Latest news with #UnionJack
Daily Mirror
8 hours ago
- Entertainment
- Daily Mirror
EastEnders star stuns fans as hilarious flag spotted in Glastonbury crowd
EastEnders star Natalie Cassidy was left shocked after she spotted her own face on a flag in Glastonbury, and made fans laugh with her response to the creation online EastEnders star Natalie Cassidy has left fans in stitches after discovering her own face flying over the crowds at Glastonbury Festival, even though she wasn't there in person. Natalie, 42, who plays Sonia Fowler in the long-running BBC soap, took to Instagram after spotting a festival-goer waving a giant flag with her EastEnders character emblazoned on it. The flag read "What doesn't kill you makes you Sonia", and there was a photo of Sonia Fowler pasted underneath the statement. Natalie shared a snap of the flag with her 531,000 Instagram followers, writing: "I will be watching from my living room all weekend but I'm there on a flag so life made. Whoever you are – thank you." Her post quickly sparked a wave of delighted reactions online. One fan commented: "Brilliant! What a moment for you Nat! We need to find who this is!!!" while another wrote: "Well isn't this the best thing on the internet today!!!!" A third chimed in saying: "I actually LOVE this," and one person even joked: "It should replace the Union Jack!" This was probably a welcomed moment of internet attention for Cassidy, who recently found herself forced to tackle a deeply upsetting online hoax. Last week the EastEnders star found a false claim circulating on Facebook that suggested she had been diagnosed with breast cancer. The fake post claimed Cassidy had broken down in tears while revealing a secret cancer battle, and was accompanied by photos lifted from the EastEnders set. Natalie issued a furious statement on Instagram, calling the hoax "disgusting and disgraceful". She told followers: "THIS IS DISGUSTING AND DISGRACEFUL. So many people are going through this and I have had messages asking if I'm ok. It is completely made up and a terrible story. Take this down whoever you are." Fans and fellow celebrities rallied around Natalie, praising her for speaking out against misinformation online. The incident came just months after Cassidy's dramatic exit from EastEnders in April. Her character, Sonia, left Albert Square fashion after discovering that her partner Reiss Colwell was behind a murder she had been arrested for. When her name was cleared Sonia drove off with her sister Bianca and daughters Bex and baby Julia, leaving Walford behind for good. Although she is sadly now gone from the BBC soap, Natalie has been keeping herself busy with new TV projects, which have included hosting a consumer show for Channel 4 and filming a BBC documentary where she trains as a carer. Meanwhile, Glastonbury has been drawing huge crowds this week. Festival bosses were forced to shut down Woodsies tent after a secret set from New Zealand pop star Lorde caused overcrowding chaos. A source told The Mirror: "It's sweltering inside the tent given the amount of people crammed inside. Bosses are urging people to stand up off the floor to make room."
New Statesman
20 hours ago
- Business
- New Statesman
Inside the false economy of Rachel Reeves's welfare cuts
Middle England was 'terrified'. This was the word I heard over and over from people on the street outside Biggleswade JobCentre, a low-slung shoebox of municipal green wedged between The Rose and Good Pheasant pubs – windows reflecting Union Jack bunting in a haberdashery opposite. This is a solid slice of commuterville England: war memorial on the green, mock-Tudor curry house, VE Day posters and Pride flyers plastered about. The government's welfare reforms – removing PIP from future claimants other than for the severest cases – will hit the post-industrial north and coastal towns hardest, better-off parts of Britain like this Bedfordshire market town will face an unexpected embarrassment of circumstances – one that ministers don't appear to have foreseen. A quarter of Personal Independence Payment recipients here in the Mid Bedfordshire constituency work – the highest proportion in Britain. Across the country, over half a million PIP claimants are in employment, at 573,620. Under the government's plans, people in their position, who need help to work, will lose their benefit. PIP, I am reminded repeatedly by claimants I speak to, is 'not an out-of-work benefit'. It was designed to help anyone with a disability or chronic illness, whatever their financial situation, to live an independent life. Taking it away, as the welfare bill still intends to, will hinder the ability of disabled people to keep working. Nearly two-thirds of working people receiving PIP would have to reduce or give up work if they lose it, according to a study by the Money and Mental Health Policy Institute, the charity led by consumer champion Martin Lewis – a man who knows a false economy when he sees one. This is despite ministers' rationale for the cuts: that they will incentivise the rising number of 'economically-inactive' people into work. One Biggleswade resident whose PIP helps with her PTSD found that past welfare reductions pushed her into a 'cycle of losing a job and falling into dire straits', warned her carer. 