As a comedian she is no stranger to making unfiltered and uncensored jokes.

Yet this week, Katherine Ryan was forced to admit that she’d gone too far after seemingly referring to Victoria Beckham as a ‘c***’. 

The comedian, 43, issued a public apology to Victoria, 52, on Friday after the BBC upheld complaints about the comedian linking the obscene term to the Spice Girls star on Have I Got News For You.

An internal investigation into the episode of the satirical show in November 2025 came after two viewers said the remark was ‘gratuitously offensive’. 

But it’s not the first time straight-talking Katherine has taken aim at celebrities as she has previously savaged a whole host of stars.

Back in January, she also launched a blistering attack on Victoria’s estranged son Brooklyn as she branded him an ‘ungrateful nepo baby‘. 

Now the Daily Mail reveals Katherine’s many unabashed takedowns…

It was her straight-talking acid tongue that landed herself in hot water last year when she seemingly referred to Victoria Beckham, 52, as a c-word on Have I Got News For You

Victoria Beckham 

On an episode of Have I Got News For You in November 2025, Katherine discussed David Beckham allegedly using the word in a 2013 email to his publicist where he expressed outrage at missing out on a knighthood, apparently referring to the honours committee as ‘a bunch of c***s’.

Panellist Maisie Adams used the term while discussing the story, prompting Katherine to quip: ‘I don’t know that we are allowed to broadcast the c-word, but you did reference Victoria Beckham earlier and we’ll allow that.’ 

The BBC’s Executive Complaints Unit (ECU) ruled that Maisie’s use of the word was justified as it referred to Sir David’s own alleged use of the term. 

However, the ECU ruling concluded that there was no editorial justification for Katherine’s subsequent joke about his wife.

In its ruling, the ECU said: ‘There was no such justification for a comment which presented Victoria Beckham as equivalent to a particularly offensive word.’

Katherine has since posted a video to her social media in response, blaming the incident on her being the mother of a newborn. 

She said: ‘At that time, though there is no defence, I was suffering from a condition called matrescence. I was in that building with a ten-day-old baby. Should I have left the house?

‘This is gonna be a tough one for the feminists because I was a woman going to work but I did call another woman a c. Sometimes I forget that celebrities are not my friends. If I had called Jimmy Carr a c, he wouldn’t have minded.

‘But this was described by the BBC as a slur, as though c are part of a protected group.

‘If you watched it on the day, it was clearly a joke and the whole audience went [gasp] and then I said, ‘Woah, I love her.”

She also shared a screenshot of a message she sent to Victoria after ‘to make it clear it was a stupid joke and I didn’t mean any harm towards you at all’.

Meghan Markle 

The Canadian comedian publicly laid into Meghan Markle in the wake of her divisive Netflix series, With Love, Meghan 

The Canadian comedian publicly laid into Meghan Markle in the wake of her divisive Netflix series, With Love, Meghan.

Katherine defended Prince Harry‘s wife in 2022 but she quickly changed her tune last year and questioned some of Meghan’s past comments as she accused her of acting ‘very manicured and very forced’.

‘I liked Meghan Markle. I was rooting for Meghan Markle… though she is very Hollywood – even for me – and I don’t like that in people,’ she confessed.

‘I see now, and maybe it’s just the projects she’s choosing, it does feel like she has lied about whether she knew who Prince Harry was, and these details about her childhood change and don’t add up.’

Katherine defended the former actress in 2022, commenting on her position in the Royal Family: ‘I love Meghan Markle’s voice and her confidence to challenge the norm and what’s expected of her in that role.’ 

However, on an episode of her podcast, Telling Everybody Everything, Katherine added: ‘She said on her new Netflix show that they ate TV dinners growing up.

‘But then in an old interview, she was like, “we would eat farm fresh”. Her whole act just seems very manicured and very forced.’

In her brutal takedown of Meghan, Katherine said: ‘I’ve known a lot of Hollywood people – they’re not bad people. I don’t think she’s a bad person, but I think she likes cosying up to celebrities and she wants the hundred million dollar deal and she likes the fact that she’s married to a prince.

‘Of course. But I would rather someone lean into that and be like, oh my God, I used to be on Suits and now I’m married to a prince! I would rather that than this act of: Oh, I’m just so humble.’

Canadian-born Katherine, who lives in London with her three children and civil partner Bobby Kootstra, said she found Meghan’s ‘flower sprinkles’ particularly galling.

‘I have seen this, I have seen it from chefs – they like to put wild flowers on a meal. And I’m not about it. I also don’t think it constitutes an entire cooking show.’

