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New Statesman
2 days ago
- Entertainment
- New Statesman
Kemi Badenoch sinks further into the mire
Illustration by André Carrilho 'Here for the funeral?' asked the man in the seat next to me. Short, stout, bearded, behatted, pot-bellied: he looked just like a garden gnome. We were in the Duchess Theatre, Covent Garden, home of the pre-theatre set menu, luvvie-land. What the gnome called 'the funeral' – and what we might call the 'oooooffft, not again' or the 'should she really have that job?' or the 'why does she keep doing this to herself?' – belonged to Kemi Badenoch, for now the leader of His Majesty's opposition. The gnome, a retired civil servant, had come in search of Schadenfreude. He was here all the way from Eastbourne, gleeful and triumphant, to watch Badenoch on stage in conversation with the comedian Matt Forde. The live talk would be recorded for Forde's popular podcast The Political Party. 'It's a slow-motion car crash,' said Gnome, widely smiling, before Badenoch had even appeared. Car crash, funeral, whatever. If you want to understand British politics, know that there are men out there who not only look like a Renaissance woodcut of a mythical mountain-dwelling creature but who will travel one hour and 35 minutes on Southern Rail to watch a politician they hate exchange sensible on stage banter out of pure spite. In Britain, complicated forms of bitterness and political despair play out through evening attendance as light entertainment. I suppose it's better than the way these things resolve themselves in Myanmar. The tickets for Forde-Badenoch cost £26.50: a price Gnome was happy to pay. A flannel-and-cardigan audience settled into their seats around us. What was Badenoch doing with Forde? It was a deep mystery, much like the continued existence of Emmerdale. Was she doing outreach a few doors down from the Royal Ballet? Are there many votes left for Conservative leaders in the bullseye centre of liberal London, or did one of her aides book her in for the sweet comic grilling months ago, when the Tories weren't finishing fourth in Scottish by-elections on an apocalyptic 6 per cent of the vote? The move showed ambition, which Badenoch can never be accused of lacking. For every two voters the Conservatives are at risk of losing to Labour or the Liberal Democrats, one exhausted Tory flack told me this week, they haemorrhage five or six to Reform. Badenoch could turn the tide against Nigel Farage right here in the Duchess by talking about herself for 45 minutes in front of an audience of Lib Dems. Before anything happened, Gnome began a rambling and dirty joke about Nicholas Soames, who I am required by law to tell you is Winston Churchill's grandson. I think Gnome may just have hated Conservative politicians. He said the joke was Forde's, although I have in the past heard it attributed to Sarah Sands, the former editor of the Today programme. Forde appeared in a shiny blue suit buttoned at the waist, set off by box-fresh white Air Jordans. He was amusing, although his gags appeared to have been printed out on A4 paper and stuck to a box at the front of the stage. Alan Lockey, the Prime Minister's speechwriter, took an indirect pasting. 'Keir Starmer has a weird way with words,' Forde began, before entering a passably nasal Starmer impression: 'I know what it's like to work in a factory… because my dad did it.' Not quite the same thing, is it, as Forde quickly pointed out – you can try this yourself. Pick your most benighted dead relative. 'I know what it's like to get blown up at the Somme… because my great-grandfather did it.' Convincing? Subscribe to The New Statesman today from only £8.99 per month Subscribe I was growing impatient for Badenoch. Understatement induces me to say that her leadership has not gone very well so far. Consider a recent defence of Ukraine that she made on one of the Sunday shows: within hours it was clipped, trussed up, lipsticked and used by the Russian embassy for their own propaganda purposes. As a parable, it's pure Badenoch. She wants to do one thing. The opposite happens. The disintegration has since accelerated. A few days previously Badenoch had given a big speech on the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR). Imagine you are a right-wing politician fighting off an even more right-wing insurgency that draws all of its energy from promising mass asylum deportations, strong borders, the full Children of Men barbed-wire-and-police-dogs scenario. Would you then promise to leave the ECHR, which effectively stops the government from doing any of that? You might think Badenoch would have made this promise by now. But in that speech Badenoch