Category Archives: Anatomy

Whakaari/White Island: Anatomy of a deadly eruption and the quest to save survivors – Stuff.co.nz

It was a beautiful day for a once-in-a-lifetime adventure. But when disaster struck at Whakaari/White Island, some of thepeople who were there didn't come home. Nikki Macdonald examines how the tragedy unfolded.

2.10pm

At 2.10pm the GNS Science webcam at Whakaari/White Island's crater rim snapsan ant-trail of tourists checking out New Zealand's most active volcano. One minute later, the ever-puffingcone, whose Mori name means the dramatic volcano, blowsits top. There are 47 tourists still on the island, but the world doesn't know that yet.

Near the pier wheretour passengers load and unload, a boat is waiting to leave, to return its day-trippers to Whakatne, 50km away.On board is a group who just 20 minutes earlier were in their hard hats and gas masks, doing that same regular loop to the crater's steamy yellow edge,offered as part of the standard 1hour inner-crater tour.

"No, no, no," a passenger cries out, as they watch the mushrooming cloud of white and black smoke and ash surge from the area they've just left. "Ca commence," a French tourist exclaims it's starting. "Go inside, go inside," a frantic voice calls out.

The beautiful silent shroud turns sinister, rolling across the island.At the pier, about 13 people huddle as the toxic tower rises above their heads. Ash-covered tourists run into the sea.

The Volcanic Air tour helicopter parked on the beach is shunted from its helipad, its rotors bent into spidery legs. That's 1.5 tonnes of metal, carried by the force of the explosion. Its four German passengers are down by the beach. Two passengers and the pilot escape serious harm by jumping into the water. The others suffer burns.

Theash cloud soars to more than 3600mfarenough to see fromsatellites.

Six weeks earlier, Stuff reportedthat the island's sulphurdioxide gas and volcanic tremorshad hit their highest levels since 2016,increasingthe possibility of an eruption. On November 18, GNS raised the volcano's alert level from one to two out of five advising that eruptions of steam, gas, mud and rocks could occur "with little or no warning".

GNS vulcanologist Geoff Kilgoursays rocks and minerals had been slowly clogging the geothermal vents, increasing the pressure, like blowing up a balloon. But like a balloon, you can't predict when it might burst.

White Island Tours' websitesays it operates through the various alert levels, but"there isalways a risk of eruptive activity".

At 2.17pm, police are alerted to the disaster.

MICHAEL SCHADE/AP

Tourists who have just left Whakaari watch helplessly from a boat as ash consumes the island.

2.24pm

Tour guides in navy and white striped T-shirts take inflatables from the tour boat to rescue the ash-caked huddle on the pier. At least five rescuees are in critical condition their skin blistered beneath their clothes from severeburns.

University of Auckland vulcanologistProfessor Shane Croninsays the eruptionwould have released a"violent ejection" of hot blocks and ash, and formed'hurricane-like' currents ofwet ash and coarse particles radiating from the explosion vent. That, and a cloud of "pretty much every nasty gas you can think of".

"These can be deadly in terms of causing impact trauma, burns and respiratory problems," Cronin says.

Lillani Hopkins

Geoff and Lillani Hopkins were on the island minutes before the eruption, and helped tend horribly burnt patients on the boat ride back to Whakatne.

The boat crew plead for doctors there are two. Hamilton pastor Geoff Hopkins and his daughter Lillaniare first aiders and also offer to help.

Lillanitriages the patients attaching red, orange or green tags, to show those most at risk of dying. They cut off the victims' clothes, andreplacethem withtheir own to keep themwarm. They're burnt but cold; in shock, drifting in and out of consciousness. They pourwater on the burns. When the water runsout,Lillaniholds a screaming man's hand and sings.

The Hopkinsesare two of few Kiwis on the tour. Those caught in the blast came from all over the world Australia, Britain, Malaysia, the United States, China.Many came from cruise ship, the Ovation of the Seas, which was docked for theday at Tauranga. Later that afternoon, its 4000-odd passengers listenas the captain announcesone of the ship's tour groups hasbeen caught in a volcanic eruption. He reads a list of passengers asked to report in. It's long. Cruisersanxiously checktheir phones.

At 2.30pm, GNS issues a volcanic alert bulletin, raising the alert level to 4, signifying amoderate volcanic eruption.

WHITE ISLAND FLIGHTS/SUPPLIED

Tourism operator White Island Flights captured this image of the Whakaari/White Island eruption.

2.40pm

Before the dust has settled, rescue efforts begin from the air, with Westpac rescue helicopters, two private helicopters and a Volcanic Air tourist helicopter scrambled to help.

Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern later paystribute to the courage of the pilots who selflessly headed into theeruption's aftermath.

One is pilot Mark Law, of Whakatne helicopter company Khu. He's been flying tourists to Whakaari/White Island for years. When he hearsof the eruption, he doesn'thesitate to fire up the rotors of his Squirrel and make the 20-minute flight to the island.

Michael Schade/AP

Crew from tour boats who were waiting to leave sent inflatables back to the island to rescue those caught in the eruption.

His colleague Jason Hill flies their second chopper. Inside the volcano's crater, the dust and gas are swirling, restricting visibility.

On the ground, they can see distressed people. Some sitting, some lying. Several have horrific injuries. They hear emergency services aren't coming, so they start rescuing patients themselves. The dust is so deep it's like running through talcum powder.

Volcanic Air chief pilot Tim Barrow arrives to help.Between them, they load up 12 patients and get them out, to Whakatne Hospital. They're struggling to breathe, and one of Barrow's charges dies on the way.

CHRISTEL YARDLEY/STUFF

Mark Law was one of three commercial helicopter pilots who courageously flew to the island immediately after the eruption, to evacuate patients.

