Police probe new theory on Hollywood star Gene Hackman’s last moments after he and his wife Betsy Arakawa were discovered dead in their New Mexico home.
The couple, who had been married since 1991, were discovered dead in separate bedrooms as well as one of their dogs in their Santa Fe home.
Police originally said that no foul play was suspected and that two dogs survived the threefold tragedy. Still, a search warrant has since ruled their deaths as ‘suspicious’ enough to investigate further.
Although the actor’s daughter had previously speculated that carbon monoxide might have killed them, the document also said that there were “no signs of a gas leak.”
The deaths of Gene Hackman and his wife Betsy Arakawa remain an ‘open investigation’ following an autopsy, police have said.
The County Sheriff’s statement said: ‘In the early hours of Thursday, February 27, 2025, Hackman and Arakawa were transported to the Office of the Medical Investigator.
‘An autopsy was performed. Initial findings noted no external trauma to either individual. Carbon monoxide and toxicology tests were requested for both individuals.
It appears that the couple were dead for a long time, to the point their bodies had become mummified. At this point, we don’t know what occurred and it would be inadvisable to rule out foul play.
Gene Hackman and his wife’s untimely deaths are particularly tragic.
Another amazing actor is gone – there are not many replacements. He was always a fantastic character, and if he was in a film you knew it would be worth seeing.
We have no idea how either of them perished. It is best to leave their family alone as they have only just begun the grieving process. Regretfully, they passed away; Gene Hackman will always be remembered for his outstanding work.
Regardless of what happened, hopefully, it was peaceful and painless.
The fact that no one came to see how they were doing does seem odd. The fact that people are alone even in families that already exist is so tragic, but in today’s world, very common.
Sadly, they both lost their lives, however, falling asleep and never waking up again is a pretty good way to go out.
One of Britain’s strictest headteachers has blasted ‘gentle’ middle-class parenting tactics for eroding traditional child-rearing methods and destroying working-class families.
Katharine Birbalsingh, who co-founded and leads the Michaela Community School in Brent, north London, said that parents should embrace being authority figures and stop giving their children choices in food and clothes.
Speaking in The Times, Ms Birbalsingh said it was impossible to find traditional parenting books that gave parents permission to tell their children what to do and teach them right from wrong.
Instead, modern methods focused on ‘understanding the child’ and ‘communicating with their needs’, rather than how to ‘teach them right from wrong’.
During her harsh criticism, the prominent headteacher, who did not reveal whether she was a parent, also criticised those who did not teach their children to read and count.
‘The culture and the language that’s being used means parents feel that they’re not in a position of authority over their child,’ the 52-year-old said.
‘The stuff you’ll get nowadays will be much more along the lines of gentle parenting, being friends with your children, not holding them to account. It will be written from the point of view allowing them to choose to lead their own feeding.’
The headteacher has made headlines for her controversial opinions on ‘woke culture’ in schools – such as suggesting that some people from the most impoverished families should set their sights lower.
When discussing parenting books from decades ago, Ms Birbalsingh said parents were given more agency and more of an understanding of ‘having dominion’ over their child.
But modern parents had ‘been infantilised’, she claimed, and were now not able to ‘take ownership of their own child’.
Ms Birbalsingh said middle-class parents ‘might get away’ with this ‘gentle parenting’, but believed this was not the case for ‘families that are under financial pressure, social pressure and don’t have two parents in the home’.
‘And the culture that is created by this literature, written by middle-class people—they don’t realise the absolute destruction that it causes for the working-class family,’ she said.
Ms Birbalsingh often comments on social media about parenting and posts videos she deems wholesome, especially those relating to fathers and daughters.
She also added that fathers have a big influence by being stricter than mothers but are also more fun and adventurous. However, she suggested that either parent could take that role.
Ms Birbalsingh said she was regularly told by parents that it was the ‘teacher’s job’ to deal with their child’s social media use, a position she described as ‘mad’.
When defining the perfect parenting culture, the teacher described ‘one of learning all the time in the household’.
In January, Ms Birbalsingh accused Labour’s Education Secretary of showing ‘her Marxist outlook in every decision’.
Speaking on the Planet Normal podcast, the outspoken teacher said Bridget Phillipson has Marxism ‘coursing through her veins’ as she hit out at government education policy.
A new bill under review by Parliament would ensure all state schools had the same pay scales, followed the national curriculum, employed only skilled or qualifying teachers and limited uniforms to three branded items.
Speaking to the Planet Normal podcast, Ms Birbalsingh said: ‘I do see a sense of Marxism that is coursing through the veins of the [new education] bill.
‘Bridget Phillipson is looking at this in a manner that is just not very informed. You see her Marxist outlook in every decision that she’s making.
‘Social mobility is not something that you can just place upon children, you need to inspire them to take ownership of their own lives and jump over the obstacles that are in front of them.
‘They need to feel like they belong to their school and wear their uniform. They need to work hard to get grades at GCSE that will compete with the boys at Eton.
‘They need to own their lives and push themselves forward. It’s about self-empowerment, it is not about holding your hand out to the state and saying: ‘Please give me more.’
You seldom get to have a perfect child that’s just born good, kind and intelligent. Our job as parents is to infuse those characteristics in them to secure them a more promising future, not just for them, but for the family they too will create in the future.