effectively said she was going to send a consumer complaint email to the court in Strasbourg with her intention to announce a recommendation she had been advised to consider by someone else about the possibility of maybe, after taking some time to come up with a plan, perhaps or perhaps not leaving the ECHR. Strong stuff. Cask-strength. The speech may keep One Nation Tories happy in the parliamentary Conservative Party while opening a vast steppe for Nigel Farage to graze on. After the speech, Badenoch told the BBC she was going to improve: 'You don't want people to be the very best they're going to be on day one. You want people who are going to get better.' Picture Tony Blair saying that. Or Margaret Thatcher. To the extent that anything can get better when you are facing the possibility of being leapfrogged in the polls by the Green Party, Badenoch did improve once she settled, in a gold sleeveless blouse and long black skirt, into a low chair opposite Forde. For one thing, Gnome immediately fell asleep once she began talking. His head drooped first, then his chin settled on his belly. He breathed gently through his round, red nose. Badenoch has been known to induce a similar effect when she posts short-form video content on X, or speaks at Prime Minister's Questions. What's it like being leader of the opposition, Forde asked. Fascinating, Badenoch said, in a posh, slightly hoarse voice. She compared leading the Tories to Game of Thrones, a show in which most characters she might be compared to are murdered by nasty and treacherous methods. She said she'd received advice from past Tory leaders but not Liz Truss, whom she claimed might have lost Badenoch's phone number. 'But she's so good with numbers,' quipped Forde. To laughter, Badenoch poked Forde: 'Do an impression of me.' He mouthed the air before refusing. We were here to see the nice man who wrote Politically Homeless, not Jim Davidson. Badenoch condemned nationalisation, a Fabian idea Nigel Farage has taken a spooky interest in recently. 'Who would want a politician running a business?' Badenoch asked the now-silent audience, raising the uncomfortable question: who would want this Conservative Party running anything? They're not a party right now. They're a bag of snakes. Badenoch was right about Game of Thrones. Some of the material being shopped around to undermine her in Westminster is truly Targaryen in its uncompromising brutality. Leaks that make you shudder at the possibilities of human betrayal, even when the stakes are low: taking over the leadership of Britain's third most- popular political party. 'I've chosen a very, very difficult path,' said Kemi Badenoch as the funeral ended. Gnome slept on soundly. Forde grinned. She wasn't being funny. [See also: Laughing at the populist right is not a political strategy] Related
Yahoo
16-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Only the hair necessities for Louis
BBC documentary maker Louis Theroux, 54, has turned down his wife Nancy's suggestion that he wear a wig to disguise his hair loss (he has been documenting his experience of alopecia on social media). He told her: 'If you think I'm the kind of guy who wears a wig, we don't know each other!' Wig-wearing was the preserve of people like Terry Wogan or Paul Daniels, he told the Adam Buxton podcast. 'I would wear a wig as a gimmick or a joke. But if you're wearing a wig in the spirit of like, 'This is my hair'? I'm a journalist, people rely on me to try and tell the truth about things. I'd be like 'I uncovered a story…' and it'd be like, 'His hair isn't even telling the truth, I can't trust anything he says'.' No former member of the House of Commons has died since Dafydd Elis-Thomas on February 7, Nick Comfort, who pens The Daily Telegraph's political obituaries, tells me. That's over three months ago. 'As, actuarially, at least 30 should be dying each year and so far there have been just three, this is probably the greatest rallying of politicians' collective longevity since records began,' he says. It must be all that clean living. Health Secretary Wes Streeting thinks people in his position should not smoke. But drinking is a different matter. He told Matt Forde's The Political Party podcast this week: 'Alcohol is my vice. I'm afraid.' Shots are out now ('I've only got one kidney because I had cancer,' he said), so he prefers a gin and slimline tonic or a pint of beer. And he adds: 'I've always got the chief medical officer to point to. He gives out public health advice, and I say, 'Do as he says, not as I do'.' Saied Dai, whose Parliament-commissioned portrait of an austere-looking Theresa May raised eyebrows 18 months ago, has had enough of the National Portrait Gallery saying that he 'can hardly bring myself to visit'. Dai's 2014 portrait of former Royal Ballet artistic director Dame Monica Mason has not been seen since 2018. Its absence has not gone unnoticed by Dame Monica, 83, herself. 