On board oneWestpachelicopter is Dr Tony Smith. He's St John's clinical director, but also works half time as an intensive care specialist for Auckland Hospital. They have a permanent rescue helicopter crew, and he happens to be the doctor on call.

When the call comes in around 2.30pm, information is sketchy. All they know is there'sbeen an eruption, with multiple casualties. As they flytoward the volcano, the scale of the disaster becomes clearer from information from the ground, but it also becomes visible from the air.

"Even before we went over the Coromandel Peninsula we could see the plume of smoke. It was clear that something big had happened."

AUCKLAND WESTPAC RESCUE HELICOPTER

St John clinical director Tony Smith (left) and a paramedic are seen on White Island after the eruption.

They circle over the crater, looking for a safe landing, checking for life. They find neither they can see people, but only those who haven't made it.

Safety is never black or white, always grey, Smith says. They put down on the beach, near the pier, where they figure the boats can fish them out if they have to flee to the water. Everything is covered in thick yellow sulphurous ash. Every wind gust or rotor swish kicks up a dust cloud. It's like walking around in fog.

They can smell the sulphur through the respirator masks. It's incredibly irritating within minutes eyes and any exposed skin are sore. There are no more survivors to save so they head out, back to Whakatne, where six critically injured evacuees are waiting at the airfield and wharf.

SUPPLIED

This 1.5 tonne tour helicopter was shunted off its helipad by the force of the eruption.

3.26pm

On Whakatne's coast, police cordon off Muriwai Drive, to give emergency services room and privacy to deal with the injured. Casualties are removed on stretchers, covered in survival blankets, some dressed only in their underwear. Manyhave life-threatening burns.

Whakatne Hospital goes into mass casualty response, handlingmore critical patients in 12 hours than it normally gets in 12 months. Five will not make it, but the country doesn't know that yet.

Patients are placed wherever there'sspace in the Emergency Department, in the wards, even in the operating theatres. They need stabilising. Some have lungs so burntthey need ventilators to breathe. Others need anaesthetic to deal with the pain. Medicssend out for catering packs of Gladwrap, to cover the weeping wounds.

ONE NEWS

Police cordoned off Whakatne's Muritai Drive, to give emergency crew room to receive the injured.

Of the 31 patients, 27 have burns to more than 30 per cent of their bodies the normal entry criterionfor the national burns unit at Auckland's Middlemore Hospital. They need to get out of tiny Whakatne Hospital, but Middlemore can't cope with everyone. Smith helps co-ordinate ambulances, helicopters and aircraft to fly the injured to the country's four burns units, at Hutt Hospital, Christchurch, Waikato and Middlemore, and the two next best options Auckland and Tauranga.

Some patients have burns to more than 50 per cent of their bodies. The skin is red and blistered, with pieces falling off. The deepest burns turn the skin white, thick and leathery. Medics will need 1.2 million square centimetres of donor skin to patch all the scorched bodies.

Looking around Whakatne ED, Smith is blown away by the scale of the task ahead.

Lillani Hopkins

The ash cloud soars to more than 3600m - far enough to see from satellites.

"In terms of numbers of patients with very severe injuries, andsubsequent impact on the healthcare system of New Zealand,this is by far and away the biggest event we have ever experienced. Patients with 50 per cent burns will occupy many many many tens of hours of surgical operating and operating theatre time, many weeks of intensive care. These are complex patients that require a lot of complex therapies to get them to survive."

At 3.30pm, theNational Emergency Management Agency issues a national warning for a moderate volcanic eruption, advising people living near the ashfall to close windows and wear a dust mask.

BROOK SABIN

Tourists have been visiting Whakaari/White Island for more than 30 years. (File photo)

3.45pm

Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern gives a press conference saying 100 people are believed to have been on the island, and some are unaccounted for. Reports begin to filter to the public, of at least 20 injured, some critical, and possible deaths

At 4.25pm, GNS drops the volcano's alert level back to 3, warning of eruption hazards near the vent. Experts report there "remains significant uncertainty as to future changes but currently, there are no signs of escalation".

4.59pm

Police issue an update, saying only 50 tourists are now believed to have been on the island during the eruption.That's the only good news of the evening.

Just 90 minutes later, the police National Operation Commander, Deputy Commissioner John Tims, stands in the Beehive theatre and announces one of those rescued from the island has died. More deaths are likely, he says.

He doesn't know how many remain on the island, but it could be up to 27. And authorities have decided it's too dangerous for police and emergency services to go back in.

Ross Giblin

National Police Operation Commander, Deputy Commissioner John Tims, was the bearer of continual bad news.

9pm

Police confirm five people have died. Around the world, desperate friends and relatives begin to post missing persons reports on the Red Cross family links website. Theyare parents and children; husbands and wives; young and old.Their nationalities span the globe.

Some are false alarms a 7-year-old Australian boy is later found safe with family in Whakatne. Others are not.

10.20pm

Ardern and Civil Defence Minister Peeni Henare arrive in Whakatne and head to Whakatne District Council for a briefing.

Two hours later, just after midnight, police deliver a critical blow to hope: nomoresearchand rescue will be attempted tonight, despite "double digit" numbers left on the island. A police Eagle helicopter, rescue helicopter and defence force planes have donerecces, butseen no sign of life.

TOM LEE/STUFF

Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern arrives in Whakatne for a briefing on the situation on White Island on Monday night.

TUESDAY, 10 DECEMBER

Even as eight bodies lie unrecovered and unidentified in their ashen graveyard, the questions begin.

Local man Hayden Marshall-Inman is the first victim to be named one of two White Island Tours staff killed. As a tour guide for more than a decade, he knew the risks, his brother says.But he's angry that red tape is preventing them bringing his brother's body home.

