thehuffingtonpostuk--2020-08-17--How To Make A Frozen Coffee As Good As One You Can Buy

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There’s a reason the Starbucks Frappuccino became such an iconic treat: Coffee “slushies” hit the elusive sweet spot between indulgence and refreshment.
Coffee snobs may feel tempted to dismiss these blended beverages as “not real coffee.” But the longstanding Italian tradition of granita, a dessert made from semi-frozen and shaved espresso, begs to differ.
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Frozen coffee deserves respect and full, unabashed enjoyment. However, it can be a challenge to whip up a version in a home kitchen that compares with the drinks available at coffee shops. With that in mind, we asked a group of coffee pros for their best frozen coffee-making advice, and they offered up these tips and recipes.
1. Strong coffee works best.
Because frozen coffee drinks are blended with ice, a common complaint is that they tend to taste watered down. To ensure the presence of distinct coffee flavour throughout your beverage, blogger Jee Choe of Coffee At Three recommends using “strong brewed coffee or cold brew concentrates, since they won’t water down the flavour once it’s all blended with ice.”
Deanne Gustafson, co-founder of Kombucha On Tap, a Southern California company that also distributes cold brew coffee in kegs and cans, views cold brew as the ideal base for a frozen coffee. “Cold brew is less acidic than regular coffee, so it makes [a frozen coffee] taste sweet without adding calories,” Gustafson said.
2. Add a bit of finely ground coffee to the blender.
If you’re looking for a quick and simple way to enhance the coffee flavour in your frozen drink, try this technique used by Dan Pabst, coffee and new product development manager of Melitta Coffee: “When making a frozen coffee beverage, in addition to using some kind of liquid coffee ingredient, also blend in 1/2 teaspoon or so of finely ground coffee. It adds some serious coffee flavour!”
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3. If all else fails, it’s also possible to make a great frozen coffee with the instant stuff.
Thanks to the recent mega-popularity of dalgona coffee, instant coffee finds itself more relevant than ever. If you’re fresh out of cold brew or coffee grounds but have some instant java available, then you’ll be glad to know that a great frozen coffee is still within reach.
“A dark roast instant coffee will give you a flavour profile closer to Starbucks, whereas a medium roast may be closer to something you’d get at your local shop,” advised Ian Kolb, manager of CupLux Coffee in Charlotte, North Carolina. “Completely dissolve the instant coffee in 2 ounces of water, preferably hot. Pour the coffee into the blender and then add the remaining ingredients into your blender. Blend until you reach your desired consistency.”
4. Get strategic with your ice cubes.
Yes, potent coffee will lower the risk of a diluted frozen coffee drink, but it’s also essential to carefully select your ice cubes and your blending process.
“The key to any frozen beverage/cocktail is ice control,” said Mike Arquines, co-founder of Mostra Coffee in San Diego. “Taking dilution and final texture into consideration [every] step of the way is the difference between a smooth and creamy drink and a gritty, crushed ice mess.”
David Duron, co-founder of Hawaii-based coffee roaster Brazen Hazen, urges frozen coffee enthusiasts to “freeze coffee in ice cube trays and use those instead of regular ice cubes.”
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From an equipment standpoint, Choe suggests using a blender tamper, which will crush ice more evenly: “It makes a huge difference in making the smoothest frozen coffee.”
5. Don’t feel obligated to add tons of mix-ins and toppings .
Many Frappuccino naysayers claim these drinks include too many added ingredients ― that chocolate syrup, crushed cookies or caramel completely eclipse the coffee flavour. If you share these concerns, then take comfort from the words of Raffaello Van Couten of Eleva Coffee in Brooklyn, New York: “Keep it simple, keep it delicious. Consumers want a wow factor, but don’t want to think about it.”
6. Want to spike your frozen coffee? Pick a flavourful spirit that packs a punch.
The combination of liquor and coffee spans innumerable cultures, and for excellent reason. When making a spiked frozen coffee, you can certainly choose an “obvious” spirit like coffee liqueur or Irish cream. But Egor Polonskiy, manager of trade education and mixology at Patrón, challenges you to get creative.
“Frozen coffee is a unique drink concept, [and] you can use a variety of different spirits as a base,” Polonskiy said. “I recommend finding something that has a lot of flavour, complements your coffee, and has [a high] enough proof to stand out in a drink.”
Read on for three frozen coffee recipes worth trying in your own blender.
Mocha Frappe
From Lisa Leventhal (national brand ambassador, The House of Sōmrus)
Jeff Scott Craig/The House of Sōmrus Mocha Frappe
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The Mocha Frappuccino ranks among Starbucks’ most beloved beverages. If you’re keen on replicating it at home, this recipe from Chicago-based restaurant alum Lisa Leventhal will deliver both a smooth texture and a perfect balance of coffee and chocolate flavours.
Ingredients (serves 4)
16 coffee ice cubes
2 cups regular milk or chocolate oat milk (Leventhal prefers Oatly Chocolate Oat Milk)
2 tablespoons chocolate syrup
2 tablespoons simple syrup
1 cup cream liqueur (optional)
Whipped cream, chocolate syrup, sprig of mint (for garnish)
1. Make coffee ice cubes by saving leftover coffee on a daily basis and storing it in a Mason jar in the fridge. Once you have 2 cups worth, pour into an ice cube tray and freeze.
2. Add coffee ice cubes, milk, chocolate syrup, simple syrup and cream liqueur (if using) to a blender and blend until the coffee ice cubes are broken down and the mixture has the texture you prefer.
3. Pour into a glass, add garnishes and serve with a straw.
The Golden Percolator
From Matt Shook (owner/founder, JuiceLand, Austin, Texas)
JuiceLand Golden Percolator
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This refreshing plant-based smoothie from smash-hit Texas juicery JuiceLand includes aromatic ingredients like cinnamon and turmeric root, which awaken deep flavour notes in the cold brew base and complement the frozen bananas. The result is an ideal beverage for an early start.
Ingredients (makes 1 16-ounce smoothie)
10 ounces hemp milk
5 ounces cold brew coffee
2 bananas, peeled, frozen, and broken into pieces
1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
1 tablespoon coconut oil
1 tablespoon fresh turmeric root
1. Add all ingredients to a blender and blend on high until smooth.
Espresso Granita
From Giorgio Milos (master barista, illy Coffee)
Illy Coffee Espresso granita
As we mentioned previously, the frozen coffee beverages we see at cafes today owe a great deal to Italian granita. This recipe will allow you to make the classic treat at home. Texturally, granita falls somewhere between a Frappuccino and a sorbet, so if you’re lucky enough to own a “spoon straw,” now’s the time to break it out.
Ingredients (serves 2)
10 fluid ounces brewed espresso (if freshly pulled, allow to cool for 5 minutes before beginning the recipe)
1 1/2 ounces white sugar
1. Mix coffee and sugar together in a freezer-friendly, quart-sized bowl, making sure that the sugar dissolves completely. The amount of sugar can be adjusted, but the higher the sugar amount, the lower the freezing temperature will be, thus the longer the freezing time.
2. Place the bowl in the freezer and allow to freeze for 2-3 hours, depending on desired consistency. Every 20 minutes, remove the bowl, stir the mixture thoroughly and return to freezer.


thehuffingtonpostuk--2020-08-17--Can Covid-19 Cause Hair Loss? Here's What You Need To Know

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Among the many side effects of Covid-19 that have emerged, hair loss may be one of the most unexpected. “It took me a little off guard,” says Dr. Pedram Yazdan an assistant professor of dermatology at Northwestern Feinberg School of Medicine, tells Yahoo Life. “I think it allowed me to appreciate how stressful this infection can be on our bodies.”
Technically known as telogen effluvium, temporary hair loss can be triggered by many things, from weight loss to severe infection and psychological stress. Yazdan, who specialises in hair loss, says all three may play a role in the reports of hair loss he’s seeing. One such report, a survey of more than 1,500 survivors released in late July, lists hair loss as among the top 25 symptoms experienced (out of nearly 100 total) by Covid-19 survivors.
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Conducted by Dr. Natalie Lambert, a professor at Indiana University School of Medicine and Survivor Corps, a grassroots movement of Covid-19 survivors, the survey reveals that more people experienced hair loss than nausea or runny nose — two hallmark symptoms of Covid-19, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
The survey isn’t the only place to highlight the issue. A study published in the Journal of Cosmetic Dermatology in April reported a “high frequency” of “male pattern hair loss” among Covid-19 patients in Spain. A post from the Cleveland Clinic on July 30 noted an increase in Covid-19 patients reporting the condition. And in an interview with USA Today late July, a doctor from Lenox Hill Hospital in New York said she’s been seeing patients come in with “bags of hair” that they’ve lost after recovering from Covid-19.
Srisakorn via Getty Images
Yazdan has seen cases of it as well. “I see patients in the clinic for hair disorder issues and recently we had a couple of patients who during — and even after — infection with Covid, started to have pretty noticeable shedding of their hair,” says Yazdan. “And basically there was no real attributable reason other than the infection that could have caused them to shed their hair.”
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Telogen effluvium has been known to occur after other infections, including malaria and syphilis, the latter of which can result in what’s called syphilitic alopecia, says Yazdan. But for these covid-19 survivors and others with temporary hair loss, there likely isn’t just one mechanism behind it. “It could be infection, it could be nutritional, it could be a lot of stress on the body — physical stress and medical stress,” says Yazdan. “Some patients with a lot of emotional stress ... if they have a lot of anxiety or just some situational event in their life which is very emotionally taxing that can lead to hair shedding.”
The pervasive stress associated with this pandemic, he says, is likely playing a major role — and may even be causing hair loss in those without the virus. “I’ve been doing a lot of telehealth hair visits too and a number of my patients haven’t gotten Covid, but they’re shedding their hair,” Yazdan says. “I can’t really figure it out, but then when I probe more, just the fact that they’re in lockdown, stuck at home or worrying about losing their jobs...the life stresses that it’s putting on people I think is contributing.”
On top of the mental anguish, changes to the physical body — such as weight loss — may be influencing it too. “Some of these patients, their appetite is messed up and they’re not nutritionally optimised like they were before the infection. And one of the most important things with healthy hair is proper nutrition and having a well-balanced diet,” he says. “A lot of these patients, they don’t want to eat, they have no appetite and they’re losing weight. And so the hair gets pissed off for those reasons too.”
One positive aspect of this type of hair loss, Yazdan says, is that it’s temporary. “The good thing is that it’s transient. Of all the hair loss conditions that you can have, this is the best form to have because invariably it subsides,” he says. “They say ‘This too, shall pass’ and that’s kind of what happens with this too.”
For those who are experiencing it, he says that reducing stress and optimising nutrition are both important, but the main advice he gives is simply to remain calm. “People say, ‘What can I do to treat it?’ And I think the best is just the tincture of time,” Yazdan says. “I spend a lot of time reassuring patients that this is a temporary condition...so all the hairs that were shed from telogen effluvium should theoretically, over time, come back slowly. So I tell them, just be patient.”


