Latest news with #MaeWest
The Sun
02-06-2025
- Health
- The Sun
I played dress up in clothes worn by my parents Fred & Rose West's victims – they killed my sister & made us watch porn
MAE West recalls Christmas and birthdays being a special time as a child, one where her family finally felt normal as her mum baked 'superb' cakes adorned with sugary icing. But once the special occasions were over, the darkness fell over Fred and Rose West 's home as their eldest surviving daughter, Mae, reveals. 12 Since the serial killer couple were locked up in 1995, Mae, now 53, has tried to live a life that resembles some normality away from the sick killers she called mum and dad. Rose West was sentenced to ten life sentences after helping her husband Fred West embark on a murder spree of at least 12 women in the 70s and 80s in Gloucester - two of the victims being their own children, Charmaine and Heather West. While Rose has continuously protested her innocence, Fred West escaped justice when he killed himself while on remand. Now 30 years on from being sent to HMP New Hall, The Sun revealed that Rose, 71, who changed her name to Jennifer Jones in 2020, is becoming increasingly isolated and frail. (You can read our exclusive on Rose West's grim prison life HERE) A source told the Sun this week: 'She's in a disabled room now because she can barely walk." 'No one talks to her because everyone knows who she is and what she did, even if she has changed her name," they added. Now, Rose is left entirely on her own after she cut her oldest daughter, Mae, out of her life for questioning her sick crimes, leading her to tell all about the woman she once called mum. HOUSE OF HORRORS Mae grew up at 25 Cromwell Street and is the oldest surviving daughter of the pair, who had eight children between them. And she has candidly revealed what it was really like growing up with serial killers as parents. By the time she was born, the two had already murdered her half-sister Charmaine and her dad's previous wife, Catherine "Rena" West. Netflix documentary delves into the crimes of Fred and Rose West with new testimony and footage She was never read a bedtime story, or tucked in by her parents, toys were scarce in the home, so they often made up their own games - wearing their parents' victims' clothes for fancy dress, which they found while locked in the cellar at night. By the age of seven, Mae suffered from extreme sexual and physical abuse at their hands, with her own dad forcing her and her older sister Heather to watch pornographic content with him. It was a future she was warned about by her older half-sister Anne Marie. 'One day, I went swimming with Anne Marie and she told me she'd been sexually abused by Mum and Dad," Mae, who lives in the West Country with her husband and two kids says. It wasn't unusual for us kids to come across dildos, vibrators and other sex toys just lying around the house. It amused Dad. Mae West 'She said it had gone on for years and warned me they might try to do the same to me,' she wrote in her 2018 book, Love As Always, Mum. It was even reported that sick Fred hoped to impregnate the girls, telling his daughters: 'I made you; I can do what I like with you.' 'Dad didn't make any secret of the fact he sometimes filmed [Rose] having sex' with random men while Fred hid in the wardrobe, Mae told the Daily Mail. 'I used to find it completely repulsive. We always knew about their interest in kinky sex. They never tried to hide it from us. 'They'd leave porn magazines lying around the house, along with bondage gear: masks, rubber suits, whips and the like. 'It wasn't unusual for us kids to come across dildos, vibrators and other sex toys just lying around the house. It amused Dad, more than anything, to see how we reacted.' 12 With Fred and Rose West exposing their children to sex at a young age, as a teenager, Mae was often asked to help Rose, who became a sex worker, book and schedule her clients who would come to the home, even when the kids were around. Rose also abused her daughter, once dragging a knife along her ribcage. She and her siblings lived in fear of their parents' threats that they would end up "under the patio" like their sister, Heather. But Mae does recall there was the occasional respite from the torture they endured. 'We ate meals and watched TV together, celebrated birthdays and Christmas, and went on family holidays,' Mae wrote in her book. 'Mum used to bake superb cakes. We'd always have a fantastic iced sponge for our birthdays and an equally lovely fruit cake laced with booze at Christmas time. She always made a real effort for special occasions and Christmas Day was the one day we really did feel like any other family.' 