Over the last two years, British singer-songwriter Myles Smith has had the kind of ascent that any performer who’s just starting out would dream of.
After cultivating a loyal following on TikTok, Myles was made an offer to sign a recording contract with the major label RCA, joining a roster that already included hit-makers like Doja Cat, SZA and Mark Ronson.
Now a four-time Brit Award nominee (in addition to his Rising Star win), Myles has racked up a string of UK top 40s, headlined shows all over the world (not to mention serving as the opening act on the stadium tour of his musical hero, Ed Sheeran) and even been praised by former US leader Barack Obama – all before he’d even released his debut album.
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So, one of the main things you might be wondering after such a whirlwind rise is if he’s been able to take a moment to appreciate it all?
“Fuck no!” he tells HuffPost UK with a laugh. “I’ve been on tour for, like, 90% of my career. Genuinely, I don’t know what day or time or city I’m in half the time.
“For the last three tours, I’ve said, ‘hopefully, after this tour, I can relax’. And then I book another one. One day it’ll come…”
Myles Smith’s schedule has been jam-packed since his breakthrough moment with 2024’s Stargazing
We’re speaking weeks before the long-awaited release of Myles’ debut album, My Mess, My Heart, My Life., a project he’s poured his heart into, and previously claimed represents “what I wanted it to say, rather than what everyone else wanted me to do”.
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“I feel like a world exists where I made 10 Stargazings and put it onto an album,” he explains. “The way that the world is built, that probably would have done amazingly well commercially. But would it build a career? No. It would have just been a really cool, flash-in-the-pan moment.”
For Myles, it was important that his first album showcase “a full 360 on the person that I am”.
“A lot of the songs that I have out at the moment are songs that I love – that I really, really love – I think they show a part of me, but not all of me,” he claims, quipping that “just sticking with four-on-the-floor down your throat for, like, another album” would be “doing myself an injustice”.
Indeed, anyone who knows Myles for radio-friendly hits like Stargazing, Nice To Meet You or the Niall Horan collab Drive Safe might be surprised at some of the dark places that his full-length debut takes the listener to.
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The album begins with the aptly-titled My Mess, which opens with the line “sisters crying, slamming doors, plates are flying”, as Myles reflects on his childhood, growing up in a “fractured family, where a word could start a war”.
“I hate the way that I’m still like this,” he laments on the chorus. “I’m still learning to walk on my own.”
From there, we continue on to deeply-personal cuts like Hold Me In The Dark and Grandma’s Place, before Mary’s Song, in which he reflects on the domestic and sexual abuse faced by two women in his life, and the self-explanatory Sertraline (named after the antidepressant medication of the same name), where he laments: “No matter how hard I fight, I’m still not alright.”
Myles Smith’s My Mess, My Life, My Heart. is full of deeply personal songs alongside the hits that fans already know and love
Myles has described his album as a “journey of self-discovery”, born out of reflecting on his own therapy notes from years gone by, and says it was important for him that his listeners hear that he is still a work in progress.
“It’s so movie-like to be like, ‘OK, it was shit, and it got better’,” he says. “The reality is that life is like, ‘it was shit, it got better, but then it also got shit again’.”
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He claims: “I’m now in the middle of both. And I feel like that’s how I exist right now. I still have really bad days and I still have absolutely amazing days. I wanted it to mirror real life more than just being a ‘happily ever after’ narrative.”
This kind of candour is a refreshing contrast to the gloss and supposed perfection so often showcased in pop music, with Myles taking inspiration from “so many people, past and present, who have been fantastic at being storytellers of their own lives”.
“When you write authentically you can’t help but connect with it, because it’s true and it’s life experience,” he enthuses. “I don’t feel like I’m a finished product or a finished article – and I don’t feel like I’ve figured shit out any more than the person next to me. If anything, I’ve probably figured less out than the person next to me. I just wanted to get that across.”
For Myles, it was also important to get consent from key people in his life before he committed their shared experiences to record. “My relationships are so important to me, whether it be my friends or family,” he says. “I would hate to put something out there that I hadn’t consulted anyone else with. So, I’ve had conversations with my mum. I’ve had conversations with my brother.
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“And with Mary’s Song, for instance, the people that’s written about, I was so, so careful to have that conversation with them. However much it’s my story, and my truth, it still concerns other people, and I think that’s an important part of the journey.”
Myles Smith has admitted he has complicated feelings about opening up about his past on his new album
Understandably, Myles is feeling a mix of emotions at the prospect of fans discovering more about his personal backstory, too.
“It’s really cool, but it’s also really daunting,” he admits. “It’s opening up my world to a bunch of people that I don’t know.
“But also, from all my experiences, when I’ve released something ‘deeper’, the people who’ve enjoyed my music have made me feel less alone, in that they’ve experienced so many similar things.”
