Former President Barack Obama has had enough with the poppycock and balderdash … and Republicans as well.

On Tuesday night’s episode of “The Late Show,” host Stephen Colbert asked the former president about a certain clash going down within the Democratic party that the late-night host described as “liberals vs. the left.”

“As my children say to me, ‘Dad, you’re a liberal. We’re leftists,’” Colbert began to explain. “Because, they’re like, ‘Liberals are people who think things should basically stay the same, you know what I mean? And the next generation really wants things to change.’”

Colbert then asked Obama how he thinks the Democratic party could “actually achieve change.”

Obama responded by noting that the two were currently sitting in his nearly completed Barack Obama Presidential Center in Chicago, which the former president stressed was “nonpartisan.”

“The reason why I want to mention that is because I’m worried about the Republican party, not just the Democratic party,” Obama said.

“When I was president, people would ask me, ‘What changes would you like to see in Washington?’ I’d say, ‘I’d love a loyal opposition.’ I’d love a Republican party that was conservative in some ways — that didn’t agree with me on a whole bunch of stuff — but believed in the rule of law, and judicial independence, and … empirical evidence, science, and wasn’t constantly tapping into our worst impulses.”

Obama said there “has been a Republican party like that in the past” and thinks it would be wise for the GOP to embrace its less extreme roots because America needs “to have two healthy parties.”

As for Democrats, Obama wasn’t exactly buying the idea there is some “so-called rift between the left and liberals.”

He noted that most Democrats, “independents and even some Republicans” share overlapping beliefs, like “equality, fairness;” that all Americans “should be able to make a living wage” and “be able to support a family and retire;” and that companies should not be allowed “to just run roughshod over the rights of workers.”

Democrat’s real problem, as Obama sees it, is their terrible communication style.

“What I’m more interested in Democrats is, do you know how to talk to regular people like we are not at a college seminar? Can you talk plain English to folks?”

Obama said the left should take notes from New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani, who Obama called “an extraordinary talent,” thanks to his ability to pinpoint a specific issue and explain it in everyday language.

“Not only does he talk like a normal person, but he lives a normal life,” Colbert said. “He names what is obviously wrong, and he goes, ‘We should change that thing.’”

“Yes!” Obama enthusiastically said, adding: “And not have a bunch of gobbledygook around it.”

Colbert was clearly tickled by Obama using the word “gobbledygook,” and suggested Obama etch the word somewhere in his new presidential library.

“The building is not completed, I think I’m going to put that somewhere,” an amused Obama joked. “I’m going to carve it into some of the granite out here: ‘No gobbledygook, just talk like normal people talk!’ You know? Like, the rent’s too high, we need to make the rent lower for people.”

Elsewhere in his lengthy interview with Colbert, Obama also managed to slyly call out President Donald Trump without even using his name. Check out that bit of the conversation here.

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Keir Starmer has attempted to rebuild trust with Whitehall by sending civil servants in an email the night before polling stations opened.

The prime minister admitted “the events of the last recent weeks have felt unsettling”, alluding to his controversial decision to sack the top civil servant in the Foreign Office.

Starmer blamed Olly Robbins for giving Peter Mandelson security clearance so he could become ambassador to the US, even after the disgraced Labour peer failed vetting.

The PM claimed he was not aware security officials had advised against giving Mandelson a clean bill of health and blamed Robbins for keeping it secret.

But, in a box-office appearance before MPs, Robbins insisted the vetting process is independent of ministers and the details are not typically shared.

Clearly trying to extend an olive branch in the letter, Starmer told Whitehall officials their work is the “backbone of this country”, and that “we are one team”.

But, while writing to the half a million civil servants in the UK, the PM called on them to offer “total transparency” to ministers.

He said: “I value the ‘speaking truth to power’ that is the hallmark of our system.

“I want a culture where information flows freely, where risks are flagged early, and where we work together to solve problems before they become crises.

“The relationship between a minister and their officials relies on a bedrock of total transparency.

