logo
Lionesses' victory showed strong & proud England at its finest… the return of unapologetic patriotism was long overdue

Lionesses' victory showed strong & proud England at its finest… the return of unapologetic patriotism was long overdue

The Sun4 days ago
IF you were attempting to fly off on your family holiday this Wednesday just as all outbound flights from the UK were grounded due to a technical failure, then you would have had a vivid close-up of broken Britain.
You know the place. The land where 'nothing works'.
The country where taxes are at an all-time high and yet public services are at an all-time low.
Where a deeply unpopular government presides over unfettered immigration, industrial unrest, porous borders, NHS queues, rising violent crime and economic paralysis.
If I had been one of 577,000 Brits decked by the latest air traffic chaos, you bet your life I would have been screaming: 'Why does nothing work in this bloody country?'
Most feel that a raft of crimes are on the rise, from sex offences to knife crime to street mugging. Yet police stations are closed. Coppers are rarely seen on our lawless streets.
Burglars, shoplifters and phone-snatchers get away with their crimes.
Our capital has become Dodge City with a mayor who frets more about the American President than he does the anarchic streets of London.
But it is always worth remembering that there is another country — an unbroken Britain.
And it is just as real as the land of striking doctors, online haters, small boats, e-bikes dumped in disabled bays, brazen shoplifters, phone snatchers, knife crime, and all the rest of our litany of misery.
What my old mucker Ian Dury called reasons to be cheerful.
That unbroken Britain — strong and proud, stoic and resilient — was rampant when England's women won the Euros.
England's Lionesses return home to heroes' welcome with EURO 2025 trophy
'This team shows exactly what it means to be English,' said Lioness Chloe Kelly. 'I am so proud to be English. This team is made of magic and made of steel.'
'We've shown during this tournament that we can come back when we go a goal down,' said hero goalkeeper Hannah Hampton. 'We have that grit. We have English blood in us.'
The return of unapologetic, unabashed patriotism is long overdue. Remembering who we are — and why it should make us happy — can never be wrong. Those patriotic Lionesses spoke of something real.
This country has faced and fought tyrants for centuries. It has not been invaded for 1,000 years.
It is home to a tough, tolerant, quietly courageous, freedom-loving people with an instinct for good manners and gentle humour.
Fashionable self-loathing
Doesn't that remind you of your family and your friends and everyone you grew up with?
We have so many reasons to be proud of our country.
Eleven years ago, Labour's Emily Thornberry took a photo of a working-class home with a St George flag on display outside — because Emily clearly thought it was hilarious, darling.
But for all that ails our nation — and yes, there is plenty — I believe in my blood and bones that Emily Thornberry's brand of fashionable self-loathing has had its day. Enough.
I am always proud of this country.
Our history. Our people. The freedom we revere. The creativity that has poured from these shores. The grit we show when our backs are against the wall.
Parts of Britain undeniably feel shattered.
But there is a national soul that is made of unbreakable material.
It was there in the smiling faces of all those different generations on the Mall, as they waved their Union Jacks and their flags of St George, responding to what George Orwell called, 'The spiritual need for patriotism for which, however little the boiled rabbits of the Left may like it, no substitute has yet been found.'
Never forget that our unbroken, unbreakable Britain is real too, and we are right to feel an unapologetic love for it.
There are no small boats trying to get into France, are there?
MARIAH A TIME KILLER
MARIAH Carey insists that ageing is optional.
Asked how she deals with getting older, Mariah flounces: 'I don't allow it – it just doesn't happen.
'I don't know time. I don't know numbers. I do not acknowledge time.'
David Bowie once told me exactly the opposite.
'The years seem to go faster,' Bowie told me just before his 50th birthday in January 1997. 'And that's because the years really are going faster.'
