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Arab News
29-05-2025
- Business
- Arab News
Born in the USA and why soon that may not matter
There is a scene in the hysterically funny 2009 movie 'In the Loop' in which the bellicose US military attache Lt. Gen. George Miller, played by the late James Gandolfini, accosts Malcolm Tucker, the foul-mouthed British government spin doctor played by the Scottish actor Peter Capaldi. In the course of a lengthy tirade, Miller denounces the general uselessness and wimpishness of England, all things English and particularly English people as exemplified by Tucker. The spin doctor essays a few ripostes about armchair generals who have never fired a weapon in anger, turns to leave, but then turns back and snarls: 'And don't ever call me ******* English again!' Anyone with sufficient comedic talent could have written and directed the movie, but only a Scot could have written and directed that scene. The Scot in question is Armando Iannucci, a comedy genius who you may know from 'Veep,' the TV series in which he mercilessly skewered the dysfunctional incompetence of White House politics, having previously done the same for the UK with 'The Thick of It.' His name, obviously, denotes Italian heritage, but Iannucci is very much a product of Scotland — as am I: we share a home city, Glasgow, and indeed a school, although 10 years apart. If someone were to suggest that either of us was in any way English, they would be on the receiving end of a mouthful that would put Malcolm Tucker to shame. Taken together, nationality and citizenship create a powerful force that determines who we are as people Ross Anderson Nationality is, above all, an emotion. Citizenship is a bureaucratic process. Taken together, they create a powerful force that determines who we are as people. They are, for example, why Palestinians, despite oppression, persecution and a diaspora scattered to the four winds, remain resolutely and indefatigably Palestinian (and why cruel attempts to drive them out of the West Bank, and absurd attempts to do so from Gaza, are doomed to fail). They are why, despite incomprehension in the US, there was widespread irritation in South America when the new Pope Leo was described as 'the first American pope,' despite having succeeded the proud Argentine and also proud American Pope Francis. As they say south of the Mexican border, 'todos somos Americanos' (we are all American). You would think, therefore, that nationality and citizenship were a straightforward business, but we live in a world where increasingly they are not. Particularly in the US and Western Europe, the shutters are coming down, the barriers are going up, deportation flights are full and there are demands for borders to be closed, as those who already possess citizenship enforce the view that they would rather not be joined by anyone else. The logic of those who oppose migration has always eluded me. Where do they think they came from in the first place? We all know, but it bears repeating for those who have clearly forgotten, that the US became the world's preeminent power wholly on the back of unlimited and uncontrolled immigration, with attempts to limit it desultory. There were a few mostly anti-Asian rules in the late 19th century, but the immigration processing center on Ellis Island was not established until 1892 and migrant quotas and the US Border Patrol had to wait until 1924 — by which time the US was already on a roll. Nor were the early settlers squeamish about their methods: the predecessors of today's US citizens ethnically cleansed the indigenous population from their ancestral land and claimed it as their own because it was their 'manifest destiny' to do so, a scenario that observers of the West Bank today may find depressingly familiar. Since 1898, any child born in the US has been automatically entitled to US citizenship, regardless of the legal status of the child's parents. In almost the first act of the first day of his second term as president, Donald Trump signed an executive order directing that the children of immigrants would no longer receive citizenship unless one of their parents was naturalized or had a green card. Trump did not do that on a whim: polling overwhelmingly suggests that, after retail price inflation, an 'invasion' of undocumented migrants is the issue that most concerns Americans. This is a curious phenomenon, and a paradox. Anti-immigrant sentiment is least fervent in states where you might expect to find it — California, Arizona, New Mexico and Texas, all of which share a border with Mexico on the main migrant route from the south. The very good reason is that business, industry and agriculture in those states would collapse without a steady supply of migrant labor, legal or otherwise, and employers are not inclined to ask too many awkward questions. Particularly in the US and Western Europe, deportation flights are full and there are demands for borders to be closed Ross Anderson To find genuine anger over illegal immigration, you need to go to the old industrial Midwest of Ohio, Michigan, Wisconsin and Pennsylvania — where factory workers from Venezuela are few and far between. There are echoes here of Brexit, the 2016 vote for the UK to leave the EU, which was fueled largely by demands for more control over immigration — demands that came mostly from parts of England where actual migrants are as rare as hen's teeth. With his attempt to end birthright citizenship, Trump has effectively tried to overturn the 14th Amendment to the US Constitution, adopted in 1868 and reinforced by the Supreme Court 30 years later, which states: 'All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States.' Most US legal scholars consider that to be unequivocal and Trump's executive order has been successfully challenged and overturned in most states. The Supreme Court is currently hearing arguments from the Trump administration that a judge may block a presidential order only in their own jurisdiction and not nationwide, but that is a technical issue that need not concern us here. What seems inevitable is that, probably early next year, the court will be asked to rule on the central issue itself — birthright citizenship. On the face of it, it seems a simple decision: the 14th Amendment could not be clearer. But one of the thornier tasks given to the Supreme Court is to interpret laws regulating circumstances and behavior that were markedly different when the laws were written from what they are now, and to judge what the framers of those laws might have thought had they known then what we know now. For example, an estimated 20,000 women a year, mostly from China, travel to the US specifically to give birth there and gain citizenship for their children. 'Birth tourism' was hardly a thing in 1868: should it be encouraged now? Supporting his executive order is certainly what Trump will expect the court to do, but no one ever made money betting on how a Supreme Court justice will rule — not even the president who nominated them. The judges have a long history of applying their own interpretation of the law, not the political views that a president thought he was sending them to the bench to implement. Either way, our whole understanding of nationality and citizenship may be about to change: watch this space.
