thehuffingtonpostuk--2020-06-18--What's Going On With The Coronavirus Antibody Test?

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They were heralded as “game-changers” and in March, we were told antibody tests would be with us “within days”. Four months later, the majority of people in the UK haven’t been anywhere near one.
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Antibody tests – also called serology tests – are designed to check if a person has detectable antibodies in their blood, which would indicate they’ve already had Covid-19. The tests are different from those being used around the world to see if someone has the actual virus in their system.
The presence of antibodies in a person’s blood indicates that their immune system has cleared a virus. But in the case of Covid-19, we don’t know how long immunity from the virus lasts.
“There is no strong evidence yet to suggest that those who have had the virus develop long-lasting immunity which would prevent them from getting the virus again,” the government’s website now states.
However, private companies are pushing forwards with antibody tests. Pharmacies including Superdrug previously launched finger prick versions of the tests, but these were swiftly removed from shelves when questions were raised about their accuracy.
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This week, Superdrug has launched a new version, becoming the first high-street retailer to offer an antibody testing service using a blood sample drawn from a patient by an in-store nurse.
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So, what’s the point of antibody tests?
Originally, it was hoped antibody tests may help people get back to work without fear of infection. NHS workers, for example, could take the test to see if they’d already developed antibodies. There was also talk of “immunity passports” – however the World Health Organisation soon warned the accuracy of these tests couldn’t be guaranteed.
Because of this, the government is now taking a more cautious approach over the antibody tests. Instead, its website states there’s currently “no strong evidence” that a person cannot contract Covid-19 again.
“Therefore, the value of antibody tests is currently limited to answering the question of whether someone has had the virus or not, and providing data and a greater understanding on the spread of the virus,” the government website says.
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A high percentage of the population is thought to have had Covid-19 without symptoms. Therefore antibody testing is not entirely pointless, as it’ll provide scientists with a higher volume of infection data to work with. On a personal level though, having a test won’t change your life much – you’ll still need to follow social distancing rules.
Who can get free antibody testing?
All NHS and care staff in England are being offered an antibody test. Some NHS patients and members of the public who participate in surveillance studies are also receiving the tests. These tests, approved by Public Health England, involve a healthcare practitioner taking blood from a vein, rather than a finger prick test. They’ve been shown as an accurate indicator of whether or not someone has had Covid-19, but again, they don’t show immunity.
A spokesperson said the roll-out of these tests will be expanded to other essential workers “in due course” to help scientists better understand how coronavirus is spreading across the country.
The government is also working to develop “scalable solutions” for at-home antibody testing, they added, saying: “An unreliable test is worse than no test.”
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What’s happening with tests in pharmacies?
Superdrug made headlines as the first pharmacy offering at-home antibody tests conducted via a finger prick, when it began selling them for £69 on May 20. Other major pharmacies, including Lloyd’s Pharmacy, launched similar services. These tests instructed customers to take their own blood sample via a finger prick at home, then seal it and send it to a lab for testing.
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However, just nine days after the first at-home test launched, the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) asked providers of the finger prick antibody test to temporarily stop providing this service. The regulators said they needed to ensure the finger prick at-home tests could produce results as accurate as when blood is taken directly from a vein by a healthcare practitioner.
“People who have purchased one of these sampling kits, and received an antibody test result, should not consider the result to be reliable and should not take any action based on it,” Graeme Tunbridge, MHRA interim director of devices, said in a statement.
Pharmacies including Superdrug are currently working with the MHRA to “validate this claim and resume testing” via finger prick tests.
In the meantime, Superdrug has become the first high street store to offer antibody tests taken via a traditional blood test, in the same way NHS staff receive these tests. The service, which costs £89 and is conducted by qualified nurses, is available at 30 Superdrug Health Clinics, with a further 12 clinics due to open in the coming weeks. Patients need to pre-book an appointment by calling 03333111007 or visiting healthclinics.superdrug.com.
Although antibodies don’t necessarily signal immunity, Superdrug is offering the test because some people “just want to know” if they’ve had Covid-19.
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thehuffingtonpostuk--2020-06-18--UK Records 135 More Coronavirus Deaths In 24 Hours, Including 13-Day-Old Baby

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A 13-day-old baby with no known underlying health conditions has died of coronavirus, as the UK’s death toll increases by 135 over 24 hours.
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Since the end of April, the government’s daily announcement has included people in care homes and the community, rather than just in hospital, who have died.
But only those who had tested positive for Covid-19 are included, meaning anyone who died with a suspected case won’t be recorded.
The figures cover the period up to 5pm on Wednesday, taking the total death toll to 42,288.
Statista
It comes after the number of people who have died in hospitals across the UK, as well as care homes in Wales, after contracting the virus rose by 69 in 24 hours.
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That increase consisted of 62 in England, two in Scotland and five in Wales. Northern Ireland reported zero deaths in the previous 24 hour period.
NHS England confirmed that patients who died were aged between 13 days and 96 years old. Three patients, including the baby, were not known to have any underlying health conditions.
The latest figures were published on Thursday. ASSOCIATED PRESS
The data on deaths published by NHS England also accounts for 25 people who had previously been included in error.
Meanwhile, as of 9am on Thursday, there have been 7,259,555 tests carried out. The number of people tested will be significantly lower than this as many people are tested more than once.
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To date, 300,469 have tested positive for Covid-19.


thehuffingtonpostuk--2020-06-18--Alan Sugar Sparks Backlash After Latest Coronavirus Comments

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Lord Alan Sugar has sparked a social media backlash after voicing his belief we should begin lifting lockdown measures in the UK.
Speaking on Thursday’s edition of Jeremy Vine, Lord Sugar revealed he’d been at his home in Florida for the last six months, and had therefore spent the entire coronavirus pandemic so far in the US.
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The 73-year-old began by insisting that he is “not a doctor” and therefore doesn’t “want to be giving medical advice”, before telling Jeremy: “The only thing I can say is that I’ve been here in Florida for six months, and so I’ve lived through the crisis, the shortage of ventilators, the no masks available, the no bodywear available, the hospital beds being full up, blah blah blah, blah blah blah, blah blah blah.
“And I’ve now seen the transition of restaurants opening, tennis courts – for example – opening, golf clubs opening, restaurants opening at 50% capacity, shops have been open all of the time, quite honestly, and this has been going on now for six weeks.”
Lord Sugar speaking from his home in Florida Channel 5
It’s the second part of his speech that has especially riled people, though, as the Apprentice star continued: “I just, logically, say ‘well hold on, six weeks, we’ve come out of this so-called lockdown, who’s dead? I’m not. I’m still alive’. My wife, thank god, is still alive. So’s everybody else I know. No one else has caught anything.
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“So I suppose it’s a bit of a clue there that says maybe we’ve reached a peak, and maybe it’s time for us to follow the example of America, or indeed France, that have opened up, or indeed Spain.”
He added that he believes “Prime Minister Johnson… is being a little too cautious, if you ask me”.
Lord Sugar speaks to Jeremy Vine about lockdown on both sides of the Atlantic Channel 5
After a clip of the interview was posted on social media, many began taking issues with Lord Sugar’s comments, branding him “ignorant” and pointing out that just because the virus hadn’t affected him directly, that doesn’t mean others haven’t lost loved ones in the pandemic...
"We did ask some of the people who have died from COVID-19 to appear on the programme but none were available". https://t.co/1WjrthBlqF — Philip Collins (@PCollinsTimes) June 18, 2020
Oh well, Alan Sugar, as long as you and your mates are fine, I guess that's all that matters. Don't worry about the hundreds of thousands who actually have died or lost loved ones, you pompous, out of touch asshat. https://t.co/RBPCAn0MYt — Jay Thomas (@RemainsOfTheJay) June 18, 2020
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My fiancé and his colleague became sick around the same time. My fiancé thankfully survived, his colleague sadly passed.
Alan Sugar may have an abundance of wealth but he still can’t see beyond his own narrow view. Your experience is not universal. https://t.co/6SXzm2eeV5 — Mel (@MelRTW) June 18, 2020
"It hasn't killed me so it's probably fine," Alan Sugar tells the world from his $13 million six-bedroom Florida fortress. https://t.co/s9qdZES3KP — Jamie (@okayjamie) June 18, 2020
Who's dead?? How dare you @Lord_Sugar I know people that have died from this virus. Over 41,000 people have died... That's who's died!!! https://t.co/pf18xaRhCs — James Dobson (@GillsJames1893) June 18, 2020
.@Lord_Sugar "Who's dead?" I personally know two people who have died, a couple more who had to be ventilated for WEEKS and even more people who caught the virus. Just because something isn't happening to you doesn't mean it's not happening, you selfish, fucking moron! https://t.co/tIWp203Qkf — Ayesha (@ayesha_bgm) June 18, 2020
So insulting to the thousands who have been affected personally by this horrific virus. Lives have been torn apart. Why do we allow these people to spout such ignorant nonsense? All for money. When will we learn? https://t.co/MltLIpHz8C — Mark Dobson (@kellysheroesmd) June 18, 2020
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Reckless. Disrespectful. Ignorant. Imbecile.
Over 40,000 people have died @Lord_Sugar, especially the poor and deprived, who have suffered the worst.
Your ignorance and dismissive behaviour knows no bounds! https://t.co/o6ED4q35gj — Gerry Campbell (@gerrycampbell69) June 18, 2020
Over 40,000 people, Alan. But not you or your mates, so, ah sure that's grand. What an absolute joke. https://t.co/FzB2i0fubz — Marc Caldwell (@permanentmarcer) June 18, 2020
Others highlighted the fact that even in Florida, where Lord Sugar is currently living, there’s been a recent surge in coronavirus cases…
Florida yesterday recorded a new peak on COVID cases but big Alan hasn't got it so it's all fine. https://t.co/3fXfSSTfST — Bailey Harper (@bay405) June 18, 2020
Says he been in Florida for the past 6 months so I'm guessing he hasn't watched much local news before rambling about him and his rich mates not being dead https://t.co/zWyu5B1Wfk pic.twitter.com/0B0DF8RjWK — David (@Dave_Lome) June 18, 2020
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Florida yesterday recorded a new peak on COVID cases but big Alan hasn't got it so it's all fine. https://t.co/3fXfSSTfST — Bailey Harper (@bay405) June 18, 2020
'I'm not a doctor,' says Lord Sugar from Florida, which is experiencing a massive spike in hospitalisations from coronavirus https://t.co/41VDURImDo — Toby Earle (@TobyonTV) June 18, 2020
"A month into its reopening, Florida this week reported 8,553 new cases - the most of any seven-day period" (https://t.co/RRAhmqDMV9) https://t.co/wvVvpmkUdI — Jamie Sport (@JamieSport) June 18, 2020
While he froths on about I don't know anyone who died blah blah blah. 6 weeks after lockdown restrictions were relaxed.. Florida cases are rising. Arrogant, ill informed and on #jeremyvine well done. https://t.co/aNEpBPEef2 https://t.co/pOnSagEA11 — paul sandham (@papalamour) June 18, 2020
Many also questioned what made him qualified to speak on the subject on the first place…
"Look, I'm not a doctor and I don't want to be giving medical advice"... Should've stopped there @Lord_Sugar... https://t.co/i15BjLmhKN — Invi (@invi_tv) June 18, 2020
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When it comes to common sense on public health issues, you know who I want to hear from? The guy who genuinely believed Taylor Swift had a swastika tattooed on her face pic.twitter.com/j3pgO19OrJ — Eddie Robson (@EddieRobson) June 18, 2020
'I'm not a doctor but blah blah blah...' smh. Time to boycott @theapprenticeuk https://t.co/nqb3rjGYNX — Tayyiba Nasir (@tayyibanasir) June 18, 2020
I think the only key bit of information we really need to take from this is "Look I'm not a doctor, and I don't want to be giving medical advice". https://t.co/mm0laGMSi6 — Richard Heathcote (@voiceoverartist) June 18, 2020
One thing this period in history has allowed for is a regularly updated measuring device for; 'Is My Opinion Terrible?'.
Just check Alan Sugar's feed. If your opinion is the same as his; it is terrible. https://t.co/P2SmFxo5p1 — Jack Pridmore (@jackjpridmore) June 18, 2020
Why would you even give airtime to such out of touch, uneducated, ignorant people to speak on a virus in the middle of a pandemic? https://t.co/NT2eSaGWc8 — . (@kalimo97) June 18, 2020
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This isn’t the first time Lord Sugar has been criticised for voicing his opinions during lockdown.
Last month, he found himself at the centre of controversy once again, when he tweeted a link to a conspiracy theory about the origins of coronavirus, which suggested that the virus had been man-made in a laboratory.
This was swiftly debunked by Full Fact, and while Lord Sugar conceded the theory he shared was “fake news”, he continued to defend his decision to not only tweet it out, but keep the post active for some time.


