thehuffingtonpostuk--2020-08-21--10 U-Turns Boris Johnson's Government Has Been Forced To Make During The Pandemic

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It’s been another week where Boris Johnson’s government has abruptly changed its mind on a major policy during the coronavirus pandemic.
Here’s a breakdown of all the about-turns, backtracks and missed targets that have left the public frustrated.
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Last week chancellor Rishi Sunak announced the 80% furlough scheme, which sees the government pick up the wage bill for those forced out of work during lockdown, would be extended to March.
This was almost exactly two months after the PM insisted the scheme would not be the answer to help the economy through the pandemic.
“There will always be those who argue for an infinite extension of the furlough scheme and who want to keep people off work, unemployed, being paid very substantial sums for a very long time,” Johnson told MPs in September.
“I don’t think that’s the right thing.
“I think the best way forward for our country is to get people as far as we possibly can back into work.”
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As of November 5, England is back under lockdown with the public heavily restricted from leaving home and from mixing with other households.
Previously the government had spent weeks ignoring calls from the scientific community – including its own advisers – to impose a two-week national lockdown.
Instead, it opted for a three-tier system of local alert levels that had led to confusion and frustration across the country.
By the end of October, scientific advisers at the top of government said it was too late for a “circuit breaker” to have an effect and a longer national lockdown would be needed to drive the R-value of the virus down to below 1.
Under the new restrictions, children under school age who are with their parents will not count towards the limit on two people meeting outside. This means parents of young children can meet up with each other.
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The initial plans counted a parent and their baby as two people, which would have meant a mother or father would have been unable to meet up with another person while looking after their child.
The government’s U-turn followed calls from MPs to loosen the rules to help combat loneliness among new parents as England goes into lockdown.
Adults who are dependent on round-the-clock care, such as those with severe disabilities, are also exempt from the rule.
In September Michael Gove revealed a “shift in emphasis” on the government’s push for people to return to offices – with the updated emphasis on not actually doing it.
The cabinet office minister said if people could work from home “then we would encourage them to do so.”
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He added: “We are stressing that if it is safe to work in your workplace, if you are in a Covid secure workplace, then you should be there if your job requires it.”
Asked if that was a change in government guidance, Gove said “yes”.
Boris Johnson had spent weeks trying to encourage workers to return to offices in an attempt to reinvigorate town and city centres decimated by lockdown.
In August the government performed another U-turn and reversed plans to ease local lockdowns in Greater Manchester.
Health secretary Matt Hancock said following a “significant change” in the level of infection rates in the last few days, Bolton and Trafford would remain under existing restrictions – despite loosening them hours earlier.
It came after Greater Manchester mayor Andy Burnham said easing the guidance restricting social gatherings in people’s homes would be “completely illogical”.
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Also in August, the government announced that people on low incomes who live in areas with high coronavirus numbers and were told to self-isolate would be able to claim £13 a day in addition to any other benefits they receive.
Starting with a trial in Blackburn, Darwen, Pendle and Oldham, eligible people who test positive for the virus would receive £130 for their 10-day period of self-isolation.
Other members of their household, who under the current rules have to self-isolate for 14 days, would be entitled to a payment of £182.
The move came after the Labour Party wrote to Rishi Sunak asking for more help for those who would struggle on statutory sick pay, a request the chancellor rejected earlier in August.
After first stating that secondary pupils and staff in local lockdowns wouldn’t have to wear face masks, the government was later forced to backtrack ahead of the start of the Autumn term.
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The advice is now that face coverings should be worn when moving around corridors and communal areas.
They will not need to be worn in classrooms, because other protective measures will already be in place and they might affect learning, it added.
Face coverings will not be recommended in schools more widely, the department said, but added that schools will have the discretion to require them to be worn by staff and children in Year 7 and above in communal areas.
The change follows World Health Organisation (WHO) advice that children aged over 12 should wear masks.
In August the eviction ban was extended for four weeks. Ministers also decided landlords will have to give the majority of tenants six months’ notice to protect vulnerable renters hit by the coronavirus crisis from a winter eviction.
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The Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government announced the move after charities warned there could be mass evictions around Christmas and said tens of thousands of outgoing tenants could be unable to access affordable homes, prompting a “devastating homelessness crisis”.
However the ban expired in September, meaning renters are no longer under thee protection of emergency measures and could be evicted.
Because of how the county court system works, plus the rules around giving renters advance notice of their hearing, the charity Shelter said it did not expect renters to actually be evicted by bailiffs until after September – but courts have now resumed the processing of possession claims.
After holding out for five days, education secretary Gavin Williamson was finally forced to admit defeat and ditch the controversial A-level algorithm that had seen 100,000 students marked down in August.
Ministers announced they would allow for results to be based on teachers’ predicted grades for their students, rather than a “standardisation model” that saw the A-level grades of almost 40% of students downgraded from what they had originally been awarded.
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It followed criticism from students and headteachers and complaints from dozens of Tory MPs, and came more than a week after the Scottish government was forced into its own U-turn after a backlash about the moderation system used there.
The government eventually decided to waive heavily-criticised NHS fees being charged to migrant health and care workers on the coronavirus front line.
The government was due to hike the immigration health surcharge from £400 to £624 this October, but in May said it will be scrapped as the Covid-19 crisis gripped the NHS.
The sum had been payable to all overseas workers to use the NHS and from this autumn would have seen a family-of-four hit with a bill as high as £2,500 a year.
Molly Darlington / reuters
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England footballer Marcus Rashford was credited as playing a key part in forcing the government to U-turn on its decision not to extend the children’s food voucher scheme into the summer holidays.
On June 16, Cabinet minister Grant Shapps said that free school meals are not normally extended to cover the summer period.
Yet a few hours later, No 10 backtracked on its stance, confirming that it would in fact extend the programme.
Speaking on Sky News the next day, health secretary Matt Hancock mistakenly praised “Daniel Rashford” for his campaigning efforts.
Having said it would provide free school meals over the summer holidays, the government then voted in October against a Labour motion to extend the provision into the half-term and Christmas holidays.
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The vote by 322 Tory MPs sparked a huge backlash and public anger, with businesses and councils across the country stepping into the breach and announcing they would fund meals during the half-term break for those who needed them.
A petition by England footballer Marcus Rashford for pupils in disadvantaged families to have their meals paid for during the holidays went on to attract more than one million signatures – mass backing which piled pressure on Downing Street to commit to more support.
True to form, the government quietly reversed its decision in early November and has pledged £170 million of extra funding to provide free meals to disadvantaged children during the Christmas holidays.
The money will pay for the Covid Winter Grant Scheme to support families over the season while the Holiday Activities and Food programme will be extended to cover the Easter, summer and Christmas breaks in 2021, the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) announced.
In early May, Williamson set out the government’s ambition that all primary-age children in England would have at least four weeks in school before the summer.
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But on June 9, he said there was “no choice” but to scrap those plans amid concerns that the two-metre social distancing rule would make a full return impossible.
In August, the government said that its plans would be for all pupils, in all year groups, to return to school full-time from the beginning of the autumn term.
Schools have been required to implement measures including enhanced cleaning procedures, more frequent hand-washing, and keeping pupils and family members with Covid-19 symptoms away, as they return.
A new NHSX app for contact tracing was announced by health secretary Matt Hancock on April 12, pledging that it would be “crucial” for preventing the transmission of coronavirus.
The app was trialled on the Isle of Wight with a view to it being rolled out more widely across the country in May.
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However, on June 18, the government abandoned plans for its own app, instead allowing Apple and Google to take over the project.
On August 13, a trial of the new app was announced, again involving the Isle of Wight as well as NHS volunteer respondents in the UK.
The government said the technology would be released on September 24, but was again forced to issue a correction after incorrectly stating in the announcement that the app wouldn’t actually be able to do the contact tracing it was designed for.
Hours after the announcement was made, the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) issued a statement insisting contact tracing would be `“at the heart of the NHS Covid-19 app”.
Bereavement scheme to NHS support staff
After criticism that care workers, cleaners and porters were being excluded from a Home Office scheme granting families of health workers indefinite leave to remain in the UK if they die of Covid-19, the government announced an extension of the scheme on May 20.
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The scheme had been introduced in April to help support families affected by the pandemic.
Home secretary Priti Patel said the extension would be “effective immediately and retrospectively”.
Face coverings
Face masks became compulsory in shops and supermarkets in July, marking a U-turn on previous policy.
The move followed a weekend of confusion over whether ministers intended to make face coverings compulsory after Boris Johnson said they were looking at “stricter” rules.
From tomorrow, wearing a face covering will be mandatory in shops, supermarkets, shopping centres & transport hubs.
It is vital that everyone plays their part by following this new guidance so we can #EnjoySummerSafely & defeat #coronavirus. — Matt Hancock (@MattHancock) July 23, 2020
In the early days of the pandemic, ministers and the government’s scientific advisers repeatedly played down the value of face coverings, saying the evidence on the benefits was thin.
There were also thought to be concerns stocks could be diverted from the NHS at a time of intense pressure on the supply of personal protective equipment (PPE) if the public were encouraged to wear them.
Remote voting
MPs as they are seen queuing in a courtyard on the parliamentary estate to vote. JUSTIN TALLIS via Getty Images
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The government was forced to row back on plans MPs to make them vote in person in the House of Commons in the early days of the pandemic.
Labour criticised the “shambolic” long queues MPs had to form to vote which were dubbed the “coronavirus conga”.
A hybrid system enabling parliamentarians to either attend the Commons in person or contribute to proceedings from afar via Zoom was put in place from the end of April before being halted in early June.
Coronavirus testing target
While not technically a U-turn, the monumental failure on testing – which was touted as the best way out of the pandemic – gets an honourable mention.
On April 2, Hancock set a goal of 100,000 coronavirus tests a day by the end of the month.
At the government’s daily briefing on May 1, Hancock said testing figures had hit 122,347 on April 30.
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However, the figures included the number of home tests (27,497) that had been sent out as well as the number of tests sent out to satellite sites (12,872).