Scotsman
06-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Scotsman
Local Hero a threat to US national security? Alcatraz may await the culprits
Sign up to our daily newsletter – Regular news stories and round-ups from around Scotland direct to your inbox Sign up Thank you for signing up! Did you know with a Digital Subscription to The Scotsman, you can get unlimited access to the website including our premium content, as well as benefiting from fewer ads, loyalty rewards and much more. Learn More Sorry, there seem to be some issues. Please try again later. Submitting... In the 1970s, the idea of a Scottish film being an international success was almost laughable. Then along came wonderful movies like Local Hero and Gregory's Girl and, suddenly, we were a hit. However, while Peter Capaldi, John Gordon Sinclair and Clare Grogan didn't realise it, these successes made them threats to US national security. No one else realised either – until self-proclaimed 'very stable genius' Donald Trump worked it all out. Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad Actor Peter Riegert, who played 'Mac' MacIntyre, inside the famous phone box in the film Local Hero | Contributed 'The Movie Industry in America is DYING a very fast death. Other Countries are offering all sorts of incentives to draw our filmmakers and studios away from the United States...' he posted. 'This is a concerted effort by other Nations and, therefore, a National Security threat.'
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Scotsman
02-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Scotsman
Former Late Late Show host Craig Ferguson on new stand-up show he is bringing to UK
Watch more of our videos on and on Freeview 262 or Freely 565 Visit Shots! now This article contains affiliate links. We may earn a small commission on items purchased through this article, but that does not affect our editorial judgement. As part of his world tour, Craig Ferguson brings his latest stand-up show to London and Glasgow in June 2025. He told us what its all about. Sign up to our daily newsletter Sign up Thank you for signing up! Did you know with a Digital Subscription to Edinburgh News, you can get unlimited access to the website including our premium content, as well as benefiting from fewer ads, loyalty rewards and much more. Learn More Sorry, there seem to be some issues. Please try again later. Submitting... Craig Ferguson kickstarted his entertainment career as a drummer for a punk band - the lead singer was Peter Capaldi - then as an actor and stand-up comedian in the late 80s. After a successful turn at the Edinburgh Festival and shows at Glasgow's Tron Theatre - he credits Sir Michael Boyd, the artistic director of The Tron as the person who persuaded him to take to the stage - he moved to the United States in 1994, going on to star in The Drew Carey Show, writing and appearing in movies before securing his role as the host of the Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson in 2005. Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad The show ran for eleven seasons featuring interviews with celebrities including Betty White, Jon Hamm, Steve Carrell, Rashida Jones and Mila Kunis. A multiple Grammy nominated, Peabody and Emmy Award-winning actor, writer, producer, director and comedian with a diverse career that encompasses film, television and the stage, Ferguson is a New York Times bestselling author and has recorded numerous stand-up specials for Netflix, Epix, Comedy Central and Amazon. Supplied With such a varied career, why does he continue to return to stand-up? 'I think it's, it's your original it's thing. It's like your original instrument' he says, speaking from his home in New York. 'If you're a guitar player, you can go out and if you do well, you'll play in a band and maybe do somewhere an orchestra and do a concept album about knights of the round table and have a 50 piece thing and all that. But really what you do is you play the guitar, so you go back out and play the guitar, and I feel like that's what stand-up is for me. Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad 'It's what I did at the beginning. I've done it all the way through. I mean, I stopped for a bit, I think in the nineties I stopped because I was doing those independent films and I was working on the Drew Carey Show and there wasn't really any time. 'But other than that, when I started in late night in America, I went back doing stand-up. I felt the two things complimented each other and it is just something I've always done and I like doing it. It's a weird thing. I would probably only say this to someone from Scotland, but it's my job. It's what I do, so I'm going to do it.' Craig made a conscious decision to move his comedy away from topical beats, the political fodder that informed his opening monologues on The Late Late Show. He talks about the show he is bringing to the UK: 'It's anecdotal in the sense that it's stories and it's personal observations. The only rule I give myself about standup, I started round about 2016, is that I gave myself a stylistic choice. Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad 'That I would no longer discuss any kind of politics at all. I'm not going to do it, because particularly, I mean, look, it's a long time since I've done stand-up in the UK, so I don't know if it's the same kind of temperature, but in America, certainly, everybody's doing it. 