“So, I’m excited to see – in a really sadistic way – how many people are fucked up like me!” he jokes.
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He also confesses there are a handful of even more personal songs “sitting on a hard drive” that are “just for me and my family and friends”.
“They will never be released,” he insists. “There’s a thin line between speaking your truth, being authentic and writing music, and commodifying trauma for the wrong reasons.
“I never want to slip into the lane of, like… remember how X Factor used to start? I would hate to reach that. So, I am very cautious about how much I share. I will share, but if there are things that feel too far, I will be like, ‘what’s the purpose of this?’. And if I can’t justify the purpose for it, then it probably won’t go into a song.”
However, it was “always” Myles’ intention for his debut album to reveal more about himself.
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“It’s been really awesome to have people know the songs, but it’s also so important that people know the person that it’s coming from,” he says. “All of my favourite artists, I feel like I know them, you know? They put so much of themselves into the music, which is the reason why I fell in love with it in the first place.
“And I think, for me, I’ve always aspired for people to listen to my music not just because the songs are really cool to drive to, but because they help people find more out about themselves.”
Myles Smith says he hopes his new album can teach people “about themselves” in the way his favourite artists’ music has done for him
Being a role model for his listeners is an idea Myles returns to numerous times over the course of our conversation. Growing up, he was personally inspired by all kinds of “different musicians for different reasons”, but says it was discovering Labrinth’s music that opened his eyes to the possibilities of a career in music for himself.
“Labrinth being a Black guy making pop music in England was huge, you know?” Myles recalls.
“I grew up in Luton, and most of my listening pre-Labrinth was, like, drill, trap, rap and hip-hop. And don’t get me wrong – there’s absolutely amazing stuff in all those genres. If I’m going home, I’m putting on K-Trap and M Huncho. That’s the way it is.
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“But Labrinth inspired me because I was like, ‘oh you can still do music and do it in a different way’, you know?”
From there, he discovered Ed Sheeran’s music (years before the four-time Grammy winner became a friend and mentor to him), and became even more inspired. “I looked at Ed and he was, like, a normal guy, but he was making music that really mattered,” Myles remembers.
“He wasn’t this ‘superstar’ that we’d seen before, in all the glitz and the glam, doing dance breaks. It was like, ‘oh, you can be a little bit chubby and still do alright in music’. And it was like, ‘I’m a little bit chubby, I could probably do alright in music’.
“All of these people made me feel like it was possible,” he continues. “And hopefully I’m just another example of that.”
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Long before they were performing live together, Myles Smith says he looked up to Ed Sheeran when he was starting out as a musician
In particular, Myles has young men in mind when he considers his position as a public figure. Examining the current “masculinity crisis”, Myles says he hopes to present a healthy opposite to the distressingly influential voices in the so-called “manosphere” pedalling misogyny and male supremacy.
“I was watching Louis Theroux’s ‘manosphere’ documentary the other day, and I was like, ‘what on earth has happened to people?’. If anything, being the complete opposite of what a man presents to be in that is probably my goal and ambition in life,” he shares. “It’s mental.”
Myles continues: “I was raised in a single-parent household, with just my mum. And so, my experience from the very off-set is very dissimilar to a lot of my peers. But, I think what I learned from that was the beauty in being able to be emotional and being able to be open.
“That definitely comes with its challenges, but I feel more free than a lot of my peers do, in terms of having to fulfill traditional gender roles or having to fulfill, you know, the traditional stance of being a man.”
“Being – I hope, still – a young man, and also being a young Black man, I think it’s really important that the message that I spread and the things that I say are reflective of my truth,” Myles adds, reiterating the need for authenticity in the current political and social climate.
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And while Myles hopes to “take people on a bit of an emotional journey” on his new journey, it’s one that goes out on a high, even if – as is so often the case in life – you have to weather some storms to get there.
Towards the end of the album, the double-punch of Myles’ signature tunes Stargazing and Nice To Meet You is followed by the earworm Stay (If You Wanna Dance), almost ABBA-esque in its immediate catchiness (it’s no great surprise to see two Swedish musicians, Oscar Görres and Rami Yacoub, among its co-writers) and the refreshingly optimistic Gold.
“The album was crafted around how my live shows are,” Myles points out. “It’s always about making people really reflective and introspective in the moment, and then just bringing them to pure euphoria and joy.
“All the concerts I used to go to, where I’d take in a really slow and intimate song, and then absolutely sweat buckets with Heineken down my shirt, it was like the best experience. I feel like, because I am a live artist first, I wanted the album to feel like a live experience, where you’re being taken through the motions, and there’s no better way than to end with joy.”
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Myles Smith says his album was intentionally structured to feel like one of his live shows
Myles is one of numerous modern artists who can attribute his success, at least in part, to having first made a name for himself on TikTok. The app has undoubtedly revolutionised the music industry in the last decade, and is something with which Myles is happy to admit he now has a “love-hate” relationship.