Most children of my generation in the 1960s and before knew their numbers, alphabet, nursery rhymes and how to use a knife and fork before they started infant school. Nowadays it’s like babies are starting school, literally babies with some still in nappies. It’s not the teacher’s job to do everything – parents need to take some responsibility.
The problem is that now, for a lot of children, English is not their first language, and there lies a lot of the problem. That is our children’s downfall and immigration is impacting our children at school as well.
The pivotal word here is ‘authority.’ This does not mean a reign of terror, but guidance sometimes in the smallest measures. Like brushing teeth before bed, no matter how exhausted. Small steps, but with the general message, there is someone who can tell right from wrong.
Children might feel like life is problematic, but they need someone to turn to and guide them because parents who let their children discuss and decide all the time have given up their leadership, leaving their children to get lost.
Of course, some children will reign terror once they become teenagers but hopefully, those little embers parents installed into their children when they were younger might survive and turn into good ones later on in life.
An experienced primary school teacher was sacked after one of her students did not understand that a threat to ‘whack’ him round the head was a joke.
Baiklautchmee Subrian took Gilbert Colvin Primary School in Ilford, east London, to an employment tribunal after she was dismissed for making the comment to a small class of Year 6 pupils.
Whilst preparing the children for their maths SAT exam, she made the comment after one of the children asked her what would happen to them if they didn’t hold their papers in place during their tests.
Ms Subrian, who has been teaching for 35 years, was said to have replied she would ‘whack’ them and gestured with her hand.
The teacher claimed that her comment ‘had been made in jest’ and almost all the children in the class had understood that it was not meant to be malicious.
But the hearing was told the student, who spoke English as a second language, felt threatened, upset and angry over the incident and reported it to another teacher.
Ms Subrian was requested to meet with the school’s head the day after the comment was made, and she was informed that an investigation would be conducted.
A disciplinary hearing took place in July 2023 where Subrian claimed that because the child who made the complaint had continued to attend her after-school club they were not really that upset, but the teacher was sent a letter of dismissal later that month.
The school explained that even if she had ‘intended the comment as a joke’ to the student because he did not have English as a first language he ‘could not be expected to understand that’.
It added the student had felt threatened by the teacher and the comment amounted to gross misconduct.
Ms Subrian criticised the investigation conducted by the school for ‘lacking integrity and said the punishment was too severe.
But Judge Jack Feeny rejected her claim of unfair dismissal at the hearing in east London.
In his closing comments, the judge said: ‘I do not consider whether or not the comment was intended as a joke to be particularly important. It was plainly an inappropriate thing to say.
‘The accompanying hand gesture compounded matters, particularly where at least some of the children did not have English as a first language.
‘A teacher may get away with a comment in these circumstances if all children receive it as a light-hearted comment and laugh along. It is common ground that this was not what happened here. The risk of making such a joke is that if even only one child is upset by it, it must amount to a significant safeguarding issue.’
In the classroom, a lot of teachers probably crack jokes. It makes their days easier, and I’m sure a lot of pupils, many of whom don’t speak English as their first language, take it all in stride.
The idea that a teacher could be dismissed for serious misconduct due to a single student’s miscommunication is horrifying and should deter anyone thinking about pursuing a career in teaching.
It was a joke, but most of us have lost our sense of humour. Perhaps some of us should be learning how to get a life.
In years past, teachers were allowed to strike hands with rulers when children were misbehaving. In areas like Asia parents cane their kids. If you don’t punish them when they are young, don’t regret what they do when they are older!
Portraits of Winston Churchill and other well-known British Prime Ministers have been taken down from the walls of Parliament following Labour’s 2024 election victory.
After winning 412 seats in the House of Commons, Sir Keir Starmer and Labour returned to government for the first time in 14 years in July 2024 following the general election.
Although Starmer had pledged to make numerous changes if elected, The Telegraph has disclosed that rearranging the decorations in Parliament was reportedly one of the first items on the Labour agenda.
Just days after Starmer’s July 4 election victory, five portraits of William Gladstone, the four-time Conservative Prime Minister, were taken down from Parliament’s walls, along with five photographs of former Lord Protector Oliver Cromwell.
And a few days later the new Government removed portraits of the Duke of Wellington among a host of other well-known British figures, before taking down ‘drawings, prints and photographs of Winston Churchill.’
Five images of the former Prime Minister were pulled down from the parliamentary estate including one photo from Portcullis House, Parliament’s main office building, showing Churchill standing at the Cenotaph in 1945, according to the Telegraph.
Any new Government has a pick of the Parliamentary Art Collection, which has more than 26,000 portraits, drawings and pictures from which the buildings can be decorated.
Following news of Labour’s re-decoration, a spokesman for UK Parliament told The Telegraph: ‘There are more than 26,000 items within Parliament’s Collections, and there are regular movements, for example, due to maintenance works in an area, changes to the occupancy of spaces and conservation needs.’
The collection underwent an audit following 2020’s Black Lives Matter movement, and it is believed that many of the photos removed were selected because of their ties to Britain’s colonial history.
The portraits of Charles I, Queen Victoria, Prince Albert, Lord Salisbury, and poet John Milton were also taken down.
It was reported by MailOnline in 2023 that almost 200 artworks had gone missing from the enormous parliamentary collection.
Among the items missing were paintings, drawings, pictures from a century ago, and even a life-size sculpture.
It was not made clear whether any of the pieces were stolen, but a Freedom of Information request from Mail Online revealed that 199 pieces could not be located.
