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The Lee Anderson Latest Has Gone Full Alan Partridge

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The Lee Anderson saga that has dominated British politics in recent days has taken an unlikely twist.

Anderson had the Tory whip removed over the weekend after he chose not to apologise for saying “Islamists” had “control” over London’s mayor, Sadiq Khan, who is Muslim.

The incident has escalated into a major row over how the government has handled the issue involving the former Conservative deputy chairman, and raised questions about whether Anderson might defect to Reform UK, formerly known as the Brexit Party.

On Tuesday, GB News reported Anderson has held private one-to-one talks with Richard Tice, leader of Reform UK.

GB News political editor, Christopher Hope, reported the summit took place “at a Holiday Inn hotel, at junction 28 of the M1 in South Normanton, Derbyshire on Sunday, 24 hours after he lost the Tory whip”.

The detailled location had many people on X thinking the same thing – specifically, they recalled the I’m Alan Partridge series set at The Linton Travel Tavern, where Steve Coogan’s character is faced with celebrity purgatory as he pleads for his talk show to be renewed while living “equidistant between Norwich and London”.

Earlier, Anderson said prime minister Rishi Sunak made a “mistake” in stripping him of the Conservative whip when speaking to Channel 5 News.

On Monday, pressed during a GB News interview on whether he would join Reform UK, Anderson declined to comment but said he had “been on a political journey”.

He said: “You’ll say Lee Anderson rules out/doesn’t rule out joining the Reform party, so I’m making no comment on my future.”

GB News pays Anderson a £100,000 salary, on top of his £86,584 MP pay, to present a show on its network.

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Lee Anderson Says He Won’t Apologise To Sadiq Khan ‘While I’ve Got A Breath In My Body’

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Lee Anderson is unrepentant about comments branded as Islamophobic that led to him being suspended from the Conservative parliamentary party.

Last week, the Tory party’s former deputy chairman said London mayor Sadiq Khan has “given our capital city away to his mates”, and “Islamists” had “got control of Khan and they’ve got control of London”, referring to pro-Palestine protests in the capital in recent weeks.

The party whip was removed from Anderson after he made the comments on Friday – but Rishi Sunak has since insisted that while his words were “wrong”, Anderson is not “a racist person or an Islamophobic person”.

In an interview with GB News broadcast on Monday, Anderson admitted his language was “clumsy” – but remained fully behind the sentiment.

He told the broadcaster: “I think the party could have given me a little bit more backing, if I’m honest.

“You saw the statement that I produced on Saturday, which I was willing to go with. It’s shown a little bit of contrition in there, although I didn’t directly apologise to Mayor Khan, which I’m not going to, not while I’ve got a breath in my body because the comments I made weren’t racist at all.

“They keep bandying this word Islamophobia and nobody can explain what it really means.”

After being suspended, Anderson said in a statement: “Following a call with the chief whip, I understand the difficult position that I put both he and the prime minister in. With regard to my comments, I fully accept that they had no option but to suspend the whip in these circumstances.

“However, I will continue to support the government’s efforts to call out extremism in all its forms, be that antisemitism or Islamophobia.”

In the GB News interview, he also claimed to have had “lots of support in my WhatsApp, an amazing amount of support”.

When asked whether the support was all Tory MPs, he replied: “Yeah, there’s no Labour MPs.”

Writing in the Evening Standard newspaper, Khan said Anderson’s comments had “poured petrol on the fire” of hatred against Muslims.

He said some Conservatives were adopting “a deliberate, dangerous political strategy – a strategy to weaponise anti-Muslim prejudice for electoral gain”.

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New Website Tracks Just How Much Money Donald Trump Owes

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Former President Donald Trump owes a lot of money currently, and a new website will help him and the rest of us keep track of the growing interest on his debts.

Donald Trump’s Debt: Live Counter is keeping a running total on how much Trump owes to New York after losing a civil fraud trial that showed he lied about his wealth.