thehuffingtonpostuk--2020-08-21--Student Travel Agency STA Travel Ceases Trading

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Student travel firm STA Travel UK has ceased trading, claiming it was left with “no choice” following the impact of the coronavirus crisis on tourism.
The travel agency, which specialises in package tours for backpackers and young people, has more than 50 stores across the UK.
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STA Travel UK said in a statement on Friday that while it had taken measures to mitigate the impact of Covid-19, sales had not picked up due to “consumer uncertainties, further restrictions and renewed lockdown measures”.
It comes after STA Travel Holdings AG, the travel firm’s Swiss parent company, filed for insolvency earlier this week.
Abta, which represents tour operators and travel agents, said the news would send a “shockwave” through the tourism industry, which has taken a hit during the pandemic.
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“The global impact of the coronavirus pandemic has brought the travel industry to a standstill,” a statement by STA Travel UK said.
“Over recent months, we have taken decisive measures to secure the business beyond Covid-19.
“However, sales have not picked up as anticipated due to consumer uncertainties, further restrictions and renewed lockdown measures, which are expected to largely continue into 2021.
“This week, it was announced that STA Travel’s Swiss parent company, STA Travel Holdings AG, had filed for insolvency.
“Today, as a result of that decision, and upon reviewing the UK business, we have been left with no choice but to cease trading with immediate effect.”
A separate statement posted on the firm’s website reassured customers that those with bookings would receive information in the coming days.
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“Due to the recent announcement that STA Travel UK has ceased trading, unfortunately our travel experts are unable to assist you at this time,” it said.
“Please be assured that if you had a previous booking with us, or hold a live booking, you will receive further communication in the coming days.
“We are sorry for the inconvenience and the limited information available to you at this time.”
Andrew McConnell, spokesman for Atol, acknowledged it would be a cause for concern for anyone who had booked through the company or had their plans cancelled.
“It is a sad day for the industry when a long established business like STA Travel Ltd ceases trading, especially one that many may be used to seeing in their towns and on their high streets,” he said.
Arrangements are being made for Atol protected customers to continue their holiday and return home as normal, or make a claim if they were due to travel, he added.
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An Abta spokeswoman said: “The news that STA Travel Limited, which was a long-standing Abta member, has ceased trading will send a shockwave through the industry, bringing to life the very real pressures that travel is under at the moment.


thehuffingtonpostuk--2020-08-21--Meghan Markle Makes Intervention In US Election: 'We All Know What's At Stake'

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Meghan Markle has said “we all know what’s at stake this year” in the US election as she make a rare political intervention since becoming a royal.
On Thursday, the Duchess of Sussex kicked off the “When All Women Vote” virtual hangout, talking about what it means to vote in the upcoming election, remembering the 100th anniversary of the 19th amendment, voter suppression and more.
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“When I think about voting and why this is so exceptionally important for all of us, I would frame it as ‘We vote to honour those who came before us and to protect who will come after us,’” the duchess said in the beginning of her speech. “Because that’s what community is all about. And that is specifically what this election is all about.”
Meghan noted that there are only 75 days until election day, which feels “so very close ― and yet there’s so much work to be done in that amount of time because we all know what’s at stake this year”.
The duchess said that she was inspired by those on the call who are “mobilised and energised to see the change that we all need and deserve”.
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The Duchess of Sussex was introduced by Jordan Brooks, Executive Director of The United State of Women. The United State of Women/YouTube
Prior to becoming a member of the royal family, Meghan denounced president Donald Trump as “divisive” and “misogynistic” during an appearance on “The Nightly Show with Larry Wilmore” before the 2016 election.
The event was organised by the United States of Women and When We All Vote, a nonprofit, nonpartisan organization that aims to increase voter turnout and “close the race and age voting gap by changing the culture around voting”.
Former first lady Michelle Obama helped launch the organization in 2018 with celebrity co-chairs Lin-Manuel Miranda, Janelle Monae, Tom Hanks, Chris Paul, Faith Hill and Tim McGraw.
Meghan also took a moment to remember the 100th anniversary of the 19th Amendment. The amendment, which guaranteed that states couldn’t bar people from voting due to their sex, still left the door open for states to disenfranchise women, especially women of colour — their right to vote wasn’t ensured until after the Voting Rights Act passed in 1965.
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“As we look at things today, though it had taken decades longer for women to get the right to vote ― even today we are watching so many women in different communities who are marginalized still struggling to see that right come to fruition,” Meghan said, adding that continued voter suppression is ”all the more reason we need each of you to be out there supporting each other and understand that this fight is worth fighting.”
The duchess acknowledged that while there are a lot of problems facing us in the world today, it’s even more of a reason to get out there, vote and achieve “the impact that we all need and really want”.
“We can and must do everything we can to ensure that all women have their voices heard. Because at this juncture, if we aren’t part of the solution, we are part of the problem,” she said. “If you’re not going out there and voting, then you’re complicit. If you’re complacent, you’re complicit.”
“We can make the difference in this election,” the duchess said, before thanking participants and signing off. “And we will make the difference in this election.”
The United State of Women/YouTube
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Fellow participants included Valerie Jarrett, the former senior adviser to President Barack Obama; Samantha Barry, editor-in-chief of Glamour; “Community” actress Yvette Nicole Brown; and DJ Diamond Kuts.
Over the past few weeks, the Duchess of Sussex has been actively encouraging Americans to exercise their right to vote in the upcoming 2020 election.
Meghan participated in a Marie Claire feature, published earlier this month, that explained why she’s voting.
Meghan Markle has spent the past few weeks encouraging people to exercise their right to vote. Lisa Maree Williams via Getty Images
“I know what it’s like to have a voice, and also what it’s like to feel voiceless,” the duchess said. “I also know that so many men and women have put their lives on the line for us to be heard. And that opportunity, that fundamental right, is in our ability to exercise our right to vote and to make all of our voices heard.”
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During an interview with Emily Ramshaw, co-founder and CEO of The 19th*, Meghan said that when she’s had “conversations about encouraging people to go out and vote,” noting that it’s “challenging ... for people to remember just how hard it was for people to get the right to vote.” Technically, there is no law barring members of the British royal family from voting, but the queen must remain politically neutral.
As for whether the duchess might have political ambitions of her own now that she’s back in the states, HuffPost spoke with Carolyn Durand, co-author of the bombshell Sussex biography, “Finding Freedom”, last week.
Though the biographer said she wouldn’t make a prediction about Meghan running for office, she said the royal is “an incredible role model for women and for young people.”
“She’s an incredibly eloquent and inspirational speaker and she has the capacity to really inspire people and get involved and I think that’s what we need in our country right now,” Durand said, adding it would be “a wonderful moment” if she decided to run, but “wouldn’t venture a guess”.
“I think right now [Meghan and Harry] want to focus on the family and really look to the future ― setting up their Archewell nonprofit,” the biographer said. “Maybe in the future, we’ll see that; maybe we won’t.”


thehuffingtonpostuk--2020-08-21--Tenet Reviews: Critics Are More Mixed On Christopher Nolan's New Film Than You Might Be Expecting