thehuffingtonpostuk--2020-08-17--My Church Fired Me After I Came Out As Trans

When the leadership at Lorne Park Baptist Church in Mississauga, Ont. announced its decision to fire me, a month after I came out as a transgender woman, they said it was because of “theological reasons.” Those reasons were not made clear.
I always suspected I might lose my job after letting everyone know who I am, but I stayed optimistic. We’d had at least one out gay staff member during my six years at the church, and I had previously advocated for more affirming churches in our denomination, which was met with support from leadership. I let others convince me that firing me would be a violation of my rights.
And for a minute, I thought the congregation had accepted me. I thought that we were making history — that I might become one of the first out trans pastors in Canadian Baptist life, signalling to so many people who are hurting that the church could be a space for them. I thought that I wouldn’t have to make the choice between my vocation and my gender.
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I received about 50 different messages from people in the congregation expressing their love and care and support. They ranged from, “Welcome, Pastor June! This changes nothing, and we’re glad you’re a pastor,” to “I don’t understand this, but I’m willing to work to learn more.”
The church issued me an email address with my new name. They changed my photo and my staff bio on the church website.
And then they fired me.
As I prepared the sermon that would end my career, I thought to myself: as a young, repressed, closeted trans girl in the church, what would I have wanted to hear my pastor say? What kind of truth would I need to hear as somebody struggling since childhood to reconcile their gender identity with their faith?
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I grew up in a small, rural town of about 3,000 in western North Carolina, on a parcel of land that used to be part of my grandparents’ farm. Politically, the county is conservative; socially, it was steeped in racism, homophobia and transphobia.
I can remember a day in Kindergarten when everybody told the class what they wanted to be when they grew up. I attended a fundamentalist Baptist church six days a week, so I said I wanted to be a minister. At the same time, I was thinking about how great it would be if I could also be a girl. I didn’t say that part.
Junia Joplin The writer's family attended this church for four generations. Her great grandmother was a charter member back around 1912. She took this photo and kept it on the wall of her office.
Those thoughts were difficult to describe or make sense of, because I tried to ignore them, to pretend they weren’t valid. But they never went away. They were always there, in the back of my mind, even as I delivered my first sermon when I was 11. My pastor helped me write it, and my parents bought me a grey blazer and a tie, printed with one of those loud, early ’90s geometric patterns, to wear.
Ironically, the sermon was called ‘The Need To Be Different’, and I delivered it around the time my sense of gender dysphoria became very persistent.
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By then, I thought about being a girl on a regular basis. It became a kind of burden that I felt ashamed about, something to get rid of. Once, my father caught me trying on my mother’s clothes — he said, calmly, “I’m raising a son, not a daughter,” and then never spoke about it again. On the other hand, I knew that being in the church and delivering sermons was something to celebrate, something that gets validated and encouraged.
This dissonance was painful as I advanced in my vocation, and it made the fear of rejection feel even more terrifying.
My vocation and my gender identity grew out of each other. They matured together. They intensified together. Being called into ministry is this persistent, innate, ethereal feeling you have, like a wireless transmission that’s always present, always has been. Gender identity is, in many ways, very similar. They’re two things that lie at the very core of my identity.
Yet for 30 years, I was made to choose my career over my gender.
The tragedy, I always believed, is that I couldn’t have both. It always felt like an impossible choice, and it remains one for many.
John Cullen The writer at Lorne Park Baptist Church in Mississauga, where she worked for six years as lead pastor before being fired, in June.
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If there are 100 people in your church, probably eight or 10 are LGBTQ+ identified, and if we all spoke up, it might cause a lot of trouble in our churches. It would force people to rethink their positions. It would force them to look at the scripture and its numerous revisions and interpretations. It would invite them to consider how the Bible — once used to justify evils like genocide, slavery, and misogyny — is being similarly mishandled by homophobic and transphobic people. It would create the conversations I wish I could have heard as an 11-year-old kid, conversations that would have disabused me of the false narrative that the Bible condemns queer folk.
Churches too often place conditions on their love and welcome. When they say, “All are welcome” (words that appeared in Lorne Park’s bulletins every week), there are strings attached. My dream is for churches to drop the pretence. When they say all are welcome, it needs to be all.
I really do think one of the greatest gifts LGBTQ+ Christians can give to the world is simply themselves. To say, ‘I’m trans, I’m gay, I’m lesbian, I’m bisexual, and I’m a person of faith — we exist.’ We are human. We’re not a concept, or a statistic.
None of this shook my faith. I think situations like this can either drive you away from faith or draw you closer to it. And I would certainly say that I’ve developed a deeper sense of what I would call God.
But that doesn’t mean this hasn’t been difficult. It has. It’s tough not to feel abandoned and rejected. As much as I know the stages of this journey aren’t all going to be nice and neat, won’t all be sewn up perfectly around the edges, won’t yield all the answers that I want, I still have questions about the future: Where is my next paycheque going to come from? Am I going to have a career in three months? Is my family going to reject me? Will the people I love reject me?
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When our churches debate whether or not we’re sinful, or whether or not we deserve a space in your family, we’re debating our humanity. We’re people. And so, if you’re out there, know you’re not alone. I see you. We see you. God sees you, and God calls you by your name — even if you don’t know what your name is yet.
As told to HuffPost associate editor Connor Garel. This article first appeared on HuffPost Canada Personal


thehuffingtonpostuk--2020-08-17--Test And Trace Chief Baroness Harding To Head New Health Agency

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Coronavirus has changed everything. Make sense of it all with the Waugh Zone, our evening politics briefing. Sign up now.
Baroness Dido Harding, who runs NHS Test and Trace, is set to take on another key role in the UK’s efforts to tackle the coronavirus pandemic as Public Health England is broken up.
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Health secretary Matt Hancock will reportedly announce on Tuesday that the Conservative peer will head the Government’s new Institute for Health Protection, which will replace Public Health England (PHE).
Ministers have been accused of attempting to deflect attention from their own handling of the Covid-19 crisis by targeting PHE.
Harding, the former chief executive of TalkTalk, was appointed in May to lead England’s contact tracing programme, which relies on identifying people who have been in contact with a positive coronavirus case and getting them to self-isolate.
Since then, the programme has faced questions about performance and value for money.
An NHS app was said to be key to the scheme but has been beset by delays, with the launch of a new public trial announced just days ago.
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It comes after repeated reports of government frustration with PHE, with Boris Johnson apparently taking aim at the body when he complained of the country’s “sluggish” response to coronavirus.
PHE’s pandemic response work will now be merged with NHS Test and Trace in a new institute for health protection.
According to the Sunday Telegraph, the model for the new institute is the Robert Koch Institute in Germany, which rapidly ramped up testing early in the pandemic and is widely seen as Europe’s major success story in responding to Covid-19.
PHE chief executive Duncan Selbie has hit out at suggestions his body was to blame for England’s lack of testing early in the pandemic, telling the newspaper it was “based on a misunderstanding”.
He said: “The UK had no national diagnostic testing capabilities other than in the NHS at the outset of the pandemic. PHE does not do mass diagnostic testing.
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“We operate national reference and research laboratories focused on novel and dangerous pathogens, and it was never at any stage our role to set the national testing strategy for the coronavirus pandemic. This responsibility rested with DHSC (the Department of Health and Social Care).”
Senior health figures have also accused ministers of wrongly attempting to “blame” PHE.
Chris Hopson, the chief executive of NHS Providers, representing NHS trusts, has said “years of underfunding” for PHE and public health more generally left the country unprepared to deal with a pandemic.
He said unlike other health bodies such as NHS England, PHE – which replaced the Health Protection Agency (HPA) in 2013 under the Conservatives’ NHS reorganisation – is an executive agency of DHSC.
“This gives ministers direct control of its activities,” he said.
“So whilst it might be convenient to seek to blame PHE’s leadership team, it is important that the government reflect on its responsibilities as well.”
His comments were echoed by Dr Amitava Banerjee, associate professor at the Institute of Health Informatics, University College London, who said: “If PHE has fallen short, responsibility lies firmly with the current government and health ministers.”
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thehuffingtonpostuk--2020-08-17--How The Government Changed Its Tuned On Controversial Exams Algorithm

