Latest news with #FirstLady
Bloomberg
11 hours ago
- Politics
- Bloomberg
Michelle Obama Is Quitting Politics. Or Is She?
Opinion Nia-Malika Henderson, Columnist The former first lady says she's done being a Democratic Party spokesperson and will focus on her podcast. Because podcasters don't influence elections at all. Save Former First Lady Michelle Obama is done with politics, at least in the traditional sense. And for anyone who has paid attention to Obama over the last few years, this pivot should come as no surprise. Like most first ladies, Obama, 61, was a reluctant one.
Times
4 days ago
- Entertainment
- Times
Hail the brave, defiant women who rightly shame their attackers
'Let them see what they've done.' On the flight back to Washington after her husband's assassination, that was Jackie Kennedy's reason for refusing to clean herself up and change out of that famous pink suit. It was spattered with blood, powdered bone and brain tissue, her stockings were soaked and her face was smeared with gore but she insisted on stepping off the plane bearing her battle scars for the world's cameras to record. The ensemble itself, the bloodied stockings folded into a white towel, is preserved in a climate-controlled vault outside Washington. Almost nobody has seen it since that day and, on the Kennedy family's strict instructions, the vault will not be opened for decades to come. Why didn't she change out of those bloodstained garments on the way back? It's a three-hour flight from Dallas to Washington and yet she sat there all the way in that suit, with the blood stiffening on her clothes, its metallic smell thickening the air, rather than wash and change to make herself presentable. She was clearly a woman who took great pride in her glamour — it must have gone against every instinct to appear in public in such a degraded state. Hours earlier she'd been first lady, a fashion icon, radiant in her custom-made outfit; now she was a widow, dishevelled, stained and dirty, a sight to horrify and repel rather than charm and attract. There must have been some, back in the day, who considered her display hysterical and unseemly, unbecoming to someone of her status. Not much has changed in the 60-odd years since. Women in the public eye are still expected to present themselves in a manner never required of men, and attractive women are under an added obligation to be decorative, as if to do otherwise were a defiance of their purpose. Sinéad O'Connor shaved her head to thwart industry executives who she feared prized her good looks above her music. Youth and beauty, for all the strides we've made, are still considered a woman's most valuable capital; old and ugly are the insults most often flung at contrary or controversial females to put them in their proper place. An Irish Times letter writer last week described how her 81-year-old mother confronted a man on Sandycove beach for breaching a ban on dogs in the bathing area, as he had two large hounds roaming free. His response was to put a heavy chain lead around the elderly woman's neck and tell her she was the only dog on the beach. The most striking image of the past week, for me, was the picture of Alanna Quinn Idris on her way to court to confront one of the thugs who blinded her in an unprovoked attack four years ago. She is an exceptionally beautiful young woman and, with the wind lifting her curls into a black halo, she looked like an ancient warrior goddess, striding into the criminal courts in Dublin in pursuit of justice. But her beauty was not being deployed for the male gaze or admiration; instead, she was deliberately subverting convention by displaying, to horrify, and even repel us, the evidence of her injuries. And it is shocking to see: her dead eye, a white orb in her lovely face, challenging, defiant and uncompromising. The author Salman Rushdie also lost an eye, in a stabbing attack provoked by the Satanic Verses fatwa during a speaking event in New York in 2022. He wrote a memoir, Knife, in which he reflected deeply on the incident and laid bare the chilling detail of the injury. His eye, he said, was left dangling on his cheek 'like a soft-boiled egg', and the lids are now stitched closed. But in public, he covers his wound with a darkened spectacle lens or an eye patch. By contrast, Quinn Idris offers her attackers no reprieve, and her decision to attend court without covering her ruined eye was a statement of astonishing power: let them see what they've done. By coincidence, another defiant sufferer of male violence, Natasha O'Brien was also back in the news last week, with an RTE documentary charting her emergence from victim of a brutal, random street attack to campaigner against gender-based violence. I suspect that by being beautiful women, way above the level of the scrawny, cowardly little thugs who attacked them, O'Brien and Quinn Idris somehow inflamed those inadequate men into trying to destroy their looks. Cathal Crotty, a soldier, held O'Brien by the hair and punched her repeatedly in the face, breaking her nose, after she challenged him for taunting a gay man on a night out. Quinn Idris had previously been harassed by Jack Cummins, who last week admitted procuring the attack in which she was struck in the face with the saddle of an e-scooter. Stigma, or shame, was cited last week by Sarah Benson, the Women's Aid chief executive, to explain the reluctance of women to admit to being victims of domestic abuse. 