Politics
Is HIIT And Sprinting Better Than Slower Workouts For Blood?
Not only is any movement far, far better than none, but even a 10-minute, relatively slow jog can benefit your joints, heart, and longevity.
Still, new research published in Cell Reports Medicine has suggested that sprinting, along with other higher-intensity exercise like intense cycling, could offer unique health advantages.
In fact, the Rockefeller University – whose Weslie R. and William H. Janeway Laboratory of Molecular Metabolism, which was used in the study, is headed by Dr Cohen – said, “Three minutes of sprinting can do something that 90 minutes of moderate exercise apparently cannot: dramatically reshape the molecular contents of the bloodstream”.
Why might sprinting or HIIT be so different to regular exercise?
In this study, scientists split participants into two groups: those tasked with completing six sets of 30-second sprints on a stationary bike, and others who’d been asked to cycle at a moderate pace for 90 minutes.
The researchers also measured the blood of people involved both before and after their respective exercise sessions.
While the 90-minute group only saw changes in fewer than 0.25% of their blood proteins, all-out sprints appeared to alter about a quarter of all proteins.
And sprinting also seemed to trigger changes in about 200 metabolites, as well as a surge in proteins linked to functions like blood vessel growth, tissue remodelling, and hormonal signalling.
These might have entered the bloodstream through a process known as ectodomain shedding, which means existing proteins rush into a person’s system.
Human fat cells exposed to the blood of people who’d undergone high-intensity training seemed to act differently, too. They processed fuel, sensed nutrient availability, and responded to hormones in ways not seen before the addition.
Not so with the longer, slower exercise group. For them, blood changes were smaller and appeared three hours after movement, while they didn’t seem to have anything like as much of an effect on fat cells.
What might that mean for our health?
This study looked at data from 53,000 people in the UK Biobank to see what the blood changes they noticed among the sprinters might mean for people’s health.
It turns out that lots of the proteins that flooded their bloodstreams after high-intensity exercise were linked to a lower risk of heart and metabolic diseases, like type 2 diabetes.
And over a quarter appeared to be associated with slower biological ageing.
Speaking to the Rockefeller University, Dr Cohen said: “What’s exciting here is that just a few minutes of intense exercise can trigger a significant molecular response.
“And we still see it after eight weeks of training, which tells us this response isn’t simply a product of the body struggling to keep up with unfamiliar stress. It may be that the responses we observed are intrinsic to intense exercise”.
Meanwhile, Luke Olsen, who conducted the studies for this research, added: “It’s well appreciated that different intensities of exercise stimulate distinct body-wide adaptations.
“However, the molecular mechanisms linking these intensity-dependent adaptations have remained largely elusive. Our work suggests that exerkines – proteins and metabolites released into the bloodstream following exercise – are highly sensitive to exercise intensity and may be the key mediators of the health-promoting effects of short bursts of vigorous exercise.”
Analysis by news monitoring site Newscord has exposed the cynical pile-on by UK ‘mainstream’ media that drove Black academic Jason Arday to his death – and the equally cynical way the media lost interest after killing him.
Arday died after being hounded by the media following accusations of plagiarism by white-supremacist ‘racial scientist’ Nathan Cofnas. Cofnas believes Black people are innately less intelligent than whites, especially Jews. He has been suspended by Ghent University after the Canary exposed a dossier by Ghent academics detailing his unfitness for his role there.
When you suggest to a member of the British press that maybe the excessive coverage given to Jason Arday was racially motivated. https://t.co/v5xtiYyNEz pic.twitter.com/Kht0XYpMLb
— Plutôt la Barbie (@plutotlabarbie) August 24, 2026
Nine-day windows across coverage of Arday
As Newscord notes, the analysis:
compares two nine-day windows across the same fifteen outlets: his last nine full days alive against the nine days after the news broke, outlet by outlet, byline by byline, regulator by regulator, and headline register by headline register.
