Violence Breaks Out During Pro-Trump Demonstration

Violence broke out on the streets of Washington DC as thousands of Donald Trump supporters paraded on the capital to protest against the election of Joe Biden.

At least 11 people were apprehended during the pro-Trump demonstration with fistfights breaking out between members of the far-right groups, including the Proud Boys, and counter-protestors across the metropolis.

Thousands of Trump supporters assembled on Freedom Plaza and heard various speakers including pardoned National Security Adviser Michael Flynn spout mistruths about the legitimacy of Joe Biden’s presidential victory.

It came only a day after the Supreme Court repudiated Texas’ endeavour to overturn the election results in four key battleground states and secured Joe Biden’s win beyond dispute, confirming what local, state, and federal officials of both parties, including US attorney general William Barr, have said since November 3.

The clashes began before the demonstrations even started, as five were apprehended Friday night on charges including disorderly behaviour, instigating violence, and assault after an affray, but the violence didn’t prevent President Trump from supporting the rally.

‘Wow! Thousands of people forming in Washington (D.C.) for Stop the Steal. Didn’t know about this, but I’ll be seeing them! #MAGA’, he tweeted on Saturday morning.

Various groups took part in arranging Saturday’s rallies, including groups like Women for America First, the Million Maga March, which managed a similar event in Washington in November, and the Proud Boys.

Videos of altercations between groups of rival protestors were shared on social media with instances of people in pro-Trump clothing attacking spectators, and according to USA Today, one spectator was caught pulling a knife after clashing with Trump supporters.

At least six people were apprehended during the day, and as darkness fell over the capitol, Proud Boys and counter-protestors were in fistfights across downtown DC, which led to at least one ambulance being called.

Police attempted to intervene in different ways, including forming defence lines between Proud Boys and protestors and spraying chemical irritants, but small groups of protestors reportedly broke away and continued to brawl in the street.

Speakers at the demonstrations on Saturday ranged from fringe figures like Sebastian Gorka to Flynn and President Trump’s former national security adviser who was recently exonerated after fibbing to federal authorities about his contacts with Russian officials.

Videos of his presence at the march also went viral, though that was because his sister appeared to forget the vocals to ‘God Bless America’ as she descanted to the masses.

This is all extremely sad. Donald Trump was the leader who could not lead and his only concern was causing damage. He never cared about his whole nation, not once.

Donald Trump was the leader prompting supporters to overthrow due democratic process and it’s shocking and the man needs to be arrested when he leaves office and hopefully, when Donald Trump leaves office, the hogwash lies will stop.

But this is what you get when the leader of a nation facilitates the inbuilt brutality and hate gangs with no conscience or care for the damage and misery they cause, but eventually, they’ll wither away, along with Donald Trump. However, Donald Trump appears to want to be dictator for life!

And these Proud Boys, well, that’s what they call themselves – sounds like a collective coming out of the closet and it looks like fascism is on the rise – these are dangerous times.

I do abhor violence, but it seems that these days we’re so politically polarised and we, the people are a pawn in their game and don’t even realise it.

We’re all being played like a fiddle, but people just can’t see it and if everyone quit turning on each other for just one second and looked at what’s really going on and has been going on for decades, then we might just grasp what’s really going on, but people won’t do that because they’re caught up in the whole left/right – we’re right, their wrong mindset.

Meanwhile, America and the world are in big trouble and this is just the beginning and I hate to break it to you folks, but neither Joe Biden nor any other President will fix it.

Boris Johnson’s Drive To Cut Obesity Rates Generally Inefficient

According to new research calling for a far more wide-ranging response to the obesity problem, Boris Johnson’s plea to Britons to slim down in response to the pandemic hasn’t helped most people lose weight.

Warnings about the possible added risks COVID 19 poses to people with obesity are essentially futile, the study uncovered.

It said ministers put too much focus on individual willpower and not enough on the environmental and economic factors of obesity.

