UK News
European football: Real Madrid held at home by Girona to extend winless run | European club football
Real Madrid had to settle for a 1-1 draw against mid-table Girona in La Liga on Friday, extending the hosts’ winless run to three games in all competitions and giving leaders Barcelona the chance to stretch their advantage at the top.
Federico Valverde put Madrid ahead six minutes after half-time but Girona levelled in the 62nd minute through Thomas Lemar. Álvaro Arbeloa’s side are six points behind with league leaders Barça, who have a game in hand against Espanyol on Saturday and could move nine clear with seven games to play.
Madrid began the night under pressure, having lost 2-1 at Mallorca last weekend and then losing by the same scoreline at home to Bayern Munich in the Champions League. Arbeloa still opted for a full-strength side for Friday’s game, despite the second leg of their quarter-final coming up next Wednesday.
Kylian Mbappé and Vinícius Júnior led the line at the Bernabéu, with Jude Bellingham in midfield as Real monopolised possession. Yet for all their territorial dominance, clear chances proved scarce in a poor first half short on tempo and inspiration.
Girona, who have climbed away from relegation danger to sit 12th in the league, were content to sit deep and spring forward when possible. They came closest before the break when Azzedine Ounahi unleashed a fierce effort from inside the box, forcing goalkeeper Andriy Lunin to produce a sharp reflex save.
The contest finally flickered into life after half-time and Valverde broke the deadlock in the 51st minute with a low strike from the edge of the area. It should have posed little threat to Paulo Gazzaniga, but the Girona keeper allowed the ball to squirm through his arms as he tried to smother it.
The hosts’ relief was short-lived, though. In the 62nd minute, Lemar surged in from the right and rifled a superb shot from the edge of the box. The winger, who is loan from Atlético Madrid – sent his effort just inside the right post beyond Lunin’s despairing dive to level the score.
Madrid pushed for a winner but lacked composure going forward as Girona held their shape with discipline to frustrate the crowd. Home fans again jeered their own players, with the sense that their team’s title hopes are quickly disappearing.
Marseille and Roma boost Champions League hopes
Marseille reclaimed third place in Ligue 1 with a 3-1 win over bottom side Metz, while Monaco suffered a shock 4-1 defeat away to Paris FC.
Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang gave Marseille a first-half lead at the Vélodrome, and Igor Paixão latched onto Mason Greenwood’s pass to make it 2-0 early in the second half. Giorgi Tsitaishvili pulled one back for Metz, before substitute Hamed Junior Traorè wrapped up victory for the hosts in stoppage time.
Monaco’s 10-game unbeaten league run came to an abrupt end in the French capital, with Paris FC going 3-0 up after just 21 minutes. Jonathan Ikoné struck twice for the hosts, either side of a goal from veteran Italy striker Ciro Immobile.
The USA forward Folarin Balogun pulled one back before the break for Monaco, keeping up his record of scoring in each of his team’s last seven league games. Luca Koleosho put the result beyond doubt in the 71st minute, just after Paul Pogba had come on to a rapturous reception.
“It was heartwarming,” Pogba said of the crowd’s reaction as he made his first Monaco appearance since December. “I am just trying to get some minutes under my belt and get back to full fitness. It will come with time.”
Donyell Malen hit a hat-trick as Roma revived their fading Champions League hopes by cruising past Serie A’s bottom club Pisa 3-0 at home.
The Dutchman’s treble takes his total to 10 goals in 12 Serie A appearances since joining on loan from Aston Villa in January. Malen punished a defensive error to put Roma ahead inside three minutes, then tucked the ball home from close range for his second just before half time.
Malen completed his hat-trick after 51 minutes, finishing well from Matías Soulé’s through ball. Roma stay in sixth place but are level on points with Juventus in fifth, and a point behind Como in fourth, albeit with a game in hand.
In Germany, Augsburg took an early two-goal lead at home to Champions League hopefuls Hoffenheim. The visitors struck back to level before half-time through Robin Hranac and Bazoumana Toure, but could not find a winner as it ended 2-2.
UK News
Doomscrolling: is it really worth five years of your one wild and precious life? | Social media
Name: Doomscrolling.
Age: The term first emerged in 2018, but took off in 2020 (when the doom got especially heavy).