12 Killed by depravity - Fred and Rose West's known victims Anna McFall The nanny of Fred and Rena West's children, McFall was believed to have been murdered in 1967. She was pregnant when she died, with West believed to have been the father. Her body was found in June 1994 in a shallow grave. Fred West denied murdering McFall but he is said to have confided to a visitor after his arrest that he stabbed her following an argument. This happened before Rose West met him. Charmaine West With Fred in prison for the theft of car tyres and a vehicle tax disc, Rose was left to look after Charmaine and Anne Marie. The former just eight-years-old, was Fred West's stepdaughter from his previous marriage. A neighbour Tracey is said to have found Charmaine tied to a wooden chair with her hands behind her back with Rose standing with a large wooden spoon. Rose claimed she'd been taken by her mother, but her skeleton was found at the Midland Road property, hidden and missing bones. Rena West Fred's first wife Rena is believed to have been murdered by strangulation. Rose was not charged for this murder. Lynda Gough Lynda Gough was the first sexually motivated killing conducted by the Wests. She moved into Cromwell Street in April 1973, having had affairs with several lodgers. The Wests later claimed she'd been asked to leave after hitting one of their children. Strangulation and suffocation were the likely causes of death. Carol Ann Cooper Cooper was murdered in November 1973, aged just 15. On the night of November 9, she was allowed to spend the night at her grandmother's house before a doctor's appointment the next morning. She attended the appointment and then met her boyfriend, before somehow ending up on Cromwell Street. Her body was found more than twenty years later. Lucy Partington A 21-year-old medieval English student at Exeter University, Lucy returned home for Christmas in December 1973. She left a friend's house in a rush to get the last bus from Cheltenham to Gretton on 27 December, with it believed she was abducted from this bus stop. She was found more twenty years later, her dismembered body in the cellar of Cromwell Street. Therese Siegenthaler A 21-year-old Swiss sociology student at Woolwich Polytechnic. She had planned to hitch-hike to Ireland in Easter 1974. Her family reported her missing having not heard from her for some time. Prosecution believe she was abducted before being killed, with Fred West later building a fake chimney over her grave. Shirley Hubbard Just 15 at the time of her death, Hubbard is believed to have been abducted by the Wests. Her body was found following an excavation in the concrete and plastic membrane of the cellar floor. Juanita Mott In the summer of 1974, Mott moved into 25 Cromwell Street but later went missing when she was living in Newent. Her body was found in March 1994, 19 years later, with West having concreted over the floor of the cellar. Shirley Robinson The first victim buried outside the house, Robinson had an affair with Fred West, and by autumn 1977, she was pregnant with his child. It was initially claimed she had moved to Scotland but her body was later found. When questioned, Rose West, herself pregnant with her daughter Tara at the time of the murder, claimed she did not remember her, which was described as 'ludicrous' by the prosecution. Alison Chambers The last murder with a sexual motive established. She disappeared just before her 17 th birthday, having been seen at 25 Cromwell Street throughout the summer. Her body was buried underneath the patio. Heather West The first child born to Fred and Rose West, there is no evidence she was aware of the killings. Sexually abused by her parents and having told friends, she suddenly went missing in 1987, with her mum claiming she had gone to Wales to be with a lesbian partner. The couple would joke to their other children that they would 'end up under the patio like Heather' if they misbehaved. This, and their changing stories, led to the search warrants for the property, and subsequently to their arrests. LOCKED AWAY Growing up, Mae and her siblings would often be locked in the cellar of their home at night with a bucket to use as a toilet. Throughout this time, Fred and Rose invited lodgers, predominantly women, to stay in the home. Many of these women were subjected to horrific torture and rape before eventually being killed and buried under the house. They also enticed young women into their car with Rose's presence in the front seat used as a way to make them feel safe before taking them home to meet the same fate. Mae recalls that there was a large toy box that was locked in the cellar that they would play on to keep them entertained, later she realised it was used to store the mutilated bodies of their victims. "I remember there was a chest down there, a sort of toy box, and we'd jump onto it and pretend it was a boat while we waited for Mum to come and let us out. There was always a disgusting smell that came with it, but we didn't have the faintest idea what was the cause of it," Mae recalls. "It is strange and chilling to think about that game now – now that I know there really were horrors under that floor - police found human remains hidden in the house's cellar and under paving slabs in the garden." The children also found a box of clothes down there which they used to play dress up, she later realised they were the clothes of the victims. 