thehuffingtonpostuk--2020-06-08--We Tried Speaking Up. Colston's Statue Was Pulled Down Because No One Was Listening

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Hearing that the statue of prolific slave trader Edward Colston had been pulled down in Bristol, it reminded me that good things do indeed come to those who wait – but boy, have we waited.
Over the years, attempts at achieving a more appropriate commemoration of Colston’s contribution to Bristol were paid lip service but not much more.
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What was requested by Black historians, community supporters and the general public – and later demanded by them – was a complete statement about the man. Not a puff piece on what Colston did with his vast wealth in a show of philanthropy, but an acknowledgement of how he acquired that wealth – and what he was prepared to do to get it.
But those requests were never granted.
And here lies the rub. As they say in the Caribbean: “If you can’t hear, you will feel.” By pulling down Colston’s statue, Black people and their allies are now saying talks on decolonising our society have been going on for too long, with not enough action. The jaw-jaw hasn’t brought significant or lasting change so we have had to resort to action. You will now feel our frustration. Those in positions of power and influence will have to sit up and take notice. They will have to hear the answer through our actions, when they ask: “What should we do now?”, or “What do you need?”.
Protesters throw a statue of slave trader Edward Colston into Bristol harbour ASSOCIATED PRESS
For too long, this government, and many before them, have sat on the fence on the issue of anti-Blackness in our society. They know what they have done to prevent Black people getting into the boardrooms – they have the evidence. They know what policies and strategies they have put in place that make Black people wary of the police, that put our Black youth in prisons, instead of places of learning and professions.
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Perhaps these protests will spark radical change for future generations who are coming of age during these historic demands for equal civil rights. But why should we have to wait for the next generation to become the influencers and the policymakers of tomorrow?
“It’s time this government recognises the contributions of Black people to society by making sure our historic monuments tell the complete story of our shared history.”
Present incumbents in the highest positions of authority in our society must learn from the folly of their predecessors. Now is the time to pause and reflect on the regrettable policies that allowed emancipation but left Black people without the resources to feed themselves and their kith and kin once they were no longer working on the plantations. Now is the time to reflect on the changes of policy that happened following emancipation that took away trade with the Caribbean and left these islands unable to support themselves. Now is the time to understand how that contributed to the Windrush scandal – why when that great invitation was issued asking Caribbeans to come and help rebuild Britain after the Second World War, there was a resounding “yes” because it was work after all, and an opportunity to improve the quality of their lives and that of their families. And still the belief persists Black people are work-shy.
Government, police and big business must take these protests as a message: “You’ve abdicated your responsibility to Black citizens for too long, and we will no longer stay silent.”
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Black people have been in the UK for 70-plus years now and the same issues crop up again and again – there is little recognition of the contributions of Caribbeans to the UK, their relegation to sub-standard housing, and poor neighbourhood infrastructure, limited school and education opportunities affected by their postcode, and a lack of access to jobs with real prospects and pay. None of these things is a secret. This government has acknowledged BAME communities are more likely to die from Covid-19. Now is the time for politicians to really understand why.
We are British, we have a history connected with the white British, which, though fractious at the moment, could be restored to a glorious shared future. My dream would be to eradicate the need for protests to get the recognition the Black community so sorely deserves.
Imagine a society where our community wouldn’t need to feel angst about our young people being “picked up” under the ever-evolving SUS laws, and the country’s mixed race and dual heritage members wouldn’t feel they needed to take sides, but could embrace both their heritages.
Britain is facing its Rosa Parks moment and Black people are making it clear they won’t sit at the back of the bus. It’s time this government recognises the contributions of Black people to society. They can do that by taking an active role in decolonising our arts and culture, and making sure our historic monuments tell the complete story of our shared history.
Now that the loan has been repaid that enabled Britain to reimburse white plantation owners as part of the emancipation process, the country’s key decision makers should start giving Black people what wasn’t given on emancipation – respect, justice, and freedom to thrive.
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And perhaps they should start by asking themselves: “If public vandalism to protest about society’s ills is a bad thing, why isn’t murder of someone deprived of his inalienable right ‘innocent until proven guilty’.”


thehuffingtonpostuk--2020-06-08--Man Drives Car At Anti-Racist Protesters In US And Shoots Bystander

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A man drove a car at a crowd of anti-racism protesters in the US on Sunday, shooting and wounding a person who tried to stop him, police said.
In video of the chaotic scene circulated on social media, the car pulls up and is stopped by protesters wielding barricades. One man approaches the driver’s side window and appears to be shot.
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The driver is then seen exiting the car with a gun and moving through the demonstrators toward a line of police officers, who arrest him.
The 27-year-old gunshot victim was taken to hospital and was in stable condition, according to the fire department.
The assault came as protests against police brutality and systemic racism continued across the country, sparked by the death of George Floyd, a Black man killed on May 25 by a police officer kneeling on his neck for nine minutes. Four police officers have been charged, with one facing a second-degree murder charge.
While protests in Minneapolis and other cities have calmed, relations between protesters and police in Seattle remain tense.
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Protests during the day were peaceful, but at about midnight on Sunday police started using pepper spray and flash-bangs against protesters to get them to disperse, according to the Seattle Times. The police said protesters were throwing bottles and rocks at them, and shining lasers into their eyes.
The standoff continued into the night, according to The Stranger. Protesters carrying umbrellas approached lines of police who fired gas back at them.
The shooting came shortly after Seattle mayor Jenny Durkan and police chief Carmen Best gave a press conference apologising for police use of excessive force.
They also blamed “bad actors” for causing clashes with police and said barricades would remain in place, the Seattle Times reported.
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thehuffingtonpostuk--2020-06-08--Priti Patel's Quarantine Plan Will Mean 'Two-Tier’ Treatment Of NHS Staff, Unions Warn

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Coronavirus has changed everything. Make sense of it all with the Waugh Zone, our evening politics briefing. Sign up now.
Priti Patel’s 14-day quarantine plan will lead to “two-tier” treatment of English NHS and social care staff who travel overseas, health unions have warned.
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Unison and the GMB hit out after hospitals advised that “non-clinical” workers such as healthcare assistants, cleaners and support staff would have to self-isolate for two weeks unpaid or take the time from their annual leave.
But the advice for staff, seen by HuffPost UK, also makes clear that doctors, nurses and other “registered” NHS workers can travel abroad and then go straight back to work without the fortnight’s quarantine.
The 14-day restriction, which began on Monday, requires all passengers arriving in the UK from around the world to fill in forms to confirm they will self-isolate before being free to carry on their business or work.
Home secretary Patel tried to distance herself personally from the crackdown, which critics claim lacks any independent scientific backing, telling MPs on Monday it was “not my plan” but the plan of several Whitehall departments.
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The move has faced huge opposition from Tory MPs, the airline industry and others who fear it will mean the loss of trade and tourism in coming months, as well as the effective write-off of foreign holidays for millions of Britons of all incomes.
But along with hauliers, defence and diplomatic staff, there are exemptions to the quarantine for “registered health or care professionals travelling to the UK to provide essential healthcare, including where this is not related to coronavirus”, Home Office guidance states.
Emails to staff in hospitals in London state that such registered staff will be able to return to work following “any international travel” as long as they have proof of their professional registration and an employment contract or letter from their NHS trust.
However non-clinical staff or staff not registered such as healthcare assistants and physician associates, will need to carry out the 14-day self-isolation on return from any international travel, before returning to work. The period should be taken as “unpaid leave, annual leave (paid) or home working (with line manager agreement)”. In many cases, home working is impossible.
The Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) confirmed that the exemption only applied to staff who were members of registered bodies regulated by the NHS Reform and Health Care Professions Act 2002.
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Such bodies include the General Medical Council (GMC), Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC) Health and Care Professional Council (HCPC) and General Dental Council (GDC).
PA
Unions pointed out that while the public had rightly used the Clap For Carers to praise all NHS and social care staff without exception, it appeared that ministers had decided to divide up staff when it came to quarantine.
Unison assistant general secretary Christina McAnea said: “For quarantine to be effective, it should have been brought in weeks ago.
“Cherry-picking workers is not only unfair but will also create a two-tier system where NHS and care staff are treated differently. And that can’t be right.”
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GMB union national officer, Rachel Harrison said: “Any exemptions need to be applied fairly and consistently across the NHS and Care Staff.
“It can’t just be highly paid clinicians who are exempt, but the lower paid who are also key workers and essential to the running our NHS. Their efforts and sacrifices are just as important to keep the service running.
“There also has to be consideration about the potential equality impacts. A lot of staff choosing to go abroad at this time, are going for family abroad reasons and we’d expect compassionate leave on full pay for quarantine periods for these people.”
The DHSC stressed that current Foreign Office travel advice made clear only essential travel rather than holidays were advised. But it said that if staff who are not eligible for an exemption do choose to travel, it should be a local decision on whether they need to use annual or unpaid leave.
“The regulations are clear – anyone who comes to England from overseas will be required to self-isolate for 14 days, unless they are one of the few groups who are exempt,” a spokesperson said.
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“These exemptions include registered health and care professionals who are required by their employer to start work within 14 days of arriving in the UK.”
Care workers in England will also not be exempt from the travel ban, because their profession currently lacks a registered body, unlike Wales and Northern Ireland. Scotland has tougher rules which mean not even NHS staff will be exempt from the quarantine rules.


thehuffingtonpostuk--2020-06-08--No Recourse To Public Funds: Priti Patel Rejects Call To Scrap Rule That Leaves Migrants Destitute