She added: ‘People are hate-watching it though. Who knows what Netflix are doing? They are smart – whether they love something or hate something, whatever keeps them watching more episodes.

‘If this was Netflix’s intention, to be like, let’s throw Meghan under the bus where even people who really liked her are turning… not against her, but… she just doesn’t seem to be the kind of gal I would want to be friends with. It’s too manicured, it’s too beige.’

Katherine adds of Meghan’s decision to change her surname to Sussex: ‘I think less of women who change their name anyway, to match their husband’s name – unless you have had a chat about it and unless you have approached that decision with equality.

‘Let’s be honest about why you’re choosing Sussex. It’s a way to hang on to the Duchess of Sussex.’

Brooklyn Beckham

Just months before taking aim at Victoria, Katherine launched a blistering attack on her and David’s son Brooklyn (Seen in 2024)

Just months before taking aim at Victoria, Katherine launched a blistering attack on her and David’s son Brooklyn. 

The comedian was responding to the eldest Beckham son’s bombshell statement where he launched an attack on his parents.

Brooklyn claimed he had ‘never felt more uncomfortable or humiliated’ than when his mother ‘hijacked’ his first dance at his 2022 wedding to American actress Nicola Peltz, 31.

He also revealed he had not spoken to his parents or siblings in 13 months, claiming Victoria had called him ‘evil’ over seating arrangements.

But Katherine, a mother of four herself, leapt to the defence of the football legend and the Spice Girl on her podcast.

‘I am on David and Victoria’s side. As a parent, and as someone who has been a s***ty young person, I think Brooklyn Beckham needs to grow up a little bit,’ she said.

‘He is the first son of an absolute dynasty family, they are like a royal family in matching denims to us – and that comes with many privileges. But of course it’s complicated because you live your life in the public eye. fine, but I feel that he has benefited from this a lot and he doesn’t seem to have the measured emotional intelligence to go, “In many ways, this has been s***, but in many ways, this has created me with a beautiful life. 

‘”My parents are not abusers. My parents performatively or otherwise say nice things about me and give me opportunities.”‘

She added: ‘I do think a lot of nepo babies struggle with not being able to reach – certainly not eclipse – the success of their parents.’

The Canadian comedian then took aim at Brooklyn’s career, pointing out every ‘rich boy’ venture had been ‘totally fuelled and spearheaded by being a Beckham’, including his £1million Superdry deal in 2021 and his cooking show during the pandemic, which cost ‘£100,000 per episode’.

She said of his modelling career: ‘Would he have been scouted in a shopping mall like any other gorgeous young boy? No, he was one of the original nepo babies.

‘We watched him as an infant be carted around to these football games. It is a really powerful name. This is how you got those contracts, or maybe he doesn’t know that.

‘Then he decides he wants to do photography, and we’ve all seen his photography work.’ 

She added: ‘I’m not seeing any of the gratitude in these posts.’

Thomas Skinner

Last September, Katherine weighed in on Thomas Skinner’s affair scandal after the Strictly star insisted his wife had ‘forgotten’ about his infidelity and they’d moved on (pictured with his wife) 

Katherine also offered her take on Thomas’s ‘mistress’, branding her a ‘sl*g’ but noting: ‘The wife doesn’t have a contract with this woman. It’s not her responsibility’

Last September, Katherine weighed in on Thomas Skinner‘s affair scandal after the Strictly star insisted his wife had ‘forgotten’ about his infidelity and they’d moved on. 

The Apprentice star, 34, cheated on his wife Sinéad just weeks after their wedding in May 2022, and later claimed his fling with aesthetician Amy-Lucy O’Rourke was a ‘moment of madness’. 

His affair came to light when Thomas admitted to his infidelity in an interview, tearfully stating: ‘The best advice I can give anyone is to be honest and own up. Because we are in an incredible place now. We are strong. It’s forgotten about.’

Yet in her podcast Telling Everybody Everything, comic Katherine took issue with Thomas’s choice of words, musing: ‘It’s false. It’s “forgotten” – “forgotten” is such really inflammatory term for me. 

‘I think that for him, it seems forgotten, she forgave him and his life carried on as far as he’s concerned… I promise you, your wife has not forgotten.’ 

Katherine went on to note that Sinéad was ‘vulnerable’ when the affair took place, being newly married and raising their three small children. 

She continued: ‘There’s also the layer of shame. A lot of women in this scenario absorb a man’s shame as their own. 

