Atom bomb epic “Oppenheimer” won seven prizes, including best picture, director and actor, at the 77th British Academy Film Awards on Sunday, cementing its front-runner status for the Oscars next month.
Gothic fantasia “Poor Things” took five prizes and Holocaust drama “The Zone of Interest” won three.
British-born filmmaker Christopher Nolan won his first best director BAFTA for “Oppenheimer,” and Irish performer Cillian Murphy won the best actor prize for playing physicist J. Robert Oppenheimer, the father of the atomic bomb.
Murphy said he was grateful to play such a “colossally knotty, complex character.”
Nolan noted that nuclear weapons are “a nihilistic subject and the film inevitably reflects that,” telling the movie’s backers: “Thank you for taking on something dark.”
Cillian Murphy poses during the 2024 EE BAFTA Film Awards at The Royal Festival Hall on February 18, 2024 in London, England.
Alan Chapman/Dave Benett/Getty Images
Emma Stone was named best actress for playing the wild and spirited Bella Baxter in “Poor Things,” a steampunk-style visual extravaganza that won prizes for visual effects, production design, makeup and hair and costume design.
“Oppenheimer” had a field-leading 13 nominations, but missed out on the record of nine trophies, set in 1971 by “Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid.”
It won the best film race against “Poor Things,” “Killers of the Flower Moon,” “Anatomy of a Fall” and “The Holdovers.” “Oppenheimer” also scooped trophies for editing, cinematography and musical score, as well as the best supporting actor prize for Robert Downey Jr., who played Atomic Energy Commission head Lewis Strauss.
Da’Vine Joy Randolph was named best supporting actress for playing a boarding school cook in “The Holdovers” and said she felt a “responsibility I don’t take lightly” to tell the stories of underrepresented people like her character Mary.
Da’Vine Joy Randolph attends the 2024 BAFTA Film Awards at The Royal Festival Hall on February 18, 2024 in London, England.
Jeff Spicer/Getty Images
“Oppenheimer” faced stiff competition in what’s widely considered a vintage year for cinema and an awards season energized by the end of actors’ and writers’ strikes that shut down Hollywood for months.
“The Zone of Interest,” a British-produced film shot in Poland with a largely German cast, was named both best British film and best film not in English — a first — and also took the prize for its sound, which has been described as the real star of the film.
Jonathan Glazer’s unsettling drama takes place in a family home just outside the walls of the Auschwitz death camp, whose horrors are heard and hinted at, rather than seen.
“Walls aren’t new from before or since the Holocaust, and it seems stark right now that we should care about innocent people being killed in Gaza or Yemen or Mariupol or Israel,” producer James Wilson said. “Thank you for recognizing a film that asks us to think in those spaces.”
Jonathan Glazer and James Wilson pose at the 2024 EE BAFTA Film Awards at The Royal Festival Hall on February 18, 2024 in London, England.
Stephane Cardinale – Corbis/Corbis via Getty Images
Ukraine war documentary “20 Days in Mariupol,” produced by The Associated Press and PBS “Frontline,” won the prize for best documentary.
“This is not about us,” said filmmaker Mstyslav Chernov, who captured the harrowing reality of life in the besieged city with an AP team. “This is about Ukraine, about the people of Mariupol.”
Chernov said the story of the city and its fall into Russian occupation “is a symbol of struggle and a symbol of faith. Thank you for empowering our voice and let’s just keep fighting.”
The awards ceremony, hosted by “Doctor Who” star David Tennant — who entered wearing a kilt and sequined top while carrying a dog named Bark Ruffalo — was a glitzy, British-accented appetizer for Hollywood’s Academy Awards, closely watched for hints about who might win at the Oscars on March 10.
The prize for original screenplay went to French courtroom drama “Anatomy of a Fall.” The film about a woman on trial over the death of her husband was written by director Justine Triet and her partner, Arthur Harari.
“It’s a fiction, and we are reasonably fine,” Triet joked.
Justine Triet and Arthur Harari.
Alan Chapman/Dave Benett/Getty Images
Cord Jefferson won the adapted screenplay prize for the satirical “American Fiction,” about the struggles of an African American novelist
Jefferson said he hoped the success of the movie “maybe changes the minds of the people who are in charge of greenlighting films and TV shows, allows them to be less risk-averse.”
Historical epic “Killers of the Flower Moon,” Leonard Bernstein biopic “Maestro,” grief-flecked love story “All of Us Strangers” and class-war dramedy “Saltburn ” all won nothing despite multiple nominations.
” Barbie,” one half of 2023’s “Barbenheimer” box office juggernaut and the year’s top-grossing film, also came up empty from five nominations. “Barbie” director Greta Gerwig failed to get a directing nomination for either the BAFTAs or the Oscars, in what was seen by many as a major snub.
Britain’s film academy introduced changes to increase the awards’ diversity in 2020, when no women were nominated as best director for the seventh year running and all 20 nominees in the lead and supporting performer categories were white. However, Triet was the only woman among this year’s six best-director nominees.
The Rising Star award, the only category decided by public vote, went to Mia McKenna-Bruce, star of “How to Have Sex.”
Before the ceremony, nominees, including Bradley Cooper, Carey Mulligan, Emily Blunt, Rosamund Pike, Ryan Gosling and Ayo Edebiri all walked the red carpet at London’s Royal Festival Hall, along with presenters Andrew Scott, Cate Blanchett, Idris Elba and David Beckham.
Guest of honor was Prince William, in his role as president of the British Academy of Film and Television Arts. He arrived without his wife, Kate, who is recovering from abdominal surgery last month.
William, Prince of Wales, president of Bafta meets Phoebe Dynevor, Ayo Edebiri, Sophie Wilde and Mia McKenna Bruce after the 2024 BAFTA Film Awards.
Jordan Pettitt / Getty Images
The ceremony included musical performances by “Ted Lasso” star Hannah Waddingham, singing “Time After Time,” and Sophie Ellis-Bextor, singing her 2001 hit “Murder on the Dancefloor,” which shot back up the charts after featuring in “Saltburn.”
Film curator June Givanni, founder of the June Givanni PanAfrican Cinema Archive, was honored for outstanding British contribution to cinema, while actress Samantha Morton received the academy’s highest honor, the BAFTA Fellowship.
Morton, who grew up in foster care and children’s homes, said that “representation matters.”
“The stories we tell, they have the power to change people’s lives,” she said. “Film changed my life, it transformed me, and it led me here today.”
The BAFTAs red carpet has begun. BAFTA via Getty Images
Awards season is in full swing, and after a flurry of ceremonies in Los Angeles, it’s time to head across the pond. Tonight (Feb. 18), the British Academy of Film and Television Arts will host their annual Film Awards, celebrating the best in cinema. Oppenheimer received the most BAFTA nominations (a staggering 13), with Poor Things coming in second (11 nods).
David Tennant is hosting the 2024 BAFTAs ceremony, held at Royal Festival Hall in London’s Southbank Centre. It’s always an exciting night, as A-listers flock to the British capital to fête the best and brightest in the film industry. The star-studded red carpet never fails to impress, as attendees go all out for the glamorous evening. Below, see all the most exciting moments from the 2024 BAFTAs red carpet,
VLADIMIR Putin ally Dmitry Ovsyannikov has been arrested in London by the UK’s FBI.
The ex-Kremlin minister, who was previously appointed leader of occupied Sevastopol, is the first person to be charged in the UK with breaching Russian sanctions.
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Dmitry Ovsyannikov has been arrested in LondonCredit: East2West
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Ovsyannikov pictured with Vladimir PutinCredit: East2West
Ovsyannikov, 46, was detained at his home in London last week by the National Crime Agency.
He has been charged with breaching sanctions and money laundering.
Siberian-born Ovsyannikov, who was dismissed from the Russian government in 2020, was sanctioned by the EU in 2017.
It came after he publicly supported the illegal annexation of Crimea and called for Sevastopol to “become the capital of the south of Russia”.
In 2017, Ovsyannikov was appointed the so-called governor of Sevastopol, Crimea’s second-largest port city, after Russia’s initial invasion of Ukraine in 2014.
But in 2019 the married dad-of-two was removed from the post and removed from the government in 2020 after serving as deputy minister of industry and trade.
Following his arrest in London on January 22, he was charged with seven counts of circumvention of sanctions regulations and two of money laundering.
He is due to appear at Southwark Crown Court on February 20, and has been remanded in custody.
Ovsyannikov is accused of circumventing sanctions and opening a London-based bank account, as well as making four payments totalling £65,000 and keeping £77,500 in cash.
