Connect with us

NewsBeat

Lionel Messi lands back in Rosario after father Jorge’s death at 68… as Inter Miami teammate pays heartfelt tribute during game

Published

on

Lionel Messi has returned to his hometown of Rosario following the death of his father, Jorge

Advertisement

Lionel Messi has returned to his hometown of Rosario following the death of his father, Jorge.

Messi missed Inter Miami’s Leagues Cup clash with Monterrey to fly back to Argentina where, according to reports in South America, the 39-year-old will attend a private memorial service. 

Jorge Messi – who also served as his son’s agent and business manager – died at the age of 68, two months on from the family revealing he had been rushed to hospital with an ongoing ‘health situation’.

He reportedly passed away in a hospital in Rosario, close to the family home, at around 10pm local time on Friday August 7.

Advertisement

In the absence of their captain, Inter Miami players honored Jorge Messi by wearing black armbands, while fans paused for a moment of silence before kickoff. Earlier on Saturday, the team had posted a tribute which read: ‘Our hearts are with our captain, Leo, and the entire Messi family.’

Against Monterrey, stand-in captain Rodrigo De Paul – Messi’s international teammate – scored the opening goal and then pulled off his jersey to reveal another which read: ‘Messi 10’

Lionel Messi has returned to his hometown of Rosario following the death of his father, Jorge

Advertisement
The soccer legend's father, pictured at the 2022 World Cup final, died at the age of 68

The soccer legend’s father, pictured at the 2022 World Cup final, died at the age of 68 

Rodrigo De Paul paid tribute to the Inter Miami captain during Saturday's clash with Monterrey

Rodrigo De Paul paid tribute to the Inter Miami captain during Saturday’s clash with Monterrey

In the first official statement, Messi’s first team Newell’s Old Boys wrote in Spanish: ‘Club Atletico Newell’s Old Boys bids farewell with deep sorrow and grief to Jorge Messi, who passed away at the age of 68 in the city of Rosario.’ 

The club continued: ‘Jorge was the pillar and the person who supported with vision, rigor, and affection the career of the greatest player of all time alongside his wife, Celia Cuccittini.

Advertisement

‘His constant companionship and behind-the-scenes leadership were essential in backing every step of Lionel, from his beginnings at Malvinas to the pinnacle of world football glory. Thank you for teaching him to love these colors.’

Later on Saturday, both Barcelona and the Argentina national team added their own tributes.

‘Stay strong, Leo Messi and family. We are with you in this difficult moment. We send you our most heartfelt embrace,’ Argentina wrote on X.

A spokesperson for FC Barcelona, meanwhile, said in a statement: ‘The President and the Board of Directors of FC Barcelona express their deepest condolences on the passing of Jorge Messi, the father of former Barca player and legend Lionel Messi, and, on behalf of the entire Barca family, extend their condolences to the Messi family.

Advertisement

‘FC Barcelona thanks Jorge Messi for his commitment to our Club, for entrusting us with the beginnings and the most glorious years of his son Leo’s football career. May he rest in peace.’ 

Advertisement

Source link

Advertisement
Continue Reading
Click to comment

You must be logged in to post a comment Login

Leave a Reply

NewsBeat

Tuna sandwiches taste better when you switch mayo for different ingredient

Published

on

Wales Online

If your tuna salad ends up greasy or slimy, the fix could be as simple as swapping out the mayo

Tuna mayo is a fantastic lunchtime option that can be thrown together using store cupboard staples, yet it can occasionally turn out unpleasantly greasy.

Advertisement

Mayonnaise is the traditional ingredient used to give tuna a creamier consistency, but this can leave it oily and sometimes even slimy.

This is enough to put anyone off their meal, but cook and founder of Panning the Globe, Lisa Goldfinger, has revealed a straightforward technique to achieve a creamy tuna filling without using any mayonnaise at all.

Lisa said: “If you love creamy tuna salad but you’re reluctant to add loads of mayo, I’m with you. Most tuna salad recipes suggest one to four tablespoons of mayo per serving.

“That’s between 180 and 360 calories of fat per serving, just from the mayo alone,” she added. “Delicious for sure, but not the healthiest and also not necessary, because plain low-fat yogurt is a great substitute for mayonnaise.”

Yoghurt ranks amongst the finest alternatives to mayonnaise, lending a lighter, fresher flavour to the dish.

The kitchen staple is naturally thick and creamy, providing your tuna filling with an equally satisfying texture, minus the fats and additives found in processed mayonnaise.

Too much mayonnaise can also overpower the natural flavour of tuna, introducing a slightly eggy taste that can undermine the dish entirely.

Advertisement

Furthermore, mayonnaise can cause the tuna filling to spoil within two hours in warm weather due to the additional fat content, potentially ruining food at a barbecue or picnic. Yoghurt, however, is light and lends a subtly tangy flavour to your tuna, which complements lemon juice or radishes beautifully, giving it a delicious Mediterranean quality.

How to make tuna salad and sandwiches taste better without mayonnaise

Ingredients

  • One can of tuna (140g)
  • 120ml of plain low-fat yoghurt
  • Three tablespoons of chopped radishes
  • Three tablespoons of chopped red onion
  • Two tablespoons of capers (one whole, one chopped up)
  • Two teaspoons of Dijon mustard
  • One lemon (one half to juice, one half for wedges)
  • Salt (to taste)

Method

To start, open the tuna, drain off any water, and transfer it into a bowl. Break up the tuna with a fork until it reaches a smooth consistency.

Add the yoghurt, radishes, onions, capers, mustard and a pinch of salt. Squeeze a lemon and add one teaspoon of the juice.

Should you prefer a creamier tuna filling, simply incorporate more yoghurt, and adjust the lemon juice or salt further to suit your own taste.

Advertisement

Combine all the ingredients together and your tasty tuna filling is ready to toss through a salad or spread generously across a sandwich.

Source link

Continue Reading

NewsBeat

How the corrupt officials who threw innocent British businessman into Dubai’s Alcatraz 18 years ago have destroyed everything in his life… apart from his unbreakable marriage

Published

on

British businessman Ryan Cornelius (now 72) was arrested in Dubai 18 years ago over a $500M bank loan used to fund a luxury development project. Ryan is pictured with wife Heather

Head east from the palm tree-fringed beaches and shiny glass towers where influencers like to flaunt their bodies and their good fortune, and you will reach another side to the Dubai dream.

It is only a 45-minute drive out into the desert, but Al Awir is a world away from the glittering metropolis and is unlikely to feature on the social media channels of Instagrammers and celebrities.

For this is the home of the Gulf state’s forbidding central prison, described by human rights groups as a grim, high-security ‘hell-hole’ where conditions are harsh and overcrowding common.

It has been dubbed Dubai’s Alcatraz. Unlike the notorious island prison in San Francisco Bay, however, it is surrounded by mile upon mile of desert wilderness.

Advertisement

And for 18 years it has held British citizen Ryan Cornelius in a cell the size of a shipping container -which he shares with six other inmates – and who, belatedly, is now the focus of international efforts to win his freedom – though little of this has come from our own supine Foreign Office.

Last week we reported how the United Nations is demanding his release and had accused the United Arab Emirates of ‘serious judicial irregularities’ in the sentencing of the business leader, who was convicted of defrauding a Dubai bank.

The human rights campaigner, Sir William Browder, added his voice in a powerful the Daily Mail article in which he warned that unless Mr Cornelius, now 72, was freed soon, ‘his detention will become a death sentence’.

