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Harmony of the bisexual posted a photo:
Daily Archives: November 26, 2017
‘Strictly Come Dancing’: Aljaž Škorjanec Hits Back At Kristina Rihanoff’s Claims Routines Are Overproduced
‘Strictly Come Dancing’: Aljaž Škorjanec Hits Back At Kristina Rihanoff’s Claims Routines Are Overproduced
‘Strictly Come Dancing’ professional Aljaž Škorjanec has hit back at Kristina Rihanoff’s claims the show’s routines have become overproduced.
The former pro-dancer recently went on record to say she believes the BBC ballroom competition now favours “crazy productions” over actual skill, with the use of props and storytelling.
Aljaž has now responded, admitting he sees the criticism as “sad” as he believes it brings more to the show.
Speaking to HuffPost UK, he said: ″‘Strictly’ is an evolving show and it has evolved for years, and only ever for the better.
“I’ve been doing this now for five years, and every year we come back, the props are bigger, better and we can do more with the production. They only make our jobs so much easier because our ideas and concepts can be portrayed on TV better than they have ever been.
“If you think that is a bad thing, then that is very sad.”
He continued: “We are doing this to put on a great TV show. Obviously, you have to dance but props were introduced way before I was a part of it, but I think they bring a completely different element to everything.
“Waltzes have been done in a million different ways, but ‘Strictly’ has seen this all before, so if that means props and doing it bigger and better, so be it. I’ve never understood that problem.
“It’s people’s opinions, but I do disagree. I don’t mean anything bad, but I love the props.”
Kristina, who quit the show ahead of the 2016 series, spoke out against bosses following the controversial elimination of Aston Merrygold, following a 1970s-themed Viennese Waltz.
When asked for her opinion on this year’s stars, Kristina confessed: “I can’t say that I’m impressed with the dancers this year. Nearly every week we have props and crazy production. Sometimes I just want to see a beautiful Waltz or a Cha Cha Cha.”
This weekend saw Aljaž and partner Gemma Atkinson perform a Samba with a bedtime theme, but it failed to impress the judges and they picked up just 25 points out of a possible 40 for their efforts.
‘Strictly Come Dancing’ airs Saturdays and Sundays on BBC One.
www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/entry/strictly-come-dancing-aljaz-skorjanec-kristina-rihanoff_uk_5a1aab7fe4b064948074e21e
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UK Weather Sees Mercury Drop Below Freezing As Forecasters Issue Ice Warning
UK Weather Sees Mercury Drop Below Freezing As Forecasters Issue Ice Warning
Some places are waking up to a #frost this morning and there will be some #icy patches too, especially around #wintry showers in the west pic.twitter.com/JLqaxHzLvR
— Met Office (@metoffice) November 26, 2017
Good morning, cold and bright, with showers slowly fading. Turning cloudier later. ^Ash t.co/jtrhUzUBdRpic.twitter.com/uJvcXxO8lC
— Met Office (@metoffice) November 26, 2017
The warning remains in place until 10am on Sunday.
The chilly weather is expected to continue throughout the day, with temperatures struggling to top 7C and feeling even colder in the wind.
Met Officer forecaster Luke Miall said: “We’re going to continue seeing showers feeding in, alongside a brisk north-westerly wind.
“It will be drier the further south and east you are.
“The temperatures are a bit below normal for this time of year, so it will be a case of wrapping up warm.”
On Saturday there were smatterings of snow in parts of Scotland and the West Midlands, while a mixture of sleet and snow fell overnight around parts of Wales, the west of England and Scotland, mainly on higher ground.
It’s important to check on older neighbours & relatives during winter. Popping in can make a lot of difference t.co/AZ92blqwPH… pic.twitter.com/151yoWSAWg
— PublicHealthEngland (@PHE_uk) November 25, 2017
Public Health England has warned those most at risk in cold weather to take precautions.
Dr Thomas Waite, of the body’s Extreme Events team, said: “We’re well used to winter in this country so most people know what to do to protect their health before and during cold spells.
“But there are people who may not take precautions and who are at a very real risk.
“We know that every winter thousands of people fall ill and many die because of exposure to cold both in the home and while outdoors.
“Those most at risk include older people, very young children and those with conditions like heart and lung disease.”
After the coldest night of the season so far, Saturday was a cold but bright day with wintry showers in the north & west. Here are the stats pic.twitter.com/46UMtkeedW
— Met Office (@metoffice) November 25, 2017
Figures earlier this week showed there were more than 34,000 “excess deaths” across England and Wales over the last winter period, the second highest level in eight years.
