Helen-Ann Smith
@HelenAnnSmith0
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Asia Correspondent @SkyNews 📍Beijing. Formerly Business Correspondent. More formerly Sky Ocean Rescue campaign, doco and specialist producer.
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You know what’s sad? For a few months it felt that the UK was the most United it’s been for years, like all that bitter Brexit division was behind us... Well, no more. The Dominic Cummings debate has put an end to all that
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Oxford Circus last night at 10.10pm.
I had dinner with 2 friends in a socially distanced restaurant- everyone was obeying the rules. Without 10pm curfew we would have ordered desert & more drinks.
You can see why many in hospitality say the curfew isn’t fair and isn’t working
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Wow, such a moving experience:
Crossed the road at the scene of initial protests, man on a bike looked me in the eye & then whistled few notes of ‘Do you hear the people sing’ from Les Mis.
It’s a protest song being used on social media.
I smiled & he winked back. Goosebumps
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Good morning from Buckingham Palace. Breaking news this morning: Meghan Dutches of Sussex has already left the UK and returned to Canada, just 36 hours after the Sussexes bombshell announcement. Harry left to manage the considerable fall out
#Megxit
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The Covid testing system in Beijing seems to have collapsed.
I’ve had 6 tests in 7 days, only 1 has returned a result.
Covid has exploded here, everyone knows multiple people with it.
No testing means authorities almost certainly aren’t tracking or monitoring the outbreak.
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Credit where credit due, Good Morning Britain has had me in tears twice this morning. Hats off to
@piersmorgan
@susannareid100
& the team behind them. Interviews with Syrian refugee cleaning Covid wards & mum who lost her bus driver son - deeply moving stuff sensitively handled
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📣A trip to collect a visa, finally, and some work news📣
I’m delighted to announce my new role as Sky News’ Asia Correspondent, based in Beijing.
It’s a dream job & I’m so excited to be covering such an incredible part of the world at such a pivotal & challenging time 🇨🇳
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We’ve finally made it into China! For the next 10 days this Shanghai quarantine hotel room is ‘home’.
Coming here is only possible right now for Chinese nationals or foreigners with work related visas, so it’s not widely known just how complicated and weird it is:
A 🧵
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Remember: this is huge population with low levels of immunity.
The health care system is under resourced, there’s not enough ICU beds& it could quickly become overwhelmed.
Chinese people are frightened.
It all feels chaotic. From 100 to 0 with minimal planning or preparation?
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That’s a wrap on my US stint.
5 weeks, 4 states (and DC), dozens of hours of broadcasting, innumerable brilliant colleagues, 1 new President.
What an adventure, I’m very grateful to have been there.
And now to bed!! 😴😴
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This matters because it means positive people are likely spreading it around as they have no means or knowing if they’re positive.
Until just a few weeks ago buying lateral flow tests was banned so many don’t have them as an option.
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Have the Italian team literally dressed up as Pizzas for the opening ceremony? 😂🍕 love it !!
#OpeningCeremony
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I find it strangely reassuring how often commentators have mentioned Dominic Cummings' clothes/ fashion sense. It's usually always women targeted with such pointless chatter. Nice to know we're not alone. But it would be nicer if it didn't happen at all
#DominicCummings
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The pollution from our train window just outside Beijing today. It’s almost a total whiteout!
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But I can’t say the experience wasn’t trying. There is no way tourists would CHOSE to go through it and it must be preventing Chinese nationals visiting home.
There are surely big questions about how long it can continue and if this is reasonable way to run immigration. 16/16
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So, I’ve been keeping something of a ‘dirty’ secret for almost my entire professional life. I’ve decided it’s time to come clean. Here goes…. I have really curly hair.
Yup, it’s big, it’s wild, it’s often uncontrollable.
For years I’ve been blow-drying, straightening... [1/3]
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This is ‘James’ . He’s one of hundreds, potentially thousands of employees on furlough but being pressured by his boss to keep working. When he questioned it, he was threatened with redundancy.
Fraud in the furlough scheme is a scandal at a time of high stress for so many
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It was at points quite awkward to be in the room for Boris Johnson’s CBI speech - at one point he totally lost his place for 20 seconds, the room fell into that toe curling silence. He then rambled about Peppa Pig World as a way to praise the ingenuity of British business.
