Blair happy to keep guitar from Bono – but not one from Mexico's president
He did, however, question whether he would have to pay 'the full purchase price'.
Tony Blair with Mexican president Vicente Fox (PA)
No 10 officials suggested the prime minister, who fronted a rock band called Ugly Rumours in his student days, might want to take the same approach when it came to a white Fender Stratocaster, valued at £2,500, from the Canadian singer Bryan Adams.
However, Mr Blair was much less enthusiastic about an acoustic Vargas guitar presented to him by President Vicente Fox during an official visit to Mexico in 2001, noting: 'I don't actually use it.'
The files also show that Mr Blair rejected advice that he should not keep a Pro Braided tennis racket given to him by the manufacturer, Slazenger.
Officials feared that it was part of a 'marketing ploy' by the company and suggested it should be donated to a children's charity as 'you cannot be seen to endorse any product'.
Mr Blair, however, instructed them just to thank the company, adding: 'It is very churlish to refuse to use it.'
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Scottish Sun
6 hours ago
- Scottish Sun
I probe the minds of evil killers… infamous cat slayer signed his letters with sick moniker & lives in cloud cuckoo land
True crime expert Teemu Saarenpää admits Magnotta was not the most evil person he became pen pals with BEHIND BARS I probe the minds of evil killers… infamous cat slayer signed his letters with sick moniker & lives in cloud cuckoo land HE'S the psychopathic killer who filmed himself feeding a live kitten to a python and suffocating another in a plastic bag in a chilling bid for internet notoriety. But the sickening videos were a prelude to monstrous Luka Magnotta's final act - stabbing a lover to death, chopping up his body and posting out the severed body parts to schools and politicians. Advertisement 13 Luka Magnotta, a model and porn actor, was dubbed the 'Canadian Psycho' Credit: AFP 13 Jun Lin was violently murdered by Luka Magnotta in 2012 Credit: Rex Features 13 Magnotta used a python and other cruel methods to kill kittens in videos he posted online Credit: Collect Yet the Canadian, now 42, who was jailed for 25 years in 2014 for murdering Chinese university student Jun Lin, 33, remains remorseless according to true crime expert Teemu Saarenpää. After exchanging letters with Magnotta, real name Eric Newman, he believes the 'extremely ego-centric' killer 'lives in la la land' and remains in denial that he committed any wrongdoing. Advertisement Teemu, 41, who runs blog Forenseek, tells The Sun: 'He lives in a totally upside-down, candy land world where he believes he's accused of something he didn't do. 'He's in denial, doesn't take responsibility for what he did and portrays himself as someone misunderstood by an evil society that set him up. 'He was unreflective of his deeds and is clearly a wannabe celebrity who wanted to be famous and a glamorous god. 'Because he wasn't able to obtain that fame through any real talent, he decided to become infamous instead.' Magnotta, who was the subject of hit 2019 Netflix docuseries Don't F*** With Cats, is one of many monsters Teemu has been able to see inside the mind of by writing letters to them in prison. Advertisement Other notable inmates he's probed include Charles Bronson, who made a distasteful quip about hostage-taking, and 'Night Stalker' serial killer Richard Ramirez, who was the 'most evil person' he's spoken to. Speaking to The Sun for our Meeting a Monster series, Teemu admits he was particularly surprised by Magnotta's absolute refusal to acknowledge his callous crimes. In one letter Magnotta, known as 'Canadian Pyscho', refuted claims he was an animal killer - despite being captured on film - and brushed it off as jealous rivals who were 'very good with Photoshop'. Pathetic last days of Rose West revealed as serial killer monster can barely walk, has no friends & has new fake identity 13 Police say Magnotta had up to 80 aliases online Credit: Collect 13 Magnotta had aspirations of being a model Advertisement 13 A dead dog along with other incriminating things were found near to Magnotta's flat Credit: Splash News 13 The Canadian stabbed his lover Jun Lin to death with a screwdriver after tying him to a bed Credit: AP:Associated Press Among the incriminating clips was '1 Boy 2 Kittens', which showed him putting the animals into a plastic bag before using a vacuum to suffocate them. Yet Magnotta told Teemu: 'I never in my life harmed