‘This woman’s young, she loves him. It’s so complex when you’re betrayed like that, especially when it comes out of absolutely nowhere. You think you’re in a good relationship. He said himself, we weren’t arguing.’

Katherine also offered her take on Thomas’s ‘mistress’, branding her a ‘sl*g’ but noting: ‘The wife doesn’t have a contract with this woman. It’s not her responsibility. 

‘She may not have behaved in the right way – a sl*g – but it’s smart, if you think about it, to like enjoy these men for what they’re worth. 

‘And not be the wife at home who’s crying, who’s having to like hide from her friends what has happened and her whole life is in upheaval and then she’s forced to forgive someone who was on The Apprentice 20 years ago. 

‘And he’s like, “it’s forgotten”. I promise you, your wife has not forgotten’. 

Katherine claimed the affair would always be in the back of Sinéad’s mind and speculated that she would have wondered if the affair was going to come to light when he signed up for Strictly. 

Finally, she branded him ‘hypocritical’ for preaching about his ‘conservative values’ and his ‘family unit’, whilst knowing he’d been unfaithful. 

Despite her comments, Katherine insisted that she holds no ill will towards Thomas and she didn’t understand why the story had turned into such a frenzy. 

Having shared a snippet from her podcast on Instagram, she captioned the clip: ‘I DONT believe people should be professionally ‘canceled’ for cheating but there is extra intrigue when someone cheats when associated with a mainstream ‘family’ show. 

‘What this man has admitted to is ORDINARY. This subject is what got men (and many women actually) so angry in my comments last week. I said men cheat for no reason and I stand by that.  Forgotten? WOMEN NEVER FORGET. ❤️ 

‘I do wish healing to both women in this story and nobody’s perfect, Tom. You’ll be fine too.’

Danny Jones

McFly star Danny Jones (pictured), 39, was embroiled in a scandal last year after he was caught on camera locking lips with newly-single Maura Higgins at a BRIT Awards afterparty

In the early hours of the morning on March 2, they were seen sharing a kiss outside the Universal afterparty at 180 House after cosying up inside the venue (pictured)

McFly star Danny, 39, was embroiled in a scandal after he was caught on camera locking lips with newly-single Maura Higgins at a BRIT Awards afterparty.

In the early hours of the morning on March 2, they were seen sharing a kiss outside the Universal afterparty at 180 House on The Strand in footage obtained by The Sun.

A second bombshell video then emerged which claimed to show the pair drinking wine together until 6am at a Sony party at the Nobu Hotel in Marylebone. 

Danny and his wife Georgia Jones, both 38, are still married.

And Katherine made her feelings very clear as she weighed into the scandal, taking a savage swipe at the singer for ‘forgetting about his family’.

Sharing a video from her hospital bed while getting treatment for lupus last year, Katherine sarcastically said: ‘Oh my god, he wouldn’t do that, he couldn’t do that.

‘I know that really looks like what I’m seeing with my own eyes in the video but he just wouldn’t do that.’ 

She then pulled a blunt expression and continued: ‘They do that! They leave the house for three minutes to get milk and forget they have a whole family! They do that!’ 

‘Just trying to mind my business but can’t help but catch up on the news,’ she added in a caption.

Katherine then doubled down while taking to the stage at The London Palladium for her stand-up show Battleaxe as she gave her candid thoughts on men cheating.

‘I genuinely think men leave the house with good intentions, and then I don’t know what happens around lunch, but something goes wrong.

‘I know what you’re thinking ”women cheat”, yes but we mean to do it! We’ve already been in love with them for 18 months.’

Katherine directed all of her disapproval towards Danny as she was quick to add: ‘I love Maura Higgins, she isn’t married to anyone,’ before joking that the Love Island star was actually out with her own husband Bobby Kootstra.

Bonnie Blue’s ‘sad line-up’ of 1,057 ‘desperate losers’

Katherine also sparked a fiery war of words with OnlyFans star Bonnie Blue, who made headlines when she claimed to have slept with 1,057 men in one night

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Katherine also sparked a fiery war of words with OnlyFans star Bonnie Blue, who made headlines when she claimed to have slept with 1,057 men in one night.

Bonnie’s stunt was to break the record for the most amount of sex had in a day and videos of the sordid event showed the ‘volunteers’ lining up on the street waiting for their turn.

The men who attended the sex session at Fast Eddie Davenport’s £15million London mansion were described by Bonnie as being ‘husbands, brothers and sons’ and 99 per cent of them wore balaclavas to hide their identity.

The stunt prompted much speculation and criticism from around the world, with Katherine being praised for questioning ‘what is wrong with men?’ rather than blaming Bonnie herself.