Appearance: All-consuming.
Of course it’s all-consuming! Have you seen the horrors going on out there? War, climate collapse, AI … We need to stay informed: the robot apocalypse is coming, and I, for one, intend to be ready. Intentionally consuming news from reliable sources is one thing, but do you have any idea how much time you spend inadvertently making yourself scared and angry on your phone?
No, and I suspect this is not information I will enjoy learning. Definitely not. New survey data suggests people might spend up to five years of their waking lives doomscrolling.
What? That cannot be right – break it down for me. Well, a Virgin Media O2 survey of more than 6,000 people across the UK has found that 36% of our phone use is “unintentional”. That’s automatically flicking between apps and checking our phones out of habit, idly letting our thumbs show us all the most upsetting, frightening things out there (interspersed with adverts for protein powder and podcasts).
Mine are for Dubai and mindfulness apps, but go on. That’s an hour and 26 minutes a day, or 41,000 hours in a lifetime (for someone who gets a smartphone aged 10 and survives to the predicted average age of 88).
My doomscrolling suggests it’s unlikely any of us will be surviving to 88 soon. But that is shocking. It’s four years and eight months, somewhere between the lifespan of a feral pigeon and a ferret.
A weird way to put it, but OK. Fine. In four years and eight months, a human goes from a helpless larva to a fully fledged person with bladder control and opinions about Bluey.
Better. Just think what you could do in that time. You could do a PhD, you could go to veterinary school and find out how to extend feral pigeon lifespans, you could write 107 romance novels (if you match Barbara Cartland’s 1976 record of 23) … You could go to Jupiter (almost, theoretically)!
I could not do any of that. Maybe not, but you can certainly do better things with your one wild and precious life than “unintentionally” scrolling through infinite horrors on your phone because a bunch of irresponsible billionaires precision-engineered it that way. Study something fun, travel, volunteer …
You’re right, but how? As you say, the billionaires have stitched us up. In 2020, journalist Karen Ho created a Twitter “doomscrolling reminder bot” that issued helpful nightly reminders (“Hey, are you doomscrolling?”) to encourage people to stop. Surely now it would be easy to get AI to do something similar, but customised for each of us?
Are you saying this is something the technology my doomscrolling has made me terrified of could actually help with? Who knows, but stranger things have happened.
Do say: “Hey, are you doomscrolling?”
Don’t say: “You have 10 seconds to stop before your robot overlord administers your mandated punishment.”
UK News
PM accuses Farage of exploiting Nowak case to sow ‘division’ and denies ‘two-tier policing’ claim
The incident, which is being investigated by the policing watchdog, prompted a wave of political reaction on Monday, including a video clip filmed by Farage in which he said the police response was evidence of “two-tier Britain,” and called for an end to “anti-white prejudice”.
UK News
Farage exploiting Nowak’s murder against wishes of his family, says Starmer – UK politics live | Politics
Starmer condemns Farage at PMQs, condemning his ‘rage’ response to Nowak murder as ‘unforgivable’ snub to victim’s family
Nigel Farage, the Reform UK leader, also asked about the Nowak murder.
He said:
Following the horrendous circumstances of Henry Nowak’s death, can I urge the prime minister to consider this?
It is now clear to growing millions in this country that we are living under two tier policing.
The instructions that are given to police officers from police bosses are clear and written down in ink. It says you must treat different ethnic groups in different ways.
Farage suggested that was behind “the upset and the anger at the circumstances of his death, the anger that you saw spilling out in Southampton last night”.
Some MPs jeered at Farage, saying he should condemn the violence.
Farage went on:
If the public lose trust in being treated fairly by the police, can he take some action to end this divisive practice of two-tier policing and make sure that all British citizens are treated the same?
Starmer said: “I don’t believe there’s two-tier policing in this country.”
And he said that he was “really shocked” by Farage’s approach. He said Farage pretended to respect Nowak’s family. But he was acting like this.
Starmer went on:
The grieving family have asked us not to respond in the way that the leader of Reform has responded. They’ve asked us not to. They have lost their son in the most appalling circumstance. They make a simple plea of us as human beings to please not exploit that.
That is their plea to us. We all need to reflect on those words of Henry’s father.