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Amidst the gloom some happy news - my beloved Grandpop and Grandma got their COVID vaccinations today.
I’m simply LONGING for the day we can cuddle like this again. Maybe just maybe that day won’t be so far off now. Determined to believe that brighter times are to come.
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It appears many people also taking to the streets in Wuhan today. Again, these type of protests against central government policy happening simultaneously in so many places across China is extraordinary.
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Wow. There may be some legitimate arguments for easing lockdown - dismissing the virus as a 'pack of lies' isn't one of them
Piers Corbyn, brother of ex-Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn, also led away in handcuffs after saying 5G and coronavirus pandemic linked, calling it a ‘pack of lies to brainwash you and keep you in order’
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Oh wow. Another 17 hour day and a new president later, finally off to bed! What an extraordinary election and what a privilege to cover it. Let’s see what tomorrow brings! 🤪😴
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Scenes of total elation in Taipei as thousands of Lai Ching-te supporters gather to celebrate his victory.
Speaking to people, the same words kept coming up: freedom, democracy and the fact people are proud to be Taiwanese.
#TaiwanElection
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Sarah Everard’s tale has really struck chord with me. Until 6 months ago I lived just 2 roads away from where she was last seen. I have walked those roads 100s of times, often alone, often at night. My friends and I spent our twenties there, grew up there, made memories there 1/3
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Off the plane and hello Hazmats 👋🏼
It hard to describe how surreal Shanghai airport felt. We snaked through lengthy winding walkways all ringed off even though there was only one plane arriving.
It felt like a strange queue at a Disney Land for a ride no one wants to take /9
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Worth adding, you can’t just download WeChat & start using it, you need another user who has had it over 6 months & who hasn’t verified anyone else recently to verify you… There was more than 1 person looking v panicked & confused!
But at least there was this to reassure: /14
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The very start and the very end of 13 hours broadcasting. What an incredible night and an incredible story... and it’s far from over! Credit to the most amazing team on the ground with me in Arizona
@Kasia_SkyNews
@DeanMassey25
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Billboards outside Grenfell Tower calling for action. Residents here say although the report is strong it doesn’t deliver justice for the 72 dead.
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Incredibly compelling interview and well worth watching in full,
@BethRigby
, one of the very best at what she does, forensically grills the Prime Minister
PM pool i/v (16 mins)
-Denies
@Dominic2306
(or anyone) warned him against holding May 20 event
-"Humbly apologises" for misjudgements
- Visibly upset over parties ahead of Prince Philip funeral. Expresses deep regret
- Dodges Qs abt whether he'll resign
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Wow, what we’ve seen in Shanghai this evening is extraordinary.
Hundreds of people gathering, holding up blank white signs & shouting “free people”
10 minutes after I took this video the police charged in and arrested people and moved everyone else a street further back
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A LONG drive through Shanghai to the hotel.
Two more QR codes, a WeChat group to join, an Alipay app/ health code to share & two more forms, one digital one paper😱
Honestly, if you don’t speak chinese& hadn’t been pre-warned about the apps needed it would have been horrendous
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Finally we were (quite literally) locked in. Not sure what would happen if there was a fire!
We’ve had 2 Covid tests in the first 12 hours & they’ll continue throughout
The room, at least, is clean and the food is ok. I understand we’re lucky testing isn’t happening at 5am! /15
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Four hours sleep and still a race too close to call in Arizona.
Election Day 2, let’s go 👊🏼
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The journey really started 2 days before flying.
For foreigners to enter you need 2 negative PCR tests with 48 hours of travel.
Should be straight forward? Apart from the fact you need to get them 24 hours apart from each other and you have to get them from approved clinics /2
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I sat down exclusively today with Taiwan’s Foreign Minister Joseph Wu.
He told me that the situation with China is “getting worse” and the worst case scenario of a full invasion is now “more likely”. 1/7
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There were instructions blaring on a loud speaker strung on a chair, a quick Covid test, and every single person was head to toe in hazmat gear. Must be hard for baggage handlers!?