12 FAMILY TIES Despite the sexual abuse, Mae says Fred was often the nicer parent to be around. While she and her sisters slept fully clothed and took turns guarding the bathroom for each other from Fred, she said it was her mum they truly feared. She was the one who terrified us. Mae Rose "Extraordinary as it sounds, aside from the sexual abuse, in many ways he'd been quite kind and even funny," she says. "He'd sometimes intervene when Mum punished us with an 'Ease off, Rose!' - she was the one who terrified us." While many assume Rose was groomed by Fred, who was 12 years her senior, Mae said her mum "wore the trousers in their marriage". Mae's oldest sister Heather disappeared at the age of 17, a year after confessing to school staff and friends what was going on at home, but nothing was done to protect her. The siblings were told she had taken a job in Torquay, which she had previously been rejected from. In reality, Fred and Rose West had murdered their own daughter and buried her underneath the family home. Fred would even 'joke' that, should the kids ever misbehave, they would 'end up under the patio like Heather'. But Fred and Rose West failed to keep their stories the same about where Heather had gone, which ultimately led to them being caught. Their younger daughter, Louise, came forward to a friend about the sexual abuse Fred put her through, which spurred the friend's mum to call the police. 12 DIGGING THE TRUTH UP Police eventually caught up with the pair's sick actions thanks to their children telling people their sister was under the porch, and on February 25, 1994 began excavating the house. They soon realised the joke of going "under the patio" was in fact a threat when they found a leg bone in the garden. Further excavation work led police to nine more bodies found buried under the house - with two more victims found in a field in Kempley. When Fred was questioned by police, he chillingly revealed there were at least 20 more victims that the couple had killed across the country. Mae was 20 when the police came knocking and had moved out of the family home by this point, she said at first, she was too stunned to believe it was real. Mae moved out of the family home in 1990 at the age of 18 after getting a job as a secretary and signed a mortgage with a partner. Four years later, her parents were jailed for multiple murders. She attempted to have contact with Rose while she was in prison, but says the relationship was cut off by her mum when Mae probed her on the murders. Mae continued: 'She claimed that Dad influenced and controlled her and that she'd made a pact to stay with him as long as he didn't harm us kids. 'But it started to sound implausible. If that was the case, why didn't she leave when Heather went ' missing '? You wouldn't just accept that your daughter had disappeared, would you? And why would Mum collude in the sexual abuse? When I started to think about it all, doubts crept in.' It was after Mae quizzed Rose about Heather that Rose decided to cut off all contact with her daughter. 'And I watched her squirm. I thought, 'She's not going to give me an honest answer for all her promises. And she never has done. You never got straight answers. "It makes it worse for the families of victims because she is the only one alive now who knows the truth — and yet she hasn't told it." 12 LIFE NOW While Mae has mostly remained out of the spotlight, she decided to share her story with her tell-all book in 2018. She's also gone on to live a relatively normal life with a husband and has two adult children, and lives in the rural West country. Despite their horrific childhood, Mae has been able to keep a relationship with her siblings. They say that families are broken up by these things, but we've stuck together. Mae West 'We've all coped in different ways,' she told the Daily Mail. 'We're very close. I talk to my sister Louise every day on the phone. There are very few people you can go to who share our background. 'Even in our own family, everyone has had a different experience, and as much as people try to, they can't understand. They just don't know what we've been through, do they? 'They say that families are broken up by these things, but we've stuck together. Actually, we're very lucky.'