A spokesman for the NCA told The Sun: “Dmitry Ovsyannikov was arrested on Monday 22nd January, and charged on 23rd January with breaches of the Russia Sanctions Regulations and money laundering.
“Ovsyannikov is a designated person under UK sanctions, which imposes limits on his access to money and financial services.
“He has been remanded in custody to appear at Southwark CC on the 20th February.
“Ovsyannikov has been charged with seven counts of circumvention of sanctions regulations made under the Russia (Sanctions) (EU Exit) Regulations 2019; and two counts of Money Laundering contrary to POCA.”
The ECB on Thursday held interest rates steady for the third meeting in a row. The bank was widely expected to leave policy unchanged in light of the sharp fall in euro zone inflation.
The leaders put out the statement after it was revealed elite US commandos were lost at sea on January 11 as they stormed a vessel packed with missile parts from Iran.
ABC News reported White House officials said it had staged multiple air strikes, before the Ministry of Defence confirmed the UK-led blitz.
It said the four RAF Typhoon jets were accompanied by two Voyager tankers and US forces, striking eight Houthi targets at two military sites.
These were reportedly Houthi missile storage sites and launchers both crucial for the group’s attack and surveillance capabilities.
Defence Secretary Grant Shapps tonight said: “Dangerous Houthi attacks on shipping in the Red Sea have continued to threaten the lives of sailors and disrupt shipping at an intolerable cost to the global economy.
“Along with our US partners, we have conducted a further round of strikes in self-defence.
“Aimed at degrading Houthi capabilities, this action will deal another blow to their limited stockpiles and ability to threaten global trade.
“Alongside our ongoing diplomatic efforts, we will continue to support regional stability across the Middle East, working hand in hand with our like-minded partners.”
The strikes were another dramatic escalation in the crisis that for weeks has been threatening to ignite an all-out war across the Middle East over Israel’s ongoing battle with Hamas.
At the time aircraft made their way from Cyprus to Yemen and back in hours, refuelling mid-air after they destroyed the targets.
But in the days that followed it was revealed about 30% of Houthis’ drone and missile stashes survived the attack.
Earlier this evening the PM and President warned further “targeted military action to degrade Houthi capabilities” was on the table.
During a call with the White House, No10 said the pair “paid tribute to the British and American personnel who are currently working closely together to uphold freedom of navigation and protect lives in the Red Sea”.
The Prime Minister passed on his condolences on the death of two US Navy Seals confirmed today.
Mr Sukak said: “The leaders condemned the surge in violent Houthi attacks on commercial ships transiting the area and undertook to continue efforts alongside international partners to deter and disrupt those attacks.
“This includes work through the multinational Operation Prosperity Guardian, putting diplomatic pressure on Iran to cease their support of Houthi activity and, as needed, targeted military action to degrade Houthi capabilities.”
It was yesterday claimed Houthi militants were trying to get more weapons to ramp up Red Sea missile strikes.
US Intelligences said the rebel group were thought to be preparing for a strike on Western forces now.
Who are the Houthis?
THE Houthi rebels are terrorising vessels in the Red Sea and now their bases were blitzed in US and UK strikes – but who are they?
The Shia militant group, which now controls most of Yemen, spent over a decade being largely ignored by the world.
The rebel group has been launching relentless drone and missile attacks on any ships they deem to be connected with Israel in solidarity with their ally Hamas.
The sea assaults have threatened to ignite a full-blown war in the Middle East as ripples from Israel’s war in Gaza are felt across the region – with Iran suspected of stoking the chaos.
However, there have been frequent attacks on commercial vessels with little or no link to Israel – forcing global sea traffic to halt operations in the region and sending shipping prices soaring.
Houthi attacks in the Red Sea increased 50 per cent between November and December.
Their slogan is “Death to America, Death to Israel, curse the Jews and victory to Islam”.
And the rebel group’s leaders have previously pledged the attacks will continue until Israel stops its devastating offensive inside Gaza.
On Thursday night, explosions rang out in Yemen and President Biden and PM Rishi Sunak struck over 60 Houthi targets.
The intel revealed the rebels have been carefully curating their plan of attack – pinpointing when the strikes would be ramped up and how they would gather the necessary weapons.
There are concerns the militants will receive even more lethal weapons from Tehran in the weeks to come.
More than 60 targets across 16 sites in Yemen were struck 11 days ago in a joint US and UK operation.
Jets, warships and submarines were used in attacks on Yemen’s capital Sanaa, as well as four other regions, Sadah, Hodeidah, Taiz, and Dhamar.
Command and control centres, munition stores, launching bases, production facilities and air defence radar systems were wiped out in the attacks, the US said.
In the Janurary 11 strikes western forces led by the UK and US obliterated 60 military targets in total under the cover of darkness, weakening the Iran-backed terror proxy in Yemen.
Laser-guided Tomahawk missiles and Paveway bombs, 1,200mph fighter jets, Reaper drones and destroyers were used alongside the RAF planes.
It was the first time strikes had been launched against the Houthis following months of brutal Red Sea attacks.
UK Defence Secretary Grant Shapps yesterday warned that Iran is “playing a dangerous game” in aiding the Houthi rebel attacks.
He told GB News: “If you look at the situation throughout the region, throughout the Middle East, you’ve got the Iranian-backed Houthis, you’ve got Lebanese Hezbollah, you’ve got Hamas themselves trained by Iran.”
LIGHTS flashing and horns blaring, 3,000 tractors trundled through Hanover in Germany bringing its streets to a gridlocked standstill.
Stepping down from his cab, arable farmer Axel Friehe told me his beleaguered nation’s economy is “breaking down”.
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Tractors of protesting farmers line the streets in front of the Brandenburg Gate in BerlinCredit: Getty
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Major German cities have been paralysed by demonstrating agricultural workers, truckers and small business peopleCredit: EPA
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Turnip farmer Christoph Berndt said ‘The AfD use the demonstrations to draw attention to themselves’Credit: Louis Wood
“We hope our protests are the start of something big,” he said of the tractor cavalcade being cheered by locals.
Farmer Friehe, 51, may soon have his wish.
Troubled Germany’s major cities have been paralysed by demonstrating agricultural workers, truckers and small business people.
Some 500 tractors gathered at Berlin’s landmark Brandenburg Gate and 5,000 paraded through Munich’s streets.
While French farmers have made protesting something of a national pastime — infamously torching a lorry full of British sheep in 1990 — their German counterparts are traditionally less militant.
Yet a heavy-handed bid by its government to slash a tax break on diesel used in agricultural machinery — worth around £2,500 a year to each farmer — has made zealots of German country folk.
I watched on Wednesday as locals in Hanover gave farmers hearty cheers and the thumbs up despite the traffic tailbacks in the north German city of 536,000 citizens.
For the tractor strike is a symptom of a wider malaise gripping Germany.
The country’s once booming export market made it the industrial powerhouse at the heart of Europe.
Yet since the pandemic its sluggish economy has grown by just 0.3 per cent — compared to 1.4 per cent in the UK — making it by far the worst performer in the G7 group of nations.
Stringent green initiatives, including the rolling out of heat pumps, have been unpopular with many.
‘Hungry, naked and sober’
And mass migration — last year Germany had more than 350,000 asylum applications — has become a major political flashpoint.
Its ruling coalition of the left-of- centre Social Democratic Party, the Greens and liberal Free Democrats have been trying to plug a near £15billion budget black hole.
Into this economic and social maelstrom has stepped the far-right Alternative for Deutschland, who critics say are “infiltrating” the farmers’ demonstrations.
Last week it was reported that high-ranking AfD officials were caught at a secret conference where a “masterplan” for the forced deportation of millions of migrants to Africa was discussed.
The meeting, at a luxury hotel last November, featured a talk by far-right Identitarian Movement activist Martin Sellner, who is permanently banned from the UK for extremism.
It was claimed that the “remigration” proposals discussed at the event, infiltrated by news network Collectiv, included deporting immigrants with German passports.
Those in attendance — reportedly alongside neo-Nazis — included Roland Hartwig, a personal aide to AfD leader Alice Weidel, and AfD MP Gerrit Huy.
The AfD denied it had a “secret plan” but added: “We need passport withdrawal for criminals and remigration!”
At last week’s Hanover protest, turnip farmer Christoph Berndt, 31, insisted: “The AfD use the demonstrations to draw attention to themselves.
“They say the farmers are on their side, which isn’t true.”
Driving nearly 40 miles on his green John Deere tractor to be at the good-natured demonstration, he added: “The politicians in Berlin make it more difficult for us to work and make money.
“So we go on to the street and try to animate people to understand us and what we do in the fields.”
German flags fluttered from tractor cabs with signs on their front loaders reading: “No food without us.”