"It smells like Pike River all over again.People from Wellington making decisions for people that go on the island daily who knows the island inside out."

FACEBOOK

Hayden Marshall-Inman.

As Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison confirmsup to threeof the five dead may be Australian, another 11 are unaccounted for and 13 have been hospitalised, the scale of the diplomatic disaster begins to crystallise.

The dead and injured come from seven countries two from Britain, four from Germany, 24 from Australia, five from New Zealand, two from China, one from Malaysia and nine from the United States.

Stories begin appearing on international media, of their countrymen and women caught in the tragedy. And with them come the question why were they allowed on an active volcano that was known to begetting jumpier?

Supplied

Newly weds Lauren and Matt Urey were on White Island when it erupted. They were taken to hospital with burns. Their condition is unknown.

American honeymooners Lauren and Matthew Ureywere severely burntin the explosion. Lauren's mother Barbara Barham is livid had her daughter known it was risky, she would never have gone, she says.Lauren's father says allowing tourists on to an active volcano is "absurd".

Tourists have been trekking out to the island for more than 30 years, including through the volcano's most active period, from 1975 to 2001, when small eruptions were frequent. It has claimed lives before in 1914, a lahar killed 10sulphur miners asleep in their beds. The only survivor was a tabby cat.

Ray Cas, Australian professor of geoscience at Melbourne's Monash University, has said White Island was "a disaster waiting to happen".

CHRISTEL YARDLEY/STUFF

Flowers and cards have started to be placed at the cordon site for White Island victims.

Whether tourists should have been there at all is a question that must be asked, Ardern later says. At 5pm, police announce they will be asking it, in addition tohealth and safety watchdog WorkSafe.

But for now the focus is on supporting grieving families, and the heroes who went in to help.One survivor will later die in hospital, on Tuesday night, bringing the death toll to eight.

"All incidents like this affect everybody," Tony Smith says. "You are a human being. It's impossible to go to something like this and not be affected ... This will be an incident which will be forever etched in our memories."

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Whakaari/White Island: Anatomy of a deadly eruption and the quest to save survivors - Stuff.co.nz

Senior Lecturer/Associate Professor in Applied Anatomy job with UNIVERSITY OF BRISTOL | 188877 – Times Higher Education (THE)

Centre for Applied Anatomy

Contract type: Open endedWorking pattern: Full time

Closing date for applications: 12-Jan-2020

We have an exciting opportunity to appoint a new member of academic teaching staff to the Centre for Applied Anatomy at the University of Bristol. The Centre focuses on the excellence of practical applied anatomy teaching which is delivered with clinical and professional relevance.

You will work with the Head of Centre in providing educational direction, leadership and management for the Centre for Applied Anatomy (CAA) and to assist in its continued development. You will also act as the Director of Teaching for CAA.

You may teach across all teaching streams in the Centre for Applied Anatomy (Science, Veterinary, Medical, Dental) and will be expected to contribute substantially to practicals, lectures, seminars and project supervision. As Director of Teaching, you will provide leadership to ensure that the Centres educational offerings are distinctive, innovative, high quality and competitive

For informal enquiries please contact:Michelle Spear; Hos-anat@bristol.ac.uk; 0117 33 17839

We welcome applications from all members of our community and are particularly encouraging those from diverse groups, such as members of the LGBT+ andBAME communities, to join us.

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Senior Lecturer/Associate Professor in Applied Anatomy job with UNIVERSITY OF BRISTOL | 188877 - Times Higher Education (THE)

Did Cristina Yang Ever Have a Healthy Relationship on ‘Grey’s Anatomy’? – Showbiz Cheat Sheet

WhenCristina Yang(Sandra Oh) leaves Greys Anatomy in season 10, fans ugly cry. Many viewers believe herdeparture is harder to watchthan the death ofDerek Shepherd(Patrick Dempsey). So, its not surprising that fans still talk about Cristinas time on the show. The latest debate is over whether she ever had a healthy relationship. Lets take a look at what fans are saying.

During the first season ofGreys Anatomy, Cristina begins dating Preston Burke (Isaiah Washington). Early on in the season, Burke breaks off the relationship because he does not want it to ruin their reputations. When Cristina has a miscarriage, the two get back together.

Burke literally never considers what Cristina wants,wrote one Reddit user. When Cristina wants the relationship kept private, he makes it public without her okay. When they get engaged and she wants to tell Meredith before anyone else knows, he almost immediately goes and tells other people. When she says she wants something small, secular, in a courthouse, he gets into planning a big extravagant church wedding.

The pair are engaged and plan a wedding in under one year. On the day of their marriage, Burke and Cristina have a talk that does not end well. The bride remarks that she thought this was what she wanted, however, that is not good enough for Burke. He wants her to know that she wants to be with him. He promptly leaves the church, packs up his things, and moves out.

Their relationship wasnt healthy at all, added concluded the fan. It was pretty clear from the beginning that Burke held all the power.

Cristina is immediately attracted to Owen Hunt (Kevin McKidd) when he makes a guest appearance on Greys Anatomy. Later, when he returns from Iraq, he and Cristina begin a relationshiponly for it to end when he strangles her in his sleep. He does go to therapy sessions for his PTSD and eventually rekindles the relationship with Cristina.

The pair break-up yet again when Teddy Altman (Kim Raver)and old army friend of Owen scomes to work at the hospital, sparking jealousy issues.

Cristina restores their relationship when Owen is unexpectedly shot during a shooting in the hospital. The two get married suddenly, and Cristinas friends believe Owen is taking advantage of her due to the PTSD she has from the shooting.

I hated his whole army personality thing,wrote one fanabout Owen. I also felt like he was super manipulative in his relationship with Cristina.