Forbes
16-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Forbes
Where Is Rose West Now? Here's Whether The Serial Killer Is Still In Prison
Netflix's Fred and Rose West: A British Horror Story Fred and Rose West are known as two of the most notorious serial killers in UK history. The story of their victims and the horrific crimes they committed are the focus of Netflix's new docuseries, Fred and Rose West: A British Horror Story. As you're watching, you might be wondering where Rose West is now, whether she's still in prison, and if she's in contact with her kids. Rosemary West was 15 years old and working at a bakery when she first met Fred. She encountered the 27-year-old at a bus stop and eventually left her job to move in as a full-time nanny for Fred's two children. Fred had previously been married to Catherine "Rena" Costello, with whom he had two daughters, Charmaine and Anne Marie. Rose gave birth to their first child, Heather, in 1970. She and Fred married in January 1972 and went on to have eight children, many of whom they physically and sexually abused. The couple eventually moved into a house at 25 Cromwell Street in Gloucester, England. According to the West children, their mother was engaged in sex work, although police stated she was 'not known to [them] The couple's eldest surviving daughter, Mae West, wrote about her parents' obsession with sex in her 2020 memoir, Love as Always, Mum xxx. She recalled sex toys and hardcore porn videos, many filmed by Fred and featuring Rose and others, scattered around the home. At the same time, Mae also recalled seemingly normal family moments, like the iced cakes Rose baked for their birthdays or the Christmas presents bought from the Argos catalogue. The family also went on camping holidays, during which Mae and her sisters were spared from their father's abuse. On January 12, 1973, the couple were convicted of kidnapping and abusing Caroline Owens, a girl who had been their nanny for a short period in late 1972. (Owens later testified in Rose's trial that she was kidnapped, sexually assaulted, and held against her will by both Rose and Fred.) Anne Marie, who was sexually abused by her father, wrote that the children were isolated from the outside world. "We lived in a vacuum at Cromwell Street. No-one was allowed in without Dad's or Rose's permission, not even our playmates from school," she said, per ABC AU. Netflix's Fred and Rose West: A British Horror Story Fred and Rose West were accused of raping, torturing, and killing at least 12 people over more than 20 years. Rose was convicted of participating in 10 of the murders. Their victims included their daughter Heather, Fred's ex-wife Rena, Fred and Rena's daughter Charmaine, as well as lodgers, nannies, hitchhikers, and other vulnerable women in the area. Some victims were mutilated, and many were decapitated. Anne Marie, who had run away from home, alerted authorities about the physical abuse she both saw and experienced in the house. She also expressed concern about her missing sister, Heather. What seemed to be silly rumor about Heather being buried in the outside patio made its way to social workers, who notified police and executed a search of the property. Police discovered nine sets of human remains throughout the property – dubbed the 'House of Horrors' – including in the cellar, beneath the patio, and near the bathroom and kitchen window. Additional remains were found in nearby fields in Kempley. One of Fred's first victims was Ann McFall, a woman who lived with Fred in his caravan and was pregnant with his first child. He also killed his former wife Rena, who left him in 1969 amid reports of violence and sexual abuse, according to the BBC. With Rose's help, Fred went on to kill 10 more women. Some victims, like Carole Ann Cooper and Lucy Partington, were picked up while hitchhiking or waiting at bus stops, while others were lodgers staying in their home. Perhaps the most horrific of the couple's crimes was the murder of their first-born daughter Heather. Her body was the first discovered when police searched 25 Cromwell Street, and she's believed to be the final victim in their killing spree. Fred West's biographer Geoffrey Wansall told the BBC that Heather was 'rebellious, difficult, and refused to collaborate with her father's plans.' While Heather and her sister tried to protect each other from their father, Wansall said he believed she threatened to go to the police to tell them about his crimes. Netflix's Fred and Rose West: A British Horror Story Fred eventually admitted to murdering the women, but claimed he acted alone. He committed suicide on January 1, 1995, at the age of 53, in his cell at Birmingham Prison, while Rose continued to profess her innocence. Rose pleaded not guilty to ten counts of murder. The trial lasted more than a month, and she was found guilty of ten murders. She was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole, becoming the only the second woman in the UK's modern history to be given that sentence, per ABC AU. Rose West is still in prison and serving out her life sentence at HM Prison New Hall. Shortly after being found guilty, she attempted to appeal her convictions, but her application for appeal was refused, according to Netflix's Tudum. Rose's daughter Mae wrote in her book that when she visited her mom in prison, she believed she was telling the truth. 'I kept loyal to Mum. She claimed that Dad influenced and controlled her and that she'd made a pact to stay with him as long as he didn't harm us kids,' she said, according to Daily Mail. Eventually, Mae realized her 'coercive" and 'controlling' mom was guilty of the crimes she denied. 'I didn't realise it at the time, but Mum manipulated me. She started to hug me and hold my hand when I visited her. She'd never shown me any affection before. She signed all her letters 'Love as always, Mum', yet she'd never told me she loved me before,' she wrote. Mae also called Rose a 'hypocrite,' especially for acting 'high and mighty' in prison – intervening in her children's lives and claiming that her sister Louise wouldn't be a good parent, while ignoring the fact that she and Fred had violently and sexually abused them. She revealed that she eventually stopped visiting her mother, and Rose has stopped writing to her. 'Her death will be the next thing," Mae said of her then-70-year-old mother. "I suppose she might make a deathbed confession. I just wish she'd tell the truth to the authorities, then we'd all know, wouldn't we?" As for the rest of the West children, Mae said they are still close. 'They say that families are broken up by these things, but we've stuck together. Actually, we're very lucky." Fred and Rose West: A British Horror Story is streaming on Netflix. Watch the official trailer below.