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The reviews are out for Christopher Nolan’s much-awaited film Tenet, and the new release seems to have divided opinion.
Due to the coronavirus pandemic, Tenet’s release date has been pushed back on three different occasions, with major details about the plot being kept firmly under wraps.
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With the film finally about to hit cinemas next week, critics have now been able to share their thoughts on the release, and it’s far from unanimous whether Tenet lives up to the hype.
Here’s a selection of what critics have been saying, beginning with some of the less enthusiastic responses…
John David Washington and Elizabeth Debicki in Tenet Warner Bros.
“Tenet is not a movie it’s worth the nervous braving a trip to the big screen to see, no matter how safe it is. I’m not even sure that, in five years’ time, it’d be worth staying up to catch on telly. To say so is sad, perhaps heretical. But for audiences to abandon their living rooms in the long term, the first carrot had better not leave a bad taste.”
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“Anyone ready to obsess over a doodad on a backpack as they did over the spinning top of “Inception” can cling to the illusion of Nolan as the movie messiah. On this evidence, though, he’s become a very trying, ungenerous, ever-so-slightly dull boy.”
“Tenet meets all expectations, except the expectation that it will exceed them. Forgive the circularity of this argument: it’s a side effect of watching the defiantly circular Tenet.”
“The sheer meticulousness of Nolan’s grand-canvas action aesthetic is enthralling, as if to compensate for the stray loose threads and teasing paradoxes of his screenplay — or perhaps simply to underline that they don’t matter all that much.”
“Nolan devotees will still get a kick out of Tenet’s cerebral ideas and no doubt forgive its overloaded climax, while the more casual cinemagoer will get plenty of bang for their buck amid its vast visuals… and after five months stuck in front of the small screen, maybe being a little overwhelmed is no bad thing. But it’s hard to escape the sense that less might have been more.”
“Altogether, it makes for a chilly, cerebral film — easy to admire, especially since it’s so rich in audacity and originality, but almost impossible to love, lacking as it is in a certain humanity.”
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That’s not to say all of the reviews have been lukewarm, though.
Plenty of other critics have been full of praise, and here is a snippet of the more positive reviews that we’ve seen so far...
“Though it’s sometimes hamstrung by clumsy dialogue – a necessary evil, perhaps, given how much Nolan needs to explain – Tenet is rarely less than thrilling to watch.
“It’s a challenging, ambitious and genuinely original film packed with compelling performances – Washington and Debicki are especially excellent – which confirms Nolan as the master of the cerebral blockbuster.”
“Feeling your heart and brain race to keep up is a significant part of the fun here, and in that unique and unmistakable Nolan-esque way, there is a series of exhilarating mental snaps whenever the two temporal perspectives intermesh, like the teeth on opposite sides of a zip. As for the parts you won’t and can’t, appreciate first time around – well, rewatching is always an option.”
“If you’re after a big old explosive Nolan braingasm, that is exactly what you’re going to get, shot on old-fashioned film too (as the end credits proudly state). By the time it’s done, you might not know what the hell’s gone on, but it is exciting nevertheless. It is ferociously entertaining.
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“The Protagonist is told early on that he shouldn’t try to understand it, he should ‘feel it’, and that’s the best approach for the audience.
“As with anything time-related, you could spend the movie trying to work it all out and get a headache, or you could just sit back and enjoy the ride. And Nolan has crafted a hell of a ride.”
“Tenet is a big movie… which is designed to be seen on the big screen. It is a piece of what is now called ‘event’ cinema, an immersive experience to stimulate all the senses, which it does, from Ludwig Göransson’s throbbing Wagnerian score to visual effects company DNEG’s eye-boggling CGI.”
“At times, Nolan decides to forgo the need for further explanation about the mind-boggling science, simply asking the audience to keep up anyway. It’s a Christopher Nolan film after all, so it’s only right to be left with a few questions… and an immediate need to rewatch afterwards.”
“The director makes the smaller details deliberately hard to track, with the dialogue often delivered in whispers or from behind masks. It’s been seemingly engineered for multiple viewings. Does it matter all that much, though? Tenet is a thrilling place to get lost in.”
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thehuffingtonpostuk--2020-08-21--Coronavirus Can Be Over In Two Years, Says World Health Organisation Chief

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The World Health Organisation hopes the coronavirus crisis can be over in less than two years, the agency’s chief said on Friday.
The Spanish flu that hit in 1918 took two years to end, said WHO director general Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus.
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“Our situation now with more technology, of course with more connectiveness, the virus has a better chance of spreading, it can move fast,” he said.
“At the same time we have the technology and knowledge to stop it.
“So we hope to finish this pandemic (in) less than two years.”
He urged “national unity” and “global solidarity”.
“That is really key with utilising the available tools to the maximum and hoping that we can have additional tools like vaccine,” he said.
More than 22.81 million people have been reported to be infected by the coronavirus globally and 793,382 have died.
In the UK, 41,405 people have died within 28 days of testing positive for Covid-19.


thehuffingtonpostuk--2020-08-21--Alison Hammond And Dermot O'Leary Teamed Up To Present This Morning And It Was A Total Joy-Fest

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This Morning viewers were treated to a brand new duo on Friday, when Alison Hammond and Dermot O’Leary teamed up to present the show together for the first time.
The former Big Brother contestant was reunited on screen with the ex-Little Brother host, 18 years after she was first interviewed by Dermot on the spin-off show.
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Alison was a housemate on the 2002 series of the reality show before she went on to forge a career as a TV presenter, and as she and Dermot got started with This Morning, they took a moment to remember their first meeting.
Alison Hammond and Dermot O'Leary Shutterstock/ITV
Alison, who usually presents This Morning’s showbiz segments, said: “The last time I saw you really was in 2002. You were the first person to interview me.”
Friday's #ThisMorning is brought to you by @AlisonHammond and @radioleary, so you definitely don't want to miss this one!
Stream it live on the ITV Hub 👉 https://t.co/Q7IV485mUn pic.twitter.com/VbU7D9UNDE — This Morning (@thismorning) August 21, 2020
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Dermot then played a clip of Alison’s audition tape for Big Brother, while she also showed his opening link from his first-ever Little Brother.
“I look so young!” Alison observed.
“Oh wow! I miss that hair,” Dermot said after seeing a shaven-headed version of himself from 2001.
Viewers were treated to a flashback of the pair Shutterstock/ITV
He added: “There was like a Big Brother aficionado who put something online a couple of weeks ago, my first ever show.
“I tweeted after saying that someone was on the espresso, I was so excited to be on live telly. I’m excited today!”
The pair then shared a celebratory dance in the studio before getting on with the rest of the show.
Social distancing won't stop @AlisonHammond and @radioleary from getting their groove on!💃🕺
Stream #ThisMorning live on the ITV Hub, weekdays from 10am 🕙👉 https://t.co/Q7IV485mUn pic.twitter.com/kKYfwA2Jap — This Morning (@thismorning) August 21, 2020
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Viewers were absolutely loving seeing Alison and Dermot on screen together, with many praising the duo on Twitter.
Things I never thought I’d tweet No.827 #ThisMorning just happens to be on, normally a Homes Under The Hammer man, but Dermot O’Leary and Alison Hammond have been an absolute joy. Their chemistry and enjoyment has been a joy! — Bairdric (@Bairdric1) August 21, 2020
I've really enjoyed Alison & Dermot presenting today #ThisMorning — Stephanie D (@Stepharrnee) August 21, 2020
Great start this morning, the world needs more of Alison and Dermot strutting their stuff!🕺💃 #ThisMorning — Fi 🌊⛱🌊🍦🌊 (@Fibutton) August 21, 2020
Dermot and Alison making me laugh. They are like kids in the kitchen. 😂 #ThisMorning — Charlie (@Charlie__Tweets) August 21, 2020
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Dermot and Alison are a perfect duo for breakfast telly. Their good moods are what we need right now. 😃❤ #ThisMorning — 🎥 Paul Berney Loves Movies 📼 (@Paul_Berney) August 21, 2020
During the summer, various guest presenters have taken the helm of This Morning each Friday, as regular Friday hosts Ruth Langsford and Eamonn Holmes have stood in for Holly Willoughby and Phillip Schofield from Monday to Thursday.
The last few weeks have seen Rochelle Humes team up with Ore Oduba, Dermot and then Alison, while Dermot and Rochelle are set to present together next Friday.
After hosting her second live show, Alison thanked fans and her bosses on her Instagram.
She wrote: “Two weeks of presenting the main Friday show with @rochellehumes and @radioleary has been a absolute pleasure.
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“Thanks @thismorning and @itv for the opportunity and everyone in the gallery and behind the cameras for making me feel so comfortable. What a show @thismorning is.
“I never take it for granted how amazing lucky I am to have such a wonderful job #blessed #lucky #love,” she added.
Dermot also wrote: “Loved rolling with my old compadre @alisonhammond55 today on @thismorning.”
Holly and Phil are set to resume presenting duties from Tuesday 1 September.
Prior to their break, Holly spoke of her hopes to be reunited with her glam squad upon her return, after months of doing her own hair, make-up and styling during lockdown.


thehuffingtonpostuk--2020-08-21--Strictly Come Dancing Bosses Confirm How Bruno Tonioli Will Be Involved In New Series

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Strictly Come Dancing bosses have announced their plans for long-serving judge Bruno Tonioli in this year’s series.
In the last few months, it’s been heavily rumoured that Bruno will not be able to appear on the judging panel, due to travel restrictions and his work commitments on the US version of the show, Dancing With The Stars.
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Producers have now confirmed that Bruno will not be be part of this year’s live shows, although he will be involved in the series.
They revealed that he’ll be appearing remotely in the pre-recorded Sunday night results show, while there are also plans for him to return to Strictly “full time towards the end of the series”.
Bruno Tonioli PA
Bruno said: “I absolutely adore being part of Strictly and can’t wait to see what incredible dancing this year has in store!
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“Lockdown has resulted in me being in LA for the foreseeable, but I’m excited to be involved as much as I possibly can. There was no cha-cha-chance I’d miss out!”
Sarah James, executive producer for Strictly Come Dancing, added: “I’m overjoyed that we’ve found a way for Bruno to be part of this year’s Strictly.
“His passion and enthusiasm are such a big part of the show, I’m thrilled we can continue to deliver that to audiences this year.”
It was previously revealed that due to the coronavirus crisis, this year’s Strictly would be a shorter series than usual, while bosses are still working out the details of how the show will work.
The BBC is yet to confirm more details, including whether or not they will feature a studio audience, with a Strictly rep telling HuffPost UK earlier this week that “options are still open at the moment”.
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thehuffingtonpostuk--2020-08-21--Evictions Ban Extended By Just 4 Weeks Despite Growing Fears Over Homelessness