any animals – I actually adore them… I was falsely accused of willingly participating in some bizarre animal videos. I'm completely bewildered.' Chillingly, he also signed off his letter: 'Luka, aka cuddle cat'. Advertisement Magnotta snubbed doctors, who diagnosed him as schizophrenic, claiming they were 'self-serving' and created 'misleading reports'. One medical professional, he alleged, was 'obsessed with making a name for himself' - when in fact, according to Teemu, it was Magnotta who possessed a 'desperate obsession with getting a personality cult on the internet'. Magnotta, who says he has a 132 IQ score, also denied having created multiple online aliases - despite police reporting as many as 80 existed - claiming it to be the work of deranged fans. I never in my life harmed any animals – I actually adore them… I was falsely accused of willingly participating in some bizarre animal videos. I'm completely bewildered Luka Magnotta in a letter to Teemu Saarenpää 'If these idiots copied photos of me and impersonated me online, that's on them, that's their problem… I'm told people posing as me is an epidemic online,' he told Teemu, who's from Finland. 'I find it so pathetic and have always ignored it. I never, I repeat NEVER had any fake accounts, nor did I ever pose as anyone other than myself.' Advertisement When Magnotta was snared for murdering Jun Lin, cops discovered an 11-minute snuff film titled '1 Lunatic 1 Icepick', which showed him repeatedly stabbing his victim with a screwdriver and dismembering him. Sickeningly they revealed the killer used one of Lin's body parts to perform a sex act, then carved up his body with a knife and fork and fed bits of it to a dog. Teemu considered Luka deluded, describing him as 'in his own munchkin world' - unlike his other killer pen pal Richard Ramirez, who 'was aware he was evil and didn't give a s***'. 'The most evil person I've written to' 13 Monster Richard Ramirez murdered at least 14 people in the 80s 13 Ramirez was known as 'The Night Stalker' killer Credit: Netflix Advertisement 13 Ramirez proudly flashed a pentagram he had drawn on his hand in court Credit: Getty - Contributor The monster, dubbed 'the Night Stalker', murdered at least 14 people and raped multiple women at knife-point, often in front of their partners and children. Teemu wrote to Ramirez, who plagued California during the Eighties, in a bid to understand how someone 'so tangibly evil' thought. 'He was definitely the most evil person I've written to,' Teemu says. 'Ramirez embraced being as depraved, as horrible, as deplorable as a human being could be. 'He was a Satanist. He embraced everything evil and spoke about worshipping the Devil, who he believed to be a real entity. Advertisement 'He didn't give a s*** about anything, killing was for fun for him, and even after he received the death penalty, he said, 'Big deal, death always came with the territory, I'll see you in Disneyland'.' But in Ramirez's letter, Teemu claimed he came across 'more like a chilled Californian surfer' or 'Keanu Reeves in the Bill & Ted movies' than a depraved murderer. He says: 'There are some killers who are very verbose and self-reflective, but Ramirez was the exact opposite. "He liked AC/DC, Eighties muscle cars, chicks, beer, that sort of thing.' I wouldn't want to be anywhere near him. If he was in a 10km radius, I'd get on a bus in the opposite direction Teemu Saarenpää Teemu suspects Ramirez was either not very intelligent or masquerading with a 'mundane mask of sanity' to pretend he was normal. Advertisement Teemu found one element of Ramirez's letter particularly chilling - the question: 'So any nieces or nephews in your life?' 'It was such a weird and specific thing to say that I looked it up online and Ramirez has a habit of asking penpals that question before trying to get them to send pictures of them,' Teemu explains. He fears this was a ploy to solicit snaps of underage children - and suspects it shows Ramirez - who died of natural causes in 2013 - was a paedophile. The death row inmate was known to have previously molested two kids in a lift and forced a three-year-old boy, who he tied up, to watch his mother being raped. Shock discovery Teemu's fascination with dark subject matter began after meeting a sweet old lady who he became friends with during his childhood - only to discover she was a murderer. Advertisement 'Sometime later I heard from my parents that she killed her husband and buried him in the garden of her home,' he says. 