My response – and the response of others, to be fair – has [been focused] on the lessons to be learned so we can deliver justice.
His response has been to appeal for rage.
That’s his response to a father who’s lost his son and asked for that not to happen.
Exploiting this tragedy to create grievance and division would be wrong in any circumstances, but to do it when the family are expressly saying please don’t is unforgivable. It shows who he is.
Key events
Ben Habib winds up his Advance UK party to create more space for Restore Britain to take on Reform UK
Ben Quinn
Ben Quinn is a Guardian political correspondent.
Advance UK, the hard-right outfit set up by former Reform UK deputy leader Ben Habib, has announced it is stepping aside to make way for Rupert Lowe’s Restore Britain to become the main force trying to emerge as a rival to Nigel Farage’s party.
Habib used a video message on X to announced that Advance UK would be de-registering as a political party and was “taking a step back” to prevent “confusion” on the party of voters looking for a right-wing alternative to Reform.
Advance UK has a few dozen councillors around England, mainly those who have defected from Reform and other places, while the far-right activist known as Tommy Robinson has identified himself as a supporter in the past.
The move now potentially opens up the potential for Robinson, whose real name is Stephen Yaxley-Lennon, to team up with Restore Britain, which was set up by the former Reform MP Rupert Lowe.
Lowe used X to praise Habib’s announcement, adding that his one-time Reform UK colleague and the Advance UK membership would be welcome in Restore Britain, but he added that it was a decision for them to make.
PMQs – snap verdict
In terms of the exchanges between the PM and the leader of the opposition, that was not quite a consensus PMQs. Kemi Badenoch asked about welfare, taunted the PM over his record, and came out with an OK jibe about Starmer being a “caretaker”. But it was all quite gentle, and Badenoch did not really score any hits. Her key decision was not politicise the central news of the day. In fact, Starmer even commended her for her stance on the Henry Nowak murder. (See 12.15pm – did he know in advance she was going to lead on welfare?) Badenoch’s choice of subject matter seems to have come as a disappointment to GB News (aka Reform UK TV), but it meant the Starmer/Badenoch exchanges felt more mature and sensible than they normally do.
One consequence of that was that the most important confrontation of the session came when Nigel Farage asked a question, and Starmer responded. (See 12.46pm.) In PMQs terms, this was a resounding win; Farage was knocked out of the park. But not because Starmer was particularly aggressive, or funny, or because he blindsided Farage with a clever argument; it was a victory of tone. Starmer got it right, and Farage got it wrong. (Unless you are a GB News viewer, perhaps.)
It is hard to imagine that Badenoch is particularly comfortable with being seen as constructive and non-partisan in her dealings with Starmer (particularly if, in doing so, she helped him grind down Farage). This is definitely not her default mode. No doubt normal service will resume next week.
Calvin Bailey (Lab) said that, as chair of the all-party parliamentary group on prostate cancer, he welcomed the news that more black men are being invited in for checks.
He said this was justified because black men have double the risk of getting prostate cancer. But, he said, Reform UK had responded to this news with “divisive weasel words and race baiting”.
Bailey was referring to this social media post from Zia Yusuf, the Reform UK home affairs spokesperson, last night.
On the day the whole political establishment claims we do not live in a two tier country, they announce this.
Note, the NHS makes NO drugs available exclusively to white people.
Starmer said the government was determined to improve cancer care.
Bob Blackman (Con) asked the government to proscribe the IRGC and to take action against Iran-backed charities operating in the UK.
Starmer said proscription-type powers were being introduced for state entities, and he said the government would announce “further steps in coming days”.
Starmer says Reform just offering ‘grievance and division’ in Makerfield byelection
Andrew Rosindell (Ref) asked about Havering, where Reform won the council in the local elections.
That gave Starmer a chance to have a go at the Reform UK candidate in Makerfield, Robert Kenyon. He said:
I have studied the candidate for Makerfield, the Reform candidate, since he brings up election. A self-professed sexist said women who get abortions do it for vanity purposes, encouraged people not to get the Covid vaccine, and said Russia was within its rights to invade Crimea.
Reform have got nothing to offer but grievance and division yet again.