Another read: “Without agriculture you’d be hungry, naked and sober.”
Air horns sounded in the sub-zero chill as farmers gathered outside Lower Saxony’s regional parliament building in Hanover.
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Locals cheered the tractor cavalcadeCredit: @UNCOFILM
Expressing the fury felt by many, Volker Hahn, who helped to organise the demo, said: “The Government needs money and they will take it from the farmers. It’s a horrible situation.”
Volker, 55, who tends pigs, chickens and potatoes at his 600-acre farm, added: “We don’t welcome the support of AfD.
“They’re extreme.”
To add to the air of despondency felt by many, Hanover and other German cities have also been crippled by train driver strikes this week.
At the parliament building I met Sonja Markgraf, from the Rural People of Lower Saxony group, which also helped to organise the tractor protest.
She said: “The French people were always on the barricades but in Germany everyone felt comfortable.”
Now, she says, times have changed, with farmers seething at being asked to help plug the Government’s budget gap.
She added: “We are very happy that the protests are peaceful — but loud. The population stands behind us.”
Sonja, 53, says people from all backgrounds are facing unrealistic demands on environmental issues.
She added: “Heat pumps are a good example. It’s not wrong to do it, it’s the way they do it.
“It was too quick, wasn’t well explained and people are worried about the price.
“Reforms are necessary but you have to take the people with you.
“This feeling is in every part of the population, whether you’re poor, rich or middle-class. It’s not great for the general mood.”
She blames people’s fears over illegal immigration for AfD’s rise, saying: “Even three or four years ago it wasn’t an issue.
“Now the municipalities say they have no rooms, no flats or apartments so it’s more visible now.
“So the AfD tries to profit from it.”
Germany has long been renowned in British minds as a land of efficiency, where everything works.
It was praised for how it faced up to its Nazi past and built a vibrant, liberal democracy with a turbo-charged economy.
That booming post-war Germany was summed up in Audi’s 1980s advertising slogan “vorsprung durch technik”, meaning “progress through technology”.
Now its famed export trade of cars and machinery is in deep trouble.
German car makers produced almost 40 per cent fewer vehicles in 2022 than they did a decade previously.
And politicians have failed to tackle creaking infrastructure, a housing shortage and high-speed internet rollout.
Labelled the Sick Man of Europe — an historic term that was used to describe Britain in the 1970s — its economy is predicted to perform worse than Britain’s in the next decade.
Though expected to return to growth this year, Germany — the world’s third biggest economy — is forecast to be overtaken by Japan in 2026 and India in 2027.
At Hanover’s regional parliament building I met the AfD’s Frank Rinck, who denies his far-right party has “infiltrated” the farmers’ demos.
The MP and chairman of the Lower Saxony AfD said the group were “simply engaging with these demonstrations like any other political party”.
Frank, an agricultural contractor, says the Government’s subsidy cut will lead to a “further death” of the farming sector.
He added: “At some point our domestic agricultural sector will not be able to feed indigenous people.”
He said it was news to him that AfD politicians had attended a “remigration” conference, describing reports as “a storm in a teacup”.
He added: “In Germany things like this tend to come up when problems arise and people demonstrate.”
Watching the AfD’s rise warily are the centre-right Christian Democratic Union party, currently Germany’s leading party in opinion polls.
Its agriculture spokesman in Lower Saxony’s parliament, Dr Marco Mohrmann, ruled out working with the AfD in a coalition.
The dad of three told me: “A big part of the AfD is extreme right — and that’s not our way.”
While accepting Germany should take in asylum seekers and skilled migrants, he admitted Britain’s stuttering Rwanda policy may also be a way forward for his country.
Conservative-leaning Marco, 59, said: “I think the model the UK is doing with Rwanda is interesting.
“It’s a third-country solution where you can look at someone and decide if they can get asylum or not.
“A year ago we couldn’t discuss something like this but now we can, and we have to.”
German Chancellor Olaf Scholz has tried to contain farmers’ rage by phasing out the diesel tax break over time and scrapping plans to abolish tax exemption on agricultural vehicles.
Yet the scale of the protests — and their support across German society — suggests he has not done enough.
Yesterday 5,000 tractors and 10,000 protesters blockaded Berlin in a climax to a week of protest. Fresh talks with Government representatives are set.
Rural People of Lower Saxony’s Sonja Markgraf insisted: “If it’s not good for the farmers then we say, ‘We go on’.”
Germany’s Great Tractor Revolution may still only be in first gear.
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Volker Hahn helped to organise the demonstration in HanoverCredit: Louis Wood
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German Chancellor Olaf Scholz has tried to contain farmers’ rage by phasing out the diesel tax break over time and scrapping plans to abolish tax exemption on agricultural vehiclesCredit: Getty
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Sonja Markgraf, from the Rural People of Lower Saxony group, also helped to organise the tractor protestCredit: Louis Wood
Police arrested six pro-Palestine activists on Sunday over their alleged plot to target and disrupt the London Stock Exchange, officials said.
Investigators determined that members of the Palestine Action group planned on causing damage and locking themselves onto infrastructure Monday morning to block the stock exchange building from opening for trading.
“These are significant arrests,” Metropolitan Police Detective Superintendent Sian Thomas said. “We believe this group was ready to carry out a disruptive and damaging stunt which could have had serious implications had it been carried out successfully.”
Police did not publicly identify the men and women. Early on Sunday, officers arrested a 31-year-old man in Liverpool. Later Sunday, police arrested a 29-year-old woman in Brent, a 23-year-old man in Tower Hamlets and a 27-year-old man in Brighton. Police also arrested two women, aged 28 and 26, in Liverpool.
All of the activists were taken into police custody on charges of suspicion of conspiracy to cause criminal damage, and all six remained in custody Sunday evening local time.
“Mindful of the suggestion that this was one part of a planned week of action, we are in contact with the City of London Police as well as other forces across the UK to ensure that appropriate resources are in place to deal with any disruption in the coming days,” officials said in a news release.
The investigation into the six individuals began on Friday after police received a tip from the Daily Express newspaper. A reporter posing as a potential member of the group had learned of the plan, according to the paper. The activists allegedly planned to chain their necks to doors at the stock exchange using bike blocks.
It has been 100 days since Hamas’ deadly attack in Israel sparked a war that has claimed thousands of lives.
Aliza Chasan is a digital producer at 60 Minutes and CBSNews.com. She has previously written for outlets including PIX11 News, The New York Daily News, Inside Edition and DNAinfo. Aliza covers trending news, often focusing on crime and politics.
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UK police said they arrested six people over a plot to target the London Stock Exchange.
Activists from the Palestine Action group were allegedly planning to cause damage to the LSE and to prevent the building from opening for trading Monday morning, the Met said in a statement. They arrested a 31-year-old man in Liverpool early Sunday, with another five people believed to be part of the plot nabbed later that day.
The Met began investigations after receiving information from the Daily Express newspaper Friday, according to the statement. Palestine Action didn’t immediately respond to a request seeking comment. The London Stock Exchange Group declined to comment.
The UK has seen widespread protests against the war in Gaza since it began in October. Another rally was held this weekend, with thousands taking to the streets of London calling for an immediate cease-fire, the Press Association reported.
The Met said that it’s taking further precautions given the “suggestion” that the plot against the LSE was “one part of a planned week of action.”
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London’s Metropolitan Police has fired officer Martin Binala for an unlawful stop and search of an innocent man. The man was sitting inside his parked car when Binala and two other officers pulled up in an unmarked vehicle. Binala and another officer were in plain clothes. Binala claimed he carried out the search after detecting a strong smell of cannabis from the car. But the investigation found the car’s windows had been rolled up. The other plainclothes officer was previously found guilty of misconduct and given a warning, while the third officer, a sergeant, is scheduled to face a misconduct panel.
Two original “Friends” scripts, parts one and two of “The One With Ross’s Wedding,” have quite a story of their own to tell.
After being dumped in a London trash can 25 years ago, the scripts are headed to auction, Hansons Auctioneers announced this week. The 1998 episodes made up the season four finale, and follow the comedic quintet of Ross, Monica, Joey, Chandler and Rachel as they travel to England to attend Ross’ wedding.
After they were done filming, the cast and crew were ordered to destroy their copies of the scripts so the storyline wouldn’t get leaked before the episodes aired, according to the auction house. But it appears a pair of scripts were found by a now-retired staff member at the TV studio where the shows were filmed, Hansons explained.
The “Friends’” scripts and old live studio audience ticket
Hansons Auction House
“I found them in a bin a couple of weeks after filming had finished,” the unnamed former staff member told Hansons. “It was part of my job to ensure everything was tidy and no rubbish was left around. I wasn’t sure what to do with them, so I just put them in my office drawer.”
