carers. Thank you all for everything you do#ClapForCarers #NHSBirthday pic.twitter.com/0QkOW7JE1b — Matt Hancock (@MattHancock) July 5, 2020
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Labour leader Keir Starmer also paid tribute to the NHS, saying it was “very personal” for him as his late mother was a nurse and later relied on the NHS when she became ill.
He said: “Many, many times she got gravely ill and it was the NHS that she turned to, and I remember as a boy, a teenager, being in high dependency units, in intensive care units, with my mum, watching nurses and other support staff keep my mum alive.
“They did that on more than one occasion – it’s etched in my memory. For them, it was just the day job. They were doing that every day.
“So, it’s very personal for me and I’m very grateful to the NHS and my mum was very grateful, she loved the NHS through the many decades that she absolutely depended on them.”
Meanwhile figures from the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) showed the number of people who have died in the UK after testing positive for coronavirus risen to 44,220 – an increase of 22 over 24 hours.
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thehuffingtonpostuk--2020-07-05--Brexit Poses 'Risks' To Fight Against Terror If UK Leaves EU Anti-Crime Deals - Watchdog

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A police watchdog has said they are “deeply concerned” about the UK’s ability to deal with terrorism if it loses access to EU crime-fighting databases after Brexit.
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In a little noticed report published last week, biometrics commissioner Paul Wiles said losing access to EU mechanisms to exchange suspects, criminal records, fingerprints and DNA data would be “detrimental” and pose “risks” to UK law enforcement.
The commissioner acknowledged that access to these databases was subject to the currently deadlocked negotiations on a future UK-EU relationship.
But he stressed the importance of the European Criminal Records Information System (ECRIS), Prum, which shares fingerprints and DNA across Europe, and the European Arrest Warrant (EAW), which allows suspects to be extradited between EU member states.
In his annual report, Wiles said: “If the outcome of the negotiations is that we lose access to EU exchange mechanisms such as ECRIS, Prüm and the EAW then that will be detrimental to the UK’s ability to deal with inter-European criminal activity (including terrorism) and international crime with European links, unless other mechanisms, with similar capabilities, can be agreed upon and established.
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“I welcome the work being done by the ICCC (International Crime Coordination Centre) and ACRO (the criminal records office) to plan for such an eventuality but I remain deeply concerned about the potential risks for UK law enforcement of the loss of these exchange mechanisms with the countries of the EU.”
Police and Brexit supporters in parliament square on January 31, when the UK left the EU SIPA USA/PA Images
Boris Johnson has committed to taking the UK out of the European Arrest Warrant once the Brexit transition ends on December 31, calling for the creation instead of “fast-track extradition agreements” with extra safeguards, based on EU deals with Norway and Iceland.
But the commissioner, who reviews the police’s use of DNA and fingerprints, said the EAW was “clearly” useful to the UK, which made 1,105 requests for the arrest of suspects overseas and received more than 60,000 between 2014 and 2018.
He warned that without a new system with “very similar capabilities” to the EAW, the UK would risk falling back on European extradition laws dating from 1957 which will be “much slower and less productive”.
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The Prum database has helped UK police identify serious offenders, including perpetrators of violent and sexual offences, through exchanges of DNA profiles and unsolved crime stains, Wiles said in his report.
He said there are “clearly serious questions” about how law enforcement will be able to replicate the exchanges if the UK leaves Prum.
Wiles said ECRIS is “vital” for the sharing of conviction and fingerprint and called on the government to maintain access or set up an alternative system “with the same capability to share conviction data and associated biometrics with other countries in Europe”.
Liberal Democrat MP Layla Moran, who is running to be the party’s leader, told HuffPost UK: “Leaving these vital crime fighting deals make it easier for thousands of dangerous criminals to evade justice.
“The government’s reckless decision to cut the UK off from the European Arrest Warrant, Prum and other crime fighting pacts will make our country less safe.
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thehuffingtonpostuk--2020-07-05--Trump Blames China For Covid-19 Spread At Crowded Independence Day Celebration