An 1801 portrait of William Pitt the Younger, a 19th-century sketch of William Gladstone and a six-foot-high sculpture of Queen Victoria were among the pictures missing.
At the time, a spokesperson for the House of Commons said: ‘Parliament is continuing to address collection objects historically identified as missing or not located through ongoing audits and regular reviews across the estate.
‘The number of objects catalogued as missing or not located is only true at the time of request and may differ over time.
‘Parliament has an ongoing programme to address the matter, through comprehensive and regular audits, recently resulting in a 5 per cent reduction in objects identified as missing since 2021.’
It appears that our Labour government does not want to be reminded of the importance of having a strong backbone and prioritising our nation and its people.
I do hope that these heirlooms have been carefully packed away because they will be back soon when Starmer’s lot has failed us. Having a great man like Churchill looking down on the weak effects of Starmer evidently intimidated him and his comrades.
It seems like Starmer has an inferiority complex and he could never stand in the same boots as Churchill. If there was a war, Starmer would be standing there waving a white flag.
Perhaps they’re endeavouring to reinvent history, and in the end, ‘Lest We Forget’ will be a thing of the past, and removing the portraits of Sir Winston Churchill is offending his memory and legacy, and the courageous people who gave their lives for their country and future generations.
The Met Police employed more than 1,000 officers without checking their references before they started on the force.
The new recruits are said to have been employed after the 2021 rape, kidnap and murder of Sarah Everard by Wayne Couzens, an officer in the Metropolitan Police’s elite parliamentary and diplomatic protection squad.
It comes despite a promise from Sir Mark Rowley, the Met commissioner, to root out rotten officers following the major scandal that dropped Britain’s jaw.
Despite official guidance from the College of Policing, Clare Davies, the Met’s human resources chief, decided in early 2020 to waive reference checks or seek them retrospectively.
She was subsequently promoted by Rowley and is now paid more than £235,000 a year.
Before being employed, the recruits would have been vetted to check for red flags, such as prior convictions or family connections to criminality.
Official guidelines also required forces to obtain character references from previous employers or educational institutions going back three years.
According to police sources, references were frequently never followed up on, even though some were acquired after a new hire joined the Met.
‘Once they were in, that was it; the reference checks were swept under the carpet,’ one official said.
It came at a time when Boris Johnson’s government wanted forces across the nation to recruit 20,000 additional officers over three years.
The Met was under pressure to employ more than 4,500 new recruits, but only managed to sign up 3,468.
Couzens, the discredited former officer, now 54, had been able to go on undetected at the Met for years due to failures in vetting that didn’t flag he had a history of sexual offending dating back to as far as 2015.
A separate review into the Met’s culture and norms by Baroness Casey in 2023 described the force as institutionally racist, misogynistic and homophobic.
There were more monsters in the Metropolitan police besides Couzens.
Reprobate rapist Cliff Mitchell, an ex-Met police officer, carried out more than 50 sex attacks against two female victims – one of them a child – between 2014 and 2023.
He was found guilty of 10 counts of rape, three counts of rape of a child under 13, one count of kidnap and breach of a non-molestation order.
The 24-year-old was jailed for life with a minimum term of 13 years and 225 days at Croydon Crown Court in May 2024.
David Carrick, 49, is currently serving a life sentence after he was convicted of 85 offences, including 48 rapes against a dozen women.
He was a Met officer for 20 years until his detention in 2021. Yet from 2009 he served in the Parliamentary and Diplomatic Protection Unit, which requires one of the highest security clearances for a police officer.
According to Met Commissioner Sir Rowley, a plan is in place to guarantee vetting evaluations of active officers who might have been charged with sexual misconduct or exhibiting other negative patterns of behaviour.
The High Court, however, decided earlier this month that it was illegal to fire Lino Di Maria, a sergeant whose warrant card was revoked after he failed vetting.
Mr. Di Maria denies all of the charges against him, including rape, sexual assault, indecent exposure, and domestic abuse.
Sir Rowley described the ruling as leaving policing in ‘a hopeless position’.
He said: ‘We now have no mechanism to rid the Met of officers who are not fit to hold vetting [clearance] — those who cannot be trusted to work with women or enter the homes of vulnerable people. It is absurd that we cannot lawfully sack them.’
In response to the failure of satisfactory reference checks, he added: ‘Londoners rightly expect the highest standards from our officers and staff, and we’ve overhauled our vetting and professional standards processes as part of our ‘New Met for London’ plan.
‘We are continuing to strengthen our approach, taking account of learning from inquiries by Baroness Casey and Dame Elish Angiolini. We have recruited extra vetting officers, introduced a new force policy and decision-making framework, and invested in new technology to make sure only those with the highest standards serve in the Met.’
Over thirty years ago, vetting was a significant part of the process and rightly so. It just goes to show how frantic they are to keep police numbers up at the risk and safety of the public. All references, vetting, credit checks, full employment history et cetera should be completed even before they progress onto the next phase, and reviews should be done at least every five years if not more frequently.
The police should be recruiting the best people to be police officers. They should not be selecting diverse, obese, small people and box tickers. We need the best possible people to protect us and to keep the streets safe.
Each day just keeps on giving me more affirmation that nothing is right with this country especially when references are not being checked for those who are supposed to uphold the law.
Yes! Politicians don’t care, managers don’t manage, councillors don’t council, and police don’t police.