thehuffingtonpostuk--2020-06-18--Who Is Cabinet Minister Robert Jenrick?

Who Is Cabinet Minister Robert Jenrick?

Who Is Cabinet Minister Robert Jenrick?
Housing, communities and local government minister Robert Jenrick has had a meteoric rise to the Cabinet, only becoming an MP in 2014. One of the ministers entrusted to deliver the daily coronavirus briefings, his short time in the inner circle of government hasn’t been without controversy. At the beginning of the pandemic, he was accused of not adhering to the guidelines but now a decision he made on a property development is being called into question by opposing parties who see a conflict of interest.


thehuffingtonpostuk--2020-06-19--These Are The Most Popular Songs To Have Sex To, Apparently

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“My d**k is a pen, it’s written all over her face.” Yep, that’s the lyric that gets the nation in the mood for sex, apparently. We’ll just let you sit with that for a moment.
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The nation’s favourite tunes to have sex to have been revealed – and Jeremih’s explicit All The Time has come in at number one.
The list has been compiled by lingerie brand Pour Moi, who analysed Spotify playlist data covering more than 300,000 songs, from playlists such as ‘date night’, ‘getting it on’, ‘sex playlist’ and ‘Netflix and chill’. Whether people actually listen to these songs during sex – well, we’ll never know.
The majority of songs in the top 10 are from the 2010s, with Birthday Sex by Jeremih and Neighbours Know My Name by Trey Songz appearing. Pony by Ginuwine is somehow the only track to have made the cut from the 90s, despite containing the lyric: “My saddle’s waiting, come and jump on it”.
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Here’s the top 10 list for the most listened to sex songs:
1. All The Time - Jeremih
2. Often - The Weeknd
3. Earned It - The Weeknd
4. Birthday Sex - Jeremih
5. Neighbors Know My Name - Trey Songz
6. Don’t - Bryson Tiller
7. Wicked Games - The Weeknd
8. Slow Motion - Trey Songz
9. Pony - Ginuwine
=10. The Hills - The Weeknd
=10. Call Out My Name - The Weeknd
The most common artist was The Weeknd. Songs by the Canadian singer and producer are nearly twice as likely to appear on a sexy playlist than Trey Songz, who came in at number two.
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Rihanna and Beyoncé are the only female singers to make it on the top 10.
Most listened to artists during sex:
1. The Weeknd
2. Trey Songz
3. Usher
4. Drake
5. Jeremih
6. Rihanna
7. Beyoncé
8. Miguel
9. Two Feet
10. Partynextdoor
There’s also a surprising amount of dedicated masturbation playlists on Spotify. The researchers analysed more than 20,000 songs from playlists named ‘touching myself’, ‘solo sex’ and ‘masturbation playlist’.
I Touch Myself by Divinyls took the top spot, but we’re most interested in the jokers listening to a-ha’s Take On Me while having a wank.
Most listened to songs for solo sex:
1. I Touch Myself - Divinyls
2. Sex With Me - Rihanna
3. Love Myself - Hailee Steinfeld
4. =Call Out My Name - The Weeknd
4. =Often - The Weeknd
5. Slow Dancing In The Dark - Joji
6. Get You (feat. Kali Uchis) - Daniel Caesar
7. Earned It - The Weeknd
8. =Take on Me - A-ha
8. =Everybody Wants To Rule The World - Tears For Fears
9. Under the Bridge - Red Hot Chili Peppers
10. Feeling Myself - Nicki Minaj
The Weeknd is also the most listened to artist for people satisfying themselves, however it seems many people enjoy a bit of classical, too, with German composer Johann Sebastian Bach listed as the fifth most listened to artist. Who would have guessed it?
Most listened to artists for solo sex:
1. The Weeknd
2. Divinyls
3. Post Malone
4. Red Hot Chili Peppers
5. Johann Sebastian Bach
6. Drake
7. Kanye West
8. Rihanna
9. Lana Del Rey


thehuffingtonpostuk--2020-06-19--South Asian People Most Likely To Die In Hospital From Coronavirus, New Study Finds

The study, led by scientists at the University of Edinburgh, used data from 30,693 people from 260 hospitals in England, Scotland and Wales. ASSOCIATED PRESS
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South Asian people are the most likely group to die from coronavirus after being admitted to hospital, a new study shows.
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The study showed South Asian people had a 19% higher chance of dying in hospital in the UK from Covid-19 than white people. Other minority ethnic groups were not shown to have a higher death rate.
Researchers believe diabetes played a “significant factor” in the increased risk of death – 40% of the South Asian hospital patients had diabetes of some form, compared with 25% of white groups.
Diabetes can make a person more vulnerable to being infected with coronavirus as well as dying from it, as it can cause some internal organs to become compromised.
The study, led by scientists at the University of Edinburgh, used data from 30,693 people from 260 hospitals in England, Scotland and Wales from February 6 to May 8, with patient follow-up to May 22. It has not yet been peer-reviewed or published in a medical journal.
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It showed out of every 1,000 South Asian people admitted to hospital for Covid-19, 350 die – compared to 290 deaths for every 1,000 white people needing hospital treatment.
Researchers concluded: “Ethnic minorities in hospital with Covid-19 were more likely to be admitted to critical care and receive IMV (ventilation) than white people, despite similar disease severity on admission, similar duration of symptoms, and being younger with fewer comorbidities.
“South Asians are at greater risk of dying, due at least in part to a higher prevalence of pre-existing diabetes.”
Prof Ewen Harrison, from the University of Edinburgh, told the BBC: “South Asian people look very different in hospital to other groups, in particular, white people.
“They’re younger, 12 years younger in average, less likely to have pre-existing conditions such as lung disease, dementia or obesity but much more likely to have diabetes.
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“In fact 40% of the South Asians in hospital with Covid-19 have diabetes, we think this is quite a significant contributor to their increased likelihood of death.”
Separate figures from the Office for National Statistics (ONS) published on Friday showed Black men are still most likely to die from coronavirus in England and Wales, after adjusting for age.
The mortality rate for deaths involving Covid-19 was highest among Black males (255.7 deaths per 100,000 population) and lowest among white males (87.0 deaths per 100,000).
For females, the pattern was similar with the highest rates among those of Black ethnic background (119.8 deaths per 100,000) and lowest among those of white ethnic background (52.0 per 100,000).
After further adjusting for other factors such as deprivation and health, the ONS found people of Black ethnic background still had a mortality rate involving Covid-19 that was 2.0 times greater for males and 1.4 times greater for females compared with those of white ethnic background.
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The data covers deaths that occurred in England and Wales between March 2 and May 15.
Males of Bangladeshi, Pakistani and Indian ethnic background also had a significantly higher risk of death involving Covid-19 (1.5 and 1.6 times respectively) than white males, the ONS found.
For females in Bangladeshi or Pakistani, Indian, Chinese and mixed ethnic groups, the risk of death involving Covid-19 was equivalent to white females.
Nick Stripe of the ONS said: “Analysis continues to show that people from a Black ethnic background are at a greater risk of death involving Covid-19 than all other ethnic groups.
“Adjusting for socio-economic factors and geographical location partly explains the increased risk, but there remains twice the risk for Black males and around one-and-a-half times for Black females. Significant differences also remain for Bangladeshi, Pakistani and Indian men.


