Sky News has found an email exchange from 2014 showing that convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein asked a member of staff to install hidden video cameras at his home in Palm Beach, Florida.

The aide told Epstein that he planned to hide them in tissue boxes at the house.

The emails were among millions of documents released by the US Department of Justice (DoJ) last month.

In an email on 5 February 2014, Epstein instructed the associate: “Let’s get three motion detected hidden cameras, that record, thanks.” (sic)

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Five hours later, he received a reply: “Jeffrey, I already two purchased the Motion sensor camera from the Spy Store in fort Lauderdale yesterday, I charged them last night and figuring our (sic) how to work them as we speak … I’m installing them into Kleenex boxes now.”

The Sky News Data & Forensics team has been reviewing more than a thousand fragmented videos released by the DoJ.

Many of them appear to have been filmed in Epstein’s office at his Florida home.

One surveillance video we found shows a man, who appears to be Epstein, speaking to women in that room.

Another shows a woman kneeling next to him.

Sky News is unable to confirm when the footage on the office cameras was filmed.

We know from police documents that victims feared they were being secretly recorded.

These newly uncovered emails and images analysed by Sky News suggest that was indeed the case.

US attorney general accused of ‘lacking empathy’

It comes after Donald Trump’s attorney general Pam Bondi clashed repeatedly with critics during a lengthy committee hearing earlier this week.

On Wednesday, Ms Bondi gave her first sworn testimony since the release of the Epstein files, which at times descended into a shouting match with Democrats.

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Epstein survivors later accused her of lacking empathy and humanity, while critics claimed that because not all documents have been released, and many have been heavily redacted, some powerful figures are still being protected.

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Ms Bondi – who as head of the DoJ is ultimately in charge of the files’ release – defended the way the process had been handled and said she was “deeply sorry for what any victim has been through, especially as a result of that monster”.

However, the US attorney general refused to take personal responsibility for initial failures to hide the names of some victims in the files and said staff had done their best under pressure.

Japanese officials said they have detained a Chinese fishing vessel after it allegedly ignored orders to halt for an inspection in Japan’s exclusive maritime economic zone.

Although Japan has detained fishing boats from South Korea and Taiwan in recent years, this is the first case involving a Chinese vessel since 2022. This comes amid heightened diplomatic tensions between Tokyo and Beijing.

Japan’s Fisheries Agency said on Friday that the vessel’s captain – a 47-year-old Chinese national – was arrested on suspicion of “trying to evade an onboard inspection” in waters off Nagasaki prefecture in southwest Japan on Thursday, about 89.4 nautical miles (165km) south-southwest of Meshima Island, according to Kyodo News.

The agency said in a statement: “The vessel’s captain was ordered to stop for an inspection by a fisheries inspector, but the vessel failed to comply and fled.

“Consequently, the vessel’s captain was arrested on the same day,” the agency said. There were a further 10 people on board at the time, the agency added.

NHK Japan reported that the vessel was “capable of catching a large quantity of fish such as mackerel and horse mackerel”.

“The agency suspects the boat may have entered Japan’s EEZ (exclusive economic zone) to conduct illicit fishing. It has not disclosed whether the captain admitted to the allegations, saying it might influence the investigation,” the outlet said.

Beijing has not yet publicly responded to the incident.

Japan’s chief cabinet secretary Minoru Kihara said on Friday that Japan “will continue to take resolute action in our ⁠enforcement activities to prevent and deter ⁠illegal fishing operations by foreign vessels”.

Japan’s fisheries agency said there were 11 people on board, including the captain.

Ties between Japan and China sank to the worst level in years after Japanese prime minister Sanae Takaichi, just a month after taking office last year, triggered a diplomatic row by claiming that a hypothetical Chinese attack on Taiwan could bring about a Japanese military response. Beijing responded with export curbs, flight cancellations and vitriolic commentaries, repeatedly demanding a retraction.

China claims Taiwan as part of its territory and does not rule out the use of force to reunify it with the mainland. Beijing objects to the involvement of third countries in Taiwan, notably the US, which is the main supplier of weapons to the island.

