GettyKeir Starmer must not capitulate to Commonwealth leaders opportunistically seeking riches from Britain, who are confident it’s only ‘a matter of time’ before he surrenders[/caption]
Keir Starmer deserves credit so far for knocking it back.
Commonwealth leaders opportunistically seeking riches from Britain are certain it’s just “a matter of time” before he surrenders. He must never do so.
It would be the death knell for our economy and his Government.
Trans-Atlantic slavery, and Britain’s role in it, were of course abhorrent. But we did not invent slavery.
We DID lead the charge 200 years ago to end it, at massive expense.
That aside, once one country can extract huge sums from another over some historic wrongdoing, where would anyone stop?
And would we conversely be entitled to a trillion-dollar reward for enriching human life globally via British inventions and medicines?
Starmer must continue to defy these absurd campaigns. But what if, say, the UN — whose legal rulings he apparently considers sacred — tells us to pay up?
He will have to defy them too. Or prepare for a voter revolt like none he can currently imagine.
Unite or lose
APMadman Kim Jong Un has allegedly deployed thousands of troops, possibly disguised as Russian citizens, to help Putin counter his catastrophic daily losses[/caption]
THE West must not be caught napping as North Korea wades into the Ukraine war on Russia’s side.
It raises the terrifying prospect of this appalling conflict widening, even into a world war.
South Korea is limbering up to retaliate. Germany fears a domino effect, with China and India also dragged in.
Britain will not waver in our support for Ukraine. But nor must whoever wins the US Presidency, or the nations of Europe.
It was appalling, then, to watch UN chief Antonio Guterres bow and scrape before the imperialist monster Putin yesterday as he attended the BRICS summit in Russia.
Why was he there? Did he really think anyone was paying the slightest attention to his impotent pleas for peace?
Russia is a rotten pariah state led by a war criminal who invaded and butchered a neighbouring nation hoping to fold it into his new empire. His days posing as a statesman requiring anyone’s respect should be long over.
Despite Labour’s apparently unshakable admiration for the UN it has proven — via its obscene anti-Israeli bias and now its cravenness towards the Kremlin tyrant — that it is utterly broken.
A ruin personified by the useless pipsqueak leading it.
MAFS bride Sacha erupted at Alex Henry after their row at the spa daySacha exploded in tonight’s dinner party pre-drinks in a sweary rantRoss also had words with Alex
They also butted heads during a commitment ceremony last week with neither backing down.
Sacha saw red when Alex refused to apolgise following their latest spat tonight.
She turned the air blue at the dinner party, screaming: “You’re a f*****g baby who throws his f*****g dummy out of his pram. You’re a f*****g p**** …”
Alex laughed as she continued: “I’ll call that man a p**** over and over again for the way he treats women and speaks to women.”
The under fire groom held his tongue, perhaps after being slammed by his co-stars for comments he made on the spa day.
Polly was also expecting an apology from Alex after they clashed at the spa.
Alex told her that Adam was faking his feelings for her, and insited her husband wasn’t attracted to her.
Tension had been building for a while after the last commitment ceremony where Alex and Sacha also tore strips off each other.
Earlier, Ross took Alex to one side to ask him to apolgise to Sacha, saying: “I’m actually f*****g raging about that.”
Alex refused, with Ross snapping: “You can get the f**k out then. Selfish little p***k mate.”
Speaking in a confessional to the cameras, Alex said he was ready to back himself tonight.
He said: “There are a few issues which are actually laughable.
“Sacha and Polly were both coming for me.
“Unless I’ve asked for you advice, I don’t need it. My wife is not here, I’ve been through a lot.
“I’m going into tonight’s dinner party defending my marriage.
“Sacha loves to put her nose into other people’s business.
“If it comes down to it, I can handle myself.”
Alex, from Birmingham, previously came under fire from a group of women who clubbed together to petition Channel 4 to axe him amid “abuse” allegations.
And Women’s Aid condemned his involvement in a lengthy statement, saying the decision to feature him is both “disappointing and concerning.”