Gavin Williamson poses for a photo in his office at the Department of Education in London following the announcement that A-level and GCSE school results in England will now be based on teachers' assessments of their students. ASSOCIATED PRESS
For five days, the UK government staunchly defended the controversial algorithm that determined A-level grades before ditching the model because of “significant inconsistencies”.
On Monday, ministers announced they will allow for results to be based on teachers’ predicted grades for their students, rather than a “standardisation model” that saw the A-level grades of almost 40% of students downgraded from what they had originally been awarded.
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It followed criticism from students and headteachers and complaints from dozens of Tory MPs, and came more than a week after the Scottish government was forced into its own U-turn after a backlash about the moderation system used there.
Yet despite the advance notice of the chaos, UK government ministers repeatedly insisted they would not follow the example set in Holyrood, arguing an appeals system would resolve most problems.
The government in England on the eve of the results outlined a “triple lock” process: this would allow a pupil to either accept their calculated grade, appeal to receive a valid mock result, or sit a new exam in the autumn.
And ministers didn’t appear likely to budge after prime minister Boris Johnson summed up the government line when defending the “robust” system. On Thursday, he told reporters that the results were “good” and are “dependable for employers”.
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Speaking on Sky News on the same day, Williamson was clear there would be no volte face.
He was asked by Niall Paterson: “Can you give a cast-iron guarantee, triple-locked if you will, that you will not be forced into an embarrassing U-turn?”
“Absolutely,” replied Williamson.
Education Secretary @GavinWilliamson says he will not make a Scotland-style u-turn on exam results insisting England's exam results system is as fair as possible. RH #ResultsDay #KayBurley pic.twitter.com/XrpVDqjLKe — Kay Burley (@KayBurley) August 13, 2020
That day, the president of the National Union of Students launched a petition against the policy and accused the government’s system of being “racist and classist”.
Larissa Kennedy made the comments on Twitter, writing: “Congrats to those getting results today.
“Due to a classist, racist moderation system, not everyone will receive the grades they deserve.”
The petition claimed the Department for Education’s “triple lock” system amounted to “educational inequality” and was based on a “ridiculous algorithm” which unfairly prejudices students from less advantaged backgrounds.
Dr Michelle Meadows, executive director for strategy, risk and research at Ofqual, responded that there is “no evidence of systematic bias” in the moderation system.
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Still little sign of a U-turn.
Congrats to those getting results today🥳
Due to a classist, racist moderation system, not everyone will receive the grades they deserve
That’s why we’ve launched this petition⤵
Students, educators + anyone who stands against educational inequality, pls take 2 mins to sign https://t.co/SWw9oAcV7b — Larissa Kennedy (@Larissa_Ken) August 13, 2020
On Friday, scrutiny of the impact of the moderation heightened.
With neither the Department of Education or education watchdog Ofqual yet to signal any alteration in the policy, Williamson’s Whitehall department were moved to post a blog that claimed it had “debunked” misleading claims in the media.
The blog, largely an exercise in semantics, was readily re-tweeted by senior Tories, including by former education secretary Michael Gove. It repeatedly makes a defence of the now ditched “standardisation model” and even suggests it is superior to the “entirely different” approach taken in Scotland.
Misleading A level claims debunked - Education in the media https://t.co/UlA4zjextg — Michael Gove (@michaelgove) August 15, 2020
On Saturday, students marched on Westminster and called for the education secretary to be fired. Placard-waving demonstrators chanted “Sack Gavin Williamson!” and “Teachers not Tories!”.
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On the same day, Williamson gave an interview in The Times where he defended the model once more – and knocked the system deployed north of the border.
“No U-turn, no change,” he told the paper’s Steven Swinford, adding that “there aren’t any controls, you’ve got rampant grade inflation” in Scotland.
The message was clear: England had done it better than Scotland, and there would be no junking of the algorithm.
On Saturday @GavinWilliamson made it very difficult to U turn by deeply disparaging Scottish results
Gavin Williamson interview: ‘In Scotland there were no checks . . . it degrades every single exam result’https://t.co/c61QQjo028 — Rosemary Bennett (@RosieDBennett) August 17, 2020
Fast forward two days and suddenly there is a very different tone, with the morning briefing to journalists in the Westminster lobby hinting at an imminent big announcement.
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By the afternoon, Ofqual’s chairman Roger Taylor, fronting that announcement, admitted the regulator had gone down the “wrong road”. And Williamson said he now accepted the model had produced more “significant inconsistencies” than could be rectified through an appeals process.


thehuffingtonpostuk--2020-08-17--Universities Could Have To Scrap Offers And Re-Run Entire System After A-Levels U-Turn

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Universities across England were in a state of chaos on Monday evening after the government made a pair of humiliating U-turns over A-level grades.
Following the surprise double announcement of the scrapping of Ofqual’s algorithm-generated grades and the lifting of the cap on student numbers at English universities, it was not clear what institutions would do next.
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They might be expected to make additional offers on top of the capacity they have already met, or they could cancel all the offers they had made and re-run the offer and clearing system from scratch – seen by some as the fairer option.
It followed a furious five-day backlash from pupils, teachers and parents over a computer algorithm used by Ofqual that saw the A-level grades of almost 40% of students downgraded from what their teachers had originally awarded them.
Thousands of pupils who had been awarded lower grades than expected and missed out on university places will now be given their predicted grades, the Department for Education confirmed.
But the latest announcement will likely lead to an influx of students who had initially missed their university offers and are now able to take up places at their first-choice institutions.
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Universities say there may be nowhere for them to go, with staffing, funding and capacity issues meaning they will be unable to admit all the students who now meet the terms of their offers.
Speaking at a briefing on Monday afternoon, Williamson said: “We are already working very closely with the university sector to make sure that we do everything we can do to build as much capacity in there.
“We expect universities to be flexible. We expect them to go above and beyond to be able to honour those commitments.
“That’s why today we have lifted the student number caps in order for universities to be able to expand and put extra capacity into the system.”
But one source at a London university told HuffPost UK that many institutions that are already suffering financially because of the coronavirus pandemic will not have the capacity to take in higher numbers of students.
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“It’s a mess,” they said. “We actually don’t have the staff to teach any more [students] because all universities had a giant bonfire of staff to try to save money.
“Some of our courses have limited numbers because of the lab and practical [elements]. All of the health sciences, nursing, medicine, journalism, computer science – they [...] are trying to run labs via social distancing so that’s already massively cut down the space that they have.
“The quick easy government fix is to remove the cap and then let it go to shit, whereas the hard reset and then doing it again is what you need to do to make it work.”
Students are also facing the dilemma of having accepted other university places after first receiving downgraded results, but now being eligible for their first-choice university and course. It is not clear what will happen to universities that filled their capacity with students who no longer want to go there.
Before the coronavirus pandemic hit the UK – or the exam system – Ailsa Mooney from Leicestershire applied to study psychology at the University of Newcastle.
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Her predicted grades of AAB would have guaranteed her a place on the course – but when she opened her moderated results on Thursday, she saw her grades had been dropped to ABB.
It meant that she didn’t have what she needed to get in at Newcastle and subsequently accepted a place at her second choice, Swansea University.
Even though she now has the grades following the government’s U-turn on marking, the 18-year-old doesn’t know if she can go to Newcastle University, having been told on Thursday that its psychology course was full.
“It’s so annoying,” she said. “I feel like the government just haven’t thought it through at all and have just messed us all around. It’s really unfair and we have been given no guidance.”
Gavin Williamson has “failed everyone” in the A-level class of 2020, Mooney said. “So many people have missed out on the university they deserve to go to due to a lack of consideration on his behalf.”
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Meanwhile, Ruby Porter – who had dreamed of studying criminology at the University of Liverpool – said the education secretary should resign.
Porter, who is 18, needed three B grades in her A-levels to secure a place on the course.
But after all of her predicted grades were lowered by Ofqual, leaving her with BCD, she not only lost out on her place at Liverpool but also her second choice of Nottingham University.
“I was in disbelief about how badly I had been affected by the system, as it wasn’t just one of my grades that had been downgraded – every single one had.”
Porter, who is from Manchester, accepted a place at Sheffield Hallam University through the clearing process.
However, she believes that with her predicted grades of ABC – which she was awarded on Monday – she would have been accepted at Liverpool.
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Porter said the only thing for Williamson to do now was to resign – and write a letter of apology to this year’s A-level students.
“The way he has treated A-level students, including myself, is a disgrace,” she said. “He has had five months to sort this out and now I can’t get into my top place university because of this mess.”
Betty Chilwa isn’t sure whether the government’s huge blunder over grades could mean she misses out on going to university altogether this year.
She wanted to study accounting and finance at the prestigious University of Birmingham – a course that requires students to achieve AAB at A-level.
Chilwa, who is from London, was predicted ABC – grades that she knows other students were accepted onto the course with. But on results day, she was told her grades had been moderated to BCD.
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When she called Birmingham University on Monday after her grades were restored, an automated message told her that all of the university’s clearing places had already been filled.
It means the 18-year-old currently has no idea what she will be doing once the university semester begins in the autumn.
She said she also contacted Aston University, but that they told her they were unsure whether they would have a place for her.
“I’ve honestly been really sad for the past couple of days as all my hard work seems to have gone down the drain,” Chilwa said.
“Today has been both good and bad as my grades have gone up as a result but unfortunately it’s pretty much useless as I’m not left with many other options.”
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Meanwhile universities across the UK have pledged to “do all we can” to support students who are waiting to receive their new results.
HuffPost UK spoke to representatives from University College London, the University of St Andrews, Sheffield Hallam University and Queen Mary University of London, who have said they would be accepting all students who met the terms of their original offer.
A spokesperson for the Universities UK lobby group told HuffPost UK in a statement: “The government will need to step up and support universities through the challenges created by this late policy change.
“We are seeking urgent clarification and advice from Government on a number of crucial issues.”
The university admissions body, Ucas, has advised students to take time and not to make any decisions about their future plans immediately.
“At the moment, 69% (193,420) of 18-year-old main scheme applicants across the UK are placed with their first-choice university, which is higher than at the same point last year,” it said in a statement.
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“For those students who were not placed with their firm (or insurance) choice university, our advice is that you don’t need to make your decision immediately.
“Speak with your parents, guardians and teachers and then your first conversation will need to be to your firm (or insurance) choice university.


