Switzerland lives up to stereotype with ‘beautifully organised' Eurovision
Switzerland is living up to its stereotype by delivering a 'beautifully organised' Eurovision Song Contest, the director of the event has said.
Basel is hosting the 2025 contest after Switzerland's Nemo won last May in Sweden with The Code, which explored them coming to terms with their non-binary identity.
Last year in Malmo, pro-Palestinian protests were held outside the event's arena due to Israel's participation amid the war in Gaza, and the show was also hit by criticism from its contestants.
This time around, Martin Green has been brought in by organisers the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) as the new director of the contest, after being an executive producer on Eurovision 2023 in Liverpool, and the ceremonies of the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games.
Mr Green told a press conference on Monday in Basel: 'Everyone's really excited to finally show you what we've been up to for the last few months. In the last two weeks, the Swiss have done an extraordinary job this year.
'It is almost stereotypically beautifully organised. Come with us on the journey. Let's share a bit of love this week. Shall we? I think it's probably the biggest weapon we have. It's a bit of love this week, so come with us on the journey.'
Following last year, the EBU conducted a review and pledged a new code of conduct for 2025, with a raft of measures to 'protect' the wellbeing of artists in Basel – these appear to include the scrapping of semi-final media conferences, and more welfare measures for artists, and rules for delegations, and journalists.
Mr Green said: 'I realise that we've changed a few things up this year. What I can absolutely tell you now we've put it into practice, is the artists are loving it.
'They are relaxed. They feel that they've got time to make sure that before they go in front of the world, they feel confident and rehearsed. You'll remember, there's a lot of new artists here. This is the biggest thing they've ever done.'
One big change is that the semi-finals will focus on the artists' reactions, using three-split screens to show one act qualifying for the first nine going through.
The 10th act qualifying in each semi-final will be announced the usual way by the hosts.
On Sunday, the Eurovision opening event, the Turquoise Carpet, saw Palestinian flags held by crowds protesting over Israel's inclusion, and more demonstrations are scheduled for Saturday in the city centre at 7pm local time.
Basel police's head of communications, Adrian Plachesi, told the PA news agency that the force was aware these type of events could mean an 'increased risk of terror attacks' from extremists, and they were also monitoring in case of 'cyber attacks' on the city's infrastructure.
The force has stepped up video surveillance because of the 'heightened threat level' and the city centre has some road closures, Swiss police said.
Mr Plachesi said no permission has been granted for protests, but officers would be stationed for expected pro-Palestinian demonstrations.
He added officers 'might have to intervene', if demonstrations interfere with 'public safety'.
About 1,300 Swiss police officers are on duty in Basel this week, with more forces drafted in from the Swiss Armed Forces, federal police and neighbouring countries – Germany and France – ahead of the two semi-finals on Tuesday and Thursday, and the grand final on Saturday.
Current favourites to win include KAJ, who are from Finland's Swedish-speaking minority and will represent Sweden, with the upbeat comical Bara Bada Bastu – inspired by the Nordic sauna culture.
The hit is the first time the country, which is tied with Ireland for the most Eurovision wins, has entered with a song in Swedish since the 1990s, when the rules on competing in a country's official language were relaxed.
Others in contention are Dutch entry Claude Kiambe's C'est La Vie, Israeli singer Yuval Raphael, a survivor of the October 7 2023 Hamas attacks, with New Day Will Rise, Austrian singer JJ's Wasted Love, and French singer Louane's ballad Maman.
On Tuesday, Switzerland's Zoe Me, the Netherlands and Ukraine's Ziferblat will perform, and on Thursday the UK's girl group Remember Monday, Ireland's Emmy Kristiansen and Israel will take to the stage.
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Daily Mail
10 minutes ago
- Daily Mail
Love Island viewers grow tired of Shakira joke minutes into launch episode as they complain 'we're going to hear it all series!'