On her podcast Telling Everybody Everything, Katherine admitted she was ‘transfixed’ on the ‘absolute f***ing losers’ in the queue.

She slammed the ‘idiots’ that had waited for hours in just their underwear and questioned how they didn’t feel ’embarrassed’ at being ‘so desperate for sex’.

Katherine said: ‘The videos that I saw of these men queueing up to be within a chance of having sex with Bonnie Blue on camera. I read they were given a blue balaclava, maybe just so she wouldn’t have to look at them or smell their breath.

‘I think they each would get 45 seconds with her, so they would queue up in this location all down the stairs and out on the street.

‘And some of them would queue up just in their boxers, like you’re standing in a corridor with other guys to have 45 seconds of sex with a stranger and you feel good about yourself? Huh?!’

She went on: ‘I think as much as people see Bonnie Blue and what she has set out to do as being dehumanising or disgusting – I was transfixed on this queue of men, just looking like f***ing idiots in their socks and boxers, with their like dumb hairy legs just sticking out in this corridor and waiting for hours just to do that.

‘You’re that desperate for sex? Like what would happen to men if we weren’t around. I’ve never seen someone so desperate for 45 seconds of thing. Eurgh!

‘And so that feeling that people have about her, I really got that feeling about men generally. I don’t even know how to articulate it properly, just what a sad line-up of absolute f***ing losers.’

Katherine went on to slam the double standards for people choosing to slam Bonnie, rather than the 1,057 men who queued up to have sex with her.

Though Katherine defended Bonnie, the OnlyFans star later hit back at the comedian’s remarks and insisted the men ‘definitely weren’t losers’.

Speaking to the Daily Mail, she fumed: ‘I think that’s an awful way to describe men she knows nothing about.

‘Women love to hate on men and judge them, but no one knows those men in the queue apart from myself and they were all just excited to be there.

‘They were not disgusting and they definitely weren’t losers. But she knows my name is more viral than hers so if she wants to use my name to talk about me then she’s welcome to.’

‘Sex is something that is focused on pleasure, we all have sex, so I don’t know why they are calling it a loser act whatsoever,’ she went on.

‘They see me, they find me hot, they would like to sleep with me and that’s why they are in the queue. It’s as simple as that.

‘But unfortunately women a lot of the time don’t have anything better to do than hate on men which is why they are sitting there calling them losers.’

Russell Brand 

Katherine reportedly accused Russell Brand of being a ‘sexual predator’ during filming for his last major television job in the UK years before allegations against him came to light 

Katherine reportedly accused Russell Brand of being a ‘sexual predator’ during filming for his last major television job in the UK years before allegations against him came to light.

Russell, 49, was accused of rape and sexual assault in an investigation by The Times, The Sunday Times and Channel 4, which was published in September 2023.

He vehemently denied the allegations – but the BBC, Channel 4 and production firm Banijay launched investigations into his behaviour, while the Met Police said it was investigating a complaint.

However, years earlier, Katherine had reportedly accused Russell of being a ‘sexual predator’ while starring alongside him on Roast Battle.

Russell was a judge on the Comedy Central show in 2018 but was only included for one season after Katherine allegedly fired allegations at him on-camera, with Jonathan Ross then replacing him.

In 2022, Katherine also claimed she told an unnamed comedian ‘to his face’ that he was a sexual predator and that accusations against this person were an ‘open secret’.

She told Louis Theroux she had confronted the unnamed man while they worked together on a TV show in front of the audience ‘again and again’.

She claimed she had received criticism afterwards for not naming the person in public, but said just talking about him was a ‘litigious minefield’ as he had ‘very good lawyers’.

The comedian added that it was ‘not my story to tell’ but that she believed the accusations as the sources were ‘very credible’. 

When her comments resurfaced, Katherine was widely praised with PR expert Andy Barr saying she was a ‘figurehead’ for ’empowerment’ in the MeToo era.

Barr told the Daily Mail: ‘Katherine Ryan has quickly become an inspiration and an icon for many. Her no-nonsense attitude and ability to get to the heart of an issue is not just related to the recent Brand allegations but more generally around how to just be a better person across the board.

‘There is no doubt that her rising TV and filming schedule is connected to her high popularity levels with viewers and willingness to speak out about the issues that matter to many.

‘She is quickly becoming a figurehead for a new kind of empowerment that is even wider than the much-needed MeToo era, and is something that sits across all sexes and issues and strives to make people question if they can simply be better humans.’