Ms Takaichi later explained that Tokyo would act within the limits of its legal framework.

Debbie Todd, a socially engaged portrait photographer based between Stanley and Consett, will present her debut solo exhibition at Bishop Auckland Town Hall in a show specially commissioned for the venue.

The exhibition, which runs from Monday (February 16) to May 15, brings together two bodies of work exploring identity, inclusion and belonging.

Debbie Todd (Image: Debbie Todd)

Ms Todd said: “The work shown at Bishop Auckland is rooted in proverbs and idioms that shape perceptions of people with different conditions, identities and lifestyles.

“By pairing imagery with language, the series encourages audiences to reflect on how everyday phrases can impact individuals and communities.

“The portraits represent people often misunderstood or excluded from mainstream media, offering space for recognition, understanding and inclusion.

Debbie Todd’s first solo show is at Bishop Auckland Town Hall (Image: Debbie Todd)

“This being my first solo show, I’m proud to share the work in a space that’s accessible to everyone.”

One of the featured works, The Meaning of Being Different, will be displayed on a large wall in the library and delves into identity, difference and the sense of belonging.

The second, titled Extra Ordinary, will be installed in the historic Strong Room.

Debbie Todd’s ‘Jimmy sat on a gate at Appleby Horse Fair’ was shortlisted for the British Journal of Photography’s prestigious Portrait of Brit (Image: Debbie Todd)

Timed to coincide with Down Syndrome Awareness Day on March 21, this piece highlights themes of disability, visibility and inclusion.

Ms Todd’s photographic practice champions equality through a fine-art style and close collaboration with marginalised communities.

Her aim is to foster empathy, inclusion and fair representation.

Debbie Todd’s photography explores identity, difference and belonging (Image: Debbie Todd)

A graduate of The Northern School of Art, she began her studies at the age of 38, earning a first-class honours degree in Photographic Practice in 2022, followed by a distinction in her MA in Arts Practice in 2023.

During her studies, Ms Todd won the Anjool Malde Award, was shortlisted for the Association of Photographers Student Awards and received the Judges’ Choice Award in the student category at the Bar-Tur Photo Awards.

‘Keep your nose clean’ Angela, Autoimmune (Medium) (Image: Debbie Todd)

She attended the awards exhibition in Berlin in 2023.

Her work has been shown at the Metrocentre, published as a book, and commissioned by MIMA for a 2025 exhibition.

She was also part of The Late Shows in Newcastle.

She was also shortlisted for the most recent British Journal of Photography’s prestigious Portrait of Britain Awards, with her image Jimmy sat on a gate at Appleby Horse Fair appearing in Portrait of Britain, Volume 8.

‘Lose your marbles’ Kirsty, Bipolar Disorder by Debbie Todd (Image: Debbie Todd)

She has also been shortlisted for the London Camera Exchange Photographer Awards for the third consecutive year and is in the running for the Photography Foundation Awards.

In addition to her photography, Ms Todd works in the care sector, supporting people with disabilities and looked-after children.

She also volunteers for Remember My Baby.

Her debut solo exhibition at Bishop Auckland Town Hall is free and open to the public, running from Monday to Saturday between 10am and 4pm.

More information about The Northern School of Art’s creative courses can be found on its website.

Netflix’s How to Get to Heaven From Belfast has just been released with a finale full of twists – here’s everything that happened and what we know about that mysterious pink bag

Warning – this article contains major spoilers for How to Get to Heaven From Belfast.

Netflix’s fresh murder mystery series trails three women on a hazardous quest across Ireland to unravel the mystery surrounding their enigmatic friend, Greta (portrayed by Natasha O’Keeffe).

Over eight episodes, stressed TV writer Saoirse (Roisin Gallagher), fiery mother Robyn (Sinéad Keenan), and awkward, religious Dara (Caoilfhionn Dunne) unearth secrets, pursue leads and theories, and grapple with a distressing event from their past to discover the truth.

From the creator of Derry Girls, Lisa McGee, the new series was launched this Thursday (12th February) and has already garnered glowing reviews from critics, who are hailing the comedy thriller as a must-see.