The initial verdict ruled that Trump owed $355 million in penalties, but the total is now close to $454 million due to interest. Although he is appealing the ruling, the interest on the debt will continue to accrue at a rate of $112,000 a day until Trump pays up or the amount is changed.

According to the live counter, the former president now owes nearly $465 million as of Monday afternoon.

The website is the brainchild of Pennsylvania-based Democratic strategist Johnny Palmadessa. It also includes a Trump quiz and a chatbot that allows visitors to ask Trump questions that he’ll refuse to answer.

Palmadessa announced the new website in a Threads post on Sunday, writing, “It is the only website actively being monitored by an accountant to ensure accuracy.”

HuffPost reached out to Palmadessa for further comment, but he did not immediately respond.

Palmadessa isn’t the only person keeping a running total of Trump’s debt load.

New York Attorney General Letitia James has also been posting daily debt reminders on X, formerly Twitter.

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Hannah Waddingham Reveals Cutest Story Behind Her ‘Epic’ SAG Awards Clutch Bag

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Hannah Waddingham’s nine-year-old daughter Kitty stole the show on the red carpet of the Screen Actors Guild Award ceremony without even being there.

On it, Kitty wrote “EPIC” because “the evening is going to be ‘epic’”, joked Waddingham, who was nominated in the Best Female Actor in a Comedy Series category for her role as Rebecca Welton in the hit Apple TV+ show.

“There was a spare bit of cardboard in the house,” the actor shared of her daughter’s creative process, calling the accessory “gorgeous”.

It’s a “goes with everything and nothing bag”, Waddingham said Kitty called it.

Watch one of Waddingham’s interviews about the purse here:

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This Was The Unlikely ’80s Flick That Inspired Oscar-Nominated Film The Holdovers

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Oscar-nominated film The Holdovers starring Paul Giamatti and Dominic Sessa is a drama film that, according to the Motion Pictures Association “delves into themes of depression, loneliness, loss, and regret.”

The Guardian described it as: “a masterclass in melancholy” and The Independent said that the film was: “a warm, sentimental comedy made for life’s curmudgeons.”

It may come as a surprise, then, that the film wasn’t inspired by similarly melancholic films but instead by a classic ’80s action flick.

The film that inspired The Holdovers

Speaking to the Hollywood Gold podcast, producer David Hemingson said that the film was inspired by, of all things, Die Hard!

Interestingly, both films are perhaps unlikely Christmas films but the thing that ties the two is actually the emotion in them both.

Yes, really.

In the podcast, David discussed trying to not commit the “cardinal sin” of being boring in film and creating the perfect blend of emotion and action with a sprinkling of keeping the stakes high.

David said: “I was thinking, how can I make this an action movie but an emotional action movie?”. He added: “you gotta keep it interesting, keep the stakes high. As emotional as you can get with the characters, but credibly, and drag it out of them.”

He went on to say that in real life, many of us aren’t willing to offer up our pain, our fears, our emotions freely but in a time of crisis, it’s more likely. To keep the story authentic and the characters realistic, the crises they faced throughout the film were what spurred on the emotional outpours.

He quoted legendary filmmaker Stanley Kubrick saying: “it’s always the feel of it, never the think of it.”

Once they’d nailed this balance, the producers and writers took around 18 months to make the celebrated film.

The Holdovers is in selected cinemas now.

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The Five Foods You Need To Keep Your Vitamin D Levels Topped Up

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The UK government advises that during the autumn and winter months everyone in the UK is advised to take a supplement of vitamin D every day to support general health and in particular for bone and muscle health.

This is because, as most residents are all TOO aware, during colder months in the UK, we don’t get much sunlight and sunlight is the essential factor in soaking in vitamin D.

UK Registered Nutritionist and Head Chef, Anna Tebbs from recipe box delivery service Green Chef said: “Vitamin D is a key nutrient for maintaining healthy teeth, bones and muscles because it helps your body to regulate and absorb calcium more effectively.”