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Priti Patel has refused to scrap a rule that denies migrants welfare support and is leaving some destitute because they cannot do their jobs during the coronavirus lockdown.
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MPs have warned that the “no recourse to public funds” rule is punishing migrants who have worked and paid taxes in the UK for years.
Even Boris Johnson last month appeared not to understand the rule and was almost lost for words as he questioned why a working Pakistani family with British-born children and temporary leave to remain in the UK could not access public support.
The prime minister said he would find out how many people are affected by the longstanding rule, which applies to non-EU migrants, and “see what we can do to help”.
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But Patel rejected calls to temporarily scrap the policy for the duration of the pandemic, and denied it has a disproportionate impact on Black and minority ethnic (BAME) people.
She insisted local authorities provide a safety net and pointed towards rent protections and the government’s furlough scheme as examples of support migrants can access.
But acting Liberal Democrat leader Ed Davey said some migrants are denied the support outlined by Patel under the rules.
Davey told the Commons: “The home secretary doesn’t get it.
“People who have worked here, paid taxes here for years, are being denied support and are falling into destitution.
“People who have lost their jobs or seen their income slashed can be excluded from the very protections the home secretary cites.
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“Given that this rule disproportionately impacts people in our Black and minority ethnic communities the hardest, will the home secretary now suspend the ‘no recourse to public funds’ rule for the duration of the pandemic?”
Patel replied: “The answer is no.
“Local authorities have provided a basic safety net.”
She went on: “It is wrong to imply safety nets are not in place.”
SNP home affairs spokesperson Joanna Cherry said suspending “no recourse to public funds” would be a “concrete step towards tackling the inequalities” highlighted by the Black Lives Matter protests sweeping the world.
But Patel said: “Now this policy of ‘no recourse to public funds’ is one of many policies and it is right, as a government, that we look at all policies that affect all communities in the round without singling one particular policy out.”
She added: “If I may, I think it is wrong to characterise it as a policy of racial discrimination.”
Labour MP Chi Onwurah said the rules were leaving women in her Newcastle Central constituency unable to buy food and nappies for their children.
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The government needs a refresher course in its own policies.
“The prime minister [...] doesn’t know what it means.
“And the equalities minister and apparently the home secretary think it means lots of help and support is available.
“In Newcastle today, ‘no recourse to public funds’ means a mother unable to buy food or nappies for her baby, a British citizen, in the middle of a pandemic with no help available.
“Does the home secretary know that?
“Does she care?”
Patel said Onwurah was “completely wrong”, stressing “public health measures are available”.
The Children’s Society estimates that more than 100,000 children could be affected by the rule.


thehuffingtonpostuk--2020-06-08--Watch Live: Matt Hancock Gives Latest Coronavirus Update

Watch Live: Matt Hancock Gives Latest Coronavirus Update
Health secretary Matt Hancock leads the daily Downing Street press briefing as UK death toll rises by 55 in 24 hours - the lowest since March 22 with no new deaths in Scotland or Northern Ireland for a second day.


thehuffingtonpostuk--2020-06-08--Prince Andrew Says He Offered To Help US Authorities At Least Three Times With Jeffrey Epstein Inqui

Prince Andrew Says He Offered To Help US Authorities At Least Three Times With Jeffrey Epstein Inquiry

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US authorities have formally requested Prince Andrew answer questions as a witness in a criminal probe into sex offender Jeffrey Epstein – but the duke’s lawyers have insisted he already offered to help on three occasions.
The Department of Justice (DoJ) has submitted a mutual legal assistance (MLA) request to the Home Office as federal prosecutors investigate disgraced financier Epstein’s offending, the Sun newspaper and US broadcasters reported.
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MLA requests are used to obtain assistance in an investigation or prosecution of criminal offences when cooperation cannot be obtained by law enforcement agencies.
But in a statement released on Monday, the Duke of York’s lawyers Blackfords said Andrew had offered to assist the US DoJ three times this year, and the authority first requested his help on January 2.
The statement said: “Importantly, the DoJ advised us that the duke is not and has never been a ‘target’ of their criminal investigations into Epstein and that they sought his confidential, voluntary cooperation.
“In the course of these discussions, we asked the DoJ to confirm that our co-operation and any interview arrangements would remain confidential, in accordance with the ordinary rules that apply to voluntary cooperation with the DoJ. We were given an unequivocal assurance that our discussions and the interview process would remain confidential.
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“The Duke of York has on at least three occasions this year offered his assistance as a witness to the DoJ. Unfortunately, the DoJ has reacted to the first two offers by breaching their own confidentiality rules and claiming that the duke has offered zero cooperation. In doing so, they are perhaps seeking publicity rather than accepting the assistance proffered.”
The statement added that an attempt by the DoJ to seek mutual legal assistance from the Home Office would be “disappointing”.
It said: “The Duke of York is not a target of the DOJ investigation and has recently repeated his willingness to provide a witness statement. It is hoped that this third offer has not been the cause of the most recent leak about the Duke of York. We do not intend to make any further public statement at this time as we wish to respect the rules of confidentiality under both English law and the US guidelines.”
It comes just weeks after a Netflix documentary on Epstein was released featuring Virginia Giuffre, also known as Virginia Roberts, who has alleged she had sex with the duke in 2001 after being trafficked to the UK by the American.
Giuffre has urged Andrew to speak to authorities but a US lawyer said in March that the duke had “completely shut the door” on co-operating with investigators over the probe.
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The duke categorically denies he had any form of sexual contact or relationship with Giuffre.
Prince Andrew zz/KGC-375/STAR MAX/IPx
Andrew stepped away from royal duties following his disastrous Newsnight interview in November about his relationship with Epstein, who killed himself in his jail cell while awaiting trial for sex trafficking.
Four days after last year’s Newsnight interview, Andrewsaid in a statement he was “willing to help any appropriate law enforcement agency with their investigations, if required”.
But Geoffrey Berman, who is leading the Epstein inquiry, told reporters in March: “Contrary to Prince Andrew’s very public offer to co-operate with our investigation into Epstein’s co-conspirators, an offer that was conveyed via press release, Prince Andrew has now completely shut the door on voluntary co-operation and our office is considering its options.”
Giuffre alleges the duke had sex with her on three separate occasions, including when she was 17, still a minor under US law.
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She also said in an interview with BBC Panorama that she was left “horrified and ashamed” after an alleged sexual encounter with Andrew in London in 2001.


thehuffingtonpostuk--2020-06-08--This Chef Is Cooking Free Meals For His Community – And To Aid His Recovery

This Chef Is Cooking Free Meals For His Community – And To Aid His Recovery
A chef who is in recovery for addiction is helping to feed the most vulnerable members of his community. Nathan Pollard from Newcastle is volunteering at a community cafe which is delivering around 400 food parcels to people every week. He says that giving back is a key step in his own recovery, at a time when giving back matters more than ever.


thehuffingtonpostuk--2020-06-08--Edward Colston Has Gone, But Britain Still Has Monuments To These Slave Traders

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After Black Lives Matter protesters in Bristol toppled a statue of slave trader Edward Colston on Sunday, there have been renewed calls to remove other monuments to slave traders in Britain.
Marvin Reeves, the mayor of Bristol, said he could not pretend to have “any real sense of loss” for the statue of Colston, describing it as a “personal affront”.
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More than 11,000 people had recently signed a petition to have the statue pulled down, following numerous calls in the past to have it removed.
But Colston’s wasn’t the only monument to a slave-trader that people wanted gone.
Who was Edward Colston?
Protesters pull down a statue of Edward Colston during a Black Lives Matter protest PA
Edward Colston, born in 1636, built his fortune through the slave trade.
Not only did he have his own business trading slaves as well as wine and sugar, according to BBC History, but he was also an official of the Royal African Company – a slaving company that had the English monopoly on the slave trade until the end of the 17th century.
Colston, who was the MP for Bristol between 1710 and 1714, donated large sums of money to causes in the city, where his family was from.
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The monument pulled down by anti-racist protesters on Sunday had been built in 1895.
But the city’s concert hall – Colston Hall – is also named after the slave trader, as is Colston Avenue and two local independent schools. Colston Hall is due to be renamed this year.
“You’re erasing history by getting rid of Edward Colston’s statue!”
Now Bristol only has:
Colston Hill
Colston Road
Colston Street
Colston Avenue
Colston Parade
Colston Girls’ School
Colston Tower
Colston Hall
The Colston Arms
Colston Almshouses
Colston Tower
Colston Fort... — Hasan Patel 🌹 (@CorbynistaTeen) June 7, 2020
William Beckford
Lord Mayor Beckford (1709-1770) Political figure in 18th-century London, who twice held the office of Lord Mayor of London (1762 and 1769). Print Collector via Getty Images
A statue to William Beckford stands in London’s Guildhall. Born in 1709, Beckford owned more than 20,000 acres of sugar plantations in Jamaica that enslaved about 3,000 people.
Beckford became the MP for Shaftesbury in 1747 and was later elected as the MP for London. He also served twice as the city’s Lord Mayor.
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According to the V&A museum, Beckford used his political influence to form a powerful group of anti-abolitionist, pro-slavery MPs in parliament called the West Indies lobby.
In 1772, two years after his death, a monument to Beckford was erected in the Guildhall, an iconic building in the City of London.
Historic England said the Guildhall itself “epitomises the involvement of London in the transatlantic slave trade”.
Between 1660 and 1690, London officials who were shareholders in the Royal Africa Company – a slave company – would meet at the Guildhall.
James Penny
utamaria via Getty Images
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Penny Lane in Liverpool may have been made famous by the Beatles, but historians believe it is actually named after slave trader James Penny.
In 2006 Eric Lynch, an expert on Liverpool’s slave trade, told the BBC: “Penny Lane is thought to have been named after James Penny, one of the slave ship owners.”
Penny, who was born in the 18th century, made his fortune transporting slaves.
In 1792, he was awarded with a “magnificent silver epergne” for speaking out in favour of the slave trade to a parliamentary committee, according to National Museums Liverpool.
But it is not just Penny Lane that is a reminder of the city’s links with the slave trade.
According to Historic England, Parr Street in Liverpool – home to the city’s iconic Parr Street studios – is named after slave trader Thomas Parr.
Historians estimate that his ship, the Parr, carried 700 slaves at a time.
Robert Milligan
Old cranes from the original docks at North Dock, West India Quay near Canary Wharf in London Mike Kemp via Getty Images
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Robert Milligan was born in around 1746 to a plantation-owning family in the Caribbean.
The Museum of London describes him as a slaver who settled in the capital. At the time of Milligan’s death in 1809, there were 526 people enslaved on his plantation in Jamaica.
Milligan – along with other West India planters and merchants – built London’s West India Docks at the start of the 19th century to import sugar, rum and coffee from Caribbean plantations.
According to the museum, Milligan was a driving force behind the docks, which were not only funded in part by profits from slavery, but were designed to make the import of slave-grown goods more efficient.
In 1813, the West India Docks company erected a statue to Milligan, which still stands on the West India Quay in Canary Wharf.
Andrew Cochrane and Andrew Buchanan
A sign alternatively naming Cochrane Street 'Sheku Bayoh Street' in Glasgow. PA
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Two prominent streets in Glasgow city centre – Cochrane Street and Buchanan Street – are named after merchants with links to the slave trade.
While Cochrane Street was named after Andrew Cochrane, an 18th-century tobacco lord, Buchanan Street was named after slave trader Andrew Buchanan.
But over the weekend, anti-racism campaigners renamed the streets.
Cochrane Street was given the title ‘Sheku Bayoh Street’ after Sheku Bayoh, who died in police custody in Scotland in 2015 after he was restrained by officers responding to a call in Kirkcaldy, Fife.
Meanwhile, Buchanan Street was renamed George Floyd Street.


