Anthony Gordon has signed for La Liga champions Barcelona for a significant undisclosed fee.
Thank you for everything, @anthonygordon. Wishing you all the very best for the future 🫶
The Conservatives are coming back!
From Westminster to Wandsworth, Harlow to Bexley, Fareham to Broxbourne, people can see we are a party renewed.
There is much more to do, but we have the plan and team to get Britain working again.
Watch my rally at Westminster City Hall👇
You may not agree with me, but you will always know where you stand with me.
Today in Billericay, a heckler tried to shout me down as I spoke about the normalisation of hatred towards Jews. I did not back down, because it needs to be said. British Jews are being targeted and too many people are pretending this is the same experience of other minorities. This lady implied Muslims are being similarly targeted. This is simply not true.
Let's be honest about what is happening. Certain groups (in particular but not solely Islamic Extremists) are creating a climate of fear and intimidation that is normalising Jew hatred. I will never stand for that. Governments have spent too long hand-wringing, making excuses and hoping it would go away. It is time to call this what it is: a national emergency in our attitude, our urgency and our response.
I will always engage with people who disagree with me. That is politics. But there is a difference between argument and intimidation. Shouting does not make a bad case good. It's done to silence others. And it certainly does not change the truth.
The truth is that British Jews have been made to feel less safe in their own country. Our country. They are being singled out, threatened and harassed in ways that should shame everyone in public life. If we do not stand up now and stop this rise in antisemitism, then why bother saying "Never Again" at Holocaust Memorial Day? Because this is how it starts.
I am not prepared to play along with the pretence that this is normal, or manageable, or just another example of tension between groups. It really is not. It is targeted hatred and it is getting worse.
So my message is simple. Not here. Not in Britain. And not on our watch. We need to stop the hand-wringing and start doing the right thing. That means standing with British Jews openly, unapologetically and without fear.
Jews don’t celebrate death - we sanctify life. Whatever your view on the death penalty, breaking open champagne to celebrate a law that takes life is fundamentally anti-Jewish.
Many already understand this. Others will, in time. One day we will look back at Ben Gvir’s tenure and feel ashamed that we allowed something so corrosive into the sanctuary of power in Israel.
People can't seriously be blaming Howe for what he said at half time. By the time the players got into the dressing room at Barca they had to go on another 5 mile hike back to the pitch. #NUFC#Barca#championsleague#Newcastle#Howe
Nick Woltemade's first Champions League goal moves him above Philipp Lahm, Jamie Carragher and Sunderland Football Club in the UEFA Champions League all-time goalscorers table.
£155m on Isak
£140m on Wirtz
£120m on Ekitike
All in one transfer window. How is the rest of the Premier League supposed to compete with Liverpool's spending?
A 🧵on some legal issues arising out of the US strike on Iran’s nuclear installations: ⬇️
1 The inherent right to use force in the face of an imminent attack from a hostile nation is well-established in international law and for good reason: a country cannot be expected to remain idle and wait until it is actually attacked.
2 Iran has repeatedly threatened to attack the UK’s bases and personnel if the UK ‘assists’ Israel, with no clarity as to what Iran deems or might deem to be ‘assistance’, nor the scale of its intended attack. Those threats come in the context of a persistent Iranian threat to life on UK soil, too; the Director General of MI5 recently stated that since the start of 2022 the UK has responded to 20 Iran-backed plots, presenting potentially lethal threats to British citizens and UK residents. There is also a constant barrage of cyberattacks; while not all cyberattacks are armed attacks in the sense of Article 51 of the UN Charter, some may be, and all confirm not just hostile intent but action pursuant to such intent.
3 The UK’s long-standing ally, Israel, was right to consider that it faced an imminent attack prior to its recent military action, given that (i) Iran has previously attacked Israel both directly and through proxies; (ii) Iran has repeatedly stated its intent to destroy Israel; (iii) Iran was assessed to be on the brink of acquiring a nuclear capability with uranium enrichment at 60% (which can only be for military use); and (iv) Iran already possessed – as demonstrated by its recent attacks – a sophisticated and effective long-range delivery capability which Israel cannot fully neutralise with defensive weapons.
4 The acquisition of a nuclear capability by Iran represents a genocidal risk for Israel and its people. Iran’s repeatedly stated aim is to wipe the State of Israel, and its inhabitants, off the face of the earth. The slogan of the proxies through which Iran has often attacked Israel is: “God is greater, death to America, death to Israel, curse to the Jews, victory to Islam”. In these circumstances, whether they are characterised as part of an ongoing armed conflict with Iran or as a new use of force based on self-defence, Israel’s actions are justifiable.
5 The UK is permitted under international law to use force to aid another State which is acting in self-defence. Moreover, the UK is under an obligation in international law is to prevent genocide, not just to stop it: stopping an on-going genocide is required, but it necessarily means that action was taken too late.
6 Against that background, the UK has three distinct legal bases to assist, militarily if necessary, its long-standing allies the US and Israel: (1) to defend another member state pursuant to collective self-defence; (2) to take proportionate action to avert Iranian attacks on the UK’s own bases and personnel; and/or (3) to prevent Iran from implementing its clearly stated genocidal intentions against the people of Israel.
7 @Keir_Starmer’s statement welcomed the effect of the US military action in destroying much of Iran’s nuclear program, but is notably silent on its legality, a silence no doubt attributable to his @attorneygeneral who, reportedly, has (unspecified) legal concerns.
8 The US and the UK are in the same legal position; accordingly, if the UK Govt’s position (as reported) is that the UK cannot itself take offensive military action to support Israel, the UK Govt must also consider that the US strike on Iran’s nuclear reactors was illegal.
The UK Govt cannot welcome the ends but prevaricate about the means. So: what is our Govt’s stance on the legality of the US military action. I support it. Does @Keir_Starmer?
Just remembered Eddie Howe was Bournemouth manager when they were only relegated because Aston Villa benefitted from goal line technology not being switched on in 2020.
Which manager benefitted from this today at Villa’s expense? Eddie Howe.
I think the word is “karma”.