Alex came under fire from a group of women who called for him to be axedHe was accused of antagonising Sacha who hurled abuse across the room
2 weeks agoNewsComments Off on Marinakis ref spat is so poor… the toilet behaviour of the Nottingham Forest chief is undoing all his hard work
HOPEFULLY Evangelos Marinakis will not be watching Nottingham Forest’s game at Leicester from home tonight.
Or if so, pray he has a Kleenex handy in case that terrible hacking cough suddenly resurfaces and he gets an uncontrollable urge to gob all over the luxury shag-pile.
GettyNottingham Forest Owner Evangelos Marinakis is in hot water for spitting[/caption]
More importantly, Forest needs its owner to be in good health.
The cigar-chomping billionaire has done wonders for the club in his seven years as majority shareholder.
He has turned things around at almost every level, establishing them as a Prem club, integrating the women’s team into the fabric of the business, looking to invest in the Trent Rockets.
For a Greek to take a serious interest in cricket is remarkable in itself.
Yet all that admirable effort reviving a football team with a proud history – especially under legend Brian Clough – is being undone by the toilet behaviour of the man at the top.
The barely credible excuse that he suffers with a smoker’s cough, forcing him to launch a globule of tobacco-infused phlegm on the floor of the tunnel as he passed by Josh Smith, Tim Robinson and James Mainwaring, is irrelevant.
Marinakis and Forest need to learn to swallow sometimes. Spitting is unpalatable even when players do it.
They had seen two penalty appeals turned down, while Fulham won it with a debatable spot-kick of their own.
Annoying yes, but no cause is good enough to warrant that kind of reaction.
Do it in the street when a copper walks past and see what happens.
AFPForest have enjoyed a stunning rise since the Greek took over in 2017[/caption]
Jamie Carragher is lucky to still have a career in television after letting fly with a large amount of spittle at a mickey-taking bloke sitting in the car next to his in a traffic jam.
Mates of mine who support Forest have embraced the commitment and love the passion of Marinakis.
It’s never a dull moment with him in charge, they say. But even they are disappointed in this latest episode.
And that includes the Premier League, which is making a number of tweaks this season.
Team news will now be released 75 MINUTES before kick-off, 15 minutes earlier than had been the case before.
Things could get crowded on the touchline, with the number of substitutes permitted to warm-up boosted from three players per team to FIVE.
There’s also a change to how added time is calculated when a team scores a goal, an update to the ‘multiball’ system and the introduction of semi-automated offsides – but not straight away.
But the serial complaining at every injustice is already overshadowing the reconstruction of Nottingham Forest into a formidable football team.
If it’s not the owner, then it’s the manager Nuno Espirito Santo, or the coaches giving it to the referees in brutal and undignified terms.
All the while unravelling all the positive PR that the club deserves for the cracking job of remodelling Forest as a team capable of pushing for a return to Europe.
AlamyMarinakis’s behaviour is threatening to undo all his good work[/caption]
And it’s naive to believe the officials don’t remember. As human beings, the subconscious memory bank will kick into action next time Forest needs the benefit of the doubt.
Gobbing off about things you don’t agree with, or simply gobbing in front of other people might make you feel better there and then.
But it’s a distasteful business that can leave a nasty stain on a club’s otherwise good character.
Incidentally, the City Ground, like all others, is a no-smoking stadium.
So isn’t it the perfect place for Marinakis to start kicking the habit anyway?
TV gold Capers
GettyLegendary man mountain Geoff Capes passed away this week[/caption]
FAREWELL Geoff Capes, shot put legend and symbol of childhood in the 70s and 80s.
Christmas back then wasn’t complete without the one-time policeman filling the no-man’s land of TV time between festive movies by holding ten car batteries at arm’s length for half an hour.
Or perhaps pulling a juggernaut along by rope as he bossed it in the Useless Sport Olympics, otherwise known as World’s or Europe’s Strongest Man.
I once got fairly close to England’s 6ft 5in man-mountain at the Crieff Highland Games when I was 11 and on holiday in Scotland.
He was tossing the caber in full kilt regalia and looked every inch the gladiator of his time.
Mum even urged me to get his autograph, which he was only too happy to sign on a scrap of paper.
But I have always suspected it was more for her than for me.
