Latest news with #Baker
Belfast Telegraph
an hour ago
- Politics
- Belfast Telegraph
Ex-NI Office minister on life after politics: ‘Employers do the Googling and they don't want me'
Speaking to Politico, Steve Baker, the former NIO minister and member of parliament for Wycombe, said that potential employers are put off hiring him due to his past in politics. Mr Baker called on the Conservative Party to offer employment to ex-MPs in order to ease the transition of former politicians back into civilian life. The ex-minister criticised the current redundancy entitlement of four-months pay that ex-MPs receive as 'nowhere near large enough.' 'If we want MPs to exercise leadership, there has to be some kind of safety net that you fall into if you lose your seat,' he said. During the interview, Mr Baker suggested that Conservative donors could help ease the transition by offering employment to ex-MP's and expressed concern about the quality of the career advice provided by the party. He added that having a public profile from a past life in politics makes getting a new role more difficult. 'What I don't need is: Here's how to apply for a mid-ranking job in a corporate.' 'As soon as I apply, they know who I am, they do the Googling and they don't want me. 'I don't require emotional support from the Conservative Party. If they offered it to me, I'd be extremely disappointed that they had kept money back.' He is calling for redundancy pay of one year's salary in order 'to get us over the horrible process of actually getting a job when you're well-known.' Mr Baker was Conservative MP for Wycombe since 2010, but was one of a series of high-profile Tories to lose their seats in July's election. 'I don't require emotional support from the Conservative Party. If they offered it to me, I'd be extremely disappointed' He was minister of state for Northern Ireland between September 2022, when he was appointed by Liz Truss, and May 2024. The former MP was part of the Eurosceptic wing of conservative party, and made numerous interventions in the debates around Brexit that caused divisions within the conservative party. A self-styled 'hard man of Brexit', in 2022 Mr Baker apologised for some of his behaviour towards Ireland and the EU during the negotiations. He admitted that he and others did not "always behave in a way which encouraged Ireland and the European Union to trust us to accept that they have legitimate interests'. Mr Baker lost his seat to Labour's Emma Reynolds in the most recent general election, suffering a 17.5% vote swing away from him, finishing on 11,444 votes to Mrs Reynolds' 16,035. Speaking in December 2024 to the Irish Times, Mr Baker said he was reluctant to return to Northern Ireland following his time in office, saying 'I would not trust loyalists not to want me dead.' He also said that 'I am embarrassed that Ireland was treated the way it was by the United Kingdom.' "It was wrong. God knows over our history Ireland has been treated badly by the UK. It's f**king shaming.'
News18
an hour ago
- Business
- News18
Teen's Video Working At Burger King After Graduation Ceremony Goes Viral, Helps Raise Fund
Last Updated: Just hours after graduating from Mills Creek High School on May 21, Mykale Baker was spotted working at a Dacula Burger King, handling the late-night rush. An 18-year-old high school graduate in Georgia, US, has gone viral for starting work at Burger King immediately after collecting his diploma at the graduation ceremony. He has been receiving kindness from the internet. Mykale Baker was back flipping burgers, dressed in his graduation clothes. His story touched a local mom, who set up a secret fundraiser for his college education. The 'From Burger King to a College Dream" fund has since surged to nearly $176,000 (Rs 1.5 crore) as of Monday morning. The fundraiser initially aimed to raise $60,000 (Rs 51.3 lakh) but quickly surpassed its goal, thanks to the community's enthusiasm and admiration for Mykale Baker's dedication to work and education. 'I feel happy. I just want to say thank you to my parents and all the people who see the good in me and believe in me, and donated all that money to me," Baker told 11 Alive. NEW: Fundraiser for Georgia teen who went to Burger King after graduation tops $130K — and still risingBaker, 18, had just graduated from Mill Creek High School hours earlier He picked up a shift at the Burger King in Dacula, Georgia, on May 21 after noticing a late-night rush… — Unlimited L's (@unlimited_ls) May 31, 2025 Just hours after graduating from Mills Creek High School on May 21, Mykale Baker was spotted working at a Dacula Burger King, handling the late-night rush. He was still wearing his graduation stole and medals under his plastic gloves as he bagged orders. Baker's humility and strong work ethic caught the attention of Maria Mendoza, a customer at the Burger King outlet. She recorded a video of him working and posted it on social media, which quickly went viral. 'While many graduates spent the night celebrating with friends and family, one young man quietly showed the world what determination looks like. Just after receiving his diploma, still proudly wearing his medal, he reported to his shift at Burger King," read the GoFundMe page description, set up by Ms Mendoza. 'He didn't do it for attention. He doesn't even know his story went viral. But thousands of people were moved by his dedication, humility, and work ethic," it added. When Mendoza returned to the Burger King and showed Baker the thousands of dollars raised for his future, he was overwhelmed with emotion and broke down in tears. In a second heartwarming video, he was seen hugging both his mother and Ms Mendoza, touched by the kindness of strangers.