In Sir William’s estimation, the respected former property developer and much-loved family man is ‘yet another victim of a draconian and corrupt Middle Eastern legal system in which the courts are used to pursue vendettas, settle scores or raid assets’.

Advertisement

British businessman Ryan Cornelius (now 72) was arrested in Dubai 18 years ago over a $500M bank loan used to fund a luxury development project. Ryan is pictured with wife Heather

Prosecutors accused him of fraud, a charge his family and supporters maintain stems from a technical issue exploited by a draconian legal system. Ryan pictured with his family

Prosecutors accused him of fraud, a charge his family and supporters maintain stems from a technical issue exploited by a draconian legal system. Ryan pictured with his family

Ryan is held at Al Awir Central Prison (pictured), a overcrowded, high-security facility in the desert. He shares a cell the size of a shipping container with six other inmates.

Ryan is held at Al Awir Central Prison (pictured), a overcrowded, high-security facility in the desert. He shares a cell the size of a shipping container with six other inmates.

Advertisement

In Mr Cornelius’s case, all three have been weaponised against him. His bank accounts were drained, his homes – a house and two flats in London – seized and sold by court order and a prized leisure development, part-funded by the Dubai Islamic Bank, confiscated… in other words stolen.

It is little wonder that his family, too, fear that he will not survive his jail term. He has contracted tuberculosis, Covid twice, has borderline diabetes, high blood pressure, raised cholesterol and is forced to self-medicate chronic dental problems by rinsing his mouth with disinfectant.

The story of Ryan Cornelius’s incarceration is not just about injustice, though that is bad enough. For three years he languished in prison without trial, he has been kept in solitary confinement and, just as he neared his sentence’s completion, it was arbitrarily extended by 20 years, which will keep him behind bars until, if he survives, he is 84.

It is also about the life that was extinguished outside his cell, not just the theft of his assets and money. He has had his self-respect crushed and, crucially, lost forever the landmarks of family life.

Advertisement

For his imprisonment has included almost the entire childhood of his youngest son who was six when he was arrested.

He never saw him put on his school uniform for the first time, nor watched from the touchline as he took up his own love of rugby. Exams and the excitement of university plans were similarly robbed from him.

Then there were the deaths and funerals of both his parents, which he was forbidden to attend – the bleakest of many dark days.

This week, one more milestone, albeit a happier one but no less heartbreaking, was added to the tally – his eldest son’s partner, whom he has never met, gave birth to his first grandchild, a boy.

Advertisement

Absence from all these events might have broken him if he hadn’t been able to rely on the unceasing love of his wife Heather, whose steadfast support is the other side of this tragic story.

Theirs is a remarkable relationship that has been strengthened by the nearly two decades of separation, sustained by nothing more than a daily telephone call never lasting more than five minutes.

Last week, Heather was on a camping holiday in the west of Ireland with her daughter, who along with her two sons she prefers not to name.

‘They have lives of their own to lead, involving them in the campaign for their father inevitably draws attention, not all of it welcome,’ she says.

Advertisement

What she doesn’t say – doesn’t need to say – are the unforeseen consequences of aligning with criticism of a Gulf country that is at the hub of many international air routes.

In his article, Sir William, who is the driving force behind the Global Magnitsky Justice Campaign, which seeks to impose visa bans and asset freezes on human rights abusers, applauded the UN for doing something ‘successive British governments have failed to do: it stood up for a British citizen’. 

Inmates wearing protective gear read in seats respecting distancing measures amid the COVID-19 pandemic, at the library of Dubai's Al-Awir central prison in the United Arab Emirates

Inmates wearing protective gear read in seats respecting distancing measures amid the COVID-19 pandemic, at the library of Dubai’s Al-Awir central prison in the United Arab Emirates

Ryan's wife Heather, now living in penury in Gloucestershire, maintains contact solely through brief, daily five-minute phone calls

Ryan’s wife Heather, now living in penury in Gloucestershire, maintains contact solely through brief, daily five-minute phone calls

Advertisement

Heather Cornelius has lost track of how many foreign secretaries she has petitioned since 2008, the year of her husband’s arrest on trumped-up charges.

Of those politicians, she gives credit to only one – Lord (David) Cameron, the former Conservative prime minister. ‘He did what he promised to do,’ she says. ‘He got involved and wrote a personal letter to Dubai’s ruler appealing for Ryan’s release.’

Most, she says, offered tea and hand-wringing sympathy but nothing else. One foreign minister’s opening remark to her was: ‘I can offer you no hope.’ On the day before the 2024 general election – and knowing that the Conservatives were heading for defeat – Lord Cameron took time to write to Mrs Cornelius setting out what steps he had taken. ‘I was very touched,’ she says.

The autocratic Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid al Maktoum, the UAE’s vice president and prime minister, however, didn’t bother replying to Lord Cameron, whom he had met on many occasions. And the appeal, along with multiple others for clemency, fell on deaf ears.

Advertisement

Nothing, however, has been allowed to interrupt their marital lifeline – those phone calls.

When I contacted Mrs Cornelius at a campsite in County Kerry last week, she had already had her morning call from her husband and was hopeful for a second later in the day.

His daily routine remains as it has done for years. Along with all inmates he is awoken by a blaring siren at dawn, breakfast – black tea and a bowl of dal – follows at 5am and then begins the queue for the telephone.

‘He tries to call me twice a day and one of the children once a day,’ Heather says.

Advertisement

‘Always, he is positive. He wants to be strong for all of us, and he never once lets me worry about him, though of course I do.

‘Telling him about our grandson was of course emotional because we should be making plans of what we will do with this new little one, but we can’t. So, the news was wonderful but also not wonderful. He did manage to get a call to our son too and was able to hear the news from him.’

In earlier years, Ryan’s calls would come when she was watching the children’s sports matches and for a brief few minutes she would provide a running commentary of the action. ‘It allowed him to think he was there.’

The chats are invariably short, given the demand for the phone from other prisoners. Skype and other privileges such as regular outdoor exercise were withdrawn some time ago.

Advertisement

The shadow cast over the Corneliuses is a long one. With no home and no money, Heather was reduced to near penury and lives in Gloucestershire with her sister and brother-in-law. ‘I would be lost without them,’ she tells me.

The day of Ryan’s arrest in May 2008 is seared on her memory. It is the moment that their lives as prosperous expats collapsed and the start of a torment that still has no end. 

‘At the beginning I thought he would get justice and that he would be home soon,’ she says. ‘I had great faith that this country, which was such a great ally of Britain, would realise its mistake and let him go, that it was all a big misunderstanding.’

Her husband had stopped over in Dubai on his way home to Bahrain, where the family had settled.

Advertisement

Walking out of the airport, he was arrested by three plain-clothes police officers, who said they suspected he was carrying drugs. A search revealed nothing but he was still detained.

He was taken in an unmarked car, his hands bound with zip ties, to Dubai’s police headquarters. As he entered the building a hood was placed over his head.

He was interrogated for hours in a padded windowless room, without a lawyer present, and then thrown into a bare cell. For ten days he was held incommunicado with no access to his family, legal advisers or the British Embassy.

Over his 18-year detention, he has contracted tuberculosis (left untreated for 18 months), COVID-19 twice, borderline diabetes, high blood pressure, and severe dental problems

Over his 18-year detention, he has contracted tuberculosis (left untreated for 18 months), COVID-19 twice, borderline diabetes, high blood pressure, and severe dental problems

Advertisement
Cornelius has missed his youngest son growing up, as well as the deaths and funerals of both his parents. Pictured is a family photo

Cornelius has missed his youngest son growing up, as well as the deaths and funerals of both his parents. Pictured is a family photo

The accusation against him had moved on from drugs to fraud.