'This is supposed to be a Labour government. Now they're doing what the Tories did, what's the difference?' She's not alone. I hear from people around the country relying on PIP for transport, personal care, domestic work, energy, food, adjustments to their homes, medical equipment, wheelchair costs – all vital for holding down their jobs. 'I'm preparing for retirement – how do I carry on?' asked Bethany Colburn, 31, a senior systems engineer for the aerospace and defence industry in Dorset, who receives £290 a month of PIP to help with her cerebral palsy. 'If my disability benefit gets taken away, I don't see how I get back up.' Subscribe to The New Statesman today from only £8.99 per month Subscribe From contributing to her cleaner and physio, an adapted bungalow, car and savings for a new wheelchair, PIP is 'a fundamental part of my life' and 'the reason why I am where I am and have achieved what I have'. Crying and shaking, she told me that removing or reducing her support would 'pull the rug out from under me – I'm genuinely terrified'. In Oxford, Jo, a 44-year-old retail store manager with impaired vision and complex post-traumatic stress disorder uses her monthly £500 to pay for her bus fare and taxis to and from her full-time job, specialist glasses every six months, magnifying screens and other equipment. She would have to stop working if she lost her PIP. 'It allows you to live a life. That means you can keep that job up,' she told me. 'I'd be worse off not working, so I'd need to go on Universal Credit' – therefore costing the state more. 'We're not all benefits scroungers. Being disabled is expensive.' Labour MPs have been reading stories like these in their inboxes day after day. They also know from their own local labour markets that the jobs don't exist for this hypothetical new workforce of the disabled and sick. 'There just simply aren't enough vacancies to match up to the government's employment ambitions from these reforms, and that's even starker when we look at disability-confident vacancies,' finds Sam Tims, lead analyst at the Joseph Rowntree Foundation poverty charity. 'These cuts, rather than motivating someone to find work, are going to create additional hardship, and that will push people further away from the labour market.' Perhaps ministers assumed voters were still stuck in the New Labour and coalition era of public revulsion towards benefit 'scroungers'. A time of tabloid demonisation, Benefits Street, and George Osborne's 'strivers versus skivers'. Fairness and graft are indeed rooted deep in the British psyche, but life has changed. Many 'strivers' can only do so with the help of the welfare state: one in six people on PIP and four in ten people on Universal Credit work. Covid meant so many more voters and their friends and relatives – across the class and geographical spectrum – came into contact with the social security system. Welfare is mainstream. In the post-pandemic year of 2021, the proportion of Brits who felt benefits were too low exceeded those who felt they were too high for the first time in 20 years, according to the British Social Attitudes Survey. Today, most voters across parties wanted the government to reverse its decision to cut PIP, found More in Common polling. It offends their sense of fairness that someone who cannot wash below the waist, or cook a meal, would no longer be eligible for disability benefit. In Biggleswade, anger throbs beneath the sunshine and hanging baskets. 'Believe me, I'd be back in work like a shot; I'd swap places with anyone,' said Julia, a care worker injured in a car accident who can no longer use her left leg. She had to leave her job because the care home was unable to make reasonable adjustments for her disability. 'If politicians think you're sat on your arse getting handouts, they're out of touch.' [See also: Welcome to HMO Britain] Related
Daily Mirror
2 days ago
- Politics
- Daily Mirror
Tory MP launches astonishing attack on Kemi Badenoch after staggering blunder