Its findings are not shocking – the racism-driven feeding frenzy and the sudden loss of interest that followed it are appalling. But nobody who pays attention to UK media and the political landscape in which it operates will be shocked, or even surprised. This includes the near-silence of many of the ‘MSM’ hacks, who had eagerly joined the lynch-mob, after Arday was found dead on 14 August:
The data show how spread across the ‘mainstream’ spectrum the mob-mentality was – and how interest among most of the same outlets ebbed by comparison after Arday died. This no doubt reflects the sudden hands-in-pocket, whistling-and-kicking-stones, ‘nothing to see here’ attempts by the perpetrators to distance themselves from the scene of the crime:
Sham ‘regulator’
IPSO is the “sham” regulator set up by corporate papers after the phone-hacking scandal to allow them to ‘regulate’ themselves – or, in simpler language, to mark their own homework and avoid actual, Leveson-compliant regulation. Unsurprisingly, Newscord found that IPSO publications were the worst offenders in the pile-on – and dumped Arday the fastest after his death.
But on a par with them was the Guardian. The self-regulating paper was down in the slime with the worst of them:
And the Guardian was up alongside the right-wing rags in terms of individual journalists filing stories about Arday: two out of the worst five.
When Arday died, the tone of the articles flipped suddenly as the hacks tried to distance themselves from responsibility for his death. And they lost interest precipitously. While Arday’s loved ones and friends had to continue to come to terms with his loss, the papers published only ten articles across all publications in the final third of the nine-day period.
Self-justification
Newscord also notes that, of the paltry ten articles in the last three days, one was the Guardian’s attempt to exonerate itself. In a statement titled “What this page says about the Guardian, and what it does not”, the analysis states that:
The [Guardian’s] statement condemns as false the claim that the Guardian’s coverage was driven by a personal conflict with Professor Arday. This page has never made that claim and does not make it now. It says nothing about why any journalist wrote anything, and nothing about the cause of his death, which is with the coroner.
What it does report about the Guardian is arithmetic anyone can check: 17 articles in his last nine full days alive, 10 in the nine days after the news broke, and no external press regulator to ask about either. Every one of those articles is listed with its URL in the table below.
On the harassment the statement describes, our position is plain. Abuse of individual journalists is wrong, racialised abuse most of all, and nothing on this page is an invitation to it. Our argument is with what newsrooms chose to publish, which is a matter of public record, and never with the people who work in them.
One disclosure, because this page counts what outlets publish. The statement is itself one of the Guardian’s 10 items in the after window. It is a press office statement rather than newsroom copy, which leaves 9 newsroom items, and the register layer classifies it as justifying the media.
The Canary was the first publication to reveal that the Guardian had been warned that its hounding of Arday was putting him in danger. His warning – including relating Arday’s own words that a Guardian journalist was driven by ill-feeling after an earlier row – was ignored. When the Canary published the emails, the Guardian sent legal threats demanding a retraction.
The Canary refused to be intimidated and stood by its reporting.
Read the full analysis here.
By Skwawkbox
Simon Cowell is to miss a few weeks of his judging duties on America’s Got Talent while he recovers from back surgery.
The TV mogul’s representatives confirmed to Entertainment Weekly on Monday that he would be missing from the AGT panel following the “routine” operation.
“Obviously medical matters are private but it’s routine and he will be back in a few weeks,” they said.
A temporary replacement for Simon – who is currently executive producing and judging AGT’s 21st season, with his fellow panellists including his former X Factor co-star Mel B, Modern Family actor Sofía Vergara and Canadian comic Howie Mandel – has not yet been announced.
The record label boss’ issues with his back are well-documented, after he first broke it in an electric cycling accident at his home in the summer of 2020, which required surgery.
“Simon had a fall from his bike [while] testing his new electric bike in the courtyard at his house in Malibu with his family,” his spokesperson said at the time.