“Without that trust, the partnership that sits at the heart of our constitution cannot function. We are fixing the processes that have failed, but we are not changing the fundamental value we place on your role.”

His email went out hours before polls opened on Thursday.

More than 100 local councils are up for election in England, while voters in Scotland and Wales will also go to the polls for elections to Holyrood and the Senedd.

Labour are expected to fare particularly badly, as pollsters agree the central government will likely be punished for a gruelling 22 months in office.

Starmer has had a rocky relationship with Whitehall since winning the 2024 general election.

He previously shocked officials by accusing them of being “comfortable in the tepid bath of managed decline”.

He later claimed he meant that the problem was not with officials themselves but that they faced “too many obstacles”.

Starmer’s pick as cabinet secretary – Chris Wormald – was also forced out as head of the civil service earlier this year and replaced by Antonia Romeo who is expected to reform the entire system.

Sydney Sweeney is lifting the lid on shooting one of Euphoria season three’s most memorable sequences.

In the most recent episode of the divisive drama, Sydney’s character Cassie was seen embracing a different sort of lifestyle afforded to her by her new OnlyFans career, including a lavish influencer party.

While this party eventually descended into more of the extreme scenes that has seen Euphoria’s third iteration prove divisive among viewers, the Emmy nominee has made it clear that she had a blast filming the episode.

“Maddy transforms Cassie back into Cassie’s most glorious self, and she takes it from there,” she explained in a behind-the-scenes video posted on HBO’s YouTube page.

“There is nothing like a Euphoria party. Every season, Sam [Levinson, Euphoria’s creator] always writes in one.”

Admitting that she uses these scenes to live vicariously through her character, Sydney continued: “I don’t really go to parties, so this is my time where I get to have fun through Cassie. And she lets loose! This girl knows how to party, she’s having the time of her life.”

Interspersed with shots of Sydney and hundreds of extras partying, she added: “I was like, ‘are we ever going to call cut?’. I didn’t know what to do! I don’t know how to dance. I thought my wig was going to fly off, I’m whipping my hair all over the place. It was crazy.”

Over the last few weeks, Cassie’s Euphoria storyline has continued to raise eyebrows, with many critics describing some of Sydney’s scenes as “degrading”, “horrible” and comparable to a “humiliation ritual” for the actor.

Sam Levinson said earlier this week: “What’s interesting is if you push it a little bit, [Sydney] becomes brilliant. You just do a few more takes, and she can reach these levels that are very honest emotionally, but also deeply funny.”

He added: “She’s able to anchor the scene with this kind of madness and chaos going on around her.”

Euphoria airs weekly on Sky and Now in the UK.

Jane Fonda has shared her thoughts on her “complicated” marriage to media mogul Ted Turner in an exceptionally earnest tribute following the news of his death at the age of 87.

Offering her “immediate thoughts about Ted” in a Wednesday afternoon Instagram post, the Hollywood veteran and lifelong activist looked back on their relationship as “challenging”, while adding that she had “always been up for a challenge, and with Ted it was almost always worth it”.

“He swept into my life, a gloriously handsome, deeply romantic, swashbuckling pirate and I’ve never been the same,” she said of Turner, who was her husband from 1991 until their divorce in 2001.

Explaining how it felt for the multifaceted billionaire to need her love, Fonda wrote: “No one had ever let me know they needed me, and this wasn’t your average human being that needed me, this was the creator of CNN, and Turner Classic Movies, who had won the America’s Cup as the world’s greatest sailor.

“He had a big life, a brilliant mind and a soaring sense of humour.”

She also acknowledged his ability to care for her, writing: “To be needed and cared for simultaneously is transformative.”

“Ted Turner helped me believe in myself. He gave me confidence. I think I did the same for him, but that’s what women are raised to do,” the Oscar winner went on to say, calling Turner’s ability to be vulnerable one of his “greatest strengths”.

Fonda said she learned more from Turner than “more than any other person or school classes” could teach before remarking how he was the “most competitive person” she had ever met – besides storied actor Katharine Hepburn – and how “fascinating” that was “to witness”.