His attitude to TikTok has “changed significantly” as an established artist.
“I don’t know how to explain it. At the start, it’s a bit like getting a PlayStation for the first time, and just being like, ‘oh my god, this is so new, I just want to do everything and try and everything’,” he says.
“Then, you start to have success, and then, there are 100 people saying, ‘you must now use this app to promote’.”
As a result, he says, what starts out as a “really fun tool, that you use to find community and find people that are alike and build a world, essentially becomes a marketing app”.
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“Right now, I’m trying to find the middle ground again,” he shares. “Because I don’t want it to be that.”
One subject Myles has been vocal about throughout his short time in the spotlight is accessibility to the music industry for artists of different backgrounds, and this is one area he says TikTok may have played a role in somewhat levelling the playing field.
“It’s definitely opened up the market to who can be a musician and who can’t be a musician,” he suggests. “Before, it was dictated by people’s predisposition as to what they thought someone who should be a musician should look like and sound like.
“Now, it’s up to the world. So, that’s really awesome.”
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He states: “Like, for me, I grew up playing indie music in little indie rock bands, jumping off the stage of a 50-capacity venue, and that was the way I came up. I never in my dreams thought I’d be at a major record label – I was so anti-record label, like, ‘no they’re evil’.
“But now, with TikTok, I was able to build my own community and build enough leverage where I entered a deal where it’s like I can maintain all of the things that are important to me, and control all of the aspects of my creativity.”
Myles Smith says he now has something of a “love-hate” relationship with TikTok since his mainstream breakthrough
Myles does concede, though, that his own experience of being signed to a major label is an atypical one, having signed to RCA raring to go with what would become his biggest hit to date already written.
“I came in, I had Stargazing written, I released Stargazing, it did what it did, and they kind of gave me the keys to my own sort of musical mansion and said, ‘do whatever the hell you want’,” he says. “So, I’ve not had that pressure yet. I don’t know if I ever will – hopefully not.”
“Honestly, I don’t get pressure from anyone else apart from myself,” he continues. “I’ve always been like that. At school, I was like that, at university I was like that, my first job I was like that.
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“And now, I feel like I always want to write a better song than I did yesterday, or film a better music video than I did before, or play a bigger room than I did last year. That’s a very me thing. Everyone else is content, but I’m like, ‘what else could I be doing?’.”
And while his own experience as a major-label artist has so far been a positive one, he admits that being a Black musician in the UK does mean he’s occasionally misunderstood or put into boxes that have nothing to do with his own artistry.
“I remember coming in and people didn’t know what to call it,” Myles says. “I won’t say which radio station, but I was their ‘R&B track of the week’. And I was like, ‘for a folk song?’.
“But then, I’ve also experienced the opposite side, where people are like, ‘oh my god, you’re a Black guy who plays guitar, you’re so different’ – and it’s like, that’s also not the right vibe,” he says.
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“I mean, when you strip it back, it’s just exceptionalism. You know, the belief that one person is not now reflective of the community, because they’re so different and that can’t possibly exist anywhere else, where that’s just not the truth.
“There are millions of people who look like me and sound like me and enjoy the music that I do. And so, I hate being seen as both the wrong genre – and being seen as one-of-a-kind for doing what I’m doing, when that is just not the case. So yeah, that’s been a really weird experience.”
Myles Smith’s debut album My Mess, My Life, My Heart. is now available to buy and stream
As for what Myles wants people to take away from his debut album now that it’s finally out in the world, he deadpans: “I want them to be miserable.”
“No, I’m joking,” he adds, grinning. “I want people to just listen to it with an open heart, and maybe try and learn something about themselves from it.
“If anyone who listens to it learns or questions one thing in their life after it, I feel like it will have done what I wanted it to do.”
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Considering all he’s achieved in a relatively short space of time, Myles claims that “people forget” that My Mess, My Heart, My Life. is only his first album.
“I want to go on a journey of being a real career musician – I don’t expect the world to shift after I drop album one, maybe not even album two, it could be album three or four,” he says.
He points to recent examples like Olivia Dean, Sabrina Carpenter and Noah Kahan, who’ve had major breakthroughs and commercial success with their third or fourth releases, reiterating a point he made in his first Brit Awards acceptance speech about labels not immediately abandoning artists who can’t follow up on their early chart hits.
“Noah Kahan is the number-one listened-to artist in America, above Drake and Justin Bieber, and no one knew who he was [until recently],” he enthuses. “It’s amazing, because he’s been touring for six years. And I love that!”
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“So, for me, it’s not about sprinting to the finish line, it’s about making a career the way that I want to make it,” he says. “It’s about, ‘what are the important milestones in my journey that, when I look back, I can be super proud of?’.”