There should also be compulsory drug testing and any prohibited substances in their system, they are sacked and lose their pension – that might prevent them passing around the crack pipe in cabinet meetings.
This is gross negligence and ineptitude. It’s no surprise police forces are in such a state. They’re being led by high-ranking officers promoted way above their pay scale and ability.
Standards have declined over the years. The Lemming police force has dropped off a cliff, and the public has been robbed of their hard-earned taxpaying money.
It appears that the Met do as they please until they are exposed, at which point they either cover it up or provide a pathetic apology and just continue. They appear to be under protection, but from whom?
A partly severed hand belonging to a 12-year-old boy was dropped from the sky by a bird into a primary school playground, police believe.
The horrifying finding was made on Friday outside Our Lady Immaculate School in Darndale, north Dublin.
Officers think the body part was blown off during Thursday night’s neighbourhood children’s play with a gas canister.
It is then believed to have been picked up by a bird. Irish station RTE said that the school was closed when it was discovered.
When the badly injured hand was found early Friday afternoon, there were suspicions that it belonged to a murder victim.
Some of the remains of slain gangland victim Keane Mulready Wood were found near the location in 2020.
Police are confident the remains belonged to the child, who presented at the hospital with a partly severed hand.
The remains are expected to undergo DNA testing to confirm their identity. The state pathologist has also been notified.
The majority of the child’s hand was missing when he arrived at Mater Hospital after the incident.
His injuries are not thought to be life-threatening according to the Irish Times.
According to the officers, the boy’s hand fragments were later picked up by a bird and dropped over the school grounds on Friday morning.
The school was on mid-term break and no children were present at the time.
A police spokesperson said: ‘Gardaí were alerted to the discovery of partial human remains at a premises in Darndale, Dublin 17 this afternoon, Friday 21st February 2025,’ the Garda said in a statement.
‘A scene is currently being held and the State Pathologist has been notified, in line with standard practice.
‘The remains will be removed for examination and DNA analysis, which will assist gardaí in confirming the identity and determine the course of the investigation.’
Just when you think you have read everything, you read that a poor child lost their hand – what an ordeal they must have lived through, and which will impact the remainder of their life.
And what a thoughtful bird, dropping it back at the primary school – extremely handy if you ask me.
Unless he had learning disabilities, this child would have understood that gas canisters are potentially harmful and can explode, but he presumably thought it would be a laugh – he’s not laughing now, and clearly, he thought it was worth taking the risk because when you are that young you don’t think about the inevitability of dying or being maimed – your perspective is a scratch and a plaster.
Many people have undoubtedly constructed a variety of explosives without considering the risks because they thought they knew what they were doing. I’m certain there were a few singed eyebrows and with good fortune and detailed management they didn’t suffer any severe injuries, but I’m sure that now with hindsight, I don’t suppose they were that careful at all.
I know that they have the technology, but is DNA testing essential? I mean, how many youngsters would have recently lost a hand? It’s not rocket science, and it was said that the hand was partially severed. If the bird had it whilst the owner of the hand was in the hospital, it was indeed severed – partially suggests it was hanging off.
All that I can envision now is this young lad being carried off by the bird by his hand. I do wonder how long this poor lad will have to wait for his hand to be returned to him. The hand would not be possible now to reattach by surgery because unless the bird had some ice to keep the hand fresh, then it would not be able to be reattached – we could always call it a cold case!
Peter Kay ‘promised not to kick out’ any audience members from his Birmingham gig last night after his last performance was disrupted by three hecklers.
The comedian, 51, had come fire following his Manchester gig earlier this month after ordering one audience member to be removed for continually yelling ‘garlic bread’.
Warehouse driver Philip Peters, 54, and his son, 26, claimed they were treated ‘like terrorists’ by security staff after others claimed they had been ‘spoiling the show’.
Seconds later, Myar Curran, 25, was also removed from the audience after shouting, ‘We love you, Peter.’
As she was being escorted down the stairs Mr Kay made a jibe about the women’s weight and shouted ‘Go on, off you go Lisa Riley’, in reference to the Emmerdale actress.
Miss Curran subsequently branded Mr Kay a ‘bully’ while Mr Peters called for an apology from the comic after claiming he had been treated like a ‘rag doll’ when his only crime was saying ‘garlic bread’.
Responding to the hecklers, however, Mr Kay, who is making a jubilant return to stage after a five-year break said: ‘There comes a point when dealing with repeated hecklers simply isn’t enough. It’s not something you ever want to do but it becomes a point when it’s no longer fair to everyone around.’
Last night, however, Mr Kay promised to turn over a new leaf, making light of the situation and pledging not to remove anyone from the crowd.
Speaking at the Birmingham NEC, the comic told the crowd: ‘Good evening, how are you? Can I just say thank you very, very much for coming tonight? I really do appreciate it. Thank you.
‘Some of you have been waiting years for this and I hope you enjoy it, I really do.
‘So I promise I won’t throw anyone out. I hope you have a good time. Well unless you f***ing start – I’m only kidding.’
Later on, while a microphone was passed around the arena to those audience members who wanted to get involved, Peter made reference to the comparison he made in Manchester to one woman who looked like Lisa Riley.
Speaking to a woman who had been to his show four times already, Mr Kay quips: ‘You’re kidding? Thank god you don’t look like Lisa Riley.’
Despite Mr Kay’s good humour about his heckler-ridden Manchester show, there was an increased security presence at the Birmingham arena.