thehuffingtonpostuk--2020-08-17--England U-Turns On A-Levels And GCSEs As Ofqual Bins Algorithm And Uses Teacher Predictions

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A-level and GCSE results decided by a computer algorithm in England will be scrapped and replaced with teachers’ predicted grades following a major and humiliating climbdown by the government.
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The news follows a furious backlash from students, teachers and parents over computer modelling used by Ofqual.
It saw the A-level results of almost 40% of students downgraded, with poorer students disproportionately hit.
Students whose grade was higher under the algorithm calculation can keep the higher grade, Ofqual has said.
It follows governments Wales and Northern Ireland also reversing policy over the exams.
Education secretary Gavin Williamson has issued a statement apologising to students.
He said: “This has been an extraordinarily difficult year for young people who were unable to take their exams.
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“We worked with Ofqual to construct the fairest possible model, but it is clear that the process of allocating grades has resulted in more significant inconsistencies than can be resolved through an appeals process.
“We now believe it is better to offer young people and parents certainty by moving to teacher assessed grades for both A and AS level and GCSE results.
“I am sorry for the distress this has caused young people and their parents but hope this announcement will now provide the certainty and reassurance they deserve.”
Ofqual chair Roger Taylor added in a statement: “We understand this has been a distressing time for students, who were awarded exam results last week for exams they never took. The pandemic has created circumstances no one could have ever imagined or wished for.
“We want to now take steps to remove as much stress and uncertainty for young people as possible – and to free up heads and teachers to work towards the important task of getting all schools open in two weeks.
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Gavin Williamson, Secretary of State for Education ASSOCIATED PRESS
“After reflection, we have decided that the best way to do this is to award grades on the basis of what teachers submitted. The switch to centre assessment grades will apply to both AS and A-levels and to the GCSE results which students will receive later this week.”
Adding there was “no easy solution” to awarding results where no exams have taken place, Taylor said: “Our goal has always been to protect the trust that the public rightly has in educational qualifications.
“But we recognise that while the approach we adopted attempted to achieve these goals we also appreciate that it has also caused real anguish and damaged public confidence.
“Expecting schools to submit appeals where grades were incorrect placed a burden on teachers when they need to be preparing for the new term and has created uncertainty and anxiety for students. For all of that, we are extremely sorry.”
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The regulator had been preparing for an avalanche of appeals to the results after the Covid-19 lockdown meant students were unable to take exams.
Williamson had attempted to placate students before the results were published last Thursday by saying students could appeal on the basis of what their mock exam results were.
But growing opposition to the downgraded marks has meant that the government has had to quickly change its position.
In a briefing with reporters, Williamson claimed he only became aware of the need for a change over the weekend after Ofqual released details of its algorithm and presented evidence, alongside that of “external experts”, that displayed “injustices in the system”.
The education secretary also declined to say he had full confidence in Ofqual chief regulator Sally Collier, but described her as an “incredibly committed and dedicated public official” who ministers were “working very closely with”.
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Williamson said ensuring pupils from deprived backgrounds were not disadvantaged had always been among his primary concerns and that he had received reassurances from Ofqual that the marking down of youngsters from less advantaged areas and schools, as happened in Scotland, would not be repeated in England.
“Ofqual did one of the largest public consultations with any of the nations with over 12,000 participants taking part in that,” he said.
“One of the key issues that was raised was to make sure that youngsters from disadvantaged backgrounds, youngsters from ethnic minority communities weren’t in a situation where they are being disadvantaged.
“Early data from Ofqual showed there was no impact on attainment of these youngsters.”
He added: “I saw over Saturday and Sunday, Ofqual themselves highlighted some of the concerns that they had and also some concerns that their board and also there was a number of external experts who had also raised concerns about this and that’s why we took action.”
Labour leader Keir Starmer has accused Boris Johnson’s administration of incompetence.
He tweeted: “The government has had months to sort out exams and has now been forced into a screeching U-turn after days of confusion. This is a victory for the thousands of young people who have powerfully made their voices heard this past week.
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thehuffingtonpostuk--2020-08-17--Funding Agency Gives £0 Of £4.3m Covid Pot To Black Researchers – After Making Equality Pledge

“We are concerned and disillusioned to learn that a major British funding organisation which made an explicit commitment to equality and which is legally bound by the Public Sector Equality Duty Act awarded £0 of £4.3m to Black academic leads [...] to explore Covid-19 and its disproportionate impact on Black, Asian and minority ethnic communities.
“We are deeply concerned that UKRI confirmed that no equality data was collected on this call and that one member of the awards assessment panel is co-investigator on three of the six successfully awarded studies.”
The open letter also calls attention to the often precarious nature of Black people’s experience as employees within the research sector.
Data compiled by the Higher Education Statistics Agency (HESA) show just 1.3% of Black and mixed heritage women hold full-time research positions in the UK – a figure that the authors of the letter say highlights “systemic issues that result in lack of inclusion and persistent precarious employment in higher education”.
They continue: “This year, we have seen our communities disproportionately affected by Covid-19, as this pandemic has illuminated many aspects of systemic and structural discrimination in the UK.
“We had hoped that this crucial research call would include a wide range of individuals and experts to explore the complex biological, social, cultural and political factors that are connected to the disproportionate impact of Covid-19 on our community.
“The brutal deaths of George Floyd, Ahmaud Arbery, Breonna Taylor and hundreds of other known and unknown Black citizens became a catalyst for highlighting structural and systemic racism and galvanised the Black Lives Matter movement.
“This ricocheted across the globe, sparking statements of solidarity from UK higher education institutions and health funders decrying anti-Black racism. UKRI in their statement on Black Lives Matter said: ‘We also know that racism takes many forms – including far more subtle forms that keep Black people out of the room and silence their voices.’
“Both the UKRI and NIHR issued statements that promised to support anti-racist work that would involve ‘on-going and longer-term commitment of practising justice’ and to address ‘racism and structural barriers to minority communities in the research system’.”
In response to the fact that none of the researchers granted funding is Black, the authors of the open letter have asked UKRI to engage in a discussion with them about “what went wrong” with the Covid-19/BAME scheme – “moving beyond an initial conversation about who received funding and who did not, to a conversation about how we move from representation to meaningful inclusion”.
The letter also highlights concerns “that there does not appear to be top priority on the impact of inequality and structural racism within the UK” – despite organisations such as the Royal College of Nurses, Runnymede Trust and Public Health England raising concerns.
Its authors make three short-term recommendations: greater transparency around panellists and selection criteria for research calls; a consistent approach to collecting equality data; and banning panellists from being part of the assessment process if they are involved with any of the applications.
The recommendations are followed by four long-term actions for UKRI’s consideration, including introducing safeguards “so that Black academics and other marginalised individuals can speak freely about their concerns and the challenges they face without concern for retribution or discrimination in future applications”.
They also include the consistent publication of equality data; and a commitment to ensuring equality in the decision-making process, especially in the context of funding, to “focus on and direct structural change for Black, Asian, indigenous, women, disabled, impoverished, LGBTQI+ and other minoritised and marginalised communities that involves researchers from these communities and clear steps to ensure that culture change happens at institutions that hold UKRI funding”.
The authors added: “We all have a responsibility to hold our friends, our allies, our institutions, our funders and ourselves accountable for missteps and actions that exclude particular groups through honest, open dialogue and conversation.
“We want the funding bodies to be part of this critical reflection process. In the UK, we have to brace ourselves for the possibility of a second wave of Covid 19 this winter. Black and ‘BAME’ communities have taken on roles that yield high risk of exposure due to increased face-to-face frontline contact within the NHS and in essential services.
“Many have lost their lives to help this country in the response. This is a matter of life and death for our community. Research affects policy and policy directly affects our lives.
“We are asking UKRI to work with us to truly turn the course of history and to end racism – structural, systemic, institutional, discriminatory and hostile—for good. We will not rest until we are all free. The time for change is now.”
UKRI said it would consider the recommendations.
A spokesperson said: “We welcome this input and encourage open dialogue as part of our commitment to achieve change. As a steward of the research and innovation system we are committed to eradicating injustice and improving the representation of Black, Asian and minority ethnic communities in our work, including our discussions, governance and decision-making, and our funding.
“Constant reflection and examination of our structures and systems, and ensuring we are transparent and accountable for our actions, is crucial to ensuring our communities have confidence in our decision making and in enabling us to deliver change. Engagement with our communities is vital in ensuring this work is effective in addressing the challenges we face. We will consider these recommendations as part of this ongoing work.
“We know there is a need to translate words into action to address underrepresentation and to build a more fair and equitable research and innovation system. We will bring forward further actions, starting with the publication of UKRI-wide detailed ethnicity categories, in the near future.”
The National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) declined to comment, but said it was “supportive of the values and commitment [UKRI’s response] expresses”.


thehuffingtonpostuk--2020-08-17--New This Morning Consumer Expert's Face Says It All After She Swears Live On Air

