The new Prime Minister used his 21-minute speech to the UN in New York – seen by many as his first major international diplomacy test – to address a huge range of issues

Andy Burnham gave a wide-ranging first speech to the UN where he attacked Russia, called for Middle East peace, announced new policies, and promised world leaders they can ‘count on us’.

Burnham’s mission to the UN headquarters in New York was seen as his first major test in international diplomacy, only being named Prime Minister eight weeks ago. In his trip across the Atlantic, the PM has done marathon meet-and-greets, rubbing shoulders with global figures like Donald Trump, Ursula von der Leyen, and Anthony Albanese before taking to the general assembly stage.

His 21-minute-long speech saw the PM launch a blistering attack on Russia, announce a new security deal with the US on AI, repeat calls for a two-state solution in the Middle East, and launch two major domestic policies. These are the six things we learned from Andy Burnham ’s first speech to the UN.

Burnham slams Russia’s ‘insidious campaign’

It did not take long to see who the villain of his speech was going to be: Russia. He launched a scathing attack on Kremlin interference in British affairs as Putin’s delegation watched on.

The PM said: “Russian agencies have used every means at their disposal to spread lies and disinformation and prey on people’s fear. They’ve used bots and fake websites. Falsified newspaper articles. Forged the branding of 28 British organisations – including universities and the BBC.

“They’ve amplified far-right narratives. And we have evidence that they tried to interfere with the 2019 General Election.”

He added Putin’s government spends ‘£1.3 billion’ on ‘manipulating information’.

“We also know that they have tried to stoke tensions and unrest in the wake of horrific events,” Burnham continued. “The idea that anyone would try to use such things to their advantage is just repulsive – but it is what they do.”

Russia has previously been accused of using illicitly acquired documents about UK-US trade talks to try to influence the 2019 contest. Chillingly, the Russian delegation showed little emotion when Burnham put these charges to them.

New ‘National Centre for Information Defence’ planned

Burnham moved from his attack on Russia to announcing two policies to combat disinformation from Moscow. The ‘architecture’ for doing so is creating a new National Centre for Information Defence that will tackle online lies and deepfakes damaging British interests, he said.

The new unit is initially being led out of the Office for the Prime Minister and Cabinet, with the new centre working alongside intelligence agencies, government departments, the police and social media companies. After raising the ‘insidious campaign’ orchestrated by the Kremlin, Burnham said the new unit will be necessary as ‘AI will multiply the threat’ already posed by bad actors online.

Burnham to unveil ‘10 year plan for Britain’

The second anti-disinformation policy comes in the form of a new decade-long plan for the country set to be revealed later this year, Burnham added.

The plan will focus on getting more people into work — especially young people — and easing the cost-of-living crisis for most people, he said, but he did not announce any specific measures on-stage. It appears Burnham is selling this new plan as a response to insecurity.

He said ‘security starts in every home’, and he believes getting more people in work means they are less susceptible to falling foul of misinformation online. He said: “Part of the challenge is to lift our people up and create the opportunities they need. When inequalities grow too wide, our societies are at greater risk.

“So we will work to make life more affordable for people. That will be at the heart of a new 10 year plan for Britain that we will bring forward later in the year.”

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AI deal with US agreed as Burnham pitches UK as ‘honest broker’

Just hours after first meeting Donald Trump, Burnham announced a new national security deal with the US as part of a section of his address which touched on AI fears. He told delegates: “I am announcing today that we are developing a new AI defence partnership with the United States to protect our critical national infrastructure.”

Details of the deal have not been revealed. In a long section on AI, Burnham went on to say that ‘AI will also be a source of disruption to the way we live and work’, so he wants the UK to act as an ‘honest broker’ to draw up ‘a single set of global principles and standards’ for the development of frontier AI.

Two-state solution must stay ‘alive’ for Gaza

As his speech began to end, Burnham turned his attention to the Middle East, and renewed calls for a two-state solution in Gaza.

He condemned Hamas’ 2023 attack on Israel as ‘utterly horrific’, but then said of Israel’s response in the years since: “Far too many people have died, including so many children. Far too little aid is getting in, and it has gone on for far too long.”