Security guards spent the show walking up and down the aisles looking for any indications of trouble – and were quick to flash their torches at audience members who dared to get their phones out.
And in a sure sign not to get booted out of the show, audience members remained compliant with no heckles being made, only speaking when Mr Kay asked for audience participation.
Numerous fans in the audience have been waiting for years to see the much-loved comic live after he abruptly vanished from public life in 2017.
He had intended to continue touring in 2020 but it was delayed due to the pandemic.
The mammoth Better Late Than Never tour has helped put Mr Kay at the top of the 2024 rich after his residency tour at the O2 in London helped bring in an outstanding revenue of £27 million.
Since kicking off the tour in December there had been no reported bumps in the road, until his Manchester gig on February 8 when he had to remove three hecklers from the crowd.
Mr Peters and his son were abruptly ousted from the arena and he has since claimed he was treated ‘like a terrorist’ by security staff when his only crime was ‘shouting garlic bread’.
While some other attendees slammed Mr Peters, claiming he was ruining it for others, he hit back telling MailOnline: ‘I just can’t understand it, all I said was garlic bread’.
His shout-out was first said to have been well received by Mr Kay, whose cameramen panned the driver’s face out to the audience after zooming in.
But by the second half of the show, Mr Kay had lost his patience, quickly ordering the lights to be turned on and for the heckler, as well as his son, to be led out of the building.
Mr Peters, whose tickets were bought for him by his 17-year-old daughter for Christmas, said he was left ‘disgusted’ by how he was treated and is now demanding an apology from the comic.
He told MailOnline: ‘It was me who shouted out ‘garlic bread’. I was there with my son and they dragged us out like rag dolls and I am now covered in bruises. A lot of people just stood up and walked out when they saw how we were dragged out.
‘In the first half of the show, I shouted out ‘garlic bread’ and they zoomed in on the camera on me. And I put my thumbs up and thought everything was okay. I got no warning or anything, people around us were laughing and joking.
‘Then in the second half of the show, I said it again, “garlic bread”, and that’s when the security guards came over to me and said, “You are going to have to leave – Peter Kay doesn’t like people shouting out”.
‘I said are you joking as I thought they were going to warn me off but they stood me up, brought me to the stairs, which were dead steep.
‘I have massive bruises in my leg. I haven’t been able to walk properly at work today. My arms are all covered in bruises.’
He also claims that the comedian shouted ‘You’re not laughing now’ as they were paraded down the stairs.
Meanwhile, Miss Curran said she was left ‘humiliated’ by Mr Kay when she was likened to the Emmerdale actress Lisa Riley.
‘I didn’t mean to cause any harm, I was just showing my love as he kicked someone out but he obviously didn’t like it,’ she told Good Morning Britain.
‘I feel like what I said was not abusive or aggressive – it wasn’t anti-social and I wasn’t drunk,’ she added.
‘I was just standing up chanting “we love you, Peter, we do”. It’s just been a bit over the top, his reaction.’
Miss Curran, a care worker, said she was left in tears by the crowd’s reaction at the 23,000-capacity venue and had a ‘cry about it’ when she got back to her hotel room.
‘I do feel he was on about my weight,’ the mother-of-one said.
‘I know Lisa Riley has lost a lot of weight and looks great but she used to be a bit bigger.
‘I didn’t used to be this big, I have put a bit of weight on, I’ve had a child.’
Despite the heckler’s calls for an apology from Manchester AO Arena staff and Mr Kay, the comic doubled down on his reason to evict the trio.
He said in a post on Instagram: ‘At the show on Saturday night, February 8th, in Manchester, I had two hecklers disrupting from the very start’ he said in the statement posted on Instagram.
‘I did my best to address the situation and made light of it, as any comedian would, but unfortunately, their interruptions continued.
‘I then tried to ignore them, hoping they’d settle down, but when the disruption persisted into the second half of the show, I asked the audience around them if they were being bothered by the noise.’
Tickets to the comic’s gig cost an average of £59.70 in comparison to Michael’s £43.35 tickets.
Mr Kay announced 21 new dates in November 2024, kicking off in February 2025 and will finish his performance in February 2026.
Pete Kay Live initially kicked off in December 2022 and the new dates will see him visit 16 cities over the course of a year.
The new tour which will run in 2025 and 2026 will include his first dates at Aberdeen P&J Live, Brighton Centre, Bournemouth International Centre and Isle of Man Villa Marina.
Mr Kay has already broken records during the tour after selling out 45 dates at London’s O2 Arena, the only artist to do so in the world.
The funnyman also performed a record 100 shows at the Manchester AO Arena – breaking all attendance and performance records.
I don’t believe that Peter Kay called the lady ‘Lisa Riley’ because of her weight – she really does look very much like Lisa Riley.
Something can be funny when said one, but when it’s said repeatedly it’s attention seeking and the object of the audience was to come and see Peter Kay, not listen to someone else. After all, comics are on stage, not the audience.
Well, it looks like it’s Peter Kay’s turn to be thrown under the bus by the gutter press – who’s next?
I’m happy the majority are in full support of Peter Kay. All those years out of the spotlight and then he makes a come back and people try to give him bad press.
If that jibe had been at me, I would have just said, ‘Was that a compliment?’ And perhaps he should do a performance where he interacts with his audience more!