Ryan had made his money after selling his precision tunnelling company in Saudi Arabia during the infrastructure construction boom of the 1980s.

But in 2008, amid the fallout of the global financial crash, the Dubai authorities were concerned about a $500million bank loan he and another Briton were using to fund investment programmes in the Gulf.

Advertisement

Specifically, prosecutors would later allege that he forged invoices for the construction of The Plantation, a luxury development in Dubai featuring an equestrian centre and polo club which would include a 200-room hotel and 100 villas. 

Lord Clement-Jones, a lawyer and Lib Dem peer who has taken up Ryan’s case, says the original problem with the loan and receipts was ‘technical’ rather than fraud.

But that was all to come. In 2008, having been ordered to sign a statement in Arabic, a language he neither speaks nor reads, he knew nothing of the case against him.

‘I didn’t know what was going on,’ recalls Heather. ‘Even now those ten days before I could speak to him are a nightmare.

Advertisement

‘I have blocked out so much of it, but even today they keep me awake at night.’

For three years her husband was left to rot in jail without charge while Heather tried to focus on raising their children, then six, 16 and 19.

‘Watching them grow knowing what Ryan was missing was heartbreaking, all that learning and life. Every year I would promise the children he would be home for Christmas – I believed it too,’ she adds.

In 2011, his case was finally heard in a Dubai court, which imposed a ten-year jail sentence and demanded he and his three co-defendants repay the loan as well as a $500million fine.

Advertisement

At first, Heather made regular trips to Al Awir. Each was more shattering than the last. For her first visit he was in handcuffs, unkempt, his skin a shade of grey.

‘You go through endless security, and I remember to this day the cold concrete floor, strip lighting and steel chairs attached to the floor. If I cried the guards would ask: ‘What are you crying for?’

Prison life is stripped of humanity and privacy. Ryan sleeps on a thin rubber mattress with a heavy woollen blanket. The temperature in his cell is kept low, and the air conditioning runs noisily and continuously. 

There are few windows and lighting remains on 24 hours a day. According to one former prisoner the sound of dripping taps and constantly running toilets are a form of mental torture.

Advertisement

In the early days he was permitted daily exercise in the prison yard where he organised games of touch rugby with fellow inmates but over the years this has become increasingly infrequent. Instead, he now does sit-ups and press-ups and has manufactured weights for lifting from plastic water bottles.

He can occasionally jog up and down the corridor. He has also taught himself Pilates, which keeps his muscles in alignment.

Every penny his family can get to him he uses to pay for those precious phone calls. And food. He can buy a small range of items from outside the prison by placing an order through the police kitchen. 

His purchases include cereal, biscuits, coffee, chocolate bars and bottled water. The prison menu is bleak, usually chicken and rice in a yellowish gravy like gruel. ‘There is no fresh fruit, no fresh anything,’ says Heather.

Advertisement

Unsurprisingly, his health has deteriorated. Medical care is almost non-existent – a single doctor covers all 4,000 inmates. 

Ryan’s TB was untreated for 18 months and he has been prevented from seeing a dentist throughout his incarceration. At night, prisoners have no access to a guard, no way to contact anyone in the event of an emergency.

During the Covid pandemic a prisoner in the neighbouring cell died of the virus and his body lay there for eight hours before being removed. Ryan fears another bout of Covid could trigger his tuberculosis again.

How he must have longed for the life he had with Heather. The couple had been largely inseparable since meeting when she was 17.

Advertisement

They were both born to British parents in Zambia – then Northern Rhodesia – and met at a local rugby club where Ryan was a keen player.

They married in 1985 and moved to Saudi where Ryan established his business. When he sold up, he was wealthy enough to retire but was still only in his early 40s, and the quiet life didn’t suit him.

He embarked on several new projects, including The Plantation. Back then the Emirates were still booming.

‘We had a lovely house, gardens, a pool and a boat,’ says Heather. ‘We’d moved to Bahrain because it was better for family life. Every Friday we’d go to an island, fish, barbecue and swim.’

Advertisement

But by 2016, with her finances exhausted, Heather had to leave Bahrain for London. A flat near Tower Bridge became the family home until that was expropriated by the Dubai bank that had provided the loan.

Their ordeal seemed to be nearing its end in 2018, when Ryan was scheduled for release. But just before he was due to walk free, the authorities claimed he had ‘failed to repay the creditor’ and outrageously added another 20 years to his tariff.

This, says Lord Clement-Jones, was a breach of natural justice.

Ryan tried to appeal the second sentence but was not allowed to board a bus from prison to the court house for the hearing because his paperwork was not in order.

Advertisement

In his absence, the court dismissed the appeal. His ordeal was increasingly Kafkaesque.

His building development – worth $1billion at the time of his arrest – was seized by authorities who said it was worthless.

Today, glowing online sales videos tell a different story, renamed The Acres, it has been turned into a multi-billion dollar landscaped villa development.

In most Western countries debt is considered a civil matter. In the UAE it is a crime. A UAE official insisted to The Mail on Sunday that Ryan had ‘a fair trial in which all due processes were followed’.

Advertisement

The Foreign Office was approached for comment.

Whatever the ins and outs of his case, Ryan Cornelius has paid a huge price for his ambition. He has lost his parents, his health, 18 years of his life and his future.

He is bankrupt and his family are impoverished.

But worst of all for Heather and his children is the fear that they may never see him again.

Advertisement

Source link

Continue Reading

NewsBeat

Aaron McKenna reacts to world title win that ‘doesn’t feel real’

Published

on

Belfast Live

Sitting in a crowded press conference, Aaron McKenna confessed that the magnitude of his achievement hadn’t quite registered – and wouldn’t for some time to come.

The Monaghan fighter claimed the IBF middleweight world championship on Saturday evening, defeating Italy’s Etinosa Oliha by unanimous decision at the 3Arena.

For McKenna, this represented the pinnacle moment he had envisioned since childhood.

Advertisement

It was the reason his father Fergal left his job, gathered their belongings and relocated to America when McKenna was merely 16 years old.

It was the reason ‘The Silencer’ persevered after chances eluded him or were snatched away, reports the Irish Mirror.

It was the reason he continued training in the gym daily alongside his brother Stevie, believing that one day he would receive his deserved recognition.

That day has now arrived.

Advertisement

“It still doesn’t feel real,” said a delighted McKenna as he sat down to answer questions from journalists shortly after midnight following his victory.

“21 years in the sport. Now to finally actually become world champion, it’s literally what I have dreamed of my whole life.

“Now that it’s reality, it is going to take a long time for this to seep in.”

The 27-year-old entered the contest with fellow unbeaten fighter Oliha following a breakthrough victory over English legend Liam Smith.

Advertisement

Yet that fight took place in April of last year and, not for the first time in his career, McKenna felt he wasn’t receiving the chances he merited.

“I was held back for years. I don’t know why. When I was 20, 21, I knew I was at this level,” he declared. “I went over to America at 16, I was doing that kind of stuff against world level fighters, even at 16, so now to finally get the opportunity with Zuffa, I’m so grateful to them.”

It was a remarkable evening for the McKenna brothers, who were both stepping into the ring on Irish soil as professionals for the very first time.

Just hours before Aaron’s world title triumph, Stevie delivered a first-round knockout against Owen O’Neill in their middleweight bout.

Advertisement

‘The Hitman’ needed just 65 seconds to dispose of the Belfast man, with the victory coming two months after he stopped American Casey James Streeter in 64 seconds in Bournemouth.