That was why the UK ‘banned trading goods with illegal settlements, recognised the Israeli occupation of the Palestinian territory is unlawful, and sanctioned those taking part in the construction of illegal settlements’ earlier this month, he said. But Burnham looked to the future and said the two-state solution must ‘stay alive’.

He added: “We want to see the suffering and death finally come to an end. We want to see Israeli and Palestinian people living side by side in peace and security. And we will do all we can to keep the hope of that possibility alive.”

‘Britain is back… count on us’

Burnham’s opening gambit was to tell the world ‘Britain is back’ — and after 20 minutes, he clarified what that meant. World leaders can ‘count on’ the UK in the years to come, he said.

He concluded his speech by saying: “You can count on us to stand up for those long standing British values of fairness and justice.

“Count on us to fight racism, discrimination and the abuse of power wherever we see it. Count on us to bring people together.

“Count on us to meet fear and division with unity and hope.”

A blood-soaked escapee ran screaming from the home, with police shockingly uncovering a plastic-lined ‘narco torture chamber’ kill room inside the building

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A secret torture chamber has been uncovered in a British holiday hotspot, with police discovering the nightmarish set-up in a vacant villa right in the nick of time.

Police were called to an address in Estepona, in Spain’s idyllic Costa del Sol, to carry out a welfare check after emergency services received a panicked phone call from a woman at about 1 am on September 5.

She told police: “My partner has gone to a house to carry out shady business and told me that if I didn’t contact him in ten minutes, I should call the police.”

Officers rocked up at the Old Town address to do a welfare check. After no answer at the door, police clambered over a fence to take a closer look at the home in the wake of the chilling phone call.

But before they’d managed to hop the fence entirely, a man ran out of the building, naked, screaming, and drenched in blood.

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The man, later identified as the partner of the fearful woman who had called police, shouted at officers: “They’ve kidnapped me and they’re going to kill me!”

Two of the man’s captors were found inside wearing face masks and attempted to flee, resulting in a police officer firing a warning shot into the air after noticing one of the men was carrying what looked like a firearm.

They called for backup, and once fully inside the villa, police realised they had uncovered a horrific home of death. Inside the home’s torture chamber was a second naked man who was tied to a chair and covered in blood.

The room he was in was found to be covered with plastic sheeting across the floor and walls. Officers recovered a number of torture tools, with the grim finds documented in police photos.

It is understood that the plastic sheeting was used to cover up any biological or forensic traces of the crimes committed within the home, with plastic regularly collected and burned at the site, a source told EL ESPAÑOL.

Seven people in total were arrested at the Estepona house of horrors, with their horrific crimes being apparent acts of gang-related violence. They have since been imprisoned for torture, kidnapping, and a string of other crimes.

All those at the premises, both victims and assailants, held criminal records. Most of them had served time in prison, EL ESPAÑOL reported.

Investigators believe the acts of torture were in retribution regarding a drug-related matter, with motives spanning theft, money owed, or a bungled job. Investigations continue, and the true motive remains unconfirmed.

Speaking to EL ESPAÑOL, authorities said: “[This] is a gang dedicated to trafficking cocaine and hashish, whose activity also includes other crimes such as extortion.”

Spanish authorities are now considering involving Interpol to help track down the remaining gang members, as the seven arrested at the torture house were all Georgian.

The Provincial Brigade of Judicial Police of Malaga said: “The activity of this organisation of professional criminals had a presence on the Costa del Sol, in the Campo de Gibraltar and in the Levante area.”

The young boy’s family held a vigil at the scene as police and a team of divers desperately searched for him, with the child later recovered in the early hours of this morning

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A little boy who vanished down a drainpipe while swimming in Australia has tragically been found dead.

Police divers found the body of the boy, aged nine, at about 1.45 am on Wednesday (September 23), about eight hours after he was reported as entering the drainpipe earlier that day in the Northern Territory (NT).

The boy was swimming at a weir at the Katherine Low Level nature reserve, south of Katherine, at about 5.15 pm on Tuesday when he vanished into the drain.

The weir, found just south of the regional town of Katherine, is popular with locals and families alike. The frequently-used Outback swimming hole is about 1025 miles north of Uluru, the nation’s red centre.