The audience being berated by a comedian – now that something new, not. Or is it wokey’s not being able to take a joke these days?
The number of stories that will now circulate about a couple of loudmouths being removed from a live performance is just astounding. There are countless ways to repackage it, but none of them are particularly intriguing.
Tom Hanks has been criticised for portraying a Trump supporter as a dimwitted ‘racist’ during a performance on Saturday Night Live’s 50th anniversary celebration.
The Hollywood icon returned as Doug, a naive idiot who wears a Make America Great Again hat and does unexpectedly well on Black J, a spoof game show.
Hanks first appeared as Doug on Black Jeopardy! in 2016 to illustrate both the distinctions and similarities between Trump voters and black culture.
The character was brought back for the 50th anniversary of the NBC staple, which included comedy sketches from A-listers and SNL alums including Eddie Murphy, Kristen Wiig, Adam Sandler, Chris Rock, Bill Murray, David Spade and Jon Lovitz.
But, as MAGA fans pointed out, President Trump has since triumphed over a diverse electorate and secured the popular vote – turning Doug into an outdated stereotype.
In the new version of the sketch, Doug vehemently refused to shake hands with host Darnell Hayes played by Kenan Thompson.
Afterwards, Trump fans blasted SNL and the ‘Forrest Gump’ celebrity for what they viewed as an unfair characterisation.
Former Robert F. Kennedy Jr. aide Link Lauren called the character ‘disgusting’ and accused SNL of pushing a tired, divisive narrative.
‘This show wonders why their ratings are in the gutter,’ he wrote. ‘Trump won the popular vote. This tired trope that MAGA is racist is disgusting. SNL is an unfunny show for snobbish liberal elites.’
Other Trump supporters shared his views, criticising the sketch in droves on social media.
Right-wing influencer Dominick McGee took direct aim at Hanks, accusing him of ‘just disrespecting every Republican on SNL as he was dressed up as a Trump supporter with a MAGA hat.’
Another critic pointed out what they saw as an awkward silence during the sketch, writing, ‘No one in the audience laughs as Tom Hanks appears on SNL as a racist Trump supporter that refuses to shake hands with a Black man.’
Trump supporters also used the moment to spotlight what they claim is SNL’s declining viewership.
One Trump fan account wrote, ‘Tom Hanks and SNL thought it would be hilarious for him to put on a MAGA hat and act out a stereotype of half the country in a desperate attempt to cope with Democrats’ crushing defeat in November. Not surprising no one watches SNL or NBC anymore.’
During the remainder of the three-and-a-half-hour broadcast – featuring everyone from Cher to Bad Bunny, Adam Sandler and Scarlett Johansson – the star-studded cast could not help but take cheap shots at Trump.
In another sketch that poked fun at 50 years of drastic changes in New York City, the cast performed a parody of the well-known show tune I Dreamed a Dream from Les Miserables.
‘I dreamed a dream that King Kong died, then I remembered he’s in Florida,’ sang one cast member, in a thinly veiled swipe at the president who left Manhattan after his first term.
But the special marking 50 years on air poked fun at the Trump administration from the very beginning.
It took mere seconds before actor and comedian Steve Martin, 79, made his first political jab quipping about how he had been on a boat in ‘The Gulf of Steve Martin’ – a joke about Trump’s recent renaming of the Gulf of Mexico to the Gulf of America.
‘I can’t believe I made it here in time. It was only a few days ago that Lorne told me I was doing the monologue, and I was actually vacationing on a friend’s boat down in the Gulf of Steve Martin,’ Martin began.
Later in the monologue Martin’s fellow Only Murders In The Building Canadian co-star Martin Short, 74, strolled onstage.
Martin asked him, ‘Do you have your passport on you? ICE, get him!’ as performers dressed as ICE employees carried Short off the stage.
‘No! I’ll name names! Mike Myers! Jim Carrey!’, Short shouted as he was hauled away.
Later during the famous Weekend Update segment, commentator Colin Jost quipped about how it could be the last season of SNL if Trump has his way.
‘It is an honour and a thrill to be hosting Weekend Update for the 50th, and if it was up to our president, final season of SNL,’ Jost said to laughter from the audience.
‘It is incredible that SNL is still going after all this time and I’m just talking about tonight’s show.’
Trump has often criticised Saturday Night Live and has been especially harsh on the comedy program. He is known to hardly ever laugh and has demonstrated animosity towards ridicule in general.
‘SNL is bad but Saturday Night Live is the worst of NBC. Not funny, cast is terrible, always a complete hit job. Really bad television!’ Trump wrote in January 2017.
In 2019 he threatened the show with a federal investigation for mocking him after he took a disliking to Alec Baldwin’s interpretation of him.
Last year, SNL creator Lorne Michaels vowed the show would ‘reinvent’ the way it portrays Trump during his second term in office.
During Weekend Update Cecily Strong emerged as her character ‘Girl you never want to talk to at a party’ where she seemed to attract attention to the current political climate.
‘Is it nice to be on the verge of the apocalypse? It’s devastating. It’s a constipational crisis, literally for me. Do I want to bring a baby into the world or should I keep her in here for another 3½ years.’
Michael Che, the co-host, enquired about Strong’s workplace.
‘I’m the press secretary at the White House,’ Strong replied. ‘People are so angry about DEI, well, stop drinking and driving,’ she quipped as she jokingly blurred the words DUI with DEI.