thehuffingtonpostuk--2020-06-08--For Boris Johnson’s Cabinet, Democracy Is Optional

British lawmaker Jacob Rees-Mogg ASSOCIATED PRESS
The absurd spectacle of MPs stuck in a 1.3km, socially distanced, coronavirus conga last week has, predictably, caused widespread ridicule. Instead, it should have set alarm bells ringing.
What the ridicule covered up was the government’s decision to exclude a third of MPs (and the millions of the voters they represent) from effective participation in parliamentary democracy.
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This was done deliberately by the government precisely to bring our parliament into disrepute. This is a new and deeply sinister development in British politics.
Never in the modern era has a UK government been run by people who have so little respect for democracy and who are so utterly contemptuous of the unwritten rules of our parliamentary system. In the absence of a written constitution these conventions are our only protection.
This is a government which pursues an authoritarian “anti-politics” agenda. They exist on a very different amoral trajectory to anything which has come before. To call them Conservatives is a travesty of the truth. In reality, they are right wing revolutionaries who have taken over the shell of the Conservative party.
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Last year, as the election loomed, Tories who had the temerity to hold an opinion contrary to Boris Johnson’s Brextremists were ruthlessly purged, regardless of their seniority or standing in the party. No dissent was tolerated. The national populism which featured in the 2016 vote Leave referendum campaign was imported wholesale into Downing Street last July, where it now festers and spreads like dry rot.
The cabinet is now made up of nodding dogs put in place for their loyalty to the “world king” and bloviator in chief Boris Johnson. Talent and experience counts for nothing. The cabinet is openly described as a “Potemkin” structure where all decisions are taken by a small clique and dutifully rubber stamped by the rest afterwards. Independence of any kind is punished, as Sajid Javid discovered when he sought to avoid the abject humiliation Dominic Cummings had organised for him at the last reshuffle. The current chancellor is only in place because he readily acquiesced to being Cummings’ glove puppet.
Even before the 2019 General Election, when they had no majority and no mandate, Johnson’s unelected minority government acted as if they had carte blanche to do as they pleased. They perpetually placed the referendum “mandate” above the 2017 election result, which had delivered a hung parliament. They bleeped over their dubious conduct of the referendum itself including the flagrant breaches of campaign expenditure law which cast doubt on the validity of the result.
They pitted MPs elected in 2017 against the 2016 referendum plebiscitary “mandate” in an unashamedly populist way, careless of any damage that such a stance might do to respect for democratic norms in the future, or to the personal safety of MPs themselves. They never admitted that contrary opinions had any justification whatsoever. Nor did they accept that the views and wishes of the 48% who voted to remain in the EU could be legitimately represented in political discourse, let alone accommodated by the winners in a spirit of generosity. This is the essence of the authoritarian mindset.
The Chief Law Officer was found in contempt for refusing to release legal advice which parliament had voted should be published, but he did not do the decent thing and resign. Instead he pontificated about a dead parliament which needed to be put out of its misery. The Prime Ministers’ Svengali, Cummings is famously in contempt of parliament for refusing to give evidence to the DCMS select committee about the behaviour of Vote Leave during the referendum.
The cabinet appears to have been forged in Cummings’ image as he pursues his “anti-politics” political agenda and enjoys profiting from dividing the country down the middle. His incitement of mob anger about “elites” is careless of democracy and the rule of law. His recent behaviour breaching the lockdown rules demonstrates the contempt he has for everyone but the “elite” he has assembled around him to rule by fear. He appears to care as little for the civil service, the BBC or any other UK institution he regards as a blockage to his plans.
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The appointment of the extremist ERG faction leader Jacob Rees-Mogg to the role of leader of the House was a sign of the government’s contempt. Leaders of the House are meant to be consensus seeking figures who represent the Commons in government as well as the government in the Commons. He has made no attempt to do this – becoming the worst leader of the House in living memory. He has had no qualms about trashing democratic norms and protections.
He used the worst type of sophistry to justify what was proved to be the illegal shutting down of parliament for the convenience of the new hard Brexit regime. This was an unprecedented act which dragged the Queen into politics at a time of maximum contention. It tore up all restraint and decency for crude political convenience. Condemned by the Supreme Court, he appears to have had not a moment of regret or self reflection about his own behaviour or the dangerous precedent it set. He has since continued to outdo himself, unilaterally contriving greater outrages to the fair and democratic working of the House of Commons, excluding many members whilst claiming their exclusion is their choice.
This government targets parliament for ridicule because it is a democratic foundry where new political possibilities are created and alternatives can be born. It is ultimately in parliament that the government can be held to account for its failures. This populist right wing government wants no such accountability. It wants any democratic alternative to be stillborn so it attempts to discredit the place itself. For Boris Johnson’s government, no lie is too big to be spoken, no promise too great to be broken and no democratic protections are too important to be torn asunder. Welcome to their new normal.


thehuffingtonpostuk--2020-06-08--What Will Happen To Bristol's Colston Statue – And What Should Replace It?

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Questions about what to do next were asked almost from the moment the 125-year-old statue of slaver Edward Colston was brought tumbling to the ground.
It had been a point of contention in the city for decades, with thousands of people signing petitions and joining calls for it to be removed. Now that it has, many are having their say on what should happen to it, and to the space where it stood.
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“We can’t let them put it back up,” was the resounding comment in the moments after it fell, as crowds gathered around to watch as Colston was knelt upon – imitating the way in which Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin had kneeled on the neck of George Floyd for almost nine minutes.
The statue being knelt on by protesters during Sunday's demonstration. ASSOCIATED PRESS
The statue was struck several times by protestors with a metal pole, but having already survived the fall from its pedestal it was clear that the statue couldn’t easily be broken up there and then.
Sitting just several hundred metres from Bristol’s historic harbour – the very spot from which Colston’s slave ships would have once sailed for West Africa – the answer to questions of how it could be discarded right there and then quickly became obvious.
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Within a matter of minutes, the statue had been half rolled, half dragged to a spot on the waterfront next to Pero’s Bridge – the only site in the city itself named after a slave – and had been tipped into the water.
Though many in the city, and beyond, have made it clear that the river bed would be the best place for it to stay, it’s unlikely that’ll be the case.
Where will the statue go now?
Bristol’s directly elected Labour mayor Marvin Rees told BBC Breakfast on Monday morning that the statue would be removed from the harbour and would “no doubt” end up in a museum, where placards collected from Sunday’s protest would also be put on display.
There are calls for it to be displayed in a dedicated museum specifically addressing the history and legacy of slavery in Bristol but – despite the city’s interlocked history with the triangular slave trade – no such space yet exists.
There have been campaigns in the past to transform derelict buildings at the city’s waterfront into a museum, but plans have never been approved.
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Instead Edward Colston’s statue looks set to be installed in one of the city’s existing museums alongside some of the placards carried through the streets on Sunday.
Dozens of protest signs were also arranged around the empty plinth, which Rees said on Monday would be collected and preserved at the M Shed museum situated next to Bristol’s former docks “so we can tell the story of this historic moment for our city.”
We're preserving #BlackLivesMatter signs left at the former site of the #Colston statue so we can tell the story of this historic moment for our city at @mshedbristol https://t.co/RUjTSl1Wue — Marvin Rees (@MarvinJRees) June 8, 2020
There has not yet been any indication of when the statue could be retrieved from the harbour, but many people have indicated that when it is eventually brought up it should be left untouched before going on display.
Fish Colston out of the harbour. Put him in a museum. Dented and spray painted - memorialise him alongside what happened today.
The existing plinth can be used for artists. Featuring those making art about unity & solidarity. Especially artists of colour who have been overlooked. — Weird Bristol (@WeirdBristol) June 7, 2020
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The Colston statue should have been removed years ago and put in Bristol's MShed museum with the displays on slavery. Perhaps it's all the more poignant that he goes there now in a battered and tarnished state. https://t.co/FpkacXLEWs — Stephen Williams 🔶 (@StephenRW01) June 7, 2020
HuffPost UK has contacted Bristol City Council for more details on its plans for the statue.
Will another statue be installed in its place?
For now, the space where Colston’s statue used to stand is empty – but it seems that Bristolians are keen for that not to remain the case.
More than 12,500 people have already signed a petition for Colston’s statue to be replaced with one of civil rights pioneer Paul Stephenson, who led the 1963 Bristol Bus Boycott.
His refusal to leave a pub until he was served a year later in 1964 – an action which resulted in a trial on a charge of failing to leave a licensed premises – hit national headlines, and paved the way for the first ever Race Relations Act in 1965.
Edward Beeston, who launched the petition, wrote: “It is time Bristol moves forward with its history in the slave trade, acknowledging the evil committed and how it can educate its citizens about black history.”
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Brave Bristol bus boycott friend Paul Stephenson must replace statue of racist slave trader Edward Colson https://t.co/Ufc9ao3BUh Black Mayor Marvin Rees' response to the protestors' tearing down the Colson "affront" of a statue is to be applauded. Read: https://t.co/nz826ZzWDd pic.twitter.com/7BV1mz1fYd — Marc Wadsworth (@Marcwads) June 8, 2020
this is the guy who should have his own statue in Bristol:
Paul Stephenson, who in 1963 led the Bristol bus boycott pic.twitter.com/lXMYrTFnmA — Jim Pickard (@PickardJE) June 7, 2020
“We need a hero not a slave trader. Hope not fear,” wrote one signatory.
Another wrote: “It’s about time we recognised the contribution that Black people have made to Bristol. From slavery through to the current day.
“Without them, Bristol would not be the city it is.”
Other suggestions for a replacement statue include a memorial to the 19,300 West Africans who died during the transatlantic crossing and were thrown overboard during Colston’s time at the head of the Royal African Company from 1680 to 1692 – at which point it was Britain’s sole official slaving company.
In October 2018, 100 human figures in the formation of a slave ship were laid out in front of the statue in a guerilla art exhibition, reported the Bristol Post.
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As well as paying tribute to those who died during Britain’s prominent role in the foundation of the slave trade, the installation also highlighted victims of modern slavery still working in the UK and around the world.
Dr Roger Ball, a historian specialising in Edward Colston and Bristol’s role in the slave trade as well as the history of urban riots, said the empty plinth should pay tribute to a collective of slaves and Bristolian abolitionists themselves.
“I will know Britain has changed in dealing with its history when we put on that plinth the slaves who rose up against slavery, such as Sam Sharpe who in 1831 led a massive uprising in Jamaica.
“I’d love to see, in Britain, recognition of the slaves who abolished slavery.