Cristina gets pregnant shortly after the shooting but desires to have an abortion. Owen does not agree with her decision and tries to bully her into keeping the baby. Fans find the abortion fight to be one of Owens worst moments.

I think Owen is very similar to Burke, added another Redditor. He loved his idea of Cristina but didnt love her.

Fans feel that Cristinas relationship with Owen and the one with Burke were both destructive.

Fans will agree that throughout Cristinas 10 seasons on Greys Anatomy, Meredith (Ellen Pompeo) was her only thriving relationship. They have each others backs, no matter what the situation.

Although I love Meredith and Christinas practically perfect friendship, I think it was necessary for them to have some struggles with each other in season 10, wroteone viewer on Reddit. I think it made their friendship more realistic and relatable to the audience because we all know what its like to have a little competition and disagreements with close friends. Plus, afterward, they were just as close if not closer than they were before.

The two go through strong arguments with each other, but they work it out amicably.

Derek is the love of my life, but youre my soulmate, Meredith told Cristina in the first episode of season 7.

The twisted sisters are the one genuine relationship that Cristina has on the show that is thriving and strong throughout her time at the hospital. Current episodes of Greys Anatomy still includeCristina via text messageand phone calls with Meredith. You can watch for more Cristina references when the show returns on Jan. 23, 2020.

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Did Cristina Yang Ever Have a Healthy Relationship on 'Grey's Anatomy'? - Showbiz Cheat Sheet

Trolls, Sock Puppets and Useful Idiots: An Anatomy of an Election Disinformation Campaign – Byline Times

Photo: Yorkshire Evening Post Peter Jukes dissects how No 10 sources, mainstream broadcast journalists and an army of hired online activists tried to save Boris Johnson from himself. The Local Journalist

First, some facts, as they are in precious short supply. Around noon on Sunday 8 December, Daniel Sheridan of the Yorkshire Evening Post published a story about Jack Williment-Barr, a four-year-old boy who was rushed to Leeds General Infirmary with suspected pneumonia. His mother Sarah had contacted the newspaper with a picture of her son lying on a pile of coats and claimed he had been left in the clinical treatment room for four hours.

Like any responsible journalist, Daniel Sheridan double-checked the story with the hospital and its chief medical officer, Dr Yvette Oade, who explained how busy the hospital was and apologised to the family. We are extremely sorry that there were only chairs available in the treatment room, and no bed, she said. This falls below our usual high standards and for this we would like to sincerely apologise to Jack and his family.

So far, a telling example of the vital importance of local journalism a profession that continues to be gutted as newsrooms are cut or amalgamated, and Google and Facebook siphon off the billions of revenues that keep local accountability alive.

The next day, Joe Pike, a young journalist for ITV Calendar in Grimsby, was following the Conservative Party leader as he posed for photos holding a large cod (not for the first time) in the fishing town which has often become an emblem of taking back control of our waters by leaving the European Union.

Unlike the BBC interviewer Andrew Neil, Joe Pike has no reputation for skewering politicians, so Boris Johnson and his advisors probably thought they didnt need to avoid this particular interview in the bowels of the fish warehouses. They miscalculated. Pike whipped out his phone with the photo of Jack Williment-Barr lying on the floor, and persistently questioned the Prime Minister about it.

In a psychologically revealing panic, Johnson tried to bluster that everything would improve once we got Brexit done. But Pike persisted. Johnson tried to steamroller him, but his darting eyes and demeanour showed that he didnt want to answer the question and, in an effort to avoid it, the Prime Minister took the reporters phone and hid it in his pocket. This prompted one of the most remarkable comments of the campaign so far from Pike who remarked, calmly:

Youve refused to see the photo. Youve taken my phone and put it in your pocket, Prime Minister.

Child psychiatrists would have a field day on this. The failure to realise that hiding your face does not make you invisible, or that stealing a reporters phone does not make the report go away, suggests that under pressure the leader of the Conservative Party has the social cognitive abilities of a four-year-old.

Apart from Johnsons kleptomanic evasion, the film of this strange encounter had the additional problem of focusing on the NHS at a key point in the last few days of the General Election campaign. Conservative campaigners know that the NHS is not their strong point, so the Health and Social Care Minister, Matt Hancock, was dispatched to Leeds General Infirmary to firefight.

As Hancock rushed to Leeds, a host of media figures sympathetic to Johnson rushed into action. Guido Fawkes (which registered the site Boris2020 seven years ago) was first off the mark, with a fake story that 100 Labour activists were being paid to go to Leeds to protest. This was followed up by his former colleague at the Sun, Tom Newton Dunn, who described a flash mob descending.

Soon, the BBCs political editor, Laura Kuenssberg, was describing to her 1.1 million followers how Labour activists scrambled to go and protest and then it turned nasty when one of them punched Hancocks adviser. The information had no attribution, or Ive heard or sources say.

Not to be left out, Robert Peston, the political editor of the second largest broadcaster, ITV, identified the person punched to his 1 million followers, and named the special adviser to Matt Hancock, adding that the police had been called.

The only problem with this breaking story which quickly and conveniently replaced the story of Johnson pocketing the reporters phone in all the major news feeds was that it was completely bogus.

There were about four noisy demonstrators outside Leeds General Infirmary as Hancock departed in his ministerial car, not 100. No punch was ever landed. Hancocks SpAd walked into a cyclists hand as he pointed to the ministerial car rushing away.

It took several hours of persistent correction from other Twitter users before both Peston and Kuenssberg corrected the damaging allegation of assault. But their apologies revealed even more

Peston explained that he had been told the story by two Tory party sources. According to good journalistic practice, that would be the minimum to run an allegation of assault but only if the sources were independent. They clearly werent. What would have been a rookie mistake for a young journalist was a catastrophic failure of judgement by the political editors of both major broadcasters, made even more so because it came in the crucial last few days of a landmark General Election.