A Social Market Foundation (SMF) study said bigger barriers must be tackled, such as food deserts, and that areas of more than a million people where deprivation, poor transportation and a shortage of supermarkets restrict access to affordable fruits and vegetables.

A survey conducted for SMF discovered that only 28 per cent of people who describe themselves as living with obesity said they were taking measures to lose weight because of the pandemic.

The think tank found that while this was higher than the 20 per cent of the general population taking measures to lose weight, it still demonstrated that Government messages on overweight and COVID have done little to assist people with obesity manage their condition.

Meanwhile, 37 per cent of those living with obesity said they haven’t yet taken measures to lose weight, but are considering doing so.

Almost three in 10 (28 per cent) said the COVID situation would not lead them to lose weight.

There’s now a clear link between obesity and the risk of a severe response to COVID.

It raises the risk of dying from the infection by about 50 per cent and may make vaccines less effective, according to a study by the University of North Carolina, the Saudi Health Council and the World Bank.

Almost a third (27 per cent) of people with obesity surveyed in the SMF/Opinium poll, said their diet had declined in the pandemic, and 31 per cent said it had led them to do less exercise.

Boris Johnson, who established the anti-obesity strategy this summer, was said to have become inspirational about the matter after his harrowing episode of COVID.

The strategy includes advertisements across all media, and plans are being drawn up to prohibit online junk food ads, the most challenging digital marketing constraints in the world. Nevertheless, the National Audit Office has warned that the Government will not, as intended, halve childhood obesity in England by 2030.

Perhaps this is the best we can expect from Boris Johnson, although there have been some things that he’s been effective at, but none of them favourable or for the benefit of those who elected him.

Most of all, he’s embarrassed the entire country, fibbing, doing things in his own interest and brutalising politics, and Boris Johnson’s campaign to do something effective has become largely ineffective.

A black Ballerina Told To Whiten Her Skin To Blend In

A black ballet dancer has claimed an instructor told her to whiten her skin to fit in for performances.

Chloé Lopes Gomes was the first black dancer commissioned by the well-known German ballet company Staatsballet in 2018, but she told a news outlet she was the victim of discrimination almost straight away.

The 29-year-old claims her instructor requested that she use cosmetics to lighten her skin for Swan Lake and refused to give her a white veil along with everyone else because of the hue of her skin.

The French ballerina didn’t speak English or German when she first went to work in Berlin but was able to communicate with her mentor in Russian as she’d trained at Russia’s renowned Bolshoi Ballet.

She said this is why none of her classmates was able to hear the instructor’s comments.

The ballet mistress also evidently made her pose to recreate a picture of a black dancer surrounded by white dancers.

The dancer said she told the company’s co-artistic director at the time about her teacher’s actions, and he responded saying she should never be made to whiten her skin, but he also apparently said he couldn’t do anything about it because the instructor had a lifetime contract.

In October, the company told Ms Gomes her contract wouldn’t be renewed because they’d cut staff during the pandemic, but the ballerina has employed a lawyer to take the company on, it was reported.

Although ballerinas often whiten their skin for Swan Lake performances, Ms Gomes said this would be ineffective for her because her skin would never be the same hue as white people.

Staatsballet released a statement on Tuesday saying they were investigating archaic and discriminatory styles of performances.

The same statement addressed allegations that a separate staff member made weird noises in front of Asian dancers to imitate their language, and compared a Mexican ballerina to Pocahontas.

Interim artistic director Christine Theobald said that the racist and prejudiced behaviour that was brought to light in their company deeply moved them and that the necessary skills and tools to deal with matters of prejudice needed to be worked on thoroughly.

It’s incredible that the company have been so discriminatory because there are black swans as well, and they’re beautiful, but this is so unfair – what does it matter if you’re black or white, if she was good for the part when she had her audition, then the way she looked then, shouldn’t matter now.

She was employed due to her exceptional dancing capabilities and not her ethnicity or shade of skin, and she’s stunning the way that she is.

She was the victim of discrimination, yet she hung in there and done what she was told to do without quitting.