Fortunately for the “Friends” cast and crew, the studio staffer never leaked the plot details. They left their job the next year and forgot about the scripts entirely. After rediscovering them in their bedside table years later, they decided to get the scripts evaluated by Hansons.
“Funnily enough, I’m not a big Friends fan,” the former staffer told the auction house. “I don’t dislike the show but I only recently watched the episodes I have the scripts for. American humor is different to ours. These scripts deserve to be owned by a big ‘Friends’ fan.”
Amanda Butler, the head of operations at the auction house, said she isn’t sure how much the scripts will go for.
“We’re guiding them at £600-£800 [roughly $765-$1,022], but thanks to the show’s huge global appeal, who knows where the hammer may fall,” Butler said. “‘Friends” final show aired 20 years ago in 2004 but it’s still watched and enjoyed by millions.”
The scripts will be available for bidding on Friday.
Fans of the beloved show are still mourning the death of Matthew Perry, who played Chandler Bing in the show. Perry died suddenly last fall from “acute effects of ketamine.”
London’s restaurant scene is better than ever before, being host to an impressive range of cuisines from across the world that cater to all tastes and needs. Whether you’re on the hunt for a new go-to or are after some much needed inspiration for your next date night, save yourself the frantic last minute searching with our round up of the best restaurants in London.
From fine dining favourites to casual eats, established institutions of the capital’s restaurant scene to the new kids on the block, we’ve got you covered whether you’re after a sharing type of situation with the girls or simply a comforting dish to tuck into for some quality you time.
We’re looking for several things when it comes to picking the best restaurants. Naturally, the quality and taste of the food is paramount, but beyond this we’re after a buzzy atmosphere, attentive service, reasonable value and generally excellent vibes.
So, if, like us, eating out is one of your favourite things to do but sifting through underwhelming restaurants on Google Maps not, then look no further. Promising delicious food and sterling service to match, uncover local gems to add to your regular rotation, from unfussy eateries with flavourful food that hits right every time to elevated dining experiences you won’t quickly forget.
With more variety of restaurants in London than ever, there really is no excuse to settle for uninspiring meals anymore. Whether you’re after a cosy Italian spot or fusion restaurants with effortless elegance, we’ve eaten our way to a definitive list of the best restaurants London has to offer. You’re welcome.
The U.S.-based animal rights group PETA has detailed an undercover investigation into the practice of baiting and killing black bears with guns or crossbows in Canada, which it says is fueled by a British military tradition. The group, in a statement and a video released Wednesday narrated by actor and comedian Stephen Fry, alleges the fur from the bears killed using the method, which is not illegal in Canada, is auctioned off and sometimes ends up in the iconic hats worn by the soldiers of the King’s Guard.
The PETA campaign calls on the U.K. Ministry of Defense to switch to fake fur in the hope that it will curb the form of hunting. Bears were hunted to extinction in the U.K. in medieval times, but bear baiting as a form of hunting has been explicitly outlawed under Britain’s wildlife protection laws for more than four decades.
Members of the British Army’s King’s Guard take place in the Changing of the Guard ceremony in front of Buckingham Palace in London, July 9, 2023.
Mike Kemp/In Pictures/Getty
“Every day that our soldiers wear hats made from the fur of slaughtered bears brings dishonor to our country,” Fry says in the video, which shows hunters using buckets of sweet or greasy food to lure the unsuspecting animals before shooting and skinning them.
The King’s Guard have worn the bearskin hats for more than 200 years, though the headgear is now used only ceremonially, during parades and military events at Buckingham Palace and other royal venues.
“It’s time to modernize this iconic symbol of Britain by switching to a fabulous faux fur that has been tested specifically to ensure its suitability for use by the King’s Guard,” PETA’s senior campaign manager, Kate Werner, said in the group’s statement.
The Ministry of Defense insists the fur used in the King’s Guard hats all come from legal hunts licensed by Canadian authorities, and it notes that various faux fur options trialled previously have failed to meet the standards required of a viable replacement.
“Our Guardsmen take immense pride in wearing the bearskin cap which is an iconic image of Britain, and the quality of sustainability of the caps is incredibly important,” it said in a correspondence replying to a citizen’s concerns, which was obtained and published by PETA.
According to public records obtained by PETA, the Ministry of Defense purchased almost 500 bearskin hats between 2017 and 2022.
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BRITAIN may be gearing up to launch airstrikes against the Iran-backed Houthi group who have been wreaking havoc in the Red Sea.
After weeks of ambushes and attacks in waters off the coast of Yemen, the UK might be joining its allies and taking up arms against them.
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The Houthi rebels (pictured) are an Iran-backed group who have been attacking ships in the Red Sea
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HMS Diamond, a British missile destroyer which could be deployed to fight the Houthi
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The UK may even deploy RAF warplanes (pictured: RAF Typhoon jet, used at UK bases in Iraq and Syria)Credit: PA
In what could be an unprecedented move by Britain, tensions in the regions are likely to spiral further as the West looks to be fighting back.
A government source told The Times that the UK could unleash RAF warplanes or even Royal Navy warship HMS Diamond – a missile destroyer which took out an attack drone in the Red Sea just weeks ago.
Now the fresh and unprecedented response could be the first step in a much larger retaliation amid ongoing tensions in the Middle East.
The UK, under such plans, would join with America and potentially another European country to launch missile attacks against targets either in the Red Sea, or Yemen itself.
Both Britain and the US are expected to release a statement within hours warning the Houthis to stop their relentless attacks – or face the allied countries wrath.
The Westminster source described this statement as a “last warning” and said the response if attacks don’t stop would be “significant”.
They didn’t confirm which type of aircraft Britain could use – but RAF Typhoon jets are currently stationed at bases in Cyprus for missions in Iraq and Syria.
Apparently there to monitor any leftover threat from terror group ISIS, The Times previously reported that they are now being used to spy on Iran-backed terror proxies in Lebanon.
And Defence Secretary Grant Shapps later issued a formidable warning to the Iran-backed rebels.
He said: “Those terrorists who are disrupting trade in the Red Sea are drinking in the last chance saloon.
“Attacks on commercial shipping with drones and missiles is an attack on all of us and the culture and freedoms we cherish.
“There is no justification for targeting civilian shipping in this way. We need an immediate end to these illegal attacks.
“If the Houthis continue to threaten lives and trade, we will be forced to take the necessary and appropriate action.”
A UK Government spokesperson said: “The situation in the Red Sea is incredibly serious, and the Houthi attacks are unacceptable and destabilising.
“As you would expect, while planning is underway for a range of scenarios, no decisions have yet been made and we continue to pursue all diplomatic routes.
“We call for the Iranian-backed Houthi to cease these illegal attacks and we are working with allies and partners to protect freedom of navigation.”
Major shipping firms such as BP and Maersk are also diverting vessels away from the Red Sea amid concerns the crisis will drive up the price of goods and inflation.
When it comes to travel abroad, popular destinations like London, Paris and Rome always seem to top the wish list for Americans.
But many travelers are looking beyond those mainstay cities for trips in 2024. Interest in major Asian hubs, off-the-beaten-path locales in Europe and other areas has surged, experts said.
“It’s clear that 2024 is shaping up to be the year of globetrotting,” Airbnb wrote last month.
Broadly, overseas travel is hot: Searches for international flights are up 13% year-over-year, even though prices are about 10% higher, according to Steve Hafner, CEO of Kayak, a travel website.
“Americans are looking to go abroad,” Hafner said. “They’ve done the domestic stuff the last couple years.”
Here are the trending destinations for Americans in 2024.
Tokyo and Seoul, South Korea, respectively rank as the No. 1 and 2 trending international hot spots next year among U.S.-based travelers, according to travel app Hopper.
Kayak data shows a similar trend. Its top five hot spots are in Asia: Hong Kong; Shanghai; Taipei City, the capital of Taiwan; Tokyo; and Osaka, Japan, respectively.
For example, searches for Hong Kong and Shanghai are up 355% and 216%, respectively, year-over-year, according to Kayak. (The travel site analyzed search traffic among Americans from March 16 to Sept. 15 this year, for travel planned in 2024, and compared it to the same period last year.)
Kyoto, Japan
Sw Photography | Stone | Getty Images
Japan also ranks highly among non-U.S. travelers: Osaka, Kyoto and Tokyo are among the top 24 worldwide destinations next year, according to Airbnb data.
Asian nations were among the slowest to ease border closures related to the Covid-19 pandemic. Now that they’re open again, tourists are unleashing a pent-up wanderlust, experts said.