But what exactly transpired with Greta and have the trio managed to reveal a satisfying resolution to this captivating mystery?, reports Belfast Live.

Here is your crucial deep dive into everything that gets unveiled in the new series’ final episode.

How to Get to Heaven From Belfast ending explained.

As the series unfolds, it’s disclosed that Greta is actually alive but is fleeing after inadvertently killing her childhood friend, Jodie.

The two girls had been mistreated by their parents as children in their town of Heaven’s Veil, where they set the church ablaze, unintentionally causing the deaths of those inside.

Journalist Charles Sampson, also known as Jason Meadows (Josh Finan) by Greta, picked up their trail and followed Greta and Jodie hoping to uncover the truth. However, Jodie fatally stabbed him, leaving Greta to bury the body with assistance from young Saoirse, Robyn and Dara.

In the present day, Greta’s body is switched with Jodie’s and Greta connects with fixer Booker (Bronagh Gallagher) and a young woman named Feeney (Saoirse-Monica Jackson) to erase her paper trail and establish a fresh life beyond Ireland.

The scheme was also arranged by Greta’s mother, Margo (Michelle Fairley), and husband Owen (Emmett J. Scanlan), but Greta has second thoughts and drugs Feeney to flee and return to Heaven’s Veil to face her past.

It’s there that she uncovers her biological mother is actually a woman named Nora, who sold her as a child. Later, she reunites with Saoirse, Robyn and Dara as well as Owen and their daughter, Maria (Matilda Freeman).

Booker is instructed to kill Greta, but, after uncovering the secret organisation she was part of that was initially founded to help liberate women was corrupt, she, along with Feeney and another member known as the midwife (Shauna Bray), eliminate the rest of the society and let Greta go free, pledging to launch a new organisation that will uphold its values.

Saoirse, Robyn and Dara confess to Liam (Darragh Hand) and Charles’ son, Andrew (also Finan), who let them go free without pressing any charges.

**For the latest showbiz, TV, movie and streaming news, go to the new **Everything Gossip** website**

But what was in the bag?

One of the most intriguing puzzles looming over the finale centres on a mysterious pink bag the girls retrieve from Greta.

Earlier in the series, she’d hitched a lift with Conrad, the bag’s original owner, who drives Greta deep into woodland to meet an enigmatic group of individuals. It’s also disclosed that Conrad was murdered with a screwdriver to the neck, though the killer remains unidentified.

In the episode’s closing moments, Saoirse, Robyn and Dara are left clutching the bag and, after peering inside, they pledge not to get involved.

Whilst the contents aren’t disclosed to viewers, creator McGee exclusively told Reach that she knows what’s inside – though she hasn’t ruled out having a rethink.

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“I know right now what’s in the bag,” she teased. “But I’m not saying I might not change my mind, which is why I left it so vague.

“I have a very clear idea of what it is, but if I think of something that works better or that might be more interesting when I start to write season two, I want to be able to change my mind.”

Netflix has not yet confirmed whether the series will be returning, so stay tuned for updates as the streamer evaluates its popularity over the coming weeks.

How to Get to Heaven From Belfast is available to stream on Netflix.

​David Swiers’ proposal to erect a caravan lodge to provide housing for an agricultural worker has been refused due to a lack of evidence and justification for the proposal at Chelson Fields, Killerby, Scarborough.

​The applicant said the accommodation was needed for the security of the site and welfare of the livestock, but officers who conducted a site visit said they found “no evidence of this livestock” except for four alpacas, three sheep, two ponies, and one chicken.

​The agent for the application had requested a deferral of the decision citing “errors” in the planning report and stating that additional information would be submitted.

​Cllr Derek Bastiman said: “I would have thought that if the agent or the applicant knew there were errors within the report, then they would have been here today to point those errors out.”

​No public speakers attended the meeting on Thursday, February 12, and officers said that the agent had not specified what they believed the errors to be.

​“There is no justification for the siting of the caravan and agricultural dwelling on the site based on the needs of the existing operations or the operations set out in the supporting information,” an officer told the committee.

​He added: “It has not been demonstrated that the proposed development is essential to farming, the plan could negatively affect the landscape, and no information has been provided regarding biodiversity net gain based on the existing site.