The David Bowie theory of time was that it accelerates as we get older because one year is always becoming a smaller percentage of your life span.
For Bowie, at 50, a year was just two per cent of his life – a fleeting fragment.
But when David was a ten-year-old boy at Burnt Ash Junior School in Bromley, a year was ten per cent of his life.
Mariah Carey, that admirably defiant diva, 56, says that we can ignore the passing of time.
But David Bowie insisted that time is forever slipping through our fingers.
I wonder who is right?
LISTEN TO NEV, RACHEL
GARY Neville is that great rarity – a Labour supporter who is also a successful businessman.
We think of Gary as an acid-tongued football pundit.
But – as his website proudly states – he has been a property developer since he was 21 years old, he is the co-founder of the production company Buzz 16 and his investment business, Relentless, is now ten years old.
So when Gary Neville talks about this Labour Government's relationship to business, they should listen.
Gary points out the intolerable burden that has been placed on British business by Chancellor Rachel Reeves hiking employers' National Insurance contributions.
'I honestly don't believe that companies and small businesses should be deterred from employing people,' he told Sky News.
Neville is right – hammering employers is the dumbest move of a Government that claims to crave economic growth.
Our Government is stuffed full of people who have worked as a lawyer (Keir Starmer, David Lammy), economist (Rachel Reeves) and trade union representative (Angela Rayner).
Incredibly, there is not one entrepreneur among them.
Can't they find a seat for Gary Neville around the Cabinet table?
LIAM AND PAMELA HAVE GUN AND DONE IT
5
AGAINST all expectations, film critics are hailing the Liam Neeson-Pamela Anderson reboot of clasic cop caper The Naked Gun as a comic masterpiece.
'This is one of the funniest films I have seen in years,' said my colleague Grant Rollings in The Sun.
'So funny it made me physically crumble in my seat on multiple occasions,' gasped the Telegraph.
There are two reasons this is weird.
One – in recent years, comedy has gone out of fashion in Hollywood.
And two – although the sequel, reboot and film franchise are all the rage in Tinsel Town, they are usually never as good as the original.
Until Liam Neeson flashed his lurid underpants and got out his indecently large Glock. Until Pamela Anderson, above with Liam, brilliantly reinvented herself as a comic femme fatale.
Until now.
I suggest that no film this year has received rave reviews like this remake of The Naked Gun.
And I hear you cry – surely you can't be serious?
But I am dead serious.
And don't call me Shirley!
THUGS ON RISE
MOHAMMED Fahir Amaaz has been convicted on three counts of assault at Manchester airport, including attacks on two female officers, PC Lydia Ward and PC Ellie Cook.
The CCTV footage of Amaaz using what was described in court as 'a high level of violence' is truly sickening.
PC Cook had her nose broken by this violent thug.
Once upon a time – how long ago it seems! – men in this country did not think it was acceptable to hit women.
And now, God help us, some of them do.
PROVING that our footballers have far more money than they know what to do with, Erling Haaland's partner Isabel Haugseng Johansen poses with a £330,000 diamond-encrusted crocodile-skin Hermes handbag.
Now that's what I call a sick bag.
Are we meant to be impressed?
Frankly, the notion that some beautiful crocodile was skinned to provide some narcissistic rich person with clicks on Instagram turns my stomach.
A crocodile is a wild animal.
Never a handbag.
ON a golfing trip to Scotland, Donald Trump took time out to knock Net Zero for fore.
While Sir Keir Starmer sat mutely by his side, the POTUS pointed out that there was a 'vast fortune to be made for the UK' if the Government reversed its self-harming policy of denying new licences for gas and oil extraction from the North Sea.
Trump also railed against wind turbines and the madness of ignoring shale reserves.
Starmer said nowt. Perhaps he knows that the Orange King is right.
And that green goon Ed Miliband, the swivel-eyed major nutjob of Net Zero, is wrong, wrong, wrong.
AS JK Rowling turns sixty, she is rightly hailed as a fearless women's campaigner.
Joanne also deserves the thanks of a nation for her achievement as a writer.
Nobody ever did more to give generations of children a love of reading that will stay with them for a lifetime.
Orange background