“He hurt his back and was taken to the hospital. He’s doing fine, he’s under observation and is in the best possible hands.”
During his recovery, he missed the latter half of the 2020 season of Britain’s Got Talent, where former champion Ashley Banjo sat in for him alongside Amanda Holden, Alesha Dixon and David Walliams, who has since parted ways with the show.
He also missed that year’s America’s Got Talent live shows, with a number of guest judges filling in for him in his absence, including Saturday Night Live alum Kenan Thompson and former American Idol champion Kelly Clarkson.
Last year, Simon appeared in the Netflix talent search Simon Cowell: The Next Act, which led to the formation of the boyband December 10.
The seven-piece group released their first EP On Your Side last month, peaking at number five in the UK albums chart.
Love was very much in the air – or, indeed, in the pods – during season three of Love Is Blind UK.
In the early stages of this year’s season, viewers saw six different couples getting engaged without ever seeing each other, before heading to the next phase of the “experiment”.
However, what you might not realise is that there were actually a total of 14 engagements in the pods this time around, with eight of them not making it to our screens.
This is a record number of matches for the UK version of the Netflix reality franchise, beating season one’s rumoured 11 and season two’s six engagements (only seven and five of which, respectively, made it to air).
Speaking to The Mirror, executive producer Nazleen Karim and series editor David Cheesman opened up about the decision to edit eight engagements out of this year’s series.
“When there are more engagements than we can physically follow, we have to make difficult editorial choices,” Nazleen explained. “We’re looking for a range of different relationship journeys and stories that together capture the full experience of the experiment.”
He added that cutting out couples’ storylines wasn’t a “reflection” on their relationships, nor did it mean that their romances didn’t continue outside of the pods.
Instead, he insisted that the show just doesn’t have the time to explore every relationship formed during the dates, with Dave agreeing: “It’s never an easy decision and we wouldn’t want to diminish the love those other couples have formed.
“We’ve never had as many as 14 engagements which is why we ended up following six couples this time as opposed to five.”
Thanks to its combination of “natural drama and love, sexiness, chemistry and humour”, he believes this series is potentially the strongest.
“Every season brings something different, but this one has some of the most surprising twists, emotional moments and unforgettable characters we’ve seen,” Dave enthused.
Meanwhile, hosts, Matt and Emma Willis, also revealed their thoughts behind the record number of engagements.
“There are clearly a lot of thirsty people in the UK! I think we both got a strong sense that people really were there to get married,” Matt said. “They weren’t just going in to see what this was all about – they wanted to find a husband or wife.”
“Maybe the Raye song Where Is My Husband! was the inspiration,” he quipped.
Find out which couples do make it down the aisle when Love Is Blind UK concludes on Netflix on 26 August, with the reunion special then streaming on 30 August.
Donald Trump is facing one of his biggest tests of the midterms — and it’s of his own making.
The president has spent a significant amount of time and money trying to help Sen. Darline Graham defeat Rep. Ralph Norman in Tuesday’s snap GOP Senate primary. He’s done more for Graham than he has for the battleground Republicans whose general election fights will determine control of Congress: Not only did he push her to run for a full term, he also held a rare in-person rally for her and tapped into his MAGA Inc. warchest during the final days of the race.
If, after lending all that support, Graham fails, it would be Trump’s most embarrassing loss of the cycle. A win, however, would let him flex his ability to power an unknown political figure to office.
“If Darline does come up short, it would be just a massive, massive embarrassment to the White House and to the president. Just an utter rejection,” said Matthew Bartlett, a Republican strategist and former Trump State Department appointee during his first term.
Tuesday’s runoff to replace the late Sen. Lindsey Graham on the November ballot won’t meaningfully affect the balance of power in Washington. What it will do is reveal the extent of Trump’s clout, because of just how much personal political capital he has expended in the race to convince voters to elect a virtual stranger.