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Continuing to ignore the advice of scientists and public health experts who’ve urged Americans to remain socially distanced as Covid-19 cases continue to surge nationwide, Donald Trump hosted a crowded Independence Day celebration at the National Mall in Washington on Saturday night.
Trump, who did not wear a mask despite evidence that facial coverings can help to mitigate the spread of the coronavirus, blamed China and its “secrecy, deceptions and cover-up” for the global spread of Covid-19.
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China must be held “fully accountable,” he said, adding without evidence that the US would have a treatment or a vaccine for the virus “long before the end of the year.”
Trump added that the US has tested nearly 40 million people for COVID-19. This effort shows that “99% ... are totally harmless,” he claimed without evidence.
The US has reported more than 2.8m coronavirus cases and almost 130,000 deaths to date. That’s a fatality rate of about 4%.
People actually applaud after Trump mentions that "we got hit by the virus that came from China" pic.twitter.com/uXhSwsd4Ke — Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) July 4, 2020
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Tens of thousands of people were expected to attend the Washington event. Few appeared to be wearing masks.
Trump administration officials said they’d give out 300,000 face coverings to attendees of the celebration. The Associated Press reported, however, that there was no indication that masks or mandatory social distancing rules.
The large gathering came as global cases of the coronavirus surpassed 11m and as a majority of US states grappled with a surge in infections.
Leading members of Trump’s own coronavirus task force urged Americans to avoid crowds over the holiday weekend.
“You should avoid whenever possible gathering in crowds where people cannot maintain physical distance,” Dr Anthony Fauci, the nation’s top infectious disease expert, said earlier this week. “Avoid crowds, wear a mask, keep physical distance. It doesn’t matter what the reason for the congregation, whether it’s a celebration here, the demonstration there. It doesn’t make any difference — wear a mask.”
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On Friday, Kimberly Guilfoyle, one of Trump’s top campaign officials and the girlfriend of his eldest son, Donald Trump Jr, reportedly tested positive for the coronavirus. She’s at least the third person close to Trump who has been diagnosed with the disease in recent months.
Guilfoyle was tested in South Dakota, where she’d traveled to attend an early Independence Day celebration held at South Dakota’s Mount Rushmore National Memorial. Trump officials said she didn’t have any contact with the president’s entourage.
Trump, who was also sans mask on Friday, addressed a cheering crowd at Mount Rushmore before a massive fireworks display concluded the event. Fireworks had been banned at the site since 2009 over concerns of wildfires and other environmental effects ― but Trump pushed for the pyrotechnics extravaganza.
In his Friday speech, Trump ranted against the “left-wing mob” and “far-left fascism” — an apparent reference to protesters who, as part of a national uprising for racial justice, have pushed for the removal of Confederate monuments and symbols.
“Angry mobs are trying to tear down statues of our founders ... and unleash a wave of violent crime in our cities,” he said.
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ABC News said 3,700 people attended the Rushmore event. Few wore seen wearing masks.
On the National Mall, Trump reiterated his inflammatory rhetoric.
“We are now in the process of defeating the radical left, the Marxists, the anarchists, the agitators, the looters and people who in many instances have absolutely no clue what they are doing,” he said.
He lambasted protesters for “lying about our history.”
″[They] want us to be ashamed of who we are, [they’re] not interested in justice or healing. Their goal is demolition,” he said.
Trump also dug into the media, whom he described as condemning “patriotic citizens.”
“The more you lie, the more you slander ... the more we will work hard to tell the truth, and we will win,” he said of the press.
Trump's July 4 message to the nation: "We are now in the process of defeating the radical left, the Marxists, the anarchists, the agitators, the looters, and people who in many instances have absolutely no clue what they are doing." pic.twitter.com/zh7wPYmT3z — Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) July 4, 2020
Trump also touted a sculpture garden that he hopes to establish, dubbed the “National Garden of American Heroes.”
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The garden would pay tribute to some of the most prominent figures in U.S. history, including Betsy Ross, Jackie Robinson, Susan B. Anthony, Daniel Boone, Davy Crockett, Frederick Douglass and ultra-conservative Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia.