thehuffingtonpostuk--2020-06-19--Black Lives Matter – Unless You're Black In The Workplace

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The murder of George Floyd in the US and the resulting Black Lives Matter protests taking place globally have led many organisations to express their support for the Black Lives Matter movement and their black employees, and making generous donations to black organisations.
However, this new apparent solidarity with the black community is rather surprising, especially to their Black employees who are used to dealing with racism and micro-aggressions every day.
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It’s ironic to see companies who have failed to act on racism for so long, suddenly professing to care. Where is the solidarity when you pay us less than our white counterparts? Where is the solidarity when you fail to hire and promote us into senior leadership roles? Where is the solidarity when we report racist incidents and we are told to ignore it?
“Now more than ever, companies need to realise that talk is cheap and Black employees are tired.”
Numerous conversations have been happening online as company statements have been critiqued by current and former Black employees. As the two black female founders of nine to five’s, an online community for black people in the workplace, we saw it as our duty to amplify and expand this conversation, so we created #blackintheoffice on twitter and asked Black employees to message us their experiences so we could share them anonymously.
The response has been overwhelming, with many recommending the thread as essential line manager and senior leadership reading. Whilst it provides a much-needed raw insight into the black British employee experience, it has also been heart-breaking to read.
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Common trends we saw across the submissions included Black women being subjected to negative comments about their natural hair styles, weaves and wigs, with colleagues touching their hair and even attempting to remove wigs during work night out.
Many of those that got in touch with us said they found out upon leaving their jobs that they were being significantly underpaid, and being replaced with lesser qualified white people who were being paid more.
Others spoke of being labelled as “aggressive, pushy, sassy, negative”, or being subject to inappropriate comments about drug use, gangs or slavery, and receiving no support from their peers or HR when reporting incidents.
And the submissions showed this issue isn’t unique to one particular industry either. It happens everywhere, from law to banking, recruitment, fashion and luxury, beauty and cosmetics, charity, transport, aviation, education, property and construction, journalism and more. As suspected, there is no “safe industry” or “safe workplace” if you are Black.
Now more than ever, companies need to realise that talk is cheap and Black employees are tired. We are tired of the blanket statements and empty promises. We want to know of the specific actions you are going to take to create a safe environment for Black employees to thrive. We would like clear transparency and accountability around those actions. We would like to be spoken to as the Black community and not referred to as BAME or people of colour, because we are not a singular homogenous group. We want to be listened to and trust that we can report incidents without fear of retribution. We want to be paid fairly. We want to see more Black people in senior leadership, because we know they exist in our firms and externally, so why don’t you hire or promote them?
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Now is also the time to recognise the things that don’t work. It simply isn’t enough to just hire more Black people, not until you have taken the necessary steps to make your workplace more inclusive of them. Hiring a diversity and inclusion lead takes away from the fact that a diverse and inclusive workplace needs to be the responsibility of everyone. The unconscious bias trainings mask the ugly reality that much of the behaviours Black employees are subjected to are very conscious and calculated. “One size fit all” diversity and inclusion initiatives for “minority” employees don’t address the unique issues those individual communities face.
Systemic racism is rife and the injustices that Black people are subjected to don’t stop with police brutality. The way in which companies treat their Black employees is another type of injustice that needs to be acknowledged and addressed. It’s time for companies to do better and take action.


thehuffingtonpostuk--2020-06-19--Facebook Takes Down Trump Campaign Ads Featuring 'Nazi Symbol'

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Facebook has taken down nearly 100 ads that featured Nazi iconography and were published on the platform by Donald Trump’s reelection campaign on Wednesday.
The ads in question all prominently featured an inverted red triangle — the same triangle Nazis used to identify political prisoners in concentration camps.
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The President of the United States is campaigning for reelection using a Nazi concentration camp symbol.
Nazis used the red triangle to mark political prisoners and people who rescued Jews.
Trump & the RNC are using it to smear millions of protestors.
Their masks are off. pic.twitter.com/UzmzDaRBup — Bend the Arc: Jewish Action (@jewishaction) June 18, 2020
Pages belonging to Donald Trump, Team Trump and Mike Pence ran a collective total 88 of the ads for between 1.3m and 1.7m impressions before they were pulled on Thursday.
Text accompanying the ads warns of “dangerous MOBS of far-left groups” and implores readers to sign a petition indicating their opposition to anti-fascists Antifa. Trump has repeatedly sought to tie violent acts at nationwide protests to anti-fascist groups; however, a Reuters analysis indicates that, so far, right-wing extremists have been predominantly responsible.
“We removed these posts and ads for violating our policy against organised hate,” a Facebook spokesperson told HuffPost. “Our policy prohibits using a banned hate group’s symbol to identify political prisoners without the context that condemns or discusses the symbol.”
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The Trump campaign responded by portraying the symbol as both an innocent emoji and one “widely used” by Antifa, which is not a formal organisation. A reverse image search of the symbol, however, returns no results other than those used recently by the Trump campaign.
The anti-fascist movement more typically uses an emblem featuring two flags on top of each other, one black, one red.
Seeking to bolster its claim, the Trump campaign then pointed NBC to a website that sells custom T-shirts available with the logo. The account selling the shirts appears relatively new and claims to be located in Spain.
Trump team confirms they used an image from a guy in Spain selling t-shirts on spreadshirt dot com to bolster their claim that the upside down red triangle is a "widely used" symbol for antifa. https://t.co/Vd5JHrlzlP — Brandy Zadrozny (@BrandyZadrozny) June 18, 2020
As if there were any doubt, the Auschwitz-Birkenau State Museum confirmed on Twitter that the red triangle was indeed used by the Nazis to flag “political prisoners”.
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The progressive watchdog group Media Matters was among the first to notice the ads on Facebook. The organisation’s president, Angelo Carusone, said he welcomed Facebook’s action, but questioned why they were allowed in the first place.
“Despite violating Facebook’s terms of service, the ads were approved by Facebook in the first place,” Carusone said in a statement. “Yet again we see another example where Facebook can’t even meet the bare minimum standards they set for themselves — either because they’re incapable or because they’re in cahoots.


thehuffingtonpostuk--2020-06-19--UK Coronavirus 'Alert Level' Lowered To Level 3 As Lockdown Measures Are Eased

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The UK’s coronavirus alert level has been lowered from level 4 to level 3, the government has announced.
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In a statement on Friday morning, the Joint Biosecurity Centre said it had concluded the Covid-19 epidemic was now in “general circulation” rather than “rising exponentially”.
The chief medical officers (CMOs) for England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland have “agreed with this recommendation to move to Level 3 across the UK”.
Health secretary Matt Hancock said the move was a “big moment” for the UK, and showed the “government’s plan is working”.
“Infection rates are rapidly falling, we have protected the NHS and, thanks to the hard work of millions in our health and social care services, we are getting the country back on her feet,” he said.
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The government had faced questions as to why it had begun to relax strict lockdown measures before the alert level, which it created, had been lowered.
HuffPost UK
The decision was made by chief medical officer for England, Chris Whitty, chief medical officer for Northern Ireland, Michael McBride, chief medical officer for Scotland, Gregor Smith, and deputy chief medical officer for Wales, Chris Jones.
“There has been a steady decrease in cases we have seen in all four nations, and this continues,” they said in a statement.
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“It does not mean that the pandemic is over. The virus is still in general circulation, and localised outbreaks are likely to occur.
“We have made progress against the virus thanks to the efforts of the public and we need the public to continue to follow the guidelines carefully to ensure this progress continues.”
When the alert scheme was announced by Boris Johnson in June, the UK was at level four of five, which said that current social distancing measures and restrictions would remain in place.
But the prime minister began easing lockdown measures before the alert level was lowered, leading to accusations he was ignoring the advice of his experts.
It was reported that the scientists rejected No.10′s suggestion it be reduced to level 3 as the government allowed six-people meet-ups in England.
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The rules were also relaxed to allow households to join another in a “support bubble” if an adult lives alone or with a child.
With the alert level still at 4 on Monday, non-essential retail reopened in England, with people flocking back to high streets and retail parks, which had social distancing measures in place.
Zoos and safari parks also reopened, as did places of worship for private prayer.
Yesterday lockdown measures were eased in Scotland to align more closely with England.
At alert level five, transmission is high or rising and there is a risk healthcare services will be overwhelmed.
Level one means coronavirus is no longer known to be in the UK.


thehuffingtonpostuk--2020-06-19--Malala Yousafzai Celebrates Graduating From Oxford, 8 Years After Being Shot

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Malala Yousafzai has completed her degree at the University of Oxford, almost eight years after she was shot for speaking up about every girl’s right to education.
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The 22-year-old shared two joyous photos from her celebrations; one showing herself covered in cake and confetti, the other surrounded by her parents and two brothers.
“Hard to express my joy and gratitude right now as I completed my Philosophy, Politics and Economics degree at Oxford,” she wrote on Twitter. “I don’t know what’s ahead. For now, it will be Netflix, reading and sleep.”
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Hard to express my joy and gratitude right now as I completed my Philosophy, Politics and Economics degree at Oxford. I don’t know what’s ahead. For now, it will be Netflix, reading and sleep. 😴 pic.twitter.com/AUxN55cUAf — Malala (@Malala) June 19, 2020
The University of Oxford has cancelled all official degree ceremonies taking place between May and August 2020 due to the coronavirus pandemic, but it looks like Yousafzai had a well-deserved, low-key celebration nonetheless.
The Pakistani-born campaigner became the youngest Nobel Prize laureate in 2014 thanks to her work campaigning for every girls’ right to education. She was just 15 years old when she was shot on the way home from school by the Taliban in 2012.
Five years on from that life-changing incident, she joined Oxford’s Lady Margaret Hall college and attended her first lecture.
5 years ago, I was shot in an attempt to stop me from speaking out for girls' education. Today, I attend my first lectures at Oxford. pic.twitter.com/sXGnpU1KWQ — Malala (@Malala) October 9, 2017
It’s perhaps a little comforting to know even Malala Yousafzai doesn’t know exactly what she’ll do next after university.
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thehuffingtonpostuk--2020-06-19--Simon Cowell Asks 12-Year-Old Girl To Change Song Twice Onstage. Girl Keeps Her Cool.

