thehuffingtonpostuk--2020-02-06--Rhinitis Is More Common Than You Think – So What Is It And How Is It Treated?

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Sleepless nights, daytime drowsiness, irritability – these are just some of the ways rhinitis can impact your daily life. And we’re all likely to experience it at some point in our lives.
Rhinitis simply means “inflammation of the nose”, explains Paul Spraggs, an ENT surgeon at Hampshire Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust. It’s generally characterised by congestion, a constantly runny nose, and in some cases a reduced sense of smell. There are many reasons why it might flare up.
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The condition can be split into allergic and non-allergic. Allergic rhinitis is more common – estimated to affect one in every five people in the UK. As the name suggests, the inflammation is caused by allergies, some of which tend to be seasonal (i.e. hay fever) and others year-long (i.e. allergies to mould, pets, house dust mites or cleaning substances).
Non-allergic rhinitis is caused by other factors such as: infection with the common cold; environmental reasons like extreme temperatures, humidity or exposure to pollution; hormone imbalances during pregnancy or puberty; snorting illegal drugs like cocaine; or taking medicines like HRT or contraceptive pill.
More patients are also turning up in hospital with self-induced rhinitis caused by overuse of nasal sprays like Sudafed or Vicks Sinex, says Spraggs, who is also a council member of the Royal College of Surgeons of England. “These are medicines you buy over the counter for short-term use in colds, but people tend to get addicted to them,” he says. “That causes a type of rhinitis we see in secondary care a lot, which is very difficult to treat.”
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Symptoms
Allergic rhinitis causes cold-like symptoms like sneezing, itchiness and a blocked or runny nose, states the NHS. These usually start soon after being exposed to the allergy.
Non-allergic rhinitis symptoms are similar: a blocked or runny nose, sneezing (although this is generally less severe than in allergic rhinitis), mild irritation or discomfort in and around your nose, and a reduced sense of smell.
In rare cases, non-allergic rhinitis can cause a crust to develop inside the nose, which may produce a bad odour or cause bleeding if you try to remove it.
Diagnosis
There isn’t a uniform process for diagnosing rhinitis because it could be as a result of a cold, in which case people tend to wait it out or self-medicate with antihistamines, nasal sprays or a nasal rinses.
If, however, your symptoms aren’t relieved and it’s impacting your quality of life, visit your GP. They’ll ask questions about the history of the issue and offer tailored treatment advice.
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In cases where rhinitis is difficult to treat or you’re still suffering after GP support, you should be referred to a specialist department in hospital to have the issue investigated further. Don’t be afraid to ask for that referral. There, doctors will examine the nose more thoroughly and do blood tests to try identify whether there’s an underlying infection or specific allergen that is to blame.
CSA Images via Getty Images Achoo
Treatment
Nasal steroid sprays can be used for both types of rhinitis if the issue is more severe – it’s worth noting this sometimes causes irritation, sore throats or nose bleeds. “Apart from in children, there are no long-term side effects of taking intranasal steroids at all, certainly with the sprays,” the ENT surgeon adds.
For mild allergic rhinitis, most people start by taking an over-the-counter antihistamine, says Spraggs. They might also choose to wash out their nose with a salt water solution, also known as “nasal douching”. This helps remove a build up of mucus from the nasal passages, reducing inflammation.
Douching is recommended prior to applying any corticosteroid nasal treatment, according to the British Society for Allergy & Clinical Immunology (BSACI), as it removes mucus and allows the spray to access more of the nasal passage. It’s a relatively new way to treat rhinitis, says Spraggs, and is effective in reducing symptoms as it clears the nose of pollen or allergens in the nose.
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You can make your own solution at home. BSACI advises using 240ml of previously boiled and cooled water and mixing with 1/4 teaspoon of salt and 1/4 teaspoon of bicarbonate of soda. If you don’t want the fuss, Spraggs says Sterimar nasal spray is an effective option.
People with allergic rhinitis are also advised to make changes in their lives to avoid contact with what they’re allergic to, however this is often easier said than done. Refreshing your bedding more regularly can be good for easing dust mite allergies, for example, while taking showers after being outside during hay fever season can help to wash off any pollen from your body and hair. The same goes with non-allergic rhinitis – if you know what your trigger is, try avoiding it.
If you believe your rhinitis is caused by a medicine you’re taking, your doctor might be able to prescribe an alternative to see if it helps to reduce your symptoms. Don’t stop taking any prescribed medicine unless advised to.
Complications
It’s important to seek treatment for rhinitis when symptoms last for more than three months. Both allergic and non-allergic rhinitis can lead to other conditions, such as sinusitis, ear infections and nasal polyps (harmless sacs of fluid that grow inside the nasal passages and sinuses). People with chronic sinusitis might need surgery to treat the issue, and in some cases patients might need to take antibiotics to clear any infections that occur.
If the issue has been bothering you for a while, Spraggs recommends trying the intriguingly-named SNOT-20 test – a survey on your symptoms and how they impact your life – which can help you determine whether you need to seek extra support.
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“Some people get very ill during the hay fever season or get very ill because of chronic perennial rhinitis due to mould or house dust mites,” says Spraggs. “It does have a significant effect on quality of life.”


thehuffingtonpostuk--2020-02-06--I Wouldn’t Be Who I Am Now Without My Cancer Diagnosis

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HuffPost UK Courtesy of the author
Two years ago on this day, I was told the unthinkable. At 20 years old, I was told I had cancer – acute lymphoblastic leukaemia to be exact.
At first I couldn’t believe it. I was seemingly healthy, happy in my second year of university and had my whole life planned ahead of me. I think that’s what you’d call denial. Then came anger and depression, crying in the doctor’s office I was overcome with emotion. I remember my mum and stepfather, with me at the time, asked if my diagnosis was a death sentence. I think they were just as shocked as I was; mum held me tight as all the emotions came flooding out. She had tears in her eyes but I remember her being calmer than normal. We had been through so much already, after an awful Christmas of feeling unwell and not knowing what was wrong we finally had an answer. It had taken six weeks and a trip to A&E, a long stay in hospital and numerous tests, but it wasn’t the answer we had hoped for.
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As much as I had panicked in the moment, I realised – and this may be hard to understand – there was no reason to worry. I was told, on the day, that there was an effective treatment for this type of leukaemia. I didn’t want my friends and family to fret over what was going to happen, because to me there is always a solution to any problem, even cancer. I knew I was going to be okay.
“Cancer at 20 was my ‘new normal’, I just had to get used to it.”
I zoned out as I was told over the phone what the next steps were. I think that was me finally entering that phase of acceptance. We put a treatment plan in place which mean, during the final phase, I would even be allowed to return to university. Luckily, within four weeks of treatment, I was technically cancer free, so things were looking up. My fight or flight instincts had kicked in, and I was ready to fight.
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Due to the type of my leukaemia I was given the option to go on a trial. Now, that makes me sound like a guinea pig, but really it wasn’t as scary as it sounds. All it meant was I had to travel to a haematology and oncology centre in Bristol to receive specialist care on a young adult ward. Thanks to Teenage Cancer Trust, I was able to stay on a ward dedicated to young people aged 16-24, which meant I could spend time with people my own age. I had the freedom to be myself, and I had specialist nurses and support workers who were not only a huge help but were a great support when things were a little tough.
Still, I felt very alone at times. When I wasn’t in hospital I stayed in charity accommodation nearby, and my parents took it in turns coming to stay with me. I missed out on a lot of ‘normal’ university experiences – unfortunately due to the length of treatment I had to leave university and I stayed in Bristol for a total of nine months. I missed out on a lot of things that my friends at university carried on with, which left me feeling left out and a little lost on where my life was going to go. I also had to come to terms with the fact my life would never be the same again. Cancer at 20 was my ‘new normal’, I just had to get used to it.
“Even though I’m still receiving treatment, two years on I know I’ve come to realise I’ve got a lot of my life ahead of me.”
My mum and I came up with an analogy to help me cope with the situation. While at university I was on a bus, all my friends were with me and we were all travelling on the same bus route – but I had to get off at an unknown stop. Now that I’m back at university, I’m on a new bus with different people, but ultimately going the same route.
Although the day of diagnosis is something most people would rather forget, if I hadn’t had cancer I wouldn’t have had the opportunities to meet such amazing people at the hospital and in my new year in university. My treatment also greatly affected my university work; as a Fine Art student cancer has influenced my artwork to take a more personal approach. I’ve found art is, for me, a form of therapy and a new way of sharing my perspective with others. I wouldn’t have had the courage to put myself out there and make a difference to those who’ve had the same experience without my diagnosis.
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Cancer can affect everyone in many different ways, but the best thing to do is look at the positive impact it can leave on us. As a young person, cancer has been such a huge part of my life – but that’s only because I hadn’t really had much of a life yet. Now I know I wouldn’t be who I am without my diagnosis – and even though I’m still receiving treatment, two years on I know I’ve come to realise I’ve got a lot of my life ahead of me.


thehuffingtonpostuk--2020-02-06--I Moved Across The World To Be With A Guy I'd Spent Only Eight Days With. Here's Why

