BBC Breakfast was briefly pulled off air during Friday’s live broadcast due to an incident on set.
During the live show, viewers were left confused when a segment about the 20th anniversary of Concorde’s final voyage was suddenly interrupted by footage from BBC News.
“Where have you gone? We have BBC News?” one wrote on X (formerly Twitter), while another asked: “What’s happened? There was a thing about Concorde and now we’re just getting BBC News channel?”
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“Has anyone else’s BBC Breakfast just switched to BBC News?” someone else asked.
Meanwhile, several BBC radio stations also switched their output, including Radio 5 Live, which media reporter Scott Bryan noted “had to go on its backup tape of news jingles and music.”
Fortunately, within a few minutes, regular programming resumed, with Naga Munchetty reassuring viewers that everything was back to normal after a small evacuation of the BBC building in Salford.
“You’re returning to BBC Breakfast. Apologies, we had an evacuation in the building, but we are back now, with you to keep you up to date with the latest in the news,” she explained.
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Charlie Stayt and Naga Munchetty in the BBC Breakfast studio
A BBC spokesperson told HuffPost UK: “The programme was briefly off air this morning due to an evacuation at Quay House. BBC Breakfast switched to the BBC News Channel before resuming programming.”
This is far from the first time the BBC Breakfast team have had to think on their feet live on air, though.
Our favourite plastic fantastic movie this year, Barbie, was praised for a lot of its feminist messaging and for being a celebration of all things girlhood, but there may be one extra exciting wholesome detail that viewers missed.
If you cast your mind back on this dreary day to the flick that took over our bright summer, you’ll remember brief glances at Gloria’s husband. Gloria, played by America Ferrera, was the mother responsible for Barbie’s spiritual awakening.
At one point in the film, Gloria’s husband, played by Ryan Piers Williams, is learning Spanish on popular language app DuoLingo whilst seated on the sofa in their shared home.
Well, it turns out that almost all of this is accidentally based on reality…!
It turns out that actually, America Ferrera and Ryan Piers Williams are married in real life, and according to an interview with Greta Gerwig featured in a TikTok video, it had been written into the script that Gloria’s husband would be trying to learn to speak Spanish.
However, when America saw this, she said, “did you write this because my husband is always learning Spanish?!” before telling Greta that her husband was actually in the other room at that moment, learning Spanish! Greta admitted that this was not actually intentional but was delighted.
From there, Greta actually hired him for the part. The director described him as a “lovely, most wonderful person” and added that he was “so game” to take part in the film.
Greta added that during the cutaway scene, America was actually behind the camera giving direction to her husband in something the director described as feeling “very familial”.
Tory MPs have warned the party could cease to exist if it breaks its pledge to cut immigration before the next election.
Members of the New Conservatives group said the party faced a “do or die” moment after new figures showed net migration had trebled since 2019.
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According to the Office for National Statistics (ONS), 672,000 more people entered the UK than left it in the 12 months to June.
The Tories’ 2019 general election manifesto pledged to bring it down to less than 229,000.
In a statement published on X (formerly Twitter), the New Conservatives said the party could not afford to break that “solemn promise”.
“The word existential has been used a lot in recent days, but this really is ‘do or die’ for our party,” they said.
“Each of us made a promise to the electorate. We don’t believe that such promises can be ignored.”
The group, which is largely made up of MPs in the Red Wall seats the Tories won from Labour at the last election, called on the government to produce “a comprehensive package of measures to meet the manifesto promise by the time of the next election”.
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They added: “The prime minister, chancellor and new home secretary must show that they stand by the promises on which we were elected to parliament. We must act now.”
Miriam Cates, on of the members of the group, said: “Today’s UK migration figures are astounding: a million new people from abroad were added to our population last year. There is simply no democratic consent for this.
“Attempts to reduce NHS waiting times or solve the housing crisis are futile unless we drastically reduce numbers.”
The Times reported that the PM is looking to announce new plans to curb migration over the next week because of fury on the Tory backbenches over the issue.
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Sky News reported that home secretary James Cleverly had promised the government was still “completely committed to reducing levels of legal migration, while also focusing relentlessly” on illegal migration.
From July 2019 to June 2023, the total estimated UK net migration stood at over 1.6 million.