Ashley Marina didn’t crumble.
Tough-love judge Simon Cowell stopped the 12-year-old from Pittsburgh midway through a rendition of Anyway on America’s Got Talent earlier this week, telling her the music was “overbearing”.
He then asked her to sing a different song a cappella, allowing that she had a good voice. Ashley obliged, again showing vocal chops on Opportunity.
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Nuh-uh, Simon said. “I think you brought the wrong songs with you today,” he told the young hopeful.
The crowd booed. The tension rose.
Ashley Marina on America's Got Talent YouTube
Fellow judge Sofia Vergara then suggested giving Ashley a third chance, and the panellists had her go backstage and come up with a more appropriate song.
Ashley struggled. The clock was ticking.
She finally opted for an original song about her dad, Mark. “I know I can get into this because I wrote it,” she told the judges.
Ashley did her and her dad proud on the song. And she advanced in the competition.
“Well, I think we finally met Ashley,” Simon told her. “I can’t tell you how important that is.”
Watch the talent show drama in full in the video above.


thehuffingtonpostuk--2020-06-18--Opinion: Anti-Racism Protests Are Not Fantasy Television

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When Dominic Raab said kneeling in solidarity with Black Lives Matter was “demeaning” or something “out of Game of Thrones” it felt like a slap in the face for many Black people. While farcical for some, it was also jarring for many - because it is a manifestation of the ambivalence to the anti-racism movements among the highest echelons of government. Anti-racism protests have spread across the world for weeks, with kneeling a key motif; indeed, it’s hard to find footage of a protest where it is not featured. Yet, when Raab appeared on the radio, he claimed it was demeaning, and from a fantasy TV show. It was unsurprising to see Labour MP David Lammy take to Twitter and say Raab’s behaviour was “not just insulting to the #BlackLivesMatter movement, it is also deeply embarrassing for Dominic Raab”.
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Indeed, it’s not an exaggeration to suggest you must have had your head in the sand to not even be able to recognise what the symbol means. And, to add insult to injury to Raab’s comments, smirking, he says he only affords kneeling to the Queen and his wife - almost implying that it is unpatriotic to partake in kneeling at anti-racism rallies, and that it was something to find amusing. Indeed, not only did Raab’s behaviour demonstrate an extreme lack of interest and ambivalence in anti-racism protests, it reflects the attitude we’ve already seen of late from other Cabinet members such as Matt Hancock.
When Hancock appeared on the Sophy Ridge programme on Sky News recently, he could not answer when questioned about how many Black people were in the Cabinet. Indeed, he dug himself even deeper into the hole when he started listing Asian MPs instead. And he also erred again this week when he called Black footballer Marcus Rashford “Daniel” - despite the fact that Rashford is a world famous, world-class footballer who had had wall-to-wall coverage on his school meal campaigning. It is these levels of wilful ignorance and disinterest that are emblematic of how these issues are trivialised and dismissed. And this comes from a government with an egregious record on anti-Black racism, and one that should desperately be trying to make amends.
“When Raab knows more about kneeling in Game of Thrones, than the kneeling outside his offices in Westminster by Black right protestors, it shows a grotesque lack of interest in issues facing minority communities.”
From the Windrush scandal, and to the prime minister praising colonialism in Africa and hiring eugenicists that think Black people have lower IQs, this is a government that has been hostile to the Black community time and again. So, while this “faux pas” may seem trivial to some, it just smacks of the continuing disrespecting of the Black community by the Conservative party. And this comes not just at a time when Black people are calling out to be heard and be given equality, but at a time when Black people - and indeed other minority communities - are dying at a higher rate than white people of Covid-19. Reports commissioned by the government suggest that racism plays a role in this and, while the government say they are taking this issue seriously, it is deeply concerning that senior ministers cannot tell the difference between a Black rights protest and a fantasy TV programme. When Raab knows more about kneeling in Game of Thrones, than the kneeling outside his offices in Westminster by Black right protestors, it shows a grotesque lack of interest in issues facing minority communities.
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It should not need to be said, but if the government want to demonstrate they’re serious about tackling racism towards Black people in the UK, they must take the time to see us. They must be able to recognise us. They must educate themselves. Because it is gravely concerning that the man, who was at one point the UK’s de facto prime minister, can’t distinguish between a television show featuring dragons and a Black Lives Matter protest. And if senior minsters can’t even take the time to pay attention, how can the Black community have faith that they’ll honour their promises to create change? How can the Black community trust them to take this seriously if they can’t distinguish Jon Snow kneeling to Daenerys Targaryen from a Black person kneeling at an anti-racism protest?
Not only this, but we need this coupled with action on these issues. We need action on the fact that Black people are eight times more likely to be arrested by the police, are more likely to have police force used against them, and are even more likely to be fined under Covid-19 legislation. We need action on the institutional and structural racism in British society. And we need action that must be spearheaded by a government that listens to achieve lasting change. Because our lives, our campaigning, and our concerns are not fantasy.


thehuffingtonpostuk--2020-06-19--Church Of England Brands Historic Links To Slavery Through Clergymen 'A Source Of Shame'

Candles burning in a church background BrianAJackson via Getty Images
The Church of England has called its historic links to slavery through clergymen “a source of shame”.
Analysis of a University College London (UCL) database found that nearly 100 Church of England clergymen benefited from slavery, the Telegraph reported.
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Research by the newspaper found that 96 clergymen were involved in claims for compensation paid to slave owners when the trade was abolished in the British Empire in 1833.
These claims would total £46 million in today’s money, while the construction of 32 churches is linked to claimants.
“Slavery and exploitation have no place in society,” a spokeswoman for the Church of England said.
“While we recognise the leading role clergy and active members of the Church of England played in securing the abolition of slavery, it is a source of shame that others within the Church actively perpetrated slavery and profited from it.”
The Church issued an apology in 2006 for its historic role in slavery, they added.
“We reiterate our commitments to support every effort by the Church and other agencies to oppose human trafficking and all other manifestations of slavery across the world.”
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The Bank of England has also condemned and apologised for “inexcusable” links that former governors and directors had with the slave trade.
Bank of England tupungato via Getty Images
According to the Telegraph, six governors and four directors of the bank were named as claimants or beneficiaries of slavery in the UCL database.
Describing the 18th and 19th century slave trade as “an unacceptable part of English history”, the Bank of England vowed to block any images of its notorious former leaders from being displayed there.
A spokesman said: “As an institution, the Bank of England was never itself directly involved in the slave trade, but is aware of some inexcusable connections involving former governors and directors and apologises for them.”
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They added: “The Bank is committed to improving diversity and is actively engaging with staff, particularly with our BAME colleagues, to help us identify and shape concrete steps that can be taken now to progress the Bank’s efforts to be as inclusive as possible.”


thehuffingtonpostuk--2020-06-19--Homeless Migrants Could Be Sent Back To The Streets As Lockdown Eases

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Councils are being urged to help avoid a “moral, humanitarian and public health catastrophe” caused by a rise in rough sleeping as result of migrants having no access to state benefits.
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Migrant rights organisations are leading a call for local authorities to continue to provide shelter to those they have housed during the coronavirus pandemic after a huge effort to end rough sleeping.
In a letter to local authorities, they warn about the impact of the “no recourse to public funds” (NRPF) rule as lockdown eases.
NRPF is a condition the government places on individuals who have not yet been granted indefinite leave to remain, meaning they cannot access welfare.
The letter – which is signed by Refugee Action, The Big Issue Foundation and local politicians among many others – asks councils to protect people affected by NRPF and suspend evictions.
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They write: “As lockdown measures are eased, we are extremely concerned that some homeless people, particularly those with NRPF, may be evicted from council-provided accommodation and be forced to return to destitution.
“This would be a moral, humanitarian and public health catastrophe, especially given that many shelters will be unable to reopen due to ongoing social distancing requirements.”
While acknowledging local authorities are “overstretched” after little financial support during this crisis and years of austerity, councils are asked to commit to supporting everybody at risk of sleeping rough, advocate for the removal of all NRPF restrictions, and provide assurances that homeless people’s data will never be shared with the Home Office.
It adds: “Nobody should be forced to sleep rough, regardless of their immigration status. Nobody should be forced to leave the country they call ‘home’.”
Last month, HuffPost UK reported how rough sleepers taken off the streets face being made homeless again because councils have not been given sufficient funding from the government to support them.
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When the outbreak hit Britain in March, ministers asked local authorities in England to house all rough sleepers and those in hostels and night shelters, with hundreds of people being put up in hotels in a bid to isolate them from infection.
But in evidence to a parliamentary inquiry, councils warned the initial £3.2m provided by central government fell well short of the actual cost they incurred.
They added the £3.2bn the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government (MHCLG) has handed to all councils to pay for the entire impact of Covid-19, including homelessness, was not enough and could lead to “a surge in people ending up on the streets”.
Earlier this month, the government was accused of a “woeful lack of understanding” of rough sleepers, after the housing minister suggested people be asked to move in with friends or family.
Luke Hall has written to local councils asking them to put in place plans to support rough sleepers as the lockdown restrictions were eased. In the letter, first reported by Inside Housing, Hall called on them to now “seek to encourage people, where appropriate and possible, to return to friends and family”.


