
The Green party leader is riding high in the polls. But across the political spectrum, uncritical adulation leads nowhere fast
Shortly after Donald Trump launched his first White House run in 2015, television’s Kelly Osbourne made one of her regular appearances on The View, which is basically the American version of Loose Women but doesn’t feel the need to have a cringey title. Trump had made some extremely nasty comments about Mexican immigrants, and Kelly had a rhetorical question for the other ladies gathered round the wood-effect dining table that morning. “You kick every Latino out of this country,” she sassed, “then WHO is going to be cleaning your toilet, Donald Trump?”
Oooooof. The reaction from fellow panellist Rosie Perez was instantaneously negative, to the point that even Kelly realised in the moment that this needed clean-up. Apparently there weren’t any willing rubber-gloved Latinos on hand, so madam was going to have to do it herself. “I didn’t mean it like that,” Osbourne shot back. “Come on! You know I would never mean it like that! I’m not part of this argument.” A media firestorm nonetheless ensued, though Kelly declined to apologise for even the appearance of racism, I think on the basis that people like her simply are not capable of subconsciously holding unpleasant views that they accidentally reveal while making important TV appearances.
Marina Hyde is a Guardian columnist
Continue reading...With a sharp eye and saturated colours, Parr’s photographs revealed the world in all its eccentric glory. Here, his friends, peers and collaborators pay tribute to a master
Grayson Perry, artist
I’ve never really been a fanboy, but the first time I saw Martin Parr I ran up and drunkenly hugged him. I said: “I love you Martin Parr!” I couldn’t help it. He was a hero of mine. And over the years he became my best artist friend.
Tory leader took on Brexit, benefits claimants and grooming gangs in a presser that probably should have been an email
If a press conference takes place and no one is around to take notice, can it be said to have really happened? Sometimes the most interesting thing is the person saying the thing they did not mean anyone to notice. It was always thus with Brexit.
Time was when a press conference was a relatively rare event. Called only after diplomatic summits or when there was an important piece of news to be announced. Now, though, the format has been so downgraded it is being used for when any politician needs some attention. When the feeling that no one is listening to them becomes unbearable.
Continue reading...Our cartoonist on the trouble at Anfield after Egyptian’s stinging response to being dropped by Arne Slot
Continue reading...Experts weigh in on if the traditional remedy of whiskey, honey, lemon and hot water can actually help your cold
The hot toddy has a reputation as a folk remedy for illness. And if you’re sick, a steaming cup of whiskey, honey, lemon, and water can sound like a lot more fun than crackers and broth.
But what about the alcohol? Here’s what experts say about hot toddies and colds.
Continue reading...Their relatives might have been on opposite sides of near-nuclear war, but the US and Soviet leader’s descendants have teamed up for an intimate BBC podcast. They talk humanity, hate – and why Trump is a ‘very limited’ man
In October 1962, the world came closer to destruction than at any other point in modern times. After a US surveillance plane discovered that Soviet nuclear missile sites were being built in Cuba, less than 100 miles from the US mainland, President John F Kennedy responded by ordering the US Navy’s Sixth Fleet to impose a naval blockade around the island. Almost two weeks of impossible tension followed.
The threat was clear. If Kennedy, or his Soviet counterpart, Nikita Khrushchev, fired on their enemy, a chain reaction of global nuclear strikes and counterstrikes would have followed, plunging humanity into all-out ruination.
Continue reading...US president recycles far-right tropes on European immigration and presses Zelenskyy to accept his peace plan
Donald Trump has hinted he could walk away from supporting Ukraine as he doubled down on his administration’s recent criticism of Europe, describing it as “weak” and “decaying” and claiming it was “destroying itself” through immigration.
In a rambling and sometimes incoherent interview with Politico, a transcript of which was released on Tuesday, the US president struggled to name any other Ukrainian cities except for Kyiv, misrepresented elements of the trajectory of the conflict, and recycled far-right tropes about European immigration that echoed the “great replacement” conspiracy theory.
Continue reading...‘Agent Stakeknife’, who carried out sadistic killings then was helped to relocate to England, only once saw the inside of a courtroom
When Freddie Scappaticci, 77, suffered the stroke on the morning of 16 February 2023 that would kill him, he had not worked for two decades.
It was nevertheless in a spacious and comfortable home, known as Homeleigh, that he fell ill; a four-bedroom detached property with a double garage and a large, if dated, kitchen that led through French doors to a sprawling garden, with a wendy house half buried in the lush green hedge at the back.
Continue reading...Accounts held by users under 16 must be removed on apps that include TikTok, Facebook, Instagram, X, YouTube, Snapchat, Reddit, Kick, Twitch and Threads under ban
Australia has enacted a world-first ban on social media for users aged under 16, causing millions of children and teenagers to lose access to their accounts.
Facebook, Instagram, Threads, X, YouTube, Snapchat, Reddit, Kick, Twitch and TikTok are expected to have taken steps from Wednesday to remove accounts held by users under 16 years of age in Australia, and prevent those teens from registering new accounts.
Continue reading...Peer named as chair of national inquiry, which is expected to cover England and Wales, after long-delayed search
The former children’s commissioner Anne Longfield will chair the national grooming gangs inquiry in what will be a “moment of reckoning” for the nation, the home secretary, Shabana Mahmood, has announced.
Lady Longfield, who will resign the Labour whip in the House of Lords, was recommended by Louise Casey after a long-delayed search during which some victims quit the inquiry’s advisory panel amid disagreements over the chair appointment.
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