The young boy’s family held a vigil at the scene as police and a team of divers desperately searched for him, with the child later recovered in the early hours of this morning.

NT Police Commander Neil Hayes said the incident was “an incredibly tragic incident, and we are providing welfare to the attending members”.

“Our thoughts are with the boy’s family,” he added.

NT Police have launched an investigation into the incident and a report will be prepared for the coroner.

This is not the first time someone has entered the water at Katherine Low Level and has not returned.

In fact, the Daily Mail Australia reports that it has uncovered multiple reports of locals dying and multiple near-drownings at the weir over recent decades.

One man, who was swimming in the weir in 1972, said he “came so close” to drowning after he swam at what he called the ‘topside’ of the dam wall.

“I tried swimming out (and) screaming, “Help!” to my two buddies standing on the bridge. I kept going forward then being pulled back and under,” he said.

“I was exhausted and I remember thinking this is the last time I can survive being pulled under again.

“Somehow my legs came up to the top of the water and I got out of the undertow – I was so damned lucky that day.”

Another local added that he had lost an “old school friend” at the same weir back in 1990.

“He went home to Katherine for the school holidays from boarding school and never came back,” he said.

“From what I understand, he drowned at the Low Level.”

Another person said a young man drowned there in the early 1960s due to a fault in the weir, but that was later fixed.

Some such tragedies have been documented at the Katherine Museum, an eclectic collection of local histories that include artefacts, photographs, maps, and pioneer memorabilia housed in a former World War II regional air terminal.

An entry at the museum regarding the weir at Low Level Bridge states that the place that has “brought a lot of sadness” to local families throughout recent decades.

“The river looks so inviting, but sometimes nature’s force has other ideas, and it is not safe to swim at the weir, especially while in flood,” reads a text written on previous drowning tragedies at the nature reserve

“Local families have lost loved ones while swimming near and at this bridge. Many people have swam at this bridge not knowing that the current at the weir has a capacity to hold you with force against the concrete wall.”

The passage ends with: “The river looks so inviting, but sometimes nature’s force has other ideas, and it is not safe to swim at the weir, especially while in flood.”

It is not known what depth the weir was at when the young boy was sucked into the drainpipe and drowned, but it is impassable during the majority of the NT’s wet season, which spans from December to April. During the tropical storm season, water levels are understood to rise to about 40 feet.

First Lady Melania Trump appeared on the world stage with President Donald Trump at the 81st United Nations General Assembly in New York City on Tuesday. 

The first lady arrived with Trump wearing a tailored black suit and stood and smiled slightly as he spoke to the press and berated CNN‘s Kaitlan Collins for being present despite his decision to ban the ‘fake news’ outlet from the press pool.

‘Melania arrived here showing what real first lady star status and elegance look like. Fiercely power-dressed in a tailored black suit with exaggerated shoulder padding and a cinched-in waist to create a dramatic outline, her white shirt with matching cravat neckline,’ body language expert Judi James told the Daily Mail.

The first lady led the way up the escalator while President Trump followed.

While she held onto the rail, Trump did not despite last year’s mishap where it stopped suddenly.

James noted that the first lady’s serious expression during the president’s big UN speech demonstrated her loyalty.

When the president gave the first lady a shoutout in his speech for her efforts to help children, she smiled broadly.

‘Melania listened as he tried to fund her in the room but she was clearly quietly purring behind the modest looking wave,’ James noted. ‘Her cheeks were rounded and her smile of delight and pride slowly spread across her face,’ James said. 

Melania and Secretary of State Marco Rubio appeared with President Trump at the United Nations for his speech

Trump and Melania arrived together at the United Nations on Tuesday morning

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Later the first lady hosted 57 spouses of world leaders on Tuesday at an event promoting her signature initiative, Fostering the Future Together.

The event was held at the St. Regis hotel in New York City. 

Representatives from the United Kingdom of Great Britain, Northern Ireland, South Korea, the Philippines, Poland, Ukraine, Turkey, the United Arab Emirates, Panama, Canada, and other nations appeared at the event.

‘Together, we are a beautiful range of cultures, languages, histories, and traditions. And yet, we stand unified around one everlasting truth: the future of our world will be determined by what we do for our children today,’ Melania said.

