#uk covid hit workers

[fandomshatepeoplewdisabilities]

NHS hospitals refused intensive care treatment to disabled people with COVID "« Do Not Resuscitate » notices were placed on the medical files of many people with Down’s syndrome, autism & other learning disabilities who were otherwise healthy before contracting the virus" "Six out of 10 people who died from Covid between March and July 2020 were disabled, according to the ONS" inews co uk/news/politics/thousands-of-disabled-people-died-after-covid-treatment-withheld-inquiry-to-probe-2970333

Now, someone who is physically disabled/immunocompromized please chime in so that there is a full picture, I can only talk from my perspective of a mentally ill autistic but (mostly, if you count the rather extreme side effects of my psych medication) able bodied person.

Its just so horrific, and I hate how mainstream media refuses to talk about it, or treats this as something necessary.

Yes, I get it, triage and hard decisions and stuff... but this is still pure eugenics and should be called out as such. Its not even that a neurodivergent person is inherently more likely to have complications or die from Covid, which still would be fucking disgusting and ableist and eugenics but at least somewhat, for the lack of better words, and I hate using this word, understandable. Not justified, but understandable in a disturbing way.

I am not surprised at all that this happened, and I am not surprised at all that NHS now, as families against their expectations rally against them, deleted at least some of the documents from the internet. This rethoric that disabled people are disposable and do not deserve saving/medical intervention was already there before the pandemic. The pandemic just highlighted it in a utterly horrific way.

I think that was what fucked me up the most about the pandemic. Not the lockdowns, the lack of structure, the fear, the uncertainty. But not just having this vague hint my abled neurotypical family denied that I am disposable, that I am not seen as worth living, but the absolute certainty that at least for these kind of doctors, I am.

Abled neurotypicals will never understand what that does to a person. Just how painful that is.

It also found that there were “serious concerns that individuals’ human rights – to be involved in DNACPR decisions about themselves or their families – were potentially being breached in more than 500 cases across the adult social care services”, which would have been a breach of the Equality Act.

No shit Sherlock. But that hits the mark. We're not human for these kind of people. Yes, it is an extreme situation, but it still showed that.

I remember some exchange rather at the beginning of the pandemic, somewhen in the first lockdown, that really messed me up. I was posting about this exact situation, and how painful it was to me as a disabled person, and some person claiming to being an essential worker attacked me that I don't understand the kind of hard choices doctors have to make and that I am selfish and disgusting for complaining about it.

So disabled people wanting to live is selfish. Denying them necessary medical care is just the logical extreme of this.

It also reminds me at the darkest part of Germanys history. "Nicht lebenswertes Leben" ("live unworthy of life") being applied to disabled people so that they could either be denied medical care or outright killed. Of course there wasn't the same intention behind this, but definitely the same kind of reasoning.

Haven't heard about this kind of policies being used here in Germany, but I wouldn't be surprised at all. If anyone knows more information of how this was handled in other countries, please comment.

Now, I bet there will be some abled neurotypicals lecturing me of how I just don't understand triage and how dire the situation was, and how selfish I am, but honestly, I am tired.

And mind you, I am "just" mentally ill and autistic, I don't even have any condition that makes a Covid infection more risky. There's been so many posts about how utterly society failed immunocompromized and chronically ill people during the pandemic and still fails them today. What they suffered is not even comparable to me. So yeah, please add your perspective if the latter describes you.

-Mod Tallys

[eaglesnick]

“When the rich rob the poor it is called business” Mark Twain

As if we didn’t know already, the very wealthy expect the rest of us to literally work ourselves into an early grave so they can become richer still.  Millionaire Rishi Sunak’s father-in-law, billionaire NR Narayana Murthy is a case in point:

“We need to be disciplined and improve our work productivity. I think unless we do that, what can poor government do? And every government is as good as the culture of the people. And our culture has to change to that of highly determined, extremely disciplined and extremely hard-working people.”

Poor government indeed!  Crumbling national infrastructure and collapsing public survives are the fault of lazy working families. If only we would get up off our backsides and put in the 70 hour week Mr Murthy suggests then all would be well.

The arrogance of the super-rich knows no bounds.  Working people are already putting in more hours than ever before. People Management had this headline at the beginning of the year:

“More than four million UK workers considering a second job to combat cost of living, survey finds."  (09/01/23)

Even during the pandemic, when you would have expected people to be working less hours, that wasn’t necessarily the case. Forbes, the American financial and business magazine had this to say:

“We Worked Longer Hours During The Pandemic—Research Says We Need To Work Smarter, Not Harder… The extra hours worked during the pandemic would be less of a concern if they were just a temporary phenomenon, a blip on the screen. However, overwork is a longstanding problem."  (Forbes:18/08/21)

The move to working from home since the pandemic has also led to an increase in hours and workload.

“Employees who work from home are spending longer at their desks and facing a bigger workload than before the Covid pandemic hit." (Guardian: 04.02/21)

And we have this from the BBC:

“Overwork culture is thriving; we think of long hours and constant exhaustion as a marker of success….New studies show that workers around the world are putting in  an average of 9.2 hours of unpaid overtime per week – up from 7.3 hours just a year ago.” (BBC:Worklife: 10/04/21)

More recently we had this headline:

“In the current economic climate, Gen Zers are pulling especially long hours – and pushing themselves to the brink of burnout…18-24 (year olds) tend to put in an extra eight hours and 30 minutes of ‘free’ work per week by starting early, staying late or working during breaks and lunchtimes.” (BBC: Worklife: 29/05/23)

So Mr Murthy, people are not sitting on their backsides. They are working harder than ever, often for “free”. What’s more, many have two jobs because you and your rich friends refuse to give them a living wage, because you are more interested in accruing even more billions than you are in seeing working families being paid a living wage.

Rather than lazy workers, it is the greed of the rich and super-rich that has led to the collapse of public services and infrastructure. The system is rigged in their favour, designed for them to escape paying their fair share of taxes. As I quoted in my last blog,  “Tax evasion, and, more broadly, tax avoidance, is not inevitable; it is the result of policy choices” and while we have people like Mr Murthy’s son-in-law in charge of government, nothing will ever change.

[beeseverywhen]

Not in the US so can't speak for what's happening there, but I've def noticed here that healthcare workers are struggling with dealing with sicker patients than they felt they were getting before covid and lots of them are mentioning a lack of immunity thanks to lockdowns. every time I hear it I can't help but think that the increasing desperation thanks to years of underfunding that's really beginning to have an impact since covid (because the pandemic served as the last straw on the camels back there AND because it showed our government that they could neglect the vulnerable to the degree that they were dying by the thousands and still nobody bothered to blame them.) Is a contributing factor in this and I don't understand why nobody is mentioning it???

We're getting sick because we've spent decades being bled dry and now we're hungry, stressed and being worked to the bone. Meanwhile we aren't getting any kind of return on the money we're pumping in to the healthcare system and our governments aren't doing shit to address health inequalities or any of the factors contributing to everyone's poor health.

If you look at covid death statistics, if you look at which countries are currently suffering from supply problems; a job market bursting with unfilled vacancies, civil unrest and protests, strained healthcare systems, and all the rest; the countries at the top are those that have allowed capitalism to call the shots for the past century, more than the rest. That is why the UK and America have been so badly impacted. Its no accident that we are paying so heavily, this system started with us. We forced it on the rest of the world and now, we're the first to pay the price. There is a direct correlation between the impact being felt post covid and a countries wealth divide and I'm tired of everyone ignoring that.

I look around me and People are going hungry, the food they can afford to buy is lacking in basic nutrients, of course people are sicker! Even if you can afford them, the shops keep running out of vegetables! Our health system was already breaking and then, we were hit by a pandemic it was completely unprepared for (tho it should have been) and now, people are getting way more ill than they need to before they finally reach hospital. When they get there, the hospitals are understaffed (thanks to years of underfunded budgets and the extreme stress so many health care workers were put under), we keep having drug shortages because our country keep straight up refusing to pay how much things cost, and what they are willing to pay, goes to pay about ten profiteering middle men at each stage of the supply chain.

People are massively stressed thanks to the cumulative weight of a completely broken capitalist system and those in charge are more worried about lining their pockets for as long as they can until the whole thing collapses, rather than actually trying to address any problems. Stress IS something that's known to weaken immune systems so why are we blaming something that MAY affect them??? Extreme rises in energy costs have meant everyone's spent a winter without adequate heating (even those that can afford it are revolting at the increase and so are trying to cut costs by using less energy.) Again, insufficiently heated homes are also known to affect immunity. And that's just the people who still have safe homes! Masses of people have been made homeless recently thanks to rising rents and mortgages which were already unaffordable, our housing stock is largely dangerous, with homes falling in to disrepair because landlords are barely regulated and when they do break laws they go unprotected.

Is anyone surprised that so many people are getting so ill and not getting better? Cause I'm not.

It's startlingly obvious when you start looking at the health divide between those who have spent 40 years subject to the whims of poorly restricted capitalism and those able to opt out. Medical technology is improving, but healthy life expectancy is now dropping year on year, because there are more people living here without the capital to turn away from jobs that will break them, than there are those whose inherited wealth opens doors away from employers that'll ask you to pay the price of bodily health, so they might strengthen profit margins. Its just basic averages. 1% of our citizens are standing on the backs of 99% of us and wondering why more and more of that 99% are getting sicker and sicker. The labour market for working class people has been allowed to drain its workers dry for years now. The progress made in the early to mid 20th century has slowly been worn away at, with the labour laws we fought for, only being accessible for an ever decreasing number of people. The laws are still in place but no low wage employer bothers to follow them any more than they have to. Do you know how many people I know who've been working without breaks, going unpaid for extra hours, been forced to follow unsafe working practices that they know are illegal and then being forced to lie to protect the employer that put them in that position? The people being broken by companies raking in billions, as they flaunt labour laws, don't have any means to access justice! If you complain, you lose your job. If you take them to court that costs money and that company is willing to drag out proceedings for years till you run out of the money needed to keep things going.

When i look at how much money is being wasted in government budgets, while the people responsible for making that money, see little return; I can't help but think of various theories for why certain societies in history have collapsed. (If you want to be really worried about the state of things, read the Wikipedia page on societal collapse. Spoiler: most of the potential causes of societal collapse have already begun in America and the UK. That guy who wrote that article saying America was already past the point of collapse might have been right.) One theory behind the bronze age collapse is just that... societies became too complex. A society where the 1% are given too much power over the 99% becomes one great big pyramid scheme. Unnecessary burecracy at every level (designed to squeeze as much wealth possible for the person overseeing that level) results in those at the bottom, working themselves to death and still going hungry. The theory goes that there comes a point, in societies like that, where the workers look at how they are living and just...walk away. They decide that the security once offered by that society isn't worth what it's costing them and fuck off to become farmers, preferring a life of hard work and little security, to what they had been living. Without the workers, the system breaks down. The only people getting fed are the ones growing the food. All this stupid stratification. Allowing every supply chain, business and institution to become unnecessarily complex just so on each level the people in charge can let their mates get a foot in on the profits. All these middlemen. Business consultants. Supply chains allow for a product to be sent back and forth from country to country just so more people get a cut. Its no different to any other pyramid scheme so why the hell are we allowing it.

We need to start telling our politicians to show some goddamn accountability for this shit. Stop accepting them skirting responsibility for being at best: Inept and at worst deliberately negligent. We all need to stop supporting a system that's hurting us all. In the hope that we might be one of the lucky ones. That's not the reality of things. We'll only get out of this hole we've inadvertently dug ourselves in to, if we stop fighting each other and work together to demand change.

You know how sometimes you catch someone in a lie, and so they tell an even bigger lie to try and cover up the first lie they told?

Well, that’s happening right now.

Last winter, a handful of celebrity doctors went on mainstream news networks to assure us that Omicron was “mild.” They carpet-bombed us with articles and tweets, doing their best to brainwash everyone.

They were wrong.

In the end, real science junked that idea. An article in the Journal of the American Medical Association showed that Omicron killed more people than previous variants, even when adjusting for other factors. Another study by doctors at Massachusetts General and Harvard Medical found that Omicron was just as deadly. In fact, “the risks of hospitalization and mortality were nearly identical.” As it turns out, the entire idea of “mild” Omicron was based on an old, flawed idea known as the law of declining virulence, developed by a doctor who was studying tick-borne disease in cows. It was debunked decades ago.

Most epidemiologists know that viruses don’t magically evolve to become milder. Virus evolution is random and chaotic.

In some cases, viruses evolve to become more deadly.

A handful of actual scientists tried to explain all this last winter, including disease experts at Johns Hopkins. A handful of other established experts spoke out against this myth. As a microbiologist at Penn State told Politifact, “You can’t just say it’s going to become nicer.” They were largely ignored, because everyone already sort of believed the misinformation. If they knew it was based on a study about cows, they probably would’ve thought twice.

This year, the makers of “it’s mild” are back.

They’re selling “immunity debt.”

We should be skeptical.

Schools and daycares are sending letters home to parents talking about this “immunity debt.” They’re saying that healthy children are getting sicker, even dying, because they weren’t exposed to enough germs over the last two years. Newspapers and TV stations across the country are running with it, proposing it as a “possible reason” for this year’s explosion in pediatric hospitalizations. Meanwhile, major medical organizations have sent a letter to President Biden urging him to declare an emergency over an “alarming surge of pediatric hospitalizations” due to a range of respiratory viruses, including Covid.

A lot of people are drinking the “immunity debt” kool-aid.

After all, Americans have believed for generations that getting sick is “good for you.” We think our immune system behaves like a muscle. We worry that if we’re not giving it a workout, we’ll get weak.

It’s a myth, just like the law of declining virulence.

Here’s why.

[organicbusinessconsulting]

Global Viral and Bacterial Filters Market Size, Share, Trends & Forecast 2032

The Global Viral and Bacterial Filters Market size was estimated at USD XX billion in 2021 and is expected to hit around USD XX billion by 2030, poised to grow at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of XX% from 2022 to 2030.

The term “Viral and Bacterial Filters”

Viral and bacterial filters are types of filters that are designed to remove pathogens such as viruses and bacteria from air or liquid.

A viral filter is a type of filter that is designed to capture and remove airborne viruses from the air. These filters are commonly used in medical settings, such as in hospitals or dental offices, to prevent the spread of infections between patients and healthcare workers.

A bacterial filter, on the other hand, is a type of filter that is designed to remove bacteria from liquids such as water or pharmaceuticals. These filters are commonly used in the manufacturing of pharmaceuticals, food and beverage production, and in medical devices such as IV sets, dialysis machines, and ventilators.