NDTV
5 hours ago
- Entertainment
- NDTV
Teen Flips Burgers In Graduation Cap And Gown, Internet Goes Wild With Rs 1.5 Crore College Fund
A high school teenager in the US state of Georgia who immediately went to work at Burger King after collecting his diploma at the graduation ceremony has been receiving kindness from the internet. Mykale Baker, 18, was back flipping burgers, dressed in his graduation clothes, when his story caught a local mom's eye who secretly set up a fundraiser for his college education. The "From Burger King to a College Dream" fund started for him has skyrocketed to nearly Rs 1.5 crore ($176,000) as of Monday (Jun 2) morning. The online fundraiser was intended to raise Rs 51.3 lakh ($60,000) only, but inspired by Mr Baker's humble attitude towards work and studies, it exceeded the goal within days of being set up. "I feel happy. I just want to say thank you to my parents and all the people that see the good in me and believe in me, and donated all that money to me," Mr Baker told 11 Alive. Mr Baker graduated from Mills Creek High School on May 21 and was seen hours later at the Burger King in Dacula to cater to the late-night rush. He was still wearing his graduation stole and medals while donning plastic gloves to bag orders at the fast food joint. Mr Baker's quiet demeanour and work ethic caught Maria Mendoza's eye, who was in the outlet at the time. She recorded a video and posted it on social media, where it instantly went viral. "While many graduates spent the night celebrating with friends and family, one young man quietly showed the world what determination looks like. Just after receiving his diploma, still proudly wearing his medal, he reported to his shift at Burger King," read the GoFundMe page description, set up by Ms Mendoza. "He didn't do it for attention. He doesn't even know his story went viral. But thousands of people were moved by his dedication, humility, and work ethic," it added. A few days later, Ms Mendoza returned to the Burger King and showed Mr Baker the thousands of dollars raised for his future. The teen was brought to tears over the generosity of the kind stranger and the internet and offered hugs to both his mother and Ms Mendoza in a second heartfelt video.