There were gasps across the Commons as Kemi Badenoch accused Keir Starmer of 'evading' PMQs to attend two major international summits - prompting Tory Mark Pritchard to voice his disbelief "Unserious" Kemi Badenoch was dramatically slammed by one of her backbenchers after a stunning Commons blunder. Conservative MP Mark Pritchard launched an astonishing attack on his own leader after she lashed out at Keir Starmer for missing PMQs for two weeks. Mr Pritchard said he may lose the party whip for speaking his mind - but said "so be it". It came after Ms Badenoch accused the PM of "evading" PMQs to attend the G7 and NATO summits at a time of global crisis. The remark was met with disbelief across the Commons, and Mr Starmer said he could see from the faces of Tory MPs that there was "disquiet" within her own ranks. Addressing the comments, Mr Pritchard said: "Whilst we may disagree on the detail, can I agree with the Prime Minister as far as possible in this place. It would be better to keep partisan politics out of national security issues. "And who knows, I may get the whip withdrawn for saying it, but so be it. There are things that go beyond party politics. So can I thank the Prime Minister for all his hard work in the national security interests of this country?" It came after Ms Badenoch said: "He has evaded Prime Minister's Questions for two weeks, only to come back here only to come back here to tell us what we already heard on the news." Mr Starmer said the comment showed how "unserious" she was. He said: ""There has never been a more important time to work with our allies, and to be absolutely serious in our response. That response was unserious. Unserious. "To suggest that at a time like this that the Prime Minister attending a G7 summit and the Nato summit is avoiding PMQs is unserious. What happened at Nato yesterday was historic. It was very important at a time like this that Nato showed unity and strength with a commitment to the future, not just to the past. "That took a huge amount of work with our allies over the last few days and weeks. We have been centrally involved in that, crafting the final outcome, and we were recognised as having done so. I am proud that we helped put that summit into the right place, and the world emerged safer as a result." And he continued: "For the leader of the Opposition to belittle it just shows how irrelevant she and the party opposite have become. They used to be serious about these issues, they used to be capable of cross-party consensus, and all of that is slipping away." The comments were echoed by Lib Dem leader Sir Ed Davey. He told the Commons: "The Liberal Democrats agree that would it be wrong to leave an empty chair in front of the Union Jack at the table for the G7. "And I share his surprise is now Conservative policy not to attend the G7 and I am astonished."
Spectator
3 days ago
- Politics
- Spectator
Nigel Farage and George Galloway share a common problem
A more gracious person would refrain from saying, 'I told you so', but I'm not a gracious person. So, as George Galloway announces his backing for another Scottish independence referendum, allow me to say – nay, crow – I told you so. Galloway, leader of the Workers party, says he and his party 'support the right of the Scots to self-determination' and that 'the time for another referendum is close'. He adds: 'Speaking personally, I can no longer support the British state as presently constituted.' If you're familiar with politics north of the border, you might be wondering if this is the same George Galloway who travelled Scotland in 2014 on his Just Say Naw tour, urging an anti-independence vote in that year's referendum. It is indeed the man who said: 'It sickens me that the country of my birth is threatened by such obsolescent dogma. Flags and borders do not matter a jot.' Galloway hasn't stopped being a Unionist; he never was one It is also the man who was the face (though not the leader) of All for Unity, which rocked up on the scene ahead of the 2021 Holyrood elections and declared itself the anti-independence alliance that would unite the pro-Union parties. This was news to the pro-Union parties and they responded with the political equivalent of 'new fone, who dis?' All for Unity more than earned the disregard it received. It was essentially a Twitter account doing a bad impersonation of a political party, but what it lacked in electoral strategy it made up for in digital noisemaking. Its social media outriders took a particular dislike to me, which is shocking because I'm lovely. All I'd done was repeatedly point out in The Spectator that they were a hopeless shower of political halfwits. Some people can be very sensitive. I didn't just argue that All for Unity risked splitting the anti-independence vote, I pointed out that it wasn't all that anti-independence. For one, its tactical voting guide endorsed a Labour MSP who had called on Boris Johnson to hand powers over referendums to Holyrood. For another, its lead candidate on the South of Scotland list was George Galloway. Just a few years earlier, he had said it would be a 'democratic monstrosity' if Westminster refused Holyrood another referendum. A few years before that, he had explained why he wasn't joining the official No campaign in the Scottish referendum: 'because it's a Unionist campaign, because it flies the Union Jack. I hate the Union Jack.' Galloway hasn't stopped being a Unionist; he never was one. Galloway has gone from opposing independence in 2014, to asserting Scotland's right to indyref2 in 2017, to campaigning against indyref2 in 2021, to reverting to support for indyref2 in 2025. He's pivoted more times than Mikhail Baryshnikov. And here's where I get to gloat. Total vindication: unlocked. This is one of the paradoxes of populism. Voters will often say, 'At least you know where you stand with him', when the him in question routinely adopts stances and ditches them again without any intervening search of the soul. 