thehuffingtonpostuk--2020-06-08--Ofcom Reaches Verdict On Miriam Margolyes’ Boris Johnson Comments On The Last Leg

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The Call The Midwife star sparked 494 complaints to the TV watchdog last month when she admitted on the Channel 4 show that she’d initially wanted the prime minister to die when he was hospitalised with coronavirus in April.
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She told hosts Adam Hills, Josh Widdicombe and Alex Brooker via video link: “I had difficulty not wanting Boris Johnson to die. I wanted him to die. Then I thought that will reflect badly on me and I don’t want to be the sort of person that wants people to die.
“So then I wanted him to get better, which he did do, he did get better. But he didn’t get better as a human being. And I really would prefer that.”
Miriam Margolyes PA
Following an initial assessment, Ofcom has now said that no further action will be taken, ruling that it will not have exceeded viewers’ expectations.
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A spokesperson said: “These provocative comments had clear potential to offend viewers, but we also considered the audience’s likely expectations of Miriam Margolyes, a comic actor known for her forthright views, and of this live, late-night satirical comedy show.
“We also took into account that Ms Margolyes immediately qualified her comments, and viewers were warned in advance about the programme’s adult humour.”
Miriam Margolyes has no filter - that's why her v.blunt feelings about Boris Johnson and #Covid19 are no surprise. pic.twitter.com/aE8vv0y0H4 — Lorna Cooper🏴🇯🇲🇬🇾 (@Coops_tv) May 9, 2020
Ofcom cited “a long tradition in UK broadcasting of satirical programmes where comedy will be derived from contributors making provocative and challenging statements about people in the public eye, including elected politicians”.
It also “took into account that the presenter, Adam Hills, and regular contributors, Alex Brooker and Josh Widdicombe looked visibly shocked in reaction to Miriam Margolyes’ initial comment, and that none of the presenters endorsed her comments about the Prime Minister.
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“Further, Adam Hills immediately moved the discussion on to another topic,” it said.
“It was Ofcom’s view that, although Miriam Margolyes’ comments were provocative and had the potential to cause offence, taken as a whole they were unlikely to have exceeded viewers’ expectations of this live, late-night comedy show on Channel 4.”


thehuffingtonpostuk--2020-06-08--Boris Johnson Does Not Believe The UK Is A Racist Country, No.10 Says

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Boris Johnson does not believe that the UK is a racist county, Downing Street has said.
The PM’s official spokesman set out his views in the wake of UK Black Lives Matter protests that saw activists topple a memorial to a slave trader in Bristol and spray paint the word ‘racist’ on a statue of Winston Churchill.
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The spokesman refused repeatedly to say whether Johnson personally believed that the statue of Edward Colston was abhorrent, but stressed that he believed “democratic processes” should be followed in such cases.
Asked directly if the PM believed the UK was a racist country, the No.10 spokesman said: “No. The PM doesn’t doubt that there continues to be discrimination and racism but does not agree that this is a racist country.
“We have made very significant progress on this issue but there remains more to do and we will not be complacent in our efforts to stamp out racism and discrimination where it happens.”
His remarks echo those of equalities minister Kemi Badenoch last week, who said that while tackling discrimination was vital “this is one of the best countries in the world to be a black person.”
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Scotland Yard confirmed on Monday that a total of 35 police officers were injured in violent disorder at the end of Black Lives Matter protests in central London over the weekend. Some 36 people were arrested.
The demonstrations, sparked by the killing of George Floyd in the United States, included protests against institutional racism in the UK’s criminal justice and immigration policy.
Many protestors also pointed to the disproportionate deaths from Covid-19 among the black and minority ethnic community. Most of the protests were peaceful.
The statue of Colston, who made his fortune from the slave trade in the 1600s, was toppled and rolled into the River Avon on Sunday.
Home office minister Kit Malthouse said on Radio 4: “The law was broken yesterday and it’s possible to abhor both that fact and the memorialisation of Thomas Colston.”
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PA
When asked if the PM did indeed abhor the memorialisation, his spokesman said that was a “separate” issue.
“I can only talk to what happened yesterday which I think we can agree was an act of criminal damage.”
Asked again, he said: “The PM’s view is that in this country, where there is strong opinion, there is a democratic process which should be followed.
“People can campaign for the removal of a statue but what happened yesterday was a criminal act and when the criminal law is broken that is unacceptable and the police will want to hold to account those responsible.”
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“The PM absolutely understands the strength of feeling, but in this country we settle our differences democratically and if people wanted the removal of the statue there are democratic routes which can be followed.”
Chancellor Rishi Sunak issued a statement that “we have inherited a country far more inclusive and farer than at any point in its history”.
He said that “as a British Asian of course I know that racism exists in this country” but stressed that “a better society doesn’t happen overnight”.
I’ve had a lot of questions on what I think about last weekend’s protests so I thought it would be easiest to share my thoughts below. pic.twitter.com/KnutJ1YZRo — Rishi Sunak (@RishiSunak) June 8, 2020
Home Secretary Priti Patel has been having daily calls with police leaders, including talks over the weekend and this morning with the Metropolitan Police and Avon and Somerset Police, Downing Street added. Johnson received an update from Met chief Cressida Dick on Sunday night.
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“They have our full support in tackling any violence, vandalism and disorderly behaviour,” the Prime Minister’s official spokesman said.
“It is completely unacceptable they were subjected to attacks over the weekend.”


thehuffingtonpostuk--2020-06-08--Love Island's Marcel Somerville Reveals He 'Nearly Died' In Video From Hospital Bed

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Former Love Island star Marcel Somerville has revealed he “nearly died”, in a video he shared after being admitted to hospital.
The former Blazin’ Squad member shared a short message from his NHS bed, and while he did not go into detail about his illness, he thanked those that had sent him messages of support.
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“This is just a message to everyone that has been sending me all the prayers and blessings,” he said. “They don’t go amiss, I really appreciate them. I really need them right now.”
Marcel shared a few posts from hospital on his Instagram story Instagram
He continued: “It’s been a very, very hard few days for me… Saturday was literally the worst day of my life, I nearly died. But yeah… just keep sending them my way because I need them. Thank you so much. Big love.”
Marcel also posted a photo of his arm with the message: “All the wires.”
A representative for Marcel had no further comment when contacted by HuffPost UK.
Marcel pictured at an event in January David M. Benett via Getty Images
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Marcel is now best known for having been a contestant on the third series of Love Island in 2017, but was also previously a member of the band Blazin’ Squad.
He spent the majority of his time in the villa coupled up with Gabrielle Allen, and although the two remained a couple when they returned to the UK, they eventually split in 2018.


thehuffingtonpostuk--2020-06-08--Scotland And Northern Ireland Report No New Coronavirus Deaths For Second Day Running