Myles Smith made a plea for change within the music industry while accepting his first Brit Award in March 2025
James Veysey/Shutterstock
Right now, he says his “fulfilment comes from playing live”. He highlights sharing the stage with Ed Sheeran in Milan and headlining at London’s Hammersmith Apollo with his mum “sat right in the middle of the balcony” as two particular highlights.
“All the other shit… honestly… money or whatever, that stuff really doesn’t matter to me,” he continues. “I know how that sounds, and I’m very aware it’s a privilege because I grew up broke as fuck.
“I don’t just say that to sound like a normal artist in these interviews going ‘oh my god, money doesn’t matter’. It does matter! I know what it’s like not to [be able to] pay your bills – and fortunately, I’m in a position where I don’t have to think about my bills now.
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“But genuinely, the fulfilment I get from music, live, being in a room, seeing the visceral reactions from people really enjoying shows, all the other stuff is just… it’s cool. But this is sick.”
Regardless of how it performs, Myles says that, for him, the album is “already successful in my head”.
“I wrote something that meant something to me, and I feel like I wouldn’t change,” he beams. “And it took three years to get there. So, everything else is like a benefit.”
He notes: “It’s like when people always ask me, at awards shows, ‘what would it feel like to win?’. Just being there in the first place is good enough.”
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“Like, I started off making fucking music in Luton, in my bedroom,” he adds. “I am winning!”
Myles Smith’s debut album My Mess, My Life, My Heart. is out now. Watch the music video for the opening track, My Mess, below:
Titled The Wargame, the four-part series will air this September and is based on the Sky podcast of the same name.
The format places public figures around the table of a fictional cross-party cabinet to respond to a simulated Russian attack on UK soil, with the drama unfolding through Cobra-style emergency meetings.
Michael Gove, former Conservative MP, will lead the fictional government as prime minister.
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New Sky show to star Michael Gove and Nichola Sturgeon
He is joined by former Scottish first minister Nicola Sturgeon as deputy prime minister.
Penny Mordaunt serves as defence secretary, Labour’s Baroness Harriet Harman is home secretary, and former Labour MP Jim Murphy takes the role of foreign secretary.
Phil Edgar-Jones, executive director of unscripted originals at Sky, said: “A year ago, Sky News’ groundbreaking original podcast The Wargame captivated listeners, shedding light on the impossible choices our country’s leaders face under escalating military threat.
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“Now, working with the talented team at The Garden, we’re bringing The Wargame to new audiences in a visceral new TV format, which will challenge some of the most experienced political and military minds in the country to imagine how they might respond under threat of war.
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“At a time when we are facing increasing threats from all sides, this series couldn’t be more timely.”
The cabinet cast also includes Tory Baroness Sayeeda Warsi as attorney general, Labour’s Baroness Ayesha Hazarika as director of communications, retired British Army general Sir Richard Barrons as chief of defence staff, Lord Kim Darroch as national security adviser, and former MI6 officer Christopher Steele as intelligence chief.
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The fictional UK team will be opposed by a group of Russia experts led by British writer Keir Giles.
LOS ANGELES (AP) — Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass declared an emergency Saturday to ensure the city gets the resources it needs to fight a large warehouse fire that has sent large plumes of smoke into the air.
“The city and county have opened spaces for families seeking relief from the smoke, and we will continue working around the clock and doing everything possible to put this fire out completely,” Bass said in a news release announcing the emergency declaration.
The fire at a privately owned cold-storage warehouse in the city’s Boyle Heights neighborhood started Wednesday, prompting shelter-in-place orders in the area because of the risk of hazardous air. Residents were told to close all windows, doors and vents, turn off air conditioning and bring people and pets to an inside room.
Los Angeles Fire Department Chief Jaime Moore said in a news conference that they have taken care of the hazardous materials portion of the blaze and now they are working on the biohazard challenges.
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“We have 85 million pounds of frozen food inside of this facility and the way the building has been laid out, it’s very difficult for us to get in there because there’s zero visibility inside,” Moore said. “Our firefighters are not able to just go in there and start moving pallets.”
The mayor’s declaration asks for recovery help under the California Disaster Assistance Act. She also asked the state to expedite access to resources and other relief programs.
Bass said their chief concern is for the health and safety of the people impacted by the fire, so they are trying to secure the help needed to move the toxic materials away from the area and dispose of them in a way that will avert a major environmental disaster.
“So this is about prevention,” she said. “This is about protecting your public health.”
US President Donald Trump has claimed that “vandals” are responsible for damaging the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool in Washington DC, as a former Olympian David Hearn was arrested after touching a piece of the pool’s already-damaged liner
Rachel Vickers-Price UK and World News Reporter
03:40, 21 Jun 2026
US President Donald Trump has launched a scathing attack on social media against the “vandals” he alleges are behind damage to the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool in Washington DC, with arrests including a former Olympian.
