EMOTIONAL Kyren Wilson has revealed his mum postponed an operation linked to her breast cancer treatment so she could watch him at the Crucible.
Weeks before he lifted the World Snooker Championship for the first time, Wilson’s family were rocked by the “horrible news” that his “hero” Sonya had been diagnosed with the illness.
What was not known publicly until after he won the Northern Ireland Open on Sunday night was that his parents had made a difficult decision while he was focusing on winning in Sheffield.
It was around the time he faced David Gilbert in a three-day semi-final that she told doctors to defer surgery so she could support her son as he chased the £500,000 top pot and a place in the history books.
Thankfully, she is on the mend and on September 7, Wilson announced on Instagram that his mum had been given the all-clear, which family and friends celebrated with a “cheeky curry”.
Wilson, 32, said: “It was about two weeks before the World Championship. We had just got back from holiday in Portugal.
“She knew beforehand but waited to tell us until we got home.
“Snooker comes second in those situations. Your health is your wealth.
“She actually postponed an operation to have a tumour removed. It was actually due around the semi-final for her to have the operation.
“She didn’t want to miss my match. That’s why I think you got an over-emotional Kyren Wilson at the end of the World Championship.
“I ramped the pressure up on myself. You do start thinking silly things. You think: ‘What if? What if she doesn’t see me win it?’
“I knew I had to make that one count. Who knows what would have happened to me if I didn’t make that one count?
“It’s great I wasn’t in that position and we managed to celebrate.”
Wilson has bounced back from that stunning Crucible success by winning two titles already this season – the Xi’an Grand Prix in China and then the NI Open, which has a trophy named after Alex Higgins.
The world No.2 is battling with Judd Trump – whom he smashed 9-3 in the final in Belfast – for the number one spot.
His mum spent most of the week with Kyren and brother and manager Taylor, cooking them food and celebrating the £100,000 victory with her grandkids.
At some point over the coming weeks, Sonya has a date in the diary at her local tattoo parlour to mark the milestone of her son becoming the 23rd different Crucible world champion.
Wilson – who is next in action on Sunday at the International Championship in Nanjing – explained: “We all have tattoos of the world title. She has that one coming up.
“I will go there with her and watch her suffer!
“I have got a big chest piece – I sat there for eight hours having my one done. It was agony.
“I’m not sure where she is having hers. We plan to all have a sword going through a crown and it says ‘World Champion 2024’.”
BRITAIN’S most battle-hardened Defence Minister in modern history laid a wreath at the weekend on behalf of the 457 British servicemen and women killed in Afghanistan.
Former Royal Marines Colonel, Alistair Carns, 44, who became Minister for Veterans in July, served FIVE tours in the Afghan conflict.
He spent nearly three years there and won a Military Cross for gallantry in top-secret operations with UK Special Forces.
With 200 other veterans and guests, he attended a service at the National Memorial Arboretum on Saturday to mark ten years since the British forces officially gave up control of Afghanistan.
I make a conscious effort to think of everybody I saw either killed or wounded in Afghanistan.
Alistair Carns, Veterans Minister
In an exclusive interview, he says: “When the Last Post goes, it always gives you a lump in your throat.
“I make a conscious effort to think of everybody I saw either killed or wounded in Afghanistan.
“I picture their faces, I picture the moment and go through them chronologically.”
I ask: “How many go through your head?” And staring into the distance, he replies: “A lot. I still see every face and every moment.”
Does it get any easier with time? “It gets harder,” he says, as if still running the faces of the fallen through his mind.
The service, organised by the Royal British Legion, marked the tenth anniversary of the day the Union Jack was finally lowered at Camp Bastion, which for 13 years became HQ for 150,000 UK troops.
On October 26, 2014, Britain officially handed the sprawling desert city-cum-airbase over to Afghan troops.
Scotsman Alistair, who joined the Royal Marines as a teenage recruit, was a 26-year-old Captain when he was first posted to Helmand Province — and he is still forbidden to talk about many of the classified operations he took part in there.
He says: “I did five tours in two and a half years in total — all deployed in a combat role. I was so lucky so many times.
“Once a bullet went into my backpack, the guy to my left had been killed. I’ve seen guys killed feet away from me.
“I’ve seen people blown up. I’ve had grenades land in front of me and not go off.”
In 2011, Carns, now Labour MP for Birmingham Selly Oak, won the Military Cross for gallantry on special forces operations.