“People couldn’t travel there, and now they are making it up,” said Sofia Markovich, a travel advisor and founder of Sofia’s Travel.
China reopened its borders in January 2023, “one of the last places” to do so, Hafner said.
Japan reopened to tourists starting in June 2022. There are other factors driving increased interest to that nation, like a historically strong U.S. dollar relative to the Japanese yen (and other currencies), which gives Americans additional buying power, and more flights from budget airlines, Hafner said.
Search traffic for Japan has more than tripled for trips during the first nine months of 2024 relative to the same period in 2023 — a larger increase than any other nation, Airbnb said.
Americans are looking to go abroad. They’ve done the domestic stuff the last couple years.
Historically, Tokyo has “hands down” been the most popular city for Americans to visit in Asia, said Hayley Berg, lead economist at Hopper. Now, demand is “even greater” than usual, she said.
Tourists may also pay a hefty premium to fly to Asia next year: “Good deal” prices for airfare to the continent is $1,204 for 2024, on average — 45% more than 2019, a much larger increase relative to other continents, according to Hopper.
Overcrowding in the traditional European hubs is driving an influx of tourists to generally less-frequented areas, experts said.
For example, Stockholm, Sweden; Budapest, Hungary; Helsinki, Finland; and Prague, Czech Republic, respectively rank seventh to 10th on Kayak’s list of trending destinations abroad.
Copenhagen, Denmark, is No. 4 on Hopper’s 2024 hot spot ranking. Prague and Edinburgh, Scotland, are No. 7 and No. 8, respectively.
“People are really discovering the off-the-beaten path places,” Markovich said. “Because your Paris and your Rome and London and Barcelona are just too crowded. And experienced travelers want to get away from that.”
She recommends “a lot” of Scandinavian travel since it’s “so unspoiled by overtourism.”
The Salisbury Crags in Holyrood Park, Edinburgh, Scotland.
Andrew Merry | Moment | Getty Images
Additionally, Finland became a member of the NATO military alliance in 2023, driving more awareness of the nation among Americans, Kayak’s Hafner said.
Cities like Budapest and Prague have always been popular but not to the extent of some European tourist magnets, Markovich said.
One of those typical magnets — Paris — is poised for an additional burst this year: The City of Light is hosting the 2024 Summer Olympics.
Demand for flights to Paris — and for nearby cities — during the Olympics has more than doubled versus this time last year, according to Hopper data.
Lower relative prices for some lesser-known spots in Europe are also likely attracting people, Berg said, especially since average flights to Europe overall are 5% more expensive in 2024 versus 2023, at $717, Hopper data shows.
Although places like Cancun, Mexico, remain popular as warm-weather beach destinations, Americans are increasingly turning to Atlantic tropical vacations over the Caribbean, said Hopper’s Berg.
“This is something new this year that we started seeing emerge” and the trend “will definitely continue” in 2024, she said.
For example, Tenerife, the largest of Spain’s Canary Islands, and Funchal, the capital of Portugal’s Madeira archipelago, ranked No. 9 and 10, respectively, on Hopper’s international trend list. Both are located off the West African coast.
People are really discovering the off-the-beaten path places.
Sofia Markovich
travel advisor
Though not on the Atlantic, Málaga, a Mediterranean port city on the Costa del Sol in southern Spain, ranked sixth on Kayak’s list. The Andalusian city gets about 300 days of sunshine a year, on average, and, according to one recent report, is the No. 1 city in the world for expats.
Search interest there is up 60% year-over-year, Kayak data shows. And that’s following a year in which Málaga was already “overrun,” Hafner said.
Rugby elation to rugby heartache, a footballing managerial merry-go-round, golfing greatness, boxing blockbusters and so much more. The 2023 Irish sporting landscape had a little bit of everything. Here, Sky Sports takes a look back at the highs and lows of the year.
It was a year in Irish rugby that saw historical success, huge expectation, unprecedented hope, and ultimately, heartbreak perhaps worse than ever before.
Towards the start of the year, Andy Farrell’s Ireland – ranked world No 1 since July 2022 – secured a sensational Six Nations Grand Slam.
Wales were blown away 34-10 on the opening weekend in Cardiff to sour Warren Gatland’s homecoming, while Round 2 saw one of the best contests in the history of the championship as Ireland put in a near-perfect display to beat reigning champions France 32-19 in Dublin.
From then, Farrell’s charges were favourites for the title, seeing off Italy in Rome, Scotland at Murrayfield despite a raft of injuries, and finally, England in Dublin to lift the Six Nations trophy and Triple Crown.
Ireland beat England on the last day of the Six Nations to clinch the Grand Slam on home soil for the first time
The warm glow continued during the pool stages of the Rugby World Cup as Ireland won all four matches, beating eventual champions South Africa in a Paris epic, and a ruthless dismantling of Scotland clinched top spot in Pool B and extended their winning streak to 17 matches.
Ireland’s quarter-final opponents were New Zealand due to a brutally lopsided draw, but the nation was now convinced this was their greatest chance for World Cup glory and to break their awful record of never having won a quarter-final.
Although Ireland had beaten the All Blacks in three of the previous four meetings, they didn’t perform to anywhere near their peak levels, while New Zealand produced their best performance in years.
Ireland fought back from 13-0 down to narrow the half-time gap to a single point at 18-17, but as the game ebbed and flowed on a knife’s edge, their inability to strike in the 22 enough proved a major factor as the All Blacks inflicted yet another agonising last-eight exit.
Ireland’s 2023 ended in devastating fashion with another quarter-final exit at the World Cup, at the hands of New Zealand for the second-straight tournament
Skipper Johnny Sexton and Keith Earls retired in the aftermath, bringing to an end stellar careers, but also a sense Ireland’s true time to become world champions had been lost.
Farrell has committed to Ireland until after the 2027 World Cup and is odds-on to lead to the British and Irish Lions in Australia in 2027. The rebuild starts now and the big question is who dons the No 10 shirt in Marseille on February 2.
Within provincial rugby, there were contrasting fortunes for Leinster and Munster. The men in blue dominated the majority of the season, only to lose late on to their arch-rivals in Dublin in the URC semi-finals, and then in the Champions Cup final again a week later to La Rochelle – this time after sprinting out to 17-0 and 23-7 leads at the Aviva Stadium. The loss was Leinster’s third in succession in European Cup finals.
Munster began the season terribly, losing five from their first seven fixtures under new head coach Graham Rowntree, but though much of the campaign was spent worrying about qualification for Europe, a remarkable final season run away from home of four wins and a draw saw them all the way to the URC final against the Stormers in Cape Town, and a superb 19-14 success – the province’s first silverware since 2011.
Like previous campaigns, Leinster have made a strong start to the season both on the domestic and European front, but it has been a mixed bag so far for the other three, with inconsistency a common theme.
Women’s rugby at lowest ebb
While men’s rugby in Ireland is in a good place, the women’s game endured one of the worst years in its history.
Ireland finished a gruesome 2023 Women’s Six Nations dead last with the Wooden Spoon after losing all five matches by an average margin of over 30 points.
They were then placed into the third tier of the new WXV tournament during October, the result of which meant they played Kazakhstan, Colombia and Spain – beating the latter only due to a try with five minutes to play.
The side has gone from Six Nations champions in 2015 to bottom of the pile in 2023, having failed to qualify for the last World Cup in 2022 too.
Captain Nicola Fryday retired from international rugby at the age of just 28 – the second captain of the women’s side to do so in two years after Claire Molly in late 2021, who still plays for Bristol in Premiership Women’s Rugby.
Ireland came last in the 2023 Women’s Six Nations, losing all five of their matches
All the while, the IRFU has come under huge scrutiny for their running of the women’s game. While France, England, Wales and Scotland have all professionalised their women’s teams, the same cannot be said of Ireland.
In April, an unnamed player expressed concerns of sexism in a Telegraph report, with the IRFU likened to an “old boys club”, with allegations players were denied protein supplements as they prepared for a summer tour to Japan and that the switch from white to blue shorts over period concerns was done without proper consultation with the squad.
The anonymous player also alleged squad members learnt they were dropped via email, with some omitted from mailing lists, while the IRFU are also said to have refused to explore the option of a “hybrid contracts” – a specific request from players – with the union instead favouring a “full-time or nothing attitude.”
The IRFU disputed all the claims in a statement, but as high performance director David Nucifora’s impending exit was confirmed – David Humphreys will replace him in 2024 – it was noteworthy there was no response from anyone in the women’s game.
Football: Republic of Ireland’s World Cup odyssey ends in management change
It was, for reasons good and bad, a landmark year for the Republic of Ireland women’s team.
