12 h. ago Bob Vylan to sue Ireland’s RTÉ for defamation over Glastonbury coverage

Legal action alleges Irish broadcaster defamed group by claiming they led antisemitic chants at festival in JuneThe British punk-rap duo Bob Vylan have launched defamation proceedings against the Irish broadcaster RTÉ over its coverage of their performance at Glastonbury.The legal action alleges Ireland’s national broadcaster defamed the group by claiming they led antisemitic chants at the festival last June. Continue reading...

Politics

32 h. ago Bob Vylan take on Irish national broadcaster in defamation row over Glastonbury chants

‘Proceedings arise from a broadcast aired by RTE News following Bob Vylan’s performance at Glastonbury Festival,’ says the band’s legal representatives

Politics

7 d. ago The Sarah Everard report part two: a catalogue of repeated and preventable failures | Joan Smith

So many reviews, so much hand-wringing, yet misogyny in England and Wales’s police forces and impunity for offenders remains the normHow do we get sexual predators out of the country’s police forces? It was one of the most urgent questions asked in 2021 when a serving police officer, PC Wayne Couzens, was charged with the abduction, rape and murder of Sarah Everard. In the first report of Elish Angiolini’s inquiry into this dreadful sequence of events, published in February last year, she made the eminently sensible recommendation that any individual with a caution or conviction for a sexual offence should be rejected during police vetting.It seemed the very least that should happen, yet we’ve learned from Lady Angiolini’s second report this week that the recommendation has yet to be implemented. She reveals that it took 18 months after publication for police chiefs to agree a blanket ban on recruits who have convictions, and even then it wasn’t included in draft Home Office regulat...

Events

1 week ago Aurora: ‘We’re more scared of activists than of the world dying or a war’

Ahead of her intimate show to raise money for War Child, the Norwegian singer tells Hannah Ewens how social media has ruined our capacity for empathy, and how she deals with her neurodivergence

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1 week ago Self Esteem: ‘How often do I have sex? Oh, often. That is one thing I don’t compromise on’

The singer on going solo, bringing back George Michael, and why a dog made her rethink motherhoodBorn in Rotherham, South Yorkshire, Rebecca Lucy Taylor, 39, was in the duo Slow Club. After 10 years, she went solo as Self Esteem and received Mercury prize, NME and Brit nominations for her second album, 2021’s Prioritise Pleasure. This year, she won the Ivor Novello Visionary award and released a book and album, both called A Complicated Woman. In March, she stars in David Hare’s Teeth ’n’ Smiles at the Duke of York’s theatre, London. She lives in London with her partner.When were you happiest? Five to 10, when I was just playing out and I didn’t realise I was a girl. Before my boobs came in, basically. Continue reading...

Politics

2 w. ago Rachel Reeves has many problems. She’s realising that her Brexit bind may be the biggest of all | Rafael Behr

Brutal economic realities are prompting a shift in Labour’s tone on Europe. But will it dare tell the whole truth about Britain’s predicament? Rachel Reeves has approached this week’s budget like a reluctant swimmer inching into freezing water, trying to ease the unpleasantness by incremental exposure. The chancellor started paddling delicately around the problem of insufficient revenue at the end of the summer. First, she refused to stand by former insistence that tax rises in last year’s budget would be the last. “The world has changed,” she said.Then, earlier this month, she took a bigger stride into the icy waves. There was a speech promising to “do what is necessary” to fund public services and keep borrowing costs down. Downing Street did not discourage speculation that this meant reneging on Labour’s 2024 manifesto promise not to raise income tax. Too deep! Within 10 days the Treasury had retracted the hint. The manifesto commitment still stood after all. As any cold-water sw...

Politics

2 w. ago Shabana Mahmood is an avatar of open Britain – that’s what makes her fable about immigration so seductive | Nesrine Malik

‘She is the daughter of immigrants,’ supporters of her cruel asylum policies say. ‘How can she be wrong?’ Let me put them straightOver the past couple of weeks, Shabana Mahmood has launched not only her new asylum crackdown policy, but also her “story”. The two are inseparable: her story justifies the crackdown. It moralises the crackdown. And it silences criticism of the crackdown. Sold as an origin story from within an immigrant and racialised experience, the purpose is to imbue her politics with sacred authenticity – the credibility of the first person. It is clever and effective. It is cynical and disgraceful.“I am the child of immigrants” is how Mahmood now starts her fable. Immigrants who came here legally. She goes on to tell us that immigration is tearing this country apart, and proposes policies that mean UK-born children, who have known no life anywhere else, will be deported. As she launches policies that will leave refugees homeless and without support, tear families apa...