thehuffingtonpostuk--2020-07-05--Spain Announces Second Local Lockdown In 24 Hours After Spike In Coronavirus Cases

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Spain has put a second region back into lockdown following a new local outbreak of coronavirus.
From midnight on Sunday, people will be banned from travelling into and out of La Marina, north of Lugo in Galicia, unless for work reasons.
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Groups of more than 10 people will be prohibited from meeting unless they are from the same household. Bars and restaurants will have to cut capacity by 50%.
People will also be required to wear face masks when outdoors, including on beaches and swimming pools.
The announcement comes after a fresh outbreak in the region which saw 106 people testing positive for coronavirus.
Regional health minister Jesus Vazquez Almuina told reporters the biggest outbreaks were linked to several bars in the area.
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La Marina is the second Spanish region to go back into lockdown in just 24 hours.
On Saturday, the government of Catalonia reimposed a local lockdown in Segrià, an area west of Barcelona which includes Lleida city.
As of Friday, Catalonia recorded 72,860 cases of coronavirus and 12,586 deaths - out of a population of 7.5 million people.
Spanish newspaper El Mundo reported the number of people who tested positive for coronavirus to enter the University Hospital in Lleida had tripled in 10 days by Saturday.


thehuffingtonpostuk--2020-07-06--Government Stops Publishing Daily Number Of People Tested For Coronavirus

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Downing Street has said the government will no longer publish daily figures on the number of people tested for coronavirus.
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Boris Johnson’s official spokesperson said only the total number of tests processed will be published on a daily basis.
This is because only people who are receiving a test for the first time are counted towards the statistic, meaning many hospital and care home staff who are being tested on a regular basis will not be counted.
The prime minister’s spokesperson denied that the government was not publishing the figure because it was embarrassed at how few people were being tested.
He said: “That’s not the case, and I think the fact that we are very regularly testing hospital and care home staff is an important thing to be doing.”
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It comes after questions about why the number of people tested each day was often lower than the total number of tests done or posted out each day.
Explaining the decision, the spokesperson said: “DHSC (the department for health and social care) will no longer publish the number of people tested daily anymore and will instead publish the number of daily tests processed.
“This is because the daily people tested statistic only counts new people being tested.
“For example, someone who is tested in February and then tested again this month would only be counted once.
“Considering hospital and care home staff are now being tested on a regular basis we don’t think this statistic would be an accurate reflection of the amount of daily testing that is taking place.
“Test and trace statistics published weekly do still include the number of people who have been tested.”
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He added: “There are now significant numbers of people who are going to be tested for a second or third or fourth time because of hospital and care home staff being tested on a regular basis.”
A soldier from 2 Scots Royal Regiment of Scotland take a test sample at a Covid-19 testing centre at Glasgow airport. PA
The latest testing figures show that 164,849 tests were provided on July 5.
Of these 40,466 were by NHS, Public Health England and devolved administration labs, 109,998 were tests by commercial partners, and there were 10,282 antibody tests, 4,103 surveillance testing
Of the commercial tests, 57,434 were sent by post.
Total testing capacity currently stands at 294,258.
The move comes after the prime minister was last week accused of “moving the goalposts” on his target to get most Covid-19 tests returned within 24 hours as latest figures showed he was well short of the goal.
Statistics showed that just 21% of tests were completed within the timeframe in “satellite” test centres used mainly by care workers, 60% in mobile test centres and 71% in regional test centres.
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Just over 90% of NHS labs return results within 24 hours as of June 30. The current average Covid-19 testing turnaround time in the NHS pathology laboratories is 14 hours.
Johnson promised “to get all tests turned around within 24 hours by the end of June, except for difficulties with postal tests or insuperable problems like that”.