Im not of the the view that either Peston or Kuenssberg are consciously partisan, and I certainly dont buy the allegation that they have been bought. But they have been played, and to rescue their reputations and most importantly our trust in the two most important sources of news in the country there should be a full inquiry.

For the real culprits here are the sources who lied to them both, consistently. They have no protection for deceiving the public and both Peston and Kuenssberg have a public duty to tell us who they are. Nothing short of that can begin to repair the damage caused.

Thanks to some brilliant traffic and network analysis by Mark Owen Jones, we can see how the fake punch story was spread around 7,500 Twitter interactions from 5,500 unique Twitter accounts from Guido Fawkes, via the Suns chief political correspondent, commentator Dan Hodges to the BBC and ITV. But that wasnt the end of the story.

Soon after the punch story was discredited, a new story about the whole hospital photo being staged borrowed from Facebook began doing the rounds on Twitter.

All the Twitter accounts repeating it had the same information a good friend of mine is a senior nursing sister and claimed that the mother of Jack Williment-Barr had faked the photo for publicity as a Labour activist.

This frankly defamatory and unpleasant smear was boosted, with no fact-checking, by Allison Pearson of the Telegraph and Brexit Party MEP Claire Fox. Just one post on one Facebook discussion group alone has 276 comments and 98 shares.

No sooner was this story being debunked (after all, the head of the Leeds hospital trust had apologised two days previously) when a new disinformation theme was being boosted on social media, especially to the gullible Allison Pearson, who declared she was going to write a story in the Telegraph about the shocking propaganda around the four-year-old.

Whoever this Great Ormond St nurse was, they seemed to have multiple Twitter accounts in fake names.

The first tweet came from a Twitter user who claimed to have attended six universities and was now training in law:

The next came from a foreign exchange trader:

While another, identical claim, came from someone who had previously boasted about working in supply chain JLR for 35 years:

Whether these are semi-automated bots, or one malicious user deploying sock puppet accounts, or just bad faith actors in the public realm, they are very effective at targeting journalists and commentators who then spread the false narrative to a wider audience.

In fact, journalists and politicians are the main targets of such information operations, whether organised centrally or not, as trusted but duped sources are the quickest way to amplify a misleading story.

Britain is currently undergoing a perfect storm of electoral interference. With lax or unenforceable legislation about non-party campaigners spending millions on Facebook posts, and with Twitter easily gamed by trolls, bots and sock puppets, the online sphere requires extreme caution.

We should only trust journalists who seek to verify and double-check, like Daniel Sheridan who started this saga, and remember that we are all easy prey to the stories we want to hear.

Combating online disinformation requires education, some ferocious forensic investigators, and a large dose of mockery and shame to those involved. But what to do with our press?

Both the Sun and the Telegraph were keen to promote and prop up these fake stories. Though their circulations are tanking and their profit margins non-existent, these newspapers still wield power, especially over politicians, whose lives they can trash, mock or ignore.

But, by far, the most worrying thing is our two main broadcasters the BBC and ITV. One of the protections against our feral press was that we had a mixed commercial and public service broadcast system which could be relatively immune to political and commercial pressure.

Kuenssberg and Peston have shown the other hidden danger: the danger of client journalism, of editors in hock to their sources thanks to the clubbish cliqueness of the lobby system of unattributed briefings. I personally think that there is some cultural capture here, because youre only two north London dinner parties away from another senior journalist or politician these days, thanks to rank inaccessibility of media jobs for most ordinary people. But, more important than any professional criticism of the two political editors, is the laxity and complicity of their management.

Byline Times approached the BBC last night for a response to Laura Kuenssbergs misinformation. We asked the broadcaster how its political editor happened to circulate a false rumour as a fact and how this reflected on the corporations editorial standards and the public service broadcasters reputation. The press office replied with a curt message directing us to her apology an apology that raises more questions than it answers and does nothing to allay the growing concern of licence fee payers.

Byline Times is still waiting for a response from ITV.

This article was corrected to reflect that Joe Pike wont be joining Sky News until January and is still employed by ITV Calendar.

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Trolls, Sock Puppets and Useful Idiots: An Anatomy of an Election Disinformation Campaign - Byline Times

Anatomy of an upset (was it an upset?) and some flaws exposed – 247Sports

Six games in 13 days. Like it or not, that matters. Thats something betting sharps look at when looking for an edge. It helped explain why Penn State -- an unranked opponent -- came in favored over the No. 4 team in the country. While the home fans chanted overrated in the closing minutes of the Nittany Lions 76-68 upset win Tuesday night, Maryland wont be judged too harshly on this game alone after starting the season with 10 straight victories and surviving without a loss longer than 346 of college basketballs 353 D-I teams (No. 1 Louisville also went down to an unranked opponent tonight).

It was clear they once again didnt bring their A game to the Bryce Jordan Center, an arena that has witnessed a Terps loss four years in a row, and their recent stretch of games combined with Penn States physical play appeared to catch up to them, especially in the final seven minutes as they failed to hit a field goal down the stretch until there was 42 seconds to go. Still, it was a bit perplexing that Terps coach Mark Turgeon reasoned afterward that his team -- which returned seven of its top eight players from a year ago -- has just like five plays we can run at this point in the season.

Weve got a long ways to go offensively, and were struggling a bit, Turgeon said. Hopefully this will refocus us.

The game raised -- and highlighted -- a handful of red flags beyond that. For starters, the slow starts finally caught up to them. The Terps turned it over 12 times in the first 12 minutes as the Nittany Lions raced out to a double digit lead, and many of the giveaways were inexcusable, even when generously factoring in the apparent fatigue. They were the type of mental lapses that could be equated to a still relatively young team feeling a little too confident after recovering from a 15-point deficit to win its Big Ten opener over Illinois Saturday night.