Politics

2 w. ago Brandi Carlile: ‘I’m in a sweet spot – my kids are little, my wife is hot and my body doesn’t hurt’

The singer on being a school bully, having a panic attack on stage, and ‘fearless bitch’ Elton JohnBorn in Washington state, Brandi Carlile, 44, released her self-titled debut album in 2005. She went on to win 11 Grammy awards and is part of the country supergroup the Highwomen. She has collaborated with Joni Mitchell and this year released the album Who Believes in Angels? with Elton John. Their song Never Too Late was Oscar nominated. She has published a memoir, and established the charitable Looking Out Foundation. Her eighth studio album, Returning to Myself, was released last month. Carlile lives in Washington state with her wife and two daughters.When were you happiest? I’m the happiest right now. I can see that I’m in a kind of sweet spot: my parents are alive, my kids are little, my wife is hot and my body doesn’t hurt. Continue reading...

Politics

2 w. ago Labour MPs face a serious dilemma on asylum seekers – but this is not the way out of it | Polly Toynbee

The party sees its harsh policies as politically necessary. But what happened to talking up the value of migrants for a thriving economy and society?This is how Labour MPs see it. They face brutal dilemmas and miserable choices. How to manage our asylum system is one of the worst. Through their constituency work, they will have met refugees with tragic stories of war and fear, of terrifying journeys across the world, of gangsters on night-time beaches. But MPs’ experience of hearing those heart-rending stories clash head-on with what they see as political necessity, demanding they block their ears and harden their hearts. A life in politics is not for the squeamish.Wes Streeting, a practising Christian, yesterday writhed while answering questions on LBC radio about the home secretary’s tough plans for deterring small boat arrivals. The flavour of his reply reflected how many on Labour’s benches feel. Confronted with the government’s intention to deport more families with children – ...

Events

2 w. ago Strictly Come Dancing star arrested on suspicion of rape as BBC release statement

The BBC say they will not comment further on an 'ongoing police investigation' after a man was arrested in October for the alleged incident last year

Events

3 w. ago Chilling footage of police interview with teen nursery worker who raped children

Thomas Waller coldly replies "no comment" when questioned by police after arrest for shocking abuse.

Events

3 w. ago Moment 'calculated' teenage nursery worker, 18, defiantly answers 'no comment' to police questions as he is jailed for raping and sexually abusing children as young as three  

Thomas Waller, 18, was today jailed for 10 years after raping and sexually assaulting one boy and sexually assaulting another child in his care at a nursery in Surrey.

Events

3 w. ago Several feared dead and injured as bus crashes into packed shelter

Police are not commenting on information about the number, gender or ages of victims

Events

4 w. ago Police take no further action over Bob Vylan's London performance

Police take no further action over Bob Vylan's London performance  Sky News

Events

4 w. ago Bob Vylan face ‘no further action’ over IDF chants at London gig

Bob Vylan face ‘no further action’ over IDF chants at London gig  The Independent

Politics

4 w. ago Five arrests made outside Bob Vylan gig as protests take place

Officers said the arrests in London took place at two protests prior to the performance.

Events

4 w. ago Police to take ‘no further action’ over alleged chants at Bob Vylan performance

An investigation was launched by the Met Police after footage emerged allegedly showing singer Bobby Vylan, saying ‘death to the IDF’.

Events

4 w. ago Protesters arrested outside Bob Vylan gig venue as 'death to the IDF' chanted in PM's London constituency

One protester was arrested over chants referencing the Israeli Defence Force, the Met Police has said

Events

4 w. ago Protest arrests outside Bob Vylan gig venue amid 'death to IDF' chants

Protest arrests outside Bob Vylan gig venue amid 'death to IDF' chants  London Evening Standard

Events

4 w. ago London police say 5 arrested at dueling protests outside Bob Vylan concert

London police say 5 arrested at dueling protests outside Bob Vylan concert  The Times of Israel

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