HuffPost UK Courtesy of the author
In 2017, I was living in Guatemala, working as a grant writer for an agriculture nonprofit. I rarely went to the US, but that October the nonprofit sent me to the Forbes 30 Under 30 summit in Boston.
At the last event of the summit, a boat ride on the harbour, I met Daniel. He was the CEO and founder of a social enterprise in Kenya. We added each other on Facebook and began talking every day. We sent paragraphs about international development, the places we’d traveled to and our perspectives on life.
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Daniel was articulate, brilliant and different. I’d initially been impressed that he ran a successful company at age 24, but there was much more to him. He was a global adventurer who did things like travel alone through the Congo. He spoke seven languages. He was relentlessly curious, educating himself through Wikipedia and exploring from afar by scrolling around Google Maps. He stimulated my own curiosity, intellect and sense of adventure.
After months of near-daily messaging, we started having video calls on the weekends. What was I doing? I wondered. He lived in Kenya. What future could we have? But I pushed my fear away, kept sending life updates and kept counting the hours forward, wondering what Daniel was doing nine hours in the future.
Daniel appeared during an uncertain time in my life. I was in the middle of leaving my job and didn’t know what would come next. I was 24 and wanted my next move to be aligned with a long-term vision for my career, but it was proving difficult to create one. My career was in international development, which is a very broad field, and I wasn’t sure what I wanted to focus on. Field experience was important, and it made sense to continue working abroad while I was young. But where? Doing what?
After months of anxiety, inspiration struck: I would take time off to travel in Asia. I’d long been interested in the region and this was an opportunity to go. Travel often brings clarity and I thought the journey could help me figure things out. Plus, there’s a lot of development work in Asia – perhaps I’d stay – so I bought a one-way ticket to Hong Kong.
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A week before my departure, something happened that surpassed serendipity and touched what some would call fate. An investor in Indonesia told Daniel he wanted to fly him there for a meeting. His trip coincided with my arrival in the region. “I can meet you in Hong Kong,” said Daniel’s text message.
“After talking from a distance for six months, I’d decided he was perfect for me. I assumed I’d idealized him but believed in that ideal anyway.”
I stared at my phone. Daniel. In person. In one week. I lay facedown on the floor in my apartment.
We’d never explicitly said anything romantic and I wondered if we were meeting as friends. He extinguished that flicker of doubt: “Just to be direct, I like you a lot.” I lay on the floor again.
The idea of physical Daniel, someone I could touch, was paralysing. After talking from a distance for six months, I’d decided he was perfect for me. I assumed I’d idealised him but believed in that ideal anyway, and suddenly my fantasy would step out of my imagination and into reality.
One suspense-filled week later, he was coming to pick me up at my hotel in the Mongkok district of Hong Kong. I waited in the room while the minutes ground down. I looked in the mirror, picked up a book, put it down, played music, changed the song. He knocked.
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We had drinks on a 12th-floor rooftop, telling stories and watching the skyline darken. In the city’s party area, we bought hard cider from 7-11 and drank in the street. We kissed sitting on a brick wall, music thudding in the background.
Daniel’s father was from Hong Kong, so the next day we visited his great-grandparents’ graves. Keeping tradition, we bowed three times before we left.
I was crushed when his 24-hour visit was over. It had been wonderful ― great conversations, adventures around the city and natural attraction. I knew now that I hadn’t been smitten with a fantasy. Our connection was real. But we didn’t know how we’d meet again and I felt as much pain as joy.
“It was an intense way to get to know someone: short bursts of intimate time, sharing hotel rooms in different foreign settings.”
My sadness was short-lived. Daniel announced that he was going to San Francisco to meet another investor and he had an idea: Rather than flying through Europe, he could fly the other way around the world, through Asia. “Where will you be in a month?”
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I shook my head in giddy disbelief. I was starting to feel like this guy could appear at any time.
To my amazement, he did. He started tagging one- to two-day visits to Asia onto other trips, taking advantage of his travel-heavy lifestyle. A month after Hong Kong, he met me in Hanoi, Vietnam, for 24 hours. He attended a wedding in Boston a month later, and on his way back to Africa, he came to southern Laos for two days. Then he told me he’d been accepted into an entrepreneurship program in China. “I can visit you on the way there and back,” he said. He would return two weeks after our Laos encounter.
Courtesy of Rachel Abbott The author and her boyfriend in Phu Quoc, Vietnam.
I counted. After those visits, he would have flown to see me five times in just three months.
It was an intense way to get to know someone: short bursts of intimate time, sharing hotel rooms in different foreign settings. Our relationship had mainly developed through words on a screen, and here we were, pooping in the same bathroom. His physical presence was always a shock at first, like my favorite character had jumped off the TV screen. But then it was comfortable, easy.
On date three, I got up the courage to ask if we were exclusive. “There’s no one else in my life,” he said. I figured that meant we were indeed in an exclusive relationship, but it seemed strange considering that we had no future beyond our next meetup. Privately, I panicked. I was falling hard for Daniel, and if this were ultimately all for nothing, it would crush me. But I couldn’t assuage my fears. We’d spent so little time together in person that it felt premature to discuss where this was all going.
I met him at the airport when he arrived and dropped him off when he left. Each time I watched him walk through security and vanish, right where the checkpoint ended. It was the invisible line I could never cross: the other side of the mirror.
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“I was falling hard for Daniel, and if this were ultimately all for nothing, it would crush me. But I couldn’t assuage my fears. We’d spent so little time together in person that it felt premature to discuss where this was all going.”
“You and my life in Nairobi are parallel universes,” he said during our fourth date, 52 hours in Phnom Penh, Cambodia. “The digital space in between connects them and sometimes I jump to your life. The universes haven’t met yet but they always run parallel.”
I thought about Daniel on trains and buses as I wound through Southeast Asia. I sent him photos and videos of my Vietnamese notes or hitchhiking in Cambodia, of misty temples and jaw-dropping mountains and all the wonderful things one sees and does while traveling.
This wasn’t supposed to be a love story. When I left Guatemala, I intended to concentrate on figuring out my career. But in large part, a love story was what it had become. As I laughed with Daniel on our weekly Skype dates, as we counted down to our next meeting, as we kissed in terminals and prayed against flight delays, an idea began to emerge: I could move to Kenya.
It seemed insane, of course. As of date four, we’d spent all of seven days physically together. Maybe I couldn’t see his flaws through a computer screen or find our incompatibilities buried in text messages. “You don’t know him,” said my mother. But the facts were clear. Daniel’s business was in Kenya and I was traveling without an end date. I was the one with the flexibility to choose where I lived.
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I thought of myself as independent and career-oriented, and the notion of following a guy tormented me. I didn’t want to be one of ‘those girls’ who built their life around someone else. I’d always advised friends against going out of their way for relationships. Well, this would be going pretty far out of my way ― to Africa. Nairobi is a global hotspot for international development, so it wasn’t like he lived in Nebraska. But still, did online interaction plus some short stints in person justify such a drastic move?
“I thought of myself as independent and career-oriented, and the notion of following a guy tormented me. I didn’t want to be one of ‘those girls’ who built their life around someone else.”
The thing was that I believed if there was a true match out there for me, Daniel was it. He was my intellectual equal or greater, someone I’d always learn from and be inspired by. I’d never encountered that in a man before. He reminded me of how important it is to stay curious and venture outside what’s comfortable, and he shared my passions for travel and foreign cultures. He was so sure of himself and pursued his passions with such focus that he showed me how far I was from my own potential and made me challenge what I thought I was capable of.
As a pair, we balanced each other out. I was driven by intuition and he by logic. I lived on an emotional roller coaster, whereas he was even-keeled, someone who could ground me. It didn’t seem like a relationship I could pass up.
I never told him I was thinking about moving to Nairobi, not wanting to get his hopes up unless I was sure. He didn’t say anything either. I had the impression he was waiting for me to come to my own conclusion.
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It came: date five, 30 hours on the Vietnamese island Phu Quoc. It was my birthday weekend. I called it “island meetup” and insisted we listen to reggae and drink mojitos on the beach, but my excitement was tinged with terror. Daniel had warned he wouldn’t have the flexibility to visit again in the near future and I hadn’t made a decision.
Lying in bed, hands intertwined with mine, he handed me a book. “For your birthday.”
It was a book of words for emotions in different languages. I smiled. No boyfriend had given me a present that showed they understood me.
“There’s something else.” He flipped to the back, to a piece of paper taped inside. I unfolded it slowly. It was a Photoshopped plane ticket.
Passenger - Rachel Abbott
Destination - Nairobi
From - Wherever
Date - Whenever
“Daniel,” I breathed. “Are you serious?”
“Come visit,” he said, smiling. “Check it out and see what you think.”
I dropped him off at the airport and sat outside the terminal. I opened the “ticket,” smoothed it out.
I thought through it all: the incredible improbability of meeting in the first place, from Guatemala and Kenya to a boat in Boston. Two people converging on a single point from different countries. A guy who’d flown around the world to hang out with me.
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I looked at the evening sky outside an airport in Vietnam and laughed at the absurd beauty of life.
“Okay,” I said. “I’ll move to Kenya.”
“Independence and lifelong partnership aren’t mutually exclusive. If you believe someone will challenge you and help you grow, it’s worth deviating from your path.”
That was a year and a half ago, and Daniel and I are together and happy. I worried I was compromising my autonomy by moving to Kenya, but I was right about what I’d gain from the relationship. In all his depth and brilliance, Daniel has been a constant inspiration, and being with him has made me a truer version of myself. Having moved to Nairobi because of him didn’t change my dedication to finding a fulfilling career, and ultimately (miracles!) I did find my way ― not in international development, but as a journalist.
Individualism is the ethos of the times. We advise each other against crafting our lives around a partner: If the relationship doesn’t fit with your plans, screw it.
Maybe I’ve become a romantic, but I disagree with that now. Independence and lifelong partnership aren’t mutually exclusive. If you believe someone will challenge you and help you grow, it’s worth deviating from your path, even if you have to deviate all the way to Africa.
This article was first published on HuffPost US Personal
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thehuffingtonpostuk--2020-02-05--Kirk Douglas, A Hollywood Legend, Dies Aged 103