Maryland made far too many lackadaisical passes in the opening frame, and didnt have the legs on either end to repeat their late-game heroics after Anthony Cowans game-tying and game-sealing offensive and defensive plays saved them against the Illini three days earlier. Its hard to ignore the slow-start problem given that it extends back to last year, but Turgeon hasnt expressed much concern publicly, choosing instead to once again laud his team for not sharing the ball well enough tonight, pointing to over-dribbling as the leading cause for the early dysfunction.

We wanted to lead the country in dribbling tonight, he said.

What exacerbated the problems Tuesday night, though, was the Terps lack of depth. Freshman center Makhi Mitchell made his fifth start Tuesday night, but finished scoreless for the third straight game. Ricky Lindo provided solid energy in relief but was pushed around by Penn States frontline, while Serrel Smith and Hakim Hart rode the bench for the entirety of the second half. This is an area where Maryland could improve later in the season if Donta Scott continues to improve and Chol Marial measures up to Turgeons seemingly wishful expectations, but the early returns raise concerns whether any of the Mitchell twins, Lindo, Hart and Serrel Smith are ready to add positive value on a consistent basis this year.

As Turgeon put it, our young guys looked young tonight.

Maryland couldve used another guard off the bench, too, as Eric Ayala, who led the team with 11 points and two assists in the first half, was slowed by cramps and played just 10 minutes in the second. Cowan finished with a team-high 16 points, but was pestered all game long by Big Ten steals leader Jamari Wheeler, turning it over four times and making just five of his 17 field goal attempts. Aaron Wiggins shooting slump, meanwhile, continued -- he shot just 3-12 from the field and 1-6 from three -- while Mike Watkins (15 points, 11 rebounds, four blocks) outplayed Jalen Smith (12 points, 11 rebounds, three blocks) on the block.

As the Terps have found out time and again, Penn State isnt the type of team you want to face as when youre fatigued. Theyre physical, deep and their guards, while not overly talented, push the pace and pressure the ball non-stop. Sophomore guard Izaiah Brockington, who was a starter on the St. Bonaventure team that upset Maryland two years ago, had three steals off the bench. Myles Dread and Myron Jones also poked the ball away a couple of times apiece. Penn State beat up Maryland inside as well. Smith fared well against Lamar Stevens last year, but with Bruno Fernando gone he was forced to guard Watkins, who is nearly five years older and 20 pounds heavier than him.

He looked a step or two slow on rotations almost the entire game, and made just two field goals inside the arc. Stevens matched Watkins in scoring and added 10 rebounds, feasting on Lindo and Scott, whom Turgeon (perhaps regrettably) decided were better options on the 6-foot-8 matchup nightmare than Morsell. Penn State shot 12 percent better than Maryland from inside the arc.

They might have been shaving before my guys were even born, Turgeon joked of Penn States frontcourt.

Morsell started slow after coming off the bench -- he had three early turnovers -- but hit a crucial three to cut the lead to five with less than 12 to go and finished with eight points. Turgeons decision to deploy Lindo and Scott on Stevens led to Marylands five best players -- Cowan, Ayala, Wiggins, Morsell and Jalen Smith -- sharing the court for less than a minute. Its clear Turgeon is still trying to figure out the rotations, but hell probably want to avoid that happening again. Tuesday night doesnt speak to what the Terps can accomplish this season, but it did highlight problems with the teams rotations and depth, especially in the frontcourt.

Turgeon doesnt trust Hart or Serrel Smith enough to play four-guard lineups the entire game, but at the same time a second big hasnt stepped up next to Jalen Smith in the frontcourt. Turgeon went with Morsell at the four in the first month of the season against a schedule that featured mainly undersized teams, but there will be plenty of more frontcourt-heavy teams like Penn State that will force Turgeons hand over the next three months. Playing Morsell alongside Jalen Smith still might be the best option, but its probably safe to say at least one of Lindo, Hart, Marial and the Mitchell twins will have to step up if Maryland wants to handle the day-to-day grind of the Big Ten schedule and compete for a conference championship.

We have a long ways to go as a team and sometimes when you keep winning you dont realize it. Coaches do, Turgeon said, but hopefully tonight because of the loss our guys will realize that we have a ways to go to get where we need to be.

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Anatomy of an upset (was it an upset?) and some flaws exposed - 247Sports

‘Grey’s Anatomy’ Fans Hate Meredith’s New Love Interest, But Not For the Reason You Think – Showbiz Cheat Sheet

The world has long been mourning the death of Doctor Derek Shepherd. Okay, maybe just Greys Anatomy fans have been missing the swoon-worthy McDreamy. Either way, a new love interest for Ellen Pompeos Meredith Grey has been a long time coming.

However, fans are disapproving of this seasons potential fling and its been hard to sell them on the Derek Shepherd replacement.

Thinking back to when Derek (Patrick Dempsey) was still alive, their relationship, however fairy tale worthy, still had its share of ups and downs. Lots and lots of ups and downs. The entire series (and their ill-fated relationship) began when Meredith and Derek met at a bar near the hospital where he was an attending doctor and she just starting as an intern.

Unfortunately for Meredith, Derek was already married. Thus began their roller-coaster romance.

Between the drama of simply working together, to Dereks attempts to work things out with his wife, they had a slow start to a successful relationship. Although the two eventually got (post-it note) married and started a family together, his untimely death in season 11 left Meredith heartbroken and on her own again.