I’m A Celebrity and Nigel Farage 

While many high-profile celebrities have tried their hand in the jungle on I’m A Celebrity, Katherine revealed why she had no plans to join the bandwagon, blaming Nigel Farage 

Admitting she takes politics very serious, Katherine laid into ITV for letting politicians including Nigel Farage and Matt Hancock (pictured in 2022) appear on the reality TV programme

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While many high-profile celebrities have tried their hand in the jungle on I’m A Celebrity, Katherine revealed why she had no plans to join the bandwagon.

In scathing remarks, Katherine revealed she decided to turn down the opportunity to go in the jungle because she is ‘against glorifying dangerous people’.

Admitting she takes politics very seriously, Katherine laid into ITV for letting politicians including Nigel Farage and Matt Hancock appear on the reality TV programme.

Speaking to the Metro, Katherine said: ‘I vehemently am against glorifying people like Matt Hancock and Nigel Farage and reducing them to light entertainment fodder when I think that they’re very dangerous people who have directly hurt lots of families.

‘I don’t think that’s a joke, for me, so I wouldn’t be watching. I didn’t watch last year. I take politics quite seriously.’

The former UKIP and Brexit party leader was believed to have earned a bumper £1.5million for his highly controversial appearance on the show in 2023. 

Nigel is a famously divisive figure known for his Right-wing views on immigration and gender pay gaps, with many fans at the time threatening to boycott I’m A Celebrity because of his signing.

Male comedians

It is not just individuals who Katherine has taken aim at as she also hit out at male comedians who spend months away from their families while on tour (pictured: Romesh Ranganathan) 

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It is not just individuals who Katherine has taken aim at as she also hit out at male comedians who spend months away from their families while on tour.

Without naming anyone, Katherine – who has two daughters and a son – said she ‘tours like a mum not like a dad’ in a brutal remark.

‘I’m gone at 3pm every day,’ she said speaking on the Dish podcast, ‘I tour like a mum, not like a dad.’

‘So the boys in my industry they just disappear for ten months, and I have to go back and forth and zigzag and I still sleep with the children because they wake up in the night and I just don’t feel like an infant should be unattended ever.

‘North of Leeds I will sleep over, but anything within three hours I am coming home.’

Katherine also said she regretted taking her family with her when she toured in 2021 as she compared her experience with her male counterparts.

‘My daughter will vomit with rage when I leave a room. They don’t deal with me leaving very well,’ she admitted. ‘With my son who just turned three, that was my last tour when he was born.

‘I was bringing the entire family, we were like the Osbourne’s and that was a mistake.

‘Because I don’t think Romesh [Ranganathan] is handed a screaming infant when he comes off stage. So that was too much.’ 

Strictly Come Dancing kicked off its first live show of 2026 tonight, and fans couldn’t help but notice something.

As new hosts Emma Willis, Josh Widdicombe and Johannes Radebe did their thing, several viewers noted something odd.

Johannes was left at the top of the stairs doing Claudia Winkelman’s old job while Emma and Josh were downstairs by the desk.

But fans think this might be a waste of Josh’s skill set, leaving him feeling like a spare part next to Emma.

‘Erm, why isn’t Josh doing the top of the stairs bit? asked @Katie_Lewis_ on X.

‘He doesn’t need to be standing there interrupting the judges. Get rid of Johannes and put Josh up there. I hope #Strictly realises this for next week.’

@sarahlawson84 agreed, adding: ‘Sorry but Josh does not need to be downstairs with Emma.’

Meanwhile @zanecaspersz wrote: ‘I actually think JoJo and Josh need to swap places.

‘Josh can fill the comedy value more upstairs, while JoJo’s lack of hosting can pair nicely with Emma. I don’t mind two hosts downstairs. We just need to get over that.’

The three new hosts have faced a lot of criticism since the first show last week, most notably Josh and Johannes, who have been described as out of their depth and nervous compared to Emma.

Last week, a Strictly fan called Owen claimed that Emma was ‘outshining the other two’.

Others claimed that ‘three’s a crowd’ and that the three didn’t have enough to do, leaving one of them feeling like a’spare part’.

‘3 presenters just seems unnecessary, don’t see the point of it,’ Suzi wrote, while Sue added: ‘The intro was far too long and as for presenters, two’s company three’s a crowd!’

Josh, who arguably faced the harshest criticism, has admitted he felt nervous ahead of tonight’s live show.

‘What could possibly go wrong? Loads of things, but let’s not focus on them,’ he told the BBC.