He later worked in Whitehall as a military adviser to three Defence Secretaries.
When he first arrived in Afghanistan, Camp Bastion was tiny.
The father of three recalls: “It was an amazing place. It had only been established for four or five months.
“It was a dust bowl with a dirt strip runway, a couple of helo [helicopter] landing sites, and maybe 30 tents.
“I don’t think it even had a fence. It just had a dugout berm around it.
“I still remember the smell. A rawness of heat and sand and dust, and the smell of the tents and the aviation fuel from constant helicopters and aircraft coming in.
“The wind would come through the camp and whip up little dust storms.”
We saw the very best of Britain in Afghanistan, I genuinely believe that.
Alistair Carns, Veterans Minister
On Remembrance Sunday, November 10, a group of 66 veterans from the new UK Afghanistan Veterans Community will march past the Cenotaph for the first time representing the Brits who served in Afghanistan from 2001 to 2021.
Carns says: “Around 150,000 people went through Afghanistan from the start to its finish.
“When you add in relatives, you are talking probably near a million people with close connections in some way.
“We saw the very best of Britain in Afghanistan, I genuinely believe that.
“The people who served, the people who volunteered to serve, those who supported those who served were superb.
“And the nation really rallied behind the armed forces.
“It’s irrelevant of your political views, it’s about supporting the individuals who were serving at the time.
“The Sun led the vanguard for that along with one or two other papers. It was really impressive.
“When you’re in Afghanistan in a dusty tent or a little hole in the ground somewhere and you get a copy of The Sun a couple of weeks old, that’s good.
“They’re championing the great work of the military or you’re reading about bravery taking place that you don’t necessarily hear about from the system.
“You not only provided a service to the nation back home, but you were supporting, both directly and indirectly, the individuals forward.”
By October 2014, Camp Bastion had become a huge city — the largest British military base to be built since World War Two — home to up to 14,000 UK forces at a time.
Talking about when the UK pulled out, Carns says: “How Bastion deconstructed itself was amazing.
“The security operation that went on to make sure it was safe and successful was superb. It was the military at its best.”
Unlike the events three years ago in Kabul when the Taliban defeated the Afghan Government and thousands had to flee in a chaotic airlift.
Those scenes left many of the 150,000 Brits who fought in Afghanistan wondering what the hell it was all for?
The new Minister for Veterans says to them: “I can understand that feeling, but at the same time they need to recognise that they’ve changed the lives of so many people, in a good way.”
THE SUN has joined forces with the Royal British Legion so our readers can donate direct to this year’s Poppy Appeal by scanning the QR code, below.
Money raised during the annual appeal will help the RBL charity to continue its vital work supporting the Armed Forces community, past and present.
IT sounds like something from the pages of a Dickens novel.
But there are worrying signs that scurvy is rearing its head once more.
With the cost-of-living crisis, more families than ever are struggling to afford basic items and are sacrificing more expensive fruit and vegetables.
Scurvy, which is caused by a lack of vitamin C — found in fruit and veg — was rife, especially among sailors at sea, between the 15th and 18th century.
It is considered rare in modern times, with most outbreaks due to food scarcity among refugees or in war-torn areas.
But doctors are increasingly reporting scurvy in developed countries.
The most recent figures show that 188 people were treated for scurvy in English hospitals in 2022, triple the 61 recorded in 2008.
Dr Helen Wall, senior GP partner from the NHS Oaks Family Practice in Bolton, tells Sun Health: “Scurvy is caused by not having enough vitamin C in your diet over a long period of time.
“Symptoms include feeling very tired and weak, feeling irritable, feeling sad, joint, muscle and leg pain and swollen, bleeding, gums.
“I suspect dentists probably are seeing quite a bit of this.
“One of the key things that is unique to scurvy is developing red or blue spots on the skin, usually the legs and feet.”
It comes as doctors last week commented in the journal BMJ Case Reports on a 50-year-old man diagnosed with scurvy.
He had developed a tell-tale rash, described as red pinpoints across his legs, and had blood in his urine.
The unidentified man could not afford supplements he had been advised to take by a doctor after having weight-loss surgery.
The team wrote: “Further questioning revealed that he was short of cash and neglected his diet, eating little in the way of fruit and vegetables.
“He said that he sometimes skipped meals altogether.”
Blood tests showed he had no traces of vitamin C in his system at all.
