🗣 Emma Thompson

Eighteen years ago I suggested to the @refugeecouncil that we have a Christmas party every year which I could host

thetimes.co.uk/article/charit…
🗣 We always had a multilingual Santa and served beautiful vegetarian food. I think it gave refugee families a moment of respite, a moment to feel honoured and valued in a space that was safe and in which their children could be children and enjoy themselves
🗣 It was at one of these parties I was fortunate enough to meet the boy who would become our son
🗣 Tindy was 16. Wordless, really. He didn’t speak English and he had been kidnapped, forced into child soldiery
🗣 Witnessing Tindy growing up has been a continual lesson in the day-to-day challenges that refugees face — from language and not being able to express yourself, which is a very vulnerable position to be in, to finding the right kind of schooling, to facing everyday racism
🗣 When Tindy was at university there were some shocking incidents of students laughing at his accent and childish racism born out of ignorance and racist taunts in the street. Common enough, sadly
🗣 But he also received some fantastically open-hearted and open-minded support

The combination of help – from the @refugeecouncil, the local authority, the wonderful teachers – was very much part of his recovery
🗣 Tindy has flourished and grown in a million different ways
🗣 On a personal level it is important to say that Tindy has enriched the lives of me, my family, our friends, more than it’s possible to express in this short piece
🗣 On a more spiritual note, I’ll quote the human rights activist @HelenBamber to describe the work of the @refugeecouncil

"It is about finding our reward through the eyes of those to whom we owe nothing. It is about love"
Read Emma Thompson's moving words in full about her son, Tindy

thetimes.co.uk/article/charit…

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More from @thetimes

17 Dec
Exclusive: Simon Case, who has been tasked with investigating claims of a Christmas party at Downing Street, last year held his own office party the day before thetimes.co.uk/article/police…
The event on December 17, in room 103 of the Cabinet Office, began at 5:30pm and was listed in digital calendar invitations as “Christmas party!”
Household mixing was banned in London at the time
Read 9 tweets
17 Dec
Pregnant women have been added to the list of those at higher risk from Covid, after research revealed the virus had increased the UK’s maternal death rate by about 50% thetimes.co.uk/article/pregna…
The Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI) said they should be prioritised for vaccination slots, with doctors and midwives calling on NHS jab sites to help pregnant women avoid standing for hours in queues for booster clinics
New surveillance data from the University of Oxford also revealed that four newborn babies died from Covid-19 between May and October this year, when the Delta variant was dominant
Read 8 tweets
17 Dec
Cases appear to have peaked in the South African province where the Omicron variant was first discovered thetimes.co.uk/article/south-…
After extremely rapid early growth, Gauteng province, which includes the cities of Johannesburg and Pretoria, recorded 9,250 new cases yesterday, down from a high of over 11,000 earlier in the week Image
“This one is keeping us guessing, we are really apprehensive,” said Dr Nicholas Crisp, acting director-general in South Africa’s health department, who said he was cautiously hopeful
Read 10 tweets
16 Dec
Exposed: the Hermes delivery staff throwing your parcels against the wall

thetimes.co.uk/article/expose…
Freelance couriers working for Hermes – one of Britain’s largest delivery companies – mishandle parcels, fail to complete next day orders and were told to lie to customers, an investigation by The Times has found
This month an undercover reporter worked for Hermes, which delivers online orders for retailers including John Lewis, Marks & Spencer and Next, amid a surge in complaints about packages being late, damaged or lost

thetimes.co.uk/article/expose… Image
Read 12 tweets
16 Dec
🎄8 full-size Christmas trees
🧦7 stockings on the fireplace
👪3 generations under one roof
🥩3 different mains
🍰3 dessert options

Welcome to Christmas at Gregg Wallace's house ❄️
thetimes.co.uk/article/celebr…
A morning with the Wallaces is like partaking in a documentary on Britain’s Greatest Xmas Addicts with a near-constant stream of terrible jokes, writes @Damwhit
The Masterchef star lives in a spacious home in Kent, set in six acres of woodland, with his wife Anna, their two-year-old son Sid, Gregg's grown up daughter Libby, and Anna's parents
Read 13 tweets
16 Dec
It was at the height of the pandemic last year that the man now anchoring @BTSport’s coverage of the #Ashes decided to apply to Tesco for a job as a delivery driver

thetimes.co.uk/article/bt-spo…
"I’m going to have to call my husband because you look and sound exactly like that sports presenter off the telly,” one customer told him as she answered her front door

Matt Smith (@msmith850) smiled. “Actually, I am that sports presenter off the telly"
“I’ve found the experience quite grounding, really. It puts things into perspective”

Smith now juggles three jobs, his other gig being a part-time lecturer in journalism at @StaffsUni
Read 10 tweets

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