‘I think it’s going to be really, really fun. It’s going to feel utterly surreal, just as terrifying as the first one. Will it ever stop being terrifying? I hope not, because hosting something like this should be the best kind of terrifying.’

Strictly Come Dancing airs on weekends on BBC One and BBC iPlayer.

MORE: Who is Lawrence Robb and is he leaving Emmerdale to do Strictly Come Dancing?

MORE: Victoria Beckham receives sweet gift from David after ‘offensive’ Katherine Ryan joke

MORE: Strictly fans slam ‘disappointing’ week one dances after full line-up is revealed

By MICHAEL PAVITT, SPORTS REPORTER and IAN LADYMAN, FOOTBALL EDITOR and OLIVER HOLT, CHIEF SPORTS WRITER and KIERAN GILL, MAIL SPORT REPORTER

Updated: 18:32 BST, 26 September 2026

Reports that the High Street in Walshaw had been closed by police after the deer injured itself began circulating on social media earlier this morning.

It is understood the deer impaled itself on the fence surrounding Christ Church Walshaw, though this has not been confirmed by emergency services.

A spokesperson for Greater Manchester Police said: “We were called to reports that a deer had impaled itself and it was badly injured.

“The deer has been removed, and the officers arranged for street cleansing to take place, which has now been completed.”

The force has said the deer died, though did not confirm witness reports that it was euthanised by armed police officers.

Several people said the incident was ‘so sad’ and ‘very upsetting’, while many said euthanasia was ‘the right thing to do’ for the ‘poor’ animal to ‘put it out of its misery’.

Images from the scene showed several marked and unmarked police vehicles blocking the road.

Three fire crews attended, and put out a fire involving a skip

A household recycling centre has been forced to close after a fire broke out. Crews from the Cambridgeshire Fire and Rescue Service were called to the Household Recycling Centre in Fengate, Peterborough this morning (September 26). The fire has reportedly affected one skip and it’s believed it was accidental. Details on any injuries sustained are unclear at this time.

In an announcement on social media, Peterborough City Council said: “The HRC is currently closed due to an on-site fire. We are monitoring the situation and will share reopening updates as soon as possible. Thank you for your patience and understanding.”

A Cambridge Fire and Rescue Service spokeswoman said: “On Saturday (September 26) at 10.28am crews were called to a fire at a recycling centre on Fengate, Peterborough.

“Crews from Stanground, Dogsthorpe and the north roaming fire engine responded. Wearing breathing apparatus, firefighters used hose reels to extinguish the fire which was affecting a skip.

“Firefighters have left the area, and the incident has been handed over to the site.The cause of the fire is believed to be accidental. Crews returned to their stations by 1pm.”

Fenland District Council’s planning committee approved new flats for the former site of two listed buildings that had sat ‘decaying for 20-plus years’

Plans to plug an eyesore gap on a town’s high street have finally been approved after two decades of delays which were branded as “embarrassing” for the council.

The two properties at 11-12 High Street in Wisbech, were demolished in 2020 after lying empty for years but it was only this year that an application was submitted to replace them. Fenland District Council’s planning committee has now approved plans to build a commercial premises and six one-bedroom flats on the site of the former Grade II listed buildings.

The flats will be accessed from the back of the property on Castle Mews. Councillors said the delay approving a new plan for the site was “embarrassing”, as the land is owned by the council, the Local Democracy Reporting Service said.

At a cabinet meeting, Conservative councillor Samantha Hoy said it was “not acceptable” that the building “sat there decaying for 20-plus years”. She said it had also taken “so long” to redevelop nearby 24 High Street, which had become known as ‘the gap’, and they “need to get the work started”.

They asked for answers after discovering that an earlier application was rejected for an issue around the bat survey which was not told to some cabinet members. This included the councillor in charge of planning, leading council leader Chris Boden to ask for answers.

He said: “We must have an explanation about how this has ended up happening. It’s embarrassing to the council, to be quite honest, that we should be put in this position.”

The planning committee passed the application at a meeting on Wednesday, September 23.

Cllr Jan French, of March South, said: “I fully support this – this has gone on for several years, and I’m sure that the people of Wisbech and Wisbech Town Council will welcome this.”

Tech giant OpenAI has admitted rogue AI bots have ‘accessed dozens of organisations around the world including governments, universities, public agencies, and other institutions improperly’ and ‘meddled’ with them.

The US company behind ChatGPT said it had now alerted those affected including the financial regulator US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), the Census Bureau and the US Department of Education.