The doctors from Sir Charles Gairdner Hospital, Nedlands, Western Australia, said: “Scurvy is still seen as a disease of the past, especially in developed countries.
“The rising cost of living also makes it harder for families to afford good quality nutritious foods, while there have been numerous reports of scurvy arising from complications following bariatric surgery.
“Clinicians should be aware of this fatal but easily curable condition that may still occur in this modern age.”
Other known risk factors for the condition include mental health illness, eating disorders, obesity and alcoholism.
Dr Wall says: “Vitamin C is found mainly in fruits and vegetables, and these are not foods that are easily accessible to many of our population cheaply.
“Part of the issue is that lots of my patients live with an air fryer or microwave.
“They might not have a working hob to boil vegetables.”
More than one in five Brits were living in poverty in 2021-22, according to the most recent report by The Joseph Rowntree Foundation.
Four in ten of those were in “very deep” poverty, with an income way below the poverty line.
But just like the Victorian era, health inequalities are incredibly prevalent today.
Life expectancy is already far lower in the most deprived parts of the UK, with people dying around 20 years earlier than those in the wealthiest parts.
Signs of scurvy can appear as early as a month after a daily intake of less than 10mg of vitamin C, which is essential for the health of bones, teeth and blood vessels while also supporting immunity and wound healing.
Symptoms can be reversed rapidly by replenishing depleted vitamin C levels.
Similarly, a change in diet can resolve rickets, a bone-deforming disease caused by a lack of vitamin D that has also made a comeback in the UK in recent years.
But when Dr Wall sees patients, she says: “One difficulty I have is that when patients come to me, often as soon as I start to talk about diet and lifestyle, you can almost see their backs go up.
“It doesn’t mean we’re blaming you or fobbing you off, or saying it’s not a medical problem.
“But we know a huge part of keeping us well is what we eat.
“It’s the core basis of our health, our immune system and our ability to stay well and recover from illness.”
THE average adult aged between 19 and 64 needs 40mg of vitamin C a day.
And it does not have to be expensive to get it in your diet, says nutritionist and author Rhiannon Lambert.
Rhiannon, who also hosts the Food For Thought podcast, tells Sun Health: “Frozen vegetable options are generally less expensive and retain much of their vitamin C content making them a great alternative for those looking to save money.”
Broccoli, peas, spinach and kale can all be bought frozen, which also reduces waste from fresh vegetables going off before you use them.
Rhiannon says: “A 100g serving of frozen spinach can contain up to 28mg of vitamin C, making it a great addition to a soup, casserole or stir-fry.
“Peas can also be bought in tins, so can still be part of your diet if you don’t have a freezer.”
Other tinned goods high in vitamin C include oranges, grapefruit or pineapple – but buy them in juice, not syrup, which is high in sugar.
Rhiannon says: “Tinned fruits offer affordable, long-lasting options that can be stored for months without spoiling.
“A small tin of mandarin oranges can offer up to 45mg of vitamin C, which meets the recommended daily intake for adults.”
Cooking from scratch using tinned tomatoes can up your vitamin C intake, too.
Rhiannon says: “Often less than 50p a tin, tinned tomatoes can be easily incorporated into meals like soups, pasta dishes and stews.
“Garlic and onion both contain small amounts of vitamin C.
“An excellent and often overlooked source of vitamin C is potatoes, with one medium potato containing around 20mg of vitamin C.
“Sweet potatoes can be roasted, mashed or used in stews and curries.”
“When buying veg, go for green beans, carrots, turnips and cauliflower.
Rhiannon says: “Cabbage is cheap – often less than 50p for a whole one – and versatile, providing about 32mg of vitamin C per 100g.”
Milligrams of vitamin C per 100g serving:
(Source: US Dept of Agriculture)
JENNY WARD made herself ill trying to afford to live after retiring.
The 74-year-old, who received help from The Sun’s Winter Fuel SOS campaign, has emphysema, which she puts down to poor housing and not being able to put the heating on.
She’s also been plagued by bugs as a result of a weakened immune system.
Jenny, from Wakefield, West Yorks, tells Sun Health: “I’m a miner’s daughter, I’ve always worked and been well but I started getting bugs and being poorly because I wasn’t able to eat properly.
“I watched every penny. A lot of fresh fruit and veg was just too expensive.
“I couldn’t afford fruit and oranges to get vitamin C so I was using tomato juice to try and get the nutrients I need.