​“No additional information can be submitted that would overcome the first and second basis for refusal.”

​Speaking at the meeting, Cllr Subash Sharma said: “I see no signs of any agricultural activity taking place and I think the viability aspect is important, inasmuch as the minimum requirement is that somebody must be able to earn a full-time wage from it.”

​He told colleagues: “Since there isn’t any agricultural activity taking place, I don’t see how that can happen.

​“I don’t understand the basis of this application, and I think, should it ever be represented, we would need to see some viability to show that it’s feasible to employ a full-time worker to be there, and necessary for a 24-hour operation to require it.

​“None of that is available to us, and there’s nothing to indicate that anything like that has taken place.”

​Officers also noted that planning permission for the siting of a caravan for three years had been approved in 2016 to “allow the agricultural enterprise to be developed and to allow the information to be collected to demonstrate the case for a plan”.

​However, they said that “no evidence has been submitted with the current application to demonstrate that the agricultural enterprise exists, or if it does, that it is currently economically viable.”

​Councillors voted to reject the application with five votes in favour and one against.

In York, the Liberal Democrats will be gathering at the Barbican Centre from Friday March 17th to Sunday March 19.

The party, led by Ed Davey, return to the site of their 2024 conference, after spending last Spring in Harrogate.

Here, the Conservative Party will be staging its Spring Conference at the Harrogate Convention Centre, which runs from Friday March 6 to Sunday March 8, with some 8,000 delegates expected.

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The Liberal Democrats have already published its agenda, which will include a speech from Party leader Ed Davey on the Sunday as well as a Q&A session earlier in the event.

Ed Davey will be in York next month at the Spring Conference of the Liberal Democrats. (Image: PA)

Caron Lindsay, editor of the Liberal Democrat Voice told party supporters on her website: “You can go to debates on access to driving lessons, preserving trial by jury, revitalising town centres, universities, mental health, Donald Trump and Council finance.

“There are speeches from MPs Anna Sabine and James MacCleary and Watford Mayor Peter Taylor, as well as Ed, of course.

“You can help shape future policy by going to consultative sessions on international security, primary healthcare and defending democracy.”

The Barbican in York will be hosting the Liberal Democrats again. (Image: Pic supplied)

The Conservative Party has yet to produce its agenda for the Harrogate conference, which is its biggest event outside the autumn conference.

The October event was in Manchester and was organised last year by Stewart Harper, the president of the National Conservative Convention.

Mr Harper has now written on the Tory-supporting website Conservative home what next month’s event promises.

He said: “Spring Conference brings together activists, councillors, candidates and volunteers from across the country for a weekend focused on ideas, skills and connection.”

The Harrogate Convention Centre is hosting the Conservative Party next month. (Image: Pic supplied)

“Delivered in partnership with the Campaign Academy and the Conservative Councillors’ Association, the programme is designed to be practical and engaging. And unapologetically optimistic about the Party’s future.

“And it’s an opportunity to socialise together too – including with a members’ dinner on Saturday night – meeting up with friends and colleagues from across the country.”

He continued: “Our Spring Conference offers members a valuable opportunity to hear directly from senior figures within the Party, including the most senior members of the Shadow Cabinet, and to gain first-hand insight into a growing and evolving renewal programme.”

“It is a chance for every Party Member to engage – not through headlines or soundbites, but through thoughtful discussion and shared experience.”

Mr Harper added: “Harrogate offers the perfect blend of elegant spa-town charm, Yorkshire hospitality and some pretty decent venues, making it an inspiring and welcoming place to come together.”

Manchester United aren’t in action this weekend but that hasn’t stopped the club dominating headlines off the pitch

While their Premier League counterparts gear up for FA Cup fourth round fixtures, Manchester United enjoy a weekend break to rest and recuperate. United were knocked out by Brighton at the first hurdle in the previous round, leaving the league as their sole remaining priority after failing to qualify for Europe and suffering an early Carabao Cup exit.

Michael Carrick’s side won’t be back in action until February 23, when they face Everton. By the time that Monday night kick-off gets underway, they could be out of the Champions League places, with Chelsea and Liverpool breathing down their necks.