Trump posted on his preferred platform, Truth Social, claiming federal officers had made “multiple arrests” of individuals he accused of vandalising the historic site.
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In the early hours of Sunday morning, Trump posted online: “Many additional people have been arrested having to do with the disgraceful Vandalism of our beautiful Reflecting Pool.
“What they have damaged does not even include the earlier killing of a large amount of grass which was, by far, the least of it. They took some form of knife or blade, and put a 250-foot-long gash into the beautiful facade of what took so much work, competence, and money to build and complete.
“They also poured corrosive and destructive chemicals into the Pool”, he said, as per a report by the Express.
The US President revealed that contractors informed him on Saturday that the Reflecting Pool would require draining for restoration work, though repairs would be “done as quickly as possible”, as he attempts to justify why the USD$14-million-plus renovation scheme he initiated for the nation’s 250th anniversary has apparently gone awry. Trump’s assertions emerge as a former Olympian faces arrest for allegedly damaging the pool.
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David Hearn, a three-time Olympic canoeist who represented the United States, informed the Washington Post that while cycling past the monument on Friday, he halted after spotting a section of the pool’s liner drifting in the water.
Hearn, 67, explained to the publication that he extended his hand and touched the loose piece of liner. Seconds later, he found himself detained by Park Police.
Viral video clips show Hearn appearing confused as National Guard members approached him. The footage then depicts police placing him in handcuffs.
“I didn’t vandalise anything,” Hearn insisted, according to The Washington Post. “I didn’t destroy or break or peel anything. By the time I realised what was going on, I was being put in handcuffs.
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“I reached in there, and I was able to grab the end of that flapping piece, the already peeling piece. It was still attached to the bottom. I didn’t remove anything.”
Hearn participated in the Whitewater Slalom Canoe for the US at the 1992, 1996, and 2000 Olympic Games.
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The ex-Olympian disclosed he spent nearly five hours held at a Park Police station. His court appearance at DC Superior Court is set for 9 July.
The Olympian’s detention follows earlier statements by the US President on Friday (19 June) claiming there had been “some real problems with vandalism at the beautiful Reflecting Pool”. “It’s a shame that the Radical Left Lunatics, most likely Dumocats, who have spent their lives trying to ruin our Country, are free to do so,’ Trump wrote.
“Law Enforcement is actively investigating this situation, and will hopefully have it resolved soon.”
The 47th US President also turned his attack on a journalist amid the Reflecting Pool fiasco, accusing “lightweight ABC Reporter Jonathan Karl” of plunging his hand into the pool and attempting to scrape the rubber from its surface.
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His outburst follows Karl’s ABC News report on Thursday, in which his team discovered the Reflecting Pool laden with muck and green algae. Karl further noted that the multi-million dollar paint job appeared to be deteriorating rapidly.
Earlier this month, Trump took to Truth Social to declare the Reflecting Pool restoration complete, proudly boasting that the renovation was “very complex, but powerful”.
The President also claimed that fresh water had been added to the pool, yet just weeks after Trump’s triumphant proclamation, algae turned the newly added water a nauseating shade of green. Last week, workers were spotted pouring hydrogen peroxide into the water in a bid to tackle the spreading algae.
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The US Department of the Interior, the government body overseeing the project, confirmed in an official statement that “nanobubbler technology” had been installed to combat the persistent algae problem. Trump has since claimed that the algae has been reduced by 75 percent.
The Reflecting Pool has troubled successive US administrations, as algae accumulation has regularly stopped the water from properly mirroring the memorial as intended.
The Department of Justice has refused to supply signed declarations from Trump administration officials pledging not to to create the nearly $1.8 billion “anti-weaponization fund” that critics have a labelled a “slush fund” that would reward January 6 rioters and other Trump allies.
In a court filing, a top Justice Department lawyer said Judge Leonie Brinkema’s demand for the sworn documents as a condition for dismissing a lawsuit over the controversial fund proposal amounted to judicial “overreach.”
“Such declarations are unnecessary and the compelled testimony of senior officials from the Executive Branch implicates serious separation of powers concerns,” wrote Andrew Block, senior counsel to Associate Attorney General Stanley Woodward Jr.
In his Friday filing, Block cited acting Attorney General Todd Blanche’s recent congressional testimony that the fund was “not going forward, period.”
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He also said that he has twice signed briefs “reaffirming” that position, and that the Justice Department “has twice said substantially the same thing in open court.”
Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche, left, and other Trump administration officials have refused to supply sworn declarations that they won’t create the proposed $1.776 million ‘anti-weaponization’ fund despite saying it’s ‘not moving foward’ (AFP/Getty)
“All these statements were made against the backdrop of serious penalties for falsity,” he wrote.