The global market scenario is driven by a variety of factors that influence the demand and supply of goods and services. Some of the key market drivers include technological advancements, changing consumer preferences and behavior, globalization and trade liberalization, demographic shifts, government policies and regulations, and environmental concerns. Technological advancements, such as the development of AI and IoT, are driving innovation and efficiency across industries, while changing consumer preferences and behavior are creating new opportunities for businesses to meet evolving demands.

Download Free Sample Report

The global market scenario is characterized by several trends that are shaping the way businesses operate and interact with their customers. Some of the key market trends include the increasing adoption of digital technologies, the rise of e-commerce and online marketplaces, the growth of sustainable and eco-friendly products and services, the emergence of new market players and business models, and the increasing importance of data analytics and artificial intelligence. The COVID-19 pandemic has also accelerated many of these trends, such as the shift towards remote work and online shopping.

Market Segmentation:

Market Breakup: By Efficiency Rating

MERV Rating for Air Filters

Bacterial Removal Efficiency for Liquid Filters

Market Breakup: By Application

Air Filtration

Liquid Filtration

Gas Filtration

Market Breakup: By End-Use Industry

Healthcare

Pharmaceuticals

Food And Beverage

Industrial Manufacturing

Market Breakup: By Sales Channel

Direct Sales

Distribution Channels

Full Report Access: https://organicmarketresearch.com/viral-and-bacterial-filters-market

Regional Analysis

The size and scope of the global Viral and Bacterial Filters industry vary by region and are important and expanding. Below is a quick summary of the industry’s regional analysis:

North America: The Viral and Bacterial Filters market in North America is driven by the presence of established healthcare and pharmaceutical industries, as well as strict regulatory standards for air and water quality. The US and Canada are the major markets in this region.

Europe: The Viral and Bacterial Filters market in Europe is driven by the presence of strict regulatory standards for air and water quality, as well as increasing demand for sustainable and eco-friendly products and services. Germany, France, and the UK are the major markets in this region.

Asia-Pacific: The Viral and Bacterial Filters market in Asia-Pacific is driven by the increasing adoption of air and water filtration systems in industries such as healthcare, pharmaceuticals, and food and beverage. The market is also fueled by rapid urbanization and industrialization in emerging economies such as China, India, and Japan.

South America: The Viral and Bacterial Filters market in South America is driven by the increasing demand for clean air and water in industries such as healthcare and food and beverage. Brazil, Argentina, and Colombia are the major markets in this region.

Middle East & Africa: The Viral and Bacterial Filters market in the Middle East & Africa region is driven by the increasing demand for air and water filtration systems in industries such as healthcare, oil and gas, and power generation. The market is also fueled by the growing focus on sustainable and eco-friendly products and services. UAE, Saudi Arabia, and South Africa are the major markets in this region.

Market Breakup By Region

North America

Europe

Asia Pacific

Latin America

Middle East and Africa

Competitive Landscape

The Viral and Bacterial Filters Industry competitive landscape provides details by competitor. Details included are company outline, company financials, revenue generated, market potential, investment in research and development, new market initiatives, worldwide occurrence, production sites and facilities, production capacities, company strengths and weaknesses, product launch, product width and breadth, application dominance. The overhead data points providing are only related to the businesses’ focus related to Viral and Bacterial Filters marketplace.

The global viral and bacterial filters market has witnessed a significant surge in recent years, driven by a growing emphasis on healthcare infrastructure, rising awareness about infectious diseases, and the increasing adoption of advanced filtration technologies. This blog post delves into the size, share, and growth trends of this crucial market, exploring the factors contributing to its expansion and the key players shaping its landscape.

Market Size and Share: The market for viral and bacterial filters has experienced substantial growth, with a notable increase in both size and market share. As of [current year], the market size is estimated at [provide data], showcasing a remarkable trajectory over the past few years. Factors such as the rising prevalence of infectious diseases, particularly in the wake of global health concerns, have driven the demand for effective filtration solutions.

Key players in the market have played a pivotal role in shaping its landscape, contributing to increased competition and innovation. Market leaders have focused on strategic collaborations, acquisitions, and product developments to maintain and expand their market share.

Growth Trends: Several trends are contributing to the sustained growth of the global viral and bacterial filters market:

Technological Advancements: The market is witnessing continuous innovation in filtration technologies, with a focus on improving efficiency and reducing the risk of viral and bacterial contamination. Advanced materials and designs are being developed to enhance the effectiveness of filters in various applications.

Increasing Healthcare Expenditure: The global commitment to bolster healthcare infrastructure, especially in the face of pandemics and emerging infectious diseases, has fueled the demand for viral and bacterial filters. Governments and private entities are investing in healthcare facilities, driving the need for high-quality filtration solutions.

Rising Awareness: The growing awareness among healthcare professionals and the general public regarding the importance of infection prevention has led to an increased adoption of viral and bacterial filters. This trend is expected to persist as health consciousness continues to rise globally.

Expanding Applications: Viral and bacterial filters are not limited to healthcare settings. They find applications in various industries, including pharmaceuticals, food and beverage, and air purification. The versatility of these filters has expanded their market reach and contributed to overall growth.

Key Players: Prominent players in the global viral and bacterial filters market include [list key players], each contributing to the market’s growth through product development, strategic partnerships, and geographic expansion. These companies are at the forefront of technological advancements, offering a wide range of filtration solutions to meet the diverse needs of end-users.

Contact Us: Mob : +91 9319642100 Noida One Tower Sec 62 Noida 201301 Sales : sales@organicmarketresearch.com Website : https://www.organicmarketresearch.com

[newstfionline]

Monday, November 13, 2023

Somber bugles and bells mark Armistice Day around the globe as wars drown out peace messages (AP) With somber bugles and bells from Australia to western Europe’s battlefields of World War I, people around the globe on Saturday remembered the slaughter and losses just over a century ago that was supposed to be “the war to end all wars.” Yet the rumble of tanks and the screeching of incoming fire from Ukraine to Gaza pierced the solemnity of the occasion and the notion that humankind could somehow circumvent violence to settle its worst differences. “This time last year, our thoughts were focused on Ukraine. Today, our minds are full with the terrible images emerging from Israel and Gaza. These are just two of the more than 100 armed conflicts in the world today,” said Benoit Mottrie, the head of the Last Post Association in western Belgium’s Ypres, where some of the fiercest and deadliest World War I battles were fought.

A fragile global economy is at stake as US and China seek to cool tensions at APEC summit (AP) The United States and China are the two global economic heavyweights. Combined, they produce more than 40% of the world’s goods and services. So when Washington and Beijing do economic battle, as they have for five years running, the rest of the world suffers, too. And when they hold a rare high-level summit, as Presidents Joe Biden and Xi Jinping will this week, it can have global consequences. The world’s economy could surely benefit from a U.S.-China détente. Since 2020, it has suffered one crisis after another—the COVID-19 pandemic, soaring inflation, surging interest rates, violent conflicts in Ukraine and now Gaza. “Having the world’s two largest economies at loggerheads at such a fraught moment,” said Eswar Prasad, senior professor of trade policy at Cornell University, “exacerbates the negative impact of various geopolitical shocks that have hit the world economy.”

UK homeless hit back at minister’s ‘lifestyle choice’ comment (Reuters) In a dark alleyway in central London, Billy and Jay have set up a two-person tent, with cardboard and sleeping bags spread out on the floor in an effort to keep out the cold November night. The two men met on the streets and joined forces for food and shelter. “It’s not a house, but it’s somewhere where you can call a home, where you’re dry,” said 21-year-old Billy, originally from Manchester in northern England, who has been sleeping rough for two months after being discharged injured from the army. Britain’s interior minister Suella Braverman has floated the idea of limiting the use of tents by homeless people, in a move widely criticised by charities. “We cannot allow our streets to be taken over by rows of tents occupied by people, many of them from abroad, living on the streets as a lifestyle choice,” Braverman said on X. For Billy and Jay, 50, their tent is a lifeline—particularly as they had to raise the money to buy a new one after the tents they had were set on fire, leaving them with almost no possessions. “I would absolutely love for them to spend a week in our shoes, just to see what it’s like,” Jay said.

One year after liberation, Ukrainians in Kherson hold on amid constant shelling (AP) One year since Ukraine retook the city of Kherson from occupying Russian forces, residents have grown accustomed to hearing outgoing fire from the left bank of the Dnieper river, where Russian troops are positioned. They know that familiar crackle means they have seven seconds to find a shelter, or a sturdy wall to hide behind. Their lives are mostly limited to the comfort of home and the necessity of the supermarket. Many shops are still shuttered. Municipal workers wear bullet-proof vests and wait to be dispatched to sweep up the rubble from yet another impact. Between lulls of artillery fire coming from the river, which marks the contact line between battling armies in the Kherson region, Ukrainians venture out to buy food. The flight of Russian troops from Kherson under prolonged Ukrainian assault a year ago was one of Ukraine’s biggest successes in the war and was seen as an inflection point. President Volodymyr Zelenskyy triumphantly walked the streets of the newly liberated city back then, hailing Russia’s withdrawal as the “beginning of the end of the war.” Many hoped it would serve as a springboard for more advances into occupied territory. Today, both sides are locked in a stalemated battle of attrition.

Gaza Hospitals Near Collapse as Fighting Rages Nearby (NYT) Operations at Gaza’s main hospital were showing signs of collapse on Saturday, with its director and the Gazan Health Ministry describing power outages, shortages of water and medicine and a crisis in treating seriously wounded patients and vulnerable children, while battles between Israeli troops and Hamas fighters raged outside. Israel’s ground invasion of the territory has moved deeper into Gaza City in the last few days, slowly closing in on the hospitals that have provided refuge for tens of thousands but that Israel says are shielding Hamas military operations in tunnels below. Many doctors and nurses have vowed to stay and treat the wounded who keep pouring in, despite the dwindling supplies and an Israeli order to evacuate the northern half of Gaza. At four hospitals, though, doctors, patients and displaced Gazans were mostly able to evacuate as Israeli troops approached, the Israeli military and the Gaza Health Ministry said on Saturday. The principal hospital, Al-Shifa, was struggling just to keep patients alive on Saturday, a day after at least one projectile struck it.

Gaza’s water crisis (Mada Masr/Egypt) Firas, a young Palestinian man from the Gaza Strip, was displaced from eastern Khan Younis to a shelter in the governorate’s center due to the ongoing Israeli bombing. Each day, he carries several empty bottles and makes his way to the Nasser Medical Complex in the south of Gaza, hoping to fill them there. This water is impotable, but he drinks it anyway. Firas, like all those displaced to shelter centers, only has the chance to shower every two or three days, depending on the availability of water. Firas is not alone. Falastin, a displaced woman in her thirties, carries a plastic bag filled with her clothes for half a kilometer to reach a public bathroom in a hospital to take a shower. On her way back, she carries a gallon of water to bring home to her three daughters so they can also shower and wash their clothes. When the war ends—for it will end someday—and the massacres that have killed nearly 10,000 Palestinians so far, most of whom are children, women and elderly people, recede, Gaza’s water may return to what it was before the war. It is hard to imagine a worse situation. About 97% of Gaza’s water was non-potable before the war, according to World Health Organization (WHO) standards, due to Israel’s 17-year-long blockade, which enacted water policies that scholar Eyal Weizman has described as “a more subtle process of killing.”

U.S. is warned about its global standing as Gaza suffering persists (Washington Post) A month into the Gaza war, President Biden’s steadfast support for Israeli leaders, even as the Palestinian civilian death toll mounts, risks lasting damage to Washington’s standing in the region and beyond, Arab leaders and analysts say, warning that the perceived U.S. acceptance of attacks on refugee camps, hospitals and apartment buildings could shatter American influence for years to come. Anger over the campaign’s enormous civilian collateral is increasingly directed at the United States, not just at Israel, and has been a constant source of friction throughout Secretary of State Antony Blinken’s travels in the Middle East and Asia over the past week. Prime ministers and diplomats have admonished him over Israeli actions, with many charging that the attacks are facilitated by U.S. weaponry and that efforts to push for “humanitarian pauses” rather than an enduring cease-fire is a formula for continued violence against noncombatants. “The whole region is sinking in a sea of hatred that will define generations to come,” said Jordanian Foreign Minister Ayman Safadi, speaking alongside Blinken in Amman. He called for Washington to put a halt to Israeli attacks on civilians. “The U.S. has a leading role to play in these efforts. And on it and on all of us fall the very heavy responsibility of ending this catastrophe.” As massive pro-Palestinian demonstrations were held throughout the world, hundreds of thousands of people in Indonesia, Pakistan and elsewhere took aim at Israel and its American backers for the death toll, which has surpassed 11,000 Palestinians, many of them children, according to the Hamas-controlled Gaza Health Ministry.

Dozens of Chinese ships chase Philippine vessels as US renews warning it will defend its treaty ally (AP) As a U.S. Navy surveillance plane flew in circles, keeping a close watch, dozens of Chinese coast guard and accompanying ships chased and encircled Philippine vessels in the latest confrontation in one of the most dangerous flashpoints in the South China Sea. At the height of Friday’s four-hour faceoff in the high seas, a Chinese coast guard ship blasted a water cannon toward a Philippine motorboat delivering food and other supplies to Filipino forces on a marooned, rusting warship that serves as the country’s fragile territorial outpost at Second Thomas Shoal. China has steadfastly stood by its claim to virtually the entire strategic waterway, clashing with its smaller neighbors and drawing in the United States, Manila’s treaty ally and China’s main rival in the Asia-Pacific region. Philippine officials said Saturday they would never take any step that could ignite a larger conflict but would not be deterred in defending the country’s sovereign rights in the South China Sea.

Vegemite (NYT) Just off Australia’s largest container port lies a sickle-shaped neighborhood with a scent so distinctive that passing taxi drivers will sometimes roll down their windows for a whiff of the rich and unmistakably beery aroma. That smell, officially recognized by the City of Melbourne last year for its “intangible cultural heritage,” emanates from a nondescript, brick factory on a corner lot in this industrial district, known as Port Melbourne. Every vessel of Vegemite, the spread beloved in Australia and not so much outside it, has for the past 80 years begun its journey here. Glinting glass jars, each filled with a swirl of semi-molten Vegemite, quiver as they clink along metal rollers on the assembly line before being bunched into squadrons of 12 and sent out into the world. Australians hanker for Vegemite. It is in over 90 percent of the country’s homes, according to Bega Group, the company that makes it. Many, if not most, cafes have a vat in their kitchens, and dinky jars of less than one ounce dot airport lounges across the country. Vegemite evokes visceral reactions abroad. More than a decade ago, President Barack Obama threw diplomatic norms aside, cutting off Julia Gillard, then the Australian prime minister, to proclaim: “It’s horrible.”

