Rural revolt: Jeremy Clarkson leads a very British backlash against JD Vance
Cooper questioned why the vice president did not drive around in a nondescript small car, saying: 'Nobody would know who he was.'
Other Cotswold residents have claimed to have been 'sealed off' by the guarded checkpoints of the vice president's holiday hamlet.
'JD Vance has taken over my village – send help,' Jonathan Mazower told The London Telegraph. 'We've been completely sealed off from the outside world.'
Mazower and his family live in Dean, which is temporarily adrift during the vice president's visit.
Vance, who is travelling with his wife, Usha, and children Ewan, eight, Vivek, five, and Mirabel, three, met Robert Jenrick, the Tory shadow justice secretary, at his Cotswold retreat.
The Vance family is expected to round off their British summer tour with a visit to Scotland this week.
Police have been seen scouring the grounds of the Carnell Estates in East Ayrshire, while a police car was parked across the entrance to the mansion on Tuesday.
Carnell, which is owned by Michael Findlay and has been in family hands since the 1300s, was rented by Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt in 2011 while the latter filmed World War Z in Glasgow.
The 10-bedroom country house is set within 2000 acres, which offers shooting, fishing and tennis, while golf is also close by.
Vance is expected to fly into Prestwick Airport, which is a 15-minute drive away from Carnell, in the coming days.
Airspace restrictions have already been put in place around the Carnell Estate, preventing unauthorised aircraft and drones from flying over the site without official permission until midnight on Sunday, according to air traffic control provider NATS.
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Mazower said the vice president's arrival in the Cotswolds had made 'a lot of people very angry,' both for the circus and baggage it has brought.
'It's the inconvenience but also, who it is in aid of,' the 59-year-old said, adding: 'This area is well-used to having politicians and celebrities around – people are generally very live and let live – but the fact this huge upheaval is for an appalling politician has got people very angry.'
Mazower took issue with the way in which Vance sought to 'humiliate' Volodymyr Zelensky, the president of Ukraine, in the Oval Office and the vice-president 'lecturing to Europe on freedom of speech while deporting any foreign student who stands up for Gaza'.
He voiced concern that the vice president was 'demolishing the foundations of liberal democracy as he and Trump drive the US along the path to fascism'.
Dozens of police officers have been stationed on roadblocks at either end of the only lane in and out of the hamlet, where cars are searched with sniffer dogs and IDs are checked.
A large antenna has been erected behind the manor house, and a no-fly zone has been put in place around the area. Vance travelled to the property in a 19-vehicle motorcade accompanied by a helicopter.
Mazower, who is the communications director for the charity Survival International, said the lockdown had made meaningful protest nigh-on impossible.
'Those of us who feel obliged to make some kind of protest, however token, have stuck posters in our gardens, in the probably vain hope he sees them as he speeds past,' he said.
'Dance against Vance'
The Stop Trump Coalition (STC) organised a peaceful protest against Vance's visit on Tuesday afternoon in Charlbury.
Nearly 100 people held aloft homemade signs as they gathered in the dappled light on the common.
Balloons and cake were dolled out for what was described as a Vance Not Welcome Party, while organisers from STC led chants over a megaphone.
'From Ukraine to Palestine, occupation is a crime,' the townsfolk bellowed, before a call and response of 'JD Vance, Shame on You'.
Juliette Crisp, from Charlbury, penned a sign which read: 'Not too posh to protest.'
'I am fed up with the idea that Charlbury is posh,' the 63-year-old said, explaining that there were deprived areas which are too often lost in the conversation around the Cotswolds being the Hamptons of the UK.
She added: 'It is all well and good to say he is on holiday, but if you are the vice president, you carry your baggage with you, and you have to be held accountable.'
'UK is not a playground'
Jake Atkinson, from STC, said just three organisers had come up from London, and the rest of the participants were locals.
'We are thrilled to be here supporting residents,' he said, adding: 'Governments need to be acting in the interests of the people, not the billionaires.
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'The UK is not a playground for Trump to come golfing or Vance to come on a holiday and have meetings.'
The banners took aim at Vance's encounter with Zelensky, climate change and Palestine.