Love Island viewers have revealed they are 'already annoyed' after two jokes were made about a contestant's name. Construction project manager Shakira, 26, was one of the first Islanders to make her way into the villa as the new series kicked off on Monday. But quick off the mark a joke was made about her name, as a fellow Islander referenced iconic popstar Shakira. While introducing herself to one of the girls, Shakira revealed her name and Sophie Lee replied: 'Oo and your hips don't lie.' Just minutes later another similar joke was made again - and fans of the show were left rolling their eyes at the prospect of it continuing all series. From A-list scandals and red carpet mishaps to exclusive pictures and viral moments, subscribe to the Daily Mail's new showbiz newsletter to stay in the loop. They wrote on X, formerly Twitter: 'Are they gonna sing "shakira shakira" all the time,'; 'Gonna be hearing the Shakira references the whole season aren't we,'; '"hips don't lie shakira shakira" STOP,'; 'They're 1000% gonna wear out the Shakira jokes i can feel it,'; 'I'm already annoyed by how many times they are going to make the Shakira joke,'; '"them hips don't lie" "shakira shakira" i know she's tired,'; 'We are gonna hear Shakira Shakira all season aren't we,'; 'The Shakira references are going to get old let's stop that now,'; '"My name is Shakira" ABSOLUTELY EVERYBODY "oooo them hips don't lie",'; 'Can we get some new material or is it just gonna be Shakira Shakira my hips don't lie all summer.' The latest installment of the reality dating show begins on Monday night with host Maya Jama set to introduce a new batch of sexy singletons looking for love. The ladies - Shakira, Meg, Alima, Sophie, Megan and Helena - are first to enter the villa with talk soon turning to the boys they could potentially couple up with. However, in contrast to recent series, it won't be the viewers that will be picking the couples, but instead the girls will be tasked with choosing their boys based on their dating profiles. Explaining the huge change, Maya tells the girls: 'This year things are slightly different. You've told me what your type on paper is, but does that match your ideal man in reality? Come and join me by the pool.' As the girls line up, she continues: 'Girls, in front of you there are six love hearts and each boy has given me their dating profile which is written on each of these hearts - shall we have a look at what these boys have to offer?' The girls then check out the descriptions of the island's boys - Ben, Dejon, Harry, Conor, Blu and Tommy. They then have to decide to who they'd like to pair up with based on key stats with the boys' name, age, job and a headline. Headlines includes lines such as: 'I like to play hard and work harder! I love to play, so I work very hard...' in order to help the girls make their big decisions. After discussing the boys' profiles and attempting to figure out which lad could be right for them, Maya then forces them to make their choice. Counting to three, the stunner informs the ladies that they must run to their chosen heart, with only one girl allowed to stand next to each heart. With mere seconds to make their choice, it remains to be seen whether they get the man of their choice or will be left to beg for a swap. Meanwhile, following the decisions, the boys then enter the villa and meet their matches one-by-one. NAME: Sophie Lee AGE: 29 FROM: Manchester OCCUPATION: Motivational Speaker and Author WHAT ARE YOU LOOKING FOR? 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The Guardian
43 minutes ago
- The Guardian
Frederick Forsyth obituary
Frederick Forsyth always claimed that when, in early 1970, as an unemployed foreign correspondent, he sat down at a portable typewriter and 'bashed out' The Day of the Jackal, he 'never had the slightest intention of becoming a novelist'. Forsyth, who has died aged 86, also became well known as a political and social commentator, often with acerbic views on the European Union, international terrorism, security matters and the status of Britain's armed forces, but it is for his thrillers that he will be best remembered. Forsyth's manuscript for The Day of the Jackal was rejected by three publishers and withdrawn from a fourth before being taken up by Hutchinson in a three-book deal in 1971. Even then there were doubts, as half the publisher's sales force were said to have expressed no confidence in a book that plotted the assassination of the French president General Charles de Gaulle – an event that everyone knew did not happen. The skill of the book was that its pace and seemingly forensic detail encouraged readers to suspend disbelief and accept that not only was the plot real, but that the Jackal – an anonymous English assassin – almost pulled it off. In fact, at certain points, the reader's sympathy lies with the Jackal rather than with his victim. It was a publishing tour