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Trade Union Boss Accuses Keir Starmer Of Leading UK Towards ‘Austerity Mark 2’

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A leading trade union boss has accused Keir Starmer of leading the UK towards “austerity mark 2” as she launched a bitter attack on the prime minister.

Sharon Graham, general secretary of Unite – which has donated more than £500,000 to Labour MPs this year – urged the prime minister to ditch the “cruel” policy of scrapping winter fuel payments for 10 million pensioners.

She made her comments on Sunday Morning with Trevor Phillips on Sky News as Labour’s annual conference kicks off in Liverpool.

Asked what she wanted to hear in Starmer’s keynote speech on Tuesday, Graham said: “I think the priority that I’d like to hear from him is that
he’s going to reverse the decision on the winter fuel allowance. It’s a cruel policy. He needs to reverse it. And I’d like him to say that he’s made a misstep and to reverse that
policy.

“I’d also like him to say that we’re not going to take this country down austerity mark 2. People voted for change. They need to see change. And he needs to reverse the winter fuel allowance [decision] and let people have that £300 they can put their heating on this winter.”

She later added: “I’ve got a million workers in my union and pensioners.

“But the reality is the mood music here is that they are taking away from the poorest in our society now. And actually the conversation they’re having is walking us into austerity mark 2.

“Nobody wants to see that. Workers don’t want to see it, communities don’t want to see it. And I can tell you, the pensioners don’t want to see it either.”

Graham said the government should introduce a 1% wealth tax on the richest people in the country, which she claimed would raise £25 billion.

“That would take away the so-called black hole, job done, and
we’d have £3 billion left over.”

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‘Frankly It Stinks’: Angela Rayner Shown Voters’ Anger At Labour Freebies Row

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Angela Rayner has been confronted with the extent of voters’ anger as the row over senior Labour figures accepting freebies including clothes, accommodation, and football and concert tickets continues.

The deputy prime minister has become personally embroiled in the row, with Labour being forced to announce on Friday that, along with Keir Starmer and Rachel Reeves, she would no longer accept donations for clothes.

The Sunday Times has also reported this morning that Rayner may have breached parliamentary rules over holiday accommodation in New York provided by millionaire Labour peer Lord Alli.

On Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg on BBC1, Labour’s deputy leader was shown comments by viewers left furious by the ongoing controversy.

Kuenssberg said: “I want to let you know how angry some of our viewers have been over this last week.

“Wendy emailed to say ‘it’s been extraordinary behaviour to accept clothing donations when the government feels justified to remove winter fuel payments to pensioners’.

“Eilles said it’s ‘morally indefensible’ for politicians to be doing this. Peter called you ‘the goody party’ and Clive, who was a Labour Party member, said ‘I find it deeply disappointing that Labour seems no different from the Tories when it comes to freebies’.

“Are we expected to believe that the donors get nothing in return? Lord Alli gave you individually more than £20,000. What did you promise or give him in return?”

Rayner replied: “I promised nothing and gave him nothing in return. What the donors that have helped me in the past have done is seen someone who has come from a very working class background, and I say it how it is. I always try to fight for people.

“Since having the honour and privilege of being the deputy prime minister and the secretary of state for housing, I’ve got a significant number of bills in the King’s Speech because I want to improve people’s housing. I want to get on with the job of supporting people.

“However, a feature of our politics at the moment is for me to stand as the deputy leader … that’s why transparency is extremely important.”

Earlier this morning, education secretary Bridget Phillipson was forced to defend Lord Alli paying for her 40th birthday party last year, which was attended by journalists, trade unionists and education experts.

The prime minister has also been criticised for accepting more than £100,000 in hospitality over the last five years – far more than any other MP.

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‘It Feels Dodgy’: Cabinet Minister Forced To Defend 40th Birthday Party Paid For By Labour Donor

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A cabinet minister has been forced to defend allowing a millionaire Labour donor to pay for her 40th birthday party.

Education secretary Bridget Phillipson was told it “looks dodgy” that Lord Alli funded the bash, which was held at the upmarket Cinnamon Club restaurant in Westminster last December.

However, on Sunday Morning with Trevor Phillips on Sky News this morning, she insisted it had been a work event and that even her own family were not in attendance.

According to the Houghton and Sunderland South MP’s register of interests, she received £14,000 from Lord Alli.

Asked by Phillips what the money was for, Phillipson said: “It was used to fund two events, all of which was declared properly and thoroughly, that’s why that information is in the public domain.

“The first event was ahead of my birthday. So I was turning 40, I thought it was a good opportunity to get people together in a professional context. So it was journalists, trade unionists, education people, MPs and shadow cabinet.”

The presenter replied: “That’s a very nice thing, but if a Tory had done that two years ago, I know exactly what you would be saying to me this morning – they should pay for their own birthday parties.”

Phillipson responded: “Look, this was in a work context. My own family didn’t come to that, it was in a work context.

“I celebrated my actual 40th birthday with my family. We went for a pizza, I celebrated with my kids.

“This was where I got together colleagues, journalists actually, trade unionists, education people. It was in a very different kind of context.

″[Lord Alli] is a Labour peer, he’s been a Labour peer for over 25 years. This is fully transparent.”

But Phillips told her: “I think we might be digging a slightly bigger hole here. You’ve got a lot of people who knew you might be the education secretary and you’ve got them in a room. You’re paying them to lobby you.

“To the average viewer, it feels dodgy. It feels like this is now an event for lobbyists.”

Phillipson said: “No, that’s absolutely not what it was. This was an opportunity for people to come together to have a reception so we can talk about, for example, issues around education.

“These kinds of things happen regularly. It was all declared in line with the rules and fully transparent.”

The clash came amid an ongoing row over senior Labour figures, including Keir Starmer, receiving hospitality from, among others, Lord Alli.

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This Iconic (And Ridiculous!) Friends Scene Was Actually Based On Real Life

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Every Friends fanatic loves The One Where No One’s Ready.

Almost entirely taking place in Monica’s apartment, the episode follows the gang as they try to get ready for a fancy dinner at Ross’ work, with various obstacles stopping them from doing so. In fact, it’s so popular that Rolling Stone placed it at number 3 in their top 50 rankings of Friends episodes.

The episode is filled with iconic moments, from Monica obsessing over a voicemail left by her ex-boyfriend Richard to Joey and Chandler battling over a chair (and the cushions on it).

However, the scene everyone really remembers comes when Joey pays Chandler back for stealing all of his underwear by putting on every single item in his roommate’s wardrobe, and caps it all off by performing some lunges.

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But what you might not realise is that the scene was inspired by a moment from the writers’ personal lives.

Speaking to Vulture in 2019, Friends producer Greg Malins recalled hearing a story about his friend coming home to find his roommate wearing all of his clothes.

Apparently, said friend had put all of his clothes into a plastic bag and his roommate had decided to, uh, pleasantly surprise him by emptying the entire contents and sporting them himself.

Even the roomate’s declaration of “look! I’m wearing all your clothes!” would eventually be adapted into the Friends script.

Meanwhile, The Guardian also published its own piece about the history of Friends this week, which revealed that the famous scene with Ross’ leather trousers was also based on a real-life event.

Writer Adam Chase said: “I was talked into buying an inordinately expensive pair, which I proceeded to never wear.”

The rest, as we know, went on to become Friends history.

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