'You absolutely wouldn't believe it if you met her. It made me realise there is no 'killer gene' or anything categorically different in the brains of killers to the rest of the public, which I found really intriguing.' The revelation set him on a path to try to get inside the minds of famous killers, initially through reading books and watching documentaries, before deciding to write to them. 'I find the dark side of human life, full of stories so different from my lived reality, so fascinating,' Teemu says. 'I'm a normal, middle class dude, a bit like Milhouse from The Simpsons, so finding out about these people is like looking into the inverse mirror. Advertisement 'It makes me think how my life could have been if I was born in a warzone, watched people die, gone through a traumatic childhood or lived in an abusive family.' 'Violent psychopath' 13 Charles Bronson wasn't as intimidating in letters, as Teemu predicted 13 Bronson sent Teemu a painted postcard Credit: Supplied Teemu also exchanged letters with Charles Bronson, who he says came across like a 'jolly British bloke' and acted like 'someone you'd meet in a pub after an Arsenal match'. He wrote to the crook because he found his 'totally relentless one-man war against the authorities' fascinating. Advertisement 'If you told him, 'You can turn right to gold and chocolate and left to hell', he would turn to hell and refuse to obey, even if the decision did not help him,' Teemu says. Bronson sent Teemu a piece of artwork depicting himself topless on a beach musing about no longer being in prison. It featured the Latin phrase 'Candor dat viribus alas', which translates to 'Candour gives wings to strength', and the sketch of a book titled 'Freedom is Wonderful by Charles Bronson'. Additionally he sent a short letter quizzing Teemu about his life, and was 'charismatic, verbose and always making jokes'. 'You can see how he would have a certain magnetism and women would want to be with him,' he says of the lag, who has married twice while behind bars and had several girlfriends. Advertisement You can see how he would have a certain magnetism and women would want to be with him Teemu on Charles Bronson But beneath the surface, Teemu noted a darker side. Bronson made a distasteful joke in response to him disclosing he had worked with refugees from Afghanistan, Iran and Iraq. Bronson wrote: 'You mention that you work with folks from the Middle East. That's funny because you reminded me of a story where I took someone hostage – that person was Middle Eastern.' Teemu adds: 'He didn't elaborate but... he said it like someone would say, 'I went to Italy the other day,' but being Bronson he's like, 'Oh yeah, I took an Iranian guy hostage'.' He adds he would never meet the "violent psychopath" in person, admitting: 'I wouldn't want to be anywhere near him. If he was in a 10km radius, I'd get on a bus in the opposite direction.' Read more about Teemu's interviews with serial killers and murderers at Advertisement 13 Teemu's fascination with dark subject matter began after meeting a sweet old lady who he became friends with during his childhood - only to discover she was a murderer Credit: Supplied
Daily Mirror
9 hours ago
- Daily Mirror
Netflix fans say don't skip 'most underrated film' as it will 'change your life'
A movie buff has urged Netflix fans to check out the 'most underrated film of this decade' on the streaming platform – and people agree it's worth the two hours of screen time Netflix subscribers have been urged to check out the 'most underrated film of this decade' on the streaming platform - and people can't get enough of it. The film buff, who is known as @eccyreviews on social media, has shared the docudrama you need to check out on UK Netflix, claiming it to be one of the best things you'll see all year. In his TikTok clip, he said: "Netflix have just secretly added one of the most underrated films of this decade and you need to check it out immediately because it's actually based on a true story." Directed by Matt Johnson, the 2023 movie BlackBerry follows the story of the "meteoric rise and catastrophic demise of the world's first smartphone". The Netflix hit stars Jay Baruchel, Glenn Howerton and Matt Johnson and has earned itself 28 awards alongside 31 nominations - including Best Film at Berlin International Film Festival. The TikTok user added: "It shows how they built the company up, how cutthroat business is. "I remember everyone having a BlackBerry. I remember it being absolutely huge. "Glenn Howerton give a truly incredible performance, which