All roads led to Australia and New Zealand, where Ireland made their maiden major tournament bow at the World Cup. In itself a historic achievement, but performances on the pitch struggled to catch fire while off-field issues overshadowed the build-up and conclusion.
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Vera Pauw strongly denied allegations against her of body-shaming and inappropriate behaviour during her time at Houston Dash
Vera Pauw strongly denied allegations against her of body-shaming and inappropriate behaviour during her time at Houston Dash
Just weeks before the tournament began, allegations of body shaming were made against Ireland manager Vera Pauw, relating to her time in charge of Houston Dash in the USA’s National Women’s Soccer League. Pauw strongly denied the allegations, but they undeniably cast a shadow over Ireland’s preparations.
Captain Katie McCabe’s wonder goal in their second game against Canada was the highlight of a tournament which ended for Ireland after the group stage, having lost to Australia and Canada before drawing with Nigeria.
Pauw departed upon conclusion of the World Cup, with the FAI opting not to extend her contract.
Captain Katie McCabe scored directly from a corner to put Ireland ahead against Canada, but they could not hold on to the lead
Eileen Gleeson, assistant under Pauw, was appointed interim manager and guided the team through an outstanding Nations League campaign. Ireland won all six of their games, scoring 20 goals and conceding just two – ensuring they will be in League A for the Euro 2025 qualifiers.
That success no doubt informed the FAI’s decision to hand Gleeson the reins on a permanent basis on December 18, with the Dubliner now tasked with leading their Euro 2025 qualifying campaign.
It was also a year of change for Northern Ireland, who themselves were on a managerial hunt after Kenny Shiels departed in January following a four-year stint which saw the team reach their first major tournament at Euro 2022.
Former Chelsea assistant coach Tanya Oxtoby took up the reins in August, and oversaw a Nations League campaign in which Northern Ireland recorded two wins, a draw and three losses.
A third-placed finish in their group means they face a two-legged play-off with Montenegro in February, where they must win to avoid dropping into League C for the upcoming Euro 2025 qualifiers.
Time runs out for Kenny and O’Neill’s return fails to spark NI response
Like their female counterparts, the Republic of Ireland men’s team opted for a change of manager.
After three and a half years in charge, Stephen Kenny left upon expiry of his contract after a disappointing Euro 2024 qualifying campaign.
Drawn in a group with France and the Netherlands, a top-two finish was always a tall order, but Ireland never gave themselves a chance of reaching next summer’s tournament. They won just two of their eight games, both against minnows Gibraltar, and there was little clamour for Kenny to be given another bite at the cherry as Ireland seek a fresh start.
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Former Ireland international Stephen Kelly admits he wasn’t surprised to hear that the Football Association of Ireland won’t be renewing Stephen Kenny’s contract
Former Ireland international Stephen Kelly admits he wasn’t surprised to hear that the Football Association of Ireland won’t be renewing Stephen Kenny’s contract
As for Northern Ireland, hope abounded as Michael O’Neill – back for a second stint as manager having previously taken the side to Euro 2016 – returned to guide them through what looked on paper to be a very favourable Euro 2024 qualifying group.
However, disappointing early home losses to Finland and Kazakhstan, coupled by a defeat by Denmark in Copenhagen, realistically ended NI’s hopes of qualification after only four games.
A 2-0 win over Denmark in their final qualifier in November did however see Northern Ireland bow out with a spring in their step.
Having struggled with injuries, O’Neill will hope to have some key faces back to pair with his young players in 2024.
Golf: McIlroy and Maguire bring it home for Europe
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Relive Rory McIlroy’s two wins, which saw him claim a fifth Race to Dubai title, and his starring role in Europe’s Ryder Cup triumph.
Relive Rory McIlroy’s two wins, which saw him claim a fifth Race to Dubai title, and his starring role in Europe’s Ryder Cup triumph.
It was another year to remember for Ireland’s golfers with Rory McIlroy once again leading the charge.
A Scottish Open win took his tally of PGA Tour titles to 24, before the world No 2 claimed the Race to Dubai title for the fifth time. However, McIlroy’s 2023 peaked in the early autumn heat of Rome.
After a poor display at Whistling Straights in 2021 ended in tears, McIlroy turned the page on his own Ryder Cup story to claim four points from a possible five at Marco Simone to finish as the highest individual scorer in the 2023 competition. Leading the charge both on the course and off it, when he became involved in a heated car-park confrontation with Team USA caddy Joe LaCava, as Europe regained the trophy.
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Andrew Coltart provided his thoughts on one of the moments of the golfing year, where Rory McIlroy had a dispute with caddie Joe LaCava at the Ryder Cup. You can listen to the Sky Sports Golf Podcast now
Andrew Coltart provided his thoughts on one of the moments of the golfing year, where Rory McIlroy had a dispute with caddie Joe LaCava at the Ryder Cup. You can listen to the Sky Sports Golf Podcast now
Despite the successes, the hunt for the elusive fifth major goes into another year after some more near-misses at the flagship events.
McIlroy came second at the US Open behind Wyndham Clark, while there were top-10 finishes at the PGA Championship and The Open. He remains one of the game’s leading lights, and the Holywood man now enters 2024 hoping to claim a major title for the first time in a decade.
His compatriot Shane Lowry also played his part in Europe’s Ryder Cup redemption, winning 1.5 points from three matches while also claiming three top-20 finishes in 2023’s majors.
It was a breakthrough year for 20-year-old Tom McKibbin, who became Irish golf’s youngest tour winner since McIlroy (who hails from the same town in County Down) when he won the DP World Tour’s European Open in June.
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Maguire claimed three crucial points as Europe retained the Solheim Cup having lost the opening day foursomes 4-0
Maguire claimed three crucial points as Europe retained the Solheim Cup having lost the opening day foursomes 4-0
Meanwhile, Cavan’s Leona Maguire enjoyed another fruitful year, the highlight of which came at the Solheim Cup.
Maguire shone, as she did on tournament debut in 2021, winning three points including a crucial 4&3 win over Rose Zhang as Europe retained the cup after a 14-14 draw.
Maguire also claimed her second LGPA Tour title as a spectacular final round saw her clinch a two-shot win at the Meijer LPGA Classic.
A good year could have been a great one, with Maguire taking a one-shot lead into the final round of the Women’s PGA Championship, before shooting a disappointing 74 on the final day with China’s Ruoning Yin winning the major. Maguire’s compatriot Stephanie Meadow impressed at the tournament, finishing tied for third.
Boxing: Revenge for Taylor after first pro defeat as five qualify for Olympics
The main headline from an Irish boxing perspective this year saw Olympic legend Katie Taylor suffer the first defeat of her professional career at the 23rd attempt, losing to England’s Chantelle Cameron in Dublin by majority decision in May.
Seeking revenge, Taylor fought Cameron again on November 25 in Dublin, becoming a two-weight undisputed world champion when she showed her mettle to win by majority decision. Taylor has since said she would fight Cameron again, and has made no secret of her desire to do so at Croke Park.
Elsewhere in the Irish boxing world, Belfast’s Michael Conlan suffered two defeats in 2023, having only previously lost once in 19 professional bouts. The 32-year-old lost to Mexico’s Luis Alberto Lopez by TKO in the fifth round of their fight in May for the IBF featherweight title, and then lost to Englishman Jordan Gill by TKO in the seventh round on December 2 for the vacant WBA International super-featherweight title.
Earlier this year, Kellie Harrington, Ireland’s Tokyo Olympic gold medallist, and four other Irish boxers qualified for the Paris Olympics: Aoife O’Rourke, Jack Marley, Michaela Walsh, Dean Clancy. Roscommon’s O’Rourke and Dublin’s Marley are considered exciting medal prospects.
GAA: Dublin at the double as Limerick continue dominance
Dublin captain Carla Rowe (left) and Leah Caffrey lift the Brendan Martin Cup after their All-Ireland final victory over Kerry
Just when you thought the Dubs were in a downturn.
After a three-year absence, the Sam Maguire and Brendan Martin Cups are back residing in the capital. Their previous stays were lengthy ones, six and four years respectively, but football is a much more competitive environment these days.
The Dublin’s women’s team will attest to that, having watched neighbours Meath rise from the intermediate ranks and win back-to-back All-Irelands at senior level. Plenty of motivation, then, and Dublin lay down a marker by twice beating the defending champions in the Leinster Championship.
A two-point home loss to Kerry in the All-Ireland group stages proved a momentary setback. Dublin’s winning margin across the next three games was over 15 points as they booked a return date with a Kingdom side chasing a league and championship double.
A first final in the women’s code between these two footballing heavyweights was all but over by the interval, Dublin leading by seven after former Ireland rugby international Hannah Tyrrell kicked eight first-half points. With Mick Bohan on board for an eighth season as manager, they will again be among the frontrunners in 2024.