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Business Standard
9 hours ago
- Business
- Business Standard
A 355-year-old company that once owned one-third of Canada shutting down
Beye Escobar was both delighted and disappointed as she emerged from the sprawling Hudson's Bay Company store in downtown Ottawa with two new bikinis. While she was pleased that her swimwear had been discounted by 70 per cent, she was not happy about the reason. On Sunday, a month after it marked the 355th anniversary of its founding, the Bay, as it is commonly known, is permanently closing its 80 department stores throughout Canada. The company was much more than just a retailer and the last traditional, full-line department store chain in Canada. In 1670, Britain, which claimed part of present-day Canada, set up the company as a fur trader and granted it a vast stretch of territory equal to what is about a third of Canada, without asking the indigenous people whose land it was. 'I don't know where I'll go now,' she added. The Bay's fate was sealed by the large debt it had been carrying, and it recently declared bankruptcy. Long before US President Trump's trade war and his calls to make Canada the 51st state stoked anti-American sentiment in Canada, the purchase in 2008 of a cultural institution like the Bay by Richard A Baker, a New Yorker whose family controlled an array of shopping malls, was widely viewed with suspicion among Canadians. At first, Baker made good on his promise that he had not bought the Bay for its real estate — although he did cash in on that later. His investments in the stores and his appointment of Bonnie Brooks, a respected Canadian retailer, as president and chief executive turned Hudson's Bay sagging fortunes around. To compete with the rise of online retailing, Baker invested heavily in the Bay's e-commerce. And part of Brooks's revitalisation involved playing up the company's heritage. Merchandise, from measuring cups to wooden canoes, started appearing bearing the distinctive green, red, yellow and indigo stripes of the Bay's 'point blankets.' The blankets were first used in the 18th century to trade for furs with Indigenous people. 'It felt like a piece of Canada,' said Bryan Higgins, who was headed to the Ottawa store last Wednesday for a farewell visit. 'It felt like going to Tim Hortons' — another Canadian institution — 'and getting a doughnut, except you were buying blankets or slippers. It was uniquely Canadian.' Many parts of the five-story store were already empty or filled with small armies of mannequins, boxes of clothes hangers and store fixtures of every imaginable variety — all for sale. Mid-last week, the most popular of those new offerings seemed to be indoor-outdoor rugs marked down by 90 per cent. A steady stream of shoppers walked out struggling to haul them away.
The Herald Scotland
a day ago
- Politics
- The Herald Scotland
CFP, March Madness don't need to expand. Why are leaders pushing it?
But after months of debate on both fronts, what's become clear is that expansion is going to happen for no reason other than a vapid sense of inertia sprung from the bruised egos of sports executives - who subconsciously understand their own fundamental weakness and ineffectiveness are to blame for the spiral of chaos that college sports can't seem to escape. At least when they push a button to expand a postseason, it feels like they're doing something. That's an explanation. It's not a reason. When the NFL expanded its playoffs from 12 to 14 in 2020, changing its format for the first time in three decades, the obvious factor was an influx of money: Hundreds of millions of dollars, in fact, half of which gets split with players. When the NBA shook up its postseason and created the play-in tournament, the primary motivation was to keep more teams competitive late in the season and discourage tanking. Those are sensible reasons everyone can understand. But neither Baker nor one of the prominent conference commissioners like the SEC's Greg Sankey or the Big Ten's Tony Petitti have been able to articulate a clear and concise mission statement for what expansion of either tournament is supposed to accomplish. They just want to do it. Here's how thin the rationale is regarding March Madness: Speaking with reporters in Orlando, Baker cited the committee snubbing Missouri Valley Conference regular-season champion Indiana State in 2024 despite a 32-7 record, suggesting an expansion would get the NCAA tournament closer to including the "best" 68 teams. Of course, the NCAA tournament has always worked this way. Excellent mid-major teams that lose in their conference tournament often don't get in. And as the track record of the tournament clearly shows, the vast majority of bids in an expanded field would go to power conference teams with questionable records. The push to expand March Madness precedes Baker's tenure, which began in March 2023. In fact, you can trace the momentum back to March of 2022 when Texas A&M was left out despite a late-season surge to the championship game of the SEC tournament, converting Sankey into a public proponent of expansion. But the idea that tournament spots are being filled by automatic qualifiers from mid-major conferences with less chance to do damage in the tournament than Texas A&M's 2022 team, for instance, isn't new. It's part of the deal, and there's no real demand to move the cut line other than from those who are inconvenienced by it. In fact, one of the big obstacles to March Madness expansion - and the reason it didn't happen years ago - is that there's not a huge pot of television money out there for a few more games between mediocre basketball teams on Tuesday and Wednesday of tournament week. Not only is expansion unlikely to boost profits in a significant way, it's an open question whether the NCAA can expand the tournament without diluting the shares of its revenue distribution model, which are worth about $2 million per team per round. A similar dynamic is at play in the CFP debate. 