Try Our AI Features

Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:

Comments

No comments yet...

Related Articles

Keir Starmer must let in sunlight to avoid further lobbying scandals
Keir Starmer must let in sunlight to avoid further lobbying scandals

Times

timean hour ago

  • Times

Keir Starmer must let in sunlight to avoid further lobbying scandals

Lord Cameron of Chipping Norton long ago predicted that lobbying would be 'the next big scandal' to hit politics, warning of the dangers of what happens behind closed doors. 'We all know how it works. The lunches, the hospitality, the quiet word in your ear, the ex-ministers and ex-advisers for hire, helping big business find the right way to get its way,' he said in 2010. It was somewhat apt that despite introducing the first real oversight for lobbyists, the former prime minister was caught in just such a scandal after he departed from office. Despite a repeated cycle of scandals involving what Lord Cameron spoke of, lobbyists have continued to work in the shadows. As this newspaper has exposed, the Starmer government is facing serious questions over 'cash for access' after businesses were approached by a Labour group offering private meetings with 'an influential Labour figure'. The Labour Infrastructure Forum (LIF), which is run by lobbyists from Bradshaw Advisory along with an advisory council of senior party figures, has offered businesses the chance to meet 'key policymakers' to help 'shape the discussion'. The forum has offered sponsorship packages for potential clients, including breakfast meetings for almost £9,500. Darren Jones, the chief secretary to the Treasury, has spoken at an LIF event. • Labour 'leaving public in the dark' about payments from lobbyists Although the LIF insists that the sponsorship money is used to cover costs, the group declined a request by The Times to disclose details of which companies had sponsored events at what cost until its next annual report. The Labour Party too has declined to say which senior figures had attended any LIF meetings. Yet undercover reporting has shown Gerry McFall, director of the forum alongside his leading role at Bradshaw Advisory, boasted of meetings between his clients and senior figures in government, including Jonathan Reynolds, the business secretary. There is a clear problem here that must be addressed. The Office of the Registrar of Consultant Lobbyists, which was set up during Lord Cameron's premiership, governs lobbying and is supposed to ensure it is transparent and open. Businesses who regularly engage in lobbying, known as 'consultant lobbyists', are required to register their activities. Yet the LIF was not required to register as it did not fall under this category: in-house lobbyists who are employed directly by companies, think tanks or 'forums' are not required to register. This must be addressed: all lobbying activity should be recorded, along with the details of who exactly is meeting which ministers. That being said, ministers should show more common sense. Mr Jones should have done due diligence before speaking at an LIF event. The same goes for Mr Reynolds, the minister most exposed to the potential influence of businesses. The lack of records charting his meeting with a Bradshaw Advisory client at a Labour conference highlights another flaw in transparency rules, which does not require ministers to report meetings at such events not deemed to be in a ministerial capacity. Even if the party insists it was instead 'held in a political capacity', Mr Reynolds should have realised that he should strive for transparency. • How we exposed Labour's cosy links to lobbyists None of this is to say that all lobbying is inherently bad, or that onerous restrictions are required. It is essential to good policy making that ministers hear from businesses — particularly a government that has as little private sector experience as this one. But it must be done in an open and transparent manner, something lacking at present. According to an analysis by the Chartered Institute of Public Relations, registered Westminster lobbyists account for just 0.5 per cent of registered lobbyists across a host of similar countries. If Sir Keir Starmer is to avoid further such scandals, he must strengthen the oversight. By letting in as much sunlight as possible, it will go some way to curtail any sense of wrongdoing, real or perceived.

Rayner asks China to explain redacted mega-embassy plans
Rayner asks China to explain redacted mega-embassy plans

BBC News

time2 hours ago

  • BBC News

Rayner asks China to explain redacted mega-embassy plans

Angela Rayner has given China two weeks to explain why parts of its plans for a new mega-embassy in London are deputy prime minister's Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government sent a letter asking for further information and requested a response by 20 August, the BBC understands. Beijing's plans for the new embassy have sparked fears its location - very near London's financial district - could pose an espionage risk. Residents nearby also fear it would pose a security risk to them and attract large protests. The BBC has contacted the Chinese embassy in London for comment. A final planning decision on the controversial plans will be made by 9 September, the BBC a letter seen by the PA news agency, Rayner, who as housing secretary is responsible for overseeing planning matters, asks planning consultants representing the Chinese embassy to explain why drawings of the planned site are blacked Home Office and the Foreign Office also received copies of the notes that the Home Office requested a new "hard perimeter" be placed around the embassy site, to prevent "unregulated public access", and says this could require a further planning are concerns, held by some opponents, that the Royal Mint Court site could allow China to infiltrate the UK's financial system by tapping into fibre optic cables carrying sensitive data for firms in the City of campaigners from Hong Kong also fear Beijing could use the huge embassy to harass political opponents and even detain them. Last month, the UK condemned cash offers from Hong Kong authorities for people who help in the arrest of pro-democracy activists living in Britain. Alicia Kearns, the shadow national security minister, said: "No surprises here - Labour's rush to appease Xi Jinping's demands for a new embassy demonstrated a complacency when it came to keeping our people safe. Having deluded themselves for so long, they've recognised we were right to be vigilant."Responding to security concerns earlier this week, the Chinese embassy told the BBC it was "committed to promoting understanding and the friendship between the Chinese and British peoples and the development of mutually beneficial cooperation between the two countries. Building the new embassy would help us better perform such responsibilities".China bought the old Royal Mint Court for £255m in 2018. At 20,000 square metres, the complex will be the biggest embassy in Europe if it goes plan involves a cultural centre and housing for 200 staff, but in the basement, behind security doors, there are also rooms with no identified use on the application for the embassy had previously been rejected by Tower Hamlets Council in 2022 over safety and security concerns. It resubmitted an identical application in August 2024, one month after Labour came to power. On 23 August, Sir Keir Starmer phoned Chinese President Xi Jinping for their first talks. Sir Keir confirmed afterwards that Xi had raised the embassy has since exercised her power to take the matter out of the council's hands amid attempts by the government to engage with China after a cooling of relations during the final years of Conservative Party ministers have signalled they are in favour if minor adjustments are made to the plan.