“The fact that he came to the state on short notice to do a rally, and we haven’t seen that in a lot of endorsements, I think that sends a very strong message that he’s all in,” said Andrew Boucher, a GOP strategist and chair of South Carolina’s Charleston County Republican Party, who is neutral in the race.
Trump has framed the race as nothing less than a referendum on himself. Rallying with Graham in Myrtle Beach last week, the president told voters to “pretend, please, that I’m on the ballot.”
On Monday, a Federal Election Commission report revealed that Trump’s super PAC had spent $827,000 on text messages and phone calls for Graham. It’s one of the largest expenditures this cycle from MAGA Inc., and cash that Republicans in battlegrounds are anxiously awaiting for themselves.
One national Republican operative, who was granted anonymity to candidly discuss the president’s influence on the race, noted just how far Trump’s support has gotten Graham: “She wouldn’t even be in this place if she didn’t have [his support]. The outside help she’s had has kind of made this competitive.”
Before GOP Gov. Henry McMaster appointed her to serve out the remainder of her late brother’s term in July, Graham was a complete political novice. Graham has worked for the South Carolina Vocational Rehabilitation Department and has led the Commission for the Blind since 2019, but she had never held or even sought public office — a fact that her opponents have attacked her for repeatedly on the campaign trail, especially after she stumbled over a key foreign policy question on the debate stage earlier this month. Her clearest connection to electoral politics lay solely in being the late senator’s younger sister.
Trump’s past mistakes in South Carolina loom over the race. The Senate primary has echoes of the state’s governor’s contest earlier this summer, in which Lt. Gov. Pamela Evette, a little-known Trump-backed candidate, fell to the more well-known Attorney General Alan Wilson. As public polling began to show Evette trailing significantly in the first days of that runoff, Trump issued a rare dual endorsement to include Wilson.
Evette’s defeat, coupled with a batch of uncharacteristic losses by Trump endorsees in GOP primaries in Georgia, Iowa, Minnesota, Wyoming and Michigan, has put all the more attention on Graham.
The power of his endorsement is on the president’s own mind, too. In a Sunday night post on Truth Social, Trump mused that his “Endorsements are stronger than ever,” pointing to splashy charts comparing his wins to his comparatively few defeats.
But in the same breath, he acknowledged that his power is not always absolute: “The few that lost were done out of loyalty. It was almost impossible for them to win but, I felt obligated to go with them because they were, in my opinion, good people!”
When asked for comment, a White House spokesperson pointed to specific remarks from Trump’s speech at Friday’s rally with Graham, including his acknowledgement that he urged her to jump in the primary.
“She’s never done it before, but she knows politics well,” Trump told supporters on Myrtle Beach. “She loves our military. She loves things that have to do with greatness for America.”
Graham’s foreign policy debate flub — in which she said “national security is not my thing” in response to a question of U.S. interests in Taiwan — revealed the pitfalls of running for office with no prior experience. Norman has taken advantage of that stumble by hammering her inexperience.
The closing stretch of the race has been characterized by Graham trying to tie herself to Trump and burnish her conservative credentials across the state. Norman has tried to shore up support in his Upstate stronghold and expand into the Low Country where former Gov. Mark Sanford — who endorsed his campaign late last week — dominated in the first round. Norman’s also taken to Fox News to bash Graham as an “unknown” and “propped-up candidate.”
Graham’s campaign hopes to consolidate support from Rep. Russell Fry’s (R-S.C.) district after he endorsed her campaign a few days into the runoff. Her closing ad of the race claims Norman “turned his back on Trump’s agenda” and is interspersed with footage of her on the rally stage alongside the president.
The GOP party establishment in South Carolina has fallen in line behind Graham.
Sen. Tim Scott (R-S.C.) publicly backed her bid on the first day of the runoff, Evette got in line shortly thereafter and McMaster followed several days later.