A milder day is expected on Monday, before a prolonged period of low temperatures across the country throughout the coming week and the one after it, with further widespread frosts.
www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/entry/uk-weather_uk_5a1a81dfe4b0d4906caf4084
Ellen DeGeneres Offers Support to Dreamers
Ellen DeGeneres Offers Support to Dreamers
The popular out talk show host calls for passage of the Dream Act to allow young immigrants brought here as minors to stay in the U.S.
www.advocate.com/politics/2017/11/25/ellen-degeneres-offers-support-dreamers
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Philip Hammond Had The Chance To Change Course On This Social And Economic Disaster – He Failed
Philip Hammond Had The Chance To Change Course On This Social And Economic Disaster – He Failed
The Budget presented by Chancellor Phillip Hammond was the confirmation that seven years of misery under Conservative austerity have been for nothing. Official figures, released at the same time from the Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR), are devastating for this government’s claim to economic competence. Growth is down, and is now the lowest of major developed economies in the G7. Productivity growth, the fuel for wider economic growth, is the worst since it has been since the Industrial Revolution. The Institute for Fiscal Studies now talks about two “lost decades” for wages growth, with most people’s living standards not expected to recover until 2022.
The headlines figures are appallingly bad. And, as often with the OBR, much of the devil was in the details in their Economic and Fiscal Outlook. The effects of Brexit are “uncertain” but negative, under this government, who couldn’t provide enough detail on their approach to Brexit for their own forecasters to do their work “on the basis of fully-specified government policy”. A grim little note, on page 99, to the effect that the government’s fiscal position has been improved by “higher mortality rates at older ages than previously assumed”.
What the careful text doesn’t tell you is the human cost behind the figures. Cuts to Universal Credit, still going ahead, that will drive a million more children into poverty over the next five years. Cuts to local authority spending that will leave children’s services on the brink of what charities have called a “catastrophe”.
Austerity has not just failed, but failed so badly that a complete overhaul of government economic policy is now needed. What we got on Thursday instead was a series of sleights of hand from a Chancellor who seemingly cannot match up to the challenges ahead, and is in denial about the emergency in our public services. We needed real change from this government last Thursday: the funding that is being demanded, not by Labour, but by experts and professionals in our health service, our children’s services, and our schools.
What we got instead was an accountancy trick, shuffling Housing Association debt off the government’s balance sheet to flatter the its deficit, merely two years after bringing it on the books. But the housing crisis won’t be solved by financial trickery. It needs real funding and bricks-and-mortar. The £44billion announced for housing with such a fanfare on Thursday lunchtime turned, by Thursday evening, to be just £7billion in actual new funding. Without increasing the supply of housing, as Labour’s own manifesto promised, the cut to stamp duty for first time buyers is little more than a quick way to drive up prices – as the OBR noted. It forecast just 3,500 new buyers to benefit, with the main gainers from the policy being “people who already own property.”
What we got on Thursday was a series of sleights of hand from a Chancellor who seemingly cannot match up to the challenges ahead
We have 80,000 households living in temporary accommodation because councils simply don’t have anywhere to house them. In the sixth richest country on earth, over 120,540 children without a home to call their own – and this is up 60% under the Tories. This is the sharp end of our housing crisis and this Budget did nothing to alleviate it.
The £1.9billion extra for the NHS is less than half the £4billionn experts say is needed to resolve the immediate crisis. The £177million for schools is close to derisory, set against the £1.7billion funding cut that will see the first real-terms decline in per-pupil funding since the 1990s. A quarter of teachers who have qualified since 2011 have left the profession, and headteachers across the country are already reduced to begging for cash from parents.
There was nothing in this for social care. Nothing for children’s services. Nothing for mental health. Not a penny for police, or the fire service. The pay cap remains in place, with any possible improvements tied to a worsening of conditions for hard-pressed public service workers.
Above all else, this social and economic disaster is one entirely of the government’s own making. They have cut government investment, with real terms funding down £20billion since 2010. And they have failed to encourage business investment, which is now the lowest in the G7 and expected to decline further. The result is a low productivity, low wage economy, able to create hundreds of thousands of insecure, poorly-paid job, but not able to support a decent standard of living for most, and whose once-envied public services are crumbling away.
Philip Hammond had the chance to change course this week. He failed. Labour stands ready to take over and build an economy that works for the many, not the few.
John McDonnell is the shadow Chancellor and Labour MP for Hayes and Harlington
www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/entry/budget-2017_uk_5a1a82b8e4b0d4906caf4088
