Tory grandee and Thatcher ally Norman Tebbit dies aged 94
Tebbit was the Tory hard man who took on the trade unionsFormer Cabinet minister played key roles during Margaret Thatcher's time in officeAs Conservative Party chairman, Norman Tebbit masterminded Margaret Thatcher's third general election victory despite tensions with the PM
©Press Association
Tory former Cabinet minister Lord Norman Tebbit has died aged 94, his son said.
The Conservative grandee was one of Margaret Thatcher's closest political allies and played a key role in Tory politics for a generation.
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Irish Times
3 days ago
- Irish Times
Is Brigitte Macron wise to sue a right-wing podcaster over crackpot claims she was born a man?
Last January the public was given a rare insight into what Mr Justice Michael Twomey described as 'millionaire' court costs. It went public only because the defendant was arguing that the plaintiff would be unable to pay the likely eye-watering costs if the latter lost the case. In short, the losing party could face an overall bill of between €1 million and €2 million, said the judge, who remarked in passing that the Taoiseach's salary of about €230,000 covers his work for an entire 12 months. Anyone contemplating legal action might consider the American satirist Ambrose Bierce's definition of litigation: a machine that you go into as a pig and come out as a sausage. In the US, defamation juries play with the kind of numbers that would make lawyers here blanch. In E Jean Carroll's defamation case against Donald Trump (following an earlier judgment that found him liable for sexually abusing her) the jury awarded her $83.3 million , which he is appealing. READ MORE But the really big ones are rarely just about numbers. Many fervently pray for the day that Trump and Rupert Murdoch face off in court over the Wall Street Journal's report about Trump's 'secret' birthday message for Epstein, but the number are almost irrelevant; it's about discovery. It's only partly about the numbers in the Brigitte and Emmanuel Macron v Candace Owens US defamation lawsuit, in that a punitive jury could bankrupt Owens. Owens, a right-wing podcaster and commentator, is married to the son of a wealthy Tory peer. With about 11 million followers between X and YouTube alone, it's no mystery why multiple platforms continue to carry her heinous, cracked conspiracy theories about the Macrons; it's a whale of a money-spinner. American right-wing podcaster Candace Owens. The French president, Emmanuel Macron, and his wife, Brigitte Macron, filed a defamation suit last week against Owens, who claimed Brigitte Macron is actually a man. Photograph: Rebecca Noble/The New York Times The 219-page lawsuit drills separately into each of the eight podcast episodes from her Becoming Brigitte series aired this year. Those episodes can (still) be found on multiple platforms, which means that tens of millions are still thrilling to her claims that Brigitte Macron was born a man and stole her (still living) brother's identity; that she fathered her children with an imaginary woman; that her husband is her incestuous son or nephew; that the couple are part 'of a very small group of elite oligarchs who routinely practice homosexuality and paedophilia, believe in Baphomet [a satanic figure] and worship a transgender deity'. Though given verifiable evidence disproving the claims, she doubled down with the podcast series and accompanying X posts. With news of the lawsuit, her followers have pivoted. Once overnight experts in epidemiology, crypto and elite paedophile gangs operating out of pizza parlours, they are now bringing such expertise to advising Owens on defamation law; counselling that the first amendment is her best protection, and that surely calling a person transgender is not considered an insult among the DEI libtards so where's the harm? Some just want a chromosome test already. Many who question the Macrons' decision to sue rightly fear Bierce's sausage machine. Some murmur darkly about the Streisand effect (where efforts to minimise or hide information only serve to escalate it). Or they shrug that them's the breaks of a public life, as if the couple were too dim to have considered the implications. Brigitte Macron and relatives have already been through Bierce's machine. Their French defamation suit against the original conspiracy theorists ended badly this month when an appeals court overturned a ruling ordering the defendants to pay damages, on the basis that their false claims about Macron had been made in 'good faith'. Perhaps the answer to the question 'why now?' lies in pages 91 and 92 of the US suit where Owens – 'egging on the Macrons' – said in a video last February: 'Where's your lawsuit? Where's your lawsuit, Brigitte?' The taunt was picked up by Joe Rogan , often described as the most popular podcaster in the world, who agreed that Brigitte Macron was indeed a man and then said: '[Owens] would be getting sued right now instead of trying to bribe her. Instead of trying to give her money to shut the f**k up, they would sue her.' The Macrons deny offering her any type of bribe or money. On the face of it, court days featuring the glamour, wealth and power of the Macrons v Owens promise rare entertainment for the masses. Yet there is something poignant about plaintiffs feeling compelled to include a birth announcement of a baby girl and family photographs of Brigitte as a child, of her first communion and of her first wedding in 1974 to prove the truth of her existence as a daughter, wife and mother. The Macrons have been subjected to 'a campaign of global humiliation', says the suit. 'It is invasive, dehumanising and deeply unjust'. Owens, a mother of four, is unmoved. She continues to double down on her repulsive narrative while, in a classic Maga act of projection, portraying herself as a victim of media defamation and implying that her life is under threat. Why a US podcaster would target a couple in a country her fans would be unable to find on a map is another question. Whether she is acting alone may be the stuff of another conspiracy theory – but as the woman herself proves hour after hour, anything is possible.