“We never once lost focus,” added Aaron. “It was 16 months since my last fight.

“A week after my fight, I was in the gym. Staying busy, staying active.”

McKenna joins Andy Lee, who was commentating from ringside for Sky Sports, and Steve Collins on the list of Irish middleweight world champions.

Advertisement

All three judges scored the fight in his favour: 118-110, 117-111, 116-112.

The contest began tentatively, with McKenna looking to utilise his reach advantage, while Oliha, competing outside of Italy or Germany for the first time, showed early signs that the Smithborough man would have his work cut out.

Nevertheless, McKenna gradually took command as the fight progressed, building momentum and upping the intensity. By the midway point he had thrown more than double the punches of his opponent, continuing to land powerful blows deep into the contest.

Oliha deserves recognition for his perseverance through to the final bell, but the thunderous reception from the spectators during the closing round and afterwards left little doubt about who had earned victory.

Advertisement

McKenna, long-time the hunter, will now become the hunted, but he is up for any challenge.

The eight-time Irish national champion has his sights set on unification clashes with his fellow middleweight world titleholders.

Those include: Erislandy Lara, Carlos Adames and Janibek Alimkhanuly.

McKenna is also willing to step up to super-middleweight in pursuit of becoming a two-division champion.

Advertisement

“I’m going to be easy to find now because I have a belt,” he said. “They’re all going to come out crawling now.

“Any of the world champions (he’ll fight). I want to unify. I said before the fight I want to be an active world champion and that’s exactly what I’m going to be.

“It doesn’t matter who I’m fighting, any of those world champions that want it.”

Just seven days after Pierce O’Leary faced Mark Chamberlain at the same location, the 3Arena was transformed once more into a pressure cooker of noise and excitement.

Advertisement

“It was ten times better than what I expected,” McKenna remarked. “I knew it was going to be loud.

“For the last eight or nine years everyone from Monaghan has been asking when we were going to fight in Ireland or when we were going to fight on the same card.

“We’ve ticked those boxes on the one night and to do it for the world title is even better.”

Family has played a pivotal role in this achievement, and Aaron was eager to pay tribute to his dad Fergal, his brother Stevie, and their other brother Gary, who was himself a gifted amateur boxer.

Advertisement

“We did this together, it wasn’t just me,” said McKenna. “My other brother as well Gary, we’ve done this our whole lives growing up.

“We’ve a lot to thank our dad for. He literally dedicated his life into us to make us the best boxers we could be and tonight we got a world title.”

Sign up to our free sports newsletter to get the latest headlines to your inbox.

Source link

Advertisement
Continue Reading

NewsBeat

Perez Hilton’s team reveals he suffered ‘severe blood loss’ and will require surgery as he remains hospitalized after shock self-harm incident

Published

on

Perez Hilton's team is speaking out and revealing the extent of his injuries in the wake of a disturbing livestream in which he self-harmed with a knife; seen in 2023

Perez Hilton‘s team is speaking out and revealing the extent of his injuries in the wake of a disturbing livestream in which he self-harmed with a knife.

In a statement shared to Hilton’s website, his team revealed that he suffered ‘significant blood loss’ in the horrific incident, as well as unspecified ‘additional injuries.’

According to the update, the 48-year-old gossip blogger will ‘require surgery in the coming days’ to treat his injuries.

The statement also confirmed that Hilton ‘remains hospitalized under Florida‘s Baker Act,’ a law that allows for involuntary hospitalizations.

Advertisement

Due to the conditions of his hospitalization and the Baker Act, they emphasized that the blogger’s ‘communication has been extremely limited and confined to immediate family, medical providers, and others directly involved in his care.’

It emphasized that his ‘condition remains serious but stable,’ and Hilton’s team said his ‘treatment and recovery’ would be a ‘long process.’

Perez Hilton’s team is speaking out and revealing the extent of his injuries in the wake of a disturbing livestream in which he self-harmed with a knife; seen in 2023 

Advertisement
In a statement shared to Hilton's website , his team revealed that he suffered 'significant blood loss' in the horrific incident, as well as unspecified 'additional injuries'

In a statement shared to Hilton’s website , his team revealed that he suffered ‘significant blood loss’ in the horrific incident, as well as unspecified ‘additional injuries’

They also shared that he had been able to spend time with his mother and sister on Friday. 

Hilton’s team confirmed that his ‘children remain safe and are being cared for by immediate family.’ 

‘Please allow them and the rest of the family the peace and privacy they desperately need during this incredibly difficult time,’ the statement concluded. ‘Thank you for your continued support, compassion, and understanding.’

Advertisement

Daily Mail has reached out to reps for Hilton for comment, but has yet to hear back. 

The latest update from Hilton’s camp comes after the Daily Mail exclusively revealed his first words from his hospital bed

The Baker Act – officially the Florida Mental Health Act – allows medical and mental health professionals, as well as judges and law enforcement officers, to involuntarily commit individuals for up to 72 hours if they are believed to be at risk of harming themselves or others.

Earlier this week on Tuesday, Hilton was transported to a hospital in an ambulance after a distressing TikTok livestream which saw him self-harm with a knife.

Advertisement

Surveillance footage from a neighbor’s house captured the moment when law enforcement arrived to the star’s residence in Miami after fans reached out to 911 over concern for his welfare. 

The statement also confirmed that Hilton 'remains hospitalized under Florida's Baker Act,' a law that allows for involuntary hospitalizations; pictured in 2023 in Las Vegas

The statement also confirmed that Hilton ‘remains hospitalized under Florida’s Baker Act,’ a law that allows for involuntary hospitalizations; pictured in 2023 in Las Vegas 

Hilton's team confirmed that his 'children remain safe and are being cared for by immediate family'

Hilton’s team confirmed that his ‘children remain safe and are being cared for by immediate family’

Police cars could be seen puling up to the home not long after 7pm on Tuesday evening. 

Advertisement

Law enforcement was seen trying to get Hilton, whose real name is Mario Armando Lavandeira Jr., out of his home in the video. 

A deputy was heard calling out: ‘Mario, it’s the Miami-Dade Sheriff’s Office, please step out of the house.’  

Clips taken from the footage, which the Daily Mail will not publish, appeared to show the media personality covered in blood while brandishing a knife. 

The livestream video has since been taken down by TikTok, and his account has also been suspended. 

Advertisement

Later on Wednesday, it was revealed that Hilton’s three children as well as his niece and sister had been inside his Florida home at the time of the livestream incident. 

In a previous statement shared to the star’s website, it said that his family ‘immediately fled’ to protect the children from ‘witnessing any further trauma’ when it was clear Hilton was having ‘a severe mental health crisis and harming himself.’

The message had read: ‘Our family cannot express enough our continued gratitude for the overwhelming outpouring of love, support, and prayers we have received during this incredibly difficult time.

‘The events of the past several days have been nearly unbearable for our family.’ 

Advertisement
'Please allow them and the rest of the family the peace and privacy they desperately need during this incredibly difficult time,' the statement concluded. 'Thank you for your continued support, compassion, and understanding'; seen above in the hospital earlier this year

‘Please allow them and the rest of the family the peace and privacy they desperately need during this incredibly difficult time,’ the statement concluded. ‘Thank you for your continued support, compassion, and understanding’; seen above in the hospital earlier this year

The livestream video has since been taken down by TikTok, and his account has also been suspended; seen in 2025 in Las Vegas

The livestream video has since been taken down by TikTok, and his account has also been suspended; seen in 2025 in Las Vegas 

‘Our highest priority right now is helping the children begin to heal from what they experienced. An important part of that process is allowing them to safely return home and begin rebuilding a sense of security and normalcy.’ 