Long walk to school: 30 years into freedom, many kids in South Africa still walk miles to class (AP) On weekdays, 14-year-old Luyanda Hlali gets up before dawn to fetch firewood and cow dung to start a fire and boil some water before her four siblings and parents wake up. The mornings are a hive of activity in the Nhlangothi home, in the tiny village of Stratford in South Africa’s KwaZulu-Natal province. Once her chores are done, Luyanda embarks on a 10-kilometer (6-mile) walk to her school. There are no school buses. There is only the long, dusty road where thieves and bad men can accost her. Luyanda is one of tens of thousands of children in South Africa’s poorest and most remote rural communities who still face long walks to the nearest public school, nearly 30 years after the nation ushered in democratic change. In KwaZulu-Natal, campaigners and activists are pressing authorities to provide transport for over 200,000 schoolchildren like Luyanda. But with poverty soaring and unemployment in the country of 56 million people at over 25%, school buses are low on the list of priorities.

[olko71]

New Post has been published on All about business online

New Post has been published on https://yaroreviews.info/2023/11/travel-agents-lead-pay-rise-league-despite-cost-of-living-squeeze

Travel agents lead pay rise league despite cost of living squeeze

PA Media

By Nicu Calcea and Kevin Peachey

BBC News

Travel agents recorded the biggest rise in pay last year, up 21% in a year, official data shows, with public relations directors and publicans next on the list.

Sports coaches saw the largest fall and, overall, UK workers saw earnings fail to keep pace with rising prices.

The average full-time worker’s annual wage was nearly £35,000 in April 2023, a rise of 5.8% on the previous year.

But the cost of living grew faster than wages over the same period.

That ate into workers’ spending power.

Rebound from Covid

Jobs, like travel agents and publicans, fared better than average, but that was likely to be part of a rebound after these roles were hit hard during Covid.

Their typical annual earnings were also still below the national average of all occupations.

Sean Tipton, from the travel agents trade body ABTA, said: “During the pandemic, the travel industry was by far the worst affected. Business fell through the floor. Over 100,000 people left the travel sector.”

When demand from holidaymakers surged back, there was a shortage of workers in the industry, so companies offered higher wages, he said. Higher numbers of bookings meant they had the funds to increase pay.

BBC News analysed the latest earnings figures from the Office for National Statistics (ONS) to see which professions have managed to beat rising inflation rates, and which have not.

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Travel agents had the biggest pay rises, with the average wage going up by more than a fifth to around £29,600, but still below the national average of £35,000.

Public relations directors, publicans and directors have had pay bumps of more than 15% as well.

On the other hand, some jobs fared worse. Delivery operatives, interior designers and tax agents have had substantial pay cuts, even before accounting for inflation.

How to get a job: Six expert tips for finding work

What is the minimum wage and how much is it?

While these figures are less timely than the most up-to-date pay figures released by the ONS, they provide a more granular view of the labour market.

The average full-time worker in the UK was earning £34,963 in the year to March 2023, about £1,900 or 5.8% more than the previous year. The increase in hourly wages was the biggest since comparable records began in 1997 – but unlikely to be higher than during some earlier periods during, for example, the 1970s.

But the inflation figure, or the rate at which the cost of goods and services has increased, for the year April to April, was even higher at 7.8%.

This means that in real terms, wages fell by 1.9% for full-time workers, a sign of the continued cost of living squeeze.

These numbers will not reflect the easing of inflation and further wage rises since April, for which detailed data is not yet available. According to more recent figures from the ONS, pay has already overtaken inflation in June to August 2023.

The gender pay gap, which charts the hourly earnings of men and women, has barely changed in all major sectors between 2022 and 2023, although it has improved over time.

Over the last decade, the gender pay gap has fallen by about a quarter, reaching 7.7% for full-time workers by April 2023. However, it remains disproportionately high for workers aged 40 or over at 10.3%.

Wednesday’s figures also reveal that the proportion of low-wage earners, that is, people who earn below two-thirds of the average hourly earnings, is the lowest since comparable records began in 1997.

Tips for getting a pay rise

Choose the right time – Scheduling a talk in advance will allow you and your boss time to prepare, and means you’re more likely to have a productive conversation

Bring evidence – have a list of what you’ve achieved at work and how you’ve developed yourself

Be confident – Know your worth and don’t be shy about speaking up

Have a figure in mind – look at job adverts online to see the salaries for comparable jobs

Don’t give up – keep talking to your employer if it doesn’t work this time and if you can’t get what you want be prepared to look elsewhere

Additional reporting by Liana Bravo, Libby Rogers, Callum Thomson and Rob England.

Related Topics

Money

Personal finance

Cost of living

UK economy

Pay

More on this story

What is the minimum wage and how much is it?

24 October

Five tips when asking for a pay rise

15 August

How to get a job: Six expert tips for finding work

14 August

[lizseyi]

In A Fast-Changing World For Transport And Logistics, The Right LMS Can Play A Vital Role - Myako

It would probably be something of an understatement to say that the UK’s transport and logistics sectors have undergone quite a few ups and downs in recent years. It is difficult to mention such “ups and downs”, of course, without referring to the dramatic circumstances of the COVID-19 crisis.

Online shopping as a percentage of all retail sales, for example, escalated when the first coronavirus lockdown was imposed in the UK in the spring of 2020. And according to recent data, it remains somewhat higher than its February 2020 level. In addition, there were substantial rises in new orders for the construction of warehouses, and job adverts in transport, logistics, and warehousing, during the pandemic as opposed to before COVID-19 hit.

Having said that, a lot has happened for transport and logistics businesses in the UK since the onset of the 2020s, that has had little or nothing to do with the pandemic. UK supply chains have had to adapt, for instance, to the country’s departure from the European Union (EU), and there has been much talk about shortages of heavy goods vehicle drivers, and the consequences of this.

Looking at the longer-term picture, the number of UK commercial premises classified as transport and logistics also climbed by 88% from 2011 to 2021.

So, what are the lessons from all of this sweeping industry change?

There are a lot of important lessons that we could take from this ongoing transformation of the UK transport and logistics sector – not least the importance of putting in place strong foundations for the training of logistics and transportation workers. That might lead you to consider investing in a dedicated Learning Management System, or LMS, for logistics and transportation workers.

As we recently wrote about in another news update, an LMS is a software application or tool that allows for the creation and delivery of training courses, as well as associated reporting. And it’s fair to say that the world of logistics and transportation is specialised and sensitive enough to require suitably specialised and sensitive training solutions.

However, with this industry being such a high-pressure and fast-paced one, we realise that it can be tricky to get your workers to complete the training they require in order to do their jobs to best effect. That’s before you even get onto the subject of how to keep track of their progress with such learning, or how and where all the relevant records.

All of this helps to show the value of our own LMS for logistics and transportation-related training. The myAko LMS is quick and straightforward to use, and offers impressive functionality, including automation of the process of chasing people, and the ability to see all records in one place.

Our LMS is also a very affordable option, relative to the wealth of logistics and transportation-related training courses that it provides. In fact, we can give you access to more than 80 transport and logistics courses through our system, covering a variety of safe working practices in the industry. And the bitesize nature of these courses will make it easier for your workers to progress through them.

Why not see for yourself what all the fuss is about?

Whether you have previously used a dedicated LMS for logistics and transportation training, or you are utterly new to using any kind of LMS, our team can help you get the most from this complete solution, which can be built around your organisation’s needs.

To find out more about everything our LMS for logistics and transportation organisations could do for you, why not book a demo of our system, or reach out to us directly for a discussion today?

[thecpdiary]

Mental Health Crisis at Terrifying Levels

Stats in England tell us the UK is lagging behind its European counterpart, when it comes to mental health. My blog stats tell me the same thing.

Writing helps minimise and place some of my thoughts brought about through anxiety, but external influences continue to play their part around my mental health, and I am sure I am not the only one.

The NHS is failing to treat 250,000 children with mental health problems. (Source: the guardian, 2023). 1 in 6 adults experience a mental health issue, such as depression and/or anxiety in England. (Source: myndup.com. 2023)

Mental health is hitting the most vulnerable. It's also hitting teens, the young, the cost-of-living crisis is also adding to our mental health problems. "The Rosena Allin-Khan Interview: "There is a mental health crisis and it’s only going to get worse" - (Source: politicshome)

We're not talking about or dealing with Mental Health

We're not talking about or dealing with mental health. Covid-19 has also changed the way we deal with mental health.

The NHS

The NHS is in crisis. In the last few years, the NHS has seen demand increases, while also coping with over a decade of prolonged underfunding. Earlier this year, many hospitals recorded the worst A&E wait times on record, with the president of the Royal College of Emergency Medicine, Dr Adrian Boyle, saying that up to 500 people were dying each week as a result of delays in emergency care.

NHS Staff Shortages

"Meanwhile, staff shortages within the NHS are increasing. Figures show that 400 workers leave the NHS every week and around 10% of posts are unfilled. I’ve never done a shift with a full team of staff and, often, we’re covering more than just our own job. This results in being overworked while putting patient safety at risk. Within the NHS, I have found that there is little support for those suffering mental health issues.

In the last 12 months, 52% of doctors have reported suffering poor mental health with burnout affecting more than three quarters of hospital doctors, on the frontline. There is now a National Physician Suicide Awareness Day as doctors are up to four times more likely to die by suicide compared to the general population." - Eloise Hart

The Research

Research has found that many struggling doctors do not seek help due to the stigma within the medical profession, feeling shame and guilt to take on the ‘patient’ role.

A 2-year qualified junior doctor, talks openly about her struggles:

"I know I’ve really struggled returning to work due to fear of how I’ll be perceived. I have to remind myself that healthcare workers are human too and it’s OK to admit when you’re struggling. I am due to return to work next month having been for four months. It will be difficult to return to work, but I am determined to speak openly about my mental health issues, particularly as the majority of us are facing the same." - Eloise Hart

Medical Staff signing off work, sick due to mental health

Eloise had to sign off from work due to mental health issues. Although she knew it would be hard for her to return to work, she was determined to speak openly about her mental health issues, understanding the majority will be experiencing the same. The virus isn't gone and many of us are still there. (Source: https://www.metro.co.uk)

Conclusion

The NHS has been in crisis for years now. In Covid-19 it's moved to critical status. I've been talking about mental health on and off my blog now for 13 years and even in the early days of writing, mental health, although it wasn't always being overlooked and people were reading my blog, I'm not sure how many were being proactive enough to deal with their mental health.

The bounce rate on my blog is very low, which means people are reading 'the blog of the day' but nothing else.

Also, in Covid-19 the world changed and mental health took an even bigger tumble. I wonder now what it's going to take for the world to wake up, for each of us to start dealing with our mental health. The stark reality is cancer rates have gone from 1 in 4 to 1 in 2, which means one in two people will get cancer in their lifetime. That has everything to do with mental health. I wonder just how many people will read this blog.

I've talked about mental health throughout my writing career. My blog spans mental health. I can't stress enough how important it is to start taking care of you, to start being proactive and to deal with your mental health. With 13 years of blogs covered, my website would be a good place to start, or check out and buy one of my books. They all deal with mental health. Our mental health, our lives are literally depending on us taking control and being proactive on mental health.

If you are interested in dealing with your mental health, my books are available to purchase on my website here https://www.thecpdiary.com/my-books/

For more inspirational, life-changing blogs, please check out my site https://www.thecpdiary.com

[goldiers1]

How Pandemic Support Helped UK Film & TV Industry Boom

  - Restart scheme supported more than 100,000 jobs for cast and crew on more than 1,000 productions including Gentleman Jack, His Dark Materials and Living - Financial benefits generated by the scheme were 115 times greater than the cost of delivery - Programme provided insurance to productions delayed or interrupted due to Covid   GLOBAL TV hits nominated for BAFTAs and Oscar Academy Awards survived and thrived through the pandemic thanks to the Government’s film and TV support package, which also boosted the country’s economy by £2.25 billion. Oscar-nominated film Living, Bafta nominees Brian & Charles, Blue Jean and Good Luck To You, Leo Grande, as well as major productions including Gentleman Jack, Peaky Blinders and His Dark Materials, were all supported by the scheme. Smaller productions including Help and Steph’s Packed Lunch also got help. The findings are published today in an independent report assessing the success of the Film and TV Production Restart Scheme, which was launched in July 2020 and has supported more than 1,200 productions. The scheme was introduced when the country’s world-class screen industries were struggling to get Covid-related insurance cover from commercial insurers. It protected production companies in the event of new restrictions or outbreaks on set among cast and crew which could force a shutdown. Productions using the scheme created 63,500 crew positions, plus a further 37,100 cast roles, meaning a total of up to 100,600 production industry workers were given a lifeline by the scheme during an extremely challenging economic period. The report also shows the scheme created 48,500 full-time jobs both directly in the sector and indirectly through supply chains. The report, carried out by Nordicity & Saffery Champness LLP, found total benefits generated by the scheme were 115 times greater than the cost of delivery. The scheme contributed £2.25 billion to the economy thanks to the jobs created and positive impact on the sectors’ supply chains and wider economy, with costs to the Government expected to be just £19.6 million. This is lower than anticipated thanks to effective work by film and TV companies to manage the risks of Covid during production. A survey of producers showed that, on average, 73 per cent of registered productions would not have been able to spend the amount of money they did if the scheme did not exist, meaning it helped to ensure the continued growth of the sectors.  

Official portrait of Lucy Frazer, UK Culture Secretary. Photo by Chris McAndrew. Wikimedia.   Culture Secretary Lucy Frazer said: ” Our screen industries are an economic powerhouse and we should be proud that the UK is firmly established as one of the best places in the world to create blockbuster content. ” When the pandemic threatened that success we stepped in to protect jobs, keep cameras rolling and ensure our producers could keep making the exceptional content that the UK is famous for. ” The Film and TV Restart Scheme protected productions that supported jobs, contributed to our economy and entertained audiences across the world.”   Ben Roberts, BFI Chief Executive said: “Setting up the Film and Television Production Restart Scheme showed overnment and industry working together at their best and at speed, enabling cameras to roll and businesses, cast and crew to get back to work. Making this happen at a crucial time after production had ground to a halt will always be appreciated by the sector. It has played a major part in the industry’s recovery out of the pandemic in doing to enabled the industry to get more than a thousand productions made, contributed billions in production spend and revenues to economy and maintained global confidence in our world-leading production industry.”   Thanks to the scheme, productions could continue creating new content for audiences around the world while curbs remained on their social lives. It also enabled our world-class film and TV industries to continue to drive economic growth and create new jobs. The scheme supported a large number of productions outside of London, with a total of 58 per cent of film and TV productions registered by the scheme based outside the capital. Now that restrictions have ended, the film and TV sectors have been able to reach new heights thanks to the strong government backing they received during the pandemic. Last year saw a record £6.27 billion of production spend in the UK and the sectors are continuing to grow the economy and create jobs across the entire country.   Sources: THX News, Department for Culture, Media and Sport & The Rt Hon Lucy Frazer KC MP. Read the full article

[aakarshita04]

How to Address the Skills Shortage

The skills shortage is a real concern for employers across the UK, and one that affects all industries, from manufacturing to health care, and everywhere in between. There is a growing need for new skills, as well as retraining for employees who are at risk of losing their jobs.

