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Whether in the Irish Sea or the Channel, the legacy of separation from the single market is pointless friction and economic pain The first fallacy of Brexit was that leaving the European Union would be a one-off event. It was bound to be an open-ended process. This week’s anniversary of the day of separation coincides with two developments illustrating the perpetual nature of a project that was, in the promise of Boris Johnson’s 2019 election campaign, meant to be “done” four years ago. On Wednesday the government published proposed changes to Northern Ireland’s trading arrangements. This is the deal that has persuaded the Democratic Unionist party (DUP) to resume power-sharing at Stormont. The core DUP objection to the Brexit settlement has been exceptional customs arrangements for Northern Ireland. These imply a degree of constitutional detachment from the UK that is unacceptable to unionists. Continue reading... from The Guardian https://ift.tt/PTqIzxk

Bucharest court upholds restriction on online influencer, who is charged with human trafficking and rape A Romanian court has rejected an appeal by the online influencer Andrew Tate to ease judicial control measures imposed while the legal case continues in which he is charged with human trafficking, rape and forming a criminal gang to sexually exploit women. The Bucharest court of appeal’s decision on Tuesday upheld a ruling by another court on 18 January that extended by 60 days the geographical restrictions against Tate, 37, stipulating that he cannot leave the country. Continue reading... from The Guardian https://ift.tt/bO4eAsu

After their emphatic victory in court this week the drag artist, real name Colin Seymour, says the anxiety hasn’t gone away The drag artist Crystal may have marked Monday by winning an emphatic libel victory against the rightwing activist Laurence Fox but celebrations after the judgment were muted. That was partly thanks to the date – “I’m trying to do dry January” – and partly because the performer had agreed to appear on Sky News on Tuesday morning, which meant a 3am start to fit in two hours of meticulous drag makeup. Crystal , real name Colin Seymour, and Simon Blake, a former Stonewall trustee, had sued the former actor after he called each of them a paedophile on X (formerly Twitter) in October 2020. In response, Fox countersued Seymour, Blake and Nicola Thorp, a former Coronation Street actor, saying all three had defamed him by calling him racist in tweets of their own, which were in response to comments he made criticising support for Black History Month. Continue reading....

The Trump-Smiths feud is the latest episode in a story that re-emerges every four years: the war between musicians and politicians over campaign songs Somewhere in Donald Trump’s orbit, embedded among the wild conspiracy theorists, worshipful toadies and dead-eyed schemers, there’s a Smiths fan. This fact came to the nation’s attention last week after a video showed a Trump rally blasting the 1984 B-side Please, Please, Please Let Me Get What I Want over the PA. And Johnny Marr, the onetime Smiths guitarist, wasn’t happy – in a tweet, the songwriter told fans to “consider this shit shut right down”. Continue reading... from The Guardian https://ift.tt/P4vtVXL

New parenthood can be isolating, but these solutions are helping some people feel happier and more socially connected A few toddlers and their parents walk into a bar. By about 5pm, it’s popping off; thirty-odd children play on the floor while parents, many with babies in arms, mingle, sip cocktails and order tacos from a food truck outside. Continue reading... from The Guardian https://ift.tt/FytuHOl

The dwindling band of UK loyalists should send a message that exiting to the US is not as easy as flicking a switch Flutter, the FTSE 100 gambling firm that owns Paddy Power, Betfair and Sky Bet, has been teasing us for the past year about moving its primary share listing to the US “in due course”. Now, on the first day of New York trading in its shares in add-on secondary form, the company says it likes the place so much it wants to go all in . Shareholders will vote in May on a proposal to relegate the London listing to secondary status, which would amount to making it virtually irrelevant, and adopt New York for the primary. The lure of membership of the S&P 500 index beats the (dwindling) prestige of the Footsie. Continue reading... from The Guardian https://ift.tt/fIjJV5M

Teams meet with place in Super Bowl LVIII on the line Championship Game predictions: who will win out? The other football: sign up for Jonathan Wilson’s soccer newsletter Email David with your thoughts or tweet @LengelDavid National Anthem The anthem is done extremely well by the Morgan State Choir, I give it 8/10. Ray Lewis makes an appearance to fire up the crowd. It’s 47 degrees, about three degrees Celsius, a chance of rain and a wee bit of wind. Here comes kickoff! Continue reading... from The Guardian https://ift.tt/CPf3MqW