Toronto Sun
03-05-2025
- Business
- Toronto Sun
CHAUDHRI: Too many tech layoffs blamed on poor performance
Performance, like beauty, may lie in the eye of its beholder Some tech companies have harnessed the relative vagueness of performance assessment to support mass layoffs of employees. Getty Images (stock photo) It was Mae West who said an ounce of performance is worth a pound of promises. Being able to focus, execute and 'perform' are good traits for anyone to have – particularly for employees. This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. THIS CONTENT IS RESERVED FOR SUBSCRIBERS ONLY Subscribe now to read the latest news in your city and across Canada. Unlimited online access to articles from across Canada with one account. Get exclusive access to the Toronto Sun ePaper, an electronic replica of the print edition that you can share, download and comment on. Enjoy insights and behind-the-scenes analysis from our award-winning journalists. Support local journalists and the next generation of journalists. Daily puzzles including the New York Times Crossword. SUBSCRIBE TO UNLOCK MORE ARTICLES Subscribe now to read the latest news in your city and across Canada. Unlimited online access to articles from across Canada with one account. Get exclusive access to the Toronto Sun ePaper, an electronic replica of the print edition that you can share, download and comment on. Enjoy insights and behind-the-scenes analysis from our award-winning journalists. Support local journalists and the next generation of journalists. Daily puzzles including the New York Times Crossword. REGISTER / SIGN IN TO UNLOCK MORE ARTICLES Create an account or sign in to continue with your reading experience. Access articles from across Canada with one account. Share your thoughts and join the conversation in the comments. Enjoy additional articles per month. Get email updates from your favourite authors. THIS ARTICLE IS FREE TO READ REGISTER TO UNLOCK. Create an account or sign in to continue with your reading experience. Access articles from across Canada with one account Share your thoughts and join the conversation in the comments Enjoy additional articles per month Get email updates from your favourite authors Don't have an account? Create Account But performance, or more specifically the measurement of it, can be a nebulous exercise. Some metrics of performance are cut and dry and clearly objective, while other elements can be entirely subjective. Performance, like beauty, may lie in the eye of its beholder. No doubt, two managers may have a very different view of the same employee's performance. The very fact that performance can be measured differently by different people can give employers some broad discretion when it comes to assessing performance. Some tech companies have harnessed the relative vagueness of performance assessment to support mass layoffs of employees. It's an alarming trend. RECOMMENDED VIDEO SFGate reported that Jack Dorsey, CEO of Block, laid off 931 workers earlier this year, including employees who were 'off strategy' and 'underperforming.' Dorsey told Business Insider in 2023 that he eliminated drawn-out performance improvement plans and preferred to terminate underperformers 'without delay.' Your noon-hour look at what's happening in Toronto and beyond. By signing up you consent to receive the above newsletter from Postmedia Network Inc. Please try again This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. Terminating 931 workers at the same time for purported under performance seems staggering, particularly when the company abolished an important performance management tool. Was this a mass layoff masquerading as something else? Microsoft and Meta have also reportedly tied large scale layoffs to alleged widespread employee underperformance. Similarly, Business Insider reported recently that Salesforce has introduced a new 'PEP' or 'PIP' program. Under this program employees are offered a 'Prompt Exit Package' with less or lower severance. If employees refuse the PEP, 'they will be put on a PIP (P erformance Improvement Plan), ' according to the story. Business Insider reported that the performance pressure at Salesforce was implemented 'as it executes its plan to reduce its workforce by 10%.' Read More This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. While it makes some sense for employers to apply a higher level of scrutiny on employees if a reduction in workforce is being considered, there are obvious issues with the approach. Firstly, performance assessments should never be made arbitrarily. An employee should be rated in a good faith way, not in anticipation of a future demotion