thehuffingtonpostuk--2020-07-06--Tony Hadley Hits Out At Spandau Ballet's Kemp Brothers Over Mockumentary

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The brothers appeared in the one-off BBC Two spoof show Kemps: All True on Sunday night, and a defaced picture of Tony featured in one scene.
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The singer – who left the band in 2017 – was left less than impressed at the show, telling The Sun: “I wasn’t approached and would not have anything to do with it. I’m done.
Tony Hadley Vianney Le Caer/Invision/AP
“They want me back for good but it ain’t going to happen. I’d rather be happy on my own than be in that band again.”
He added: “If they want another lead singer, that’s their choice. But if you want to hear those songs sung by the original singer then you can only really see one bloke — and that’s me.”
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Gary and Martin Kemp PA
When Tony quit Spandau Ballet three years ago, he cited “circumstances beyond his control” as the reason behind his decision.
The band later said in their own statement that Tony had “made it clear in September 2016 that he didn’t want to work with the band any more,” and recruited a new frontman Ross William Wild.
After Ross then quit the band in 2019, Spandau confirmed they were not planning to tour again without Tony.
Members of Spandau Ballet, from left, Gary Kemp, Martin Kemp, Tony Hadley, Steve Norman and John Keeble in 2014 ASSOCIATED PRESS
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Just last week, Martin expressed his wish for Tony to return to the band, telling Smooth Radio: “I’m always up for it. It’s a really weird thing. Sometimes— it’s about ego a lot of the time. You know, it’s people getting over arguments.
“I would do it tomorrow, because I know how many people want to see it out there. And that gives me a buzz. But trying to get everyone to do it tomorrow is difficult.


thehuffingtonpostuk--2020-07-06--Kasabian Frontman Tom Meighan Quits Band Over ‘Personal Issues’

Kasabian frontman Tom Meighan has left the band after struggling with “personal issues”, it has been announced.
A statement issued on behalf of the group said: “Kasabian have announced today that Tom Meighan is stepping down from the band by mutual consent.
“Tom has struggled with personal issues that have affected his behaviour for quite some time and now wants to concentrate all his energies on getting his life back on track.”
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Tom Meighan Karwai Tang via Getty Images
The Leicester-based band, which Meighan co-founded as a student in the late 90s, say they “will not be commenting further”.
Tom Meighan is stepping down from Kasabian by mutual consent. Tom has struggled with personal issues that have affected his behaviour for quite some time and now wants to concentrate all his energies on getting his life back on track. We will not be commenting further. — KasabianHQ (@KasabianHQ) July 6, 2020
Kasabian, who went on an extended break last year, features guitarist Serge Pizzorno, bassist Chris Edwards and drummer Ian Matthews.
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They had been due to play a huge return gig in their home city last month, but were left “absolutely brokenhearted” after the coronavirus pandemic led to its cancellation.
Kasabian (L-R) Ian Matthews, Tom Meighan, Serge Pizzorno and Chris Edwards PA
Speaking earlier this month following the cancellation, Meighan told Sky News: “I believe things happen for a reason. So I’d imagine we’ll be back next year to play Vicky Park when the restrictions are all gone. But I can’t imagine any rock’n’roll music being played till at least next summer.”
That year, Meighan told Q magazine that he had been struggling with his mental health following the death of a friend and splitting from his partner.
“I was making myself ill, I ain’t gonna lie, my mind was jolted,” he said. “It might have been a build-up from years and years. I wasn’t taking responsibility and it affected everyone around me, horrendous.”
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thehuffingtonpostuk--2020-07-06--A Minute Of Kindness: The Charity Matching Donors To Help People Pay Their Bills