Driving Under the Influence, or DUI for short, is the crime of operating a vehicle while under the influence of alcohol, drugs, or both.
DEI, of course, stands for Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion.
Last month, Trump signed an executive order to end DEI programs throughout the federal government, fulfilling a campaign pledge.
The programs, according to Trump and his supporters, discriminate against white Americans.
Two hours into the performance, the SNL special took a swipe at the politics of New York disparaging former Mayor Rudy Giuliani with Kate McKinnon reprising the role.
‘Rudy, you’re America’s mayor. You’re beloved all across the country, this is your big shot. What are you going to do with it?’
‘Simple. I AM throwing away my shots. I am throwing my shots!’ he said, to a rap from the Hamilton musical alongside creator Lin-Manuel Miranda as Alexander Hamilton.
Just wait until the day when Hollywood celebs come to the realisation that they played an essential part in getting Trump elected in the first place. Perhaps there should be an Academy Award category for that. Tom Hanks would certainly be a contender.
The number of gifted performers and public personalities who choose to destroy themselves with antiquated and ineffectual speech simply because they have nothing fresh to offer is disheartening.
I once liked Tom Hanks, but like most of the other crazy people in Hollywood, he has since turned into a socialist freak.
I used to think that screaming ageing rockers, exploding out of their tight pants, with long grey hair that was thinning on top were the saddest spectacle to watch. Still, they’ve been superseded by these old, irrelevant, not-so-funny, so-called performers, and SNL has been on life support for many years now.
It doesn’t matter who is right or who is wrong – it’s your choice, but don’t try to use your lame Hollywood influence on me – that is just awful, but then, Americans are extremely weird when it comes to politics.
Their constant one-sided political insults simply sum up Hollywood, the film industry, the news media, talk shows et cetera. They all live in their own little bubble, along with left-wing politicians and globalist billionaires, patting each other on the back, and giving each other awards, all the while criticising the ordinary working people who they see as ignorant peasants for not supporting them on their latest virtue signalling bandwagon.
It has been demonstrated time and time again that people are sick of these celebs pushing their agenda when all we want is for them to entertain us. Why should we listen to a bunch of millionaires who don’t live in the real world, which also includes the UK as well as the US?
SNL is for five-year-olds. However, children watching it learn that mocking is bullying while still young and it’s funny. Actors are entertainers, like jugglers or people who do card tricks et cetera. Nothing unique beyond their circle of misguided friends and fans. Stick to acting Tom, not mocking others.
Whether we commoners are upset or not is irrelevant to Tom Hanks. That’s probably how he likes it.
Elon Musk is taking a break from X having broken his silence after a MAGA influencer claimed she has given birth to his 13th child.
The 53-year-old Tesla and SpaceX CEO has not denied or confirmed 26-year-old Ashley St. Clair’s claim but issued a one-word response on X on Saturday evening, writing simply, ‘Whoa.’
His decision to go offline follows a string of wordy posts in the last few hours about unrelated matters, including the forthcoming release of Grok 3, which Musk called the ‘smartest AI on Earth’.
The tech billionaire made the extremely unusual decision to take a break from X to spend time sharpening the tool, writing: ‘Will be honing the product with the team all weekend, so offline until then.’
His previous one-word response to St. Clair’s incendiary claim was directed in reply to another post suggesting the influencer had ‘plotted for HALF A DECADE to ensnare Elon Musk’.
But the young woman wasted no time in firing back, taking aim at Musk’s lack of attention on the issue.
‘Elon, we have been trying to communicate for the past several days and you have not responded,’ St. Claire wrote.
‘When are you going to reply to us instead of publicly responding to smears from an individual who just posted photos of me in underwear at 15 years old?’
Within the hour, St. Clair’s biting response was removed from X.
In a previous statement, she thanked everyone who showed kindness and acknowledged the tremendous response.
‘In all sincerity, appreciate the kind words. Wish I did not feel the need to make a statement. Kids should be off limits for journalists,’ she wrote, before hinting at a social media hiatus.
The revelation that Musk – who has been married three times – and St. Clair allegedly share a child was made public by her on Friday.
‘I have not previously disclosed this to protect our child’s privacy and safety, but in recent days it has become clear that tabloid media intends to do so, regardless of the harm it will cause,’ she stated.
Her spokesperson, Brian Glicklich, reiterated her claims, stressing that Musk and St. Clair had been ‘privately working towards the creation of an agreement about raising their child for some time.’
St. Clair alleges the romance began with a simple direct message on Musk’s X platform.
‘Musk was very funny. He was smart. He was very down to Earth. It started with X interactions and he slid into my DMs. I think it was a meme,’ St. Clair said as she described how the back and forth soon grew into a secret liaison.
In St. Clair’s stunning announcement, she disclosed how she was forced to go public after allegedly being asked to keep the pregnancy a secret.
‘I was told to keep it secret. I was being asked to keep it a secret forever,’ she admitted to the New York Post.
Although she consented to omit the billionaire’s name from the birth certificate to protect his privacy, security, and confidentiality, St. Clair’s camp maintains that there has been continuous private discussion over Musk’s involvement in their child’s upbringing.
She alleges that Musk provided her with a grand apartment in New York’s Financial District. Along with the residence came a security detail – but no public acknowledgement.
‘I was completely isolated during my pregnancy. Every part of my career and everything I used to do I couldn’t do anymore. I was told not to tell anybody,’ she claimed.