or termination. If an employee is slated to be terminated (or even being considered for termination) an employer should not arbitrarily tinker with the employee's performance rating in advance of the termination. This should be obvious, but when mass layoffs are being tied to performance issues we must explore why an employer would be incentivized to do so. Many employees receive raises, bonuses and commissions based on performance ratings. The higher the rating, the higher the bonus or raise. Now, if someone who is generally a high performer is terminated, they would expect a severance package that aligns with the compensation flowing from their high performance scores. This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. In order to reduce costs, some employers may, on a bad faith basis, be painting good performers as bad or mediocre performers to subsequently reduce bonus/commission payments on termination. For example, in anticipation of the termination, lower the performance rating so as to support lower payouts on bonuses or other incentives. While one must be careful to call out employer practices, it seems implausible that there were, at the same time, 931 poor performers at Block who all had to be done away with at once. Employees should not take a poor performance review lying down. If the review is not fair or reasonable, it is of vital importance that it is protested, in writing. Saying nothing will lead an employer to argue that you accepted your fate, unfair as it was. Canadian courts must be prepared to explore poor performance ratings just prior to a termination, particularly when an employee is terminated as part of a larger reduction. It is a tool that is being used too often by powerful companies and should be explored, not ignored. Have a workplace problem? Maybe I can help! Email me at sunira@ and your question may be featured in a future column. The content of this article is general information only and is not legal advice.
Yahoo
03-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
CHAUDHRI: Too many tech layoffs blamed on poor performance
It was Mae West who said an ounce of performance is worth a pound of promises. Being able to focus, execute and 'perform' are good traits for anyone to have – particularly for employees. But performance, or more specifically the measurement of it, can be a nebulous exercise. Some metrics of performance are cut and dry and clearly objective, while other elements can be entirely subjective. Performance, like beauty, may lie in the eye of its beholder. No doubt, two managers may have a very different view of the same employee's performance. The very fact that performance can be measured differently by different people can give employers some broad discretion when it comes to assessing performance. Some tech companies have harnessed the relative vagueness of performance assessment to support mass layoffs of employees. It's an alarming trend. SFGate reported that Jack Dorsey, CEO of Block, laid off 931 workers earlier this year, including employees who were 'off strategy' and 'underperforming.' Dorsey told Business Insider in 2023 that he eliminated drawn-out performance improvement plans and preferred to terminate underperformers 'without delay.' Terminating 931 workers at the same time for purported under performance seems staggering, particularly when the company abolished an important performance management tool. Was this a mass layoff masquerading as something else? Microsoft and Meta have also reportedly tied large scale layoffs to alleged widespread employee underperformance. Similarly, Business Insider reported recently that Salesforce has introduced a new 'PEP' or 'PIP' program. Under this program employees are offered a 'Prompt Exit Package' with less or lower severance. If employees refuse the PEP, 'they will be put on a PIP (Performance Improvement Plan),' according to the story. Business Insider reported that the performance pressure at Salesforce was implemented 'as it executes its plan to reduce its workforce by 10%.' CHAUDHRI: Court of Appeal sends warning to Ontario employers CHAUDHRI: Can your employer force you back into the office? CHAUDHRI: Are you being quiet-fired? While it makes some sense for employers to apply a higher level of scrutiny on employees if a reduction in workforce is being considered, there are obvious issues with the approach. Firstly, performance assessments should never be made arbitrarily. An employee should be rated in a good faith way, not in anticipation of a future demotion or termination. If an employee is slated to be terminated (or even being considered for termination) an employer should not