The first lady urged all spouses of world leaders to act to empower the world’s youth, using technology, artificial intelligence, and education.

‘When nations speak with one voice, the world listens. Our collective influence is profound. Together, we can open doors, move markets, shape policy. And most importantly, we can change lives for the better,’ she said.

The program focuses on empowering children through education and technology, and partners with private companies around the world to provide resources to young people. 

The first lady welcomed spouses of world leaders to join her in her effort to support children 

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Melania announced the expansion of her Fostering the Future Together program 

Melania listening to her husband Trump delivering remarks at the UN

Trump announced Monday that the effort had secured seven new technology-sector partnerships to benefit children including Adobe, Amazon, Intel, Starlink, Google, and Zoom. 

Apple executive chairman Tim Cook was present at the event as well as Enrique Lores, CEO of PayPal. 

The event is part of a full scale of events for the first lady surrounding the United Nations General Assembly.

On Wednesday, Trump will ring the Opening Bell at the New York Stock Exchange and launch the IMPERIA initiative for female CEOs and C-Suit members.

AI has picked the Premier League team of the season so far, and you might be surprised by some of the names that have named in the starting line-up

It’s been a blistering start to the 2026/27 Premier League campaign with Enzo Maresca’s Manchester City leading the way heading into the first international break of the season. The Italian is undefeated since returning to the Etihad Stadium and City look set to rival Arsenal in the title race once again.

Mikel Arteta’s side lost their 100 per cent win record last time out, when they were well beaten by Brighton & Hove Albion, but the Gunners are still second in the table. Arsenal made a bright start to the season but find themselves three points behind City.

The Seagulls are in third following that impressive win over the Gunners, while Brentford occupy the final spot in the top-four. The latter two clubs were in contention for European football last season and have picked up where they left off.

We asked Google Gemini to construct the Premier League Team of the Season so far, and players from the aforementioned four teams are featured in the starting XI. Using underlying statistics, metrics, and media coverage from the opening five gameweeks of the 2026/27 season, it named the 11 best players so far, and you might be surprised by some of those involved.

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Goalkeeper

Lukas Hornicek (Newcastle United): Despite Newcastle’s mixed start, Hornicek leads the Premier League in saves (16), consistently keeping his team in matches with crucial shot-stopping.

The Czech shot stopper only signed for the Magpies in the summer transfer window in a £25.7m deal from Braga but has already had a major say in their early season results.

Defenders

Right-Back: Jack Hinshelwood (Brighton & Hove Albion): The England youth international is excelling in Brighton’s fluid system. Hinshelwood has already contributed two goals this season while remaining incredibly solid in possession.

Centre-Back: Dan Ballard (Sunderland): The Sunderland defender has shown no sign of second season syndrome and has been a physical force at the back. He leads the league in aerial duels won (20) and is ranking near the top for total duels won (33).

Centre-Back: Lewis Dunk (Brighton & Hove Albion): Dunk is statistically the best ball-playing defender in the league so far this season. He has completed 360 passes so far and heavily dictates the tempo of Brighton’s dominant possession game.

Left-Back: Joško Gvardiol (Manchester City): A staple in early Team of the Season selections, Gvardiol has successfully balanced defensive solidity with significant attacking output and high ball-recovery numbers.

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Midfielders

Central Midfield: Vitaly Janelt (Brentford): The Brentford midfielder currently boasts the highest average statistical rating in the league (7.71). Janelt leads all players in interceptions (16) and anchors Brentford’s midfield brilliantly.

Central Midfield: Pascal Groß (Brighton & Hove Albion): The creative engine of the league so far, Groß sits firmly at the top of the charts for both chances created (13) and key passes (13).

Central Midfield: Bruno Fernandes (Manchester United): Although United continues to rebuild, Fernandes is once again a standout individual, registering three goals, leading the league in total shots (16), and consistently driving the attack forward.

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Forwards

Right Winger: Bukayo Saka (Arsenal): The England international has three goals to his name and 14 fouls won. While some have questioned his recent form, the stats show Saka has been a positive outlet on the right flank, generating a massive 3.06 expected goals (xG).