“Whether it was who’d made the most ski runs at the end of the day, to acres of land owned (stewarded is the more fitting word for his relationship to land), who had the most billions, how many countries he’d made love to his prior lover in and could I match that, it was challenging,” she said.

Continuing her lengthy homage in the comments, the Barbarella star said: “I loved Ted with all my heart.”

“I see him in heaven now with all the wildlife he helped bring back from extinction,” Fonda went on. “

The black footed ferrets, the prairie dogs, Big Horned sheep, Mexican Gray Wolf, the Yellowstone wolf pack, bison, the red cockaded woodpecker and so many more, they’re all gathered at the pearly gates applauding and thanking him for saving their species.”

Addressing the five offspring that now survive Turner, she called them, “five talented, complex kids who I had the privilege of becoming stepmother to”.

“I love them to this day,” she went on. “If it was complicated to be married to him, think how complicated it was being his child. And they are all doing fine.”

“Rest in Peace, dearest Ted,” her message ended. “You are loved and you will be remembered.”

Though the couple split in 2001, they remained friends after.

Less than a week before his death, Fonda had called the television trailblazer her “favourite ex-husband” during the opening of this year’s TCM Classic Film Festival in Hollywood, adding that founding the festival’s namesake network, Turner Classic Movies, is just one of the “great things that he did”.

Turner will also be remembered as the creator of CNN, the world’s first 24-hour cable news channel, as well as WTBS and TNT.

Graham Norton’s reality show The Neighbourhood has been pulled from its primetime TV slot just weeks after its big launch.

According to this week’s ITV schedule, The Neighbourhood has been bumped from its regular 9pm slot on Thursdays and Fridays back to 10.45 pm, in a huge blow for the struggling series.

The competition show sees real-life friends and families move into a community to compete against each other for a life-changing amount of money.

In Thursday’s schedule, it’s been replaced by an old episode of Davina McCall‘s Long Lost Family, which originally aired two years ago.

On Friday, meanwhile, the 9pm slot is now occupied by an episode of Beat The Chasers, which was first shown in 2021.

An ITV rep told The Sun: “The full box set of The Neighbourhood is now available to stream on ITVX. Additionally, the show will continue to air in an evening slot on ITV.”

Despite its starry presenter, a huge promotional push by ITV and prime-time slot, The Neighbour was met with poor reviews when it premiered towards the end of April, and had reportedly only pulled in 500k viewers by its third episode.

This follows a trend of poor ratings for recent ITV shows they hoped would rival the success of The Traitors, with Genius Game and The Fortune Hotel also suffering from disappointing viewing figures, and both having since been cancelled by the channel.

Despite its poor performance, Graham had previously spoken enthusiastically about The Neighbourhood, insisting: “It leans into our curiosity about what’s behind closed doors and there’s something really compelling and addictive about seeing the way the existing households interact with each other.

“I thought, ‘I’d watch that’ – and I’d never want to work on something I wouldn’t watch. I thought, ‘this show would hook me!’.”

The Neighbourhood continues at 10.45pm on Thursday and Friday on ITV1, with the full series available to stream on ITVX now.

Just when you think you’ve got it all figured out – a fact comes along that changes everything for you. It blows your mind completely.

First, came the news that in most cases, it doesn’t matter too much whether you choose white or brown rice. And now, in another bit of chromatic trivia, it turns out that tennis balls used to be black or white until the ’70s (and Wimbledon held out until 1986).

Their colour was dictated by the colour of the court (a light ball for a dark court and vice versa, so spectators can see it).

’Twas ever thus ― until a certain David Attenborough came along.

The Planet Earth presenter started working at the BBC in 1952 (having only watched one TV show).

In an article with RadioTimes, David revealed that he was responsible for bringing colour to BBC2 for the first time in 1968. And he decided to focus on Wimbledon for the crowning episode of the transformation.

“We had been asking the government over and over again and they wouldn’t allow us, until suddenly they said, ‘Yes, OK, you can have [the colour TV technology], and what’s more you’re going to have it in nine months’ time,’ or whatever it was,” he told RadioTimes.