Fifa right this time
ReutersLionel Messi continues to rack up the silverware with Inter Miami[/caption]
FIFA have been accused of showing preferential treatment to David Beckham’s Inter Miami when it comes to next summer’s Club World Cup.
There is outrage in the US that the MLS leaders have been given a golden ticket to join the likes of Real Madrid, Manchester City and Bayern Munich at the expanded tournament on American soil.
Critics say Miami have only been invited because Lionel Messi is in their squad – you know, arguably the greatest player ever.
Columbus Crew, currently second in MLS, have such luminaries as ‘Cucho’ Hernandez – who scored five goals in five years at Watford – and Christian Ramirez, formerly of Aberdeen, on their ‘roster’.
Who would you rather pay to see? Not everything Fifa does is completely insane.
MOHAMMED KUDUS has already had one ruck with West Ham boss Julen Lopetegui after being subbed at half-time against Brentford.
Now he faces a three-game ban for violent conduct, plus further punishment for his actions after the red card incident in the 4-1 debacle at Spurs on Saturday.
I can’t help but suspect there is a very talented but highly frustrated young man there who feels he isn’t getting what he deserves in a team that is massively underperforming.
West Ham always looked like a stepping stone to bigger things for the ambitious 24-year-old Ghana midfielder.
Fans could be heading for another Dimitri Payet or Marko Arnautovic situation unless Lopetegui turns things around soon.
GettyOleksandr Zinchenko gave half his wardrobe away to Shakhtar fans[/caption]
FANS are revolting at the increasing price of season tickets and it’s all admirable to see…
West Ham supporters can release as many black balloons as they like – and hard-pressed punters can wave placards and banners until the cows come home.
But I have said it before that only when they make a real stand by getting up out of their overpriced seats and walking out of a game halfway through, or by refusing to renew at the end of the season, will Premier League clubs listen.
Liverpool fans did it brilliantly with their 77th-minute walkout some years back when the owners threatened to raise prices to £77 – it stopped the plan dead in its tracks.
AFTER his Arsenal side had beaten Shakhtar Donetsk, Oleksandr Zinchenko made a point of saluting the away fans.
The proud Ukrainian practically stripped naked handing over his kit as souvenirs while he and his countrymen recognised the hell that is their war with Russia.
Not one Arsenal fan begrudged Zinchenko that touching moment after Tuesday’s Champions League clash.
Dan WilliamsThis dress is both on trend and very comfortable[/caption]
CLAIRE SAYS: “Leopard is the print of the season and this dress is really generous on the bust.
“It’s a great sleeve length too – it skims the body and has a nice bias cut to the skirt. It’s just perfect.”
NINA SAYS: “This is the same style as the black Angelica dress and I think it’s great that it comes in two different colourways depending on your preference.
“It also has some shirring on the back for extra stretch across your shoulder and bust.”
Leopard Angelica dress, £49, Fabulous Clothing; Claire’s earrings, £35, and shoes, £14, both M&S; Nina’s shoes, £36, River Island
The green Carly dress
Dan WilliamsThis dress features the subtle details of a slashed sleeve and thigh split[/caption]
CLAIRE SAYS: “I just love the shade of this green dress and it feels very expensive.
“The flutter sleeves are really gorgeous and the split on the dress is also a really modest height, so you still get that flash of leg – but it’s not too far up your thigh.”
NINA SAYS: “I do have a larger bust and it’s so nice to see that these dresses accommodate that.
“I also really love the added details, like the split sleeve, which is really complementary and a bit sassy.”
Green Carly dress, £59, Fabulous Clothing; Claire’s earrings, £16.50, M&S; shoes, £38, Next; Nina’s earrings, £3, Primark; shoes, £46, River Island
The black Angelica dress
Dan WilliamsThis black dress is perfect as a wardrobe staple[/caption]
CLAIRE SAYS: “This is my fave – I love the way it skims down my body. I feel really comfortable in it.
“You can dress it up or down and it’s an all-year round dress you can wear on so many occasions.”
NINA SAYS: “So often when wearing a dress you need to add a pin. It’s so nice you don’t have to do that with this.