Striker: Erling Haaland (Manchester City): Unsurprisingly, leading Erling Haaland leads the line. He tops the Golden Boot race with five goals, boasting the league’s highest xG (3.21) and most shots on target (9).

Left Winger: Joao Pedro (Chelsea): Joao Pedro has been arguably the most complete attacker in the opening weeks, racking up three goals and three assists while winning 34 ground duels.

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Jailing an elderly Scots paedophile dubbed “Jimmy Savile Mark 2” in a notorious hellhole jail would be a “death sentence” for him, his lawyers have claimed.

Convicted child abuser and ex-teacher Iain Wares is facing jail in South Africa for sex attacks on a former pupil.

Once he is sentenced in Africa, Wares is facing extradition to Scotland where he is accused of sex attacks on dozens of boys at two Edinburgh private schools.

But a court in South Africa was told that locking him up “even for a few months” in the notorious hell hole Pollsmoor jail, which houses 40 to 60 men per cell, would kill him.

It was said that pensioner Wares, 87, would be subjected to extortion and violence at the hands of brutal gangs inside South Africa’s toughest prison and he would not survive.

The prediction came at a pre-sentencing hearing at Wynberg Magistrates Court in Cape Town yesterday following the conviction of Wares last March for a sex attack.

A social work report stated that despite being found guilty Wares has shown no remorse for his 12-year-old victim known as “Stephen” who he attacked at Rondebosch Boys School in 1988.

Expert witness Miss Arina Smit said Wares was outed as a paedophile by BBC radio presenter Nicky Cambell for attacking pupils at two Scottish schools, Fettes and Edinburgh Academy, between 1968 and 1979.

She said 65 of his former pupils came forward to allege Wares molested them.

She said that the publicity had a “snowball effect” which led to Wares being first arrested in Cape Town by Interpol.

Wares was rearrested last November on 90 fresh charges brought by 65 boys he once taught including four of rape and multiple indecent assaults.

Miss Smit told the court that the prison system in South Africa is unequipped to provide specialized geriatric nursing and palliative care and mobility assistance that Wares would need in jail.

She said: “Subjecting Wares to prison conditions would effectively condemn him to a premature death and transform a retributive sentence into a capital sentence.

“He is not a dangerous or a high risk offender and there are powerful mitigating facts warranting judicial mercy on a first time offender who is now 87 years of age.

“While the gravity of the historical offence is severe and the breach of trust profound, the mitigating factors overwhelmingly demonstrate he is not a threat to society.

“Punishing an 87-year-old by exposing him to the life-threatening overcrowded conditions of a South African prison serves no rehabilitative or protective function.

“The courts must serve the public interest not the public opinion” she said.

Social worker Miss Smit said in her pre-sentence report that following the BBC Radio 5 Live broadcasts in the UK by Nicky Campbell about Wares a “massive media cascade” was triggered.

She said: “This public exposure caused the initial seven UK complaints to rapidly leap into a consolidated extradition indictment of some 90 charges involving 65 more boys.

“This mirrors other international historical abuse cascades, such as the Jimmy Savile scandal in the UK, and Wares was now also being likened to “Jimmy Saville Mk II by a UK MP.”

Miss Smit recommended that Magistrate Vanessa Miki considers a suspended prison sentence or house arrest along with ongoing treatment.

Wares was “diagnosed” as a paedophile in 1968 after moving to Scotland to undergo voluntary psychiatric treatment for his strong urges towards young boys whilst training as a teacher.

After his three-month “treatment” ended he began teaching at the exclusive Edinburgh Academy where he allegedly abused boys and then moved onto Fettes College where he did the same.

It was alleged at his 2025 arrest he raped or indecently or physically assaulted 65 boys in Scotland aged between eight and 11 between 1968 and 1979 for which he faces 90 charges.

After sentencing Wares is due at an extradition hearing at Simon’s Town Magistrates Court in South Africa where he is expected to make a plea for the first time on the 90 Scottish sex abuse charges he was arrested for.

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Liverpool headed into the international break unbeaten in all competitions, but Andoni Iraola has plenty to ponder before club football returns

Liverpool’s start to the season has been far from perfect. But Andoni Iraola’s side have not lost a match yet with seven games played.