'Every politician does that,' you might protest. 'My point exactly,' I would reply. Populists claim politicians are all the same, then set about proving it. This unreliability is a hallmark not only of leftist populism but of its right-wing counterpart. Reform is an obvious example. Is Nigel Farage's party left or right, authoritarian or libertarian, interventionist or market-driven? Is it pro- or anti-economic migration, for or against multiculturalism, all-in or sceptical on devolution? The answer is that it holds all of these positions, switching out one for another as expediency (or the leader's whims) demands. Populism is very useful if you aim to disrupt the status quo but its lack of ideological or intellectual moorings leaves it vulnerable to mainstream capture. When voters become anxious about political turmoil, they can turn to the reassuring and the familiar, and populists have no option but to follow them. If disruption is all you aim for, populism is all you require, but if you want to replace the established order with a new one, you also need a philosophy that is held sincerely, fiercely and with constancy. Reform has no such philosophy and is too fragile a coalition of conflicting interests and incoherent instincts to acquire one between now and the next election. As such, the party can only be reactive, loudly opposing everything Labour does and reminding the Tories of everything they failed to do. Farage need only point to the parlous state of Britain to dramatise the ill effects of Labour and Tory governance. That might be enough to win a general election but it is not a strategy for implementing the kind of transformation (political, cultural, institutional) that national revival demands. Reform gives voters an opportunity to chuck a spanner in the gears but offers no prospect of new machinery. Nigel Farage, like George Galloway, is a populist and populism is all you'll ever get from him. Trust me: I told you so before.
Scottish Sun
3 days ago
- Entertainment
- Scottish Sun
How nepo baby offspring of Britpop stars are leading re-birth of Cool Britannia – but one key part won't be coming back
Find out how Britpop Nepo babies are fronting a bold new era of Britpop – but with a twist COOL BRITANNIA RULES AGAIN How nepo baby offspring of Britpop stars are leading re-birth of Cool Britannia – but one key part won't be coming back Click to share on X/Twitter (Opens in new window) Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window) COOL Britannia is back – and that's official. High society bible Tatler is among those making the declaration on its new edition, which features the offspring of Nineties music legends Liam Gallagher and Richard Ashcroft. Sign up for the Entertainment newsletter Sign up 10 Love Island host Maya Jama recreates Liz Hurley's iconic 1994 dress Credit: Getty 10 Liz in the famous Versace safety pin dress that she wore to the Four Weddings And A Funeral premiere in 1994 Credit: Getty Heralding the rebirth of the Britpop-era movement, the magazine pictures Molly Moorish-Gallagher and musician Sonny Ashcroft proudly standing in front of a giant Union Jack. Anyone over the age of 40 is likely to spot the obvious homage being paid to a similar front cover published by Vanity Fair in 1997. That iconic picture saw Oasis singer Liam sharing a bed with his then girlfriend, actress Patsy Kensit. The couple married a few months later when Oasis were arguably the biggest music stars of the decade. And it is no coincidence the new magazine cover comes just days before the Oasis reunion tour, which will have Richard Ashcroft as the support act. But Tatler did not go for another 'power couple', like Liam and Patsy were, and instead took the nepo baby route. But as the new faces of Cool Britannia take centre stage, it's less champagne supernova, more alcohol-free explosion. Tatler However, editors still think the duo are living proof of a second coming. The mag claims: 'Ahead of the Oasis reunion, Liam's daughter Molly Moorish-Gallagher and The Verve scion Sonny Ashcroft are leading the Britpop revival. 