The Office for Budget Responsibility has also estimated that an extra 150,000 migrants would arrive in the next five years – adding around 1.5 million people to the population by 2028-29.
Director Christopher Landon offered a short, but succinct, reaction to news that actor Melissa Barrera had been fired from his forthcoming movie, “Scream VII,” after making a series of controversial social media posts about the ongoing Israel-Hamas war.
“This is my statement,” Landon wrote on X (formerly Twitter) Wednesday, along with a broken heart emoji. “Everything sucks. Stop yelling. This was not my decision to make.”
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The filmmaker deleted the post shortly afterward, but it was captured for posterity by Newsweek and Deadline, among other outlets.
Spyglass Media Group, which is set to produce “Scream VII,” confirmed to Variety in a statement Wednesday that Barrera had been dropped from the the film due to social media posts the company had deemed antisemitic.
“Spyglass’ stance is unequivocally clear: We have zero tolerance for antisemitism or the incitement of hate in any form, including false references to genocide, ethnic cleansing, Holocaust distortion or anything that flagrantly crosses the line into hate speech,” the statement read.
The company didn’t specify exactly which of Barrera’s posts they felt had crossed the line. In one of her Instagram Stories last month, however, the Mexican actor blasted “Western” outlets for only showing “the [Israeli] side” of the conflict, before noting: “Why do they do that, I will let you deduce for yourself.”
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Melissa Barrera attends the New York premiere of “Scream VI” in March.
Dimitrios Kambouris via Getty Images
In another post, she wrote: “I too come from a colonised country. Palestine WILL be free. They tried to bury us, they didn’t know we were seeds.”
HuffPost reached out to a representative for Barrera for comment, but did not immediately hear back.
The Israel-Hamas conflict has proven to be a contentious issue across Hollywood. On Tuesday, actor Susan Sarandon was reportedly dropped by the United Talent Agency for remarks she made at a pro-Palestinian rally that was held in New York earlier this month.
Just how “Scream VII” will recalibrate following Barrera’s exit remains to be seen. She first appeared in 2021’s “Scream” as Sam Carpenter, the daughter of late serial killer Billy Loomis (Skeet Ulrich), from the 1996 original. She reprised the role in “Scream VI,” released in March.
He reduced the National Insurance rate paid by workers from 12% to 10%, while also unveiling cuts to business taxes.
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But the independent Office for Budget Responsibility’s own assessment of the chancellor’s plans revealed that while the overall tax burden will initially come down, it is soon set to soar.
That is because of income tax thresholds remain frozen, meaning millions of workers end up in a higher tax bracket as their wages rise – a process known as “fiscal drag”.
The OBR said: “Tax changes in this autumn statement reduce the tax burden by 0.7% of GDP, but it still rises in every year to a post-war high of 37.3% of GDP by 2028-29.
“Income tax increases explain most of the increase in this forecast … driven by threshold freezes and strong nominal earnings.”
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As a result, the Treasury will rake in an extra £201 billion in tax over the next six years – four times more than the cost of Hunt’s cuts to National Insurance payments.
Lib Dem leader Ed Davey said: “This Autumn Statement was a Hunt hoax.
“Buried in the small print is a massive stealth tax raid that will drag millions into paying a higher rate in the coming years.
“The British people will rightly be furious at this deception, as they are forced to pay the price for Conservative chaos through years of unfair tax hikes.
“It is high time that this Conservative government came clean about just how much money they are taking out of hard-working families’ pockets.”
The OBR also downgraded its forecasts for economic growth over the next few years.
It also said that inflation will fall to 2.8% next year, well up on the 0.9% they forecast in March.
Labour’s shadow chancellor Rachel Reeves said: “After 13 years of the Conservatives, the economy simply isn’t working. And, despite all the promises today, working people are still worse off.”
Vladimir Putin seemed to forget he initiated the war in Ukraine during his surprise appearance at a virtual G20 summit on Wednesday.
In his first address to the leaders of the world’s largest economies since the Ukraine-Russia conflict began in 2022, the Russian president called for leaders to “stop the tragedy” occurring in the neighbouring country.
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After some leaders said they were shocked by the Russian “aggression” in Ukraine, Putin replied: “Yes, of course, military actions are always a tragedy.