And look - there were over 30 baggage reclaim belts, every single one bar ours stood silent /10
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This isn’t intended as a pious statement about definitions of beauty of anything like that - just the relief of one woman who’s finally realised curly hair isn’t worse hair and embracing what you’re born with is empowering
#thiscurlcan
#curlsjustwannahavefun
#curlsontele
[3/3]
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So delighted to have been nominated for
@RTS_media
Young Talent of the Year Award. A huge shout out to the wonderful
@SkyOceanRescue
team - I’m so proud of what we’ve achieved and nothing would have been possible without them
#SkyOceanRescue
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As the Arizonan part of this adventure draws to a close want to pay tribute to these 2 legends
@DeanMassey25
@Kasia_SkyNews
Teams don’t come much dreamier than this. Kick arse at their jobs, absolute operators on the ground& have kept me laughing for 10 days straight.
THANK YOU
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If you need a bit of a lift on this rainy Thursday watch this video of mum Gemma Weir learning her daughter will now be able to access life prolonging Cystic Fibrosis drug Orkambi on the NHS. It’s truly heart warming.
When you find out England have access to
#LifeSavingDrugs4Cf
thank you
@NHSEngland
@VertexPharma
@MattHancock
THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU!!!!!! YASSSSSSSSS
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For us this meant travelling over an hour there and back to the nearest clinic on two consecutive days, my colleagues travelled even further.
Not exactly how you’d chose to spend your time just before emigrating. /3
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On route and on touch down there’s already sense your going somewhere steeped in paranoia.
Even though the airline was Lufthansa there were compulsory masks, temperature checks and a lengthy wait before disembarking for the authorities to “check the relevant documents” /8
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Green code in hand we were off to Heathrow. We had to fly to Frankfurt first because, as of late September, there were no direct flights between China and the UK - the sense is that will change soon.
This is us just before heading through security /6
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Once you have your results you have to apply for a ‘Health Declaration Code’.
You fill out a form with all your details, passport, visa, flight plan, test results… the little grey square turns amber when they’re considering your application, and green when you’re good to go /4
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Hundreds of firms are fraudulently claiming government furlough money while pressuring staff to work.
Shockingly 20% of calls reporting this to a whistleblower support line were from care workers.
Read my exclusive report& catch the piece on
@SkyNews
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However, a lay-over in a third country means the process has to be repeated again:
Two more tests, another HDC application, another nail biting wait.
You also need to present a separate customs QR code before boarding: more form filing required /7
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My story today on the anger of British farmers and small businesses who aren’t allowed to cultivate CBD oil from cannabis plants despite it being a totally legal product to import from abroad and sell.
They’ve described the legislation as “insane”, “nonsensical” and “unfair”
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It felt like we witnessed something genuinely historic in Shanghai last night.
So many saying they never thought they’d see scenes like this in China.
Everyone who came out, certainly everyone who spoke to us is astonishingly brave, please watch/ read:
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BUT you have absolutely no idea how long it might take.
For example our flight was at 9.30am on Monday morning, we went to bed on Sunday night not knowing if we were approved or not - it doesn’t make for the best night’s sleep trust me! /5
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This is remarkable. Nearly half of conservative voters think Johnson’s government acts like its one rule for them and another for everyone else, 70% of general public
#DominicCummnings
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We’re on our way back from Mohe, known as China’s North Pole.
Temperatures here reached -53 degrees this week, the lowest in China’s modern history.
I can confirm it was cold like nothing I’ve ever felt or imagined 🥶
Locals said they have noticed more extreme weather events
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Sky News has spoken to 3 doctors in China who have given us a sense of what’s going on in the hospitals.
They say emergency rooms are “packed” and that “there are not enough beds”.
One said 50% of the sickest patients are dying.
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Genuinely shed a few tears. Such amazing amazing scenes, so inspiring
@Lionesses
YES GIRLS!!! 🏴⚽️🔥🥹
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I’m genuinely unsure if I’ve ever seen my Irish husband happier than he was last night 🤣
#GuinnessVan
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China’s new Foreign Minister is giving his first press conference in the job.
It has been carefully staged. Questions pre-selected, answers seemingly scripted& many foreign journalists based in Beijing haven’t been invited
It’s thus an insight into the messages he wants to land
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Something extraordinary is happening in China. Protest like this are v rare, calls for Xi to stand down are unheard of.
The challenge for the CCP: this is not a lone protest & it was catalysed by something 1000s of miles away. It represents an anger that could be hard to contain
Wow, this is really something.
“
#CCP
, step down!
#XiJinping
, step down!”
The crowd is shouting, and the police officers do NOT stop them.
