Skip to main content

Posts

‘Call me’: FCA releases messages between former Barclays boss and Jeffrey Epstein

Financial watchdog provisionally concludes Jes Staley misled it over his friendship with billionaire sex offender Ex-Barclays boss Jes Staley banned from City over Jeffrey Epstein scandal The UK’s financial watchdog has released a series of messages between former Barclays boss Jes Staley and convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein “referring to the strength of their friendship”. The messages form part of its 79-page report , which says Staley and the late billionaire exchanged more than 1,100 emails between July 2008 and December 2012, and continued communicating “between January 2013 and October 2015, exchanging almost 600 emails during that period”. Continue reading... from The Guardian https://ift.tt/HngALc9

Kirkmoore review – disability is way funnier than this comedy can handle

This sitcom about disabled young people at a residential college is spot on with its depiction of disabled dating and friendships. Unfortunately, it forgets one thing – making people laugh There are some really nice moments in BBC Three ’s new one-off comedy, Kirkmoore , about three disabled young people living at a residential college. Chloe, a smart, wheelchair-using queer woman, is trying to explore the dating scene with the usual assortment of apps (and an ill-advised fling with a care worker) but is almost thwarted by a care manager who pointedly comments that Chloe has arranged her “third date this week,” before warning her: “if you don’t knuckle down I’m going to have to involve your parents.”. Chloe, it should be noted, is an adult – she is still at college, aged 21, because she wasn’t given the right support by her previous sixth form. For many disabled people with care needs, it’s a day-to-day reality that a stranger with a checklist can control their choices. To see this

Arab ministers urge Israel to resume talks on two-state solution

Emergency meeting of Arab League calls for ‘serious negotiations between the PLO and Israel’ Arab foreign ministers have urged Israel to meet its international obligations as an occupying power and return to negotiations on a two-state solution that provides a viable state for Palestine. At an emergency meeting of the Arab League in Cairo on Wednesday, ministers underlined “the importance of resuming the peace process and starting serious negotiations between the Palestine Liberation Organization and Israel.” Continue reading... from The Guardian https://ift.tt/kpOmJr1

Why Labour will be pleased that ‘boring’ was the buzzword of conference

MPs stayed on-message, fringe events were packed and businesses wanted to get involved at a conference that passed by with barely a hitch In the hotel bar on the last night of Labour conference in Liverpool on Tuesday, one senior aide of Keir Starmer was taking soundings from journalists about how they felt the annual gathering had gone. The adviser nodded along when they said that it had been a competent and professional affair but it was only when one reporter replied that it had also been “a bit boring” that he broke out into a big grin. “That’s the right answer,” he said. Continue reading... from The Guardian https://ift.tt/ivRNLml

Russia fails to win back seat on human rights council after UN vote

Country was suspended from body last year after Ukraine invasion but scale of support for readmittance will worry Kyiv and allies Russia has been defeated in its bid to regain a seat in the UN’s top human rights body by a significant majority at the general assembly, which voted last year to suspend Moscow after its invasion of Ukraine. Russia was competing against Albania and Bulgaria for two seats on the Geneva-based human rights council representing the East European regional group. Continue reading... from The Guardian https://ift.tt/4yHcAjR

The Great British Bake Off: episode three – live

It’s Paul Hollywood’s favourite challenge – bread week. As he ramps up the intensity of his scowl, will the 10 remaining bakers rise to the occasion? Dana’s cottage loaf contains chipotle chilli paste, smoked paprika, smoked cheddar … and now smashed glass as her kitchen bowl just exploded. Still, better than garlic right? She’s also called her cottage loaf “Bread-ley Cooper.’ Thought you should know. Continue reading... from The Guardian https://ift.tt/osnWQhi

The Reckoning review – Steve Coogan is chillingly brilliant as Jimmy Savile

Coogan captures the charm and creepy depravity of the notorious abuser. But this is a horrific tale most of us already know – and the BBC’s depressing drama adds little of value If you are among the vanishingly few people left in the country who do not know that Jimmy Savile was an absolutely evil man, then I recommend watching The Reckoning, a dramatisation of his story written by Neil McKay and starring Steve Coogan as the necro-paedophile, OBE. If you do know who he is – well, I wonder. Stripped of context, The Reckoning is a rigorously well-made and polished thing. It takes us from 1962, as Savile’s career as a DJ on the northern club circuit began to gain traction, through his years as an increasingly beloved and powerful figure on radio and then television, and on until his much-mourned death in 2011 at the age of 84, untouched and then untouchable by any revelations about his awful secrets. For some reason, it is interspersed with a lot of archive footage of the real Savile th