'Persisting social attitudes to domestic violence,' she said, 'prevent women from coming forward.' Last year, however, Women's Aid received the highest number of disclosures of domestic violence in its 50-year history. More than 41,000 women reported abuse by a partner or former partner, up 17 per cent on 2023. Is it really the case that more women are being assaulted now than, say, during Covid, when UN Women described the global spike in domestic violence as a 'shadow pandemic'? Or is it just possible that, inspired by women like Quinn Idris and O'Brien, who are placing the shame where it belongs, more victims are emboldened to come forward, stand up to their abusers and let the world see what they've done? Coming soon after band member Mo Chara's court appearance in London on a terrorism charge, Kneecap's performance in Fairview Park this month was always going to be a big event. And so it proved: the rappers attracted their biggest crowd for a solo gig, playing to a capacity audience of 8,000 on home turf in Dublin. The controversy, which included the UK prime minister, Sir Keir Starmer, saying he didn't believe they should have been in yesterday's Glastonbury line-up, almost certainly attracted supporters for whom the band's music was a secondary consideration to their politics. Mo Chara, real name Liam Óg Ó hAnnaidh, is accused of displaying a jihadist flag at a London show in November. Also last weekend, a performer who has attracted very little controversy, been denounced by no world leaders, taken no stance, fashionable or otherwise, on the Gazan conflict and engaged in no divisive rhetoric, played in Dublin. Zach Bryan, of whom most people of my generation had never heard before his Irish appearances, played three shows in another park in the capital. Each night, the country-pop star, who sings of love, loss, longing, drinking beer and talking to his dead grandpa, drew a crowd of more than 60,000 people, evenly gender balanced and mostly twentysomethings, or almost 200,000 Irish fans over his Phoenix Park run. That's enough to fill Croke Park almost three times over, whereas a crowd of 8,000 at a Cavan-Monaghan Gaelic football match on a wet Sunday in April last year was considered paltry. Could it be that some people like their music to come without a side-order of political hectoring and a compulsory serving of performative virtue-signalling? Who'd have thought it?
Free Malaysia Today
7 days ago
- Politics
- Free Malaysia Today
King Charles to host Trump in second UK state visit
Donald Trump accepted an invitation from King Charles for a second state visit in February. (AFP pic) LONDON : King Charles will host US President Donald Trump for his unprecedented second state visit to Britain later this year, Buckingham Palace confirmed today. Trump accepted an invitation from Charles for a second state visit in February, making the US president the first elected political leader in modern times to be hosted for two state visits by a British monarch. 'Your country is a fantastic country and it'll be our honour to be there,' Trump said after prime minister Keir Starmer handed him a handwritten letter from Charles in the Oval Office, describing the king as 'a beautiful man'. No date was set at the time for the event which Britain hopes will help cement close ties between the two allies at a time of global upheaval, and one that is always marked by lavish displays of pomp and pageantry. 'His majesty has known president Trump for many years and looks forward to hosting him and the first lady later this year,' a palace aide said. Last week, the 'Manu Regia', an official signed invitation from the monarch which signals the start of formal planning, was hand-delivered to the White House by British representatives, with confirmation of the exact date for the trip to follow. Initially there were expectations that Trump would first come to Britain for a short trip where he would meet the king for a private meeting, ahead of the formal state visit. But it had proved impossible to find a suitable date in their diaries over the summer so planning for the state visit has begun instead, a palace source said. British state visits usually include a carriage ride through central London and a lavish state banquet, but it is not clear yet where Trump will be hosted. The late Queen Elizabeth welcomed Trump to Buckingham Palace for a three-day state visit in June 2019 during his first term in office, during which he had a private lunch with the sovereign, as well as having tea with Charles, who was then heir. That visit already put Trump in a select group of US presidents, as only Barack Obama and George W Bush were afforded official state visits to Britain during Elizabeth's record 70 years on the throne. Trump was also invited to tea at Windsor Castle, the monarch's home to the west of London during a trip to Britain in 2018. Both his visits to Britain also attracted large protests, with his 2018 trip costing police more than £14 million as 10,000 officers were deployed from all over Britain.
