Tag Archives: bbc

Chris Mason Skewers Liz Truss For Not ‘Lasting Longer Than A Lettuce’

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Chris Mason clashed with Liz Truss over whether the public cared about her “lasting less time than a lettuce”.

The BBC’s political editor said the UK had been left “an international laughing stock” by her 49-day stint as prime minister.

As she battled to survive in No.10, the Daily Star began a stunt to see whether she could outlast a lettuce. She didn’t.

In an interview for a BBC podcast, Mason told Truss: “Your time as prime minister left the UK as an international laughing stock.”

The ex-PM replied: “Well I don’t think that’s true.”

Mason hit back: “All the stuff about lasting less time than a lettuce.”

Truss described that as “pathetic point scoring”.

She added: “This is the kind of thing that obsesses what I describe as the London elite. What do other people think of me? What’s Brtain’s international standing?

“Britain’s international standing will be improved …”

But Mason interrupted her to say: “It’s not just people in wine bars in London who were interested in whether or not a prime minister lasted longer than a lettuce.

“People could see there was a situation where you were humiliated and so people felt that the country was humiliated.”

Truss replied: “I put forward what were perfectly rational policies that I’d won a leadership election on.”

But Mason told her: “The reality is that it blew up.”

The Daily Star’s gimmick became an internet sensation during Truss’s 49 days as PM.

It was inspired by an article in The Economic, which said: “Ms Truss entered Downing Street on September 6th.

“She blew up her own government with a package of unfunded tax cuts and energy-price guarantees on September 23rd.

“Take away the ten days of mourning after the death of the Queen, and she had seven days in control. That is the shelf-life of a lettuce.”

The Daily Star set up a live action cam on YouTube with a real (60p) lettuce next to a picture of Truss to see which would last longer.

Asked at a conference in Dublin last year whether she could now see “the funny side”, Truss said: “I don’t think it’s funny, I just think it’s puerile.”

However, she had earlier said “the irreverence of the media in Britain is a good thing on the whole”.

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Kuenssberg Skewers Chancellor Over Economy Claims: ‘Sounds Like You’re In A Parallel Universe’

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The BBC’s Laura Kuenssberg told Jeremy Hunt “it sounds like you’re in a parallel universe” after his recent claims about the cost of living crisis and the economy.

The chancellor made headlines after he posted on X on Friday that £100,000 is not “a huge salary” after mortgage costs and childcare.

His colleague, minister Andrea Leadsom, also caused a stir this week after she claimed the cost of living crisis had ended now inflation is down.

The presenter of Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg then pointed out that private rents are up 9% since 2023, council tax for band D up 5.1% since 2023 and petrol prices up 2.3p since January 2024.

After reminding Hunt of these incidents, she asked: “Isn’t there a danger that actually you sound like you’re in a parallel universe?”

Hunt said he was talking to one of his own constituents about paying for childcare in an area where the house prices are averaging around £670,000.

But, the BBC journalist noted: “In your own area, in Surrey, the average full time wage is not even half of that. It’s £42,000.

“So, don’t you think, to many people hearing that, it just sounds completely out of touch?”

Hunt said: “Well, I was talking to one of my own constituents who was saying that, but I do accept that even those people on those higher salaries do feel under pressure.”

He said for the national average salary – those on £35,000 – he reduced their National Insurance contributions, while those on National Living Wage have seen an increase.

Actually, due to fiscal drag – where tax thresholds do not change in line with inflation and rising wages – people will be paying more in tax.

“By the end of this parliament, those people will be worse off,” Kuenssberg said, noting PM Rishi Sunak is still saying the economy is bouncing back.

The chancellor pointed out the Office for Budget Responsibility says we are going to recover to pre-pandemic living standards “two years earlier than previously thought”, saying the “plan was starting to bear fruit”.

Elsewhere, Kuenssberg also asked: “Has the cost of living crisis ended?”

Hunt admitted, “we’ve had a very very tough patch,” but blamed the invasion of Ukraine for driving up energy prices and the Covid pandemic.

He continued: “I think people will welcome the fact that inflation has fallen – but we’re not there yet.

“We need to stick to the course because we need inflation to get down to 2%.

“The thing that will make the biggest difference for families up and down the country is when interest rates falls, and the mortgage rate starts to fall.”

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‘People Are Laughing At What You’re Saying’: Tory MP Bombs With His Defence Of Levelling Up

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A Tory MP has faced a BBC audience “laughing” at the government’s flagship levelling up plans.

On Monday, a live episode of Newsnight was broadcast from Doncaster as part of a series of town hall-style “on the road” programmes ahead of the general election.

The city is one of the areas to receive funding as part of the agenda to reduce regional inequalities, which was championed as “levelling up” by former prime minister Boris Johnson.

But when an audience in the newly-created Doncaster East and Isle of Axholme constituency were asked by presenter Victoria Derbyshire whether they’d experienced any impact of the policy, she was greeted with a unanimous “no” (See video at top of story).