'They're the next generation of Britpop: Molly Moorish-Gallagher and Sonny Ashcroft are gracing the cover of Tatler as their fathers, Liam Gallagher and Richard Ashcroft, prepare for an earth-shattering Oasis reunion. 'But as the new faces of Cool Britannia take centre stage, it's less champagne supernova, more alcohol-free explosion.' 10 Dua Lipa's style for her Wembley gig last week seems to have been inspired by model Christy Turlington's catwalk turn in the Nineties Credit: Getty 10 Christy wearing the original look in the Nineties Credit: Getty 10 Patsy Kensit and then-boyfriend Liam Gallagher on Vanity Fair in 1997 Credit: EPA 10 Heralding the rebirth of the Britpop-era movement, Tatler pictures Molly Moorish-Gallagher and musician Sonny Ashcroft proudly standing in front of a giant Union Jack Credit: Oli Kearon Noel and Liam Gallagher seen together for first time since announcing Oasis reunion The piece continues: 'She is the daughter of Lisa Moorish and Liam Gallagher; he is the eldest son of Richard Ashcroft and Kate Radley. 'Together, they are the new faces of the (Br)it crowd. 'But what do the pair make of Cool Britannia 2.0?' It turns out that neither of the nepo babies shares their parents' hellraising ways, and the revival will not be based around downing pints of lager or being 'chained to the mirror and the razor blade', as Oasis once sang. Sonny proudly tells the magazine he's not one for a night out. He said: 'I'm very much a night-in person. Seeing friends, some good food and drinks and playing games of some kind. Molly Moorish-Gallagher, Liam's daugher "A nice meal with friends and then gathering over some sort of board game or film at home.' While Molly says her idea of a wild night is: 'Seeing friends, some good food and drinks and playing games of some kind.' But if the Cool Britannia nepo kids aren't keeping the Nineties hedonistic vibe going, it seems Gen Z-ers are keeping the momentum going through fashion. Love Island host Maya Jama recently recreated Liz Hurley's famous Versace safety pin dress that she wore to the Four Weddings And A Funeral premiere in 1994. Singers Dua Lipa and Lola Young have been inspired by other huge names of the Nineties in their fashion choices. And Liam's son Lennon was pretty much an identikit copy of his dad when he attended a Burberry pub takeover last week. A new study has also revealed that youngsters are now huge fans of some of the decade's greatest hairstyles, including The Rachel from Friends, the floppy hair of actor Johnny Depp and Victoria Beckham's Posh bob. 10 It's all about the flag for singer Lola Young - seemingly a nod to Geri Horner's Ginger Spice Credit: Instagram/lolayounggg 10 Geri rocking the iconic Girl Power outfit Credit: Alamy 10 Lennon Gallagher in Burberry jacket last week... Credit: Getty 10 ... just like dad Liam during Oasis's 1996 Maine Road gig Credit: PA:Press Association The study, commissioned by Funkin Cocktails, also found a fondness for Doc Marten boots and baggy jeans, famously sported by the likes of Mark Wahlberg when he was rapper Marky Mark. Ashley Birch-Ruffell, from Funkin Cocktails, said: 'Nineties fashion is very on trend, and it's fun to see what our official favourite styles are. 'There are clearly many iconic hairstyles and memorable moments from this decade that live on in the public consciousness. 'It seems clear that Nineties trends aren't going anywhere anytime soon — and why would we want them to?' 'It's clear that the whole culture of the Nineties is still considered unapologetically iconic.' Gen Z can't match our hellraising era IT was a sensational whirl of bucket hats, Union Jacks, lads' mags, boozy bands and more than a whiff of the old marching powder, writes Rod McPhee. The late Nineties were a hellraising golden age not seen since the Swinging Sixties. But despite being due another period of partying, I'm sorry to say we'll never quite be able to match the magic of the original Cool Britannia. Trust me, I was there, I did it. I got the T-shirt – and the dodgy Liam Gallagher shaggy haircut What's more, I loved it all. From music to fashion, and movies to models, the run-up to the year 2000 was the perfect blend of sex and, yes, drugs, plus lashings of rock 'n' roll. Of course, it's great to get a taste of the good old days when Oasis stage their comeback tour next week, plus there's the prospect of the Spice Girls doing a similar celebratory event next year. But nothing can once again live up to a period in modern pop culture history which I believe was genuinely unique. Maybe I'm looking back at the past through rose-tinted glasses. But no pop groups, artists, catwalk stars or actors these days come close to the tearaway Primrose Hill crowd that kept us entertained and shocked three decades ago. That said, no one would love reliving some of the brilliance of the Nineties more than me. So let's make the most of summer 2025. 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