“And of course, we should think about how to stop this tragedy. By the way, Russia has never refused peace talks with Ukraine.”
Back in February 2022, after weeks of growing aggression and building up troops near the Ukrainian border, the Russian president ordered his forces into Ukraine.
He claimed it was important to “demilitarise” the country, and made baseless neo-Nazi allegations about the Ukrainian government to justify the invasion.
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It was part of what he dubbed the “special military operation” – he has only referred to the 21-month long fight as a “war” sparingly.
So it was also pretty surprising when Putin used the word “war” to describe the conflict in Ukraine during his G20 meeting.
He said: “I understand that this war, and the death of people, cannot but shock.”
Who did Putin blame for the war, then?
Putin pivoted the G20′s attention to pre-war tensions, by claiming Ukraine had been persecuting people in the east of its country.
This is a reference to the separatist movement which started to gain traction in eastern Ukraine after Ukraine’s 2013 Maidan Revolution and Putin annexed Crimea in 2014.
According to the UN, approximately 14,000 people were killed in the subsequent conflict as Russian-backed separatists fought Ukrainian forces.
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Putin also pivoted the conversation towards the ongoing Israel-Hamas war, saying: “And the extermination of the civilian population in Palestine, in the Gaza Strip today, is not shocking?”
This pool photograph distributed by Russian state agency Sputnik shows Russia’s President Vladimir Putin taking part in a virtual G20 leaders’ summit in Moscow on November 22, 2023.
MIKHAIL KLIMENTYEV via Getty Images
What else did Putin’s comments reveal?
Putin’s remarks were correct in that there really is a tragedy still unfolding in Ukraine – it’s Europe’s deadliest conflict since World War 2.
The UN Human Rights Office said on Tuesday that more than 10,000 civilians have been killed in Ukraine since Russia invaded, although the real toll is expected to be “significantly higher”.
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According to Reuters, Danielle Bell from the head of the UN monitoring mission, said the “severe human cost” in Ukraine right now is “painful to fathom.”
Russia has been accused of targeting civilian structures in Ukraine too, although Moscow has denied this.
Ukraine has also only agreed to peace negotiations if Russia agrees to hand back all of the Ukrainian land (one fifth of its total land mass) it has illegally annexed since 2014 – which includes the peninsula of Crimea.
He did visit Iran back in July and ventured to Belarus last December, but has steered clear of any NATO country since February 2022 – so his virtual appearance at the summit was a big deal.
He sent his foreign minister Sergey Lavrov to the last two G20 meetings in India and Indonesia, and has not attended a summit meeting in person since 2019.
Cast your minds all the way back to 2007 – we were all wearing the tightest skinny jeans we could find, drinking cider in the park and permanently had Ruby by the Kaiser Chiefs blasting out of our Sony Ericcson Walkman phones.
However, if you thought lead singer Ricky Wilson was singing about a long lost love, think again.
Former drummer and songwriter for the Leeds group, Nick Hodgson, has shared the true inspiration behind the chart-topper – and it’s safe to say you won’t have predicted this one.
As well as being the group’s first number one single in the UK, Ruby was also about… a dog.
“At the time we didn’t say who Ruby was,” he explained. “But I can tell you now that Ruby was a dog.”
“I played the verse, and I kept playing it round and round, and Ruby walked in and to the room and I just started singing Ruby, Ruby, Ruby, Ruby.”
This isn’t actually the first time Hodgson has revealed the truth behind the song’s inspiration. Taking to TikTok, the former Kaiser Chief’s drummer explained: “Ruby was our family dog. When I was writing it Ruby (the dog) walked in. I’m very glad she did.”
Now, where did I put those skin-tight drainpipe trousers…
According to housing charity Shelter, over a quarter of renters experience dampness and mould in their homes.
While these can be unsightly, difficult problems to address in the home, they can be incredibly damaging to your health, particularly over an extended period of time.
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And according to Healthline, one of the signs of mould in the home that could sneak up on you is a consistently runny nose and congestion as well as irritated eyes.
If you find over time that these symptoms aren’t clearing up and worsen over time, it’s time to fully inspect your home for mould and dampness.