Earlier this month, the judge issued a preliminary injunction that blocks the government from establishing the compensation fund.
During a court hearing on June 12, Brinkema stressed that Blanche’s congressional testimony wasn’t enough to satisfy her.
She gave him, Woodward and Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent until Friday to file the declarations if they wanted her to declare a lawsuit over the fund as moot.
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Brinkema also warned that if the declarations weren’t filed by her deadline, she would issue a scheduling order and require the defendants to file a response by July 17.
Block now says that “such declarations are unnecessary.”
The lead plaintiff in the case is Andrew Floyd, a former federal prosecutor who alleged that he was fired for prosecuting Trump supporters who stormed the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021 to try to prevent Congress from certifying his loss to Joe Biden in the 2020 presidential election.
Blanche and other administration officials have insisted that they are following the court’s order and abandoning plans for the fund, but officials have also suggested that they are still looking for pathways to issue payouts.
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(Getty)
The Justice Department said the fund was being created as part of an alleged settlement agreement between Trump and his own administration. Trump agreed to dismiss a lawsuit against the IRS, which he sued for $10 billion over the leak of his tax returns by an agency contractor.
The deal also includes a provision that bars the Justice Department and IRS from taking legal action against Trump, his sons Don Jr. and Eric, and the Trump Organization for any other past alleged wrongdoing.
The president has claimed he wasn’t involved in discussions about creating the fund, which would ostensibly compensate people who Blanche said were the “victims of lawfare” by the Biden administration.
But the president has also said he “loves” the idea. He recently told NBC’s Meet the Press that “it was up to me, I’d pay them the kind of money that they deserve.”
“People have been destroyed. Lives have been destroyed,” Trump said during a June 12 interview that aired two days later.
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The sitdown in Wisconsin ended abruptly when Trump got angry and stormed off after host Kristen Welker pressed him for evidence to support his unfounded claims that the 2020 election and the recent California gubernatorial primary were “rigged.”
“You’re either crooked or you’re stupid,” he said. “You play right into their hands with this crap.”
Tees Folk will make its comeback, returning to the Stockton Globe on Saturday, September 19, , after a year-long pause in 2025.
The third edition of the event promises a fresh line-up of contemporary and traditional talent, headlined by Mercury Music Prize nominees The Unthanks.
John Smith (Image: Supplied)
Rachel and Becky Unthank, performing for the first time at the Stockton Globe, will lead their full 10-piece band in what will be the last chance to see The Unthanks in 2026 performing with their full 10-piece band.
Described as “one of the UK’s most acclaimed folk acts,” The Unthanks are known for blending time-honoured traditions with contemporary influences, creating what organisers call a “powerful, moving and captivating” live experience.
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Returning to the stage is Middlesbrough’s Amelia Coburn, who performed at the inaugural Tees Folk in 2023.
Since then, she has completed a sold-out solo UK tour and supported major acts including Paul Weller, Suzanne Vega and The Proclaimers.
The festival will also welcome acclaimed singer-songwriter John Smith, who has spent two decades at the forefront of British folk guitar music.
Poster (Image: Supplied)
With more than 125 million Spotify streams, the Essex-born artist is known for his “deeply romantic songwriting” and “innovative guitar work.”
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John Smith has performed around the world and built a loyal following.
Completing the line-up is East Cleveland’s Dale Husband, who performs as Glad Town Ghost.
Mr Husband’s sound blends vivid, post-industrial storytelling with American folk influences, for fans of Jackson C Frank and Cormac McCarthy.
His solo concept album, The Endless Heavy Sleep, came in 2020.
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Organisers promise that Tees Folk will once again transform the Stockton Globe with its unique atmosphere and eclectic mix of carefully curated traditional and contemporary sounds. “There will be no shortage of emotive storytelling and harmonious melodies.”
Tickets are available now through the Stockton Globe website.
For more information and to purchase tickets, visit stocktonglobe.co.uk.
It’s crazy to think just how old GTA 5 is (Rockstar)
A reader gives his view on which was the best year ever for video games but do his opinions stand up to scrutiny or is it all just nostalgia talking?
The debate about the best year in video game history never ceases. There are so many years in video games that were spectacular or otherwise extremely important for the industry, so narrowing one year down can be a very tough task.
You could say that 1998 was an amazing breakout year, seeing as we were treasured with groundbreaking titles like The Legend Of Zelda: Ocarina Of Time, the original Metal Gear Solid, Half-Life, Resident Evil 2, and Banjo-Kazooie. Or you might suggest 2007 was greater due to the likes of Bioshock, Super Mario Galaxy, Call Of Duty 4: Modern Warfare, Mass Effect, Assassin’s Creed, and Uncharted: Drake’s Fortune.