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Ruth Langsford was forced to step in and apologise when This Morning’s new consumer expert swore during Monday’s episode.
During the live broadcast, Ruth and Eamonn Holmes presented a segment with guest Katie Morley, who spoke to viewers over the phone about consumer issues.
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However, Katie got a bit too engrossed in one viewer’s story, dropping some language that’s not usually associated with daytime TV as she dished out her advice.
Katie Morley on This Morning ITV
Speaking to Lesley – a woman who had paid for a sofa earlier this year, only for the company to go into administration – Katie stated: “It’s been a right old time with this sofa, really bad timing for you that this company has gone into administration now.”
Lesley then explained that the sofa she’d paid for was to “replace a previous faulty suite”, saying that having “retired after 35 years in the NHS”, she decided to treat herself to an upgraded sofa.
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Katie realised her mistake every so slightly too late ITV
“Oh I’m so sorry, darling, that’s shit,” Katie responded, quickly realising what she’d said, and adding: “Sorry! Sorry… that’s, that’s awful, isn’t it?”
Ruth then also apologised to viewers, stating: “We do apologise for that. We apologise for that.”
Ruth and Eamonn immediately after the gaffe ITV
Fortunately, viewers watching along on social media seemed to see the funny side after the gaffe...
Katie Morley dropping the S bomb live on This Morning has just made my day. She knew exactly what she’d done before the word even left her mouth 😂 #thismorning pic.twitter.com/QK6KnZrRVs — Natalie Higgins (@NatalieAHiggins) August 17, 2020
Katie Morley on this morning has instantly became my favourite person.
“I’m sorry darling that’s really shit” got to admire live tv 😂 — L I A M P A D D Y (@LiamPaddyy) August 17, 2020
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Haha LOVE this consumer expert Katie Morley just coming straight out with it and saying a situation was SHIT! It is, say it out straight girl 🙌🏻🙌🏻 #ThisMorning — LaurJean (@Laura_Jeaan) August 17, 2020
"Sorry darling, that's shit" 😂 Big fan of the new Martin Lewis, Katie Morley on #ThisMorning. — Elliot Gonzalez (@elliot_gonzalez) August 17, 2020
Katie Morley saying “that’s shit” has killed me! #ThisMorning — SEAN (@seandavis_) August 17, 2020
I am HERE for @KatieMorley_ saying shit live on this morning... it’s how we’re all feeling🤣🤣🤣 love it! — Alison (@AliLanghorn) August 17, 2020
Oh bless Katie Morley 😂 she’s right, it is shit. #ThisMorning — Leila Morby (@MissLeilaMo) August 17, 2020
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Ruth and Eamonn are currently presenting This Morning on Mondays through to Thursdays, while usual hosts Phillip Schofield and Holly Willoughby are on their annual summer break.
During that time, a string of guest presenters have taken the reins on Fridays, with Alison Hammond and Rochelle Humes winning praise from viewers for their stint last week.


thehuffingtonpostuk--2020-08-17--A-Level And GCSE Grades In Wales Will Be Decided By Teachers

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A-level and GCSE grades in Wales will be decided by teachers, the Welsh government has confirmed.
It emerged on Monday morning that GCSE grades in Northern Ireland would be decided by teacher assessment rather than the controversial standardised grades compiled via an algorithm.
There is increasing pressure for the government to U-turn on A-level grades and allow teacher assessments in England – a move that No.10 has signalled as imminent.
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Welsh parliament education minister Kirsty Williams confirmed A-level, AS, GCSE, Skills Challenge Certificate and Welsh Baccalaureate grades in Wales will now be awarded on the basis of Centre Assessment Grades.
Williams said: “Working with Qualifications Wales and WJEC we have sought an approach which provides fairness and balances out differences in the standards applied to judgments in schools.
“Given decisions elsewhere, the balance of fairness now lies with awarding Centre Assessment grades to students, despite the strengths of the system in Wales.
“I am taking this decision now ahead of results being released this week, so that there is time for the necessary work to take place.
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“For grades issued last week, I have decided that all awards in Wales, will also be made on the basis of teacher assessment.


thehuffingtonpostuk--2020-08-18--Welcome To Running Mate, A US Election Podcast For Brits

Welcome To Running Mate, A US Election Podcast For Brits
Running Mate is HuffPost UK’s podcast series explaining the US election for Brits and those wondering what on earth is going on in America. Speaking with reporters and commentators, HuffPost UK’s man in New York, Graeme Demianyk explores what is going on in American politics and society as the 2020 election looms.


thehuffingtonpostuk--2020-08-18--BTec Students Wait For Answers After Being Left Out Of The Government's Exams U-Turn

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Thousands of students on vocational courses across England are still waiting for answers over their grades after the government left out BTec Nationals results in Monday’s major U-turn.
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In a humiliating climbdown following a furious backlash over a computer algorithm used by Ofqual that saw the A-level grades of almost 40% of students downgraded, the government said A-level and GCSE results will be scrapped and replaced with teachers’ predicted grades.
But the 250,000 students taking vocational qualifications under the Business and Technology Education Council (BTec) were not included, despite many being subject to the same flawed algorithm.
Students marched to the constituency office of their local MP, education secretary Gavin Williamson, on Monday ahead of the U-turn. ASSOCIATED PRESS
Neve Hutchinson, 17, from Leamington Spa, had expected to receive a Distinction* grade for her BTec in Health and Social Care after getting Distinctions in her coursework pieces as well as in her mock exams. As her final exam was cancelled due to the coronavirus pandemic, she was unable to complete her last exam.
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She said she felt “over the moon” when she first received her A-level results of BB on Thursday morning but then “gutted” when was awarded a Merit for her BTec result. “It was the subject I had no issues with whatsoever and was convinced I would get the grade I deserved in,” she told HuffPost UK.
Her downgraded BTec result meant she missed her conditional offer of DistinctionBC to study psychology at Loughborough University, despite doing better in her A-levels that she had expected.
“I feel absolutely devastated,” she said. “University was never a plan for me before I started taking my A-levels, but when I decided that it was the path I wanted to take I worked so incredibly hard to achieve what I knew I deserved.”
She had been “praying” that the government would include BTecs in Monday’s announcement, but said she had been “let down so frequently in the past few days”.
“What they have done to BTecs is incredibly unfair, but they’re doing it because BTecs are commonly taken by working-class students, so they’re just desperately trying to increase that divide and stop these students from getting to their next step in education.”
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Although Loughborough University has told her it will hold her place until the beginning of September, she says her chance of “getting to my dream destination” is “seeming slimmer and slimmer”.
“I feel as if all my hard work is worthless, as for my BTec it has well and truly been thrown back in my face,” she added.
On Tuesday education secretary Gavin Williamson said the government was working with the awarding body Pearson – who runs BTecs – to review the grades.
He previously said he was “hoping” BTec results would be included in the U-turn over results.
Speaking at a briefing on Monday evening, Williamson told reporters: “We’re very much hoping that this will be actually encompassing BTecs. We’re just working with the awarding authorities to make sure that that’s the case, and I think there’s got to be absolute parity and fairness right across the spectrum.”
Education Secretary @GavinWilliamson confirmed to me that BTECs will be treated in same way as other exams. @ofqual should have made this clear yesterday. It needs to happen ASAP so that BTEC students are not penalised in any way. — Robert Halfon MP -Working Hard for Harlow- (@halfon4harlowMP) August 18, 2020
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A spokesperson at Pearson told HuffPost UK they would be reviewing a “very small number of grades that were adjusted” by the algorithm on a case by case basis, adding that students who were unhappy with their final grade could appeal.
On Monday evening, the government released a statement saying because the statistical standardisation approach that was used for A-levels only applied to some BTec qualifications, it would be up to the individual awarding organisations to “review their approach”.
“In only a very few cases has the same kind of statistical standardisation process of Centre Assessment Grades (CAGs) been used – in other words, we think there are few qualifications where the cohort has received entirely algorithmically determined grades,” it said.
“For the small number of qualifications that have used a statistical standardisation approach similar to the Ofqual model for A-levels and GCSEs, we have asked awarding organisations to review their approach. This is likely to mean a small proportion of VTQ results will be reissued.”
The mayor of Greater Manchester, Andy Burnham, who threatened Ofqual with legal action over downgraded results, tweeted his support for BTEC students on Monday night.
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I can assure you that I will not be withdrawing my legal action until we have justice for BTEC students too. https://t.co/30Mno700wM — Andy Burnham (@AndyBurnhamGM) August 17, 2020
A spokesperson from Burnham’s office told HuffPost UK the letter had been sent prior to the U-turn announcement and they were awaiting a response from Ofqual.
Also fighting on behalf of BTec students was Jolyon Maugham, director of the Good Law Project, who said his organisation was looking into issues with BTec grades.
“Our lawyers will be writing to Ofqual and Pearson shortly asking for more detail of the standardisation process for BTec students,” he told HuffPost. “We are aware of concerns around other technical qualifications too.
“Students studying for technical qualifications are also entitled to efficient, fair and accurate grades.”
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Alice de Coverley, an education barrister who was counsel in one of the Ofqual judicial review challenges which brought about the U-turn, said the lack of clarity of BTec results would disproportionately affect pupils with special educational needs and disabilities.
“Waiting for these results, and the major uncertainty about how these results may change and affect their future, is having a profoundly detrimental impact on these young people,” she told HuffPost UK.
In a statement released on Tuesday morning, Pearson said: “BTecs are structured very differently to A-levels, and so the approach to awarding is also different. BTecs were not subject to the same statistical moderation process as A levels.
“BTecs comprise modular units that students complete and are assessed at regular stages during their course of study, so prior to March 2020, students had already banked graded units for their qualification. As we do every year, this year we asked centres to submit all the grades for the internal assessment units that had been completed as well as any grades for units still to be completed. These were accepted with very little change following quality assurance checks. They then formed part of the evidence, alongside previously completed assessment unit grades, to award grades for the externally assessed units and the final overall qualification grade.
“For the very small number of grades that were adjusted, we will be reviewing them on a case by case basis with centres following the same principles as those announced today. This is why we have seen very stable outcomes for BTec and other vocational qualifications. As in every year, students unhappy with their final grade can appeal.”