CNN
25-06-2025
- Politics
- CNN
Trump's state visit to the UK to take place this year, says Buckingham Palace
The United Kingdom will host Donald Trump for a state visit this year, but King Charles and the US president won't be able to meet informally over the summer due to their busy diaries, CNN understands. The 'Manu Regia' – a formal invitation signed by the British monarch – was hand delivered to the White House by representatives of the British embassy in Washington last week. Charles, 76, had initially suggested in a letter delivered to Trump in the Oval Office in February by the UK prime minister that the pair could first meet in Scotland at Dumfries House or Balmoral ahead of the grand official visit. However, it would seem that scheduling challenges have taken that option off the table. It has been said that the logistical reasons preventing the private meeting from taking place before the state visit were entirely understood and appreciated by all parties. 'His Majesty has known President Trump for many years and looks forward to hosting him and the First Lady later this year,' a palace aide told CNN. The palace's confirmation of the upcoming trip means that formal planning for Trump's state visit is now underway. The exact dates have not yet been announced but September is being touted by many as most likely. The late Queen Elizabeth II previously hosted Trump for a three-day state visit to the UK in 2019 during his first term in office. Generally, second-term presidents are offered lunch or tea with the monarch at Windsor Castle. That was the case for Presidents Barack Obama and George W. Bush. But the offer of an 'unprecedented' second state visit was extended on the king's behalf by Keir Starmer during a visit to DC four months ago, which Trump enthusiastically accepted.
Reuters
25-06-2025
- Politics
- Reuters
King Charles to host Trump in second UK state visit later this year
LONDON, June 25 (Reuters) - King Charles will host U.S. President Donald Trump for his unprecedented second state visit to Britain later this year, Buckingham Palace confirmed on Wednesday. Trump accepted an invitation from Charles for a second state visit in February, making the U.S. president the first elected political leader in modern times to be hosted for two state visits by a British monarch. "Your country is a fantastic country and it'll be our honour to be there," Trump said after Prime Minister Keir Starmer handed him a handwritten letter from Charles in the Oval Office, describing the king as "a beautiful man". No date was set at the time for the event which Britain hopes will help cement close ties between the two allies at a time of global upheaval, and one that is always marked by lavish displays of pomp and pageantry. "His majesty has known President Trump for many years and looks forward to hosting him and the First Lady later this year," a Palace aide said. Last week, the "Manu Regia", an official signed invitation from the monarch which signals the start of formal planning, was hand-delivered to the White House by British representatives, with confirmation of the exact date for the trip to follow. Initially there were expectations that Trump would first come to Britain for a short trip where he would meet the king for a private meeting, ahead of the formal state visit. But it had proved impossible to find a suitable date in their diaries over the summer so planning for the state visit has begun instead, a Palace source said. British state visits usually include a carriage ride through central London and a lavish state banquet, but it is not clear yet where Trump will be hosted. The late Queen Elizabeth welcomed Trump to Buckingham Palace for a three-day state visit in June 2019 during his first term in office, during which he had a private lunch with the sovereign, as well as having tea with Charles, who was then heir. That visit already put Trump in a select group of U.S. presidents, as only Barack Obama and George W. Bush were afforded official state visits to Britain during Elizabeth's record 70 years on the throne. Trump was also invited to tea at Windsor Castle, the monarch's home to the west of London during a trip to Britain in 2018. Both his visits to Britain also attracted large protests, with his 2018 trip costing police more than 14 million pounds as 10,000 officers were deployed from all over Britain.