However, for me personally, I see the years 2011 and 2013 as remarkable years in gaming. Both of these years poured it on with top quality releases throughout the year, from January through to December, like you wouldn’t believe, managing to combine quality and quantity like no other year has ever achieved. So let’s dive into the games and consoles that made both of these years remarkable beyond any other.
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When I think about 2011, I think of 18/19-year-old me in college and walking down to the local supermarket to buy the latest hot release during break times, giddy with child-like excitement when I arrived home to play them. The sheer assault of releases in 2011 should make any other year blush and curl up into a foetal position.
January blasted things off by gifting us LittleBigPlanet 2, the PlayStation 3 version of Mass Effect 2 and Dead Space 2. Then throughout the year we were bombarded with amazing top tier releases like Bulletstorm, Portal 2, the Mortal Kombat reboot, L.A. Noire, Deus Ex: Human Revolution, Dark Souls, Minecraft, Saints Row: The Third, Skyrim, Batman: Arkham City, Rayman Origins, and The Legend Of Zelda: Skyward Sword.
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I would be remiss not to mention the portable juggernaut that was the 3DS and the wealth of great games utilising its gyroscopic 3D capabilities like The Legend Of Zelda: Ocarina Of Time 3D, Star Fox 64 3D, Super Mario 3D Land, and Mario Kart 7.
2013 was arguably way larger and far more epic, seeing as it was both an industry-shifting year, and it served as the last bastion of amazing seventh generation titles. The start of the year saw Ninja Theory’s audacious take on Devil May Cry with DmC: Devil May Cry, and featured one of my favourite games in the history of ever in Ni No Kuni: Wrath Of The White Witch.
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Moving along, we were treated to captivating titles throughout the year including Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance, Luigi’s Mansion 2, the Tomb Raider reboot, Bioshock Infinite, Animal Crossing: New Leaf, Far Cry: Blood Dragon, The Last Of Us, Pikmin 3, Saints Row 4, GTA 5, Puppeteer, The Legend Of Zelda: The Wind Waker HD, The Legend Of Zelda: A Link Between Worlds, The Stanley Parable, Rayman Legends, Tearaway, Killzone: Mercenary, Assassin’s Creed 4: Black Flag, and Super Mario 3D World.
Then in November the PlayStation 4 and Xbox One arrived, and they changed the games industry in a way that’s still very present to this day. Launch titles for PlayStation 4 consisted of Resogun, Knack, and Killzone: Shadow Fall. And the Xbox One gave us Ryse: Son Of Rome, Forza Motorsport 5, and Dead Rising 3. Suffice to say, 2013 exploded with a crescendo of excellent games that didn’t stop coming. Simply put, the enormity of 2013 isn’t spoken about often, but it really should be enshrined in video game lore forever.
So, as you can see, 2011 and 2013 were extraordinary years in video games, and they overloaded us with games unlike any other. Their industry-shifting qualities shouldn’t be understated either, as they are both hugely significant to the history and modern state of video games today.
By reader James Davie
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Rayman Legends is getting a remaster this year (Ubisoft)
The reader’s features do not necessarily represent the views of GameCentral or Metro.
You can submit your own 500 to 600-word reader feature at any time, which if used will be published in the next appropriate weekend slot.
The boy, 3, remains in critical condition two days after he was attacked by “at least one” crocodile at Johnson’s of Old Hurst in Huntingdon.
According to reports, the boy had been on an elevated walkway when he was lifted over a 4ft safety fence and thrown 15ft down onto a concrete surface near the reptiles.
The opening of the new reptiles house at Johnson’s of Old Hurst. (Image: Newquest)
Monks Cross Shopping Centre under construction in 1998.
Remember the fanfare opening in 1998, when TV presenter Jeff Banks turned up to do the honours? And who made a beeline for Hollyoaks heartthrob Will Mellor when he was invited to open HMV?
Will Mellor, right, then a Hollyoaks heartthrob, cuts the ribbon and opens the HMV store at the new Monks Cross shopping park. He is pictured with then store manager Andy Syson and HMV’s mascot, Nipper the dog. (Image: The Press)
In the late 1990s and early 2000s a trip to Monks Cross involved a drive out on the ring road and the smug satisfaction of finding a free parking space.
Monks Cross Shopping Centre under construction in 1998
You could step out of the car and straight into a strip of big‑name stores without having to battle your way down Coney Street – to the dismay of many city-centre traders whose jingling tills were slightly more subdued. It’s fair to say the whole city-centre versus out-of-town shopping debate filled many column inches of this very newspaper.
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Before Primark and B&M: memories of Monks Cross Shopping Centre York.
But for many shoppers, it was a time when a trip to Monks Cross felt like the height of sophistication – even though you were really just walking around a big car park with a WHSmith bag and ketchup on your sleeve.
For many, those early days will also be forever tied to a handful of now‑vanished shopfronts.