Interim boss Carrick wasn’t backed in the transfer market during the winter window, having only been appointed in January after Ruben Amorim’s departure. Regardless of whether Carrick or someone else is in the dugout next term, speculation abounds regarding potential ins and outs.

Off the field, recent remarks from part-owner Sir Jim Ratcliffe have also sparked debate. Here are our latest headlines from Old Trafford.

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Rashford comeback supported

Ex-Manchester United coach Rene Meulensteen reckons Marcus Rashford’s Old Trafford journey might not be finished. Rashford spent time on loan at Aston Villa last season and is currently on a season-long arrangement with Barcelona.

The Catalan giants hold an option to make the move permanent for just over £26million at the end of the season if they are happy with Rashford’s output. Nevertheless, Meulensteen hasn’t dismissed the possibility of the academy product returning now that Carrick – previously an on-field colleague of the forward – is at the helm.

“It could be a route back for Marcus Rashford at Man Utd, definitely,” Meulensteen told BetGoat. “I think Marcus is still as ‘red’ as anyone because he came through the ranks as a young kid, and that will never go away, that will never leave him.

“It’s the same with Scott McTominay. Both players have done extremely well wherever they’ve gone. But I think it was good for Marcus to have that spell away, first of all at Aston Villa, but now at Barcelona. It’s a different culture, a different language, and a different style. Every week is different.

“The Premier League is different. It’s so much more demanding than any league in the world. And I think he’s enjoying his football, and that’s the most important thing. He needs to enjoy his football.”

Ratcliffe addresses backlash to comments

Sir Jim Ratcliffe faced widespread criticism following remarks in which he suggested the UK was being ‘colonised’ by immigrants. Supporter group The 1958 were amongst those who challenged the co-owner, who has now released a subsequent statement regarding his comments.

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“I am sorry that my choice of language has offended some people in the UK and Europe and caused concern but it is important to raise the issue of controlled and well-managed immigration that supports economic growth,” Ratcliffe said in a statement shared on Thursday. “My comments were made while answering questions about UK policy at the European Industry Summit in Antwerp, where I was discussing the importance of economic growth, jobs, skills and manufacturing in the UK.

“My intention was to stress that governments must manage migration alongside investment in skills, industry and jobs so that long-term prosperity is shared by everyone. It is critical that we maintain an open debate on the challenges facing the UK.”

Previously, Greater Manchester Mayor Andy Burnham had criticised Ratcliffe, saying: “These comments go against everything for which Manchester has traditionally stood: a place where people of all races and faiths have pulled together over centuries to build our city and our institutions – including Manchester United FC.”

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WASHINGTON (AP) — The Trump administration on Thursday revoked a scientific finding that long has been the central basis for U.S. action to regulate greenhouse gas emissions and fight climate change, the most aggressive move by the Republican president to roll back climate regulations.

The rule finalized by the Environmental Protection Agency rescinds a 2009 government declaration known as the endangerment finding that determined that carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases threaten public health and welfare. The Obama-era finding is the legal underpinning of nearly all climate regulations under the Clean Air Act for motor vehicles, power plants and other pollution sources that are heating the planet.

The repeal eliminates all greenhouse gas emissions standards for cars and trucks and could unleash a broader undoing of climate regulations on stationary sources such as power plants and oil and gas facilities, experts say. Legal challenges are near certain.

President Donald Trump called the move “the single largest deregulatory action in American history, by far,” while EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin called the endangerment finding “the Holy Grail of federal regulatory overreach.”

Trump called the endangerment finding “one of the greatest scams in history,” claiming falsely that it “had no basis in fact” or law. “On the contrary, over the generations, fossil fuels have saved millions of lives and lifted billions of people out of poverty all over the world,” Trump said at a White House ceremony, although scientists across the globe agree that carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases are driving catastrophic heat waves and storms, droughts and sea level rise.

Environmental groups described the move as the single biggest attack in U.S. history against federal authority to address climate change. Evidence backing up the endangerment finding has only grown stronger in the 17 years since it was approved, they said.