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The number of people who have died across the UK after contracting coronavirus has risen by 55 in 24 hours – the second day in a row with no reported deaths in Scotland or Northern Ireland.
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Since the end of April, the government’s daily announcement has included people in care homes and the community, rather than just in hospital, who have died.
But only those who had tested positive for Covid-19 are included, meaning anyone who died with a suspected case won’t be recorded.
The figures cover the period up to 5pm on Sunday.
A coronavirus ward in north west London London North West University Healthcare NHS Trust/Steve Watkins
It comes after NHS England reported that 59 hospital patients had died in England and Public Health Wales reported that three hospital patients and care home residents had died in Wales. These data are likely to be more up to date and, in Wales’ case, cover a slightly different 24-hour window, which goes some way to explaining the discrepancy. Here’s a quick primer on what all the different numbers mean and how to understand them.
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Meanwhile, in the 24 hours up to 9am on Monday, 138,183 people were tested for coronavirus, with 1,205 coming back positive.
Today’s figure, 55, is the lowest total UK deaths since March 22, when 35 were reported. Sunday marked the first day since March 23 that the official government total dropped below 100: it was 77. But weekend days typically see lower numbers due to delays in data recording and reductions in staff, with some people’s deaths instead being subsequently added to future days.


thehuffingtonpostuk--2020-06-08--Lorraine Kelly Admits Regret Over Not Challenging Guest's 'Inappropriate Comment' On Show Last Week

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Lorraine Kelly has expressed regret over not challenging what she’s described as an “inappropriate comment” one of her guests made last week.
During Monday’s edition of her ITV daytime show, Lorraine interviewed author Candice Brathwaite, when the conversation turned to white people’s role in calling out anti-Black racism.
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Candice told the presenter: “I always tell white people your feeling of discomfort is not going to match how George Floyd’s family is feeling today. It’s not going to match how victims of police brutalities’ families will ever feel. Your discomfort in approaching these conversations with your children, with your partner, with your family…
“You’re uncomfortable for, what, five minutes? Six minutes? We watched a Black man die for nine minutes. There is just no measure with that. I implore people to feel that discomfort because it’s only through that we’ll be able to make a change.”
Lorraine Kelly ITV
Lorraine then told her guest: “Someone last week made an inappropriate comment and I realised it was inappropriate at the time. I didn’t do anything about it and I should have. So I will.”
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She also said that Candice’s book, I Am Not Your Baby Mother, had helped her understand her own role in helping dismantle racism, noting: “It helped me personally to think sometimes you shouldn’t just be polite, sometimes you have to say – in the nicest possible way. You don't have to be confrontational. But we can all learn.”
'We don't get a choice about when we approach that conversation with our children because we know sooner rather than later someone is going to ostracise them just for being black.'
Author @CandiceAboderin shares her 4-year-old daughter's experience of racism. pic.twitter.com/6b3vRkssd2 — Good Morning Britain (@GMB) June 8, 2020
The interview also saw Lorraine and Candice discussing the mass protests that have taken place across the US and UK against police brutality since the death of George Floyd.
Last week, Star Wars actor John Boyega won huge praise for a powerful speech he delivered at a Black Lives Matter demonstration in London.
As a result of lockdown measures, Lorraine is currently presenting the last hour of Good Morning Britain, which airs every weekday from 6am on ITV.


thehuffingtonpostuk--2020-06-08--Jonathan Ross Faces Criticism After Defending JK Rowling Amid Backlash Over Comments On Transgender

Jonathan Ross Faces Criticism After Defending JK Rowling Amid Backlash Over Comments On Transgender People

On Saturday, the writer commented on an article titled, Creating a More Equal Post-COVID-19 World for People Who Menstruate, pushing back against the headline for not referring to those who get their periods as just ‘women’.
“I’m sure there used to be a word for those people. Someone help me out. Wumben? Wimpund? Woomud?,” she tweeted.
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‘People who menstruate.’ I’m sure there used to be a word for those people. Someone help me out. Wumben? Wimpund? Woomud?
Opinion: Creating a more equal post-COVID-19 world for people who menstruate https://t.co/cVpZxG7gaA — J.K. Rowling (@jk_rowling) June 6, 2020
The tweet sparked a wave of backlash from the LGBTQ community and its supporters, accusing her of erasing trans people, and reminded the author that transgender people, non-binary people and gender-nonconforming people can also menstruate.
JK then followed up her original tweet, writing: “If sex isn’t real, there’s no same-sex attraction. If sex isn’t real, the lived reality of women globally is erased. I know and love trans people, but erasing the concept of sex removes the ability of many to meaningfully discuss their lives. It isn’t hate to speak the truth.”
Jonathan Ross and JK Rowling Rex/PA
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Jonathan has since stepped in to back up the writer, claiming she is not transphobic.
Writing on Twitter, the chat show host said: “I just ate too many brownies. Again. Oh, and also. @jk_rowling is both right and magnificent. For those accusing her of transphobia, please read what she wrote. She clearly is not.”
I just ate too many brownies. Again. Oh, and also. @jk_rowling is both right and magnificent.For those accusing her of transphobia, please read what she wrote. She clearly is not. — Jonathan Ross (@wossy) June 7, 2020
The presenter followed up his original tweet by engaging with Twitter users who criticised his stance.
Jonathan, I’m disappointed. I followed you after we met at the Yogscast - I even have a picture of us together - but now I can’t continue to follow. She’s been a transphobe for YEARS. She literally tells them they are worthless in the same tweet that she raises them up in. — Hannah Rutherford (@lomadia) June 7, 2020
I have never seen her call anyone worthless. Can you support that claim? Genuinely asking. — Jonathan Ross (@wossy) June 7, 2020
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I don't know enough about this subject to talk with authority on it... and I sort of feel like you and J. K. Rowling are in the same boat as me. — Ben Cooper (@poprockcyanide) June 7, 2020
Well I think you’re sort of wrong. But thanks for keeping it polite. — Jonathan Ross (@wossy) June 7, 2020
The world doesn't need shouting and cancel culture right now, it needs togetherness and understanding. I appreciate you standing beside someone and something that you believe in, I'm just concerned that there's a lot of confusion on both sides, and that it'll do more harm. — Ben Cooper (@poprockcyanide) June 7, 2020
It is a heated and rather troubling debate. But hopefully people will find space to both talk and listen. — Jonathan Ross (@wossy) June 7, 2020
In follow-up tweets sent on Saturday, JK insisted that accusations that she was transphobic were “nonsense”.
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“The idea that women like me, who’ve been empathetic to trans people for decades, feeling kinship because they’re vulnerable in the same way as women – ie, to male violence – ‘hate’ trans people because they think sex is real and has lived consequences – is a nonsense,” she tweeted.
“I respect every trans person’s right to live any way that feels authentic and comfortable to them. I’d march with you if you were discriminated against on the basis of being trans. At the same time, my life has been shaped by being female. I do not believe it’s hateful to say so.”
However, many people quickly pointed out that trans people face frequent discrimination and violence, especially Black trans women, who people are currently fighting for as part of the Black Lives Matter movement.
It's not hate if u say that YOU'RE a woman. It's HARMFUL 2 say TRANSWOMEN are men. thus not a hypothetical "If", but WHEN WE ARE DISCRIMINATED against IS CLEAR if u connect reports of VIOLENCE & removal of transfolk from: _____. In Disregarding that point u appear 2 CHOOSE HATE. — Peppermint (@Peppermint247) June 7, 2020
Hey JK as you claim to support trans rights and this is a historical moment where we are globally discussing the impact of white supremacy on Black People, please share some of your $650million mega wealth with this charity. https://t.co/3WoGduRuSE — Jameela Jamil 🌈 (@jameelajamil) June 7, 2020
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JK Rowling continues to align herself with an ideology which willfully distorts facts about gender identity and people who are trans. In 2020, there is no excuse for targeting trans people. — GLAAD (@glaad) June 7, 2020
If you want to direct your rightful anger over JK Rowling's latest anti-trans comments into something positive, support orgs that help Black trans people like @MPJInstitute, @blacktransusa, @TransJusticeFP, @Genderintell and @ukblackpride — GLAAD (@glaad) June 7, 2020
Back in 2018, the Wizarding World creator sparked a backlash when she was seen “liking” a tweet referring to transgender women as “men in dresses”.
Towards the end of last year, she was criticised when she spoke out in defence of Maya Forstater, who had been accused of using “offensive and exclusionary” language in a number of tweets relating to proposed changes to the Gender Recognition Act, which would allow self-identification.
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She said she had “accidentally pasted in” a sentence, which appeared to be from an article about transgender activist Tara Wolf.
Useful websites and helplines:


thehuffingtonpostuk--2020-06-09--US Attorney General Contradicts Trump’s Claim He Went To White House Bunker For ‘Inspection’

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“Things were so bad that the Secret Service recommended the president go down to the bunker,” Barr told Bret Baier on Fox News.
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Barr revealed the news angrily, insisting that the president was in danger. “We can’t have that in our country,” he added, apparently forgetting he had just contradicted his boss.
Baier: If you had to do Monday over again, would you do something different?
Barr: Based on what I know now, no... Things were so bad, the secret service recommended the President go down to the bunker. We can’t have that in our country. pic.twitter.com/2p64yP9G0s — Acyn Torabi (@Acyn) June 8, 2020
“I was there for a tiny, little short period of time,” Trump said in a radio interview with Fox News’ Brian Kilmeade last Wednesday. “And it was much more for an inspection.”
He added: “I’ve gone down two or three times ― all for inspection. And you go there, some day you may need it. ... I went down, I looked at it.”
Trump was reportedly rushed by the Secret Service to the underground Presidential Emergency Operations Center on May 29 as hundreds of protesters gathered outside the White House during nationwide demonstrations triggered by the May 25 police killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis. Trump spent nearly an hour in the bunker, which was designed for use in emergencies, such as terrorist attacks.
The bunker stay leaked to the media two days later, and Trump came up with an alternative story for his visit to the secure hideaway.
CNN reported Trump was so incensed that news coverage characterized him as being holed up in his bunker during protests that he wanted to be seen outside the White House gates.
The day after the bunker visit leaked, he declared himself the law-and-order president who would crack down on the anti-racism protests in a Rose Garden statement. He then strode across the street to a church after law enforcement cleared the way for him by bashing and gassing peaceful protesters who had been gathered outside the White House.