Hilton’s family also requested for ‘privacy and space they need during this unimaginably difficult time.

Advertisement

‘We will continue to provide updates on Perez’s condition through PerezHilton.com when we have additional information we are able to share. Again, thank you for your compassion, understanding, and continued prayers.’

Hilton had been hospitalized earlier this year in March, and had shared pictures of himself in a hospital bed while recovering from sepsis. 

He had developed an ulcer after taking flu medication on an empty stomach, which then led to a 21-day hospitalization. 

And just weeks later, the blogger faced another health crisis after experiencing ‘soreness and pain in one of my legs.’

Advertisement

Following an ultrasound, it was revealed that Hilton had a deep vein thrombosis.

‘I am so thankful to God that we caught this early because if that blood clot had gone to my lungs or my heart, it could have been real bad,’ he said on Instagram at the time. 

Hilton had been hospitalized earlier this year in March, and had shared pictures of himself in a hospital bed while recovering from sepsis

Hilton had been hospitalized earlier this year in March, and had shared pictures of himself in a hospital bed while recovering from sepsis

He had developed an ulcer after taking flu medication on an empty stomach, which then led to a 21-day hospitalization; seen in 2025

He had developed an ulcer after taking flu medication on an empty stomach, which then led to a 21-day hospitalization; seen in 2025 

Advertisement

He soon gave another update on social media to share that he was able to ‘finally walk again’ as he used the help of a walker. 

Months before the distressing TikTok livestream, Hilton reflected on his health scares and admitted he thought he was ‘going to die.’ 

During an appearance on Fox News Media’s Hang Out with Sean Hannity podcast, which had been recorded on July 14, he said, ‘I was in the hospital for 21 days, so I thought I was gonna die.

‘Especially because the first few days they couldn’t find where the perforation was and then I had all of these other issues. My body just started breaking down.’

Advertisement

He further explained, ‘I had fluid in my lungs. I went AFib. My heart issues. Everything that could go wrong, went wrong.

‘I’m 48 and I’ve never taken any kind of flu medication with food. And some medication, you don’t need to take with food. The flu medication you’re supposed to take with food.’ 

Hilton stated that he took both ‘Aleve and Tylenol’ on an empty stomach. 

‘I know, I did that for a week, and I developed an ulcer and a perforation and here we are.’

Advertisement
He soon gave another update on social media to share that he was able to 'finally walk again' as he used the help of a walker

He soon gave another update on social media to share that he was able to ‘finally walk again’ as he used the help of a walker

Hilton is dad to Mario, 13, Mia, 11, and Mayte, eight, whom he welcomed via surrogate.

Hilton notably launched his celebrity gossip blog back in 2004 which was originally called PageSixSixSix.com. Shortly after, he changed the name to PerezHilton.com.

Advertisement

He has also befriended a number of Hollywood celebrities.

Back in 2021, Hilton admitted that he ‘regrets’ the way he covered Britney Spears’ breakdown in 2007.

He had garnered criticism for ‘bullying’ the Baby One More Time hitmaker after he previously called her an ‘unfit mother.’

Months before the distressing TikTok livestream, Hilton reflected on his health scares and admitted he thought he was 'going to die'; seen in 2025 in Las Vegas

Months before the distressing TikTok livestream, Hilton reflected on his health scares and admitted he thought he was ‘going to die’; seen in 2025 in Las Vegas 

Advertisement

He also released a shirt design on his website in 2008 which questioned why the pop star didn’t die instead of Heath Ledger.

The shirt had an image of Ledger from his role in Brokeback Mountain as well as the words: ‘Why couldn’t it have been Britney?’

‘I regret a lot or most of what I said about Britney as I’m sure Piers [Morgan] would if he were here about things he’s said in the past,’ Hilton said during an interview on Good Morning Britain.

The media personality added that he has grown over the years and expressed, ‘Thankfully, hopefully, many of us get older and wiser.’

Advertisement

If you or someone you know needs help in the US, please call or text the confidential 24/7 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline at 988. If you are in the UK, call Samaritans at 116 123 for free. If you are in Australia, call Lifeline 13 11 14 or Kids Helpline at 1800 55 1800.

Source link

Continue Reading

NewsBeat

Prison officers sent Moonpig cards and bracelets to drug-dealing brothers

Published

on

Daily Record

Elle Walton and Jai Gascoyne were both trained in the dangers of engaging in relationships with inmates, but went ahead anyway

Two prison officers who sent jewellery and Moonpig cards to a pair of jailed brothers are now behind bars themselves.

Elle Walton, 27 and Jai Gascoyne, 25, both worked as prison officers at HMP Buckley Hall in Rochdale when they gave cards and jewellery to Dil Nawaz, 30, and Haq Nawaz, 32. The brothers were serving time after flooding the streets with up to £3m worth of class A drugs.

Advertisement

Before locking them up yesterday, (August 7), a judge told the women that they had trust placed in them because of their jobs, and that they had ‘undermined that trust in the most devastating way you could have’.

Manchester Crown Court heard Gascoyne ordered matching necklaces and bracelets for her and Dil Nawaz. The female defendants also received money from associates of the brothers. Their relationships did not become sexual and they did not smuggle contraband on the Nawaz’s behalf, reports the M.E.N..

Gascoyne admitted being in an inappropriate relationship with Dil Nawaz between January 20, 2024, and April 4, 2024. While Walton admitted being in an inappropriate relationship with Haq Nawaz between January 21, 2024, and March 16, 2024.

Prosecuting at yesterday’s hearing, Philip Hall said that Buckley Hall is a category C jail with more than 450 prisoners, and about 200 staff. Gascoyne had worked there since August 2021, and Walton from January 2023.

Advertisement

Mr Hall said the pair were friends and socialised outside of work. After starting their jobs, they both undertook security training which included modules on ‘corruption prevention’ and on the ‘consequences of becoming personally involved with prisoners’.

They later completed further training organised by the counter corruption unit. “Elle Walton mentioned the consequences of wrongdoing could involve a prison sentence,” Mr Hall said.

Haq Nawaz and Dil Nawaz both received lengthy jail terms in 2023 for the leading roles they played in a Lancashire drugs gang. Lancashire Police said that the gang was responsible for the distribution of between £2.15m and £3.1m worth of crack cocaine and heroin over a 12 month period.

Advertisement

The gang ‘controlled an army of drug dealers and runners’, the force said. The brothers arrived at Buckley Hall in April 2023. Mr Hall said an investigation was launched into relationships formed between the drug dealers and the two female prison officers after the anti-corruption unit received ‘intelligence’.

Gascoyne was searched as she entered the prison on March 28, 2024. There was no contraband found, but she was wearing two necklaces, one engraved with the letter D, and one with an Arabic script.

Mr Hall said: “Jai Gascoyne could not explain what the Arabic script meant, and she tried to explain ‘D’ was a reference to her dad.”

The court was told the Arabic was an ‘Islamic prayer for protection’ from the Quran. The probe discovered Gascoyne had bought two necklaces and two bracelets on Amazon. A similar necklace and a bracelet was discovered in Dil Nawaz’s cell later that day.

Following the sentencing, the North West Regional Organised Crime Unit issued more information about the findings. Referencing a search of Gascoyne’s car, a statement said: “Officers found and seized the following items:

“A card in a sealed envelope addressed to Dil Nawaz, with his prison number and prison address. A ring in a box. A mobile phone.