The Reds had hoped to put last campaign’s dismal title defence behind them and have been getting positive results to begin this term. As well as victories in both the Carabao Cup and Champions League, Liverpool have drawn three of their opening league matches and won two, their latest game a 1-0 triumph away at Iraola’s old team, Bournemouth.

Iraola’s side are next in action against Manchester City on October 11, just under three weeks away. But that hasn’t stopped bombshells from dropping. Real Madrid and France superstar Kylian Mbappe has confirmed he was close to joining Liverpool as a youngster.

He revealed his side of the story of meeting with former boss Jurgen Klopp on a private jet. Mirror Football brings you all the latest updates out of Anfield, including new manager Iraola’s detailed striker plans.

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Kylian Mbappe’s nearly moment

Mbappe is one of European football’s most recognisable names. He’s a World Cup winner with France and leads Real Madrid’s line. His exploits for Paris Saint-Germain were mind-blowing and included 256 goals in 308 appearances and six Ligue 1 titles. But before he even joined Les Parisiens, Mbappe admits he held talks with Liverpool and his mother even preferred a move to Merseyside.

“It was while I was playing in Monaco,” Mbappe told The Athletic, recalling events from 2017. “I had to make a decision. And yes, I was close to Liverpool. My mum was a big fan of Jurgen Klopp and the favourite destination for my mum was Liverpool. She wanted me to go there.

“I didn’t listen because I wanted to play in my city, Paris. I didn’t want to leave my country before I was someone. But yes, my mum was always saying, ‘Liverpool – you’re going to be there, playing at Anfield, it’s going to be insane for you.’ I was like, ‘OK!’

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“She went there. She went to the city, to the stadium and met the people. She was like, ‘It’s a wonderful club, everybody’s so kind, it’s a family club, a big club.’ She went to Anfield and fell in love with it. She watched a few games alone, to feel the atmosphere, because she wanted to imagine me in this stadium.

“All the time we were talking. ‘What do you think, Mum?’ She’d say, ‘For me, you have to go to Liverpool.’ I said, ‘OK, OK, OK!’ because Jurgen Klopp was an amazing manager. I met him and had a wonderful relationship with him. I had big respect for him.”

Yet Mbappe ultimately wanted to establish himself in his home country before heading abroad, and he instead swapped Monaco for PSG on an initial loan deal with a whopping £154million mandatory purchase option. The rest, as they say, is history.

Andoni Iraola’s striker plan

The Reds did end up signing a superstar striker eight years later, welcoming Alexander Isak to the club from Newcastle United for a record £125m. Iraola is supposedly planning to use the 27-year-old in a specific way and wants him to adapt his game.

According to the Daily Mail, Iraola wants more from Isak and is even showing him videos of youngster Lewis Koumas in an attempt to improve his off-the-ball running and efforts defending.

Iraola wishes for the Swedish striker to help suffocate teams as his Bournemouth side did. He wants Isak to lead the press with more intent and see more of the ball, working alongside Florian Wirtz.

The manager plans to use both Isak and Koumas, too, with his ideal set-up being him replacing two of his forward players around the hour mark, in the hope that they have exerted themselves to a great degree.

Last year marked 250 years of Jane Austen, one of the world’s best-known authors. Her enduring appeal is reflected in the myriad celebrations that took place to honour this anniversary, including exhibitions, festivals and a special six-part podcast series from The Conversation.

Austen at 250 cemented her global status as one of the most-loved literary figures of all time. But what about the other commercially successful female novelists who wrote alongside Austen, yet are barely remembered today?

Scottish authors Susan Ferrier and Mary Brunton offer two such examples. Although relatively modest in their output, their novels – and in particular their first novels, titled Marriage and Self-Control respectively – were popular and widely read in their own historical moment. As their names suggest, these were works concerned with propriety and expectation, but they were also experimental in their own ways.

Recent plot points in Netflix’s Bridgerton anticipate a growing cultural interest in Regency-era Scotland. With a fifth season officially in production, and Scottish scenery foregrounded in the most recent trailer (below), it is timely to consider Austen’s Scottish female contemporaries.