thehuffingtonpostuk--2020-06-09--How 'S**thole' Countries Handled Coronavirus Better Than The US

The coronavirus didn’t hit wealthy countries first, but it hit them hard. So far, nearly four out of five global Covid-19 deaths have occurred in the global north, which encompasses most developed nations.
The United States, Italy, Spain, France and the United Kingdom contain just 7.5% of the world’s population – and two-thirds of its coronavirus death toll.
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While the failures of the developed world to contain the virus have been well-documented, the successes of the global south – comprising newly industrialised or developing countries – have gone mostly unnoticed.
Last month, the World Bank reported that developing countries make up 85% of the global population but account for just 21% of Covid-19 deaths. In late May, the entire region of West Africa – which has a greater population than the United States – had recorded just 654 deaths, a figure some Western countries were racking up every day.
This phenomenon is no coincidence. The global south features countries with a vast range of demographic, climatic and geographic features. Many coronavirus superstars, including Vietnam, Mongolia and Slovenia, share borders with pandemic hotspots. And while it’s true that poor countries have lower testing rates – and some may be fabricating their statistics entirely – conditions on the ground give little indication that the developing world has experienced the coronavirus pandemic as severely as its wealthier counterpart.
So what explains the strikingly lower death tolls in what President Donald Trump once called “shithole countries”? The most convincing explanation, experts said, is that poor countries have simply managed the pandemic better than rich ones.
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“Whenever we see success in the developing world, we tend to tell the story in terms of things that are outside their control,” said Charles Kenny, a senior fellow at the Center for Global Development and the author of Getting Better: Why Global Development Is Succeeding and How We Can Improve the World Even More. Over the last few decades, he said, the global south has made huge strides in terms of infrastructure, literacy, health care and welfare policy. Those achievements laid the groundwork for poor countries’ coronavirus response – but have gone almost entirely unnoticed in the developed world.
“We have a problem talking about the policy successes of developing countries, which are considerable,” Kenny said. Western media sources tend to emphasise developing countries’ challenges rather than their achievements. Even when they do get credit for lifting their populations out of poverty, stories in the international press often emphasise the role of Western charities rather than domestic efforts.
Mongolia took a series of deliberate steps to stop the spread of coronavirus, including disinfecting public spaces in the capital, Ulaanbaatar. The country has reported zero coronavirus deaths. BYAMBASUREN BYAMBA-OCHIR via Getty Images
But the available evidence suggests that developing countries have tackled Covid-19 not through luck or chance, but rather through the diligent efforts of their politicians and their populations.
In January, while Trump was assuring Americans that the few known cases would soon fall to zero, Senegal was closing its borders, initiating contact tracing and committing to provide a hospital bed to every Covid-19 patient. In February, as Western European leaders allowed the virus to spread at mass gatherings, Mongolia canceled its national lunar new year celebrations and set up a task force with more than 800 staff members.
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And in March, as the United States distributed meagre social benefits and bailed out corporations, the Cook Islands, a small country with incomes roughly on par with Sri Lanka, devised a welfare package worth 11% of its gross domestic product that included cash payments to older adults and a three-month waiver of electricity bills for every household.
These cases are not outliers. Many poor countries with small coronavirus outbreaks took deliberate, early and decisive steps while those in the West wasted precious time dithering. And they took these steps against considerable odds.
Senegal, like many sub-Saharan African countries, has a mostly informal economy, making quarantines both logistically difficult and economically devastating. The entire country had just 86 intensive care unit beds at the start of the pandemic. Nevertheless, within weeks of the global outbreak, local officials had established 78 field offices, dispatched contact tracing teams and allocated a $160 million response budget.
As of Saturday, Senegal had just 47 deaths. Pennsylvania, a state with roughly the same population, had 5,931.
“The story of the developing world in recent decades has been falling rates of violence and government services reaching more people. That story has been overlooked because no one wants to tell it.” - Charles Kenny, author of "Getting Better: Why Global Development Is Succeeding and How We Can Improve the World Even More"
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“We’ve managed to set politics aside and put solidarity and togetherness first,” said Aminatou Sar, the Senegal program director for PATH, an international public health nonprofit. The country has spent the years since the 2014 Ebola outbreak deliberately strengthening its health care infrastructure and establishing data gathering and surveillance systems. Senegal didn’t get lucky; it did the work many of its wealthier counterparts refused to.
There are, of course, failures as well as successes in the developing world. Brazil now has one of the world’s worst outbreaks. Some developing country heads of state have touted unproven medications, while others have used the pandemic as an excuse for power grabs and police harassment. With death tolls rising in Egypt, Peru and Bangladesh, many experts fear the virus surging in regions it had previously spared.
But while it’s important to acknowledge those caveats, it’s also worth noting that experts have been predicting calamity in the developing world for months. So far, it hasn’t happened. And when it comes to power grabs and unfounded medical advice, rich countries have made the same missteps as poor ones – hydroxychloroquine, anyone? – and have managed to rack up a death toll that outpaces the developing world by an order of magnitude.
Poor Countries Intervened Early
Perhaps the most decisive step developing countries took to control the coronavirus was intervening before it was too late. Across the global south, countries closed their borders and locked down their populations far sooner than Western countries.
Trinidad and Tobago, for example, shut down its economy the day after recording its first case. Rwanda halted all commercial flights five days after detecting the virus. The Cook Islands, a country whose economy is almost entirely dependent on tourism, canceled all incoming flights before recording a single case of Covid-19.
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Albania, a Balkan country with so little hospital capacity that a member of parliament set up a GoFundMe to buy ventilators, has deep economic ties to Italy, one of the countries hardest hit by the virus. On March 8, the same day it confirmed the first case of Covid-19, the country cancelled all travel to Italy. Two days later, it imposed one of Europe’s strictest quarantines, imposing large fines and even jail time for citizens who left their homes. The government shut down public transit, banned gatherings of more than two people and forced residents to apply for permission to use their own cars.
By early June, the country had recorded just 33 deaths, a fatality rate roughly one-tenth as severe as Germany’s and one-thirtieth as severe as that of the United States.
Senegal had just 47 COVID-19 deaths as of Saturday. Pennsylvania, a state with roughly the same population, had 5,931. Anadolu Agency via Getty Images
But the best illustration of how important early intervention was to halting the spread of the pandemic comes not from comparing poor countries to rich ones but from comparing them to each other.
Armenia and Georgia are neighbouring countries in the Caucasus region with similar climates, links to the outside world and per capita GDP.
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When it comes to the coronavirus, however, they have much less in common. As early as January, Georgia had halted flights from Italy and implemented temperature screening at airports. TV channels gave doctors airtime to describe the course of the virus and give sanitation advice. The government implemented a strict lockdown order on March 6.
Armenia, by contrast, never imposed a strict quarantine and waited to announce a lockdown order until March 15. By early June, Georgia had 800 cases of coronavirus. Armenia had more than 10,000.
Social Trust Eases Social Distancing
While Western reporting has typically focused on the disadvantages poor countries face when responding to the coronavirus, they also have considerable advantages.
“We have our people,” said Sar, the Senegal program director. While the global north has shifted many of its health resources to non-infectious diseases such as cancer and heart disease, developing countries have retained their focus on infectious diseases, including malaria and HIV.
Partly due to its experience with Ebola, Senegal has a sophisticated network of civil society groups and faith-based organisations with extensive experience disseminating health information. Since the start of the pandemic, nongovernmental organisations have produced radio spots in local languages; community leaders have checked in on local residents, and musical artists have recorded songs about hygiene practices.
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“We’ve seen community health workers and women’s groups going into communities and telling them about the reality of the pandemic,” Sar said. “It was amazing how quickly you saw people wearing masks. This solidarity and resilience is one of the reasons why the disaster people were predicting hasn’t happened.”
This community health infrastructure, said Brigitte Seim, a University of North Carolina professor who conducts research in Malawi and Zambia, rests on another advantage enjoyed by many developing countries: Higher levels of social trust.
“We often talk about ‘government resources’ without thinking about the broader range of resources that each country has,” Seim said. Countries with less capacity for top-down government efforts often have strong networks for horizontal information-sharing and advice. This can be decisive when handling a virus that requires large numbers of people to wear masks, wash their hands and stay home from work.
“People who trust each other are going to be more willing to amplify the government’s efforts to contain an infectious disease,” she said. “That’s an incredibly powerful resource.”
Vietnam set up makeshift testing sites early in the coronavirus pandemic. Despite having far fewer resources than the United States and sharing a border with China, the country has not recorded any COVID-19 deaths. Xinhua News Agency via Getty Images
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Governments That Do More With Less
The developing world’s success at containing Covid-19 doesn’t just come from its community organisations. It also comes from its governments.
The best example of this is Vietnam. Rather than try to reinvent the wheel, Vietnam simply executed tested advice from local and international experts: Quarantine people at risk; trace positive patients; advise citizens to wash their hands, and wear masks in public.
Once the pandemic started, the government sent daily text messages to all citizens. Residents used “rice ATMs” to pick up food without violating social distancing rules. The government closed hospitals and quarantined villages when new cases appeared. These might not be the most exciting strategies, but they’re the result of years of deliberate investment.
“We applied an approach that we know works,” said Nhu Nguyen, PATH’s global health securities lead in Vietnam. “Vietnam experienced Sars and the avian influenza epidemic. The public health system has been investing in preparedness for the past 10 years.”
So far, it has paid off. The Vietnamese population experienced considerably less disruption than residents of wealthier countries. Nguyen said that in Hanoi, people were only under strict quarantine for three weeks. As of last week, restaurants had reopened (with temperature checks and a steady supply of hand sanitiser), and offices had invited back their workers.
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“We’re already living in the new normal,” Nguyen said.
Many other developing country success stories reflect the same dedication to evidence-based policies and local innovation.
South Africa dispatched more than 28,000 health care workers to check symptoms and spread information door to door. Albania launched an entire TV channel dedicated to educating the public about the virus. Ghana elevated its testing rate by combining samples from multiple patients and following up with individual tests only if the batch came back positive.
All of these innovations reflect the steady improvement in living standards and infrastructure that characterises recent history in the developing world. Over the last 20 years, many poor countries have built comprehensive welfare systems. Many middle-income countries also have universal health care, a structure that has proven to be more capable of allocating resources and tracking patients than America’s fragmented, quasi-privatised system. These governance systems may not capture the world’s attention but they were decisive in tackling Covid-19.
“One of the best-kept secrets about developing country governments is that they do a far better job of providing public services than Western governments did when they were at the same income level,” Kenny said.
Kenny warned, however, that the pandemic is not over. The dire predictions of major outbreaks in the countries least equipped to manage them haven’t come to pass yet, but they could. For all their innovation, poor countries may only have bought themselves time.
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But for a disease that spreads exponentially and for which treatments are only now being developed, extra time means extra lives. Even if they have only delayed the spread of the virus, developing countries have achieved more than their global north counterparts — and with far fewer resources.


