EXCLUSIVE I had a demon inside me... sex abuse fed the monster and drove my horrific crimes: One of Britain's biggest drug smugglers who was jailed with Reggie Kray comes clean - and reveals miracle that saved him
Riding high on BBC One is series two of The Gold, a programme revolving around the hunt to find the bullion lost in the infamous Brink's-Mat robbery.
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Scotsman
an hour ago
- Scotsman
Edinburgh Book Festival round-up: Richard Flanagan
Sign up to our Arts and Culture newsletter, get the latest news and reviews from our specialist arts writers Sign up Thank you for signing up! Did you know with a Digital Subscription to The Scotsman, you can get unlimited access to the website including our premium content, as well as benefiting from fewer ads, loyalty rewards and much more. Learn More Sorry, there seem to be some issues. Please try again later. Submitting... How does a kiss in Edwardian London spark a chain reaction which leads to the dropping of the atom bomb on Hiroshima? This is one of the questions posed by Tasmanian writer Richard Flanagan in his genre-bending memoir/novel/history book Question 7. It goes like this. In 1911, the writer Rebecca West kissed HG Wells. So terrified was he by her proposition of a love without limits that he fled to Switzerland where he wrote his novel The World Set Free, in which he imagined a nuclear war. The book was a commercial failure, but gripped the mind of Hungarian Jewish physicist Leo Szilard, who would go on to work on the science behind the atom bomb. Fearful that the Nazis would develop the technology first, he petitioned Roosevelt to start a development programme which became the Manhattan Project. Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad Booker-winning author Richard Flanagan A deep thinker and quietly compelling speaker, Flanagan is well aware of the moral complexities in this story. It also touches him personally: the dropping of the bomb on Hiroshima lead directly to the release of his father from a Japanese labour camp where he would otherwise likely have died. In that sense, he owes his own existence to the bomb. As he is not on this side of the planet very often, his visit to the Book Festival on Tuesday was a rare chance to encounter a unique writer and a unique mind. Flanagan, who won the Booker Prize in 2014 for his novel, The Narrow Road to the Deep North, explained that Question 7 was written in just ten months, after he was given a misdiagnosis of early-onset dementia (there was later found to be a mistake in the radiologist's report). Recent BBC drama hit The Narrow Road to the Deep North was based on Flanagan's 2014 novel | Contributed However, the diagnosis focused his mind on profound questions about how we live, and on considering afresh how his parents lived. He realised that, in their 'very ordinary lives', raising six children in the Tasmanian rainforest, they 'cleaved to the idea of love and goodness'. If we can take our moral compass from that sense of common humanity, he said, and resist any ideology which dehumanises another person or group, we might find hope in our troubled world. To stay up to date, why not sign up to our weekly Arts and Culture newsletter? So you don't miss a thing, it will be sent sent daily during August. Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad Leading Ukrainian novelist Andrey Kurkov also traced a chain reaction in his visit to the Book Festival, beginning with the writer Gogol and ending with the current war in Ukraine. Born in central Ukraine, Gogol wrote so beautifully about Ukrainian life and customs that he created a fashion for all things Ukrainian among the aristocracy of St Petersburg. It helped embed the idea in the Russian psyche that Ukraine was part of Russia. Well-known for novels such as Death and the Penguin and a fluent English speaker, Kurkov has become a kind of ambassador for his country in this time of war. His war diaries, the second volume of which has just been published, offer humane and even sometimes humorous insights into daily life in a country at war. Ethnically Russian – although he has lived in Ukraine since childhood – he spoke about choosing his country over his mother tongue. Russian is still his 'internal language', and the language in which his fiction is first written, though now it is read chiefly in translation: books in Russian are not sold in Ukrainian bookshops, and in Russia his books are banned. He described the recent summit in Alaska as a 'sitcom' in which the 'main character… laid out the red carpet for the war criminal'. And he was cautious of any prospect of a peace deal, given the different motivations at play: Trump hoping to win a Nobel Peace Prize; Putin wanting to be remembered as 'the tsar who made Russia great again'; Ukraine unlikely to agree to any split on territory. Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad
The Independent
an hour ago
- The Independent
US woman to be sentenced over failed assassination plot in Birmingham