Labor shortage narratives persist

Skilled labour is an issue that is not new, but the recent economic recovery has renewed the urgency of finding qualified workers. A skills gap is not always the fault of employers, but it can slow down company growth and leave them exposed to more risk.

In its most basic form, the skills gap refers to the inability to find highly qualified applicants. It can be an over-simplified term, but it is often used in industry discussions.

It is also sometimes confused with recruitment issues, but it is a much more complicated problem. The skills gap is actually a combination of education and training.

For example, a recent study by the Open University found that many of the best skills are not necessarily related to the job itself. Instead, they are associated with the process of hiring and firing employees.

However, in practice, there is little evidence that the skills gap is actually a factor in the hiring and firing decisions of employers. Rather, it is the result of a cyclical nature of the market.

Some economists claim that the skilled labor shortage concept is over-hyped. They argue that it is a simplistic model that does not take into account the dynamic nature of the labour market. As a result, it misinterprets factors such as wages, vacancies and the supply-demand equation.

Other economists point out that the skill-shortage narrative has little to do with the real problems facing the economy. Among other things, it diverts attention from the most basic of labor issues: stagnant wages and sluggish growth.

And while the skilled-labour-shortage theory may be correct, it is far from the only reason for the country's unemployment rate to remain so high.

Staffing shortages hit businesses across Wales

The Welsh hospitality industry is facing a staffing shortage, amidst a boom in tourist attractions. In addition, the sector is also under pressure due to the large number of EU workers who left the UK last year.

It is estimated that the hospitality industry employs more than 157,000 people in Wales. However, with the shortage of labour, the recovery of this industry is being threatened.

As a result, there is a growing need for hospitality and tourism operators to recruit front-of-house workers such as kitchen porters and assistant managers. According to the report, in June, the top job roles that were wanted in Wales were kitchen and catering assistants, assistant managers and chefs.

Similarly, businesses in the UK's manufacturing industry are under pressure from a skills shortage. A study conducted by Newcross Healthcare revealed that a third of businesses in this sector are facing problems.

This is putting pressure on mid-sized businesses. Business advisory firm BDO said that a reduction in stock caused by supply chain disruption also puts pressure on operations.

The Welsh government has pulled every lever to help Welsh businesses. For example, it has offered a PS116m package to businesses affected by the Covid-19 pandemic.

But this is just a framework. A recent survey of more than 500 organisations in Wales found that one in four are struggling to operate normally because of a staffing shortage.

A number of health boards in Wales have been failing to meet recommended staffing levels. Hospital services are being disrupted and patients are being seen less quickly. One board has suspended elective treatments in North Wales, while others have advised people to stay away.

In an effort to address the problem, the Royal College of Nursing in Wales has issued its second report on nurse staffing levels in Wales. It outlines a list of recommendations that the Welsh Government needs to take to help combat the problem.

Staffing shortages in service jobs in retail, leisure and hospitality

Skill shortages in service jobs in retail, leisure and hospitality has been a problem in the United States for a long time. This is due to a number of factors. Some of the key reasons include: low wages, poor working conditions, and inaccessibility to basic benefits. The problem can be addressed by adopting new strategies.

One of the most common strategies is offering more flexible working hours. While providing greater flexibility does not necessarily mean increased profits, it does make sense for employers that cannot afford to increase labor costs.

Another strategy is to offer better benefits. Employers can create internships or contract with staffing firms. Adding employee referral programs and using new technologies also help streamline the recruitment process.

Employers can also develop a workforce development program. This helps build connections with local high schools and offers workers a path to advancement.

As mentioned above, there are a number of ways to overcome the skills shortages in service jobs in retail, leisure, and hospitality. But it's important to remember that these industries aren't the only sectors dealing with a hiring crunch.

In order to fill the skills gap, companies need to change their hiring practices. These include focusing on hard skills, shortening the recruitment process, and offering more flexibility. Additionally, employers need to address the underlying causes of hiring challenges. These include empowering employees and improving working conditions.

While labor shortages are not a new issue, they do need to be addressed. By addressing these issues, employers can improve their workforce and ensure that their business thrives in the future.

Overall, the most effective solution is to invest in education and training for workers. While the cost of doing so is high, it is worth it. Investing in a well-trained workforce will ensure that hotels are able to provide their guests with the best possible experience.

Cyber skills shortage presents opportunities for growth

The cybersecurity skills shortage presents a great opportunity for students and professionals alike. With the growing need for experts in this field, companies and organizations are struggling to find qualified workers.

There are a number of steps that companies can take to address this shortage. First, companies should invest in their employees. By providing training, mentoring, and career growth opportunities, they can help employees build on their skill sets.

Additionally, employers should be more aware of the talent available in their local areas. This may involve working with local computer science departments or schools to teach future talent or host hackathons to get adjacent communities thinking about cybersecurity.

In addition to the technical skills, cybersecurity requires a variety of soft skills. These include sociology, communication, and psychology. Increasingly, these skills are needed to address socio-technical threats, such as online abuse and social engineering.

Cybersecurity jobs are expectead to be in high demand as the digital economy continues to grow. As the industry matures, employers are also beginning to use internal retraining programs to draw from existing pools of skilled candidates.

However, companies are still relying heavily on hands-on experience when hiring for these positions. This is because of the fast-paced nature of the technology landscape. Moreover, automation can free up skilled team members to work on value-add activities.

As the demand for skilled cybersecurity experts grows, the cost of hiring these professionals is also rising. This makes it difficult to quantify the indirect economic costs of the shortage.

Organizations must improve the diversity of their workforce. Diversity helps to eliminate biases and blind spots within the cybersecurity ecosystem. Developing diversity-focused organizations and educating students can also help.

[tallmantall]

#JamesDonaldson On #MentalHealth - Study Shows #MentalHealthSupport For #Farmers Needs Radical Overhaul

#Farmers and farm workers have reported increased levels of #stress, #anxiety, #depression and suicidal feelings since the #Coronavirus #pandemic Views of the fields and farmsteads below the Simonside Hills between Rothbury and Thropton A new study has laid bare the #mentalhealthchallenges #farmers across the UK are facing, leading researchers to call for urgent attention to #mentalhealthservices in #rural areas. The study, carried out by Cranfield University, found that there were increased levels of self-reported #stress, #anxiety, #depression and #suicidalfeelings among farm workers during the #Coronavirus #pandemic. #Farmers are considered essential workers and some have been shown to have poor #mentalhealth as a result of being relatively isolated physically, socially and culturally, according to the study. When the #pandemic hit the UK, farmers were already facing substantial uncertainty around transitions away from the EU's Common Agricultural policy. And Richard Rankin, CEO of H and H Group, which owns Wooler Mart, says that is not the only uncertainty that farmers face. "#Farmers are like entrepreneurs, only they face more uncontrollables and risk, namely the weather and the way they earn their income. They never know what they're going to earn because of prices, the subsidies and the basic payment scheme has been replaced but nobody really knows how the new scheme is going to work and how that'll impact them. "They're already getting less money, which is going to continue becoming less and less. It's a bit of a perfect storm and we already know that many #farmers are isolated, so who do they turn to when they've had a bad day or something goes wrong like a tractor goes wrong or the weather's bad?" Richard Rankin, Chief Executive of H and H Group, which owns Wooler Mart A report in 2021 by charity the Farm Safety Foundation (Yellow Wellies) found that 92% of #farmers under the age of 40 cited poor #mentalhealth as the biggest hidden problem facing #farmers today, a 10% increase on 2018. The Office of National Statistics registered 102 suicides in England and Wales by people working in agricultural-related trades in 2019. The Cranfield University study found from interviewing chaplains, charities, auction mart staff and primary healthcare, that #mentalhealthservices are strained in #ruralcommunities and provide uneven coverage across the country. Some healthcare settings can be inaccessible and lack an understanding of farming. At the same time, informal spaces of social support are being eroded due to the loss of #ruralcommunity and #mentalhealth charities are struggling with funding and with the #trauma of helping #farmers through difficult times. Richard believes that marts have a huge role to play in looking after farmers' #mentalhealth, but in an official capacity. He continued: "The marts are a hub where people come and share, #farmers will come and have a whinge or get things off their chest. - - "When #Covid came and we had to shut the doors, we all carried on trading but we had to do it behind closed doors so that atmosphere and the ability for people to come to their hub just went away overnight and you can still see the effects of that now. The mart is there until it's not, some #farmers will come every week even if they're not buying or selling anything so they can see their mates and have a bit of craic - sometimes it's the only socialising they do all week." However, some #farmers need more than a chat with their mates at the mart to address their #mentalhealthissues. And while it can be difficult for many to raise that, there are charities out there who can help. Caitlin Riddell, a young #farmer who has had her own #mentalhealthstruggles, organised the Mind Your Head Ball at the Wooler Showfield in October to highlight the support on offer to #farmers and raise money for the Farm Safety Foundation (Yellow Wellies). She said: "I was working on my own, I was working really long hours in all weathers and whatever the day brought I had to get on and go and look after livestock and you're doing a lot of work in the dark, you're on your own a lot and that really highlighted to me how serious it could be for #farmers. Caitlin Riddell, who held a charity ball to raise awareness of #mentalhealth in the agricultural industry "There are so many pressures on people in farming and when I hit a really low point, I thought I had to get better because I couldn't keep living as I was. I sought counselling in 2019 and it was only after that I became aware of the help that was out there. "Had I know of what help was out there before I might not have struggled for so long or sought help earlier. So by organising the ball, I just really wanted to make people aware of the help that is available." Caitlin says that the ball was "amazing but overwhelming" and several farm workers contacted her about their #mentalhealth afterwards. She continued: "It made me feel really sad there are still so many people out there who either felt that they couldn't look for help or didn't know there was help out there for them. #James Donaldson notes:Welcome to the “next chapter” of my life… being a voice and an advocate for #mentalhealthawarenessandsuicideprevention, especially pertaining to our younger generation of students and student-athletes.Getting men to speak up and reach out for help and assistance is one of my passions. Us men need to not suffer in silence or drown our sorrows in alcohol, hang out at bars and strip joints, or get involved with drug use.Having gone through a recent bout of #depression and #suicidalthoughts myself, I realize now, that I can make a huge difference in the lives of so many by sharing my story, and by sharing various resources I come across as I work in this space.  #http://bit.ly/JamesMentalHealthArticleOrder your copy of James Donaldson's latest book,#CelebratingYourGiftofLife:From The Verge of Suicide to a Life of Purpose and Joy www.celebratingyourgiftoflife.com How to access support if you need it If this piece has affected you and you want to talk to someone, there are helplines and support groups available, many of them 24/7. The NHS Choices website lists the following helplines and support networks for people to talk to. - Samaritans (116 123 in UK and Ireland) operates a 24-hour service available every day of the year. If you prefer to write down how you're feeling, or if you're worried about being overheard on the phone, you can email Samaritans at jo@samaritans.org. - Childline (0800 1111) runs a helpline for #children and young people in the UK. Calls are free and the number won't show up on your phone bill. - PAPYRUS (0800 068 41 41) is a voluntary organisation supporting teenagers and young #adults who are feeling #suicidal. - Mind (0300 123 3393) is a charity based in England providing advice and support to empower anyone experiencing a #mentalhealthproblem. They campaign to improve services, raise awareness and promote understanding. - #Students Against #Depression is a website for #students who are depressed, have a low mood or are having #suicidalthoughts. - Bullying UK is a website for both #children and #adults affected by #bullying. - If U Care Share is a North East #suicideawareness and prevention charity which offers a free and confidential text-support service available by texting IUCS to 85258. The 32-year-old cites RABI and The Farming Community Network, while Richard Rankin also suggested Agri Health Matters. Caitlin added: Sometimes these are just lifelines, they're there for people to call and ask for help, it might not be counselling but you might just need an ear or someone who doesn't turn round and say "it could be worse" or man up". Both Richard and Caitlin say that the #stigmas attached to #mentalhealth are more pronounced in the farming community than "regular" office jobs, and there's much needed to be done to get to the point where those who work on farms feel they can talk openly about such issues. Caitlin finished: "I think there are a lot of roadblocks up for people even thinking of looking for help because they still feel ashamed or embarrassed to." The academics who carried out the study are calling on policymakers to take urgent action to help #rural-proof primary #mentalhealthcare service and better support civil society organisations which widen the safety net for farmers. Research project leader David Rose, Professor of Sustainable Agricultural Systems at Cranfield University, said: "The #Covid-19 #pandemic exacerbated issues with farmers’ #mentalhealth that we already knew existed. "For example, primary #mentalhealthcare provision in parts of the UK is based on urban delivery models that do not suit rural communities. This leaves civil society organisations fighting to fill the support gap, but these organisations face their own struggles. "This issue needs urgent attention to ensure farmers get the support they need and help civil society organisations to flourish. We want devolved governments to urgently address this and ensure support is in place for future shocks." In terms of #mentalhealthsupport, the Northumberland, Cumbria, Tyne and Wear NHS Foundation Trust (CNTW) has crisis teams, community treatment teams and specialist inpatient services who work across rural Northumberland and North Cumbria. For more information on accessing #mentalhealthsupport in rural Northumberland, click here. To read the full paper "Landscapes of support for farming #mentalhealth: Adaptability in the face of crisis," click here. Photo by Pixabay on Pexels.com Read the full article

[informationandcommunication]

Biofungicides Market – Forecast (2022-2027)

Biofungide Market size is estimated to reach US$3.9 billion in 2027 and is forecasted to grow at a CAGR of 15.1% during 2022-2027. The term Biofungicides refers to those fungicides that contain the microorganism as an active ingredient and are used to control fungal bacteria in plants especially in agriculture. These microorganisms are found naturally in the soil, making them an environmentally friendly alternative to chemical fungicides. Biofungicides are used as a pest control method through folia spray of biofungicides during the cultivation of cereals & grains, fruits & vegetables, oilseeds & pulses, flower crops, and others. They help to increase the fertility of the soil and extend the life of flowers and fruits. In addition, the biofungicide easily decomposed sunlight, plants, or various microorganisms in the soil. The introduction of sustainable products in organic farming had a positive impact on farmers around the world, greatly contributing to the growth of the industry. Farmers switching to advanced farming systems such as hydroponic systems, aquaponics has a positive impact on global biofungicides market.