At Urumqi Road in
#Shanghai
,
#CCPChina
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Once we had our bags we were ordered into a little pen, instructed to scan a QR code and hand in our passports - this was registration for the quarantine hotel as far as we could gather /11
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The cross roads at the centre of the protests feels even more tense this afternoon than it did earlier.
People being stopped by police, having their phones searched & any footage deleted.
There is a feeling that any form of gathering tonight is going to be cracked down on hard.
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Number10 have missed the deadline for submitting evidence on Boris Johnson’s relationship with Jennifer Arcuri. They’re saying there was confusion over the deadline, which seems odd as it’s been pretty clear to all is covering it today
No10 reckon they've been stitched up by the GLA on Arcuri tonight
— claim GLA sent letter to wrong address
— GLA didn't tell them deadline was 1800
— but GLA pre-briefed a statement saying No10 had missed deadline
— No10 source says they have the letter in their hand ready to go
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Given how paranoid the system felt, once we got to the moment of actually boarding the bus it felt like a free-for-all, everyone rushing close together to get their bags underneath.
There wasn’t space for all, we had to bring two of our heavy suitcases up to the seating area /12
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Women should not have to check over their shoulders and brush off niggling concerns if they want to walk near their homes. And we should not have to read terrible terrible stories like Sarah’s. Thinking and praying for her and her family today 3/3
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Two years ago I was shooting my first doco about ocean plastic pollution& manically preparing to launch
#SkyOceanRescue
. 2 days ago I came across the campaign’s dedicated shop in Soho. The conversation about plastic has transformed in that time& I couldn’t be prouder
#loveoceans
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At the CBI conference the PM spoke about the ‘moral mission’ to boost productivity evenly around the county. But in the face of questions from me and others on how the row back on HS2 and NPH rail fits with that agenda he seemed frustrated, claiming the new plans are “better”
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I undertook a challenge to live a low carbon lifestyle for two weeks. It's the sort of life we'll all need to be living if we want to halt climate change. See how I got on:
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My full interview with the Chancellor this morning. On GDP, cost of living , taxes and partygate.
The chancellor, for now, is resisting another immediate tax or spending intervention… but how long can that bare out under the pressure of an increasingly severe crisis.
Chancellor Rishi Sunak is challenged by Sky's
@HelenAnnSmith0
over whether the government has done enough to help people struggling to pay their bills.
Read more about this story:
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China says that the ‘re-education’ of the Uyghur minority in its Western Xinjiang province is over . But that may not be telling the whole story.
We visited to find out what’s happened to the camps and ask what life is now like there. Please read:
What has happened to China’s Uyghur camps❓
Sky News has been inside the region for the first time since zero-COVID restrictions were dropped.
@HelenAnnSmith0
has visited former detention camps and spoken to survivors
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Taiwan’s next President Lai Ching-te has arrived at his victory party and is giving his victory speech.
He begins by thanking Taiwan’s people and says that in choice between “democracy and authoritarianism, we stand on the side of democracy”.
#Taiwanelection
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A Trump supporter in a stab vest at a protest outside the vote counting office in Phoenix Arizona told me that he thought some people would rise up and that a civil war may be “necessary”.
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These are the scenes at Wulumuqi Road in Shanghai this morning, scene of initial protests on Saturday night. It’s open but with big blue barricades along the pavement and very heavy police presence.
We saw one man dragged away by police, seemingly for lingering too long!
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This man had sat in quiet protest on this junction for around half an hour before being arrested.
He positioned himself right next to police.
Small acts of remarkable bravery.
Just now police dragged away a man at the crossroads of Wulumuqi Middle road in Shanghai. Moments earlier a snatch squad of about 10 police officers came out from a nearby courtyard
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Teenagers are being kept in temporary mental health units 'for more than a year.' Please read/ watch my report which reveals the damage this is causing to. You wouldn't keep a child in A&E for a year - the same principle applies here.
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Beijing in lockdown but that isn’t stopping the food delivery services!!
🔪🧑🍳🥙🍔➡️🏍🛵
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BREAK: Sky News can now project that JOE BIBEN has won the election and will be the 46th President of the United States of America
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Did we feel safe there? It’s a question that women the world over will understand the nuanced answer to - yes, but only insofar as you ever feel safe walking alone at night as a woman. That IS NOT the same as actually being or feeling safe and it’s not good enough. 2/3
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The number of deaths reported today from Covid19 is 980. That's higher than either Italy or Spain have reported in a single day. The only country to have announced a higher daily toll is France. Very very sad.