'JD Vance – the guy who bullied a war hero from the comfort of his couch,' one sign read.
The dance against Vance came after Dolly Mavies, a folk-rock singer-songwriter, and her band backed out of a gig after realising they were about to entertain Vance.
The singer, whose real name is Molly Davies, claimed they hadn't been made aware that the vice president would be in attendance.
'Not being fans of his, we decided that wasn't for us, packed up our stuff and left,' she later said in a video on Instagram, adding: 'Morals are more important than money.'
A campaign group called Everyone Hates Elon has also organised for a van with an electronic billboard depicting an unflattering meme of Mr Vance to be driven around the Cotswolds.
The group, which was previously responsible for driving a billboard of Donald Trump and Jeffrey Epstein around Scotland for the president's visit, raised more than £4,500 for the stunt.
Mazower said Vance's decision to visit Dean hadn't come as a total surprise as 'this corner of the Cotswolds has changed beyond recognition'.
He charted the transformation back to the arrival of Daylesford Organic, Lady Bamford's retail empire.
He said the advent of members-only Soho Farmhouse and Estelle Manor, where Steve Jobs's daughter had her wedding party last month, had heralded a resurgent 'Chipping Norton set'.
The Bull in Charlbury, an outpost of Notting Hill's The Pelican, and Jeremy Clarkson's Diddly Squat farm shop have also become incredibly popular.
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But Mazower insisted that behind the Hollywood fairytale lies deep hardship and desperation, which is too often overlooked.
'House prices have soared, and for many local people the idea of getting a foot on the housing ladder is an unobtainable fantasy,' he said, adding: 'The local schools and health services are desperately underfunded.
'The few remaining family farms in the area will be forced to sell up once the government's changes to inheritance tax become law.
'There is real hardship and deprivation behind the media stories of the area whose latest description, apparently, is the 'Hamptons of England'.'
Vance is staying in a Cotswold manor house set in six acres of garden dating back to around 1702.
It was bought by Johnny and Pippa Hornby in 2017, who later submitted planning proposals for a basement gym, second cellar and an orangery.
The owner of the manor accommodating Vance has apologised to neighbours for bringing the 'circus' to town.
In a message seen by The Telegraph, they told neighbours they were 'so sorry for the circus that is there for the next few days'.
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Sydney Morning Herald
8 hours ago
- Sydney Morning Herald
Perth's big, beautiful movie studio is getting ready for its close-up
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The Age
8 hours ago
- The Age
Perth's big, beautiful movie studio is getting ready for its close-up
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'Not many,' replied Avison, who was head-hunted from London to shepherd the studio into operation and help lure the kind of big-budget film and television productions for which it was designed. 'A James Bond movie or a Mission: Impossible might require something bigger. 'But for most things these four sound stages are comparable to facilities in the UK such as Pinewood, Leavesden or Sky Studio Elstree. 'They're plenty big enough for most of the movies and television series being shot around the world.' The facility boasts 19,232 square metres of production space — including 8361 square metres across four sound stages — and a backlot bigger than the playing field at Optus Stadium. Equally impressive is the overall quality of the build and various facilities that will be used to support the sound stages — production offices, dressing rooms, spaces for costumes and laundry. 'A movie studio is like a reef. It acts like a centre of gravity. It brings the ecosystem to it. You get big fish, you get small fish and everything in between.' Perth Film Studios CEO Tom Avison And in Avison, the WA Labor government and Home Fire Creative Industries – the Perth company that won the much-publicised competition to build and operate the studio – have found a chief executive with recent experience opening a similar facility, Sky Studios Elstree, in London. Sky Studios was a baptism of fire for Avison in his role as director of operations, as the new studio's first production was Wicked, Universal's blockbuster musical that took over eight of the studio's 12 sound stages. 'We had just completed the build when Wicked moved in. Builders out on Friday, production in on Monday,' Avison said. 'It was a challenging time but very exciting and incredibly rewarding. 'It battle-hardens you and your staff and forces you to get up to the highest standards very quickly. 'When a film is green-lit it goes fast. The train is leaving the station and you have to climb on board.' It is doubtful that Perth Film Studios will kick off in the first quarter of next year with a production the size of Wicked. However, if Hollywood wants to shoot a mega-budget musical, or an action fantasy, or a series about the world overrun with the undead, then Avison and his team will be ready. 