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The ban on landlords throwing renters out during the coronavirus pandemic has been extended by just four weeks, despite growing fears over a huge spike in homelessness.
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Charities say the month-long reprieve will do little to help struggling families, with the pandemic still expected to cause mass unemployment this winter.
Robert Jenrick’s department, the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government, had been under increasing pressure to U-turn, after saying it was aiming to “protect landlords”.
The minister said the ban in England and Wales, which was due to end on Sunday, will be extended until September 20, and that a six-month notice period will be introduced until the end of March.
He said: “I know this year has been challenging and all of us are still living with the effects of Covid-19.
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“That is why today I am announcing a further four-week ban on evictions, meaning no renters will have been evicted for six months.
“I am also increasing protections for renters – six-month notice periods must be given to tenants, supporting renters over winter.”
Cases involving anti-social behaviour or domestic abuse perpetrators are not included, he added.
The announcement did not go down well with landlords, who have now demanded compensation for “lost income”.
Labour leader Keir Starmer welcomed the “11th hour U-turn” but warned the evictions ban should be extended until a “credible plan” is in place to prevent anyone losing their home because of the pandemic.
“This 11th hour U-turn was necessary, but such a brief extension means there is a real risk that this will simply give renters a few more weeks to pack their bags,” said Starmer.
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“Boris Johnson has been warned for months about the looming evictions crisis, but stuck his head in the sand.
“People living in rented accommodation should not be paying the price for this government’s incompetence.
“Section 21 evictions must be scrapped and renters must be given proper support. The ban should not be lifted until the government has a credible plan to ensure no one loses their home as a result of coronavirus.”
The IPPR think-tank said the ban on evictions must be extend for at least another six months.
Jonathan Webb, a research fellow at the progressive organisation, said: “Today’s U-turn reflects a lack of long-term planning from the government. Evidence has been mounting since the beginning of March that the pandemic has hit private renters hard.
“A one-month extension on the eviction ban is another short-term fix that doesn’t provide renters with the long-term security they need.”
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Associate director Luke Murphy added: “Ministers must step in and extend the ban on evictions for another six months if they are to prevent a potential surge in homelessness.”
Citizens Advice chief executive Dame Gillian Guy, meanwhile, said further measures to help renters were urgently needed.
“We’re really pleased the government has stepped in to keep its promise that no renter will lose their home because of the coronavirus pandemic – for now at least,” she said.
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“During this extended pause on new eviction proceedings, we hope the government will work with Citizens Advice and others to put in place a series of protections which will help those who’ve built up rent arrears get back on their feet.
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“We’d like to see funding for a dedicated set of protections, including measures such as grants for those in arrears due to coronavirus.”
A study published on Friday by the office of the Children’s Commissioner for England, Anne Longfield, found that ending the ban now could see 420,000 children evicted with scores of families living in B&Bs and unsuitable temporary accommodation.
The commissioner expressed concerns that an extension of a month wouldn’t be enough to take away the risk of thousands of children’s families being evicted in the run-up to Christmas.
Longfield said: “No child should have to spend time growing up in a cramped room, unable to do school work, sharing bathrooms with adults they don’t know and cut off from family and friends.
“The government and councils showed they could tackle rough sleeping and take bold decisions on evictions in a time of national emergency. That emergency is not yet over for hundreds of thousands of children at risk of eviction, and now is not the time to withdraw this vital safety net.”
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But the National Residential Landlords Association has reacted with anger, saying landlords “cannot be expected to foot the bill for Government failure”.
Chief executive Ben Beadle said: “A blanket extension is unacceptable, especially so close to the deadline.”
He added: “Landlords have been left powerless in exercising their legal right to deal with significant arrears unrelated to Covid-19, antisocial behaviour and extremely disruptive tenants who make life miserable for their neighbours and housemates.


thehuffingtonpostuk--2020-08-21--Covid-19 R Rate Has Risen To Between 0.9 And 1.1, Government Scientists Confirm

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The Covid-19 “R” rate has risen to between 0.9 and 1.1, government scientists have confirmed.
The numbers suggest there is a risk that the overall coronavirus epidemic in the UK is growing, the Science and the Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies (Sage) has said.
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A report published on Friday said: “SAGE does not have confidence that R is currently below one in England.”
It comes as the government was also grappling to contain outbreaks in parts of the country, following a local lockdown in Leicester.
People in Oldham, Blackburn and parts of Pendle were told not to socialise with anyone from outside their household from midnight on Saturday to slow the spread of coronavirus, as parts of the North West narrowly avoided local lockdowns.
While preventing businesses from closing, the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) said the measures mean social activities indoors and outdoors can only be shared by people who live in the same home.
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Residents were also warned told to avoid using public transport except for essential travel.
Health secretary Matt Hancock was also set to meet with West Midlands mayor Andy Street and other local leaders in Birmingham, amid concern over a rise in cases in the city.
Northampton has also become an “area of intervention” after the latest infection rate data was published by Public Health England.
The leader of Birmingham City Council, councillor Ian Ward, said Public Health England’s categorisation of Birmingham as an “area of enhanced support” for government should be a “wake-up call for everyone”.
He said in a statement: “We will make announcements as soon as possible about what this means for the people of the city.
“If our previous warnings to keep doing the basics haven’t been enough, this has to be the wake-up call for everyone.”
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Hancock said he recognised local restrictions amounted to more “sacrifices” for people, but added: “The only way we can keep on top of this deadly virus is through decisive action led by the people who know their areas best, wherever possible through consensus with a local area.
“Working with local leaders we agreed further action in Oldham, Pendle and Blackburn.
“Our approach is to make the action we take as targeted as possible, with the maximum possible local consensus.”
The Sage data also showed that the latest growth rate for the whole of the UK is between -3% to +1%, a slight change from between -4% to -1% last week.


thehuffingtonpostuk--2020-08-22--Boris Johnson Cuts Short Scottish Holiday After Cottage Pictures Published

Boris Johnson and his partner Carrie Symonds were on holiday in a remote part of Scotland. Victoria Jones/PA
Boris Johnson and his fiancee Carrie Symonds have cut short their holiday in Scotland after pictures of their cottage were published.
The PM, his partner and their baby son Wilfred – along with dog Dilyn – were reported to be staying in a remote three-bedroom house on the north-west coast.
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But The Sun said the family were forced to abandon their break because it was no longer considered safe for them to stay.
A government source confirmed to the PA news agency that the PM has returned from Scotland.
Pictures published in the Daily Mail on Friday showed a canvas bell tent erected near the cottage, which was said to boast “spectacular views” towards the islands of Raasay, Rona and Skye.
However, the owner of the field where the tent appeared to be erected told the MailOnline Johnson had not asked for permission to use his land.
Sheep farmer Kenny Cameron also claimed the PM climbed over a fence, using chairs from the cottage, rather than a gate.
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He told the news website: “Mr Johnson is meant to be leading the country and yet he is not setting a great example.
“Usually if people want to go inside a fenced area, they ask for permission first, but I was not asked at all. It is only polite to ask.
“He could have put up his tent in the garden of the cottage and there would have been no problem – but he didn’t do that.”
Cameron said the PM could “easily have damaged the fence by climbing over it as a short cut”, and also criticised him for apparently lighting a bonfire after a period of dry weather.
The Sun, quoting a senior Tory, said blame on the location of the PM’s holiday being revealed is being pointed at the SNP.
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To blame @theSNP for this is classic deflection from a Prime Minister who is under attack for his shambolic Government. It was not @theSNP who told the Daily Mail and for what its worth so many folk in the Highlands told me they knew where the PM was. https://t.co/0WSYk6lOQH — Ian Blackford (@Ianblackford_MP) August 22, 2020
But the party’s Westminster leader Ian Blackford said on Twitter: “To blame @theSNP for this is classic deflection from a prime minister who is under attack for his shambolic government.
“It was not @theSNP who told the Daily Mail and for what it’s worth so many folk in the Highlands told me they knew where the PM was.”


thehuffingtonpostuk--2020-08-22--Piers Morgan Blocks Loose Women's Carol McGiffin On Twitter After Coronavirus Row

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Things might be a bit awkward the next time Piers Morgan and Carol McGiffin bump into one another in the corridors of ITV, after he blocked his fellow daytime star on Twitter.
The pair clashed on the social media site on Friday night in a row about coronavirus, prompting Piers to hit the block button on the Loose Women panellist.
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The Good Morning Britain presenter riled Carol after he tweeted: “To everyone on here deluding themselves that Covid is ‘over’, take a look at Spain’s case & death rate in the past week. Then wake the fu*k up. This pandemic has barely started.”
Piers Morgan and Carol McGiffin Shutterstock/ITV
She then responded, tweeting: “Piers. The only deluded person around here is you. No one’s buying your hysterical bullshit anymore. You did a brilliant job of scaring the nation into paralysis but it’s over now.”
To everyone on here deluding themselves that Covid is ‘over’, take a look at Spain’s case & death rate in the past week.
Then wake the f*ck up.
This pandemic has barely started. — Piers Morgan (@piersmorgan) August 21, 2020
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Piers. The only deluded person around here is you. No one’s buying your hysterical bullshit anymore. You did a brilliant job of scaring the nation into paralysis but it’s over now. — Carol McGiffin (@McGiff) August 21, 2020
While Piers did not reply, shortly afterwards, Carol discovered he had blocked her.
Tweeting a screengrab showing that she was no longer able to view Piers’ tweets, she wrote: “Touched a nerve???”
On Saturday morning, Piers then tweeted: “Having to block a few T-list (and falling...) ‘celebs’ who’ve been driven bonkers by the pandemic & spew utter nonsense about the virus. They can now howl into the wind, and I will be spared their ignorant, deluded & foul-mouthed blatherings.
“It’s a win-win for all of us.”
Having to block a few T-list (and falling...) ‘celebs’ who’ve been driven bonkers by the pandemic & spew utter nonsense about the virus. They can now howl into the wind, and I will be spared their ignorant, deluded & foul-mouthed blatherings.
It’s a win-win for all of us. — Piers Morgan (@piersmorgan) August 22, 2020
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Piers has just returned home after cutting short his holiday when France was put on the UK’s quarantine list for travellers.