James McCarthy, Stephen Cluxton and Michael Fitzsimons are no strangers to getting their hands on the Sam Maguire Cup
The Dublin men’s team timed their run to perfection as they became the first non-Division One team to win the All-Ireland since Armagh in 2002.
Dessie Farrell’s side began the year in the unfamiliar surrounds of the league’s second tier, which allowed them to stay under the radar and slowly build up a head of steam.
After yet another cakewalk in Leinster – it’s now 13 provincial titles in a row and 18 in 19 seasons – a below-par draw with Roscommon in the All-Ireland group stages provided Dublin with a timely shot in the arm. They powered to a mouth-watering final with defending champions Kerry, for whom David Clifford was shooting the lights out all summer. However, the Kingdom talisman was unable to hit his usual high standards in the decider, and a late scoring burst saw Dublin home.
Captain James McCarthy has committed to another season as he chases a record-equalling 10th All-Ireland medal, while Stephen Cluxton could follow suit as the Boys in Blue look to retain their crown.
Derry, with Mickey Harte at the helm, will have something to say about that, as will the likes of Armagh, Galway and Kerry. However, Gaelic football remains a sport in crisis, blighted by packed defences and incessant handpassing. Armagh and Crossmaglen great Aaron Kernan described the sport in its current guise as “boring” and “monotonous” and warned it could get even worse before it gets better, while the split season continues to divide.
Aaron Gillane was Limerick’s leading scorer with 3-47 in seven championship matches
No such concerns in hurling, split season aside, as Limerick head into 2024 bidding to become the first county to win five All-Ireland Senior Hurling Championships in a row.
They recovered from a loss to Clare in the Munster Championship group stages, their first championship defeat since 2019, to book a rematch with their neighbours in the final, where a one-point success secured a fifth consecutive provincial title.
Limerick reinforced their reputation as a second-half team with devastating performances at Croke Park, overturning half-time deficits against both Galway and Kilkenny in the semi-finals and final respectively. John Kiely’s men saved their best performance for the final, outscoring the Cats by 0-19 to 0-5 in a majestic final half-hour. Can anyone stop their drive for five?
Cork captain Amy O’Connor completes her incredible hat-trick against Waterford
Speaking of majestic, Amy O’Connor was Cork’s hero as they ended their five-year wait for an All-Ireland Senior Camogie Championship.
O’Connor produced one of the moments of the year when she smashed a hat-trick in less than two minutes during their dominant victory over a Waterford side appearing in their first All-Ireland final since 1945.
Olympics: Record medal haul should be target in Paris
The sky is the limit for 21-year-old sensation Rhasidat Adeleke
Ireland record medal tally at an Olympics came in 2012 when they won six in London, and hopes are high they can match or perhaps even better that in Paris this summer.
Tallaght sensation Rhasidat Adeleke has enjoyed a record-breaking 12 months and her upward curve will continue after deciding to turn professional. Rhys McClenaghan (pommel horse) is a back-to-back world champion while freestyle swimmer Daniel Wiffen will be targeting a medal in Paris after smashing the 800m world record.
Daniel Wiffen smashed the 800m freestyle world record by almost three seconds
In Ciara Mageean and Sarah Healy Ireland possess two serious competitors in the 1500m. Mageean finished fourth in world-class company at the World Championships last August, with Healy joining the Down athlete and Sonia O’Sullivan as the only Irishwomen to run the 1500m in under four minutes.
Throw in Ireland’s rowing stars – Olympic gold medallists Fintan McCarthy and Paul O’Donovan claimed their third World Championship in September – and the long list of boxing contenders headed by Kellie Harrington, and this has the potential to be a ground-breaking Games.
Things got weird at a Madonna concert on Tuesday night when a man dressed as Santa Clause got a lap dance while onstage with the “Like A Virgin” singer. The Santa figure then fell off his chair and onto the backup dancer who had been performing the lap dance.
Madonna’s Santa Debacle
Daily Mail reported that video that has since gone viral shows Madonna performing onstage with a person dressed as Santa on Tuesday night during her Celebration tour stop in Washington D.C. Santa sat in a chair in the middle of the stage while the 65 year-old “Vogue” singer performed nearby.
Santa was eventually approached by a female backup dance who claimed onto his lap and proceeded to give him a lap dance. Both Santa and the dancer soon fell out of the chair, with him ending up on top of her as Madonna looked on in shock. The dancer immediately returned to dancing while Santa tried to compose himself and get up.
Madonna Reveals She Was In A Coma
This came days after Madonna revealed that she was in a medically induced coma for 48 hours back in June when she was hospitalized with a bacterial infection. She dropped this bomb during another tour stop in Brooklyn, New York on Saturday night, giving a personal shoutout to her friend Shavawn.
“There are some very important people in the room tonight that were with me at the hospital,” Madonna said. “There’s one very important woman who dragged me to the hospital.”
“I don’t even remember; I passed out on my bathroom floor and woke up in the ICU,” she added. “I was in an induced coma for 48 hours. She saved my life. Thank you Shavawn.”
People Magazine went on to reveal the first things she thought about when she finally came out of the coma.
“There were a couple of things I thought about when I first became conscious and I saw my six incredible children sitting around me — by the way, I had to almost die to get all my kids in one room,” she said, referring to Lourdes, 27, Rocco, 23, David Banda, 18, Mercy James, 17, and 11-year-old twins Estere and Stella.
Two weeks after her hospitalization, Madonna took to social media to thank her fans for their support.
“I have felt your love. I’m on the road to recovery and incredibly grateful for all the blessings in my life,” she wrote on Instagram.
“My first thought when I woke up in the hospital was my children,” she continued. “My second thought was that I did not want to disappointment anyone who bought tickets for my tour. I also didn’t want to let down the people who worked tirelessly with me over the last few months to create my show. I hate to disappoint anyone.”
Madonna was able to resume her tour in October with a stop in London, and she’s now traveling the U.S. making stops in various city. Given the latest viral footage, it’s clear that her tour is wilder than ever. What do you think of Madonna’s Santa escapades? Let us know in the comments section.
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The Hollywood star Cameron Diaz is on a mission to “normalize separate bedrooms” for couples, saying that they should even have different houses.
Diaz Sounds Off
Diaz, who has been married to the guitarist Benji Madden since 2015, said this while appearing on the “Lipstick on the Rim” podcast on Tuesday.
“We should normalize separate bedrooms,” said Diaz, 51. “To me, I would literally, I have my house, you have yours. We have a family house in the middle. I will go and sleep in your room, you go sleep in your room. I’m fine.”
“And we have the bedroom in the middle that we can convene in for our relations,” she continued.
When Diaz was warned that she was creating a “bad headline,” she immediately brushed off any concerns.
“I’ve already said it,” she explained. “By the way, I don’t feel that way now because my husband is so wonderful. I said that before I got married.”
Cameron Diaz says we should normalize married couples having separate bedrooms:
“To me, I would literally, I have my house, you have yours. We have the family house in the middle. I will go and sleep in my room. You go sleep in your room. I’m fine.” pic.twitter.com/tSSSLPaZ6K
Entertainment Tonight reported that Diaz recently returned to acting for the first time in nearly a decade to star with Jamie Foxx in the film Back in Action, which has yet to be released. This was Diaz’s first acting gig since she starred in the 2014 version of Annie.
“It’s like riding a bike,” she said of performing, going on to explain why she took the role, which required her to move her family to London during filming.
“My husband and I made the decision for our family,” she said. “It was really about what our family needed. We had been in COVID, our daughter was three months old when COVID started. She was wanting — we wanted to kind of get out in the world. Like, have to get out in the world kind of thing.”
Diaz went on to say that she and Madden split parenting duties during filming. He would watch their daughter during the day and run his businesses at night, while Diaz would watch their daughter at night and film during the day.
“We were both kinda like, this is a great idea,” she said with a laugh. “But it really was. We had a great time.”
During this same interview, Diaz denied rumors that Foxx had made “everything miserable and that I was never gonna make another movie again because of him.” She described Foxx, who she’s worked with on two other films in the past, as being a “cheerleader for the entire crew,” adding that “everybody loves him.”
“Jamie is the best. I love that guy so much. He’s such a special person, and he’s so talented, so much fun,” Diaz said. “We have so much fun on the set with him, and he’s just a professional on every level.”
“I really hate all of the things that were being said about our set,” she continued. “You just want to scream at the top of your lungs, like, ‘What are you talking about?’”
What do you think about Diaz’s mission to “normalize separate bedrooms” for couples? Let us know in the comments section.