There have been some dates and Merediths signature one-night stands since then. For instance, Meredith dated Dr. Will Thorpe in Season 12, soon after Dereks passing. In fact, he was the first guy shed dated since her husbands death. Ultimately, thats why a relationship didnt work out between the two, because Meredith was still too broken. Will seemed like a nice guy and even said he would wait for her. But, that is yet to be seen.

That same season Meredith spent some time with Nathan Riggs, but his fiance, Megan, came back into the picture unexpectedly and Meredith encouraged him to reunite with Megan.

Season 15 brought some changes for Meredith. Most notably, her efforts to get back into the dating scene. At the beginning of the season she went on one blind date with John, played by fan-favorite Josh Radnor.

Unfortunately, he complained about dating desperate single moms and that was then end of that.

But, despite the bad date, this was the start of Merediths quest for new love.

We thought it would just be a diehard loyalty to Derek which would keep fans from embracing Merediths new man. But, thats not the only reason viewers arent supportive of Merediths new relationship with Andrew DeLuca. As season 16 plays out, it will be interesting to see if viewers are able to get behind this budding romance.

Reddit user Crazycatgirl16 points out that writers seem to use new characters to spice up a boring plot line. they pull out the lets introduce a new character card even though we have a big enough cast already.

She laments on a message board dedicated to dissecting the lack of originality in recent episodes of Greys. Other common complaints on the thread include too many surprise pregnancies and an overuse of the love triangle plot line.

Both of these complaints hit home on the Deluca front. Not only was he a new character in the show for Season 15, but he also was one of two men vying for Mers affection. The triangle existed between Meredith, Deluca, and Link. Ultimately, Deluca is the lucky winner of Merediths heart. For now.

Some fans have been turned to the Deluca side, perhaps more will be swayed as the season continues.

Greys Anatomy has been renewed for both Season 16 and 17, well see how long the MerLuca relationship lasts.

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'Grey's Anatomy' Fans Hate Meredith's New Love Interest, But Not For the Reason You Think - Showbiz Cheat Sheet

Greys Anatomy: What happened to Dr Izzie Stevens? Why did Katherine Heigl leave? – Express

While there is plenty of drama on camera, there was a lot going on behind the scenes as well.

Heigl was nominated for an Emmy Award in 2008 for her performance in Greys Anatomy but she turned down the nomination.

Speaking to The New York Times about why she did this, she said: I did not feel that I was given the material this season to warrant an Emmy nomination and in an effort to maintain the integrity of the academy organization, I withdrew my name from contention.

In addition, I did not want to potentially take away an opportunity from an actress who was given such materials.

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Greys Anatomy: What happened to Dr Izzie Stevens? Why did Katherine Heigl leave? - Express

The Crown would pull a Greys Anatomy at the SAG Awards with a win for Olivia Colman – Gold Derby

Olivia Colman is trying to follow in Claire Foys footsteps in more ways than one. Succeeding her as Queen Elizabeth II on The Crown is one thing and now shes attempting to emulate her awards run for the show. Colman is the heavy favorite to take home the Best TV Drama Actress Golden Globe and Screen Actors Guild Awards, just like Foy did, and a win at the latter would put The Crown in the company of just one other show to field two different winners in the category.

Thanks to Foys back-to-back wins in 2017-18, The Crown is one of eight shows to garner multiple SAG Awards in the lead actress category. But seven of those series had their same respective star score repeat victories; the only show to boast two different winners is Greys Anatomy, which saw Sandra Oh and Chandra Wilson triumph back to back in 2006 and 07.

SEE The Crowns Olivia Colman looks to reign supreme with a pristine 3-for-3 Golden Globe record

Those Greys wins are also notable for the fact that Oh and Wilson were supporting players on the long-running medical drama and managed to prevail in the SAG Awards single individual TV races that combine lead and supporting performances. Unlike Foy and Colman on The Crown, Oh and Wilson were co-stars who shared the screen as well, so a Colman victory would be the first instance of the same character winning the SAG Award for two actresses.

Colman is way out in front in our odds at 82/25. Emmy champ Jodie Comer (Killing Eve) is second, followed by Meryl Streep (Big Little Lies), Nicole Kidman (Big Little Lies) and Elisabeth Moss (The Handmaids Tale). Ironically, Comers co-star and defending champ Oh, who is the second person after Julianna Margulies to win this award for two shows, is expected to miss out this year, sitting in sixth place.

Here are all the shows with multiple TV drama actress wins.

3 winsThe Sopranos (all for Edie Falco, 2000, 03, 08)

2 winsThe X-Files (all for Gillian Anderson, 1996-97)ER (all for Julianna Margulies, 1998-99)The West Wing (all for Allison Janney, 2001-02)Greys Anatomy (one for Sandra Oh, 2006; one for Chandra Wilson, 07)The Good Wife (all for Julianna Margulies, 2010-11)How to Get Away with Murder (all for Viola Davis, 2015-16)The Crown (all for Claire Foy, 2017-18)

PREDICTthe SAG Awards nominations; change them until December 11

Be sure tomake your SAG Awards nominee predictionstoday so that Hollywood insiders can see how their TV shows and performers are faring in our odds. You can keep changing your predictions as often as you like until just before nominees are announced on December 11. And join in the fun debate over the 2020 SAG Awards taking place right now with Hollywood insiders inour television forums. Read more Gold Derbyentertainment news.

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The Crown would pull a Greys Anatomy at the SAG Awards with a win for Olivia Colman - Gold Derby

Northern Ireland anatomy of a double cross – The Conservative Woman

WE IN Northern Ireland chew the bitter cud of what Boris Johnson, rejecting Theresa Mays Withdrawal Agreement, told the Democratic Unionist Party in the formal circumstances of that partys conference in 2018.