COVID-19 Impact

The covid-19 has disrupted agricultural industry with decreased supply of agricultural inputs. The disruption in supply chain has reduced the availability of fertilizers, agricultural implements, and other inputs. The closure of several manufacturing units of biofungicides during lockdown has created a tentative market friction between demand and supply.

A sudden outbreak of the coronavirus has hit the global market as governments take steps to close roads and reduce overcrowding. The development is generally expected to be reflected in the disruption and decline in productivity and organic farming due to lack of resources, shortage of workers, and government-sanctioned crop closures.

The global market continues to be challenged by the economic consequences associated with the epidemic. However, the results are not the same for all markets and not all are bad. For example, the timely closure of Chinese agriculture supplier plants including foliar spray implements could help producers from India, Europe, and North America fill the void and expand their order. However, supply chain disruptions have led to problems with organic farming community with the purchase of immature goods from several manufacturers, especially companies relying on Chinese raw materials are expected to face major planning challenges.

Report Coverage

The report: “Biofungicides Market Report – Forecast (2022-2027)”, by IndustryARC, covers an in-depth analysis of the following segments of the Biofungicides Industry.

By Form: Granules, Wettable powder, and Aqueous Solution. By Type: Plant/Botanical and Microbial. By Mode of Application: Soil treatment, Foliar spray, Seed treatment, Root dipping, Post-harvest application, and Irrigation. By Species: Trichoderma, Bacillus, Streptomyces, Pseudomonas, and Other species (Saccharomyces , Aureobasidium, and Coniothyrium). By Crop Type: Oilseeds & pulses, Cereals & grains, Fruits & vegetables, and Other crops (Flower crops, and Turf & ornamentals). By Geography: North America (USA, Canada, and Mexico), Europe (UK, Germany, France, Italy, Netherlands, Spain, Russia, Belgium, and Rest of Europe), Asia-Pacific (China, Japan, India, South Korea, Australia and New Zealand, Indonesia, Taiwan, Malaysia, and Rest of APAC), South America (Brazil, Argentina, Colombia, Chile, and Rest of South America), and Rest of the World (Middle East and Africa).

Key Takeaways

North America dominates the biofungicides market, owing to the number of market players operating in the proximity coupled with higher affordability of farmers to purchase biofungicides.

Soil treatment is the most widely adopted mode of application of biofungicides due to the development of soil treatment methods. In addition, many fungal diseases occur in the soil and root areas of the plant, which slows plant growth and ultimately leads to plant death. Therefore, farmers use soil treatment solutions to ensure a healthy crop yield.

Microbial based biofungicides is observed to be efficient in terms of their mechanism of action than botanical biofungicides. They act against pathogenic fungi by parasitism. Easy production of microbial biofungicides at manufacture level is another factor that has led to an increase in the penetration.

The major opportunity for this market is high research spending and developing eco-friendly products especially plant based biofungicide products.

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Biofungicides Market Segment Analysis – By Form

The wettable powered biofungicide segment held the largest share in the biofungicides market in 2021 and is expected to grow at a CAGR of 9.7% during the forecast period. Flexibility in use, long shelf life, and affordable prices have led to a high popularity of the wettable powder form in the market. Farmers can use wet powder as a direct sprayer on the ground, or it can be mixed with water to use as foliar spray. It can also be mixed with seeds before sowing, or it can be mixed with any liquid and sprayed over the soil from time to time. The pros of wettable biofungicides, which has led to a high popularity among the rest of form on the market for biofungicides.

Biofungicides Market Segment Analysis – By Crop Type

The fruits & vegetable segment held the significant share of 35% in global biofungicides market in 2021 and is expected to grow at a CAGR of 15.7% during the forecast period Increasing cereal & grain production as it is consumed as a global staple and the high profit associated with organic grain cultivation is expected to increase the use of biofungicides among the organic farming practitioners. The growing environment concerns with cultivation of organic fruits and vegetables due to growing awareness about the use of biofungicides coupled with long-term benefits of the organic product is predicted to fuel the growth of the biofungicides market in cereal & grain segment. In addition, the environmentally friendly and higher economies of several cereal & grains is expected to increase the use of biofungicide products for crop production.

Biofungicides Market Segment Analysis – By Geography

The North America region held the largest share more than 45% in the biofungicides market in 2021, owing to the presence of various players in the region. Shifting from conventional agriculture sustainable agriculture and the presence of key players in the North American region are factors expected to drive the market growth of biofungicides market. The North American region is one of the largest producers of organic fruit and vegetables. In addition, the increased use of adoption of integrated pest management (IPM) solution is expected to further the market growth of biofungicides market in the region. Moreover, strict rules and regulations regarding the use of chemicals that protect plants from harming the environment from harmful effects drive the regional market. Strong demand of bio-based materials for crop protection drives the biofungicide sales in regional markets. In addition, a strong focus on the use of plant-based fungicides to improve yields and pest resistance is expected to have a positive impact on North America market growth.

Asia Pacific region is projected to witness fastest growth rate in the upcoming years. Owing to governments support the use of natural agri-inputs even in this pandemic. They present a variety of strategies and subsidiaries to ensure increased acceptance of eco-friendly Agri-inputs. For example, in March 2020, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) introduced a new rate, that is, crop loans and agricultural conditions were granted for three months by bank unions to reduce the interest rate on agriculture loans by 3%.

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Biofungicides Market Drivers

Increasing in Organic Farming Practices

Organic farming is increasingly being promoted as an alternative to conventional methods to reduce the overall impact on the environment. A promising path to sustainable agricultural growth is expected to benefit future growth of biofungicides with a strong demand for crop protection products. Countries, especially those with strong agricultural foundations such as India, Thailand, Netherlands, and Israel are slowly changing from green transition to evergreen transformation. Moreover, Growing demand for organically grown food is growing, not only because of increasing consumer demand, but also because of increased income to spend on foods, as well as advanced farming practices that make natural harvests more dynamic. According to APEDA(agriculture and processed food products export development authority, ) the total area under organic farming was surveyed to be 3,669,801.33 Hectare in 2020 and has increased to 4,339,184.94 Hectare in 2021. As a result, the growing demand for organic food has increased the area under organic farming, worldwide. The role of organic farming will be critical in promoting this change due to its natural friendliness, economy, producers, and features that are convenient for the consumer. In addition, rising consumer demand for food (organic food products) that do not contain synthetic pesticides is predicted to boost market growth.

Adverse Effects of Synthetic Pesticides on Environment and Human Health

The use of synthetic pesticides has documented extensive and widespread damage to the environment. Therefore, a number of government agencies have banned or restricted the use of certain chemical ingredients to avoid harmful effects on the environment, human and animal health. The presence of synthetic fungicides in agricultural soils can cause adverse effects soil organisms, such as worms and microorganisms, and the important functions of these organic matter is responsible including biological degradation, nutrient depletion cycling. Therefore, any adverse effects caused by mold residues can have a lasting effect on the fertility and health of agricultural soils. Similarly, synthetic fungicide residue. Synthetic fungicide has the potential to cause adverse effects on structure of biodiversity and function of the aquatic environment. Many governments are highly supportive and provide funding to increase the organic farming practice use in order to reduce the environmental impact of pesticides. Strong emphasis on government and other stakeholders on organic and sustainable farming practices has increased the adoption of bio-based crop protection chemicals. For an instance, government of India has announced 425 per farmer to purchase organic inputs under Paramparagath Krishi Vikas yojana (PKVY) scheme. Growing concerns about the negative impact on use of chemical pesticides are expected to boost sales of sustainable solutions. This is one of the major factors making environmentally conscious farmers are shifting from synthetic pesticides to biofungicides over the foreseen period.

Biofungicides Market Challenges

High Cost Associated with Biofungide Products

The high cost and lower awareness of the biofungicide products are among major market challenges. According to International trade centre, the unit price traded for organic fungicides are approximately US$7.5 per KG whereas conventional fungicide is traded at US$3.5 per KG. Many farmers, especially in developing regions, are familiar with chemical-based agricultural products, and are unwilling to use organic fungicide products due to financial constraints. This continues to be a challenge for biofungicide suppliers over the years. Lower level of eco-friendly pesticides product acceptance, compared with chemical products in developing countries, is limiting the market growth. To add-on, the traditional and common agri-inputs market is well-established on a global scale with the bright presence of important bullies. However, the biofungicide sector is characterized by a number of complex startups with adequate funding, appropriate infrastructure, and market access. Research & development activities are performed by these nascent players and often feel the volatility of local demand that may delay market growth.

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Biofungicides Industry Outlook

Technology launches, acquisitions, and R&D activities are key strategies adopted by players in the biofungicides market. Biofungicides market top 10 companies are:

BASF SE

Bayer AG

Syngenta AG

Marrone BioInnovations

Koppert Biological Systems

Certis USA LLC

Valent Biosciences

Novozymes A/S

Biotech International Ltd

Certis USA LLC

Symborg S.L.

Recent Developments

In April 2020, Marlon launched a biofungicide named Pacesetter, for crops such as corn, soybeans and wheat. The active ingredient is Reynoutria extract, which works in combination with common fungicides to improve plant health.

In August 2021, Syngenta AG has launched Taegro, a new biofungicide, aimed at protecting vines and horticultural plants from diseases, including powdery mildew and gray rot. The Product is extracted from Bacillus amyloliquefaciens species, a naturally occurring bacteria.

In March 2020, Bayer Crop Science, the world's leading seed producer and Life Science Company recently launched its first biofungicide, Serenade. Serenade contains QST713, a microorganism, which is a gram-positive rod-shaped bacterium that is widely distributed in various habitats. It boosts a strong resistance to stress, which is widespread over soils and plants.

Relevant Reports

Fungicide Market Report Code: AGR 94221

Seed Treatment Fungicides Market Report Code: AGR 15457

For more Chemicals and Materials related reports, please click here

[honeyquinns]

would you do joseph x actress!fem!reader

you were ready to go premiere, you gonna support your secret boyfriend, your dress is definitely lovely. Later, Joseph get in premiere, he continue as he look at camera, he turn as you come, you definitely smile at him, he did notice you that you came. You were deeply proud of him

(hope you will write it, thanks so much and have a good day)

wait this is so cute i have ideas !!

LOVELY SECRETS

joseph quinn x actress!fem!reader

warnings // just fluff. nothing bad.

—————————————————————

you and Joseph have been dating since you first met through Jamie. you and Jamie already knew each other since around the ‘Twilight Saga’ era. he gave you the idea of auditioning for Stranger Things. he knew you’d been a fan of the show and his agent let him know there was another role open to be part of the california gang. when you got the part, everyone had met up for a table read and you sat next to Jamie. you were both new to the cast and as you looked around you noticed more new faces. first was Eduardo who you actually knew for years and then your eyes landed on Joseph. Jamie saw the way you both would steal glances from each other and decided to introduce you two. when covid hit, Joseph has just went back to the UK but you two would facetime constantly every day and practice your lines with each other and when things settled down and he was able to come back to the states and film, you two really hit it off and began dating.

it’s been about a year since you’ve wrapped filming for season 4 and 2 years since you and Joe have been together. you’ve gotten pretty serious but still nobody knows. you both decided it was best to keep it a secret for privacy reasons. you just knew with the way the media acts and how much attention Joe has gotten from new fans, all absolute hell would break loose. the only ones who knew of your relationship were your two closest friends. your best friend Melanie and of course, Jamie. tonight was the premiere of season 4 and you were quite nervous since no one knew of your relationship so you both thought it was best to drive separately and go as friends. “hey my love, you ‘bout ready?” you hear him say, turning around you eyed him up and down. he looked absolutely stunning in his dark brown suit, his rings on both hands and his curls pushed back. not to mention how the facial hair just made him look even sexier. “yes i’m ready” you walked toward him and he began to look at you the same way but even more lustful. you were wearing a long black dress that hugged your curves, your hair straight and simple, and the necklace Joe gifted you on your one year anniversary.

“you look incredibly stunning” he looks at you, lost for words with how shocked at how gorgeous you look. “you clean up pretty good, Quinn” you say smiling at him and blushing. even with a simple compliment, you were almost weak to your knees when it came to him. it was like love at first sight. he grabs your hand and twirls you around, pulling you clothes to him. “i love you, you know that” you look into each others eyes. who would’ve thought the person you’d imagine a whole life with could be this amazing? almost perfect? “i love you even more” you gives you the most passionate kiss that just makes your foot pop. you know, the one in princess diaries that Mia got to experience? that’s the one. you two were inseparable. “let’s get out of here, yeah?” you nod and head to your cars, driving to the event separately.

once you got to the premier you were greeted by your security, plenty of paparazzi and lots of fans. you waved to the fans, taking a few photos, and signing some autographs. your security and one of the workers of the event guided you to the red carpet for pictures. you posed so the paps could get all your good angles, letting a few guide you on some and waving. you continued to walk down and you turn seeing Joseph now on the carpet. he looked so beautiful and so happy, you couldn’t help but smile at him. he looked up smiling back at you, waving and you waved back. “hey Joe! get closer to y/n!” a pap had yelled. Joe walks over to you, putting a hand around you and setting it on your hip. you both posed for a few photos and parted ways for interviews. you were in the middle of an interview when you stole a couple of looks at Joseph. you were happy that he’s getting a lot more known. he had confessed to you that this is all he’s ever wanted, to be an actor and to not just have fun but to make an impact on people and to others who wanted to be actors. although you didn’t meet until the table read, you just felt like you’ve known him for many years and were genuinely and truly proud of him. “so y/n! how’s everything been for you since filming? you were huge around the time you filmed for ‘Twilight Saga: Eclipse’ and have laid low for a while doing films here and there but how does it feel to be back on the scene for a huge show like Stranger Things?” you were pulled out of your admiration from the interviewer, “you know it’s been really.. amazing to say the least. i was pretty young when i played Bree so of course, i want to finish school. coming back into the game i was really nervous because it had been so long but it’s been incredible to work with many talents like Millie and Caleb and of course the queen herself, Winona. i’m just honored to be apart of an amazing cast” you express kindly with a smile. you continued a couple more interviews and walk to where the rest of the event will be held with all of the cast and crew.