Labour's homelessness minister 'threw out FOUR tenants then raised rent on her London home by £700'
Labour's homelessness minister 'threw out FOUR tenants then raised rent on her London home by £700'

Daily Mail​

time2 hours ago

  • Daily Mail​

Labour's homelessness minister 'threw out FOUR tenants then raised rent on her London home by £700'

Labour 's homelessness minister has been accused of 'extreme hypocrisy' after she allegedly threw out her own tenants and then raised rent by £700 a month. Landlord MP Rushanara Ali told tenants their lease would not be renewed and gave them four months' notice to get out of the £3,300-a-month property, a renter has claimed. But just four months after the group's departure, the four-bedroom townhouse, less than a mile from London 's Olympic Park, was reportedly back on the market - only this time for £4,000 per month. A source close to Ms Ali insisted the tenants were offered the chance to stay on a rolling contract prior to the house being put up for sale, after they were told the tenancy would not be renewed. They added the property was relisted only after Ms Ali did not find a buyer, the i Paper reports. But Laura Jackson, a self-employed restaurant owner and one of renters in the property, had a different view. Ms Jackson, 33, claimed she had received an email in November telling her the lease would not be renewed - and that she and the other occupiers had four months to leave. Only weeks later she saw the property back up for sale at the higher price of £700. The i said the new tenants confirmed they had moved in 'four or five months ago' and were paying the higher figure. Ms Jackson said: 'It's an absolute joke. Trying to get that much money from renters is extortion.' It comes as Labour's renters' Rights Bill, set to become law next year, prohibits landlords from relisting a property with higher rent until at least six months after tenants have moved out - where they have ended a tenancy in order to sell a property. Ms Ali has also previously spoken out against 'private renters being exploited' and insisted her Government will 'empower people to challenge unreasonable rent increases'. But Conservative shadow Housing Secretary, James Cleverly, said Ms Ali ought to consider her position as the allegations 'would be an example of the most extreme hypocrisy and she should not have the job as homelessness minister'. The property had been managed on behalf of the Bethnal Green and Stepney MP by two lettings agencies - Jack Barclay Estates and Avenue Lettings. At the time the tenants' contract ended, the firms also attempted to charge the tenants nearly £2,000 for the house to be repainted and £395 for professional cleaning. Landlords are prohibited from charging tenants for professional cleaning or to repaint a home under the Tenant Fees Act 2019, unless there has been serious damage. Minor scratches or scuffs to paint work all come under the umbrella of 'reasonable wear and tear', according to the Act. Ms Jackson described the experience as 'really stressful' and claimed the property was 'not clean when [they] moved in'. But mysteriously, the charges were dropped when Ms Jackson told the agencies she was aware their landlord was a Labour MP. She said: 'If we hadn't known the charges were unlawful, we would have had to pay them. It's exploitative.' Ms Jackson, a Labour voter, added she believed it to be 'morally wrong' that MPs can be landlords, in particular in their own areas, and dubbed it a conflict of interest. It is understood Ms Ali ensured the cleaning and repainting charges were dropped when she was told about them by her agency. The property is currently listed for sale at £894,995 - more than £300,000 what Ms Ali paid for it in 2014, according to the Land Registry. It was originally put up for sale at £914,995 last November before the price was reduced in February. The rental property is one of two owned by Ms Ali, according to the MP's register of interests. Ms Ali has served as Labour's minister for homelessness since the party's election win in July 2024. The Government previously said the end of a private rental contract is 'one of the leading causes of homelessness'. Ms Ali sung the praises of the Renters Rights' Bill in March as she said it would 'tackle the root cause of homelessness'. Under the bill, which is currently passing through Parliament, landlords may only ask tenants to leave if there has been antisocial behaviour or if they need to sell the property, or if the landlord or a family member needs to move in. Fixed-term tenancies are also set to be banned under the new legislation. Ben Twomey, the chief executive of Generation Rent, called the allegations 'shocking a wake-up call'.

DOWNLOAD THE APP

Get Started Now: Download the App

Ready to dive into a world of global content with local flavor? Download Daily8 app today from your preferred app store and start exploring.
app-storeplay-store