thehuffingtonpostuk--2020-06-19--Twitter Slaps Donald Trump's 'Racist Baby' Post With Manipulated Media Warning

Donald Trump at the White House on June 18, 2020 Alex Wong via Getty Images
Twitter has flagged one of Donald Trump’s tweets with a ‘manipulated media’ warning after the president shared a fake news clip titled “Terrified todler [sic] runs from racist baby”.
The video, which had been doctored to look like it had been produced by US news channel CNN, showed a Black child running from a white child, with the banner “Racist baby probably a Trump voter”.
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The clip then shows “what actually happened”, with the two toddlers running towards each other to hug before rushing off together in the same direction.
“America is not the problem,” the video then reads. “Fake news is. If you see something, say something.
“Only you can prevent fake news dumpster fires.”
A ‘manipulated media’ tag has since been added to the post by Twitter.
In an explanation of its rules, the social media site says it may give tweets “containing synthetic and manipulated media” this label “to help people understand their authenticity and to provide additional context”.
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The original video of the children, which went viral in 2019, showed a Black toddler and a white toddler running towards each other and hugging.
It was published by CNN at the time under the headline: “These two toddlers are showing us what real-life besties look like”.
Replying to Trump after he tweeted a doctored version of the video, CNN’s communications team wrote: “CNN did cover this story – exactly as it happened.
″Just as we reported your positions on race (and poll numbers). We’ll continue working with facts rather than tweeting fake videos that exploit innocent children.
“We invite you to do the same,” they added. “Be better.”
CNN did cover this story - exactly as it happened. Just as we reported your positions on race (and poll numbers). We’ll continue working with facts rather than tweeting fake videos that exploit innocent children. We invite you to do the same. Be better. https://t.co/T1nBtejZta — CNN Communications (@CNNPR) June 19, 2020
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The children’s parents have also responded to the incident on social media, CNBC reported.
According to the site, the father of one of the boys wrote on Facebook: “He will not turn this loving, beautiful video to further his hate agenda.”
Meanwhile, the mum of one of the toddlers added: “Utterly shocked. Trump posted this on his Twitter. For all you Trump supporters, I hope that his use of their beautiful video in this way disgusts you. It should.”
It is not the first time that Twitter has tagged Trump’s tweets. In May, the site added a fact-check warning to two of the president’s posts in which he made unsubstantiated claims of mail-in voting fraud.
The president, who has battled Twitter and other tech companies over alleged censorship of conservative voices on social media platforms, said last month he would propose legislation to potentially scrap or weaken the law shielding internet companies.


thehuffingtonpostuk--2020-06-19--Exclusive: UK Charities And Schools Blasted For Hosting 'Mock Slave Auctions'

Rendering depicting slave auction Photos.com via Getty Images
Dozens of UK educational institutions and charities have endorsed mock slave auctions for “depraved” entertainment and fundraising purposes, HuffPost UK can reveal.
As the national call for imperialist statues to fall intensifies, participants within organisations have been re-enacting a brutal element of slavery that saw buyers inspect and purchase people with the intention of keeping them in bondage to do their bidding.
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Charities including Comic Relief, Marie Curie and an NHS non-profit group have all been embroiled in this scandal, as well as a number of rural grammar schools.
A newly formed campaign No Slave Auctions has compiled a list of organisations, seen by HuffPost UK, which have both staged and encouraged these events.
A spokesperson said these auctions are further proof of how entrenched racism is in the UK.
“The more we started looking into this, the more we realised that this is an ongoing thing that’s happening,” they said.
“As we started to do a bit of research, we were really quite shocked at how prevalent these events are and how many national charities are endorsing this or actively encouraging it.
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“As part of the wider debate that’s going on about racism in the UK and the embedded culture of racism that is in every part of our society, we wanted to highlight this. A lot of people ask: ‘Where is the racism in our society?’ and I think this is a prime example.”
Really? Perhaps you might explain this then? #NoSlaveAuctions pic.twitter.com/UgjKwDoara — No Slave Auctions (@NoSlaveAuctions) June 10, 2020
On a JustGiving page dated March 2019, Adcote School advertised a mock slave auction for Red Nose Day.
The proceeds of the event went to Comic Relief – a British charity established in 1985 in response to the famine in Ethiopia.
Louise Hudson, the deputy headteacher of the school, told HuffPost UK that the school’s staff members “apologise for any offence this has caused”, explaining that the “misguided” member of staff who created the page no longer worked there.
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“We were horrified to see the JustGiving page terminology and absolutely condemn language like this,” she said.
“For our fundraising we held a ‘hire a teacher’ for the day event. The use of the word ‘slave’ was condemned from the outset by both pupils and staff and within school this terminology was never used. This particular fundraising part was eventually ‘bought’ by a group of staff ‘hiring’ their colleague to cook them dinner.”
A spokesperson for Comic Relief told HuffPost UK: “We were surprised to learn that a school had recreated a ‘slave auction’ as part of their fundraising for one of our 2019 campaigns. This is not appropriate, or acceptable, and we are contacting the school to discuss this issue and return their donation.
“Comic Relief works with thousands of schools across the UK who do brilliant things, from cake sales to sponsored walks, to raise money for charitable projects. In light of this news, we will ensure all school information packs include strong guidance on suitable events.”
The bid was £80 which will be returned by Comic relief, both spokespeople confirmed.
Adcote Slave Auction Twitter/@NoSlaveAuctions
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Up until it was approached by HuffPost UK for comment, MDS UK Patient Support Group – which supports people with a rare blood disorder – listed slave auctions as a recommended fundraising event on its site.
“The article in question was borrowed from another charity – many years ago – and we had not spotted this entry,” a spokesperson said.
“We should indeed have looked at it more closely – and we apologise unreservedly for this oversight on our part.”
The Fire Fighters Charity also listed this fundraising idea on its website.
“We are grateful to HuffPost for bringing this to our attention,” a spokesperson said on Wednesday.
“The inclusion of Slave Auctions within an extensive A-Z list of fundraising ideas on our website was wrong and we apologise unreservedly for any offence that this may have caused. We have removed the idea from the website page this morning. The Fire Fighters Charity is committed to the promotion of equality, inclusion and diversity in all that we do.”
Similarly, Sports For Charity website carried the recommendation of such auctions as a fundraising activity.
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“We updated our website as soon as we received your email. Whilst it is no excuse, this is an old web page which we have now changed. This does not reflect the values of our organisation,” a spokesperson said.
Cystic Fibrosis, established in 1964, expressed regret at endorsing slave auctions on its website up until when its was recently approached by HuffPost UK.
A spokesperson for the charity said: “We apologise unreservedly for the reference and have removed the document from our website.
“The Cystic Fibrosis Trust is an anti-racist charity, and is committed to supporting all people with cystic fibrosis.”
Starlight Children’s Foundation, which runs programmes to distract and entertain sick children across the UK, had encouraged fundraisers to stage this racist practice online – but it too said the reference on its site was a historic document that had been overlooked.
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Starlight slave auction Screenshot
A spokesperson said: “Starlight does not support or promote mock ‘slave auctions’ and we are ensuring any historical references to them are removed immediately.
“A historic fundraising PDF from 2010 was discovered on our website and brought to our attention. The document listed a number of activities that supporters could consider as a way to raise funds for Starlight. It was uploaded to our site 10 years ago and, as a small charity without a dedicated digital team, we were unaware of its existence.
“It is not promoted or available directly from our website. Starlight does not support or promote mock ‘slave auctions’ and we do not associate with or accept donations from any events like this.”
Marie Curie Auction Screenshot
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St John’s Ambulance Wales has also apologised for what it describes as a “historic” endorsement of mock slave auctions in a fundraising guide.
Chief executive officer for St John Ambulance Wales, Helen Smith, told HuffPost UK: “We are deeply sorry and apologise for any offence caused by the suggestion of a ‘slave auction’ in one of our historical fundraising guides.
“As soon as we were made aware of the document, it was immediately removed.
“The fundraising suggestion is against everything we stand for as a charity and we wholeheartedly regret the use of the idea. It does not appear in any of our current fundraising materials.
“As an organisation, we pride ourselves on inclusivity and we strongly believe racism has no place in society.
“We stand with the Black community and other ethnic minority groups across the world to end racism. We are working hard to educate ourselves about racism and how we can do better for our staff, volunteers and the communities we support.”
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Thank you for bringing this to our attention. Please be assured that this does not represent the values or aims of our organisation and has been removed from our website. We are very sorry for any offence this has caused. — PKAVS (@PKAVScharity) June 12, 2020
A spokesperson from PKAVS, a charity that supports unpaid carers, people recovering from mental illness and minority communities, has admitted to HuffPost UK that the organisation made a mistake in listing mock slave auctions as a fundraiser up until recently.