you sat down at a table with Jamie, Eduardo, Maya and Joseph. Joe’s hand was directly on top of your thigh. his thumb rubbing soothly on your skin, as he leaned to whisper in your ear, “you having a good time tonight, darling?” he asks sweetly. “yes it’s been amazing. how’s your night been, lovey?” his lips still near your ear, “it’s been quite good. although i miss you being close to me.” you pout your lip out at him. it would’ve been nice to show off for the cameras and everyone stating that you two were a couple in theory but you didn’t want to have to deal with any of the drama that the media and fans liked to come up with. they would ship Joe with Grace and make the most crazy accusations with anything regarding Joe with another woman and you just simply didn’t have the time to deal with it. Joe understood that and he was more than comfortable to keep your relationship private. it’s a lot more peace of mind for him knowing that he could keep some things in his life private but also keep you safe from any hate that could come. “you know, you two would make a really good couple” you both turned to Maya who was giving you both a suspicious look. “yeah i’ve noticed that these two are always super close-“ Eduardo chimes in “maybe you guys should you know..” he trails off. Jamie giggles at both of them “trust me loves, i’ve been playing cupid since the table read. sooner or later, these birds are going to get married.” you always loved how Jamie would go along with the secret but hint that you were together. you both laugh “i mean i keep wanting to take her out of a date” Joseph says turning to you, “maybe we should go on a date, huh y/n?” you caress his cheek playfully “you know what? i will go on a date with you Joseph.” you say factually. “hmmm i’m feeling some sarcastic, yet love energy in this room and i think you two are dating” Maya gives you both a squinty look and turns away to pay attention to the Duff bros who are now speaking about the series. you, Joe, & Jamie all look at each other and giggle about what Maya had said.

after the night was over, you head back to his place. you throw off your shoes and clothes, jumping into his guest bathroom shower while he’s in his and meet back up in his room. you go through his closet and pulling out one of his baggy t-shirt’s to put on and hop in the bed with him. “i really had fun tonight. even though we weren’t together, it felt good just to be in the same room as you” Joe says kissing your head as you’re laying on top of his chest to feel his heart beat. “me too, Joe” you slightly pull your head up to look at him “you think one day we’ll be able to just be open about our relationship?” he thinks for a second “yeah of course. eventually the fans will have to understand that i’m a grown man and i will have someone and get married and all that jazz.. plus i think the paps would absolutely love getting all the exclusive pictures of our day.” he smile into your forehead, giving it a light kiss. “hm.. i love you, you know that?” you look at him with the most loving eyes. no one has ever made you feel the way Joseph has. “and i love you y/n. i adore everything about you.” you give him another kiss and turn over to get comfortable in bed. he leans over to turn out the light, putting the volume down on the tv and wraps his arms around you. “goodnight my love” he says. “goodnight lovey” and you both fall asleep peacefully.

a/n: hi!! so i took a romantic, simpy route but i thought it was so cute with the simplicity aspect of a relationship 🥹 and now it’s almost 3am so i have to sleep haha! don’t forget to reblog 🫶🏽

[finelinevogue]

he’s so vogue

Description - you are the journalist for the new Harry Styles December Vogue Issue

A/N - how is everyone doing? hope you enjoy! if you have any requests please feel free to ask. love you all and have a lovely rest of the week!

warnings: swearing

[masterlist]

Being a journalist for Vogue was probably the biggest flex you could ever make.

After 3 years of studying English Literature at Surrey University, you never thought, only a year after, you'd be working as an apprentice at Vogue UK. If it weren't for your Aunty, who worked in the fashion design section at Vogue HQ, then you'd no doubt still be a broke-ass, single, lonely student. Ok, lonely you still were but your job was so full-on that you didn't have time for a relationship.

Two years into your apprenticeship you were promoted to an official member of the team, and then another two years later you got promoted to team leader in your department of journalism, and editing; The Media - or as you like to call it - "The Celeb Goss". You were beyond happy with your job and found such passion in every article your wrote. Whether it be about a new celebrity romance or the collapse of one, you found a way to story-tell in such a meditated way that everyone loved your pieces.

That's why the Harry Styles had requested you to be the one to interview him.

Of course you'd written about A-list celebrities in the past, producing articles on pregnancy rumours, or engagements, or breakups, but you'd never met them before authoring an article. You'd met plenty of D-list celebrities who thought they were mega famous, but if you mentioned their names people would turn around and ask "who?".

This is why interviewing Harry Styles was a massive thing for you.

Not very often did you get to do work out in the field, especially in these covid infested days, but nevertheless it was your favourite part of the job. Getting to meet the people you were writing about was completely refreshing, allowing you to obtain a clearer outlook on which direction to take on your journal piece.

You were asked to go to Stonehenge, where the photoshoot was being filmed, as your office of interview. Even though you'd lived in the UK all your life, you'd never actually been to Stonehenge. It wasn't really on your bucket-list, but it was a pleasure to get to see it all the same.

Being the prepared interviewer you were, you'd prepared an array of questions that you were set on asking Harry. You'd never met him before, but after much googling and youtubing of him prior to meeting him today you would already be confident in saying he's the most brilliant man to ever exist. You were really nervous that you were going to screw this interview up and make a terrible mess in front of Harry Styles.

"Lisa! What if I accidentally say something I shouldn't?" You ran your stressed hands through your hair.

This whole morning had been frantic. It had started off by you waking up late, no thanks to Lisa, your best-friend and co-worker, pressing snooze on the alarm. You wanted to look professional today so you'd put on your best shirt - only to spill coffee down it ten minutes later. So now, you smelt of coffee and were wearing what was left in your wardrobe - and it wasn't much. The only things left clean were a pair of pink corduroy flares and some, pastel coloured, graphic t-shirt to go with it.    

"You won't. Stop being so negative." Lisa rolled her eyes, probably fed up with the amount of winging she'd heard from you this morning - and you'd only been awake an hour.

"My outfit is hardly professional either." You huffed, pouring the rest of your, second, coffee down the drain.

"Well I think you look gorgeous." Lisa stated, whilst putting her breakfast bar wrapper in the bin.

You and Lisa were back and forth about you stressing, and such, for about half an hour before you had to leave. You had a great panic about losing your glasses too. You could see without them up close, but for long distance viewing and reading you were practically blind. You were taking Lisa's car, since she didn't think you were emotionally stable enough to drive. Lisa was the creative director on the set, and thank goodness she was so you could at least ramble to someone.

After a two hour drive up from London, you arrived at Stonehenge and it was freezing. Although the sun was out, it did nothing to keep your body heated. The journey up had been nice because you sat in your nicely heated car, chatting away with Lisa and blasting some Harry Styles out of the speaker. You'd made it through the first album, and the second one up to Canyon Moon before reaching your destination.

Upon arriving you could just about, without glasses, make out about 15 other cars, arranged at the bottom of a hill. There was an array of Audis and BMWs, a few Range Rovers, which you placed your bets on one was Harrys, and a green, vintage, Jaguar which was most likely belonging to the fashion editor or something. There was also a modern barn, perched at the foot of the hill, which was where Harry would be getting changed in to his various different outfits.

It took you a moment to register that Lisa had parked and was already clambering out of the car, making you look a little idiotic still blankly staring at the beautiful scenes in front, and around, of you.

But it was still bloody freezing.

You jogged a little to the boot and whipped out your white cardigan. Originally you'd thought that this would've been enough to keep you warm, but now you were starting to think otherwise.

The atmosphere here was amazing. People were rushing around left, right and centre loading, and unloading, various pieces of equipment and clothes. You caught sight of brightly coloured fabrics being carried to and from various places. There were the camera crew, and presumably director, all chatting amongst themselves. The smell of the very fresh air was so lush that you'd forgotten what it smelt like - especially after years in London.

You grabbed your bag from the boot, which had your notes, recording kit and laptop stuffed inside, before locking the car and following Lisa in to the barn.

It was lovely and warm inside - a completely different climate to than the outside. It was as if it was Bali inside and Antarctica outside. Better Bali than Antarctica though.

"Ok. Let's put our stuff down over here and then go find people we need to meet and such." Lisa instructed, you still too in awe of the place to fully comprehend what was going on.

You followed Lisa and you two ended up dropping off your stuff next to some other bags. You took a liking to the purse next to your stuff. Next to your bag, it made yours seem ancient - like it was worth nothing more than a penny. It was luscious and a beautiful baby blue colour. You softly ran your hands over it, finding satisfaction in how smooth and subtle it was.

"Hope you're not planning on stealing that, love." A manly voice appeared from behind you. You whipped around to see who's bag you'd been messing with, and it was just your luck that it was to be Harry Styles'. Of all the people's it could've been it had to be his. 

Perfect.

He looked dashing. He was in black flares and his iconic 'But daddy i love him', t-shirt, along with a huge green anorak. His hair was prettily clipped back with a pink clip, presumably placed there to gave his curls greater volume. In his hand he had a pink toothbrush and you guessed he'd come back over to put it away in his bag - only to find you caressing it instead.

"Oh - no, no. Not at all. I - uh - I just thought it was beautiful." You stammered over your words, choosing them carefully to try and make you look less like an active criminal.

"Mhm." Harry nodded whilst looking you up and down, most likely judging why a peasant like you, in comparison to him, was touching his expensive property. "Well, I love your flares darlin'." Harry looked down at your trousers, his compliment making you blush a little.

"Thank you. That wasn't professional, and neither is my outfit, I know, and I apologise." You added, because you knew that if your boss knew you turned up today the way you did she would give you a right bollocking - and potentially even fire you.

"Never apologise for flares. You look amazing." Gemma perked up, making you feel more self conscious surrounded by all these other beautiful women. Gemma was in a slouchy, knitted, jumper and basic jeans - no doubt all from shops beyond your budget - and yet she looked like a model fit for the runway for Vogue.

"Okay, sorry." You apologised again, to which you, creepily, got the exact same, stern, look from the Styles siblings at the same time.

"My stylist, Harry, introduced me to big pants. He offered whether I wanted to try a pair of flares, and I was like, 'Flares? That's fucking crazy'!" Harry laughed as he told his story, earning a laugh out of you too. "Now they're my favourite item of clothing. Have a whole wardrobe dedicated to them."

"I wish he was joking." Gemma laughed at her brother and his flare obsession.

"Well you do look handsome in them, so I understand why." Your words rolls off your tongue before you could even comprehend what you were saying. Only after you finished your sentence did you completely intake what you'd just said.

"Good start." Lisa giggled to you, before turning to walk over to the coffee station. It was a help-yourself coffee bar and you knew that you were going to bed at least five cups to get over the last five minutes alone. You'd probably drain the station before letting anyone else have any.

"Oh god." You awkwardly mumbled, not daring to see how weirdly Harry would be looking at you, before walking off outside.

You had spent less than 10 minutes here and yet you'd never felt like a bigger clown. Joining the circus had never been so easy.

The outside wind hit you like a powerful leaf blower, and your hair blew around like crazy - most likely compiling into a birds nest on the top of your head.

Today was supposed to be the start of something great. Your hopes were set on a promotion from your written masterpiece, whilst enjoying the company of one of the most handsome, most lovely, most talented men of this century. Those hopes seemed a little too distant now. They seemed to mock you, as if to laugh at how you ever thought you were going to be any more successful. You'd completely, in more ways than one, made a fool of yourself in front of your interviewee, you were so underdressed, you were caught fondling his Gucci purse and you were still bloody cold.

It all felt too unprofessional for a job where professional was practically the driving force of the company.

You leaned against the barn, taking a deep breath to try and calm yourself. You were a master in over-thinking, but unfortunately that wasn't something you could add to your resumé. You let your eyes close and the other senses come alive for a few moments. The sounds of distant sheep and the smell of the cold wind were just two of the senses that allowed you to take a step back for a minute, and breathe.

"Thank you." A voice interrupted you from your attempt of quick meditation. You looked to your left and noticed Harry standing there, still in the same outfit as before.

"I'm sorry?" You asked confused, taking a step away from the barn to considerately pay more attention to him.

"Thank you - for saying I look handsome in flares." He repeated, smirking when he added the second part.

"Oh." Was all you could respond, feeling too embarrassed to take the conversation any further. "I should—" You pointed back to the barn, using it as an excuse to leave before yet screwed up anymore.

"Lisa told me you're the interviewer." Harry added, and it only occurred to you that you'd never actually introduced yourself. "So it's lovely to finally meet you Y/N." He stuck out his hand for your to shake, which you did willingly. His hands were a lot softer than you'd expected.

"Ho... You know my name?" You asked surprised.

"Of course. I also know you're the best writer in Vogue right now." He flattered you, which made you blush. You had a feeling he'd make you do that a lot today.

"Sure." You rolled your eyes as you spoke sarcastically.

"Well I chose you for a reason, didn't I?" He rhetorically asked.

"I mean.. I, well.. I don't know?" You stumbled over your words, making yourself look like a larger fool than you did already. Today was just turning out to be exactly what you didn't want it to be. "Sorry."

"Stop apologising. You do it too often." He told you, nearly making you apologise again but he gave you a jokingly stern look, as if he knew what you were going to say, and so you decided otherwise.

"Harry!" You both turned to see there was a man waving towards you both, but specifically to Harry. "Come get changed!" The same man shouted. Harry lifted his thumbs up, as if to signal he'd be there shortly.

Harry turned back to you and noticed you shiver a little.

"I'll start the interview after I come back from the dressing rooms, yeah?" Harry asked, taking off his, khaki green, trench-coat in the process. He handed it to you before you could oblige against it.

"Wait what?" You confusedly looked down at the coat and back up to Harry.

"Gives me a piece of mind knowing my interviewer isn't going to die of hypothermia before actually interviewing me." He smiled, obviously attempting to crack a joke and you have to admit you did laugh.

"Thank you." You say, before he runs off to where he's being called to.

                                                            ••••

You'd been sat inside for a little while, waiting for Harry to come back. It gave you time to perfect your questions though.

Thinking up questions to ask Harry had been a challenging task, but one that you'd been fully invested in. You loved creating questions to ask him that were going to get to understand him on a deeper level. He was a very private man, and you completely respected that. If you crossed any boundaries, with the questions you'd ask, you would write them out of the interview. You liked to think you hadn't thought up a question that would make him feel uncomfortable though.

Pissing off Harry would be on another level of shame.

"Coat kept you warm?" Harrys voice disengaged you from your notebook.

"Hm?" You asked then replayed what he'd just asked in your mind. "Oh, yes. Thank you very much." You stood up, from where you'd been perched on the floor, picking up your nearly finished green tea as you did so.

Only when you stood up did it come to your realisation that Harry was now in costume. He was dressed in luxury. Each item looked like it cost more than your rent, and that was saddening. He looked rich and luxurious. To be quite honest, you were finding it rather difficult to take your eyes off him.

"You think the outfit is Vogue enough?" Harry asked, striking a few poses, which made you laugh. It was refreshing to see him act so relaxed and carefree, rather than a stuck-up-prick you knew some celebrities to be.

"Completely. I love it!" You exclaimed, appreciating the twirl he did for you.