“I’ve been left with long-term health issues, I think, because my diet was so bad while I was awaiting pension credit.”
Jenny shopped as smartly as she could, buying high-protein tinned kidney beans for pennies as a substitute for meat.
But she says: “A lot of my generation live in poverty and can’t afford the diet they should have to stay healthy.
“It’s not just pensioners that are struggling to afford groceries in the cost-of-living crisis though, it’s young people, families, mothers . . .
“Vitamins and minerals and a good diet shouldn’t be outside of what people can afford.
“It should be a basic human right to be able to eat well enough to stay well.
“I’d feel poorly because I couldn’t eat the right vitamins and things and that’s not right.
“It could be storing up poor health for a lot of people.”
TODAY is World Stroke Day – and if you don’t know the symptoms, it is time to learn.
A stroke is a medical emergency, so it is vital to call 999 – the quicker someone gets treatment, the less likely it is they will suffer long-term damage.
It happens when either a blood clot or brain bleed stops blood flowing to part of the brain.
Symptoms can strike very suddenly and the easiest way to remember them is recalling the acronym FAST:
Symptoms of a stroke can disappear as quickly as they appeared, so you might think you are OK.
Even if this is the case, it is important to get medical help and get checked over.
Here’s what readers have asked me this week . . .
Q) I’M a 75-year-old man and I enjoy running and cycling.
I ran the second London Marathon in 1982 and have completed many more.
I was out for a run in July and after about 1,500m, I got a terrible pain in my left knee.
I went to the doctors and he said that it was my medial collateral ligament.
Although it has improved, I still get shooting pains in my knee when I’m lying in bed and I can’t see myself running anytime soon.
I’ve tried various exercises such as squats and wall sits but there does not seem to be much improvement.
Can you advise me on any other course of action?
I appreciate my problem isn’t life-threatening but it’s reducing my quality of life.
A) If you stood up and squeezed your knees together, the bits that touch each other are roughly where the medial collateral ligaments are.
They connect the bottom of the thigh bone (femur) to the top of the shin bone (tibia) and so stabilise the inner (medial) side of the knee joint.
Injury usually occurs when excessive force is put on the knee in a way that stresses the ligament, causing it to tear.
MCL tears are the most common knee ligament injury and can affect anyone at any age, but we commonly see this injury in athletes – especially footballers, rugby players or skiers where twisting, falling or collision injuries are common.
However, running can cause MCL tears too.
Most patients do not require surgery and the recovery time is typically 12 weeks, but there are factors that influence recovery and healing time.
We heal more slowly as we get older.
Smoking also delays healing.
Eating a highly nutritious diet with a wide variety of fruit, vegetables and wholegrains alongside good quality and sufficient protein can support the healing process.
I commend you on living such a wonderful active lifestyle but taking time to rest while we heal is important too, as frustrating as that can be.
I’d advise you to seek some support from a physio.
One or two sessions may be enough to give you a rehabilitation plan.
This will incorporate the correct exercises for you to rebuild strength while not interfering with the healing process.
When you resume running it will be important to maintain strength-based exercises to reduce the risk of further injury.
Good luck with it, and please send a picture when you are running again in a few months’ time.
AS you adjust to the clocks going back, you may feel more tired.
Try to get natural daylight either in the morning or during your lunch break – it can make a big difference to energy levels and how well you sleep.
Avoid caffeine late in the afternoon, large meals and screen use close to bedtime to get consistent sleep again
Q) l AM a man, aged 73.
Six years ago I was diagnosed with prostate cancer.
I had surgery to remove it which was successful.
The problem l have now is l still need the toilet at least three times a night.
Also, l have to wear a pad 24/7. I’ve been doing pelvic floor exercises which haven’t helped.
During the day if I’m doing any kind of activity I tend to wet myself.
It’s got to the stage where I don’t want to leave my house.
Is there any surgery to rectify this?
A) You are describing a condition known as post-prostatectomy incontinence, sadly a well-recognised and devastating complication, especially in men who had their prostate removed for the treatment of prostate cancer.
For the majority of those affected it recovers after six months to two years, but for a minority, which unfortunately includes you, it can persist beyond then.
The good news is that there are a number of highly effective treatments.
Pelvic floor exercises are essential so it is good to hear that you are doing these and there’s no harm in having a session with a pelvic health physiotherapist to check that you are doing them optimally.