'It's such a hot button. It's kind of an interesting way to go for me to avoid it. And also I felt like as an audience member, I thought that what I would like is a break look. 'I'm sick of the people that I agree with, nevermind the people that don't. I'm just like, I'm just sick of hearing it. So for an hour and a half or however long I'm on stage, there'll be no politics and all the stuff that you're angry at will still be there when you get out. So nobody's going to lose.' Further information and tickets are available here. Craig Ferguson: Pants on Fire will be at London's O2 Shepherds Bush Empire on 14 June and Glasgow's 02 Academy on 21 June.
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Scotsman
02-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Scotsman
Former Late Late Show host Craig Ferguson on new stand-up show he is bringing to UK
This article contains affiliate links. We may earn a small commission on items purchased through this article, but that does not affect our editorial judgement. As part of his world tour, Craig Ferguson brings his latest stand-up show to London and Glasgow in June 2025. He told us what its all about. Sign up to our daily newsletter – Regular news stories and round-ups from around Scotland direct to your inbox Sign up Thank you for signing up! Did you know with a Digital Subscription to The Scotsman, you can get unlimited access to the website including our premium content, as well as benefiting from fewer ads, loyalty rewards and much more. Learn More Sorry, there seem to be some issues. Please try again later. Submitting... Craig Ferguson kickstarted his entertainment career as a drummer for a punk band - the lead singer was Peter Capaldi - then as an actor and stand-up comedian in the late 80s. After a successful turn at the Edinburgh Festival and shows at Glasgow's Tron Theatre - he credits Sir Michael Boyd, the artistic director of The Tron as the person who persuaded him to take to the stage - he moved to the United States in 1994, going on to star in The Drew Carey Show, writing and appearing in movies before securing his role as the host of the Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson in 2005. Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad The show ran for eleven seasons featuring interviews with celebrities including Betty White, Jon Hamm, Steve Carrell, Rashida Jones and Mila Kunis. A multiple Grammy nominated, Peabody and Emmy Award-winning actor, writer, producer, director and comedian with a diverse career that encompasses film, television and the stage, Ferguson is a New York Times bestselling author and has recorded numerous stand-up specials for Netflix, Epix, Comedy Central and Amazon. Supplied With such a varied career, why does he continue to return to stand-up? 'I think it's, it's your original it's thing. It's like your original instrument' he says, speaking from his home in New York. 'If you're a guitar player, you can go out and if you do well, you'll play in a band and maybe do somewhere an orchestra and do a concept album about knights of the round table and have a 50 piece thing and all that. But really what you do is you play the guitar, so you go back out and play the guitar, and I feel like that's what stand-up is for me. Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad 'It's what I did at the beginning. I've done it all the way through. I mean, I stopped for a bit, I think in the nineties I stopped because I was doing those independent films and I was working on the Drew Carey Show and there wasn't really any time. 'But other than that, when I started in late night in America, I went back doing stand-up. I felt the two things complimented each other and it is just something I've always done and I like doing it. It's a weird thing. I would probably only say this to someone from Scotland, but it's my job. It's what I do, so I'm going to do it.' Craig made a conscious decision to move his comedy away from topical beats, the political fodder that informed his opening monologues on The Late Late Show. He talks about the show he is bringing to the UK: 'It's anecdotal in the sense that it's stories and it's personal observations. The only rule I give myself about standup, I started round about 2016, is that I gave myself a stylistic choice. Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad 'That I would no longer discuss any kind of politics at all. I'm not going to do it, because particularly, I mean, look, it's a long time since I've done stand-up in the UK, so I don't know if it's the same kind of temperature, but in America, certainly, everybody's doing it. 'It's such a hot button. It's kind of an interesting way to go for me to avoid it. And also I felt like as an audience member, I thought that what I would like is a break look. 'I'm sick of the people that I agree with, nevermind the people that don't. I'm just like, I'm just sick of hearing it. So for an hour and a half or however long I'm on stage, there'll be no politics and all the stuff that you're angry at will still be there when you get out. So nobody's going to lose.' Further information and tickets are available here.
