Vladimir Putin Personally Ordered The Salisbury Poison Attack, UK Government Believes

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Vladimir Putin personally ordered the Salisbury Novichok poisonings, the UK government and one of the victims told an inquiry into the attack today.

Former Russian double agent Sergei Skripal, who offered up Moscow secrets to the UK and his daughter Yulia fell unconscious back in 2018 after touching the nerve agent which had been placed on the front door handle of their home.

Both of them, along with a police officer who went to visit them, fell critically ill but recovered.

Four months later, a member of the public, Dawn Sturgess, died after being exposed to the poison after her partner found a counterfeit perfume bottle which authorities believe was used to smuggle the nerve agent in.

Her partner also fell ill but recovered.

Skripal, who has not spoken publicly since the incident, sent a statement to the inquiry into Sturgess’s death today which pinned the blame squarely on the Russian president.

He said: “I believe Putin makes all important decisions himself. I therefore think he must have at least given permission for the attack.”

He added: “I have read that Putin is personal[ly] very interested in poison and likes reading books about it.”

However, Skripal admitted he had no concrete evidence to back up his claim.

“I do not know for certain how Putin personally viewed me. As far as I know I never spoke to him, although I was in the same room as him two times many years ago,” he said.

He added: “I never thought the Russian regime would try to murder me in Great Britain”.

A senior foreign office official, Jonathan Allen, also gave a statement to the inquiry suggesting the UK government had come to a similar conclusion based on “current assessments”.

“In light of the required seniority under Russian law to approve assassinations of suspected terrorists outside Russia, and that this incident concerned a politically sensitive target (Mr Skripal was a UK citizen, and was targeted on UK soil), it is HMG’s view that President Putin authorised the operation,” Allen’s statement read.

Three Russians – and alleged GRU military intelligence officers – have been charged in absentia by the UK over the attempted murder of the Skripals, although all three deny it, along with the Kremlin.

No formal case has been brought against them over Sturgess’s death.

Lawyers for her family called for Putin not to “cower behind the walls of the Kremlin” and to look her relatives “in the eyes and answer the evidence against him”.

However the legal representatives acknowledged the chances of that were “very very small”, seeing as there is an International Criminal Court arrest warrant out for Putin over his alleged involvement in the abduction of Ukrainian children in the regional war.

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Nightmare Before Christmas’ Director Has Settled The Debate Of Whether It Is A Halloween Film

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If you’re from a certain generation, you’ve likely spent the final months of the year in an ongoing debate about whether the 1993 flick The Nightmare Before Christmas counts as a Halloween or Christmas film.

No, you can’t say both.

Unlike most silly debates, there are two healthy points of view here — the film is exploring the themes of Christmas and what it means to families and communties.

However, crucially… It’s set in a place called Halloween Town which is inhabited by traditionally scary creatures that count down to Halloween every year.

However, the director of The Nightmare Before Christmas weighed in on this debate and I’m sorry to all the Christmas fans but you might be disappointed…

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If you’ve ever found yourself embroiled in this debate, we have exactly the bit of trivia you need.

When the director was asked whether he considers it to be a Christmas or Halloween film at a 2015 Q&A at Colorado’s Telluride Horror Show film festival, he said: “Oh, boy, it’s a Halloween movie.”

So that’s that. We can debate over other things this festive season, like whether Love Actually is good, actually.

While we’re on the topic of The Nightmare Before Christmas…

It was Henry Sellick that directed the film and not Tim Burton, as many people believe. Tim wrote the story but the direction was all down to Henry, who also directed Coraline.

Speaking about this common misconception in 2022, Henry said: ”[It] was a little unfair because it wasn’t called Tim Burton’s [The Nightmare Before Christmas] until three weeks before the film came out.

“And I would have been fine with that, if that’s what I signed up for. But Tim was in LA making two features while I directed that film.”

Let’s consider the record straight: it’s a Halloween film, directed by Henry Sellick.

Happy Halloween!

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