“It is absolutely not in keeping with our values as an organisation and when alerted to it, we removed it immediately,” they said.
Devon NHS hospital charity Over and Above, Helen’s Trust, Capability Scotland, James Hopkins Trust, National Robin Day and Befriend A Child charities have suggested these events in fundraising materials or carried them out. All have been approached for comment but have not responded.
This suggestion also appeared on The Royal British Legion’s website.
A spokesperson said: “The Royal British Legion apologises unreservedly for the inclusion of ‘Slave Auctions’ in a list of fundraising ideas that has appeared on some of our membership branch websites and for any offence this has caused.
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“We believe discrimination and injustice have no place in our society and we are working hard with our network to promote the values of inclusivity and equality in everything we do.
“We place great importance on ensuring that all voices are represented within our organisation, engaging with diverse audiences, and reflecting the service and sacrifice of every member of the Armed Forces from across the UK and the Commonwealth.”
Research by No Slave Auctions and findings from HuffPost UK suggest mock slave auction fundraisers are something of a tradition across parts of the country, spanning at least 15 years.
In 2011, one was held on behalf of Marie Curie in Bath.
A spokesperson from the charity told HuffPost UK said the event was organised by a supporter and the organisation does not always have a relationship with those who raise money on its behalf.
“It was not an official Marie Curie event. It was inappropriate and deeply offensive then and now. No Marie Curie staff were involved in organising or promoting it,” he said.
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“It was independently organised by a supporter. We would never encourage anyone to raise money from an event like this that is so clearly wrong. We are always learning and our charity is committed to being diverse, inclusive and accessible to all.”
#charityweek19 continued this lunchtime with the extremely popular Sixth Form Butler Auction, magically themed this year. Six brave and magical sixth formers were auctioned to the highest bidder to be butlers for the day later in the week. #truthandcourage pic.twitter.com/opPsq1cV2j — Pocklington School (@PockSchool) March 25, 2019
Spifox, which raises funds to support children’s charities in Scotland, held slave auctions in 2005 alongside casino nights for two years running and raised over £100,000 each time.
A spokesperson said: “Spifox is clear that the use of this phrase is wrong, and we regret using it in this manner over 15 years ago. We are sincerely sorry to anyone that we offended. We are clear that we have run different and appropriate events since that time, and our charity has also moved with the times.”
Tŷ Hafan, one of the UK’s leading paediatric palliative care charities, has endorsed and received money through a mock slave auction held at Porthcrawl Comprehensive school in Wales.
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Neither has responded to HuffPost UK’s request for comment, but the charity tweeted when approached by No Slave Auctions: “Fundraising activity of this kind is not encouraged at Tŷ Hafan, nor does it align with our values.”
It also said a fundraising pack that suggested such auctions was out of date and would be removed from its website.
Thank you for bringing this to our attention. It is a very out of date fundraising pack and we were not aware it was still hosted on our website — it will be removed immediately. Fundraising activity of this kind is not encouraged at Tŷ Hafan, nor does it align with our values. — Ty Hafan (@tyhafan) June 17, 2020
This practice have taken place across a number of UK schools.
All Hallows Catholic School in Farnham held one in 2011 which received positive coverage by Farnham Herald and indicates institutional acceptance of the event.
Pocklington School has held several student slave auctions over the years. It was initially referred to as such but has since been renamed as a “butler auction”.
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A spokesperson said: “We sincerely apologise for our misguided and offensive fundraising activity in the past, using slave auctions to raise money for charity, and can confirm that these outdated and inappropriate events no longer occur at our school.
“We support the campaign to eradicate slave auctions. We realised some years ago that we must stop this inappropriate practice which is not aligned with our school values.
“In more recent years, our butlers and superheroes, et cetera, have raised money for charity under strict rules regarding expectations on their behaviour. We will consider the appropriateness of this fundraising activity for the future.”
On its website, Portsmouth-based Admiral Lord Nelson School references the purchase of teachers in a slave auction as a fundraising activity.
ALNS Screenshot
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A spokesperson said: “The event you have referred to in 2007 had no intention to cause offence despite an insensitive use of language. It was a way of raising funds and having fun at the same time. Students would bid for a member of staff who would buy their lunch, clean their tables, et cetera, at lunch time.
“It was in no way intended to be disrespectful to anyone impacted today by racist attitudes and did not intend to dismiss the trauma of slavery and its legacy.
“Our inclusive ethos is fundamental to every aspect of our work as a school and we have been celebrated for this. However, we have made mistakes in the past and we are always learning.”
Low Angle View Of Nelson Mandela Statue Against Blue Sky Karin Wollina / EyeEm via Getty Images
Box Hill School donated the proceeds of its 2013 slave auction to Nelson Mandela’s Children’s Fund. Mandela was a descendent of slaves and remains an internationally renowned figure in the end of colonial apartheid regime in South Africa.
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A school spokesperson has apologised to Mandela’s charity and expressed regret at having “got this so wrong”.
“It is a source of great regret that we used the term ‘slave auction’ for a fundraising event – there can be no excuse for this,” they said. “It was deeply culturally insensitive and wholly inappropriate.
“Our community values are built around inclusion and diversity so it is particularly painful that we got this so wrong.
“Racial prejudice and injustice has no place in our institution and we especially have a role to play in society to educate and tackle the issues around race and racism. We apologise unreservedly to the Nelson Mandela Children’s Fund and those we know there.”
In 2016, both Southend Girls School and Porthcawl Comprehensive School held auctions. Both have been approached for comment.
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Up until last week, mock slave auctions were suggested within the constitution at Worcester College, Oxford University, which was last amended in 2016.
The document encouraged students to “help to organise charity events each term aided where appropriate by the relevant JCR [junior common room] committee members, including a slave auction in Hilary term in aid of an international aid or development charity”.
The file has since been removed from the website.
A college spokesperson told HuffPost UK: “The college and the JCR committee were shocked to learn of a reference to a mock ‘slave auction’ in an outdated version of the JCR constitution. We certainly would not permit an event of this nature to take place in the college now. We abhor the idea of a ‘mock slave auction’ and deeply regret that this racist practice ever happened here.”
Vintage engraving of a Mother and daughter sold at Slave Auction, Southern USA, 19th Century duncan1890 via Getty Images
Dr Michael Siva, a historian, described mock slave auctions as “problematic”.
“Schools staging slave auctions are very problematic because slavery itself was a brutal institution. Schools need to approach the subject of sugar, slavery and the slave trade as a genocide, much like the Holocaust,” he told HuffPost UK.
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“Staging a slave auction trivialises the brutality suffered by African slaves on British West Indian plantations. These Africans were ripped away from their families, and they were displayed, naked and oiled up, for the British sugar planters to inspect. These inspections were intrusive, and often involved the planters feeling the private parts of the displayed African, and using other methods to check their fitness for the upcoming brutal work on the plantations.
“Charities that encourage the practice of slave auctions as fundraisers are obviously not aware of the brutal history of slavery itself. Until the British Empire, and in particular sugar and slavery in the West Indian colonies, is made compulsory in the history curriculum of British schools, then the widespread British ignorance of the brutality of British slavery will persist.”
Dr Katie Donington, senior lecturer in history at London South Bank University, echoed Siva’s stance.
“The practice of reenacting the buying and selling of African people in schools is completely unacceptable. These instances highlight the acute need for teacher training on the history of slavery and race so that the subject is approached in a way that respects the dignity of Black life both then and now,” she said.
“Asking people to play-act traumatic history trivialises the experiences of the enslaved” - Dr Katie Donington
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“Asking people to play-act traumatic history trivialises the experiences of the enslaved, turning them into a spectacle to be consumed by the audience. We would not expect to see the reenactment of historical scenes related to the Holocaust. We must show the same historical regard for the painful memory of those who suffered and died under slavery and their descendants.”
In the meantime, No Slave Auctions continues to call out companies that uphold this practice on social media, asking for accountability.
Its aim is to see legislation introduced that will ban this practice for good.
“Our overall is to stop these events – to have them banned, ideally in legislation – but at the moment the journey towards that is a process of collecting evidence and showing that to organisations, schools and charities, asking them if they are going to stand for this, if they will accept people raising funds in their name using these methods,” said the spokesperson.
“These auctions are a re-enactment of the most dark, traumatic and evil part of British history. They shouldn’t be revered, they shouldn’t commemorated and they certainly shouldn’t be re-enacted. This is not an educational exercise – this is a form of entertainment for predominantly middle class wealthy white people.