Graham’s campaign has itself spent just over $1 million in ads since the outset of the race, but that spending is bolstered by at least three other outside groups — including Security is Strength PAC, Palmetto Action PAC, and American Mission PAC — who also supported her late brother’s primary bid earlier this year. Their spending has topped $6 million, according to AdImpact.
Norman has had his own outside help from a notable figure and longtime ally: Former U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley and her aligned groups have spent more than $700,000 for Norman, including $200,000 on a supportive ad from her issue advocacy group, Stand for America.
But that’s still much lower compared with what Graham has received.
“Sen. Scott engaging in the race, the congressional delegation, all these portions of it. Congressman Fry engaging in the race is a big deal. You could almost say that’s the opposite of what you had in the governor’s race,” said a South Carolina-based Republican operative, who was granted anonymity to speak candidly and is staying neutral in the race.
Spokespeople for Graham and Norman did not respond to requests for comment.
Graham is still somewhat dogged by her high-profile debate stage mistake, though she’s tried to redirect the attention in interviews.
“You know what I’ve done in the last week? I’ve gone around this entire state talking to as many people as I possibly can. And you know how many of them brought up Taiwan and national security? Not one!” she said at a press conference in Columbia on Monday.
The late August runoff date could prove unpredictable for both candidates as they seek to drive out their supporters across the state. The twilight of South Carolina’s sticky, slow summer is in full effect: Most kids have returned to school, families across the state are packing their beach gear for one final getaway and the doldrums of summer are still in full force.
Several Republicans said that could mean a lower turnout — which could be a boon for a known-quantity candidate with a long history in local office, like Norman.
“A lot of the candidates that have defeated Trump-endorsed folks across the map this cycle, they’re well-known entities,” said the national GOP operative. “It’s hard to overcome some of the basics of politics, where name ID goes a long way. Familiarity with the candidate matters. Having a favorable view and someone who aligns with your values more matters, even if there’s a Trump endorsement.”
Samuel Benson contributed to this report.
A key ally to Vladimir Putin has warned British factories could now be targeted by Russia after Andy Burnham stepped up support for Ukraine.
The prime minister announced this week during a trip to Kyiv that he would be handing the blueprints for building long-range missiles to our Ukrainian allies.
It was also confirmed last week that British drones had been used in Ukrainian strikes deep within Russia.
Speaking to BBC Newsnight, Putin’s adviser and former deputy foreign minister Andrei Fedorov said there could be a significant backlash as a result.
He claimed there may be a “technical reaction” or “hackers’ attack from unknown sources – not from an official level, of course”.
He said there could be different “political steps” and he cannot “100% exclude a semi-military” response.
“For example, something might be happening with enterprises, the factories, which are producing drones for Ukraine etc. etc,” he said.
Presenter Adam Fleming asked: “British factories in Britain could be attacked militarily by Russia?”
“They could be attacked not by Russia but from unknown sources,” Fedorov said.
Asked if he would support that, the ally said: “No, I don’t think it’s OK because the problem is we are now facing in front of the danger that Ukraine conflict will be beyond Ukrainian borders, and remembering that the UK is a member of Nato, and UK is a nuclear state.
“The risk is of course much higher than it was before, even a couple of months ago.”
Fleming questioned how such an attack could be legal under international law, to which the Putin ally hit back: “Frankly, who cares about international law?
“The problem is for Russian society that so many people are saying the president is waiting too long, not answering the UK.
“The answer should be made even earlier than now.”
Asked again why there would be a military response, he said: “The UK is, from Kremlin’s point of view, is a much more involved 1787647654.”
“Moscow is considering steps by the UK prime minister as direct military involvement in this conflict,” he added.
He added that “hackers can do anything”, admitting that security and government facilities would likely be targeted, especially if related to the production of drones.
His alarming remarks follow a growing spat between the UK and Russia over British backing for Ukraine.
Moscow accused Burnham of adding “fuel to the fire” of the Ukraine war on Monday over the PM’s decision to give Kyiv key missile blueprints.
Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said: “Britain is participating in this war on the side of the Kyiv regime.