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American actor Kirk Douglas, one of the last remaining stars of Hollywood’s golden age, has died aged 103.
Douglas is best known for films including Spartacus and Ace In The Hole, and his explosive acting style and masculine persona established him as a leading man throughout the 1950s.
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He died on Wednesday, according to his son Michael, also a Hollywood actor.
“It is with tremendous sadness that my brothers and I announce that Kirk Douglas left us today at the age of 103,” Michael’s statement said.
“To the world he was a legend, an actor from the golden age of movies who lived well into his golden years, a humanitarian whose commitment to justice and the causes he believed in set a standard for all of us to aspire to.”
Douglas made more than 90 movies in a career that stretched across seven decades.
He was born Issur Danielovitch in Amsterdam, New York, in 1916 to mother Bryna and Herschel Danielovitch, Jewish immigrants from what is today Belarus.
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He endured an impoverished childhood and legally changed his name to Kirk Douglas before joining the US Navy during the Second World War.
He made his film debut in 1946 noir The Strange Love Of Martha Ivers, opposite Barbara Stanwyck.
He also played a major role in breaking the Hollywood blacklist - actors, directors and writers who were shunned professionally because of links to the communist movement in the 1950s. Douglas said he was more proud of that than any film he made.
His first best actor Oscar nomination came for his role in 1949 boxing drama Champion, while his second was in recognition of his part in 1952’s The Bad And The Beautiful, in which he starred opposite Lana Turner.
His third followed for the 1956 biopic Lust For Life, in which he portrayed Vincent Van Gogh.
But it is for 1960 historical epic Spartacus for which Douglas is best known.
He partnered with the then relatively unknown director Stanley Kubrick to play the leader of a slave revolt in ancient Rome.
Spartacus features one of the most quoted scenes in cinema. Towards the end of the film the captured slaves are told to identify Spartacus in exchange for leniency – they respond by all claiming to be Spartacus, sealing their own fate.
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It is a scene that has been endlessly imitated and parodied, most notably by Monty Python’s Life of Brian in 1979.
Kirk and Michael Douglas in 2007. 3514399Globe Photos/MediaPunch/MediaPunch/IPx
The Douglas family is a Hollywood dynasty. Michael, 75, is a two-time Oscar winner known for films including Wall Street, Basic Instinct and Fatal Attraction.
During Michael’s Hollywood Walk Of Fame ceremony in November 2018, a proud Douglas watched on from his wheelchair.
The father and son shared a poignant moment and a kiss shortly after Michael’s star was unveiled.
During the ceremony, Michael turned to his father and said: “I know, no son of yours is celebrating his 50th anniversary in the business, it means so much to me Dad that you’re here today.
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“I thank you for your advice, your inspiration and I’ll say it simply with all my heart, I’m so proud to be your son.”
Douglas was awarded an honorary Oscar in 1996 while the American Film Institute placed him number 17 on their list of the greatest male screen legends of classic Hollywood cinema.
He narrowly survived a helicopter crash in 1991 and suffered a stroke in 1996, following which he lived with a renewed focused on spirituality and religion.
Michael, married to Welsh actress Catherine Zeta Jones, said his father was a “wonderful husband” and a “loving grandfather”.
He added: “Kirk’s life was well lived, and he leaves a legacy in film that will endure for generations to come, and a history as a renowned philanthropist who worked to aid the public and bring peace to the planet.
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“Let me end with the words I told him on his last birthday and which will always remain true. Dad- I love you so much and I am so proud to be your son.”
Zeta Jones called her father-in-law “darling Kirk”, adding: “I shall love you for the rest of my life. I miss you already. Sleep tight.”
Douglas, a father of four, is survived by his second wife, Anne Buydens, who he married in 1954.


thehuffingtonpostuk--2020-02-06--Why The West Midlands Mayoral Election Matters For Labour - And The Tories

Liam Byrne speaking at the Labour party conference in 2013. PA Archive/PA Images
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Byrne, after reading
It didn’t get much national attention, but today’s selection of former minister Liam Byrne as Labour’s West Midlands mayoral candidate was a big deal within the party. And if certain stars align, it could be a big deal for Labour’s hopes of recovering from its general election thrashing.
The scale of Byrne’s victory was striking. He nearly won his selection outright on first preferences, securing 45% compared to local councillor Pete Lowe’s 29% and Salma Yaqoob’s 26%. After second preference transfers, he won comfortably.
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So, what does this tell us about the current state of Labour? Well, Byrne is a former cabinet minister who is one of the few frontbenchers to have served Blair, Brown, Miliband and Corbyn. His passionate commitment to tackling issues like homelessness, alcoholism and poverty has won him the endorsement of John McDonnell.
Yet it was Byrne’s association with ‘centrism’ that led Momentum and other parts of the Left to campaign against him and back his rivals. During one particularly bitter point in the selection contest, he hit out at Momentum after false attacks on his record, slamming the “toxic culture that poisons our politics”.
Both Momentum and Unite nationally backed Yaqoob, but her third place suggests they made a major miscalculation about the strength of her support. That doesn’t bode well for their combined strength in the coming leadership election, where Keir Starmer is (like Byrne) uniting a combination of soft left, centre-left and left votes. Unite’s vote backing for Richard Burgon in particular (rather than Angela Rayner) could leave it out on a limb under the new leadership come this summer.
Momentum too may be feeling a lot less influential tonight after the Byrne result. Critics mutter that the NEC deliberately delayed the West Midlands selection process solely to benefit Yaqoob. The former Respect Party leader stood against Labour as recently as the 2017 general election but was allowed to join the party last year, a move that stunned MPs (not least Naz Shah, against whom Yaqoob had stood in Bradford in a singularly vitriolic campaign).
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And it’s that delay that means that Labour has only now selected its candidate for one of the biggest regional political jobs in the country - just three months before polling day on May 7. Tory incumbent Andy Street has had four years in which to build his profile and reach, and is likely to get another boost once Boris Johnson confirms the HS2 rail link from London to Birmingham. Just as worrying for many in Labour, Jeremy Corbyn won’t be replaced as leader until April 4, just five weeks before the mayoral election.
Add in the fact that there are now five new Tory MPs in the West Midlands (one of whom took West Bromwich West after Labour selected local Momentum activist James Cunningham) and it’s not hard to see how the Conservatives have the local organisation and presence to help Street get re-elected.
The extra difficulty for Labour is that Birmingham City Council is up for all-seat elections next year rather than this, reducing the party’s chances of getting an uplift in turnout in its key heartland in the West Midlands constituency.
Don’t forget too that this working class region was one of the most solid Leave-voting areas in 2016, and they may like the look of Boris Johnson’s ‘Brexity Hezza’ combination of Euroscepticism married with big infrastructure projects. Oh, and the Tories are bound to chuck at Byrne his infamous note in 2010 that ‘there is no money’.
So, all in all, it’s a tough mountain for Byrne to climb. But getting to the summit is well worth it for any newly-elected Labour leader. The party is expected to get its own Mayors reelected in Remainer-voting London, Greater Manchester and Merseyside this May.
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Winning back a Tory mayoralty in a Brexity conurbation would send a powerful signal that Labour was at least on the road to recovery after the 2019 disaster. It’ll certainly be the result to watch on May 7.
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Cheat Sheet
Government sources confirmed that Boris Johnson is to nominate former chancellors Philip Hammond and Ken Clarke for peerages. Former Labour MPs Ian Austin and John Woodcock will be recommended as non-aligned peers.
A new IpsosMORI poll of voters found that Keir Starmer was the clear favourite of the four Labour leadership contenders when judged on ‘having what it takes to be a good prime minister’. He had a +7 rating, compared to Lisa Nandy on -3, Emily Thornberry on -21 and Rebecca Long-Bailey on -28. Starmer was the most likely to attract new voters to Labour.
Derek Mackay, the Scottish government’s finance minister, quit his post and was suspended as a member of the SNP after the Scottish Sun revealed he had sent messages to a 16-year-old boy. The news broke just hours before he was due to deliver next year’s budget in Holyrood.
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The House of Commons Commission launched a withering attack on John Bercow for using his memoirs to identify current and former members of staff for “the purpose of financial gain or commercial success”.
Liz Truss (aka ‘Lyn’ Truss), the international trade secretary, launched a consultation on trade tariffs after Brexit. She claimed they would lead to cheaper prices for consumers.
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thehuffingtonpostuk--2020-02-06--The Most Unhinged Moments From Trump's 'Celebration' Of His Impeachment Acquittal

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In what came as a surprise twist to absolutely no one, Donald Trump has given a rambling, defensive and generally not very pleasant speech during a White House “celebration” of his impeachment acquittal by the Senate.
As the former reality television host walked to his lectern, he received a standing ovation while ‘Hail to the Chief’ played, before launching into an unhinged riff targetting some of his favourite and most frequently mentioned subjects.
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A day after the partisan decision, the US president hit out at the “bullshit”, brandished a copy of the Washington Post and even found time to promote The Apprentice during an unscripted outpouring.
He spoke for more than an hour.
“Bullshit”
Despite the significance of the event, there was no teleprompter. This was pure stream-of-consciousness Trump. The first suggestion this could be his most surreal performance yet came when he declared the earlier Russia investigation to be “bullshit”.
“We were treated unbelievably unfairly,” he said in campaign rally-style. “You have to understand, we first went through ‘Russia, Russia, Russia’. It was all bullshit.”
President Donald Trump arrives to speak in the East Room of the White House. ASSOCIATED PRESS
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Attacks rivals
Trump admitted the event was more of a “celebration” than a speech, and he used it as an opportunity to slam his critics - most notably House speaker Nancy Pelosi, who launched the impeachment inquiry, and Adam Schiff, the Democrat leading the House prosecutors.
“Adam Schiff is a vicious, horrible person. Nancy Pelosi is a horrible person,” Trump said. “They’re vicious as hell.”
The president said that at the earlier National Prayer Breakfast in Washington, Pelosi was sitting nearby: “I said things other folks wouldn’t say. But I meant every word.”
He singled out Mitt Romney, who was the only Republican to vote to convict Trump on impeachment, as a “failed presidential candidate”.
He reprised old attacks on James Comey, the “sleazebag” former FBI director, claiming that had he not fired him “it’s possible I wouldn’t even be standing here right now”.
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Points to a headline
He brought props.
“I’ve done things wrong in my life, I will admit ... but this is what the end result is,” Trump said, holding up a copy of the Washington Post with the headline ‘Trump acquitted’.
Turning to wife Melania, he quipped: “Honey, maybe we’ll frame it. The only good headline I’ve ever had on the Washington Post.”
The president kept returning to the theme of “total acquittal”.
President Donald Trump speaks in the East Room of the White House, Thursday, Feb. 6, 2020, in Washington. (AP Photo/ Evan Vucci) ASSOCIATED PRESS
Praises Republicans
He called the investigations into his presidency “evil” and Democrats “vicious as hell” as Republican allies laughed and applauded
“We’ve been going through this now over three years,” he said. “It was evil. It was corrupt. It was dirty cops. It was leakers and liars. And this should never ever happen to another president.”
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While decrying his critics, he praised Republicans he viewed as loyal. He mentioned Jim Jordan, an Ohio Republican, and complimented his physical fitness.
“When I first got to know Jim, I’d say, huh, he never wears a jacket — he’s obviously very proud of his body,” Trump said.
Jordan was a college wrestler and an assistant wrestling coach at Ohio State University in the late 1980s and early 1990s.
Jordan’s time coaching at Ohio State was marked by dozens of allegations from wrestlers over sexually abuse by the team doctor. Jordan has denied knowing about the abuse.
Other random thoughts
Well ...
lol he even got a plug for the apprentice in there, this presser has it all — Paige Lavender (@paigelav) February 6, 2020
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Trump is giving the crowd a blow-by-blow account of the congressional baseball shooting. "Everyone ran into the dugout," he says. "These two people came charging forward, boom, boom, boom." — Josh Dawsey (@jdawsey1) February 6, 2020


thehuffingtonpostuk--2020-02-06--This Is Why The Coronavirus Death Toll Figures Aren't Totally Accurate