de force, winning the Mystery Writers' of America Edgar award for best first novel, attracting a record paperback deal at the Frankfurt book fair and being quickly filmed by the US director Fred Zinnemann, with Edward Fox as the ruthless Jackal. Forsyth was offered a flat fee for the film rights (£20,000) or a fee plus a percentage of the profits – he took the flat fee, later admitting that he was 'pathetic at money'. The 1972 paperback edition of The Day of the Jackal was reprinted 33 times in 18 years and is still in print, but while readers were happy to be taken in by Forsyth's painstakingly researched details (about everything from faked passports to assembling a sniper's rifle), the critics and the crime-writing establishment were far from impressed. Whodunit? A Guide to Crime, Spy and Suspense Stories, published in 1982, by which time Forsyth's sales were well into the millions, declared rather loftily that 'authenticity is to Forsyth what imagination is to many other writers', and the critic Julian Symons dismissed Forsyth as having 'no pretension to anything more than journalistic expertise'. It was a formula that readers clearly approved of, with the subsequent novels in that original three-book deal, The Odessa File (1972) and The Dogs of War (1974), being both bestsellers and successful films. Novellas, collections of short stories and more novels were to follow. These included The Fourth Protocol (1984), which had a cameo role for the British spy-in-exile Kim Philby and was also successfully filmed, with a screenplay by Forsyth and starring Michael Caine and a pre-Bond Pierce Brosnan and, against type, The Phantom of Manhattan (1999), a sequel to Gaston Leroux's The Phantom of the Opera. Nothing, however, was to match the impact of The Day of the Jackal and when a Guardian journalist spotted a copy in a London flat used by the world's most wanted terrorist, Ilich Ramírez Sánchez, or 'Carlos', in 1975, the British press dubbed him Carlos the Jackal, with no need to explain the reference. Born in Ashford, Kent, Frederick was the son of Phyllis and Frederick Sr, shopkeepers at 4 North Street – his mother's dress business operated on the ground floor and his father sold furs on the first floor. He was educated at Tonbridge school, where supportive teachers and summer holidays abroad ensured that Frederick excelled at French, German and Russian. At the age of 16, he enrolled on an RAF flying scholarship course that brought him a pilot's licence by the age of 17 and eased his way into the RAF proper for his national service, where he obtained his pilot's 'wings' and flew Vampire jets as the youngest pilot in the service. However, when he failed in his ambition to be posted to a frontline squadron, he opted for a change of career and in 1958 entered journalism as a trainee with the Eastern Daily Press in their King's Lynn office. In the autumn of 1961 he set his sights on Fleet Street, and his fluency with languages (which now included Spanish) got him a job with Reuters press agency. In May 1962, he was posted to Reuters' office in Paris, where De Gaulle was the target of numerous assassination attempts by disaffected Algerians. The experience was not lost on Forsyth, but before he could put it to good use in The Day of the Jackal, there were other journalistic postings, a war to survive and a non-fiction book to write. The Reuters' office in East Berlin was a plum posting for any journalist in 1963 as the cold war turned distinctly chilly, despite the attentions of the East German security services. However, when he returned to Britain in 1965 for a job as a diplomatic correspondent with the BBC, it was Broadcasting House rather than East Berlin which he found to be 'a nest of vipers'. Forsyth's relationship with the BBC hierarchy was antagonistic from the start and deteriorated rapidly when he was sent to Nigeria in 1967 to cover the civil war then unravelling. Objecting to the unquestioning acceptance of Nigerian communiques that downplayed the situation, by both the Foreign Office and the BBC, Forsyth began to file stories putting the secessionist Biafran side of the story as well as the developing humanitarian crisis. He was recalled to London for an official BBC reprimand but returned to Nigeria as a freelance at his own expense to cover the increasingly bloody war and to write a Penguin special, The Biafra Story (1969). He returned to Britain for Christmas 1969, low on funds, his BBC career in tatters and with nowhere to live. On 2 January 1970, camped out in the flat of a friend, he began to write a novel on a battered portable typewriter. After 35 days The Day of the Jackal was finished, and fame and fortune followed. In 1973 he married Carrie (Carole) Cunningham, and they moved to Spain to avoid the rates of income tax likely to be introduced by an incoming Labour government. In 1974 they relocated to County Wicklow in Ireland, where