Discrimination has been rampant for an extremely long time and it will presumably carry on like this until the end of time, but people of ethnic minority and white people should all be regaled the same.

Many years ago we had an image of a rag doll on the side of the Robinson’s jam jars that were deemed racist. I loved them as a child and I didn’t see anything wrong in them, apart from their moniker, point being, just alter the name of them.

Then we had blackboards, now they’re whiteboards. Nothing immoral in a blackboard, it’s black and it’s a board.

What is wrong is when people seemingly make a point of identifying it with ethnic people, then it’s a problem.

I once had a doll that had two faces, one on either side of the doll, one side was ethnic and the other side was white. That doesn’t make me a racist – I’m the least racist person there is, and to me, that doll signified that I loved everybody equally. Do you see this as a problem, because I certainly don’t!

Boris Johnson’s Brexit Coiffure

There’s more to politics than flash outfits and slick hair cuts, but the Prime Minister’s wayward style doesn’t exactly scream, ‘I’ve got this’.
How do you prepare for crunch time Brexit discussions with the President of the European Commission, the outcome of which will irrevocably affect our country’s future?
For Boris Johnson, the solution was simple, by debuting a hairstyle so mind boggling bad that discussion of its abject awfulness managed to obscure the finer aspects of exactly what was agreed over that seafood dinner with Ursula von der Leyden – extremely shrewd.
2020 has been a bad hair year for the best of us, with prolonged shop closures prompting many to attempt at home cuts and ill-advised dye jobs, but Boris Johnson’s latest attempt to tackle his bleach blonde mane should provide a cautionary tale for the scissor happy among us.
We’re going to be sympathetic here and assume that this cut was a DIY job involving kitchen implements because surely no professional could have created such a thing in good faith, or was Carrie Symonds the offender, baby Wilfred, or even maybe Dilyn the dog?
The offending cut is so puzzling it virtually defies description.
The typical Johnsonian through a hedge backwards texture is present and correct, but it’s only when approached from the side that it becomes apparent just what horrors we’re dealing with.
The short, thick mono layer calls to mind a thatched roof, or Robin Hood’s sidekick Friar Tuck, both the best of British icons in their way, I guess.
Hairdresser Michael Van Clarke, founder of the eponymous Marylebone salon, rather charitably explains that the Prime Minister’s gone some way in having his hair cut shorter and a little neater on the nape.
However, his current style lacks the subtle layering around the ears, which is why it has a hard edge and is evocative of a short pudding basin effect of the 1970s.
We can only surmise that Boris Johnson had an image of Mackenzie Crook as The Office’s dwelling weirdo Gareth Keenan on his Pinterest mood board – Mackenzie Crook, appropriately, will represent flaxen haired scarecrow Worzel Gummidge, another possible reference point for the Prime Minister.
The difference between Boris Johnson and his well groomed, sharply decked European peers couldn’t be starker in a photo released as the last ditch debates kicked off in Brussels.
The Prime Minister could have utilized the press call as a bit of ad hoc promotion for the marvels of Savile Row tailoring. Instead, with his ill-fitting, comically proportioned suit, he seemed to have raided the wardrobe of cast-offs and an am dram production of Bugsy Malone.
There’s more to politics than flash outfits and fashionable hair cuts, but this eccentric look doesn’t exactly impregnate you with confidence, does it?
Van Clarke said that he doesn’t want to appear to make too much effort and the nonchalant, ruffled, unpredictable nature of the style may be sort of reverse power dressing – a wee bit like Dominic Cummings at No 10 in t shirts.
Perhaps worst of all, though, was the moment, caught for posterity on camera, when Boris Johnson took his hands from his pockets, where they’d previously been placed with all the statesmanlike ease of a naughty school boy braced for a telling off to deliberately add a little more finger in socket zhuzh to his already chaotic do.
It was a telling reminder that Boris Johnson’s image making strategy isn’t as chaotic as it might seem at first glance.
He loves to portray the joker in an attempt to persuade the electorate that he’s not like other politicians, he’s really an amusing japester.
In fact, turning up to historic negotiations with a historically crap hairdo might just be a back handed power tactic.
But his bedraggled appearance makes him look somewhat vulnerable and a bit of a posh fellow with a sense of humour, hence why he seems to appeal across the electorate, although his mane has worn a little thin now and in time not many people will think he’s a lovable clown, but more of an incompetent buffoon – even Jeremy Corbyn tidied himself up eventually and Boris Johnson should do the same.