'We will have conversations with producers who have the biggest projects to those with the smallest,' Avison said. 'And the studio will be a fantastic option for local and national projects. 'A good example are the two recent television series that were filmed in Perth, Ghosts and The Postcard Bandit. We want the Perth Film Studios to become the hub for the Western Australian screen industry.' Avison says that he was lured away from his big job in one of the world centres of film and television production because of the excitement around the WA film industry and the support of the state government, which is backing its investment in the studio with an array of incentives to ensure it doesn't become a 'white elephant'. 'There is an industry here that has been growing organically and successfully and a government that is supporting it,' Avison said. 'And when you factor in organisations like ScreenWest and the crew of highly skilled freelancers you feel that Western Australia is on the cusp of something great. I wanted to be a part of that.' Avison said there was also the understanding that it was not enough to just build a studio: 'You need to build an industry to support it.' 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He also sees potential for crews returning if they have a good experience in Perth, giving the example of a series production, which could take months. 'That means that the various services that support a production are assured of long-term work,' he said. 'All of this occurs because at the centre of the ecosystem is a movie studio.' The other big challenge is distance. Perth is, as we hear ad nauseum, the most isolated capital city in the world. Loading So, will the production entities in the United States, Europe and, to a lesser extent, Asia be willing to send their projects across multiple time zones to do what could be done on their respective home territories? Adding to the challenge is that, since the rise of streaming services such as Amazon, Netflix and Apple, screen facilities have been popping up across the United States and across the globe, with Sydney recently announcing plans for a second studio. While some aspects of international filmmaking are out WA's control — the rise and fall in the dollar, and Donald Trump's tariffs have added another element of uncertainty — Avison believed the studio would overcome distance by offering a unique, high-quality experience. 'Filmmaking is complex and stressful, with tight deadlines and fixed budgets. So crews need to feel reassured they can do their jobs,' he said. 'We will create an environment that will not just get the job done but will allow filmmakers to flourish. 'We want them to be reassured that they don't have to worry about the basics, and they can put all their energy into their creativity.' While there is pressure on Avison and his team to lure the kind of bigger budget productions that will brush aside the naysayers, he believes it will take time for the studio to build a reputation and drop into the field of view of the global film industry, like Tom Cruise in Top Gun. 'I come from an industry where studios have been there for 100 years,' Avison said. 'That is what we want to build — a facility that is not a flash in the pan something that will serve the local industry for generations to come. We will be ready in the first quarter of next year, but our eyes are also on the future.'
Perth Now
16 hours ago
- Perth Now
Man gets Jet2 slogan tattoo
A man tattooed the Jet2 slogan on his right arm. Craig Hicks, an ambulance controller from Telford, West Midlands, England, splashed out £300 to get "Nothing beats a Jet2 holiday", and the airline's logo on his right arm sleeve, because he is a "big fan" of Jet2. The airline's catchy slogan from its advert campaign theme has recently become a global social media craze, with people using it over videos of travel mishaps. He is quoted by The Mirror as saying: "I just thought it's quite topical at the moment, why not? It's just so popular at the moment." The new body art piece completes his "aviation sleeve", which also features a Concorde and a jet engine. And Craig - who is flying with Jet2 to Tenerife, Spain, in December - hopes his Jet2 tattoo can impress the airline enough for him to bag a free flight. He added: "I'll be getting it out on that flight definitely. All my friends keep saying I could get a free holiday out of this! "A freebie would be nice ... "I'm definitely going to show it to Jet2 staff when I next fly with them to Tenerife in December... All my friends and family absolutely love it. "My mum said I was mad." Jet2 has used Jess Glynne's 2015 track, Hold My Hand, in its adverts and on its aircraft for almost 10 years - and Craig loves Jess and the song. He said: "I love Jess Glynne and love that song. I recently flew with Jet2 to Madeira. "I just thought it would be ace to get 'Nothing beats a Jet2 holiday'. "I like Jet2 and thought it would be cool. It's my favourite British airline. I'm definitely a big fan of them. I love everything to do with aviation."