thehuffingtonpostuk--2020-08-18--Exclusive: 27 Academy Trusts Given Just ONE Free Laptop Each From Government

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Coronavirus has changed everything. Make sense of it all with the Waugh Zone, our evening politics briefing. Sign up now.
Education secretary Gavin Williamson has been told to “get a grip” as the scale of the government’s failure to deliver laptops promised to disadvantaged youngsters is laid bare in new figures.
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Figures obtained by the Children’s Commissioner for England, shared exclusively with HuffPost UK, shows the chaotic rollout of the scheme left some 27 academy trusts with just one device each.
In April, Williamson pledged the government would fund devices for children on free school meals in Year 10, as well as for vulnerable pupils with social workers and care leavers.
But, despite some 540,000 pupils being eligible for the scheme, just 220,000 laptops were delivered to schools by August, the data shows, meaning a second lockdown could be disastrous for youngsters’ education.
Using special data gathering powers for public bodies, the Commissioner’s office has discovered a third of academy trusts received fewer than 10 laptops for their Year 10 students.
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Turning to councils, which usually serve a larger number of schools, 20 local authorities had fewer than 500 laptops allocated, and there were five councils with fewer than 200.
Overall, there were only enough devices for seven in 10 disadvantaged Year 10s - the group of students beginning to study for next year’s GCSEs.
Simone Vibert, senior policy analyst, said one primary schoolteacher had estimated 70% did not have adequate internet access but that the school had been allocated just three laptops.
She added that for the scheme to have provided laptops to seven in 10 disadvantaged children in all other year groups, it would have needed an additional 940,000 laptops.
“During this pandemic, proper access to the internet is not a luxury for children having to learn at home, it is a necessity,” she said. “While this scheme was very welcome, we know that many disadvantaged children have missed out.
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“The government needs to ensure that all children are able to access education in the coming weeks and months, hopefully in school, but also remotely if that becomes their only option.”
On the threat to children’s education from a second lockdown, Vibert added it was “critical that more laptops are ordered” now.
She said: “Similar to the Nightingale hospitals, a sign of success would be if not all of them are eventually needed.
“And the decision to order more devices must be taken without delay. As the initial lockdown showed, the challenges of the global supply chain for devices mean that orders take time to be fulfilled. Now is the time to learn lessons from the initial stages of lockdown and get ahead.”
Shadow education secretary Kate Green, meanwhile, told HuffPost UK: “Yet again government incompetence has let down our young people.
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“Ministers boasted that they would get laptops and routers to disadvantaged young people who needed them for their studies but now thousands of children are paying the price for Tory failure.
“Every young person should have the resources they need to learn. It is time for ministers to get a grip and give children the support they need.”
The Department for Education (DfE) said it would be providing schools with a further 150,000 laptops to disadvantaged children this autumn.
It comes as the A-Levels results crisis threatens to engulf the government.
Williamson is under pressure to resign government forced into a major U-turn to back teacher-predicted grades after computer modelled results saw almost 40% downgraded and poorest children hardest-hit.
A DfE spokesperson said: “We continue to do all we can to make sure no-one is left behind as a result of coronavirus through targeted support for children who need it most, providing over £100m to support children to learn at home, including delivery of over 200,000 laptops and tablets for disadvantaged and vulnerable children who need them most.
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“For disadvantaged children whose education is disrupted in Autumn term, we are initially providing an additional 150,000 laptops and tablets to schools, who will be best placed to pass these on to children who need them.


thehuffingtonpostuk--2020-08-18--St. Louis Couple Who Pointed Guns At Black Lives Matter Protesters Will Now Endorse Donald Trump At

St. Louis Couple Who Pointed Guns At Black Lives Matter Protesters Will Now Endorse Donald Trump At Convention

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A white couple from St. Louis facing felony weapons charges for pointing guns at Black Lives Matter protesters walking past their home in June will reportedly speak at the Republican National Convention next week.
Mark and Patricia McCloskey will endorse President Donald Trump’s 2020 reelection bid during their address at the convention, which will be mostly online because of the coronavirus pandemic, The Washington Post reported on Monday, citing Trump campaign advisers.
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“Mr McCloskey will be in full oratory splendor at the RNC,” the McCloskeys attorney Albert Watkins confirmed to St. Louis journalist Gabe Fleisher:
Confirmed: Mark McCloskey, the St. Louis man who pointed a gun at protesters last month, will be speaking during the RNC next week.
"Mr. McCloskey will be in full oratory splendor at the RNC," his lawyer Albert Watkins tells Wake Up To Politics. First reported by @jdawsey1. — Gabe Fleisher (@WakeUp2Politics) August 18, 2020
The McCloskey’s, both in their 60s, work as personal injury attorneys.
They were caught on camera brandishing guns at demonstrators walking past their $1.15 million home on a private street. Mark McCloskey wielded what appeared to be an AR-15 semiautomatic rifle and his wife waved a pistol.
The couple did not fire any shots. They claimed they were defending their property from an “angry mob.” Video showed protesters walking by on their way toward the mayor’s house nearby.
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A couple has come out of their house and is pointing guns at protesters in their neighborhood #StLouis #lydakrewson pic.twitter.com/ZJ8a553PAU — Daniel Shular (@xshularx) June 29, 2020
St. Louis Circuit Attorney Kim Gardner announced last month she was charging the couple with felony unlawful use of a weapon and a misdemeanor charge of fourth-degree assault.
Trump has backed the couple. White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany in July said the president thought “it is absolutely absurd what is happening to the McCloskeys” and “an extreme abuse of power by the prosecutor.”
Trump will reportedly participate during every day of next week’s RNC, per Fox News.


thehuffingtonpostuk--2020-08-18--Line Of Duty Star Lennie James Reveals Abandoned Plan To Bring Character Back From The Dead

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Warning! This article contains major spoilers for the first series of Line Of Duty.
Line Of Duty star Lennie James has revealed how there was once a plan to bring his character DCI Tony Gates back from the dead.
The officer, who was the subject of AC-12′s first investigation, was killed off in the season one finale when he took his own life by stepping in front of a moving lorry.
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While Gates’ death was significant in earning the series its name, it almost wasn’t the end of the line for him.
Lennie James (second left) played DCI Tony Gates in the first series of Line Of Duty BBC
Speaking to Radio Times following a repeat of the episode airing on Monday night, Lennie told of how creator and writer Jed Mercurio had planned to bring his character back – before quickly scrapping the idea.
He said: “I don’t know what Jed was thinking – and I slightly revealed a little bit too much of myself when I showed him how excited I was at the possibility of Gates coming back to Line Of Duty.
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“I was excited because it would have been fun to hang out with my mates again – Martin [Compston], Adrian [Dunbar], Vicky [McClure] – they’ve become friends for life.”
Lennie revealed Jed’s idea lasted “literally a day” after he’d visited the actor on the set of Sky medical drama Critical, which he was filming at the time.
He continued: “Jed came in and said, ‘I’ve written a scene where Gates appears, comes back’ and I was like, ‘fantastic, excellent’ and went around and told everybody. Then he came back in the next day, and I was like, ‘so what’s the details, when can I see it?’ and he was like, ‘I’ve scrapped it, it’s a stupid idea’.
“He was absolutely right, it was a stupid idea,” Lennie agreed, “but if anyone could pull it off it would probably be him.”
Lennie confirmed that Gates is “well and truly mashed” after being struck by the lorry, adding that the copper was “one of my favourite characters that I’ve played”.
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He added: “And again, I knew what I was signing up for when I went in, I knew that Gates wasn’t going to survive beyond the first series.”
Tony Gates was killed in the series one finale BBC
The first series has found a new audience after airing on BBC One for the first time over the last few weeks.
Line Of Duty originally began on BBC Two before it was promoted to the main channel for its fourth series in 2017.
BBC bosses began repeats after production on the sixth series was shut down in March due to the coronavirus pandemic.
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Jed Mercurio recently suggested filming is due to start again imminently, but it is highly unlikely fans will get a new series before the end of the year, as had originally been planned.


thehuffingtonpostuk--2020-08-18--Far Right Seizes On Italy’s Renewed Coronavirus Restrictions To Bash Immigration