Brit, TV celebrity with seven wives and 19 children, dies after collapsing in John

Philip Sharp, 60, originally from Stanmore, north London, died in his Kenya home, an inquest in Hatfield, Hertfordshire heard.
He appeared in documentaries on the BBC and Channel 5 about his life.
He was a polyamorous rabbi with seven wives and at least 19 children.
He’s supposed to have penned a message the day before he died.
The note contained some rough detail on what he would leave behind for his family, adding that it wasn’t much, before concluding with, love to you all.
Philip Sharp was born in Stanmore, north London, but his duties as a preacher took him across the globe.
He was the subject of documentaries including Channel 5’s The Girl with Seven Mums in 2015.
The show headlined his daughter, who was then 10 years old, demonstrating what it was like to grow up with numerous maternal figures.
In 2006, he appeared in a BBC documentary called Philip and His Seven Wives.
It documented his life where he said he was told by God he was to become a Hebrew King and, like a good patriarch, take many wives.
In 2018, he appeared on ITV’s This Morning where he was questioned by hosts Eamonn Holmes and Ruth Langsford and forced to defend his lifestyle.
It’s believed he had seven wives and at least 19 children, and he once claimed God spoke to him to reveal polygamy was part of a divine plan.
At the time of his demise in October 2019, he’d been living in Nairobi, Kentya for more than two years.
The Old Court House in Hatfield, Hertfordshire was told he went to the lavatory at home and after failing to materialize some time later, a relation went to check on him.
The family member could hear him groaning and booted down the door to find he’d collapsed.
He was taken to hospital in Kenya where he was declared dead on October 28, 2019.
Senior Coroner Geoffrey Sullivan had restricted information around the full circumstances of his demise but had acquired a signed death certificate.
The medical cause of death was given as respiratory failure with suspected organophosphate poisoning, although the coroner said the evidence he had was limited.
He added that what he didn’t have was any detail really leading directly to the happenings of that day, the events leading up to him going to the toilet when he was found.
He also didn’t have any specific cause of death, information about prior existing medical problems and anything about where and when the note was found, although such details would typically be assessed during a police inquiry, but he had no specifics surrounding that from officials in Kenya.
Due to the existence of the note, the coroner considered the possibility of suicide.
Although he said there’s some substantiation to confirm that, there wasn’t enough proof to uphold the legal standard. For that reason, the coroner registered an open outcome.
The inquest heard the coroner’s office had attempted to get more information from the Kenyan authorities, but it wasn’t forthcoming.