“The black dress is a wardrobe staple and you could get so much wear out of this.”
Black Angelica dress, £49, Fabulous Clothing; Claire’s earrings, £xx; shoes, £36, River Island; Nina’s shoes, £22.99, Bershka
The red Carly dress
Dan WilliamsThis red dress has a very flattering sweetheart neckline[/caption]
CLAIRE SAYS: “This is the same style as the green Carly dress and I think the pop of red is really vibrant.
“The sweetheart neckline is very flattering for those with a smaller bust as it adds shape, but also suits a fuller bust really well too.
“The fabric moves really well too, so great for dancing.”
NINA SAYS: “A dress that I can see myself wearing during the Christmas season, but also beyond that.
“I’d mix it with sandals and a clutch later down the line.
“My bust doesn’t feel squashed in this either, which is another bonus.”
Red Carly dress, £59, Fabulous Clothing; Claire’s boots, £45.99, New Look; Nina’s shoes, £29.99, Bershka
The polka dot Emily dress
Dan WilliamsThis dress features buttons but there’s extra fabric to ensure no gaping[/caption]
CLAIRE SAYS: “I’m obsessed that this dress has pockets – we love a dress with pockets.
“A polka dot frock is just a classic, elegant style that never goes out of date.”
NINA SAYS: “What I love about this dress is that it’s been designed so that it doesn’t pull at the buttons.
“They have put extra fabric there to accommodate larger busts, so fear not, ladies – this isn’t going to gape if you do have a bigger bust.”
2 weeks agoNewsComments Off on ‘The Anonymous’ Winner Nina Twine Would Love To Join ‘The Traitors:’ “I honestly don’t think this is going to be the last you see of me”
Twine also discusses what it's like following in her mom's famous footsteps on reality TV, and why she's not done competing yet.
InstagramNikita Kanda has shared harrowing details of domestic violence in her past[/caption]
FacebookRadio presenter Nikita became host of the Asian Network Breakfast in July 2022[/caption]
PAShe competed on Strictly Come Dancing last year, paired with Gorka Marquez[/caption]
TV and radio presenter Nikita Kanda, 29, became the presenter of the Asian Network Breakfast in July 2022.
Partnered with Gorka Marquez, the pair were the second couple to leave Strictly in 2023.
Taking to Instagram, Nikita revealed the trauma she faced after experiencing domestic violence in her past.
She wrote: “Sharing something quite personal on here today.
“It’s something I’ve kept out of the public eye and even away from most people that know me, friends, colleagues and followers.
“But I feel a sense of duty to use my platform and use something negative that happened in my life for hopefully a positive change.
“There is a major rise of violence against women and girls in this country which needs to just simply STOP!
“2-3 women a week are dying because of this!”
Nikita added: “This may be a shock to many of you, but I grew up in a very violent environment and experienced a huge amount of abuse physically and mentally for years.
“The trauma of watching the abuse happen severely to my incredible mum and then experiencing it myself is something I never thought I would get through.
“It’s something that changes you forever, how you view the world and doesn’t ever leave you no matter how much you try to forget.”
Continuing, the presenter said: “I never want any woman, child or mother to experience what we have as a family.
“In the Asian community, we’re taught not to talk about these topics, sweep it under the rug and hide it.
“But I hope we can start speaking more freely, stamping out any judgement and just making sure women are safe.
Nikita encouraged her followers to look into domestic violence charityRefuge.
The organisation provides specialist support for women and children experiencing domestic violence.
HOW YOU CAN GET HELP:
Women's Aid has this advice for victims and their families
Always keep your phone nearby.
Get in touch with charities for help, including the Women’s Aid live chat helpline and services such as SupportLine.
If you are in danger, call 999.
Familiarise yourself with the Silent Solution, reporting abuse without speaking down the phone, instead dialing “55”.
Always keep some money on you, including change for a pay phone or bus fare.
If you suspect your partner is about to attack you, try to go to a lower-risk area of the house – for example, where there is a way out and access to a telephone.
Avoid the kitchen and garage, where there are likely to be knives or other weapons. Avoid rooms where you might become trapped, such as the bathroom, or where you might be shut into a cupboard or other small space.