The EPA also said it will propose a two-year delay to a Biden-era rule restricting greenhouse gas emissions by cars and light trucks. And the agency will end incentives for automakers who install automatic start-stop ignition systems in their vehicles. The device is intended to reduce emissions, but Zeldin said “everyone hates” it.

Zeldin, a former Republican congressman who was tapped by Trump to lead EPA last year, has criticized his predecessors in Democratic administrations, saying that in the name of tackling climate change, they were “willing to bankrupt the country.”

The endangerment finding “led to trillions of dollars in regulations that strangled entire sectors of the United States economy, including the American auto industry,” Zeldin said. “The Obama and Biden administrations used it to steamroll into existence a left-wing wish list of costly climate policies, electric vehicle mandates and other requirements that assaulted consumer choice and affordability.”

The endangerment finding and the regulations based on it “didn’t just regulate emissions, it regulated and targeted the American dream. And now the endangerment finding is hereby eliminated,” Zeldin said.

Supreme Court has upheld the endangerment finding

The Supreme Court ruled in a 2007 case that planet-warming greenhouse gases, caused by the burning of oil and other fossil fuels, are air pollutants under the Clean Air Act.

Since the high court’s decision, in a case known as Massachusetts v. EPA, courts have uniformly rejected legal challenges to the endangerment finding, including a 2023 decision by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit.

The endangerment finding is widely considered the legal foundation that underpins a series of regulations intended to protect against threats made increasingly severe by climate change. That includes deadly floods, extreme heat waves, catastrophic wildfires and other natural disasters in the United States and around the world.

Gina McCarthy, a former EPA administrator who served as White House climate adviser in the Biden administration, called the Trump administration’s actions reckless. “This EPA would rather spend its time in court working for the fossil fuel industry than protecting us from pollution and the escalating impacts of climate change,” she said.

Former President Barack Obama said on X that repeal of the endangerment finding will make Americans “less safe, less healthy and less able to fight climate change — all so the fossil fuel industry can make even more money.”

Dr. Lisa Patel, a pediatrician and executive director of the Medical Society Consortium on Climate and Health, said Trump’s action “prioritizes the profits of big oil and gas companies and polluters over clean air and water” and children’s health.

“As a result of this repeal, I’m going to see more sick kids come into the Emergency Department having asthma attacks and more babies born prematurely,” she said in a statement. “My colleagues will see more heart attacks and cancer in their patients.”

David Doniger, a climate expert at the Natural Resources Defense Council, said Trump and Zeldin are trying to use repeal of the finding as a “kill shot’’ that would allow the administration to make nearly all climate regulations invalid. The repeal could erase current limits on greenhouse gas pollution from cars, factories, power plants and other sources and could hinder future administrations from imposing rules to address global warming.

The EPA action follows an executive order from Trump that directed the agency to submit a report on “the legality and continuing applicability” of the endangerment finding. Conservatives and some congressional Republicans have long sought to undo what they consider overly restrictive and economically damaging rules to limit greenhouse gases that cause global warming.

Withdrawing the endangerment finding “is the most important step taken by the Trump administration so far to return to energy and economic sanity,” said Myron Ebell, a conservative activist who has questioned the science behind climate change.

Tailpipe emission limits targeted

Zeldin and Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy have moved to drastically scale back limits on tailpipe emissions from cars and trucks. Rules imposed under Democratic President Joe Biden were intended to encourage U.S. automakers to build and sell more electric vehicles. The transportation sector is the largest source of greenhouse gas emissions in the U.S.

The Trump administration announced a proposal in December to weaken vehicle mileage rules for the auto industry, loosening regulatory pressure on automakers to control pollution from gasoline-powered cars and trucks. The EPA said its two-year delay to a Biden-era rule on greenhouse gas emissions by cars and light trucks will give the agency time to develop a plan that better reflects the reality of slower EV sales, while promoting consumer choice and lowering prices.

Environmental groups said the plan would keep polluting, gas-burning cars and trucks on U.S. roads for years to come, threatening the health of millions of Americans, particularly children and the elderly.

