The Sun sends Cole to Washington
Last year Rats in a Sack reported how Harry Cole, the Sun's political editor, was desperate to desert these shores for Trumpland. With his Tory contacts out of power, and not being groomed by News Corp bosses as management material, Carrie Johnson's ex-boyfriend was said to be keen on a transatlantic transfer.
'Complaints ranged from locking people up for things they post on social media, the near-endless stream of protest hate and bile in our cities every Saturday afternoon to the scarring legacy of a generation of kids mutilated by the NHS at the Tavistock gender clinic,' wrote Cole, shaking his head at the potpourri of issues complete strangers had fretted about unprompted.
Now, finally, 'the wantaway striker's come-and-get-me plea' – as the Currant Bun's sports hacks would once have put it – has been heard. Cole is being packed off to Washington by Sun bosses after being appointed editor-at-large.
'After covering six PMs, a pandemic, wars and all the political skullduggery of Westminster, it's a wrench to leave the Lobby after ten years,' says Cole in a News UK press release, neglecting to mention that much of that skullduggery – such as, say, Downing Street hosting raucous parties while the rest of the country had to stay at home by law – The Sun did its very best to play down. He will write a weekly column for the paper as well as host an evening talk show broadcast on YouTube and the firm's little-watched Talk outlet.
With Cole off to cover his hero Trump Stateside, a considerable gap has opened at the paper for a new political editor, still considered a plum job despite the paper's waning influence. Current favourites include Ryan Sabey, Cole's deputy, and Kate Ferguson, political editor for the Sun's Sunday edition, while the Daily Mail's Harriet Line might be an option were the paper to look externally.
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The National
2 hours ago
- The National
The bleak farce over Ukraine is a typical ‘great power' carve up
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In a proxy war, it is the puppet master, not the puppet, who ultimately calls the shots. The problem for Zelenskyy and his European allies is that the puppet master is Donald Trump, and he has decided to comprehensively shift American resources from Europe to East Asia, in an attempt to counter the rise of China. In doing so, Trump is extending the Obama-era policy of a 'pivot to Asia'. However, unlike his Democrat predecessors, the current incumbent in the White House has come to the conclusion that the US cannot counter China's threat to US global hegemony while maintaining its post-Second World War commitments in Europe. That – and not Trump's supposed 'pro-Russian' sympathies – is why the US president is seeking to bring the Ukraine war to an end. It is also why at the Nato summit back in June, Trump insisted that Nato's European members and Canada commit to increasing their military expenditure to 5% of their GDP. The direction of travel of the current diplomatic manoeuvres is towards a carve-up of Ukrainian territory agreed, first and foremost, between the Americans and the Russians. For the main European leaders – particularly French president Emmanuel Macron, German chancellor Friedrich Merz and UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer – this is a problem because it would mark a further step in the US's uncoupling from Europe. It would be naïve in the extreme to take at face value the European leaders' claims of 'solidarity' with Ukraine and concern for the country's 'territorial integrity'. Since the war began, the Western alliance's interest has been – not Ukrainian victory – but the slow, military diminution of Russia. That is why the Nato powers have provided Ukraine with just enough weapons to keep the conflict grinding on. In other words, Western governments have proven themselves very happy to continue fighting to the last drop of the Ukrainian people's blood. That strategy – which relied, as Nato itself relies, on US leadership and resources – is now in crisis. As Monday's meeting at the White House showed, Trump's policy of a step-by-step reduction in the American commitment to Europe has forced Zelenskyy and the European leaders into the role of supplicants. READ MORE: Nigel Farage claims court ruling removing asylum seekers from hotel as 'victory' The roots of this crisis date back long before Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. That invasion was brutal and outrageous, but it was not – as many Western leaders and commentators insist – irrational. In 1990, US secretary of state James Baker assured Soviet president Mikhail Gorbachev that Nato would not move 'one inch eastward' in response to the dismantlement of the Warsaw Pact and the Soviet Union. That was a deliberate, calculated lie. The subsequent, rapid eastward expansion of Nato and the European Union (which, significantly, have worked in tandem throughout) has taken the Western imperialist bloc right up to the borders of Russia. The West's attempt to exploit its perceived 'victory' in the Cold War has backfired catastrophically. Such an explanation of the origins of the Ukraine war is not – as pro-Nato commentators claim – an attempt to justify Putin's invasion. It is, rather, the only way we can understand both why the war started and the deeply unsatisfactory terms on which it is likely to end. It was ever thus with inter-imperialist rivalries. For example, the present cataclysm in the Middle East has its roots in the European powers' carve-up of the territory of the collapsing Ottoman Empire. 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The subsequent British 'mandate' in Palestine, under the Sykes-Picot Agreement, laid the foundations for the Nakba ('Catastrophe') – the mass murder and ethnic cleansing of Palestinians, and the creation of the Israeli state – in 1948. READ MORE: It's interesting to see who the British state views as its enemies The rest – from the occupation of the West Bank, Gaza, East Jerusalem and the Golan Heights in 1967 to the current genocide in Gaza – is, as they say, history. Such carve-ups – and their disastrous consequences for the peoples of the affected regions – are the inevitable consequence of inter-imperialist rivalries. The division of Africa – primarily between the British, the French, the Portuguese and the Belgians – had catastrophic consequences that the people of the continent continue to live with to this day. The same is true across Asia, the Americas and Oceania. The coming Russo-American carve-up of Ukraine is part of a long and terrible history of imperialist imposition. Until we break the cycle of nationalism, militarism and power bloc rivalries, we are doomed to repeat the dark farce of the current manoeuvres over Ukraine.