arbitrarily tinker with the employee's performance rating in advance of the termination. This should be obvious, but when mass layoffs are being tied to performance issues we must explore why an employer would be incentivized to do so. Many employees receive raises, bonuses and commissions based on performance ratings. The higher the rating, the higher the bonus or raise. Now, if someone who is generally a high performer is terminated, they would expect a severance package that aligns with the compensation flowing from their high performance scores. In order to reduce costs, some employers may, on a bad faith basis, be painting good performers as bad or mediocre performers to subsequently reduce bonus/commission payments on termination. For example, in anticipation of the termination, lower the performance rating so as to support lower payouts on bonuses or other incentives. While one must be careful to call out employer practices, it seems implausible that there were, at the same time, 931 poor performers at Block who all had to be done away with at once. Employees should not take a poor performance review lying down. If the review is not fair or reasonable, it is of vital importance that it is protested, in writing. Saying nothing will lead an employer to argue that you accepted your fate, unfair as it was. Canadian courts must be prepared to explore poor performance ratings just prior to a termination, particularly when an employee is terminated as part of a larger reduction. It is a tool that is being used too often by powerful companies and should be explored, not ignored.
Daily Mail
27-04-2025
- Entertainment
- Daily Mail
CHRISTOPHER STEVENS reviews Louis Theroux: The Settlers on BBC2: Theroux's bumbling gaucheness is wearing uncomfortably thin...
Mae West made her final movie, Sextette, when she was 84. She stars as a movie queen so irresistible that an entire squad of athletes are desperate to seduce her. 'I do the role I always do,' she told an interviewer. 'I do Mae West. I've kept my looks.' Louis Theroux is turning into Mae West without the wigs. Aged 54, he's still doing the schtick that launched his career in the 1990s, the faux-naive bumbler with an air of boyish puzzlement. And it's wearing uncomfortably thin. 'You've come armed, but we're so friendly,' he teased a twitchy Israeli radical with a sub-machinegun slung over his back, as he toured Jewish outposts on the West Bank in The Settlers. For a ghastly moment, I was afraid he was going to use Mae's famous line from the Broadway play Catherine Was Great: 'Is that a pistol in your pocket or are you just pleased to see me?' That sort of jejune flirtiness worked wonders with eccentrics such as Christine Hamilton and Debbie McGee on When Louis Met..., but it had no effect on the belligerent Zionist evangelists. Like an increasing number of people, they were immune to the Theroux charm. Daniella Weiss, a veteran campaigner for increasing Israel's territory, became so tired of his pretence at gaucheness that she placed both hands on his chest and shoved him hard. Her aim, she explained frankly, was to provoke him into shoving her back — so she could claim he'd physically attacked her. If he was as unworldly as he likes to make out, Louis might have fallen for it. Instead, he shot her a hurt, bewildered look like a puppy that's just had its nose smacked. A deep streak of cynicism lies under his charade. His interviewees are carefully chosen, to reinforce the BBC narrative that Israelis are the oppressors and Palestinians their victims. Weiss is a crackpot, who believes Jewish settlers should be rushing into the Gaza Strip to establish tarpaulin homesteads amid the rubble. Aside from all the other arguments, the fact that this would be suicidal, inviting barbarous reprisals by Hamas, doesn't appear to bother her. While Louis's camera team was following her car in a military convoy, she veered away and made a break for the Gaza border. Israeli soldiers intercepted her, but when Louis caught up, her eyes were sparkling with manic glee: 'I wanted to show the rabbis that Gaza is not something beyond reach.' By contrast, his main Palestinian spokesman was the avowedly non-violent Issa Amro, a long-time activist who advocates peaceful protest and has denounced Hamas terrorism. Every aspect of this documentary, and Amro's involvement most of all, will have been scrutinised in minute detail by BBC lawyers and spin doctors. They can't afford a repeat of the disaster earlier this year, when the teenage narrator of a film about children in the Gaza Strip turned out to be the son of a senior Hamas official. Louis isn't naive enough to make a mistake like that.