Steph McGovern Chokes Up At A Letter From A Fan

Steph McGovern’s Packed Lunch saw moving scenes as host Steph read out a letter from a viewer to her guests.
Sent in by a viewer and a mum, the author told that she was able to provide sustenance and warmth for her children, but that frequently meant she herself had to go whole days without eating.
Having lost her job over the first lockdown, the mum told how she felt embarrassment at how greatly she’d fallen.
Steph read, I lost my job several months ago in the previous lockdown. I’m a single parent with three children aged between four and nine.
She said that she couldn’t begin to describe how tough life was financially, and that she’d invariably managed to provide food and heating for the children, but most days she doesn’t eat, and she sits in the dark and cold after her children have gone to bed, and that she finds herself relying on food banks and the generosity of family and friends.
But occasionally, without them realising, she’s taken food from their dustbins which they’ve discarded as out of date.
Thankfully, she said she’s not in debt yet, but that will be her next challenge, as she’s no funds left now.
She said that she and her children have been making Christmas baubles from old toilet rolls, tin foil and odd bits and bobs from the Pound Shop.
When big-hearted dad Dom Warren realised children were going into class hungry at his children’s school, he set about finding a way to feed them, and now he’s won a National Lottery Award for his work.
Dom Warren now feeds 4,000 people a month through his surplus food charity Dom’s Food Mission, which is just one beneficiary of the £30 million raised for good causes every week by playing The National Lottery.
Dom Warren said we feed everyone, women and children in hostels, refugees, schools and the elderly and it’s thanks to National Lottery participants that they’re able to feed so many people.
Steph, in her own words, addressed the sender and said that for a start, you’re not nothing. You’re undoubtedly an amazing mum and that what she was doing was putting your children first and for that she gave every credit to her.
Steph said thank you for being courageous in sending the letter to them, because there are so many people out there who are struggling.
She said you see it with food banks, you see it with all the job losses and then Chris Kamara chimed in and said it’s so hard to believe that it’s 2020 and it’s still going on.
There are millions of people living in utter destitution, all ages, thanks to this inhuman Tory scrooge Government, and this is really disappointing, there’s no call for any family in the United Kingdom to go without, and we send billions of pounds abroad when we should be caring for our own first.
It must be extremely difficult for people losing jobs and feeling worthless like this poor mother, and she deserves full recognition for being a good mother, and she should feel extremely proud of herself.
She shouldn’t be feeling worthless, she’s providing for her children on her own with no relief, and I wish that supermarkets could help out more, the amount of food they throw away every day.
And then we have the elderly, they’re left alone with nothing, no visitors, and most can’t visit food banks because they’re too frail to do so.
But what’s particularly upsetting is the quantity of food that’s being thrown away by supermarkets and it’s sinful because no one should be going without food and this food should be given to food banks and soup kitchens and it breaks my heart the amount of food that’s chucked away instead of feeding people that need it.
And the fact that people are eating from dustbins clearly states that they need money to eat, but until the Government recognises this, there isn’t any hope for the likes of people like this, and hell will have to freeze over before they do anything to help, yet they’re happy to eat three meals a day off our taxes, but will let another person starve because they don’t give a damn.

SLAUGHTERED

A horror movie buff who chopped her mum’s head off after stabbing her more than 100 times has been found guilty of manslaughter but exonerated of murder.

Jessica Camilleri, 27, beheaded her mum in a wild knife attack after an argument before leaving her head on a path outside their residence in St Clair, Sydney.

During the seven-day trial, which finished on Thursday, a court heard disturbing details of how Jessica Camilleri stabbed her mother, Rita, in the neck and head, before carving out her eyeballs, tongue and nose.

Jessica Camilleri was exonerated of murdering her mum due to her chronology of mental illness.

She told police she then took her 57-year-old mother’s severed head and tried to show it to a neighbour for proof, but that it fell from her hands and anchored on the path.

Crown prosecutor Tony McCarthy told the jury how the rest of the body was discovered in parts on the kitchen floor.

Numerous knives were found at the bloodstained scene, some of which were damaged.

On the night of her death, Jessica Camilleri called emergency services and said she was acting in self-defence.

She claimed her mum had grabbed her by the hair, dragged her to the kitchen and attempted to stab her first.

Jessica Camilleri later admitted it was the other way around, and she was the one who reached for the weapon.

During an interview, she stated she wanted to give her a taste of her own medicine, but not to kill her.

She told a shrink her horrible deeds were motivated by violent movies.

Chilling Facebook posts made before the ghoulish act in July 2019 showed Jessica Camilleri’s fixation with brutal movies, including the blood-filled Texas Chainsaw Massacre.

She said horror movies such as Jeepers Creepers were her favoured films in the world.

Jessica Camilleri’s younger sister Kristy Torrisi testified in court she loved to watch movies that involved killing or dismemberment and would pause and rewind at specific parts.

