UK News
TV tonight: Martin Lewis on how the new tax year will affect you | Television
The Martin Lewis Money Show Live: Tax Year End Special
9pm, ITV1
Martin Lewis has been dishing up savings tips for more than two decades, from energy prices to mortgages and student bank accounts. Tonight, with the new tax year just 10 days away, he walks us through the April price hikes, flags up the latest deals in News You Can Use – and, presumably, addresses the expensive, war-shaped elephant in the room. Ali Catterall
Tonight: Stronger, Faster, Younger? Britain’s Steroid Boom
7.30pm, ITV1
They were once exclusively associated with unscrupulous elite athletes. But sadly, anabolic steroids are now reaching more widely into society; perceived as a means of improving physique and even holding back the signs of ageing. In this sobering documentary, Antoine Allen explores an increasingly grim trend and looks at the terrible side effects of misuse. Phil Harrison
Yorkshire’s Poshest Hotel: Grantley Hall
8pm, Channel 5
Grantley Hall is the first of four contenders to win the reputation of being Yorkshire’s poshest hotel. Its owner, Barnsley-born Valeria Sykes, promises down-to-earth local hospitality – but that will cost you at least £1,000 a night. So what exactly makes it so special? Hollie Richardson
The Apprentice
9pm, BBC One
Just a few more episodes until the final, and this week the insufferable candidates are tasked with selling stuff on a TV shopping channel. First, they need to choose the products, then it’s time to make them irresistible to the public. HR
Julian Barnes: Beyond the Page
9pm, BBC Four
An evening dedicated to the feted, extremely BBC Four-friendly novelist begins with Barnes being interviewed by Katie Razzall. There follows a showing of the 2017 film adaptation The Sense of an Ending, and a repeat of 2014’s Mark Lawson Talks to Julian Barnes. PH
Hunting Outback Gold
9pm, U&Yesterday
In the final episode of this Aussie treasure-seeking series, lifelong pals Jeff Harris and Brendan Elliot have a new lead on a mythical gold seam that has remained hidden for almost a century. They refine their search using a reconnaissance drone, metal detectors and some good old-fashioned panning. Graeme Virtue
Film choice
One Battle After Another, 10.30am, 10.20pm, Sky Cinema Premiere/HBO Max
Paul Thomas Anderson finally gets his Oscar – and with one of his most riotously enjoyable films. His take on Thomas Pynchon’s novel Vineland ejects the author’s trademark impenetrability and gives us a larger-than-life action caper with political undertones. Bob (Leonardo DiCaprio), part of a US leftwing revolutionary group and betrayed by his own lover, lives off-grid with his teen daughter, Willa (Chase Infiniti). That is until white supremacist Col Steven Lockjaw (Sean Penn) comes searching for Willa – who may be his child – and she and Bob are forced to go on the run. Also in the mix are Benicio del Toro’s martial arts teacher/migrant activist, two assassins and a bunch of radical nuns. Breathless fun. Simon Wardell
Superman, 8pm, 8.05am, Sky Cinema Premiere/HBO Max
The problem with being an all-powerful alien is: to whom are you accountable? James Gunn’s witty reboot of the DC comics legend – with added superdog! – explores that question, as Kal-El AKA Clark Kent (David Corenswet) struggles with questions about his role on Earth. These come from girlfriend/reporter Lois Lane (a perfectly cast Rachel Brosnahan) and Nicholas Hoult’s jealous tech billionaire Lex Luthor – who, naturally, also has a fiendish plan. SW
Billy Idol Should Be Dead, 2am, Sky Arts
He was there at the birth of British punk, as one of the “Bromley contingent” of Sex Pistols fans that included Siouxsie Sioux. But it was as a US-based, groupie-magnet pop singer that Billy Idol really made his mark on the public. Jonas Åkerlund’s colourful documentary leans heavily on the drugs and sex (and more drugs) anecdotes, of which Idol has plenty (“It’s only when I tried to get off heroin that I started to smoke crack”). But his key role in the popularisation of MTV is also assessed, while he has to be admired for his survival from overdoses, bike crashes and changing musical tastes. SW
Live sport
International football, Wales v Bosnia and Herzegovina, 7.30pm, BBC Two A World Cup playoff semi-final, with Italy v Northern Ireland on BBC Three at 7.05pm. On Friday, England play Uruguay in a friendly at Wembley at 7pm on ITV1.
Labour say they have suspended the whip from Hull East MP Karl Turner over his recent conduct.