Regency Scotland

So far, Bridgerton has painted a picture of Scotland as a remote country, far removed from the bustle and excitement of the Ton. As Eloise Bridgerton recounts upon her return from the Kilmartin Estate:

Pen, there may not have been enough people in Scotland, but time spent amidst so much astounding natural beauty did give me considerable time to reflect, and what I realise is that there is no need for me to antagonise suitors or debutantes.

No mention has yet been made, however, of Scotland’s capital Edinburgh, which was the epicentre of literary culture in Regency-era Britain, with a prolific and internationally renowned publishing scene. As the academic Ian Duncan puts it, Edinburgh was, during these years, “a literary metropolis to rival London”.

This was due largely to Walter Scott’s bestselling historical Waverley novels, which popularised Scotland as a tourist destination and prompted a craze for Scottish novels, to which Brunton and Ferrier contributed.

Susan Ferrier

Ferrier was born in Edinburgh in 1782 and lived there until her death in 1854. She came from a relatively wealthy family and was close friends with Scott, to whom she dedicated her final novel. Her proximity to Edinburgh’s social and literary circles is reflected in the lively (and, to some, familiar) characters who inhabit her novels.

Ferrier is often pitched as Scotland’s Jane Austen – a comparison that began during the 19th century and has persisted since. Like Austen, Ferrier’s novels were originally published anonymously, and when Marriage appeared in 1818, one reviewer eager to know the author’s identity wrote that ‘had the authoress of “Pride and Prejudice” been alive, and a native of Scotland, our conjectures would certainly have fastened upon her as the authoress’. In 1878, Ferrier was commended for having achieved for Scotland “what Jane Austen and Maria Edgeworth have respectively done for England and Ireland”.

This comparison is both a blessing and a curse – on one hand, it allows readers to relate to Ferrier quickly; on the other, it has led to a sustained underestimation of her novels.

That said, it is worth noting that Ferrier did not help matters by modelling the opening line of her second novel on Austen’s more famous precedent: “It is a truth universally acknowledged, that there is no passion so deeply rooted in human nature as that of pride” – in which the reference to pride is no doubt uncoincidental.

Ferrier wrote three novels, with the first appearing one year after Austen’s death: Marriage (1818), The Inheritance (1824), and Destiny (1831). Like Austen, she wrote about contemporary life, focusing on women’s experiences of love and education.

Ferrier’s novels offer readers moral lessons, but they are also extremely funny. Frequently reflecting on the differences between Scotland and England, Ferrier makes fun of both, satirising what each thought of the other before showing how this was often misleading.

Mary Brunton

Brunton was born on Orkney in 1778. She eventually settled in Edinburgh, where she died aged 40 from postpartum complications in 1818. Like Ferrier, Brunton wrote three novels: Self-Control (1811), Discipline (1814), and Emmeline, which was unfinished and published posthumously in 1819.

Also like Ferrier, Brunton’s works focus on the daily lives and lessons of their heroines, as well as Scottish national identity. Their titles imply a conservative tone, but Brunton’s novels openly navigate issues including sexual harassment, divorce and suicide.

Austen was familiar with Brunton’s novels and famously described Self-Control in a letter to her sister as “excellently meant” and “elegantly-written” but “without anything of Nature or Probability in it”. That Austen was re-reading Self-Control when she wrote this indicates, however, her esteem for the novel – even against her better judgment.

The public’s opinion was also clear. As the academic Anthony Mandal notes: “When Self-Control appeared in the spring of 1811, six months before Austen’s Sense and Sensibility, it was Brunton’s first novel that was the sensation of the year, an overnight bestseller, and not Austen’s” – a feat that is aptly reflected in the reference to Self-Control in ITV’s 2019 adaptation of Austen’s Sanditon.

Constructing a canon

Between 1832 and 1841, all three women’s works were reprinted in the London-based publisher Richard Bentley’s canon-making series of Standard Novels. This was the first time that Austen’s novels had been republished since her death in 1817, catalysing her rise to become one of Britain’s most popular novelists, but it was Brunton’s novels that appeared first in the series as volumes 15 and 16 respectively.

Literary anniversaries create a sense of community and shared heritage. But they also create opportunities to reflect on forgotten authors who were significant in their own time.