thehuffingtonpostuk--2020-08-22--Denise Van Outen Says She Had 'No Idea' She'd Had Coronavirus After Positive Antibodies Test Result

Denise Van Outen has said she had “no idea” she had coronavirus, after an antibodies test returned a positive result.
The TV personality revealed she had undergone a test to see whether she had contracted Covid-19 and was surprised when she it confirmed antibodies were present in her blood.
Denise Van Outen Mike Marsland via Getty Images
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Denise shared her experience of getting tested on her Instagram Story, revealing she’d decided to get a test after a friend did.
“Doesn’t hurt, just a little prick,” she captioned a video of a medic taking a small amount of blood from her fingertip.
“Turns out I’ve had Covid-19 and I had no idea,” the Celebrity Gogglebox star said. “I’m negative now but possibly had it a few months back.”
Denise tested positive for Covid-19 antibodies Instagram
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A positive antibody test indicates that a person was likely infected with the virus that causes Covid-19. However, there has been concerns about how accurate some antibody tests are.
Actor Idris Elba previously revealed he had presented no symptoms of coronavirus when a normal test for the virus returned a positive result in March.
While asymptomatic, the Luther star later spoke of the impact his diagnosis had on his mental health, telling Radio Times. “Mentally, it hit me very bad, because a lot was unknown about it.
“I felt very compelled to speak about it, just because it was such an unknown.


thehuffingtonpostuk--2020-08-22--Jack Sherman, Former Red Hot Chilli Peppers Guitarist, Dies Aged 64

Former Red Hot Chilli Peppers guitarist Jack Sherman has died at the age of 64.
The band confirmed news of his death in a post on their official Instagram account on Friday night.
Jack Sherman pictured in 1998 Jim Steinfeldt via Getty Images
It read: “We of the RHCP family would like to wish Jack Sherman smooth sailing into the worlds beyond, for he has passed.
“He was a unique dude and we thank him for all times good, bad and in between.
“Peace on the boogie platform.”
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Jack joined the Chili Peppers in December 1983, replacing original guitarist and founding member, Hillel Slovak.
He played on the band’s self-titled debut album, which was released in 1984, and co-wrote much of their second album Freaky Styley. He also performed with them on their first tour of the US.
Hillel later returned to replace Jack when he left the group in 1984.
He went on to record with artists including Bob Dylan, George Clinton and Bill Madden.
Jack previously spoke of his disappointment at being excluded when the Red Hot Chilli Peppers were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2012.
Neither he and former guitarist Dave Navarro were inducted, which the Hall claimed was because only original members, current members and those who played on multiple albums were eligible.
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Jack said at the time: “It’s really painful to see all this celebrating going on and be excluded... I’m being dishonoured, and it sucks.”


thehuffingtonpostuk--2020-08-22--Tourists Scramble Home To UK As New Quarantine Rules Imposed

British holidaymakers have endured long last-minute drives and forked out thousands of pounds in a bid to return home from Croatia before the imposition of new travel quarantine rules.
From 4am on Saturday travellers arriving to the UK from the Mediterranean country will have to self-isolate for 14 days after a spike in coronavirus cases led to the British government removing Croatia from its safe travel list.
New restrictions have also come into place for tourists returning from Austria and Trinidad and Tobago, joining Spain and France. Travellers arriving from Aruba, Monaco, Malta, the Netherlands, Turks and Caicos Islands, Andorra, the Bahamas and Belgium must also self-isolate.
At London Heathrow Airport’s Terminal 5 on Friday evening, British Airways flights arriving from the Croatian city of Dubrovnik and the capital Zagreb were among the last to arrive in the UK before the quarantine deadline.
Adam and Katie Marlow, from Buckinghamshire, were forced to drive a hire car three hours from the coastal city of Zadar to Zagreb to catch a new flight home instead of returning on Saturday.
The couple decided to come back earlier than planned due to 33-year-old Katie’s pregnancy and her need to return to work on Monday.
They said their new flights costs around £300, while the care hire was another £100.
Asked about the government’s handling of the travel corridor rules, Adam, 37, who works for a financial company, said: “With most of the changes I support everything they do, I would say though that they should publish the criteria for where the cases are.
“Then we could have kept have an eye on it… and we could have maybe made a different decision and maybe an earlier decision and it might have cost us a bit less money.”
Katie, a sales manager, who is due in October, added: “Completely understand why they are doing it, but it would be good to have a bit more warning, because we only had 24 hours notice. That’s all we had.”
But Steve Laws, 53, a company director from Thame in Oxfordshire branded the government’s actions as “shambolic”.
He spent around £2,000 to return from his holiday eight days early with his wife and three children.
“There are zero checks at immigration,” he said on Friday night.
“The process was a complete farce.
“We are obeying the government’s rules in good faith and there’s absolutely no evidence the government is monitoring in any way who is coming into the country,” he claimed.
Thomas Maguire, 63, a sales manager from Northern Ireland, was due to fly back on Sunday, but returned to beat the quarantine deadline due to the impact it would have on his family.
He branded the rule changes as a “complete shambles”, saying he had spent nearly £400 on his flight he hoped to recoup through insurance.
“Why they decided to do it the way they have done it, it’s not in support of any scientific evidence… that I’m safer today than I would be tomorrow,” he said.
Meanwhile Cristiano Torti, 41, spent around £1,500 to fly his wife and two young children home six days earlier than planned.
He said the family had lost around £500 of the original return flight bookings, but they had not wanted to quarantine for two weeks at home.
“It would have been a nightmare, I have two young children that drive me crazy at the best of times,” he joked.
“My wife and I both work from home, so it would have very difficult with them at home.
“Another consequence would have been my eldest child missing a bit of school.”
Cristiano, a developer from Oxfordshire, added: “Had we not had children I think we might have just waited it out… but with two young children at home it wasn’t feasible.”
He said he had been aware of the risk of travel rules changing, but added: “I do wonder though if the Government could be a bit more selective.
“So for example I understand that there are certain hotspots in Croatia where the case numbers were quite high, so perhaps they could have selective on those travelling from those specific hotspots.
“On the other hand people would have found a way around that.”
He added: “We’ve lost a lot of of money, between the accommodation, the flights, and the knock-on effects: the car hire, the airport parking, I kind of wish we’d stayed home to be honest despite the miserable British weather.”


thehuffingtonpostuk--2020-08-22--Olly Murs Says He 'Still Hurts Every Day' After Caroline Flack's Death: 'There's A Massive Hole In M

Olly Murs Says He 'Still Hurts Every Day' After Caroline Flack's Death: 'There's A Massive Hole In My Life'

Olly Murs has spoken candidly about the death of close friend Caroline Flack, saying he is “still struggling” to come to terms with it.
The singer – who presented The Xtra Factor with Caroline for two years before they then fronted one series of The X Factor together in 2015 – said the Love Island star had left “a massive hole” after taking her own life in February.
“When you do lose someone that you care about and you love, I’m still struggling,” he told Vicky Pattison’s The Secret To… podcast (via The Sun).
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Olly Murs and Caroline Flack David M. Benett via Getty Images
“It still hurts every day thinking about what she must have gone through.
“When you’re grieving you’re just finding things. I had voice notes from Caroline for years.
“I had a three-year WhatsApp conversation and somehow it had been deleted.
“I’d only got the last year of our conversation and I was going through my phone looking for voice notes just wanting to hear her voice again, hear her conversation, just searching for things.”
The pair hosted The Xtra Factor together before being promoted to the main show Julian Parker via Getty Images
Olly continued: “Me and Caz didn’t speak or message every day but there’s a massive hole in my life without Caz in it.
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“I just miss those moments of crazy stories where we’d WhatsApp or ring each other and have the most random conversations about the most random things. I’m going to miss that forever.
“I know that goodbyes are not forever. I know I’ll see her again at some point so I look forward to that day.”
Olly and Caroline were first paired together in 2011 Danny Martindale via Getty Images
Olly also opened up about the undeniable chemistry he had with Caroline, after they were first paired up to host The Xtra Factor in 2011.
He said: “We had fights. We had great moments together. We argued. We had everything.
“We just had a special chemistry. People thought we were together. We weren’t together. We never, ever got together. We never ever pulled each other. We never did.
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“We were just always like brother and sister. I don’t know, it was a weird friendship. I’ve never experienced that level of friendship before. We had a chemistry and connection.”
Caroline and Olly had a special chemistry that extended beyond TV screens Danny Martindale via Getty Images
Olly added: “For Caz to not be here any more, it’s hard. It’s difficult.
“It doesn’t get easy but I’m just fortunate I have so many great memories with her and have so many amazing times with her that I can look back on, and I’m very fortunate a lot of it is documented and a lot of it is on TV.”
Caroline was found dead at her home in Stoke Newington, north-east London, in February this year.
She was awaiting trial after pleading not guilty to charges of assault, following a row with her boyfriend Lewis Burton in December 2019.
At an inquest into her death earlier this month, her mother said Caroline had been “seriously let down by the authorities” and was “hounded” by the press over her forthcoming trial in the weeks before she died.
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A coroner later ruled her death as suicide, saying she had “no doubt” that the star intended to take her own life.
Useful websites and helplines
Mind, open Monday to Friday, 9am-6pm on 0300 123 3393.
Samaritans offers a listening service which is open 24 hours a day, on 116 123 (UK and ROI - this number is FREE to call and will not appear on your phone bill).
CALM (the Campaign Against Living Miserably) offer a helpline open 5pm-midnight, 365 days a year, on 0800 58 58 58, and a webchat service.
The Mix is a free support service for people under 25. Call 0808 808 4994 or email help@themix.org.uk
Rethink Mental Illness offers practical help through its advice line which can be reached on 0300 5000 927 (Monday to Friday 10am-4pm). More info can be found on rethink.org.