Signs of mould in the home
If you have been worried about the potential of mould in the home, now is the perfect time to address it as according to the BBC, it’s more likely to occur during colder months.
The signs of mould in the home include fuzzy black, white or green patches on the walls, and a damp and musty smell.
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According to the UK Government, “Damp and mould primarily affect the airways and lungs, but they can also affect the eyes and skin. The respiratory effects of damp and mould can cause serious illness and, in the most severe cases, death.”
How to clear mould in the home
If you rent your home, your landlord has a legal duty to address damp and mould issues and to check six weeks after action that the problems have stayed away. However, according to Ronseal, there are some things you can do to address the issues:
Fill a bucket with water and a mild detergent like washing up liquid. Or use a dedicated mould remover to make quick work of it
Dip a cloth in water and wipe the mould off the wall. Don’t brush it as this can release mould spores
Once you’ve removed the mould, use a dry rag to remove the rest of the moisture
Throw away the cloth and vacuum the room to make sure you’ve removed all of the spores
The sealant experts add, “If you have mould on soft furnishings like clothing or soft toys, they should be shampooed or professionally dry cleaned.”
Shelter has a wealth of advice and resources for renters facing damp and mould problems on their website.
Raspberries would be the perfect food if they didn’t go off more or less as soon as you bring them home. Most fresh berries are the same way; the average shelf life of a fresh punnet is three to five days.
So, if you (like me) are buying for one, that causes furry problems. White specks and blue fur overtake your plastic punnet; sometimes, one berry will weaken and rot, ruining the other berries in a matter of hours.
Of course, in an ideal scenario, we’d all have access to a bounty of fresh berries close by. But say for instance you’d just checked your fridge only to realise that half of your raspberries are already gone over to the spore overlords, and can’t be bothered to make it to the shop (asking for a friend, of course). What then?
None other than the Mayo Clinic have weighed in on the topic. Dr. Nipunie Rajapakse, a paediatric infectious diseases expert, said that the safe point is around a quarter of the soft fruit population: “If more than about a quarter of the berries are mouldy, you’re probably best off getting rid of all of those berries,” she says.
“But, if the rest are looking healthy, they’re not bruised, they’re not soft and there’s no visible mould on them, they’re probably OK to eat after you’ve washed them well,” the doctor adds.
The U.S. Department of Agriculture is a little more cautious, advising that the high water content of the berries means spores can spread more easily between the fruits without being noticed.
But even they say that after you’ve thrown the offending food out, checkered the rest for mushiness and other signs of rot, and washed the remains, you should be good to go, they say.
You’ll likely be fine ― as Elizabeth Mitcham, a professor and director of the Postharvest Technology Center at the University of California, Davis told The New York Times, berry moulds “are actually not known to produce toxins, like some fungi do, and so there’s less risk.”
Plus, she adds, the taste will likely warn you of the presence of foul spores quickly enough to help you spit the berry out in time.
The role of a full-time content creator is becoming increasingly popular with 19% of 18-26 year olds saying they hope to make a living from creating for social media apps instead of going into medicine or becoming teachers, according to research from Just Entrepreneurs.
However, perhaps due to the casual nature of social media, research from Quirky Digital has found that almost a quarter of those earning money from social media haven’t been declaring their earnings to HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC).
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Which earnings need to be declared to HMRC?
The HMRC states that if you have earned any money that you need to pay tax on and haven’t yet declared it, getting in touch with them sooner rather than later means your case will be reviewed more favourably.
If you have already paid tax on earnings, through wages, for example, you don’t need to take further action. However, if you own a rental property, have capital gains or earn money from working for yourself be it creating monetised social media content or even car boot sales, you need to register as self-employed and declare that income.
Not declaring income is considered tax evasion and is punishable by heavy crimes or even imprisonment so if you have earned some extra pennies and haven’t yet told HMRC, there’s no time like the present!
Which taxes do content creators need to pay?
According to the money experts at Blackbullion, if your gross income is more than £1000, you must register with HMRC and complete a self-assessment tax return or, put simply, if you earn more than £83 a month outside of your full-time job you need to complete a tax return.
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Blackbullion adds that if you generate a profit of over £6,000 selling second-hand items, you may also owe capital gains tax.
The next self-assessment deadline is January 31st, 2024.