He added that he wanted to beat West Germany to full-colour broadcast ― the US and Japan had already done it by that time.

But, according to the book 2,024 QI Facts To Stop You In Your Tracks, at some point, David Attenborough noticed that the tennis balls weren’t vibrant and visible enough on screen.

So, in 1972, the International Tennis Federation made optic yellow tennis balls ― side note, they’re officially optic yellow and not green (though in my mind, they’re definitely lime).

Who knew a simple ball could have so much lore?

The Kremlin has been forced to respond to leaked European intelligence that Vladimir Putin has starting hiding in an underground property for weeks at a time out of fears for his safety.

A leaked report from an unnamed agency – shared by CNN this week – claimed the Russian president has spent significant periods hiding in upgraded bunkers hours away from Moscow since the invasion of Ukraine in 2022.

The report suggested how Putin had stopped using his home in Moscow or his summer property in Valdai town after unsubstantiated claims Ukraine was trying to target the president at his personal residence.

The report also noted that Putin has not visited a military facility this year so far despite making regular trips throughout 2025.

Personal security has been increased and surveillance systems have been installed in his homes.

Bodyguards, cooks and photographers have to be screened twice before gaining access to the autocrat, too, according to the leaked intel.

The employees can only use phones without internet access and are not allowed to travel on public transport.

The Institute for the Study of War, a US-based think tank, also said it had seen “corroborating evidence of enhanced security measures for Putin and high-ranking Russian officials”.

But the Kremlin dismissed any suggestions that extra security has been installed around Putin out of fears of a coup or assassination attempt.

Spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said: “What ‘European intelligence agency’ are you referring to? I am not aware that such an agency exists. Unfortunately, I don’t know what it is.”

According to Russian state news agency TASS, he added: “I don’t read such material.”

But, the spokesperson did admit extra security has been installed for Putin in case of a Ukrainian attack on May 9 celebrations, the date when Russia celebrates its victory over Nazi Germany in 1945.

Peskov added: “You know that on the eve of major holidays, and, of course, perhaps most importantly, Victory Day in our country, additional security measures are always taken by the relevant special services.”

Russia tried to declare a unilateral ceasefire with Ukraine for May 8-9, dates which coincide with the Victory Day parade.

However, Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy rejected the suggestion, claiming it was a move to protect the celebration – not a step towards peace.

Zelenskyy had already suggested a ceasefire starting from May 6 which would last until after the parade.

But that proposal was ignored by Russia as Moscow continued to target areas across Ukraine.

“We have repeatedly offered the Russian leadership the option of moving toward peace. In response, we have received only new Russian strikes,” the Ukraiian president said in a post on X on Thursday.

“That is exactly why Ukraine’s long-range sanctions are extending to distant locations in Russia linked to its military-industrial complex, war infrastructure, and the financing of its aggression.

“Every day, Russia can make a choice and end its war.

“And not for a few hours in order to receive our permission to hold a parade in Moscow, but in a way that protects human lives.”

He added that Russia had failed to respond to his longstanding calls for a ceasefire, saying: “human life is incomparably more valuable than the ‘celebration’ of any anniversary”.

Moscow also sent a note to foreign diplomatic missions and international organisations warning that it would launch a “retaliatory” strike on Kyiv – including against “decision-making centre” – if Ukraine disturbed the Victory Day celebrations.

The message called for a “timely evacuation of personnel from diplomatic and other missions, as well as citizens from the city of Kyiv”.

Zelenskyy hit back: “If the one person in Moscow who cannot live without war is interested only in a parade and nothing else, that is another matter.

“Russia has fought to the point where even their main parade now depends on us.”

Moscow also declared last week that for security reasons May 8 would be a slimmed-down format, and weaponry like tanks and missiles will not be on display, unlike usual.

It comes after a high-rise building was hit by a drone on Monday. Russia also claimed its air defences had destroyed 32 drones heading to the capital on Thursday.

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