Brunton and Ferrier are not well-known today, but they did outsell, inspire, and benefit from Austen. They thus remind us of the value and importance of reading beyond the canon – something that will no doubt reward Bridgerton fans next year.

The first time Harvey Weinstein was sentenced to prison, reporters, advocates and the curious public crammed the courtroom to witness the disgraced Hollywood honcho’s #MeToo reckoning.

Hours later, the world began shutting down as the COVID-19 pandemic raged. Now, after an overturned conviction and two retrials, Weinstein is set to be sentenced again on Wednesday for one of the same crimes — more than six years after his first sentencing in March 2020.

Weinstein, 74, faces up to 25 years in prison for sexually assaulting a one-time TV production assistant, Miriam Haley, at his Manhattan apartment in 2006. He has already served more than six years as his case has cycled again and again through the criminal justice system. Haley gave her account of the assault at two trials.

“The unthinkable was happening,” Haley testified last year, dabbing her eyes.

Haley, who has also gone by the name Mimi Haleyi, is planning to speak at Weinstein’s sentencing, her lawyer, Gloria Allred, said. Weinstein will also address the court, his spokesperson, Juda Engelmayer, said.

The Oscar-winning “Pulp Fiction” and “Shakespeare in Love” producer was originally sentenced to 23 years in prison after a jury convicted him of assaulting Haley and raping an aspiring actress, Jessica Mann, in 2013.

But New York’s highest court erased those guilty verdicts in 2024, ruling that Weinstein was prejudiced by testimony from other women whose allegations weren’t part of the case.

Tried for a second time last year, Weinstein was again convicted of first-degree criminal sex act for assaulting Haley. In a messy split verdict, the jury acquitted him of forcibly performing oral sex on another woman, Kaja Sokola, and could not reach a verdict on a rape charge involving Mann.

After another retrial ended in a hung jury in May, Manhattan prosecutors dropped the rape charge rather than pursue a fourth trial after Mann said she could not bear to testify again.

That decision cleared the way for Weinstein’s sentencing.

Manhattan prosecutors have said they will ask for 20 years in prison — which would keep him behind bars until at least his late 80s.

Weinstein’s lawyers haven’t said what sentence they’ll seek. He denies raping or sexually assaulting anyone. Once he’s sentenced, he can appeal.

“I will be proven innocent. That I promise you,” Weinstein told The Hollywood Reporter in a jailhouse interview in March.

Weinstein is also awaiting resentencing in a separate rape case in Los Angeles. A California appeals court upheld the 2022 conviction but threw out his original 16-year sentence because the judge had considered his New York convictions that were later thrown out as an aggravating factor.

After shuffling between state prison, where he tested positive for COVID-19 early in the pandemic, and New York City’s notorious Rikers Island complex, the ailing Weinstein is now housed at a medical unit for jail inmates at Bellevue Hospital in Manhattan.

His health issues in recent years have included chronic myeloid leukemia, diabetes and walking difficulties that necessitate a wheelchair to get in and out of court, his lawyers said. Two years ago, he underwent emergency surgery to remove fluid on his heart and lungs.

Haley, 49, is a former entertainment producer now working in advertising.

Born in Finland and raised in Sweden, she said she met Weinstein through a mutual connection and worked briefly as a production assistant on a reality competition show that he produced, “Project Runway.”

Haley said she accepted an invitation to visit Weinstein’s Manhattan apartment because it would have been odd to decline since she was scheduled to fly to Los Angeles the next day on his company’s dime to attend a film premiere.

After she and Weinstein briefly chatted on his living room sofa, he lunged to kiss her, she testified. She said she leaped up and rebuffed him, but he grabbed her, forcibly backed her into a bedroom and sexually assaulted her, ignoring her pleas to stop.

She recalled Weinstein asking, “Don’t you think we’re much closer now?” after either the alleged assault or a subsequent occasion when she says she had unwanted, but not forced, sex with him.

She also recalled telling him after the second encounter, “You know you can’t keep doing this.”

The Associated Press does not typically identify people who say they are victims of sexual assault unless they grant permission, which Haley, Sokola and Mann have done.