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At the time of writing, the number of people infected with coronavirus worldwide is 31,535.
Or is it 75,000?
Or is the Chinese government covering up the fact the death toll alone is 25,000?!
As with any major news story these days, this one comes with a huge amount of misinformation and conspiratorial thinking attached, as social media (and, er, the news media) fans the flames of rumour and suspicion.
If China lies about a pandemic. Think of what they do on trade. “Coronavirus Live Updates: Soaring Death Toll Heightens Concerns About Care” https://t.co/fuDHOkgSFq — Laura Ingraham (@IngrahamAngle) February 6, 2020
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The thing is, when it comes to the Chinese government and how it handles major health crises, some of that suspicion might be justified.
During the SARS outbreak in 2003 it took months for Chinese officials to acknowledge the outbreak – the communist government’s rigid structure has long favoured officials that toe the party line and suppress negative information rather than speak out.
The resulting global spread of that disease was due in part to a secretive government’s desperate fear of being shown up on the international stage.
Ultimately, China’s response backfired and it was forced to apologise. This time round, officials are keen to stress that lessons learned are being applied to the coronavirus outbreak.
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As a result, China is being far more open about its response. On Thursday, the Chinese ambassador to the UK warned against “rumours and panic” and called on the British government to support its handling of the crisis.
But counterintuitively, this openness may have actually had the same effect as trying to suppress information.
Delegates wear face mask as they attend an event at the Auto Expo in Greater Noida, near New Delhi, India. ASSOCIATED PRESS
Professor Steve Tsang, director of the SOAS China Institute, told HuffPost UK that instead of trying to hide the news around coronavirus, the Chinese government is actually making a big show of publicising it – or, at least, the positive bits.
“The Chinese government is reporting it widely – they are showing how heroically they are confronting it, how they have built impressive new hospitals that no other countries could even imagine doing,” he said.
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“But they are not reporting any government failing. And what you have is a different kind of incentive which is that you’re incentivised to focus on your success rather than your failures.”
Part of that failing that is going unreported is simply the extreme pressure a massive viral outbreak is having on China’s health system.
“We’re hearing cases of people being turned away from hospitals. We don’t know how many because they’re not being tracked, but it’s more than just one-offs,” says Tsang.
Medical facilities are therefore more than willing to accurately report the cases they have the capacity to treat but not being able to accommodate new cases is a failing of the system and as such, is going unrecorded.
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How accurate is that official figure of 28,365?
Well, it’s almost certainly too low, but this in itself isn’t evidence of a conspiracy or cover up.
Tsang explained: “Official statistics often understate the actual cases anyway.
“And that is not some sort of specific problem with China or a malicious attempt by the government to cover it up. If cases are not being reported or if people die before they get to a hospital, they don’t get entered into the statistics – that can happen anywhere.”
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So we can pretty safely say there are more than 28,365 people infected with coronavirus.
How much higher is the actual number?
We just don’t know, but even if it is far higher, it’s not necessarily evidence of a conspiracy.
“My first response is always not to go for the conspiracy theory,” says Tsang.
“To prove a conspiracy theory you really have to have some real evidence of a deliberate attempt to cover up and I don’t think anyone has produced evidence to prove there was an instruction specifically asking government officials to under report.”
We do have one reliable source for an upper figure, however.
A study in The Lancet published earlier this month predicted that 75,000 people were infected.
Rather worryingly, however, this prediction was for January 25, when the official number was only around 2,000.


thehuffingtonpostuk--2020-02-06--Bees Are Important. Here’s How To Prevent Their Extinction

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They’re large, they’re furry, and their buzzing is notoriously loud – we’ve all been forced to swerve once or twice as one narrowly misses our head.
But, bumblebee populations are in rapid decline. You might’ve noticed that as each year passes, our skies, gardens and parks are quieter, with glimpses of those yellow and black bulbous bodies being few and far between.
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In the past century, the UK has witnessed two species of bumblebee go extinct, while many more are listed on priority species lists. In short: our big furry friends are in crisis.
A new study from the University of Ottawa suggests that in the course of a single human generation, the likelihood of a bumblebee population surviving in a given place has declined by an average of over 30%.
Worryingly, researchers said these bees are disappearing at rates “consistent with a mass extinction”. So is there any way to prevent it?
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Sazonoff via Getty Images
Why should you care about the bumblebees?
Aside from them being pretty cute, they’re also important for our existence. “Bumblebees are the best pollinators we have in wild landscapes,” said one of the study’s authors Peter Soroye, a PhD student from the department of biology at the University of Ottawa.
Without them, Darryl Cox, senior officer for the Bumblebee Conservation Trust, says nutritious food-stuffs like tomatoes, beans, peas, apples, strawberries and raspberries would be harder to produce – and more expensive as a result. A future with fewer bumblebees means less variety of plants and flowers outdoors, as well as fewer food options.
“Bumblebees are key to many complex food chains in the natural world,” explained Cox. “They help many plant species reproduce through pollination, these plants form the base layers of whole ecosystems, providing food and shelter for numerous other species. If declines continue at this pace, many of these species could vanish forever within a few decades.”
xamtiw via Getty Images
What else did the study find?
The University of Ottawa study looked at how climate change increases the frequency of extreme events like heatwaves and droughts, creating a “climate chaos” that is dangerous for animals, including bees.
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Knowing that bumblebee species have different tolerances for temperature – what’s too hot for some might not be for others – the researchers created a way to predict local extinctions that tell us, for each species individually, whether climate change is creating temperatures that bumblebees can’t handle.
Using data on 66 different bumblebee species across North America and Europe, collected over a 115-year period, the researchers were able to see how bumblebee populations have changed by comparing where bees are now to where they used to be historically.
“We found that populations were disappearing in areas where the temperatures had gotten hotter,” said Soroye. “Using our new measurement of climate change, we were able to predict changes both for individual species and for whole communities of bumblebees with a surprisingly high accuracy.”
He added: “We have now entered the world’s sixth mass extinction event, the biggest and most rapid global biodiversity crisis since a meteor ended the age of the dinosaurs.”
Paula French / EyeEm via Getty Images
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Is it all doom and gloom?
No, it’s not. But it’s a wake-up call. The study’s findings could help scientists prevent extinction in the 21st century, said Jeremy Kerr, professor at the University of Ottawa.
One solution could be to maintain habitats that offer shelter like trees, shrubs, or slopes, that allow bumblebees to get out of the heat, he added.
“Ultimately, we must address climate change itself and every action we take to reduce emissions will help. The sooner the better. It is in all our interests to do so, as well as in the interests of the species with whom we share the world.”
What action can you take right now?
Cox, from the Bumblebee Conservation Trust, wants people to cut the grass less often (once every three weeks is fine) and turn a blind eye to the odd weed here and there, particularly in spring when fewer plants are in flower. Perfectly cut grass deprives pollinating insects of the wildflowers they need to feed on
You could also grow bee-friendly flowers throughout the year, especially between March and October when most bumblebees are active, he adds. For flower suggestions, try the free Bee Kind tool. Bees love the common poppy, foxglove, nasturtium, teasel, and lavender, as well as herbs like chive flowers and lemon thyme.
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In keeping with the study’s findings, it might also be worth filling your garden with bigger, leafier plants so bumblebees can find shade if they get too hot.
If you want to encourage bumblebees to nest, try putting up a bird-box or installing a hedgehog hibernation box, says Cox. The latter can be dual purpose – hedgehogs sleep in them over winter and bumblebees nest in them in spring and summer.
batuhan toker via Getty Images
You could get involved with conservation, by helping count bumblebees and other pollinators in your back garden with the UK Pollinator Monitoring Scheme. Or set up a monthly BeeWalk to work out how bumblebees are responding to things like climate change.
“Perhaps you could help raise funds for bumblebee conservation projects,” suggests Cox. “Maybe run a race, have a dress-down or non-uniform day, or hold a bee-themed cake sale.”
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Ultimately, tackling climate change is in everyone’s best interest. According to Friends of the Earth, the best way to do this is by putting pressure on the government to act urgently.


thehuffingtonpostuk--2020-02-06--Will Bernie Sanders Be President?

Will Bernie Sanders Be President?