___

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World Cup-bound Scotland will play Switzerland, Slovenia and North Macedonia in Group B1 of the 2026/27 Nations League after their relegation from League A that followed a dismal play-off loss to Greece, while Wales face Portugal, Norway and Denmark in Group A4 after being promoted last time around.

For Reform parliamentary candidate and former academic Matt Goodwin: “Englishness is an ethnicity that is deeply rooted in a people that can trace their roots back over generations.” By contrast, he argues, liberal progressives believe “anybody can be English as long as they sign a piece of paper and identify with Englishness.”

This is not a novel definition, and for some, it may be completely uncontroversial. It’s not surprising that some people living in England can trace their ancestors back many generations.

But attempting to define a particular “ethnicity” is also an attempt to determine who is (and who is not) part of a given group. Policing these boundaries has serious consequences.

The idea of essential groups

To speak of an identity as one that can be traced “back over generations”, is to speak of human reproduction and generational transmission. These are central ideas in how, historically, people have been categorised into racial groups.

The biological sciences have a long history of dividing humans up. Take 18th-century Swedish biologist Carl Linnaeus’s Systema Naturae, the most influential attempt to classify the natural world, and the basis of contemporary zoological nomenclature. Linnaeus subdivided humans into four varieties that many of us would balk at today and has no basis in modern science: white Europeans, reddish Americans, tawny Asians, and blackish Africans.

In the centuries since, the number of groups has changed, as well as the language used to describe them. But the idea that we can inherit some innate qualities via generational inheritance – essentialism – underwrites these influential ideas. Essentialism would have it that you’re born as part of a group and all the “identifying” in the world cannot change that.

These divisions can also generate a sense of entitlement to certain rights or resources for one group over another. They have been used to justify violence, discrimination – some of the most shameful moments in human history. Indeed, racial essentialism became so dangerous that Unesco published a series of statements to flag the dangers of the impulse to divide ourselves like this.

The limits of categories

The world is in a constant state of push and pull. People move or are moved, for all kinds of reasons all the time. They settle and reproduce in different places. This is an empirical truth that limits the utility of essentialist ideas.

Essentialist thinking requires us to say both where, and when, we are from. Some will find it quite straightforward to demonstrate membership of a particular group but others will not. Many of us won’t be able to say that all of our ancestors (as far back as history allows us to trace) were all born in England.

Take Dame Kelly Holmes. She was one of the public figures Spectator editor Michael Gove mentioned when he interviewed Goodwin on this and other subjects. He asked: “Would you say that [she is] not really English?” Holmes is mixed race (a term that also leans on the idea of essential categories that somehow merge). She served in the army, won gold medals for England and Great Britain and received the honorific of Dame. But if only some of her “roots” can be traced “back over generations”, then does she not qualify as English?

Many of us will confound the groups that we are made to squeeze into because, ultimately, our roots long predate contemporary ideas of nation, identity and group.

Why do people invoke these ideas?

For me, what’s important here is not disproving the essential existence of groups, but trying to trace why they are being mobilised. Why do politicians want to define these categories?

Groups, identities and communities are made and remade. We come to feel a part of a collective. And this feeling is generated often in ways that seem somehow naturally occurring. We pray at the same place of worship; we listen to the same kinds of music. But our affiliations to particular groups do not exist in the wild.

Categories have social power. When you define a collective, it makes it possible to speak to that collective and to mobilise it. Collectives can be delineated in more and less definitive ways. Essentialist thinking is some of the most definitive and inflexible of all. At its worst, those outside a group are denied access to respect and safety.

So, why distinguish between those who belong and those who do not? Why debate whether public figures with ancestors born elsewhere, but born and raised in England, are “actually” English? Why evoke (but not invoke) essentialised ideas of race, using words like ethnicity?

And if we know that cultivating boundaries of belonging can generate a sense of entitlement, then who risks being denied access, and to what? In a period of economic difficulty when public resources are already stretched, what is the next logical step after enough people can be made to agree on a clear definition of who is or is not English?

The essentialist claims we are hearing in the UK are not new, but they are powerful. So when politicians like Goodwin assert a desire to open a public debate on the categories they have selected – and even defined – we have to ask what purpose it serves.