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An Ivy leaguer, proud conservative millennial, history lover, writer, and lifelong New Englander, James specializes in the intersection of culture and politics.
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Experts suggest thinking about how you’ll use your home in future when considering a building project.
10’000 Hours | Digitalvision | Getty Images
Extending your home or remodeling your kitchen and bathroom may be an exciting prospect but it’s worth carefully planning the design and build to manage the risks involved, according to specialists who spoke to CNBC.
If your project is fairly large, such as a home extension where you’ll be knocking walls down, it’s a good idea to hire an architect because they can guide you through the relevant planning permission and building rules depending on where you live. They can also help you appoint a building contractor (known as a builder in the U.K.).
Write an initial brief — essentially a wish list for your project — before approaching an architect, is the advice of a spokesperson from the U.K.’s Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA), in an email to CNBC. Think about how you’ll use the new space now and how that might change in the future.
Then, consider your budget before you approach architecture firms, said Richard Parr, founder of design studio Richard Parr Associates. “Do the math before your first meeting,” he said in an email to CNBC.
He also advocates thinking about the “emotional” brief — Parr likes to get to know his clients by asking them questions like how they spend their time and where they like to go on vacation — as a favorite destination might influence their design choice.
Finally, consider green credentials. It’s worth focusing on any sustainability goals upfront, according to Ruth Lang, lead researcher in low carbon housing at the Future Observatory, a research program run by London’s Design Museum.
“Thinking about how your project can make better use of passive heating and lighting, and use reclaimed or natural materials, which have a lower carbon impact, can hugely change the manner in which a project would be conceived,” she told CNBC by email. You can also ask your team how they might minimize waste or repurpose materials, Lang said.
“If you were thinking of taking out a marble kitchen countertop, for example, you don’t have to reuse this in the kitchen again. You could instead consider how the material available could be used in other applications, such as being cut up for bathroom tiling,” she said.
RIBA’s online Find an Architect service asks for details such as your project’s aims and budgets, design style (such as whether you want it to be in keeping with the existing building), your overall aims — including more space, flexibility or more light — plus any restrictions like being in a conservation area.
In Germany, the Association of German Architects (known as the BDA), has around 5,000 members and you can search its directory by region, while the American Institute of Architects also has a listing of firms that is searchable by state or zip code.
RIBA advises meeting four or five firms in person to see how you get on, and to find out about their portfolio, fees, construction costs and timings. The architect will prepare technical drawings ready for a builder to cost and can recommend what type of building contract you should use too.
A home extension with a glass conservatory roof and bare brick wall.
John Keeble | Moment | Getty Images
You can opt for your architect to be your contract administrator too, meaning that they will oversee quality control during the build, according to RIBA. “If you don’t designate someone to this position, the responsibility falls on you,” its spokesperson said.
Gary Olsen, a chartered builder and director of design and build company Create, said this pre-contract phase is crucial — and not worth skimping on because it can avoid problems later.
Any scope of work document should include costs that “people might not initially think of,” Olsen told CNBC by phone, such as parking permits and fees for dumpster or skip hire. If the builder’s estimate exceeds your budget, write down your hierarchy of needs and wants and ask your contractor if they can revise it accordingly, Olsen said.
When you meet with potential builders, ask whether the person quoting for the work will also oversee it. If not, ask to meet the manager who is likely to be in charge of your build. “I’ve got to be confident that you’re going to be a nice person to work for and I’m going to get paid … And then [customers must consider]: Can I trust this person to deliver what he says?” Olsen said.
Older properties may have structural issues, and it’s worth understanding these ahead of time, Olsen said. Victorian-era terraced properties, typical of the U.K., are sometimes “L”-shaped at the rear, meaning they have an outrigger, the part of the home that projects out into the backyard. Occasionally this can sink in relation to the rest of the building and it’s worth identifying these types of issues before work starts, Olsen said.
“Don’t … hide behind a sofa looking through your fingers, hoping that there won’t be something [wrong]. A defect won’t magically go away by itself,” he said.
If you share a wall with a neighbor (known as a party wall), it is a good idea to get a condition survey of their home before work begins, especially if you are doing excavations. This should include photographs, descriptions and measurements of any existing cracks or defects, Olsen said.
Changing your mind about fixtures and fittings can be expensive if work has started, Olsen said.
For example, if you decide you prefer an engineered wood floor instead of the vinyl one that has been estimated for, it may not simply be the materials that cost more — the concrete base underneath may need to be finished to a different level.
Flooring requires preparation, depending on the kinds of materials you choose.
Juanmonino | E+ | Getty Images
Olsen suggested setting up a WhatsApp group for requested changes, confirming what’s been agreed by email and adding cost details to a spreadsheet.
Olsen, who is board president of the FMB’s London region, said a contractor may ask for around 5% of the build cost to secure the project, followed by about 20% once work begins.
“Be wary of big money payments upfront,” Olsen said. And, if the builder doesn’t provide you with a payment schedule, “don’t sign the contract,” he said. Once the project has been completed, expect to retain about 2.5%, which you’ll pay once you reach the end of an agreed rectification period of about six months.
Try to remain flexible during the project, Parr said: “Renovation is not a precise science or a predictable art, so be prepared for discoveries and the unforeseen. Above all, I always tell clients to follow their gut instincts and make sure they enjoy the journey the whole way through.”
A BRIT abroad who told cops that he’d been conned is now under investigation for fraud.
The 48-year-old, who had been holidaying with his wife, claimed that he’d been the victim of a ‘Goodnight, Cinderella’ scam – when he had actually allegedly spent all of his cash on call girls.
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The Brit is now facing charges of fraud and making a false reportCredit: Jam Press
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He has been pictured with call girls in a club and in a hotelCredit: Jam Press
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Local Brazilian police received a tip that the Brit had gotten into a taxi with call girlsCredit: Jam Press
The London transport worker told the police that he was conned out of £3,500 (BRL 22,000) in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
The scam is Brazilian slang for Rohypnol, GHB, or any date-rape drug that renders victims vulnerable to assault or robbery.
But the Brit is now being investigated after the police discovered that he’d actually spent that amount in a nightclub with call girls.
He has now been accused of making a false report and of fraud.
The Brit and his wife had travelled to the South American country for a holiday last month.
It was in the early hours of 27 November that he allegedly asked a taxi driver to take him to a nightclub in search of call girls, local media report.
The Brit – then in the company of women – allegedly began spending money on drinks at a club in Copacabana.
His wife, who was in their hotel room at the time, noticed the extravagant spending and assumed he was in danger.
So she called the bank and cancelled his card.
He allegedly left the nightclub with two women around 7am and went with them to another hotel.
A CCTV camera in the reception caught the moment he tried to use his newly-blocked card to pay for a room.
Unable to do so, he gave up, sent the women away, and returned to the hotel where he was staying.
There, he told his wife that he’d fallen victim to a scam and, hours later, went to the Tourist Police station to make a report.
His £3,500 nightclub bill – the amount he claimed he’d been conned out of – was allegedly reversed, which is why he is now under investigation for fraud.
This is not the first time that a Brit abroad has found themselves in murky waters.
For Rebecca Blake, things turned disastrously dark after she shared a taxi with an Irish man after a booze binge in Dubai.
The 35-year-old, who had moved out to the Emirate from Dorking, Surrey, met Connor McRedwood at a brunch party there in May 2012.
After hitting it off, the pair got into a taxi together, Connor,30, carrying an open bottle of beer.
Rebecca recalled: “I had no idea alcohol was illegal unless you had a licence. I had no idea that was going to be the moment my life completely changed.
“He had a bottle of beer on him. We got into a taxi and the driver started going completely the wrong way.
“We ended up having a bit of an argument. Next thing we know, the driver pulls over. There’s a police car on the side.”
The driver claimed they had been having sex in the back of his cab, and the pair were driven to a police station where Rebecca was breathalysed, handcuffed and thrown into a cockroach-infested hellhole jail.
She said: “My heart sank, I just knew something wasn’t right.
“It looked like a dungeon. It was all underground.
“The smell was revolting. It smelled of really strong urine.
“Women were just lying on the concrete floor on old mattresses, falling apart.”
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The 48-year-old Brit claimed he was the victim of a scamCredit: Jam Press
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His £3,500 nightclub bill, that he claimed he had been conned out of, was returned to himCredit: Jam Press
The ECB on Thursday held interest rates steady for the second meeting in a row, as it revised its growth forecasts lower.
The bank was widely expected to leave policy unchanged in light of the sharp fall in euro zone inflation, as investors instead chase signals on when the first rate cut may come and assess the ECB’s plans to shrink its balance sheet.