Other lifestyle factors, such as a healthy body weight, not smoking and avoiding caffeine, alcohol and constipation can help depending on the type or types of urinary incontinence that you have.
It sounds as though you are experiencing an element of stress incontinence, as you say that activity causes you to pass urine.
There may also be symptoms of urge incontinence which is when you have a strong, sudden need to urinate that is difficult to delay – this can also make you need to urinate more in the night.
Functional and overflow incontinence are other types and, in reality, individuals often have a combination of these, which is called mixed urinary incontinence.
Some types are amenable to medication, while for others surgery works best.
An example of one surgical technique is an artificial urinary sphincter.
My advice would be to ask your GP for a referral to a urologist who can fully assess you and explore what treatment options might work best
Q) SINCE January, the right side of my chin has been numb.
It tingles on and off, usually in the early evening, and feels like I’ve been stung by a stinging nettle.
When I relax in bed the pain goes away and I’m just left with numbness.
I went to the doctor after three months and he just said he didn’t know why it’s numb, and basically said “bye”.
I am 59 and, apart from that, I have no other problems.
I work on building sites all week and play golf at the weekend, so I’m very fit.
In 2010 I did have a five-hour op to remove a cancerous tumour on my right tonsil and that left the left side of my neck numb.
I hope you can help.
A) The fact that you have a previous history of right-sided tonsillar cancer, which comes under the heading of head and neck cancer, is very relevant.
Your chin symptoms sound as though there could either be a damaged nerve or pressure on a nerve which is causing altered sensation messages, such as numbness, tingling or stinging to be sent to the brain.
In someone like yourself who has had head and neck cancer in the past, any new symptoms must be taken seriously and ruling out recurrence of cancer should be the number one priority.
I don’t mean to alarm you by saying this, and with your cancer being 14 years ago, it’s not likely that you would have a recurrence (most recurrences occur in the first two years) but it’s still important that ANY new symptoms be taken seriously, especially if the symptoms are progressing.
The numbness on the right of your neck, which has been there since the surgery, is less concerning because it is not new.
It may be that a nerve was damaged during the operation to remove the cancer.
Nerve damage is always a risk of surgery and something that you would have been made aware of when you completed your consent form for surgery.
ROY KEANE posted a brutal 14-word message after Manchester United sacked Erik ten Hag on Monday.
The Dutch gaffer was given his marching orders today following Sunday’s dismal defeat at West Ham.
Ten Hag had won just four matches all season before Sir Jim Ratcliffe sent him packing.
And United now look set to land an immediate replacement in Ruben Amorim.
It remains to be seen if a deal can be done in time for Wednesday’s Carabao Cup clash with Leicester.
But that hasn’t stopped Keane from firing off a brutal message on social media.
The Red Devils legend took to Instagram with a new post showing him staring into the camera on a rainy day.
Keane showed off his trademark glare as he protected himself from the elements with a waterproof jacket.
However, it was his 14-word caption that sent shivers down the spine.
Keane said: “In good teams, coaches hold players accountable.
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“In great teams, players hold players accountable.”
Keane’s assessment of the situation at United delighted fans.
One said: “Announce Keane as United manager.”
Another declared: “Best captain ever.”
One noted: “Agreed, the players need to take responsibility too.”
Another added: “What I’d give to have you in your prime back in our team.”
SunSport’s DAVE KIDD says Erik ten Hag’s time at Man Utd is up… and explains what’s wrong with all the potential candidates to replace him.
THIS is a mid-table squad at an underachieving club, with a lot of unwanted players on big money.
And Ratcliffe is an instinctive cost-cutter who may not pay top dollar to the next manager.
If this club wasn’t called ‘Manchester United’, it wouldn’t be an especially desirable job.
The good news for United is that their new sporting director, Dan Ashworth, is a very decent judge of a manager.
He has been instrumental in three previous managerial appointments — Gareth Southgate for England, Graham Potter for Brighton and Eddie Howe for Newcastle.
None were wildly popular at the time, all were conspicuous successes.
Interestingly, Ashworth’s No 1 choice for the Newcastle job was Unai Emery, who turned him down to stay at Villarreal but has since proved that judgment right by excelling at Aston Villa.
And the Spaniard would be an excellent fit for United — yet there is next to no chance that he would abandon Villa’s Champions League campaign to take the Old Trafford job, not least because he isn’t a stark raving madman.