“Britain is methodically and consistently adding fuel to the fire and methodically and consistently plotting to prevent a peaceful settlement process.”
However, Burnham brushed off the comments, saying: “Who started the fire? That’s the question, isn’t it.”
He later told broadcasters that he would not be put off by the “outrageous threats” from Russia during his first official visit to Kyiv as prime minister.
The PM also insisted he had not gone further than his predecessors with his backing for Ukraine.
He said: “We’re not doing anything different. This is continuity. We’ve said we would support Ukraine.
“We did so from the start and we’re carrying on supporting them with the technical backup that they need this far into the conflict.
“Russia could stop this war tomorrow if it so choose. But when that hasn’t happened, obviously it’s right that UK continues to provide steadfast support to Ukraine. We’re not a fair weather friend, we’re here for the long haul.”
He continued: “Obviously with a change of prime minister, presumably people might think is there a change of policy. Well, I’m here to say there isn’t. I’m going to do what my predecessors have done.”
He added: “I’m doing what I think is the right thing to do. Where we see an illegal invasion on the borders of Europe if we don’t take a firm stand, who would be next? It’s right to do this.”
Listen to Commons People, the podcast that makes politics easy. Every week, Kevin Schofield and Kate Nicholson unpack the week’s biggest stories to keep you informed. Join us for straightforward analysis of what’s going on at Westminster.
Last week, one of the most unexpected entertainment stories of the year emerged when it was first reported that Meghan Markle had begun talks about appearing in the third season of the Netflix gangster series The Gentlemen.
Although neither the Duchess of Sussex nor Netflix has commented publicly on the matter, that hasn’t stopped the rumour mill from going into overdrive, with conflicting reports most recently claiming that the talks had stalled – while other sources have cast doubt on whether they ever even existed.
Despite this, People magazine reported on Monday that Meghan, in fact, “remains in talks, despite recent reports to the contrary”.
Similarly, The Sun also reported this week that the talks are ongoing and that “Netflix bosses are eager to feature Meghan’s screen comeback”, even if “no formal agreement has been reached”.
HuffPost UK contacted Meghan Markle and Netflix for comment.
Following the rumours over the weekend, Netflix announced on Monday that a third season of The Gentlemen had officially been greenlit.
Director Guy Ritchie, who helmed the first two seasons, enthused: “The ambition of The Gentlemen has accelerated, the world has expanded and the consequences carry weight.
“A third season felt inevitable, and I’m looking forward to pushing the boundaries of it further.”
Before that, though, there’s the small matter of season two to get out of the way, which will premiere on Netflix next week, two years after the first run of episodes debuted on the platform.
The new season will reunite cast members including Theo James, Kaya Scodelario, Daniel Ings, Ray Winstone and Vinnie Jones, as well as introducing a new character played by Love Island host Maya Jama.
An official synopsis has teased: “It’s been one year since Eddie and Susie joined forces to work together in Bobby’s criminal empire overseas. As they drive to expand their enterprise, the decisions Bobby is making seem to be increasingly unsound.
“Now Eddie and Susie must decide whether to take action or risk losing it all, but unfettered ambition never ends well…”
Meghan and her husband Prince Harry will move back to the UK next month, six years after stepping down from their duties as senior members of the Royal Family.
The Duchess of Sussex initially rose to fame as an actor, but hasn’t performed since leaving Suits in the mid-2010s, ahead of her wedding to Prince Harry.
Andy Burnham has insisted he “won’t be unrealistic” about the state of public finances and refused to rule out tax rises in the autumn Budget.
The prime minister said Britons must understand the country is “in a challenging position” when asked how he would fund the public spending commitments he’s made during his first month in the job.
Chancellor John Healey is expected to hike taxes when unveils the government’s spending plans on October 28, due to the economic fallout from the Iran war and the pressing need to increase defence spending.