Starmer criticises Farage for past comments opposing taxpayer-funded NHS
Tristan Osborne (Lab) asked Starmer about NHS treatments for memory loss.
He went on:
A very distressing case was recently brought to my attention by a constituent in a village in my constituency, of a man who could not remember his own words, even though he said it on television that the NHS should not be funded through general taxation.
What can we do to ensure my constituents to ecure clarity on future Kent and Medway NHS funding? And what can we do to help the leader of Reform UK [Nigel Farage – the person who claims not to remember previously proposing a different way of funding the NHS].
Starmer replied:
The Reform leader wants everyone to forget that he called for our NHS to be replaced with an insurance based system. You might want to jot it down to jog his memory.
And then he said that if people can pay, they should pay for NHS treatment. So we can help him by jolting his memory here.
You cannot trust Reform with our NHS. The only way to protect it is to vote Labour.
Liz Saville Roberts, the Plaid Cymru leader at Westminster, asked Starmer if he would give more powers to the Senedd.
Starmer said that he had spoken to Rhun ap Iorwerth, the new first minister, and that he would “work constructively, with the first minister and with the government in Wales, because that’s the right thing to do to deliver for Wales”.
Starmer condemns Farage at PMQs, condemning his ‘rage’ response to Nowak murder as ‘unforgivable’ snub to victim’s family
Nigel Farage, the Reform UK leader, also asked about the Nowak murder.
He said:
Following the horrendous circumstances of Henry Nowak’s death, can I urge the prime minister to consider this?
It is now clear to growing millions in this country that we are living under two tier policing.
The instructions that are given to police officers from police bosses are clear and written down in ink. It says you must treat different ethnic groups in different ways.
Farage suggested that was behind “the upset and the anger at the circumstances of his death, the anger that you saw spilling out in Southampton last night”.
Some MPs jeered at Farage, saying he should condemn the violence.
Farage went on:
If the public lose trust in being treated fairly by the police, can he take some action to end this divisive practice of two-tier policing and make sure that all British citizens are treated the same?
Starmer said: “I don’t believe there’s two-tier policing in this country.”
And he said that he was “really shocked” by Farage’s approach. He said Farage pretended to respect Nowak’s family. But he was acting like this.
Starmer went on:
The grieving family have asked us not to respond in the way that the leader of Reform has responded. They’ve asked us not to. They have lost their son in the most appalling circumstance. They make a simple plea of us as human beings to please not exploit that.
That is their plea to us. We all need to reflect on those words of Henry’s father.
My response – and the response of others, to be fair – has [been focused] on the lessons to be learned so we can deliver justice.
His response has been to appeal for rage.
That’s his response to a father who’s lost his son and asked for that not to happen.
Exploiting this tragedy to create grievance and division would be wrong in any circumstances, but to do it when the family are expressly saying please don’t is unforgivable. It shows who he is.
Noah Law (Lab) asked about the murder of Henry Nowak.
Starmer said he felt sick watching the video of Nowak being arrested.
He went on:
Henry’s father said this we do not want his death to be used to create further division, hatred or tension.
There are the words of a grieving father who’s lost his son.
We do not want his death to be used to create further division, hatred or tension.
I think those words have resonated with people across the country.
We must not allow this tragedy to be hijacked by anyone who seeks to divide us.
His final words seemed designed to set up the next MP to ask a question – Nigel Farage.
With his second question, Davey turned to Labour internal politics. And he delivered a very good joke.
With our armed forces overstretched, Labour now seems to be investing in a new weapon of war – the long-form essay.
It gives another meaning to the phrase drone warfare.
Davey went on:
Tony Blair says the UK should suck up to Donald Trump, kowtow to US tech barons and go slow on Europe.
The prime minister must be grateful for this rare endorsement of his agenda.
Blair also claims that the sensible people aren’t radical and the radical people aren’t sensible.
Is the prime minister concerned that unless he changes course, he will be remembered for being neither radical nor sensible?
Starmer said Davey spoilt what had been a good joke.
And he said he was suprised that Davey was not welcoming the tax cuts for theme parks.
Ed Davey, the Lib Dem leader, used his first question to ask about Henry Nowak.