12-team CFP worked; trashing it makes no sense There were clear incentives for the conference commissioners when they first floated expanding the football tournament from four to 12 teams back in 2021. Not only had TV ratings leveled off, perhaps due to many of the same programs populating the field year after year, but going to 12 would both guarantee access for all the power conference champions and set the table for a $1.3 billion per year contract with ABC/ESPN beginning in 2026 - nearly triple the original 12-year deal that established the CFP. But that's where things get murky. Even before the first 12-team playoff last year, conference commissioners were *already* batting around a 14-team model for 2026. That has now morphed into a likely 16-team bracket. The financial terms of the TV deal, however, will not change in a significant way, whether they land at 12, 14 or 16. So why do it? Not because it's a great business proposition - in fact, there's a legitimate concern about playoff oversaturation and potential second-order effects - but because the more you expand access, the more access everyone wants. That's what we have seen over the last week, especially from the SEC meetings as Sankey and others in the league launched a breathtaking, shameless propaganda effort attempting to rewrite recent history. Getting a mere three teams into last year's 12-team playoff while the Big Ten won its second straight title seems to have done a psychological number on those folks. Rather than admit the truth - the SEC didn't have an amazing year in 2024 and the playing field nationally has been leveled to some extent by NIL and the transfer portal - they are arguing to shape the next CFP format based on a level of conference strength that certainly existed in the past but hasn't in the NIL/transfer portal era. One prominent athletics director, Florida's Scott Stricklin, questioned whether the football bracket should be chosen by committee. Another unnamed administrator went so far as to muse that the SEC and Big Ten should think about just holding their own playoff, according to Yahoo! Sports. If you take a step back and look at what's happening from a 30,000-foot view, it smacks of famed political scientist Francis Fukuyama's "The End of History," where he writes about how the triumph of Western liberalism and consumerism has unwittingly created this kind of regressive condition that shows up in so many facets of life and culture. "If men cannot struggle on behalf of a just cause because that just cause was victorious in an earlier generation," he wrote, "then they will struggle against the just cause. They will struggle for the sake of struggle. They will struggle, in other words, out of a certain boredom: for they cannot imagine living in a world without struggle." That kind of feels like what's going on here. Aside from a small adjustment in how it was seeded, nothing about the 12-team playoff seemed problematic. If anything, it was widely praised for delivering what the original expansion proponents wanted: Geographic diversity, representation for the four power conferences and the Group of Five, first-round playoff games in college venues and a lot of interesting games from the quarterfinals on. In other words, it worked. And there is no obvious reason - financial or otherwise - to have chucked it in the trash already while the four power conferences launch a war amongst themselves about how much access gets allocated to each conference, and by whom. The angst is especially confusing from the SEC, which just got a record 14 bids to the men's basketball tournament (including national champion Florida), has eight of the 16 national seeds for the baseball tournament and five of the eight teams in the Women's College World Series. They're doing just fine, and there is a long track record of being justly rewarded when their teams perform at the highest level. There's little doubt that will happen again in football regardless of which playoff system gets implemented. It just didn't happen last year because the SEC, for once, did not deserve it. But the Big Ten and the SEC are, as Fukuyama wrote, struggling for the sake of struggle. The more power they have amassed by reshaping the landscape through realignment, the more they claim the system is broken. Some believe their end game is a separation from the NCAA, creating a world where they don't have to share a business partnership with conferences and schools they believe aren't bringing as much value to the table. The reality, though, is that any such move would draw a level of scrutiny - legal and political - they are not currently prepared to handle, not to mention the arduous work of building out the infrastructure for all kinds of unglamorous stuff the NCAA already provides. So instead, they wage war against problems that don't really exist, reach for solutions that create actual problems and then fail to solve the problems right in front of their face. The push to expand the NCAA tournament and the CFP are merely symptoms of an affluenza swallowing the highest levels of college sports. Knowing they've failed miserably to execute on the important issues they truly need to solve to ensure the long-term health of their business, the likes of Sankey and Petitti and many others have elevated tedium to a crisis. So a crisis is what they shall have.