If you are a victim of domestic abuse, SupportLine is open Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday from 6pm to 8pm on 01708 765200. The charity’s email support service is open weekdays and weekends during the crisis – messageinfo@supportline.org.uk.
Women’s Aid provides a live chat service – available weekdays from 8am-6pm and weekends 10am-6pm.
You can also call the freephone 24-hour National Domestic Abuse Helpline on 0808 2000 247.
She concluded: “You are not alone and I understand you.
“Thank you for listening.”
One follower penned: “So brave for sharing – sending my love to you and your family always.”
Another added: “So brave for sharing your story Nikita! And I am sure this will help loads of others speak up. Sending loads of love.”
InstagramNikita’s fans and followers shared their support to the star[/caption]
2 weeks agoNewsComments Off on Lags using drones to fly everything from drugs to mustard direct to cell windows
CRIMINALS are using drones to fly everything from drugs to mustard direct to cell windows.
Gangs are employing specialist pilots, one police force has revealed.
GettyPrisoners are having everything from condiments to drugs delivered to their cell windows by drones[/caption]
The drone aces are flying mobile phones, shower gel, shampoo and condiments — such as mustard, ketchup and mayo — across prison walls, Greater Manchester Police said.
Det Supt Andy Buckthorpe claimed “huge payloads” of up to 7kg (15 lb) are suspended on lines and dangled close to prison windows.
He said: “These drone pilots have a high skill set.
The force recently used a helicopter to raid HMP Forest Bank private prison in Salford to crack down on the problem.
A spokeswoman for the Category B jail, run by French operator Sodexo, said they were working with police to “tackle the conveyance of illicit items”.
Lags leaving Greater Manchester prisons this week as part of the Government’s early-release scheme confirmed drugs are readily available in jail.
Lewis Harrop, of Wythenshawe, Manchester — released from HMP Forest Bank — said: “You’ll see more drugs there than you’ll see out here.”
And George Cooper, of Buxton, Derbys, added: “I’d say 80 per cent of Forest Bank are on drugs and there are plenty of mobile phones.”
What are the new laws surrounding drones and prisons?
New “no-fly zones” have been introduced around prisons in England and Wales.
The change was made to prevent drones being used to deliver drugs and contraband to inmates.
The Ministry of Justice, in conjunction with The Rt Hon Edward Argar MP, has introduced stringent new restrictions that came into effect on January 25, 2024.
The new legislation establishes a 400-metre “no-fly zone” around prisons and young offender institutions with offenders facing fines of up to £2,500.
It is now an automatic offence to operate drones within this restricted area.
Unlike the previous requirement for evidence of contraband smuggling, cops can now take action merely based on drone operations near these facilities.
This crackdown is prompted by a significant rise in drone sightings within prison grounds.
The number of drones captured or spotted within prison premises more than doubled between 2019 and 2021.
2 weeks agoNewsComments Off on Missing dog sparks chaos on M25 as mutt shuts down motorway eight times during hunt
A DOG missing for 11 days shut the M25 eight times.
Nicola Patterson, 33, was on holiday when pet Phoebe escaped from a friend’s garden.
SWNSDog Phoebe was missing for 11 days after escaping from her owner’s friend’s garden[/caption]
SWNSThe M25 was shut down eight times during the search for Phoebe[/caption]
Nicola flew back from Majorca while her brother led 15 searchers.
Welsh Springer Spaniel Phoebe had crossed the A2 near Bean, Kent, to reach the motorway.
After M25 closures following sightings, Lost Dog Recovery asked National Highways to put in cameras.
Phoebe was spotted and she and Nicola were reunited at 12.15am on September 8.
Nicola said: “They’d put the dog crate up to the back door and they undid it and she came flying in bouncing through the back door and she was so happy to see us.
“Apart from being skinny and a bit of skin missing from her pads, there was nothing else wrong with her.
“She was bouncing around like she’d just been out for a walk, not that she’d been missing for 11 days.
“That was my husband’s birthday – so it was like a birthday present that she’d come home.
“There was so much adrenaline that I couldn’t get to sleep for hours afterwards.”