As fears over the dangers of AI grow, with Pope Leo yesterday warning that we ‘must not lose humanity to machines’, alarm bells have rung over OpenAI’s admission that some of the bots used ‘extreme methods’ to bypass security measures on websites.

Autonomous AI agents are said to have found and accessed tools reserved for software developers to get census data from the Census Bureau, the company said.

The company also admitted its AI agents had used ‘misalignment’ in attempts to get at information from websites, effectively meaning they acted autonomously and did something they were not trained or intended to do.

And, indicating the hack could have been even more widespread, it suggested other institutions had been accessed but details were being withheld at their request.

It follows a hack by OpenAI of an Australian government health site which caused outrage and is believed to be a world first.

Australian prime minister Anthony Albanese said OpenAI agents had breached non-public files on the website of its government-run healthcare scheme which was ‘obviously unacceptable’.

He also warned legal consequences could follow and said he had had a ‘frank’ discussion with OpenAI CEO Sam Altman.

It has also emerged that the powerful company, founded in 2015 by tech entrepreneurs including Elon Musk and Altman and is now worth $852 billion, failed to alert the Australian authorities as soon as they could have done, sending only one email to a virtually unmanned email address to let them know what had happened.

Altman admitted the company, which Musk is no longer involved with, had not acted ‘as fast as we would have liked’ in alerting them.

The further breaches were apparently discovered when OpenAI investigated how its AI agents had autonomously hacked into the Australian government department.

OpenAI said that some of the data was accessed by AI agents, bots that are designed and trained to operate semi-autonomously, which were working to find ‘authoritative sources of public information’.

While it claimed the government data accessed by bots was public and the hack was ‘unintended’, it admitted that information accessed from the SEC, which regulates the US stock market and protects investors, was later published by AI agents on another website.

The information was first reported by Reuters followed by an explanation from OpenAI on its public blog yesterday.

OpenAI admitted that AI agents had transferred data when they should not have done resulting in at least 53 incidents where an OpenAI agent took an image from a ChatGPT user activity and transferred it to a third party.

In each of the instances, which OpenAI said was ‘not an appropriate use of this data’, the user had apparently opted in to allow OpenAI to train models using their data.

It claimed the incidents happened before new safeguards were put in place and said it was working to remedy the situation and remove the images which had been transferred.

The company was left red-faced in July when AI platform Hugging Face revealed it had been attacked by OpenAI agents, only later admitting it was to blame.

In a broadside at the company this week, Hugging Face head Clement Delangue told a United Nations Security Council session on AI on Wednesday: ‘I often wonder what would have happened had I decided not to disclose this attack publicly.

‘Especially now that we know similar incidents had been happening months earlier in secret at a handful of frontier labs without monitoring.’

Attempting to counter accusations it was slow to act, OpenAI said yesterday that it was going back on a ‘month by month’ basis from the time of the Hugging Face incident, stating: ‘Our goal is to give each organisation the facts and defer to them on if and when to make the incident public.’

It also claimed that not all of the known breaches were significant, saying:

‘Some organizations may review what we share and conclude that the information was intentionally public or that the model’s interaction was not concerning.

‘Others may identify a design issue or security weakness they want to address.’

It added: ‘Most cases identified so far have been low severity, with limited or no evidence of meaningful impact.

‘Given the scale of the review required, and the need to verify each case, this work will take months to complete.’

Altman and rival Anthropic head Dario Amodei called on the UN at the same meeting to form global standards for AI safety and ways to monitor and report such incidents.

David Krueger, a professor of machine learning at University of Montreal and the founder of AI safety group Evitable, said yesterday that he was ‘deeply troubled’ by the increasing number of AI-related safety incidents.

Calling for ‘an immediate, indefinite, international moratorium’ on AI development, he said: ‘We have yet to understand the extent of existing incidents, and future rogue AI scenarios could be catastrophic.’

Meanwhile, sounding another note of concern, TV executive Nick Parnes told the BBC today that AI was now so prolific in TV production that ‘we are very close to having AI edit programmes’.

The Kalel Productions CEO also told Radio 4’s Today programme that while the AI ‘guard rails’ mentioned by new BBC Director General Matt Brittin, former Google president, should prevent AI making ethical judgements, it ‘was hard for them to be stringent enough to cover all eventualities’ and ‘there will be times when AI will be able to make an assumption based on an ethical dilemma’.

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The Traitors star Paul Gorton has revealed he’s thousands of pounds out of pocket after being burgled. 

Earlier this month, the reality star was on holiday with partner Kate Waldron and their sons Charlie and Cooper in Mallorca, but was left devastated upon his return when he learnt their house had been ransacked by thieves. 