‘I am a good mom. And that’s what drives most of my decisions and my kids are my whole world,’ she told The Post.
The influencer, who once worked for the conservative satirical website The Babylon Bee, says she first met Musk in May 2023 after a sudden work trip to Twitter’s headquarters.
At the age of 24, she claims she was quickly swept into a world of secrecy and luxury.
‘At one point, he asked, ‘Are you ever in San Francisco or Austin?’ And I said, ‘I am in Austin a good amount for work.”
According to St. Clair, the relationship only intensified from there culminating in her pregnancy, which she alleges Musk was adamant about keeping under wraps.
‘It is very hard to understate how much I am processing right now. I am sad that my hand was forced by the media to do this now. But there is also a sense of relief because I have been forced to live in secrecy for almost a year of my life,’ she wrote on X.
‘I cannot explain the kind of primary pain you feel as a mother and you’re talking to people and they ask you about the one kid, and you have to lie and carry this burden and secret. You have to lie to people you love.’
St. Clair also admits she has not spoken with Musk since posting her revelation, though she did notify his team beforehand.
‘He ignored it,’ she claimed but notes how she has no regrets and has chosen to keep the baby’s name and gender a secret.
‘My child is the most perfect thing that happened to me. I wouldn’t change anything,’ she insisted.
‘Almost every relationship in my life would be bastardised and disingenuous because I couldn’t tell them what was going on. My son has never taken a walk outside — in five months. I have never been able to take my baby for a walk. I was terrified that someone would see I had a baby and it would get out,’ she revealed.
St. Clair is hoping that Elon will publicly accept the accusations now that the secret is finally out.
‘We are waiting for Elon to publicly acknowledge his parental role… Ashley trusts that Elon intends to finish their agreement quickly, in the best interests of the wellbeing and security of the child they share,’ her representative stated.
Musk has 12 other children spanning numerous relationships.
His children include twins Vivian and Griffin and triplets Kai, Saxon, and Damian from his marriage to Justine Wilson. The pair divorced in 2008.
His high-profile relationship with musician Grimes led to the birth of three more children: X Æ A-Xii (known as ‘X’), Exa Dark Sideræl, and Techno Mechanicus.
Musk also shares twins, Strider and Azure, with Neuralink executive Shivon Zilis as well as a third child, a baby boy, announced last summer.
If current allegations are to be believed, a new child with conservative influencer Ashley St. Clair would extend Musk’s family to 13.
For multiple reasons, Elon Musk should utilise protection if he has a curious nature and enjoys intimate interactions with new admirers. Perhaps he should have a vasectomy because this man doesn’t need any more children.
He clearly wants to seed as many children as he can because he obviously thinks that his genes are exceptional, and he doesn’t mind dishing it out on X but he can’t tolerate it in reverse and he tries to exploit his power.
This man is incredibly rich and he can probably be courteous through a dinner date, but doesn’t he just love to be offensive, vulgar and elusive? That’s his real social and dynamic rush – women are just secondary, and perhaps this baby-making machine is his plan to conquer the world!
The father of her child seemingly won’t talk to her and has gone to extraordinary lengths to keep her isolated from the world – undoubtedly a control issue, so I don’t blame her for using his own platform in an endeavour to capture his attention.
Fathers need to contribute to their offspring, and in this case, Elon has a ton of money. Perhaps she shouldn’t have used his platform because now it’s stopped being about their child, and now it’s about the fling they had together.
She talks about wanting privacy, yet has told millions of people he’s shirking his obligations – what a fantastic future read for her child to find out that he/she was rejected, and could also be extremely damaging for the child.
This only forces kids to participate in activities they didn’t request. Even though it can be quite annoying, you should put your desire to dispute over your kids on hold once you have them. Or, better yet, don’t have any kids at all!
A Jet2 plane made an emergency landing after a passenger died onboard a flight from Tenerife to Nottingham yesterday.
The plane, which was making its way to the UK, was diverted to mainland Spain on Friday afternoon after a man, thought to be in his 70s, died.
It is still unknown what country the passenger, who was declared dead upon touchdown, originated from.
Local news outlets reported that the LS676 aircraft started its journey from the Canary Islands at 7:05 p.m. before the emergency was announced on the Jet2 flight.
The crew alerted air traffic control that a man was in critical condition and required immediate assistance, according to Diario de Avisos.
The jet was forced to touchdown at Santiago-Rosalía de Castro Airport, so emergency services could attend to the person.
When the ambulance arrived at the terminal in the capital of Galicia, the guy was declared dead.
MailOnline has approached Jet2 and the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office for comment.
This person was obviously still alive when they decided to divert the aircraft, and they managed to speak to a medical team down on the ground who would have instructed them on what to do. Flight deck and crew are not doctors, they can give CPR and attempt to do everything in their power to keep someone alive. Even if there had been a doctor on the aeroplane who was a passenger, they could have only done so much to keep the person alive.
This is extremely sad. Anyone can become unwell on an aircraft. The person has now passed away, and all I can say is condolences to his family and loved ones.
There is a lot of stress involved in jet travel, so people becoming unwell is not surprising. Travelling can be very shattering.
At present there is no indication as to what the person died of. For all we know, he could have had some highly infectious disease or it could have just been a heart attack. Whatever this poor individual died from, they would have had to have been medically examined after there was confirmation of death.
THE MONTHLY MOSQUITO 