Latest news with #MandipGill
Daily Mail
03-06-2025
- Business
- Daily Mail
EXCLUSIVE Villagers revolt over chaos brought to their leafy Windsor idyll by a hotel-turned-asylum hostel
Desperate villagers have vented their fury at an emergency meeting over 'chaos' brought to their leafy Windsor idyll by a hotel-turned-asylum hostel. Almost 100 residents of upmarket Datchet, Berkshire, crammed into a village hall to demand the Manor Hotel be banned from taking taxpayers' cash to house migrants. In a heated gathering attended by MailOnline, they insisted that the Manor should be transformed back into a venue for weddings, Christmas dinners and tourist parties. One man stormed out after dubbing the hotel a 'cr*p hole' which had been run-down for years because the owners failed to spend money on repairs. There were further spiky exchanges following claims that owners MH Hotels are advertising for regular guests again after an asylum contract with the Home Office ended. Some residents urged their neighbours to give the company's bosses Sam and Mandip Gill their 'trust' and 'support' despite the years of controversy. But angry opponents pointed out that the Gills had not attended the public meeting to explain their plans and had simply just 'taken the money and ran the hotel down'. The summit arranged by Datchet Parish Council was the latest twist in a long-running saga sparked after asylum seekers were moved into the mock Tudor landmark. Desperate villagers have vented their fury at an emergency meeting over 'chaos' brought to their leafy Windsor idyll in Berkshire by a hotel-turned-asylum hostel Residents complained about groups of young, single migrant men hanging around the chocolate box village's green just five minutes' drive from Windsor Castle. The Gills have also used the hotel as a homelessness hostel and the venue found itself at the centre of fears about crime, drug-taking and other anti-social behaviour. Just last month, MailOnline revealed how the owners of £2million properties in the Berkshire village were now desperate to move - but were trapped because buyers showed no interest. The last asylum seekers were moved out ahead of the Home Office deal running out on May 29, and neighbours say cleaners and decorators have been working inside the property. It is understood that the Gills have completed the renovation of a number of rooms, launched a new website and advertised rooms on The brothers are due to meet parish councillors later this week to discuss their plans and some residents told the public discussion they should be given the chance to restore the hotel to its former glory. But one resident, who gave her name as Jackie, said: 'They ran the hotel down during the pandemic and then just took money. It is on them to win us back. 'They will only get us back on board by being honest and open and involving us - so that we trust them to run the hotel and put it back on the map.' Another resident, a cab driver called Suzanne, said: 'I don't understand why the hotel can't be an ordinary hotel. 'We're five minutes from Windsor and there must be people who want a room. 'I don't understand why they have to go for the immigrants and the homeless when we have enough going on in Datchet. What is wrong? Why can't it be a hotel again. ' A man called Satish said before the residents trusted the owners, they should look for something more 'black and white' which would guarantee they honour their promises. 'My only point is that we need to have something more black and white to indicate that it is not going to happen again and we get asylum or homeless. 'The owners are commercial people and don't have any allegiance to the town so they might well pick a different contract tomorrow which is more beneficial to them. 'We need something from the council or the authorities which keeps things going in the direction we want them to go.' Another male homeowner added: 'It's all very well looking forward but we also need to look at what's happened. 'We had unvetted, mostly men, living in a hotel just across from a school. Many parents I've spoken to privately were very concerned. 'We had people loitering in front of the school. so we need to acknowledge the mistakes that have been made and we need to know what we can do to prevent this happening again. 'Because I for one do not want unvetted people male or female living across from the school. 'We don't know who they are, where they come from or what their background is unfortunately not everyone comes from good places. 'We don't know what they have seen or done and that has an impact on how they behave.' Alison Whelan, the parish council's communications officer, said: 'In the past, the Manor Hotel has been a community and business asset. 'It has operated as a public hotel, supporting tourism, events and local businesses. 'I provided local employment and boosted the high street economy just through being there. 'Over the last five years, we have had a restricted use and this has had an economic impact. We've experienced a decline as village centre and the High Street has become less than it was.' Parish councillor Ian Thompson told the meeting: 'Previously, the Manor Hotel was a village hub, several groups had meeting at the hotel, plus business interfaces, events, Christmas dinners, wedding receptions. 'What was a thriving "wedding village economy" has now been destroyed either by closure or reduced income.' The Mail reported in April this year how the accounts for MG Hotels, who were approached for comment, showed that shareholders' funds had soared from £309,000 in 2019 to £2.8million in 2024.