Howe would be another good candidate to succeed Ten Hag but, although he has become frustrated on Tyneside, the Saudis would surely not allow Ratcliffe to poach Howe, as they reluctantly did with Ashworth.
Potter is available but his Chelsea experience and lack of charisma would make him a tough sell.
Which brings us to Southgate, who remains close with Ashworth and is an excellent man-manager who was seriously considered by United last spring.
Yet, despite having led England to two of their three major finals, Southgate’s reputation for over-caution was only enhanced during the Euros.
Mauricio Pochettino, passed over twice by United, is out of the equation having taken the United States job.
Thomas Tuchel would also have been a popular and gettable option – but England got in there first.
Likewise, Roberto De Zerbi, now at Marseille after his brief Brighton stint sparkled then fizzled out.
Kieran McKenna — a gifted former United coach who has won back-to-back promotions with Ipswich Town — is an intriguing candidate but the imminent vacancy may come a year or so too soon.
Marco Silva, the extremely under-rated Fulham boss, has been on United’s radar and should not be discounted.
Sporting Lisbon’s Ruben Amorim, last season’s ‘next big thing’, was passed over by West Ham as well as Liverpool this summer and is not an easy man to pin down.
Zinedine Zidane, who has taken over from Alan Curbishley as a 20-1 shot for every Premier League job, is a ‘figurehead’ manager and not an Ashworth type.
Ruud van Nistelrooy, the former United goal machine who joined Ten Hag’s coaching team in the summer is the bookies’ favourite. Simply because he’s in the building and he’s Dutch.
So, yes, getting rid of Ten Hag is the easy part.
RIGHT now, there’s really not much to laugh about.
Wars, riots, epidemics, Labour . . . it’s all just pretty damn grim.
(Still, while the Government implodes, at least Paddington Bear has got his British passport thanks to Home Secretary Yvette Cooper.)
Anyway, the woke police have waded in once more to ensure there’s even less to LOL over.
Ricky Gervais, a chubby little man (his own words) forever on the cusp of cancellation, has landed in hot water with an advertising watchdog.
The multimillionaire, who co-owns a vodka brand, has seen a series of mickey-taking ads banned from TV.
In one, he introduces the company, Dutch Barn Vodka (confusingly, an English brand), explaining it’s environmentally friendly but, “Bad for people; it can really f*** you up”. Obvs alcoholism isn’t a barrel of laughs.
But this, quite patently, is a gag. As anyone who has survived a three-day hangover will testify.
OK, so another joke, penned for Halloween, was more punchy. “If you really want to scare children, tell them about priests and Seventies DJs and my Uncle Sid,” he says.
“Proper wrong’un. Murdered in jail, eventually.”
Clearcast, which vets TV adverts, said the subject would cause “widespread offence”.
Killjoys have also moaned about the cost (£29 from Sainsbury’s) as if Ricky, a bloke who put Slough on the map, should be selling bottled ethanol at 90p a pop.
In a world of PC sheep, and people scouring X to find cause for cancellation, Ricky Gervais is a refreshing, genuinely hilarious, say-it-as-it-is comedian.
Because, as a Brit, and a CLM (chubby little man), he shouldn’t get above his station. (But obvs no one questions Brad Pitt’s rosé, George Clooney’s tequila or Ryan Reynolds’ gin . . . although, tbf, hopefully everyone is questioning Diddy’s Ciroc vodka.)
Ricky shot back over claims of cost, stating people should have “worked harder” if they can’t afford his goods.
Clearly. A. Joke.
Last week he kicked off his latest tour, making his usual ill-taste gags. One, about Jimmy Savile, was beyond dark — but, again, so, so clearly meant to be bone-close.
In a world of PC sheep, and people scouring X to find cause for cancellation, Ricky Gervais is a refreshing, genuinely hilarious, say-it-as-it-is comedian.
Off air, he’s also a kind, compassionate man — one who donates millions to animal charities and gives his time to help those in need.
Sure, he makes ostensibly poor-taste gags against so-called minority groups — and some might argue by so doing he’s perpetuating racist/sexist/xenophobic tropes — but he is so obviously telling them tongue-in-cheek.
Last year a televised trailer for his sell-out Armageddon show ruffled leftie feathers.
The result?
“Thanks to everyone who complained about this trailer and even signed a petition to get #Armageddon removed from Netflix,” tweeted Ricky, “you helped it win a Golden Globe & become the most watched special in the world.”
Quite.