HMV with its wall of chart CDs; PC World stacked with chunky monitors and boxed software; Woolworths with its endless pick’n’mix and slightly chaotic aisles. Add a Burger King stop to the circuit and you had the perfect Saturday.
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Monks Cross was also a rite of passage where teenagers got their first Saturday jobs, learned how to fold jumpers properly and sprinted across the car park on a ten‑minute break. It was also where newly‑qualified drivers practised parking in slightly wonky bays.
A Monks Cross “date” meant sharing a burger, loitering in HMV pretending to have very serious opinions about albums, and wandering past windows full of things you couldn’t yet afford.
Close your eyes and you can still see the logos that have faded from the fascias: the familiar sweep of the Debenhams sign and BHS Homestore promising new towels and matching lamps.
Many will remember the sweeping sign of Debenhams at Monks Cross Shopping Centre.
Bu it wasn’t all plain sailing. Woolies shut up shop in 2005. Pick ‘n’ mix was never to be the same again. Fast forward to 2018 and retail giant Arcadia also pulled out, spelling the closure of Evans, TopMan, TopShop, Miss Selfridge and Outfit.
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Stores earmarked for closure at Monks Cross Shopping Centre in 2018.
The stores had shared the same south-facing row of the shopping park where the vacant former BHS store had stood empty since August 2016.
Today, the old names have been replaced by Primark, Decathlon, Smyths, Sports Direct, B&M and a parade of value fashion, sportswear and homeware. Instead of queueing for the Christmas single, you queue with an armful of holiday tops you never knew you needed. Instead of a new stereo, you come away with bulk‑buy cleaning products and storage boxes. Shoppers can now also bag the latest best-seller since Waterstones moved in.
But for all the latest branding, Monks Cross still feels familiar to the ‘good old days’ – you still tell yourself you’re “just popping to one shop” and end up doing the full lap.
What are your Monks Cross memories? What stores would you like to see make a comeback?
She found fame in the early noughties, and now she’s winning an army of new fans in Take That’s spectacular Circus Live tour which is going live on Amazon tonight
20:43, 20 Jun 2026Updated 21:18, 20 Jun 2026
Among the fantastic acrobats, trapeze artists and tight-rope walkers on Take That’s spectacular Circus Live tour, there’s also a famous singer joining Gary Barlow, Mark Owen and Howard Donald on stage. The Circus is back in Manchester this weekend, and on Saturday night is being streamed live across the world on Amazon Music too.
The Take That show is back on the road and wowing fans with an even more spectacular reboot than the 2009 original. And among the many surprises and updates this time around includes the star guest who appears in the opening and also at the finale of the show.
The show all starts with the Greatest Day as Take That‘s trio appear on stage beneath a giant balloon. But keep your eyes peeled as the glamorous Ringmaster is also a very familiar face.
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For it’s none other than former Pop Idol star and West End favourite Zoe Birkett. Zoe first found fame as she chased her dream of pop stardom on the short lived ITV reality talent show and went on to make the finals.
In more recent times she has become an acclaimed West End star, winning plaudits for her portrayal of Tina Turner in the musical about the icon in 2024.
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Zoe is seen at the start of the Take That show, and then you cannot fail to miss her at the spectacular finale. A giant spooky Circus Ringmaster puppet emerges onto stage, laughing as bursts of flames emerge.
The ‘Ringmaster’ booms out a message to fans saying: “Ladies and Gentleman, for your entertainment the circus is filled with thrills and death-defying feats… The greatest show on earth some would say.”
The voice deepens as it talks of another side to the Circus, the “dark side” and letting the “fire burn within you”. The puppet then begins to sing out: “Keep the fire burning” as the familiar strains of Relight My Fire ring out and the full cast of performers head out onto the stage.
And believe it or not, the face and voice of that spectacular puppet is Zoe. She has been joining the band on stage each night of the tour to sing the famous “Lulu bit” of Relight My Fire.
But many fans may not have realised until now that she was behind the booming voice and spooky face that comes alive on the puppet.
Zoe, confirmed the news to delighted fans earlier this month by sharing a video of her voicing the giant puppet on social media. She wrote on Facebook: “I don’t just sing it….. Face and voice of the biggest puppet this summer.”
Fans say they’ve been “blown away” by Zoe’s starring moment in the show. Zoe, 40, is originally from County Durham, and has been appearing at all the Take That shows on the ongoing UK tour.
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Linda Cook wrote: “Relight my fire blew me away!! It’s AWESOME!! You are epic Zoe.”
Rachel Bell said: “You were awesome! We thought it was you and you blew us away. Loved you since Get Happy!”
Susan Kemp added: “Best part of the show for me! Zoe Birkett you were amazing!”
Take That play the Etihad Stadium onSaturday June 20 and Sunday June 21, before returning again on the final night of the UK dates on Wednesday, July 1.
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