A Minute Of Kindness: The Charity Matching Donors To Help People Pay Their Bills
After a period of prolonged unemployment for a lot of people during the lockdown, this charity connects donors to those needing to pay their bills. Pandemic of Love has connected thousands to each other in the US as well as the UK.


thehuffingtonpostuk--2020-07-06--Suspected Case Of Bubonic Plague Found In China, But This Is Why You Shouldn't Freak Out

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Chinese authorities in an Inner Mongolian city have issued an alert after a hospital reported a case of suspected bubonic plague, the highly contagious and often deadly disease that killed 60% of Europe’s entire population during an outbreak in the Middle Ages.
In a world in the midst of a coronavirus pandemic this has obviously made headlines around the world but fortunately, it’s not that big a deal.
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Outbreaks of bubonic plague, known as the “Black Death” in those history books you read at school, are rare but not unknown in China, which reported 26 cases and 11 deaths between 2009 to 2018.
The disease is spread by animals and causes fever, headache, chills, and weakness and one or more swollen, tender and painful lymph nodes – it isn’t pleasant at all.
But as is quite obvious, healthcare has improved somewhat since the Middle Ages and anyone catching the disease these days can be expected to make a full recovery providing they can get to hospital pretty sharpish.
Which is why the response of the Chinese authorities is noticeably less alarmist than some headlines and the odd post on social media.
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#bubonicplague trending
Everyone now leaving earth and running to mars pic.twitter.com/Jbj3iTFGzF — Yogesh (@iyogeshvora) July 6, 2020
The health committee of the city of Bayan Nur, where the suspected case was identified, issued the third-level alert, the second lowest in a four-level system.
The alert forbids the hunting and eating of animals that could carry plague and asks the public to report any suspected cases of plague or fever with no clear causes, and to report any sick or dead marmots.
Sunday’s warning follows four reported cases of plague in people from Inner Mongolia in November, including two of pneumonic plague, a deadlier variant of plague.
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thehuffingtonpostuk--2020-07-06--How To Find Out If Your Clothes Are Made Ethically

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How can you find out if your clothes are made ethically? It’s a question many shoppers may be asking themselves, after Boohoo announced it has ordered an independent review of its UK supply chain.
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It comes after reported allegations that workers in a Leicester factory making clothes for Nasty Gal, which is owned by Boohoo, were being paid as little as £3.50 an hour and operating without social distancing measures. Retailers including Next and ASOS subsequently dropped Boohoo goods from their stores.
Health secretary Matt Hancock said he has “significant concerns” about employment practices at some UK factories, while home secretary Priti Patel insisted “sweatshops” will not be tolerated.
Boohoo said it will investigate and terminate relationships with suppliers where evidence of this is found. But in general, what can consumers do to ensure garment workers aren’t suffering for our clothes?
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Dominique Muller, from campaign group Labour Behind The Label, says one of the biggest challenges is that some brands remain “almost totally opaque” and refuse to publish their supply chains.
“That’s why one of our long-standing campaigns is to get brands to publish their supplier list,” she tells HuffPost UK. “Then consumers, workers, unions and the government know where these clothes are made.”
Factories are just one part of the puzzle, adds Sarah Ditty, global policy director at Fashion Revolution. To see if brands are operating ethically, we need to call for transparency around sub-contractors, fabric suppliers, mills and raw material suppliers.
Shoppers play a vital role in incentivising retailers to do this. By financially supporting transparent brands, you’re pressuring other brands to do the same.
Along with their partners in the Clean Clothes Campaign, Labour Behind The Label has created an online fashion checker, where you can see what brands say – and what they actually do – around wages. Before shopping, type in the brand name to see how transparent it is regarding supply chains and wages.
“As consumers, we have a big role to play,” says Muller. “Try to avoid brands whose name is in the news for abuses. If something seems too good to be true – it generally is. Most often, workers pay the price for the cheap clothes we consume.”
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“If something seems too good to be true – it generally is.” - Dominique Muller, from campaign group Labour Behind The Label
Ditty echoes caution around clothes that seem “impossibly cheap”. If you can pick up a T-shirt for less than the cost of your lunch, “you can assume it was almost certainly made by someone making a very low wage, one that doesn’t cover their essential costs of living,” she says.
But, she adds, just because a garment costs a lot, doesn’t mean it’s been made by someone being paid a fair, living wage either. “Not everyone has the time and resources, but if you do, research the brand before you buy, reach out to them and ask #whomademyclothes,” she says. “Find out how they ensure the people making their products are paid fairly and working in good conditions.”
Smaller, independent brands may be more responsive to your questions and will likely have shorter, less complex supply chains, adds Ditty.
You can also look for certifications like Fair Trade or Global Organic Textile Standard (GOTS), which can provide guarantees of good environmental management and that people in the supply chain are paid fairly, she advises.
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monkeybusinessimages via Getty Images
Prior to the Leicester allegations, Labour Behind The Label was already running a campaign aimed at Boohoo, calling for the public the sign a petition for greater transparency. “Sign petitions, share your stories, take action and become involved,” says Muller.
Ditty says we should also be writing and calling our elected officials and demanding that the government requires fashion brands to “stop the culture of unfair contracts and impossibly low prices for suppliers, which leads to illegally low wages, wage fraud and forced overtime for factory workers”.