Paul, who found fame as a Traitor on season two of the BBC show, and Kate, a content creator, boast more than 200,000 Instagram followers between them. 

They have now deduced from police evidence that their house was broken into a mere 20 minutes after they posted in real time from their holiday, with Paul wanting to share his story to warn others.  

Speaking to the Daily Mail, Paul shared: ‘We were sitting by the pool having a drink and I posted it on my Instagram, not realising that minutes later someone would jump over my fence and smash the back door.

‘They were robbing us as simultaneously me and Kate are actually having a nice evening.’ 

Recalling the moment they realised they’d been robbed, Paul shared: ‘We were super delayed on our flight getting back home, we got back around 6 o’clock, so it felt like a full day of travel with the kids and we were all exhausted. 

‘Charlie started school the next day and all we wanted to do was have a Chinese, watch a bit of telly, do bath time and go to bed. 

‘And as we walked through our hallway and into the kitchen, we looked at the bifold back door, which was closed, and there was no handle or lock.

‘We knew that we’d been robbed at that point, so I opened my office door and my office was just completely ransacked.’

The biggest blow to Paul, however, was that they’d got hold of his ‘pride and joy’, his Specialized bicycle that was worth roughly £5,000. 

Having checked upstairs they then realised thieves had also ransacked their bedroom, with Paul noting: ‘The boys’ bedroom was absolutely fine, and inside our wardrobe it was really weird that all Kate’s stuff, was absolutely fine and relatively untouched.

‘But all my wardrobe space was just ransacked so they were obviously looking for something and then they’ve left with my bike.’

Paul explained that they were worried their eldest son Charlie, four, would be spooked by the police arriving, yet thankfully he took it all in his stride.    

‘When CSI came he was handing them things and saying what to take a picture of,’ Paul laughed. ‘He like right on their shoulders, just fascinated by the whole experience.’ 

Earlier this month, Paul was on holiday with partner Kate Waldron and their sons Charlie and Cooper, but was left devastated upon his return when he learnt his house had been ransacked 

Yet while Paul and Kate were pleased the robbery had caused minimal disruption to their children, they were dealt another blow when they realised they’d found Kate’s jewellery box. 

‘It was costume jewelry, so it was only a couple hundred pounds worth of jewellery, but it did have Kate’s grandmother’s ring in there, it’s super sentimental,’ Paul explained.

‘Completely worthless but worth everything to Kate, and it’s now gone, I presume it’s just in a bin.’

Paul was also left spooked by not knowing if the robbers had taken everything they planned. 

He explained: ‘It‘s a huge loss, from a sentimental perspective, from a monetary perspective, but nothing was smashed in our house. 

‘The police were saying a lot of robbers have tunnel vision, so they come for particular items, and like they left my like computer, they left phones and electrical stuff and tellies – but they must have had a target in mind.

‘Everything I post now, I’m just more conscious of how am I posting it and how vulnerable is my house. 

‘Moving forward, the house is going to be lit up, if our broadband goes down, there’s a backup connection, all these things you put in place to be more difficult to rob.’

Ironically, Paul had been looking into getting contents insurance the night before they went away, but ended up getting distracted and not going through with it – a move that has now left him thousands out of pocket from the robbery. 

Paul, who found fame as a Traitor on season two of the BBC show (pictured) and Kate, a content creator, boast more than 200,000 Instagram followers between them

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Now Paul has partnered with Compare The Market, who commissioned The Online Safety Experiment to highlight the importance of taking steps to help protect your home while you’re away.

 To explore how social media posting habits may affect home security, they surveyed 3,000 UK adults about their social media habits while travelling, while a Private Investigator investigated how quickly publicly available information could be used to identify home addresses and determine whether properties were unoccupied.

‘We’ve had a really stern warning,’ Paul mused. ‘It’s amazing that Compare the Market can use my story to help people, so hopefully what happened to me doesn’t happen to them.

‘Hopefully this hits home because I think sadly it takes a painful story for people to action certain behaviours. 

‘So that’s the goal from this campaign, if people can get contents insurance and make their home safer because of my story then it was almost worth getting robbed in the first place.’ 

Among the most alarming statistics from Compare The Market’s Online Safety Experiment is that seven out of nine home addresses could be identified using publicly available information; the fastest address was uncovered in just 15 minutes; and four of the nine volunteers had private Instagram accounts. 

To find out more about The Online Safety Experiment, visit www.comparethemarket.com/home-insurance/the-online-safety-experiment