He was wearing a kilt-like skirt and he looked beyond beautiful in it. Fuck toxic masculinity. Fuck being a manly man - like what does that even mean? Harry was embracing gender fluidity and experimenting the ways in which there was no definitive line between men and women's clothes anymore, and you thought it was marvellous. Revolutionary, for times as politically and socially troubled as these.

You started removing the coat in attempt to give it back to him, but he refrained you from doing so by holding on to your forearm.

"Keep it. I thought we could go outside to start the interview, so you'll be needing that." Harry told you, and you agreed - however reluctantly that was. You couldn't really complain though, because the coat did kept you warm and, what's better, it smelt divine - just like you'd imagine Harry to smell.

"Okay. Thank you. Do you want to go now?" You asked hesitantly, not knowing whether he was busy for someone else right now.

"Whenever you're ready, love." He answered, making you feel more relaxed. He was going at your pace and was making you feel settled - he was even more of a gentleman than people described him to be.

The two of you had walked around the backside of the barn in silence, enjoying the comfort of each other's presence. Well, at least you were. It was a blessing no one was back here. It was just you, Harry and the scenery that surrounded Stonehenge.

You approached a bench and you plopped yourself down on one end, whilst Harry sat on the other. He respected the fact that there was a pandemic going on, and didn't want to make you uncomfortable in any way. You still had your mask on, so Harry had taken that as you were very conscious about the virus - which he admired.

You pulled out your glasses, from the depths of one of the coat pockets, and placed them on your face, probably making yourself look even geekier than you already felt. Today was just one of those days you wished you had good eyes...

You opened your spent notebook, musty pages practically falling apart, and turned to the section of questions you needed for that interview. You were so nervous already and you hadn't even asked anything yet, all because of the previous interactions with Harry today. Your shaky hands shuffled through the pages and you cursed under your breath when you struggled to find what you needed.

"Shoot. Come on." You mumbled quietly under your breath, hoping it would make this terrible situation end faster. You mustn't have been as quiet as you thought though.

"Y/N." Harry's name broke through your clouded mind of self-disappointment.

You looked up at him to see him softly smiling at you, blowing all worries away from you away with the wind. "Yes?" You timidly asked, pushing your wind-swept hair out of glasses - where it'd gotten caught.

"You’re alright, love. You don't have to be professional around me, alright? We're just two strangers having a conversation, to get to know each other, okay?" If his words didn't calm you enough, the soothing sound of his husky voice certainly did.

"But that would mean you asking me stuff too?" You replied, confused at his implications of the phrasing 'getting to know each other'.

"Mhm." Harry nodded his head.

"Oh I don't know Mr Styles, i'm not a very interesting person." You answered as if it were the most obvious thing in the world, pushing your glasses back up the bridge of your nose from where they'd fallen.

"I refuse to believe that." Harry chuckled, making a quick smile appear on your face. "And please call me Harry. Just Harry." He begged, obviously finding it weird you calling him by his professional title. All you wanted, ever, was for your interviewee's to feel comfortable and safe, so if Harry wanted you to call him Harry then so be it.

"Ok, Harry," you sarcastically said, earning a shake of the head on his behalf, "you can ask me a few questions throughout the day." You told him, but you knew he'd struggle to find even two questions when he realises how bland you are.

"Does that mean you only get to ask me a few as well?" Harry smirked, already knowing the answer to that question. Unlike Harry, you had to write an article about today when you got home and so he knew that you'd have to dig as much dirt as possible from him.

"No, sorry. I don't particularly want to lose my job." You paused to look down at your notes, squinting a little as you did to see better. "Okay. Tell me your experience with corona virus."

"Sorry I didn't quite catch that, love." Harry apologised, leaning in slightly to see if he could hear you a second time around.

"Sorry." You looked down to fiddle with your fingers - a habit you'd undertaken when you're embarrassed. "Um..," you cleared your throat, "would you mind if I took off my mask?"

Your timid voice sent tingle down Harrys spine. He didn't think anyone could ever be this sweet. "Not at all, ‘course you can." He replied, again, wanting to make you feel as comfortable as possible.

You hesitantly took off your face mask, feeling like you were in some dramatic movie where they face revealed someone. You kind of liked having the mask on, because, for one, it kept you warm, and for two, you were a little self conscious with how you looked compared to all the other women here today. You shoved the mask in your pocket, with trembling fingers, before looking back down to your notes.

"Woah." You heard Harrys voice being mumbled under the wind. You eyes shot up to his and you noticed him staring right back at you.

"W-what? Is my acne playing up? I knew I should've—" You self-consciously run your hands over the areas you know you got acne. The masks really didn't help when it came to skin care.

"Hey, stop. No. You just... You look beautiful." Harry complimented you, and a roaring blush arose on to your cheeks. You'd never been called beautiful before, and so you were taking the compliment like such a 13-year old.

"Oh, uh, thank you." You awkwardly answered, not really having any other words come to mind in that moment. Harry chuckled under his breath, still keeping eyes on you for some reason.

"Would you mind repeating your last question, I didn't quite catch it?" Harry asked politely.

"Sure. Um, tell me how you've experienced corona virus." You repeated for him, gripping ahold of your pen to start copying what he says and pressing start on your recording device in case you needed it later.

"Well, it's been tedious that's for sure. However, I just want people to be safe and for life to return back to normal, so therefore i've been very MIA for a lot of the time. Keeping to myself mostly. I only went out for hikes or bike rides. All my meetings were online, so it's been very lonely." Harry kept eye contact with your figure the entire time, and if it weren't for you concentrating on writing what he was saying then you'd probably melt away under his gaze.

For such soft eyes he sure was intimidating.

"I presume the loneliness sent you crazy at times." You laughed, because you sure felt that way through lockdown. Curse being single.

"You have no idea." Harry laughed along with you, making you, slowly, feel more at ease.

"Actually, you'd be surprised." You looked at him unsure, before returning down to your notebook.

"Okay then, first question from me," Harrys words made your head shoot up, "How can someone as amazing as yourself be lonely?" He asked and you made a mental tally of how many questions he'd asked.

"Could ask you the very same question, Harry." You slyly replied, avoiding the question by answering with another question. It was a tactic you'd learnt, throughout your years of journalism, when you wanted to dismiss something .

"That's cheating." Harry pointed at you and raised his eyebrows, but you couldn't take your eyes off the big, cheeky, smile perched on his face. You shrugged you're shoulders in defence and returned to your questions. "But you did just call me amazing, so I think i'll let it slide this one time." You blushed, again, when you understood what he meant.

He was amazing though - that was the truth.

"You were in L.A. for the majority of quarantine, am I right to say?" You already knew the answer but your manager had just wanted confirmation.

"Yeah, but L.A. feels like holiday, whereas London feels like home." He answered, which you appreciated. He hasn't got lost in the way that Hollywood could let people. He'd stayed grounded.

"So what did you entertain yourself with during quarantine?" You asked curiously, slightly side-tracking from your pre-written questions - just because you were intrigued (nosey).

"Not much, not to be boring. I ate a lot of bread. I worked out pretty much every day. I wrote quite a bit actually." He used his fingers to pinch his bottom lip, something you'd noticed he did in interviews.

"Does that mean a new album on the way?" Your inner fangirl was screaming at the thought of HS3.

"Can neither confirm nor deny." Harry smirked to himself, like the cheeky bugger he is.

"That's a yes then." You joked, pretending to write it down in your notes.

"You're impossible, you." Harry laughed and shook his head. It made you feel all funny the way you could make him smile like that. You were the source of his happiness for just that moment, and that was enough to make you feel happy for a lifetime - not that he felt the same.

"Next question," you stated, moving swiftly on because you knew you had limited time, "How's your experience with Vogue been so far?"

"Wonderful. Everyone has been so welcoming and that makes it so much easier for me to have fun. It's daunting going at things alone, but i'm getting slowly used to it now." Harry sniffled a little, probably due to the freezing cold weather here.

"Must be strange, not having four best friends around you, all the time, anymore." You stated rather than asked him, sure that he was missing his bandmates. I mean, you were - so he definitely would be.

"Brothers." Harry replied, making you look up at him confused.

"I'm sorry?" You asked, giving him your full attention.

"You said four best friends. Well, actually they're my brothers." His words actually caused a rift in your heart. You could feel it being pulled apart and torn in to two. If you wrote this in to the magazine the fans would have a worldwide passing-away-party.

"Harry." You said softly, slightly tearing up at his words. "God, I swear i'm not normally this emotional." You chest your throat and try to establish your dignity - however there wasn't that much left anymore.

"Oh shut up." Harry looked away obviously trying to hide the fact that he was tearing up too. You laughed at him but didn't draw any more attention to it than you guessed he would've wanted.

"They mean a lot to you then?" You asked, hopefully not treading on any unwanted territories.

"Much more than a lot, yeah." Harry nodded his head, turning it back to face you. He could tell this conversation was now off-the-record because of your closed notebook, your undivided attention towards him and the fact you’d turned off the recording device. He liked being able to look at you, rather than the top of your head. He swore you were the prettiest girl he'd ever seen.

"You still see them often?" 

"Not as often as i'd like. Niall did come around the other week to drop off some old guitars he didn't want anymore, and then we ended up playing around with some music for a bit." He admitted, which stitched your heart back together.

"So does that mean a Narry collab?" You teased, biting your bottom lip in anticipation.

"Narry? You so are a directioner." He laughed along with you.

"And you just avoided my question, therefore there is a song out there written only by you and Niall." You concluded, which shut him up.

This conversation was going a lot better than expected. Certainly a lot better than earlier. You will be permanently scarred by the way you spoke to him and handled his belongings. It was going to haunt you forever - and yet he'd forget about it by tomorrow. Or maybe he wouldn't, which is why you felt the need to apologise.

"Harry?" You asked, clearly indicating this was still a conversation away from the interview.

"Yes Y/N?" He watched you intently, listening to your every word.

"I, um, just wanted to apologise for my behaviour earlier. I was just really nervous to meet you, and to be honest still am. I didn't mean to touch your stuff without your consent and I certainly didn't mean to make you uncomfortable with any of my comments. So, i'm sorry. I can only imagine the awful, yet true, things you must think of me." You rambled really quickly, that you were uncertain whether Harry even caught one word of what you'd says.

"Do you know why I asked for you to interview me Y/N?" Harry asked, which wasn't the first thing you expected him to say after your apology.

"No. I...well Lisa told me it was because I can write well or something." You suggested, not wanting to sound egotistical.

"I mean you do write perfectly, but no." You were intrigued now. "I asked for you because I, and this is not for your magazine, have a secret - but not-so-secret - crush on you." This time it was Harrys turn to blush.

"Harry... you don't have to say that to—"

"I'm not saying it for anything. I sincerely think you are the most delightful, most prettiest, most fucking sweetest person i've ever met." Harry exclaimed, which you were taken aback by. Never, ever, did you think that Harry Styles would proclaim his likeness towards you. Ever.

"Harry don't mess with me, please." You shyly spoke, tilting your head down in disbelief that the Harry Styles was smitten about you.

He shuffled along the bench, stopping a little way from you but close enough to reach out for you. Your heartbeat increased when you noticed his hand move closer towards you. It didn't stop till he reached your face. He took his time, courteously, pushing your hair behind your ear before removing you of your glasses. He held the right-eye frame and slowly pulled the glasses off your face.

Once he'd successfully taken them off he folded them up and placed them alongside your closed notebook.

"Can see those pretty eyes now." He whispered quietly, but loud enough for you to hear.

"Don't lie. They're so dull." You mumbled, lifting your head up slightly. His face was still away from you.

"Not to me they're not." He retaliated, looking deep into your eyes as you did his. "I hate this corona virus."

"Why?" His words were so out of the blue sometimes, it gave you whiplash.

"Because I can't be as near to you as I want to be." Harry told you. And yeah, you hated corona too. It was getting a little laborious now.

"Smooth, Styles." You chuckled. You wondered how many new and weird pick-up lines could be made from covid. 

"I know." He winked, which honestly would have made you throw up if it were any other man on the planet. Somehow, though, Harry just made it seem attractive - along with every other thing that man ever did. "After this, would you like to come back to my house for a cuppa tea?" He asked sweetly, like a five year old asking whether you wanted to play together.

"Okay. Lisa was my ride though." You said more to yourself than anything else, debating on how you'd even get to Harrys. Uber? Taxi? Lisa? Walk?

"I'll drive us, it's fine. I have to drop Gem off, but i'd be more than happy to chauffeur you." Harry kindly offered, to which you were internally screaming about. You were literally, and metaphorically, having a field-day with all this Harry content and interview.

"Are you sure? I don't want to be a burden." You question politely, not wanting to overstep any boundaries - especially in these covid infested times.

"Of course. I wouldn't have offered otherwise." He protested, waving his hand at if to say it was no bother. You were already trying to work out, in your head, how much petrol money you were going to owe him.

"Then i'd be honoured to have a brew with you Harry." You giggled at how cringe you were being, even if this was just your normal self speaking.

"Great." Harry genuinely smiled, teeth and all. "My shoot should take a couple of hours, but feel free to continue to write and journal. I'm looking forward to reading this particular article." He winked at you before standing up.

"Wonder why?" You sarcastically asked, knowing full-well it was due to his exposure of his own feelings towards you. Even though you'd never says anything back you were quite in agreement on how you felt about him, like he did you. He would be a narcissist to say he knew you liked him the same, out loud, but he knew. And you knew that he knew.

"Wonder why indeed." He gave you one last smile before he'd disappeared for the rest of the afternoon, leaving you to digest and relive the past half an hour or so.

Being Harry Styles' crush was probably the biggest flex you could ever make.

                                                          ••••

After Harry had finished up his shoot he was quick to come find you again.

You'd watched parts of his shoot and he looked magnificent. There wasn't a good enough word to describe how amazing he looked. Harry, his stylist, was probably the best stylist out there. His fashion choices were unmatched and you wanted him to be yours. You were not rich enough nor fashionable enough, ironic for working in a a fashion company, to hire a stylist, but you would if you could.

You were so proud to see what he was achieving now as the person that he was. Harry was just being Harry, without the devilish control of shitty managements or ridiculous amounts of PR stunts. Harry was more free than ever, and it definitely showed just how much he was enjoying it.

You were certain that this Vogue magazine would break the internet - his fans were good at doing that. This could be a turning point for many people, with their outdated and ignorant views. There was no room for people with racist or homophobic or transphobic or xenophobic - and the list does go on - views anymore.

You were waiting by the front door of the barn, to catch Harry as he walked past. You caught sight of him in a white robe, presumably to get changed back into his everyday clothes. He looked really pretty in the robe - very domestic actually.

Today had been a good day.