Indian Express
24-04-2025
- Entertainment
- Indian Express
A hidden scanner in Black Mirror Season 7 episode could haunt you forever, and it's just a click away
Black Mirror Season 7's Plaything rolls out the creepiest tech yet At the end of episode four, Plaything, a QR code flashes on the screen. Scan it, and you're taken straight to the App Store or Google Play, where you can download the actual Thronglets game. And surprisingly, it's not even a watered-down version of what you saw in the show. Instead, it's the real deal, the full-on game played by the protagonist. 'Be warned: the Throng is judging you.' The game kicks off with one little egg. You hatch it, and out pops your first Thronglet. You feed it, take care of it, bathe it, play with it and enjoy the total classic virtual pet vibes. But, living up to the theme of Black Mirror's episode, they soon start multiplying. Fast. And suddenly, you're not just raising pets, you're building a society. You're making homes, setting rules, and making hard choices. 'Hatch and evolve hundreds of cute creatures: Thronglets! Feed, bathe and entertain them to watch them multiply. One becomes two, two becomes four, and so on. Soon there will be so many, you'll call them a throng,' the game's description reads. The best part? You won't need to spend hours figuring stuff out, there are enough directions on-screen to guide you through, even suggesting how to communicate with your Thronglets. There's a moment early on where the game asks if you want to build a bridge the slow, ethical way (chopping wood), or take a shortcut by harvesting the bones of your own dead Thronglets. It's played off as a joke, like the 'bug' in the game is actually a literal insect, but the moral hit is real. And if you go back on your word? They remember. The more your Throng grows, the messier it gets. You're not just playing for fun anymore. The guilt creeps in as you watch your Thronglets die. You're juggling their mental health, housing, work-life balance, and whether the circumstances you have created are actually killing them. That stings. But that's still not the end. The first world is a tutorial, but world two throws you into the deep end. Tons of items, overlapping systems, and the kind of stress that makes you question your in-game morals. By the time you hit the final stage, you're dropped into a cut-scene-heavy finale with multiple dialogue options. And it hits you: the Thronglets have been judging you the whole time. Will they be proud of the leader you became, or horrified? For Netflix users, the game is completely free. The app currently holds a 4.5 rating with over 200 reviews. What is Black Mirror episode Plaything about In episode four of Black Mirror season 7, Scottish actor and director Peter Capaldi steps into the shoes of an old loner, Cameron, who gets arrested by cops for trying to shoplift some alcohol. Soon after, he becomes a suspect in a murder when police take a spit sample under the 'Bio-Identity Act of 2029' — something way beyond understanding for now. But since some of the show's older concepts have already started turning real in today's world, can we even question it? After his arrest, Cameron opens up about his obsessive gaming habits from the '90s, back when he was a young game reviewer. He's later seen stealing a copy of his colleague Colin Ritman's (Will Poulter) game, Colin being a programmer working on something he plans to scrap. And once stolen, the only copy left ends up with Cameron. Cameron recalls taking LSD for the first time while completely hooked on the game. While he's tripping, he starts to believe he's understanding the Thronglets better. Their random chirps? Suddenly sounds like real communication to him. He hears them asking for more power, more speed. So, he upgrades his entire setup to give them exactly that, even takes more drugs just to stay in sync with their voices. Later, Lump (the friend who gave him drugs for the first time) finds the digital world Cameron's built and messes around like it's just a game. He ends up killing a bunch of Thronglets for fun. Cameron snaps, strangles him to death, chops up the body, and dumps it far away. That's the cold case the cops dig up years later. When they confront him, Cameron shows them a port he's surgically installed in his brain. The Thronglets live inside him now. He calls them 'a benign parasite.' And then comes the twist, Cameron actually wanted to get caught.