“During the time of these events, Dil Nawaz was a prisoner within HMP Buckley Hall along with his brother Haq Nawaz. Immediately after discovering the items in Gascoyne’s vehicle, officers searched the cells of the brothers.

Advertisement

“Within Dil Nawaz cell, officers seized the following: A valentines card. A necklace with ‘J’ on a love pendant. Bracelet with ‘J’ on love heart pendant.

“Within Haq Nawaz cell, officers seized the following – Moonpig cards. Papers with phone numbers on. Silver necklace with ‘E’ on pendant.

“Officers can evidence that the pendant engraved with the letter ‘J’ is referring to Jai Gascoyne, while the pendant engraved with the letter ‘E’ is referring to Elle Walton. The necklace recovered from Dil Nawaz was identical to a necklace worn by Gascoyne, which was engraved with the letter ‘D’, believed to be a reference to Dil Nawaz.

“Gascoyne was also found to be wearing a necklace bearing Arabic script, which was translated as Ayat al-Kursi, a verse from the Quran. As Dil Nawaz is a Muslim, this provided further evidence supporting the existence of a relationship between him and Gascoyne.”

Advertisement

NWROCU said that Walton’s actions were discovered after her friend’s phone was interrogated. The statement continued: “Gascoyne’s mobile phone was digitally extracted unveiling not only her own corruption, but also Walton’s.

“Between 12 February 2024 and 23 March 2024, Messages between Gascoyne and Dil Nawaz talk about how in love they are as well as plans to marry as ‘the prison can’t do anything and it’s not like she’s bringing drugs in’.

“There are also messages between Gascoyne and Walton referring themselves as ‘Mrs N’. On 14 February 2024, Walton informs Gascoyne that Haq has asked her to be his girlfriend.”

READ MORE: Christian convert accused of Scot’s suitcase murder ‘turned his back on religion’ before her death

Advertisement

READ MORE: Police urged to monitor far right protestors who travel to inflame Scottish demos

After the hearing, Detective Inspector Brian Morley, from the North West Regional Organised Crime Unit, said: “Both Gascoyne and Walton knew their actions were corrupt and went to significant lengths to conceal their offending while continuing in their roles as prison officers. By working together to hide their crimes, they undermined the integrity and trust placed in prison staff.

“We welcome the sentencing of both them as well as the extended sentences imposed on the brothers involved. We would like to thank colleagues from HMPPS at HMP Buckley Hall for their support throughout this investigation.

“Corruption has no place in our prisons. Those who abuse their position will be identified, investigated and brought to justice. Maintaining the safety and security of our prisons remains a top priority.”

Advertisement

Gascoyne, of Chapel Street, Dukinfield, pleaded guilty to two counts of misconduct in a public office. Walton, of Gordon Street, Bacup, Lancashire, pleaded guilty to one count of misconduct in a public office.

Haq Nawaz, previously of Leyland, Lancashire, and Dil Nawaz, previously of Preston, Lancashire, both pleaded guilty to encouraging or assisting the commission of an offence, namely misconduct in public office, and possessing a prohibited item in prison.

Gascoyne was sentenced to 16 months in prison. Walton was sentenced to 13 months in prison. Both will serve up to 40 per cent of the sentence behind bars.

The Nawaz brothers both had a year added to their sentences. Dil Nawaz was previously sentenced to 13 years and ten months in prison, while Haq Nawaz was sentenced to 12 years for their parts in a class A drug conspiracy.

Advertisement

Ensure our latest news and sport headlines always appear at the top of your Google Search by making us a Preferred Source. Click here to activate or add us as Preferred Source.

Source link

Continue Reading

NewsBeat

A Tibetan cooperative weaves Zeter to keep a centuries-old tradition alive

Published

on

A Tibetan cooperative weaves Zeter to keep a centuries-old tradition alive

SHANNAN, Tibet (AP) — More than a dozen men and women sit at wooden looms, sliding shuttles through rows of wool yarn before pulling each thread tight. They repeat it again and again as they weave Pulu, the traditional woolen fabric that has clothed people on the Tibetan plateau for centuries.

They work at the Ethnic Huaji Handwoven Cooperative in Shannan, where artisans are trying to preserve one of Tibet’s oldest weaving traditions while creating jobs for local residents.

Founded in 2008 by Tibetan artisan Pasang, the cooperative employs more than 100 local residents, including some people with disabilities, while teaching younger Tibetans a craft that he feared was disappearing.

The cooperative specializes in Zeter, a finer variety of Pulu made from especially soft wool from the necks and backs of sheep. He said the finer wool makes the yarn more difficult to spin than that used for ordinary Pulu.

Advertisement

Pasang said that because Zeter is lighter, softer and more delicate than ordinary Pulu, it was presented as a tribute from Tibet to the Chinese imperial court during the Ming dynasty.

Pasang said he learned the craft from his parents at a time when fewer than 10 people still knew how to weave Zeter.

He added that the craft has been recognized as part of China’s national intangible cultural heritage, and that he hopes younger generations will continue practicing it.

The wool comes from sheep raised around Shannan, about 3,700 meters (12,100 feet) above sea level.

Advertisement

Statues of Tibet’s 7th century King Songtsen Gampo and his Chinese bride, Princess Wencheng, stand at the center of the workshop, surrounded by wooden looms. According to local tradition, the weaving craft dates to when Princess Wencheng introduced weaving techniques to Tibet after marrying the king.

In Chinese official history, their marriage symbolizes the historical ties between Tibet and China. “It integrated Tibetan and Chinese cultures,” Pasang said about the fabric’s history.

The Associated Press joined a government-organized trip to Lhasa and Shannan last month, which included visits to the cooperative, palaces, Buddhist temples, tourist sites, an eldercare center and local businesses.

Next to the workshop, a small showroom displays scarves, shawls, jackets, bags and other products made from Pulu and Zeter. Pasang said most sales are in Tibet, although customers also come from elsewhere in China.

Advertisement

Tsering Yangchen has been working for seven years in the cooperative. The 80-year-old woman moved from another county and said she struggled to find work before joining the workshop, where instructors taught her and others how to weave.

She said Pulu is more than just a product she weaves.

Advertisement

“We usually wear them,” she added. “They are made from pure wool.”

____

Associated Press video producer Olivia Zhang contributed.

Advertisement

Source link

Continue Reading

NewsBeat

National Trust accused of ripping off parents with toddlers by charging 80p for a babyccino

Published

on

A Babyccino made with whipped milk or cream with cocoa or cinnamon powder and marshmallow

Advertisement

The National Trust has been accused of ripping off parents with toddlers by charging for small cups of foamed milk at its cafes.

In stark contrast to High Street chains which supply the so-called ‘babyccinos’ for free, the Trust charges 80p.

The Babyccinos – hot foamed milk in a small cup – have become popular with toddlers wanting to mimic the cappuccinos or lattes that their mums and dads are drinking. 

High Street coffee chains, including Costa Coffee, Starbucks and Caffe Nero, all provide the fun drink free of charge.

Advertisement

The charge has infuriated parents across the country, and comes as the Trust is under fire for escalating membership fees.

They have risen from £63 for an adult a decade ago to just over £100 now, with family membership rising from £111 to £176.

Parents visiting the Trust’s historic attractions, including Emmetts Gardens, an Edwardian hillside garden in Kent, and Chartwell in Kent, the former home of Winston Churchill, were amazed to be charged 80p for a babyccino at their cafes.

One mum who took her toddler to visit Emmetts Garden, which charges up to £16.50 each for adult entry, told The Mail on Sunday: ‘I ordered one for my daughter and couldn’t believe they were charging for it when it was just a little bit of frothed milk in a cup!’