Harry asked you to send over the more specific Vogue questions to him via email, so he could devote more time in to answering them in a lot more depth. You thought he meant you'd be sending them to some PA in his team, but you were shocked to understand he'd given you his personal email.

People were walking back to their cars and packing away the filming kit. You saw Lisa and the director talking to one another, no doubt discussing some in-work gossip.

"You ready?" Harrys voice reminded you that you'd been waiting for him. You looked to see he was back in the same clothes as this morning, only this time without his coat.

"Here?" You offered, having him over the coat once again but he declined.

"Looks better on you anyways." He winked at you, before walking through the car park and to his car. You were very surprised when you found out Harry was the one to own the green Jaguar. You assumed all celebrities drove the Range Rover, but no. The vintage car added to Harrys immaculate vibe and just made him that little bit more hot.

Harry properly introduced you to Gemma, who was equally as lovely as Harry. They were both amazing people and they were crazily alike. From the way they looked, down to the way they phrased their words, they were mistakingly twins. Gemma explained how Anne, their mum, didn't know they were doing this photoshoot and that it was going to be a surprise, which you thought was so cute.

Gemma spilt a lot of gossip on Harry, to which he got very embarrassed over. You learnt that Harrys first word was Cat. You learnt that Harry is godfather to multiple children, which you found heartwarming. You learnt Harry used to be a baker - which was something he elaborated on for a good half an hour. Harry was just a fountain of memories and Gemma was the one sharing them all with you.

The drive back to London was relaxed. You sat in the back, listening to Harry and Gemma pointlessly argue whilst an Arctic Monkeys album played in the background. You forgot that people like Harry drove, and listened to music, just like other regular people. You often misplaced celebrities in society, thinking they had everything done for them but in reality that (often) wasn't the case - at least not for Harry.

Gemma was dropped off quickly before Harry drove to his. It was no surprise that the Styles siblings didn't live too far away from each other. Harrys house was beautiful. Bigger than anything you could ever dream of buying. It was a palace compared to your cupboard-sized house. You were unbelievably jealous. He gave you the tour of the house, showing you where the toilets were, and even his panic room if necessary.

You migrated to the kitchen for a bit, talking about anything and everything. Getting to know the minuscule pieces of information that no-one else was trusted with, made you feel special. Harry made you feel special - even if he weren't meaning to.

Every moment held a spark. Every touch set off a firework. Every laugh was an electric burst. He made you feel so alive.

"We can go to the living room after this has boiled." Harry said, pointing towards the streaming kettle. He wanted to show off his fancy tea collection he had, and let you have a try if you wanted to. Harry was boring and chose the basic green tea, but, after much deliberation, you chose the cranberry green tea. It intrigued you and it sounded delicious.

"Why the extensive tea collection?" Not even you, a certified caffeine addict, had this much tea in your house. Coffee was a different story and one in which you didn't want to talk about.

"They help me with my meditation." He took the teabags and placed them in his glass mugs. They had a delicate Gucci stamp on them, and you just imagined that they probably worth the same amount as your daily salary.

"You meditate?" You were slightly surprised that he did.

"I try to yeah." Harry nodded, focusing on pouring in the boiling water into the mugs. "I've got very tight hamstrings and so it helps if I meditate twice a day."

Harry finished making the tea, in the light-filled kitchen, before showing you around to the open-lounge area. Everything was modern and chic. It was exactly how you imagined it, but better. The open, red-brick, wall was a beautiful feature and one that you were a whore for! It reminded you of New York and the memories you'd made there one summer.

The sofa was a beautiful velvet, green, sofa. It was soft and gentle, a lot like Harry when you thought about it. The whole house was an architectural masterpiece and you'd be lying if you said you weren't jealous. You sat on one end and Harry went to go and sit on the other end.

"I don't bite you know?" You joked, self-consciously wondering whether he didn't want to be sat near you.

"I know, I just don't want to step on any of your covid boundaries - which is perfectly fine by the way." He added, apprehensively taking the spot next to you.

"No, not at all." You ushered him to sit next to you, as you took a sip from your steaming hot cup of fruity tea. "If I smell though, do tell me!"

"Yeah, you smell bloody awful!" Harry sarcastically remarked, but laughing afterwards to assure you he was joking. The atmosphere went quiet for a minute, only the sounds of passing cars and deep breaths being heard.

"Y/N can I ask you something?" Harry turned the tone of the conversation. It sounded like he wanted to be more serious than you two were being beforehand.

"Anything." You encouraged him to continue. You placed the cup of tea down on the table, deciding it was too hot to drink right now, and gave him your full attention.

"Do you believe in love at first sight?" Harry questioned. You didn't think you'd be having a conversation this intense - especially if you had different opinions - on your first day of knowing each other, but here you were.

"I believe you can love someone at first sight. I don't believe you can be in love with someone at first sight. Why?" You were curious as to how his brain had journeyed to this particular topic. You'd never really had this conversation with anyone before, mainly because you were unaware of the true power, and meaning, of love.

"It uh... It doesn't matter." Harry shook his head and you could tell by his body language that he was shutting you out. Maybe you'd made him uncomfortable.

"Sorry I didn't mean to—"

"No, no. Please don't apologise. It's just - I like you a lot more than you may think." Harry shyly told you, which made you all soft inside. He was being vulnerable and that was something you admired in a partner. You didn't just need love, affection and trust in a relationship. No. You needed vulnerability and heartbreak too, and Harry was revealing that part of him to you.

"I like you a lot more than you think too." You repeated, not because you felt bad for him but because you truly did like him a whole lot. Love was a weird yet wonderful thing, and if you were to hazard a guess you'd say you loved Harry. 

You couldn't wait to be in love with him.

"Does that mean I get to crown you my girlfriend?" Harry excitedly asked. Harry happy was something that should be made a constant, and you were more than happy to be in control of that.

"At least take me out first." You bargained, wishing for nothing more than to go on a date with Harry. Where you'd go, you had no idea. Everything was closed right now and there was still the chance of becoming sick with corona, but no doubt Harry would think of something not only clever, but special.

Of course you'd love to be Harrys girlfriend. However, you wanted one more, official, opportunity to really get to know him - unprofessionally. You wanted to make sure that you knew, and he knew, that you wanted to be with him because he was the charming Harry you've come to love, not because he was Harry Styles.

"So you're allowing me to take you on a date?" Harry smirked like a little child, your heart fluttering at how excited he was to be able to treat you to dinner.

"Yes, Harry. Yes I am." You answered sweetly, offering him the cutest smile you could.

You can't believe what a turn of events today has been. You've gone from nearly writing yourself on Harrys enemy list to writing yourself on to his 'people he's dated' list. Who knows what the future would offer you. At the start of the day you had wished this whole day to end and for the ground to just swallow you up, now you never wanted it to end. It was too perfect to be true and yet it was.

Harry was the most wonderful human to exist and you were beyond surprised to be the one to catch his attention. You didn't understand why you were so special, but it was nice to feel like this for a change. It was nice to feel wanted.

                                                             ••••

A few months later and you were officially Harrys girlfriend.

It had been such a crazy few months. Harry religiously took you out on dates every week. Whether it be to grab a hotdog at a local diner, a coffee from a quaint cafe, a walk in Hyde Park or a late-night drive around London - which normally ended up with you falling asleep before you could make it back to yours. On sleepless jet-lagged nights he'll still drive through London's quiet streets, seeing neighborhoods in a new way, just as an excuse to spend time with you.

Harry often stayed over at yours. Even though you looked like you lived in a shoebox compared to Harry, he liked it. He liked the subtly and normality of it all. He wanted your life to remain as normal as possible and, apart from the occasional paparazzi incident, it did. You never had anything to complain about. Of course the online bullying created emotional wounds, at the start of your relationship, but it was nothing that Harry couldn't repair with a bit of love.

Lisa has nominated herself to be maid-of-honour when the day comes - if the day comes. Harry has already pinky sworn that you are it for him. The one, as some may say. You were utterly flattered, but you certainly unsure of what the future help for you both.

You loved Harry, you do love Harry and you will forever always love Harry.

It was ridiculous to think that all this stemmed from you working at Vogue. From you studying English Literature in a city away from London. From you dedicating you extra hours gaining work experience and money to be able get in and afford university. So many moments in life have you stopped and said 'i wish i hadn't have done that', but now you were convinced that they were the best things to have happened to you - because they lead you, all, to Harry.

And, being Harry Styles girlfriend was probably the biggest flex you could ever make.

[ukrfeminism]

3 minute read

The cost of living crisis is putting women in the UK “at risk of harm, destitution or death”, campaigners have warned.

A damning statement, signed by 80 organisations, said spiralling living costs are having “devastating” repercussions on women due to placing them at “greater risk of violence and abuse”.

Campaigners, who are demanding the government take urgent measures, warned frontline workers at refuges for domestic abuse victims are being forced to use their own money to help women - including those who have gone without food for days.

Frontline organisations like refuges, which house many women at risk of murder if they remain at home with their partner, are said to be grappling with soaring bills while “demand for support to escape abuse” is rising.

Leading organisations in the women’s sector warned the cost of living crisis is having a disproportionate effect on all women but is hitting abuse victims hardest - noting women are forced to make the "unthinkable choice” of remaining trapped with an abuser or being left destitute if they manage to flee.

Baljit Banga, executive director of Imkaan, an umbrella organisation dedicated to addressing violence against black and minority ethnic women, said: “Economic justice is part of social justice and the constant struggle towards equality in our society. 

“In the current economic crisis the lives of all women must be acknowledged and a comprehensive response must ensure equal participation, contribution and the fulfilment of life. 

“The response must centre on the lives and material realities of those women who permanently occupy the margins due to intersectional oppression.”

Campaigners argued the most impoverished women will bear the brunt of the cost of living crisis as they are hardest hit by “cuts to social security and public services”.

“Despite being the ‘shock absorbers of poverty’, managing household budgets and families who rely on them, women have lower levels of savings and wealth than men and are more likely to be in debt,” the organisations warned. “Women take on the majority of unpaid labour and are more likely to be in insecure employment”.

They noted this is especially true for Black and minoritised women due to them being more likely to live in poverty - with migrant women hardest hit.

Andrea Simon, director of the End Violence Against Women Coalition (EVAW), said the “cost of living crisis is exacerbated by the rising cost of energy” but noted “it did not emerge overnight”.

She added: “As with the Covid-19 pandemic, many of the risks to women experiencing abuse could have been foreseen and prevented. 

“The situation we find ourselves in is the result of 12 years of austerity policies that have hit the poorest hardest, widened inequality and hammered public services and specialist women’s organisations supporting victims and survivors of male violence.”

Ms Simon said the “funding crisis” the women’s sector is grappling with is by no means a new issue but warned the coronavirus crisis coupled with the “latest round of economic shocks is especially dangerous for women”.

She added: “Frontline services cannot keep plugging every gap created by government cuts to statutory services and social security, whilst facing funding cuts themselves.”

The organisations in England and Wales are demanding the government to establish an Emergency Fund for charities to provide help for women and children enduring male violence and stop “the risk of death or destitution” - with migrant women and those with no recourse to public funds included in this support.

Among other demands, the frontline services are also calling for benefits to be urgently raised so they tally with soaring inflation and energy bills.

Farah Nazeer, chief executive of Women’s Aid Federation of England, the UK’s largest domestic abuse charity, said: “The rising cost of living is having an unprecedented impact on women and children experiencing domestic abuse and the life-saving services they need. 

“Without action now, we fear frontline services will risk going under, and many women will be forced to stay with an abuser, even when their lives are at risk. We urge the prime minister and chancellor to protect women, fund the organisations they need and tackle the inequalities that mean they are at the sharpest edge of this crisis.”

Between two and three women are murdered each week by their partners or ex-partners in England and Wales.

Jo Todd, chief executive of Respect, a leading domestic abuse charity which helps deliver perpetrator programmes, said: “We know that financial concerns can lead to increased tension and arguments in the home, creating a context where abuse can become more severe or frequent.”

While Jayne Butler, chief executive of Rape Crisis England & Wales, said rape and sexual violence victims can go on to endure a “wide range of severe, long-term, even lifelong, impacts” as she warned “access to specialist support” can play a key role in the “healing” process.

Sara Kirkpatrick, chief executive of Welsh Women’s Aid, added: “It is unacceptable to normalise a culture where the most vulnerable have nowhere to turn.”

[olko71]

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Cost of national debt hits 20-year high

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The interest the government pays on national debt has reached a 20-year high as the rate on 30-year bonds reaches 5.05%.

A rise in the cost of borrowing comes at a difficult time for the chancellor, Jeremy Hunt, as he prepares for the autumn statement on 22 November.

Mr Hunt has already made clear that tax cuts will not be announced in November.

However, the increased cost of servicing the country’s debt pile further narrows his choices.

The total amount the UK government owes is called the national debt and it is currently about £2.59 trillion.

The government borrows money by selling financial products called bonds. A bond is a promise to pay money in the future. Most require the borrower to make regular interest payments over the bond’s lifetime.

UK government bonds – known as “gilts” – are normally considered very safe, with little risk the money will not be repaid.

Gilts are mainly bought by financial institutions in the UK and abroad, such as pension funds, investment funds, banks and insurance companies.

What is quantitative easing?

How does government borrowing work?

The Bank of England has also bought hundreds of billions of pounds’ worth of government bonds in the past to support the economy, through a process called “quantitative easing”

A higher rate of interest on government debt will mean the chancellor will have to set aside more cash, to the tune of £23 billion to meet interest payments to the owners of bonds.

This means the government will have less money to spend on public services like healthcare and schools at a time when workers in key industries are demanding pay rises to match the cost of living.

The current level of debt is more than double what was seen from the 1980s through to the financial crisis of 2008.

The combination of the financial crash in 2007/8 and the Covid pandemic pushed the UK’s debt up from those historic lows to where it stands now.

But in relation to the size of the economy, today’s debt is still low compared with much of the last century,

The US, German and Italian borrowing costs also hit their highest levels for more than a decade as markets adjusted to the prospect of a long period of high interest rates and the need for governments around the world to borrow.

It follows an indication from global central banks, including the US’s Federal Reserve and the Bank of England, that interest rates will stay “higher for longer” to continue their jobs of bringing down inflation.

During the last financial year, the government spent £111bn on debt interest – more than it spent on education.

Some economists fear the government is borrowing too much, at too great a cost.

Others argue extra borrowing helps the economy grow faster – generating more tax revenue in the long run.

The government’s official economic forecaster, the Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR), has warned that public debt could soar as the population ages and tax income falls.

In an ageing population, the proportion of people of working age drops, meaning the government takes less in tax while paying out more in pensions.

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UK national debt

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How does government borrowing work?

21 September

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