thehuffingtonpostuk--2020-06-09--Trisha Goddard Contacted Leigh Francis Over Hurtful Portrayal Of Black Celebrities On Bo' Selecta

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The talk show legend – who was one of many celebrities parodied on Bo’ Selecta – said she felt compelled to address Leigh’s past work, after seeing the comedian’s post in support of the Black Lives Matter movement.
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Speaking to The Sun, Trisha said she told Leigh: “[Bo’ Selecta] emboldened a lot of casual racism towards myself and others you parodied with big lips and noses.
“It would be a very powerful gesture for you to recognise what part you played in perpetuating blackface.”
Trisha at the launch of this year's Dancing On Ice Mike Marsland via Getty Images
Trisha also said that the impressions, which saw Leigh donning rubber masks to impersonate celebrities, left her feeling “hurt, distaste and disgust”, and that her children were bullied due to the show.
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She said she received a personal apology from Leigh – who is now best known for his Keith Lemon character – before he shared his public video.
In his video, posted last week, he said: “Back in 2002 I did a show called Bo’ Selecta, I portrayed many Black people. Back then I didn’t think anything about it, people didn’t say anything, I’m not going to blame other people.
“Been talking to some people, I didn’t realise how offensive it was back then.


thehuffingtonpostuk--2020-06-09--'Miss Hitler' Contestant Among Four Jailed For Terror Group Membership

Alice Cutter entered a Miss Hitler beauty pageant PA Ready News UK
Four neo-Nazi “diehards” convicted of being members of the banned terrorist group National Action have been jailed.
Former Miss Hitler beauty pageant contestant Alice Cutter and her Nazi-admiring former partner Mark Jones were convicted of membership of a terrorist group after a trial in March, alongside co-accused Garry Jack and Connor Scothern.
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Sentencing at Birmingham Crown Court on Tuesday, Judge Paul Farrer QC told Jones he had played “a significant role in the continuation of the organisation”, after its ban in December 2016.
Turning to Cutter, he said: “You never held an organisational or leadership role”, but added she was a “trusted confidante” of one the group’s leaders, as well as being in a “committed relationship” with Jones.
Connor Scothern was handed a sentence of detention for 18 months PA
Extreme right-wing group National Action (NA), labelled “racist, anti-Semitic and homophobic” by the then-home secretary Amber Rudd, was banned in December 2016 after a series of rallies and incidents, including praise of the murder of MP Jo Cox.
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Cutter, 23, who entered the Miss Hitler beauty contest as Miss Buchenwald – a reference to the Second World War death camp – had denied ever being a member, despite attending the group’s rallies, in which banners reading “Hitler was right” were raised.
Jurors were also shown messages in which the waitress joked about gassing synagogues, using a Jew’s head as a football, and exclaiming “Rot in hell, bitch”, after hearing of Cox’s murder.
Jones, a former member of the British National Party’s youth wing and a rail engineer, was described at trial as a “leader and strategist” who played a “prominent and active role”.
The 25-year-old, originally the group’s London regional organiser, acknowledged posing for a photograph while delivering a Nazi-style salute and holding an NA flag in Buchenwald’s execution room during a trip to Germany in 2016.
Prosecutors described Cutter and Jones, both of Sowerby Bridge, near Halifax, West Yorkshire, as well as Jack and Scothern as “active” group members, even after the ban.
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Jack, 24, of Heathland Avenue, Shard End, Birmingham, had attended almost every meeting of NA’s Midlands sub-group.
He also had a previous conviction, from before the group was banned for plastering Birmingham’s Aston University campus with NA’s racially charged stickers, some reading “Britain is ours, the rest must go.”
Garry Jack was sentenced to four-and-a-half years in prison PA
Scothern, 19, of Bagnall Avenue, Nottingham, was “considered future leadership material” and had distributed almost 1,500 stickers calling for a “final solution” – in reference to the Nazis’ genocide against Jews.
Cutter was jailed for three years, while Jones received a five-and-a-half-year prison term.
Jack was sentenced to four-and-a-half years in prison, and Scothern was handed an 18-month sentence.
Jailing Jack, 24, the judge told him: “You became a dedicated member and were wholly committed to their ideology.”
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Turning to Scothern, judge Farrer added: “You were enthusiastic about and wholly committed to the group.”
Speaking after sentencing Jenny Hopkins, from the CPS, said: “Each of these people continued their membership of National Action after it was proscribed as a terrorist organisation.
“We were able to prove they arranged meetings in different towns, scanned people attending for hidden mobile phones and listening devices and used a number of cyber security apps.
“Their fanatical racism meant they were not prepared to break the bonds that united them in hatred.”
Speaking ahead of sentencing, the director of public prosecutions Max Hill QC described NA members as “diehards” who “hark back to the days of not just anti-Semitism, but the Holocaust, the Third Reich in Germany”.
He told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme: “They are doing this for a particular purpose, which is to terrorise the people around them.
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“And that’s why the label of terrorism is so important.”


thehuffingtonpostuk--2020-06-09--Who Was Cecil Rhodes And Why Do Campaigners Want To Topple His Statue At Oxford University?

Cecil John Rhodes photographed in 1895 Granger/Shutterstock
Calls to remove the statue of imperialist Cecil Rhodes from an Oxford college have been reignited amid anti-racism demonstrations.
The Rhodes Must Fall Oxford campaign group, alongside other student groups, argue that the university has “failed to address its institutional racism” and the impact on students and the city. A protest is planned for 5pm on Tuesday – the latest of several stretching back five years.
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An open letter from campaigners to the university’s vice-chancellor says the institution has only made “inconsequential inroads” into tackling the material legacy of imperialism, adding it “is not enough”.
Thousands of people have signed two new petitions calling for the statue of colonialist Rhodes at Oriel College to be taken down.
Dozens of local Labour Party councillors are also calling on the university to work with Oxford City Council, residents and trade unions to “make Oxford a truly anti-racist city” by immediately removing the statue and associated plaque.
It comes after a statue of 17th century slave trader Edward Colston was pulled down and thrown into Bristol Harbour during a Black Lives Matter protest on Sunday.
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Who was Cecil Rhodes?
Cecil Rhodes was the founder of the southern African colony Rhodesia, modern day Zimbabwe, which was named after him in 1895.
The son of a Bishop’s Stortford clergyman, Rhodes was a Victorian imperialist regarded as one of the main proponents of white colonial domination. He made a fortune from the mines and endowed the university’s Rhodes Scholarship.
Early commercial success enabled him to fulfil his ambition to study at Oxford, where he was admitted to Oriel College in 1873 and took his degree in 1881.
Cecil Rhodes’ legacy at Oxford University stretches beyond the statue. The scholarship invites students from across the world to study at Oxford. US president Bill Clinton was a notable recipient of the postgraduate award.
Upon his death in 1902, he left 2% of his estate to Oriel College, where he had been a student. His legacy helped fund the construction of a new building, opened in 1911, which is now Grade II listed and includes the now controversial statue commemorating his benefaction.
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Rhodes founded the De Beers diamond empire, which pioneered the creation of “closed compounds” – where migrant labourers were racially segregated and locked in for the duration of their contracts.
He was admired by Hitler and had a reputation for being racist, with many historical accounts quoting him as stating: “I prefer land to n******s [...] the natives are like children. They are just emerging from barbarism [...] one should kill as many n*****s as possible.’”
A portrait of 'The Rhodes Colossus', reflecting Rhodes' desire to build a railway across Africa from Cape Town to Cairo The Art Archive/Shutterstock
Rhodes served as prime minister of the British Empire’s Cape Colony, including South Africa, in the early 1890s and has been linked to apartheid-style policies including working to alter laws on voting and land ownership, thus disenfranchising most Africans.
Rhodes considered the English “a master race”. “I contend that we are the first race in the world, and that the more of the world we inhabit the better it is for the human race,” he once said.
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His famously yearned to build a railway across the entire continent of Africa from Cairo to Cape Town, without ever leaving British territory.
In 1996 Anthony Thomas wrote the biographic epic series Rhodes for the BBC. He said: “Hitler described him as the only Englishman who truly understood Anglo-Saxon ideals and destiny. It is too chilling to think of how Hitler empathised with him.”
In 2015, Cape Town University removed a statue of him, following mass protests which included faeces being hurled at it.
Rhodes Must Fall
Demonstrators will protest in front of the Rhodes statue in Oxford on Tuesday as part of the Black Lives Matter movement. The campaigners want iconography that “glorifies” Rhodes to be removed from the university.
It comes amid a wider “decolonise” movement sweeping universities across the world in recent years.
The Rhodes Must Fall movement was established in 2015 at Cape Town University, and later spread to Oxford, where students demanded that the statue of Rhodes was removed from Oriel College.
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In 2016, Oriel College decided to keep the statue despite the students’ demands. Campaigners from the Rhodes Must Fall group argued that the row illustrated Britain’s “imperial blind spot”.
An Oxford Union vote resulted in 245 ayes and 212 noes for removing the statue but a poll at the time found that 59% of Brits thought that the statue of Rhodes should remain in place.
According to the Guardian, the college admitted it had been warned “second hand” of the possibility that it would lose about £100m in gifts should the statue be taken down but a spokesperson insisted the financial implications were not the primary consideration.
Campaigner Brian Kwoba told the newspaper Rhodes was “responsible for all manner of stealing land, massacring tens of thousands of Black Africans, imposing a regime of unspeakable labour exploitation in the diamond mines and devising proto-apartheid policies”.
The statue mounted on Oriel college building of British imperialist Cecil Rhodes PA
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He added: “The significance of taking down the statue is simple: Cecil Rhodes is the Hitler of southern Africa. Would anyone countenance a statue of Hitler? The fact that Rhodes is still memorialised with statues, plaques and buildings demonstrates the size and strength of Britain’s imperial blind spot.”
Femi Nylander, one of the original Rhodes Must Fall campaigners, said the university made “a series of promises” to Black students around the curriculum and access and representation following the movement in 2015.
But he said these never materialised.
The open letter to the university, signed by more than 6,600 individuals and organisations, outlines five steps that campaigners want it to take to “make upholding anti-racist values a reality”.
Liberal Democrat education spokesperson Layla Moran, who is MP for Oxford West and Abingdon, said: “The statues of white supremacists and slave merchants should not still be standing in our cities. That’s why the statue of Cecil Rhodes must come down.
“I’m not endorsing vigilante action, but I would urge Oriel College in the strongest terms to think about what message this statue sends in 2020, and to remove it.”
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The official website for Oriel College itself, states:


thehuffingtonpostuk--2020-06-09--Jonathan Ross Backtracks After Defending JK Rowling: 'I’m Not In A Position To Decide What's Conside

Jonathan Ross Backtracks After Defending JK Rowling: 'I’m Not In A Position To Decide What's Considered Transphobic'

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Jonathan Ross has backtracked on his defence of JK Rowling, stating it is not for him to decide “what is or isn’t considered transphobic”.
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On Saturday, the author commented on an article titled, Creating a More Equal Post-COVID-19 World for People Who Menstruate, pushing back against the headline for not referring to those who have periods as “women”.
Jonathan Ross and JK Rowling Shutterstock
“I’m sure there used to be a word for those people. Someone help me out. Wumben? Wimpund? Woomud?,” she tweeted, before adding: “If sex isn’t real, there’s no same-sex attraction. If sex isn’t real, the lived reality of women globally is erased.
“I know and love trans people, but erasing the concept of sex removes the ability of many to meaningfully discuss their lives. It isn’t hate to speak the truth.”
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The tweet sparked a wave of backlash from the LGBTQ community and its supporters, who accused her of invalidating trans people, with Jonathan speaking out to insist the writer was not “transphobic”.
However, he has since spoken out again after a conversation with his daughters about his original tweet.
He said: “Those who know me will concede I try to be thoughtful & not a dick. Having talked to some people (OK, my daughters) re my earlier tweet, I’ve come to accept that I’m not in a position to decide what is or isn’t considered transphobic.
“It’s a wildly sensitive subject. Let’s keep talking.”
Those who know me will concede I try to be thoughtful & not a dick.Having talked to some people(OK,my daughters)re my earlier tweet,I’ve come to accept that I’m not in a position to decide what is or isn’t considered transphobic. It’s a wildly sensitive subject.Let’s keep talking — Jonathan Ross (@wossy) June 8, 2020
He previously tweeted: “I just ate too many brownies. Again. Oh, and also. @jk_rowling is both right and magnificent. For those accusing her of transphobia, please read what she wrote. She clearly is not.”
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I just ate too many brownies. Again. Oh, and also. @jk_rowling is both right and magnificent.For those accusing her of transphobia, please read what she wrote. She clearly is not. — Jonathan Ross (@wossy) June 7, 2020
In follow-up tweets sent on Saturday, Rowling insisted that accusations that she was transphobic were “nonsense”.
“The idea that women like me, who’ve been empathetic to trans people for decades, feeling kinship because they’re vulnerable in the same way as women – ie, to male violence – ‘hate’ trans people because they think sex is real and has lived consequences – is a nonsense,” she tweeted.
“I respect every trans person’s right to live any way that feels authentic and comfortable to them. I’d march with you if you were discriminated against on the basis of being trans. At the same time, my life has been shaped by being female. I do not believe it’s hateful to say so.”
Harry Potter actor Daniel Radcliffe has since spoken out in support of the trans community, after feeling “compelled to say something”.
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Daniel shared a statement through the LGBTQ suicide prevention charity The Trevor Project, and while he claimed that the issue is not about “in-fighting between JK Rowling and myself,” he said: “Transgender women are women. Any statement to the contrary erases the identity and dignity of transgender people and goes against all advice given by professional health care associations who have far more expertise on this subject matter than either Jo or I.”
It is not the first time the author has been called out by the trans community and their allies.
Back in 2018, the Wizarding World creator sparked a backlash when she was seen “liking” a tweet referring to transgender women as “men in dresses”.
Towards the end of last year, she was criticised when she spoke out in defence of Maya Forstater, who had been accused of using “offensive and exclusionary” language in a number of tweets relating to proposed changes to the Gender Recognition Act, which would allow self-identification.
She said she had “accidentally pasted in” a sentence, which appeared to be from an article about transgender activist Tara Wolf.
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Useful websites and helplines:


thehuffingtonpostuk--2020-06-09--Black British Millennial Content Is A Rarity But I May Destroy You Feels Like The Start Of A New Sta

Black British Millennial Content Is A Rarity But I May Destroy You Feels Like The Start Of A New Standard

In new BBC drama, I May Destroy You, we follow author Arabella Essiuedu (Michaela Coel) as she navigates sexual assault, precarious relationships and being while Black.
As well as exploring the themes of consent, vulnerability and selflessness, the 12-part series is a detailed and realistic depiction of the complex existence of Black Brits and portrays us on screen as whole characters and flawed individuals.
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I May Destroy You stars Michaela Coel, who also wrote, executive produced and co-directed the 10-part series. BBC/Various Artists Ltd and FALKNA/Natalie Seery
Written, executive produced and co-directed by Michaela, the drama doesn’t miss on the small but important details that provide a genuine story: Arabella wraps her hair before she sleeps, greeting her friends is never a simple ‘hello’, it’s a song, dance and jeering in the street. There is a cordiality between Black women who hardly know each other. It all feels so familiar.
Beyond the main theme of consent, is the story of every friend who prioritises everyone else’s feelings over their own, even when it is to their own detriment. The series makes you ask; who cares for the women that take care of everyone else?
Arabella is not polished. She is a successful writer who still procrastinates and produces sub-standard work, she dresses a bit sloppy and walks weightlessly without purpose. Her interactions are clumsy, never to the point and she communicates without authority.
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Arabella's actor friend Terry is played by Weruche Opia. BBC/Various Artists Ltd and FALKNA/Natalie Seery
Black women in dramas often serve to prop up main characters or become aspirational and advisory figures that save the day. Seeing a character who is eager to please and in a vulnerable state breaks down the ‘strong’ narrative forced onto Black women from childhood. From as young as five, Black women are seen as ‘adults’ by people who have a duty of care over them in an experience known as as ‘adultification’.
This week we have seen viral videos of a Black child leading chants at a protest against police brutality - so much of their ability to experience childhood is taken away from them. Adultification follows Black women into adulthood and often means they are hardly seen as victims according to the American Civil Liberties Union.
In London particularly, Black female victims of sexual assault are over-represented: 18% compared to only 16% of the London population.
In the opening episodes, Arabella struggles to even accept that she was the victim of sexual assault and refuses to acknowledge it as a ‘memory.’ It isn’t until she is sat in the police station that it finally dawns on her and she is overwhelmed with emotion. She has to detail the many ways she was let down and confront the awful reality of what happened to her.
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BBC/Various Artists Ltd and FALKNA/Laura Radford
Consistently throughout the series, Arabella shows up for her friends and partners but it isn’t returned. After having her drink spiked during a night out with friends and left paralytically drunk on her own, Arabella spills out of a bar and that is the last memory we are left with.
As she feels her way through the drunken fog, bystanders watch her struggle to carry her own weight. There is a lack of care extended to Black women in public spaces that we see played out here. Unless people want to exert ownership over Black bodies they are often neglected.
Arabella’s character has the same interaction prior to her sexual assault and the morning after: A fan recognises her in the street, extends platitudes and asks for a photo. Despite being clearly disoriented, bruised and bleeding from the night before Arabella still smiles and takes a photo.
At the start of the first episode, Arabella is abandoned in Italy by her boyfriend, abandoned by her friends in the club later on and her publishers don’t bat an eyelid when she is bleeding from her head during their meeting. Despite going through a horrific assault and having little to no recollection of the night she just had; the next day she helps her actor friend Terry, played by Weruche Opia, practice for her rehearsal and finishes the transcript she had to hand in for a 6am deadline.
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When trying to piece together the hazy night and experiencing flashbacks of a violent assault she was patient and weary of calling her friends in the middle of the day. There is so much hesitation in her voice when reaching out which makes for frustrating viewing, you want to yell at her but also give her a tight healing hug.
With the first two episodes giving us so much to think about, there is no doubt that this series is set to continue to deliver.