Advertisement

A Babyccino made with whipped milk or cream with cocoa or cinnamon powder and marshmallow

A barista, pictured, dusting cocoa powder on to a babyccino in an espresso cup

A barista, pictured, dusting cocoa powder on to a babyccino in an espresso cup

At the National Trust cafe in Lacock, Wiltshire – which dates from Saxon times and has been a filming location for the BBC’s Pride And Prejudice and the film Harry Potter And The Half-Blood Prince – a babyccino was also 80p.

Advertisement

When The Mail on Sunday visited the cafe and ordered a babyccino alongside a standard coffee, our reporter was served a few mouthfuls of hot foamed milk – under 100ml – in an espresso cup.

When asked why there was a charge for the tiny drink, the barista said they charged for cold milk so ‘it was the same’.

But in nearby Chippenham, Wiltshire, coffee chains Costa Coffee, Caffe Nero and Starbucks, all provided a babyccino free of charge when an adult was buying a drink.

While none of them had a babyccino on the menu, all of them offered one upon request. In Caffe Nero the server said they were always happy to provide babyccinos when adults were buying other drinks.

Advertisement

In Costa Coffee, the babyccino was nearly double the size of the National Trust version at just under 200ml, while in Starbucks, the server offered a small (100 ml) or large (around 200ml) size, both free of charge.

A spokesman for the National Trust said: ‘As a charity, we regularly review our pricing to ensure we can cover our costs and support the long-term future of the organisation, while still offering value for money to our members and visitors.

‘We benchmark our food and beverage pricing against similar attractions and high street operators to ensure it remains broadly in line with industry standards.

‘Given other outlets’ pricing and some visitor feedback we’ve received, we are reviewing our babyccino pricing as part of our normal review cycle.’

Advertisement

Advertisement

Source link

Continue Reading

NewsBeat

Booze problem in Westminster? No, MPs don’t drink enough of the stuff. If only they did, they might be more honest, says QUENTIN LETTS

Published

on

Quentin Letts contends that today's Parliament has become overly sober, sterile, and hyper-regulated, leading to overly energetic ministers pushing unnecessary policies

This arid, fly-blown August has been interrupted by a sermon from something called the Institute of Alcohol Studies. 

It claims Parliament is an ‘alcohol-soaked workplace’ where all-day boozing is ‘embedded’ and alcohol has been ‘a driver of harmful behaviours and poor conduct among politicians‘.

The institute, an offshoot of the old Total Abstinence League, may be on to something, although not in the way it imagines.

Westminster does indeed have a hooch problem: In my opinion it does not drink enough.

Advertisement

That, naturally, is not the gist of the report Under the Influence? 38 pages of tight-lipped prose in which the institute denounces our legislature as a soaks’ paradise. 

It alleges that recent MPs have had to have their stomachs pumped, such was their inebriation. No names are given.

The report complains that ‘individuals are responsible for self-regulating their alcohol consumption’, as if some clipboard-wielding Rosa Klebb should constantly hover nearby to tell backbenchers not to have another sherry.

The report – a dry read, yet drippy – is aghast that alcohol is ‘linked to a networking culture deemed essential to career progression’. Networking in politics? Whatever next? Footballers who cheat?

Advertisement

Quentin Letts contends that today’s Parliament has become overly sober, sterile, and hyper-regulated, leading to overly energetic ministers pushing unnecessary policies

Let us first admit that some people hate politicians and want them to have a miserable time. Why should there be any bars at Parliament? And why do companies and charities lay on free drink at Westminster receptions? Free wine for MPs and peers? The blighters!

The answer to this charge is that politics is a people business. ‘The Devil’s buttermilk’ (as the Rev Ian Paisley used to call alcohol) can make it more honest, as I will explain presently.

Advertisement

Westminster used to be considerably more liquid. The 19th-century Commons was often plastered. 

The mighty Norway debate of 1940, when the Chamberlain government was undone, was held amid the whiff of drink. What a night that must have been: The nerves, the tension, the surging emotions. My goodness, just thinking about it you can almost smell the whisky and the sheer urgency of the hour.

In the late 1960s the Commons Speaker was Horace King, a drinker. One evening he teetered into the chamber at 9.25pm and took more than one go at clambering into his chair. He fell across the clerks’ table, his ceremonial wig at a 45-degree angle.

Bob Mellish, government chief whip, snapped: ‘You’re a disgrace, Horace, and I’ll have you out of that chair in three months.’ Speaker King, suppressing a burp: ‘How can you get me out of the chair, Bob, when I can’t get myself into it?’

Advertisement

BBC political reporter Ben Wright, in his entertaining book about parliamentary drinking, claims that in 1983 a Labour MP, Edwin Wainwright, was escorted to a taxi after overdoing it in Strangers’ Bar.

The Green party's Zack Polanski is known for not drinking alcohol

The Green party’s Zack Polanski is known for not drinking alcohol

Wainwright was not, however, ready to conclude his day.

He stumbled back into the Commons and made a speech so slurred that Hansard’s stenographers were unable to discern what he was saying. Instead of a verbatim account of his speech they simply noted: ‘Mr Wainwright made a number of observations.’

Advertisement

That most languid of Conservatives, Alan Clark, was made a junior employment minister in the same year. He was told to make a front-bench speech about equal opportunities. It did not start until after 10pm, and Clark had spent the first part of the evening at a wine tasting.

As he started reading the speech he realised it was polluted by civil-service jargon. To spare the House he spoke at ’78rpm rather than 33rpm’, i.e, a ridiculously high speed.

Labour’s Clare Short did not see the joke and complained. Clark was undoubtedly naughty but did he not have something of a point? Why should anyone be exposed to officialdom’s cliches after supper?

As for Ms Short, five years later I was drinking in the Imperial Hotel, Blackpool, on the first afternoon of Labour’s party conference. Clare was at our table. I used to think I could drink a lot. Next to her I felt a puny amateur.

Advertisement

The past often shimmered on booze fumes. George Brown was a stocious economics minister and Foreign Secretary in the 1960s. The public warmed to him.

Ernie Bevin, most serious and capable of 1940s statesmen, ran on drink in the way ‘a car uses petrol’. Roy Jenkins was nicknamed ‘Old Beaujolais’.

Politics is not, as the Institute for Alcohol Studies claims, a ‘profession’. You do not need to pass exams to become an MP.

The one piece of paper you need is the returning officer’s confirmation that you won your constituency’s election.

Advertisement
Letts highlights how Parliament has a long, colourful history of heavy drinking, suggesting it humanised politicians and fueled bold decision-making

Letts highlights how Parliament has a long, colourful history of heavy drinking, suggesting it humanised politicians and fueled bold decision-making

Parliamentary politics is about life, and life can sometimes be drunken, particularly when under the sort of stress that MPs must endure. I am no longer a big drinker. I can quite see that alcohol, in excess, is a poison. But it is something much enjoyed by millions of voters. Politicians are citizens, not saints.

In recent times we had poor Charles Kennedy, who was killed by drink, and there have been one or two cases of MPs bouncing off the corridors; but we have also had Nigel Farage, whose beery image helped liberate us from the European Union. 

He was more popular when he radiated that pubby bonhomie. Politics is as much the art of conviviality as debate.

Advertisement

The Green party’s Zack Polanski does not drink alcohol. Maybe he would seem less fanatical, and therefore more persuasive, if he did.

The late David Lipsey, a political adviser in the Wilson years, told Ben Wright: ‘Drink stopped the manic compulsion to do something every single day.’