When asked about the plan, Conservative MP Brendan Clarke-Smith, one of the panellists, put forward a version of Rishi Sunak’s “stick with the plan” argument.

He said: “We’re the only people who do actually have a plan, certainly in terms of how we want to invest. Now levelling up, of course, it’s something Boris Johnson made a big deal of in 2019.

“I think it’s not just about large cash transfers, though, it’s about pride in our communities. It’s about opportunities …”

While in full swing, Derbyshire interjected to say: “With respect, there are people here in the audience who are laughing at what you’re saying.”

Clarke-Smith, who represents a Nottinghamshire constituency, went on: “We just had a pandemic for two years. We spent £400 billion on that. That’s going to impact a lot of things. It’s impacted the NHS. It’s impacted a lot of building projects. It’s impacted all of these things together, so we are still recovering from that.”

He added: “But we’re going on the right path. We’re getting inflation down and we will see that levelling up and we will see that investment, including here in Doncaster East.”

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Jonnie Irwin, A Place In The Sun Presenter, Dies Aged 50

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TV personality Jonnie Irwin has died aged 50, his family has said.

The presenter, who fronted Channel 4’s A Place In The Sun and the BBC’s Escape To The Country, revealed in 2022 that he had two years earlier been diagnosed with terminal lung cancer which had spread to his brain.

A statement on his Instagram account announcing his death said he touched “the lives of so many with his kindness, warmth and infectious spirit”.

Alongside a photograph of the late TV host and his wife, Jessica Holmes, with whom he has three young sons – Rex, and twins Rafa and Cormac – the tribute read: “In Loving Memory. It is with heavy hearts that we share the news of Jonnie’s passing.

“A truly remarkable soul, he fought bravely against cancer with unwavering strength and courage. Jonnie touched the lives of so many with his kindness, warmth and infectious spirit.”

It continued: “At this time, we kindly ask for the privacy of Jonnie’s family as they navigate through this profound loss. Their grief is immeasurable, and your thoughts, prayers and support are deeply appreciated.

“As we remember the beautiful moments shared with Jonnie, let us celebrate a life well-lived and a legacy that will for ever be etched in our hearts. Jonnie may be gone from our sight, but his love, laughter and memories will live on.

“Rest in peace, dear Jonnie. You will be dearly missed, but never forgotten.”

Since going public with his diagnosis, Jonnie has been documenting his experience of living with cancer on social media. He had been open about his illness in the hope of inspiring others to “make the most of every day”.

Jonnie said the first warning sign of his illness came while he was filming A Place In The Sun in August 2020 in Italy, when his vision became blurry while driving. “Within a week of flying back from filming, I was being given six months to live,” he told Hello! magazine

Jasmine Harman, his long-time co-presenter on A Place In The Sun, wrote on Instagram: “I have never admired you more than over the last few years as you’ve faced life with cancer with positivity, determination and bloody mindedness. The world is a little darker today without you, but I will always smile when I think of you.”

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UK Journalists Taken Into Gaza For First Time Describe The ‘Wasteland’ And ‘Hell’ Of War Zone

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Israelis soldiers have started to take international news crews into Gaza, and UK journalists have now reported on the “hell” they’ve discovered in the active war zone.

While reporters inside the Palestinian territory have been covering the war since it began a month ago, foreign journalists are only now being allowed into the Gaza Strip under the surveillance of the Israel Defence Force (IDF).

Israel then declared war, launched a series of air strikes and a ground invasion in the north, while putting the whole of Gaza under siege. The Hamas-run health ministry in Gaza say more than 10,000 Palestinians have been killed so far.

Each broadcaster has made it very clear that they had maintained editorial independence over their own reports, but various parts of the footage had to have IDF approval before it could be released.

The Israeli forces would only take journalists if their reports did not reveal anything about their position.

Jeremy Bowen, the BBC’s international editor, released his report into Gaza on Wednesday night.

He explained: “We got out of the back of an armoured vehicle and walked into a wasteland.

“After a month of air strikes and more than a week of tanks and troops, every building I saw was damaged or destroyed.”

The IDF showed each journalist what it described as a weapons factory in a building where a family clearly lived upstairs.

The army told reporters that was an example of Hamas using civilians as human shields.

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Channel 4′s Secunder Kermani also went into Gaza with IDF, and explained: ″Coming here with them is the only way for foreign journalists to get a first hand glimpse of this deadly conflict.”

His report, also released on Wednesday, focused on the Gaza civilians trying to move to the south of the territory, as on Israel’s instructions.

He showed how two Palestinian men were detained for “acting suspiciously”, and filmed how Israeli soldiers called out in Hebrew to the stream of evacuees just in case any Israeli hostages were among the crowds.

Kermani then went to the areas of Gaza which have already been “reduced to rubble in an Israeli strike”, and explained “this is the hell they are running from” in the north.

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