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On Sunday, Italy announced that it is shutting discos and nightclubs for three weeks as the number of coronavirus cases has increased, particularly among young people. It’s the first reimposition of restrictions in the country, which for so long was the center of the global pandemic, since the government began easing its lockdown in May.
“We cannot nullify the sacrifices made in past months. Our priority must be that of opening schools in September, in full safety,” Health Minister Roberto Speranza said on Facebook.
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Speranza on Saturday urged young people to be as cautious as possible, as “if they infect their parents and their grandparents, they risk creating real damage.” In addition to closing nightspots, the government is requiring that face masks be worn between 6 pm and 6 am in areas close to bars and pubs, and where gatherings are more likely.
Italy had kept clubs open despite mounting criticism that they attracted large crowds, that social distancing was not being respected and masks were not being worn.
But new cases in the past week were more than double the number three weeks ago.
And to the country’s far-right politicians, the resurgent coronavirus crisis has provided fresh fodder for their anti-immigrant agenda. Now, the reimposition of restrictions on regular Italian life at the exact moment migrant boats have begun landing has enabled the far right to stoke the fears of Italians afraid of an imported coronavirus second wave.
“The only problem related to the virus is not the boys who dance but those who disembark,” Matteo Salvini, leader of the far-right Lega Party, said at a news conference last week, per HuffPost Italy. “The enemy is not the boy who goes to the beach, disco or restaurant, but the thousands of migrants who land on our shores.”
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Lega Party leader Matteo Salvini, on July 28 in Rome. Simona Granati - Corbis via Getty Images
“Another 100 landed tonight,” Massimo Casanova, a Lega member who owns a nightclub in the beach town of Milano Marittima, told HuffPost Italy. “What is the point of picking on companies? This government has no idea what it means to run a business.”
In recent weeks, a steady stream of asylum-seekers have arrived in Italy, particularly from Tunisia, whose economy has been ravaged as a consequence of the pandemic.
According to The Guardian, 1,277 migrants from Tunisia were intercepted by Italian authorities in the first six months of 2019. This year, that number rose to 6,628. More than 4,000 migrants were intercepted by Italian authorities in July alone.
With more and more boats arriving from Tunisia every day, the Italian island of Lampedusa has reportedly run out of room to quarantine new migrants, and tensions have flared amid worries that the new arrivals could lead to a new spike in coronavirus cases. With little room on Lampedusa, migrants are being transferred to other quarantine centers, putting local mayors on a war footing.
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“I don’t understand why the premier doesn’t declare a state of emergency” on Lampedusa, the island’s mayor, Toto Martello, told the Giornale di Sicilia newspaper.
Italian prosecutors are investigating two recent attacks against pro-migrant symbols in Lampedusa — a fire that burned hundreds of abandoned boats in the island’s “migrant boat graveyard,” and the vandalism of the Gateway to Europe monument, erected in 2008 as a memorial to migrants who died while attempting to cross the Mediterranean.
However, Giusi Nicolini, Lampedusa’s former mayor who won the UNESCO Peace Prize in 2017 for her work with migrants, has stressed that there “is no emergency.”
“They say we are overrun for political purposes,” Nicolini told the La Stampa newspaper.
Boats used by migrants sit abandoned near the port at Lampedusa, Italy, on Aug. 4. Fabrizio Villa via Getty Images
For politicians like Salvini, the coronavirus pandemic, which has claimed 35,000 lives in Italy since February, is just the latest excuse to demonise immigrants.
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During his tenure as Italy’s interior minister from June 2018 to September 2019, he repeatedly denied ships carrying migrants access to the country’s ports. Italian prosecutors have sought to bring kidnapping charges against Salvini in three such cases, and the Italian parliament voted last month to lift Salvini’s immunity from prosecution.
Yet Italian authorities have continued to turn their backs on migrants seeking assistance. In April, the government declared the country’s ports “unsafe” due to the coronavirus pandemic and said it would not authorize the landing of migrant boats — an unprecedented move.
“For the entire duration of the health emergency, due to the outbreak of coronavirus, Italian ports cannot be classified as ‘safe places’ for the landing of people rescued from boats flying a foreign flag,” the government stated in an official decree.
In July, humanitarian groups photographed an Italian coast guard ship ignoring a migrant boat that was adrift in the Mediterranean with about 60 people on board.
While the rhetoric of politicians like Salvini has fanned the flames of division, Italian Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte has been blasted over his silence on the arrivals. During mass landings and escapes from reception centers in the final week of July, Conte was criticized for simply claiming that “the situation is complex.”
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Meanwhile, humanitarian groups say there is little evidence that migrants are fueling the spread of coronavirus.
“There is no correlation,” Flavio Di Giacomo, a spokesperson for the International Organization for Migration, told Politico. “The far right will use whatever they find to create their anti-migrant message.”


thehuffingtonpostuk--2020-08-18--Katherine Ryan Stars In New Netflix Sitcom The Duchess – Here's What We Know So Far

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You probably know Katherine Ryan best for her rip-roaring stand-up gigs, or her appearances on panel shows like 8 Out Of 10 Cats, Mock The Week and QI – but her latest project sees her embarking on something a little different.
The comedian is set to star in new Netflix sitcom The Duchess, which she has also written and executive produced.
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After the first trailer for the series dropped this week, fans have been getting excited about its arrival on the streaming service next month, so here’s everything we can tell you about it...
Katherine Ryan stars in The Duchess Netflix
First off, what is The Duchess actually about?
Katherine’s debut scripted series follows what Netflix describes as the “powerful and problematic choices of a fashionably disruptive single mom living in London”.
Her daughter, Olive, is her greatest love, and she goes about seeking a sperm donor when she decides she wants a second child.
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However, when things don’t work out as she’d planned, she debates a second child with her greatest enemy, Olive’s dad, with whom she strikes a £10,000 deal.
Can two wrongs make another right?
Katherine plays a “heightened version” of herself
Katherine has spoken previously of bringing up her daughter as a single parent in London, and her character in The Duchess draws upon her experiences.
Speaking to the Radio Times earlier this year, she said: “The Duchess is super authentic I think to my personality, to my stage persona, because it’s a disruptive mum who’s a bad person but a good mum.
“She’s fashionable, she loves being a mother, she’s not sad about it — it’s me, yes.
“The rest is fiction, but it is a heightened version of me, and I’m really lucky because they’re just letting me go and write the real thing that I would have wanted to.”
Netflix
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Who else stars in it?
As you already know, Katherine takes the lead in The Duchess, and while you might think it’s her first acting role, she has actually made prior appearances in sitcoms Campus and Episodes.
Peaky Blinders star Rory Keenan plays her ex, Shep, who is a former member of a boyband, while their daughter Olive is played by child actor Kate Byrne.
The Duchess also stars comedian Michelle De Swarte as Katherine’s friend Bev, Australian comic Steen Raskopoulos as Katherine’s boyfriend Evan and Smack The Pony’s Doon Mackichan as her ex’s new partner.
Netflix
How many episodes are there?
The series is made up of six episodes, each 25 minutes long.
When does The Duchess debut?
All six episodes will begin streaming on Netflix from Friday 11 September.
Watch The Duchess trailer...


thehuffingtonpostuk--2020-08-18--Rapper Ceon Broughton Has Manslaughter Conviction Overturned

Ceon Broughton arrives at Winchester Crown Court where he is charged in connection with the death of Louella Fletcher-Michie. PA
Rapper Ceon Broughton has had his conviction for the manslaughter of his girlfriend Louella Fletcher-Michie overturned by the Court of Appeal.
Fletcher-Michie, daughter of Holby City and Coronation Street actor John Michie, died after taking 2-CP during the music festival at Lulworth Castle, Dorset, in September 2017.
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She was found dead in the early hours of September 11, the day she should have celebrated her 25th birthday, in a wooded area at the edge of the festival site.
Broughton, 31, of Enfield, north London, was found guilty of manslaughter by gross negligence and handed an eight-and-a-half-year sentence in March 2019, following a trial at Winchester Crown Court.
Broughton challenged his manslaughter conviction and his jail term at a Court of Appeal hearing in June.
At the appeal hearing, Broughton’s barrister Stephen Kamlish QC argued the conviction was unsafe because prosecutors had “failed to prove” that Fletcher-Michie would have survived had she received treatment by a certain point.
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He also argued Broughton’s sentence was “excessive” in any event.
The jury at Broughton’s trial found him guilty of manslaughter by gross negligence.
He was also found guilty of supplying Fletcher-Michie with 2-CP at the festival.
Broughton previously admitted supplying drugs to Fletcher-Michie at Glastonbury festival, in June 2017, and was in breach of a suspended prison sentence imposed for possessing a lock knife and a Stanley knife blade.
Prosecutors told jurors during his trial that Broughton failed to take “reasonable” steps to seek medical help for Fletcher-Michie.


thehuffingtonpostuk--2020-08-18--Universities Could Need 'Billions' In Taxpayer Bailouts Due To A-Level Fiasco