'I am now locked away in the vaults,' she said at the Royal Society of Portrait Painters' annual exhibition. 'Maybe they are waiting until I'm no longer here to bring me out again?' Not so fast, Dame Monica. The Gallery tells me Dai's portrait is now 'due to be displayed at a national partner's venue from next month, as part of a touring exhibition'. Britain's Got Talent judge Simon Cowell has some advice for Sir Keir Starmer as he prepares to unveil his Brexit reset after a summit with EU Commission president Ursula von der Leyen on Monday: another referendum. 'If it was to happen again, I believe that we would vote to stay with Europe – so let's have a referendum,' he told the How To Fail podcast. 'I would do a show called 'You the Jury' [with] no politicians. I would get really smart people on the show who don't want to be in Europe, and do want to be in Europe, and then understand why it is a good idea or a bad idea.' It might need a golden buzzer to put us out of our misery. Jonathan Brash, who was elected Labour MP for Hartlepool last year, cut his political teeth serving in the cabinet of his town's local mayor, who ran for office as H'Angus the Monkey – which is also the local football team's mascot. H'Angus was named after the monkey supposedly washed up on Hartlepool's beach during the Napoleonic Wars and hanged in the belief that it was a French spy. Brash told me on GB News's Chopper's Political Podcast that his 'good friend' Stuart Drummond ran to be mayor 'dressed as the monkey' but that 'he took the monkey suit off when he became mayor. He's a very nice man. He endorsed me to be the MP.' Drummond initially won power as H'Angus by offering free bananas to children. It might catch on. I was in Tirana, Albania, for the meeting of the 47 nations of the European Political Community and looked up to see a block of flats based on the image of George Skanderbeg – a 15th-century feudal military commander who led a rebellion against the Ottoman Empire. Perhaps this could catch on in the UK. Do any readers know of buildings which look like notable figures from our history? Peterborough, published every Friday at 7pm, is edited by Christopher Hope. You can reach him at peterborough@ Broaden your horizons with award-winning British journalism. Try The Telegraph free for 1 month with unlimited access to our award-winning website, exclusive app, money-saving offers and more.
Indianapolis Star
07-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Indianapolis Star
Musical about Frida Kahlo's childhood and more are on Fonseca Theatre's 2025-26 season
The Fonseca Theatre Co.'s slate of plays in 2025 and 2026 will coalesce around the theme of opportunity. Starting in the fall, the theater will host the fourth edition of its spooky-season-focused "Boo La La" followed by a concert of holiday music. Throughout the first half of 2026, the theater, located at 2508 W. Michigan St., will produce three shows that examine redemption, Latino identities and childhood dreams. Tickets and season flex passes will go on sale June 15 at Here's the schedule: The Fonseca Theatre Co. will continue its tradition of celebrating multicultural superstitions and folklore with short plays by Midwestern playwrights. The theater is accepting seven- to 10-minute family-friendly scripts on a Halloween theme with no more than four characters. Find more information on submissions, which are due by June 15, at 'Making Merry — Live Holiday Music' Nov. 29 Staci McCrackin will sing holiday classics and contemporary favorites in this festive concert. 'The Hispanic/Latino/Latina/Latinx/Latine Vote' By Bernardo Cubria. March 12-29, 2026 In order to pay off debt from her IVF treatments, Latinx studies professor Paola Aguilar agrees to an offer from "The Political Party" to help them capture the Latino vote. But she soon realizes the party doesn't understand that a single strategy can't win over a diverse group of people. 'Clyde's' By Lynn Nottage. May 1-17, 2026 A group of cooks who were formerly incarcerated seek a second chance at a Pennsylvania truck stop where they make sandwiches. As their skills elevate the menu, they wonder what the shop's success will mean for them. 'Frida Libre' By Karen Zacarias with music by Deborah Wicks La Puma. July 17-Aug. 2, 2026 The bilingual musical tells the story of artist Frida Kahlo's childhood through the perspectives of two friends — Alex, who wants to be a luchador, or professional wrestler, when he grows up, and Frida, who aspires to be a doctor.