Source link
UK News
Trump tells UK ‘you’ll have to start learning to fight for yourself’ amid soaring oil prices – UK politics live | Politics
Trump tells UK ‘you’ll have to start learning how to fight for yourself’ in taunt over fuel oil shortages
Donald Trump has resumed his taunting of the UK, and Keir Starmer, over Britain’s Iran policy. The president (who regularly says things which are untrue) has just posted this on this Truth Social platform saying the British will “have to start learning how to fight for yourself” because the US won’t be there to help in future.
Key events
Yvette Cooper says Israel wrong to pass law imposing death penalty on Palestinians guilty of fatal attacks
Yvette Cooper, the foreign secretary, has criticised the Israeli parliament’s decision to a law imposing the death penalty on Palestinians convicted of fatal attacks. In a post on social media, she says the UK issued a joint statement with Germany, France and Italy condemning the legislation before the final vote.
My statement with France, Germany and Italy on our united opposition to Israel’s death penalty law.
The death penalty is wrong and we oppose it around the world.
Buckingham Palace confirms king’s state visit to US going ahead next month, with Charles addressing Congress
The king’s state visit to the US is to go ahead next month as planned, Buckingham Palace has finally confirmed. The Press Association says:
Charles and the queen’s long-expected historic trip to see Donald Trump will take place in late April despite calls for it to be postponed because of the ongoing conflict in the Middle East.
It will be the king’s first visit to the US as monarch and the first state visit by a British sovereign to America for nearly 20 years, since Queen Elizabeth II’s tour in 2007.
Charles and Camilla will commemorate the 250th anniversary of American independence, attend a glittering state dinner at the White House, and the king will address Congress, the Palace confirmed.
But exact dates and details have yet to be disclosed.
Buckingham Palace said:
On advice of His Majesty’s government, and at the invitation of the President of the United States, the king and queen will undertake a State Visit to the United States of America.
Their Majesties’ programme will celebrate the historic connections and the modern bilateral relationship between the United Kingdom and the United States, marking the 250th anniversary of American Independence.
The king will then continue to Bermuda to undertake His Majesty’s first Royal Visit as Monarch to a British Overseas Territory.
Greenpeace UK criticise Reform UK’s pledge to get rid of air passenger duty
Greenpeace UK has criticised Reform UK for proposing to get rid of air passenger duty. (See 11.23am.) Lily-Rose Ellis, a climate campaigner for Greenpeace, said:
As Trump’s war causes price spikes and flight cancellations, it won’t surprise anyone to see Farage rush to point the finger at taxes. This policy fits perfectly with Reform’s brand of rightwing populism, which seems surprisingly closely aligned to the commercial interests of their wealthy donors and the sleaze we saw from the last government.
Not only does Christopher Harborne, the UK’s biggest political donor who gave Reform £12m in the last financial year, sell aviation fuel, but Heathrow gave Reform £36,000 last year too.
The idea that this is the party that is going to take on the elites in defence of the common man is transparent nonsense, they’re the Tory plan B, with the same policies, the same scapegoats, the same rhetoric, the same donors and the same MPs.
Zack Polanski says Greens could be ‘kingmakers’ in Senedd after election because they are likely to hold balance of power
Zack Polanski, the Green party leader, has said that his party could be the “kingmakers” in the Senedd after the election because they are likely to hold the balance of power.
Speaking at the launch of his party’s campaign in Wales, Polanski said:
The Greens could be the kingmakers at this election.
What does that mean? That means we know there will be a new government in Cardiff Bay.
What the colour of that government looks like, and the mix is ultimately up to the voters, but we’re being very clear – every single Green that is elected to the Senedd will be a Green in those negotiations.
A YouGov MRP poll released last week suggests that Plaid Cymru will be the biggest party in the Senedd after the election (with 43 seats), but that to have a majority (49 seats) it will need the support of either Labour (on 12 seats, the poll predicts) or the Greens (10 seats).
These figures seem to imply that a Plaid/Labour deal of some sort would be just as appealing to Plaid as a Plaid/Green deal.
But Plaid are closer to the Greens on policy than they are to Labour. Even though Plaid has in the past been in coalition with Labour, and supported Labour in a cooperation deal, there is some acrimony in the relationship. And Plaid are promising “change” after 27-years of Labour-led government since devolution, and governing with Labour would make them look more like a continuity administration.