The Guardian
02-06-2025
- Entertainment
- The Guardian
Fun, flirty and far too short: why did Ncuti Gatwa leave Doctor Who so soon?
At the weekend, Doctor Who attempted to pull off the holy grail of a surprise regeneration, with Billie Piper appearing to step into the shoes of the departing 15th Doctor Ncuti Gatwa in a move that, unless you are constantly online in the fandom rumour mills, would have come as a shock. Gatwa's exit gives him one of the shortest ever tenures in a role that has been a fixture of British television for more than six decades. Fresh from making waves in Sex Education, 32-year-old Gatwa is young and beautiful in a way that the Doctor has not always been. His incarnation of the Time Lord delivered scenes it is hard to imagine most of the other actors inhabiting – whether that was him clubbing, pulling off a 1960s dance number, using a glitter-canon to fly through space, or saying 'babes' a lot. The first Black man to lead the show, his era of Doctor Who sensitively explored him visiting periods of Earth's history where his skin colour would have an impact, such as the south of the US in the segregation era in Lux where he was not welcome, and Lagos in Nigeria during playwright Inua Ellams' The Story and the Engine, where he said he felt he very much was. The show was also uncompromising about this Doctor being queer, almost instantly falling for Jonathan Groff's character in Bridgerton tribute Rogue in a way that the unrequited love of Mandip Gill's Yaz for Jodie Whittaker's 13th Doctor only awkwardly tiptoed around. But perhaps the thing that most characterised Gatwa's Doctor was his open displays of emotion – showing on screen that he was not afraid to cry. However, the device was probably overused. Seeing the self-styled 'last of the Time Lords' cry over the death of a character we have barely met, as happened with Sasha 55 in The Robot Revolution, was meant to show the audience she was important to him, but it felt as if the frequent tears cheapened the other times we have seen the character weep. Part of the Doctor's character is that they need to sometimes feel dangerous to the audience. This is to make it clear that while they may appear human and enjoy the company of humans, they are also close to being an omnipotent immortal being, who usually chooses to use those powers for good, but not always. His howl of despair at the racist society in Dot and Bubble not wanting to be saved by him was raw, and we also got to see those kinds of scenes from Gatwa in The Interstellar Song Contest. Despite having the lightness of internet viral sensation Dugga Doo in it, it was a dark story from Juno Dawson with a message about genocide and terrorism that featured scenes of the Doctor torturing Kid (Freddie Fox). The show sometimes feels stuck between a rock and a hard place in the modern era. It has to compete in a streaming environment where grownup fans also watch shows such as Andor or The Last of Us and compare it directly with those. The BBC though is also still trying to make a show whose primary purpose is to be broadcast on Saturday evening on BBC One for a communal multigenerational family audience gathered around the TV. And that is an audience that is increasingly vanishing in houses with multiple screens and multiple viewing options. Gatwa's era also seemed to be riding two slightly conflicting horses. Russell T Davies returned as showrunner with the nostalgia rush of having David Tennant and Catherine Tate back in the Tardis for three 60th anniversary specials, then promised a softish reboot with the aim of picking up new audiences and starting afresh as 'Season one' with a new Disney+ international distribution deal. But he also opted to bring back companions from the 1960s and 1980s, and have the return of niche villains and enemies that necessitated flashbacks to episodes from the 1970s, which didn't exactly scream 'accessible'. The eight episode series length is also causing pacing issues. If you accept that the first and final two episodes make up the bulk of the series arc, then you only have five episodes to play with. Once you have done a couple of experimental 'bottle' episodes, and one Doctor-lite episode, there really isn't much time to get to know a Doctor and their companion simply hanging out having adventures in time and space. And a single misfiring episode – last year's finale Empire of Death was widely regarded in fandom as not having stuck the landing – is an eighth of the season. Two misfiring episodes is a quarter of the season. There is no room in the present format for mid-tier Doctor Who stories. It always feels as if it is too soon to say goodbye to an incarnation of a Doctor, but we only got 19 episodes with Gatwa, and of those he shared The Giggle – and his clothes – with Tennant, and in three of them (73 Yards, Dot and Bubble, Lucky Day) he barely appeared at all. He also becomes the first Doctor since Paul McGann – whose main appearance was the one-off TV movie in 1996 – not to face the Daleks, the most iconic Doctor Who monster of all. Gatwa's Doctor was fun, flirty and full of joy, but it is difficult not to conclude that we hadn't seen enough of him in the role, and now we never will.