Her defence team said Jessica Camilleri had suffered from a psychiatric illness, and the court heard Rita had once paid a medium AUD2,500 (£1,380) to get a demon out of her.

Her sister, Kirsty Torrisi, said she took her to a female spirit communicator as she was desperate for anything to help.

The NSW Supreme Court jury was told how Jessica Camilleri, then 25, asked police at the scene whether her mum’s head could be stitched back on.

Hopefully, Jessica Camilleri will get help in a secure mental health hospital because she definitely needs it, and her mother employing psychics to get demons out of her wouldn’t have helped her mental condition, and we should all be pleased that she’s not being set free.

However, I don’t believe people who do things like this can ever be truly okay to go out and mingle in the community anymore, and it’s not worth the risk to others.

Fibbing To Your Children About Santa

The Christmas extravaganza is officially in full sway. Children are watching their favoured holiday films on repeat, opening their advent calendars and counting down the days until Santa comes.

But the charm doesn’t last forever, because as your children get older, they only become more curious, asking questions like how does Father Christmas deliver all of the gifts in one night? And why does their sister get more playthings than them?

Ultimately, you might find yourself wondering when you should tell them the truth about Santa and what’s the best way to go about it without them feeling like they can’t trust you anymore.

A news outlet spoke with child psychologist Dr Amanda Gummer from Dr Gummer’s Good Play Guide, to find out the best age to drop the bombshell.

Dr Gummer said that a good time to tell your children the truth was around year six before they go into secondary school, which is about the age of 10-11, but this depends on the child.

Dr Gummer explained that numerous parents feel that sending children to secondary school still believing may lead to bullying, so the Christmas of year six is a good time if they still believe then.

Other than that, it’s about when the children start quizzing about it and you’d have to fib outright to them to keep them believing and Dr Gummer also warns about the perils of constantly fibbing to your children about Santa Claus.

She explained that it’s essential that your children trust you and believe what you tell them, so if you keep the tale going for too long, there’s a danger that you’ll damage your credibility with them which can be damaging for your relationship as they get older.

And that if you’re intending on telling your children the truth, there are a few ways to approach the matter sensitively.

Dr Gummer recommends that you wait until they ask and then ask them what they believe.

She continued that it’s easier to confirm suspicions they already have than break the news to them out of the blue, but be sure to tell them that the messages of Christmas, like understanding and being caring, are all still viable.

She continued that you can lighten it by telling them that you still believe it’s a wonderful time of the year and you can try explaining that growing children need to learn lessons about being good and kind and Santa is a way of helping them learn those lessons in a fun way.

But don’t forget we also tell our children that the stork delivers the baby’s, that some children are born under the gooseberry bush, and then there’s the tooth fairy et cetera, but perhaps it’s child psychologists that cause children more harm than Santa.

And is it healthy to undermine children, telling them that Santa is real? Why don’t we just gaslight our children before they have a chance to establish what’s real and what isn’t and then pay them off later on with selection boxes, reinforcing them that believing fabrications are to be rewarded?

I told my children that Santa was only the face of Christmas and that he doesn’t really bring gifts as people say and that the gifts came from their mother. It meant more to them that they knew the gifts came from me, rather than a fictional man swathed in a red suit.

Father Christmas should be nothing more than a token of festivity.

I can’t stand Christmas now, but I do remember many families with their merriment and delight, with presents and love, and we’re not all seriously damaged as adults because our parents said that Santa was real.

And when I think of psychologists, bar humbug springs to mind – scrooge or grinch. Someone needs a big hug.

Dame Barbara Windsor Dead

Dame Barbar Windsor, best known for her roles in Eastenders and the Carry On films, has died aged 83 after a lengthy battle with Alzheimer’s.

Her husband Scott Mitchell reported the actress passed peacefully at a care home in London on Thursday evening.

She was one of Britain’s most treasured entertainment celebrities, and she first found stardom in her role as a voluptuous blonde in the Carry On films and thereafter became a household name playing Peggy Mitchell, the Queen Vic’s battle axe landlady in BBC soap Eastenders.