Because in a vociferous world of frothing-at-the-mouth anger and a desire to be offended at every little thing, the silent majority of folk see Ricky Gervais’ sardonic, biting, observational humour for what it is. Humour.
I really hope (non-alcoholic) people buy Ricky’s vodka, and enjoy every 40 per cent ABV mouthful.
Which would really stick in the throat of the dour Left.
SO, celebs posing, pants down, on the loo is now a “thing”. A trend. The height of cultural sophistication and meta irony. Et cetera.
Last week Kim Kardashian happily posed for a photo, sitting on the toilet, leather trousers bunched up around her knees, and her hands, how do I put this delicately, looking like they were poised mid-wipe.
Other insane (or attention-seeking, depending on your world view) stars to have followed suit are Madonna, Billie Eilish, Kim’s sister Kourtney, supermodel Winnie Harlow and Halle Berry, an early adopter, who started this madness in 2017.
Genuinely, if anyone burst in to take a photo of me on the loo, the toilet brush would soon be shoved up places they really wouldn’t want it.
Raging.
OF all the delightful epidemics currently engulfing this country – obesity, vaping, poverty, etc – shoplifting is quickly becoming the most pernicious.
Reported offences are up to nearly half a million, a rise of almost a third from last year’s record-breaking thieving bonanza.
Weirdly, Waitrose appears to be the supermarket du jour for fingersmiths.
But the whole, grubby enterprise is hitting the economy, and costing retailers £1.8billion a year as well as whacking law-abiding shoppers in the pocket.
My local Waitrose – largely “manned” by electronic, self-service tills – deploys just one poor security guard, who stands there shuffling beside the wine shelves, appearing too scared to confront thieves lest he get wrestled to the floor by professional gangs.
Shoplifting has a human cost, too.
But why aren’t stores employing MORE [human] security staff to help deter shoplifters and bolster both the economy and customer faith?
Two birds, one stone, surely.
WORCESTER City Council bosses are considering plans to put local seagulls on the contraceptive Pill.
The number of gulls has apparently shot up in recent months, damaging locals’ cars and homes, and disrupting sleep with their screeching.
Expect to see any day now in Worcester: Spotty, hormonal birds with giant boobs and raging mood swings.
RACHEL Reeves’ Cup Final is tomorrow.
The Chancellor’s leaky cauldron of a budget will hit the front pages on Halloween, meaning she will inevitably be mocked up as a witch. (Well done, PR chaps, well done)
From all that we know thus far, it promises to be a socialist checklist – rewarding unionists and (some) public sector workers, and hampering ambition, talent and hard work every step of the way.
Small business owners, then – many of whom work seven days a week to build their dream – are officially not “working people”.
In short, working hard or being clever is not in Starmer’s dystopian guide book.
OVER the weekend The Times covered the story of the unfortunate theft of 950 wheels of cheddar.
The London-based Neal’s Yard Dairy reported the loss of 22 tonnes of the cheese to the police, who, sadly, have yet to make an arrest.
While crime is no laughing matter, the official Met Police statement is probably the most British thing you’ll ever read.
Reacting to the bizarre scenario, they simply said: “On Monday, 21 October, we received a report of the theft of a large quantity of cheese from a manufacturer based in Southwark. Enquiries are ongoing into the circumstances.”
ON Sunday, I self-flagellated – aka took part in Britain’s fastest growing sport, Hyrox.
More than half a million athletes, and me, have given it a go this year.
The truly beastly event sees participants run a total of 8km, interspersed with sled pushes and pulls, burpee broad jumps (don’t ask), rowing, skiing (on a machine), farmers’ carries (lugging two 16kg kettlebells 200 metres), sandbag lunges and, the finisher, wall balls – which sees one lobbing a 4kg ball against a target in the sky 100 times.
It was hell.
But also brilliantly fun, grinding it out alongside 1,400-plus women to a backdrop of DJs and banner-waving, cheering spectators. (The men’s and doubles events run on different days.)
But, and this is the beauty of Hyrox, with a bit of training, it really is open to all, including those in wheelchairs.
The oldest age category is 85-89 – and some octogenarian athletes have now become Instagram stars.
Alas, at the Birmingham NEC, I managed to incur a two-minute time penalty after the first exercise, by dozily running out the “in” barrier. Raging.
Still, I finished in a time of 1hr 22/24mins (depending on whether or not we ignore said time penalty), coming 30th in my age category – which, as a lady, I am under no obligation to reveal.