Speaking to ITV News, Burnham said: “I will always take a careful approach to things. I won’t take risks with people’s jobs or livelihoods or their family finances.
“I will try to help them in whatever way I can and we have already done some things that will help them going forward. I will do what I can, but I won’t be unrealistic and people need to understand that.
“We are in a challenging position. Whatever I do will be carefully thought through. It will be funded. That is exactly what I have done so far but there will be more to come as we go into the autumn.”
The prime minister has promised to follow Labour’s 2024 manifesto, which vowed not to increase VAT, income tax or national insurance.
Energy regulator Ofgem is expected to hike the energy price cap by 4% on Wednesday, up to £1,729 annually for the average household between October and December.
Healey also needs to find at least £4.7 billion for extra defence spending along with funding for the cost of living promises Burnham has made since getting into office.
The pressure from the Iran war has reportedly seen the government’s fiscal headroom decline from £22 billion to about £15 billion, while inflation also rose to 2.9% in July due to the conflict.
Burnham also told ITV News he would not call an early election, saying: “An election just brings a load of point scoring, a load of arguments, a load of division. Actually what I’m going to try to do in this moment as prime minister is bring people together, get some hope going around the country.”
Listen to Commons People, the podcast that makes politics easy. Every week, Kevin Schofield and Kate Nicholson unpack the week’s biggest stories to keep you informed. Join us for straightforward analysis of what’s going on at Westminster.
James Blunt is shutting down speculation that he was the unnamed figure in a story shared by the late Hayden Panettiere months before her death.
Earlier this year, the Nashville and Heroes star published her memoir This Is Me: A Reckoning, in which she reflected on the highs and lows of her life in the public eye.
In one passage of the book, she wrote about a friend who took her beneath the deck of a luxury yacht when she was 18 years old, where “a famous thirtysomething British singer-songwriter was lying in a bed” waiting for her.
“He was shirtless and propped up on a few pillows with his arms positioned behind his head,” she recalled. “From the waist down, he was covered by bedsheets, and I could see the outline of his body underneath.”
The Golden Globe nominee then claimed that this undisclosed friend then pulled the sheet away and told her: “I want you to get in bed with him. He has a huge dick.”
She then admitted that “the shock was so great it didn’t even occur to me to say no”, but added that she didn’t let things go any further and made arrangements to leave the yacht.
In the days after Hayden’s death, certain parts of her life story have been re-examined, including this anecdote, with some piecing together supposed “evidence” – including a photo of him and Hayden posing together at the Cannes Film Festival in 2009 – that they have alleged indicates that James is the British singer-songwriter being referenced.
While he initially chose to stay quiet on the matter, on Monday, the You’re Beautiful singer shared a link on X to a Substack article pointing out that he couldn’t have been the star in question as the dates don’t properly align.
The article, written by former tabloid journalist Dean Piper, reads: “Here lies the problem with the Wild West of internet chatter. Facts don’t matter. Legalities don’t matter. People are saying whatever they like and getting away with it and that is wrong.
“Guys, it only takes the smallest of AI searches to find out that in May 2009, when the pictures of Blunt and Panettiere were taken, she was 19, almost 20. So, if the incident happened when she was 18, Blunt’s not your guy to start with.
“And as she says she hadn’t met the man before the incident, and that she fled the boat immediately after, it takes nothing to work out that the cabin incident was the first and last time she met the man. So, pictures of Blunt and Panettiere at the amfAR charity event [and] together on the boat again the next day [mean] only one thing – he’s really not your man.”
Pascal Le Segretain via Getty Images For amfAR
Hayden began her professional acting career when she was just five years old, and went on to become known for her roles in the TV series Heroes and Nashville, as well as the Scream franchise.
The actor died earlier this month at the age of 36, with police currently investigating the circumstances leading to her death.
Let’s just say that President Donald Trump’s latest move makes the duo from “Dumb and Dumber” look like geniuses — at least according to The Wall Street Journal.