thehuffingtonpostuk--2020-08-22--UK May Need To Do 10m Covid-19 Tests A Day, Expert Says

The UK may need to do up to 10m Covid-19 tests a day – up from 150,000 – to tackle Covid-19, a senior medical expert has said.
Professor Ara Darzi, a surgeon and co-director of Imperial College London’s Institute of Global Health Innovation, said regular home testing could be the UK’s “best hope” against the pandemic.
He is overseeing a large study of home testing, involving more than 100,000 people, which has found self-testing at home to be a practical and acceptable procedure to the general public.
He acknowledged the UK’s “formidable” testing programme may need to be increased to “one million or even ten million a day”.
He wrote in The Daily Telegraph: “Mass testing is not merely our best defence against the spread of the virus, it is also key to giving the country the confidence it urgently needs.
“And unlike a vaccine, which is still many months away, simple, easy and cheap tests, some based on saliva, with results in as little as 10 minutes, are already out there.”
His study has found 90% of home tests are carried out and reported correctly.
“However, it is not currently possible on a mass scale because the gold standard PCR test, which is both expensive and slow, requires a nose and throat swab which can only be analysed in a lab,” he wrote.
“If testing were simplified so people could self-test or be tested anywhere, easily and with rapid results, then it could be carried out daily.”
It comes as new figures showed fewer than a third of people in England being tested for coronavirus in the wider population are receiving their results within 24 hours.
The latest data on the NHS Track and Trace programme show that 60.5% of people who were tested for Covid-19 in the week ending August 12 at a regional site or mobile testing unit – a so-called “in-person” test – received their result within 24 hours.
Of those tested that week at a satellite test centre, only 1.2% received their results within 24 hours, while just 3.8% of people who used home testing kits had results within 24 hours.
Across all four types of testing in the wider community, known as pillar two, only 28.2% of people received results within 24 hours.
This is a drop from 34.4% the previous week and 57.4% during the week ending July 1, the data showed.


thehuffingtonpostuk--2020-08-22--Trump Warns US May 'Never' Know The Results Of The Presidential Election

Donald Trump again attacked the integrity of the American voting system Friday by warning that the country may “never know” the results of the upcoming presidential election because of mail-in ballots.
The astonishing comment was the president’s latest evidence-free claim that casting mail-in ballots is “fraudulent” — before a single vote has even been cast in this year’s general election. Americans are likely to use mail-in voting more than ever to avoid the risk of contracting Covid-19 at polling stations in November.
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A large volume of mail-in ballots would be a “tremendous embarrassment to our country,” Trump insisted in a speech in Virginia to the conservative Council for National Policy.
Trump voted by mail last week in Florida’s primary.
Critics say Trump’s assault on mail-in ballots is his attempt to sway the vote in his favour by reducing the number of voters, especially supporters of his rival, Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden — and to establish a fake justification for rejecting results in the event of his loss.
“You’ll never have an election count on November 3rd,” Trump declared. “You’re not going to be able to know the end of this election, in my opinion, for weeks, months — maybe never. It may be years, but maybe never,” he added. “Because once you go past the first week, you’re never going to know.”
The president claimed that after a week of counting votes, “they” are going to be “taking them and hiding them.” He didn’t identify who “they” are.
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“I don’t like this mail-in ballot deal,” he said earlier. “It’s so mixed up, so fraudulent.”
Trump also inaccurately indicated that speaker of the house Nancy Pelosi would replace him if the election isn’t settled when his term is up.
“You know, there’s a theory that if you don’t have it by the end of the year, crazy Nancy Pelosi would become president. You know that, right?” Trump asked. “I don’t know if it’s a theory or a fact [but] ... that’s not good,” he added.
“That’s part of their whole act,” Trump noted, reinforcing conspiracy theories that there is some kind of plot against him. “Put that in the hopper. Add that to everything else,” the president said. “It’s a disgrace.”
Ellen Weintraub, a member of the Federal Election Commission, warned earlier this month that there’s a “substantial chance” election winners, including for the presidency, won’t be called the night of the vote. The commissioner urged voters to be patient while extra care is taken to tally all the votes “accurately” in order to “ensure that everyone’s vote counts.”
Weintraub assured voters, however, that mail-in voting is “absolutely” reliable, noting that one-quarter of all votes in the 2016 presidential election were cast with mail-in ballots (which can also be dropped off at polling stations or in drop boxes, she pointed out).


thehuffingtonpostuk--2020-08-22--All The Times The Government Was So Dodgy With Covid Numbers That It Got A Formal Warning

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The government’s discredited algorithm for determining student grades is set to be reviewed by the UK’s stats watchdog after an outcry over the widespread marking down of students – particularly those from disadvantaged backgrounds.
The Office for Statistics Regulation (OSR) said this week it would review the extent to which regulators across the UK had developed their models in line with the code of practice for statistics – though it won’t look at individual results or new ways to grade students in the absence of exams.
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But it’s not the first time the OSR has had to step in throughout the pandemic.
The regulatory body put out a statement in May, almost two months into the crisis, stating that any information shared by the government publicly should be published online in an accessible manner. That way, the public and the media could check the government’s own claims – made mostly in the daily press conferences – for themselves.
Essentially, without the data, there was no way to prove that the official version of events matched the true, and ever-changing, picture of Covid-19 in the UK.
These are all the times that the government’s data was in fact so opaque that the official regulator had to step in:
Homelessness
Homeless people's tents erected outside a furniture store in Tottenham Court Road, London. Yui Mok - PA Images via Getty Images
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As the dust settled around Boris Johnson’s lockdown announcement on March 23, the question of how homeless people could be protected amid thee outbreak quickly became a key issue.
After days of uncertainty the government loudly announced a new policy – every rough sleeper would be housed in hotels and temporary accommodation throughout lockdown.
By April 18, Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government (MHCLG) secretary Robert Jenrick had announced that more than 90% of rough sleepers had been housed. A press release was published on the same day, claiming more than 5,400 rough sleepers had been housed by the government.
More than a month later, on May 26, a MHGLC press release stated that “almost 15,000 homeless people” had been housed in emergency accommodation since the start of the pandemic.
While the press releases painted a promising picture, on June 2 Ed Humpherson, director general for regulation at the Office for Statistics Regulation, wrote to MCHLG’s permanent secretary highlighting the fact that “none of the underlying data and associated limitations have been published by MHCLG”.
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The regulator also urged the department to differentiate between “rough sleepers” and “homeless”, as the figure of 15,000 referred to the latter – a step away from the phrasing “rough sleepers” in April.
Noting the lack of available figures, Humpherson wrote: “A lack of transparency risks undermining public trust in the data, as well as the organisation producing the data.”
More than two months on, detailed data on how many rough sleepers or homeless people housed by the government throughout the pandemic has still not been made available online.
Universal Credit
SIPA USA/PA Images
Tens of thousands of people have been made redundant throughout the course of the pandemic, and many people – for a number of different reasons – have found themselves ineligible for support via the government’s furlough scheme.
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The sudden shutdown of the UK economy meant applications for Universal Credit soared. In March 2020 approximately 2.7m households were claiming the benefit, rocketing to 4.2m in May.
In April the Department of Work and Pensions (DWP) announced the upcoming release of data on Universal Credit, broken down into detailed categories including the number of declarations, the number of awards, the number of advances, and information relating to the busiest times of the day for calls.
But the Office of Statistics Regulation ended up writing to the DWP’s chief statistician the day after the information was released, highlighting that the department had only put out data on the number of households and individuals making a Universal Credit declaration and the number of Universal Credit advances by type of advance – far less information than had been anticipated.
Humpherson wrote: “The labour market will continue to feel the effects of Covid-19 over the coming months and therefore user demand for the timely, relevant data this management information provides will probably persist.”
Data on Universal Credit can now be found through the DWP’s Stat-Xplore platform, which breaks down data on claims to the benefit, households and individuals in receipt of the benefit and starts to Universal Credit, published on a monthly basis.
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Covid-19 testing
Matt Hancock WPA Pool via Getty Images
Remember Matt Hancock’s 100,000-daily-Covid-19-tests-by-the-end-of-April target?
In a press conference on May 1 the health secretary trumpeted that the department had hit its target – after a pretty high-profile scramble to do so – but almost immediately there were calls for clarity on how exactly the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) had counted that figure.
The HSJ alleged that, in order to meet its own ambition, the government had shifted the goalposts and instead of counting tests completed had instead moved to counting tests that had been delivered to people’s homes.
This switch didn’t escape the notice of UK Statistics Authority either. On May 11 the organisation’s chair wrote to Hancock urging him to clarify the nature of the target, and specifically whether it reflected testing capacity, tests administered, test results received or the number of people tested.
Norgrove wrote: “It would support trustworthiness for the testing data to be more straightforward to find, with detailed breakdowns and richer commentary.”
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Hancock replied to the note, and on June 2 the statistics authority wrote back. Norwood noted some of the changes made, but stated that “the figures are still far from complete and comprehensible”, adding “the way the data are analysed and presented currently gives them limited value” when it came to helping the public understand the virus.
The information on testing used to be tweeted out via the DHSC’s official account, with two columns: "number of tests" and "people tested". For weeks the number of "people tested" was marked “unavailable”.


thehuffingtonpostuk--2020-08-22--Could Covid-19 Change The Way We Get Sick?