Bernie Sanders, a long-standing senator from Vermont, is the only “democratic socialist” in the race to become US president.
Though initial results from last week’s influential Iowa caucus had him neck-and-neck with Pete Buttigieg, Sanders won New Hampshire’s presidential primary election on Tuesday night sealing his place as the Democratic frontrunner.
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Sanders’ promise of a political “revolution” in America driven by grassroots campaigning appears to excite younger left-leaning voters but gives establishment Democrats the jitters, sentiments that have grown since the 78-year-old started topping the polls to be the party’s nominee. His ascendency even came after a heart attack in October.
From unknown to household name
The one-time mayor of Burlington, Vermont, went from a national unknown to a household name after the 2016 Democrat presidential contest when he unexpectedly gave Hillary Clinton a close run for the nomination. His people-powered campaign was driven by the slogan “Feel the Bern” and marked by his ability to attract voters disenfranchised by mainstream politics.
Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders in 2016. ASSOCIATED PRESS
Surveys have since crowned Sanders the most popular politician in the US, adding weight to the argument he would have beaten Donald Trump four years ago. Tensions between supporters of Sanders and Clinton continue to resurface as the wounds inflicted during a bruising campaign still fester.
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Not technically a Democrat
Sanders is the longest-serving independent member of Congress in American history, having first been elected to the US House of Representatives in 1990 and the Senate 16 years later. He is one of two independents who have been admitted to the Democratic Caucus of the Senate, meaning he effectively serves the party in the upper house.
Why is party affiliation important? Sanders supporters have accused the ruling Democratic National Committee (DNC) of conspiring to thwart both his presidential runs and pave the way for a more “establishment” candidate. This week’s botched Iowa caucus has revived claims about the party’s attempts to “rig” the system against Sanders.
His policies are to the left
Sanders is running on a platform of left-wing policies – or, at least, left-wing by American standards – which sets him apart from his centrist rivals. His promises include passing a jobs-boosting Green New Deal and increasing the minimum wage, policies that are anathema to Republicans but are pretty mainstream ideas in Britain.
Most notable is a promise to introduce an NHS-style, free-at-the-point-of-care healthcare system, which is referred to as “medicare for all”. It would mean abolishing the private healthcare system that, he argues, leaves millions either denied access to doctors or face crippling bills.
The type of state-run care he proposes is so embedded in European politics that even right-wing governments over here do not want to dismantle it. However, it is so unfamiliar to US voters that even some Democrats actively oppose what Sanders is proposing.
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ASSOCIATED PRESS
Trump, who refers to his potential rival as “crazy Bernie”, warned of a “socialist takeover” of healthcare in his State of the Union address this week, and is probably more than happy his media outriders deliberately conflate the term with the far more provocative “communism”.
Sanders himself likens his approach to a continuation of Franklin D Roosevelt’s New Deal, the massive welfare and building programmes that helped revive the country during the 1930s Great Depression. “This is the unfinished business of the Democratic Party and the vision we must accomplish,” he said in a speech last year. It’s the pro-worker, anti-big business approach at the heart of these policies that many think can see Sanders defeat Trump, particularly in the crucial “rustbelt” Midwestern states.
Some have pointed to Jeremy Corbyn’s election failure in the December as proof that “radicals” are unelectable. But Sanders is seen as a more pragmatic politician with actual administrative experience, unlike Corbyn the eternal campaigner. And while Sanders will often refer to his opposition to the Iraq war, in contrast to rivals including Joe Biden, he is less obsessed with foreign policy than the UK Labour Party leader and more concerned with how politics practically affects people’s daily lives.
And could he go further than Corbyn and win a general election? Polling suggests he could. An Reuters/Ipsos survey this week had Sanders leading Trump by 18 percentage points among independent voters (a bigger advantage than any of his Democrat rivals), and leading Trump nationally among all registered voters (tied in first with Michael Bloomberg among Democrat contenders).
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National GE, @Reuters/@Ipsos Among Independents:
Warren 34% (+5)
Trump 29%
Buttigieg 35% (+8)
Trump 27%
Bloomberg 39% (+14)
Trump 25%
Biden 43% (+14)
Trump 29%
Sanders 46% (+18)
Trump 28% https://t.co/b6rOPL0lBI — Political Polls (@PpollingNumbers) February 11, 2020
A committed and unconventional following
Perhaps the best known of his supporters is the wildly popular congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, who has endorsed the politician whose presidential campaign she worked on in 2016. Coming soon after Sanders’ campaign wobbled after revealing he’d suffered a heart attack (it appears to have slowed him down very little), the backing from a prominent “progressive” (to use a term favoured in the US) was a huge boon – especially against the threat of Elizabeth Warren, a rival nearby on the left calling for “big, structural change”.
Sanders can also lay claim to fanatical online support, led by members of the Chapo Traphouse podcast, which is at the vanguard of the “dirtbag left” that is damning of “liberals” offering less than full-throated support for big change.
Bernie Sanders and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez in December. ROBYN BECK via Getty Images
Their backing speaks to Sanders’ appeal outside the traditional structures that prop up campaigns. Big money donors have been shunned and instead Sanders relies on an expansive volunteer network that has helped make him a fundraising powerhouse. He has received more than 5m donations since entering the race, which is more “than any campaign has received at this point in a presidential election in the history of our country”.
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More controversially, Sanders has been endorsed by the podcaster Joe Rogan, one of the most influential figures in the “new” US media. While commanding millions of listeners, Rogan has drawn criticism for giving a platform to conspiracy theories and airing alleged racist and transphobic views – meaning his support for Sanders has sat uncomfortably with both liberals and progressives.
The British connection
New York-born Sanders has an older brother, Larry, who has been a politician in the UK as a Green Party county councillor in Oxfordshire. Larry has stood unsuccessfully as a Westminster candidate several times, including an attempt to replace David Cameron in the ex-prime minister’s old constituency in 2016.


thehuffingtonpostuk--2020-02-06--Boris Johnson Dodges Scrutiny After Brexit, with Professor Anand Menon

Boris Johnson Dodges Scrutiny After Brexit, with Professor Anand Menon
A week after Brexit and Boris Johnson has outlined a tough opening position for trade negotiations by talking up an Australia-style relationship, but does it mean anything? It’s hard for journalists to really take a look with the government taking a Trumpian turn by trying to lock out critical media from a key briefing this week. Meanwhile, Labour’s leadership election lets the prime minister run amok in the party’s former strongholds.Arj Singh is joined by Paul Waugh, Rachel Wearmouth and UK In A Changing Europe’s Anand Menon to work out what comes next for Britain.


thehuffingtonpostuk--2020-02-06--Richard Burgon's Plan To Let Labour Members Block Military Action Branded 'Fantasy Government'

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Richard Burgon’s plan to let Labour members decide whether the UK goes to war has been branded “fantasy government” by a rival for the party’s deputy leadership.
Ian Murray accused the left-winger of “folly” and being “reckless” after the eyebrow-raising proposal, which states Labour “would not endorse, or back, or support military action, unless the members gave it their explicit approval”.
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Burgon, the shadow justice secretary, unveiled his “peace pledge” on Wednesday.
He said military action “must have the explicit backing” of party members unless it had UN backing or was “a genuine national emergency”.
In a speech in Oxford this week, Burgon claimed Labour colleagues were “frustrated Churchills” as he criticised his party’s decision to back the Iraq War under Tony Blair’s leadership.
“There are MPs who have voted for military action, including Labour MPs, who until they heard the speech on that proposal that day wouldn’t be able to say where that country was on the map, wouldn’t know what the capital city of that country was, wouldn’t know anything about the culture at all.”
“Yet they strut about making these grandiose speeches like frustrated Churchills.”
Scottish Labour MP Murray has strongly criticised the plan. He told HuffPost UK: “Part of the reason we lost the last two elections is because people didn’t trust our leadership when it came to national security – this is the worst possible way to address that problem.”
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He added: “Ministers should always be held accountable for those decisions by parliament, but it is a folly to offload decisions on national security to members of a political party, who by their very nature will not have all the facts before them or be able to respond in the time needed.
Richard Burgon MP addresses protest organised by Stop The War, in London Guy Smallman via Getty Images
“This is pandering to a view of how a fantasy government would run, and would simply ensure that Labour remains in permanent opposition.”
Labour leadership hopeful Lisa Nandy also poured cold water on the idea, saying: “I can’t disagree with him more”.
She said: “At times in our history there have been moments when we have had to stand up and go to protect people all over the world.
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“In Sierra Leone and Rwanda, those people couldn’t wait for us to go and ballot Labour Party members.”
Responding to criticism, Burgon said that under the plan MPs could still choose to vote against the party’s position and maintained that Labour MPs have “failed to learn the lessons of Iraq”.


thehuffingtonpostuk--2020-02-06--What Derek Mackay's Shock Exit Means For Nicola Sturgeon, The SNP And Scottish Independence

The SNP was plunged into crisis on Thursday after a key member of the Scottish government’s cabinet - finance secretary Derek Mackay - was forced to resign.
So, what could it mean for Scotland’s largest party, Nicola Sturgeon’s leadership and the chances of a second Scottish independence referendum?
What happened?
Finance secretary Derek Mackay quit his cabinet post amid reports he has been contacting a 16-year-old boy.
Mackay admitted he had “behaved foolishly”, following reports he sent hundreds of messages.
In one message he is alleged to have asked “And our chats are between us?” and when the boy agreed, the minister told him: “Cool, then to be honest I think you are really cute.”
Sturgeon said Mackay had “taken full responsibility” for his actions and “apologises unreservedly”.


thehuffingtonpostuk--2020-02-06--Kirk Douglas Fans Are Remembering The Impassioned Letter He Wrote About Donald Trump In 2016