The murder of Henry Nowak was an evil crime made much worse by the lies of the killer and the police response. The investigation must uncover all things that went wrong, and all police forces must act on its conclusions.
Outside court, Henry’s father made a powerful plea that his son’s murder should not be used to create further division, but should be used to treat knife crime as a national emergency.
Does the prime minister agree that the victims of knife crime and their families deserve a politics where we come together to solve these problems and not use them as a political football?
Starmer thanked Davey for his approach and said that it was the duty of politicians “to bring people together at a time like this, not seek to divide people”.
Badenoch says Starmer just ‘caretaker’ PM, ‘keeping seat warm’ for Burnham
Badenoch said Labour MPs were cheering for Starmer even though he released their text messages.
He is more than happy to release all their text messages while all of his have disappeared.
Disappearing messages from a disappearing PM.
There is a conservative solution benefits bill down, taxes down, growth up.
Badenoch said that Starmer was now just “a caretaker, keeping the seat warm for the mayor of Manchester”.
Starmer replied:
Forgive me if I don’t take too much notice of the leader of the opposition.
For 14 years they broke our welfare system, lost control of our borders, presided over the biggest fall in living standards on record, broke the economy, prisons, the NHS. I could go on and on.
No wonder she and they are totally irrelevant.
Starmer backs McFadden over his position on welfare reform
Badenoch said McFadden also said that in all meetings with Labour MPs, they wanted to raise taxes to pay benefits. She asks if Starmer will take the advice in Tony Blair’s essay and work with the Tories on welfare reform.
Starmer replied:
They introduced a system that’s broken and they put the bill through the roof. And now they want to give us advice on welfare. No thanks, no thanks.
The question should always be not what benefits people are entitled to, but what help we can give people to change their life.
That’s what the work and pensions secretary was arguing. And he’s right about that.
Referring to revelations in the Mandelson files, Badenoch asked Starmer if he agreed with Pat McFadden, the work and pensions secretary, that the failure of the welfare reform act last year was “the moment he lost his authority”.
Starmer said he was proud of his record.
Despite the war in the Middle East, the OECD forecast UK growth is up and inflation is down.
Net migration, which reached nearly one million under them, and the leader of the opposition was the cheerleader, down by a staggering 82%.
The asylum backlog down by 46%.
We’re delivering the fastest reduction in waiting times in the NHS in the history of the NHS. That’s on top of free school meals, free breakfast clubs and free childcare.
And of course, we’re lifting half a million children out of poverty.
I’m very proud of the work of this Labour government.
Badenoch said the welfare bill went up under the last government because of Covid.
She said Starmer had given up on welfare reform.
On Sunday, the welfare secretary was asked 12 times on national radio if he would make cuts to the benefits bill and 12 times he could not answer. So I will ask the prime minister, is he going to cut the benefits bill?
Starmer said Labour is reforming the system to get young people into work. The Tories left the system broken, he said.
Badenoch said the welfare bill had gone up by £20bn under Labour. She asked why there was no welfare bill in the king’s speech.
Starmer said the government was reforming the welfare system “so it no longer pushes people away from work”.
That’s what we’re doing. They voted against it.
Welfare reform is introducing a right to try, to incentivise people to take up opportunities. That’s what we’re doing. They voted against it.
Welfare reform is providing record funding on apprenticeships. That’s what we’re doing. Apprenticeship starts fell by 40% on their watch.
Under the Tories, welfare spending soared, Starmer said.
Starmer thanks Badenoch for ‘tone’ she has taken in relation to Nowak tragedy
Kemi Badenoch, after paying tribute to Alan Haselhurst, asked Starmer how much the welfare bill has gone up under Labour.
Starmer started by thanking Badenoch for her “approach and tone” in relation to the Henry Nowak tragedy.
On welfare, he said
We inherited a broken system from the party opposite. and we are now improving that system, delivering a youth guarantee, rolling out 300,000 work experience placements.
He said the benefits bill went up under the Tories – when the welfare secretary was Mel Stride, now shadow chancellor.
Roz Savage (Lib Dem) asked Starmer to impose a cap on political donations.
Starmer said the government has capped donations. He went on:
But the $5 million question, £5m question still remains. Why is the leader of Reform dodging questions about his donations? And why did he keep it secret in the first place?
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