Some UK universities face shortfalls of “billions of pounds” and could need bailing out by the taxpayer as the fallout from the A-level grading shambles continues to mount, HuffPost UK has been told.
Institutions already reeling from lost income due to the coronavirus pandemic were thrown into further chaos on Monday night when the government announced it would be lifting the cap on student numbers at English universities.
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The move came following the surprise announcement of the scrapping of Ofqual’s algorithm-generated grades, meaning thousands of students who thought they didn’t have the required grades for their first choice of university were left scrambling to find out if they could get in after all.
The government declined to bail out universities when coronavirus hit, or to guarantee their fee income for 2020/21 to protect them from students dropping out due to the pandemic. Nor were unis able to furlough academic staff whose salaries had already been paid through student fees, as this would have been seen as "double-dipping" from the taxpayer.
It has left many universities desperately relying on income from 2020/21 fees.
Professor Mark Fellowes, pro-vice chancellor for academic planning and resource at the University of Reading, told HuffPost UK in a statement: “Universities are still facing a shortfall of billions of pounds due to lost income from international students, refunds and empty accommodation.
“The government’s answer was to say no to a bailout, but to spread the pain around by imposing a student number cap. Now due to the complete omnishambles of A-level grading, that plan looks dead.”
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The cap was originally re-introduced – after being abolished in 2015 – to stop universities aggressively making large numbers of unconditional offers to keep their numbers up, a move that could have seen more selective universities starved of applicants.
“The government urgently needs to come up with a new plan to help universities,” added Fellowes. “This cock-up might seem like a row over a few exam marks bit it could ultimately cost taxpayers billions of pounds.”
ASSOCIATED PRESS
On Tuesday morning, universities across the country were still trying to work out what the decision would mean.
One source at a London university told HuffPost UK that the move complicates an already near-impossible situation on campuses which have been largely deserted since lockdown began in March.
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They said: “All the students in March just fled. That meant over summer the usual money making schemes unis have were dead.”
As well as robbing universities of income from catering, sports events and graduations, empty campuses mean no conferences or external events could be held to boost coffers.
As a result of the cash vacuum, the source added, “loads of universities have been cutting staff over summer”.
Gavin Williamson refused to answer when asked if he would resign over the debacle. ASSOCIATED PRESS
Social distancing plans have also been thrown into chaos by the government’s lifting of the cap on student numbers.
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“Universities are trying to limit who’s coming on campus... so it’s a mess. It’s such a mess,” they added.
“It is really unclear how many of the students we rejected [because they initially missed their offers] will come back to us, how many of the clearing students we’ll lose because their first choice will want them back, and how many of our non-clearing students will lose because we are their insurance choice.”
Some students may have no choice but to wait until next year to go to university. Newcastle University has said some courses on clinical subjects such as medicine and dentistry have “an externally-determined cap where numbers are tightly restricted because of space or specialist facilities”.
They added: “We are therefore seeking clarity from the government and relevant agencies about ensuring as many students as possible can be accepted to their first choice university.
“Where this is not possible, we will guarantee a deferred place for next year.”
Complicating matters even further, students may be able to sue universities that cannot provide a place for which on offer has been made, though how factors such as the coronavirus pandemic and Williamson’s handling of the fiasco affect the legal standing of any potential cases is currently unclear.
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Despite the lifting of the cap, universities’ hands are tied over how many places they can offer on practical courses that rely on students physically attending labs and other on-campus facilities – partly because of social distancing and partly because of the staff-student ratios stipulated by the professional, statutory and regulatory bodies that accredit certain courses. Breaching these could mean fines or even losing courses’ professional accreditation – something that is already a risk on at least one course HuffPost UK is aware of, and would essentially render a degree programme worthless.
Tory MP Robert Halfon said the problems with the exams system should be a “massive wake-up call” for the government.
“This has been a mega-mess and should not have happened and [Williamson’s] got to, I think, learn from this and just make sure these kind of things do not happen in the future.”
We must now learn the lessons from what has happened with the exam results. I’d like to see the minutes of every conversation between the DfE and @ofqual and find out how much this has cost the taxpayer so that it can never happen again. pic.twitter.com/kkg3zpMowa — Robert Halfon MP -Working Hard for Harlow- (@halfon4harlowMP) August 18, 2020
On Tuesday morning, Williamson apologised to young people for the distress caused to them by the downgrading of results.
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“I’m incredibly sorry for the fact that this has caused distress,” he told Sky News.
Williamson did not answer questions on whether he would resign – or whether he had offered his resignation to Boris Johnson – over the handling of the A-level and GCSE exams.


thehuffingtonpostuk--2020-08-18--Game Of Thrones' Charles Dance Admits He Would Sign Petition To Re-Write Divisive Finale

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It’s now been over a year since one of the most divisive finales in TV history, as Game Of Thrones’ controversial last series came to an end.
As you no doubt recall, those last few episodes split fans right down the middle, with some of the most disappointed even setting up a petition for the whole thing to be rewritten.
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But while many cast members have spoken out to condemn the petition, former star Charles Dance has admitted he’d actually sign it himself.
The Bafta-nominated actor played Tywin Lannister in the first four seasons of the hit fantasy drama, until he was killed by his son Tyrion Lannister (played by Peter Dinklage) in the last episode of series four.
Charles Dance in character as Tywin Lannister HBO
Speaking to PopCulture.com, Charles revealed that he remained a Game Of Thrones fan long after his character was killed off, but was less than impressed with how the show concluded.
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“Well if there was a petition, I would sign it,” he explained. “I mean, I saw it. I continued to watch the whole series even after I’d been killed off in the lavatory. Because I just thought it’s a fantastic television show, you know? I was very lucky to be part of it. I loved it; there were storylines [where] I wanted to know what was going to happen to these people.”
He continued: “I know that the finale satisfied a lot of people. It also disappointed a lot of people, and I’m afraid I am in the latter camp.”
Charles Dance at the premiere of The Crown last year JC Olivera via Getty Images
Charles added that while he feels executive producers David Benioff and D.B. Weiss “raised the bar when it came to television screenplay writing”, he was ultimately “underwhelmed” by how things turned out.
He previously claimed he’d been left “confused” by the direction the shows took the writers in for its final series.
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thehuffingtonpostuk--2020-08-18--Bernie Sanders And Wife Jane Seen Being Adorable Backstage At DNC Convention

Bernie Sanders And Wife Jane Seen Being Adorable Backstage At DNC Convention
Before delivering his speech to the DNC, Bernie Sanders was caught on live stream being adorable with wife Jane.


thehuffingtonpostuk--2020-08-18--GCHQ Accidentally Posts A Very Rude Puzzle Answer On Twitter

GCHQ tweeted this on Tuesday. GCHQ Twitter
It’s no secret that GCHQ – the UK’s top intelligence and security agency – is home to some of the finest minds in the country.
With a prestigious history of code-breaking – especially during the Second World War – GCHQ staff are considered the crème de la crème of logical thinking and brain power.
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So it was all the more funny when the GCHQ Twitter account accidentally posted a *very* rude answer to a brain teaser on Tuesday.
GCHQ GCHQ Twitter
GCHQ had asked followers on Twitter to crack a code, posting the sequence: “C, U, T, S, I, U, N”.
For those of us not quite clever enough to get into GCHQ, the code was the fourth letter from each planet in the solar system.
But it appears as if someone accidentally tweeted the planets in the incorrect order, with the fourth letters of each word spelling out a *very* blue phrase.
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It didn’t take long for people on social media to spot the mistake...
Thank you @GCHQ for a brow-raising demonstration of fallibility in your recently deleted solution to this #GCHQPuzzle! Even the most brilliant code breakers can end up with a four letter blooper. See you next Tuesday perhaps? https://t.co/pKcUPKNf36 — Ben Brabyn (@BenBrabyn) August 18, 2020
GCHQ realising very shortly after this tweet that proofreading is important... 👀 #GCHQPuzzle pic.twitter.com/8rW2VEKcEJ — Simon F Jones (@simonthankyou) August 18, 2020
Why delete @GCHQ ? This was the first one I’ve ever got right 😖 pic.twitter.com/OtK6ysHHsn — D@veeee (@DaveHomme1) August 18, 2020
GCHQ has since posted the correct – and clean – answer to the puzzle.
A GCHQ spokesperson told HuffPost UK: “We apologise for any offence inadvertently caused by this morning’s post. We deleted it as soon as we became aware of the issue.”
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thehuffingtonpostuk--2020-08-18--‘Head Out To Help Out’: Are Train Tickets About To Get Cheaper?

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Flexible season tickets for part-time workers could finally be on the cards, HuffPost UK has learned, as rail companies have confirmed they’re in talks with the Department for Transport to make it happen.
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Robert Nisbet, director of nations and regions at the Rail Delivery Group, told HuffPost UK: “Train companies have been working with the Department for Transport on proposals to offer flexible season tickets as well as continuing to push for reform of the entire fares system to make it easier for passengers.”
It comes after multiple unions and the independent watchdog Transport Focus urged the government to reform train fares across the country. In proposals dubbed ‘Head Out To Help Out’, the groups said the government should support public transport, in the same way the ‘Eat Out To Help Out’ scheme has boosted the hospitality sector.
Travel Focus is calling for affordable single tickets and new, part-time season tickets that reflect “the way we live and travel now”.
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A survey from Transport Focus found two in three people who commuted by train before the pandemic expect to continue to work from home more often in the future. Although some rail companies have already trialled flexible season tickets, they’re not routinely available across the board.
“The government needs to get train companies to offer a combination of cut-price deals, carnet style ‘bundles’, flexible season tickets for commuters and better value for money fares across the board,” said Anthony Smith, chief executive of the watchdog.
Smith made the comments ahead of the 2021 fare increases announcement, which will be made on Wednesday. While Nesbit is in favour of flexible season tickets, he added that “regulated fare rises are a matter for governments”.
brightstars via Getty Images
The Campaign for Better Transport has been calling for more flexible season ticket options for part-time workers since 2014. It has renewed these calls in light of the pandemic.
“Over the years, we’ve heard from hundreds of people who have been left out of pocket by the season ticket system and many whose job options have been severely impacted by the lack of an affordable commute,” the charity said.
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“With many more people set to be commuting part time from now on, and the need to encourage people back onto the trains in order to avoid an increase in congestion and air pollution, to begin to kick start the economy post-Covid, the case for flexible season tickets has only grown.”
The National Union of Rail, Maritime and Transport Workers (RMT) has also backed calls for flexible season tickets. The union has published a breakdown of average savings on its site, showing how much the average commuter travelling from a suburb to a UK city would save if the tickets became available.
RMT RMT
“There will be a massive drop in demand for conventional season tickets and unless the demand for more flexible and affordable tickets is met, commuters will permanently abandon the railway,” said RMT senior assistant general secretary, Mick Lynch.
Travel Focus dubbed the proposed changes to rail fares ‘Head Out to Help Out’. The idea seems popular on social media, with some pointing out that flexible tickets to support flexible working are long overdue.
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I would love flexible rail tickets, maybe a ticket for ten or so trips a month. But I doubt very much the rail companies have the technology or will to do this. — London 🚲 Rider (@LondonBicyler) August 18, 2020
We needed part time season tickets anyway, cos the system discriminated against disabled people and women, who disproportionately tend to work part time.
We particularly need them now. https://t.co/iRuRX8DTMi — Doug Paulley (@kingqueen3065) August 17, 2020