Jim McGuinness' nous combined with Tyrone's youth and firepower can set up an Ulster derby decider
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Spectator
a day ago
- Spectator
An explosion of toxic masculinity: The Fathers, by John Niven, reviewed
'Fucking men,' spits a woman towards the end of John Niven's brilliant tenth novel, The Fathers. 'Why do they always think it's about fixing everything?' It's a classic hit of deadpan humour from a novelist best known for sending up the most appalling blood, spunk'n'booze-spattered excesses of modern men. A former A&R man with a reputation for partying harder than any rock star, Niven made his name satirising the Britpop scene in his 2008 novel Kill Your Friends. Influenced by Vladimir Nabokov, Martin Amis and Irvine Welsh, he excelled at condensing his characters' most brutal, misanthropic thoughts into kick-in-the-balls prose. The hectic, testosterone-spiked plotting and shock humour force conspiratorial laughs from readers before their spinning moral compasses knows what's hit them. But Niven, now 66, has grown increasingly interested in the more tender feelings squirming within the puffed-out chests of even his most venal characters. His previous book, O Brother, was non-fiction – a painful, piercing examination of the life of his younger sibling Gary, a petty criminal who died by suicide in 2010. In it, Niven compared his own life as a wealthy and successful arts graduate with the hardscrabble existence of Gary, whose debts he could have paid with a wave of his wallet. The complex emotional truths he squared up to for that book have clearly helped broaden the psychological scope of the fictional characters who appear in The Fathers. Like Niven and his brother, this is a story of lives on different tracks. But unlike them, the titular fathers – two men in their late forties who meet outside a Glasgow hospital on the night their sons are born – come from very different backgrounds. Dan is an arts graduate who's made a fortune writing and producing a long-running detective series set in the Scottish highlands. He drives a Tesla, only eats environmentally friendly salmon and dotes on his clever wife. He's caught off guard when Jada, a small-time crook and now the father of a sixth child by a sixth woman, appears beside him in the darkness to pass judgment on the bodies of various expectant mothers passing by: 'Ye'd ride that until the fucking wean pushed ye oot, eh?' Gentle, thoughtful Dan is left fumbling for words while his writerly magpie mind snatches up Jada's slang for future dialogue. Dan's son will come home to a lovingly baby-proofed nursery, his name already down for the local private school. Jada's will soon be chugging energy drinks from his bottle while passively smoking weed. But the plot quickly tangles the two fathers' lives into a frantic scramble to 'fix' issues that spiral out of their control. Without preaching on social issues, Niven uses a catastrophic domino-topple of events to ask what power either man has to control the violent turns their lives take. We must consider the roles class and education play as both continue to regard one another as mugs. The horrors they endure expose heartbreaking, levelling vulnerabilities. The book's most shocking scene rips Dan from his middle-class cocoon; its most tender moment finds Jada (high on class As) lovingly atuned to the beat of his son's 'rabbit heart'. Without losing any of the propulsive, sweary energy or outrageous comedy of his early work, Niven has added real, lingering depth to his fiction. It's this new richness of heart that makes The Fathers such a blockbusting explosion of toxic masculinity. A week after finishing it, I still feel my ears ringing as I wait for the smoke to clear.
BBC News
3 days ago
- BBC News
South Yorkshire PC famed for bike chase named officer of the year
A police constable who caught a car thief after swapping his patrol car for a passer-by's bike has been named South Yorkshire's Officer of the Year. Footage of PC Paddy Connell chasing a man who had stolen a Range Rover Evoque in Rotherham was shared widely on social media in April last year. After the Range Rover crashed, the suspect ran off and a member of the public offered PC Connell his bike, allowing him to continue the chase and arrest the suspect. PC Connell, from the Roads Proactive Policing Team, also arrested a man who South Yorkshire Police said was their "most wanted burglar" after a pursuit in January this year. Deployed stinger During that incident PC Connell spotted a Suzuki Cross 4x4 in Penistone which failed to stop and resulted in a chase lasting almost half an hour. During the pursuit, which went in and out of West Yorkshire, the suspect threw items - including a fire extinguisher - from the car. PC Connell deployed a stinger just before a roundabout at junction 37 of the M1 as the suspect attempted to get onto the southbound carriageway of the managed to take the vehicle off the road before it reached the motorway and both men inside were detained, including the "most wanted" who is now facing a prison sentence. In what South Yorkshire Police called a "strange" pursuit last April, PC Connell asked a suspect in a Range Rover to stop on Dalton Lane but instead the driver reversed down several roads, driving at 80mph in a 30mph area before suspect got out of the car and ran off, with the officer in hot pursuit - and an observer offered him his 25-year-old suspect was eventually arrested in a garden on suspicion of theft of a motor vehicle. Chief Inspector of Roads Policing Peter Spratt said: "We are immensely proud of PC Connell and the recognition he has received."He is an integral member of the team and has had so many excellent results with colleagues, bringing offenders to justice and making South Yorkshire safer as a result."He added: "Our officers regularly put themselves at risk to protect the public, managing these incidents to a safe conclusion through tactics that require dynamic teamwork and skilful implementation of their training. "Well done PC Connell, you are a credit to the department." Listen to highlights from South Yorkshire on BBC Sounds, catch up with the latest episode of Look North