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BREAKING - Permission granted by the court for Tommy Robinson to be retried for contempt of Court
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I really don’t think the general public will buy that Johnson “belives” Cummings broke no rules and acted within the guidelines ... it certainly didn’t look like he did in that press conference
#dominiccummimgs
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NEW/ EXCLUSIVE
Farmers and vets are making the “devastating” decision to carry out abortions on pigs.
The shortage of butchers means there’s a backlog of pigs on farms & there isn’t space.
Mass culling is underway & the impact on farmers is devastating.
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and scraping it back into submission. And why? Well, because I felt that smooth, glossy locks were somehow synonymous with being professional and successful. I’ve decided no more. I properly let my curls lose in work for the first time today and it felt gooood... [2/3]
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The global reach of the Queen’s death is phenomenal, I am in Turkey and had dinner in a quiet unassuming restaurant: the TV was on, the local channel wall-to-wall on that alone.
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This made me properly emotional after a long day at work - my corner of south London applauding the NHS , you could hear whoops and cheers from all the surrounding streets
#thankyou
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What a remarkable few days in Arizona.
A stunningly beautiful state with an fascinating, nuanced political landscape.
The race could be razor right here and COULD be the tipping point.
Ok Election Day. Let’s go!
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CPI Inflation is up 4.2% in the year to October. That’s the highest in a decade. Really significant, and confirming what many families will already be feeling - that the cost of living is rising very fast and is a real and live crisis for some
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EXCLUSIVE:
BAME people hold just 4.6% of the UK's most powerful roles.
Out of 1097 of the UK’s most senior leaders only 10 are BAME women & only 16 are black.
I spoke to some inspirational BAME leaders for this piece. Read here& watch @ 7pm
@SkyNews
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Genuinely astonishing evidence from the P+O Ferries CEO in front of MPs - it can only be described as a grilling.
A 🧵with a few key points:
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Today I covered the self employed. I was able to tell Phil’s story. He’s cut my hair for 10 yrs+. 4 months ago he left his job & threw everything into following his dream and running his own salon. The timing is beyond cruel. When this is over he gives the best haircut in London!
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It is most beautiful evening in London. The queue to see Her Majesty lying in state stretches back a number of miles but it’s moving quickly - and those waiting being treated with these stunning scenes.
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Thank you so much to Catherine Deane for lending me this beautiful gown for the Golden Nymph awards at the Monte Carlo film festival. So incredibly delighted to win an award for our documentary A Plastic Whale
#CatherineDeane
#goldenNymph
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JOE BIDEN PROJECTED TO WIN ARIZONA. Over two weeks after the election we have an answer from the state where I spent the election. It’s an historic moment, democrats have only won in Arizona one other time since 1952. It further delegitimises Trump’s claims he’s won
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This announcement really matters.
It means the public will never know how serious China’s Covid outbreak is.
It’s unclear if this because the system to test & record cases outside hospitals has collapsed (anecdotally it has) or due to a desire to obscure how huge the surge is
⚡️
#China
's NHC has decided not to release COVID-19 asymptomatic figures starting on December 14 according to the current policy for nucleic acid tests.
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A further 429 people are reported to have died in English hospitals of Covid19. While still a horrible number that is the lowest daily rise since April 6th. Back then deaths were doubling every 3 days. Now they are doubling roughly every 12 days.
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Incredible scenes on CNN - Commentator Van Jones is full on crying
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Being in a pub today felt like a small slice of heaven... even if I was just working! Discussing the possibility of relaxed licensing laws allowing pubs to serve outside. Catch it on Sky News this evening. Thanks for having us Alpaca Islington.
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Authorities won’t use the word, but Beijing is now essentially in lockdown.
Almost all shops are shut, people asked to work from home, restaurants & cafes offering take out only
Even testing booths linked to positive cases have closed, meaning the queues at others are very long
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Today is a significant day for the Grenfell inquiry.
It's the first time we will hear evidence from a former employee of Arconic. Arconic manufactured the aluminium panels on the side of the tower that were, before xmas, found to be the "primary cause" of the fire.
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