A would-be assassin who flew to the UK only for her gun to jam during an assassination attempt while she was disguised in a niqab will be sentenced on Thursday. Aimee Betro, 45, was found guilty of conspiracy to murder, possessing a self-loading pistol and fraudulently evading the prohibition on importing ammunition after a three-week trial which ended last week. The graphic design and childhood education graduate tried to shoot Sikander Ali at point-blank range outside his home in Measham Grove, Yardley, Birmingham, shortly after 8pm on September 7 2019. Judge Simon Drew KC will sentence Betro, who is originally from West Allis in Wisconsin but lived in Armenia until earlier this year, at Birmingham Crown Court. Jurors at her trial heard she took part in a plot orchestrated by co-conspirators Mohammed Aslam, 56, and his son Mohammed Nabil Nazir, 31, who were sentenced for their part last year, following a feud with Mr Ali's father, Aslat Mahumad. Nazir was jailed for 32 years in November 2024 for offences including conspiracy to murder while Aslam was sentenced to 10 years. Prosecution counsel Tom Walkling KC said 'revenge was the motive' after Nazir and Aslam were injured during disorder at Mr Mahumad's clothing boutique in Birmingham in July 2018, which led them to conspire to have someone kill him or a member of his family. Mr Walkling told Betro's trial that she met Nazir, who lived in Derby, on a dating app in late 2018 and then communicated with him via Snapchat before flying to the UK on Christmas Day of the same year. She told the court she slept with Nazir at an Airbnb in London before returning to the US in January 2019. Records show Betro landed at Manchester Airport on a flight from Atlanta on August 22 2019, two weeks before the attempted killing of Mr Ali. Betro was caught on CCTV at and near the scene of the failed attempt to shoot Mr Ali, who fled in his car after the gun jammed. Security camera footage also captured her return to the scene hours later, when she aimed three shots through the front windows of Mr Ali's family home. Betro told the court she flew into the UK to celebrate her 40th birthday and knew nothing of any shooting or murder plot by the time she returned to the US. She also attempted to explain away evidence against her by claiming the woman caught on CCTV wielding a gun and recorded booking taxis was 'another American woman' known to Nazir who had a similar voice and footwear.
BBC News
an hour ago
- BBC News
Ghana's Godwin Asediba named 2025 BBC News Komla Dumor Award winner as prize marks 10th anniversary
Ghanaian journalist Godwin Asediba has been named the winner of the 2025 BBC News Komla Dumor Award. As part of the award, Godwin will spend three months working with BBC News teams across television, radio and online in London, gaining valuable experience, mentorship and other opportunities. Established in 2015, the Komla Dumor Award honours the legacy of Ghanaian broadcaster and BBC journalist, Komla Dumor, known for his exceptional storytelling and commitment to authentically representing and reporting on African stories. The award seeks to recognise and further support outstanding African journalists across the continent. The judges were impressed by Godwin's incredible investigative work to date, and his unwavering belief in journalism's integrity. Some of the past alumni of the Komla Dumor Award include: Waihiga Mwaura, lead presenter for BBC News' current affairs show, Focus on Africa Nancy Kacungira, presenter for BBC News Victoria Rubadiri, correspondent for CNN International's Connecting Africa Solomon Serwanjja, executive director of the African Institute for Investigative Journalism Paa Kwesi Asare, journalist and anchor at Ghanaian broadcaster TV3 Rukia Bulle, journalist for Kenyan broadcaster NTV The award highlights the exceptional journalistic talent across Africa, and BBC News' commitment to investing in journalism on the continent. Godwin Asediba: 'The Komla Dumor Award is more than a personal milestone, it is a call to carry forward the spirit of journalism that informs, inspires and transforms. Komla's legacy reminds us that African stories deserve to be told with depth, dignity and a fearless commitment to truth. This recognition strengthens my resolve to shine a light on issues that matter and to amplify the voices that too often go unheard.' Alice Muthengi, Komla Dumor Award Director says: 'One of the most gratifying aspects of this journey has been witnessing the genuine joy and astonishment on the faces of the winners upon learning of their success. Over the years, the BBC News Komla Dumor Award has consistently attracted a remarkable calibre of journalistic talent. It has been deeply rewarding to see the prestige the award has garnered over the past decade, and to play a role in amplifying the voices and work of outstanding African journalists to a broader international audience.' Juliet Njeri, Regional Director for Africa, says: 'Over the past decade, the Komla Dumor Award has helped nurture some of Africa's most talented journalists. It's been a privilege to watch them grow and make a lasting impact, both at the BBC and beyond. This 10th anniversary stands as a powerful testament to Komla Dumor's enduring legacy: his passion for bold, authentic storytelling and championing African voices lives on. I'm delighted to welcome this year's winner and deeply grateful to our BBC teams who have made this award possible every year.' EO3 Follow for more