thehuffingtonpostuk--2020-06-19--5 Lies About Racial Diversity In The Workplace You Need To Stop Believing

Part of learning how to talk about race in the workplace is unlearning what you may have been taught and realising which workplace practices you may have come to accept as normal.
In recent days, employees working in media and retail have called out the status quo of racism happening within their own institutions while these same companies are championing Black Lives Matter on social media.
It’s time to interrogate how your own thinking could contribute toward making your colleagues of colour feel unwelcome. You may have internalised common lies about workplace diversity regarding race that you need to know are not true.
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1. The enduring meritocracy myth
One enduring harmful belief about career advancement is that if Black, indigenous and other people of colour just work hard enough, they will have the same career outcomes in the workplace as their white counterparts.
But dismal stats about the representation of people of colour in professions and in senior management show this isn’t true. There are only four Black CEOs in the Fortune 500, and only 8% of Black professionals hold white-collar jobs. Among employed adults with a bachelor’s degree or higher, Black workers represent just 7% and Latinx workers are only 6% of the science, technology, engineering and mathematics workforce, according to the Pew Research Center.
For the few people of colour who do get hired in fields where they are the minority, they may also face the assumption that they hold a racial advantage.
“The thing that becomes most toxic is when white people assume that African Americans and other people of colour are somehow at an advantage in fields in which they’re pretty much excluded,” said Pamela Newkirk, a journalist and author of “Diversity, Inc.: The Failed Promise of a Billion-Dollar Business.”
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“There is this underlying assumption that if you are white, you’re there due to merit, or if you’re Black or of colour, you got your job because of your race, which is ludicrous, but that is a perception that is prevalent among many whites,” Newkirk said. Newkirk has experienced this perception herself in a newsroom where she was the only Black staffer and was told that the only reason she got the job was because she was Black.
Whenever people talk about diversity, inevitably people chime in saying stuff like “whatever happened to hiring people based on their qualifications?!”
You think all these white dudes have been hired based on their qualifications?
LOL — Yashar Ali 🐘 (@yashar) June 10, 2020
I love to respond “Oh it’s interesting that when I say “people of color” you hear “unqualified people.” Why do you think that is?” — Ashley Nicole Black (@ashleyn1cole) June 10, 2020
Far from being an advantage, being the only one of your racial identity group comes with its own psychological burden. Fifty percent of Black women reported feeling especially on guard and closely watched when they were the only woman and only person of their race in the room at work, according to a 2019 LeanIn.Org and McKinsey report.
2. The Race Card
“The only race card that has ever been institutionalised in our country is white supremacy.” - Sociologist Crystal Fleming
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When co-workers say their colleagues are “playing the race card” or “being divisive” by calling out workplace discrimination and mistreatment due to race, they are minimising lived experiences.
“The only race card that has ever been institutionalised in our country is white supremacy,” said Crystal Fleming, associate professor of sociology and Africana studies at Stony Brook University and author of “How to Be Less Stupid About Race: On Racism, White Supremacy and the Racial Divide.” Fleming said that white supremacist racism is giving privileges, advantages and resources to people on the basis of them being socially defined as white.
“Even the term ‘playing a card’ ― this is a way of minimising the massive harm of racism,” Fleming said. “Anyone that has actually been systemically or structurally targeted by racism knows it’s not a game; it’s a matter of life or death, it’s a matter of having access to resources or not.”
Invalidating co-workers’ lived experiences with race can be done out of defensiveness. One common characteristic of how white supremacy shows up in organisations is through defensiveness, according to “Dismantling Racism: A Workbook for Social Change Groups,” by Kenneth Jones and Tema Okun. “Criticism of those with power is viewed as threatening and inappropriate (or rude),” they write.
Antidotes to this criticism mean that you need to work on naming defensiveness in yourself to understand “the link between defensiveness and fear (of losing power, losing face, losing comfort, losing privilege),” Jones and Okun write.
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3. The Post-Race Myth
“Once you admit that there is inequality and bias, then the onus is on you to do what you can to combat it.” - Journalist Pamela Newkirk
In conversations with co-workers, you may hear that “racism is dying out” or that “we are a post-race society,” a phrase that was often repeated after the election of Barack Obama as the nation’s first Black president.
But race has always played a role in our society, including the workplace. “We weren’t a post-race society before Obama, during his administration or after. We’ve never been a post-race society because we’ve always had these perverse disparities that we’ve allowed to continue,” Newkirk said.
When you say you think your workplace doesn’t see race, you are also saying that you choose to ignore workplace racial inequalities that could be taking place within your meetings, between your teams and in your boardroom.
“Once you admit that there is inequality and bias, then the onus is on you to do what you can to combat it,” Newkirk said about the post-racial beliefs. “It’s easier to say it doesn’t exist, and that’s a way of ensuring the status quo, protecting the status quo.”
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4. The Belief That “Everyone Is Diverse”
Fleming said this “everyone is diverse” language falls under the “all lives matter” framing of diversity.
“Part of what happens with diversity and inclusion language is that it gets co-opted by institutions and corporations and universities in ways that avoid addressing systemic racism and inequality and discriminatory practices within our institutions,” Fleming said.
5. The Belief That Promoting Racial Diversity Ends Once You Hire Someone Or Take A Workshop
Improving racial diversity does not end once you hire diverse talent. It’s also about fostering an environment that they want to stay and grow in.
Minda Harts, founder of The Memo LLC, a career development company for women of colour, noted that a lot of Black employees leave because they lack the opportunities to advance.
“I think a lot of companies focus on the pipeline. They say, ‘We gotta get them in the pipeline,’ but actually there’s a lot of talented Black employees that are not being retained,” Harts said.
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Harts recommended that companies identify the Black talent they already have within their company within the next 60 to 90 days and ask themselves, “What are the succession plans to make sure that they’re advancing up the ladder?”
The work also doesn’t end when you take a workshop on racial biases or diversity. Fleming said one of the major misconceptions about diversity is that it’s a box you can check off after you attend a workshop or a training session.
“It allows organisations and institutions to avoid structural change because if you just tell people that all you need to do is this workshop and problem solved, then you don’t have to take a hard look at who is excluded from the C-suite, what is the pay gap between people who are white and people who are Black, and people of colour, or also gender pay disparities,” Fleming said.
Looking beyond racial diversity in hiring also means critically interrogating the relationship between your company and communities of colour. There can be a disconnect between the progressive words projected by brands and the way their businesses operate.
JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon, for example, recently kneeled with staff in the pose that former quarterback Colin Kaepernick popularised to call out police brutality against Black people, but in 2017, JPMorgan Chase paid $55 million to settle a U.S. Justice Department lawsuit accusing it of discriminating against Black and Latinx borrowers.
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thehuffingtonpostuk--2020-06-19--Working Through Covid-19 Has Taught Us Compassion. That Needs To Last