On Sunday, the newspaper’s editorial board published a spicy opinion piece expressing its utter befuddlement over the president reigniting a trade war with Canada, which will make certain goods way more expensive amid rising inflation and plummeting support for the Republican party.
The United States imposed 50% tariffs on about $20 billion (£14.6 billion) worth of Canadian goods early Saturday after talks with the US and its northern neighbor went really, really badly.
In response to the move, Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney said that “America has changed” thanks to Trump and vowed to match the US tariffs “dollar for dollar” beginning September 8, targeting sectors, including steel, dairy, appliances, agricultural equipment, pulp, paper and electronics.
Chip Somodevilla via Getty Images
Other goods that could become more expensive include milk, honey, smartphones, beer, booze, hockey sticks, and “even wigs and fake beards,” CNN reports.
The board of the Rupert Murdoch-owned outlet didn’t mince its words while describing what they thought of this mess, which the board said makes no “economic or political sense.”
“President Trump took exception last year when we called his tariffs against Canada and Mexico the dumbest trade war in history,” the board wrote. “It got dumber this weekend as Mr. Trump escalated with another round of border taxes on Canadian imports, a mere 10 weeks before midterm elections.”
The Journal concluded its piece with a burn, stating: “Republicans are already getting pounded on the campaign trail over his tariffs and inflation. One reason for Mr. Trump’s frigid approval rating is that voters believe Mr. Trump is waging blunderbuss wars without a strategy, and on trade they’re right.”
To make matters even worse, on Monday, Trump doubled-down on his threats, warning that US tariffs on all cars, trucks and automotive parts from Canada would be increased to 50% starting Jan. 1. On Truth Social, the president called Canada — one of the US’ top two trading partners last year — “entitled,” “among the worst Nations in the World to deal with,” and “will be treated like a State no longer!”
“WE DON’T NEED CANADA, THEY NEED US!” Trump wrote.
“Build in the U.S. and there are ZERO TARIFFS,” he added.
Gary Hershorn via Getty Images
Earlier this month, Trump alluded he may pull this dumb move for an even dumber reason — as a penalty for the smoke from Canada’s massive wildfires making its way across the border into the US.
Trump has also had a weird beef with Canada, which may stem from his desire to make it an American state and even went as far as mocking Carney by calling him “the future Governor of Canada” in May.
JD Vance made an admitted Freudian slip on Monday that probably won’t ease the minds of Canadian citizens.
The vice president made the gaffe during a rally in Maine, where he was discussing the escalating trade war with Canada and argued that the current policy hurts the Pine Tree State.
“I think that we need to send a message loud and clear to the prime minister of Canada: Stop taking advantage of the people of Maine,” Vance said. “Stop taking advantage of America. It’s over. We expect fairness in our trade policy.”
Trade negotiations between the neighboring nations fell apart on Friday, and the US responded by imposing 50% tariffs on $20 billion in Canadian goods, while Canada said it would retaliate with its own penalties starting Sept. 8.
Although Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney accused the US of not acting fairly or respecting Canada’s sovereignty, Vance claimed Canada is the one who is acting unfairly.
But his attack wasn’t as smooth as he probably hoped, given that it began with a major unintentional error.
“We have to remember Canada is a state,” Vance said, seeming to reference Trump’s long-announced troll, er, goal of turning the country into America’s 51st state.
But Vance quickly corrected himself. “Sorry, Freudian slip,” and stressed, “That was actually an accident.”
Vance then accused Canada of underinvesting in its military, claiming it “quite literally would get invaded by a foreign country were it not for the umbrella of protection provided by the United States of America.”
He then claimed Canada was applying “ridiculous tariffs and other non-tariff duties on Maine products coming into Canada,” and asked rhetorically, “and they don’t expect Maine or anybody else to fight back?”
Vance told the crowd, “We’re actually going to fight back against unfair trade practices, whether it’s coming from China or Canada.”
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