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Kirk Douglas fans have been remembering the Hollywood legend with an impassioned letter he wrote about the rise of Donald Trump.
The actor, who died on Wednesday at the age of 103, was a vocal critic of the US president, penning a piece for HuffPost in 2016 warning about the dangers of Trump prior to the election.
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In the article, entitled The Road Ahead, Kirk – whose parents were emigrants from Russia – compared Trump’s rise to that of Hitler.
Donald Trump and Kirk Douglas Shutterstock
He wrote: “I’ve also lived through the horrors of a Great Depression and two World Wars, the second of which was started by a man who promised that he would restore his country it to its former greatness.
“I was 16 when that man came to power in 1933. For almost a decade before his rise he was laughed at ― not taken seriously. He was seen as a buffoon who couldn’t possibly deceive an educated, civilised population with his nationalistic, hateful rhetoric.
“The ‘experts’ dismissed him as a joke. They were wrong.” Quoting a pre-election speech Trump made, Kirk also noted a correlation between comments he’d made about some immigrants, compared to how certain groups were being treated a century earlier.
“A few weeks ago we heard words spoken in Arizona that my wife, Anne, who grew up in Germany, said chilled her to the bone,” he said. “They could also have been spoken in 1933.
“These are not the American values that we fought in World War II to protect.”
With news of Kirk’s death coming shortly before the Republican-led Senate acquitted Trump in his impeachment trial, many people have been poignantly sharing the article again on social media:
Kirk Douglas warning of Trump in 2014: "I will not be here to see the consequences if this evil takes root in our country. But your children and mine will be." https://t.co/MYuL27FtcL — EssenViews - Silence Kills Democracy (@essenviews) February 6, 2020
He tried to save democracy too
On his 100th birthday Kirk Douglas wrote to Donald Trump https://t.co/Shyjk1xkR2 — 🆘 Just The Facts 🆘 (@wildwestpie) February 5, 2020
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Throwback to the time Kirk Douglas reminded the world what a prevalent danger Donald Trump and his toxic administration are to America.https://t.co/aKDCyr7akM — Mike P Williams 🌹 (@Mike_P_Williams) February 6, 2020
Read the Letter Kirk Douglas Wrote Back in 2016 Warning America About the Danger of Trump https://t.co/CMYmFD9Obn — The Resistance 🇺🇸 (@NightlyPolitics) February 6, 2020
Kirk Douglas died on trump’s impeachment vote day. He was holding on too see if trump got removed or voted out of office. He’s was like “nah, you people deal with this piece of shit. I am 103 & lived through 2 world wars, I’m done.” https://t.co/NRWGFzZ2dF pic.twitter.com/a5uh8hvYR1 — LAC (@HumanitarianGal) February 6, 2020
RIP Kirk Douglas, gone at 103.
When he was 100, Donald Trump was running and Spartacus had some thoughts: https://t.co/sButpzvTAz — Bill Weir (@BillWeirCNN) February 5, 2020
#iamspartacus
On Kirk Douglas’ 100th b-day & just as the 2016 election was heating up, he penned an open letter as a warning to fellow citizens about what lay ahead regarding trump.
Douglas was born Issur Danielovitch to Russian immigrants in NY in 1916.https://t.co/hWpM1QbgOS pic.twitter.com/U3uLuTZr5t — Maggie Jordan (@MaggieJordanACN) February 6, 2020
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Kirk’s son, actor Michael Douglas, confirmed his father had died on Wednesday night.
The actor was best known for films including Spartacus and Ace In The Hole, and his explosive acting style and masculine persona established him as a leading man throughout the 1950s.
Michael’s wife, Catherine Zeta Jones led the tributes to her “darling” father-in-law on Instagram.
“To my darling Kirk,” the Chicago actress wrote. “I shall love you for the rest of my life. I miss you already. Sleep tight...”


thehuffingtonpostuk--2020-02-06--How Long Distance Friends Keep The Spark Alive

nadia_bormotova via Getty Images
There’s a beauty to having your best friend on your doorstep – or down the hall. You can call on them after a hard day at work, when you’re going through a tough time – and they’re right there for a good goss when you have news.
You see them regularly, speak often, and they probably know every aspect of your life. But what about when one of you moves away? How can you make sure your friendship lasts the distance?
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Prince Harry is reportedly missing his pals since moving to Canada, a source told The Sun. “He’s been in a WhatsApp group with his mates for years and he uses that more than ever now to keep in touch and send pictures. The group are always sharing funny video clips they find as well.”
For those in the same position, we asked HuffPost UK readers and writers their hacks for keeping long-distance friendship alive. “Message everyday,” was a common theme among everyone who replied – but here are their other tips.
Use voice notes
Sure, this Whatsapp feature can be divisive, but lots of long distance pals shared this tip – favouring a voice note over a written message to their far away friends. Katie Evans says whether she’s had a rubbish day or wants to share a silly anecdote with her friend, she’ll send a voice note rather than text it.
“WhatsApp voice notes are the biggest help,” agrees Lauren Aitchison. “Because of time differences and schedules, it’s difficult to get time on the phone together and hearing each other’s voices makes all the difference. We call them our ‘podcast episodes’ because they end up being so long.”
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Embrace snail mail
They might take longer to arrives, but letters, postcards, care packages and parcels can brighten your pal’s day and let them know you’re thinking of them. “I send her a steady flow of chocolate”, one reader said of her friendship cure, while another said they send a care package once a year.
“In the package was a book, a scented candle, a best friend keying (so 90s, but it made her laugh), a packet of her favourite tea (roobios) and some quote cards,” she said. “Other times I’ve just sent chocolate or a magazine. Once I sent her a mug, but it smashed in the post – don’t recommend!” Of course, it goes without saying that a surprise visit always goes down well, too.
Change the clocks
When our head of life Nancy Groves moved to Australia, she and her best pal, who lived in New York at the time, set up world clocks on their phones so they always knew what hour it was for each other – making it easier to organise video calls and know where their headspace was at any given time of the day.
Share the mundane
It’s all well and good keeping your LDBF updated when you have big stuff to share – new jobs, new partners, house moves or holiday plans – but what about the rest of your life? Hannah Fearn is a fan of “sharing pictures of even the mundane bits of our lives”. Karen Martin agrees. “We talk about literally everything: the weather where we are, how work is, what’s new... even the most boring questions seem to lead to long conversations. If you are genuinely interested, people will be willing to keep the conversation going.”
Malte Mueller via Getty Images View from above smiley faces on smart phones
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Create daily habits (and keep them up)
Long distance doesn’t always mean long haul. Rose Stokes’ best friend lives in Bath, while she’s in London. They’ve known each other all their lives since their mums were NCT pals. “We always say good morning and good night,” she says. “The past year we’ve been closer than ever!”
“We text very regularly,” says Sophie Trevitt, about her long-distance friends. “Silly things. Hard things. Anything. We call when we have a moment, and phone tag until we connect. Better to try and grab a sec.”
Walk a mile in their Facetime
For Annabel Blake, she keeps the spark alive by going on “morning walks” with her friend on the phone, “on the way to work or as a walk around the beach! It can feel just like a walk we’d do together if we lived near each other.” Alex Tsoi and her pal send each other letters every week – much better than a text, no?
Be a visitor not a stranger
Our Life reporter Tasha Hinde and her LDBF takes it in turns to visit each other for a weekend or a week. Regular planned visits mean you always have something to look forward to, and an IRL meet to get excited about.
Surena Chande, whose best friend lives in Manchester, says they’ll try and see each other every few months, switching up who is host and guest. And they meet up are around the world wherever possible to make it fair and easier.
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Gifs that keeps giving
“We’re always tagging each other in memes,” said Surena, “or posts related to things we enjoy and find funny.” Marilyn Devonish and her long distance pal have “countless late-night gif-offs, and rolled with laughter from across the pond and airwaves discussing men, relationships and crazy relatives.”
Game the friendship
Connor Parker, whose friends live around the country and world, says his gang often catch up by arranging a gaming session. “We all enjoy it loads,” he says. “The game becomes secondary to just chatting about life most of the time.”
Love them for longer
Making time for lengthy conversations with your pal every now and then. Hayley Jordan, whose friend lives in New Zealand, says they Skype for two hours once or twice a month. Someone else said she and her friend will always put aside a few hours when they’ve agreed to call, so they can give their time to the conversation rather than rushing off to do something else.
And finally...
Respect that lives get busy. Holly Winter Stevens says the key thing among her friends is everyone understands how little time they have – especially as they are all working mums of two. They also respect the different ways people like to keep in touch. “The key is that we’re realistic, low maintenance and pick things up when we see each other in person, almost dying with laughter within about 30 seconds,” she says.
Ruth Harrison Davies says she can go months without speaking to her friend who lives abroad – following and liking his social media posts – but the moment he’s back in the UK, it’s feels like not a day has passed since they last met up.


thehuffingtonpostuk--2020-02-06--John Bercow Condemned By House Of Commons For 'Unacceptable' Behaviour

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The House of Commons has said that it was “unacceptable” for John Bercow to publicly name parliamentary staff in his autobiography without their permission.
Bercow is under pressure after being accused of bullying while serving as speaker.
He has been nominated for a seat in the House of Lords by Jeremy Corbyn and has dismissed the allegations as “total and utter rubbish”.
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David Leakey, who served as the senior parliamentary official known as Black Rod, yesterday said it would be a “scandal” if Bercow was given a peerage.
Leakey, who in charge of the day to day running of the House of Lords, told the BBC yesterday that there were times Bercow “would fly into a rage” and “the red mist would descend”.
A spokesperson for the Commons said on Thursday that its staff had “a right to expect that their privacy be respected”.
“It is unacceptable to publicly name current or former staff without their prior knowledge or authority, especially for the purpose of financial gain or commercial success,” the spokesperson said.
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Further to the previous statement, we would like add the below. This will be our final comment on the matter. pic.twitter.com/ut2yCzmlNu — Commons Press Office (@HoCPress) February 6, 2020
“A crucial element of the work of House of Commons staff is to provide confidential, impartial advice to MPs.
“Breaking this confidentiality undermines this important principle and also places staff in a position from which they are unable to respond.
“Parliament’s behaviour code makes clear the standards of behaviour expected of everyone in parliament, whether staff, members of the House of Lords, MPs or visitors. There is zero tolerance for abuse or harassment.
“We strongly encourage anyone who has experienced bullying or harassment in parliament to submit a complaint via the independent complaints and grievance scheme.”
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Bercow has also been accused of bullying by Lord Lisvane, who was clerk of the House.
ASSOCIATED PRESS
The former speaker told Sky News last night the allegations against him were “total and utter rubbish – from start to finish”.
In a separate statement, Bercow said the allegations against him came at a “curious” time as he seeks to become a peer.
He also attacked the government for not elevating him to the Lords after his retirement as speaker.