LOADING ERROR LOADING
Work is no longer just work when you’re living through a pandemic. We can’t go back to the office, shop floor or workspace – those of us lucky enough to still have one – and pretend things are as they used to be. Because they’re not.
Some people have been made redundant, been furloughed, had freelance work cancelled. Others have worked through the chaos but struggled with isolation, stress and the work-from-home setup. Those with children have spent months trying to achieve the impossible: juggling work, childcare and homeschooling.
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Some of us have lost family and friends to coronavirus. Others have fallen ill themselves and are on a long road to recovery. Many have been spared immediate grief, but feel the collective trauma that Covid-19 has wreaked.
If there is any silver lining to be found in this beast of a dark cloud, it has been rediscovering our collective capacity for compassion.
How many of us have stopped to smell the roses, listen to the birds? There’s been time for reflection, and time to ask our colleagues: “how are you, really?”
In doing so, we’ve shared honest answers about our mental health and the extreme highs and lows of isolation – rather than simply saying, “fine, thanks”.
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And for those who’ve switched to remote working, the pandemic has offered a glimpse – through a screen – into our colleagues and clients’ home lives, too.
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We’ve been introduced to kids, partners and housemates. We’ve seen each other’s decor and bookcases. We’ve witnessed our workmates – and bosses – in their natural environment. There have been team meetings and work socials where we’ve actually spoken to each other as human beings, rather than being limited to perfunctory conversations at the tea station.
Where pre-lockdown, people had separate work and home personas, the lines are increasingly blurred – and enveloping us all is a constant reminder of what’s going on outside our windows. We’re united by a common enemy. No wonder some psychologists liken what we are experiencing in 2020 to the “wartime spirit”.
“When people are in crises like this, they do tend to band together,” said Marilyn Davidson, emerita professor of work psychology at the University of Manchester Business School. “I’m thinking of the Second World War. Terrible things happened then, people were threatened by death in the Blitz, but there was a great feeling of community and people would speak to each other in the street and help each other out.”
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Once again, said Prof Davidson, we are experiencing “a common threat that has helped bring us together” – only this time with technology to connect us further.
If there’s one thing this pandemic has shown, it’s that people do want to help. In the first lockdown, a massive 600,000 people signed up to become NHS volunteer responders, with many more joining their local Covid mutual aid groups. And what’s happening in the community is happening in the workplace.
Compassionate workplaces are places where colleagues empathise with each other, genuinely care about their co-workers, and collectively muck in and help get the job done. There are many benefits to this way of working, said Prof Davidson: better team work, increased productivity, a decrease in levels of stress, and better leadership.
All of these can make the world of difference, especially for people with mental health problems. Joanna Earle, a PR and media manager from Kent, has borderline personality disorder and found the first few months of the pandemic hugely challenging. When the first lockdown began, she noticed a shift. Her colleagues were always compassionate, she said, but all of a sudden they were designating more time in their working weeks to connect and look out for each other.
“Everyone knows we are all in the same but different situations – we just try to support one another as best we can.” - Joanna Earle, media manager
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Her immediate team had daily check-ins, there were company check-ins every other day, and a weekly team meeting. They also held virtual work socials and were encouraged by leadership to exercise more, take walks during the day, and do yoga. “Just seeing people I work with helps a lot, in those meetings and doing quizzes too. It feels like we’re all back together for a bit,” Earle said.
“I think everyone knows we are all in the same, but different, situations – some people have kids, some are living alone, some hate working at home, some love it – so we all just try to support one another as best we can.
Earle’s story isn’t unique. Prof Davidson has heard from many people about a shift in their company’s work habits. One woman said her team’s virtual meetings and socials were something that had never happened in real life. They now bond over Zoom quizzes and glasses of wine, know more about each other’s lives, and agree things can’t go back to the work formality of old.
“I think it’s a great opportunity for organisations actually, and it will be a great shame if they miss this opportunity,” said Prof Davidson. “It makes economic sense as well as wellbeing sense.”
Can the kindness last?
Whether this sense of unity will hold once we return to some semblance of ‘normal’ is yet to be seen. Some people, like occupational psychologist Professor Chris Lewis, are sceptical that things will shift permanently for the better – given the threat of recession as the UK economy nose-dives.
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In March and April this year, it shrank by a quarter. Prof Lewis believes that may have an impact on compassion at work, as redundancies and job losses fuel feelings of resentment and competition instead.
Others are more optimistic that we can keep up this culture of compassion and build on it. Professor Cary Cooper, an expert in psychology and health, doesn’t believe we can simply revert back to how we worked pre-pandemic. “Once the genie gets out of the bottle, I don’t think you can put it back in,” he said.
“We have learned that our colleagues are human beings – we know more about them, what’s going on in their families, what’s happening to them, how they’re feeling.” - Professor Cary Cooper
Rushing around has been the default, and this period of reflection has given us a taste of what life could actually be like. “We have been so bottom-line orientated for so long, and we’ve been so busy and so inundated with emails and living a fast-paced life that I don’t think we have been as kind as we should’ve been in the past,” said Prof Cooper.
“I think all our kindness, compassion and empathy went out of the door as we worked 24/7. We are just inundated with information and that takes away from people spending personal disposable time with others.”
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Lockdown has forced a physical change in the way we work, with far more of us working flexibly or remotely, in many cases for the foreseeable future. Where organisations were once averse to work from home setups – not trusting workers to get the job done and sure their employees wanted the social interaction of an office – they have now had to adapt to survive.
In the process, we’ve had something of an epiphany. We’ve realised who we care about: our family members, our friends, yes – but also our colleagues, people whose presence we have perhaps taken for granted for too long.
“We have learned we can work flexibly. We have learned that our colleagues are human beings – we know more about them, what’s going on in their families, what’s happening to them, how they’re feeling,” said Prof Cooper. “And I hope that gets transferred into the workplace of the future. I think it will.”
Leaders need to lead
Much of what happens next lies in the hands of our leaders and managers. We need bosses to have empathy and compassion, not just the technical skills to do the job, said Prof Cooper, especially with more of us working remotely, feeling the threat of job insecurity, and struggling with mental health.
After the first lockdown, two thirds of UK workers (65%) said they felt uncomfortable returning to work, according to employee experience company Qualtrics, which surveyed 2,000 people. These kinds of insights mustn’t be ignored – especially as we come out of a second lockdown.
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People want to know that the workplace they’re heading back to is safe – and they want to be listened to if they express any concerns. They also want trust.
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“What’s been illustrated is that if you trust people and give them opportunities, they will work from home quite happily and, in fact, be often more productive because they’re not wasting up to two or three hours a day commuting,” said Prof Davidson at Manchester Business School. “What managers can do is to build on this long-term trust.”
Moving forward, she hopes to see more leaders empathising and caring about their employees, influencing them positively with verbal thank yous and reinforcing good work, rather than only bringing up the negatives.
Employees need to feel secure and valued within the work environment, that they belong and have support – “not just work support, but also social and psychological support from their colleagues and the management.”
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Conduct an audit to get to the heart of issues at work, suggested Prof Cooper. Find out what employees think about the organisation, their working hours and line manager; and how they feel about pay, growth and opportunities for flexible working. This will identify issues such as a bullying management, for instance, or a long-hours culture that is impacting family life and childcare.
Next, take action. Choose a senior leadership team member and make it part of their job to focus on the wellbeing of the organisation and development of a strategy to improve it, he said. The audit results will guide them.
Gather your team, too. Psychotherapist Dr Aaron Balick believes companies should dissect what went right over the past few months of work and what went wrong. Ask questions. How might people work at home more or less? What kind of communication systems have or haven’t worked? How can we look after each other’s mental wellbeing? This is a real opportunity for positive change.
With the mental health impact of the pandemic weighing heavy, bosses need to be bringing emotional intelligence to the table, but also signpost support in the form of employee assistance programmes – even offering duvet days.
“We don’t want managers to become part-time counsellors and therapists,” said Dr Balick. “But we want them to learn the skills to be in a receptive space for listening to any struggles that colleagues have.”
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Doing things differently
Some companies are already making big decisions to shun working “norms” – Twitter made a splash when it told employees they could work from home indefinitely, if they wished. But it’s not just big tech companies doing it.
Vhari Russell, founder of The Food Marketing Experts, an agency based near Cambridge, decided not to reopen her office after the first lockdown. As Russell, who is one of 12 staff, told HuffPost UK at the time: “This is the new normal and as an agency staffed predominantly by women, we are conscious of the additional demands associated with family life shouldered by our team. We wanted to ensure we avoid wasting time unnecessarily travelling, to and from the office, and make changes to improve the team’s mental health and work-life balance. As a business, we are also keen to reduce our impact on the environment.”
This approach won’t suit all employees. Moving to a 100% work-from-home model could actually be bad for collective mental health, said Prof Cooper, who added that face-to-face meetings foster empathy between bosses and employees – and between colleagues. For her part, Russell said her team are planning to have regular meet-ups in person and continue to use Whatsapp and Zoom for social, as well as work purposes.
Those still in work right now may well be craving job security – and therefore less likely to move. But if leaders don’t listen to their employees, they risk losing staff a year or two down the line, once the economy begins to recover – particularly in the case of millennials, who Prof Cooper describes as a “vital” workforce to the economy. “You lose them, you’re in trouble,” he said, pointing out that millennials won’t just sit in a job that makes them unhappy, where their parents and grandparents might have done.
Who’s on your team?
For years, organisations have been content with running workplaces that are built for, and made up of, people who walk, talk and look a certain way. There have been calls for change over the years, however progress has occurred in baby steps – if at all. The lockdown has allowed for a new way of thinking and working. It gives companies a real opportunity to change what happens next.
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For Paralympian and disability campaigner Liz Johnson, a compassionate workplace culture relies on employers continuing to embrace the option to work from home – which especially benefits disabled people or those with chronic illness – and committing to support diverse workforces. This means seating people at the table, and throughout the business, who are disabled, from a minority ethnic background, queer, female, older, younger.
“People have definitely had an increased awareness of just how difficult it can be to try and fit into a world that isn’t built for you,” said Johnson, of lockdown and the adjustment to remote working. She urges employers to hear from employees who are from diverse backgrounds before making decisions on how the new work setup will look.
“If it doesn’t impact you or you can’t see it, you don’t consider the long-term effects on others,” she said. ”Whilst there is a real opportunity to embrace this flexible working, or adaptive working, there’s also a danger that a lot of assumptions will be made. Also, in creating environments that are safe for the majority, what tends to happen is you make alterations for the majority’s world and the majority’s life.”
In doing so, the risk is that people who cannot fit into those norms lose out. “I would urge the people who are developing the new policies and procedures and ‘rules’, that they don’t just think about how we’re returning to society to what it was, but we look to see how we can emerge from this as a more authentically inclusive society,” Johnson added.
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When the Black Lives Matter movement gathered momentum, there were renewed calls for workplaces to become actively anti-racist. It’s sorely needed – racism is a big problem in the UK, and the UK workplace, as much as some might deny it.
A survey by The University of Manchester last year found over 70% of ethnic minority workers had experienced racial harassment at work in the last five years, and around 60% said they’d been subjected to unfair treatment by their employer because of their race. Compassionate work cultures simply cannot exist if we allow racism, as well as homophobia, transphobia, sexism, ableism, ageism and other forms of discrimination, to exist within them. Leaders need to drive this out from the top down – and they need to start now.
“In a workplace that is compassionate, you see diversity. You know people are not just tolerating one another, but realise that together they are strong.” - Anne Wafula Strike, Paralympian
Paralympian and campaigner Anne Wafula Strike has spoken out about the “appalling” lack of Black representatives on major UK sports boards. She told the BBC: “I am still the only Black person on these big boards. It just goes to show that the leadership isn’t doing what they are supposed to do. Or is the leadership biased? We need to start asking ourselves those questions. And if the leadership is biased, then what does that tell us about our community?”
A compassionate workplace is one where people from diverse communities or diverse groups form a key part of the team, Wafula Strike told HuffPost UK. Leaders need to be “looking around the demographic of the workplace right now and asking: where is the balance and where is the imbalance?”
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We need to embrace a culture where we listen to our colleagues without judging them, she said, and nurture an atmosphere where colleagues and bosses check in on one another – encouraging work retreats, away days and designated spaces in workplaces to catch up informally will all help.
Wafula Strike’s vision of a compassionate workplace is one that’s relaxed but productive, and has good leadership in place to inspire and empower employees. This means actively helping people grow and rise up through the ranks in the business – regardless of what they look like or where they are from.


thehuffingtonpostuk--2020-06-19--My Pride Anthems: Rahne Jones

My Pride Anthems: Rahne Jones

The coronavirus pandemic has changed everything, and that includes how we’re all celebrating Pride in 2020.
With huge public gatherings out of the question, we’re asking a range of LGBTQ celebrities and allies for their personal Pride anthems, to help us all get into the Pride spirit from lockdown.
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In the lead-up to the second series of The Politician – now streaming on Netflix – we spoke to one of the cast members Rahne Jones.
Rahne Jones EMILY ASSIRAN
Rahne appeared in the first series of the Ryan Murphy dramedy as Skye, and is back for the second run, which sees Judith Light and Bette Midler joining the main cast.
During her My Pride Anthems interview, she revealed how Dua Lipa caused her to buck her usual listening trends and shines a light on one of her “unsung” musical heroes...
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Beyoncé – Get Me Bodied
“Basically, Beyoncé can do no wrong in my book. She is literally the most talented human being, and there is no Pride without Beyoncé on the playlist.
“This song is off her B’Day album, and I remember when this song came out, during that ‘do the Naomi Campbell walk’ part, you could not tell me that I wasn’t Naomi Campbell.”
Silk City and Dua Lipa – Electricity
“It’s funny, I was shopping and this song came over the radio in the store, and I was like ‘what is this? It’s amazing’. I was basically just dancing around the store, just bopping around.
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“I could listen to this song back to back, without stopping. I tend to like a lot of old musicians, but Dua Lipa is really doing it for me right now, she’s one of my top people. I love the danceability of her music, so any song of hers is a chance to let it all out.”
Jennifer Holliday – And I’m Telling You I’m Not Going
“So, I’m a musical theatre nerd, and one of my favourite performers is Jennifer Holliday, so – it’s a slow one – but I had to have And I’m Telling You on my list. Funny story, there’s a version they play in the lobby of my apartment that’s uptempo and it’s set to, like, house music, and I’m telling you, listening to that is a wild experience.
“But I think that Jennifer Holliday’s performance of this song is one of my favourite performances in musical theatre history. And I think this song is the perfect lip sync song, too.”
Janet Jackson – Alright
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“The danceability of a song is really important to me, if I can dance to it, I’m all in. But for me, it’s the visual aspect of this song, and the video, that I love.
“It looks like it’s set in New York with these, old-timey outfits, Janet is in this amazing pinstripe suit. There are great dance moves in the video, I love all of it. And she just has so many great videos.”
Phyllis Hyman – You Know How To Love Me
“Phyllis Hyman is one of my favourite artists of all time, I think she’s extremely underrated and unsung. She doesn’t have a lot of uptempo songs, a lot of them are ballads, but with You Know How To Love Me, I love the whole disco-like style to it, and there’s a cut that’s almost eight minutes long, so you really could dance to it all night long. You could go on, and on, and on.
“I love the tone of her voice, she had a rich alto tone. I just think she deserves more recognition for her amazing, amazing talent, so I would just like to give her the props she deserves.”
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Rahne Jones is now appearing in the second series of The Politician, which is available to stream on Netflix.