They added that those with a vitamin D deficiency may experience negative side effects such as muscle and bone aches, and fatigue.

The essential foods for boosting vitamin D

While Tebbs recommends checking the nutrient level of any food on the packaging and ingredients list, she suggests some of the highest vitamin D rich foods are:

  • Types of oily fish, such as mackerel and salmon
  • Egg yolks
  • Mushrooms
  • Milk replacements, including soy and almond
  • Some breakfast cereals

The nutritionist added: “The simplest way to increase your vitamin D levels through your diet, is by increasing your mushroom intake.

“Particularly paying close attention to portobello, button and chestnut mushrooms that have been grown in the sunlight or under a UV lamp. You can usually find this information on the packaging.”

They also pointed out that this is an easy, simple swap out for meat. “Plant Based News recommends that a portion of mushrooms between 80g-100g can provide you with all your daily vitamin D needs. This amounts to one large portobello mushroom, 11-14 button mushrooms, or just 4-5 chestnut mushrooms.

Finally, Tebbs said that if you’re looking to make a swap from cow’s milk to a plant-based one, this can also boost your vitamin D levels: “you can also increase your intake by carefully choosing milk alternatives that have been fortified with vitamin D and calcium.

“Typically, in the UK cow’s milk is not fortified, so making this swap can help to increase your vitamin D levels with very little impact on your daily diet.”

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Your Social Media Habit Could Be Causing This Common Health Complaint

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If we’re honest with ourselves, most of us know that we spend too much time on our phones and on social media. The allure of endless information, memes, TikToks is incredibly hard to ignore, especially when everyone you love seems to be on there, too.

Yes, we should cut down and honestly, yes, we would be happier for it but the habit is a tough one to break.

According to a new study, though, we might be doing more than just creating endless cycles of dopamine. We may actually be causing and increasing inflammation in our bodies.

How social media causes inflammation

Almost a fifth of Brits (18%) already experience inflammation and, according to a new study published in the Journal of Medical Internet Research, our social media habits can contribute to it.

“The results showed that the amount of social media use—assessed objectively by a screen-time app—was not only associated with higher inflammation at a single time point, but also increased levels of inflammation five weeks later,” says David Lee, an assistant professor of communication at the University at Buffalo and the paper’s lead author.

Studies have long shown the detrimental impacts that social media can have on our mental health with researchers at Massachusetts Institute of Technology finding that college-wide access to Facebook led to an increase in severe depression by 7% and anxiety disorder by 20% and this new research highlights just how harmful it can be to the entire body.

While this is an interesting advancement, Lee says there’s still more that needs to be assessed: “Given the prevalence of social media use in our daily lives, more research is needed to investigate these potential health effects using diverse methodologies.

“The next crucial step is to move beyond measures of screen time to really understand how and why social media use can have these effects.”

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Lee Anderson Suspended By Tories After Refusing To Apologise For Sadiq Khan Comments

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Lee Anderson has been suspended by the Tories after he refused to apologise for claiming Islamists have “got control of” Sadiq Khan.

The party’s former deputy chairman was stripped of the Conservative whip following a furious political backlash to his comments.

Appearing on GB News on Friday afternoon, Anderson said the London mayor, who is Muslim, had “given our capital city away to his mates”.

Khan described the remarks as “Islamophobic, anti-Muslim and racist”, while senior Tories also condemned them.

Conservative officials initially tried to defend Anderson, with a party source telling HuffPost UK he “was simply making the point that the mayor … has abjectly failed to get a grip on the appalling Islamist marches we have seen in London recently”.

But this afternoon, a spokesperson for chief whip Simon Hart said: “Following his refusal to apologise for comments made yesterday, the chief whip has suspended the Conservative whip from Lee Anderson.”

The Ashfield MP later said he accepted the party “had no option” but to take the whip off him.