South Wales Argus
5 hours ago
- South Wales Argus
Revisiting some of Hefin David's hilarious Senedd moments
He was intelligent, thoughtful and genuine – a tenacious campaigner on behalf of his Caerphilly constituents who was dedicated to improving people's lives across Wales. But he also had something in spades that few politicians possess: a proper sense of humour. For many people, their abiding memory will be of a kind-hearted family man who had a knack for making people laugh and smile – even at the most trying times. In that spirit, we trawled through the archives to bring you just some of Dr David's very many witty contributions in the Senedd over the years. 'We'll get one off Temu' Often a forward-thinker, he led a debate in February on future flight technology, everything from drones to flying cars, laying down a challenge to economy secretary Rebecca Evans. 'Far from being the stuff of sci-fi, these air vehicles are actually working,' he told the debating chamber. 'I invite the minister to try one – we'll get one off Temu.' Scrutinising the housing minister in June, he asked whether the Welsh Government would give more money if the leader of Caerphilly council called for it. 'Just say, 'yes', and I'll let him know,' he remarked before his colleague could answer. He was known for his sharp sense of humour (Image: Chris Haines, ICNN Senedd Reporter) Dr David was a heckler extraordinaire, often getting a ticking off from the chair. Calling for order in January, Elin Jones, the Senedd's speaker or Llywydd, said: 'Can we listen to the minister's response? She's being heckled by her own backbenches.' He jokingly set the record straight, intervening to point out that he was heckling Plaid Cymru's Cefin Campbell – not his partner Vikki Howells, the higher education minister. 'Don't put that on a leaflet' During a debate about rugby TV rights in July last year, he said he had a lot in common with Rishi Sunak who had bemoaned going without 'lots of things' as a child including Sky TV. 'My dad wouldn't let us have Sky either and we had to listen to it on the radio,' He told the Senedd, stressing that's all he had in common with the former Tory prime minister. Plaid Cymru's Delyth Jewell later joked: 'Who knew you had so much in common with Rishi Sunak? For anyone who missed the beginning of the debate, I'm not going to give context.' Dr David told his political opponent: 'Don't put that on a leaflet!' In February last year, as the Senedd discussed apprenticeships, he thanked colleagues for referencing a report on transitions to employment which he had authored. He said: 'I'd be far too modest to do so myself but now that they have…' 'Wayne David isn't my dad' In mid-November, he paid tribute to the first minister's warmth during a debate on Eluned Morgan's first 100 days in office. He told the Senedd: 'We've known each other a long time now, she's the only first minister who gives me a cwtch every time I see her. I can see Mark Drakeford getting a little worried there – I'm not expecting anything, finance minister.' Dr David had a way of diffusing a fraught situation with humour, as in September 2023, when the Senedd was asked to express no confidence in the then-transport minister over 20mph. He paid credit to the Conservatives: 'They've achieved something today that many have tried and many have failed: they've united two thirds of this chamber around Lee Waters.' Then, he told the Senedd about an email he received from a constituent, saying: 'It may well be you have an ambition to be our representative in Westminster when your dad retires.' He clarified: 'Wayne David isn't my dad, and I think we need to make that absolutely clear.' 'Promoted to the backbenches' He often had Senedd members, including the opposition, in stitches (Image: Chris Haines, ICNN Senedd Reporter) During first minister's questions in July 2022, he struggled to hold it together to ask his question due to a colleague mucking about on the back benches. He said: 'I'm sorry. Alun Davies was being very silly there, he made me laugh.' The speaker joked: 'That statement is now on the record.' On another occasion, he congratulated his Labour colleague on his 'promotion' to the backbenches after he was sacked by then-incoming first minister Mark Drakeford. Following a fiery exchange between the then-first minister and Plaid Cymru's leader at FMQs in December 2022, he lightened the mood as he would often do. 'Last week marked the one-year anniversary of the co-operation agreement, I'm glad to see it's still so healthy,' he said, prompting laughter around the chamber. 'She's either staring me out or she's frozen' When Dawn Bowden revealed in a June 2022 meeting that Dr David told her he would hide in the changing rooms to avoid PE at school, he joked: 'That was a confidential conversation!' And, in a remote meeting during the pandemic, he wasn't 100 per cent sure if the then-culture minister was having technical troubles. 'She's either staring me out or she's frozen,' he said. In June 2021, he told the Senedd: 'You won't believe this but I was awful at sport in school,' as he claimed credit for the Senedd rugby side 'absolutely smashing' Westminster's team. 'But, in school, I was not interested in sport because I felt it was a team game,' he said. 