thehuffingtonpostuk--2020-02-06--There Are Nearly 30,000 Coronavirus Cases. Here’s The Latest On The Outbreak

Coronavirus – it’s the infection that, until a month ago, you had probably never heard of. Now, it dominates the front pages of newspapers almost every day.
Believed to have originated in China, the virus has infected tens of thousands of people, with sufferers often struck down with a cough, high temperature and breathing difficulties.
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On Thursday, a third case of coronavirus was confirmed in the UK and the patient was transferred to a specialist centre for treatment. Chief medical officer Chris Whitty later confirmed they did not catch it in mainland China, telling a press conference the individual was infected elsewhere in Asia.
Update on #coronavirus:
A further patient in England has tested positive for coronavirus bringing the total number of cases in the UK to three. The individual did not acquire this in the UK.
Full statement from Professor Chris Whitty, @CMO_England:
▶ https://t.co/vwoFNRKpoF pic.twitter.com/PuZ8m40R9x — Department of Health and Social Care (@DHSCgovuk) February 6, 2020
As coronavirus continues to spread, governments around the world have made attempts to contain the outbreak, with the UK organising one final flight this week to evacuate Brits stuck in the locked-down city of Wuhan.
Here’s the global picture as of Thursday.
The number of cases has surpassed 28,000
Coronavirus: confirmed cases Press Association Images
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As China continues to battle the spread of coronavirus – locking down the city of Wuhan and constructing a specialist 1,000-bed hospital to deal with the disease – the number of confirmed cases has now reached 28,018.
According to Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, the director-general of the World Health Organisation, the number of cases in China jumped by 3,694 in the past 24 hours – the biggest increase since the start of the epidemic.
Meanwhile, 563 people have died in China as a result of coronavirus.
Outside mainland China, at least 230 cases have been confirmed, including two fatalities – one in Hong Kong and another in the Philippines.
Virus ‘whistleblower’ reported as dead
On Thursday afternoon the WHO paid tribute to a Chinese doctor who attempted to raise the first warnings about the deadly outbreak who was reported to have died from the infection.
Then, hours later, the same Chinese state media that reported his passing said he was in fact still alive but in a critical condition. Amid confusion, a Chinese hospital then said the doctor had in fact died of the illness.
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Li Wenliang was working as an ophthalmologist at Wuhan Central Hospital when he sent out a warning to fellow medics on December 30. Police then visited him to tell him to stop, as authorities tried to keep the news secret.
A newborn baby has tested positive for the virus
Medical workers in protective suits help transfer the first group of patients into the newly-completed Huoshenshan temporary field hospital in Wuhan ASSOCIATED PRESS
A newborn baby in China has tested positive for the virus just 30 hours after it was born, according to state media.
Doctors in the country said that the baby was born to a woman infected with coronavirus in Wuhan on February 2.
While it is unclear yet how the baby was infected, it has led medics to suggest that the virus could be passed from pregnant women to their unborn children.
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“This reminds us to pay attention to mother-to-child being a possible route of coronavirus transmission,” said the chief physician of Wuhan Children Hospital’s neonatal medicine department, Zeng Lingkong.
The hospital has also reported a second case of a newborn testing positive for coronavirus. Born healthy on January 13, the baby started showing symptoms two weeks later after both its nanny and its mother were diagnosed.
Neither of the infected infants are in a critical condition, Lingkong said.
According to the Journal of the American Medical Association, there have been very few cases of coronavirus in children to date. They estimate that the median age of patients is between 49 and 56.
Two cruise ships in Asia have been quarantined
People are transferred from cruise ship Diamond Princess to a patrol ship in Yokohama, Japan KYODO Kyodo / Reuters
Amid attempts to stop the spread of coronavirus, two cruise ships in Asia have been quarantined after passengers were confirmed with the infection.
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In Yokohama, a port city in Japan, health workers said 20 people from the cruise ship Diamond Princess had tested positive for the virus. Those infected will be dropped off as the ship docks and transferred to nearby hospitals, they added.
Meanwhile, the other 3,700 people on board will be quarantined for two weeks in their cabins. Tests are pending on 171 people who had contact with a man who was diagnosed with coronavirus in Japan after leaving the ship.
A medic onboard the Diamond Princess cruise, where 20 people have tested positive for the virus ASSOCIATED PRESS
The World Dream cruise has also been quarantined for a second day by Hong Kong authorities after three people who were onboard the ship in January were found to have the virus.
Officials said that the cruise’s 1,800 crew members had tested negative for the coronavirus, although 33 of them had respiratory tract infection symptoms. Of these, three people have been sent to hospital for isolation.
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Tests are now underway on the 1,800 passengers on the ship.
To date, Hong Kong has seen 22 confirmed cases of coronavirus, including one death.
Amid the outbreak, thousands of medical workers have gone on strike in a bid to force Carrie Lam, the city’s leader to completely close the border to mainland China – a demand she has rejected as impractical and discriminatory. However, 10 of the 13 border crossings have been shut down.
Meanwhile, residents have begun emptying supermarket shelves as they attempt to stockpile food and supplies.
Countries have increased border controls
People wearing surgical masks on a bus in Taipei, Taiwan NurPhoto via Getty Images
While residents in Hong Kong have called for the border with mainland China to be closed, Taiwan has said it will suspend most visa applicants from the city’s residents, as well as those from Macau, in a bid to control the spread of coronavirus.
It comes in the same week Taiwan suspended the entry of all Chinese citizens who live in mainland China.
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Meanwhile, Saudi Arabia has said foreign residents living in the country will not be allowed back in if they have travelled to China.


thehuffingtonpostuk--2020-02-06--The Government's Order To Fly Union Jacks For Prince Andrew's 60th Has Not Gone Down Well

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Downing Street has been forced into a hasty rethink after complaints about a diktat that town halls should fly a flag for Prince Andrew’s 60th birthday.
Councils had been sent an email instructing them to mark the Duke of York’s birthday by flying the union flag on February 19.
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The message was sent by civil servant Matt Stevenson – private secretary to Dame Melanie Dawes, the permanent secretary of the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government.
Andrew stepped down from royal public life in November after the fallout from his disastrous Newsnight appearance, and the Queen cancelled her son’s formal birthday celebrations soon after.
Just seen this being debated on @GMB
Whilst I’m very supportive of the Royal Family I personally believe it is wholly inappropriate in the prevailing circumstances for Council’s to fly the Union Jack for Prince Andrew’s birthday! @theresa_may @RBWM https://t.co/NAsnJmGyAZ — Cllr Phil Haseler (@PhilHaseler1) February 6, 2020
The prince was accused of showing a lack of empathy for sex trafficker Jeffery Epstein’s victims and of failing to show regret over his friendship with the disgraced financier.
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Virginia Giuffre, previously known as Virginia Roberts, claims she was trafficked by convicted sex offender Epstein and alleges the duke slept with her on three separate occasions, including when she was 17 – still a minor under US law.
Andrew, who strenuously denies the allegations, is facing calls to talk to the FBI and US prosecutors.
Perhaps unsurprisingly, the instruction to formally mark his birthday did not prove universally popular.
Tory councillor Phil Haseler, of Windsor and Maidenhead Council, tweeted: “Whilst I’m very supportive of the Royal Family I personally believe it is wholly inappropriate in the prevailing circumstances for councils to fly the Union Jack for Prince Andrew’s birthday!”
Speaking to HuffPost UK, he added: “Allegations of a serious nature have been made against Prince Andrew, as a result of which he has stepped back from public duties.
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“He has so far failed to stand up to his responsibilities and make himself available to be interviewed by law enforcement officers.
“As a member of the royal family he should be setting an example not only to the citizens of the UK but to the world, he has so far failed to do so.
“To fly the flag for his birthday would be a sign of respect, Prince Andrew does not command that respect with the behaviour displayed to date.
“It would be highly disrespectful to the complainants and plainly inappropriate to fly the flag for his birthday.”
Meanwhile Liverpool Mayor Joe Anderson told the Liverpool Echo the council would not be flying the flag. He said: “No, we won’t be doing that. I don’t think that would be appropriate.
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“This isn’t to do with being anti-royal, we have flown the flag for the Queen before.”
An unnamed council source told The Sun: “Making this gesture while there is a cloud hanging over the duke is hugely insulting to Epstein’s victims and those wanting answers.”
The prime minister’s official spokesperson played down the instruction, saying: “This was an administrative email about long-standing policy.
“I understand DCMS and the royal household are considering how the policy applies in changing circumstances such as when members of the royal family step back from their duties.”
Prince Andrew zz/KGC-492/STAR MAX/IPx
A government spokesperson later said councils will not be required to fly flags to mark the Duke of York’s birthday.
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They said: “The Department of Culture, Media and Sport will be advising councils that there is no requirement to fly flags on February 19 following the decision by the Duke of York to step back from public duties for the foreseeable future.”
Republic, a campaign to replace the monarchy with an elected head of state, said councils had better things to worry about than “daft royal protocols”.
Republic CEO Graham Smith said: “This is crass and offensive, and that even at the best of times it’s nonsense to be flying flags for Andrew’s or anyone else’s birthday.
“Councils are struggling to provide core services, they have better things to worry about than daft royal protocols.
“And to think we should be celebrating a man who has serious accusations of sexual assault hanging over his head is particularly appalling.
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“It’s time we ended the whole nonsense of flying flags for royal birthdays.
“It’s inappropriate in a democracy and the public aren’t interested. I think we’d all rather see councils spend their time and money getting services delivered.”
One place that will still mark Andrew’s birthday will be Westminster Abbey, it has been confirmed.
A spokeswoman for the central London church said: “Westminster Abbey is a Royal Peculiar and the bells are rung for the birthdays of HM The Queen and HRH The Duke of Edinburgh; their children; and TRH The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge and their children.