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Humans have battled viruses since our species first evolved, yet the appearance in December 2019 of Sars-CoV-2, which caused a new “novel” Covid-19 coronavirus disease, has brought the world to its knees.
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Five months since the World Health Organisation declared the coronavirus outbreak a pandemic, the number of cases globally has passed 20 million with almost 800,000 known deaths. Here in the UK, more than 40,000 people have so far died of the disease.
The coronavirus has also accelerated scientific development at an unprecedented scale. Across the world, scientists are working around the clock to fight the virus in a collaboration unlike any in history.
But what will be the legacy of Covid-19 on our health for years to come? Could 2020 signal the age of global pandemics, or could we instead become more resilient, more aware and stronger as a species?
We spoke to experts about the potential side effects of this ongoing pandemic.
How have things changed since January?
As countries scrambled to impose lockdown measures in an effort to curb the virus’ growth, scientists noticed a significant shortening of the normal flu season on a global level.
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“If you look at the data published earlier in the year of over 70 countries, it’s quite clear that the combination of lockdown and people isolating at home and not going into clinics have resulted in far fewer cases of seasonal flu,” says Professor Lawrence Young, a virologist at Warwick University.
With schools across the UK closed to all pupils besides the children of key workers, infections that are generally spread between younger people, such as chickenpox, have also been reduced.
Lockdown has also led to the other infectious diseases such as German measles being “somewhat reduced”. “There are even reports in the States about the decline in sexually transmitted infections,” added Young.
Could we see short-term changes?
As we go into winter and flu season, new swab and DNA tests recently made available in care homes and hospitals will help to differentiate between Covid-19 and seasonal illnesses and hopefully help break the chains of transmission.
For people who have already been infected with Sars-CoV-2 but were asymptomatic, Young says there is no reason to believe they will be at an increased risk of other infections.
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But there are concerns over the potential clinical problems of being infected with more than one virus at the same time, as Covid-19 has been seen to have a profound effect on the body’s immune system.
The disruption to routine vaccination due to the Covid-19 lockdown could potentially lead to the re-emergence of common diseases. Jeff J Mitchell via Getty Images
“There’s the issue of whether people could be co-infected,” says Young. “If you are infected with Covid-19 and influenza at the same time, that could be quite significant and problematic.”
Scientists are also unsure whether some “cross-reactivity” or “cross-protection” could occur when a person is infected with Covid-19 and another type of common cold coronavirus (in total, there are seven coronaviruses known to affect humans) and how that could impact a person’s immune system.
What about in the long-term?
Covid-19 has essentially put a large numbers of medical appointments on hold, and scientists say this could have a huge knock-on effect on people’s health in the long-term.
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“A lot of things have gone under the radar or not gone on the radar at all,” says Professor Jonathan Cohen, infectious diseases expert at Brighton and Sussex Medical School. “There will be a very long catch-up period after Covid-19, and it’s sadly inevitable that some people will fall through the cracks.”
The WHO has warned of an “alarming” decline in the number of children receiving life-saving vaccines, and in the UK there have been fears that coronavirus has led to delays in routine vaccinations.
Dr Freya Jephcott, an epidemiologist at the University of Cambridge, says in the aftermath of the 2014 Ebola outbreak in West Africa, childhood infections such as measles became more common.
“Any disruption to routine vaccination is likely to see the re-emergence of common diseases,” she says. “In the case of Guinea, more people ended up dying of malaria than Ebola.”
There is a risk that viral infections such as polio – which fell dramatically once a routine vaccination was introduced in the 1950s – could become more common, says Jephcott.
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Can you catch Covid-19 twice?
Our ability to build immunity to Covid-19 depends on how long the antibodies produced after having it will last.
Common vaccines such as the one against measles give a person a weakened form of a virus, which allows the body to develop an immune memory that stays with them for the rest of their lives. If that person is later exposed again to the measles virus, their body’s immune memory activates itself and the person is not infected.
Wearing face masks, handwashing and maintaining social distancing could have a long-term impact on common respiratory virus infections. NurPhoto via Getty Images
The new coronavirus, Sars-CoV-2, has not been around long enough for scientists to know how long immunity will last.
In other human coronaviruses, the body’s immune memory is triggered but it doesn’t stop a person from being reinfected. The good news is that while people have been shown to catch coronaviruses more than once, they haven’t been found to fall seriously sick from them a second time around.
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“As far as I can see, there are no reports anywhere in the world that anyone has been reinfected of Covid-19,” says Professor Young. “But it’s probably too soon to say.
“The hope is Covid-19 is analogous to other coronavirus infections. So the body could become susceptible to reinfection after a year or so, but the body reactivates its memory very quickly and so you don’t have any disease.”
Can Covid-19 affect how you catch other viruses?
What has been less reported is the question of whether Covid-19 can cause a so-called “reactivated infection”, where the virus impacts on an infected person’s immune system, making them more susceptible to other infections.
For example, an adult who had chickenpox as a child could see the virus “reactivated” years – perhaps even decades – later in a similar nasty condition called shingles. “There have been quite a number of cases of shingles being reported recently, possibly as a consequence of the impact of Covid-19 on the body’s immune system,” says Young.
“We just don’t know what the long term consequences of Covid-19 will be on the body’s immune response,” he admits.
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“One of the most frightening things is this infection results in a variety of different effects in the body – some of them can be quite long term, as we’re only just beginning to understand. We’re already seeing reports of people with long-term lethargy and possibly some form of chronic fatigue syndrome.”
“Aside from the obvious long-term effects in terms of lung disease and lung fibrosis, it could also end up affecting the way a person responds to other infections. We just don’t know yet.”
Will social distancing help prevent other viruses?
Social distancing, the wearing of face masks and increased hand washing would have a significant long-term impact on common respiratory virus infections – provided these measures continue past this year.
The problem is many experts don’t believe people will continue much longer with these measures.
“We’re already seeing from these local outbreaks where people are not seemingly obeying social distancing rules,” says Young. “There is a frustration and a weariness to these protective measures and there is the sense among younger people that they are more protected and unlikely to get the disease.”
Scientists have warned accelerating deforestation is leading to more infectious diseases in humans. CARL DE SOUZA via Getty Images
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Dr Jephcott agrees. “People tend to get extreme fatigue with social restrictions, so there is even a risk of a celebratory rebellious reversal of practices,” she says. Here in the UK, we have also seen thousands of young people attend illegal raves over the summer.
How about future global viral outbreaks?
Scientists have for some time feared a global pandemic such as Covid-19 would eventually happen and that when it did, we would be completely unprepared for it. After all, virus outbreaks happen all the time – it’s just that they’ve been taking place in geographically restricted areas, such as Ebola in Africa, MERs in the Middle East, or SARS in East Asia.
As a matter of fact, “outbreaks are increasing and they are going to get larger,” says Dr Jephcott.
“What we’re seeing are growing human populations and density, escalating deforestation, a high level of animal farming as well as even more international travel. We are in the age of emerging infectious diseases.”
Climate change has a very clear impact on infections, as climatic conditions influence virus infections – such as in the case of malaria. The spread of viruses will also depend on how our relationship with animals changes; viruses such as influenza, HIV and coronaviruses (including Covid-19) are all zoonotic infections that are spread from animals to humans.
Young says Covid-19 has served as a “massive wake-up call” that the world cannot be complacent about clinical biological research or vaccine development. Nowhere has this been more obvious than in the UK.
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“Very early on, countries like Germany were able to rapidly respond to coronavirus by developing diagnostic tests and effectively organising their public health structure,” he says. “That is because they had invested and built a better infrastructure for supporting virus research and the rapid development of new diagnostics.”
He hopes this new investment in virology and vaccine development will mean we are better able to protect ourselves from future pandemics. “We could even develop vaccines for viruses that don’t even yet exist.”
And while it is likely there will be future outbreaks of different and new types of coronavirus infections, scientists hope we will be better equipped to treat and tackle them rapidly.


thehuffingtonpostuk--2020-08-22--'We're Still Bereaved Parents': Having A 'Rainbow Baby' Doesn't Erase Loss