'And the chief whip will know I'm not so good at team stuff sometimes.' When a transport chief lost their thread while appearing before a Senedd committee in January 2021, he could hardly resist pointing out: 'You lost your train of thought.' 'One thing I haven't done is upset the Queen' In 2019, Dr David, a child of the 1980s, was chuffed to bits with the title of a committee report about the Welsh Baccalaureate, proclaiming 'Bacc to the future' as one of the best ever. Another time, while trying to pry a clear-cut answer out of his friend and colleague Vaughan Gething, he said: 'I feel like Jeremy Paxman interviewing Michael Howard.' Dr David wasn't afraid to poke fun at himself. When a witness described sixth formers as 'more mature' in 2020, he replied in typical fashion: 'You didn't know me in sixth form, then.' In September 2022, he recalled an encounter with the Queen at the Senedd's official opening after he was first elected in 2016: 'She was looking directly at me. I have to say, Llywydd, I feel uncomfortable when you look directly at me. 'I wasn't sure whether she had a frown on her face. I wasn't sure whether I had upset her, and I was thinking, 'Oh my God, I've upset her – it's probably because I'm wearing a red tie'. 'But … she did actually give me – and I'm not making this up – a reassuring smile. So, I could rest easy… and think, 'One thing I haven't done is upset the Queen'.'
Daily Mirror
6 hours ago
- Daily Mirror
Trump official 'ordered New Jersey mayor's arrest' at immigration centre in new footage
The federal officer who arrested New Jersey mayor Ras Baraka and Rep. LaMonica McIver suggested he may have been ordered to do so by a Justice Department official In recent months, police officers and immigration enforcers have flooded into major US cities and made sweeping arrests of people they suspect of being undocumented migrants, often disregarding the legal process to do so. This shocking authoritarianism has also seen multiple elected officials detained, with at least one appearing to have been put behind bars after a major appointee of President Trump gave the order. Freshly released body cam footage has shown that the federal officer who detained New Jersey mayor Ras Baraka implied he might have been acting under instructions from the deputy attorney general. This comes as Donald Trump attempts to force a head-to-head meeting between Putin and Ukraine's President Zelensky. The footage emerged as part of a legal submission by Rep. LaMonica McIver, who was also taken into custody alongside Baraka during an oversight visit at an immigration centre, where they had a run-in with immigration officers. While Baraka faced trespassing charges that were later dropped, McIver was accused of assaulting federal agents. It appears she is pushing for the dismissal of her charges. Her legal team alleges that a Department of Homeland Security special agent, after concluding a phone call, informed fellow agents, "We are arresting the mayor right now, per the deputy attorney general of the United States. "Anyone that gets in our way, I need you guys to give me a perimeter so I can cuff him," the agent further instructed. The Mirror U.S. has not yet formally reviewed the footage. Although it has been submitted as evidence, the video has not been made available to the general public. Todd Blanche currently holds the position of deputy attorney general. Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin told the Mirror: "The American people can see with their own eyes a sitting member of Congress assaulting law enforcement," and she referenced a video of the altercation that DHS uploaded on X back in May. The apparent suggestion of Blanche's involvement is the latest in a series of moves where Justice Department officials have seemingly wielded their power to target Democrats and adversaries of President Trump. Since Trump resumed office, his DOJ has initiated multiple investigations into figures who oppose him, including Jack Smith, James Comey, and others. Moreover, it has been reported that federal law enforcement officers have apprehended New York City Comptroller Brad Lander and even placed California Sen. Alex Padilla in handcuffs. Suspicions are escalating as Politico disclosed that several Democrats are pondering whether agents at the Newark facility were directed to arrest Baraka. Witness statements and additional video evidence from the day depict the mayor standing calmly behind a fence with a guard for a significant period. Rep. Rob Menendez, also a Democrat, informed Politico that he saw an agent within the enclosed area on the phone receiving instructions to detain Baraka, who was outside the enclosure when the call occurred. Last week, McIver's lawyers submitted a description of the bodycam footage to the court, reinforcing this narrative. "Even though he stepped out, I am going to put him in cuffs," the special agent is purported to have declared. Following this, the agent mentioned arresting the mayor "per the deputy attorney general." Moments later, the mayor found himself in handcuffs, sparking off a brawl. Magistrate Judge André M. Espinosa described it as an "embarrassing retraction" that "suggests a failure to adequately investigate, to carefully gather facts and to thoughtfully consider the implications of your actions before wielding your immense power."