thehuffingtonpostuk--2020-02-06--To The Woman Who Recoiled From Me, Not All Asians Have Coronavirus

By now, Asians across the world will have their own story of discriminatory woe, journalist Vivian Song writes. Getty Editorial
The other night, at a posh theatre in the centre of Paris, I inadvertently perpetuated a tired old stereotype of the passive, submissive Asian when I failed to call out the French woman sat next to me, who spent the entire first act of the production with her turtleneck over her mouth.
The incident happened in increments. Sometime near the beginning of the first act, she had pulled up the top of her sweater to cover her mouth and nose. Progressively throughout the play, she began to lean further and further away from me until she was practically sitting in her boyfriend’s lap. Under the pretext of snuggling up to her partner, she had twisted her body into a knotty pretzel with one sole aim: to get as far away from me as possible.
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During intermission, the pair packed up their affairs and moved to an entirely new section, robbing me of the chance to call her out.
By now, more than a month into the coronavirus outbreak, many in the Asian diaspora around the world have their own tale of discriminatory woe – be they of Chinese, Filipino, Vietnamese, Japanese or, like me, Korean descent.
“Almost overnight, Britons of Chinese descent who were born and raised in the UK have suddenly all become tourists from China.”
If anything, the outbreak has exposed the astonishing level of ignorance around Asian ethnicities as we’re all lumped together. Just as all brown people are terrorists following a terror attack and all black people carriers of ebola, every Asian in the diaspora from the UK, to the US, Canada and Australia, has suddenly become a Chinese citizen from Wuhan and incubator of the coronavirus.
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And therein lies our complicated history.
In France where I currently live, fed-up Asians have adopted the Twitter hashtag #JeNeSuisPasUnVirus which means “I am not a virus.” First-generation Asians and expats like myself are uniting under the same banner regardless of our origins because, for the duration of the outbreak at least, we are all Chinese. And when you’re Chinese for even just a day, you get a small taste of just how deep anti-Chinese sentiment can run.
Have you been affected by racism in the UK in the wake of the recent Coronavirus outbreak? Get in touch with your story by contacting ramzy.alwakeel@huffpost.com
Which is why I am ashamed and saddened to see restaurateurs, businesses and shops in South Korea post signs banning Chinese customers. The same trend has been reported in Japan and Vietnam.
In continental Asia – the motherland for the diaspora – citizens are carrying out blanket discrimination against the Chinese in the same way we, the diaspora, are being targeted in our respective countries of residence.
In France (and I suspect this to be true in other parts of the world), the outbreak has exposed another uncomfortable truth: that within the model minority myth – a dangerous and misleading narrative that Asians are all hard workers, higher achievers and less likely to speak out compared to other minority groups – there exists another micro paradigm that stratifies Asian ethnicities into its own internal hierarchy.
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While the Japanese have their highest respect, the Chinese have their disdain.
Given the racist narrative that tries to trace the coronavirus to Chinese cuisine, let’s use that as an example of how Asian ethnicities are perceived.
After covering the world of haute gastronomy in France for nearly a decade at my day job, it has become clear that Japanese chefs and Japanese cuisine enjoy a special kind of preferential status among the gastronomic elite compared to other Asian cuisines. Just last week, the Michelin guide admitted the first Japanese chef in France to the exclusive three-starred club.
Anecdotally, I can’t tell you the number of times a French person has rhapsodised to me about Japan; how much they love the country; how much they love the culture and their cuisine.
To be clear, I have no qualms about that. I was a Francophile and loved everything French. That’s why I moved here from Canada 10 years ago.
But compare that to the jarringly racist language I’ve heard French people use towards the Chinese, incidentally one of their biggest tourism markets in terms of spending.
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It’s been more than five years now, but I will never forget the moment in the office kitchen when a former colleague used the word “dirty” while talking about the Chinese. She ostensibly thought I wouldn’t be offended as I’m Korean Canadian. But as the coronavirus outbreak has clearly shown, for many non-Asians, there’s little to separate a Korean person from a Chinese, and a Vietnamese person from a Filipino.
In such a short time, what remained of our status as integrated members of society has been wiped out. Almost overnight, Britons of Chinese descent who were born and raised in the UK and have never set foot in China; Canadians of Korean descent; and American citizens of Filipino descent have suddenly all become tourists from China.
I’ve lived through this before, in Toronto during the SARS epidemic in 2003. Then too, a group of teenagers boarded my subway car and coughed “SARS” in my direction. I called them out and managed to shame them into silence.
I couldn’t do the same this time round, to the lady who seemed by all outward appearances, reasonable and cultured. But then again, I too, may have been too quick to judge. So this essay is dedicated to you, French lady who sat near the aisle in row 17 of the section amphitheatre bas at the Théâtre du Châtelet last week. You know who you are.
Vivian Song is a lifestyle editor based in Paris.


thehuffingtonpostuk--2020-02-06--Hate Crimes Are Rising But These Survivors Of Homophobic Abuse Won’t Be Intimidated

Loukas Prodromou aka Camilè Leon after being attacked last month. Loukas Prodromou/Facebook
“If it wasn’t going to happen to me that night, it was going to happen to someone else.”
This is how Loukas Prodromou talks of being punched in the face last month – as an act of violence inflicted not on a specific individual, but on whichever member of the LGBT community was unlucky enough to run into a small group of men riding around east London in a party limo that night.
The 28-year-old drag performer had nipped out from The Glory – the east London venue where he was appearing – to get some cash from a supermarket ATM.
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“There were three of them in there and they were like ‘ugh, what’s that?’,” he tells HuffPost UK.
“They started to film me on their phones, antagonising me and trying to be funny. I was walking back to the venue and he took me from a blind spot and just completely knocked me out.
“It was a fucking blow to the face.”
Police were called but, fearing retribution from his attackers, Loukas chose not to help prosecute them.
He will be one of an estimated 500 people taking to the streets of Hackney on Friday night as part of the newly-launched “Night Pride” – a protest “in response to the massive rise in hate crimes” in the UK.
And it’s not just anecdotal – official statistics released last year lay bare the shocking increase.
Police in England and Wales recorded 103,379 hate crimes in 2018/19 – 10% more than the previous year and more than double the 2012/13 figure of 42,255.
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While race remained the main trigger in the majority of reported offences there were also significant jumps in the number of transgender identity hate crimes – up by 37% in the last year from 1,703 to 2,333 – and a 25% hike in offences motivated by sexual orientation (14,491, up from 11,592).
Of all the hate crimes recorded by police, one third involved violence.
PA Media
The collective organisers of the march insist it is “not a demand for equality” nor “a demand for better policing” or “a demand for mere tolerance and acceptance”.
In a statement, they wrote: “We are revolting, and we will have true liberation! We will hold hands, share affection, kiss our friends and lovers wherever we want. We won’t be confined to the safety of our homes, clubs and community spaces.
“We will express our gender identity in any way we damn please. We are unapologetic and unashamed. We are authentic and real. We are many and we will no longer be attacked.”
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Another of those attending is Madeline Street, 23, from south London, who was assaulted and spat at while getting off the Tube with her girlfriend after Pride last year.
“I can speak for London because that’s where I live,” she said. “I feel like it’s got more volatile over the last few years and I truly believe there’s a sense of tension.
“And after the Brexit vote it almost created a divide in the country and I think people are now more willing to express hate to all areas of minorities, especially LGBT.”
The effects of hate crimes last long after they’re committed. A report by Stonewall last year that surveyed the LGBT community in Scotland found almost half had experienced depression.
More than half of trans people (52%) said they had thought of taking their own life in the last year, while two in five (37%) have avoided seeking healthcare for fear of discrimination.
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Three in five (60%) LGBT people reported experiencing anxiety in the last year, including nearly four in five (77%) trans people.
While Friday’s march will provide a visible display of unity and support for the LGBT community, both Street and Prodromou are clear about what the long-term solution is – education.
“If we start early and normalise something which is incredibly normal which is how people identify and their sexualities, then as people grow up they won’t necessarily have these prejudices,” says Madeline.
Speaking of the man who punched him, Loukas says: “I’d love to meet him.
“What he saw was the the front cover of the book but he doesn’t know any of the pages.”
Useful websites and helplines:


thehuffingtonpostuk--2020-02-06--The Infamous M&S Love Sausage Is Back For Valentine's Day

HuffPost UK M&S
M&S is riding off the popularity of last year’s “Love Sausage” – aka its Valentine’s take on the festive pig in blanket – and introducing a newbie: the Little Love Sausage. Because last year’s might just have been too big...
The truffle-infused sausage is wrapped in bacon and folded into the shape – with suggestions that it’s great with a fried egg in the middle.
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“It’s back!” screamed the press release. “And it is joined by a new friend this year, the ‘Give a Little Love’ Sausage (because as we all know, love comes in all sized packages!).”
The twin pack is ideal for a loved-up breakfast, M&S, which offers a range of serving suggestions for the mini-whopper: on top of muffins, crumpets, or with an egg cracked in the middle of the heart.
HuffPost UK The new, smaller Love Sausages
Kirsty Rowley, Love Sausage product developer (what a job title, eh?) said: “Love Sausage mania swept the UK and beyond last year, and it was a huge hit with our customers. There may be some imitators this year (the sincerest form of flattery) but I am happy to say the original and best is back! And it is joined by the perfect package of the smaller Give a Little Love Sausage.”
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The twin pack of mini sausages is £5, and the big one is £6 – both available in stories from Friday 7 February (or if’s not quite your thing, check out our pick of these Valentine’s dine-in meals for two).
HuffPost UK The original Love Sausage
Don’t get what all the fuss is about? Here are a selection of people enjoying the #LoveSausage last year.


thehuffingtonpostuk--2020-02-07--Phillip Schofield Announces He Is Gay

Phillip Schofield Announces He Is Gay

This Morning Host Phillip Schofield Comes Out As Gay
Popular television presenter Phillip Schofield has come out as gay. In a moving Instagram post, the star spoke of the love and support of his family in making the announcement.