Today’s ministers, Lipsey suspected, were ‘too sober and too energetic, thinking up wheezes they’d forget about if only they had a couple of large drinks’.

I would offer a more positive case for drink, namely as a truth drug. Ministers are more likely to learn what backbench MPs and their constituents think if they mingle with them over a pint.

Advertisement

One of the criticisms of Sir Keir Starmer as PM was that he seldom mixed with his MPs. The celebrated lawyer did not spend enough time at the bar.

Not that today’s Commons is dissolute. Despite those horror stories of stomach-pumping in the institute’s report, today’s MPs strike me as a clean-livered lot.

A few snifters might make them more prepared to disagree with party whips and wake up to the ridiculousness of regulatory over-reach and much welfare spending.

The institute suggests that arguments in bars are a bad thing. If they help MPs work out what they honestly think about bad Bills, I’d say that was a good thing.

Advertisement

Fainthearts will say ‘but it’s a workplace and you shouldn’t drink at work’. Parliament is much more than a workplace. It is the cockpit of our politics, an arena for debate and awkward truths. In recent times those truths have been tamed by too much sobriety.

Winston Churchill said: ‘I have taken more out of alcohol than alcohol has taken out of me.’ If Boris Yeltsin had not been so keen on vodka, would he have risked his life by standing on that tank and resisting Soviet hardliners in 1991?

One of the best backbenchers in the Blair years was Labour’s Bob Marshall-Andrews, no stranger to the Garrick bar at lunchtime.

It was Marshall-Andrews who in the Commons came up with the winning description of David Miliband’s tenure as Foreign Secretary. 

Advertisement

‘A pillock on his gap year,’ drawled the magnificent Bob. The only surprise was that he did not follow it by crying, ‘and another bottle of club red, please!’

Source link

Continue Reading

NewsBeat

ADHD diagnoses and prescriptions have increased globally across all age groups, our review shows

Published

on

ADHD diagnoses and prescriptions have increased globally across all age groups, our review shows

Diagnoses for attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) have increased in many countries across all age groups, our latest review has found. We have also shown that prescriptions for ADHD treatments have seen similar increases across all age groups.

Our latest review, published in the Journal of Psychopharmacology, drew together the recently published research on ADHD diagnoses and prescriptions across the world.

We found that in the UK, increases in recorded ADHD diagnoses and treatment prescriptions occurred across all age groups between 2000 and 2018.

The greatest rise in ADHD diagnoses across this period was among children. However, there was also a distinct increase in adults. For example, among men aged 18-29 there was an approximately 20-fold increase in diagnoses and an almost 50-fold increase in prescriptions.

Advertisement

The sex ratio of ADHD diagnoses in childhood and adolescence was approximately 4:1 male to female. However, the ratio of diagnoses in adulthood is nearly 1:1. This shift may partly reflect increased recognition of how ADHD presents in girls and adults – groups that have historically been underdiagnosed.

Alongside these increases in ADHD diagnoses, there has also been an increase in prescriptions for ADHD treatments.

In England, prescriptions of central nervous system stimulants (the main prescription treatments for ADHD) increased by 32% in adults over 18 in 2021-22. In children under 17, prescriptions increased by 12% from 2022-23. This was also the first time that more adults were prescribed these drugs than children since records started in 2015.

A retrospective study of over 154 million people from 13 countries, including in North America, Europe and Asia, demonstrated that use of ADHD medication prescriptions had increased in these regions as well.

Advertisement

Why diagnoses and prescriptions are increasing

A few key factors can largely explain the increase in both ADHD diagnoses and prescriptions that we’ve seen. This includes increased public awareness of the condition, better understanding by doctors of the way symptoms present and the availability of new and improved medications.

Additionally, there is better awareness of how ADHD manifests in groups who may have previously been missed because their symptoms did not match with those typically exhibited in boys and adolescents. This includes women and girls and people with predominantly inattentive symptoms.

However, these factors may only tell part of the story. Our review also revealed other drivers may deserve careful consideration.

Prescriptions for ADHD treatments have also seen an increase globally.
Photoroyalty/ Shutterstock

For instance, there has been much debate over whether there is an issue of overdiagnosis and over-prescribing. Legitimate questions about whether some attention difficulties might be over-medicalised have also been raised. On the other hand, some authors have argued that there is no evidence to suggest overdiagnosis is occurring in the UK.

Advertisement

Understanding the full picture requires looking beyond the obvious explanations to examine cultural, economic, social and technological pressures in a globally competitive environment that may be influencing both diagnosis rates and treatment choices.

Looking forward

The rising rates of ADHD diagnoses and treatment represent a complex picture. There have been genuine improvements in recognising a real disorder that was historically overlooked (particularly in adult men and women), better clinical awareness and perhaps also some degree of over-identification in certain environments.

What seems clear is that ADHD, long thought of as a children’s disorder, is now being treated as what it truly is: a lifelong neurodevelopmental disorder affecting millions of people across the globe.

As awareness continues to grow, the challenge ahead lies in preserving limited NHS resources, while ensuring those who genuinely need these resources have improved access.

Advertisement

The wait time for an ADHD diagnosis in England currently ranges from two to 15 years. With increasing rates of diagnoses and prescriptions to manage ADHD, there are concerns that demand will soon outstrip NHS capacity entirely.

What could be a solution is the discovery of ADHD biomarkers – an objectively measurable indicator of a biological state or condition that can be detected in signatures in the brain. Currently, ADHD is diagnosed by a doctor who often has to rely on self-reported symptoms. Having biomarkers could improve the accuracy of diagnoses, ensuring those who have the condition get the support they need earlier on.

Source link

Advertisement
Continue Reading

NewsBeat

Theme park to close rollercoaster forever after ‘last hurrah’ – opened in 1959

Published

on

Daily Mirror

A beloved rollercoaster has taken its final riders after nearly seven decades of operation.

The Mad Mouse at Arnolds Park Amusement Park in Iowa, US, officially retired on Wednesday, July 29, bringing an end to the attraction’s remarkable 67-year history.

The theme park paid tribute to the classic ride in a Facebook post, thanking it for the “laughs, thrills and memories” it had provided generations of visitors.

Advertisement

“Over the years, this classic ride has created countless memories for generations of guests and kept our maintenance team busy with plenty of repairs along the way,” park officials wrote. “Thank you, Mad Mouse, for the ride.”

The rollercoaster first opened in 1959 at Bell’s Amusement Park in Tulsa, Oklahoma, before being moved to Joyland Amusement Park in Lubbock, Texas, in 1976.

Arnolds Park acquired the ride in 2019, giving it what CEO Jon Pausley described as a “last hurrah”.

The compact coaster became known for its sharp hairpin turns and intense thrills, with Pausley saying riders tended to either love it and ride repeatedly or decide once was enough.

Advertisement

But keeping the ageing attraction running had become increasingly difficult.

Natural wear and tear meant the Mad Mouse required frequent repairs, maintenance and welding. Each welding job also required inspection and certification, sometimes forcing the ride to close for several days.

Park bosses ultimately decided that the ride’s footprint and frequent downtime no longer made sense during its short, 100-day operating season.

Advertisement

As the attraction is dismantled, at least one of its cars will be preserved at the Arnolds Park Museum. Other parts will be sent to Little Amerricka Amusement Park in Wisconsin, home to the last remaining Mad Mouse of its type.

The ride’s removal will make way for a new attraction scheduled to open at Arnolds Park in 2027.

Source link

Advertisement
Continue Reading

Trending

Copyright © 2025