He said: “Following a call with the chief whip, I understand the difficult position that I have put both he and the prime minister in with regard to my comments.

“I fully accept that they had no option but to suspend the whip in these circumstances.

“However, I will continue to support the government’s efforts to call out extremism in all its forms – be that anti-semitism or Islamophobia.”

It is a dramatic fall from grace for Anderson, who was still one of the Tories’ deputy chairs last month.

He and party colleague Brendan Clarke-Smith quit so they could rebel over Rishi Sunak’s Rwanda bill.

Just a week later, he said he should have voted for the bill and wanted his old job back.

Responding to the news that he had lost the Tory whip, Labour chair Anneliese Dodds said: “Lee Anderson’s comments were unambiguously Islamophobic, divisive and damaging.

“It is right that he has had the whip removed, but the suggestion that Lee Anderson would have retained the confidence of the prime minister, simply if he apologised, is deeply concerning.

“These views are wrong, full stop, and there shouldn’t be conditions on removing them from your party.”

Dodds also repeated Labour’s call for Liz Truss to also lose the Tory whip over comments she made at the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) in Washington DC.

The former prime minister claimed the Financial Times was “friends of the deep state”, which had worked to bring her time in Downing Street to an end.

Dodds said: “Labour is calling on the prime minister to also remove the whip from Liz Truss for her egregious and embarrassing comments about our country on the international stage and if he doesn’t then he is not serious about ridding the Conservatives of radical and dangerous views.”

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The Funniest Tweets From Women This Week (Feb. 17-23)

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Lee Anderson Accused Of ‘Islamaphobia’ Over Attack On Sadiq Khan

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Lee Anderson is at the centre of a racism row after he claimed Islamists have “got control of” Sadiq Khan.

The former Tory Party chairman provoked a furious backlash by saying the London mayor, who is Muslim, had “given our capital city away to his mates”.

His comments, on GB News, were apparently a reference to the pro-Palestine marches which have taken place in London since the outbreak of the conflict between Israel and Hamas.

They came after former home secretary Suella Braverman claimed that “Islamists” are now running the country.

Anderson said: “I don’t actually believe that these Islamists have got control of our country, but what I do believe is they’ve got control of Khan and they’ve got control of London.”

He added: “This stems with Khan. He’s actually given our capital city away to his mates … beware, because if you let Labour in through the back door, expect more of this and expect our cities to be taken over by these lunatics.”

Labour chairwoman Anneliese Dodds said: “Lee Anderson’s comments are unambiguously racist and Islamophobic. Rishi Sunak needs to immediately remove the whip. If he is too weak, then people will take their own view of the modern Conservative Party.”

A London Labour source: “This sort of vile Islamaphobia is exactly how the Tories campaigned against Sadiq Khan in 2016. Surely they will not tolerate it this time round?”

Lib Dem deputy leader Daisy Cooper said: These comments from a Conservative MP are despicable. Rishi Sunak should remove the Conservative whip. There should be no space for this in our country, let alone in parliament.”

Former Tory MP Gavin Barwell, who was also Theresa May’s chief of staff when she was prime minister, said Anderson’s comments were “a despicable slur”.

But a Conservative Party source defended Anderson’s comments.

He told HuffPost UK: “Lee was simply making the point that the mayor, in his capacity as police and crime commissioner for London, has abjectly failed to get a grip on the appalling Islamist marches we have seen in London recently.”

Those comments were then slammed by shadow health secretary Wes Streeting.

The row came as Liz Truss was condemned over her appearance alongside former Donald Trump adviser Steve Bannon at a right-wing conference in America.

At one point, Bannon referred to far-right activist Tommy Robinson as a “hero”, but the former prime minister said nothing.

Sajid Javid, who served in several Tory cabinets alongside Truss, criticised her for not confronting Bannon.

A spokesman for Truss did not respond to a request for comment from HuffPost UK.

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