is definitely worth checking out. If you're a fan of true stories like me, you'll definitely enjoy this film." Commenting on his post, one user said: "Classic movie, watched it yesterday." Another user added: "Giving this a go, cheers!" A third user said: "Was brilliant." Reviewing the movie on IMDb, one viewer said: "Watching these movies about the crazy cutthroat businesses of the 80s and 90s is very entertaining. "This movie was great, well acted, fast paced and fun throughout. I myself grew up during the time of the Blackberry but didn't know anything about their story, so this was a fascinating look into how crazy the tech world was at the time. "The real gem of the entire movie though was the Golden God himself, Glen Howerton. I've been a fan of Always Sunny and I'm always interested in what the cast does outside of that show. "I haven't seen Glen in a serious role yet but he delivered. In Always Sunny Glen plays a sociopath who is constantly getting angry, you could tell that in Blackberry he was able to use that for his character. Glen was by far the best part of this movie, funny and intimidating all at the same time." Another added: "I may be biased, but as a Canadian, the story of Blackberry isn't just one of the greatest business stories of all time, but a story about Canada. Really, Research in Motion and Blackberry represent what a lot of Canadians feel: we have great potential to do amazing things, but we need to be perfect, because the titan down south - the United States - will eat our lunch as soon as they're able to."
Daily Mirror
20 hours ago
- Daily Mirror
Justin Bieber marks incredible milestone after months of 'marriage woes' and fan concern
Canadian singer Justin Bieber appeared to put the record straight over the state of his relationship with wife Hailey in tracks on his new album, SWAG Justin Bieber has scored his eighth Number 1 with his new single DAISIES, his focus track from his seventh studio album - which appears to reference some of his rumoured recent marriage woes with wife Hailey. The 31-year-old climbed three spots this week to top the Official Charts. With eight UK Number 1 singles now under his belt, it puts him on par with Oasis, The Rolling Stones and Sam Smith, who also have eight chart topping singles. Artists who have scored more Number 1s than that so far are Elvis with 21, The Beatles with 18, Ed Sheeran, Westlife and Cliff Richard jointly on 14, Madonna on 13, Take That with 12, Calvin Harris and Eminem with 11, Elton John with 10 and Rihanna, ABBA and the Spice Girls, who each have nine. DAISIES is Justin's first Number 1 single in six years – and his first solo chart topper in a decade, after Love Yourself soared to the top spot back in 2015. In the hit track, he could be talking about wife of seven years Hailey, who he shares 10-month-old son Jack Blues with. The lyrics start: "Throwing petals, like do you love me or not? Head is spinning and it don't know when to stop." "Cause you said forever babe. Did you mean it or not?" Justin sings, before saying: "You leave me on read babe, but I still get the message. Instead of a line it's three dots, but I can connect them. And if it ain't right, babe, you know I respect it. But if you need time, just take your time. Honey, I get it, I get it, I get it." The first track on the 21 song album, SWAG, is called 'All I can Take'. While another is titled 'Walking Away.' In the latter, one of the first lyrics is: 'Girl, we better stop before we say some s***." Justin continues: "We've been testing our patience. I think we're better off if we just take a breath." However, the Canadian singer-songwriter then appears to set the record straight on his relationship with Hailey. He says: "Baby, I ain't walking away. You are my diamond. Gave you a ring. Made you a promise." Perhaps speaking abut his own issues with drugs and his mental health - which he has publicly referenced in social media posts - he sings: "I told you I'd change." The track goes on: "And every time you say my name. I'm reminded how I love when you say it. I know we have this moment to face. But baby, I ain't walking away." As well as latest single DAISIES, Justin's previous Number 1s include I Don't Care With Ed Sheeran in 2019, Despacito - Remix with Luis Fonsi and Daddy Yankee and I'm the One with DJ Khaled, Quavo, Chance the Rapper and Lil Wayne, both in 2017. He also reached the top spot in the UK charts in 2016 with Cold Water with Major Lazer and MØ and three times in 2015 with Sorry, Love Yourself and What Do You Mean?