Daily Record
28-04-2025
- Business
- Daily Record
Scottish Labour MP calls for Jackdaw and Rosebank oil fields to go ahead
A Scottish Labour MP has called for the Rosebank and Jackdaw oil fields to go ahead. Gregor Poynton said he wants the UK Government to grant licences for the two North Sea projects. Livingston MP Poynton told comedian Matt Forde on The Political Party podcast: "The whole point is that it's meant to be a transition and ultimately. "You'll have seen Jackdaw and Rosebank, two licences that I think need to be put back in. "I'm supportive of those licences being approved because in reality, we're still going to be using oil for the next 20 or 30 years. "I'd rather we make it with the highest environmental standards here in the UK, get the tax from it and allow a just transition for the supply chain to come in. "Because we've got huge skills , not just in Central Scotland but up in Aberdeen in the northeast as well. But it's not all there yet." A court ruled in January that the consent given for the two fields was granted unlawfully and that they must be approved by the UK Government. They now need to pass climate tests if they are to go ahead. Poynton added: "We cannot have a situation where there's a kind of hard stop on that as we will be using it anyway. "So I think it's really important that we continue to focus on that just transition to make sure that is actually just. "And it's not just a sound bite, because these are people's jobs and these skills and these businesses are not coming back if we do not help and support them in this period. "But they can absolutely be the driver of not just Scotland, but the UK's economy for the next 20 or 30 years, if we get this right." Rosebank is 80 miles to the west of Shetland and contains around 300 million barrels of oil, making it the UK's last major undeveloped oil site. Jackdaw is 150 miles east of Aberdeen. Some 13 oil and gas projects are affected by the court ruling earlier this year. Energy Secretary Ed Miliband - who previously called Rosebank " climate vandalism" - is holding a consultation about emissions caused by burning the oil and gas taken from the projects. The result of the consultation will decide whether they go ahead. The Department for Energy Security and Net Zero was approached for comment. To sign up to the Daily Record Politics newsletter, click here
Yahoo
16-02-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
UK Debuts £2.5 Billion Steel Plan After Trump's Tariff Threat
(Bloomberg) -- The UK government debuted a new plan to protect jobs in the country's steel industry just days after US President Donald Trump threatened to introduce 25% tariffs on imports of steel and aluminum from all countries. Progressive Portland Plots a Comeback Why American Mobility Ground to a Halt How to Build a Neurodiverse City SpaceX Bid to Turn Texas Starbase Into City Is Set for Vote in May A Filmmaker's Surreal Journey Into His Own Private Winnipeg The government reiterated a commitment to invest £2.5 billion ($3.15 billion) in order to support the steel industry, Business Secretary Jonathan Reynolds said in a statement on Sunday. The funds will partly come from Britain's newly created National Wealth Fund. With the plan, lawmakers are hoping to reverse the decline of a sector which has been hit with rising energy costs, competition from abroad and falling investment. The money will be spent on improvements such as more efficient electric arc furnaces, designed to help British producers be better able to compete. 'We are putting the full weight of Whitehall behind the industry to build on this success,' Reynolds said in a statement. Last week, UK officials had planned to talk to their counterparts in Trump's administration in an effort to avoid the tariffs on US imports of steel and aluminum, Bloomberg previously reported. Chancellor of the Exchequer Rachel Reeves has said she believes the UK can strike an agreement with the US to avoid the measures. 'Balanced trade – and that's what the UK and the US have, there's not a surplus or deficit, our trade is pretty much balanced — there's not really a problem there that needs to be addressed through tariffs or any other sort of barriers,' Reeves said on Matt Forde's The Political Party podcast on Monday. About 10% of steel made in Britain is exported to America and the UK also imports the metal from the US. The UK's new steel plan comes after Reeves threw her weight behind a plan to build a third runway at Heathrow Airport, a move that would require 400,000 tons of steel — enough to build the Empire State Building. 'The deal announced by Heathrow announced this week will secure a strong industry pipeline for years to come,' Reynolds said. The new plan will look for areas to expand UK steelmaking, protect it from unfair trading practices abroad and improve scrap processing facilities. It will also encourage use of UK-made steel in public projects. 'As the world becomes more volatile, primary domestic steel making capacity is vital for both our economy and domestic security,' Andy Prendergast, national secretary for the GMB Union, said in the statement. The Undocumented Workers Who Helped Build Elon Musk's Texas Gigafactory The Unicorn Boom Is Over, and Startups Are Getting Desperate The NBA Has Fallen Into an Efficiency Trap Japan Perfected 7-Eleven. Why Can't the US Get It Right? How Silicon Valley Swung From Obama to Trump ©2025 Bloomberg L.P.