Dame Barbara Windsor was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease in 2014 and made the news public in 2018.

Her husband said the cherished actress’s closing weeks were illustrative of how she lived her life, full of drollery, excitement and fighting force until the end.

He said her death was from Alzheimer’s/dementia and Barbara finally passed peacefully and that he’d spent the last seven days by her side, and he said that relatives and friends would remember Barbara with love, a smile of affection for countless years because of her love, fun, friendship and brilliance she brought to all their lives and the entertainment she gave to so many thousands of others during her career.

He also said that he would always be extremely proud of Barbara’s bravery, dignity and generosity dealing with her affliction and still sought to help others by raising awareness for as long as she could.

Mr Mitchell, who alongside his wife campaigned for greater dementia care from the Government and added that dementia/Alzheimer’s remains the UK’s number one killer and that he urged the Prime Minister and his Government and other parties in these challenging times to be true to their previous promises to invest more into dementia/Alzheimer’s research and care.

He said thank you to all the doctors, nurses and carers who were angels at the care home, and for their patience and care to Barbara and throughout her stay with them – they are his heroes.

And also his appreciation to their family, friends and everyone in the media and the general public for all the good wishes and affectionate support that had been conveyed to Barbara over the last few years during her illness, and that Barbara deeply appreciated it.

At the end of his moving tribute, Mr Mitchell said, may you rest in peace now my precious Bar. I’ve lost my wife, my best friend and soul mate and my heart or life will never feel the same without you.

Barbara Windsor was a true entertainer. The queen has gone, she’s had her last orders, but she did her very best to carry on and I don’t imagine that anyone will ever forget her name.

Secondary Schools And Colleges In Wales Will Shift To Online Education From Monday

All secondary schools and colleges in Wales will commence learning online again from Monday in an attempt to lower the risk of COVID 19 transmission over Christmas.

Kirsty Williams, Wales’ education minister, announced advice from the country’s chief medical officer that said the country’s public health plight was declining.

She said the virus was putting their health service under considerable and continuous stress and it was essential they all contributed to reducing its transmission and that the chief medical officer advised that a shift to online education should be implemented for secondary school students as soon as possible.

Primary schools will continue to function as usual during the same period because it was more problematic for primary and special school-age children to undertake self-directed learning.

COVID rates in Wales have currently surpassed 370 cases per 100,000 people, with a test positivity rate of 17 per cent, data from Test Trace Protect shows – the nation’s R numbers also grew to 1.27.

Wales’ decision has now placed England under pressure to follow suit, as education unions queried why the Government hadn’t done the same.

Health Secretary Matt Hancock announced secondary school students in the worst impacted areas of London, Essex and Kent would be tested for coronavirus following a wave of cases. However, he said schools would stay open as it was right for education and public health.

Schools in England were previously told they could take an inset day on the last Friday of term so staff could have a decent break without having to engage in the track and trace issues.

Geoff Barton, general secretary of the Association of School and College Leaders (ASCL) stated that they have to examine why the strategy is to mass test children and there’s no consideration of moving to remote learning for the last week of term.

The sum of infections in these regions was remarkably comparable to the situation in parts of Wales, where the Government there decided to move to remote learning in secondary schools and colleges from Monday.

And it’s hoped that this is not another sign of the Government in Westminster ploughing ahead with its insistence that schools should remain fully open in England, come what may.

Paul Whiteman, general secretary of schools leaders’ union NAHT, also stated that the Government is yet to demonstrate why during this emergency testing period public health was best served by schools staying fully open.

And it does make me question why Wales has such an acute infection rate compared to London because I’ve always related Wales to immense open spaces, unpolluted living and disengaged from hustle and bustle, but then I realised they have places like Swansea which is the antithesis of vast open spaces, big town centres, full of stores and loads of housing, but I would have still expected the R numbers to be curtailed.

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