Spectator
5 days ago
- Spectator
How Trump helped Venezuela's Maduro bounce back
For someone widely believed to have lost a presidential election just a year ago, Venezuela's Nicolás Maduro is looking remarkably defiant – and still firmly in power. Maduro has just pulled off another patriotic spectacle – a choreographed homecoming of Venezuelan migrants with flags, cameras, and emotional reunions. This followed a deal with the Donald Trump administration that secured the return of 252 Venezuelans from CECOT, El Salvador's notorious mega-prison. Maduro cast himself as a protector, bringing his people home from what he called 'concentration camps,' with the regime launching an investigation into alleged abuses. For Maduro, the deal was a political win – and one delivered by his longtime adversary. But this wasn't a one-off victory. Despite Trump's bombastic rhetoric, the US president's policies – from hardline migration measures, deportation deals and even sanctions – have paradoxically given Maduro room to manoeuvre. They've breathed fresh political oxygen into a regime many thought was on the brink, helping him survive. In the lead-up to the Venezuelan presidential election on July 28 2024, Maduro faced his toughest challenge yet. After years of economic crisis and corruption, the country was desperate for change. Jubilant crowds packed opposition rallies across Venezuela, cheering María Corina Machado and her stand-in, Edmundo González, after the regime banned her from running. But hours after polls closed, the regime-controlled electoral council declared Maduro the winner — without releasing results. Opposition tallies from voting machines, later verified by independent experts, suggested González had won by a landslide. Although bruised by an election defeat – one he's never admitted – Maduro remained unbroken. He cracked down on protesters, journalists, politicians – seemingly anyone questioning his alleged 'win.' Masked agents entered homes or snatched people from the streets, accusing them of conspiracy and terrorism. When Donald Trump won the 2024 US presidential election in November, many Venezuelans hoped for renewed pressure on Maduro to accelerate regime change. Trump's first term had seen harsh sanctions and an antagonistic relationship, with the men sometimes trading insults. Trump called Maduro a 'Cuban puppet,' while Maduro dubbed Trump a 'racist cowboy.' Instead of adding salt to Maduro's electoral wounds, Trump's early policies have paradoxically helped soothe them. Over the past decade, around eight million Venezuelans have fled their country, driven largely by economic collapse. By the time Trump took office in 2025 there were 600,000 Venezuelans in the country – many who had risked crossing the treacherous Darien Gap gap jungle to get there – but some segments of the US population demanded stronger measures against incoming migrants. Trump pledged to deliver voters exactly what they wanted. Cracking down on the influx of Venezuelans was key to his strategy. He ramped up immigration enforcement, conducting raids that targeted undocumented Venezuelans in major US cities — and often citing efforts to dismantle the Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua. He also announced plans to roll back Joe Biden-era protection, Temporary Protected Status (TPS,) which has given some Venezuelans the right to live and work temporarily in the country. Maduro has seized on Trump's crackdown and dealmaking to boost his regime. He's staged glossy propaganda around a visit to Venezuela by US envoy Richard Grenell and elaborate homecomings from those deported from the US – including the well-known case of a two-year-old girl separated from her parents at the US-Mexico border, later reunited with her mother at the presidential palace. These carefully-orchestrated displays feed into Maduro's long-standing effort to present himself as the nation's protector. So much so that there's even an action figure and cartoon based on him – 'Super Bigote'– a mustachioed superhero who battles imperial enemies. Maduro has been careful not to give up too many bargaining chips. While Maduro has just released ten Americans in the latest prisoner swap, as well as a reported 80 Venezuelans, within days, 20 new arrests of opposition figures were reported. More than 900 political prisoners remain behind bars. Human rights groups call it a 'revolving-door policy.' Maduro may have handed over a few playing pieces, but he's already replacing them. It hasn't all been plain sailing since Trump's return. The White House has recognised Edmundo González's 2024 victory and sees Maduro's rule as illegitimate. But the biggest blow – economically and symbolically – came when Trump reverted to his first-term favourite: sanctions. As well as individual sanctions against some regime members, by pulling Chevron's Venezuela license and imposing a 25 per cent tariff on imports from countries buying Venezuelan oil, Trump tightened the economic noose again. Yet in a twist, in the last few days it was reported that the US will allowed Chevron to resume limited operations, giving Maduro yet another lifeline. While some opposition figures and economists believe that sanctions are necessary to hasten Maduro's downfall, there are others who argue they have historically hit ordinary people harder than the regime. This has given him fresh ammunition for Maduro to bash the opposition with, portraying them as traitors to the nation for largely supporting sanctions. María Corina Machado recently called Trump 'an ally of democracy' and of the Venezuelan people. 'The measures he has recently taken, including increased sanctions, demonstrate this,' she said. While Maduro courts diplomacy with one hand and deploys revolutionary rhetoric with the other, the opposition lacks that luxury. It can't criticise Trump too harshly without risking key support, leaving it open to accusations of cosiness with the US administration, who many blame for the suffering of Venezuelans abroad. With Trump back on the scene, the road ahead remains anything but predictable. And while Maduro isn't thriving – he is surviving. Trump, his policies and his love of dealmaking are helping him do just that.