So, if you’re reading this . . . why not?
LAST week I wrote about brave Chris Hoy’s prostate cancer battle, calling for earlier testing after he said his dad and grandfather had it, but he wasn’t tested.
The NHS won’t routinely test the under-50s. But reader David Green pointed out PSA testing kits are available from Amazon (and other retailers) for round a tenner and urged readers to self-test.
Men, please: Do it.
MEL B branded her Spice Girls bandmates “d**kheads” as she mocked them for refusing to reunite for a blockbuster 30th anniversary tour.
The singer, 49, says she is constantly telling her fellow girl group singers they need to get back together.
But Emma Bunton, 48, Mel C, 50, Geri Horner, 52, and Victoria Beckham, 50, do not appear to be keen for a reunion.
Leeds-born Mel B revealed in April she had been kicked out of the Spice Girls’ WhatsApp chat for bombarding them with texts about a tour.
Asked why she was booted out, Mel said: “Because I’m Northern and say what I think and feel and I’m constantly saying to the girls, ‘We need to go back on tour’.”
Pressed on why they ditched her, Mel B said on TV’s Never Mind The Buzzcocks 90s special: “Because they’re d**kheads.”
The Spice Girls performed at Victoria’s 50th birthday party at a private members club last April.
This year marks 30 years since the Spice Girls formed and their fans had hoped the performance would kick-start talks for a celebratory tour.
They toured across the UK without Victoria in 2019 but their last public performance as a group was at the London 2012 Olympics Games closing ceremony.
In April, Victoria said: “It would be lovely for us to do something to celebrate, a dinner or a lunch, but it won’t be any more.”
On the Sky Max panel show tomorrow, Mel was asked if the band would ever get back together.
She said: “I don’t know. We’ll see.”
A LONELY Japanese village has become overrun by creepy life-size puppets who have been slowly replacing the residents.
Eerie pictures show dozens of dolls riding on bikes, playing around on swings and even collecting wood across the bizarre village of Ichinono.
Less than 60 people still call Ichinono their home with the population dwindling in recent years with many leaving the area to find a good job.
This prompted locals to create mannequin versions of the former residents to keep the village alive and well.
But as more and more villagers left Ichinono the puppets are now said to outnumber the humans.
These dolls – often made of unwanted old fabric – have been placed across the area to help make the village feel more alive.
Many are dressed up in old clothes to make them seem as lifelike as possible.
One picture shows a little girl puppet in a pink helmet riding a bike across some grass.
As a family also appears to have been created with a little girl and her parents all out collecting wood.
Some locals have even placed the dolls outside their own homes to give them an extra friend in case they ever get lonely.
An 88-year-old widow called Hisayo Yamazaki told AFP: “We’re probably outnumbered by puppets.”
Hisayo revealed that most of the remaining residents are now the elderly who encouraged their children to leave the village and look for a better opportunity in a major city.
This surge of locals moving out meant a huge void was left behind which left many people lonely.
The village only has a handful of people under 35 with the latest baby being born in 2022.
The two-year-old made history when it was safely delivered as it became the first Ichinono-born child in over two decades, according to the Internal Affairs Ministry.
Kuranosuke Kato’s parents Rie Kato, 33, and Toshiki Kato, 31, say their baby is always the talk of the town.
The dad said: “Just by being born here, our son benefits from the love, support and hope of so many people – even though he has achieved absolutely nothing in life yet.”
Elsewhere, the village of Nagoro has undergone a similar puppet-themed overhaul to its citizens.
Over 350 life-size dolls, handmade to represent the village’s former residents, sit in the town today.
Tsukimi Ayano was responsible for creating the doll population as the elderly man couldn’t bear to watch the population shrink anymore.
In the years since, Nagoro has become better known as Nagoro Doll Village, and has become a bustling tourist attraction.
With many celebrities even visiting such as Top Gear‘s James May.
Japan is known for its vibrant towns and villages with Ichinono and Nagoro being just two of the wackiest places to live.
A robotic utopia is being built at the foot of an active volcano just a few miles away from Mount Fuji.
Known as Woven City, the futuristic place will act as a “living laboratory” for creators Toyota to test its renewable and energy-efficient self-driving cars dubbed ‘E-palettes’.
The first 2,000 residents are set to move in by the end of the year as part of an £8billion study to understand patterns in driver and pedestrian behaviour.