He first thanked conference for allowing him to deliver an absolutely crucial political promise, then declared: We would be damaging the fabric of the Union with regulatory checks down the Irish Sea and even customs controls between Great Britain and Northern Ireland . . . Now, I have to tell you no British Conservative government could or should sign up to anything of the kind.

With no apparent compunction, he went on to sign up for something very much of the kind and so blithely rent the fabric of the Union. We in Northern Ireland rubbed our eyes before the flagrancy of the double cross sank in.

Goods bound for the Republic of Ireland from GB will be liable for tariffs,perhaps up to 60 per cent of all goods, one expert suggests. Professor Alan Winters adds that the deal is likely to lead to Northern Irish firms re-orientating supply chains away from Great Britain in favour of the Republic of Ireland.

The economist Graham Gudgin, while trying to soften the blow for unionists, has admitted that when Northern Ireland businesses need to lobby for changes in regulation, they will need to work with MEPs elected in the Republic of Ireland. The focus of business will thus rotate away from London and towards Dublin.

Yes, there will be a confirmatory vote on the arrangement every four years in the Northern Ireland devolved Assembly, if it ever reassembles. Every four years, in other words, unionists and republicans will be at loggerheads in those capacities, though under the flimsiest guise of economic well-being.

What Prime Minister Johnson has done is open a fresh front for Irish republicans, who will now sleeplessly seek the economic unity of Ireland as separate as possible from the UK economy.

Johnson has wounded Northern Ireland as one of the four home nations. In classic western-movie style, the Tories are leaving us a canteen of water, a wad of chewing tobacco and a rusty rifle, while the rest of the UK heads for yonder ridge and safety. And we all know what happens when they disappear beyond the ridge: war-whoops from the direction from which the fleeing came.

Those whoops have grown clamorous of late. Republicans are emboldened as never before, and have managed to contract the distance between nationalism and republicanism, between a politics that can cohabit with unionism, and a separatist ideology that nullifies unionism. Letters of appeal are regularly sent from northern nationalists to Leo Varadkar pleading the cause of a united Ireland 100 signatories, 200 signatories, 1,000 signatories.

That tongue-tripping phrase, a united Ireland, it is worth remembering, is by definition the amputation of Northern Ireland from the UK. The demand for a border poll grows ever more insistent, so that the constitutional front in this war of attrition is currently deepening.

By contrast with their unionist counterparts,nationalist professors and lecturers are positively baying, lending a juridical veneer to the republican campaign by linking the cause of Northern Ireland sundered from the UK to deprivation of human rights. I asked a leading academic light of this spurious human rights campaign to identify which rights were withheld and from whom, and he failed to adduce a single one connected to a united Ireland.

And as a prong of the same judicial front, there is the battle over the legacy of the Years of Disgrace, known euphemistically as the Troubles. Here, too, republicans have the momentum, determined as they are to seek revenge on the security forces, reconfigure IRA terrorists as victims, and rewrite history, thus making a united Ireland a mere matter of redress for oppression.

And recently the most worrying front since the IRA terror campaign has opened: the demand for an independent Irish Language Act. As a Canadian citizen, I know what lies behind that and what lies before it.

The status of Irish in Northern Ireland, indeed in Ireland, bears no relationship to the status of Welsh or Gaelic in GB. Think Quebec instead, with its ongoing de-Anglicisation, and you will divine where language in the hands of determined nationalists takes us.

I am not suggesting that official bilingualism would give way to unilingualism as it did in Quebec (French-only), but it would be naive to think that Irish would not be used to try to rewrite the present and hibernicise Northern Irish culture to make a united Ireland severed from the UK seem a logical conclusion.

In Northern Ireland anyone anywhere may learn Irish and speak and write it, save in certain legal circumstances. It is a negligible proportion of Irish, north and south, who can understand, let alone speak or write Irish. But it is a formidable weapon in the republican armoury.

I will give Johnson the benefit of the doubt in thinking him ignorant of the synergistic nature of Irish republicanism, though why should he be as a unionist PM? But it is that synergy that gives his betrayal its apocalyptic note. I doubt if his knowledge would make much difference. For what makes unionists despair is the preference the English show for Irish republicans (whose terrorists warred against them for thirty years) over mere loyal citizens with no charm to their loyalty, only bravery and sacrifice in two world wars.

The Brexit negotiators could have stopped Varadkar in his arrogant tracks by threatening to revoke the Common Travel Area. Is there a name for the practice of blackmailing oneself? If there is, it identifies the English refusal even toappearanti-Irish, let alone take some action that might offend the Irish. It is by this English hang-up that we in Northern Ireland are undone, and Johnson has confirmed it once again.

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Northern Ireland anatomy of a double cross - The Conservative Woman

‘He exposed it’: A punter’s flaw, and the anatomy of Diontae Johnson’s touchdown return – The Athletic

GLENDALE, Ariz. As the football tumbled toward him from the rafters at State Farm Stadium, Steelers rookie Diontae Johnson stood with his heels at the 15-yard line and thought, This is it. While watching film earlier this week, Johnson saw that Arizona Cardinals punter Andy Lee tended to consistently outkick his coverage. The Steelers planned for it. So, when Lee boomed a punt in the first quarter Sunday, the Steelers were set up to spring Johnson.

The strategy started at the line of scrimmage. The Steelers sent six to try to block Lees punt. That way, even if the rush didnt get home it almost did the Cardinals would need to keep most of their men back to protect Lee, and the pressure would force Lee to kick quickly. The line was instructed to hold its initial blocks for two seconds. Thats all the time Johnson required.

Hell do the rest, linebacker Tyler Matakevich said.

Ten seconds after the snap, Johnson was alone in the open...

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'He exposed it': A punter's flaw, and the anatomy of Diontae Johnson's touchdown return - The Athletic