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Shema Tariq, Katie Bonful and Beth Malory each have complex relationships with the term “rainbow baby”.
The phrase is used within some baby loss communities to describe a child who is born after miscarriage or stillbirth. These babies are the “rainbow after the storm” – or so the saying goes. Advocates say “rainbow babies” provide hope, while critics of the term say it erases, or oversimplifies, loss.
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This Rainbow Baby Day, Shema, Katie and Beth want to celebrate the children they’ve had after loss – but also shine a light on what it’s really like to be in this position. Their united hope is to shatter the silence that still persists surrounding baby loss.
‘The shadow of losing your baby is there the whole time’
“I always find it hard when people describe Faris as my first child, because it erases Altair – and he’s very much part of our family,” says Shema Tariq, 44, based in London.
“People who’ve not been through loss think being pregnant is the goal, so when you are, everything is miraculously fixed. But it isn’t, because you’ve already experienced the worst thing that can possibly happen: you’ve lost a baby.”
Shema and her husband started trying for a baby soon after they married in 2014, with four gruelling rounds of IVF, before conceiving their son, Altair. But at 17 weeks pregnant, a scan showed Altair wasn’t growing properly. Four weeks later, Shema’s waters broke when she was on the Tube. Altair was born “tiny, but perfect” in hospital two days later, tragically too early to survive.
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After Altair’s death, tests revealed Shema had a condition called Chronic Histiocytic Intervillositis (CHI), which can cause the mother’s immune system to react abnormally to the pregnancy and potentially damage the placenta.
Shema Tariq Shema and her family.
Although the couple desperately wanted children, Shema had “complicated feelings” when she fell pregnant with her son, Faris, in 2018, after two more rounds of IVF. She received specialist CHI care at Tommy’s Manchester Research Centre, but couldn’t shake the fear of losing another child.
“Because I had the experience of losing Altair, the only things I bought for Faris in the early days were things we could put in his coffin if he died, which is a really weird space to be in psychologically when you’re pregnant,” she says.
“We didn’t actually buy anything until I was about 35 weeks pregnant and we specifically went to a shop we knew we could get a refund if anything happened. That shadow of losing your baby is there the whole time.”
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Faris was born in December 2018. Shema describes holding him for the first time as “totally overwhelming” – she hadn’t allowed herself to believe Faris would survive during the pregnancy, which made bonding challenging.
“It took me a few months to really believe that he was here and that he was going to stay,” she says. "The issues around bonding carried on for a while after he was born, because I was just too scared to get attached to him.”
Shema Tariq Baby Lyra
The joy of having Faris in their lives “built over time”, though, and the couple experienced unexpected joy when they fell pregnant with Lyra last summer, without the use of IVF.
“I see it as a real gift,” says Shema. ”I gained loads of confidence knowing I was able to carry Faris to term and I was breastfeeding him, so I built up lots of confidence in my own body that I’d lost after losing Altair.”
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Although having two healthy children “feels miraculous,” nothing will erase the pain of losing Altair for Shema and her husband. To help other couples dealing with loss, she wants to raise awareness of how hurtful phrases such as “don’t lose hope” or “don’t give up” can be.
“No one ‘gives up’ – they just change their path in a way that’s right for them,” Shema says. “Actually, trying for a baby – whether it’s through infertility or baby loss – is incredibly gruelling and if you get to a point where you can’t do it, that’s not giving up, it’s making a really smart choice for yourself.”
‘I felt like I’d failed as a woman, as a mother and as a wife’
“I don’t see myself as a mother of one, I’m a mother of three – two in heaven and one on earth,” says Katie Bonful, 31, from Dartford, Kent. “That brings me healing and it helps me deal with what I went through.”
Katie and her husband experienced two late-term miscarriages on exactly the same day, one year apart, which she describes as “crazy, horrible déjà vu”. She was seen in the same hospital room, with the same nurses, who sadly remembered her from 12 months earlier. The couple named their boys Jorim and Shiloh.
In 2018, Katie underwent a cervical stitch operation at St Thomas’ Hospital in London, to increase the chances of her being able to carry a baby through the full 40 weeks of pregnancy. The surgery was a success and the couple welcomed their baby, Maximus, into the world.
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Katie Bonful
“When I heard Maximus cry, it did something to my heart,” says Katie. “My heart had been broken for so long, it was like it was slowly coming together again.”
Giving birth to Maximus meant the end of nine months of “extreme anxiety”, says Katie, who felt her mental health deteriorate the further into pregnancy she got, as she approached the date of losing both Jorim and Shiloh.
“When I had my miscarriages, I didn’t know who I was anymore,” says Katie. “I felt like I’d failed as a woman, as a mother and as a wife. I’d look at my husband and think ‘I can’t give you children’. For two years, miscarriage took so much from me and I went to some really low places. So when I finally got to hold Maximus, I felt at peace.”
Katie believes the experience of going through two, late-stage miscarriages has made her a more compassionate person – and she wants to share her story to help other women. “I’m a Black African woman, so especially in our culture, miscarriage is something that’s pushed under the carpet,” she says.
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Katie Bonful Baby Maximus
As a Christian, Katie says her faith helped her after her miscarriages, but she found well-intentioned phrases such as “what was meant to be was meant to be” and “God knows best” really hurtful in relation to miscarriage.
She recommends counselling for any women who’ve experienced loss and says it doesn’t matter what stage your loss occurred. Katie lost her first two babies at 17 weeks, in her second trimester.
“At the end of the day, we’ve all lost the same thing,” she says. “No matter how early or late you lost your child, take the time to grieve and take a breather. Don’t belittle your experience and say ‘I only lost my baby at three weeks pregnant’. It doesn’t matter, it’s still a massive shock to the system. Take every day as it comes and if you need support, reach out for it.”
Getting the help she needed prepared Katie for having Maximus, who she describes as “a very happy, healthy, boisterous boy”.
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“When we bought our home three years ago, I was pregnant with the first baby. I guess you could say the house felt empty,” she says. “Now, having Maximus in the house, he’s just brought so much love, warmth and light into our home. I’m so grateful that he’s here.”
‘I felt disbelief when he was born – and that disbelief has stayed with me’
“The rainbow baby concept is lovely and, as a symbol, it gives people still trying to get there a lot of hope,” says Beth Malory, 31, based near Lancaster. “But it can overwhelm the reality and make women feel guilty or ungrateful for expressing that they may still be struggling. We are still bereaved parents, at the end of the day.”
In 2020, Beth gave birth to her son Oliver, who was her 11th pregnancy. She is being treated for PTSD after suffering multiple losses.
Beth Malory Beth Malory
Beth fell pregnant quickly after getting married in 2015. But within 18 months, she experienced four miscarriages, including the later stage miscarriage of her son, James. She was diagnosed with a blood clotting disorder and treated at Tommy’s St Mary’s Hospital in Paddington, enabling her to give birth to a healthy boy, Sebastian, in 2017.
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When the couple tried for a sibling for Sebastian, tragically, they learned the “worst was yet to come”. In the years that followed, Beth had five more miscarriages, including two later miscarriages, who she named Grace and Faith. She was diagnosed with CHI. After nine losses, the couple were about to give up when Beth found out she was pregnant again. She received specialist CHI treatment and gave birth to Oliver in March 2020, the day the UK went into lockdown.
“I felt disbelief when he was born – and that disbelief has stayed with me,” she says. “It’s really difficult to get to a place where you think ‘I’m going to get to keep this one’. When I think about having him here for Christmas, my brain still wonders: ‘will he still be here then?’. Just because he’s out now, it doesn’t mean you can turn off that doubt.”
Beth wants to tell Sebastian and Oliver about their lost siblings when they’re older, but says experiencing nine losses makes it harder to navigate.
“You know when people go to the beach and write their baby’s names in the sand? That’s lovely, but when you’ve had nine of them, it’s a bit unmanageable,” she says. “And having mementoes around the house... there are a lot of things we could put up, but where does it end? It would take over the living room.
“We got to name the later ones and know the gender, but I don’t feel like we should honour them any more than the other ones, just because they made it further, so that’s something I struggle with.”
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Beth Malory Beth Malory
There’s a “hierarchy of grief” surrounding miscarriage and stillbirth, adds Beth.
“There’s fantastic care for women who’ve experienced stillbirth, but really inadequate care for women who go through miscarriages at all stages,” she says. “If you’ve got hopes and dreams for that baby and you’ve assigned them a personality in your mind, you will experience distress whenever you lose them.”
Beth describes a “dual guilt” that comes with having a rainbow baby; she feels guilty about not enjoying Sebastian and Oliver more, but also guilty about the babies she’s lost. “You have a lot of guilt that you were able to get this baby to this point, but not those babies that you lost,” she says.
While she processes the grief alongside parenting, she wants to ensure her other children are never forgotten. “You don’t want to stop talking about your other baby or babies, just because this one is okay,” she says. “It is something we need to talk about.”
Useful websites and helplines:


thehuffingtonpostuk--2020-08-22--Rainbow Babies:  Life After Losing A Baby

Rainbow Babies: Life After Losing A Baby
To mark Rainbow Baby Day, which falls on August 22 this year, Shema Tariq and Katie Bonful want to celebrate the children they’ve had after loss – but also shine a light on what it’s really like to be in this position. Their united hope is to shatter the silence that still persists surrounding baby loss.