writers and artists were treated gently when it came to tax, returning to Britain in 1980 once Margaret Thatcher was firmly established in Downing Street. By 1990, Forsyth had undergone an amicable divorce from Carrie, but a far less amicable separation from his investment broker and his life savings, and claimed to have lost more than £2m in a share fraud. To recoup his losses, Forsyth threw himself into writing fiction, producing another string of bestsellers, although none had the impact of his first three novels. He was appointed CBE in 1997 and received the Crime Writers' Association's Diamond Dagger for lifetime achievement in 2012. In 2016 he announced that he would write no more thrillers and that his memoir The Outsider (2015), which revealed that he had worked as an unpaid courier for MI6, or 'The Firm' as he called it, would be his swansong. He acquired a reputation as a rather pungent pundit, both on Radio 4 and in a column in the Daily Express, when it came to such topics as the 'offensive' European Union, the leadership of the Conservative party, the state of Britain's prisons and jihadist volunteers returning from Middle Eastern conflicts. He was an active campaigner on behalf of Sgt Alexander Blackman, 'Marine A', who was jailed for the murder of an injured Taliban fighter in Afghanistan in 2011. Forsyth maintained that Blackman had been made a scapegoat by the army from the moment of his court martial. In 2017 the conviction was overturned. Often concerned with military charities, Forsyth wrote the lyrics to Fallen Soldier, a lament for military casualties in all wars recorded and released in 2016. Forsyth was not the first foreign correspondent to take up thriller-writing. Ian Fleming had led the way in the 1950s, with Alan Williams and Derek Lambert carrying the torch into the 1960s. The spectacular success of The Day of the Jackal did however encourage a new generation, among them the ITN reporter Gerald Seymour, whose debut novel, Harry's Game, was generously reviewed by Forsyth in the Sunday Express in 1975. Years later, Seymour remembered the impact of Forsyth's debut, The Day of the Jackal: 'That really hit the news rooms. There was a feeling that it should be part of a journalist's knapsack to have a thriller.' Despite having declared Forsyth's retirement from fiction, his publisher Bantam announced the appearance of an 18th novel, The Fox, in 2018. Based on real-life cases of young British hackers, The Fox centres on an 18-year-old schoolboy with Asperger syndrome and the ability to access the computers of government security and defence systems. For Christmas 1973 Disney based the short film The Shepherd, a ghostly evocation of second world war airfields, on a 1975 short story by Forsyth. The following year The Day of the Jackal was reimagined by Ronan Bennett for a TV series with Eddie Redmayne taking the place of Fox. Later this year a sequel to The Odessa File, Revenge of Odessa, written with Tony Kent, is due to appear. Forsyth will be a subject of the BBC TV documentary series In My Own Words. In 1994 he married Sandy Molloy. She died last year. He is survived by his two sons, Stuart and Shane, from his first marriage. Frederick Forsyth, journalist and thriller writer, born 25 August 1938; died 9 June 2025
The Sun
an hour ago
- The Sun
I'm married but fell pregnant with my handsome ex's baby after passionate nights of sex
DEAR DEIDRE: MY gorgeous ex has wormed his way back into my life and now I'm expecting his baby. I've blown up my world for a few hours of passion while my husband was away. After five years of marriage I thought I was happy. We have a daughter of four and my husband recently got a promotion which meant he had to retrain and was out of the country for two whole months. He's not as handsome as my ex but he's a lovely guy. I split up with my ex after he cheated on me with my friend. I was 19 at the time. I'm now 28 and my husband is 32. My ex, who's 30, contacted me through social media saying he had something to tell me. I stupidly thought there would be no harm seeing him so arranged a babysitter and met him in a pub. I recognised him immediately. His dazzling smile and his trendy hair-cut — he was still on-point. He bought me a drink, saying he was sorry for hurting me all those years ago. He asked about my job and what I'd been doing. I didn't tell him I was married. I fancied him all over again. He invited me back to his new apartment overlooking the river and he told me he'd never stopped thinking about me. I've never felt as desirable as when he kissed me passionately that night. We had sex and it was like old times. We met a few times after that and always ended the evening with sex at his place. We used protection so I was horrified last week to discover that I'm pregnant. I don't know how it happened but the condom must have failed. It's definitely his. I'm in a mess. DEIDRE SAYS: This guy was history but your husband and daughter are the family that you love. You're on the edge of jeopardising life as you know it. If you go through with the pregnancy, your ex will be responsible for looking after this child financially and preferably emotionally too. How do you think he'd react to the news? You could choose to forget the dates and try to pass this off as your husband's baby but secrets have a habit of getting out. If the dates are way out, people are going to ask questions. My support pack called Unplanned Pregnancy will show you where to find support in deciding your next steps. I DREAM OF WORLD'S END WHILE I SHUT MYSELF AWAY DEAR DEIDRE: I SEEM to have cut myself off from my family and friends by withdrawing socially. It is not because they have done anything wrong, but more because I don't feel the need for interaction. Given a choice, I'll plump to read or watch TV alone. I am a 42-year-old single woman and I live by myself. Recently, I've had a lack of interest in anything and anyone, and don't want to engage in activities that usually interest me. I've even started fantasising that there will be another world war as I am fed up paying bills and dealing with people. Debts and working are also contributing to my mood. Even if the world ended today, I would be happy and excited. I hate it as it is now, and I am bored. I also keep cleaning my flat in the hope that it will help me focus and be happier, but it never does. Do other people feel the same or is there something wrong with me? DEIDRE SAYS: It can be upsetting to feel apathetic and unmotivated, and it could be a sign of depression, anxiety or being overwhelmed. It is important that you talk to your doctor about how this lack of interest is affecting you. Feeling bored with life at times is normal, especially if faced with monotonous routines or a sense of emptiness. My support pack, Defeat Depression, explains more. FLOP IN BED DUE TO WORK STRESS DEAR DEIDRE: GOING on holiday improves my physical health and then my erections return. As soon as I'm home, they disappear. My job as a police sergeant is stressful. I'm married and I'm 47. We've had some issues with sex in the past couple of years but we've always managed to do things that appeal to both my wife and I. We went to Norfolk earlier in the year and had great sex. Recently we went to Dubai and I had no problems in the bedroom while we were there. But this week, I'm back at work and I don't wake up with that 'morning glory' like I used to. DEIDRE SAYS: When we take a break from our normal day-to-day concerns, holidays do exactly what they are supposed to do – they recharge the batteries as we enjoy a change of scene. If you're waking up when you're away with morning erections, then you know that everything is working as it should be. A lack of erection once or twice can quickly become a self-fulfilling prophecy; you worry once and it happens again and again. My support pack on Solving Erection Problems will help but in the short-term, do read my pack called Sex Play Therapy, which has exercises recommended by sex therapists. There is no pressure to have full sex for a few weeks but it will help those feelings of arousal to return naturally. SHE MONITORS MY EVERY MOVE DEAR DEIDRE: TECHNICALLY, I cheated on my girlfriend when we first met and now she watches me like a hawk. We weren't official though and my other relationship was petering out. I hardly saw my previous girlfriend and it was only a matter of time before I plucked up the courage to tell her we were over. What I hadn't told her was that I'd found a new love interest at work. My colleague was 24 when she joined our tech desk. My computer was constantly on the blink and she always seemed to be there when I needed help. I'm 29 and I really fancied this girl so I invited her out. We must have had half a dozen dates – and sex – before I asked her to make it official. We've been getting along great and I think she could be the one but one Saturday morning in bed, she was asking about my exes and I got confused with the dates and let it slip that I was seeing her and my ex at the same time. Now she wants to check my phone, she's got me on Find My Friends and won't let me go anywhere without her. It's getting too much. DEIDRE SAYS: Many people still assume you're a free agent if you're dating them or having sex with them, so it's always best to spell it out that you're looking for something casual. Technical details aside, in her eyes you've broken her trust and you're going to have to come clean and ask for forgiveness. Explain that you regret you weren't more open but that you want to fully commit now. Understand that she's feeling insecure and allow her time to realise you're not an unfaithful type. Read through my support pack, How To Look After Your Relationship, to get the best out of what you have together. Things may look different in a few months.