The Irish Sun
24-07-2025
- The Irish Sun
Huge metal barriers ‘to keep protesters away' put up around luxury hotel set to house asylum seekers…and paid for by YOU
BARRIERS have blocked off entry to a four-star hotel that is being converted to house asylum seekers, following protests yesterday. The tall protective wall could be seen outside Advertisement 7 Metal fencing has blocked off the entrance to the Britannia International Hotel Credit: George Cracknell Wright 7 Security were also seen manning the barriers this morning Credit: George Cracknell Wright 7 Anti-migrant protesters had gathered outside the building yesterday, following confirmation it would be used to house asylum seekers Credit: PA 7 The hotel is due to be converted to house asylum seekers in anticipation of a surge in summer Channel crossings Credit: Getty The hotel - which can cost tourists up to £425 a night to stay at - has been taken over by the Home Office in anticipation of a summer surge in Channel crossings, with the bill being footed by the taxpayer. Pictures today show tall metal fencing surrounding the main entrance to the hotel, with security also manning the wall. Anti-migrant protesters claim the barriers were put up to keep them away from the hotel entrance after protesters gathered yesterday. The decision to convert the hotel for asylum seekers has been branded an "insult", with some residents and local business owners saying they fear for their safety - adding that the move would attract protests. Advertisement A demonstration was held outside the hotel on Tuesday while yesterday police guarded the hotel as protesters gathered outside. The fencing had already been erected yesterday ahead of expected protests. Pictures also showed workers hauled beds inside, as Tower Hamlets Council confirmed the hotel would be used for migrants. The local authority added that the asylum seekers should receive a 'full package of support'. Advertisement Most read in The Sun Shadow Home Secretary 'This is one of the most luxurious hotels people can only dream of staying in, right in the heart of London's financial centre. 7 Protesters gathered outside the hotel yesterday Credit: Getty 7 There was also a contingent of counter-protesters from Stand Up To Racism Credit: Getty Advertisement 7 A large police presence was in place yesterday outside the building Credit: Getty 'No wonder 'This is an insult to law-abiding citizens. 'The Government must urgently act to deport every single illegal arrival, then the crossings would rapidly stop but Advertisement Susan Hall, Tory leader in London's City Hall, added: 'It's incredible that four-star hotels like this are being used to house migrants. 'This move will damage every small firm in Canary Wharf trying to survive. 'Women and children, I can tell you, don't feel safe around these hotels in London. 'It shows things are getting worse and worse for hard-working Brits, who are trying to keep their families going. Advertisement 'This is the damage it is doing to society, and I think it is going to cause a really serious problem.' Some 23,534 migrants have already arrived on Read more on the Irish Sun Sources indicated the International will remain empty until necessary, with the Home Office striking a deal to rent 400 rooms for £81 a night. It means the weekly bill for the hotel could be up to £226,800 if every room is used. Advertisement
Irish Post
23-07-2025
- Irish Post
Born in Britain, still not English
THERE are quite clearly some people who were born and raised in Irish families in England who consider themselves English. I don't have any problem with that.I don't fully understand it, but that's not meant as any kind of judgement. I'm only going by my own experience, and such was the intensity of being Irish in that upbringing that being English just never occurred to me. Of course, I can see how that is different for different people. Coming from those huge, urban Irish immigrant communities, I can't quite see how you come out of that not being Irish—but, you know, to each their own. English. Half-Irish-Half-English. British. I've heard all of them and, like I say, while I can't quite grasp those identities, that doesn't mean they aren't valid. The failure of understanding is mine, isn't it? I know I can define and defend my identity—God only knows I've gone on about it quite enough—so I've no need to denigrate someone else's. I do have some bad news, though, for those who do see themselves as English: it might just be the case that they don't want you. The English, I mean. The English-English, if you like. Fittingly enough, as I'm writing this in the month the death was announced of Norman Tebbit, the 1980s hardline Conservative MP. Back in the eighties, Tebbit was one of my early confirmations of how I wasn't English when he rolled out his infamous 'cricket test'. It all sounds quite innocent by today's standards, but Tebbit's notion was that if you had been raised and were living and working in England but did not support England in the cricket, then what were you doing here? As neither a cricket fan nor an England fan, I knew I was going to fail that loyalty test every time. I was never going to be English in Tebbit's eyes—and that suited me fine. But we've gone way past cricket now in Brexit-flavoured England. What follows is not a conversation from the dark corners of the internet, nor one between fringe figures. It comes from The Spectator magazine and features Michael Gove, who was until recently a senior government minister, and Matt Goodwin, a political scientist, commentator, and GB News presenter. These are their words, quoted verbatim for the purposes of commentary: Michael Gove: 'Would you say that Kemi Badenoch, or Rishi Sunak or Tony Sewell or Dame Kelly Holmes are not really English?' Matt Goodwin: 'Well, this is a debate. My view is that Englishness is an ethnicity, deeply rooted in a people that can trace their roots back over generations. It is a very distinctive identity and a different identity from Britishness. I think someone can identify as British and can be British but they cannot simultaneously identify as English.' Goodwin continues: 'I take a much thicker view of Englishness and that is that our history, the legacy of our collective identity, the legacy of our culture, goes much deeper and much further back.' Gove then asks him about the Englishness of former Prime Minister Rishi Sunak—pointing out that Sunak was born and raised in Southampton, went to that most English of public schools, Winchester, supports Southampton FC, and is a Conservative. 'Is he not English?' To which Goodwin replies: 'Well, Rishi Sunak could choose to identify as English if he views himself that way, but I think it is also true that there is an English ethnicity, an English group, that goes back generations that Rishi Sunak himself would say, 'I do not have as strong a linkage to that group as other people do.'' Asked to define Englishness, Goodwin says: 'I would say someone who has been born in England, can trace their roots back through many generations, and who would identify with a way of life and a culture that surrounds Englishness as an identity.' Now, all of those words are theirs. I haven't altered them or shaped them to fit an argument of my own. I haven't even explored where such ideas of English ethnic identity lead to, or just how many people it excludes. But one, maybe two generations removed from a farmer in Mayo, a labourer in Cork, or a painter in Dublin—just how English do you think they really think you are? Joe Horgan posts on X at @JoeHorganwriter See More: Englishness, Irish Identity