thehuffingtonpostuk--2020-07-06--Vogue Portugal Pulls Psychiatric Ward Cover After Backlash

“Mental illness isn’t a fashion trend, nor something to be glamorised. I want to know why they felt this was acceptable and what they were aiming to achieve by publishing such damaging content both through the images and terminology of ‘madness’.”
Jo Loughran, director of Time to Change, which is run by mental health charities Mind and Rethink Mental Illness, said it was “disappointing” to see the outdated depiction of what looks to be a psychiatric hospital – especially on the cover of such a high-profile magazine.
“Mental health isn’t a fashion statement,” she said. “The shame and isolation that many of us with mental health problems experience is only made worse by imagery like this which fuels people’s lack of understanding.”


thehuffingtonpostuk--2020-07-06--Pret A Manger Set To Shut 30 Shops 'And Cut 1,000 Jobs' Amid Coronavirus Pandemic

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Pret A Manger is set to close 30 coffee shops across the UK as part of a restructuring plan that is expected to put around 1,000 jobs at risk.
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Chief executive Pano Christou said the company could not “defy gravity” amid the coronavirus pandemic, with sales falling by 74% compared to last year.
“These decisions are not a reflection on anyone’s work or commitment,” he said. “But we must make these changes to succeed in the new retail environment.”
According to Pret bosses, the 300 stores the company has reopened in the UK since lockdown have not recovered as quickly as in other countries.
The 30 shops set to close will shut their doors permanently later this year, while staffing levels will also be cut back at other sites.
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According to the PA news agency, around 1,000 jobs are at risk amid restructuring plans.
Christou said: “When the coronavirus crisis hit, we said that our priority was to protect our people, our customers, and of course Pret. We confirmed it was our intention to do everything we could to save jobs.
Pret A Manger is set to close 30 coffee shops, putting as many as 1,000 jobs at risk SIPA USA/PA Images
“Although we were able to do that through the lockdown, thanks in particular to the government’s vital support, we cannot defy gravity and continue with the business model we had before the pandemic. That is why we have adapted our business and found new ways to reach our customers.
“It’s a sad day for the whole Pret family, and I’m devastated that we will be losing so many employees.”
The company will help employees made redundant to find new jobs “through a number of initiatives”, he added.
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The news about Pret follows cuts at a number of other companies as the impact of Covid-19 and the lockdown in the UK hits.
Last week, SSP – which owns Upper Crust and Caffe Ritazza – revealed plans to cut as many as 5,000 jobs following a dramatic fall in passengers at train stations and airports, where many of its sites are based.