Anthony Slaughter, leader of the Greens in Wales, said Green MSs would be deciding the direction of the next Welsh government and said the party was “already shifting” Plaid Cymru’s position on some policy matters.
Trump tells UK ‘you’ll have to start learning how to fight for yourself’ in taunt over fuel oil shortages
Donald Trump has resumed his taunting of the UK, and Keir Starmer, over Britain’s Iran policy. The president (who regularly says things which are untrue) has just posted this on this Truth Social platform saying the British will “have to start learning how to fight for yourself” because the US won’t be there to help in future.
Streeting claims deal with BMA to avert resident doctors’ strike still possible
Wes Streeting, the health secretary, has insisted that a deal with the BMA to avert the resident doctors’s strike in England is still possible. In a post on social media responding to the BMA’s reaction to the PM’s article about the strike (see 9.36am), Streeting said:
The BMA seems surprised that if they reject the deal on offer and go on strike their members don’t get what the Government is offering.
We have time before Easter weekend to resolve this dispute.
A deal on jobs and pay is on the table.
Trump ‘not dictating policy to me’, says Farage
At the end of his press conference Nigel Farage was asked if he was worried that his association with Donald Trump would hurt him electorally.
Farage said that he could not pretend not to know Trump. He said he admired some of the things Trump had done, on the border and on energy policy in particular. There were other things Trump had done that he did not agree with, he said, without specifying what. He went on:
He is not dictating policy to me. I’m dictating policy to me.
Farage said he also thought close links between the UK and the US were “absolutely vital”.
Farage says he’s opposed to youth mobility deal with EU, claiming it’s ‘just attempt to completely undo Brexit’
Q: [From the Guardian] Would you keep the youth mobility scheme that the government is negotiating with the EU, or would you repeal it?
Farage says he does not support the proposals because “this will always be one way traffic”. He says there will be three or four times as many Europeans coming to Britain as Britons going to Europe.
There are more exciting parts of the world for young British people to visit, he says. “Europe isn’t actually very sexy any more,” he says.
He says the Spanish made a “catastrophic error” by granting an amnesty to migrants in the country illegally. He goes on:
We are living in an age of increased global insecurity where national borders and protecting national interests matters more and more. And I think the youth mobility scheme falls at that first hurdle, if at nothing else.
And it’s just an attempt by the government to completely undo Brexit.
And Jenrick says, instead of letting young European people come to the UK to work, the government should be prioritising finding jobs for British people.
Q: Are you worried that Reform UK’s support is mainly coming from older people, not younger people?
Farage does not accept this. He claims the polling shows that his party’s support among young people is almost as high as it is amongst voters as a whole.
And by the way, if [Labour] do lower the vote to 16, the Greens will do very well. We will do well and Labour will do terribly.
Farage rejects claim election candidate controversies mean Reform UK’s vetting procedures flawed
Q: Do you think Reform UK’s candidate vetting processes have been inadequate, given that a candidate in Wales has had to stand down after a picture emerged of him giving a Nazi salute?
Farage defends the party’s vetting process.
We vet people. We ask them to tell us the truth. We asked them for their social media handles. We do all those things.
Sometimes people lie to you and they might be using social media handles that you have no way of finding.
He says a Plaid Cymru candidate has already stood down, and he predicts the party will have more problems with candidates.
This is a problem for all parties. He goes on:
I think we’re dealing with it as effectively, if not more effectively, than the others.
(The questioner did not ask about Scotland, where five Reform candidates have already stood down or been suspended.)
Farage says he thinks Keir Starmer has been right to adopt a tough position with the BMA over the proposed resident doctors’ strike. He says:
Unusually Keir Starmer has taken a strong position. There’s a first time for everything I suppose.
It will be his first UK performance in over a decade and since he received criticism for antisemitic comments.
Source link
-
Crime & Safety2 weeks agoOxford: ‘Next generation’ LimeBikes in city from today
-
Jobs & Careers2 weeks agoWhy Join Oxford | Oxford University Jobs
-
Jobs & Careers2 weeks agoExplore our Careers
-
Student Life2 weeks agoThe independent cinema battling Oriel College to stay open
-
Oxford Events2 weeks agoMichelin Guide Oxfordshire Restaurants – The Oxford Magazine
-
Oxford Events2 weeks agoOxford News and Events, What’s on in Oxford, Exhibitions
-
Jobs & Careers2 weeks agoInternal Job Board for University vacancies
-
Crime & Safety2 weeks agoCrash partially blocks A40 and causes severe Oxfordshire traffic